Heroism, Terrorism, and the In-Between: The Validation of Violence in V for Vendetta

In Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta, a graphic novel made up of three installments, the titular character V dons a Guy Fawkes mask in celebration of a man who is historically known as a terrorist. V, though representative of a supposed extremist and violent in his behaviors, exemplifies the traits of a traditional hero rather than a terrorist. The word vendetta defines a person or group seeking vengeance or revenge on another person or group, and though this fits V’s role in the story, a personal vendetta is not the catalyst for his actions. The text examines V’s methods through the lens of supposed terrorism blurred with heroism, or borderline super heroism. The text then follows V through his exhibition of intensely violent behavior throughout the graphic novel, yet provides evidence to show how his actions have a principled justification to them. The text also examines other sources of superheroes from media and popular culture, relating them to V and the subsequent justification of his questionable actions. By looking at the art and written text, the metatextual aspect of the graphic novel are analyzed as well, referring to the author and artist’s intention of furthering V’s innocence of terrorism. The text concludes, through the evidentiary support of other superheroes/ heroes actions as well as in-text evidence, that V did not exhibit an excess of violence, nor did he demonstrate deliberate cruelty, as he often showed care and most always reason when killing his victims