Bleach: Who & Where Are the Heart and Brain of the Soul King?
Tite Kubo’s Bleach has provided us with various colorful and intriguing characters. And while those who have not read the manga know only a portion of these, those who have will know that Bleach has one of the more diverse sets of characters in the story. One of them is the enigmatic Soul King, whom we have already written about here on Fiction Horizon. But, there is one aspect of the Soul King’s story that we haven’t written about: his two sentient organs, Gerard Valkyrie (his heart) and Gremmy Thoumeaux (his brain).
In this article, we have decided to fully introduce the heart and brain of the Soul King, Gerard Valkyrie, and Gremmy Thoumeaux, respectively, ahead of their anime debut. These two entities are quite intriguing characters, and there was an absolute need for both of them to be introduced before they actually made their respective debuts in the Bleach anime, as they have already appeared in the manga. We are going to tell you who they are and how they are connected to the main storyline of Bleach.
Who is the Heart of the Soul King? Meet Gerard Valkyrie!
Gerard Valkyrie is a member of the Wandenreich and the Sternritter, considered to be one of the most powerful and dangerous Quincy of them all. His designation is “M” – “The Miracle”, which is a reference to his power to create miracles in hopeless situations. He is likewise a member of the Schutzstaffel, Yhwachs’s personal bodyguard, meaning that Yhwach considers him to be among his most powerful underlings. On top of all that, Gerard Valkyrie is the Heart of the Spirit King.
He is a tall, muscular man with light hair and a distinctive face. He wears a helmet with wing-like appendages on his ears, covering the top half of his face, and a white cape. Gerard is dutiful and loyal to his ruler.
For example, he complains to Lille Barro that he killed Senshumaru Shutara in such a way that her corpse is now in Yhawch’s way. He shows similar zest and fun in fighting as Kenpachi Zaraki and praises his opponents for good fighting maneuvers, but he also seems to be a tad dull when it comes to some things.
As a Quincy, Gerard can absorb Reishi from the atmosphere and bundle it with his own Reiryoku to form various weapons. Gerard’s spiritual power is equal to, if not greater than, that of a Gotei 13 Captain, especially when he evolves further after activating his power.
His secret ability is called The Miracle. Namely, Gerard has the “miraculous” ability to respawn larger and stronger whenever he is wounded or seemingly killed. The strength and size gained are proportional to the damage he has taken, which means that each time he returns, he returns a lot stronger than before. After Byakuya Kuchiki’s attacks, he grew to gigantic proportions and gained strength accordingly, which is why the Gotei 13 Captains were unable to kill him.
Gerard Valkyrie was confirmed to be the Heart of the Soul King by Askin Nakk Le Vaar, who explained the nature of Gerard and Pernida, the Left Arm of the Soul King. He also, along with Pernida, was the only Quincy who did not get his powers directly from Yhwach, as he had them from the very beginning.
Still, while Yhwach did not grant him powers, he could still use his Auswahlen to give him additional power and take away his powers, which is how Gerard Valkyrie ultimately died.
Is Gremmy Thoumeaux the Brain of the Soul King?
As for Gremmy Thoumeaux, we have already written a lot about him and his powers and abilities, so we will not repeat that. We shall use this section of the article to actually address the theory that he is the Brain of the Soul King. Namely, as it turned out, Gremmy Thoumeaux was not the blond-haired child that fought Kenpachi, but rather a sentient brain whose powers allowed it to materialize whatever it could imagine. So, the child was also an illusion created by the brain, who was the true Sternritter “V” – “The Visionary.”
It was never explicitly confirmed that Gremmy was the Brain of the Soul King. Askin Nakk Le Vaar did not say that when he explained about Gerard and Pernida, and from what we know, Gremmy was given his powers by Yhwach, although the latter was not explicitly stated either.
We know that Gremmy was incredibly powerful, so much – in fact – that even the other Sternritter feared him and his powers. We also know that it was heavily implied in the Can’t Fear Your Own World light novel, that Gremmy was, indeed, the Brain of the Soul King.
And while James proves that the Quincy could appear in all shapes and sizes, it makes sense that Gremmy is the Brain of the Soul King. We know that the Soul King’s brain was ripped out, and since it was stated that his most powerful organs did become sentient beings and were aligned, mostly, with the Quincy, seeing a brain for a Quincy could certainly be explained by this theory, so we do think that Gremmy could, indeed, be the Brain of the Soul King, as it fits every aspect of the lore.
How and why did Gremmy and Gerard come to be?
For this article, we are going to consider that Gremmy is, indeed, the Brain of the Soul King, as it makes sense and makes our explanation easier. Namely, now that you know who these two are, you might wonder how they came to be in the first place?
Well, millions of years ago, the Soul King managed to balance out the world, which was one primordial mass without the realms. But, five powerful characters were not satisfied with such a world and sealed the Soul King to create a world of their own. Now, although the Soul King was cooperative, they still did not trust him, so they literally mutilated him, cutting off his limbs and tearing out his organs in order to make sure that he wasn’t a threat to them.
Seeing how each part of the Soul King was powerful, the two main organs became sentient beings, and due to the Soul King’s inherent relation to the Quincy, they became two powerful Quincy, the only ones who did not get their powers from Yhwach, but who had them from the very start.
