Masked_Felix

Was it ever explained just how a soul gets a disease? Are they like...spirit particle viruses or something?

Also, to kill two birds with one stone, the Tuberculosis Swordsman type has appeared several times. Is there some kind of legend or story behind such a character?

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SS2 Vegeto

Well, there's spiritual matter, and they can die and all. So, it's really a lot like the real world, just on a spiritual plane.

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Outbreak

Question, did they ever explain what happens when a Soul Reaper or a Soul in the Soul Society dies? Do they just disappear from existence since they are already souls? I feel like they explained this already but it's just escaping me right now.

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"Mr. Langdon, all questions were once spiritual. Since the beginning of time, spirituality and religion have been called on to fill in the gaps that science did not understand. The rising and setting of the sun was once attributed to Halios and a flaming chariot. Earthquakes and tidal waves were the wrath of Poseidon. Science has now proven those gods to be false idols. Soon all Gods will be proven to be false idols." - Maximilian Kohler 'Angels & Demons'

Madness

I think this was answered in another thread. Something about them going to the human world.

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SS2 Vegeto

They are normally reincarnated eventually, although I don't know if they have to die of old age, have to die at all, it's not stated. I could have sworn I heard somewhere that they cease to exist when they are killed.

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JAIF

Eh, I think if they are killed, they disappear completely - after all, their souls are destroyed, everything that connects them to existence is severed. If they were just going to be reincarnated, death wouldn't be such a dreaded event anyway. I do recall it stated somewhere, Rukia telling Ichigo he'd vanish completely if he died in Shinigami form, but can't remember where, exactly.

As for natural reincarnation, I'm inclined to believe it's a matter of choice. After all, Genryuusai has been in Soul Society for ages.

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SS2 Vegeto

It was said that souls are just reincarnated eventually, though, to keep the balance.

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JAIF

Probably souls that have not become shinigami? It'd be awkward if, all of a sudden, captains just started vanishing in the middle of a battle for Soul Society's survival to be reincarnated. Plus, like I said, Genryuusai has been there for as long as Soul Society('s organized form). They wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't happened after Soul Society was created, and yet the oldest soul there has not yet been reincarnated. So it's either choice, it doesn't happen in a linear fashion or it only affects 'regular' souls. It's anyone's guess about the souls that are born in Soul Society.

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SS2 Vegeto

I figured it was probably what happens when they die of old age, sort of creating a circle of life and death between the living world and Soul Society.

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JAIF

That would be a messed-up cycle though, considering a Shinigami's "lifespan" is much longer than a human's lifespan - if they even die naturally in the first place. Then again, that may not be true for the rest of the souls there, so it stands as a point.

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