Summary
Spy x Family is available to watch onCrunchyroll. The manga can be read onVIZ Media’s online platform.
Tatsuya Endō’sSpy x Familyis one of the most popular anime and manga titles of the current age, and is the most famous of the author’s works, most of which deal with far darker themes and subject matter. The series' comedy and lighthearted approach to a tried and tested concept, as well as its cast of lovable characters have seenSpy x Familybecome a favorite in the anime world.
Among these characters, Yor Forger née Briar, the mother figure of the fabricated Forger family is one of the most liked by fans, but many might not know that the Thorn Princess’s name is actually a play on words. Here’s how.
The Basic Plot of Spy x Family
How The Best Assassin In The East Became A Mom
To understand how Yor’s name is a play on words, we have to go back to the basic plot of Spy x Family. The series is set in a world where two fictional neighbouring European countries are on the cusp of war, with the difference between the two being the effectiveness of their intelligence networks. Westalis’s best spy, an agent known as “Twilight”, is tasked with infiltrating Ostania to gain intelligence on Donovan Desmond, the leader of Ostania’s National Party; however, due to the target’s reclusiveness, the only way to do so is through enrolling a child in thesame elite private school as Desmond’s sonsand get closer to him as a fellow parent.
With no family of his own due to the nature of his occupation, Twilight first has to create a new identity and construct a family to disguise himself. As “Loid Forger”, he adopts six-year-old Anya, whom he doesn’t realize is psychic and therefore knows his true identity; and finds himself a wife in the form of Yor Briar, a young woman whom he doesn’t know is also living a double life. At night, she is the Thorn Princess, perhaps Ostania’s most talented assassin. Yor needed to have a cover family to give the impression that she has a normal home life because of a trend of unmarried women being suspected of being spies and taken into custody.
Who Dares Grasp The Thorn
Why “Thorn Princess”?
Due to the duplicitious nature of Yor’s situation, there are actually two different puns attached to the character that are pretty simple once identified but might not be immediately apparent to some viewers. Firstly, her underworld moniker, “Thorn Princess”, is an interesting choice because her weapon of choice is a set of needle-like daggers (or thorns); however, it also nods back at her last name, “Briar”, which is a word that describes various kinds of prickly shrubs,but especially wild roses.
When on the job, Yor wears a black dress that is a brilliant red on the inside, which is further accented with rose patterns, connecting her real name to her underworld moniker, as well as her weapon of choice. The part of the character’s name that is hidden under a bit more ambiguity to some viewers is most likely the first name, “Yor”, which is pronounced “yoru” by the characters in the Japanese version because of Japanese phonetics, but therein lies the pun. Due to the series being set in Europe (albeit a fictional one), theSpy x Familyuniverse has been shown to be largely in English, and this is supported by the presence of names like Loid (likely an alternate spelling of “Lloyd”), Donovan Desmond, Damian, etc.
United in Darkness
Why Yor’s Name Fits Her Role Perfectly
Yor’s name is spelled with only three letters on purpose; however, when read in Japanese,it sounds like the word for “night”, which makes perfect sense in the greater scheme of theSpy x Familystory because she marries Loid, who is actually agent Twilight, and interestingly, the characters say “tasogare” rather than the English word, so together they can be seen as “tasogare to yoru”; twilight and night. Twilight has various definitions depending on context, but it can describe the light produced by the sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere when the sun is below the horizon, and the period in which this occurs.
Merriam-Webster has a secondary description of twilight as “an intermediate state that is not clearly defined”, which comes from the idea that twilight is an interstitial period between daytime and night that is also subject of various mythological and supernatural interpretations. According to Cambridge Dictionary, “twilight” is used specifically to describe “a way of life that involves illegal or immoral activities, and is on the edge of normal society”, and this is one definition that fits the character’s life as a spy who cycles through identities for the sake of the mission. Twilight is the period just before the dark of night, and to that end, Loid’s best possible option for a fake wife is undoubtedly the woman who not only inhabits the night,but is named after it.
Spy x Family
Cast
Created by Tatsuya Endo, Spy X Family is an action-adventure comedy anime that follows the misadventures of a found family with unique quirks. The story follows spy Twilight (known as Loid Forger), who, while on assignment, builds a fake family to get closer to his target. Unbeknownst to him, his new family carries their quirks. His wife, Yor, is a kind but deadly assassin, while his daughter, Anya, has telepathic powers - and is the only one who knows their secrets.
