Victor Vance

Victor Vance
Grand Theft Auto character
Although the main protagonist and playable character of Vice City Stories, Victor also had a cameo appearance, in which he was killed, in Vice City.
First game	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Created by	Rockstar Games
Voiced by	Dorian Missick Armando Riesco (Vice City)

Victor "Vic" Vance is the main protagonist and playable character in the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, a game in the Grand Theft Auto series. He also made a cameo appearance in the opening cutscene of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He is voiced by Dorian Missick in Vice City Stories,^[1] and briefly by Armando Riesco in Vice City (credited as "Supplier").^[2]

Biography

Victor Vance was born in 1956 to Janet Vance and an unnamed Dominican father. He and his two younger brothers, Lance and Pete, were raised by their aunt Enid as their mother was a freebasing drug addict deemed unfit to raise them and their family was poor. This experience left Victor morose and embittered towards the world, which only got more difficult when his brother Pete developed asthma and Lance developed a cocaine addiction of his own.

Events of Vice City Stories

At the beginning of Vice City Stories, Vic is seen to be part of the army, joining it to help support his family and to pay off Pete's medicine. He then begins working for Sergeant Jerry Martinez, who introduces him to Phil Cassidy. After Martinez manages to get him kicked out of the army, Vic continues to work for Phil, who further introduces him to his brother-in-law Marty J. Williams and his wife Louise Cassidy-Williams and baby daughter Mary-Beth Williams, both of which Marty threatens, to Victor's disapproval. After Marty kidnaps Louise and plans to rape her, Vic kills him, and becomes close to Louise.

Vic later marks Martinez as his enemy, and takes over all of Marty's businesses, before he is told to go to the airport to meet a relative who will help him in building his own business. The relative turns out to be Lance, Victor's aforementioned younger brother. After doing some jobs for Umberto Robina and Bryan Forbes, the latter of which turns out to be an undercover cop whom Vic eventually murders, Victor and Lance steal a drug shipment belonging to Martinez, who later warns Vic that the shipment actually belonged to Diego and Armando Mendez, and that they will kill anyone who was involved in the robbery of the drugs. Lance then tells Vic that he has found a buyer for the drugs, and that, with the money, the Mendez Brothers can't kill them. However, they later find out that their mother and her boyfriend, whom only recently arrived in Vice City, stole the drugs.

After meeting and completing some errands for transsexual film director Reni Wassulmaier, Vic and Lance protect their business from some of the Mendez' goons. They are then later taken to the Mendez Brother's mansion, where they will be spared if they decide to work for the brothers. Having no other option, Vic and Lance decide to work for them, and, when asked, frame Martinez for the robbery of their drugs.

Vic is later introduced to Gonzales, whom he completes some jobs for, before having to escort and protect Barry Mickelthwaite and his client, celebrity Phil Collins, to the latter's concert.

After completing some more jobs for Gonzales, Victor is introduced to Ricardo Diaz, whom he earns some money from. Gonzales leaves Vice City, and the Mendez brothers request that, for freedom, Victor and Lance must do the same thing. Immediately as they decline, it's evident that the Lance brothers have become an enemy of the Mendez brothers, and their working relationship is ended. As the Mendez brothers plan to launch an attack on Vic and Lance's business empire, Lance plans a counter attack, in which Phil and Umberto assist in, and ultimately win.

Victor kills Armando Mendez, before finding a dying Louise, who asks Victor to make sure that her daughter is to stay safe under her sister's guard. After Louise's death, Victor prepares to take revenge, receiving assistance from some old acquaintances, before finally locating and murdering Diego Mendez and Sergeant Jerry Martinez.

Events of Vice City

Between 1984 and 1986, the influence of the Vance Crime Family had been decreased greatly, with the Vice City Police Department claiming that it only consisted of two members: Victor and Lance.

In 1986, Lance and Vic set up a deal with the Forelli Crime Family. They arrive via helicopter to Vice City's docks, while some of Forelli's associates (Tommy Vercetti, Harry and Lee) arrive with $2 million. Victor exits the helicopter, wielding cases full of cocaine, whilst Tommy and his associates walk up to him wielding cases full of money.

As the two groups are about to exchange the goods, a small group of assassins arrive and shoot at them. Tommy's associates are killed, whilst Tommy and Ken drive off and Lance flies away from the scene, and Victor's body is left lying lifeless on the docks.^[3][4]

Appearance

In Vice City Stories, set in 1984, Victor appears as a tall man with a muscular body structure and a dark skin tone. He has brown eyes, and a shaved head. As the game also allows the changing of clothes, Vic can wear up to fourteen different outfits, ranging from his "casual", to gang-affiliated, to luxury.

In Vice City, set in 1986, the appearance of Vic changed. He looked more like a Colombian, thus he appeared slightly hunched when walking, having short, balding hair, and a thicker moustache than in Vice City Stories. He also wore an orange "Aloha" shirt, along with beige pants and white sneakers.

Personality

Victor Vance is shown as a tough, and often strict, person when it comes to the crime he unwillingly commits. Unlike many other protagonists in the Grand Theft Auto series, Vic shows remorse and guilt over crimes that he's committed. He is also shown to be a short-tempered man, become angry quite easily upon watching foolish actions made by other characters, most notably his brother Lance. Victor also clearly dislikes drugs, seeing them as something that can ruin one's life. Unlike his easy-going and cheerful, yet highly short-tempered brother, Vic is a more serious person who, despite having a short-temper, can easily control his emotions.

While he can be a closed and cold man to his rivals and enemies, Victor has great care for his friends and family, putting them above all of his needs. In fact, one of the reasons that he joined the army was to support his family, more particularly his brother Pete, who suffers severe asthma and requires constant medical attention. After developing romantic feelings towards Louise, Vic begins to protect her, even though only knowing her for a brief amount of time. Victor also very quickly develops close friendships with people such as Phil Cassidy, Umberto Robina and Reni Wassulmaier, all of which help Vic during his struggle against Sergeant Jerry Martinez and Diego Mendez.

Reception

Vic is currently placed at 14th on The Top Ten's list of Best Grand Theft Auto Characters, with 2% of votes.^[5] In his review for Vice City Stories, GameSpot's Alex Navarro called Vic a "strange fellow", stating that his morals to not get involved in drugs were quickly contradicted within the game, calling him a "hypocritical idiot".^[6] Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer said similar things about Vic, stating he was "hard to take seriously."^[7] IGN's Chris Roper also noted on Vic's hypocritical actions.^[8]

See also

• Victor "Vic" Vance section on the List of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories characters article
• Victor Vance section on the List of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City characters article

References

External links

• Victor Vance article on the Grand Theft Wiki