They become stronger and more like their original Hollow form and for many of them it means the fragments of their masks become larger.

The Arrancar zig-zag a bit when using their Resurrección.

This is meant to represent his 'perfected' Hollowfication since he's finally at peace and one with his power. Ironically, Ichigo's final and most powerful Hollowfication does away with the mask entirely, instead having his skin bleach white while gaining the mask lines on his face and the horns growing right out of his skull.

Ichigo's Hollow side definitely deserves a mention of its own, because when his Hollow form takes over in his epic fight with Byakuya Kuchiki, it started growing onto his face.

The trope is also inverted in that Arrancar - the polar opposite of Visoreds - are more powerful because they took their Hollow masks off.

The Visored in Bleach can increase their power tenfold by calling out their inner Hollow and wearing its mask in battle.

Not to be confused with Cool Mask, in which a character who wears a mask is assumed to be powerful but does not necessarily have power because of the mask itself. However the flip side of the power being in the mask and the importance of the 'new face' that can have its own personality is that you can get a literal Becoming the Mask situation, with the mask taking over the character.Ĭompare Evil Mask, Hat of Power, Crown of Power, Ring of Power, Crystal Skull. Then there's the symbolism of taking upon oneself a new face, the metaphor of looking through different eyes becoming literal as well as the sense that masks are just really badass. The latter point is possibly influenced by the preponderance of masks in Tiki culture. Perhaps it was the facial representation of some deity, or it may have been worn by some ancient ruler or mage, or maybe it was connected to some vaguely defined tropical mysticism.

Often it will get some backstory to explain its power, whether that's where the power comes from or what sort of power it is. The Mask of Power is an object that when worn on the face grants the wearer any number of powers, depending on the mask itself. One mask to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. One mask to rule them all, one mask to find them.

Death trance graham masterton