Isidro Deserved Better Writing - What Went Wrong in Berserk Explained

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]One of the most compelling characters in all of Berserk, as crazy as it might sound, is a teenage boy whose name reflects his best and worst qualities.

[00:00:08]Isidro roughly translates to stone thief, and while that isn't the exact spelling of Isidro's [music] name, it is what defines him as a man early on in life. He's a good thief and he's great at lobbing stones at possessed cultists while they literally try to bite his face off. This [music] kid had one of the best introductions in the entire series, but ever since things have begun to drop, so much so that we'd argue that Isidro isn't even the same person anymore. That's why in this video, [music] we'll be exploring what went wrong with the writing of this character and talking about whether there's any redemption for him at the end of the tunnel. Without further ado, let's get right into it. The perfect introduction, a clever boy called stone thief.

[00:00:44]Isidro's introduction to Berserk was as good as a character introduction can be in the third major story arc of a series. It happened right [music] when things slid into conviction mode. The Kushan empire launched their invasion of Midland and the rest of the west as soon as the king of Midland passed away.

[00:00:58][music] They say there's nothing as devastating and destructive as a war, and that's especially true [music] for a war instigated by the Kushan. They're some of the most brutal and fearsome opponents in the Berserk universe and their methods are liable to give people nightmares for ages. Grown [music] men would piss themselves if they saw the silhouette of the Kushan army coming for them because a lot of them are literal monsters and they [music] throw prisoners into ditches and burn them alive. But that wasn't Isidro. This little teenaged kid left [music] his home around the same time as the invasion began to make something of himself and he did it because he was a super fan of the lead character of the series, Guts. Isidro came from an unknown place tucked away in the background of this world, but he heard stories about the greatest warriors from his homeland and none stood out to him more than the hundred man slayer. He knew that that guy was the Raider captain of the Band of the Falcon and he knew that the band's leader was the White Falcon, Griffith. But while he didn't know his [music] inspiration's name, he was determined to become as great as him in matters of sword play because to Isidro, there was no profession better than being a warrior.

[00:01:57]He left his home and went on the road in search of adventure and a proper mentor and [music] in his very first scene, he showed us that he wasn't a loudmouth brat. Isidro was in a village the Kushan Empire's main army had swept through and he was foraging for resources when he came across a group of bandits. These bandits were using the war as an opportunity, as most bandits are want to do, and they noticed Isidro had a bunch of food on him. [music] They tried muscling him into giving up that food, but this clever little punk knew how to outsmart adults already. He kept the fresh edible food close to his chest and he gave the bandits food that was either spoiled or [music] poisoned. This incurred him their wrath, but it showed us that he had street smarts and considerable survival skills because Isidro was barely a young adult at the time. Of course, he was surrounded on all sides by this bandit group, so the leash he was operating off of was quite short. And then, the Bakiraka scouts of the Kushan army arrived to clean up all the stragglers and Isidro [music] pretty much accepted that his adventure had ended before it even began. But then something happened that changed the entire [music] trajectory of his life and that was the chance arrival of Guts, the boy wonder. How Isidro was set up as the Robin to Guts's Batman. The Black Swordsman was [music] passing through the same village Isidro was in on his way to Saint Albian. The young boy was hiding behind a barrel because he was [music] scared and he just seen half a dozen grown men being cut down like helpless livestock, but Guts took one look at the Kushan scouts and decided that this was going to be a great opportunity to test out his [music] reforged Dragon Slayer. He made short work of nearly 20 enemies and Isidro's terror [music] turned into awe witnessing the sword play masterclass that Guts was putting on. He decided then and there that he was going to follow this man to the ends of the earth if that's what it took to become [music] his protege. So, after giving Guts and Puck some food as recompense for saving his life, he followed them on their journey running nonstop at a pace that barely kept up with Guts. This is where the Robin reference comes into play [music] because in this world, Guts is the Caped Crusader garbed in black and Isidro might not have a red and green color scheme, but he very much fits the characterization of the boy wonder. The biggest difference between most Robins and him is the fact that he isn't an orphan, but most other things, [music] like being saved by Batman and inspired to follow in his footsteps, are exactly the same. Guts is used to doing intense cardio from his many years of fighting [music] evil spirits and apostles day and night, so Isidro is pretty much out of breath when he finally catches up and his first attempt at asking Guts to make him his protege is a colossal failure.

[00:04:18]It coincides with the arrival of the wheel corpses that attack the black swordsman more intensely [music] than their soul-born counterparts and at first, Isidro thinks he can keep up.

[00:04:27]When it becomes evident that he can't, Guts saves him and promptly drops him off a cliffside to ensure that he isn't interrupted, but this kid is much like his idol. Quitting isn't in his dictionary. So, he keeps following Guts all the way to Saint Albion, where he gets the chance to truly shine. After saving Luca from being attacked and possibly executed by the Holy Iron Chain Knights and hitting on her sex worker friends, Isidro learns that Guts' missing companion has gone missing again. Her caretakers in Saint Albion don't know where she is, so he needs help looking for her. Isidro takes this as his golden opportunity and makes up his mind to find Casca because, even at that age, he knows Guts will owe him one if he finds her before him. And as fate would have it, or causality if you're being nitpicky, [music] Isidro is the one to locate her. He follows the heretics that kidnapped Casca to their cave on [music] a hillside and immediately realizes that the situation is much worse than he could have bargained for. The heretics plan to sacrifice one of Luca's friends and marry Casca to their cult leader in an insane blood [music] ritual, so Isidro faces a dilemma. He could run off and bring Guts to the cave to aid Casca's rescue because there are too many heretics for him to take on and win, but if he does that, [music] there's no guarantee Casca would even be alive by the time he returns. Most kids in this situation would just freak out and [music] escape the situation they put themselves in, but Isidro really wants to train under Guts, so he comes up with the next best solution. [music] He sends Puck, who's been accompanying him all this while, to bring the Black Swordsman to the cave, and he himself [music] stays behind to delay the ritual and save the girls. This is when we understand the naming [music] pun Miura used for his boy wonder, because he might not be great at wielding blades just yet, but Isidro was amazing at throwing [music] stones. His aim was dead on, and he could fling them with such force that he'd outperform slings in terms [music] of impact. Combine that with his thieving skills, and you get his name, because, as we [music] mentioned, Isidro means stone thief in Japanese. This kid lives up to that name, because no one [music] besides him would have been able to hold back those heretical cultists the way he does.

[00:06:22]Isidro straight-up smashes dudes' eyes and heads in with his rock-throwing [music] skills, and even manages to save both Nina and Casca from the clutches of the great goat. And just when it looks like he's cornered, reinforcements arrive, because Guts shows up and starts cleaning house. He tasks Isidro with getting the hostages to safety, because [music] he clearly acknowledges the skill the kid has. So, Isidro takes Casca and Nina out of the cave through a hidden back exit. He manages [music] to lower Nina with a rope safely enough, but when he gets to Casca, things go awry. She slips free of her bonds and uses muscle [music] memory to skip down to safety, where she's found and captured by the Holy Iron Chain Knights.

[00:06:57]And this is the moment Isidro realizes he screwed up. When Guts asks him where Casca is after taking care of the cultists and [music] sort of settling some unfinished business with Serpico, he can only look down at his shoes sheepishly, because he doesn't have an answer. But this also makes him even more determined to prove himself, [music] and prove himself he does. When the gang breaks into the Tower of Conviction after realizing the Holy Iron Chain Knights took Casca there, Isidro decides that he's going to save her, no matter what, and reunite her with Guts, because this is his last chance to prove himself. And miraculously, he ends up preventing Casca's death prophecy by never giving up on the mission. When Father Mozgus flies off with [music] Casca in his hands, intent on burning her at the stake for being a witch, Isidro bungee jumps into the flames to save her life, and that finally earns him the mentorship he'd been seeking all this while. He helps Guts [music] take down two of Mozgus' pseudo apostle disciples with his stone throwing skills, and he survives the horrors of the Incarnation Ceremony, which is incredible for a kid of his age. Sure, they split up in the [music] end because of the unexpected arrival of the Kushan army, but Isidro is reunited with Guts not long after that. Once his training begins, [music] he realizes he has more skills as a swordsman than he ever gave himself credit for. And to his credit, Guts also trains him in a way that complements his stature and skills.

[00:08:09][music] He tells Isidro to forget about trying to fight like him because he isn't strong or tall enough to do that.

[00:08:14]Instead, he should be focusing on using his height and speed to attack enemies from below, which is guaranteed to knock his opponents off balance after catching them off guard. Isidro executes a kind of barrel roll maneuver in that training exercise and starts realizing that he's actually suited to swordsmanship, [music] and this is the beginning of his true character arc. He goes from clever runaway thief to a swordsman in training, and there are [music] many instances where we see his brilliance shine through. When the gang enters cliff off to rescue Casca and Farnese, Guts tells Isidro to bring up the rear guard, not because it's an obligation, but because he knows [music] that the kid is up to the task. Isidro proves him right by protecting all the female prisoners and even [music] taking down a troll lord that can wield a crossbow by combining his three new weapons, consecrated evil repelling berries, Guts' mini [music] bombs, and his salamander dagger, a magical fetish that ignites its target after making contact.

[00:09:03][music] In Vritannis, when Schierke wanders off after getting overwhelmed by the cruelty of humanity, she's cornered by a group of pirates who have recently added [music] human trafficking to their repertoire. Isidro once again swoops in to save the day by outmaneuvering the pirates [music] and fighting their captain, Bonebeard, while hopping from one poleboat to another. His progression as a warrior is delightful to behold, and the mini rivalry he strikes up with Mulle Wolf Flame in Vritannis [music] is just as endearing, but becoming a better fighter wasn't the only thing that Isidro's character arc had going for it. The best thing about him was the dilemma he faced when confronted with the morality versus murder discourse.

[00:09:39]Early in his association with Guts, Isidro wasn't worried about how many dead souls he had to kill again because in his mind, those souls were evil monsters. They were what was wrong with the world and what do heroes do in fables and fairy tales? Well, they kill monsters and save the girl. Isidro didn't view his enemies as humans, so it made it easier for him to go all out and commit to the kills. But when he fought Bonebeard and his pirates at Vritannis, he confronted flesh and blood human beings for the first time and the idea that he needed to kill his own kind to survive terrified him. The first human life he took was because of his highly developed fighting instinct. Isidro executed his patented [music] barrel roll maneuver to take down one of the pirates, but he slashed open his femoral artery instinctively and that pirate bled to death. This shocked Isidro because up until this point, he'd only been fighting off evil monsters or possessed [music] human beings who were pretty much lost causes. What made him feel even worse was the fact that his Premacist mule [music] was able to kill those pirates without hesitation, which made him question whether he was fit to become a true warrior after all. And self-doubt is the biggest thing that gives [music] Isidro's character emotional depth.

[00:10:42]Before entering Qliphoth, he was outshone by [music] Schierke massively.

[00:10:46]While he let one of the people he was supposed to protect get injured by a troll, when he had conversation with that same person, it became evident that proving himself [music] was at the top of his list of priorities. But then, the Vritannis incident made him realize that he still had a ways to go. While he could fight pirates on pole boats unlike mule, he couldn't commit to a kill [music] like him. This made Isidro's character feel human without sounding too self-righteous. If he simply continued to exist as Guts's understudy, we're pretty sure his character would have been universally beloved, especially if Miura focused more on his [music] moments of self-doubt with the depth he'd built into the story. Sadly, he ended up undermining [music] all that brilliance by giving Isidro one of the most annoying character relationships of all time. The relationship and the chapter that ruined it all. Isidro and Puck's grand adventure. Isidro has several compelling character dynamics, most of which skew toward the frenemy side of things. [music] We've talked about this a bit already, but his relationship with Mulle Wolf Flame is one of those classic teenage rivalries.

[00:11:44]They come from different backgrounds, Mulle being [music] a nobleman and the head of his household, and Isidro a sneaky runaway thief come warrior in training. But, the urge to one up your rival in all things is one of the best parts of a budding rivalry, and Isidro and Mulle had that in spades. The Storm Thief's dynamic with his crew is one of casual trolling. He often trolls [music] Farnese for her inefficiency, Serpico for his man-made status, and later Azan for obviously hiding the fact that he's the excommunicated Bridge Knight/Vice Commander of the Holy Iron Chain Knights. He has great respect for Guts, so he never goes there with him, but his most important frenemy dynamic is with Schierke, whom he both admires and abhors [music] in the same breath. From the moment they met, Isidro and Schierke have had a healthy dislike [music] for one another cuz she thinks he's uncouth and he thinks she's a show-off. He often makes fun of her for her country girl outlook on life, and she often [music] trolls him for screwing things up because at the end of the day, he's a country boy as well. But, both of them will put their lives on the line for each other, and there are even hints of a potential romance as well. Those hints were masked by Isma's arrival into the story because Miura clearly set her up as Isidro's crush, but to sum it up, this kid makes rivalries everywhere he goes with [music] everyone he sees. The one person he's been completely friendly with is Puck cuz Puck was the one [music] he encountered first after following Guts on foot for two whole days. And, right off the bat, it was clear to us that they're [music] going to be the comic relief of the story going forward. Initially, it was quite adorable that Puck and Isidro had a {quote} master-apprentice [music] relationship going on. Puck would often ridicule Isidro and force him to learn the elf dimension style, [music] while Isidro would ridicule Puck's delusional beliefs. Miura used them to squeeze in all the Star Wars references he'd been sitting on since the series began. More often than not, their dynamic would provide levity in moments [music] where it was truly required. Underneath all that trolling, it was clear that Isidro was the person Puck was closest to after Guts because their sensibilities and personalities [music] were a perfect match. And they even coordinated well in the heat of battle, as evidenced by Puck's use of the Puck Spark to help Isidro nail one of Mozgus's [music] flying twin pseudos right in the eye. Them gaining up on and teasing Schierke and Ivalera was one of the best things about Berserk [music] for a hot minute until Miura took it a little too far with chapter 363. It feels like a betrayal for our love for the man even saying this because that was the penultimate chapter he wrote before his untimely passing, but chapter 363 is where the writing for Isidro's character went [music] into the dump. In fact, up until Guts and his crew reached Elfhelm, the Stone Thief's character arc had been going strong, but as soon as they got there, it nose-dived into the abyss because Miura decided to overdo it with the comedy. Isidro became [music] more annoying than adorably goofy.

[00:14:22]Chapter 363 is the pinnacle of that transformation. [music] he decides to terrorize every girl on Elfhelm by pulling their skirts over their heads, escaping their grasp at every turn, which might be funny to juvenile teenage boys, but that isn't Berserk's [music] primary adult audience. He gave himself cringey nicknames and declared that his goal was to get revenge on Schierke for upstaging him constantly. And if he were demonstrating his actual skill, it would have been fine, but the fact that Miura chose to make him a menace instead was kind of off-putting. And this is where the boy wonder became the boy hinder.

[00:14:53]Those of you who have read this chapter know that the entire prank series wasn't what it was about because towards the end, Miura refocused on the actual issues his series was tackling at the time. But not even the mini training session he had with Casca could wash off the icky feeling we got when we saw Isidro and Puck's antics. This was a classic boys-will-be-boys moment, but not in the cute folksy way that phrase is evoked. It was more in the sense of get this boy out of our sight, and everything after it has felt like a game of catch-up more than keep-up. This was the chapter where it became evident [music] that Isidro's writing had become secondary to the grand scheme of things, which is a damn shame because before that, he was well on his way to becoming the next Guts with a much healthier outlook on life. He wasn't [music] jaded like his mentor, but he had the potential to become just as skilled as him. He had the talent for becoming a warrior, but he was in the process of developing the stomach [music] for it.

[00:15:41]After going on a prank bender with Puck, many readers wrote him off as mere comic relief, and honestly, we can't even blame them because we did the same [music] thing. But, Isidro is still in the story being directed by Kujimori now, so the question has become, can he be redeemed? And well, will Isidro be redeemed? That's a complicated question because winning people back over for a guy who literally harassed women is a tough thing to do. Isidro went from being [music] a goofball to a potential predator in a single chapter since skirt pulling is no longer perceived as some innocent [music] thing, and rightfully so. But, there is a chance that Morty might turn things around because every time [music] we've seen Isidro after Myura's death, his character has been returning to its roots. He's become laser-focused [music] on one thing and one thing only, getting Isma back and killing everyone and [music] everything that stands in his way. During the destruction of Elfhelm, there's a moment where Skull Knight shows up to give the people on the island a chance to [music] escape. Instead of taking his advice, Isidro tells Isma to stay behind him and starts [music] fighting back because that's his true nature. Then, when Elfhelm's destruction makes Isma vanish on account of her part astral nature, [music] he's depressed and heartbroken, which is a significant change from pranking young women. Before the Kushan Empire boards the seahorse, we see Isidro sulking and in a melancholic mood, reverting to his skepticism about magic from before meeting Shirke as she conducts a ritual to locate Casca. Then, [music] when the Kushan board the vessel, he knocks a few of their soldiers overboard without even thinking about [music] them drowning because that's the kind of headspace he's in.

[00:17:09]After reaching the Kushan homeland, Isidro is the one who's most concerned with their response tactics with regards to Griffith's impending invasion, and he even goes off on a solo patrol of the city, albeit with Puck still hanging around. But, there are two moments that really began his redemption arc as a character in our eyes, and those are his reaction to Guts' imprisonment and the troll invasion. When Isidro sees Guts being chained up by the Kushan and doing absolutely nothing to repel them, he breaks down because he's never seen his idol submit to his enemies so meekly. He starts accusing Guts of lying about everything because he can't process his own emotions clearly, and after he sees that the Black Swordsman [music] is basically catatonic, Isidro decides to rescue Isma himself. No one was thinking about their latest ally, everyone was laser-focused on the bigger problem. So, he goes off and tries to rescue her himself. In the process, he comes across Azan, who was the only one keeping an eye on Isidro, and together, they save an entire section of the Kushan capital from being overrun by trolls. [music] Azan even offers to join Isidro on his solo trip because they had trained together every morning on the seahorse and he'd come to see the great potential within [music] the boy. Well, Isidro declined in his usual haughty fashion.

[00:18:16]We can see that the gears were turning [music] within his mind, and this was the moment his writing started getting back on track. The last time we saw Isidro, he tailed Guts and Daiba to the Kushan stupa, where the former was entombed for a secret rebirth ritual, and you could tell from Isidro's reaction [music] that his days of being a comic relief character were far behind him. The kid we saw is on his way to becoming a man now, and the seriousness with which he carries himself is exactly the direction his character writing should have maintained throughout Berserk's run. The boy wonder is entering his brooding arc, and we couldn't be happier because Isidro is one of our favorite characters. [music] And by the time Berserk is finished, hopefully you guys can see what we see in him, which is why we beseech Kuchimori to keep up the good work with his character's writing. Conclusion.

[00:19:00]But, as for this character study deep dive, that's all we've got for you guys this time. So, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below, and while you're down there, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel for more Berserk content, and we'll see you soon [music] in the next one. Until then, stay safe out there, and if you have a grudge crush on a girl, don't go messing with her skirt because Isidro might not have been sent to juvie, but [music] you just might. Thanks for listening, and keep on struggling, strugglers.