Lewis Prothero

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Lewis Prothero is a fictional character from V for Vendetta. In the film, he was played by Roger Allam.

[edit] Graphic Novel

Prothero was a former military commander who served in the British Army in the Middle East particularly in Aden. After the nuclear war he obtained the position of commanding officer of the Larkhill Detention Center. Among other atrocities, he was put in charge of disposing of prisoners' bodies (both dead and living) in giant crematorium ovens. Along with Anthony James Lilliman, he took particular delight in brutalizing a prisoner in room 5, who eventually destroyed Larkhill and escaped.

Prothero eventually ends up in the rather prominent post as the "Voice of Fate", the main radio propaganda show of the Norsefire government, which monitors the country through the super-computer Fate. Compared to his movie counterpart, the propaganda he reads to begin the graphic novel were more similar to news broadcasts than opinion pieces. His success in this job was due to his extremely pleasant voice, with several other characters, including V, commenting on how 'lovely' it sounded. This talent became something of a liability when Prothero was kidnapped and the lower quality of his replacement's voice was noted by listeners.

The escaped prisoner, now a masked terrorist calling himself "V," kidnaps Prothero after a broadcast and brings him to a theatrical recreation of Larkhill, confronting him with what he had done. Prothero, who awakens finds himself dressed up in his old military uniform, professes his innocence. When V shows him a row of doors numbered in Roman numerals, Prothero realizes who he is and unknowingly admits his crimes. He is then forced to watch as V destroys his priceless collection of talking dolls in a working recreation of the ovens used to incinerate the corpses of the prisoners. Prothero's mind snaps and he is left incurably insane, endlessly parroting the voices of his precious talking dolls. However, when Chief Inspector Finch attempts to question him, he at one point says "Room five," prompting Finch's futher investigation.

Before his catatonic state ensued Prothero's hobbies included doll collecting and racist jokes. He was quite defensive about his doll collection, challenging the implicit idea that dolls were 'for poofdahs'.

[edit] Film

Prothero's backstory and personality in the film were very similar, but a few changes were made to his role in the plot. In the film, he retained his military background, having served in nations including Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria ("before and after," according to Chief Inspector Finch, although it is never specified what event is being referred to), and Sudan. He was also a major stockholder in a pharmaceutical company called Viadoxic during his time at Larkhill. He personally oversaw the manufacture of a lethal bioweapon that the fascist Norsefire government used to kill thousands of people, as well as the vaccine used to cure it. After Sutler was elected Prime Minister (on an anti-terrorism vote), Viadoxic mass produced the vaccine, causing Viadoxic stock to soar and made Prothero one of the wealthiest men in England.

Shortly afterwards, he was contracted to do a political show called The Voice of London each weeknight, earning him the eponymous nickname. On the show, Prothero would criticize the former-United States and rant on how, in England, "We did what we had to do" before a canned audience. His racist, homophobic, nationalistic rants went unchallenged, and his signoff is, "England prevails!" In a phone conversation with Roger Dascombe, he threatens to have him fired if the Irish DOP is not dismissed.

When V publicly destroyed the Old Bailey and stormed the state-controlled British Television Network to broadcast his message of dissent, Prothero condemned him as "a goddamned coward." That same night, V broke into Prothero's house, confronted him with his crimes, and killed him. BTN's official account was that he died of heart failure while working late at his office.