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V (character)

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V is a fictional character from the comic book series V for Vendetta, created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. He is a mysterious anarchist vigilante and terrorist easily recognizable by his Guy Fawkes mask and dark clothing. According to Moore, he was designed to be both a protagonist and antagonist, so that readers could decide for themselves whether he was a hero fighting for a cause, or simply insane.

Contents

Publication history

V is the central protagonist in the V for Vendetta material, which was originally published in Warrior in the mid 1980s.

After Warrior folded in 1985, several major comics attempted to get a hold of the material, which eventually saw DC Comics obtain the rights, publishing the finished product as a ten part series under the Vertigo label. It was later on collected as a single graphic novel.

Biography

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Origin

V's background and his identity are largely unknown. He was an inmate at the infamous "Larkhill Resettlement Camp", which was actually one of many concentration camps where political prisoners, homosexuals, Jews, blacks, Muslims and probably all non-Caucasians were exterminated by Britain's new fascist regime, Norsefire. While there, he was part of a group of prisoners who were subjected to horrific medical experiments conducted by Dr. Delia Surridge, which involved artificially designed hormone experiments (possibly research into creating super-soldiers). A pedophile priest, Lilliman, was at the camp to lend "spiritual support." The dozens of prisoners injected with the serum all died horribly, all except for one man: the man in room five ("V" in Roman numerals). Physically, there was nothing wrong with him, but Surridge felt that his mind had been warped by the experimentation and that he had been driven insane. Still, his actions seemed to maintain a warped logic to them. The experiments actually yielded some beneficial results; he developed Olympic-level reflexes, increased strength, and incredibly expanded mental capacity.

Over time, the man requested to work in the camp's vegetable gardens, which provided food for the guards and the camp commandant, Commander Prothero. The man eventually started taking nitrogen-based fertilizer back to his cell, arranged them in bizarre, intricate patterns on the floor, and soon after a large amount of grease solvent from the gardens also went missing. In secret, the man was using the fertilizer and solvent to make mustard gas and napalm. On a stormy night, he detonated his homemade bomb and escaped his cell. Much of the camp was set ablaze, and many of the guards that rushed in to see what happened were killed by the mustard gas. The camp was evacuated and closed down. He adopted the new identity, "V", and donned a Guy Fawkes mask and costume. V then spent the next four years planning his revenge on the Norsefire government, building his secret base, which he called the "Shadow Gallery", and killing off most of the over 40 surviving personnel from Larkhill, making each killing look like an accident. However, he saved Prothero, Surridge, and Lilliman for last.

Identity

V's true identity is a mystery, and he takes off his mask only once during the entire story (at Surridge's request) but his face is never shown. He doesn't even consider "V" his "name," saying "I do not have a name. You can call me V." The only explanation given regarding V's past is Surridge's diary, which reveals that V leaves out in the open for the police to find after he kills her. Inspector Finch, the head of London's police department and one of Norsefire's most powerful officials, reads through the diary, but points out that V wanted them to read it. V also tore out many pages, which possibly left clues to his true identity before arriving at the camp. Finch further speculates that V fabricated the version of Surridge's diary which he left with her body, just to confuse the police. It does seem to be confirmed that V was actually at Larkhill, but anything the police found out about it from the diary is what V wanted them to know.

V was horrifically disfigured by the experiments. His confidante Evey Hammond speculated in the comic that V might be her own father, who was arrested years ago as a political prisoner, though he denies it. Indeed, Moore has confirmed that V is not Evey's father. There is also some speculation that V could actually be Valerie, the prisoner in the cell next to his whose autobiographical letter inspired V not to give up (and which he later passed on to Evey.) Conceivably, V might actually be a woman whose appearance has been so drastically altered by the hormone experiments that it is impossible to tell while wearing the Guy Fawkes disguise. However, Prothero and Surridge both describe V as the "man" from room five, which would seem to dispel this theory.

V's true identity is never revealed. As Finch comments on the pages V tore from Surridge's diary, "What was on the missing pages, eh? His name? His age? Whether he was Jewish, or homosexual, or black or white?" He later describes himself to Finch as "an idea." That Evey genuinely takes over the persona upon the death of her predecessor suggests V is something transcending the individual physically donning the mask. Late in the story, Evey, having taken over V's mission, also appears to consider herself anarchy incarnate. In effect, V is an Everyman: potentially, anyone oppressed by their government could become a revolutionary avenger.

The villain

Four years after his escape from Larkhill, V begins his vendetta against the government by blowing up Parliament on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day. V then kidnapped Prothero, who was now the "Voice of Fate" on the government's propaganda radio, and drove him insane by destroying his prize doll collection in a satire of the exterminations that occurred at Larkhill. V killed now-Bishop Lilliman by forcing him to eat a communion wafer laced with a lethal dose of cyanide. Norsefire had infused a perversion of religion into their rhetoric, saying that those who were exterminated were not pure in the eyes of God, and V's black joke was in forcing Lilliman to put some of his religious rhetoric to the test, because if the host wouldn't kill him if it had truly underwent transubstantiation. V then killed Surridge, the one Larkhill official who felt remorse for her actions, by injecting her with a poison which painlessly killed her. Having thus leveled the playing field, V moved his plans forward.

V staged an attack on the government's propaganda broadcasting station, strapping himself with explosives and forcing the staff to follow his orders under threat of detonating them. V then broadcast a message to the people, telling them to take responsibility for themselves and rise up against their government. Finally, V destroyed the government's CCTV surveillance buildings, eroding its control over British citizens. However, V was mortally wounded when he was shot by Finch, and he staggered back to the Shadow Gallery, where he died in Evey's arms. Evey then laid him in state, surrounded by white lilies and gelignite, in a subway train which stopped at a blockage along the tracks right under 10 Downing Street, where the explosives-laden cab detonated, giving V a viking funeral in the process. Evey then took on the mantle of "V".

Spoilers end here.

Portrayal in the 2006 film

V (as portrayed by Hugo Weaving) in the film adaptation
Enlarge
V (as portrayed by Hugo Weaving) in the film adaptation

A 2006 film, V for Vendetta saw the character of V portrayed by Hugo Weaving. In the film, V is a portrayed as a romantic freedom fighter, rather than as an anarchist terrorist. While he still performs acts of terrorism, they are more in the light of Che Guevara. He is also portrayed as much more human and personable than his comic book counterpart. He cooks breakfast for Evey and asks to dance with her, although he did not give her any kind of care for the injury she received while saving him. There are strong elements from the Count of Monte Cristo and Phantom of the Opera in V that are not present in the original story. V's history is also very different from that given in the graphic novel; Instead of having received his training from supersoldier experiments, they are an end result of a biological weapons experiment. An intruiging addition to the character's mythos is that, prior to his escape from Larkhill, he claims to have forgotten his past in its entirety, including his name. V also seems to engage in more gratuitous violence in the film than in the novel, as there are many cases where he has killed large groups of armed government agents using only his daggers. However, he kills only when it is required for his personal defense (or assassinations in his planned vendetta), but when he does resort to violence it is extreme and ruthless.

Bibliography

Warrior

DC

Graphic novel

Notes

External links

 

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