Herrera Tresckow

Herrera Tresckohen (ヘレラ・トレスコヘン; Herera Toresukohen) was an arrancar who was the oldest host of the jinki fragment and former member of Aizen's army. He secretly plotted to assassinate Aizen, but his plot failed and Herrera fled into the deserts of Hueco Mundo, remaining in hiding until Aizen's defeat. He was the original Quinta Espada, though his position was later taken when Nnoitra Gilga was promoted from Octava after Herrera fled from Las Noches. Herrera later would become the King of Las Noches and self-proclaimed overlord of Hueco Mundo after taking over the abandoned fortress. He was presumably the strongest arrancar following the fall of the Espada.

Early years
Herrera was a ferret-like adjuchas-class Menos prior to Aizen's arrival in Hueco Mundo. He was created as a hollow around the time of the death of Mūi and was one of the individuals chosen to host a fragment of the jinki. The hollow originally was not aware of such powers, living his life similarly to other hollows.

It was when he met Yū Nakamura in the World of the Living did Herrera learn about his latent powers as a fragment. Herrera was in the human world looking to entertain himself when he found Yū at a local marketplace. At first, Herrera paid no attention to Yū but he realized that Yū was spiritually aware when the other walked up to him and introduced himself. Herrera contemplated attacking the human when he felt the presence of a shinigami. Assuming that the shinigami was here to protect the human, Herrera charged and fired a cero at the other. But the shinigami easily evaded the attack, drawing his zanpakutō and engaging Herrera in close-quarter combat.

Despite being pushed back, Herrera voiced his observation of the other holding back for some reason, stating that it was not typical for a shinigami to do so. The shinigami acknowledged Herrera's observation, introducing himself as Mūkade. Cautious of Mūkade, Herrera asked him if he had ulterior motives, to which the other confirmed. From there, Herrera demanded that the other explain himself. Mūkade simply told him that he was here to harvest jinki fragments and had no interest in following shinigami laws, also noting that Herrera was quite "chatty" for a hollow. Herrera assumed that meant that Yū had a jinki fragment and, despite not understanding what possessing a fragment would imply, decided that it was in his best interests to keep Yū away from Mūkade. However, Herrera took into consideration that it would be difficult to flee with Yū without defeating Mūkade first.

Continuing to fight Mūkade, Herrera was caught in a binding spell and was about to be dealt a finishing blow when Yū intervened with her fragment power of Harmony. It distracted Mūkade long enough for Herrera to activate his own innate fragment powers, escaping the spell as well as Mūkade's final blow. Herrera ordered Yū to hold onto him and the two fled from the market. In an alleyway, the two rested from the confrontation and Yū asked Herrera if he was ok. Despite having serious wounds, Herrera dismissed any concerns that Yū had. Then, Yū slowly passed away from overexerting herself with the display of power. As a plus, Yū advised Herrera to return home before Mūkade found them again, to which Herrera readily agreed.

After Yū's soul burial, Herrera lamented not eating Yū. But he realized in retrospect that Yū's power was holding back his desire to devour her since the beginning. Embarrassed by being manipulated by a human, Herrera returned to Hueco Mundo and said nothing of his encounter with Yū or Mūkade.

Meeting Aizen
Sometime before Aizen arrived, Herrera rose to the ranks of the Espada, though everything changed once Aizen assumed power. The arrancar hated Aizen and his shinigami allies, especially Aizen himself, for "waltzing in and assuming leadership." Aizen saw the strength that Herrera had and transformed him into an arrancar with the Hōgyoku, allowing Herrera to remain in the altered Espada. As with many other arrancars, Herrera failed to defeat Aizen at their first encounter, much to Herrera's anger and frustration. Even though he was given greater power with the, Herrera grudgingly submitted to Aizen, deciding to use his new powers to bring about Aizen's fall later.

Tōsen commented that he did not trust Herrera, to which Aizen replied that he had his uses, given the proper motivation. Herrera was given orders to scout Hueco Mundo in search for Vasto Lordes, though he used the opportunity to plot an insurrection against Aizen.

Assassination plot


Under Aizen, Herrera has been plotting to assassinate Aizen out of discontent with his superior, believing it to be insulting to be taking orders from shinigami. He planned on recruiting Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck and Baraggan Luisenbarn, though his plans were discovered before Herrera could make secret contact with either of them. His underground movement only consisted of Numerós at the time of the discovery, and such discovery was only made when a newer member accidentally mentioned the resistance movement in public. Herrera was the second-to-last member of the original Espada at the time, leaving Aaroniero Arruruerie to be the last. His reason for not approaching Aaroniero was said to be because Herrera did not trust Aaroniero to keep his mouth shut.

The assassination plan consisted of Herrera announcing to Aizen that he located a Vasto Lorde, in order to lure Aizen away from the other shinigami. Herrera would quickly dispatch Aizen while his subordinates hold the attention of the other two shinigami, preventing them from joining forces. Herrera would then return to help deal with the two shinigami. But the plan could never be executed.

While leaving Las Noches, Herrera encountered Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. He attempted to covertly ask her whether she truly sided with Aizen when he was ambushed by Nnoitra Gilga. Nnoitra's attack succeeded in severing Herrera's left arm, forcing the latter to fall back. With Nnoitra blocking the way, Herrera released his resurrección and attempting to fight his way out, knowing that he had no time to waste fighting other members of the Espada. While in resurrección, Herrera took the spiritual particles of his released zanpakutō and constructed a primitive arm to use as a second weapon while reducing blood loss from his grievous wound.

Although surprised by Herrera's tactics, Nnoitra continued his attempt to kill Herrera, charging into him unfazed when Herrera's sword seemingly cut through him without causing any injury. He was shocked when he began coughing up blood. Herrera explained to him that he only shed the outer layer of his zanpakutō to produce his claw arm, leaving only the center of the weapon to hold the ability to cause injury. Nnoitra questioned such a power, claiming that it was impossible for an arrancar to combine with his weapon. Herrera did not explain himself further, impaling Nnoitra with his claw hand and fleeing to the exit of Las Noches.

Moments before Herrera fled from Las Noches, he fired a Gran Rey Cero into the fortress from the entrance. The resulting explosion caused structural damage and a portion of the palace crumbled. The Exequias were about to give chase, but Aizen ordered them to stop, stating that Herrera would not challenge his rule again. Aizen revealed that he knew about the planned insurrection from the start, and planned to crush the resistance before Herrera could become a threat.

Return to power
Herrera struggled to rebuild his resistance as hollows were drawn in by Aizen's promise for greater power. As a symbol of his exile, Herrera burned away the tattoo on the back of his neck. While in exile, Herrera refined the form of his new arm, making it sleeker and more efficient. His followers were small in numbers when Aizen finally fell to the shinigami forces, and Herrera used it to his advantage to rapidly expand his own forces, using Aizen's promise of power against him, stating that hollows who serve under shinigami were doomed to fall due to shinigami lacking the insight of the power of the hollows.

Herrera did not enforce any form of order amongst his men, resulting in his hollows devouring each other. Although it limited his manpower, the competition among his own men resulted in an elite force that was feared in Hueco Mundo. They were nicknamed the Red Devils due to their vicious members and sometimes needless bloodshed. The members within the Red Devils were all strong, indispensable soldiers that respected each others' strengths.

Herrera consolidated his forces and attacked Las Noches, taking over the complex with ease and crowned himself the King of Las Noches. He kept his forces together within the palace, seeing himself as the only major threat that remained in Hueco Mundo. In essence, Herrera became the army that monitored for Soul Society activity, assuming the task that Baraggan once took.

Even as king, Herrera kept his control over his minions to a minimum, allowing them to attack each other or trail off to the human world to feed. He only warned them to be mindful of the consequences of their actions and that he would not take any risks to rescue them.

Personality and traits
Unlike other arrancars, Herrera was moralistic. He refused to travel to the human world to hunt down spirits to eat and explained himself by saying that they tasted terrible and thus hardly worth the effort. He also believed that hollows were innately individualistic, and should never have to obey shinigami. His list of morals seem to be limited, as he rarely cared for his minions, allowing them to fight along themselves so that his army as a whole could become stronger. Herrera also would not risk his life to save another of his followers, unless it would prove detrimental to the future of his army. Part of this, Herrera explained, was to force his followers to build their own strength and rely on themselves for power. He reasoned that leaning on others for aid was an unstable reserve of power that should be kept as a last resort.

Herrera does not seem to hold the other possessors of jinki fragments in any regard, perhaps due to his relationship with a host he met in the past. Although he seemed to be somewhat nicer to other hosts, perhaps as a result of being saved by one, the difference in treatment between the fragment hosts and other individuals appear minimal.

On numerous occasions, Herrera has proven himself to be deceitful through lying, half-truths, and equivocations, among other means of verbal manipulation. He was theorized to have convinced a number of his followers to join him, in his years under Aizen, through a combination of preying on their lack of knowledge and implying circumstances with potentially questionable outcomes. His argument, using the fallen Aizen as an example, of hollows never relying on shinigami, was exemplary of Herrera's deceit. Herrera knew how to make his arguments convincing, allowing him to cover his inaccurate words with both partial and whole truths.

Though ignorant to the hypnotic powers of Aizen's zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu, Herrera was confident that he could deceive his superior until the very last moment. Although confident, Herrera was not arrogant about it, being weary of the power of his shinigami overlords. He planned to eradicate all of them quickly, to utilize the element of surprise in order to crush the opposition before it could be mounted against him. Herrera also expressed an ability to quickly improvise when a plan goes wrong, such as when he used his Gran Rey Cero within Las Noches to provide a distraction as he made a get-away following the exposure of his resistance movement.

Herrera grew to believe, after fleeing from Aizen's army, that he could not trust anyone other than himself, cutting himself off from the rest of the world during the time of Aizen's reign. Without any strength to trust others, Herrera's care for others' well-being was limited to his concern for his own safety, as well as the continued existence of his army. Even so, Herrera continued to show outstanding charisma, consistently convincing more to join or continue to follow him.

Although Herrera did not like the Gotei 13, he fully understood their intentions. Since the spirits within the human world had no way of protecting themselves, it was up to others to do so for them. He reasoned that the Gotei 13's existence was also beneficial to the hollows, since that the shinigami helped weed out the weak hollows and leave only the strong to contend for power. With that balance in place, Herrera believed that life was a struggle to become more powerful more quickly than the opposition.

Powers and abilities


Immerse Spiritual Pressure: From centuries of experience, before Aizen appeared, Herrera was able to manifest himself into a deadly force, capable of single-handedly fighting a quarter of Baraggan's enormous hollow army with little effort. Herrera never challenged Baraggan, however, claiming that there was no point in doing so. Herrera's strength was comparable to that of Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck during his time in the Espada, since he was only a rank lower than the other, though his strength has grown considerably since his time in hiding. Even Raian Getsueikirite commented that Herrera had a powerful presence when they first met, though the canonicity of their meeting is disputable.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Herrera placed much focus into learning the art of the sword, producing a style of combat that combined both fluid movements and brutal efficiency, using both the edge of his sword and the talon-like fingers of his clawed hand to great effect. Herrera preferred to not take attacks head-on, using momentum of his opponents to take advantage of openings in defenses. This strategy worked especially well with Herrera's extraordinary, for an arrancar, speeds.

Master Hand-to-hand Combatant: With his skeletal hand, Herrera was a highly capable fighter without using his zanpakutō. He preferred to defeat opponents with his hand and claw, though he does not hesitate in drawing his weapon against stronger enemies. Since his claw was created from fragments of his zanpakutō, Herrera's arm was nearly indestructible and capable of cutting through hierro. The clawed hand had the ability to negate kidō, forcing enemies to engage him in close combat.

Master Strategist and Tactician: Although the assassination plot was relatively simple in design, Herrera knew and understood that the complexity of the plan laid in the execution of the steps. His strength in intellect was within his ability to improvise, understanding that the most well planned tactics never survive contact with the enemy.

Cero: As with most arrancars, Herrera has shown the ability to use cero. Herrera has demonstrated the ability to fire powerful ceros without having to charge it up, making the usage of bala almost obselete.
 * Gran Rey Cero: Moments before he made his escape, Herrera defiantly fired a Gran Rey Cero within Las Noches, causing enormous structural damage. He stated that the cero would have obliterated the building if he had the time to charge the cero to cause more devastation, though doubtful that it would have caused anything more than injury to the building's occupants, anyways. Herrera has developed his Gran Rey Cero to the point of being capable of charging two of them at once: one from each palm.


 * Cero Oscuras: Herrera's Cero Oscuras was largely developed during his time rebuilding the Red Devils army after the Winter War. It is assumed to be quite devastating, from referring to previous usage of the Oscuras by other arrancar.

Enhanced Strength: Herrera demonstrated incredible strength when he crushed the skull of a burly hollow who challenged his claim as King of Hueco Mundo, despite the other struggling against his one-handed grip.

Hierro: Herrera had a strong hierro, being capable of blocking a multitude of shikai-strength sword strikes with his arm, even hooking his arm around the blade to halt its movement.

Pesquisa: Herrera was considered the greatest practitioner of pesquisa in the original Espada. His skills in the technique allowed him to analyze others to the point of telling who the target being interacted with within the past day. He could discern a lot of information about other peoples' spiritual levels and strengths by looking at them. Herrera could also perceive slight changes in other people's emotions. His skill in pesquisa allowed Herrera to even track down a target after memorizing his target's aura.

Sonído: Although he was capable of using the technique, Herrera frequently avoided using sonído in his combative style. For him to begin resorting to tactics that heavily rely on sonído often indicated how serious Herrera was about winning a fight. He primarily used sonído to chase down fleeing enemies.

Garganta: Herrera could create a garganta to travel between dimensions. Combined with his skill in pesquisa, Herrera could even ambush enemies found in a different dimensions.

Jinki Fragment
Herrera was one of the nine reincarnations of the jinki fragments created by Elder Mūi. Herrera's fragment of desire was influence, indicated in his charismatic personality. It remains uncertain where Herrera's own charisma is distinguished from the power of his jinki fragment, if there is any distinction at all. It was hinted that Herrera was capable of producing his left arm from his zanpakutō due to his jinki fragment.

Regardless of whether Herrera had natural charisma or if he drew on its power as an arrancar, Herrera was highly capable of using his fragment power to great potential. He utilized it to present an incredibly intimidating appearance to others, as well as inspire his followers to great extremes. It was also possible for Herrera to use his power to give an appearance of weakness, luring in his enemies for a powerful attack.

Herrera's power of influence could be contagious if Herrera willed it, as though the strength of his words were passed down by others who he has met. This allowed him to spread the word of his notoriety to others at an alarming rate and cause individuals who he had never met to acknowledge, if not feel afraid of, his power.

Herrera's power of influence extended to illusory abilities, allowing Herrera to manipulate the senses of others. The power could be likened to hypnosis in that the subject was prone to suggestions given by Herrera when in a state of reduced peripheral awareness, due to his charismatic personality. With this power, Herrera could turn allies against each other, making them believe each other to be enemies.

With the Jinki Fragment, Herrera could even affect the environment around him. His powers were capable of distorting surfaces to suit himself both in and out of combat, as well as affect inertia, gravity, and even the perception of time. However, everyone within the vicinity of the sudden change, including Herrera, would be affected by such changes.

Zanpakutō
Herrera's zanpakutō, named Comadreja (鎌獣歯 (カーマドレハ); kāmadoreha; Spanish for "Weasel", Japanese for "Sickled Beast Teeth"), usually was sheathed at his side, resembling a typical wakizashi. The hilt featured a yellow tassel and the guard consisted of four short prongs with the sharp tips facing the same direction as the blade. It was released by the word Tear (裂く; saku).

Formerly, the zanpakutō did not have the ability to cut and heal at the same time, as Herrera altered his sword during his brief duel with Nnoitra Gilga. It remains unknown how Herrera's zanpakutō abilities differed prior to modifying it.
 * Resurrección: When Herrera released, his zanpakutō alters its form to that of a greatsword. While in resurrección, Herrera wore a mask, similar to what was used for masquerading, which was the remnants of his hollow mask. Other than these changes, Herrera physically remained similar to while not in resurrección.
 * Resurrección special ability: In this form, Herrera's weapon was capable of incurring internal injuries to his enemies without causing external damage. This occurred by abnormal properties of the blade, mending spiritual particles, while the core of the blade still held cutting power. To add to this ability, Herrera's blade was coated in a poison designed to sap energy when it enters one's bloodstream, gradually making his victim unable to effectively fight back.
 * Enhanced speed and agility: Herrera's impressive agility was further augmented while in resurrección, surpassing that of a captain's flash step.
 * Enhanced strength: Herrera's strength increased to the point of allowing him to cause serious wounds with glancing blows. With his, Herrera could take down an army of shinigami without breaking a sweat.
 * Enhanced hierro: His skin, further augmented by resurrección, allowed Herrera to take the full blow of the hadō spell Twin Lotus, Crash Down with no visible injuries.


 * Resurección: Segunda Etapa: In Segunda Etapa, Herrera's body becomes invisible, preventing others from seeing him. It is unknown what the exact appearance of Herrera is within this form since even his blood is invisible until the blood loses contact with Herrera's body. Herrera can materialize his body at will, though he has claimed to never have shown his true form to an enemy. Instead, his appearance varies based on what Herrera wants his enemy to see.
 * Resurección: Segunda Etapa special ability: In Segunda Etapa, Herrera becomes completely invisible, preventing anyone from easily seeing him, though he could become visible if he wanted to. To add to the difficulty of detection, Herrera's reiatsu blankets the area, preventing detection skills from locating his exact position. Due to the immerse reiatsu that he possessed, one could not even use the gradients of reiatsu strength, as one would notice when being a farther distance away, to determine the location of Herrera. Alongside the difficulty of detection, Herrera's voice could be heard everywhere within the field of reiatsu, preventing others from realizing his exact location with the words that Herrera says. Herrera has shown the ability to alter the sound of his voice to imitate other peoples', such as those who he disguises himself as. Alongside the ability to materialize and present any appearance that he wants, Herrera could imitate the appearance of techniques if he has seen them before. Herrera could even mimic the appearance of other individuals and use them to taunt his enemies.
 * Enhanced strength: Herrera's strength is multiplied, allowing him to instantly shred blocks of concrete to pieces. He claims that no one has ever survived a well placed blow from his Segunda Etapa.
 * Enhanced speed and agility: Due to being invisible, it is unclear how quick Herrera could move in Segunda Etapa. However, Herrera has claimed that his movement is even faster than his "three strikes" ability. Herrera appears to be able to perform a technique similar to, allowing him to produce an afterimage that has the impression of being tangible.

Appearances

 * The Hollow Threat (first appearance; non-canon)

Quotes

 * "A shinigami using the powers of a hollow to fight? That's fucking hysterical!"
 * (To ) "This is no ordinary power."

Behind the scenes
Herrera was designed to go against the evil archetype that was present in arrancars, with the intention to be an antihero-like character. He was named after Spanish architect Juan de Herrera and German World War II officer Henning von Tresckow, who headed a coup that almost killed Hitler. Herrera is easily the most elaborate work by Lavi so far, with a deeper personality than any previously made character. The article is also the second by Lavi to use numerous references to canon characters and events, filling in gaps left by the mangaka.

European superstitions involving weasels say that they are the form taken by witches and banshees, and considered to be the herald of death. It was also considered unlucky to kill a weasel, or to have one cross one's own path. The kamaitachi was a Japanese mythological creature that was said to operate in groups of threes that moved extraordinarily quickly. The first kamaitachi knocked over the victim, the second caused a wound, and the third healed the wound, leaving the victim to suddenly feel excruciating pain without an apparent reason.

Herrera's aspect of death was Deception.

Although there was a shinigami that had a zanpakutō named Kamaitachi, he lost his shinigami powers in the aftermath of a battle against Uryu Ishida. The katakana for Comadreja is an intentionally incorrect writing of the Japanese kanji.

Through coincidence, Herrera Tresckohen and Raian Getsueikirite could be seen as the antithesis of each other, with opposing views, including their core beliefs. There were discussions of having the two characters meet, though the plans were largely dormant.

Herrera was selected as the Featured Article of the Month on March 2011.