After years of waiting, the fans of Bleach will finally see the anime adaptation of the last arc of the series, The Thousand-Year Blood War. This will be the biggest arc in the series and will feature an all-out war between the Shinigami and Quincy. So it’s safe to say that this is the most ambitious story arc in Bleach, by far.
Similar to the previous arcs, the main enemy of this arc is also a group of strong people, such as the Shinigami captains of the Gotei 13 for the Soul Society arc, and the Arrancar from Hueco Mundo for the Arrancar arc. For the Thousand-Year Blood War, the main enemy is a group of Quincy who called themselves The Sternritter. There are a lot of interesting things about this group that makes them different from other groups from the previous arcs. So here’s everything that you need to know about The Sternritter.
What Is The Sternritter
The Sternritter is a group of elite Quincy warriors that are highly specialized in subjugating shinigami. Because the power of every Sternritter is at least on par, and may even be greater than the captains of the Gotei 13. As such, they are the most powerful Quincy in the Wandernreich, the homeland of Quincy.
Every Sternritter can command other low-level Quincy, but the rank between each Sternritter themselves is actually equal, with the exception being Jugram Haschwalth, the leader of the Sternritter. That being said, there is still another special group within the Sternritter called the Schutzstaffel. They are the Royal Guard of the leader of Quincy himself, Yhwach.
Every member of the Sternritter is handpicked by Yhwach himself. And when he decides to promote a regular Quincy into a Sternritter, he will have them drink his blood. This ritual is what allowed a newly appointed Sternritter to accept a part of Yhwach’s soul, and therefore granted them a unique power.
The Powers of The Sternritter
Every member of the Sternritter has a unique power bestowed upon them by Yhwach. They all assigned a letter as a mark of their power, such as the letter “E” for the Sternritter who has the ability called “Explode”, or the letter “T” for the Sternritter who has the ability called “Thunderbolt”. Since each Sternritter is assigned a letter of the alphabet, it means there are about 26 main members of the Sternritter.
Furthermore, since their power comes from Yhwach himself, this means the power will return to him when the Sternritter dies. Not only that, Yhwach can also forcefully drain his power out of every Sternritter whenever he wants to. Unfortunately, having their power forcefully taken will mean the death of a Sternritter.
Other than those unique powers, every Sternritter also has other basic Quincy powers, such as Reishi Manipulation and Spirit Weapons that usually comes in the form of bows and arrows. Pure-Blooded Quincy also has an ability called “Blut” that allows them to boost their offense and defense capability. Other than that, there's also other specialized tools that they can use to aid them during combat.
The Sternritter’s Greatest Weapons
As mentioned in the previous section, the Sternritter has different powers and abilities within their arsenal. From their inherent abilities as a Quincy to the specialized powers given to them by Yhwach, there are tons of options that they can utilize in order to subdue their opponents. However, the greatest weapon of the Sternritter has to be the Medallion. The Medallion is special because it has the power to steal a nearby Shinigami’s Bankai. Granted, they can’t pinpoint to any particular shinigami and then steal their bankai from afar.
However, once there’s a shinigami around them who activates a bankai, then the Sternritter can freely suck the bankai into the medallion. What’s even better is the fact that the sternritter can use the bankai that they just steal. On the other hand, once stolen, a shinigami can no longer use the bankai until it is returned. Not to mention there are almost no shinigami that are immune to this, including the leader of the Gotei 13, Genryusai Yamamoto.
The Role of The Sternritter In The Thousand-Year Blood War
During the Thousand-Year Blood War, the Sternritter only has one job, which is to fight as many captains as they can, and steal their Bankai, therefore crippling the entire power structure of the Gotei 13 and the Soul Society itself. It would be great if the Sternritter managed to kill any of the Gotei 13’s captains, but if not, then they have to at least steal the captain’s bankai and severely injure them.
One thing worth noting, however, is the fact that although the Sternritter is a crucial part of Yhwach's plan to invade the Soul Society, it doesn’t mean he considers them as anything special. To him, they are just a means to an end. Just little parts within his grand evil scheme that will be revealed at the end of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Which is pretty much why when he conducts the blood ritual to every new Sternritter, he makes sure that he can forcefully take back that gift along with their innate power and soul, and make himself stronger in the process, even if it means killing the Sternritter.