V

Origin

The world of V in which he lives one is a dark and complex one. The origins of V are well know but the true identity of codename V is a mystery inside a puzzle inside a jigsaw box, wrapped in a conundrum, broken into a Chinese box. V lives in the mid '90's in a modern day police state version of Britain were it is a one party fascist state. The state has systems of security camera surveillance (CCT) and fascist thoughts and ideals toward those not White-Anglican. It is a brutal state to those of different race and creed and those who are weak. The fear of this government and there bent goal of total hegemonic power is what made V the man who he is!

Once the new Norsefire Party got elected into power there two main goals were: Total and absolute control over the state and the second was racial purification. They set there plans in motion to capture, torture, experiment on, and then kill those who are undesirables. These of course include the parties of Blacks, Jews, homosexual/lesbians and those who were political activists. These unfortunate undesirables fate would lead them to a concentration camp named Larkhill, V was one of them! Once these undesirables arrived to these camps they received terrible torture, abuse and ultimately death. Most of them were subjected to gruesome science and biological experiments.

The main staff was made up of Lewis Prothero: He was the Commander of "Larkhill". Bishop Anthony Lilliman: As the voice of the Party in the Church, Lilliman is a corrupt churchman given to paedophilia and embezzlement. Lilliman was a priest who was hired to give spiritual support to the prisoners being given Batch 5 drugs. Delia Surridge Larkhill camp doctor in charge of criminal medical experiments at the camp and who had studied V.

Many of the test subjects died but one of them did not die he experienced more mental and physical strength. Even though this patient gained mental capacity and strength he soon grew insane and forgot who he was. This patient was V or The man from room five as the staff dubbed him. V grew strong and insane from the medicine of Batch five which basically created V in many ways. The staff permitted V to grow flowers and fruits in the court garden and was allowed to keep the chemicals in his own cell, which mixed together with all the fertilizers in his cell made a power dynamite. On the night of November the fifth a terrible fire engulfed and destroyed the camp, one man rose from the ashes as a new man, V. V started the fire through his fertilizers in the his cell blowing the camp up sky high.

After the fire the party abandoned the camp and moved one with there other plans for domination while V disappeared not have appeared on their radars. When V escaped from the camp he was born a new man and vowed vengeance against all those from the camp who were apart of the experiments and transforming him. During the years V founded a underground layer called the Shadow Gallery in a old abandoned subway station where V had an large collection of books, paintings,music, and artifacts of different cultures that were rejected by the Norsefire party. V grew more intelligent and aware of many different political ideals while at the same time carrying out his vow of vengeance to those who harmed not just him but the thousands of other innocents. Over the years V killed many small time party members and guards who were part of the concentration camps to keep his identity secret and at the same time feeding his vendetta against them.

As V became a anarchist he became charismatic and very theatrical. Also some what of a demolition expert and pyro, V not only destroyed the lives of those who hurt him but the buildings that symbolize and represent the government. A man who respects and quotes many novels through his elaborate and theatrical vendetta. After all of V's killings through the years he has saved the most important and valuable party members for last for each of them he killed them in a ironic fashion of their careers and how they each created V. But V's most valuable, most important, and most precious target is the man who started it all: The Leader of the Norsefire Party himself Adam James Susan!

The Norsefire Party

The Norsefire is one of the most brutal and fascist political party other then the Nazi party. The Norsefire party is responsible for creating V and destroying the lives of thousands. The party was founded in the mid '80's by it's eventual leader Adam James Susan. The party set it's racial purification plans by dispatching thousands of undesirables to the Larkhill concentration camp where they were brutally killed and cremated. After that plan there next was total power and they seized it by launching a nuclear holocaust on most of the world. The US and the entire continent of Africa were virtually wiped as much of the world,even England suffered great damage to its agriculture.

After there plans were completed the party established an new government consisting of The Head. The Head was the head of the government the Eyes were surveillance cameras or closed circuit television. The Nose was the new police department the Finger was the Secret Police having men disguised on the streets to infiltrate rebellions. The Ear is monitoring sounds and phone calls to help with crime also with resistance. The Mouth is television propaganda to only show programs appropriate and approved by the party, as a tool of keeping the people under the Norsefire yolk. This fascist regime is very oppressive and aggressive in it's pursuit and political ideals.

This new government ensures total control and order also to squash any resistance at once. Keeping it's people submissive and on a tight leash and making sure there is no individualism or new ideals. All freedoms and liberates are considered luxuries that the government can't afford.

Vendetta

V rescues a young woman named Evey Hammond, from a gang "Fingermen" — who try to rape her after arresting her for prostitution. After beating the fingermen, V takes her to "The Shadow Gallery". There, Evey tells V her life story, describing the nuclear war of the late 1980s that led to anomie, and then of the fascist coup d'état in which her father became a political prisoner.

V next destroys the Old Bailey after pretending that he and the Madame Justice statue on the Old Bailey are talking. V politely begins by saying hello to Justice, and ends with him giving her a present with a bomb in it and calling her a whore, saying he has met a new woman named Madame Anarchy, and confronts three Party figures to accuse them of past crimes: Lewis Prothero, the propaganda broadcaster who serves as the "Voice of Fate"; Bishop Anthony Lilliman, a pedophile who represents the Party in the clergy; and Delia Surridge, a seemingly apolitical doctor who had a personal relationship with Finch. V attacks each of them in an ironic methods due to previous meetings. Prothero is driven to insanity after V destroys his collection of priceless dolls in a reproduced death camp oven while having Prothero dressed up in a Commander uniform from when he was Commander of Larkhill. Lilliman is killed when V forced him consume a cyanide-laced communion wafer just as he is about to rape Evey dressed up in a little girl costume and Dr. Surridge dies from a lethal injection, however, as she was the only worker at Larkhill that expressed remorse for her actions, the injection and her death are painless. Upon leaving Delia's home, V is surprised by Derek Almond, who was warned by Finch that V was after Surridge and tries to capture him. Unfortunately for Almond, he forgets to reload his gun after having cleaned it earlier that same night, and he is quickly killed by V.

Finch begins his research when he finds Dr. Surridge's diary. It reveals that all three victims were officers at the Larkhill Resettlement Camp, and that over the previous years, every other staff member from the camp has died, apparently killed by V. Finch later discovers that this apparent "vendetta" served as a diversion from the true cause of action that V killed all these peole the keep hidden his true identity so V can operate covertly.

Four months later V breaks into Jordan Tower, the broadcast centre for the Party, to broadcast an anarchist speech that calls on the people to take charge of their own lives. He escapes by tying up Dascombe, placing a copy of V's own costume and mask on him, and standing him up in the control room where he is shot by police who storm the room. Eric Finch, in going over the crime scene, punches Peter Creedy, a petty criminal promoted to Head of the Finger after Almond's death, for a personal remark related to Delia Surridge who he was romantically involved and is sent by The Leader on a forced vacation.

Evey has become strongly attachment to V, however he has begun to effect the way she thinks and her morality. After a confrontation in the Shadow Gallery he abandoned her on a street, and couldn't find V. She is taken in by Gordon Deitrich, a petty criminal with whom she becomes romantically involved, and they cross paths unknowingly with Derek Almond's widow Rose; after the deaths of her husband she has been forced to work as a burlesque dancer, and consequently develops a strong hatred for the Party. Creedy begins organizing a private militia, hoping to use V's destabilization of the Party t olead a coup against the Leader however V appears to be manipulating them against each other fully aware of their plans.

Gordon is soon murdered by a Scottish gangster named Alistair Harper, whom he was dealing with. Evey attempts to kill Harper in revenge but is arrested and accused of attempting to murder Peter Creedy as he was meeting with Harper. In her cell, Evey finds a letter from a presumably dead former inmate named Valerie, an actress who was imprisoned for being a lesbian. Evey's interrogator tortures her multiple times and finally gives her a choice of collaboration or death; inspired by Valerie's courage and quiet defiance, she refuses to give in and is told that she is free. To her shock, Evey learns that her imprisonment was a hoax constructed by V, designed to put her through an ordeal similar to the one that shaped him. He reveals that Valerie was another Larkhill prisoner who died in the cell next to his; the letter that Evey read is the same one that Valerie had passed on to V to read. Evey's anger finally gives way to acceptance of her identity and freedom.

A month later V destroys the Party's communication and surveillance centres housed in Jordan Tower and the Post Office Tower, causing the death of Etheridge, shutting down The Eye and The Ear and spurring a wave of violence and chaos which is violently suppressed by Creedy's street gangs. Meanwhile, V notes to Evey that this is not The Land of Do-As-You-Please end result he wants, but rather it's mere chaos in The Land of Take What You Want — and isn't the true anarchy which he wants yet. Finch's assistant Dominic realizes that V has had access to the Fate computer since the very beginning, explaining his foresight and this news accelerates the mental collapse of the Susan.

Finch goes to the abandoned site of Larkhill and takes LSD. His hallucinations lead him to an intuitive understanding of V and his past he deduces that V is hidden somewhere in Victoria Station and goes to find him. V, who knows his time has come meets Finch and lets him shoot him. The bleeding V flees and dies in Evey's arms. Evey considers unmasking V, but decides not to learn his identity; instead, she assumes it, donning one of his spare costumes. Meanwhile, Rose Almond's private vendetta has led her to kill the Leader and she is last seen being taken by the Finger. In the ensuing chaos, Creedy's own men kill him, while Finch reports the news that V is dead. When Evey appears to the crowd as V and begins to talk to the crowd.

Evey completes V's final act of subversion. As requested by V, she sees to the destruction of 10 Downing Street by giving her mentor a "Viking funeral". She uses a train full of explosives to house his body in place of a burning boat. In a grand send off, the train is heads down the tracks and V's vendetta is completed with a Fawkes worthy big bang. She rescues Dominic from the mob and takes him back to the Shadow Gallery so she can train him as her successor, having created the world V dreamed of. Finch observes the chaos raging in the city before heading to the countryside. All forms of authority in Britain are now gone; its future is left uncertain. Thus, V created a massive, multi-layered chaotic state which collapsed Britain's social order. In the absence of the old order, a new voluntary system of order will takes its place ... and this 'new order' will have a 'new V' to help it.

Powers/Appearance

V is an expert marksman and has a passion for bladed weaponry. His preferred style of swordsmanship is fencing but, he primarily utilizes multiple daggers of identical design. He uses these daggers in a variety of ways; defensively, offensively, in either / both hands, in direct combat, thrown, and with / without the intent to kill.  Regardless, he is an expert in unarmed combat again single and multiple targets. V is also highly adept in the use of large scale and small scale explosives & pyrotechnics. When necessary, he is known to use a variety of means to achieve his goals. These include hijacked audio PA systems, weaponizing prescription drugs, the use of specified injectionable poisons, the filming & broadcasting of prerecorded video messages, laying & utilizing underground railway tracks as a delivery system, elaborate disguises, and everything from door sealants to batons as needed.

Due to side effects of a pituarin / pinearin compound called "Batch 5", vast cellular anomalies are believed to have increased V's natural abilities (i.e reflexes, reaction times, agility, strength, pain tolerance, mental processes) however the comic never out right states him being more than human. Chemical exposure may also account for his eccentrically theatrical manner. He is also a quick runner with athletic levels of endurance and stamina.

No one knows what V really looks like , as any one who could possibly know were either killed by the government or by V himself. All that is shown in the comics is that he was white, before he apparently allowed his body to be scarred by burns in the explosion he started. This is V's greatest 'power'. 
He becomes a symbol, representing the ideal of political revolution and vigilante justice. With no personal identity, he has no isolating human characteristics. He literally chooses to become the personification of the repressed beliefs of a repressed population. By appealing to the spirit of civil unrest within people while embodying that spirit, he connects with them. By committing his acts of justified terror, he boosts their confidence. By providing them all with costumes identical to his own, he binds them to his actions and to each other. In essence, he allows them to become the spirit of unrest . Since they appear in mass, and as each person is disguised the same way, everyone / no one can be linked to the various crimes being committed. 
A government cannot declare all its people criminals as it is supposed to represent the common good of its citizens.  
 
In similar fashion, V has created a anonymous champion of the people. The 'main V' becomes a legend and his persona is one that is able to be passed down and picked up by anyone who sees themselves as worthy (i.e. Zorro). After his passing, V's identity is taken up by Evey with the intent to pass it on to Dominic.

5 and V

There are numerous references throughout V for Vendetta (both potentially intentional or unintentional) to the number 5 and letter V, which is itself "5" in Roman numerals:

*When V is shot, he leaves a trail of blood on the wall as he falls; in the shape of a letter V.

*Valerie's letter has 5 pages.

*The title "V for Vendetta" contains 5 syllables.

*The title of each chapter begins with the letter V.

*The character V is seen reading and quoting from Thomas Pynchon's novel, V.

*In the film adaptation V is shot 5 times before killing Creedy

*Beethoven's fifth symphony is used in the book and noted for the prominent use of three short notes and one long, which is the Morse Code identifier for the letter V. This code was used as a call sign by the BBC during World War II, most famously in the sense of V for Victory.

*Evey's name is composed of "E" (the fifth letter of the alphabet), "V" (5 in Roman numerals, and the fifth letter from the end of the alphabet), and "Y" (25th letter of the alphabet, or 5 squared). The woman who dies in the cell next to that of V at Larkhill is named Valerie Page.

*In the original comic, V leaves a violet carson after he kills someone.

*The publisher is Vertigo-which begins with a V

*V is eventually identified as the prisoner from Room 5 at Larkhill Internment Camp. The five doors are labeled with Roman numerals, so Room 5 is emblazoned with a "V". The number 5, when converted to binary numerals, is 101 (a possible allusion to the infamous torture room 101 in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which has 5 syllables).

V's hideout is accessed from the closed Victoria tube station, the damaged sign of which resembles a sideways V when Finch locates it.

*V's personal motto consists of the Latin phrase Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici (By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe), which in turn consists of five words that begin with the letter V ("U" is written as "V" in Latin). Aleister Crowley also used the phrase as one of his personal mottos, a fact that appears in Alan Moore's later book Promethea. But V mentions only the origin of the phrase in Faust.

*November is the only month in the Gregorian calendar with the letter V in it.

*As Evey appears to give her speech to the public after she has assumed the identity of V, the visual angle of the frame causes a V to be formed between the edges of the building she is standing on and the building behind her.

*The government consists of the five branches which are identified with the five senses

*At Larkhill, V is injected with Batch "5", or in Roman numerals, Batch "V"

*In the graphic novel, V prepares his revenge for 5 years, but this was changed to twenty years in the film version

*Evey's birthday is in September, so her zodiac sign is probably Virgo which starts with V.

*Guy Fawkes Day happens on November 5

*"Shadow Gallery", V's hideout, is five syllables

*When Evey asks what V is waiting on late in the book, he answers "I'm waiting for the man." The title of a Velvet Underground & Nico song

*Codename V's Last word, at the end of the novel, starts with a V.

*November the 5th or 5th of November has 5 syllables.

*V Kills 5 main characters in the film. (Bishop Lilinman, Delia Surdridge, Prothero, Creedy, and Adam J. Susan) All but Creedy's name contain 5 syllables.

*Much of V's dialogue is in Iambic Pentameter.

Film

In 2006 the V for Vendetta film was released. In the film Natalie Portman stars as Evey Hammond and Hugo Weaving delivers an outstanding performance as the legendary V.

Only a few changes were made to the film that differ from the original. An example of this is that, in the end, Evey never takes up the costumed identity of V. It could be assumed she does at a later time but, it is never implied. Likewise, there is no mention of Dominic or his selection as an heir apparent to the V mantle. V's original appearance is never mentioned and in the film, 'Batch 5' is confirmed as altering V's physical / mental abilities. Also Adam James Susan's name was changed to Adam Sutler. 
 
The film was originally set  to be released Friday, November 4, 2005 (a day before the 400th Guy Fawkes Night) but, was delayed to March 17, 2006 release.