Characters / V For Vendetta Film

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V

V

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of people."

Played by: Hugo Weaving

A charismatic and skilled freedom fighter who was the unwilling subject of experimentation by Norsefire.

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• Adaptational Badass: While already a badass in the source material, in the film, V's physical attributes are explicitly superhuman. Also, while he dies from a single bullet in the comic, dozens of bullets are necessary to put him down here and he takes all of his attackers down with him.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the comic V is a Nominal Hero or an Anti-Villain, while in the film V is more a Pragmatic Hero.
• Adaptation Name Change: Sort of; in the comic, Norsefire officials refer to him among themselves as "Codename V"; in the film, similar dialogue (including in public) simply calls him "the terrorist".
• Affably Evil: Naturally evil will depend on one's views of his actions and beliefs. But he is extremely polite and cultured throughout, even to people he plans to kill.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Even occurs In-Universe. Is V a Freedom fighter who has the best interests of the people of Britain to heart, and a compassionate mentor figure to his sidekick Evey? Or terrorist who's mentally psychotic, and takes pleasure in making his enemies, and even Evey, suffer, and who destroys buildings to prove a point? Or maybe both? It should be noted that Alan Moore intended this moral ambiguity.
• Ambiguously Evil: As the battle between V and Norsefire is really Grey-and-Black Morality, he's not exactly good, and while he does things for a good reason, torturing Evey puts him past being just in the grey area.
• Anti-Villain: On the one hand, he wants to end the Norsefire Party's dictatorship and oppression. On the other, the party calling him a "terrorist" isn't exactly propaganda - he is willing to blow up buildings and torture people if it means winning his little war.
• Arch-Enemy: V has the entire Norsefire party, who experimented on him and has dropped the country into fascism.
• Badass Boast: When facing off against Creedy's men.
  Creedy: You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns!
  V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hopes that when your guns are empty, I am no longer standing. Because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
• Badass Bookworm: Has an enormous book collection, and has a particular passion for Shakespeare.
• Black Cloak: After the mask, it's his most noticeable piece of clothing, although unlike the mask he is often seen without it.
• Celibate Hero: Whether or not he's Asexual is never brought up. In the comic, when Evey makes sexual advances to him, he kicks her out of the Shadow Gallery. In the movie, they eventually kiss, even though V is wearing his mask. When he's dying in Evey's arms, he confesses to having fallen in love with her.
• The Chessmaster: Moreso in the VN, yet in the film he has still outwitted everyone in the government.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: We never see him without a mask, and the coat and hat are always worn whenever he leaves the shadow gallery.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: He has very inventive ways of tormenting his victims.
• Cool Mask: The Guy Fawkes mask. Always worn.
• Covered with Scars: Unlike the graphic novel, we actually do briefly see him take his gloves off, revealing that his hands (and presumably entire body) are covered in horrific burn scars. Burns from the military camp that he burnt down to escape.
• Crazy-Prepared: Has clearly spent years preparing his campaign with assassinations, explosives and computer hacking before he goes public at the beginning of the graphic novel.
• Cruel to Be Kind: His fake capture and torture of Evey was truly horrible and traumatizing and he admits it was awful and she has every right to hate him for it but it did give Evey the same clarity and determination that V had.
• Cultured Badass: His Shadow Gallery is a monument to forgotten culture, and we know he's a fan of (at the very least) showtunes, Tchaikovsky, The Rolling Stones, Motown and Shakespeare.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Every fight V gets into goes entirely in his favor and none of his opponents do more than temporarily inconvenience him. Even Creedy and his men are utterly obliterated before V succumbs to his wounds.
• Dark and Troubled Past: While most of it is shrouded in mystery, it's known that V was an "undesirable" and subjected to the fascist government's Super-Soldier program, where he was experimented on like a lab rat. And that's without counting the burn scars he received from his escape.
• Deadpan Snarker: He can be quite the sarcastic fellow, especially when delivering his Workplace speech to the people of London.
• Devious Daggers: V is a dangerous, morally ambiguous figure, and knives are the only actual weapons he uses. He's as skilled at throwing them as he is at melee combat.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Evey's arms.
• Dual Wielding: His knives are small and light enough for him to easily use two at once when he kills Creedy and his mooks.
• Face Death with Dignity: Upon realizing he's been fatally wounded, he simply carries out his plan and calmly dies.
• The Faceless: His face is never seen though it is implied to be horribly scarred.
• Faux Affably Evil: Downplayed. V is more like "Faux Affably Morally Ambiguous" and is only this way with his enemies, who happen to be corrupt monsters. He's just as polite to his enemies as he is to his allies, but in the former's case, his Tranquil Fury is palpable.
• Flower Motifs: The Scarlet Carson. He grew them during his time at Larkhill prison. After killing one of his enemies, V leaves one of them next or on top of the corpse. After his death, he is placed near a number of them while his body drives off with the bomb.
• Genius Bruiser: The experiments enhanced his intellect and physical abilities. He can give you a master's class on literature and snap your neck without much effort.
• The Hero Dies: He may be a badass, but not even he can survive the sheer power of bullets.
• The Kindnapper: He kidnaps Evey twice, both times out of benevolent intentions.
• Knight Templar: He is uncompromising in his attempt to overthrow the Norsefire government, having no qualms about killing his enemies in cold blood and even using Mind Rape.
• Large Ham: Just listen to his introductory monologue.
• Lightning Bruiser: The medical experiments V was subjected to are stated to have enhanced both his strength and his reflexes. The climactic final battle against Creedy's men shifts to slow motion to show what he's doing. There are also hints throughout the film that he has olympic or borderline-superhuman strength.
• MacGyvering: A specialty of his. Being the only physically healthy survivor of the experiment performed on him and his fellow prisoners, he was granted special privileges such as a limited access to gardening supplies. Combined with the rations he was given, he was able to produce gunpowder, mustard gas, and napalm, all of which he used to stage his escape.
• Made of Iron: He's can take a real beating and keep on going. However, no matter how tough he is he isn't as bulletproof as the ideas he espouses, requiring a bulletproof breastplate to remain standing after being gunned down by Creedy and his men and passing soon after.
• Malevolent Masked Men: "Malevolent" is slightly downplayed, but Masked Man is the very definition of V.
• Masking the Deformity: V wears a Guy Fawkes mask all the time. Judging by the burnt scars on his hands after removing his gloves, it is suspected that he wears the mask to cover his burned face which he received after escaping from the burning military camp in the past.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Of the new England. Or at least, he hopes.
• Mysterious Past: Who is V? Who was he before the camps? Why did only he survive the experiments? Nobody knows, not even V himself.
• No Place for Me There: He's well aware that he's as much a product of the Norsefire regime as it's members are and has no plans to live past it's fall.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: V's name and history are a complete mystery and it's stated that even he doesn't remember any of it.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: V thoroughly enjoys torturing and killing the Norsefire members he singles out for such treatment. He does choose his targets specifically, but has no moral reservations about it when he does. The only mercy he shows is to the one military scientist who came to regret what she did - he doesn't torture her, but gives her a painless lethal injection.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Many of the names on his kill list are those who tormented him at Larkhill.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: When you're using Added Alliterative Appeal on one of the least common letters of the alphabet, you need to start using some long words - Vaudevillian, Vicariously, Visage, Veneer, Vanguarding, the list just goes on.
• Sociopathic Hero: A heroic terrorist.
• Sole Survivor: Of the group of "undesirables" used as guinea pigs for the fascist government's Super-Soldier project.
• The Spook: Other than the fact that he was imprisoned in one of Norsefire's camps and experimented upon, giving him his abilities, and later destroyed it, nothing is known about V.
• Super-Soldier: Part of an experiment to create one. It Went Horribly Right. The experiment has given him slightly above-human endurance and cunning, and he uses this to fight the ones who made him that way. It is also evident that the experiment has made him slightly insane as a side-effect. Word of God describes the mental affliction he suffers as akin to schizophrenia.
• Tranquil Fury: It's very certain that the events surrounding how he came to be have touched a nerve, but he keeps it very low-key.
• Übermensch: He's physically and mentally above pretty much every other person he meets, and all but single-handedly, through direct and indirect action, wages a war against Norsefire, and does so while operating on a moral compass that's not entirely virtuous.
• Warrior Poet: His introductory speech uses some very rarely used words.
• Weapon Twirling: Spins his knives before he kicks ass.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yes, he's killing people, blowing up buildings, and torturing an innocent young woman to prove a point, aren't exactly what one would call ethical, but it's all for the liberation of England.
• Why Won't You Die?: Played straight.
  Creedy: Die! Die! Why won't you die!.. Why won't you die?!
  V: Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr. Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof.
• Wicked Cultured: V will cheerfully quote classic poetry while engaged in violence and murder.

Evey

Evey Hammond

Played by: Natalie Portman

The series' co-protagonist. In the comics, she is a young girl whom V takes under his wing after saving her in extremis from the state's bloodthirsty secret police, and then proceeding to indoctrinate her pursuant to his anarchistic beliefs. In the film, she is depicted as a cynical but otherwise conformist young woman working at a state-run news station, BTVN, who joins V's cause reluctantly at first after being rescued by him, and later wholeheartedly after she is fully exposed to the regime's brutality.

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• Action Girl: Reluctantly at first, but she grows into the role.
• Age Lift: Not a teenager like in the comics.
• Attempted Rape: On the receiving end twice, first from the Fingermen after they catch her out after curfew, and later from Archbishop Lilliman while acting as a decoy for V.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Following the source material, Evey transforms from a Naïve Everygirl into an Action Girl and Redeeming Replacement for V after she is tortured in a successful Confidence Building Scheme by V, which includes shaving her hair as a Traumatic Haircut.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: After her imprisonment and torture, she basically looks like a bald Natalie Portman, as opposed to the comic version, who looked like a concentration camp victim.
• Break the Cutie: Invoked by V, who believes that for her to break out of her rut and become his successor, she first has to be broken down until she has nothing, so that she can be remade/remake herself.
• Confidence Building Scheme: Tortured, brutalized and threatened with execution by V in the guise of Norsefire interrogators, all in the name of freeing her from fear.
• Happily Ever After: In the film, with Insp. Eric Finch. If you watch it as usual, it might seem just Maybe Ever After, but there's a certain 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' moment implying this one...
• Her Heart Will Go On: Be it Gordon or V himself, both the men she has been involved with die and she lives on.
• Legacy Character: While she doesn't don a mask, she effectively becomes a new V by the final scene of the movie — a V to create a new world rather than break down the old.
• Meaningful Name: Her name doubles as this and a Stealth Pun. Evey is a direct pronunciation of E-V, and E is the fifth letter of the alphabet.
• Naïve Everygirl: She's a little unaware of just how corrupt the government is.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Portman's English accent varies between RP, Cockney, Australian and American. Strangely, it comes off as endearing.
• Passing the Torch: In the novel, she becomes V herself.
• Redemption in the Rain: In deliberate contrast to V's Redemption by Fire.
• Refusal of the Call: When she finds out that it was V who was torturing her she is so traumatized and angry that she can't understand why he did it, and just wants to get away from him.
• Sympathy for the Devil: To V himself.
• Tender Tears: Upon learning what V did to Archbishop Lilliman. Of course, she doesn't know what the guy did to V so it's understandable.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: V's whole kidnapping and torture of Evey is intended to be this, because he wanted her to go through exactly what he went through, and be inspired by Valerie to retain her integrity, just like he was. It works, and although she's initially very unhappy about it, she finally accepts that he was right.

The Norsefire Regime

In General

Norsefire:

"England prevails."

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• Corrupt Church: They have one, with a Sinister Minister as a Bishop who oversaw their concentration camp.
• Evil Brit: They are made of British Nationalists, who fervently preach about purity and strength, while scapegoating minorities, and have ruled the county with an iron fist ever since orchestrating a crisis to rise to power.
• Evil Wears Black: The majority of its personnel wears dark suits.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red and black are their primary colours.

Sutler

High Chancellor Adam Sutler

Played by: John Hurt

The primary antagonist. A former Conservative MP and Defense Minister who formed the Norsefire party after losing patience for conventional politics. Through Norsefire, Sutler gradually seized control of Great Britain through subterfuge and fearmongering, turning the country into a totalitarian dictatorship that he rules with an iron fist.

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• Adaptation Name Change: From Susan to Sutler, to make the real-life allusions more apparent.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Adam Susan in the comic book was short, fat, balding and uncharismatic. Here he's played by the tall, svelte and suave John Hurt.
• Adaptational Badass: Susan is pretty loud and intimidating at the start of the comic book but becomes an increasingly introverted shut-in as the story goes on. It's easier to imagine Sutler as someone who could take over a country as he's much socially gifted than his book counterpart and remains confident throughout, that is until his much shorter Villainous Breakdown in front of V. Hell, even his name sounds cooler.
• Adaptational Villainy: As bad as Adam Susan was, there was never any indication that he deliberately orchestrated the catastrophe that allowed him to rise to power in the graphic novel, whereas Sutler engineered the virus outbreak with help from Creedy.
• Adaptation Personality Change: His comic counterpart, Adam Susan, is shown to be an extremely socially awkward shut-in who suffers from mental instability that worsens throughout the story. Sutler is never shown to have these traits, and a flashback where he's giving a Hitler-esque speech at a podium implies that he was a charismatic speaker.
• Ambition Is Evil: During his rise to power, he wanted to rule over England regardless of the political process.
• Asshole Victim: He dies pathetically at the hands of Creedy. As V puts it, he is punished for all the things he has done.
• Badass Longcoat: Seen wearing one in flashbacks to one of his rallies.
• Beard of Evil:
• Big Bad: As the High Chancellor of England, he's technically the main antagonist. Downplayed in that Creedy is implied to be the real power behind the party, but he still takes orders from Sutler until the climax.
• Boom, Headshot!: Creedy shoots him in the head without hesitation.
• The Bully: Like all dictators. An incredibly petty, insecure little man who weaponizes his authority to abuse anyone who slights him or doesn't get him the results he wants.
• Can't Take Criticism: Typical of an egotistical dictator, he can't handle any mockery of himself, no matter how harmless it is. He has Gordon killed over a comedy sketch that makes fun of him.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Implied to have been one before entering politics, funding Norsefire through shady business practices.
• Deadpan Snarker: Creedy's repeated failures to capture V bring out the snark in Sutler.
  Creedy: Chancellor, we do not have the adequate force to...
  Sutler: WE ARE BEING BURIED BENEATH THE AVALANCHE OF YOUR INADEQUACIES, MISTER CREEDY!
  • Then later...
  Sutler: If anything happens to that building, the only thing that will change, the only difference it will make is that tomorrow morning, instead of a newspaper, I will be reading MISTER CREEDY'S RESIGNATION!
• Dirty Coward: He breaks down into Inelegant Blubbering in the last moments of his life, when brought by Creedy before V. Even Creedy isn't amused.
  Creedy: Disgusting. (Boom, Headshot!)
• Evil Is Petty: As is the case with any dictator, his governmental policies are the result of his own beliefs and personal wants. He has political imagery mocking or protesting him destroyed and he offhandedly abuses his power to put the 1812 Overture (the music V played while destroying the Old Bailey) on the blacklist, simply because "[He] never wants to hear it again." He later has Gordon murdered for making fun of him.
• Evil Overlord: He rules England with an iron fist, eliminating anyone he views as a threat.
• A Glass in the Hand: He drinks a glass of warm milk every night, ever since he was a boy. When watching a skit making fun of him, he shatters it in his fist.
• Hate Sink: Adam Sutler, High Chancellor of England, is directly responsible for England's current fascist state, spends his time berating his men for not stopping V, and framed his enemies for a bioterrorist attack to become dictator in the first place.
• Irony: He ordered Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on the blacklist because "[he] do[es]n't want to hear that music again". He doesn't live to hear it next time; moreover, it plays again mere minutes after Sutler's death.
• I Will Show You X!: His plans for V.
  "Gentlemen, I want this terrorist found... and I want him to understand what terror really means."
• Large Ham: The further into his Villainous Breakdown he becomes, the louder and shoutier he gets.
• Meaningful Name: Sutler is a portmanteau of Susan, his less than intimidating name in the book, and Hitler. It's also an old word for somebody who makes weapons which is fitting as he commissioned the creation of a bio-weapon to use against his own people.
• Necessarily Evil: After a year of failing to catch V, he tells his propaganda machine not to make people think the Norsefire government is wonderful and blameless, but to remind the people "Why they need us."
• No Indoor Voice: As V's plans unfold, Sutler does nothing but scream and yell at his Norsefire subordinates.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He paints his regime's actions as necessary to protect England, but the fact that he arranged a False Flag Attack on his own people that killed over 100,000 people concretely puts any thought of that (whatever was left) into the ground. His "necessary evil" mantra also belies the fact that he's needlessly petty to the point of parody, going as far as executing Gordon for mocking him in a skit.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: As the founder of Norsefire, all the party's racism, homophobia and Nordic Supremacy beliefs come from him.
• President Evil: Let's see, he talks to his cronies via a giant screen that lets him speak ridiculously loudly and intimidatingly, he has a celebrity arrested for doing a skit making fun of him, and has full control over the government and the police force.
• Those Wacky Nazis: His name is two letters away from Hitler, and that's just the beginning of it.
• Tranquil Fury: He doesn't make a sound while watching a comedy sketch mocking him, but the fact that he squeezes a glass of milk he's holding so hard that he eventually shatters it is a clear indication that it got him absolutely furious.
• Too Dumb to Live: It never occurs to him that bullying, antagonizing and threatening to scapegoat Creedy - the man running the Secret Police and whose subordinates are the ones guarding Sutler himself - might end badly. It results in Creedy betraying him.
• Undignified Death: His strong, composed image when giving his final speech is a sharp contrast to his final moments after Creedy's men kidnap him and bring him before V. He's reduced to a sobbing, pathetic, cowardly little mess of a man that even Creedy openly professes disgust for before being unceremoniously killed by a headshot.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • As his country gradually goes out of his control, Sutler starts shouting more at his subordinates and generally seeming more psychotic, whilst becoming increasingly sweaty, greasy and dishevelled looking, as though the stress is causing him to forget to shower.
  • After being captured by Creedy and brought before V, he makes no effort to hide his blatant terror.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: As is fitting for a brutal dictator, Sutler responds with anger and excessive force when faced with a problem.

Finch

Eric Finch

Played by: Stephen Rea

A Scotland Yard inspector and Director of "The Nose", the Norsefire Party's Ministry of Investigations. Tasked with tracking down V, Finch's investigation leads him to revelations that put his loyalty to Norsefire into question.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the film, it's implied that even after Delia Surridge's death it's still a matter of work than personal revenge for him to find V. And he was not the one to kill V in the movie.
• Anti-Villain: While he loyally serves an authoritarian state, he only does so due to his single-minded dedication to protect England's citizens from crime and chaos.
• Determinator: The guy goes through hell and back during the course of the story, but he never gives up on tracking down V.
• Happily Ever After: With Evey, at least in the movie. Strongly implied by the alternated ending (and by the Freeze-Frame Bonus shot in the Larkhill revelation sequence towards the end, after "...And everything that's going to happen" line).
• The Heavy: Of the Norsefire Government, he has the most focus and effectively serves as a third main character.
• Heel Realization: He's horrified when he realizes that the St. Mary's virus was likely caused by their own government.
  Finch: If our own government was responsible for the deaths of almost a hundred thousand people... would you really want to know?
• Hero Antagonist: He might be part of the Norsefire party, but he genuinely wants to protect people, and is disgusted by his discovery of what horrors Norsefire has done.
• Knight in Sour Armour: His jadedness at his surroundings makes him one of these.
• Promoted to Love Interest: For Evey. Sort of.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He is mostly indifferent and actually a bit disillusioned towards the Norsefire government's ideology. He pretty much only does his job because he believes that it is the lesser evil compared to letting England descend into chaos.
• Token Good Teammate: He is the only member of Norsefire's senior leadership who is not completely corrupt. This is part of the reason why V reaches out to Finch - he knows that Finch will seek out the truth behind Norsefire's rise. Finch is also reprimanded by Sutler for his investigations into Larkhill, but Sutler notably does not otherwise punish Finch, probably recognizing that an honest and faithful Director of Investigations is a rare asset.

Creedy

Peter Creedy

"Not so funny now, is it, funny man?"

Played by: Tim Pigott-Smith

The current Party Leader of Norsefire, Commander Creedy also serves as the Director of "The Finger", the feared Secret Police who does most of the regime's dirty work.

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• Adaptational Badass: Considerably more cunning and intimidating than his comic counterpart, who was a tactless, arrogant thug who got outwitted and killed by another Norsefire leader, instead of being killed by V.
• Adaptational Villainy: As awful a person as his comic counterpart was, Creedy poisoning hundreds of thousands of people is original to the film.
• Animal Motifs: V describes him as the spider in the heart of the Norsefire government, and even uses this phrase.
• Asshole Victim: Surprised that V doesn’t die as expected, he quite literally dies at the hands of V.
• Big Brother Is Watching: His name is synonymous with the Norsefire police state.
• Composite Character: His character incorporates traits from Derek Almond, the brutal and feared Director of the Finger seen at the beginning of the story. He even paraphrases Almond's boast to V that his knives and martial arts are useless against his firearms only for V to kill him shortly thereafter.
• Crazy-Prepared: V lampshades how Creedy already anticipated being made a scapegoat by Sutler and had men loyal to him guarding the Supreme Chancellor in preparation for something like this happening. He probably intended to be The Starscream anyway but V accelerated his plans. He just didn't count on V managing to kill him first.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Creedy is much more involved with Norsefire's rise to power than anyone knows; he was the one who suggested targeting the country itself, weakening it for the seizure of power whilst profiting in various ways from the new government.
• The Dreaded: He is universally feared by the citizens living in Norsefire England and viewed with unease by other members of the regime.
• Enemy Mine: He and V form a temporary alliance to take down Sutler.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Considers Sutler's open terror when facing death "disgusting".
• Hate Sink: Peter Creedy runs the Secret Police, crushing any dissident as brutally as he can, has a man executed for mocking Sutler, and proposed the aforementioned bioterrorist false flag.
• Hero Killer: Is the one to kill V. Unfortunately for Creedy, though, it's a Time-Delayed Death — and V has just enough left to repay the favor until then.
• Hidden Depths: Did you expect this soul-less human being to be a dedicated gardener?
• Hypocrite: Feels disgusted about Sutler's cowardice, but he also get scared when V corners him. Then again, Creedy had much better reason to freak out in that he just witnessed the titular hero surviving a hail of bullets and still coming at him, plus he doesn't go into Inelegant Blubbering like Sutler did.
• Meaningful Name: His nick-name "Creepy Creedy" in the film.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Sutler's constant ranting and insults for failing to capture V eventually drives Creedy to betray and kill him.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Refers to V and himself as being similar in that neither fear death, which V rebukes, telling him that the only thing they have in common is that they're both about to die.
• Oh, Crap!: As V advances on him, Creedy finally loses his cool and becomes terrified.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He tends to his flowers every night with love and care, having a particular fondness for orchids.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: His personal weapon is a magnum revolver.
• Secret Police: The head of one.
• The Sociopath: Creedy is a high-functioning sociopath who doesn't bother to hide it.
• The Spymaster: As head of the Secret Police he has eyes and ears everywhere. His influence is so great that it's men loyal to him who are guarding Sutler, which is how he's able to kidnap the latter as part of his bargain with V.
• The Starscream: To Sutler, in the interests of self-preservation. It's implied that he would have eventually gone this route anyway, as he was already putting the necessary pieces in place, but V prompted him to accelerate these plans.
  V: Sutler can no longer trust you, can he, Mr. Creedy? And we both know why. After I destroy Parliament...his only chance will be to offer them someone else, some other piece of meat. And who will that be? You, Mr. Creedy. A man as smart as you has probably considered this. A man as smart as you probably has a plan.
• Tranquil Fury: He stays calm as he gets berated, yelled at and scapegoated by Sutler as V's planned unrest mounts in Britain but he's obviously fuming. After scribbling an X on his front door to signal his agreement to V's deal he crushes the chalk in his hand.
• Villainous Breakdown: He does not handle V failing to die and coming for him very well.
• Villains Out Shopping: Has a hobby for flowers.
• Villain Respect: After being disgusted by Sutler's Inelegant Blubbering in the face of death he favourably compares V in that he's certain V will Face Death with Dignity as he would. Or so he claims.
• Why Won't You Die?: He screams this at V during his Villainous Breakdown.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Creedy lives in constant fear of this from Sutler, and this turns him into The Starscream as opposed to any real hunger for power. He decides to prevent such a fate by making the first move.

Dascombe

Roger Dascombe

"This is the BTN. Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the government's job."

Played by: Ben Miles

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: While he's more youthful-looking in the book, that version had that smirk that rubbed in your face. This version is a well-groomed man in his mid- to late-thirties.
• Adaptational Badass: He defuses the bomb planted by V at the Jordan Tower.
  Dascombe: Have you any idea how long it will take to rebuild this facility?
  Finch: Do you have any idea what you're doing?
• Adaptational Heroism: His Slimeball tendencies are removed, and he becomes something of a Punch-Clock Villain. He even gets two moments of genuine bravery when he talks back to Sutler on the phone and disarming the bomb at Jordan Tower.
• Deadpan Snarker: As seen with his aforementioned quip about the line of work he's in.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: He's obviously enjoying himself when brainstorming the Mouth's spin on Lewis Prothero's death. Given that the scene before shows the latter pettily abusing his power over Dascombe, it's hard to really blame him.
• Propaganda Machine: The head of it, The Mouth, which, in the film, includes the British Television Network. He even quips "Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the government's job."
• Punch-Clock Villain: Unlike his portrayal in the comic, here Dascombe is just a normal man doing his job. His dialogue implies he's ambivalent to the Norsefire ideology.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Presumably... though we never learn what exactly happened to him after the revolution. Either way, he longs outlives his comics counterpart, who didn't make it out of Jordan Tower alive.

Heyer

Conrad Heyer

Played by: Guy Henry

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• Big Brother Is Watching: The Eye oversees surveillance throughout the city.
• Demoted to Extra: In the film, both he and Brian Etheridge only appear at the cabinet meetings.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Probably. Just as Dascombe's and Etheridge's, his eventual fate remains unclear in the movie.

Etheridge

Brian Etheridge

Played By: Eddie Marsan

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• Big Brother Is Watching: Or listening, rather. Etheridge is in charge of the Ear, which handles wiretapping and random audio sweeps.
• Demoted to Extra: He's downgraded from his book role to sole appearances at the cabinet meetings.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike in the books, his fate is unclear.

Dominic

Dominic Stone

Played by: Rupert Graves

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• Anti-Villain: Like his boss he's working for Norsefire but only out of desire to protect the people and is not directly responsible for any of the state's atrocities.
• Heel–Face Turn: He's shown among the crowd removing his Guy Fawkes mask at the end of the film.
• The Lancer: To Finch.
• Would Hit a Girl: Gives Evey a whack on the noggin after she maces him.

Larkhill

Prothero

Lewis Prothero

"And as always, England prevails!"

Played by: Roger Allam

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• Adaptational Villainy: The film version of Prothero was involved in the conspiracy to take over the country by orchestrating the St. Mary's and Three Waters disaster, which is nowhere to be found in the graphic novel.
• The Alcoholic: Implied when he takes a glass of alcohol to the shower, and he's seen drinking it in front of his cabinet full of prescription drugs.
• Bad Boss: A complete and total prick to everyone at his station. He yells at and berates Dascombe over not liking the way his nose is displayed on camera, ordering him to fire the director of photography or risk losing his job instead. Evey's boss openly wishes someone were able to stand up to Prothero.
• Black-and-White Insanity: This seems to be a central theme on his show. "Good guys win, bad guys lose!"
• The Bully: During his time as a military officer, he took advantage of his role to abuse the inmates imprisoned by him.
• The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: He is murdered by V in the shower. Norsefire publicly declares he died peacefully of a heart attack at work in order to not cause any panic at his death.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's mentioned by V to have been a shareholder in the pharmaceutical company that distributed the St. Mary's Virus cure and is also part of the Norsefire Party. This led to him becoming obscenely wealthy.
• Death by Adaptation: In the comic, V doesn't kill him but Mind Rapes him into incurable insanity. In the film, V forces him to swallow poison.
• Dirty Coward: He's clearly afraid of V when he came in, even though seconds ago he was gloating about how he'd fight V if he met him. Though he seems to realize and accept his death at the last minute.
• Evil Is Petty: He favors refusing much-needed medical aid to the USA as revenge for the Boston Tea Party. He also has a photography director on his show fired because he doesn't like the way his nose looks on camera.
• Fat Bastard: Fat, corrupt, a sadistic bully, and a Miles Gloriosus to boot. He's even seen sucking his gut in while inspecting himself in the mirror during a flashback.
• Functional Addict: He's shown to have a huge medicine cabinet with far more bottles than any one person should reasonably have. After his death the police search his house and notes that he "has enough (illegal drugs) to start his own pharmacy". Despite this, it doesn't seem to impair him at all.
• Hate Sink: Lewis Prothero, England's chief propagandist, spends his days spouting every kind of bigotry he can on TV, treats the crew of his show like dirt, and used to run a concentration camp where he experimented on thousands to create bioweapons.
• It's All About Me: Oh boy. This man has mirrors and TVs set up all around his house, just so he can hear himself speak and look himself in the mirror.
• Jerkass: Possibly the nicest thing that anyone could say about this man.
• Miles Gloriosus: He often likes to play up his Military service, making himself out as a hero. In reality, he was a sadistic bully who got a kick out of beating on innocent people. When V shows up in his apartment Prothero's blustery facade immediately crumbles.
• Mirror Scare: After watching and turning off his TV, he sees V reflected on the screen.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a very clear homage to Bill O'Reilly and other ranting pundits. Interestingly, while he seems to be a British Glenn Beck, his appearance here predates Beck's rise in the public eye during the early years of the Obama Administration. He's essentially a satirical character of someone who didn't exist in such a form yet.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He hates and rails against immigrants, gay people, Muslims, foreigners and pretty much anyone else who isn't white, straight and British.
• Pompous Political Pundit: To the point of parody. His show is dedicated in spreading Norefire propaganda with edited-in applause and he's full of himself.
• Psychopathic Manchild: While he doesn't have his collection of dolls from the comic, he's still immature, petty and far too used to getting his own way. The "psychopathic" part comes from how much he enjoyed torturing and killing undesirables.
• Sadist: He gleefully took part in the brutal capture, torture and murder of patients at Larkhill.
• Speak of the Devil: While Prothero showers, he watches himself on TV, ranting and wishing he could meet "the terrorist" face-to-face. He then turns around, and finds V smirking at him.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Prothero died in his home after a shower watching his own broadcasts and bitching to Dascombe about an employee before being forced to take a drug overdose. His death is reported as heart failure, and the newscaster says he was found in his office where he "worked long hours after everyone else had gone home". He seems to have been heavily disliked by people he knew, considering Dascombe (who he would have been in regular contact with) has essentially no reaction to his death beyond re-writing how he died.

Lilliman

Archbishop Anthony Lilliman

"It's a game I've never played. What a delightful mind you have! I hope the rest of you is just as interesting."

Played by: John Standing

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• Asshole Victim: He might be a weak old man, but he's also a pedophile and a rapist.
• Death by Irony: Till the very last moment, he doesn't take Evey's words seriously, assuming it to be yet another roleplay of those he got addicted to.
• Dirty Coward: Is smug and controlling with his victims, but when faced by V he's a weak, cowardly old man.
• Dirty Old Man: He is an elderly pedophile rapist who uses his position to get away with his crimes.
• Hate Sink: Bishop Lilliman controls the religious sector of England, using the cloak of Christianity to cover any atrocity, including the aforementioned concentration camp, and is a serial paedophile.
• Hypocrite: Though he is the highest priest in Britain at the moment, his life is... well, far from that of a decent clergyman. He doesn't even seem to take his church duties that seriously; when he asks his underling Denis if everything has been arranged, Denis assumed he was talking about his next mass. He was actually inquiring about his penchant for raping young girls.
• Pedophile Priest: Every Sunday night, he rapes a different underage girl.
• Perfect Poison: How V kills him.
• Serial Rapist: Of little girls.
• Sinister Minister: Not only is he a pedophile and a rapist, he also has a gun in his Bible, and he was part of Larkhill. Clearly, he's a little bit worse than the average Pedophile Priest.
• Villains Want Mercy: He switches from sadistic violence to weeping as he begs V for mercy. V, however, is not in a forgiving mood.

Surridge

Dr. Delia Surridge

"I knew that one day it will come for me."

Played by: Sinéad Cusack

The Chief Medical Officer of Larkhill, she did human experiments on the prisoners. After Larkhill's destruction, she became consumed by guilt over what she had done.

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• Ambition Is Evil: She wanted to make a scientific breakthrough that would benefit mankind as a whole and ended up engaging in inhuman experiments to do so.
• Anti-Villain: Of the Well-Intentioned Extremist variety. Unlike the other Larkhill and Norsefire higher-ups, she wasn't motivated by personal power and was instead dedicated to medical advancement, even if it meant horrific human experimentations.
• Apocalyptic Log: She leaves one behind, and it explains why V is the way he is.
• The Atoner: She's wracked with guilt about her actions and sincerely apologizes to V when they meet again.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Since she had been by far the gentlest (at least, post-Larkhill) and most repentant of the three, V rewards her with a relatively painless and peaceful death, and gives her a red rose just before he lets her know how he did it.
  Delia: Are you going to kill me?
  V: I killed you ten minutes ago. (shows her the hypodermic needle) While you slept.
  Delia: Is there any pain?
  V: (reassuringly) No.
• Deadly Doctor: Delia used to be this. One of her experiments on a lesbian woman made her grow vestigial fingers from her calf.
• Death Seeker: Upon learning that V has come to kill her, her only response is "thank God". She even admits that she never committed suicide, despite being tempted to by her guilt, because she knew V would come for her and she deserved to face justice at his hands.
• Face Death with Dignity: The only victim not to break down or cry for mercy when they face V and even welcomes his killing her due to guilt over her actions. She quietly passes away and uses her last words to apologize to V once more and he sincerely appreciates her doing so.
• Females Are More Innocent: She is the only female among V's targets and the only one who is genuinely sympathetic and remorseful. V also makes sure to show his appreciation for it, by way of giving her a red rose and killing her with a quick and painless jab of poison while she's asleep.
• Karmic Death: Twofold. As mentioned under Playing with Syringes, her injections helped create V, and he kills her by injecting her with poison. However, since she was also the only one of the Larkhill Three to show remorse for her actions, V injects her unaware while she's asleep, and the poison he uses kills painlessly, allowing her to die peacefully and with dignity.
• My God, What Have I Done?/The Atoner: In a way, she created V. She thanks him when he shows up to kill her, feeling she deserves it for her part in the Larkhill experiments.
  Delia: Is it meaningless to apologize?
  V: (softly) Never.
  Delia: I'm so sorry. (slowly slumps against her pillow and dies)
• Oh, Crap!: Her reaction during Larkhill's destruction to seeing V, realising what her experiments turned him into and knowing that she's a marked woman.
  Delia: He looked at me, not with eyes — there were no eyes — but I know he was looking at me because I felt it.
  • Inverted when V comes for her. When she senses his presence and finds out he plans to kill her, her only response is relief.
• Peaceful in Death: Her only worry when V finally kills her is if it will hurt. When he assures her it won't, she spends her last seconds apologizing and slips into death without a fuss. Even when her body is found, she just looks like she's asleep with a rose in her hand.
• Playing with Syringes: It was her unethical experiments that helped make V what he is.
• Redemption Equals Death: She just couldn't live with the guilt, so much so that she was happy to find out that V came to kill her.
• Visionary Villain: Performed experiments on humans with the intention of eradicating disease.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Genuinely believed that her experiments were for the good of Britain and mankind in general, only to find out much later that they were only used for the good of Norsefire.
  V: What they did was only possible because of you.
  Delia: Oppenheimer was able to change more than the course of a war. He changed the entire course of human history. Is it wrong to hold on to that kind of hope?
  V: I've not come for what you hoped to do. I've come for what you did.

Citizens

Valerie

Valerie Page

Played by: Natasha Lightman & Imogen Poots

• All-Loving Hero: A very kind and compassionate woman who, despite the hardships she suffers, doesn't lose her gentle spirit, and who, even in her last moments, tries to leave her story (and a bit of determination and hope) to someone she doesn't even know.
  Valerie: I hope that, whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you...I love you. With all my heart...I love you.
• Big Good: Valerie is a rare posthumous version of this, in that the courage and generosity displayed in her letter inspires V to embark on his crusade, and it also inspires Evey to not betray V even when she thinks he's abandoned her. She gives them the hope to change the world.
• Bury Your Gays: She had been imprisoned in Larkhill for being a lesbian, shortly after her girlfriend Ruth was arrested, and was killed off during the experiments, before the main story starts.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She appears repeatedly in Delia's flashback before her story is revealed.
• Defiant to the End: Despite the hardships and torture that she suffers, Valerie refuses to give in completely to her captors, even though she knows her life is almost over.
  Valerie: I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch...but one. An inch. It is small, and it is fragile, and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.
• Flower Motifs: The Scarlet Carson rose is her emblem that V took for himself.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Especially in her teenage years when she's played by Imogen. They certainly add to her All-Loving Hero appeal.
• Inspirational Martyr: For Evey and V.
• Lipstick Lesbian: She dressed in a very feminine way, until Larkhill.
• Posthumous Character: Those notes that get slipped to Evey through the cell wall? Being passed through by V.
• Together in Death: Implied by the ending, where she's standing next to Ruth when all the dead characters unmask.
• The Unseen: Although we see V watch some clips of her in the beginning.

Dietrich

Gordon Dietrich

"Everything will be fine. Trust me!"

Played by: Stephen Fry

• Adaptational Heroism: He has little in common with the original comic version, who was a criminal. Here, he's a TV host and Evey's kindly boss.
• Adaptational Sexuality: In the comics he is straight and even becomes Evey's lover for a short while. He is gay and closeted in the film.
• Benevolent Boss: He's well-loved by his employees and is good friends with Evey.
• Bury Your Gays: He's murdered by Norsefire for his mockery of Sutler and the subsequent discovery of several banned items in his home.
• Deadpan Snarker: Well, he is played by Stephen Fry.
  Evey: Is everything a joke to you, Gordon?
  Gordon: Only the things that matter.
• Genre Blind: He seems to think his fame and public profile will protect him; after all, Sutler would have to be a crazy tyrannical dictator with skin thinner than a grapefruit to go after such a well-loved public figure. Oh, Wait!
• Good Counterpart: To both V and Prothero.
  • Like V, he despises the Government and collects banned items. But his jab at the Government is more peaceful than V's approach and it would have been legal as well, if it was done in a country where there's freedom of speech.
  • Both he and Prothero are prominent public figures, but while Prothero is an arrogant, narcissitic bully who insults his co-workers, Gordon is soft-spoken, charming and friendly to his co-workers.
• Illegal Religion: Played with. Though he's not a Muslim he has a copy of the Qu'ran, which now is banned on pain of death.
• Nice Guy: Possibly the most polite character in the movie.