Headcanon Minute: Active vs Passive AoD

So I was talking about this with someone the other day and I felt like making a post about it. I'm totally not procrastinating posting in threads because of lack of muse.

So basically, the way the idea goes is every hollow's aspect of death is either passive or active. They're either a victim of or subject to their aspect, or they embody or spread their aspect. Going by canon you have the ten aspects

Rage - Active
Solitude - Passive
Time - Passive
Sacrifice - Passive
Emptiness - Passive
Despair - Passive
Destruction - Active
Intoxication - Active
Madness - Active
Greed - Active

As you can see, it's half and half, and funnily enough before Yammy did his bullshit, the five top five were Passive and the bottom five were Active. Now there are some on there that are debatable, Nnoitra and Despair for one, but we'll handle that later never. First lets better define them

Passive - A passive aspect isn't one that the owner necessarily enjoys. It's something that's forced upon them. Starkk didn't want to be lonely. Harribel didn't want to sacrifice herself. Ulqiorra wanted to believe in value in life. Nnoitra wanted to be strong enough that he didn't have to despair that he was going to be beaten.

Active - An active aspect is something the owner most likely enjoys. Something they willingly choose to embody or become. Grimmjow loed blowing shit up. Syazel was intoxicated on his own intelligence and he loved it. Black dude loved being mad for Aizen. AAMcSlimytentacles loved being greedy, and stealing Zanpakuto and faces. And we all know how much Yammy liked to get pissed.

'But Souta!' You're asking. 'What the fuck does this have to do with anything?'

I'm about to tell you you impatient little shits.

Part of an Arrancar's development towards greater power and definitely towards post-prestige is coming to terms with their Aspect of Death. Arrancar have a unique view on it that only the Vasto Lorde gets close to because they're the only hollows with a large amount of humanity. They can see their own flaws through a human eye instead of a hollow one. Dealing with the conflicts between your hollow nature and your human one can be a huge driving force for an Arrancar's personal development.

So how do you deal with aspects? Honestly, that depends on each person, but Passive Aspects generally have to be overcome in a more personal sense. A revelation of sorts. It's realizing that your aspect isn't the end-all be all. Ulqiorra realized at the end of his life that life wasn't meaningless, thanks to Orihime. Starkk would have had to realize he's not alone (but he kind of was because the Espada are dicks)

An active aspect doesn't have to be overcome in an emotional sense, but more in an AA sense. You have to abstain from your aspect, restrain yourself. Yammy not getting angry, if he had the brain cells to do that, would have been an example. Grimmjow deciding there are better ways to solve the situation than trying to kick Ichigo's shit in. Syazel no longer getting drunk on how amazingly homosexual intelligent he is.

So what does all of this have to do with you, you might still be asking? It's to give you ideas, room to think. How can you develop your arrancar (or applicable vasto lorde) further by interacting with their aspect of death? If you're having trouble thinking of a way for your arrancar to move forward, maybe this can help. If it helps one person, then woo-hoo I did a semi decent job.


EDIT: Now you see, I'm a forgetful person, and I forgot two things.

First of all, Barragan Louisenbarn. You might have seen his name under passive, and gone "But wait Soda! He loves his aspect and inflicting it upon people. He practically came in his pants from rotting off Sui-Feng's arm, except he didn't have genitals at the time". Well, I agree with you. But that's what we call a defense mechanism. Hachigan is the one who originally said it, "In the end he was just another puny life. Who feared death and tried to keep old age at bay". What does this mean? It means Barragan had a passive aspect that he applied in an active way as a defense mechanism. He was afraid of old age, and so he wanted to make other people afraid of it too, so he didn't feel alone in his old age. Or he was just a dick. Y'know, whichever.

That brings me to a very good point. Not every character is going to fit into this perfectly. Not every aspect is going to be passive every time. On our own site. Azucena embodies passive Sacrifice. She feels compelled to sacrifice herself for others because she's worth less. Daisy embodies active Sacrifice. She wants others to sacrifice themselves for her, to idolize her. Then we'll have people like Barragan who have an aspect that is at it's core one, and manifests the other way. And then we'll have the really fucked up people who are both at once and boy do they have a basket full of problems to solve.