Sylvia Sherwood

Sylvia Sherwood, better known as the Handler and the Fullmetal Lady is one of the two overarching protagonists (alongside the Shopkeeper) of the Spy × Family franchise. She's a higher-up agent of WISE in charge of Operation Strix and the former mentor of the legendary spy, Loid Forger. 
She's voiced by Yuko Kaida, who also voiced Claire Redfield in Resident Evil 2 and Caitlyn Kiramman in the Japanese dub of League of Legends. In the English dub, she's voiced by Stephanie Young, who also voiced Nico Robin in One Piece and Olivier Mira Armstrong in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In the musical stageplay adaptation of the series, she will be portrayed by Manato Asaka. 
== Appearance ==
Sylvia is a tall, adult woman with curly, long strawberry blonde hair. Her usual attire consists of a black suit, ribbon and skirt over a white dress shirt, with fishnet thigh-highs and high heels. As acessories, she wears a wide-brimmed har, a pair of round framed glasses and earrings shaped like the WISE emblem.
While undercover, she'll usually wear a blond wig styled in a bob haircut and occasionally sunglasses in order to hide her identity.
== Personality ==
Sylvia is a stoic woman hardened by the horrors of war who, much like Loid, is extremely dedicated to her job. She's a very logical and patient person who's shown to be a cunning leader to Operation Strix. Sylvia oftentimes comes across as intimidating due to her strict nature and she is feared and respected by the WISE agents, including Twilight himself, who was her former apprendice. 
Sylvia has an immense hatred for war, having been a victim of the conflict between Westalis and Ostania. This is showcased when she berates Keith's gang for instigating another war, claiming that they do not know how it is to live in it. Sylvia also has a more gentle and motherly side, having been a mother herself, seen when she comforts Anya after the doggy crisis incident, saying that they would not hurt Bond. Beneath her rather strict nature, Sylvia is, ironically, extremely disorganized in her home life as she lives in a messy apartment and also has the tendency to leave food crumbs and coffee around her office, a behavior which is possibly a result of her trauma.
== History ==
=== Background ===
Little is known about her past, but it is heavily implied that Sylvia, much like Loid, is a victim and a veteran from the Westalian-Ostanian war who had her life turned upside down by the conflict. 
In the past, Sylvia used to have a husband and a daughter the same age as Anya, both having been implied to have died during the war, leaving Sylvia as a Widow.
A fact that most likely served as her motivation to become a government agent.Before the events of the series, Sylvia was the commanding officer of the man who would eventually become the legendary spy, Twilight. She's said to be an extremely harsh and strict mentor to him, to the point of Twilight developing a fear of her. Nevertheless, Sylvia's training shaped him up to be the cold and calculative spy that he is.
Shortly before the events of the series, Sylvia was put in charge of commanding Operation Strix and became Twilight's main contact in Ostania, placing herself in a WISE base located underground a fake phone booth.
== Trivia ==
* Sylvia's surname, "Sherwood" is likely a reference to the real-life Sherwood Forest located in Nottingham, England, which is known for being the primary setting of the Robin Hood legend.
** Likewise, her name "Sylvia" means "wood/woods, forest/from the forest/of the forest" in Latin.
* In the Volume 12 extras, it's revealed that Tatsuya Endo initially considered making Loid's Handler a man, with one of his early designs resembling Matthew McMahon.
** It's also said that her name was originally going to be "Sandalwood" which was changed by Endo for reasons he himself couldn't remember and that she was going to go by the codename of "Nighthawk".
* According to Tatsuya Endo, he based off Sylvia's design on the fashion shows he watched, such as Paris Fashion Week, but says that drawing her glasses, hat and curly hair is a painful task.
* Her nickname of "Fullmetal Lady" could be a nod to the 1987 anti-war movie, Full Metal Jacket as well as a nod to the infamous british prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and her nickname of "Iron Lady".
** In-universe, it's said that Sylvia is well aware of her nickname and does not mind it as it makes her seem dignified.
* In the manga, it is said that Sylvia adopted Keith Kepler's german shepherd who attacked Loid, now named Aaron.
* The public pool that Sylvia enters to change into her disguise is based off the real life Schwimmhalle Finckensteinallee: a former SS training facility turned-public pool located in Berlin, Germany. 
* During the end of the Campbelldon Tennis arc, Fiona snatches a pair of garish rings as a reward for winning the game, which Loid advises her to "give to Handler as a souvenir". In episode 25, Sylvia can be seen with those rings in her fingers while in her office.
* Sylvia's age is left a mystery, as the series never makes it clear how old she's supposed to be. While in appearance she seems to look about the same age as Loid (who's around in his late 20's and early 30's), it is likely that she's actually older than him, since she acted as his mentor and also because she mentions having a 6 year old child during, or prior to the period of the war.
**The spanish dub for episode 17, when Sylvia's age is mentioned, the narrator can be briefly heard saying "cuarenta" (meaning "forty" in spanish) before being bleeped out.
**In the russian translation of the manga, Sylvia's age is not censored and is said to be 45.
*The chair she sits on the cover of Volume 12 is a designed by . She also appears sitting in the exact same chair in Episode 17 of the anime.
== External Links ==
* Sylvia Sherwood on the Spy × Family Wiki
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