Characters / Cyberpunk 2077: V

Cyberpunk 2077 Main Character Index
V | Johnny Silverhand | Allies | Corpos and Corporations | Criminals, Fixers and Gang Members | Phantom Liberty

In the City of Dreams, it takes a big dreamer to carve their path through the violence and depravity and into Night City's legends.

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V (Vincent/Valerie)

"It's a city of dreams... and I'm a big dreamer."

Male V Voiced by: Gavin Drea (English), Kamil Kula (Polish)^note Other Languages: Björn Schalla (German), Chikahiro Kobayashi (Japanese), Egor Vasiliev (Russian), Eilias Changuel (French)

Female V Voiced by: Cherami Leigh (English), Lidia Sadowa (Polish)^note Other Languages: Flavia Vinzens (German), Risa Shimizu (Japanese), Julia Gorokhova (Russian), Julie Dray (French)

V, the playable protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077, is one such dreamer. As an up and coming mercenary out to make a name for themselves, V's appearance, past and skills are up to the player.

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A-F

• The Ace: Depending on skill allocation, V can be this. A powerful One-Man Army who can take on scores of gang members and Corpo soldiers through either stealth, hacking or combat. They also have a knack of accomplishing any task put in front of them ranging from theft, hostage rescues, contract killing, and even taking down Cyberpsychos (who are dangerous enough that they have their own dedicated squad made just to incapacitate them).
  • The Phantom Liberty expansion adds in a new Relic skill tree allowing V to enhance their cybernetic abilities even further.
  • They can also accomplish what Johnny couldn’t and raid Arasaka tower and defeat Adam Smasher. Especially prominent in the "(Don’t Fear) The Reaper" ending where they plow right through Arasaka's front door without any kind of help while on their last legs due to how far the Relic has spread.
  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners even hammers even further how much of a badass V really is. Despite having a crew and state of the art implants, David was unable to land so much as a scratch on Adam Smasher and ended up having to sacrifice himself so Lucy and Falco can escape. In game you can create builds based on the characters in the show, and surprisingly enough in V's hands, they become incredibly more dangerous than they were for the original characters. Most of the builds are effective endgame builds and can easily destroy Adam Smasher, whereas in the show the characters were unable to do much against him. Goes to show just how effective and lethal V is.
• Action Genre Hero Guy: Male V's appearance in the character creator defaults and promotional materials is that of a fairly attractive white man with a buzz cut hairstyle.
• Action Girl: The deadly hired gun V can be played as a woman if the player so desires.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • If female V romances Judy, she will sometimes call her "calabacina" (zuccini).
  • In the questlog for the sidemission "Bullets", Johnny will refer to V as "(his) little merc". In the one for "The Beast in Me: The Big Race", he calls them "turbo". Unused voicelines in the files indicate that Johnny was supposed to call them "My prince/princess" before taking over their body in "The Sun" ending. In the Polish dub, he calls them "słonko" ("sweetheart") during "Sweet Dreams". Phantom Liberty adds "kid", "kiddo" (during the AV ride to the NUSA clinic) and "rabbit" (in one dialogue tree when waiting for Solomon in "Lucretia My Reflection"). And, in the E3 2019 trailer, he calls them "samurai".
  • Jackie calls them "chica" (female V) or "mano" (male V).
  • In "Off The Leash", Kerry calls them "little bird". He will also call female V "doll" in one dialogue branch in "Rebel, Rebel!".
  • Viktor and Rogue will call them "kid".
• The Alcoholic: V has apparently gone on three night benders more than once (as Jackie imploring her not to do so yet again in the E3 2018 Gameplay trailer implies), and the "Postcards From Night City" trailer has V guzzling liquor before offering shot glasses to a stripper. In game, however, it is possible to play them as straight edge, refusing all stimulants when offered.
• The Alleged Car: The Thorton hatchback that V gets running in the Nomad prologue has seen better days. The interior's rough and the electronics are sketchy, but it only needs to make it into Night City. Later in the second act of the main story, Nomad V can reacquire the car in working order. If you do a measured comparison to other player-ownable cars, however, it stacks up surprisingly favorably, being outperformed only by Hypercars and other near-Hypercar muscle cars overall.
• All for Nothing: Despite everything V did and went through in the plot and in their chosen ending, saving their life is impossible. Thanks to the Relic wrecking their nervous system to the point that even if they did get their body back they would only have six months to live, they're stuck between either trying to live out what time they have left as best as they can and hope they can find a cure ("The Star", "The Sun", "The Devil: Return to Earth"), be turned into an engram ("The Devil: Engram") or giving their body to Johnny and joining Alt ("Temperence"). ("The Tower") ending exclusive to the Phantom Liberty expansion also applies to an extent, as while V manages to get the Relic removed and can look forward to living out the rest of their life, they have to betray Songbird to do it and Johnny will be permanently erased just like in the "Devil" ending. The Relic's also damaged V’s neural system to the point they won't be able to use combat chrome ever again. They've also spent two years in a coma, and during that time most of their friends and associates have moved on with their lives, leaving V with a fragmented support system (other than what the NUSA and Militech are offering) and no way to get back into the game, becoming just another nobody unable to achieve their dream of being a Night City legend.
• Ambiguous Gender: Downplayed but present. While V can go so far as to have a fully masculine or fully feminine character and anything in between, and can blend different traits in both body (body type, voice, genitals) and style (haircut, clothes, jewelry), you don't get to specify V's exact gender at any point during the character creation or gameplay and the game gives no indication of how V identifies themselves. There are mild dialogue changes (for example, Dexter deShawn calling V "miss" or "mister", and influencing whom V can romance) but you are never given any options, dialogue or otherwise, for V to correct their pronouns or make their gender identity known.^note There is one instance in which V refers to themselves with gendered adjectives; during the "Greed Doesn't Pay" gig, upon finding the restrieval objective, they say, "Come to Papa/Mama!"; this, however is the only time it is uttered, and sometimes can be missed completely depending on how V approaches the quest.
• Ambiguous Situation: In "The Tower" ending, the Relic is safely removed, but the damage done to V's neural network is so extensive they are unable to field anymore implants beyond ones for basic necessities. It's unclear whether V would be able to use bioware as a substitute as some bio-modifications are incompatible with cyberware, though Reed also mentions unspecified complications with nanomachines, a key component in bioware. V is also implied to have suffered from muscular and nerve atrophy during their coma, so while they'll never be an elite Edgerunner like before, how much strength they can eventually regain is left unanswered.
• Ambiguously Brown: Default female V (the one shown on the game's cover) has a noticeably darker skin than her male counterpart. It's unclear if she's supposed to be of another race/ethnicity or just tanned. Doesn't apply in the game proper, where either V can be of any race/ethnicity.
• Ambiguously Human: Nearly everyone in the future is chromed and augmented in some fashion or another, but V is notably referred to in external materials as cutting-edge, and unlike the lore standards of penalties for further augmentations, V has absolutely no consequences for it, leaving it ambiguous how chromed up they truly are at the start, especially with some of the customization options you can start with. Once the Relic starts taking them over, it's debatable if they're even comparable to any living person at that point, having all been all but revived from the dead and suddenly stepping up to seemingly-impossible feats in rapid succession despite the Relic's engram gradually wearing them down internally.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Or Christian, or Hindu. During "They Won't Go When I Go", when asked by Joshua to join him in prayer, V is first hesitant but then told to just pray in whichever way feels most natural to them. They can choose between the Lord's Prayer (presumably signifying them as Christian), the Amidah (signifying them as Jewish), a few lines from the Rigveda (making them Hindu), or to just improvise.
• Amicable Exes: Certain endings will see V break up with their romance partners for varying reasons; Judy will leave in all endings but "The Star", Panam will leave in "The Sun", and River and Kerry will break up with V in "The Star" as neither can leave Night City with them due to obligations. Nevertheless, they all part on good terms with the implication they might get together again once things have settled down or V has all their affairs in order. "The Tower", however, has V learn their romance partners have drifted away from them in some manner; Judy has gotten married, River has gotten involved in some shady business and doesn't want V to get involved, and Panam refuses to talk to them. The only romance partner on good terms with V is Kerry, but even he can't be with them as he's in the middle of a tour.
• Anatomy Arsenal: V has cybernetic forearms that come with a retractable universal interface cable used for both everyday tasks (such as uploading credetials for security checks) or unusual ones such as breaking into a computer network. They can be swapped with dedicated cyberarms containing weapons, with four available: the Mantis Blades, the Projectile Launcher, the Monofilament Whip or the Gorilla Arms.
• Anti-Hero: V is a mercenary with little regard for the structures of power or laws around them and willingly commits all manner of crimes over the game for the sake of both survival and even simple profit.
• Artificial Limbs: V's forearms are cybernetic and can be outfitted with multiple combat mods. Even if the player decides to not use them, they will always have a retractable cable that allows V to connect to different devices and a grip that connects them with their guns, allowing them to see things like the amount of ammo they have left.
• Ascended Fan: Possibly; All Vs have a jacket with Kerry Eurodyne's logo on it in their closet, and Nomad V starts off in a shirt with said logo. V can meet and befriend (or even date) Kerry in-game, though they don't really make any comments that would imply that they're a fan of his. It was likely left vague for roleplaying purposes.
• Back from the Dead: V died after Dex shot him/her in the head. The only reason why V received a second, temporary lease on life is thanks to the biochip.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Corpo V starts off in a red (for female) or black (for male) suit and is already an experienced Corporate Samurai. They can wear various suits throughout the game as well and they put in a fancy black Millitech suit during the Relic heist. Sadly it’s removed from their inventory afterwards.
• Badass in Distress: V belongs to the kind of protagonists who are frequently saved by other characters, be it Jackie, Takemura or Judy.
  • Special mention goes to corpo V, who is saved on screen in prologue mission.
  • Another major exemple is the Sweet Dreams quest where V gets abducted by the same scavengers that took Sandra Dorsett in the game's first mission past the prologue.
• Badass Normal: Can choose to avoid getting any cyberware aside from the ones mandated by the story. This doesn't stop them from taking on hordes of gang members and corpo security through either stealth, hacking or outright combat.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: V can be created with no visible genitalia or nipples.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Good might be overstating it, but V is a sympathetic Anti-Hero and their cybernetics are much less grotesque and more human looking. Compare them to the likes of Maelstrom, the Animals and especially Adam Smasher and the difference is obvious.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In two distinct flavors no less.
  • In Act 1, V shares Jackie's goal of making it big in Night City and establish themselves as a legend. With the exception of "The Tower" and "Devil" endings, they cripple Arasaka, but at that point, the Relic has damaged their body to the point they only have months left to live. This is particularly poignant in the Sun ending; despite now being the top dog of the Afterlife and its new owner, V clearly finds little enjoyment in their new lifestyle and is even planning an incredibly risky job that may very well be The Last Dance.
  • In Act 2, V is desperate to get rid of the biochip before it kills them, which understandably leads them to considering getting help from dubious characters that do not have their best interests in mind or are lying to them about having a solution. In the Devil ending, V eventually gets rid of the Relic and has Johnny wiped, but the ending itself shows how miserable V has become, especially when faced with the Sadistic Choice of becoming an engram or resigning themselves to die in a few months. "The Tower" ending exclusive to Phantom Liberty is somehow even worse in that while V gets exactly the cure they were looking for, the process of removing the Relic lands V in a two year coma and the damage done to their neural system means they will never be as combat effective as they were before, severely hampering their chances of surviving the Wretched Hive that is Night City.
• Beware the Nice Ones: For the most part V comes across as perfectly pleasant and easy to talk to, especially compared to Johnny. However, they’re still a One-Man Army and threatening them or their friends is a quick way to get yourself killed in various painful ways. This perhaps shines through the most in the (Don’t Fear) The Reaper" ending: as they don't want to drag anyone they care about down with them - they go onto assault Arasaka Tower by themselves, slaughtering anyone and anything who stands between them and Mikoshi.
• Berserk Button: Dishonesty. Regardless of your own dialogue choices, one consistent thing that always pisses V the hell off is people trying to "haze" them. Since most merc work is impossible without trust, this is pretty warranted. The only person to potentially subvert this is Songbird; in "The Killing Moon" where she confesses the cure will only work for one of them and she had no intention of using it on V, they can be rightfully pissed (and hand Songbird over to the NUSA as a form of "revenge") or tell her she didn't have to lie and would have helped her anyway.
• Blessed with Suck: The biochip they had inserted into their skull by Jackie ends up essentially reviving them after getting shot in the head by Dex. It also prevents brain death in a number of other cases, such as when Placide tries to zero V after wrecking NetWatch's operations, when V puts on the spiked BD that killed Mayor Rhyne, or when they take the Schmuck Bait BD that lands them in the same tub that they found Sandra Dorsett in during the end of the Prologue. However, their death by Dex's hand also activates said chip, which starts the process of overwriting their mind with Johnny's, slowly killing them.
• Bookends: In regards to your Lifepath and which ending you pick at the end of the game.
  • A Streetkid V left for Atlanta to make it big, only to come home empty-handed. In "The Sun" ending, V succeeds Rogue as the Afterlife's new owner after establishing themselves as the newest legend in Night City. Alternatively, they can leave Night City once again in "The Star" ending, this time looking for a way to save their life.
  • A Nomad V arrives in Night City after severing their ties with the Bakker Nomad clan. In "The Star" ending, Saul welcomes them into the Aldecaldos as the newest member of the clan.
  • A Corpo V winds up getting burned after Jenkins' boss cuts them off and strips them of everything they had working for Arasaka. Despite literally being broke and homeless, Jackie treats the whole affair as though V got their life and their soul back from an otherwise controlling and monstrous conglomerate. In the Engram outcome of "The Devil" ending, V literally hands Arasaka their soul for the "Secure Your Soul" program when they learn they only have a few months left to live despite fighting for dear life to get the biochip removed.
  • "The Tower" ending sees V once again losing everything they have, despite ironically actually having their life saved. Their relationships have been upended, they can no longer wield combat cyberware, their property and possessions are sold off, and the most obvious way forward is for them to settle for a desk job at the NUSA, since hustling it out in Night City has now become far more dangerous. The final scene of the ending parallels the opening scene of Act 2, as Misty comforts a distraught V on how they can move forward in life, but while in Act 2 V was terminally injured and looking for a way to save themselves, in the "Tower" ending V has saved themselves but has to adapt to a new life that's going to be nothing like their old one.
• Born Unlucky: Very little goes V’s way. In each and every lifepath they’re betrayed or screwed over in some way, their first major heist just happens to coincide with Yorinobu Arasaka murdering his father, and at the end despite all their struggles the best options they have are having six months left to live, surviving as an A.I beyond the Blackwall, an Engram under Arasaka control, or a weakened nobody desk-jockey for NUSA or Militech.
• Bounty Hunter: The vast majority of side activities that V can do is doing the NCPD's job for them. These include dealing with Assaults, Crimes in Progress, and Criminal Activity. Usually, V ends up with a "kill everyone" response barring nonlethal weapons and the NCPD doesn't care. They even go full out by offering bounties on the head of important criminals that they pay even if (and especially if) you kill them. This despite the fact that V is also a professional criminal.
• Break the Badass: "The Tower" ending exclusive to Phantom Liberty does this to V in spades. Unlocked after giving Songbird over to Myers and the NUSA, V has the means to safely remove the biochip, but the process lands V in a two-year-long coma. While the city hasn't changed, many of their old associates, friends, and even their loved one have been forced to make deals with the corpos, are on the run from them, or have left Night City altogether to start over. Worse, Reed tells them that the Relic's shot V's neural system to hell to the point they can no longer field any combat-oriented cyberware and implants, making their living prospects very limited in the Wretched Hive that is Night City (though it's unclear if options such as Bioware are out of the question). The ending in its entirety shows just how thoroughly beaten, hurt, and broken V has become since waking up from their coma.
• Broken Ace: V is a badass, no matter how you cut them, that much is true. And even before the infamous Heist, they brought some pretty heavy emotional baggage with them from their life paths. But the events of the Heist shatters them. For the rest of the story, any mention of Jackie or the fact that they're dying essentially throws them off their game and makes them noticably emotional. "The Tower" ending can also potentially destroy them as any future prospects of being an Edgerunner are all but gone with their neural system having been degraded to the point they can't use any sort of chrome.
• Career-Ending Injury: In "The Tower" ending, V gets a medical procedure that manages to save their life at the cost of being unable to use anything but the most basic of cyberware. As such, their career as an Edgerunner has effectively ended.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Despite their constant snarking, V and Johnny's goodbye in Mikoshi during the Arasaka Raid variant of the ending is honestly touching, with neither of them wanting to part for good. In "The Sun", "The Star", and "The Devil" variants of the ending, V is shown to still be holding onto the "lucky charm" made out of the bullet that killed them and activated the engram. In "The Devil" variant of the ending, during the word association test, V can respond with "Johnny" when asked about their association with "Home". (In fact, they can answer most of the questions with "Johnny".)
• Can't Stay Normal:
  • In "The Sun" and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" endings. V has their own apartment, cemented their status as a living legend in Night City, become the owner of Afterlife and can pretty much retire. Yet while they could peacefully wait for their death with all of their needs tended to, they still feel like they need to prove their status and skills, so they embark on one last heist, a space casino belonging to Arasaka.^note Mr. Blue Eyes knows more about V's condition than he lets on, implying he may know of a cure, but V makes it clear as far as they are concerned, their concern is less about the possible reward and more about the legend this will make them into.
  • Downplayed in "The Tower" ending. After a two-year coma, V is cured by Militech and the NUSA, and is guaranteed to live a long life complete with a cushy job offer from Reed. This comes at the expense not only losing almost everyone dear to them, however, but also being unable to utilize any augmentation more advanced than basic chrome. While V could bemoan the prospect of becoming just another face in the crowd and losing their shot at being a Night City edgerunner forever, they can also remark how they could still take a shot at being a legend of some kind, whether through hard work or as a fixer.
• Character Customization: V's sex, appearance, skills, and backstory can all be customized by the player at the start of the game.
• Character Development: No matter which of their lifepath or dialogue is chosen, at the beginning of the game V aspires to become rich, famous, and respected within Night City's criminal underworld. After the failed heist and their impending death hanging over their head, they have plenty of opportunities to decide, and act, on what is more important to them in life.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: A V specced in Body is fully capable of forcing open reinforced doors or ripping turrets out to use them as weapons. Even without it they can grab enhanced individuals like the Animals or Maelstrom from stealth and snap their necks without issue.
  • Also, according to the database, many of the firearms in the game require cyberware or some form of enhanced musculature or endoskeleton to use, for example, Johnny Silverhand's iconic Malorian 3516, which in lore is more or less an anti-tank rifle in pistol form and would completely shatter the wrist of someone who fires it without a cybernetic arm. Despite this V can fire it, and other high-powered weapons, without issue even if they don’t have any of the required cybernetic enhancements.
• Children Forced to Kill: During one conversation with Songbird, she can ask V when they killed their first person. Depending on the lifepath, it can be 13 (Streetkid V, killed a random homeless man to protect their chooms), 16 (Nomad V, killed a Raffen Shiv when they've attacked their family camp), or unknown (Corpo V, killed an Arasaka sales representative that they caught spying for Petrochem).
• Combat Stilettos: In the promotional artworks, female V wears platform motorcycle boots with a noticeable heel.
• Consummate Professional: Depending on playstyle, V can choose to fulfill every single gig to the client's specifications regardless of whether they agree or not.
• Cool Car: As well as Cool Bikes. V can purchase vehicles for them to use at their leisure from the fixers, but special mention goes to the Quadra Turbo-R V-Tech; the same car shown off in trailers and promotional materials.
• Corporate Samurai: Corpo V starts as a high-level employee of the Arasaka corporation's counter-intel division, which carries out various crimes like hacking and murder to protect Arasaka's corporate interests.
• Cultured Badass: It is clear from the outset that Corpo V is very cultured and well-spoken as a result of working for and representing Arasaka for years, being very much attuned to the finer things in life. A stand-out example of this is when they interact with the Food Vendor at Hometown Deli, who intentionally dismisses them when they ask about the wine, only to be completely embarrassed when V showcases their depth of knowledge.
• Cyborg: Even at their most basic level, V has Electronic Eyes, a cyberdeck and at least one artificial arm and hand. At their most extreme they can replace their arms and legs with artificial upgrades and stuff their body with anything ranging from pain editors, titanium bones, and Bullet Time enhancers to a second heart to bring them back from death every three minutes. While it's normal to carry at least a little bit of chrome in 2077, several characters will note that V is more borged-up than average. Humorously enough, however, a Malestrom goon who gets a look at V's chrome will comment on their "minimalist" style, driving home just how cybered up the typical Maelstrom thug is. It's also entirely possible he meant "style" literally; V goes for a very naturalistic aesthetic in their implants compared to most in the city. According to Word of God, a possible reason V never has to deal with cyborpsychosis despite stuffing themselves with chrome is because of the Relic's nanobot virus keeping their mental health mostly intact.
• Dead-Hand Shot: After completing Act I, the menu and loading screen depicts an arm sticking out of trash in a junkyard, implying that it's V's arm.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tends to have a sarcastic, acerbic tone when dealing with anyone in a position of power, regardless of how you decide to make V deal with them. V acts smarter than their fellow mercs (even best friend Jackie), as well as gives off a "better than you" attitude (especially Corpo V). It reaches Snark-to-Snark Combat levels with Johnny who is very similar.
• Death of Personality: V faces this if they cannot find a way to remove the Relic from their head before it overwrites them with Silverhand's engram. Even a V that expressed belief in an afterlife can say that their death is final, since they're not simply dying, but being overwritten on a neural level to the point that they won't just be dead, but completely gone.
• Death Seeker: Implied in a few moments after the Heist. V admits to Misty that they believed they would die with Jackie after Dex double-crossed them, saying that at that moment they still weren't sure if they were still alive or if it was all just an elaborate Dying Dream and can even mention killing themselves if only to spare the pain of being overwritten by the relic. Overall, for the rest of the story, they're more determined to find a way to stop the effects, but Alt revealing in Mikoshi that their efforts are All for Nothing can break them again to the point that they can fully embrace this trope; if you elect to join Alt beyond the Blackwall, V will tell Johnny that they're so tired of fighting, they cannot muster up the will to keep going any more.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: The climax of the game culminates with V defeating Adam Smasher, effectively the biggest and baddest person of Night City, solidifying them as a Night City Legend.
• Depower: In "The Tower" ending exclusive to Phantom Liberty, V contacts the FIA in order to save their lives. While they're able to excise the Relic, not only does this permanently destroy Johnny but the damage done to their nervous system means that V's body can no longer accept combat chrome, effectively becoming one of the many faceless masses of Night City and weak enough to be mugged by regular street thugs. Rogue even calls them up to tell them that while they're still welcome at the Afterlife, doing so might cause their rep to diminish faster upon others seeing them as a shell of their former selves.
• Determinator: V refuses to give up no matter what. Even knowing that they have only weeks left to live after the ill-fated heist doesn't stop them from doing everything in their power to prevent their death even if they have to fight all of Arasaka to do so. In the "(Don't fear) The Reaper" ending they even go on a One-Man Army assault on Arasaka tower despite the fact that they're on their last legs due to how far the Relic has spread. Another standout example that can potentially be found in the Phantom Liberty exclusive ending. After waking up from a two year coma due to the surgery done to remove the Relic, V is informed of the fact that their nervous system is damaged to the point that they cannot have anymore combat implants of any kind or else die, most of their associates have moved on with their lives (with every chosen love interest other than Kerry making it clear that their romance is over), and gets robbed and beaten up by two low level thugs. Despite this, V can make it very, very clear to Misty that they refuse to just let themselves wither away and will be doing their damndest to keep going until the very end, even if it means starting from nothing again.
  V: No idea what's gonna happen...but I refuse to be beat.
  Misty: You really are unbreakable, V.
• Did Not Get the Girl: If you start a romantic relationship with any of the four love interests, you get an option to call one of them before you pick the ending. You can also not call anyone, which will break up V and any character they've romanced, resulting in V being single in all of the endings. The love interests also have at least one ending in which they'll break up with V for different reasons, resulting in them and V becoming Ammicable Exes, though some will at least offer the hope that they and V can get back together again later, once things settle down.
• Doomed Protagonist: The second Dex shot them in the head they were living on borrowed time. Despite all their efforts it amounts to nothing since the Relic's damage to their brain means the best they can hope for is a few months before eventually dying, unless by some miracle a cure presents itself. The only other options are to either give the body over to Johnny and live on as an A.I past the Blackwall, join Arasaka's Secure Your Soul program, or take the FIA's offer and lose all of their prospects as a cyberpunk.
• Driven to Suicide: Can do this if they decide to go out on their own terms rather than attack Arasaka for a chance of a cure or try but get killed in the process. Their friends' reactions are heartbreaking.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: The "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending is framed as this. With their time running out and not wanting to put their friends in danger, V decides to go out with a gun in their hand and assaults Arasaka tower by themselves despite being minutes away from dying due to Relic. Their health even continuously drains during the fight because they didn't take the drugs to either suppress Johnny or give him full control.
• Easily Forgiven: Mutually with Jackie in the Streetkid life path. V was stopped from stealing a car to pay off their friend's debt by Jackie, who needed said car for his own job. The struggle caused a delay which in turn led to them getting caught, dumped outside and neither accomplishing their goals. Despite this Jackie lets bygones be bygones and even invites V over to his mom's place for dinner with V just shrugging and deciding the same. Justified in that V took the job to get Pepe (the bartender working for Jackie's mom) out of his debt. V can even admit it was probably as much their fault as Jackie's, since it was probably they who set off the alarm in the first place by using Kirk's gadget on the car.
• Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: Sits this way if Johnny is in control when they plug into Mikoshi. Otherwise they sit in one of the booths.
• Electronic Eyes: V starts off with a pair of those, and gets them replaced with a better model in "The Ripperdoc". They allow them to scan the environment and blurr their face on security cameras.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: When V gives Johnny permission to take control of their body, he can tattoo a heart with a cupid's arrow and the writing "Johnny + V" on it on V's right tricep.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • V may be an armed and dangerous merc, willing to rack up a steep body count and take on virtually any theft, wetwork and other sort of job around, but they don't mess with the civvies without damn good reason, and especially not with groups like the Moxies (besides wanton player-controlled carnage at least). Even a Corpo V has lines they won't cross despite what they've done to come so far.
  • Harming children is the one line they won't cross. Not only can they never harm children in gameplay but they're noticeably panicked when seeing the teenaged victims of a deranged Serial Killer during River's quest chain. Note the player isn't allowed to choose V's reaction to this; they will always act this way regardless of how they've been played so far.
  • V hates the Scavengers and can express their disgust at their penchant for organ harvesting and snuff films throughout the game. The same can apply to Maelstrom who forcefully mechanize people against their will. One dialogue even has V refer to them as a gang of glorified cyberpsychos.
  • They seem to think Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil given their reaction to finding out Woodman raped a comatose Evelyn.
  • V can express horror towards Skippy being reformatted, feeling that Skippy got killed.
• Exotic Eye Designs: The player can pick between standard looking eyes, standard eyes with an unusually colored iris (like red or purple), or a number of more "untraditional" options like having a heart- or skull-shaped pupil.
• Experienced Protagonist: All versions of V by the time the game opens up have spent six months in Night City doing jobs with Jackie. Each Lifepaths also have this to some extent.
  • Nomad V is resourceful enough to plan and go with a smuggling operation across the border without the backing of their clan.
  • Streetkid V starts off as a seasoned edgerunner with a reputation.
  • Corpo V is already an experienced Arasaka Corporate Samurai in a relatively decent position and their dialog often demonstrates a knowledge of corporate espionage and skulduggery.
• Fiery Redhead: The default female V is a redhead who's just as hedonistic and Hot-Blooded as her male counterpart.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Johnny and Takemura. Incidentally, their conflicting interests mean that one friend cannot be retained in the end. Starts off as this with Jackie in the Nomad and Streetkid lifepaths as well due to them bonding after being put in a dangerous situation.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the Corpo Lifepath, when Jackie suggests V refuse Jenkins' order to kill Abernathy, V tells him they have no choice as if they don't, Jenkins will kill them or strip them of everything. A minute later, that's exactly what happens to V, only instead of Jenkins, it's Abernathy who strips V of their assets and benefits.
• Foil To Jackie, Takemura, and Panam depending on their Lifepath.
  • While Streetkid V grew up in Heywood like Jackie, they're implied to have been by themselves instead of joining a gang like Jackie before he struck out on his own as an Edgerunner. V even tried to earn glory in Atlanta, only to come back with nothing to show for his efforts. Depending on your choices in the Lifepath prologue, Padre even notes how "broken" V is, implying they thought Night City, a Wretched Hive, was a far better place.
  • Corpo V, like Takemura, worked for the Arasaka Corporation. Beyond their difference in positions, like Takemura being Saburo Arasaka's bodyguard and V being part of counter-intelligence, V can express disgust for their former company while Takemura remains loyal. Furthermore, V was forced out of Arasaka after their boss tried to screw over a rival corpo agent while Takemura became a scapegoat for Saburo's murder. Both of them can also get back into Arasaka's good graces in the "Devil" ending.
  • Nomad V and Panam are both part of Nomad clans, though their relationship with their respective families couldn't be anymore different. Panam left the clan, but is otherwise on amicable terms with the Aldecados and is welcomed to rejoin them anytime. Much of her actions and reasons for leaving the clan are actually because she wants what bests for them and butts heads with Saul over it. V, on the other hand, left the Bakkers when they decided to join up with Snake Nation as they felt they were giving up their personal freedom in exchange for a safety net. If the conversation with fellow Bakker member McCoy is any indication, V no longer wants anything to do with their former clan.
• Forgets to Eat: Implied for Corpo V. Their diagnostic stats in their HUD in the beginning of the game indicates that they are undereating due to stress.
• Friendly Address Privileges: Only their closest friends can use their full name, and even that seems rare, since Jackie or Johnny and romanced love interests only call them "V". The only time anyone uses their real name is in "The Tower" ending, where Johnny with a high relationship will tell them "Goodnight Vincent/Valerie, today was a good day".
• Friendship Trinket: The dogtags they get from Johnny during "Tapeworm", to symbolise that Johnny is willing to get wiped in Mikoshi to save their life. The bullet "lucky charm" necklace might also count as a symbol of their bond, since V is shown to keep it (and can wear it) in the "The Sun", "The Devil" and "The Star" endings.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Very possible. In the present day, regardless of which Lifepath you choose, V is a gun-toting mercenary who steals, injures, and kills for a living. Regardless of which Lifepath you choose, many of the Body Attribute dialogue options carry implications of V having done military service in the past, with a specific one during a conversation with Rogue outright stating that they fought in the Unification War. Additionally, the character creator for V includes a full set of NUSA army tattoos that reference dates from 2069 (when the war took place).
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Depending on which Lifepath you choose, V is either a Nomad who comes to Night City from the sole remains of the Bakker clan, a Corpo agent who lost everything, or a Streetkid who came back to Heywood with little to show for their trip to Atlanta. By the end of the game, in either "The Sun" or "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" endings, they're recognized as a living legend that took on Arasaka and Adam Smasher. In the latter ending, unlike "The Sun" where Johnny is in control of V's body and has Rogue as back-up, V goes it alone with no back-up whatsoever.
• Fun Tshirt: If V romances River, he will give them a tank top that says "FUCK THE POLICE".

G-L

• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Corpo V ends their intro with a little under 43,000 eddies of physical money to their name even after getting their bank account seized. Jackie even brings it up as a decent fresh start fund. Despite this they end up just as poor at the start of the game past the intro as the other lifepaths. Potentially justified as having to replace all their now locked out corpo implants.
  • The inciting incident in the plot is them getting shot in the head by Dex, which would've killed them if not for the Relic. In gameplay they can take far more abuse and walk it off with a quick healing item. Or by munching on a burrito.
  • It's stated that V's condition is constantly deteriorating due to Johnny's construct chewing through their brain. Other than in some plot moments, V doesn't have any penalty like a smaller health pool or less stamina, or something more elaborate, like shaking hands making it more difficult to reload. The only subversion is in the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending, where V's health keeps draining due to the relic's influence.
  • As an extension of the above point, it is also explicitly stated that V has only a few weeks to live before the Relic completely overwrites their personality. However, this only progresses when you pursue the main quests of the story. V can ignore these quests and spend literally months wandering around Night City, completing side gigs or just messing around without any fear of running out of time.
• Gayngster: A Male V with a relationship with Kerry, or a Female V in a relationship with Judy, fits the bill. V can also hire male and female joytoys regardless of gender.
• Genius Bruiser: A V that has high Intelligence or Technical Ability is just as, if not more, dangerous as a V specced for combat, especially if the player branches out to either Body or Reflexes as well.
• Glory Seeker: One of V’s motivations is to become a legend in Night City regardless of what dangers they put themselves in. They succeed in "The Sun" ending.
• Going Native: Happens if a Corpo or Streetkid picks "The Star" and becomes a Nomad, joining the Aldecaldos.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: In "The Sun" ending, where V is a rich club owner and mercenary, they unlock a white-and-gold outfit, including gold-plated boots.
• The Greatest Story Never Told:
  • The Devil ending has V directly involved in not only ousting Yorinobu from power but also completing Saburo's "resurrection" and restoration to power as "emperor" of Arasaka. But despite their role in such an historic event, they will not be acknowledged for any part in it, with only Hanako, Takemura and Hellman knowing the truth.
  • "The Tower" ending, meanwhile, has V's actions in Phantom Liberty resulting in a massive power vacuum in Night City and Yorinobu unceremoniously ousted, while Myers' plans come close to culmination. Yet V's exploits would be classified even as they slide into obscurity, whether or not they take up the NUSA and Militech's offer.
• Guile Hero: While completely brute forcing their way through any situation is a more than viable option, V is perfectly capable of thinking their way through various obstacles without needing to fight or get their hands dirty.
  Takemura: Well, well. Your tricks can be useful. Bravo.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to get them angry whenever things don't go their way or if somebody says or does anything they take issue with. Emphasis on the trigger.
• Handicapped Badass: Due to the Relic, V will cough blood, have seizures, throw up, and just get progressively weaker and weaker as the game goes on (that is, in the story, not the gameplay). They are still a One-Man Army capable of wiping out entire enemy strongholds and potentially take out the Arasaka Tower either by themselves or with the help of a (powerful, but far from professionally trained) Nomad tribe. "The Sun" epilogue implies that V's condition is only getting worse, and yet they still take up a gig that involves robbing a space casino by themselves and with no plan B. "The Star" epilogue also implies they're willing to work hard for their new family.
  • Played straight gameplay-wise in the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending. Unlike the other endgame missions V's health continously drains throughout the tower assault, which makes it even more difficult given the buffed up enemies and the lack of backup or save points.
• Has a Type: While the four romance options V has to choose from (Judy, Panam, Kerry and River) differ drastically in looks, personality, style, lifestyle, goals, ambitions and dreams, they all have one thing in common: they're Hot-Blooded rebels who won't back down before they achieve what they want, just like V.
• Hates Being Alone: Can admit to a Doll during the story quest that their greatest fear aside from dying due to the Relic is having no one and being alone, especially after Jackie's death, whom V considered their one true friend. Ironically and somewhat heartwarmingly, if they're Driven to Suicide in the ending there's a montage of the friends they made along the way like Viktor, Judy, Panam, and Misty (depending on the progress, River or Kerry might join) grieving and angry about their decision. Misty even states that V underestimated the friends they made and the impact their death had upon those friends.
  • Also very tragically, the new "Tower" ending has this fear become a reality. V finally escapes their death sentence, but at the cost of a 2-year coma and nearly all of their friends practically moving on with their lives, and some outright cutting contact. This is a major reason they're distraught throughout the ending until Misty comforts them, in a parallel to what happened in Act 2.
• He Knows Too Much: After the bodies stop dropping, V is the only surviving witness of Saburo Arasaka's murder at the hands of his son.
• Heroic Neutral: V has no interest in fixing the world or causing a sweeping systemic change, and only really want to get rich/get rid of the relic. With that being said, if pushed to action, V tends to be quite heroic and helpful. Even their attack at the Arasaka tower in the "The Star" and "The Sun" ending wasn't done because they've wanted to save people of Night City from tyranny, but because they've wanted to gain access to Mikoshi.
• The Hedonist: Previews often portray V as someone far too willing to indulge in both booze and sex, and the player is free to choose to do so if they wish. Though regardless of player choice, V still has condoms scattered about their appartment.
• The Hero Dies: V kills themself in the 'path of least resistance' ending, (possibly) goes out in a blaze of glory in the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending, gives up their body to Johnny in the "Temperance" ending, and only six months to left to live in "The Devil/Sun/Star" endings. They can be in a state of Only Mostly Dead in the variant "The Devil" ending where they inducted into the "Secure Your Soul" program by Arasaka, and in the "Temperance" ending, where they are living as some sort of digital ghost in cyberspace. At least, in "The Sun" and "The Star" endings, V seems motivated to find some way to survive; "The Sun" ending implied by Mr. Blue Eyes to be willing to do anything for the small chance of survival, and are actively looking for a cure in "The Star" ending.
  • The "Tower" ending, included with the Phantom Liberty expansion, properly averts this trope as the NUSA succeeds in using Cynosure to cure V and give them a genuine new lease on life. Unfortunately, this comes at the price of V losing their ability to wield most implants, reducing them to an ordinary person, and the procedure put them in an unexpected two-year coma, which strained their relationships (some of which can be rebuilt, some of which can't) and caused them to lose their apartment and have most of their possessions sold off. In other words, while V themselves didn't die, the person they once were did, and they have to start over as another face in the crowd, whether they like it or not.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • The climax for Act 1 is not kind to V. The very first quest of Act 2 has V pick himself/herself back up through a morning routine and moving on with the story.
  • They get another one (albeit shorter) at the very end of the game, when they learn that even after being separated from Johnny, their brain has already suffered too much damage and they only have weeks, maybe months at best, to live. Notably, up until that point V was ready to do anything to be separated from Johnny, but learning this allows them to choose the "Temperance" ending, implying they decided that continuing to fight was pointless.
  • The "Tower" ending has a more prolonged one as V realizes that though their life was saved, they can't go back to living the way they used to thanks to losing the ability to wield combat cyberware and waking up from a two-year coma. The ending has them come to terms with their new reality and disappear into the crowd after seeing Misty off.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Downplayed. The general public doesn't know who was responsible for Saburo Arasaka's murder, and while Yorinobu learns a mercenary was present when he killed his father, he doesn't disclose their identity to the public despite learning about them from Takemura when he calls in after having put a bullet in Dexter DeShawn's head. On the other hand, because of how spectacularly FUBAR the Konpeki heist went, few people and fixers want anything to do with V. In-game, the only ones willing to throw jobs their way are Rogue, Regina, Padre, Wakako, Dino, El Capitan, Dakota, and Mr. Hands.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Or Platonic Life-Partners, depending on V's gender, with Jackie. Whether they start off as old friends or meet for the first time in the intros V and Jackie are inseparable by the time the game starts proper. They always have each other's backs and Jackie's death is treated as V's greatest failure whenever he's brought up. V states outright that Jackie is their best and truest friend in all of Night City.
  • V can become this with with Panam if they don't romance her as a male or if they're female, especially in "The Star" ending. It's gotten to a point where Panam is unable to accept that V is dying and seems determined to find a way to cure them, no matter what.
  • River’s quest chain ends with them becoming extremely close and him inviting them to a family dinner after rescuing his nephew.
  • V can get really close to Judy and help her with her coup against the Tyger Claws. While she will always leave Night City if she isn't romanced, she remains V's close friend and is glad they gave her the courage to look for her place in the world. V, even when not romanced, essentially becomes her Living Emotional Crutch; while other characters are upset or angry in the 'path of least resistance' ending, Judy seems to take their death the hardest. In the "Tower" ending, she becomes more distant if she was romanced, because she left V for another woman during their two-year coma, and has to broach the uncomfortable reality that they can't get back together now, but the conversation is considerably more lighthearted if she wasn't romanced, as V can outright congratulate Judy on her new life.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite often coming across as a crude street punk, V can be pretty sensitive and thoughtful about heavier topics such as their mortality especially since they are facing their impending death for most of the game.
  • After noting Bryce Mosley's love of Westerns and his resulting romantic idea of The Wild West, they can suggest Mosley watch Unforgiven, the Western's ur-Genre Deconstruction film, showing V is not only familiar with classic cinema but also its themes.
  • V also, regardless of their intelligence or crafting skills, shows a decent aptitude with technology and biology. During the Peralez quest chain they're able to explain to Johnny exactly what's happening to the Peralez' minds and names specific parts of the brain that are being altered.
  • V apparently knows a little about the psychology of suicide, seen where they console Judy about Ev's death and tell her it was not her fault in any way what happened. They also make several insightful remarks regarding the mindset of someone who chooses to commit suicide, helping to assuage Judy's guilt over having left Ev alone.
  • V's lifepaths also give them their own areas of expertise as well; for example, a Corpo V can not only deduce why Stout is so fixated on the stolen Militech merch in "the Pickup", but also know exactly what to say to wrap her around their finger. Later, they can also impress the ever-difficult-to-impress Rogue by figuring out how and why Kang Tao are smuggling Hellman out of Night City under Arasaka's nose.
  • When the topic of family is broached during their dinner with River and his family, V can express interest in having children if they ever have the opportunity.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Potentially. During the word association test in "The Devil" ending, when asked what V considers to be an "enemy", they can respond "me", implying they realize that nothing good has come from helping Arasaka in their pursuit of a cure, especially since Saburo is Back from the Dead via Grand Theft Me with Yorinobu and reserving the Secure Your Soul program for the filthy rich.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen:
  • Though not high on the totem pole compared to other high-profile members in Arasaka, Corpo V was one of the "social elite" of Night City responsible for dealing with any bad PR involving the company. Or at least until their boss Jenkins entangles them in his own office-political machinations and gets the axe when Jenkins' rival decisively responds.
  • It is significantly worse if V takes the NUSA's deal and hands Songbird over to them. V ends up so physically weak that they can't even defend themselves against some low-level street thugs. Furthermore all their friends have moved on or have changed in unrecognizable fashion. V gets to live, but they have lost everything that made their life worth living, proving that living is indeed more than surviving.
• Hypocrite: They can tell one of the Delemain personalities that suicide isn't the answer and is able to talk them out of doing so. Later at the end of the game, V can choose suicide as a way out, regardless of what they've previously said.
• Iconic Outfit: V is featured in a tricked out, futuristic "Samurai" bomber jacket on most of the marketing material of the game. In-game it's revealed to be a replica of Johnny Silverhand's own jacket, and can be given to them by Rogue during a series of sidequests, with the rest of his outfit set findable in the world.
• I Die Free:
  • In "The Devil" ending they're offered a choice between living on as an Engram or dying on Earth in a few months. If they choose the latter then this is their reasoning. Surviving on as an engram under Arasaka control might allow them to survive but they'd rather live out their final days as a free person.
  • This gets deconstructed in the "Reaper" ending, where V commits suicide so they can go out on their own terms and not drag anyone else down with them. The result? All the people V met and befriended during their journey are devastated that V gave up on living instead of asking them for help.
• Identity Breakdown: V gradually undergoes this the more time they have with the Relic as Johnny Silverhand's engram uncontrollably subsumes more of their mind until he eventually takes over. Whether it's V subconsciously taking up more of Johnny's habits like smoking, or their speech patterns progressively resembling his.
• Identity Impersonator:
  • A Corpo V can try and pass themselves off as Abernathy in "The Devil" ending when they go with Hellman and potentially Takemura to save Hanako. It fails as V was unaware that Abernathy committed suicide a few days prior.
  • In the Phantom Liberty expansion, V gets access to a special piece of facial software that, combined with a behavior chip, allows them to impersonate anyone they have data on. In the expansion's main story, they use it to impersonate one of the Causel twins (V's gender determines which twin is impersonated) and in a Side Job where Mr. Hands has them play the role of "Aguilar", a hitman with a bloody reputation associated with the Cuban Cartels in order to install a Puppet King to fill the power vacuum left by Kurt Hansen's death. Unlike the twins who are killed to prevent anyone from knowing they're being impersonated, Aguilar themselves contacts V, seemingly not happy they used their likeness as they inquire as to whether V's impression of them measures up to the real deal.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: V's core motivation throughout the game is to establish themselves as a Night City legend, which they do slowly accomplish over the course of the game and its conclusion (outside "The Devil" and "The Tower" endings that is), but by that point, V doesn't have much time left.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Jackie's death clearly weighs heavily on them and every time he's brought up V is clearly hurt and grieving. V even states that they lost the best and truest friend in Night City after Jackie died.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Female V clearly enjoys her encounters with River and/or Judy.
• Immortality Inducer: The biochip saves V from being killed via a bullet to the head while simultaneously starts overwriting their personality. It is unknown if it would keep regenerating them after the first time as the chip is damaged and Gameplay and Story Segregation. On the other hand it does save them if V chooses to trust the Voodoo Boys and is fried by their ICE as well.
• Implacable Man: With a high enough armor rating and cyberware they're fully capable of crushing through whatever their enemies throw at them. In the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending the various Arasaka soldiers are in disbelief that one single merc is killing their way through all of them - including Adam Smasher - without any backup.
• Improbable Power Discrepancy:
  • V has only been an Edgerunner for about half a year by the time the story starts proper, discounting any possible experience in their backstory, and yet they're capable of defeating enemies with decades of experience ahead of them. These include the Cyborg Ninja Oda and Implacable Man Living Legend Adam Smasher who not even Johnny Silverhand could defeat. Doubly impressive considering they’re dying from the Relic throughout the entire story and even receive Relic Malfunctions prior to both fights.
  • Phantom Liberty adds even more examples. They start the DLC fighting off a Blackwall-infused Chimera Spider Tank (albeit with the Myers' help) and,if they choose to betray Songbird, manage to defeat Kurt Hansen, the undisputed 'Dogtown Alpha' that's controlled the district for years.
• Incurable Cough of Death: After V's brain starts to get overtaken by Johnny's construct, they cough blood from time to time.
• Insanity Immunity: According to Mike Pondsmith, a possible reason why V never needs to worry about Cyberpsychosis despite being able to augment themselves to extreme extents is because sharing a mind with Johnny, himself already violent and unstable, served as a buffer to the stress of cybernetics.
• Interclass Friendship: Corpo V is a (relatively) affluent Corporate Samurai and starts off as friends with Jackie, who is an average mercenary. No matter the lifepath, V can befriend Kerry, a rich and famous rockstar, and Rogue, the owner of Night City's most popular nightclub. They can potentially become friends with the girls from Us Cracks (popular girl group). Takemura might also count, because he only lost his funds and influence recently, and still acts like (and sees himself as) a distinguished upper-class man.
• Intergenerational Friendship: V is either 27 (pre update 2.0) or 23 (post update 2.0) and starts off as good friends with their ripperdoc, Viktor, who is in his sixties. With time, V can potentially meet and befriend Kerry and Rogue, Johnny's old bandmate and ex-girlfriend, respectively, who are about 70-80 years old. They can also become friends with Takemura who appears, at least physically, to be in his fifties or sixties (and is likely older considering he was Saburo's personal bodyguard).
• Ironic Hell: If V had been hoping to becoming a legend in Night City then "the Tower" ending would certainly be one. Even if they had enough money to be set for life, and possibly a cushy desk job working for Militech and the NUSA, it doesn't change the fact that they're just another face in the crowd, doomed to obscurity and forever haunted by what might have been.
• It Was a Gift:
  • The Samurai bomber jacket V is universally seen wearing in marketing materials is gifted to them in-game by Night City Living Legend Rogue Amendiares during the Chippin' In quest.
  • In the 1.6 Edgerunners Update, V can be gifted the yellow EMT jacket worn by the anime's protagonist David Martinez by getting in contact with his old teammate Falco, who acknowledges the eerie similarities between the two mercs and leaves V the jacket as a passing of the torch.
• I Work Alone: Though not by choice. After the events of Act I, V's reputation is panned for 'botching' the heist and Rogue states that no one is willing to work with them. Most gigs V do throughout the game are done completely by their lonesome.
  • In the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending, V decides to storm Arasaka by themselves to not endanger anyone else but themselves. Whether they succeed or not is up to the player.
  • As mentioned in One-Man Army below, while V's dirty rep doesn't last for long, the "working alone" bit sticks, not so much due to V's competence or lack thereof, but simply because V's status as the Sole Survivor of the heist makes them too dangerous to work with, as no other runner team wants to risk ending up as Dex, Jackie, and T-Bug did.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Especially compared to Johnny. Johnny's dialogue choices in flashbacks tend to be egotistical, rude, abrasive or downright insulting barring a few exceptions and his relationship with others is strained at best. V's dialogue tends to be much more even handed and they're quick to make bonds with people and, depending on player choices, can help them out even without the promise of a reward.
  • During the Konpeki heist, both Nomad and Streetkid V see only one way to bluff their way out of trouble at the reception - to be polite and reasonable with the receptionist. Corpo V, however, gets a chance to behave like a Corpo, i.e. to start belittling and browbeating said receptionist. That works too, but clearly shows that Corporate V can be an inconsiderate hardass if it means getting the job done.
  Corpo V: Trust me - places like this, you're either strong or you're nobody.
• Katanas Are Just Better: V's extensive arsenal includes katanas, including ones that emit magnetic fields to deflect bullets, and one with a Hot Blade edge for cutting through armor.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: While "kindhearted" might be a bit of a stretch, V is an anti hero that can adopt a sphinx cat that lives around their apartment complex. They can also pet a cat that hangs around in the alley between Misty's and Victor's shops, though it's unclear if this is the same cat they can adopt or a different one.
• The Lad-ette: Female V, who can as much of a hard-drinking, obscenity-spitting, tough-as-nails hedonist as her male counterpart.
• Lady in a Power Suit: Female corpo!V starts in a red one. No matter the lifepath, she will also wear one during the Konpeki Plaza heist, as a part of her and Jackie's cover identity of being a pair of arms dealers.
• Leitmotif: "V". As the story progresses, "Rite Of Passage" can be considered one too.
• Lightning Bruiser: With the right build it's perfectly possible for V to wade into a group of armed enemies and tear them apart with a katana or even their bare hands while barely getting hit.
• Like an Old Married Couple: During one of V's relic malfunction scenes, V can mockingly imitate Johnny by saying "Blah blah blah, fuck Arasaka, blah blah blah, smash Mikoshi". Johnny will laugh and say that "[they] really are turning into [him]" and then state that the two of them bicker like an old married couple. Worth noting that while he only uses that specific wording for a feminine V in English, he uses it for both masculine and feminine V in the Polish version. ("Kłócimy się jak stare małżeństwo.") In English, he says to a masculine V that they're "bickering like a couple of geezers on a park bench".
  • When V and Johnny are discussing their options on dealing with the Relic, they'll go back and forth mocking each other and their situation, but in a very fond and warm tone.
• Living Legend: How V is seen in "The Sun" and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" endings.
• Living on Borrowed Time: The combination of the Relic in his head and a subsequent bullet to the head has resulted in this for V: the Relic brought them back to life, but their brain is gradually being rewritten to become Johnny Silverhand's brain. In time, V will vanish, and in their place, Johnny Silverhand will return to life in their body. In endings that see Johnny's consciousness removed from V, this is still the case: the damage to V's brain is so extensive that they have approximately six months to live, at most.
• Locked Out of the Loop: In the Phantom Liberty expansion, V can inform Myers and Reed about the Relic and how it is killing them, but makes no mention of it housing Johnny Silverhand's engram. Given Johnny's reputation in the present day and his former ties to the NUSA, it's perhaps the smartest move they could have made, especially in the later parts of the expansion where it's made clear how far Myers is willing to go to achieve her goals and how she deals with threats like Kurt Hansen, who she opted to straight-up kill when he attempts to blackmail her.
• Loss of Identity: One of the main driving force behind V's actions during the story. After Johnny comes into their life as an engram, they are slowly, but surely, losing themselves day by day. They adopt more and more of Johnny's personality until one day (how much depends on player decision), they would eventually assimilate into Johnny and the original V would be lost forever. There are more severe signs of this in "The Devil" ending, where after surgery, V states that they feel empty and aren't even sure who they are.
• Lost Common Knowledge: As revealed in Phantom Liberty, V is momentarily confused on how to interface with an old wall telephone before Johnny nudges them put the handset close to their ear. Justified, as most people in Night City don't use such analogue throwbacks, not that it stops the FIA from using them precisely because of that.

M-P

• Magnetic Hero: Streetkid and Nomad V bond with Jackie incredibly fast, with Streetkid V and Jackie going from rivals ready to kill each other to friends in only a few scenes. After the six-month timeskip, V has managed to befriend Mama Welles (Jackie's mom who Streetkid V already knew), his girlfriend, Misty, and their ripperdoc, Viktor. They will also befriend Judy and Panam throughout the story. Thanks to sidequests, V can meet and be friends with Kerry, Rogue, River, Claire, the entire Aldecaldos clan, and countless other minor NPCs. They can even befriend Johnny Silverhand himself. It's pretty ironic that loneliness is one of their greatest fears.
• Master of All: Almost. With the level cap it's possible to pump 3 of the 5 stats into the max of 20 with 5 attribute points left over. Depending on stat placement they can be equally proficient as a Solo, Netrunner or stealth specialist with only one major defect.
• Master of Disguise: Near the end of Phantom Liberty's main quest, they recieve a set of implants to change their appearance and mannerisms to exactly mimic another individual. Outside of the quests where it gets used, it can also fool law enforcement, clearing any wanted level below four stars.
• Meaningful Name: "Automatic Love" reveals that V's full name is "Vincent" for male V and "Valerie" for female. "Vincent" comes from latin "vincere", meaning "to conquer", essentially making "Vincent" mean "conquerer", befitting someone who wants to become a Night City legend and make the city "their own", in a way. "Valerie" meanwhile comes from Latin "Valerious", meaning "strong, brave, valiant" or "valor". It also means "fierce", one again referring to V's drive for sucess and fame.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: We're not privy to all of Corpo V's past, but despite their desk job they're still capable of flattening two out of three thugs and scaring the crud out of the third when accosted.
• Morality Pet: To Johnny, of all people. Most of his character development stems from watching V and bonding with them. It's especially visible if the player chooses the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" dialogue path during the grave scene, where V tells Johnny that they don't trust him, but decide to give him a second chance. Johnny's attitude noticably softens after that, with some of his voicelines in subsequent quests ("Holdin' On", "Second Conflict", "A Like Supreme", "Nocturne op55n1" and the secret ending sequence) showing much more concern over V's health and well-being than before, being more open about his past and even encouraging them instead of negging. He's still sarcastic, mean and rough sometimes, but it's clear that he's trying his best to be kinder to them and wants V's approval and praise.
• Ms. Fanservice: Or Mr. Fanservice, depending on gender. The default male and female V are both very attractive young people, and can frequently be found waking up practically naked in their apartment after another three-night bender (with or without company). In fact, the first thing you'll probably see in the entire game is the character creation screen, which shows them both buck naked.
• Multiple-Choice Past: V can be assigned one of three possible origins, each with their own unique prologue sequence that has an ongoing impact on the storyline & player choices through the game:
  • Nomad: V is a member of a destroyed Nomad Clan known as the Bakkers, who journeys to Night City looking to escape their past.
  • Street Kid: V is a Night City native from Heywood who left to strike it big in Atlanta, only to return home empty-handed.
  • Corpo: V is a successful and wealthy Arasaka counter-intelligence agent who loses everything thanks to their boss's scheming.
• Music/Age Dissonance: During "The Ballad Of Buck Ravers", the owner of a rock records and memorabilia store will be suprised that someone as young as V would be interested in music by Samurai. V can be, but doesn't have to be a fan of their music, and their interest in Samurai comes mostly from the fact that the band's frontman is currently living in their head.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Downplayed. Corpo V makes it clear to Jackie in the Lifepath prologue that while they may not be entirely loyal to Arasaka, refusing direct orders is a bad idea as failure to fulfill said orders or refusing to accept them can and will end horribly. It's telling that, depending on how you portray V after they're burned, they are much happier to be out of the company.
• Nasal Trauma: The Street Kid prologue starts with V having to manually reset their nose after getting it broken in a recent fight... and ends with them having to reset it again after a botched car heist that ends up with them and Jackie getting their asses kicked by the cops. Ouch.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: Gameplay and Story Segregation aside, this is heavily hinted to be a part of their character. They're disturbed when seeing the victims of the Scavengers and the Serial Killer in River's questline and the start of the Sinnerman questline has them asking whether their target is really guilty and deserves to die, which gets them some mocking from Wakako. During the assault on Arasaka tower they're also put off when discovering the Alt A.I killed the noncombatants when it took over in addition to the guards.
• Never My Fault: A minor example. After T-Bug's death they put the blame solely on Jackie for wanting to get into the major leagues and can optionally continue the argument when they get into the elevator to escape. Jackie acknowledges that they're just in grief and lashing out so he doesn't hold it against them.
• Noble Demon: Despite being a gun-for-hire with a shady backstory willing to work for a variety of questionable characters, V can implement solutions that don't result in screwing someone over or prefer to keep any potential casualties to a minimum, as well as caring for the lives of others.
• Noodle Incident: Each of V's lifepaths has one of some form or another.
  • Nomad V left the Bakker Nomad clan to seek out new opportunities in Night City, though their conversation with fellow Bakker member McCoy implies V left the clan because the Bakkers were going to join Snake Nation, the largest Nomad group in Northern America. Unlike other Lifepaths, V can elaborate further; during Panam's questline, V states they left the Bakkers as joining Snake Nation meant they would lose their autonomy and be completely subsumed, losing their independence. Further comments imply that V's separation from their former "family" was anything but amicable, with McCoy mentioning that he isn't supposed to be talking to V.
  • Streetkid V went to Atlanta to strike it out on their own, but apparently whatever happened to them in Atlanta was so bad they saw Night City as a better place to be. Depending on your dialogue choices, Padre can even comment that whatever happened to V "broke" them.
  • Corpo V met Jackie during an incident in Mexico, where Jackie not only saved their life, but whatever they did down there apparently involved the Cartels and could land V in serious trouble if word got out.
• Non-Idle Rich: In the "The Sun" ending it seems like V still works as an edgerunner and is open for new jobs, even though they could probably never work a day in their life due to being the owner of Afterlife.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond:
  • Whether as a rising merc at the start of the game, or a certified badass later on, V learns the hard way that dealing with corpos and and their military-grade mooks ain't the same as taking on street gangs or fending off Raffen Shivs.
  • In Phantom Liberty, Johnny warns V that they're entering a different kind of ballgame by taking on So Mi's gig and later, President Myers' orders, and that they're dealing with professionals and vets who've been playing it for years. This is further confirmed by Reed, who chides V for being new to "his biz," and even Mr. Hands, who warns that they're making a big risk by stepping into an exclusive, clandestine world where all kinds of power plays intersect.
• Odd Couple: The Corpo V with Johnny Silverhand as they're pretty much everything Johnny hated in life. Downplayed Trope, though, given V can express their own hatred of Arasaka Corporation. Also applies to River Ward since they're an Edgerunner while he's a By-the-Book Cop.
• Odd Friendship: V's True Companions are an odd bunch. A sort-of exiled Nomad, a Braindance editor, an NCPD detective, a washed-up rockstar, a Perky Goth who reads chi auras, and an old ripperdoc. Potentially even a few others like a suit-and-tie corpo from NetWatch and a drag-racing bartender. They also form a decent rapport with the free A.I Delamain and possibly even with Johnny Silverhand dependent on dialogue choices.
• One-Letter Name: They simply go by the letter "V". It turns out that this is just a nickname. Their real name is Vincent (Male)/Valerie (Female), but as they say, only their very closest friends get to call them by their full name, and as we see with Jackie, even that isn't very common.
• One-Man Army: V establishes this when they are dispatched seventeen times to disable cyberpsychos around the city. Cyberpsychos are figures so terrifying that a special division of the police exists to take them down and they often fail to do so—and typically when they succeed, it isn't without heavy casualties. When you encounter them, they're also usually surrounded by a host of dead bodies that often include mercs, gang members, or cops. You go take them down by yourself and in V's case, alive. Doubly so on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", where if you survive the whole way, V gets known as the merc who took on the most heavily defended facility in the entire United States, Arasaka Tower, on their own, and got back alive. And of course various NCPD and Fixer gigs will more often than not place them against half a dozen armed combatants at least.
  • In-story, this is actually a necessity for V, since, after the Konpeki Plaza heist's spectacular failure Rogue states that no mercenary wants to work with V and thus they can't hire any help even if they wanted to. Being a One-Man Army is necessary if they want to accomplish their goals.
• Only in It for the Money: As an Edgerunner, V doesn’t much care for causes and their only concern is a paycheck. This can be subverted in certain missions, particularly ones for their True Companions, where payment is either never brought up (River’s questline) or they waive it away when offered (Judy, Panam and Kerry). They even warn Judy that her Old Flame Maiko is dangerous since she only looks for money and nothing else.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Known exclusively by the nickname 'V'. It later gets revealed that V's real name is Vincent (Male) / Valerie (Female), but they only let really close people call them by their real name. The only time it's used outside of "Automatic Love" is when Johnny says his goodbyes to V in "The Tower" ending with high compatibility.
• Only Mostly Dead: V's fate in the "Temperance" ending where they go beyond the Blackwall with Alt. Misty describes their state as 'something like death, but not quite'.
• Only One Name: V's second name is never revealed, if they even have it in the first place. Even people like their bosses or Mr. Blue Eyes just call them "V". Likely justified to allow more agency over their character to the player.
• Person of Mass Destruction: V kills a lot of people over the course of the game, especially if tackling side-content. They end in what must be quadruple digit levels of assorted criminals and Corpo goons by the end.
• Persona Non Grata: V unfortunately makes some choices that get them ostracized from a few circles in Night City.
  • After the Arasaka heist goes south very badly, V unfortunately gains a reputation as a merc with a body trail, essentially blacklisting them from working with any other edgerunner teams, meaning they can only get work as a solo. Rogue even outright tells V she can't give them any jobs because no other merc wants to work with V, lest they end up as dead as the Konpeki crew.
  • V also gets themselves banned from the dollhouse "Clouds," thanks to their hassling of several dolls about personal matters, sneaking into restricted areas, and walking in on the manager while he was eating a sandwich to question him.^* Granted, the manager is a massive scumbag of the scummiest variety so don't lose sleep over the unfinished sandwich. The de facto owner of the Clouds even specifically refers to V as "Persona Very Non Grata."
  • Eventually, however, this becomes downplayed, then defied outright once V builds a rep for themselves. Rogue will toss a few solo jobs your way, and, once V proves themselves, others will begin referring some pretty high-profile people, such as Lizzy Wizzy and Jefferson Peralez, one of Night City's top celebrities and a mayoral candidate, respectively, specifically to V thanks to their ability to handle a wide variety of tasks without needing to bring an entire team onboard. Fixers across the city will also talk V up as having a reputation for being able to get anything done rather than being a colossal screw up. Overall, V's reputation from Konpeki Plaza still means no one is crazy enough to pair up with them on a job, but as a Solo, V is known as someone who gets shit done.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Some side missions can be undertaken without the promise of payment if the player so desires. These include missions like talking to a grieving ex-cop suffering from survivor's guilt to rescuing a monk from being forcefully mechanized by Maelstrom. The player is also free to do things like rescue people like citizens being executed by gang members or victims of human trafficking.
  • The side missions for V's friends are all about this. Without promise of a payment, even possibly waving it off when offered, they risk their lives to help out Vik, Panam, Judy, River and Kerry with their problems despite their own present issues. It differentiates them neatly from Johnny who wasn't afraid to lie to his friends and risk their lives for his own goals.
• Pinball Projectile: One of V's cybernetic upgrades lets them calculate the ricochet path of bullets from Power Weapons, letting V shoot around corners with ease.
• Player and Protagonist Integration: V is the playable protagonist of the game, with a customizable gender, appearance, history and skills; this encourages the player to identify with V, modelling the character in their own likeness and personality, and serves to convey the universality of the game's themes.
• Positive Friend Influence: V can help a lot of the friends they make throughout their adventures in Night City become better people, most notably helping Judy find courage to leave Night City behind, rekindle Kerry's passion for music and get him out of depression, help Takemura see a new perspective on life, ease the tensions between Panam and the other Aldecaldos and get Misty and Mama Welles to find a common ground after Jackie's death. The whole of Johnny's character arc hinges on him seeing/feeling how V's kindness and compassion makes their and their friends' lives better and motivates him to change too.
• Post-Injury Desk Job: V is given this option in two of the endings:
  • In "The Devil", after Arasaka proves unable to save their lives, Hanako personally offers them a position within a company.
  • In "The Tower", after Reed reveals that V will never be able to use anything but the most basic augments he offers them a desk job in Langley.
• Press X to Not Die: If V refuses to answer Meredith's questions during the interrogation, she'll order her henchmen to kill them.
• Professional Killer: Some of the missions V agrees to do are flat out murder for hire. You are told to neutralize rival fixers, gang leaders, and other people that clients want gone. This is in addition to the likely hundreds of people that you kill along the way of normal gameplay. You can play through without killing anyone, however; if you neutralize a mark without killing them, the fixer will send you a car so you can stuff them into the trunk and send them on their merry way for some alternative end-mission dialogue, though the game will treat it as a successful assassination regardless.^note Probably because the mark is going to be killed in a more gruesome way than an assassination by the fixer themselves

R-Y

• Rage Against the Reflection: They can possibly punch a motel bathroom mirror out of grief over Jackie's death following the Relic heist.
• Rage Breaking Point: After the surgery and putting through an endless test in "The Devil" ending (not to mention all the mindfuck they went through), V can eventually snap and throw the Rubik's cube in rage. The rest is up to the player as they can trash the room in fury.
• Rags to Riches: V starts off past the intro with a few hundred eddies to their name and a car that’s infamous for its low quality. By the end, assuming the player does side missions, they’ll have a fleet of luxury cars, specially customized weapons, premiere cyberware and hundreds of thousands of eddies. In "The Sun" ending they even own a mansion along with the Afterlife club and are rich enough that they can afford Delamain’s Flying Car services.
• Really Gets Around: Both versions of V, though in-game this is toned down to a handful of optional sex scenes.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Male V can have neon-bright long hair, wear dresses, and have incredibly long, painted Femme Fatalons. He can pull the trigger with them on just fine.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Despite their low standards, they are not afraid to criticize people they deem to be morally wrong or ignorant, including their friends.
• Riches to Rags: Corpo V starts off the most well-off of the lifepath, with dialog allowing them to state that they have not only eaten actual fish but have also been to other branches of Konpeki Plaza. Being ordered by their boss to kill a rival executive has them fired and everything they own is taken by Arasaka. They do still have 43,000 eddies by the end but for some reason they’re just as poor as other lifepath V’s after the montage. Potentially due to having to replace all their corpo implants that have been remotely disabled and locked out.
• Robo Cam: Most of your Heads-Up Display exists In-Universe as a HUD being directly projected onto V's eyeballs on top of what's going on in the actual world. Various upgrades can be used to let V see info on their guns, their physical condition, surrounding humans, potential bullet trajectories, and more.
• Satisfied Street Rat: Streetkid V grew up in Heywood and was raised by gangs. They still work as an edgerunner in their late twenties and don't seem to want to change their career path.
• Scars Are Forever: Can have a myriad of scars from character customization. They also have a permanent red mark (four red dots) on their right forearm, leftover from when Vik injects them with anesthesia when operating on them at the beginning of the game.
• Secretly Dying: To varying degrees. V can choose to be secretive about the fact that they're dying to companions who don't know yet, though Panam and Rogue will always find out no matter what.
• Shapeshifting: V ends up gaining this ability towards the climax of Phantom Liberty to help infiltrate Kurt Hansen's compound (coupled with a personality module that lets V become a Master Actor emulating the person they are disguised as) by having their face replaced with a implant not unlike the one Alex has, and they get to passively keep it even in the routes where V ends up betraying the NUSA, coming into play with certain gigs and encounters after the story.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: V does not shy away from any harsh language, to say the least, including dropping c-bombs fairly frequently.
• Sleek High Rise Apartment: In Update 1.5, V can purchase four additional apartments for them to rent and use as a makeshift base of operations for when they need to rest or change their equipment. Of note are the Corpo and Glenn penthouse apartments, both of which are obscenely expensive. V ends up living in one in "The Sun" ending.
• The Sociopath: V can be played as a non-lethal Technical Pacifist, but they are still responsible for ludicrous levels of mayhem, theft, property damage, and kidnappings likely leading to off-screen torture and death, even if the player has them avoid killing with their own hands. V wantonly breaks the law and disregards authority with little if any expression of regret or penitence for their many antisocial acts. They are likely a high-functioning example as they are still able to maintain SOME positive relationships despite their otherwise antisocial behavior and typically callous demeanor.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of Act 1, V will be the only surviving member of their original crew.
• Soul-Crushing Desk Job: This is how Corpo V starts out. Indeed, the first thing we see is V stress-vomiting before having to deal with their boss due to some kerfuffle. Jackie says getting fired was for the best, because it gave you your soul back.
  • A potential fate for V in "The Tower" ending should they take up Reed's offer and get a cushy FIA desk job in Langley. This would make them indebted to Militech and the NUSA, possibly for life, as well as a massive far cry from the legend V originally aspired to be. Then again, there are worse fates for a nobody.
• Soulless Shell: Played with, though somewhat up to interpretation. Alt claims that in order to save V, that she would copy their consciousness and recreate them as an engram, but at the cost of the death of 'everything else', which she specifies as V's soul.
• Spanner in the Works: V's actions in all endings barring "The Reaper" shake up the geopolitical conflict between Arasaka and every other MegaCorp. In "The Devil" ending, V's actions help Arasaka maintain its position as top dog and Saburo Arasaka is revived via his engram taking over Yorinobu's body, which in turn causes everyone and especially Militech and the NUSA to play nice lest they start another Corporate War. Meanwhile, V assaulting Arasaka and destroying Mikoshi in "The Sun", "The Star", "Temperance" and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" endings cripples the corporation to the point Yorinobu's actions all but ensure Arasaka will be wiped out before long. "The Tower" is much the same in that regard even without V's assistance, though the events of Phantom Liberty ultimately benefit the NUSA and Myers' overall agenda for American unification. It also shows that Hanako's coup against Yorinobu is ultimately doomed to fail without V's help.
• Split-Personality Merge: The longer the game goes on the more of Johnny's traits V gets. It starts off subtle at first, like being able to use "Samurai" (the name of Johnny's old band) as a safeword at Clouds but later they start smoking even though one dialogue option has V claim they never smoked before. The choice to smoke after a critical mission is even treated as an agreement that they and Johnny are becoming more indistinct. By the climax of the game, it's progressed to the point where V is no longer capable of keeping their dialogue with Johnny internal and will occasionally mimic what Johnny is saying in unison, indicating that the merge is nearly complete.
• Start My Own: During V's conversation with Misty in "The Tower" ending, V can say that they might become a fixer instead of taking another shot at being an edgerunner despite being no longer able to field combat implants.
• Straight Gay: Can be played this way. While V's appearance is fully up to the player and you can make them look as camp as you'd like, you can't really make them behave in a camp way. Untill V starts to flirt with Kerry or Judy or hires a same-sex joytoy, nothing really points to them being gay/bi.
• Street Samurai: Fights in a world of thriving Mega Corps with guns, melee weapons, and hacking. Driven home further by their iconic "Samurai" coat.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: V's biggest dream is to become a legend of Night City. This dream comes true in the "The Sun" variant of the ending: They're rich, they have a fancy apartment, own the city's most popular nightclub and everyone knows their name as the edgerunner who massively damaged Arasaka's reputation and power. None of this matters to them, however, because they're slowly dying and have six months to live at best. None of their wealth or reputation can help them save their life.
  • Conversely, the Tower ending has V work with the NUSA to successfully save their life, ensuring that the Relic won't doom them to an early grave. However, this comes at the cost of them being able to wield combat implants, as well as their friends and loved ones moving on with their lives thanks to V being comatose for two years. Therefore, V will have to live the rest of their life as another face in the crowd, with their old life as an edgerunner gone forever. V's new lease on life has come at the cost of the very aspirations that drove them on in the first place.
• Tarot Motifs: "The Fool". The proper graffiti for the "Fool On The Hill" sidequest can be found right outside the doors to V's apartment. The card represents new beginnings, transitional periods in life, love, career, family and friendships; reversed, it can mean lack of restraints, discipline, and risk-taking. The normal meaning represents what awaits V on their adventures in Night City, while the reverse is what will bring V into their predicament in Act II.
• Tattooed Crook: V can have full body tattoos if the player so desires during character customization.
• Technical Pacifist: In the Daredevil or Spider-Man sense, V can actually clean up Night City without ever dropping any bodies. This is done by wielding fists, bats, sledgehammers, wrenches, crowbars, and special mods to guns that render them nonlethal. They can also choke out people without ever killing them. As such, they can engage in hundreds of fights against opponents with lethal ammo without ever technically killing anyone. Only during the Cyberpsycho missions does the game acknowledge this, though.
• The Teetotaler: Ironically, despite being portrayed as The Hedonist in various promotional material in the game proper they can always refuse alcohol when offered and make do with lemonade or water instead. Many characters are baffled when they do this.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed if playing as a Corpo. In the Lifepath prologue, V's coworker informs them that one of their deep cover agents is in danger of potentially being exposed and asks whether they should extract them. V can potentially order the agent to be rescued before their cover is blown, with the coworker noting that Jenkins isn't going to be happy.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: A subtle example. In "The Path of Glory" ending, V comes off as more distanced and aloof from their friends and allies, with some like Mama Welles and Viktor commenting about it in their voice messages during the credits scene. A romanced Judy notes how female V barely even talks to her anymore. It's implied that V's detached attitude toward their associates stems from having little time left.
• Tragic Keepsake: After Act I, V holds onto a bullet pendant given to them by Viktor, the same one that ended their life. V carries this with them throughout the entire story and most of the endings; they toss it aside in the desert in "The Star" ending, and in "The Tower" ending they lose track of it after waking up from their coma, with Misty telling them they don't need it anymore.
• Tranquil Fury: A few times whenever they're confronted with something that's beyond the pale, V absolutely seethes with barely contained rage.
• Trigger-Happy: As seen in the Gameplay Reveal and Aug 2020 Night City Wire, V has multiple Dialogue Trees that include the option "Pull out your gun."
• True Companions: Starts off as this with Viktor and Jackie. After Jackie's death this extends to Misty (Jackie's girlfriend), Panam, Judy, River and Kerry. They all react with sadness and/or anger if V chooses to kill themselves in the ending.
  • This also gets deconstructed in the "Tower" ending, as the surgery that cures V of the Relic puts them in a two-year coma, upending their relationships in a manner that no ending (aside from "Temperance") does. It turns out that a lot of bonds don't survive the test of time, especially in a setting as brutal as this one. While V still gets a friendly welcome from Vik, Misty and Kerry, Judy's moved on with her life and doesn't want to rekindle her romance if there was one, and Panam and River want nothing more to do with V for various reasons. V is faced with the harsh reality that the world has simply moved on without them, and they'll have to adapt to a new life where Nothing Is the Same Anymore.
• Übermensch: The game's synopsis describes V as the sort of person who is only bound by the morals they have set for themselves. This comes out in conversations with Misty as she is deeply spiritual while V has to come to believe in mysticism as part of the Tarot art quest themselves.
  Synopsis: In a world where you have no future, what matters is that you control who you are. To survive and protect your independence, you modify your body with advanced cyberware and take jobs others would never dare. You choose to live free, bound by no systems or controls — the only rules you obey are your own. Because you're a Cyberpunk.
• Uncertain Doom: In "The Sun", "The Star" and "The Devil" endings, V's days are numbered, with six months at most until their terminally damaged body gives out. However, in "The Sun" ending, Mr. Blue Eyes implies he knows more about V's condition than it seems and is willing to reward handsomely for the casino heist, should V pull it off. In "The Star", Panam and the Aldecaldos make it clear they're already seeking leads on a cure outside Night City, and V was given new meds by Viktor which is helping give them as much time as possible. And in the Devil ending, Arasaka offers V a spot on their "Secure Your Soul" program, allowing them to become an engram and wait for a new body to be transferred to. Overall, things may look bleak, but as long as V is alive, there's hope for a cure.
• Unwitting Pawn: Not that V can afford to be picky from Act 2 onwards, but several times they run into people who are out to use V to their own ends, without being forthright with them.
  • Placide and Brigitte see V as a disposable merc and a disposable merc with the MacGuffin respectively.
  • Alt Cunningham only agrees to help V because Johnny asked and to assimilate all the engrams in Mikoshi.
  • Hanako Arasaka is using V not just to prove Yorinobu’s guilt but to help her father perform a Grand Theft Me on him.
  • In Phantom Liberty, V is used as a contingency against Kurt Hansen by Songbird, who's plotting to escape the NUSA's clutches by stranding President Myers in Dogtown. Following a series of complications triggered by Hansen attempting to assassinate Myers instead, V save Myers's life, and Songbird surrenders herself to Hansen. From this point forward, V is a pawn of both Songbird (who's trying to finish her escape by fleeing to the moon) and Myers (who wants to bring in Songbird at any cost). The cure promised to V turns out to be real, but Songbird always planned to keep it for herself, while Myers actually can help V out provided they do her bidding.
• Vigilante Man: A good number of side quests have V be, essentially, a sub-contracted police officer. They involve investigating crimes in progress and neutralizing any criminals. All criminals have a bounty on them that is automatically deposited into your account on their defeat. A better example is them stopping to intervene in randomly generated crimes which may even include rescuing civilians in danger.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: V and Jackie often give each other shit but they're loyal to one another till the end. Their relationship with Silverhand can take this form as well depending on if the player decides to try and befriend him or not.
• Waif-Fu: A properly specced female V is just as deadly with melee weapons as her male counterpart, despite having considerably less impressive musculature. She can also choke out Animals or Maelstrom members without having any augmentations. You can give her gorilla arms, but she's incredibly strong even without them.
• Walking Armory: V has three weapon slots, can attach cyberware to their arms to turn them into a fourth weapon and can also equip a variety of grenades.
• Wealthy Ever After: In the "The Sun" variant of the ending, V owns an Sleek High Rise Apartment and the city's most popular night club. Doesn't mean they're happy though.
• Willing Channeler: There's multiple instances where V willingly allows Johnny to take full control of their body to achieve some goals (talking to Rogue) or even at Johnny's request (talking to Kerry). "The Sun" ending involves essentially channeling Johnny so that he could take down the Arasaka tower himself.
• Would Hit a Girl: V has no problem attacking or killing gangoons and cyberpsychos of any gender.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: The one line V won't cross is harming children. Attempting to aim at kids will have V automatically refuse and if you attempt to run them over the car will be put in a dead stop even at high speed. V is just as sickened as River when they track a comatose Serial Killer's hideout and are noticeably caring and panicked when they see the young teens attached to the nutrient machines. During the gig "Talent Academy" V is disgusted by children as young as 12 having implants installed in them to be trained as future star athletes. V can be sympathetic and kind to Emma and Tommie, the two kids they encounter while sneaking into the office for the gig and, even when they were cold towards Tommie, they will hurry him up to leave before the encounter with Dr Fiona turns potentially bloody.
• Wrench Wench: A Female V that has the Nomad lifepath starts the game by fixing her busted car.
• X-Ray Vision: One of your cyberdeck upgrades lets you see potential targets through walls.
• Young and in Charge: V becomes the owner of the Afterlife in both "The Sun" and "(Don’t Fear) The Reaper" endings, either taking over after Rogue dies or Rogue willingly handing it to them out of respect to their One-Man Army assault against Arasaka Tower.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Due to dying while having the bio-chip in their head, V is told they have a matter of weeks before their psyche is wiped out and Johnny's personality takes their place. Even when they do find a way to resolve the Death of Personality/Grand Theft Me issue, they're told that it has already done too much damage to their brain and that the only thing they did was buy a few months before their body will give out anyways. The "Tower" ending included with Phantom Liberty averts this, with V both being freed from the Relic and saved from an early grave, but at the cost of wielding combat implants, meaning their career as an edgerunner is over.

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