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| “ | You offer me a normal life... Why do you think I want that anymore? I know what I am. Do you? | „ |
| ~ Vanessa denying Satan |
Vanessa Ives is the main protagonist of the horror television series Penny Dreadful. She is a monster hunter in Victorian England who can see into the spiritual world, attracting the very monsters she hunts.
She is portrayed by Eva Green, who also portrayed Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale and Colette Marchant in Dumbo.
Overview[]
Vanessa comes from a wealthy London family, and is Mina Harker's childhood friend. As a child, she saw Mina's father, Sir Malcolm Murray, having sex with her mother; years later, she got back at Malcolm by sleeping with Mina's fiancé, ruining the Murray family's good name.
Soon afterward, she was possessed by Lucifer himself, but her family mistook her possession for mental illness, and so committed her to an asylum. During her hospitalization, a kind-hearted orderly befriended her and helped her recover, but also became a medium for Lucifer and his brother, Dracula, who entreated her to be their servant. She used her powers to chase them away, and agreed to a trepanning so she would be released from the asylum.
Once free, she sought out Sir Malcolm and offered to help him rescue Mina, who had been ensnared by Dracula.
Biography[]
Season 1[]
Vanessa attends a Wild West show, headlined by Ethan Chandler. She offers Ethan a job as a hired gun, which he accepts. They are unable to find Mina, but enlist Dr. Victor Frankenstein into their cause. Vanessa and Malcolm attend a party and participate in a seance, where Vanessa becomes possessed by a variety of spirits.
As they continue their search for Mina, Vanessa pursues a romance with the enigmatic Dorian Gray. During sex with Dorian, Vanessa becomes possessed by Lucifer. She begins by taunting Malcolm and Victor with their former sins, before the demon completely takes over her soul. She becomes feral and violent, and needs to be restrained. For a month, she battles the Devil inside of her, and he appears to her under many different visages. Malcolm implores Vanessa to reach out to Mina, but she is unsuccessful. Eventually, a priest comes to give a dying Vanessa her last rites, but she attacks him. In a moment of clarity, she begs Ethan to kill her. Instead, he holds a pendant of St. Jude to her forehead, and chants in Latin, begging for divine intervention. The exorcism is successful, and Vanessa collapses. When she wakes up, she claims to know where Mina is.
The group finds a horde of vampires at a theater, and fight through them. Mina reveals herself, and initially seems happy to see them. However, she quickly turns violent and attempts to bite Vanessa, claiming to be delivering her to her Master. Malcolm shoots Mina, claiming Vanessa is his only daughter. The two are distraught over Mina's death, but bond over their grief. Vanessa seeks out a priest and asks for a formal exorcism. Once the priest asks her if she truly wants to be normal, however, she apparently changes her mind and refuses.
Season 2[]
Vanessa and Ethan are beset upon by Nightcomers: witches in service to Lucifer. Vanessa becomes paranoid, and the group goes to great lengths to protect her. During this time, she also befriends John Clare, a homeless man who she does not recognize as the reanimated orderly from her imprisonment in the Banning Clinic.
After fleeing back to Ballentree Moor, Vanessa and Ethan are called back to London when the leader of the Nightcomers, Evelyn Poole, takes Malcolm captive in her manor. Vanessa steals away to face the witch alone, and is confronted by a ventriloquist dummy made in her own likeness. The dummy, controlled by Lucifer, tries to convince Vanessa to join him, but she refuses and destroys it. Evelyn grows hysterical and attempts to kill Vanessa, but is intercepted by Ethan and killed.
Despite her victory, Vanessa is more lonely than ever. She offers her love to Ethan, but he refuses and turns himself into the police. Sir Malcolm leaves to escort Sembene's remains back to Africa. Victor descends further into drug addiction. Spiraling into depression and struggling with the guilt over her own sins, Vanessa turns away from God. She takes the cross from her wall, and throws it in the fire.
Season 3[]
Having spiraled into a deep depression, Vanessa is convinced to see Joan Clayton, a psychiatrist who she is shocked to see greatly resembles her late friend, the Cut-Wife. Vanessa also falls in love with Dr. Alexander Sweet, a zoologist whom she met at a museum. Upon deducing that Dr. Sweet is in fact Dracula, however, Vanessa resolves to kill him. However, upon their confrontation, Dracula asks Vanessa to join him in bringing about the Apocalypse, and promises to love her unconditionally and eternally. Cryptically responding “I accept myself” when asked if she would accept Dracula’s love, she submits and allows him to bite her. With Vanessa finally becoming the Mother of Evil, darkness falls upon London and a plague spreads.
Vanessa quickly becomes disillusioned with Dracula’s affections. Once Ethan and Malcolm return to London to confront her and Dracula, she begs Ethan to kill her and end the darkness that has overtaken the world. The two finally kiss and declare their love for each other. After saying the Lord’s Prayer, Ethan shoots her and Vanessa dies in his arms, but not before happily declaring she can finally see God. Vanessa's death breaks Dracula's hold on London, and his plague is lifted.
External Links[]
- Vanessa Ives at Wikipedia
- Vanessa Ives at the Penny Dreadful wiki