Spy x Family is a layered reading and viewing experience for fans, bringing thrilling espionage storylines and one of the most tragic romances in 2024 with Henry Henderson and Martha Marriott. The two are star-crossed would-be lovers who met in their childhood studying at Eden Academy in Berlint, only for war to pull them apart. As a result, fans are shaken to the core by the events of Spy x Family chapter #99, which thoroughly explains why the pair did not end up together.

With Spy x Family continuing to dive into the backstories of its characters, Henry and Martha’s love story is one of many explorations being added to that of Agent Twilight and, now, Donovan Desmond. It makes for a compelling biweekly reading experience, where readers eat up every morsel of new information as the history of Ostania and Westalis’ war expands.

But for now, as Spy x Family approaches chapter #100, all eyes are on the doomed romance of Henry and Martha, which ended up overshadowing even the relationship between Loid and Yor.

Spy x Family’s Martha and Henry Romance Is the Most Tragic Love Story of 2024

The Latest Arc Shows Henry as a Broken Man

Carrying over from Spy x Family chapters #97-98, Martha and Henry’s story continues in chapter #99, with the toll of war finally reaching their respective doorsteps. Martha finally got to dance with Henry and had the opportunity to tell him her feelings were squandered as a drill siren sent the party into a panic. The ensuing pages result in her rapidly being deployed before she can confess her feelings, in a moment that reminds readers once more that Spy x Family is not simply a comedy.

The ensuing pages follow the two as they share a lengthy correspondence, with Martha trying to convey her love for Henry and Henry slowly realizing his feelings. Things become more dire when Henry catches wind of plans to send women like Martha directly into combat, and the story becomes more of a dirge in motion. Henry is shown in a broken state, desperately wishing for Martha to come back and being visibly distraught when he thinks she’s dead. It’s a brutal chapter and one of the most emotional in the entire series.

Spy x Family Explains Why Martha and Henry Don’t Get Together

It’s More Depressing Than Anyone Anticipated

While Martha indeed survives despite being put into combat, she is wounded and placed into triage somewhere along the border of Ostania and Westalis. Henry’s father confronts him, reminding him that his prospective marriage partners are pulling away due to his public outbursts and that the woman who will become his wife is not Martha, but a partner forced on him. The moment he is shown getting married, the story cuts to Martha waking up in recovery, conclusively answering why this love story doesn’t have a happy ending in Spy x Family.

While Henry doesn’t appear to have marital issues or any form of distress in his current years, this is an unresolved trauma and a sore spot. For it to be explored in Spy x Family chapter #97 after he and Martha share a dance is undoubtedly painful, as it won’t likely result in romance for the pair, but it presents new perspectives on the war’s Ostanian front. Instead of Twilight’s story, where he loses everything to the relentless machine of war, Henry’s chance for true love is seemingly wrenched from his hands as the price for not participating.

Martha and Henry’s Love Story Is the Inverse of Loid and Yor

While the Characters Share Parallels in Spy x Family, Their Fates Are Polar Opposites

Loid and Yor’s relationship is persistently played up for laughs in Spy x Family, with Loid’s suave personality ineffectually covering for his ambivalent feelings toward Yor, juxtaposed against Yor’s romantic awkwardness. They are in a marriage of convenience, concealing their dual lives under the disguise of an average married couple with their adopted daughter, Anya. In this sense, what brings them together is largely aromantic, while Martha and Henry’s mutual feelings are never fully communicated, dooming them to be forever apart.

Loid is dedicated to the mission and, while appreciating Yor, is still ultimately living a lie. At the same time, Henry is likely to live a lie and never be able to express himself to Martha. Loid and Henry are both reserved, calculated gentlemen concealing internal turmoil and disdain for war, while Yor and Martha are fierce fighters yet can’t speak their truths when the moment calls for it. The same story that brought Loid and Yor together under false pretenses is the one that prevents Martha and Henry’s love from likely having a happy ending in Spy x Family.