Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode #16 and Can't Fear Your Own World.Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has been telling an anime-exclusive story since the beginning of part 2, and it teases a dark, alternate finale for Ichigo. Several years after Bleach ended, Ryogo Narita published the Can’t Fear Your Own World novels, which expanded on the series lore and cleared up loose ends from the original series. A big part of that was expanding on Ichibe Hyosube’s intentions for Ichigo, as it’s revealed that he planned on Ichigo losing to Yhwach so he could make him the new Soul King, which would mean trapping Ichigo in a near-death state while his spiritual energy maintains the balance between the realms.

The idea of Ichigo becoming the Soul King is a frightening thought, and the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War arc is already alluding to it. The anime has been expanding on Ichigo’s training by putting him in a strange hallway of intense pressure called Irazu Sando, and episode #16 had him both see visions of the Soul King’s mutilation and gain the same multiple pupils as the Soul King. That story is clearly teasing how Ichigo was groomed to be the next Soul King, and in addition to being a good sign for the novels, it opens up the possibility of one of Bleach’s biggest villains finally receiving punishment.

Bleach's New Story Can Make The Novels Official Canon

One of the biggest takeaways from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s anime-exclusive story is that it can help make the Can’t Fear Your Own World novels officially canon. While the novels serve as a sequel story to Bleach, the canonicity of them has always been a subject of debate because they weren’t written by Tite Kubo, himself. However, everything involving Ichigo references reveals about the Soul King that were only in Can’t Fear Your Own World, so if the anime is incorporating that information into its plot, then this story can be seen as a means of making the novels officially canon.

Related: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Anime Exclusive Ichigo Scenes Explained

The idea of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War making Can’t Fear Your Own World officially canon is also supported by another big moment: Shinji’s Bankai. Shinji’s Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happō Fusagari, originally only appeared in the Can’t Fear Your Own World novels, but Thousand-Year Blood War episode #16 had Shinji use it against the Wandenreich, making its appearance and abilities from the novels officially canon. Shinji’s Bankai establishes a precedent for the anime making elements of Can’t Fear Your Own World officially canon, so it would make sense for the teasing of Ichigo becoming a potential replacement for the Soul King to do the same.

Bleach Needs To Deal With One Of Its Biggest Villains

With Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War expanding on the idea of Ichigo being groomed to be a replacement, that means the anime needs to try and deal with one of its biggest villains: Ichibe Hyosube. Not only was Ichibe grooming Ichigo to replace the Soul King, but he was complicit in the mutilation of the original Soul King, covered up the truth to maintain order, and notably shows zero remorse for anything he did or was planning to do. Ichibe never receives any punishment for his actions, but if the anime is expanding on a plot thread that directly relates to him, then that could lead to him finally being punished for the crimes he’s committed throughout the series.

As for how Ichibe could be punished, that might be more complicated. While it could be as easy as having his crimes revealed to the public, there wouldn’t be a good opportunity for that unless the anime makes some major divergences from the source material, and while the anime has made notable changes, it has yet to do anything that big. That being said, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s Separation arc has only just begun, so it’s still possible for its teasing of Ichigo’s alternate fate to lead to bigger changes for the story, going forward.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War releases new episodes Saturdays on Hulu.