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The title character is V, a government experiment [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. Armed with extraordinary strength, intellect and [[Super Reflexes|reflexes]], along with some home-made high explosives, he escapes from the facility that created him and sets about committing terrorist attacks against the fascist government of Britain. He is [[The Faceless]] throughout the comic, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in order to conceal his true identity. The fact that Guy Fawkes was arrested for trying to blow up the king has something to do with it, of course.
Evey Hammond is rescued from rapist policemen by V, and this act of kindness starts the comic. She is taken to his [[Elaborate Underground Base]], and, although scared by V at first, she decides to join his campaign to bring down the Government, replacing it with an anarchist society.
It was adapted into [[V for Vendetta (film)|a film]] in 2006 with Hugo Weaving as V and [[Natalie Portman]] as Evey. Where the original comic was influenced by Alan Moore's fears of [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcherite]] Britain becoming a repressive dictatorship, the film owes more to critics of the second [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Actual Pacifist]]: Evey refuses to help V when she
* [[
▲* [[Actual Pacifist]]: Evey refuses to help V when she realises he's murdering people, and at the end she says of the rioting Londoners "I won't help them kill. But I will help them build."
▲* [[Added Alliterative Appeal]]: In the film, V's opening monologue to Evey involves 50 [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|words that begin with V]].
** ''"'''V'''oilà! In '''V'''iew, a humble '''V'''audevillian '''V'''eteran, cast '''V'''icariously as both '''V'''ictim and '''V'''illain by the '''V'''icissitudes of fate. This '''V'''isage, no mere '''V'''eneer of '''V'''anity, is a '''V'''estige of the '''V'''ox populi, now '''V'''acant, '''V'''anished. However, this '''V'''alorous '''V'''isitation of a bygone '''V'''exation stands '''V'''ivified, and has '''V'''owed to '''V'''anquish these '''V'''enal and '''V'''irulent '''V'''ermin '''V'''anguarding '''V'''ice and '''V'''ouchsafing the '''V'''iolently '''V'''icious and '''V'''oracious '''V'''iolation of '''V'''olition! The only '''V'''erdict is '''V'''engeance; a '''V'''endetta held as a '''V'''otive, not in '''V'''ain, for the '''V'''alue and '''V'''eracity of such shall one day '''V'''indicate the '''V'''igilant and the '''V'''irtuous. '''V'''erily, this '''V'''ichyssoise of '''V'''erbiage '''V'''eers most '''V'''erbose, so let me simply add that it's my '''V'''ery good honour to meet you and you may call me '''V'''."''
** In the comic, after {{spoiler|Finch}} takes acid he comes up with:
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* [[Age-Inappropriate Dress]]: Evey's prostitute outfit.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The musical interlude, This Vicious Cabaret, pretty much outlines all of V's plans, but the initial reading makes it look like a summary of the preceding chapters.
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: Some contemporary reviewers find the idea of "concentration camps" for homosexuals etc. to be sort of an invocation of [[Godwin's Law]] by comparing Thatcher's England to Nazi Germany. However, in the early 1980s [[Margaret Thatcher]] did indeed make the suggestion, as a public health policy, that all gay men should be put into quarantine in closed institutions as a strategy to stop the spread of HIV infections. Alan Moore's [[Word of God]] says this aspect of the dystopia was a direct commentary on the implications of such proposals. It should also be noted it was Christopher Monckton, one of Thatcher's
* [[Anarchy Is Chaos]]: [[Averted]].
* [[Anti-Hero]]: V.
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** And Finch.
** Adam Susan has some of this, as well, but not his movie counterpart, Adam Sutler.
* [[Heroic Willpower|Anti-Villainous Willpower]]: V manages to hold off on any penalty to attack or agility for what looks like several minutes after {{spoiler|being pumped full of bullets that penetrated a metal
** Ten fingermen, all armed with Beretta Inoxes with 15 round magazines, and Creedy with his magnum, emptied their magazines into him... he took ''at least'' [[Up to Eleven|a hundred-fifty]] bullets and still managed to kill them all.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Type 1 in the book, Type 0 in the movie.
* [[Arc Words]]: The repeated V/Five motif. The roses. The poem.
* [[Attempted Rape]]: In both versions, V meets Evey when he saves her from a police gang-rape.
* [[Audible Sharpness]]: whenever V breaks out his knives expect lots of "cutting the air" noises. In V's grand battle they even have ''visible'' sharpness.
** Averted in the graphic novel due to lack of sound effects entirely.
* [[Author Filibuster]]: The reality is a bit more complicated. As [[Word of God|Alan Moore]] himself says: "''The central question is, is this guy right or is he mad? What do you, the reader, think about this?''" Given that V's terrorist actions are hardly whitewashed or excused, one can easily make the argument that the true hero of the piece is Evey who looks to be forging a middle ground between Norsefire's order and V's chaos.
** The film version is complicated in a different way. There's still technically the question of is this right or is this mad, but the film ''really really'' wants you to cheer on the anarchists. In the montage, as narrated by Mr. Finch, where V's plan involving the masks and the train cars is coming to fruition, a quick exchange takes place as such:
{{quote|'''Mr. Finch:''' This is what he wants.
''Cut to convenience store being robbed''
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** In the movie, {{spoiler|The 1812 Overture}}.
* [[Bottomless Magazines]]: Averted. V even mentions he'll kill all the guards before they have time to reload.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: {{spoiler|V does this to Evey. It leads her to a [[Heroic Blue Screen of Death]] and after she reboots she [[Took a Level
* [[Break Them by Talking]]: V to Lewis Prothero, though the ''coup de grace'' that really breaks him involves more than talking.
* [[Bulletproof Human Shield]]: V uses this tactic to outmaneuver the constables in Jordan Tower.
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** Physically, yes, but he really {{spoiler|is masturbating to England herself}}
*** So he's {{spoiler|lying back and thinking of England}}?
* [[Celibate Hero]]
* [[Coat, Hat, Mask]]
* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]: From ''both'' sides, although opinion's vary on whether V was justified with his.
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* [[Crazy Prepared]]: V.
* [[Dark Messiah]]: V can be interpreted as this
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Moore has admitted he knew basically nothing about nuclear weapons when he started the comic, and so it's insanely optimistic about how many people would survive a nuclear war, which of course depends on how widespread the war is, as a limited war might lead to this situation.
{{quote|'''Alan Moore''': ''I came up with a character called "Vendetta", who would be set in a realistic thirties world that drew upon my own knowledge of the Gangster era, bolstered by lots of good, solid research. I sent the idea off to Dave. His response was that he was sick to the back teeth of doing good solid research and if he was to draw one more '28 model Duesenberg' he'd eat his arm. This presented a serious problem.''}}
* [[Dissonant Serenity]]: In [[The Movie]], V's rampage at the very end can come across as this, probably because of that mask. Also, massive explosions set to gorgeous music.
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* [[Doomed Moral Victor]]: as a part of the [[Thanatos Gambit]]
* [[The Dragon]]: Almond functions as this throughout the first chapter.
* [[Dragon Ascendant]]: Creedy in the movie; in the graphic novel he ends up just one of numerous factions struggling for power after the Leader is killed.
* [[Dual-Wielding]]: V's main weapons are multiple knives.
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: The Shadow Gallery
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* [[The Extremist Was Right]]
* [[Fictional Political Party]]: [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Norsefire]]. In the film, the party came to power after a democratic election. In the graphic novel, they came to power after first Thatcher's government fell, a liberal party replacing Thatcher withdrew from NATO and caused the [[Cold War]] to go hot, resulting in the most far right policies being seen as vindicated, but Alan Moore models them as a [[Fictional Counterpart]] to [[wikipedia:British National Front|the British National Front]].
* [[Fast-Forward Gag]]: Used in the film, complete with "Yakety Sax
* [[Foot Focus]]
* [[Gag Dub]]: [[My Way Entertainment]] does this for the first meeting of V and Evey in "V for Vocabulary."
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* [[Happiness in Slavery]]: [[Discussed Trope|discussed]], [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]], then outright [[Defied Trope|defied]] by V, saying the people's happiness comes from having never compared their lives to freedom.
* [[Hero Antagonist]]: Finch spends the entire book tracking down the protagonist and investigates Larkhill's past to discover why V has such a murderous rage for its former staff. When he figures out the truth, he acknowledges the government is wrong and should be changed but also reaffirms his belief that V is still a dangerous murdering terrorists and he needs to be stopped, too.
* [[Held Gaze]]: Happens twice between V and Evey in the [[Live Action Adaptation]], at one time verging upon an [[Almost Kiss]]. Somewhat subverted in that the film shows that V is always wearing his mask and has no eyes due to {{spoiler|the explosion that annihilated Larkhill, which may or may not have happened because of V.}} but the romantic tension created is still clear.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Rosemary}}.
** {{spoiler|V goes through an anti-heroic sacrifice.}}
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* [[The Kindnapper]]: V kidnaps Evey twice, both times motivated by some form of benevolent intentions. The first time, he saves her from being raped by the government's secret police. The second time, he is testing her -- albeit in a horrible way -- to see if she is worthy of being his successor.
* [[Kirk Summation]]: It's scarily reminiscent of the trope-naming [[Hannibal Lecture]], except that [[Grey and Black Morality|the guy he's delivering it to is so much worse]].
* [[Kingpin in His Gym]]: There's one scene in the movie in which V has some fun fencing with a suit of
* [[Knife Nut]]: V, especially in the movie.
* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: Eric Finch
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* [[Liberty Over Prosperity]]: One of V's points during his [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] to all England (and/or humanity in general) is that they have accepted trading their freedoms in exchange for security. He does mention that he doesn't mean that they should go back to the Stone Age, but that they need to stop stagnating.
* [[Life Imitates Art]]: Oh so very much.
* [[Lipstick and Load Montage]]: In the film adaptation, Evey does this while V gets his gear ready to fight.
* [[Live Action Adaptation]]
* [[Living Legend]]: V deliberately invokes this so that he can inspire people. More so in the film.
* [[Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard]]: Give the Man In Room Five a garden plot, he'll grow roses. Give the Man In Room Five some gardening chemicals, he'll make napalm and mustard gas...
* [[Loners Are Freaks]]: The Head, Adam Susan, is completely obsessed with technology and his own idealization of fascism, and has virtually no interest whatsoever in social or romantic pursuits. At his advanced age, he is a virgin convinced that his own computer system is in love with him. When he finally decides to be a better leader towards the end and actually get to know his people, he's revealed to be quite socially awkward and shy.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Evey, the
** Her name also sounds like the letters "E" "V" -- "E" being the fifth letter of the alphabet and "V" being, well, V, and also the roman numeral for 5. As well as V being the fifth letter at the end of the alphabet.
** Also the last character in the name is Y, being the 25th letter which 5 is the square root of. And 2 5
* [[Meaningful Echo]]: Evey's rebirth is meant to echo V's "birth"; the movie makes this abundantly clear by using the footage of V at Larkhill merged into Evey on the roof.
* [[Mirror Scare]]: The murder of Lewis Prothero, at least in the movie.
* [[Morality Pet]]: Part of the reason Evey is in this graphic novel is so that V can be shown being kind to someone, making him more sympathetic.
* [[Moral Myopia]]: Lewis Prothero, as V notes, cares a great deal more for his rare doll collection than he ever did for the people he sent to the ovens at Larkhill.
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* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: In the film. It's against a country's best interests to elect a man named ''[[Adolf Hitler|Adam Sutler]]''.
* [[No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me]]: V takes revenge on those involved in the concentration camp and the experiments which created him.
* [[No Endor Holocaust]]: At the climax of the movie {{spoiler|the Houses of Parliament are destroyed by a massive bomb on a tube train beneath them. An explosion of such size would devastate a wide area around it, but miraculously the thousands of be-masked V supporters watching the show from only a few
* [[No Name Given]]: V. He states: "I do not have a name. You can call me V".
* [[No Place for Me There]]
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* [[Pair the Spares]]: Implied with {{spoiler|Evey and Finch}} in the film version, during {{spoiler|Finch's monologue about everything being connected}}.
* [[Passing the Torch]]: {{spoiler|Evey ''becomes'' V}}.
* [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]]: V does this to Prothero, Lilliman and Creedy (in the movie). While his torture is undoubtedly cruel, all three were [[Complete Monster]] material and as such their deaths are nothing short of a relief.
* [[Pet Rat]]: Alistair Harper and his gang are hired in this capacity by the government when the existing police force isn't enough.
* [[Pet the Dog]]: V does this with Evey occasionally - reading to her, dancing with her etc.
* [[Perverse Sexual Lust]]: In-universe example: {{spoiler|The Norsefire leader}} for the government computer system, FATE. FATE wasn't in the movie, probably because of a combination of this and [[The Wachowskis]] (the screenplay
* [[Playing with Syringes]]: V's origin.
* [[Police Brutality]]: Norsefire Fingermen, and in the film the regular police gun down an innocent man (admittedly he was disguised as V) when V takes over a news studio. It's played to look like they shot the real V, though judging from the reactions of the various people watching the news it's not very widely believed that they did it.
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* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Gordon's last-minute script-change to his show, assuming that he was too famous to just be disappeared. {{spoiler|[[Tempting Fate|He was wrong]]}}.
* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified]]: In the film, the revolution against the government is seen as completely positive. The graphic novel presents both the government and V's ambitions as being extreme.
** In the film they kinda
* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: {{spoiler|While the original V isn't a girl, Evey finds (to her benefit) that with the cloak and mask and everything, he easily ''can'' be.}}
* [[Secret Test of Character]]: {{spoiler|V puts Evey through a fake dungeon, starving her and shaving her hair to test her loyalty to the cause and her moral fiber. She passes}}.
* [[Shout-Out]]: At one point in the comic V is depicted reading the novel ''V.'' by [[Thomas Pynchon]], one of Moore's acknowledged influences.
** The chapter titled "The Land of Do-As-You-Please is a
** As noted above, when a man robs a store while wearing a V mask, he yells "[[Sex Pistols|Anarchy in the U.K.!]]" before fleeing.
* [[Show Within a Show]]: ''The Storm Saxon Show''
* [[Sinister Minister]]: Lilliman. Accessory to murder and torture, promoter of Fascism, explicitly a
* [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]]: V is , amusingly enough, a Type V. Unless you agree with his pro-anarchy rant, in which case he's Type IV. The film softened him to a Type III.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: V. Literally. Finch describes him as being a clinical psychopath.
* [[The Starscream]]: Creedy in both versions -- the graphic novel has a couple of others as well.
* [[Synthetic Plague]]: The St. Mary's Virus in the film version.▼
▲* [[The Starscream]]: Creedy in both versions -- the graphic novel has a couple of others as well.
* [[Subtext]]: {{spoiler|In the movie, during Finch's monologue about everything being connected, there is a brief shot of future-Evey with her hair grown back, next to a vase of Scarlet Carsons. The mirror on the wall shows a reflection of a relaxed-looking Finch drinking some wine}}.
* [[Super Reflexes]]
* [[Sympathy for the Devil]]: V. Yes he is a murderer and terrorist, but his cause is a worthy cause, and the people he fought were mostly [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].
** [[The Dog Bites Back]]: {{spoiler|Rose}}.
▲* [[Synthetic Plague]]: The St. Mary's Virus in the film version.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Evey.▼
* [[Those Wacky Nazis]]: The Head's name was changed from Adam Susan in the book to Adam Sutler in the film. Truly, there never was a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|subtler pun on Hitler]]...
▲* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Evey.
* [[Tranquil Fury]]: Vengeance with a smile.
* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: Evey's torture.
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* [[Unexpected Successor]]: "Queen Zara": in order for Zara to become queen over half the British Royal Family has to be killed off, forced to abdicate or pass up the throne.
* [[Viking Funeral]]: {{spoiler|V gets a modern take on one; laid to rest on the train that delivers his bomb to Parliament.}}
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: The only reason V skates by as a "hero" is because he's going after people much worse than he is.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: {{spoiler|The Head's computer is hacked and he is sent an anonymous love letter (from V obviously). He is affected so heavily he is turned into a [[Woobie]] for some people}}.
** Creedy suffers a nasty one in the movie after V rips his henchmen to shreds and is still strong enough to send Creedy to hell before expiring.
* [[Voice of the Legion]]
* [[Wall Slump]]
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** {{spoiler|Also: metal sheets. Which are not entirely bulletproof, but do stop V from dying where he stands, instead allowing him to slowly bleed out as he stumbles his way back to his lair}}. What, you thought they'd pull the {{spoiler|[[Only a Flesh Wound]] card?}}
* [[You Are Number Six]]: Played straight. The camp dehumanized V to the point where nobody knew him as anything but the Man in Room Five, so he took it as his new identity.
* [[Zerg Rush]]: In the film, V sends everyone in London Guy Fawkes costumes so they could overwhelm Norsefire troops by sheer numbers.
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