johnny silverhand. johnny silverhand and his relationship with v. johnny silverhand and the fact that v is the catalyst for his growth as a character. v makes johnny better.
i haven’t talked about johnny or silverv at length yet and this isn’t going to be that post but their relationship is something i turn over in my hands like a rubix cube with regular frequency. it’s so multifaceted.
thinking about the fact that johnny wakes up in a world that moved on without him. he realises his efforts amounted to nothing. that line, that only the diehards know johnny silverhand’s name- he faded into obscurity. he’s a direct foil to v’s character and their thirst for fame. for the want to be known and recognised. johnny is its consequences.
thinking of johnny realising the other shoe has dropped. he cares about v. cares about them beyond a means to an end. that he’s too little, too late, again, but he’s trying, trying to be better, to get help. to keep v from dying because he thinks of himself as a cancer.
thinking of others reacting to the fact v trusts johnny. the way the narrative enforces the sense that, at that point in time, no character knows johnny like v does. even rogue. rogue accuses johnny of manipulating v, says he must’ve had his claws in deep and doesn’t believe anyone could ever think johnny worthy enough of a second chance because deep down, she doesn’t think so either. nobody will accept that johnny might have changed.
except v. v, who pushes johnny to be better, more understanding and empathetic, through actions johnny wouldn’t have committed himself. johnny watches what it’s like to be a good person through the eyes of someone he, arguably, grows to love, and attempts to mimic it.
johnny lives in memory of v, in the temperance ending. he wears their face. he doesn’t want to forget them. he reads literature about the preservation of the soul and immortality and he hopes that somehow when he talks to himself v can hear him. that in the back of his mind v is there, a role reversal he never grows comfortable with. he doesn’t know how v stood it.
