Zodiac: Sagittarius
Ulquiorra is the 4th Espada and stands out as one of the more intellectually sharp arrancar in Aizen's army. He's got a distinctly melancholic vibe about him—pale, composed, almost detached. What makes him interesting is how analytical he actually is. During his early encounters in the human world, he quickly picked up on things others missed: he clocked Orihime's healing ability as something way beyond normal (a rejection of fate, as Aizen would later explain), and he immediately recognized how dangerous Ichigo's final form could be. He also noticed something almost nobody else did—that Ichigo's spiritual power is wildly unstable, sometimes weak and sometimes stronger than Ulquiorra's own.
This last observation became the crux of a major disagreement with Grimmjow, the 6th Espada. While Ulquiorra was content to let Ichigo live because he believed the guy's power would eventually consume him, Grimmjow argued they should kill him while they had the chance. Grimmjow figured Ichigo might grow strong enough to overcome his instability—which turned out to be right, but that's another story. Aizen sided with Ulquiorra's judgment, which didn't sit well with Grimmjow. There's clearly no love lost between these two, and Grimmjow's unauthorized attacks on the real world were partly a result of that tension. Grimmjow claims he's not afraid to fight Ulquiorra despite the rank difference, though whether he actually believes that is up for debate.
His zanpakutou, Murciélago, transforms him completely. In his base release, he sprouts massive black wings and his hollow mask becomes prominent with two large horns. His outfit tightens up and flows into something more robe-like below. But here's the kicker—Ulquiorra is apparently the only Espada with a true second release form. In Resurrección Segunda Etapa, he becomes a genuinely monstrous version of himself: heavily muscular with claws, his eyes invert to black, and his whole lower body from the hips down is covered in black fur with a long tail. He loses the formal arrancar outfit entirely. In either form, he can fire energy lances called Lanza del Relámpago that explode on impact—though he seemed a bit rusty with them at first, actually missing with his opening shot in his second release. Still, he can just keep throwing them until something lands.
Theme song: "Moonshield" by In Flames (from The Jester Race).
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
