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Even tho it all happened for shits and giggles and PURELY by chance, the Forger family has the Desmond’s CORNERED.

Damian is very much into Anya to the point that he would strap a bomb on his neck.

Melinda trusts and likes Yor so much that she is willing to spill the beans about her marriage to her husband, Loid Forger the psychiatrist; because she trusts Yor and by extension, her husband.

And of course, Twilight who has been watching Donovan’s each and every move .

So except for Demetrius, each Desmond has a Forger right on their tails.

If anything, DONOVAN MUST FEEL THREATENED BY THAT.

All this makes me feel that it’s about time Donovan would make a move which could harm the Forgers. This is scary. The stakes are HIGH.

(also I was right about his powers, check here)

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Analyzing What Makes Twilight/Loid A Great Main Character and Protagonist

Agent Twilight aka Loid Forger. One of the world’s best spies and the father of the Forgers. If one would think about it, he has so many odds stacked against him as a main character. He’s the most serious character in the comedic series. An actual adult protagonist in a teen-focused shonen genre. He isn’t righteous and he’s easily the least genuine among the Forgers consisting of the beloved Anya, Yor, and Bond. He easily would have treated as an afterthought for people following the anime/manga but that didn’t turn out to be the case. Granted, he still faces criticism and disapproval from a number of casuals watchers for his actions but overall, he surprisingly manages to make a name for himself as a beloved male main character and protagonist in modern anime and fans of the series are especially intrigued by him. That’s why in this post, I’ll be going over at least 10 reasons in what makes Loid work as a shonen protagonist, a great mc, and why us Spy X Family fans highly admire him for it.

His mystery and morally gray background adds layers to his character.

Often, the coolest part about an anime character is not what the fans know about them but what the fan don't know about them. Loid Forger manages to become compelling because there are tantalizing gaps in everything we know about him. It really feels like every time we learn an aspect of Twilight, it makes us ask another question about his past or his character in the present.

Although it doesn’t bold for some viewers, the morally gray aspects of Loid’s life also adds complexity to his character, as we get to see his introspection on the matter at hand. Seeing the darker side of this series and its characters such as Loid’s espionage and approaches, is always appreciative since it makes him that much deeper as a character.

2. He’s not a conventional hero, which helps keeps us narratively grounded.

With Spy X Family frequently advertised to be a wholesome and comedic franchise, many people tend to get lost in it and forget how serious and grave the series can be at times and the severe stakes at hand. Loid being a Byronic Hero serves as a great reminder of this, hence why people can frequently get chills when he goes Twilight mode.

That’s not to say anti-heroes or Chaotically Good leads don’t exist in this genre of anime but most of the well-known heroes of shonen are usually Lawfully Good or morally righteous citizens, only breaking the law if certain situations goes against their moral or ethical code. Loid isn’t like those heroes despite his intentions. He’s always doing something that’s illegal or is generally considered an extreme method to complete his missions. Information stealing, identity theft, manipulation, selective misinformation, trespassing and infiltration, cloak and dagger activities, etc. It serves as a sharp reminder of the main plot and how desperate times calls for desperate measures, as well as, what he’s shaped into.

3. He still has a few funny moments of his own.

With that being said, Loid isn’t exempt from the zany comedy of this franchise. While his comedic moments are rare, they do happen and is usually one of the main highlights of the episode/chapters. He even has his own quirk in tending to over analyzing the simple situations. Despite Loid being cool, serious spy with outfits and elite skills to match, he can also be frazzled by his foster daughter's silliness or the absurdity of his fake wife and we can't get enough of him because of that.

4. His interactions with his family and other people explores depths he wouldn’t be able to discover himself 

Loid generally prefers to view everything from a logical viewpoint and this especially goes for the fake family he formed for his mission and his interactions with people such as Franky. But the more he interacts with them, the more we get to see sides of Loid that not even he would expect or take notice of, despite completing the mission is his main priority. Nearly botching his mission because of Anya’s crying, developing a sense of guilt over his suspicions and doubts revolving Yor, and even considering Bond as a true family member, despite the family being fake in the first place. This even extends to him ordering a round of drinks for Franky to comfort another dud attempt in getting a girl in his life.

Loid is a bit concerned this might compromise his mission, but he also can't help but think fondly of the moments he had with his family. For all the talk about having no emotions or developing any feelings or levels of attachment, all these moments highlights that Loid, despite his actions, has a hidden heart of gold. As a pretend family man, he­ shows emotional depth beyond his profe­ssional competence.

5. He’s realistically flawed and the narrative isn’t afraid to explore his vulnerabilities and weaknesses

Despite Loid’s competence and high ranking status as the best spy in the world, he’s still a very flawed and complicated character. His difficulty in connecting with Anya, Yor, Bond, and everyone else is the result of him being alone all his life and tends to have tunnel vision. And because he lived his life as a spy where danger lurks in several corners, he became restless into the point he developed trust issues. Even when he starts developing a form of attachment for some people, he feels that he’s not obligated due to his line of work. These moments of highlighting areas he’s severely behind in and even having low points really helps to make him a well-rounded character.

6. Loid’s motives as a spy shows that he’s emotionless, not heartless 

With how cynical and dismissive he can be at times, especially with how he treated Anya in the first episode, it’s easy to write him off as a heartless and cruel person, with actions as a spy only adding fuel to the fire. That is until the same episode, it’s revealed that he was also a young war victim who was denied of any aid.

To ensure no one had to go through what he did, he became a spy to prevent all possibilities of wars, whether it be from terrorists, evil gangs, or nuclear weapons. The moment Loid actually adopted Anya inspite of not wanting her to be involved in Strix in the first place for her own safety, it’s a major turning point for Loid. While he still remains pragmatic, we get to see more of Loid’s amiable traits as the series continues such as developing a form of attachment for his family to actually speaking for Damian about his dad’s behavior. He even shows concern and lectures Fiona about the way she pushes herself in the tennis tournament. This shows that Loid, while highly focused on his job and extremely distant, he does have a hidden empathetic side laying far deep within him.

7. He’s highly sympathetic and tragic

As the series continues, we get to learn more Loid that makes him a rather tragic and unfortunate protagonist. Apart from the aforementioned fact that he was an orphan, he also appears to lose some of his memories, such as not being able to remember his mother until Yor sang him a lullaby and even forgetting why he became a spy until Anya sparked his memory.

The story is building up that Loid isn’t always the cold-hearted person he is but rather the state of being lonely and an orphan forged him into the spy deprived of his humanity. This aspect of Loid’s character just makes us all the more want to root for the Forgers being an authentic family and him being part of it or at least get a happy ending, because it’s something that he’s been denied of for the longest time and is unaware that it’s something he needs.

8. He’s stoicism makes him an emotional wild card

It’s usually said that the journey is what makes the story and not its destination. Most of the audience believe that the Forgers being a real family is the clear cut conclusion, which would seem like the most typical narrative choice to expect but it’s never assured how we are going to get there and Loid’s limited emotional access plays a large factor in this. 

As seen in the conclusion of the Dog Crisis incident, while the other Forgers clearly love being part of the family and see each other as their own, Twilight seems to be the only one with thoughts of the family being separated once everything is said and done, so the fate of the family is ultimately determines on whether he wishes to make the family legit or not. And considering he is growing fond of them, it’s definitely not going to be an easy choice, especially with potential obstacles in the future. It’s clear that his character arc will be the most significant. Probably the longest too. And that what makes it investing.

2. He’s cool, highly intelligent, and high skilled spy

Loid is an experienced spy and one of the finest ones at that, which ensures that we are going to get so cool moments. Most protagonists would usually go on a journey to be the very best or the king of whatever. Loid? Well, he already is the best. We get to see how many skills he’s packing, from his flawless disguises for infiltration, to his high speed vehicles driving skills, or his way with a firearm in fast paced shooting action. In short, whenever he’s on a mission, we are guaranteed that we will be treated with awesome moments. 

In a great change of pace, Loid’s greatest weapon is his vast intelligence, unlike most protagonists who are usually known for their fast growth rate in strength. This makes him unique in a sense where his intense moments aren’t limited to action scenes he partakes in. Moments such as him trying to maintain his cover, going stealth, and even the conversations he partakes in, particularly with his targets, can equally get as heated. We really get to see how Loid’s mind games work and his big brain moments highlights why there’s no one with a mind like his.

10. Becoming a family man isn’t his endgame, it’s actually one of his arcs.

In most shonen anime and manga, a typical ending for the protagonist would be that he got the girl, have a child or children later, and becomes a family man. It’s a typical way to depict a happy ending for the mc we have been following for several chapters/episodes. Though, sometimes if said series somehow gets a follow up, there’s usually nothing to explore with the character as a result.

In Twilight’s case, however, becoming a father and a husband isn’t the end of his journey but rather the beginning of his story. We actually see him going through the trails of being the family’s breadwinner and him actually struggling with his role is actually believable. Granted, this only happened because his mission requires it but as most of us were able to interpret by now, he’s far more emotionally invested than he realizes. 

He may not be up for the role and abandoned all thoughts in having a life like this but Yor, Anya, and Bond certainly admire him for the dad and husband he’s slowly learning to be. And quite frankly, so are we.

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Older Damian going "ugh, the Forger girl won't like me anyway, I'm always grumpy and stressed, she deserves someone who won't make her cry" and Anya reading his mind and going "I like you too"

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(Spy x Family chapter 110 spoilers)

So most people think that if Desmond really can read minds then Twilight is already screwed because of their previous meeting...but I think that's not the case.

And that's because of another prominent theory: Donovan's mind reading powers are not as strong or developed as Anya's.

I think he has to concentrate a lot more to be able to use his powers he only got a few years ago, as opposed to Anya who has had her powers her whole life and picks up surface thoughts with ease. And even with Anya's more developed powers, she still finds Twilight's thoughts very hard to read when he goes into "overthinking spy mode". The only reason she knows as much about him as she does is that she's around him all the time, and she still can't pick up deeper thoughts like his real name or the fact that he's planning to leave once Operation Strix is over.

So Donovan may have picked up that this man is a "spy" who wants "information" out of him out of Twilight's surface thoughts, but I doubt he was able to read deeply enough to hear "I am the spy known as Twilight working for WISE the other country's intelligence agency using my adopted daughter to make a fake family so I could infiltrate Eden and get close to this man to see if he is planning a war so that I can stop a war from happening and also my original name is REDACTED".

Loid might be cooked in the future if he's not careful next time, but he's not out yet.

(And now that Anya suspects that Desmond has the same powers as her, she'll probably be more cautious as well.)

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Endo can be this serious

And this serious

All in the same chapter 😅

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Mood: I no longer dislike Mondays, I'm mature now. I dislike the whole week.

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This from In Writing, a collection of writers reflecting on practice, really resonated with me.

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HOLY SHIT LOIDS GONNA FIND OUT ABOUT ANYA IM NOT OK

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So, if Donovan Desmond can in fact read minds, imagine the hilarity of him reading Damian’s mind. The constant stress of hearing “ugh, that stupid forger girl… why do I get so angry when I’m around her? Why does she have to look so cute-I mean stupid with those stubby legs??”

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Spy x family is very very good because there's a bit where a far right terrorist group says that they want to start a war and a main character responds by saying to them "have any of you ever killed anyone before? Have you ever been killed before? Have you ever had a limb torn off by an artillery shell? Have you ever heard the sound of bones shattering? Have you ever smelled the reek of rotting flesh? Have you ever found the crushed bodies of your parents and siblings in a pile of rubble that used to be your home? Have you ever discovered a blown-off piece of your lover stuck to a wall? Have you ever been so hungry that you tried to eat tree bark? Or stewed a pot of human flesh? Have you ever convinced yourself that your enemy was subhuman so you could...slaughter them like animals? Have you ever been so haunted by shame and regret afterwards that you cried until you vomited? Have you ever had friends who did the same, and then took their own lives? Did you learn nothing about war at your university?!"

and that's the same volume where they adopt a dog that can see into the future

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“Belive me, I know”

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I can't wait 😂

damn, he gonna flip his shit once he knows 😂

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Well, seems like something that was just a theory before has come very close to truth...

Because of this major revelation, I wanted to take a deep dive into what we know about Donovan so far and how hints throughout past chapters could indeed indicate that he can read minds. While we still don't have concrete proof for this other than Melinda's word, I don't believe there's anything that discredits this idea, either. In fact, many things throughout the series support it.

First we have Loid's encounter with Donovan way back in chapter 38. I always found it strange that we never got insight into Donovan's thoughts throughout that whole exchange. We always get to know what characters are thinking, even without Anya's mind-reading support. It's not an uncommon storytelling mechanic in general after all, especially for manga. Yet, Endo chose not to give us any insight into what Donovan was thinking. I figured this was simply to avoid spoiling anything about what his exact plans and motives are for future stories (also why Anya was absent for this). But now it seems like this could have also been to hide the fact that he can read minds. If he can read minds, certain things he said during that exchange take on a more ominous meaning. For example, what he said below about how people can never truly understand each other.

It's been a headcanon of mine that the reason why Anya, and perhaps Donovan, were given mind-reading powers, stemmed from the desire for world peace...the idea being that if people could read each other's minds - in other words, always know what others are thinking and feeling, sympathy and understanding would abound.

We learn later on that Donovan had ideas like this even as a kid when he made a similar comment during his debate competition speech. He said that it's impossible to know the true intentions of others so people will forever doubt each other, thus war is inevitable.

We also have the little detail in today's chapter that Donovan did not have the scars on his head during Melinda's flashback (of course, he didn't have them as a kid in chapter 99 either).

Now this is totally my theory, but if we take Melinda's words as the truth, without any misunderstanding, then sometime in Donovan's adult life after he married and had a child, he was experimented on and was given mind-reading powers, perhaps by force but most likely by choice. Now that he has these powers, his laments about people not being able to understand each other are no longer true, at least not for him. Perhaps the experiments done on Anya were preliminary tests that he put together to perfect the mind-reading implementation science before actually doing it to himself. Again, totally just speculation, but not out of the question.

Then we have Demetrius...we learned in chapter 93 that Anya has trouble reading his mind.

If we put that together with Melinda's comment in today's new chapter, that Demetris also took note of Donovan being able to read minds...

...then perhaps Demetrius conditioned himself to think in ways that would make it difficult for his mind to be read, specifically to thwart the "alien" that's impersonating his father. I mentioned last time that I don't think Donovan is actually an alien, and that this description is the only explanation Melinda could come up with to explain his mind-reading powers. If this is true though, it really does make the Desmond dinner scene all the more telling...that throughout all those panels without dialogue, Donovan was absorbing the deepest inner thoughts of his family members (and again, no insight into his own thoughts, just like in chapter 38).

But if the "Donovan can read minds" theory holds true, then the most disturbing idea of all is that Donovan knows that Twilight is a spy. He knows that he's the target of Twilight's mission, and that Twilight seeks to thwart him. Not only that, but depending on what he's read of Damian and Melinda's minds, he knows that they're fond of Anya and Yor, respectively - people who are close to Twilight. Mind-reading powers in the hands of a child are one thing, but in the hands of a shrewd and power political figure...I'm both excited and anxious to find out what Donovan's next move will be!

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My analysis on spy x family chapter 110

well, this was certainly one heck of a chapter I have LOADS to yap about so get ready As stated in my previous analysis, that Melinda was most probably a victim of abuse, I stated that it was VERY likely to be canon, around 90% or so, after this chapter, they likelihood drops to 20% but we still have psychological abuse to keep in mind. (This does NOT mean that Donovan doesn't physically abuse her) Now let's recap on what we said last chapter (pulls out last analysis bc I genuinely don't remember anything) Of course, we still don't know why she has some sort of hatred towards her husband, it's pretty much been debunked that Donovan physically abuses her BUT psychological abuse is still an option on the table. She could also feel that her privacy is being invaded. It's also very likely that her hatred towards him started right after she mentioned him "becoming a completely different man" that I assume is when he got his telepathy.

Now this is one of the MOST important things I would like to discuss today which, once again, is Melinda's relationship with her family, in the last analysis, it was stated that Melinda has a VERY complex relationship towards Damian, in which she calls him "my treasure, my curse" which creates a paradox since, how can Damian be a treasure AND a curse at the same time? which leads us to think, 'well, of course Damian's her treasure, he's her son. but why does she call him her curse?' Didn't Melinda say that he became a different man when Damian was born? what if.. Melinda blames Damian for the change in Donovan? What if she thinks that the reason Donovan suddenly changed, is because of her son's birth? she said it herself "shortly after my first child was born, or was it the second?" As I said previously, I still do believe that Donovan and Melinda were previously in love, we can see how he used to treat Demetirus. and also, it would make more sense, she doesn't want to believe someone she loved so much became someone so distant.

So that leads us to ask, if Donovan REALLY DID become a telepath, why is he so distant? I don't have an answer for that I'm sorry. Something else I wanted to speak about is Melinda's reaction when Loid asked her if Donovan harmed her, that is a HUGE cause for concern, I lowkey cried for the poor woman. At first glance, I thought that she was lying, since sudden and insisting outbursts are a sign that someone is lying, but if you dig deeper, this might just show the extent of how much Melinda really does love Donovan, she's putting her mental and physical health on the line for him. she's scared for her husband and she's throwing any explanation, even if it's far fetched, just to justify her husband's actions. That's what love does to someone. She is suffering. She feels trapped in her relationship with Donovan, she wants to protect both Damian and Demitrus when she can hardly protect herself. She thinks her current status with Donovan is a facade since, according to her, he's an alien. So all she can do, in an attempt to manage her life, is just go with it. whatever her husband decides to do, she falls victim to. (this proves the psychological manipulation/neglect)

The second most important thing I wanted to talk about is the fact that it's technically confirmed that Donovan can read minds, so ummm, chat. Loid is COOKED. My guy just HAD to spill ALL his plan ideas in his mind when they decided to meet. you can tell Donovan was PISSED.

but seriously though, apart from the fact that loid is screwed, what does this mean for Anya? I'm sure she does NOT want to meet the 'evil super boss anymore' in order to preserve her secret. I do wonder though, were their powers made in the same lab? (People theorize its project apple and I'm one of them) that would make a lot of sense since Melinda said that Donovan started acting differently after damiana was born, which was also around the time Anya was born. Maybe that's the time they BOTH got their powers. conclusion: Melinda REALLY needs a new therapist bc her therapist is essentially screwed. See you in 2 weeks guys!!

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Oh my God. So ages ago when the Melinda reveal dropped, I theorised that people Anya met in person were “good” or sympathetic people or at least on the Forger’s side. And since Anya has met Melinda, the readers are sympathising with her since we can read her mind using Anya.

Anya has not met Donovan in person yet. In fact, the manga deliberately shows us that she intended to but fell asleep, hence missing out. Another person Anya hasn’t met yet is Yor’s boss, so they’re both characters shrouded in mystery and are possibly the antagonists of the series.

The Demetrius namedrop is also very interesting. It’s a possible explanation for why he keeps his mind blank, although why he does that in Eden leads to more questions. Does he assume Donovan is monitoring him in Eden? Or, more likely, has he learned there are more people with mind reading powers, and they could be anywhere?

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