What happens to Hollows killed not by Shinigami sword?

[Cheb]

What happens to Hollows killed not by Shinigami sword? Theoretically, only Shinigami can kill a Hollow properly, cleansing its sins and allowing it to reach Soul Society. But the Urahara's band doesn't hesitate to use rocket launchers and iron bats. Then there's always kido. So what exactly happens to a Hollow killed by these not-so-proper methods? After all, the whole Quincy genocide was about them killing Hollows the wrong way.

What happens to the souls eaten by Hollows? Do they disappear completely, or still have a chance to be reborn somewhere/somehow/if the hollow is slain?

I need this for my Ranma/Bleach crossover.

[Knight of L-sama]

If a Hollow's mask is not cut by a shinigami's zanpaktou that soul is destroyed completely. This is fairly firmly established. Urahara's team might be an exception though. This is speculation on my part but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Jinta's bat and Ururu's rocket launcher have zanpaktou like qualities. Urahara was the founder of the research insitute and could probably out-mad scientist both Mayuri and Szayerpollo combined if he wanted to.

Kido is again an unknown quantity. Even those skilled in it like Aizen, Byakuya and Rukia don't seem to use it as their primary offensive technique. Tessai and Hachigen might be differenet as former members of the Kido Corps but we haven't seen them in combat all that much and in even those brief glimpses Hachi pulled out a zanpaktou and Tessai was fighting unarmed.

As for what happens when Souls are eaten by Hollow, again we aren't certain though there's something to go on. While it was in one of the filler arcs and thus of questionable canonicity, when Hitsugaya was fighting the cloning Arrancar after he killed it a lot of blue lights were released similar to the effect used for performing a Soul Burial. It would seem to suggest that if a Hollow is killed before it has time to 'digest' the souls it has consumed that those souls are released to go to Soul Society, though this is at least partly speculation.

[Uldihaa]

Well, we know that Hollows that are eaten by other Hollows keep their minds/personalities; it's pretty much stated that if a Hollow can maintain dominance it can 'evolve' from Gillian to Adjuchas. *shrug* But it's been a long time since I read any Bleach so I could be wrong

I just assumed that, over time, the personality imprinted on the soul decayed away, leaving a 'blank' soul that was used to power the Hollow.

Of course there is also the little plot hole that Pluses eaten by a Hollow becomes a Hollow; that's what happened to Orihime's brother, isn't it?

[Spokavriel]

Hollows do conglomerate into larger hollows. And I only really remember it being set in stone that the Hollows didn't get purified by the Quincy because they were deliberately destroying them. I'm not so sure other weapons that can harm spirit entities (Which is once pointed out as only being possible for Zanpaktou The Bounto dolls seem to get classified similarly but I don't want to get into that filler arc spoiler) But regardless of the form Zanpaktou will purify the soul and let it return to the soul society unless it is a truly evil soul that must atone for it's sins in hell. My guess is when a hollow like that which has taken in other souls goes to hell the infernals know to forward the innocents they extract back where they belong.

[Cheb]

...a lot of blue lights were released similar to the effect...

An interesting observation, but I try to avoid using the visual FX as a reference unless it's an originating manga.

and could probably out-mad scientist both Mayuri and Szayerpollo combined if he wanted to.

But you're probably right. Especially considering the rocket launcher covered completely with paper wards...
This leaves us with Chad and Orihime who could kill Hollows which doesn't raise notable objections. Do their weapons have zampakuto qualities as well?

Drats. The more questions you answer, the more of them pops up.


In short, the soul eating aspects are left unspecified by the mangaka. Most probably, deliberately.
Well, I can only hope these won't bite me in my backside later. On the other hand I can always claim I'm writing an AU.

Thanks for your help