The Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime is greatly expanding the world and character roster for the entire franchise. Nearly all the Arrancar saga's villains are now either dead, lost, or captured, so protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki and his Soul Reaper friends need new enemies to fight. That enemy arrived in the form of the Wandenreich, the Quincy empire, led by the elite Sternritter. And there's a lot more of them than the Soul Reapers expected.
By now, Bleach fans are familiar with most of the Sternritter, from Bambietta Basterbine to Robert Accutrone and Cang Du, so it's time for another surprise – the four strongest Sternritter of all. Recent Bleach episodes brought back the Soul Reapers' Royal Guard, who are about to face their true equal, the Schutzstaffel. These are Yhwach's own royal guards, and they're a threat unlike anything Bleach's heroes have ever faced. Still, for all their similarities to the Royal Guard, the four Schutzstaffel have some key differences, too.
Who Are Yhwach's Royal Guards, the Schutzstaffel?
The members of the Schutzstaffel are part of the larger Sternritter organization within the Quincy empire, but there is still a clear division between them. The Schutzstaffel's members are recognized as the most powerful and important Sternritter of all, and serve as Yhwach's personal guards. During meetings in Silbern, the Wandenreich's home base, the Schutzstaffel's members stand on the stage with their king, Yhwach, while the other Sternritter stand among the other Quincy in the audience, marking a clear division between them. The Schutzstaffel each have one schrift ability based on a single letter, like the other Sternritter, but their abilities are even stronger. The Schutzstaffel also wear special white cloaks over their uniforms, complete with hoods and a red, six-pointed starburst on the left side.
Early on, King Yhwach appointed three of his mightiest Sternritter to be part of his royal guard, those being Sternritter C, Pernida Parnkgjas, Sternritter M, Gerard Valkyrie, and Sternritter X, Lille Barro, a Quincy sniper expert. Other Sternritter can be promoted to the ranks of the Schutzstaffel if they prove worthy, with Sternritter D, Askin Nak Le Vaar, being welcomed into the Schutzstaffel after the events of the first Quincy invasion of the Soul Society. These Quincy are usually exempt from Yhwach's most exploitative techniques such as Auswählen, instead benefiting from Yhwach's ability to remotely steal a Quincy's power and give it to someone else. Still, if Yhwach truly has the need, he might seize the powers of the Schutzstaffel if he's confident that such power is necessary for his endgame.
The Powers Of Yhwach's Elite Guards
Each of the four Schutzstaffel have highly advanced Quincy abilities that generally overshadow what the other Sternritter can do, even Sternritter Z, Giselle Gewelle, whose power is potentially infinite via zombie creation. Presumably, the four Schutzstaffel members have standard bankai-stealing medallions, can form generic bows and arrows, and can use the Skave Rai technique. Their unique abilities are so potent, though, the four Schutzstaffel members are almost never seen using those baseline Quincy abilities.
Sternritter C, Pernida, has a bizarre power called The Compulsory. Pernida is the Soul King's left hand and had The Compulsory all along, without needing Yhwach to grant it any abilities. Pernida can change its physical form at will and even mimic the abilities of people and bankai it touches, eliminating the need for a medallion. With The Compulsory, in particular, Pernida can extend its nerves into the enemy's body and control them, and even force their flesh to tear itself apart. This allows Pernida to stand a chance even against a powerhouse like Captain Kenpachi Zaraki.
Sternritter D, Askin Nak Le Vaar, can use The Deathdealing to alter the lethal dosage of any substance in another person's body, even their own blood. This allows him to poison anyone to death, such as forcing them to drain enough blood so it's not lethally poisonous, but also have them die of blood loss. Askin can also use The Deathdealing defensively, raising the lethal "dosage" of an attack of any time, thus creating a healing effect.
Sternritter M, Gerard Valkyrie, uses The Miracle to make favorable but unlikely events happen when he needs them the most. This makes The Miracle a reactive ability, granting Gerard any strength, healing, or luck he requires to succeed in battle or complete an objective. This also means Gerard must recognize when he's in a bad situation and cannot succeed on his own, and then he can make his imagination and feelings turn real via miracles.
Sternritter X, Lille Barro, uses The X-Axis to snipe his opponents with perfect accuracy. Nothing whatsoever can block his shots, which can pierce anything from flesh and metal to kido spells and more. On defense, Lille can even allow his body to "pierce" an enemy's attack, causing that attack to harmlessly phase through him. Lille's sniper rifle, Diagramm, makes conventional Quincy bows and arrows redundant for him.
The Sternritter Are Too Villainous For Their Own Good
In many ways, the four Schutzstaffel are the true equals of the five members of squad 0, the Royal Guard, but there are also some key differences. Since Bleach is a shonen action anime with classic themes of trust, friendship, and hope, the villains are destined to lose because they don't believe in the power of friendship and don't value cooperation. On the face of it, the Quincy empire is a cohesive military force whose members fight well together, but their spirit of unity is already fraying. Now, in the second battle against the Soul Reapers, the Sternritter are getting complacent due their recent victories and are even turning against one another to see who can kill Ichigo Kurosaki personally. So far, the Schutzstaffel seem to be above this petty infighting, but that might not last.
The four Schutzstaffel are individually powerful, but they're not cooperating with one another to be stronger than the sum of their parts. By contrast, the Royal Guard's members are doing well to blend their abilities and get the upper hand on Yhwach's own guards, and even if the Royal Guard might fall, Ichigo's team won't lose to them. For reference, the Espadas were stronger than individual Soul Reapers, but they lost because they never worked together and their boss, Sosuke Aizen, didn't care for them. Something similar may happen with the four Schutzstaffel, and considering what's at stake, it can't happen soon enough.
