Herrera Tresckow

Herrera Tresckohen (ヘレラ・トレスコヘン; Herera Toresukohen) was an arrancar and former member of Aizen's army who secretly plotted to assassinate Aizen. He had a small band of followers, but his plot failed and Herrera fled into the deserts of Hueco Mundo and remained hidden until Aizen's fall from power. He was the original Quinta Espada, before the shinigamification of the hollows, though his position was later taken when Nnoitra Jiruga was promoted from Octava when 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 an adjuchas-class Menos prior to shinigamification. He was a member of the the original Espada that existed prior to Aizen's arrival in Hueco Mundo, ranked Quinta, Fifth, by Aizen. Once Aizen arrived and assumed control of Hueco Mundo, Herrera saw the life that he knew fall apart as changes were made. The arrancar hated Aizen and his shinigami allies, especially Aizen himself, for assuming power over himself and the other hollows who he competed with. Aizen saw the strength that Herrera had and shinigamified him 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 frustration. Herrera vowed to become stronger so that he would not suffer from such embarrassment again.

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. 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 let a word regarding the resistance slip from his lips. 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. From there, Gin and Tōsen were to be eradicated while separated from each other to prevent them from utilizing team-based tactics to overcome the hollows.

Moments before Herrera fled from Las Noches, he fired a Gran Rey Cero into the fortress from the entrance, causing structural damage and a portion of the palace to crumble. 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
Exiled in his own dimension, 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. 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.

Invasion of Hueco Mundo
His army, which was growing bored from the lack of excitement, jumped at the opportunity for a bit of action when suspicious activity was spotted in the desert. A small group of the Red Devils went to check it out at Herrera's orders, with a second squad being held in reserve. The scouting party was annihilated in seconds, and Herrera quickly canceled the second group's advance. He and his second-in-command went to investigate the threat, meeting Raian Getsueikirite and his followers in the process.

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.

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, Ryūka 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, though it has grown considerably since his time in hiding. Even Raian Getsueikirite commented that Herrera had a powerful presence when they first met.

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. His claw appears to have some sort of special property, being able to tear through kidō spells without negative side-effects. Herrera, at times, combined his hand-to-hand combat techniques with cero, using it to enhance the power of a single blow to devastating proportions, though doing so seemed to cause a small degree of self-injury.

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.

Zanpakutō
Herrera's zanpakutō, named Comadreja (鎌獣神 (カマレハ); kamareha; Spanish for "Weasel", Japanese for "Bestial Sickle God"), usually was sheathed at his side, resembling a typical katana. 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).
 * Resurrección: When Herrera released, his right hand transformed into a long, curved scythe blade. 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 could move quickly enough to make three actions before his opponent could register what happened, even for a seasoned warrior. He was capable of stunning, attacking (or defending), and healing within those three actions. Through this, Herrera could cause intense pain in his opponent without leaving any visible indication of a wound.
 * 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)

Behind the scenes
thumb|150px|right|Battle music that Lavi selected to represent Herrera

Herrera was designed to go against the evil archetype that is present in arrancars. 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. The character was designed with the intentions to be an antihero. 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 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.

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.