V's Gender Debate II

[Dhavaer]

Dwarf priest is pretty standard, as the human bard.

Assuming this is intended as a reply to my post, this means nothing.
Jozan, the iconic cleric, is human.
Devis and Gimble, the iconic bards, are a half-elf and a gnome respectively.

[Scorpi]

Anyone who seriously thinks V is a woman is just silly.

I beg to differ! I am not silly! *Cackles menacingly*
How did you get that impression!?

Rich probably intended V as a male at first but he has since then purposefully made him/her both feminine and masculine when the ambiguity was noticed.

I must say that V's hanging out with Haley and their conversation about boobs gemstones is what set him/her as a female in my head.

[evileeyore]

V was originally intended to be male, as the masculine name and "V-Man" strongly suggest (but do not prove). Rich then realized that he could make a lot of (admittedly funny) jokes about V's gender ambiguity, and decided to capitalize it. Anyone who seriously thinks V is a woman is just silly.

Where do you get that notion from?

The Giant admits to no such thing, at least not here in the forums.

[Athanatos]

Hmm... my last post had too much of an "I'm right, you're wrong" air to it. For that, I apologize.

Anyway:

In my opinion, V's gender has undergone two stages. In Stage I, V was male. This stage occurred when Rich was coming up with the ideas for OotS, and when the first comics were written and put up. My reasons for thinking ot this? Vaarsuvius is a DEFINITELY male name, "V-Man" is DEFINITELY a male term (Yeah, yeah, I'm aware of the "Only proves that Roy thinks . . ." deal), and there were NO comics early on that dealt with V's gender ambiguity (a cookie to the person who can find the first when it's mentioned!)

Then something happened. Debates started popping up on the board, asking "What gender is V?" Rich realized that the community was divided on this issue, and that making comics about it and purposefully never revealing the truth would create some truly hilarious situations. He thus changed V's gender from Male to Ambiguous, which means that V, from that point on, would display characteristics of both male and female, as well as both hermaphroditic and androgynous traits.

Because Rich is now having V display both male and female characteristics- sometimes in the same comic- the debates get even more heated. And honestly, it's pretty hilarious. For pretty much every thing V does or says, there's a post saying "Well, that seems to me like a [insert favored gender] action to me".

Thus, V's gender has been in two stages: Male and Ambiguous. Neither are female. Any female characteristics V shows (and, by this point, any male characteristics) are only for the sake of furthering the rather humorous running joke and accompanying debate.

... of course, this is all my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.

[Reptile]

In my opinion, V's gender has undergone two stages. In Stage I, V was male. This stage occurred when Rich was coming up with the ideas for OotS, and when the first comics were written and put up. My reasons for thinking ot this? Vaarsuvius is a DEFINITELY male name, "V-Man" is DEFINITELY a male term (Yeah, yeah, I'm aware of the "Only proves that Roy thinks . . ." deal), and there were NO comics early on that dealt with V's gender ambiguity (a cookie to the person who can find the first when it's mentioned!)

Then something happened. Debates started popping up on the board, asking "What gender is V?" Rich realized that the community was divided on this issue, and that making comics about it and purposefully never revealing the truth would create some truly hilarious situations. He thus changed V's gender from Male to Ambiguous, which means that V, from that point on, would display characteristics of both male and female, as well as both hermaphroditic and androgynous traits.

Actually, it looks like the gender debate started the first time Roy called V "V-Man" (in #9)--some people had assumed that V was female based on the previous strips. See this thread:
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb...35653;start=45

Thus, V's gender has been in two stages: Male and Ambiguous. Neither are female. Any female characteristics V shows (and, by this point, any male characteristics) are only for the sake of furthering the rather humorous running joke and accompanying debate.

... of course, this is all my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.

Even before the "V-Man" appellation there is an (admittedly quite weak) indication of V being female--discussing clothing styles with Haley in the first panel of #3. (Yes, I know that's a blatant gender stereotype, and yes, V could have just been humoring Haley--that's why I say it's quite weak.)

So, in short, I don't think there was a "male" stage at all--V's gender has been intentionally unspecified since the beginning. :)

[phlip]

See this thread:
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb...35653;start=45

Well that clears up one thing - Pat jokes and Girdle comments are offically old. So quit bringing them up already, people!

[Gilganarz]

So, in short, I don't think there was a "male" stage at all--V's gender has been intentionally unspecified since the beginning. :)

I disagree. Firstly, I think many people would agree with me in that Vaarsuvius sounds strongly like a male name. The way Vaarsuvius speaks is also quite masculine and follows the stereotypical "fear me for i am the all powerful, greatly superior wizard" trait that females wizard never seem to show.

I also think that the talking to Haley about clothes was a simple joke. A wizard normally doesn't care about such things and the fact that V sympathises is amusing.

[AtomicKitKat]

Heh, that old thread. Notice that Rich had a good 11 hours between the time the theory was posted(by Bogotter) and the time he actually replied. This gave him a good 8 hours or so to think about it(assuming he read it before going to bed, and mulled it over in his sleep).

I'm with the "male till questioned" crowd. I'll say it again. Anything feminine after strip #9 only proves that the Giant is toying with the community. :)

[gooddragon1]

Title of episode 240 is when ------ attack
V is female
I officialy power word kill this post reguardless of its hp total
No man would ever worry about exposing the chest, V doesn't when black dragon tail covers all
In 240 not only did another person say indirectly that V was female, but also the fact that its name dictates it beyond reasonable doubt.

[AtomicKitKat]

Title of episode 240 is when ------ attack
V is female
I officialy power word kill this post reguardless of its hp total

1. You are not a mod. Only a mod can lock a topic, ergo, this thread lives.

No man would ever worry about exposing the chest, V doesn't when black dragon tail covers all.

2. V has long made mention of the fact that Elves are "noble", thus, for a noble to be seen naked would be utterly dishonourable.

In 240 not only did another person say indirectly that V was female, but also the fact that its name dictates it beyond reasonable doubt.

3. RTFF. Read the Frelling FAQ. Perceptions.

[gooddragon1]

Well perhaps you are correct as to the nature of the post, however...
by naming the post "when ...... attack" the author technically said that V is a female, unless V is also wearing one of those belts (dramatic musical cues). Thus this is beyond all doubt revealing.
Virtue of the elves: Elf Barbarian ...experimentation on mutants line from X-Men "its not unheard of, but I've never seen anything like this before"

Off topic, but just briefly
Monk/Cleric Gestalt of Wee Jas Death/Magic Owns all

BTW are you getting the "ergo" phrase from the matrix?

Question to Rich: Could Morpheus own Roy?

Shunting back to topic as a quickened ability: V is absolutely female unless The Architect (also known as the author) decides to nail me on this out of spite. Seriously, the name of 240 says it all <not the characters, the name of that episode>

I don't have a big ego.

Bcos I've gtg I'll just put this down <don't remember it exactly, but its from matrix reloaded with a little spin of my own>:

There is a presence, in this presence there is an area where no words can go and no criticism can reach. This presence is protected by a very secure system: every alarm triggers "THE BOMB". However, this system has a weakness, its functions are interrelated, one system depends on another.

Active thought process

If one fails so must the other.

But you would have to take out one entire train of thought to stop a system like that.

Not one, twenty seven

There is a central nervous system, it must be destroyed: a sugar rush must be achieved

But aren't there backup systems

Yes, there is an emergency fail-safe, the core network of the brain must be accessed before any attempt can be made... The presence is my ego

Note: I'm not sure how well that works logically so I may re-edit it later

Edit: since I answered the question I only went off topic for approximately 80% of this post I don't feel too guilty

[Sneak]

Well perhaps you are correct as to the nature of the post, however...
by naming the post "when ...... attack" the author technically said that V is a female, unless V is also wearing one of those belts (dramatic musical cues). Thus this is beyond all doubt revealing.

Ummm...no. The titles of the strips don't actually say anything. They're mostly meant to be funny. And secondly, the title begins with "Next on Fox," so that means that that would be the headline of the newscast, because yes, the reporters thought V was female. As stated in the FAQ, that means nothing. It is just their perception.

And please, stay on topic. You could've made your point in about two sentences...and yet you go on and on about completely random things.

[SpaceCoyoteVega]

Well perhaps you are correct as to the nature of the post, however...
by naming the post "when ...... attack" the author technically said that V is a female, unless V is also wearing one of those belts (dramatic musical cues). Thus this is beyond all doubt revealing.

You are making the presupposition that only females can be whores. This is not true. As I understand it, male and somewhere-in-between whores do exist and do plenty of business.

[Athanatos]

Title of episode 240 is when ------ attack

As others have said, it was titled that because it's humorous, not becuase it's trying to make a statement of fact.

V is female
I officialy power word kill this post reguardless of its hp total

Well that's just mean-spirited.

No man would ever worry about exposing the chest, V doesn't when black dragon tail covers all

More like Rich had the tail block the reader's view to further the ambiguity.

In 240 not only did another person say indirectly that V was female, but also the fact that its name dictates it beyond reasonable doubt.

What about "V-Man"?

[AtomicKitKat]

More like Rich had the tail block the reader's view to further the ambiguity.

Besides which those are rather manly square shoulders for a female elf wizard to have.

[Hyrael]

As my sig says, I think V is female. that is, i think of her as probably female. (s)he is still ambiguously gendered, but my default impression of her is female.

Now, i will admit that V started as being male, as many before me have said, but I started reading the comics randomly, and only later went back and went through the whole thing in sequece.

so, ok, my opinion is skewed by the gemstone strip. and im fine with the running gag. Heck, Rick even managed to refer to the fact that you cant really tell a reptile's gender by the normal method (I can relate. i have a pet python and to this day, i dont know wether its male or female).

even if Belkar did have ranks on Knowledge (nature), it wouldnt have done him any good.

"My vengeance will be prolonged, diminuitive cretin!"

[AtomicKitKat]

I can relate. i have a pet python and to this day, i dont know wether its male or female.

Try Here.

[Darius Midnite]

I know this will sound really lame but...
Has anyone ever considerd that V might be a shemale?

Please don't hurt me!

[Doopliss]

You know something I noticed? Maybe I'm imagining this, but from what I've seen the majority of males think that V is male and the majority of females think that V is female.

I actually thought the exact opposite, it seemed a bit like the females thought she was male and the males thought he was female. Perhaps it's that, as an elf, she has an exotic enough personality that niether males nor females can relate, thus both assume s/he's of a different gender.

Also, I'm also a male who imagines V female. Perhaps we should make a poll or something to see which gender thinks which way ;)

Of course, gender of the observer could be irrelevant. My theory, admittedly, seems far-fetched.

[AtomicKitKat]

From observation, as well as the poll thread(dig deep, probably page 6 or so by now), 65% of either gender thinks V is their own gender, with the remaining being(usually) guys who thought "Dang, V is hot!", and claim V to be female so that they won't have to go "Dammit, she's a HE?!" ;)

[fhthd]

V may be a shemale, who knows, like i said before, V may be an entirely different race altogether. Similar to elf but has no gender, He may have lied about his gender to hide his real identity, the race might have been persecuted or was thought to be extinct, both are bad, and if you are wondering why i used the word he to relate to V, the word 'He' can be used for Ambiguosly gendered people.

[Darius Midnite]

You have a very good point there...

[Devils_Advocate]

gooddragon1: The heck? The title of comic #240 "said that V is a female"? How did you come to that conclusion exactly? Did you assume that the title accurately refers to the attackers in the comic ... and thus that Roy, Haley and Vaarsuvius are all actual prostitutes? :o For starters, that seems less likely than a given prostitute being male, so if you assume the former, shouldn't you be willing to consider the latter? Second of all, does it not make far more sense that the title simply refers to the assassins' perception of their assailants, rather than their actual nature?

I'm guessing that maybe your actual thoughts are more like "Well, they aren't actual whores, but to be referred to as such in the title, they'd still all have to be female because ______." But I cannot imagine what you would fill in that blank with. Or rather, I can't think of anything that makes sense.

I know this will sound really lame but...
Has anyone ever considerd that V might be a shemale?

The whole "other" possibility has been pretty thoroughly explored. You'll have to come up with a far more bizarre twist on it than that if you hope to be original. ;D

Please don't hurt me!

Oh, if you instist.

[Darius Midnite]

Bizarre it will be then!

I kinda knew that people already had discussed the fact that V might be a shemale...
I just wanted some attention..*sniff*

[gooddragon1]

Bizarre it will be then!

I kinda knew that people already had discussed the fact that V might be a shemale...
I just wanted some attention..*sniff* :D

I feel for you and agree that it is not beyond the realm of possiblity
BTW: Did you get your name from morrowind: elder scrolls III as in General Darius?

Now, for more proof that V is female (could still be shemale however) #254 a clearly established gender identity and since the linear guild is opposite: ... he must be male and V is female. Indisputable proof. I love the smell of toasted zerglins in the morning, which interestingly enough is the time im posting this after playing a starcraft game (4:30 AM)
Lastly, has anyone thought of using detect thoughts or telepathy to communicate with haley?

[Darius Midnite]

I am currently playing
Morrowind: Elder scrolls III
But i did not get my name from it..hehe

I have it from the drow assassin i play in a D&D campaign..

[Vampire_Boy]

And of course in the latest strip, #260, V is in the same cell as Haley, not with the boys. We don't know if the guards actually checked, so it's not conclusive. :)

[Solara]

Because Rich is now having V display both male and female characteristics- sometimes in the same comic- the debates get even more heated. And honestly, it's pretty hilarious. For pretty much every thing V does or says, there's a post saying "Well, that seems to me like a [insert favored gender] action to me".

Yup, this is pretty much my stance on the issue. Snipped the most relevant paragraph, but I agree with everything from that post, actually.

Right now V is in a cell with Haley. And a few strips later something will probably happen that "proves" V is male. None of it is actually reliable though, the Giant just gets a kick out of toying with us. And in this case at least I enjoy being toyed with. (Er...that sounded kind of dirty. Not what I meant... :-/ )

As for the earlier discussion about how the gender of the reader factors in, I'm female and I've always been of the opinion that V is male. Or at least that he used to be male until Rich realized that the ambiguity was comedy gold.

[Silivren]

Now, for more proof that V is female (could still be shemale however) #254 a clearly established gender identity and since the linear guild is opposite: ... he must be male and V is female. Indisputable proof.

Eh, no, not really. As you yourself quoted, what made him an opposite was that his gender identity was CLEARLY DEFINED, not what gender it was. It has been well established that being an evil opposite does not require them to be opposite on all axes, only on one or two things. They usually have more in common than not, particularly in gender.

In fact, with the exception of Hilgya, every evil opposite yet revealed has had the SAME gender as their OotS counterpart. This, if anything, leads to the conclusion that V is most likely MALE, just like Pompey.

[xJUDGMENTx]

Time to stir the pot...

There is an arcane spell 'Reverse Gender' so even if Rich tells us, he can change it in a standard action.

Also from the book of unnamed fantasies comes a feat that has the charicter hail from a sexually reserved society. V is either 103 or 106, elves reach adulthood at 110, so he wouldn't have had the 'birds and bees' talk.

As to the asexual idea, I've heard of polymorphing into something you don't know the bulid of can lead to many problems.(congrats, you just gained the feat - sterile) Or maybe he's a changeling/ doppleganger/shapshifter?

One last thing, in the PHB under common Elf names(female) are the names that begin with V.

*NOTE: any and/or all of this post may have absolutly no logic/further backup at all