V in Cyberpunk 2077: Who V Is, the Three Lifepaths and the Relic
The short version
V is the customizable mercenary you play in Cyberpunk 2077, a Night City merc who ends up sharing their head with Johnny Silverhand. V is voiced by Gavin Drea (male) or Cherami Leigh (female) in English.
On this page
What V is#
V is a freelance mercenary in Night City in 2077. Gender, body, voice, face and background are yours to set, and the game asks you to pick one of three lifepaths before anything else happens.
The default names are Valerie and Vincent, and V works as a pair with Jackie Welles until a corporate heist on Arasaka goes wrong. After that, V is a person with a short time left and a dead rockerboy's personality loaded into their skull. The squatter is Johnny Silverhand, and he does not pay rent.
The three lifepaths#
Pick your past, then watch it barely matter. Each lifepath gets its own opening and its own late-game side quest. After the openers, all three merge into the same story: The Rescue, then the heist. Our lifepaths page has the comparison.
- Nomad: Raised in the Badlands in the Bakkers clan. V leaves when the clan merges with Snake Nation, and meets Jackie as a driver hired to smuggle a crate across the border.
- Streetkid: Raised in Heywood. V and Jackie meet when both try to steal the same car and get beaten up by the NCPD for it.
- Corpo: Raised in a corporate family from Charter Hill and worked for Arasaka. A betrayal at Lizzie's Bar strips V of status, and Jackie pulls V out.
Spoilers What happens to V
V and Jackie steal a prototype Relic from Yorinobu Arasaka's suite in Konpeki Plaza for the fixer Dexter DeShawn. Saburo Arasaka dies in the room, Jackie is fatally hurt in the escape and bleeds out in the Delamain cab on the way to the No-Tell Motel, where Dex shoots V in the head and dumps the body in a landfill. The moment that hits hardest: Jackie's last ride in the cab.
V survives because the Relic keeps them alive, and it also holds the engram of Johnny Silverhand, which is slowly overwriting V's mind. The rest of the game is a hunt for a way to remove it. The leads go through Evelyn Parker, Judy Álvarez, Anders Hellman, the Voodoo Boys, Rogue and Panam, and Goro Takemura with Hanako Arasaka.
The endings split on who V trusts for the final run on Mikoshi under Arasaka Tower, namely Panam and the Aldecaldos, Rogue, Hanako, or nobody. Phantom Liberty adds a further ending in which Solomon Reed's surgeons remove the Relic and V wakes from a two-year coma. Our endings page has every route.
Key quests#
Quest order, if you are planning a run: the prologue quests are The Nomad, The Streetkid or The Corpo-Rat, followed by The Rescue and The Ripperdoc. Act 1 turns on The Pickup, The Heist, Playing for Time and Automatic Love.
The Johnny arc runs through Love Like Fire, Chippin' In and Holdin' On. The endgame is Nocturne Op55N1, then the quests for each ending, such as Queen of the Highway for the Aldecaldos route and Blistering Love for Rogue.
Fixer's notes#
Opinion: V works because the game keeps them thin on purpose. The lifepath hands you a past, but your dialogue picks decide who that past made, and Johnny is in your head to push the opposite button.
Tabletop players: V is a Cyberpunk 2077 character, not a Cyberpunk RED one. A Solo or Netrunner with an engram problem is the closest build.
Watching the E3 2018 trailer first shows you the pitch the game was sold on. Then meet Jackie Welles, Johnny Silverhand and Judy Alvarez, in that order.
Quick answers on V, lifepaths and romances are in the Cyberpunk 2077 FAQ.
Watch#
Explore#
- Official
Questions people ask#
Who voices V in Cyberpunk 2077?
Gavin Drea voices male V and Cherami Leigh voices female V, in English.
What are V's default names?
Vincent for male V and Valerie for female V.
Does your lifepath matter in Cyberpunk 2077?
Each of the three gets its own opening and a late-game side quest, then all merge into the same story. See the lifepaths page for the comparison.
Is V in the Cyberpunk tabletop games?
No. V is a Cyberpunk 2077 character, not a Cyberpunk RED one. A Solo or Netrunner with an engram problem is the closest tabletop build.
Why does V have Johnny Silverhand in their head?
Spoiler: V and Jackie steal a prototype Relic from Yorinobu Arasaka's suite. The Relic keeps V alive after Dex shoots them, and it holds the engram of Johnny Silverhand, which slowly overwrites V's mind.