Huh?

It’s one of those manga that I think has balanced the comedy with the serious tones very well. I often take Loid very seriously (too seriously) so my reaction to his ‘plan’ was frustration. But I think actually, this chapter treaded on a major theme of the story that is: Letting go of the past.

Twilight has mentioned from chapter one that he’s been losing his edge. And I’m pretty certain throughout the story this has been a constant point that he’s not what he used to be, that is: master spy, Westalis’ greatest and man of a thousand faces.

I think this is mainly due to the fact that two-hours sleep and working like a robot for over a decade takes a lot out of a person. If you look into any research regarding spies that have remained for long periods in a host country, it gets harder and harder for them psychologically to continue their work. And since we have not seen or been shown, or told that Twilight has returned to Westalis since the war — then I am going to assume that he simply has not been home for a very long time. (And you know, it’s doubtful now that he could recognise it being a vagrant Spy in a host country). So why is he losing his edge? Well I think it’s best to consider why any spy loses their ‘edge’ after so long in service and we should cover the framework of Spy recruitment that I think is important here. That is: MICE! Money. Ideology. Compromise. Ego. Money Money (simple one), doesn’t really fit Twilight here, he never seems invested in money other than bellyaching over expensive keychains that Anya brings home. When it comes to himself (the trabant!) he seems happy to live frugally. Ideology Ideology is the core of Twilight’s being, so I will be leaving this for last as it will be the spine of my thoughts on this. Compromise or Coercion

Compromise or Coercion is a curious one. If we consider specifically recruitment, when [Redacted] was recruited by Westalis’ Military intelligence (WISE was not founded until post war). I’ve seen posts discuss how he was blackmailed, but while it’s true there was a threat made, the blackmail of being ‘court martialed’ was never something that stirred any real threat within [REDACTED].

“People coerced into espionage rarely make ideal agents” and coercion is generally discouraged when recruiting.

Twilight would not have stuck around, as intelligent and adaptable as he is, for over a decade if his Ideology did not embed him within the beliefs of being a spy for the West. SIDE NOTE: just ignoring the fact that while in theory someone could be court-martialed for lying about their age to enlist, especially if the lie counted as fraudulent enlistment, in practice during WWI and WWII, underage soldiers were often simply discharged or quietly sent home once discovered, especially if the only issue was age. [Redacted] was not underage by the time he was discovered either. By then his friends were all legally recruited. He was also a lieutenant at this point. He suggests this rank was obtained by everyone else dying but I’d disregard his self flagellation and consider more that he was a competent soldier and earned the rank because he is ultimately a competent and intelligent person (one of the reasons MI scouted him). So it’s highly doubtful he’d have been court martialed anyway and he was probably well aware of this. (Of course I am speculating here). Compromise comes back later as MICE is not just a framework for recruitment but considering the viability of a Spy. Ego and Excitement For this section I take an excerpt straight from the article: An Alternative Framework for Agent Recruitment: From MICE to RASCLS (LINK)

“Spy fiction may portray espionage as an exciting world of gun battles, explosions, car chases, and sexual adventures, but anyone who has lived in this world knows the truth is very different. For every hour spent on a street a case officer will spend many hours more writing up the results of the last meeting, preparing for the next meeting, and endlessly evaluating current cases and constantly looking for new assets. For the agent’s part, the life is usually equally dull and demanding. Successful agents must continue to perform in whatever jobs provide them the access for which they were recruited in the first place, all the while meeting the tasks levied by case officers.”

Anya was a great instrument in gauging this thread of Twilight’s life not being as glamorous as the work of an agent might appear. She is often portrayed as bored with her papa and loses interest in his antics. She considers him an over thinker and mentions that he is always working hard. I think this is a way of portraying the grind of Spy work as one that is hard and does not come with rewards or pats on the back.

In fact, if you consider the Cold War, and the difference between East Germany and West Germany, the idea of reward is something Twilight would not consider at all. He is bluntly told this:

East Germany in the Cold War, the GDR was a soviet-aligned socialist state ruled by the SED. While West Germany became a parliamentary democracy tied to the Western Bloc. Reward in the GDR was used as a social control; medals, titles, bonuses, and public accolades were systematic tools of socialist discipline and loyalty-building. (Think about those gaudy, ceremonies put up to inflate the egos of dictators, all while the populace is starving. Pageantry is a form of ego stroking and control) Consider the use of Tonitrus Bolts and Stella Stars and Imperial Scholars, how very public and privileged it is to be awarded one. How your social status (even amongst children) changes. How getting a Stella or a Tonitrus often captivates and controls the children of Eden. Anya’s friendship group grew exponentially with her Stellas. Even dropping into a different class due to her grades has not changed her standing with the other children. (Merit usurps worth academic intelligence). You can also consider how Twilight concludes that Yor being single would not actually be an issue where Yuri’s title/role within the SSS is concerned. Though of course she doesn’t know about this. This is not to suggest West Germany did not have such honours but there was less ideology surrounding them, it was more a consideration of civic recognition. All that to say that Twilight’s work does not come with the expectation of anyone recognising his efforts. He’s accepted his thankless job. Though, I do think Twilight has an ego. And I think to some extent this comes from the very evidence based fact that he’s been instrumental in evading catastrophe and that his peers often over bloat his abilities and successes (again not really without evidence).

This of course creates a pressure vacuum and an echo chamber in the mind. He’s just that good. And I think this is why, when he questions his abilities he tries to self-soothe by asserting his position as "Twilight, Westalis’ Greatest spy…"

it’s because any bump in the road or failure is a huge hit to the one part of him that is him… and that is that he is reliably over competent.

Not being competent, terrifies him just as much as not having all the information because to Twilight: lack of information is not just a direct threat to himself and everything he cares about.

Its a sin.

So here we come to IDEOLOGY. Religion is not really discussed much (I don’t recall at least) in Spy X family. So When Sin is used here, I take it less as a religious concept and more of a core belief expressed in the most vitriolic way possible. To be ignorant is contemptible, the worst thing possible to him in a way that — someone who never expresses religious beliefs — only refers to them here. Because religion is also an ideology.

Ignorance is sin.

So he has fastened himself to becoming a master. Of cooking, flying planes, lock picking, tennis, psychiatry... horse riding If you’ve read my fic… whatever it is... and In his downtime, he’s often reading, studying (something he hated as a child) because relaxing doesn’t cross his mind when there is knowledge to be attained and knowledge makes him feel in control of things, anything else is just the failure of the mortal body (his stomach).

To not have knowledge is to not be in control. If he doesn’t know something it makes him feel sick. This is why the stomach tearing is so prevalent throughout the manga. This is the core of Twilight’s being; the spy, [Redacted] and Loid Forger.

It’s often discussed in fandom that Twilight, Loid and [Redacted} are separate people/masks. While of course, Loid is an alias, I’d suggest that as he’s embedded himself in the role of Loid, the name is just decoration at this point. These are not separate people. Now I may lose you here but I’d like you to stay with me as I challenge a widely considered concept of masks.  I’m going to invoke Erving Hoffman here and the concept of the mask becoming the self. Anecdote: In high school, I was bullied a lot. I remember watching Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Tony Stark in Ironman. The nonchalance, quippy, thick skin and water off a duck’s back attitude beguiled me. Being an angry and meek kid, I looked up to his ability to amuse even his adversaries. He’s an asshole but you kind of like him. I decided to study the character and wanted to embody that confidence. Force myself from being an introvert into an extrovert. Now it worked and I quickly became someone who could bounce between groups of people with this mask. But that was a decade (OH MY FUCKING GOD) ago and I am not really introverted (despite hating group situations). I notice, sometimes to my chagrin, that my colleagues look to me to make light of a situation or pull a funny story or give guidance. And, unfortunately, I am a bit of an asshole too (working on it). At some point that mask just became part of my face. Goffman’s theory challenges the idea that a mask hides the “real” person. Instead, social roles are partly how an identity is formed. And so if you perform a role long enough, sincerely enough, and with real consequences… that role eventually becomes who you are. Twilight isn’t a role. [Redacted] is not a role. These are just titles of the same being. 

He only changed his name to Twilight because his old self could not be traced. Nothing changed other than the gathering of trauma, knowledge and experience over that period and the fact we saw within a few pages a little, scared boy become a big, traumatised and cynical, man. And being a little boy, [Redacted] was a blank slate to adapt to the world and society as he grew up. Unfortunately the world was war torn and suspicious and cruel to him. So as a result he adapted to live within it.

When people say that [Redacted] is peering through and the Twilight mask is slipping, I actually disagree. The name is arbitrary, he could be called Leon, Leonard, Bob, Johnny... whatever.

The person is what matters. He’s still: Competent, thoughtful, analytical, gentle, cynical, cold, stoic and bloody bull headed, Etc. When he is Twain Honey, Robert, Lionel, Lawrence or henchman #2: These are masks. He is not embodying these characters. When He is Loid Forger, initially this is a mask, but he has been embodying this for (as of writing) about seven months now. He allows the non-perfect husband cover to drop because the mask is hard to keep up 24/7 with a six year old. He’s grumpy, quippy, impatient, stern and standoffish but remains competent, thoughtful and analytical in that role. So to me, Loid (now), Twilight and [Redacted] are all the same man. His ‘bad’ attributes are just as much [Redacted] as his good attributes.

“Agents who serve for reasons of belief are the only agents that most officers can truly respect.”

The best agents spy for ideology. This is why Compromise is such a dangerous aspect to Twilight’s career and why he is so shaken by the concept of having feelings for his fake family. Being a spy and knowledge gathering is a core aspect of who he is. While WISE certainly has had a hand in some part of Twilight’s outlook, especially with encouraging his already bloated beliefs about his skills and necessity in the stratagem for peace between East and West. His Ideology is easily simplified to the fact that he considers lack of knowledge dangerous and wanting to make the world a safe place for ALL children where they do not need to cry.

He does not care about anything else, material or sovereign. 

WISE did not have a hand in training any other mindset into him. They are an intelligence agency and there is an important aspect that should not be missed. Straight after the chapters revealing Loid’s past and how he came to develop his ideology we were given a chapter where a rookie agent thinks in black & white in regards to his information gathering. Sylvia actively guides this agent away from pointing fingers over minimal information.

This is exactly how she guided Twilight:

I think Endo laid this chapter straight after to hint to the reader that while there was guidance from his Handler, first and foremost... he has his own ideals and they are not constructed by anyone but his past and self. (along with other reasons but we're discussing Twiguy here). WISE is dedicated to keeping the peace between Westalis and Ostania. They are of course a government agency and I want to be careful of not falling into the trap as seeing them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But in regards to Twilight, an agent with agency, his ideology aligns with the goal of peace between both countries. As above you see Twilight himself considers that he does not know who started the war. He is no longer purely aligned to Westalis and seeing Ostanians as devil as he did when a boy. And Handler instills into her rookie's the mistake of black and white thinking and the need to evade falling into the trap of propaganda (which was prevalents and a real danger when agents are stationed long term in an authoritarian host country). WISE benefits from Twilight’s ideology and not trying to indoctirinate their agents. As the psychology of recruitment does not stipulate coercion or control as being effective measures of recruitment. Twilight does not receive from WISE, no decent pay or accolades. He doesn’t owe them anything so it is purely his aligning ideology that keeps him in their corner. In fact, in reality some of the best known spies in the world were purely driven by their ideology. And so we return to one of the themes of Spy X family:

Letting go of the past and creating a better future. Twilight values above all his intelligence and the ability to predict situations and act upon them, this ultimately comes from the trauma of losing his friends, joining the war and still not being able to make a change. He was wrong and his dad was wrong. People he loved still died, towns were still destroyed and children still cried.

Intelligence gives him a sense of control.

Yet no one makes him feel absolutely clueless and out of his depth more than Yor — and Anya. All the information he gathered, all the knowledge, the 864 date plans, the schemes… do not account for the fact that those two aren’t normal. The fear of being thrown out of his depth, especially portrayed in the latest chapter has caused him some irrationality and a (lot) of belly aching. I think his character will come to some revelations, and it is starting to happen in some cases, when he finally learns to switch off the mind, the paranoia, the fear… and just let go. Then he can finally stop pretending he has any masks at all. (But of course re: latest chapter, he's going to slip up on the way. It is hard to break from one's ideology hence why ideology makes great spies... but speaking for myself, I'd like to see a husband and dad come out of this).

I re-read all that and cringed at myself. If you did too, I don't blame you. I am going to go touch some grass and wonder why I spent hours on this...