Bleach: Is Uryu Ishida Evil? Here’s Why He Betrayed Ichigo!

One of the most complex and layered characters in Bleach, Uryu Ishida has finally gotten his major moment in the Quincy Blood War Arc, although it is a shame that Kubo never had enough time to elaborate on his actions in the manga; luckily for us, the anime expanded this, and we now have much more information to work with. In light of that, we will explain whether Ishida is evil and why he joined Yhwach’s side in the war.

Uryu Ishida was never evil, and he never actually betrayed his friends, despite the fact that his recent actions suggest he did. Namely, Ishida only joined Yhwach so he could be close to him and, in that role, protect his friends from him (which he did later), and so he could ultimately betray him and kill him (in the end, Ichigo did it, but with Ishida’s help). Ishida had a plan from the very start, and all of his actions have to be evaluated from the perspective of that plan, whose goal was to protect Ichigo and the others, as well as to kill Yhwach, as Uryu knew what a danger the maniacal tyrant posed for the world.

The rest of this article will be dedicated to Uryu Ishida and his actions during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, which are, to say the least, questionable and shocking. We will give you all the details surrounding Ishida’s supposed betrayal and his joining the Sternritter as one of Yhwach’s closest allies, expanding on the principal answer we have given you above. There will be major spoilers for those who have not read the manga, so be careful how you approach the article.

Uryu Ishida never really betrayed Ichigo and his friends – he simply came up with an elaborate plan to help them stop and kill Yhwach

Explaining Ishida’s role in Bleach is never easy because he has had a complex relationship with the protagonists from the start due to his nature. Namely, as a Quincy (initially, it was thought that he was the last living Quincy, but that turned out to be wrong), he was a natural enemy of the Shinigami (due to a millennium-long ideological feud between them that led to a war in the past, as well as the Shinigami killing the Quincy), and he initially had a very complex relationship with Ichigo, although he respected both Chad and Orihime, which is why and how he became part of the group.

As time passed, he became more and more reliable, ultimately becoming a valuable fighting asset and a true friend to everyone, caring deeply for each of his friends. But, when Yhwach returned to life, things seemingly changed. Ishida was first surprised to see Ebern, an Arrancar in Quincy uniform, and later refused to go to Hueco Mundo to help Neliel, as Yhwach had launched an invasion of Hueco Mundo before going to Soul Society.

At the same time, as the anime revealed, Ishida deduced that their new enemies were Quincy, and he went through his grandfather’s old records and research to see what they were up against. He ultimately discovered a lot about Yhwach and the threat he posed, and after accusing his father of keeping so many secrets from him, he decided to meet with Jugram Hascwhalth, Yhwach’s second-in-command, and join the Sternritter. No one knew of this plan, he never spoke to anyone, and that is why his friends were so shocked.

Chad was worried, Orihime was basically devastated by the betrayal, and while Ichigo was aware that he would probably have to clash with Ishida at one point, he said – in his usual manner – that they would get Ishida back, and if he wasn’t willing to come back of his own, Ichigo would beat his ass until he did, which made everyone smile despite the dire situation they were in. Now that we’ve given you a basic overview of the situation, we can explain what happened to Ishida and why he never betrayed anyone, despite it looking like that in the story.

The main issue here was Ishida’s Quincy Pride, a principle he had been mentioning basically from the start, and which actually was a thing with the Quincys. This is why a lot of fans feared that Ishida had, indeed, betrayed his friends, as it seemed that his Quincy Pride far surpassed the loyalty and the feelings he had towards his friends. But no, it was not like that, actually.

Sure, Ishida was proud to be a Quincy, but his ideology was influenced by that of his grandfather, the late Soken, who, while realizing the role of the Quincys in the world, also wanted them to reconcile with the Shinigami so that the two groups could actually work together.

From that perspective, after doing his research, Ishida quickly realized that Yhwach’s ideology had nothing to do with what his grandfather had taught him and that Yhwach was actually a threat to the world, and while they were both Quincys, Ishida was more loyal to his grandfather’s teaching than the destructive ideology of a tyrant like Yhwach.

At the same time, he realized most of Yhwach’s plans and figured out how he would fit in them, especially his powers and abilities. This is why he came up with a complex and seemingly horrible plan – he would join Yhwach.

As a member of the Sternritter, Ishida could be close to their leader, and since Yhwach did consider Ishida to be special because he survived his Auswahlen despite not being an Echt Quincy, Ishida knew he could get really close to the tyrant. And he did – he was revered by Yhwach and named his successor, with his Schrift (“A”) being the same as Yhwach’s. Thus, Ishida knew that he would be the only one with the power to kill Yhwach, as his research revealed that Ichigo wasn’t on that level at the time. Because everyone had to believe his change of allegiance, he spoke to no one about the plan and simply went to the Sternritter.

It seemed like he betrayed everyone, but what he actually wanted to do was to stay close to Yhwach so he could ultimately kill him (Jugram was suspicious of him from the beginning but said nothing because he was so fiercely loyal to Yhwach and his decisions, whatever they were).

You might have noticed that Ishida did not participate in any battles whatsoever, and while he would later clash with Ichigo, his was only so he could protect him, as he intentionally took on the role of his opponent so Ichigo would not be attacked by the other Sternritter or even Yhwach himself, as they would have surely killed him, whereas Ishida wouldn’t actually harm him. And this is why Ishida was never evil and why he never actually betrayed his friends during the Quincy Blood War.