Line #206 WMG/VForVendetta


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:V's Identity]]
4	[[WMG: V is Valerie.]]
5	* Does this make sense or not?
6	** No. Delia Surridge's diary consistently refers to V as the man in Room 5.
7	*** It's explicitly stated by Finch that V has removed pages from Dr. Surridge's diary so that the full truth about him/her is never discovered. Who's to say V didn't also change some parts of the text so that they say "man" instead" of "woman"? That way s/he can make sure no one will know who s/he is.
8	*** Well, Valerie ''was'' a lesbian. It's possible that she got a sex change. Not sure if that medical procedure had been invented at the time of ''V For Vendetta'', but after all, this is an alternate history we're talking about.
9	*** You are assuming that [[TransEqualsGay Lesbian = Transsexual]]. It doesn't. It's actually more likely that Delia might have referred to her as a "man" because someone like her would consider lesbians unfeminine.
10	*** Transgender Troper here, Gender Reassignment Surgeries have existed since 1935, so they certainly were in existence during V for Vendetta. However as noted above, you are incorrect to assume that just because she's a lesbian that it would indicate that she would want the surgeries.
11	*** That assumes she had a '''choice'''. It's entirely in-keeping with the views of the fascist government as presented that they could have forcibly reassigned Valerie's gender (or simply referred to her as a 'he' on paper) because she was a lesbian, possibly (given that it was an experimental facility) as part of some sort of twisted experiment into sexuality.
12	*** It's unlikely that an anti-LGBT regime would provide SRS, forced or otherwise. More likely is that V was referred to as a man by the facility's staff despite identifying as a woman, perhaps in part as an aspect of conversion therapy to "fix" V's gender identity. This is how conservative governments and individuals (particularly in Western countries) tend to deal with transgender individuals. V's genitalia have nothing to do with this identity. Personally, I'd say there's definitely sufficient subtext in the comics to assume V was intended to be transgender, however there isn't quite enough material to know the extent of V's transition or even which direction it went. It's even entirely possible they were nonbinary or genderfluid. However, for the purposes of narrative streamlining, I'm inclined to think being a transwoman (probably pre-op, and possibly even without access to HRT - and if so, almost definitely subject to HRT reversal while a prisoner) is the most likely scenario.
13	*** Well, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} is notoriously homophobic, and it lets people get sex changes. However, this has led to a bunch of gay people being pressured to get SRS...
14	*** V's wearing a mask at all times. It is possible that V is actually several people amongst whom the man from room 5, Valerie from room 4, and maybe others. It would explain how he is able to do so much.
15	** If you've read all the notes about it, it becomes obvious that V is some sort of transsexual. Why? It was based on a different short story, by the same two people, that was meant to be this graphic novel. The main character was a Transsexual. This character is also black. Considering how easily Evey disguises her feminine figure, it's pretty easy to guess that V is probably not male.
16	** This troper is a little perplexed by this whole debate. V could be Valerie ''and'' the man in Room 5, in the sense that Valerie is actually a transgender man, but it's hard enough to get well-intentioned medical professionals not to call trans* people by the wrong pronouns and gender, let alone their malevolent captors. The notion that V is several different people is an appealing one, but I think having V be Valerie robs at least ''that particular V's'' devotion to Rita ([[MindScrew if there ever was a Rita, and thus a Valerie]]) of its poignance.
17	*** The problem is that the diaries list both Valerie as a lesbian, and V as a man. It's entirely reasonable that the government would have continued to refer to a transwoman as "he", but they wouldn't then have referred to her as a lesbian. It's possible that V was a transman (who the government might have classified as a lesbian, if they had a relationship with a woman), but if they felt he was a lesbian because they refused to accept his gender, then they wouldn't then have referred to him as a 'he'. A much simpler explanation is that V is a man (possibly a gay one, explaining why he was put in there) who was inspired by Valerie.
18	* At least in a meta-sense, Valerie was the original V. Wasn't V supposed to be a doll like transgender hero in the early stages? That fell through due to executive meddling. V as we know him was passed on the legacy from V. Evey took up the mantle by V putting her through what he did, i.e. recreating Valerie handing off the mantle to her in a way. There is a parallel universe where V is Valerie where the executives did not meddle.
19	* ...Or, somewhat born from this theory, what if V was Ruth? Valerie's lover? Maybe Valerie didn't know that she was in the next room, or maybe Ruth took drugs that made her lose her memory, changed her physique... It would be touching, considering the shrine V dedicates to her, if V were really Ruth and somehow remained loving Valerie in spite of losing her past memories.
20	* It's worth noting that Valerie is literally one of only two people [[WordOfGod explicitly ruled out by Alan Moore.]] (Along with Evey's dad, of course.)
21	** If there's a source for that beyond this TV Tropes page, that'd be fantastic. If there isn't, V is only not Evey's dad, Charlie's aunt or Whistler's mother.
22	* Another trans troper. Valerie thought they were a lesbian, and they were assigned female at birth so they were raised as a woman. Then they realized they're actually a straight trans man. That makes the most sense.
23
24	[[WMG: V is in reality Evey Hammond’s younger brother]]
25
26	[[WMG: V is [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt]]]]
27	* Both are charismatic, have superhuman reflexes, are very intelligent. Adrian even signs his letters with a "V" in Watchmen.
28	* After the events of Watchmen, Veidt leaves his Antarctic base and goes to England. He abandons his role as Ozy and takes on the role of V in order to take action again. V never actually was in a concentration camp, he was Adrian Veidt. He is hiding his identity behind the mask, not physical scars.
29	** my theory: the world which Veidt created comes apart at the seams when Rorshach's book makes headlines and he is forced to go into hiding. Relations between the countries deteriorate even farther than they were before the massacre. Nuclear war erupts and a fascist government takes control of England. Veidt, who was hiding out there under an assumed name, was imprisoned due to his (suspected) homosexuality. While there, he is driven insane but at the same time, his genius intellect and powerful body enable him to escape. He then spends his life trying to save the world he helped destroy.
30	* V also created a story about a fictonal prisoner to give to Evie, who believed it. This makes it plausible that he could have been able to fabricate his own history as well.
31	** I'm pretty sure that story about Valerie was real.
32	* This is oddly supported in V's dialogue as well... "I killed you ten minutes ago" ring any bells?
33	[[WMG: V is Alan Moore himself]]
34	* It is mentioned that artists and other such individuals were placed in the concentration camps, Since Alan is a fairly controversial writer, it would make sense that the government of the comic would see him as a danger.
35	* That's impossible. V has no magical powers, Creator/AlanMoore has several.
36	** Doesn't he? V destroys his cell using only gardening utensils and decoration. Even Series/{{MacGyver\|1985}} would have trouble pulling that off. Using piles of dirt and strategically placed candles for it seems just like the kind of thing a mage could pull off...
37	*** Dirt? No. Fertilizer, though, is very flammable, and has ingredients in it that can make it a potent explosive.
38	*** US Tropers might recall that Timothy Mcveigh used a truck full of fertilizer to blow up the Oklahoma City Federal Building, prompting regulatory changes in the types and amounts of fertilizers sold to the public. And the requiem played before Mcveigh's execution was titled 'Ave Atque Vale', which were, coincidentally (?), [[spoiler:V's last words]].
39	*** Since V For Vendetta was written and published years before the Oklahoma City bominbgs, yes, it was a coincidence.
40	* How does he hide his beard?
41	** The experiments performed on him in the camp destroyed his beard and made him unable to regrow it. The trauma of this was part of what made him become V, and his choice of a mask which carried a small beard itself was an attempt to, in some small measure, replaced his loved lost facial hair.
42	*** Impossible! That beard is pure chaos seeping through Alan Moore's pores. Nothing conceivable by man nor God could destroy it.
43	*** Alan Moore does not wish his beard to be visible, as that would undermine his anonymity. Ergo, his beard is not visible.
44
45	[[WMG: V was born Alex, and was the main character in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange.'']]
46	* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' was England of the 70's, imagined from the 60's. ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' was 1990's England imagined from the 80's. The latter is simply the future of the former. By the time Alex is an adult, Norsefire has arisen, replacing the British government of Alex's youth (the 1970's, as imagined from 1962). Alex develops a political conscience. After being sent to the Larkhill Resettlement Camp by the Party, Alex's old files from the Staja are discovered, his captors learn of his treatment by the old government, and decide to subject him to Delia Surridge's experiments. After Larkhill, Alex dons a Guy Fawkes mask and becomes the professional anarchist with his reservoir of horrorshow ultraviolence. Like Alex, the V persona is extremely violent, with a penchant for sophisticated tastes in music and culture. He loses the nadsat, but compensates by taking up the mannerisms of a literature professor while fighting corruption.
47
48	[[WMG: V is one of [[Manga/DeathNote Wammy's children]]]]
49	He made up the story about Larkhill, or used the name "V" prior to going there. Wammy's House is located in England, and it is known from L's contact list in "L: Change The World" that there was a child at the House who used "V" as his/her letter.
50
51	[[WMG: V is not anyone, he was the hallucination of the female lead]]
52	Our heroine blanks out on putting the mask as she cannot just justify killing in the name of the revolution. Yet. Her denial is strong. Then the events of the book happen as they do.
53	* Was just thinking about this, myself in that V could be a means to justify movie!Evey's apparent rebellious streak, so she "creates" him.
54	** Actually, this theory doesn't work for the movie version, because security cameras saw both of them on the roof at the begining. On the other hand, it explains why no one ever hunted Evey in the graphic novel.
55	* Alternatively, V is really EFG...
56	* Explains how in the otherwise-Crowning-Moment rooftop speech, nobody realizes that [[spoiler:Codename V's voice suddenly gets approximately ten years younger and a genderflip.]]
57	** It's implied that the mask heavily distorts the voice.
58	** Three things: 1) I'm a female tenor, 2) the things he underwent might have changed his voice, 3) [[FridgeBrilliance How many people have heard him speak?]]
59	*** [[FridgeLogic Most of London, due to the earlier broadcast.]]
60	*** But it's all ''written word''. Who's to say they don't have similar voices?
61
62	[[WMG:V is queer and/or Jewish.]]
63	Okay, I sort of fail at WMG here - this guess isn't wild by any definition. Because he was sent to Larkhill, he must be either nonwhite, a political dissident, queer, Jewish, or fall into some miscellaneous category which I can't think of, so screw that. We know he's white, at least in the comics, because we see a sort of 1/4 profile of him. If he was a political dissident, that would just be boring, wouldn't it? He'd be a much less dynamic character. And, moreover, he just ''has'' to be gay and/or Jewish, because how likely is it that a straight gentile would write and perform a musical-theatre-type song, complete with references to Broadway, just for his own entertainment? Not very.
64	* This is more or less a completely logical guess.
65	* This troper didn't realise until ''after'' reading that she probably wasn't supposed to see V as a sociopathic WickedCultured gay guy.
66	** Well, you're definitely supposed to see him as Sociopathic and WickedCultured, in fact Moore was [[MisaimedFandom shocked that a lot of people saw him as being a morally-justified hero]].
67	* There were a lot of Jews on Broadway (Google "jews broadway" and you'll see what I mean). V loved theatre and drama. I really don't think that it is too much of a stretch to say that he was Jewish, even though the whole Jews and Broadway thing was more in the early days of Broadway.
68	** I've got to say, I've gotten so used to people using the historical present when talking about fiction -- ie., everything is put in the present tense -- I get all wibbly when I see someone using the past tense in an otherwise-appropriate context.)
69	** If the comic version of V was Jewish, then the film version of V was Muslim.
70	* But this troper is straight and WickedCultured to a degree, what makes V necessarily gay?
71	** The fact that he was effectively in a concentration camp shown to be mostly made up of people of color and GLBT people.
72	** Nothing in particular, it's just that gay men supposedly make up a disproportionate number of musical theatre aficionados, so it seems like an appropriate guess. Claiming that V's personality type means he must be gay is inaccurate, but it's just meant facetiously... also, you're probably not as WickedCultured as V if you don't commit acts of terrorism and then write musical numbers about it, though (don't take this as a recommendation).
73
74	[[WMG:V was a political prisoner.]]
75	He was just an ordinary heterosexual man who was completely unhappy with his life and appalled by the government. His life taken a new direction when he was inspired by Evey's father's anti-government protests. (At least in the film, it would explain how he seems to know Evey's father.) He starts joining them, and eventually got arrested as a political prisoner and ends up in Larkhill. During his time there, he has witness what the government was capable of. When he learns that Adam Susan/Sutler ordered it, his anger at life, at the government, at Susan/Sutler is what kept him alive and given him the adrenaline (combined with his altered body) to have his vengeance.
76	* It's considered official canon.
77	* Also, to answer the question above of how "a straight gentile would write and perform a musical-theatre-type song", he was an aspiring artist who dreams of Broadway, but wants to do more to support the anti-government protest. Or because of his polticial views he was blacklisted by the goverment, thus destroying his chances at Broadway. This led him to join the protests. Everything in his hideout are sentimentals (of his old life) and other stuff he saved from being destroyed or taken away by the government.
78
79	[[WMG: V is an AlternateUniverse Joker]]
80	Pallid perpetual grin, unclear backstory, bags and bags of style, completely insane (or, if you believe some theories, ''knurd''), has the soul of an entertainer. Batman never surfaced in this world, and without him, Mr. Finch/Commissioner Gordon could only barely track him down. If Batman had been around, [[spoiler:V would never have been killed]]. On another track, I haven't decided whether Evey is Harley Quinn or a potential Batman(girl?) whose development was arrested.
81	* Adam Susan decided to impose his own brand of "justice" in the world after a mugger killed his parents before him when he was a child. He dedicated himself to stop criminals, and he went just a little nuts... after the nuclear war, he used his inherited money and power to build a new totalitarian government. Then he got fat.
82	* This is a good theory, but I think Finch is Batman and not Gordon. That way, Dominic can be Robin.
83	** Seen this way, the entire story is a PerspectiveFlip on Franchise/{{Batman}}.
84
85	[[WMG: V is Epic Fail Guy]]
86	Oh yeah....
87	* But he did fail in an epic way (destroying the establishment)....
88	** Sean Fausz is so fat he can't do half the stuff V can so Epic Fail Guy is not V.
89
90	[[WMG: In a strange sense of irony, V was summoned here in RealLife and invented Website/FourChan]]
91	...while labeling its members as "Anonymous". Website/FourChan was invented to rebel against the real, obviously orderly Norsefire, [[spoiler:Wikipedia]].
92	* [[spoiler:Encyclopedia Britannica would also be an appropriate Norsefire, since it is British....]]
93	* Fools, We all know Norsefire is [[spoiler:[[ChurchOfHappyology Scientology]]!]]
94	** It's obvious that Norsefire is TheMinistryOfTruth aka [[spoiler:Fox News]]
95	*** Peh. A least FNC's pundits encourage debate on their shows. Now MSNBC, on the other hand...
96	*** Norsefire is both or neither of the above and V is happily playing them against each other. Why? To get people's attention and make them notice things. The people working at both are just accidentally play into his schemes.
97	* So, V is [[spoiler:moot?]]
98
99	[[WMG: V is the Gene Wilder version of [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Willy Wonka]]]]
100	Nearly every line from both characters is a quote, and they're both insane and manipulative.
101	* And both live in eccentric places surrounded by odd items and allow very few visitors.
102
103	[[WMG:V is still in that concentration camp, and the events of the entire series are his revenge-fantasy hallucination.]]
104
105	[[WMG: V is the reincarnation of Guy Fawkes]]
106	Yes, and Norsefire was actually advanced enough to bring dead souls to living subjects. One of the prisoners in Larkhill had a past life as Guy Fawkes, and the experiments awakened the monster.....
107
108	[[WMG: V was deliberately created by Diana Stanton]]
109	At some point, Stanton fully realized what they were doing at Larkhill, and decided to strike back at the government. However, to openly resist would simply get her killed. Instead, she pulled a MadScientist and made V into a SuperSoldier.
110
111	[[WMG: V is the last of an order created by Zorro in the 1800s.]]
112	Hey, Z and V looked similar to me.
113
114	[[WMG: It doesn't matter who V is.]]
115	His face would most likely be unrecognizable, not just because WordOfGod says we've never met the actual character before, but because in his escape from Larkhill he '''WALKED THROUGH ''FIRE'''''. Odds are that V has some pretty serious burns from the incident that the drugs he was given largely prevented him from feeling.
116	* The film shows us his face straight after he walks through fire. It's all black and cindery. This troper actually thought it was a mistake to show us what remained of his face so clearly...
117
118	[[WMG: V was Evey all along.]]
119	She was V from start to finish, she was merely being schizophrenic and the end of the graphic novel was her finally realising this.
120	* Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder aren't the same thing; that's a lazy and possibly very harmful stereotype (I don't know enough to confirm it is harmful, but most stereotypes are, anyways, so). Her having DID is fairly plausible, in this troper's opinion, since it's usually caused by childhood trauma, and her having a traumatic childhood does seem likely. The question would be how they'd interact, which, since (again) I don't know enough about DID to have a clear-cut answer to, I can't say completely disproves this theory, but does break my suspension of disbelief; another question would be why V died and Every survived, when if they were both shot neither should've survived, and if neither was shot, there was no reason for V to die.
121
122	[[WMG: V was a Time Lord...]]
123	Since we need one of these.
124	And that's why he was a prisoner, Norsefire didn't want Time Lords and all their superior knowledge messing with the government.
125	In fact, I'd go so far as to say that V was the Master -- driven insane by his own people, ''incredibly'' charismatic, and fairly destructive. And he holds grudges. If V was indeed the Master, then he was already quite insane when he went in to Larkhill -- he just made up the driven insane by testing so Evey wouldn't get suspicious of him and his Time Lord-y nature. Yeah.
126	* ...[[MemeticMutation and his mask is his TARDIS.]] [[DrinkingGame/TVTropes Now drink.]]
127
128	[[WMG: V was [[Series/TopGearUK The Stig]]]]
129	* The experiments [[BodyHorror gave him a voice.]]
130
131	[[WMG: V is not the original V who was imprisoned at Larkhill]]
132	V is just an idea printed on a costume and a mask. Anyone, as long as they uphold the ideals and V's persona, can become V. Hence, the Larkhill V died of his mutations soon after breaking out, and passed on his mantle to another V, who could have passed it on to a third or even a fourth V before the main storyline begins. [[spoiler:Even Evey can do it - and in the end, she takes an apprentice of her own.]]
133	* It's a possibility, but unlikely. In the book at least, the moral conflict of whether or not V's actions are justified is central to the plot. His actions are so morally outrageous and extreme because of his time at Larkhill - [[spoiler:and when Evey takes over she becomes a calmer, more rational V - someone no longer marked by a lust for vengeance.]]
134	* Sub-guess: Different parts of V's story were added by different Vs. Valerie's story, for example, was added in by Valerie in a way that explained how the Larkhill prisoner knew her story or a prisoner from one of the concentration camps or a different prison. The V who trained Evey has his/her own reasons for hating Sutler/Susan personally (and perhaps was the only V to be WickedCultured; maybe he was imprisoned for being a stereotypical gay, but transferred to a low-security facility or banished when it was discovered that he really did like ladies and not gentlemen).
135	* Before Dr. Surridge dies, she asks to see V's face "again", and he takes his mask off. If V was someone else than the man from Larkhill, surely she would've been very surprised, but she looks calm and tranquil. So clearly she saw the face she was expecting to see.
136	** Then again, she described him as ugly earlier, but described him as "beautiful" before her death. Whether this is due to a symbolic change in perception on her part (as suggested on the comic's main page) or because whoever is V in that panel is a different (and more beautiful) person than the V she saw before, is left up to you.
137
138	[[WMG: V is a former Norsefire supporter, or at least someone who believed in a strong government and the supremacy of law.]]
139	This is a theory that I've been kicking around for some time now. Based upon what I've read in the novel, I think I detect subtle hints of V's past. The most interesting part is in chapter 5 of Book 1, "Versions", where V is seen talking to the statue of Justitia above the courthouse. Here he describes himself as someone who admired and loved Justitia, the symbol of justice and law, since his childhood and saw her as an ideal to strive for, but who later grew disillusioned with her due to her "weakness for men in uniform" and that he instead devoted himself to a new "lover", Anarchy, who taught him that justice is meaningless without freedom. Now this seem to imply that V was once someone who firmly believed in governments, the state and its duty to protect the people, but later gave up that belief in favor of anarchism. It's also possible that V was some sort of government official himself, such as a policeman, judge or politician.
140
141	Furthermore, not only might V have believed in government, he might have been a member of the Norsefire party during its early reign. Then, he either grew disillusioned with fascism and so was thrown into the Larkhill concentration camp, or was sent there due to some other offense and during his time in the camp lost his belief in government and was reborn as V. The reason for this theory is because it would explain how V is so effective and dangerous in his fight against the government; he is intimately familiar with its workings and structure because he was previously a member of it. And it also means that he was propably someone high up in the party's hierarchy, or someone who was essential to its takeover of Britain, and who later fell and was stricken from all records as a traitor. This would be the reason for how he manages to blow up important government structures, how he manages to wrest control from all surveillance equipment from the party and how he is able to hack into and control the Fate computer (perhaps he was one of its designers). It might also be from them that he learned the necessity of using ruthless methods to establish his ideal society.
142
143	[[WMG: V is several people]]
144
145	It is quite possible, since we never see his face, that several people assume this identity.
146
147	[[WMG: V was more than just a Norsefire supporter before their transformation]]
148
149	V was either one of the early party leaders, along with, Susan, Lilliman, and Prothero, or only a few levels removed from them. V's ambition and ruthlessness, displayed in the last days of the revolution that brought Norsefire into power was reason enough for the other leaders to [[spoiler:send V off to Larkhill.]] There,[[spoiler:influenced by Valerie's letter,]] V had a revelation. Surrounded by everyone the party hated, and at the center of a key part of Norsefire's vision, the party's former rising star saw Norsefire in a new light, and chose not to lie down and die. Instead, V chose vendetta as both a response to [[spoiler:Norsefire's betrayal by sending them to Larkhill]], and as a form of redemption, as V might have felt some responsibility for the rise of Norsefire.
150	* This and "V is a former Norsefire supporter, or at least someone who believed in a strong government and the supremacy of law" are even better theories than [[Tropers/TitoMosquito my]] "V was a political prisoner" theory. I can also accept those two as my headcanon.
151
152	* I wrote this, and in retrospect, there are some problem with this theory. One problem comes from how Norsefire's elites did not recognize V, dispatching the Finger to find out who V was even after seeing and hearing V's body language and voice. If V were a former Norsefire elite, party members such as Prothero and Lilliman should recognize something of V when they came into contact. Second, if you have a high ranking political prisoner, and you decide to [[spoiler:use them as a test subject in a horrific medical experiment]], the last thing you want to do is give them something dangerous like gardening tools or fertilizer. Even if V didn't know how to [[spoiler:use the fertilizer to escape]], attacking guards and tunneling out both seemed like viable options with the tools. This could be an example of Prothero picking up the VillainBall, but it seems reckless compared to everything else Norsefire did ( such as conquering England, maintaining order after nuclear war, and treating V as a serious threat).
153
154	[[WMG: V was [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins]]]]
155	A list of the evidence.
156	* His missions are assassinating high-ranking members of an oppressive government.
157	* The Norsefire Administration is part of the Templar Order, and Adam Sutler is a Grand Master. All their talk about "unity" and "faith" sounds like medieval and Renaissance Templar rhetoric. "We need to make them remember....Why!They!Need!Us!" likewise.
158	* He uses stealth and throwing knives as part of his arsenal.
159	* His hideout is underground and it stores many cultural treasures. Several Assassin's Creed games show the Assassins as being big on learning and artistic freedom.
160	* He trains Evey to be his successor by making her understand his interpretation of the Creed.
161	* Part of his objective is to convince the populace to overthrow their Templar masters, echoing Ezio Auditore's belief in the common man.
162
163	[[WMG: V didn't die, he went to an alternate universe and became a [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick purple haired elf]]]]
164	The similarity via the verbose vocabulary, makes it very obvious....verily!
165
166	[[WMG: Everyone is V]]
167	As long as you want to be V, you are V.
168
169	[[WMG: V is the real Guy Fawkes]]
170	Think about it. V is a knowledgeable and intelligent man who has an obsession with Guy Fawkes, but most people who have even so much as looked at a wiki page for Guy Fawkes will tell you that he was really nothing to look up to. Why would V be obsessed with this guy, unless he actually was Guy Fawkes? V/Guy Fawkes saw the rise of Norsefire as a way to redeem himself and clear his name. This would also explain why he was able to come up with such a clever plan. He perfected his original ploy with centuries of planning, then when Norsefire came he just modified it. It would also explain his love for old movies and books, as they would be still pretty modern to him.
171
172	(This is going on the movie, however. I haven't read the graphic novel.)
173
174	[[WMG: Under V's Mask, his face looks EXACTLY like the mask, only with burn scars.]]
175	Because really, his mask is the closet thing we could get to his real face. So it would make sense that he looks EXACTLY like the mask underneath.
176
177	[[WMG: V's Mask ''is'' his face.]]
178	* This can't be, as V wouldn't have had any access to the ridiculous surgery capable of making his face look that plastic (just to start) and before someone he kills dies (this troper can't remember who it was, but they're mentioned above somewhere) they request to see his face again and he takes off the mask. Not the mention any of the other times he takes the mask off.
179	** Unless the Fawkes mask is his face ''symbolically'', similar to Rorschach considering his superhero/vigilante persona to be his true identity rather than Walter Kovacs and the mask he wears his face to the point that, when unmasked, he starts screaming at the officers to give back his face.
180
181	[[WMG: V is [[Literature/AtlasShrugged John Galt]].]]
182	The parallels are so blatant they cannot be dismissed as coincidence. V and Galt are mysterious figures whose actions create a society-wide sense of mythology about them. They seek to pull a society-wide BatmanGambit to cause the tyrannical Big Brother government to collapse as the people reject it. And in the most obvious parallel...V takes control of the airwaves of Britain so as to proclaim his manifesto to all.
183
184	[[WMG: V's real name begins with a "V" and/or is related to the number 5.]]
185
186	[[WMG: V really is Hugo Weaving]]
187	In the movie at least, That is why he felt so strongly about Valerie, being a fellow actor, his time at the camp had literally caused him to focus on being as theatrical as possible.
188
189	[[WMG: V is of Non-Whithe ethnicity]]
190	In Dr Surridge's journal, room V prisoner is described as "ugly", but when she asks to see his face again on her dying bed, she aknowledges it as "beautiful". Most racist people deem non-european facial traits as "ugly" just because of racial prejudice: V could have been an individual from any non-white ethnicity, sent to Larkhill becaus of his race, who was classicaly good-looking, but it was only after her HeelRealization that she overcame her prejudice and was able to recognize it.
191
192	[[WMG: You asked for it! V is Number Six, Series/ThePrisoner1967]]
193	He resigned because he saw what was coming. After escaping from the Village, he began building his secret base, initially with the help of the mute Butler. He made up the whole backstory of the man who is VI minus one, then killed off everyone who could expose it.
194
195	[[WMG: V IS Creator/AleisterCrowley]]
196	Of course he keeps quoting from Thelemic Holy Books. He faked his death, while prolonging his life with Dark Magic. He was sociopathic enough to come up with all the sadistic things he does to people. He was never the man in Room V, that was a typically Crowleyesque MultipleChoicePast. ("Kill a dozen people just to protect a cover story? That would be..." "Madness, Leader?")
197
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	[[folder:Miscellaneous]]
201	[[WMG: The nuclear war responsible for wiping out much of the world was partly due to the Russians realizing that [[spoiler:the aliens from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' weren't really coming.]]]]
202	* Furthermore, the British super soldier program that gave us V (and Comicbook/MiracleMan, perhaps?) was an attempt to play catch up with Dr. Manhattan.
203	** The lack of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or the Swamp Thing dooms this.
204	*** Not necessarily. The League exist in the Real World of Miracleman, alongside V and the Watchmen. Swamp Thing is fictional, however, and thus belongs in the Comic Book/Dream World of Miracleman.
205	* The Miracleman program also produced the British character Zenith. Which would mean that given his power level, Dr. Manhattan is already well on his way to becoming a Lloigor...
206	* According to an interview in Warrior Magazine when V for Vendetta came out, V for Vendetta is an alternate timeline where Mike Moran never remembered his special word. During Kid Miracleman's rampage across London, the man who would have become V is killed.
207	* To elaborate on a theory from the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' WMG, Dr. Manhattan didn't kill [[spoiler:Rorschach]] at the end, he merely teleported him to rural Britain, where he was eventually sent to Larkhill. This being WMG, you can guess where this one is headed.
208	** So, they're both Time Lords, then, and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion working for NERV?]]
209	*** I don't Rorschach would have anything against Norsefire. If anything he would work with them.
210	*** That depends on how much he knows about the corruption of the Norsefire leadership. Rorschach is right-wing, but he seems more concerned with delivering his brand of retributive justice than stringing up people for Living While Black/Gay/Jewish/Whatever
211	*** Rorscach, as screwed up as he is, hated the Nazis and was pleased when the bomb was dropped on Japan helping bring about an end to World War 2. I can't see him siding with a group who persecute and mass genocide people just for being different. Yes, Rorschach has prejudices and some deeply unpleaseant neuroses but he's not, for all of that, a complete monster. He would never support concentration camps of any kind.
212	*** In order to support this theory, we shall have to suppose that Doc Manhattan also changed Rorschach's physique in the process of teleporting him. On the other hand, how Rorschach managed to change his way of thought (Remember "Never compromise"?) is a complete mystery.
213
214	[[WMG:V didn't die, he just went back in time and opened a sandwich shop franchise.]]
215	* [[http://www.baguette-express.co.uk/ Here's the proof]]
216	** I ''KNEW'' IT!
217
218	[[WMG: Concerning the name 'Evey':]]
219
220	* 'E' (Epsilon) is the fifth letter of the Greek (and English) alphabet; 'V' is the Roman numeral for '5' (yes, that's a major point in the story, anyway).... so the name "Evey" is actually "E-V".
221	** This troper noticed this odd little thing, and hasn't heard it anywhere else. Probably just [[EpilepticTrees me seeing things]], huh?
222	*** What's special about "E-V"?
223	*** Fifth letter plus Roman numeral for 5. Also the numeral for 4 (IV) was pronounced "ee-vee", so there's a link made with Valerie, the woman an Room 4, who seems to represent all the victims of Norsefire.
224	** This troper thought that would have been obvious to anyone who read the graphic novel or watched the film, especially as V mentions it at the very beginning.
225	-->'''Evey:''' I'm Evey.
226	-->'''V:''' Evey? E-V. Of course you are.
227
228	[[WMG: V didn't die, he was assimilated by the Real-World Internet and became Anonymous]]
229	That would explain Anonymous' rebellious acts.
230
231	[[WMG: The series happened in the alternate continuity of Franchise/CodeGeass]]
232	Nazi-esque england taking over the world..... Charismatic MagnificentBastard who is only known to the world as Anonymous...
233	* Better yet, V's real identity is [[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch Vi Britannia]]. Notice the V in the middle.....
234	** It makes sense, both are ByronicHero, [[AntiHero Antiheroes]] of NominalHero.
235
236	[[WMG: The revolution that V inspired will leave Britain just as bad as before, if not worse.]]
237	In a lot of cases when revolutions occur, the revolutionaries have at least some idea of what kind of government they want to replace the current one with. Sometimes different members of the revolution have different ideas, and they continue to fight each other after the old government is deposed, but still, someone has an idea of what to do.
238
239	The force that V unleashed, on the other hand, is based around no such principles or hopes for the future, just hate for the Norsefire regime. While Evey plans to help the people build a new order, of course, but that has problems of its own. She has no solid authority over anyone, and V thus doesn't stand ''for'' anything; it's only a symbol of dissatisfaction, of standing ''against'' Norsefire. Even if she did have some authority or idea for the new order, she's unwilling to try and press it upon the people. What exactly does that leave for her ''to'' do? She might try to keep a new fascist order from arising, but how can she do that without killing, or simply becoming a continuation of the exact same practices as the old V?
240
241	At this point, the best-case scenario would be years or decades of chaos, followed by a forced unification under a new regime. Worst-case would be that Britain couldn't be reunified, and instead pulling its way back out of partisan chaos, only managing to eventually coalesce into a bunch of quarrelling, bickering city-states after decades of chaotic infighting, then suffering intermittent wars for perhaps centuries afterward.
242	* It's my understanding that the movie plays on this a little more. But V's plan was never to SAVE England. They would either save themselves, or die. And consider that the revolution occurs about a year after his broadcast/blackout. He said they have two years. V would push them away from Fascism, but they would have to push themselves from Anarchy.
243
244	[[WMG: At the end of the movie, V enacted a magic ritual.]]
245	Through the dual human sacrifice of himself and Chancellor Suttler he summoned the spirits of everyone who died at the hands of the Norsefire regime, having them bolster the numbers of the protestors and paralyze the soldiers with fear, allowing his spectacle and revolution to take place without a hitch, and perhaps providing moral support to the survivors in the years to come. This is why all those seen dying during the movie can be seen in the crowd.
246
247	[[WMG: The overthrowing of the goverment and the revolution will lead to [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Big Brother.]] ]]
248	We cannot be sure that 1984 even takes place in 1984. Years after the revolution Britain would be left in chaos, and the new goverment impose an even more conformist measures on the people. [[{{Unperson}} V and the revolution will never have been]] in the public eye, to stop any thought of any rebellion. Ever.
249	* Alternatively, since [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified The Revolution]] Of Anonymous People [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified Will Not Be Vilified]], the anonymous V's in the film or Evey in the graphic novel become Big Brother (it is also possible that the Proles also remained in anarchy or merged with V and the Revolution, since in 1984 proles and animals are free). The people who opted for a totalitarian state were just given what they wanted: a totalitarian state turned up to eleven. Oh, and Winston Smith is supposed to be a replacement Evey.
250
251	[[WMG: After the destruction of Norsefire, Britain succumbs to RuleThirtyFour and other phenomena resembling [[MemeticMutation Internet phenomena]] and {{Imageboards}}. In other words, Britain ends up as Four Chan.]]
252	Well because people will be inspired by V's anonymity and with that anonymity, will do what Anonymous does. After all, Norsefire or No Norsefire, HumansAreBastards.
253	* How do they cope with the normal handling of resources (which require governments), then, since Imageboards are obviously no government?
254	** Let's just say British government ended up being [[Film/ThreeHundred SPARTA!!!!]]
255	*** Don't forget modern Japan [[MemeticMutation DESU]]....
256	** The Corporations took over. After all, there's this thing called anarcho-capitalism....
257
258	[[WMG: The timeline of the film version of Norsefire's rise is revealed in the film]]
259	We know that Adam Sutler had initially been a member of the Conservative Party (according to V disguised as Rookwood). This seems logical because, according to Valerie's flashback, he was responsible for closing the Tube when he was Undersecretary for Defence (ie. a minor member of the government). Clearly this can't be a Norsefire government because he founded that party.
260
261	At some point (probably when the public mood seems receptive) he leaves and founds Norsefire (which must be an entirely different party to the Conservatives because the newspaper seen during V's account lists the Tories as a losing party). This happened before the St Mary's outbreak, beause Ruth and Valerie watch one of his marches on television. Nevertheless, he must have been in power by then to launch the project. So why do this when he was already in control? Presumably because he only had a small majority and there was opposition muttering about his policies. So he does the biological weapon thing to create fear (much like the Reichstag Fire), finds the 'perpetrators' and then calls an election. This results in a huge majority (as seen in the newspaper election results) and Parliament makes him High Chancellor instead of just Prime Minister.
262
263	[[WMG: [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Winston Smith]] never died and became Chancellor of Britain 20 years later.]]
264	So maybe this is only based on the fact that they're played by the same actor (which I found more amusing than necessary when I watched this movie). The movie draws a lot from 1984 though, so, it could work if he had, I don't know, tried to take power to prevent another Big Brother situation. And it backfired.
265	* I don't think that Orwell's book leaves this possibility, but I was likewise amused by the casting, as well as the way Sutler (in my opinion) looked similar to Emmanuel Goldstein.
266
267	[[WMG: Evey has Stockholm Syndrome]]
268	Evey forgives V awfully quickly (4 pages) after he [[spoiler:tortures her to the edge of death.]] It's feasible to assume that Evey suffers from Stockholm Syndrome based on how quickly she resumes her admiration of him.
269	* She had Stockholm Syndrome for V. Notice how she was falling for him and even assisted him. The whole scheme with the torture was either to break it so she would make the choice of her own free will than blinded by love, or to transfer the S.S. love to the ideal instead of him.
270
271	[[WMG: The nuclear war never happened.]]
272	The current state of the British Isles is like North Korea today. They pretend that everyone else is dead and that they are the only Country left.
273
274	[[WMG: Norsefire is represented by an "N" which symbolizes...]]
275	''IV''... that which comes before ''V''!
276
277	[[WMG: The story starts immediately after V recovers from severe burns, and his costume is a burn suit.]]
278	Part of the recovery process after being severely burned involves a compression suit to control scarring and keep the body from regrowing incorrectly. Since he couldn't go anywhere for medical help, and [[spoiler::he walked through fire while escaping]], it wouldn't be surprising if V's costume was meant to aid in recovery first, and he added frills later. If the recovery was still recent, kidnapping Evey might have been an attempt to get support. In case the costume changes V made early in the graphic novel didn't go well (i.e. the 'vaudevillian' suit and mask), he'd have someone around to help out.
279
280	[[WMG: V didin't die, he fled to another country under a new identity, had facial surgery and lived a peaceful life.]]
281
282	[[WMG: The actor playing Sutler on Dietrich's show was [[CelebrityParadox John Hurt]]]]
283

Context WMG / VForVendetta