[Question] Arrancar numbers

[Venomous Cobra]

I think the intensity of Ichigo in that battle makes Ulq look stronger than he was, it was just so epic and then heartbreaking, I ended up jumping up and down and the crying, ah, the old Bleach was so good

definitely agree with this

 

[Xlad]

Grimmjow lost his number because he had gone against the orders to stay in Las Noches that were issued by Aizen. Kaname dealt the punishment that he felt would be worthy for such rebellion. Some Arrancar were demoted from the rank of Espada due to simply being weaker than the more recently created Arrancar. The Privaron Espada are such an example. They were once part of the Espada, but were demoted due to the stronger Arrancar replacing them and their status as Espada levelled Arrancar.

Here's a wiki entry on the Arrancar you're referring to.

Privaron Espada

The Privaron Espada are former Espada who have officially lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in Tres Cifras (３ケタ (トレス・シフラス), toresu shifurasu; Japanese for "Three-digit", Spanish for "Three Digits"). As mentioned by Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, these former "naturally created" Espada were rendered obsolete after Aizen began artificially creating Arrancar to meet his own standards.

Simply put, they were child's play compared the newly created Arrancar that Aizen had created via use of the Hōgyoku. However, they are more powerful than Números Arrancar.

This...

 

[Dannie]

uliqoiura admitted that there are 3 espada who are stronger than him tho .........

That's because he is only going by his number that was given to him by Aizen.

Has Ulquiorra ever seen the other Espada in their strongest or has he ever faced them in battle to even determine that?

 

[Venomous Cobra]

That's because he is only going by his number that was given to him by Aizen.

Has Ulquiorra ever seen the other Espada in their strongest or has he ever faced them in battle to even determine that?

aizen placed them based on their reiatsu level but no they never fought,besides Aizen had absolutely no resoan to lie about ulqi's strength

 

[Aoihime]

That was Yammy right? He went from ten to zero, I hated him, big lug

I never liked Yammy either. To me he didn't seem strong ._.

 

[Goetia]

Also, if my memory does not betray me, the Espada are ranked based on the strength of their Reiryoku or Reiatsu. Starrk is the best explanation for this. Simply by being near other hollows, his Reiatsu destroyed them. That was simply due to the quality of his Reiatsu being enough to exterminate them. The reason people make the mistake that Espada rankings are based on strength (assuming I myself am not mistaken), is because of the way each Espada higher up the rankings was stronger. Typically, the stronger you are, the stronger and more powerful your Reiryoku is going to be, which will in turn increase the quality of your Reiatsu. Ulquiorra may have been stronger than the rest, but Starrk's Reiatsu had the potential to kill. Granted, those hollows were either generic hollow or possibly Adjuchas, but the fact that simply being close enough to Starrk was sufficient to kill them is still quite impressive. Another reason Espada rankings are more than likely based on Reiatsu quality/strength is one of the worst and my most hated of the Espada, Yammy Llargo. Yammy was barely strong enough to make it into the Espada, that is clear since his rank is 10. While his strength certainly does take drastic jumps in his Resurreccion state, due to the trait of this release state being associated with his growing anger, it still is not that impressive. In his early stages of Resurreccion, he was only cut by a Getsuga Tenshō Hollowfied Ichigo in Bankai state. At first glance, this may be quite the feat, given that since he was only ranked 10, he was able to resist damage from a Getsuga Tenshō that well. However, reading later chapters, and referring back to Ichigo's battle with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow as well, it is borderline laughable.

During Ichigo's travel back to Karakura Town with Unohana via Kurotsuchi Mayuri's Garganta, Unohana remarked upon his Spiritual Energy. Ichigo retorted by saying that it was only that weak due to how little was left of his Shihakushō in the Bankai state. At this point in time, Ichigo had barely a sleeve remaining of his Shihakushō. That means that his Spiritual Energy was barely at 1/3 of it's full strength, and that was when Ichigo was not Hollowfied. Upon making that statement, Unohana had originally thought that even with that little remaining of Ichigo's Bankai Shihakushō, his Spiritual Energy was already comparable to that of a Captain's. That is actually really scary, considering that it was barely 1/3 of his full strength while not Hollowfied. And for Yammy to be nicked by a Hollowfied Ichigo in Bankai state that was at 1/3 of his full power is quite lucky for him, since a full power Getsuga Tenshō from a full power Ichigo would have sliced his head clean off.

In Ichigo's fight with Ulquiorra, Ichigo was Hollowfied, and his Bankai Shihakushō was a little damaged, so he was pretty close to full strength. Upon firing a Getsuga Tenshō at an Ulquiorra that was in his first Resurreccion, it was completely ignored. Ulquiorra blocked it without so much as a scratch, and with the utmost nonchalance. Grimmjow demonstrated a similar feat, (although Ichigo was stronger during his fight with Ulquiorra, compared to his fight with Grimmjow) being able to block a Getsuga Tenshō from a Hollowfied Ichigo in Bankai state. Both combatants were at or near full strength, so I actually think this feat from Grimmjow is more impressive than the feat Ulquiorra demonstrated.

---

It seems I got carried away with that.

TL;DR Version.

Espada rankings are based upon Reiatsu quality/strength.

 

[Forbidden Tale]

Arrancars numbers goes from 11 and as you said in the order of their birth, they are called Numeros.

Now, ten strongest out of these Numeros, take numbers from 0-10 in order of their abilities, while both 0 and 10 are occupied by same arrancar. That group is called Espada.

Espada has authority to chose their subordinates among the numeros and they are called Fractions.

And there exist one more group, among the arrancars. It's called Privaron Espada and their members are arrancars that at one time were member of Espada, but because they lacked strength they were kicked out. They have three-digit numbers. Grimmjow after being kicked out of Espada was member of this group. Grimmjow was potentially 106 when he was member of Privaron Espada. He lost his numbers because only Espada has tattoos and he wasn't one anymore.