𓁹‿𓁹 ʰᵉʰ

The reveal of Melinda Desmond at the end of the latest chapter of Spy x Family manga has brought forth a wave of speculation and theories within the fandom. I have enjoyed them quite a bit, however, the reveal itself has evoked a, dare I say, “darker”, idea in my mind. As I have said in the title, this is completely baseless, I will be reaching across the stars as I work my through this, and yet, the idea begs to be out of the boundaries of my own skull, so I will share it with you all the same.

With that said, here we go: 

Ostania vs Westalis: An Uncanny Feeling

Everyone has mentioned the obvious similarities between East-West Germany divide/Cold War in general with the Ostania-Westalis of the setting. However, I feel like the similarities are a bit overstated. First of all, the divide during the Cold War was a core ideological one between Socialism/Communism and Capitalism/Free Democracy.

So far, both countries seem like they share at least a baseline of multiparty democracy, even if one of them more free and true in its democracy while the other has an effective police state. A free market capitalism of multiple privately owned businesses seem common and in fact dominant in both countries. Rather than a fundamental difference of core systems, their animosity seems to be one based on nationalism and specifically nationalist ambitions.

On that regard, I feel like Westalis-Ostania divide is similar to France-Germany antagonism pre-WW2. They were both technically democracies, they had a previous war that one side technically won and yet left none satisfied. And, technically speaking, interwar France was richer and freer than Weimar Germany.

Now, we don’t really focus on Westalis and have such a limited knowledge of it  that it is essentially none existent. So that part of the equation is thin to the point of irrelevance. However, the main side I want to focus on, and the core of my tin foil hat theory, is about Ostania, and specifically its similarity to Weimar Germany.

The National Unity Party and the Politics of Ostania

At this point, some of you probably already know where I am going with this, yet I will spell it out all the same: While it is usually mentioned that the National Unity Party is probably based on Socialist Unity Party of Germany, I feel like this is not entirely true.

Main reason for this is that the Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the sole and ruling political party of East Germany, rather than one of many competing ones that “may” cause problem “if” they had won.

On that regard, the National Unity Party reminds me more of the National Socialist Germany Workers’ Party. Yes, I mean the literal Nazi Party.

The apparent belligerent, warmongering nationalism is the biggest connection between the two, so far we do not have any other details about their ideology. However, the potential details of the type of far right fascism is not exactly the point of this theory. Rather, it is the mechanics of their rise and the overall war threat they had brought.

Another little part that inspired this whole rabbit role that I have dug for myself, is that while I enjoyed the Mr. & Mrs. Smith jokes about Loid and Yor, what this shows actually reminds me of is The Americans tv series. Instead of bunch of Soviet spies in USA, it is about bunch of French spies in Weimer Germany trying to prevent the rise of NSDAP.

Resentment from the Last War, Wounded Prides and How to Appeal to the Electorate

At this point, we already know that there is a lingering resentment due to the war and dissatisfaction with the current peace within the Ostanian population. And as far as we know, the National Unity Party is trying to tap into those feelings to climb back into power after they had lost their seat to the more dovish party.

However, we have no real knowledge on how this is going for them. Are they ahead in the polls? Is there an election soon? Are they trying to force an early election?

What we do know, on the other hand, is this: Donovan Desmond, is a completely unappealing, creepy, borderline repulsive man who openly and even proudly, talks about being incapable of connecting to other human beings, to the point he doesn’t even bother to pretend to be anything less than an absolutely anti-social wacko.

Now, that is something that “may” not matter in closed, elite spaces of power trades, but it is a death sentence in electoral politics. You need charisma and appeal to familiarity in order to win. People need to feel heard, understood and represented. A creep incapable of even pretense of that, cannot succeed in politics. 

Enter Melinda Desmond. She is charming, she is kind, she is supportive. She makes you feel appreciated and accepted. We have many speculating how Melinda maybe a spy, the real head honcho, or at the very least a close ally and confidant of her husband. 

I agree to the last one of those speculations, but there is one more part I would like to add onto that: Melinda looks like she is the leader of a more subtle and potentially far more influential community outreach program.

The Lady Patriots Society feels like the women’s branch of the party, or at the very least, affiliated with the party. And while Donovan maybe this unreachable sociopath incapable of making inroads with the common voter, Melinda is most definitely not. On the contrary, it looks like she is quite capable of winning people over. And guess which demographic votes more, more often and more consistently: Women.

Female vote was crucial for the rise of many a political party, ever since they had the right to vote, and the Nazi party was no exception I’m afraid. For any political party that is serious about winning, getting at least a substantial part of the overall women’s vote if not a flat out majority, is necessary.

Another aspect of this electoral calculation is relationships. Husbands and wives influence how each other vote. And while the first reflex maybe to assume husbands dictate wives’ votes, the opposite is just as common if not more.

Especially, in the more middle class families, not only would women have more voice in couple’s voting, they have overall more influence in the general politics of the family, as they are the ones handling most of the child rearing. And the middle class, historically, is the most reliable voting block. They show up in higher percentages, more often, more consistently. 

It appears that Melinda, with her society, is trying to reach to middle/upper-middle families, through the women. And if her interactions with Yor is anything to go by, she is doing a tremendous job at it

Yor Forger the Wife, Loid Forger the Psychiatrist, Melinda the Connector

The main premise of the series so far, is the WISE’s attempts to get into Donovan Desmond’s inner circle, in order to get direct information regarding their potential war plans.

The WISE, had come up with a pretty intensive and convoluted plan to reach Donovan, through Eden College, which caused the creation of the Forger family. Now, since we have no real information about the relationship between Donovan and Melinda, we have no canonical explanation as to why the WISE seemingly ignored the wife in their quest to get close to Donovan. However, for the sake of this tin foil hat I am wearing, I will assume that it is possible reach him through his wife, just not one that the WISE thought they could pull off.

Yor, being pretty much completely honest in her interactions, has no plans or ulterior motives to get close to Melinda. She just happened upon her and dragged by her. Assuming their relationship will grow, this presents a previous unthought off path to Donovan for Twilight.

The main advantage is that Yor will come out clean and never give off any feeling of conspiring to get close to Donovan or Melinda. The main challenge is that Loid is dependent on Yor’s connection to Melinda and runs a huge risk of seeming too eager.

This is where I think Donovan’s lack of appeal, Melinda’s seeming effort for voter outreach and Loid Forger persona’s psychiatrist profession will come together to work in favor of the WISE and the Operation Strix.

Melinda gets closer to Yor, tries to influence her politics, and her husband’s politics through her. 

Loid, knowing full well this is a golden opportunity, plays it cool and cautious in his approach to his wife’s new friends and potential political hooks. 

He appears the archetypal crucial electoral demographic: Working family man who knows war and while not fundamentally opposed to the nationalist ideas, weary about hostile rhetoric.

Melinda learns of this attitude either through direct conversation with Loid or through Yor “my husband thinks and I agree” type of deal.

Melinda realizes he is not only the type of person they need to convince, but also, due to his profession, may even know the best way to do the convincing.

Melinda connects Loid to Donovan so that he maybe recruited into the party.

Donovan, convinced by Melinda, seeks to hire him to help with their campaign.

The WISE considers this the golden path and fulfillment of all their wishes. Loid is less convinced as he would be essentially helping the antagonists who are trying to start a war. The WISE says the intelligence is too valuable, go for it anyway. 

The Endgame of the Series and the Price of Preventing the War

The Operation Strix, is not just connecting to Donovan. In fact, the real operation starts after establishing contact with him. This is meant to be a deep undercover, several years maybe even life long mission, to keep feeding information from the very head of the National Unity Party until either the risk of war is completely eliminated or death.

Here, is where I think the real gut punch will come:

Loid helps Donovan’s party.

He is actually pretty good at it and quickly realized for his capabilities.

He rises rapidly into a prominent position and becomes a close confidant of Donovan.

Due to Donovan’s abject lack of charisma and Loid’s abundance of it, he increasingly becomes the face of the party.

The party increases popularity and wins back the unitary control of the government.

They actually do attempt to start a war.

The WISE is forced to commit violence in order to stop them.

The SSS helps them but there is a price to be paid: Ostania alone cannot be made out to be the bad guys. The WISE cuts a deal where their organization is branded a conspirator in helping warmongering agenda. Several agents, Twilight included, get exposed.

Political violence explodes and purges start. Most of the party goes down.

Loid and Yor, now revealed to each other, try to get Anya out of the country into safety.

They themselves stay back to finish the job.

Loid dies during it, now openly known not only as a Westalis spy, but as an evil saboteur who tried to restart the war.

Yor survives, leaves the country, raises Anya on her own.

I had this idea pop up in my head as soon as I had finished the chapter. I know that it is extremely convoluted and even ridiculous. Reaching across the universe if I say so myself. However, the more I think about it, the more scared and sad I feel, fearing that something of this sort will happen. Especially given Endo’s famous penchant for darker stories.