Eric Finch
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| Eric Finch | |
| Image:Vforvendettafinch.JPG Eric Finch in V for Vendetta |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Vertigo imprint of DC Comics (Originally Quality Communications) |
| First appearance | Warrior #1 (March 1982) |
| Created by | Alan Moore David Lloyd |
| In story information | |
| Team affiliations | Norsefire Party |
Chief Inspector Eric Finch is a fictional character from the graphic novel V for Vendetta.
[edit] Character overview
He is London's Chief of Police, and a member of Norsefire, a fascist regime that rules post-apocalyptic England. Unlike his amoral, power-hungry superiors, however, he is not a bad man, but simply a dedicated police officer committed to upholding the law and protecting society. While he is (perhaps willfully) unaware of the full scope of Norsefire's crimes, including state terrorism and genocide, it is implied that he is troubled by what little he does know of, such as the Party's possible role in the death of his family during the regime's initial rise to power.
A peripheral member of Chancellor Adam Susan's inner circle of lieutenants, Finch is charged with hunting down and arresting "V", a masked vigilante who has destroyed the Old Bailey and threatens to destroy the Houses of Parliament.
[edit] In the graphic novel
Finch becomes obsessed with capturing V as the mysterious terrorist systematically kills off Susan's lieutenants, including Dr. Delia Surridge, whom he had occasionally dated. His repressed doubts about the government he serves become harder to ignore as the investigation wears on, however, especially after he reads Surridge's diary and learns of the horrors V suffered in a Norsefire-operated concentration camp. He is also deeply troubled by the increasing prominence in the Party of Peter Creedy, an amoral, power-hungry opportunist. In his desperate bid to discover how V's mind works, Finch ingests LSD while visiting the concentration camp at Larkhill, allowing him to understand V's sense of liberation. Nevertheless, he is still determined to find and catch V; while Finch understands why V has been leading his vendetta against the government, Finch still believes him to be a murderer first and foremost.
In the climactic scene, V seeks Finch out after Susan is killed, and engages him in a final confrontation in an abandoned Victoria Station, in which Finch shoots and mortally wounds him. It is too late to stop the plan, however; V's accomplice, Evey Hammond, takes over his mantle and blows up 10 Downing Street herself.
With British society falling into chaos, a lonely Finch decides to leave the city, and the final panels of the graphic novel show him walking northward up the M1 motorway into the darkness and an uncertain future.
[edit] In the film
In the 2006 film adaptation, Finch is played by Stephen Rea.
Throughout the film, Finch is told by the Chancellor (renamed "Sutler") to ignore his own "feelings" towards the investigation. Heyer states that a military report indicates that V will likely attack Parliament from the air. Finch suggests that V will use an underground train instead. Sutler ignores Finch's report and military defense prepares for an airborne attack. However, it turns out that Finch was correct and Parliament is destroyed by V's funeral train.
At the end of the film, Finch discovers the train that V is planning to use for the attack. However, V has already been mortally wounded by Creedy and his men, and he only sees Evey Hammond putting roses on V. He initially tries to stop Hammond from going through, but relents and allows the train to blow up Parliament.
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