[Scep]

Originally Posted by tzia_n

from reading the posts in these threads, i'm getting the impression that the espadas are numbered according to strength, but is this really the case?

is there a direct statement by a hollow saying that espadas are ranked? all i can recall is that the 10 espadas are stronger than any hollow but nothing stating that the no1 espada is the strongests of all espadas

i kinda think that the espadas arent ranked among themselves because of the following reasons (im putting them in spoilers because i think they're not yet in the anime)

Spoiler for weak reason 1:

noitura (sp?) says that he is the strongest espada. if they were ranked i think he would say that he is espada number 1 since they seem to take pride of their number (they use their number to introduce themselves

Spoiler for weak reason 2:

i think that the espadas are parallels to the captains in SS. so since the captains number isnt a reflection of strength ranking, i think its the same case for espadas

Spoiler for weak reason 3:

number 9 died first, the weakest always dies first jk no wait actually its ruppi hmmm haha

Spoiler for main reason:

lets assume that they are indeed ranked. when grimjow lost his arm he lost his spot on the espada making ruppi number 6. so this means that ruppi was originally number 7. so during this time 7 became 6, 8 becomes 7, 9 becomes 8, 10 becomes 9, and someones enters as 10.

but when grimjow got his arm back he killes off ruppi. this means he just takes back number 6 without the rest changing their numbers. this means that originally , zael (current 8) was 9, arronio (current 9) was 10 and yami (current 10) was not an original espada. but this is not the case. ulquirra implied that yami kept his number ten ranking because they retrieved his cut-off arm and reattached it.

so if the espadas were indeed ranked, there will be a problem as to why yami's number did not change. so i'm lead to believe that they are not ranked according to strength

Shawlong kuufan/qufan said in his battle against hitsugaya that all espadas are ranked according to their strength.

Spoiler for manga:

As for why the espada seats werent moved forwards when grimm lost his espada position, my opinion is that luppi is the strongest gillian, but not an espada, and she was put in there as a temporary place, maybe because changing all the numbers were too much of a hassle XD