Is Uryu Evil? The Sasuke Uchiha of Bleach TYBW and his motives, explained

The second cour of Bleach TYBW has returned to adapt Tite Kubo's final arc from the manga, and Uryu Ishida seems to be one of the main focus currently. Although he was seen as one of Ichigo Kurosaki's allies during most of the series, Uryu made a turn at the start of this arc, siding with Yhwach's Quincy army, his people, instead of helping his friends.

However, does Uryu Ishida's betrayal he is evil? Has this been the true nature of his character all along or is there something else going on at the moment? Manga readers may already be familiar with the explanation of this event in the Bleach TYBW arc, which is connected to his mother's death. However, anime-only viewers have been wondering what is behind his actions.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Bleach TYBW series.

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The motive of Uryu Ishida's betrayal in Bleach TYBW is more complicated than it seems

The context

Bleach TYBW shows the return of the Quincy army, which is led by their powerful leader Yhwach and taking down the Soul Reapers. This has been the main focus of the first part of the anime adaptation, leading to much status quo changes in the opening episodes. However, the biggest change was the one involving Uryu Ishida.

As most fans would know, Uryu and his father were the last survivors of the Quincy race, which made the return of their people all the more surprising. However, the biggest surprise was seeing Uryu siding with the Quincy, turning his back to Ichigo and the rest of the gang even after maintaining a good sense of carmaderie over the years.

The recent batch of episodes has shown Uryu being named Yhwach's successor. However, the two characters argued on the natural enmity between Quincies and the Soul Reapers. To side with Yhwach's philosophy and motives, this goes against everything Uryu Ishida did with his friends until this point of the story.

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Uryu Ishida's true motives

After Ishida separates from the rest of the group at the start of the Bleach TYBW arc, he goes to research the history of the Quincy, much to his father's annoyance. This is how he discovers that his mother didn't die from an illness like he always thought, but rather through Yhwach's Holy Selection, which is a process that allows him to steal their powers. Moreover, Ichigo's mother shared the same fate.

Uryu always had the motivation of avenging his mother, and this is why he sided with the Quincy so as to work as a double agent and get closer to Yhwach. This is also why he had no qualms about attacking Ichigo and causing havoc in the Quincy's favor, further making sure that his new "allies" didn't doubt his loyalty.

However, as can be expected, Uryu eventually revealed his true motives in the manga and joined Ichigo and the others in the final portion of the storyline. Notably, this story arc gave his character a lot more prominence, which was something he was lacking in most recent arcs.

Therefore, to answer the titular question once again, Uryu Ishida never had ill motives against Ichigo and his friends. Although Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto had full intentions of destroying Konoha for revenge initially, Ishida bore no such motives. So, him siding with Yhwach was only a ploy to ensure the Soul Society's victory in the long run.

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Final thoughts

Bleach TYBW has proven to be a major revival of the franchise. While the manga was originally viewed as underwhelming, Studio Pierrot's adaptation of the arc is a key for the franchise's resurgence in recent months. Therefore, it is also interesting to see this arc of Uryu Ishida's character and see how well it has been executed.