Spy x Family: Who Is the Shopkeeper? Is He a Villain?

Many interesting characters appear in SPY×FAMILY, and while the major focus has always been on the protagonist trio – Loid, Yor, and Anya – numerous side characters impacted the series and deserve some attention. One such character is the Shopkeeper, the guy who – in the most recent episode – attacked Yor and also gave her a new assignment. The Shopkeeper is an interesting figure, no doubt about it. In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about this intriguing character and his role in the series.

The Shopkeeper is Yor’s “boss” in Garden

The Shopkeeper debuted as a character in Chapter 2 via a phone call and was first seen personally in Chapter 44 of the manga. This corresponds to Episodes 2 and 30 of the anime series. He is presented as the leader of Garden, the group of assassins that Yor is part of, and he is introduced as their leader. He is initially a mysterious figure, but it is later revealed that he looks like a very normal old man, save for the fact that he is an exceptionally skilled and dangerous assassin. But the rest of it? Mostly harmless.

So, what is his story? Well, the Shopkeeper is Yor’s mentor. He has known her since her youth, and he was the one who trained her. He is also responsible for handing out assignments and information about targets, which includes those assigned to Yor as well, which shows that the two of them were often in contact and that they collaborated frequently. Interestingly enough, it was revealed that the Shopkeeper allowed Yor to live with Loid and Anya, which could potentially be an important narrative detail later in the series.

During the Cruise Adventure Arc, she actually comes to meet the Shopkeeper in the garden. He immediately attacks her, and as she avoids his attack, he apologizes and says that he is just testing her. He then gives her the task of protecting Olka Gretcher and her son, who are on the Princess Lorelei, suspecting that they might be targeted. This was a strange assignment, as the Garden didn’t often do such things, but it was revealed that he had a duty to protect the Gretcher family, as he was in their debt, as they had protected him earlier. The details were not revealed, but Yor did accept that mission and handled it quite well.

She later met him during the Friendship Schemes Arc, and in the Mole Hunt Arc, a drunk Yor dreams of asking the Shopkeeper for permission to assassinate Loid, but that was just a funny scene from the series. Of course, more information about the Shopkeeper will be revealed later, but this is all we know at the moment.

He is as much a villain as Yor is

Now that we have told you about the Shopkeeper’s story, we can actually address the issue of his affiliation in the series. This is a relatively interesting question, as the Shopkeeper runs a very powerful organization of assassins that certainly has to be reckoned with as a force in the series. This is why it is interesting to observe how the Shopkeeper can be positioned in the series, as it will help understand his role, as well as Yor’s role, a bit better.

So, we have established that the Shopkeeper is the leader of Garden, a secret organization filled with assassins that do various jobs. Still, they mostly do – as you can deduce – assassinations. The Garden is located in Ostania, and while we can assume that they do not work for the government, we know that the Shopkeeper has some ties to the Ostanian government and that he is loyal to them. On the other hand, he also has personal ties to the Gretcher family, and it has been implied that he would put their interests in front of the interests of Ostania.

In that aspect, it can be said that the Shopkeeper is as much a villain as Yor is. The two work for the same organization and he is her boss, but we cannot really label him as a villain per se because if we labeled him as a villain, we would also have to label Yor as a villain in the series, and we’re not going to do that, are we? We don’t know what would happen if their interests became conflicted if the Shopkeeper had to put Ostania in front of someone, Yor perhaps, but we don’t know what Yor would do then either.

And that is why we wouldn’t label the Shopkeeper as a villain in the series. We don’t think he is a hero, but to put him in the same basket as some other more obvious villains. He is a standalone character who is neither a villain nor a hero. He has his agenda his plans, and that’s about it. Whether he is firmly aligned with anyone but his own organization remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t really label him as a villain so easily.

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