Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 15 Ending Explained: Where were Quincies hiding? Will the captains get their Bankai back?

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is back with yet another thrilling and amazing episode. This episode is episode number 15 of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc.

The name of this episode is “Peace from Shadows”.

In this episode, we finally got to know where the Quincies were hiding after losing their battle a thousand years ago against Captain Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and his 13 Court Guard Squad at that time.

We also saw how the Captains are helpless against the Quincies without their Bankai. This episode answered a few questions for us, yet raised a lot more.

We will try to answer some of those questions like: Where were Quincies hiding? Will the captains get their Bankai back?

In this article, we will do a full review of the 15th episode of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War arc, “Peace from Shadows”.

From, the struggle of Soul Reapers against the powerful Quincy forces to how they will overcome this difficulty, we will try to provide you with all the information we have. 

Where were Quincies hiding?

The episode starts with all the Stern Ritters inside the Silbern, inside the Wörtlich Hall, where Jugram Haschwalth is telling them the order their King, Yhwach, gave them.

Some of the Stern Ritters think that their Soldats would be enough to kill the Soul Reapers rather than killing them with their own Bankai that was stolen during their last Raid on the Soul Society.

Jugram Haschwalth informs them that Yhwach thinks that the captains who’ve lost their Bankai will use what little time they have left to find ways to fight without Bankai.

He wants to take away the hope of the Soul Reapers; therefore, there is only one order given by Yhwach for this war, and that is to annihilate the enemy instantly. 

After that, we see in the Rukon District – East 76 District, “Sakahone”, that Captain Ukitake is being informed about the situation of the Seireitei. 

After that, in the Former Squad 1 Barracks, we see Shunsui Kyōraku with his lieutenant Nanao Ise who tells Nanao that he set some traps within the Seireitei, figuring they would attack again without warning, but he didn’t expect them to lose their territorial advantage, like this. 

Inside the Throne Room, Yhwach is telling Uryū Ishida about how they managed to survive all those years. He tells Uryū that a thousand years ago, Quincies lost the war and were left with nowhere else to go.

So they fled from the World of the Living into the Seireitei, a place where the Soul Repaers would least expect them to hide. They then used Reishi to create space within the shadows of Seireitei and called this Invisible Empire the Wandenreich.

Inside the Former Department of R&D, we see Stern Ritter “D” – Askin Nakk Le Vaar continuing Yhwach’s story saying that their plan was a success.

Unlike the World of the Living, The Soul Society is filled with Reishi, their source of power. The things they could do were limitless. They spent thousand years building up their strength from within the shadows. 

Then Jugram Haschwalth continues the rest of the story in front of Shunsui Kyōraku and his lieutenant Nanao Ise saying that in other words, this time, just as they did before, they did not invade the Seireitei by breaking through the Soul Solid Membrane.

They were already inside the Soul Solid Membrane. Shunsui thanks them for sharing valuable intel and telling them that they reached the captain’s rooms quickly.

Jugram Haschwalth then introduces himself as “Wandenreich Emperor Aide and Stern Ritter Grand Master, Jugram Haschwalth”. In return to this, Shunsui Kyōraku introduces himself as ” 13 Court Guard Squad Head Captain and Squad 1 Captain, Shunsui Kyōraku”.

This shows that both Haschwalth and Shunsui acknowledge each other as formidable opponents. Haschwalth tells Shunsui about Yhwach’s order to annihilate the enemy instantly and tells that he did it because he loves peace and wants to end the war as quickly as possible. 

Will the captains get their Bankai back?

Inside the Former Department of R&D, we see Askin Nakk Le Vaar taunting the Soul Reapers that this Department of R&D is intelligent in name only.

We then see Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Captain of Squad 12 and head of the Department of R&D, enter the Forme Department of R&D through a portal with his lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi.

He and his lieutenant are wearing a bright suit that is spitting a lot of light. He states that the Quincies were hiding in the shadows.

Two worlds exist in the same place but never come in contact with one another. Based on the data he collected during their last battle, he was able to surmise that “Shadows” had something to do with the Quincy invasion. That is why he modified his laboratory so that no shadows were created. 

In front of the Former Squad 10 Barracks, the Soul Reapers are fighting the Quincies; we see Stern Ritter “H” – Bazz-B, who is overwhelming the Soul Reapers with his flames. But Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10, comes to their rescue and forms a wall of ice with his powers along with his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto.

Bazz-B recognises Tōshirō saying that he is the ice captain that got his Bankai stolen by Cang Du. They introduce themselves as “Captain of Squad 10, Tōshirō Hitsugaya” and “Stern Ritter H, The Heat, Bazz-B” and start their duel. 

Inside the Former Omaeda Mansion Squad 2 lieutenant Marechiyo Ōmaeda promises his sister that he will protect her and everyone inside the Soul Society because he is a member of the 13 Court Guard Squad. But, suddenly, Stern Ritter “K” – BG9 comes in front of them. He is the person who stole Soi Fon’s Bnakai. 

Rangiku Matsumoto tells the other Soul Reapers to fall back and protect others. Bazz-B and Tōshirō are still exchanging blows and mocking each other in the process.

Matsumoto tells her captain that she will also help him and taunts Tōshirō it is cute that he is relying on her after he loses his Bankai.

She then calls her Zanpakutō by saying “Growl, Haineko!” and awakens the Shikai form of her Zanpakutō. She then tells Tōshirō to get ready for “Operation Mille-feuille” and an ice wall forms in front of Bazz-B.

He hits the wall with his flames but is unable to break it this time. Matsumoto explains why this happened and says first she used her Haineko to create multiple walls made of ash.

Tōshirō then covered those layers with a very thin layer of ice. Finally, she turned only Haineko back into a sword and a mille-feuille of ice with vacuum layers was created.

Just like a thermos bottle, the vacuum layer stopped the heat from getting through. Tōshirō tells Bazz-B that among other captain-level Zanpakutō, his Hyorinmaru is probably the one with the least difference between its Shikai and Bankai powers.

Simply put, the amount of ice he can produce is drastically reduced, and to compensate for that, he trained himself to fight with less ice. Then Tōshirō launches an attack of vacuum-ice against Bazz-B, proving that they can go toe to toe with Quincies without their Bankai. 

Inside the Former Squad 1 Barracks, Nanao Ise forms a barrier that temporarily shuts out Quincy’s powers. Haschwalth asks if Nanao developed this Kido.

Nanao tells Haschwalth that her expertise in Kido is the only reason she is appointed lieutenant and that creating a Kido like this is child’s play.

She also mentions that it was a mistake to leave traces of their Spiritual Pressures all over the Seireitei during their last invasion. 

Stern Ritter “K” – BG9 attacks Lieutenant Marechiyo Ōmaeda asking for the location of Soi Fon, but Ōmaeda refuses to share it with him and protects his sister.

Then, Soi Fon appears suddenly, saving Ōmaeda and his sister. BG9 addresses Soi Fon as “(9th Head of the Fon Clan, Captain of Squad 2, and Supreme Commander of the Stealth Force, Soi Fon” and asks her about her appearance. Soi Fon tells BG9 that it is Shunko.

It was not perfect the last time they met, but she has now perfected it. Soi Fon starts attacking BG9 with her Shunko form. 

Askin Nakk Le Vaar tries to lure Mayuri Kurotsuchi into his territory so that he would have more solid ground. Askin tells Mayuri that he is a scary one and that he is glad that he didn’t give away his abilities. 

Mayuri gets a report that both Tōshirō and Soi Fon are overwhelming their enemy even without their Banki. To this, Askin replies that Yhwach already predicted this and that if it is as predicted, it means things are still fatal for Mayuri’s side. 

Suddenly after that, we see Tōshirō getting overwhelmed by Bazz-B’s attacks, who is still alive. Bazz-B starts relentlessly attacking Tōshirō with his “Burner Finger One” attacks and injures Tōshirō a lot.

Soi Fon also starts getting overwhelmed by her enemy BG9, who launches a barrage of missiles towards her and then hit her on a point-blank range. 

Shunsui and Nanao are watching all of this from afar. Haschwalth asks them if the other captains can use this spell or not to which Nanao replies that they are not able to use it.

Haschwalth tells them that rather than perfecting the spell and letting that be the end of it, they should have refined it so anyone could use it.

If they had done that, then at least the captains could have died fighting instead of facing such a one-sided execution. 

Tōshirō, who is running from Bazz-B tries to set a trap for him in the cover of a thick ice fog, but that trap is rendered useless by Bazz-B very quickly.

Tōshirō cannot believe that all his attacks are useless against his opponent. Bazz-B uses “Burner Finer Two” to attack Tōshirō and severely injure Tōshirō in the process.

Cang Du, who stole Tōshirō’s Bankai in the previous battle, comes where Bazz-B and Tōshirō are fighting and tells Bazz-B to stop as they agreed to leave the captains who were robbed of their Bankai to the ones who took them away. 

Mayuri suddenly notices that two Spiritual Pressures have disappeared. Those Spiritual Pressures are of Captains Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Soi Fon.

Mayuri feard that he seems to be the only one able to fight without Bankai. He then suddenly receives a call from someone who tells Mayuri that he is Urahara and he has completed the method to reclaim Bankai.

This episode also had a post-credit scene. In that scene, we see Ichigo Kurosaki inside the sacred place. We see Ichibē Hyōsube reading something from a scroll, and Ichigo feels a heaviness inside that place.

The scroll that Ichibē was reading says

“It begins but does not end. Names wither in the silence. In an abyss of rolling clouds, raindrops fill an empty vessel. Those who are unworthy to be a vessel succumb to its weight as it turns to stone. It breaks apart and turns to gravel. Pounding rain reduces it to dust. For such a vessel, there is no way out. But if it does not enter, there is no path. Those who are about to perish call it Irazusando.”