Gambino is a mercenary commander as well as the husband of Shizu and Guts adoptive father. He and many of his company immediately dislike Guts, considering him to be a cursed child due to the circumstances of his birth. His wife Shizu however insisted on taking the baby mostly due to the trauma of losing their own child in a miscarriage. Shizu's death from a wasting disease a few years later only compounded matters and made Gambino hate his son that much more as he blamed him for killing her. Thinking to either force Guts to run away or see him die in battle he begins to give him overly harsh and cruel training as a mercenary soldier. Despite this Guts perseveres in a vain attempt to earn two things from Gambino that he would never have, his respect and love.