Evey Hammond

Superherobox|

caption = Evey in "V for Vendetta" #6
comic_color =background:#c0c0c0
character_name = Evey Hammond
real_name = Evey Hammond
publisher = Warrior
Vertigo Comics
debut = 1982
creators = Alan Moore
David Lloyd
alliance_color = background:#ffc0c0
alliances =
aliases = Eve, V, E-V (movie version, only)
relatives = mother (deceased), father (incarcerated and presumably executed)

Evey Hammond is a fictional character in the "V for Vendetta" comic book series (created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd) who becomes involved in V's life when he rescues her from a gang of London's secret police.

Biography

Evey grew up on Shooters Hill in south-east London. As a child, she lost both her parents; her mother died following a nuclear war in the early 1980s, and her father was arrested and executed by the Norsefire, the fascist dictatorship that seized power during the war's aftermath, because of his socialist political leanings. Sent to a youth hostel, she is forced to work packing matches into boxes for shipment, and then begins working at a munitions factory.

Struck by poverty, Evey becomes a prostitute. The first potential customer she approaches turns out to be a Fingerman, a member of Norsefire's secret police, working on a vice squad sting operation. As the man is about to rape her, she is saved by a mysterious man in a Guy Fawkes mask and black cloak, calling himself "V." V lets Evey watch him blow up the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

V takes Evey to his underground hideout, which he refers to as the "Shadow Gallery." He blindfolds her so she cannot see where they were going. Evey comes to confide in V, telling him about the death of her parents. V comforts her and she becomes dependent on him for safety and security. When Evey offers to repay V's kindness, he dresses her up as a young girl and sends her to distract Anthony James Lilliman, a pedophile bishop whom he has targeted for revenge. Evey is stricken with guilt over her complicity in the bishop's murder, and she realizes that V is far more sinister than she suspected.

When Evey finds herself abandoned by V and alone in the streets, she is taken in by an older man, Gordon Deitrich, who is involved in organized crime, and who becomes her lover. When Deitrich is murdered by Alistair Harper, a Scottish gangster, Evey tries to take revenge, but is herself captured by a Fingerman because he thought that she was going to kill Commander Peter Creedy of the Finger since Harper is partners with Creedy. She is thrown in prison and tortured by the police, who know of her connection to V. Inside her cell, Evey is passed a letter from the adjoining cell, written by a woman named Valerie Page. The letter is the story of Valerie's life, from her first love to her film career to her imprisonment for being a lesbian. Valerie's tragic death and firm resolve inspire Evey not to give into the interrogations. When Evey says that she would rather die than surrender her integrity by informing on V, she is surprisingly set free from her cell.

She soon learns that V had staged the whole thing, an exercise that puts Evey through the same experiences that shaped him. Initially furious, Evey comes to understand and accept her identity and freedom. The inspiring letter was not fake, as it had been given to V by Valerie when he was an inmate at the Larkhill Resettlement camp, a concentration camp run by Norsefire to eliminate those considered "inferior" (Jews, blacks, Muslims, homosexuals, etc.) under Chancellor Adam Susan's fascist world view.

After V exacts his revenge on all of his former torturers, V is mortally wounded when he allows Detective Eric Finch, the head of London's police force, to shoot him numerous times. V dies in Evey's arms, leaving her to carry out the final step in his plan to blow up 10 Downing Street. She dons his Guy Fawkes mask and rescues Sergeant Dominic Stone from an angry mob. She brings him to the Shadow Gallery, identifies herself as V to London, which causes chaos throughout the country, and the cycle begins anew.

Film portrayal

In the 2006 film adaptation, Evey does not start as a naive, 16-year-old waif, but more like the older, more independent and free-thinking counterpart from the latter part of the comic book series. Evey is working as a production assistant for the British Television Network when the film begins.

Character differences

Evey is not introduced as a would-be prostitute, although she is supposedly on her way to a sexual encounter with Gordon Deitrich (here, a popular talk show host at the network) when she is caught and threatened with rape by Fingermen during the city curfew, and subsequently rescued by V.

The background of her family is changed. In the film, she has an older brother who is killed by a virus that was secretly developed by the government and first tested on V's fellow inmates at Larkhill. Her parents become political activists and participate in anti-government protests. The Hammonds are arrested by the Fingermen and die in Belmarsh prison (Evey's mother starves to death during a hunger strike, while her father is shot by British soldiers during an assault on the prison). Evey's last memory of her mother is of watching her head being covered by a black bag as she is dragged away. Suddenly orphaned, Evey is sent to a child reclamation camp, "re-educated" and released back into society.

In the comic book series, V abandons Evey after he kills Lilliman; in this version, she runs away from V, and goes to Deitrich for protection. Evey does form a relationship with Deitrich, but the two do not become lovers, as he is homosexual. (Deitrich's arranged liaisons with female co-workers were a ruse to deflect suspicions about his sexual orientation, since homosexuality was illegal.) However they are still affectionate fond friends nonetheless even after the revelation, shown by Gordon sharing a drink with Evey as they watch his televised satire of the Chancellor, and by Evey's terror and horror for Deitrich as he is mercilessly beaten by Party Leader Peter Creedy as he raids Deitrich's home and captures him; V gets to Evey before Creedy does and captures her himself, though she is lead to believe she's in the hands of the Fingermen. The ensuing sequences involving the torture Evey undergoes, the inspiration she finds in Valerie's letters, and her character's transformation, are taken from the graphic novel.

She does not personally take up the mantle of V after his death, but she does grant him his final wish and give him a Viking funeral in a train car filled with explosives. Like the graphic novel, London's chief of police, Inspector Eric Finch, discovers her. However, unlike the comic book series, Peter Creedy and his men have already mortally wounded V, and he is dead by the time Finch finds them. Finch's hatred for the government's actions overpowers him; he lets her pull the lever triggering the explosives. Evey and Finch then watch as Parliament is destroyed by V's funeral car, ending Norsefire's oppressive reign over England.

Natalie Portman

Evey is portrayed in the film by Natalie Portman. Portman first met director James McTeigue while filming ""; he was working as assistant director. She allegedly beat several other notable actresses to get the part. It was announced in early January 2005 that Portman was cast in the film. cite web | work=dc-on-film.com | title=P for Portman? | url=http://www.dc-on-film.com/general/index.php?entity=dcof | accessdate=16 December | accessyear=2005] During production, she took voice coaching lessons from Barbara Berkery to perfect an English accent, working with her every day for a month before filming began. cite web | work=comingsoon.net | title=Natalie Portman: From A(midala) to V | url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=13596 | accessdate=1 April | accessyear=2006] She had her head shaven in one take on camera. "Star Wars" fans were surprised when she arrived at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for the "Revenge of the Sith" screening with a shaved head.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ocolly.com/pdf/gen_pdf?a_id=29621 Oklahoma State University review of V for Vendetta containing some information on Evey (PDF)]
* [http://natalieportman.com/npcom.php?page_number=697 Images from the film] on natalieportman.com
* [http://natalieportman.com/npcom.php?page_number=112 "V for Vendetta"] on natalieportman.com