What is with the Butterflies?

[toddster]

Hello All,

This is kind of off the wall, but what is with the butterflies? Is there some connection between the after life and butterflies? Isn't the direct orders to captains and vice captions distributed by messengers or butterflies?

I am just curious if anyone has any insights on this.

Take care all,
Toddster

[SHiKaMaRi]

Hell Butterflies? I'm not quite sure either, but they do pretty much the same job as CFC dudes.. Sending messages to *whoever* and stuff like that. And I think they guide souls to Soul Society (?)
Not very sure about the last one there, but I *think* that's what those butterflies do..
Edit: They also guide Shinigami's to safely travel to the human world from Soul Society, or back to SS. Either way, they are guided by the little butterflies.

[Karakura Red]

i also agree with that. I also think the butterflies are kinda helpers of the sould society people and they send messages around and guide yeah. Such as like wen a butterfly flew out to greet them or smthing.

[Kagebu]

It's part of Japanese culture. Butterflies are associated with death, so they were included in Bleach.

So far, inside the Bleach universe, Hell Butterflies are used as two things: messangers and escorts to the living world. Usually, you have to pass through the "dangai" to get to the living world, but if you bring a Hell Butterfly with you (as all Shinigami do), you are able to subvert the dangai and go straight to the living world, and as I assume, vice versa.

[Centro]

Is that right? Butterflies are associated with death in japanese culture?

I know they are a symbol of happiness and represent "the soul" in japanese culture. They are also a widespread symbol for change and metamorphosis.

[Undying]

If they represent "the soul", all the more reason: Hell Butterflies are the guides for Soul Society for regular souls, the link to the material world for Shinigami and/or Ryoka passing through a regular Senkaimon, and they are also messengers for the Shinigami.

[everblack]

does any1 know what happens to the butterflies which are kinda...'spawned' after a soul burial? oe where they hiding around from the begining?

[Undying]

Well... I believe that they are either:
(a)spawned after every Konso
or
(b)every Shinigami has his or her own butterfly and they are what appears to have been spawned every time.

[rOyKiA]

Well, from watching bleach, I think these butterflies serves as a guide whether for shinigamis or regular souls that are travelling from SS to the real world and vice versa.

It's not always shown in the anime but there was one episode where Byakuya and Renji captured Rukia and was ready to go back to SS...

...when Renji opened the gate to SS, three (3) hell butterflies came out and escorted every one of them through the gate.


By the way...here in the Philippines there's this old saying that when a black butterfly landed on you or went in your house it's either a family member will die or a dead family member is visiting.

[the ghost]

from what i can tell, butterflies are messengers that tell the death god info, but on the other hand they might be souls of the dead...

[The_Warrior_Zero]

no if u have seen the first esp the black butterfiles was rukia because once the butterfile enter irgchio room it transfomr in rukia

[Mashu-truth seeker]

Just a little style splash they added, a cultural pinch added in if you will... The purposes have already been stated.

And no, Rukia isn't the butterfly, its probobly just the one guiding her and following her, she'd need it to get back to SS most likely, for a reason, if any...

[Iro]

I think that the butterflies represents spirits from the long dead who guide their loved one but if so why dont they just visit their loved ones in their ghostly human form? probably they didnt want to scare their loved ones so they became butterflies, lol :) anyway, i know i dont make sense but thats what i thought at start.

[Savage Dragon]

ive been wondering that myself at one point i thought that the shinigami turned into the butterflies but it looks like the help them get from soul society to the living world

[The_Warrior_Zero]

ohh so the butterfilie help spirit gudie to the SS

[blah]

Maybe KT feels nostalgic and uses some stuff from Zombie powder? :p


Too bad he didn't finish it

[kav2001c]

A butterfly doesnt represent death!
(It is used in a death scene, but I think you guys have seriously missed something in the translation!)

There are 3 main uses of butterflies in Bleach (2 are fairly obvious, the 3rd is much more subtle and I wont post here at least without spoiler tags)

About Chou (Butterfly Kanji)

In Japanese culture, butterflies have a slew of meanings. Their most obvious symbolism is metamorphasis or transformation. This symbolism of transformation is taken one step further to represent those who have died (or that they 'carry' the recently departed souls). Sometimes, butterflies are interpretted as messengers, and following them will lead to a mystery's (or problem's solution). Since butterflies have a very obvious cycle of transformation, birth, and death, it's easy to see why they have been used to represent spirits.
Butterflies are also very popular in Japanese motifs. Many Japanese family crests (Kamon) use the butterfly in their designs. Butterflies also symbolize spring, maidenhood, and happiness within marriage. (There is an old Japanese custom of sending two large paper butterflies as a wedding gift! If it inherently represented death, this would be a tad odd) In Japanese Poetry, butterflies have been used to symbolize star crossed lovers, or the souls of lovers who have committed suicide so they can be together in death if not in life.
Many other cultures also believe the butterfly is a spirit, or in some cases a harbringer of death. One such story goes that if you see a butterfly at night, it's a sign that you will die soon (or that death is closeby).

What K said about the role of the butterfly "The head director described the basis of the scariness of the story as "the sadness that results when two things that must be together in order to complete a whole are pulled apart". In the case of [CUT] and the wings of a butterfly, the whole entity is complete only when the symmetric halves are opposite each other. When that symmetry breaks down, tragedy is the result. Tragedy also results from each entity's need to be whole again. This is the basis of the story."

[Ichigo-Kurosaki]

Well we see a butterfly each time a shinigami appears or dissapears and when someone is sent to Soul Society. Well by this we can say that butterflys resemble Dead People or spirits if you would like to call it.

[chiking1]

I think the butterflies are just messengers... They send the messages to Soul Society telling them who has died, or who killed a hollow. It's probably built into Shinigamis and they can't control them...

[LegendaryXM90]

I think the butterflies are like...taxis to SS. It would be like, konso is the corner, the spirit is the passenger, and the butterfly is like the taxi. In other words, I think the butterfly takes the konso'ed spirit to SS...something like that.

[Cloudarc]

Yeah i think there mainly for delivering messages and help guiding souls to soul society since after a soul burial there is alway a hell butterfly after it

[Dariru]

hell butterflies...their hell butterfiles,i guess their sort of '' becoming into '' after soul burial.but for one thing i'm sure of,shinnigamis can turn into that,in order to enter and leave soul society,u'll see that in episode 2x when ichigo and friends enter soul society and after they leave,i don't want to put a spoiler,so check it out yourself :)