Were Stark and Baraggan Arrancar before joining Aizen?

Question

In both Baraggan's and Stark's flashbacks, they look the same as in present.

Did they become Arrancar on their own? However, if they did then how could Aizen promise Baraggan more power?

Answer 1

We have to disambiguate normal Hollow from Arrancar. Normal Hollow don't retain much in the way of a human-like form and are relatively mindless beasts consumed with the hunger for powerful souls. Arrancar evolve Soul Reaper-like powers and remove their mask, allowing for a human-like appearance. The higher in rank the Arrancar, the more human-like they appear.

It is perfectly possible for a Hollow to evolve on their own into an Arrancar of varying rank. That is to say, there are natural Arrancar in Hueco Mundo who were at a specific power level before Aizen approached them. Several of Aizen's court were at Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde levels before he arrived.

In the case of Barragan Louisenbairn and Coyote Starrk, not only were they already Arrancar, but given that they are the Secundo and Primero Espada respectively, it is more than likely that they were already Vasto Lorde.

Answer 2

Barragan before Aizen were similar to his resurrecion but he didn't have the respira. He was weaker than he is. He had his mask on. When aizen removed his mask, he became to look like and old man.

And about Starrk, my guess is that he was so powerful Aizen didn't encrease his power out of fear. He looked pretty same to me before and after Aizen.

It inst possible to a hollow become a arrancar without help of Aizen, but it was too impossible to become vizard without the help of Aizen until Ichigo did.

I think Starrk was the only arrancar to become Arrancar on his own. He wasn't looking for power when he joined Aizen.

The friend up here said that they were arrancars before Aizen. It's wrong. They were vasto lords. All of Espada but number 9 were vasto lords before Aizen.

Answer 3

All of the espada were not vasto lorde before meeting Aizen. Grimmjow is confirmed to have been an adjuchas before becoming an arrancar, I doubt Noritora was a vasto lorde either, and anyone weaker than Grimmjow couldn't have been a vasto lorde.