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| “ | Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullsh-t now has a body count. | „ |
| ~ Veronica Sawyer. |
| “ | Heather, my love, there's a new sheriff in town. | „ |
| ~ Veronica declaring victory over Heather Duke. |
Veronica Sawyer is the main protagonist in the 1988 black comedy Heathers and its tv and musical adaptations. She is a high school student who ends up murdering three of her classmates with her boyfriend, J.D.
She was portrayed by Winona Ryder in the film, who also played Abigail Williams in The Crucible. In the musical, she was portrayed by Annaleigh Ashford, Barrett Wilbert Weed and Carrie Hope Fletcher, and in the 2018 TV series, she was portrayed by Grace Victoria Cox.
Biography[]
Veronica is a member of the Heathers, an elite clique of girls in Westerburg High, alongside Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara. After getting into a fight with Chandler at a party, she has sex with her acquaintance and classmate Jason "J.D." Dean, starting a relationship with him.
Accompanied by J.D., Veronica goes to Chandler's to apologize and to make her a hangover cure that would make her throw up. This backfires when Chandler drinks a cup of drain cleaner that J.D. had poured and drops dead. Veronica panics but J.D. convinces her to fake a suicide note. As the school mourns Chandler, Duke takes over her position by wearing her red scrunchie.
After Heather Chandler’s funeral, Heather McNamara asks Veronica to double date with Ram Sweeney and Kurt Kelly. McNamara and Ram are dating, but Kurt has no date and Ram wants to go on a double date. Veronica reluctantly agrees, despite having started a relationship with J.D. Though McNamara insists the double date will be “very” it turns out to be rather boring. Kurt and Ram spend the night cow-tipping rather than paying attention to their dates, and even accidentally get mud on Veronica and Heather McNamara. As Ram and Heather McNamara begin having sex in the field (which is possibly Ram raping McNamara) Kurt tries to convince Veronica to have sex with him. Kurt is drunk and Veronica isn’t willing to have sex in a field (and dislikes Kurt) so she refuses. As she climbs over the fence, Kurt attempts to stop her (possibly intending to sexually assault her) but Kurt passes out. Veronica leaves Kurt and leave’s Ram and McNamara alone. J.D finds Veronica and they leave. However, the next day it is discovered that Kurt and Ram started a rumour that Veronica performed oral sex on them both (which may have been spread around by Heather McNamara as well) which damages Veronica’s reputation.
To take revenge, Veronica and J.D. plot to humiliate Ram and Kurt. Their plan is to lure Ram and Kurt into the woods, and shoot them with "Ich Lüge" bullets, which J.D explains belonged to his grandfather in WWII. J.D tells Veronica that the bullets won’t kill them, they will merely knock them unconscious and cause severe bleeding, meaning they will survive but be humiliated because they are going to make it look like they both were a gay couple who did a suicide pact. Veronica promises Kurt she will make his rumours come true and perform oral sex on both him and Ram, which Kurt agrees to. Veronica meets Kurt and Ram in the woods and makes a circle where Ram stands one side, Kurt on the other, with Veronica at the other end in the middle. She orders them to strip to their underwear (Kurt a pair of large purple boxers and Ram a pair of tighty whities) for further humiliation to them. She says they can rip her clothes off on the count of three. As soon as they get to three, J.D. shoots Ram and Veronica shoots out of fear Kurt with live bullets, killing them. Veronica's forged suicide note gets believed and at their funeral, the boys become martyrs against homophobia.
After preventing McNamara from committing suicide and breaking up with J.D., Veronica fakes her own suicide by hanging. J.D. arrives in her room, having intended to kill her, but finds her seemingly dead body and monologues to her about how he is plotting to set off explosives in Westerburg High during a pep rally under the guise of a mass suicide pact.
Veronica confronts J.D. in the boiler room of Westerburg High and shoots him several times. J.D. voluntarily stops the bomb in the basement, leaves and commits suicide in front of Veronica. Veronica then approaches Duke, snatches her red scrunchie and kisses her, taking over her position.
Appearance[]
Veronica is a short girl of 5 ft 3, the shortest of the Heathers. She has piercing brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. She frequently wears blue to symbolise her wisdom and intelligence.
Personality[]
Veronica is an ultimately good-hearted young woman who believes in the goodness of people. However, she caves into the demands of the Heathers and J.D., even when she acknowledges what they did are morally wrong, to remain popular in school and to avoid prison respectively. Still, she is not afraid to verbally snap back and argue with them. Still, she does stand up when the time calls for it, saving Heather McNamara from committing suicide and preventing J.D. from blowing up the school.
Some have theorised that Veronica might actually be a Psychopath. Some believe she actually knew she was letting Heather Chandler drink Drain cleaner. Veronica put a lid on the cup with milk and orange juice mixed together, while the mug with Drain cleaner didn’t have a lid. It’s also wondered whether she knew the “Iche Lüge” bullets would kill Kurt. She seems to have noticed that Ram was dead moments before she shot Kurt. Veronica did do this out of surprise and sudden panic, but it’s possible she did want Kurt dead, J.D certainly believed she wanted him dead. It’s not clear whether these were moments of pure panic or disbelief or if she was fully aware of her actions.
Trivia[]
- Veronica is named after Veronica Lodge from Archie Comics and Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
- In the much maligned TV series adaptation, Veronica actually sets off the bomb with J.D., killing herself, him, and everybody else in the school. This ending was based off an alternate ending for the original film, where the whole school has a Prom in the afterlife, except Veronica and J.D are not allowed in.
- Veronica was Winona Ryder's breakout role.
External Links[]
- Veronica Sawyer on the Heroes Wiki