V. M. Varga (Fargo)

“Perception of reality becomes reality” (Fargo, “The Lord of No Mercy”)

V. M. Varga, played by David Thewlis, is the enigmatic villain of Fargo’s season 3. Varga acts as an unsettlingly confident puppeteer, never visibly doing much, simply manipulating people to unknowingly serve his will.

Varga is interesting due to the sheer amount of questions he posits. Some characters attempt to be mysterious, but instead just seem underwritten and poorly developed. With Varga, however, it is hard not to watch him and imagine that someone, somewhere, has a file that answers all the questions behind Varga. He is masterfully crafted, with numerous different sides to his character. He is disgustingly imposing, but also extremely vulnerable during his bulimic episodes. He is a warning of the potential dangers of cyber security, as a lot of his power comes from the data he can gather on the other players in his game. Even his motives, which should be clear when writing a villain, are somewhat shrouded. He seems to exclusively pursue money, but not in the same way that The Penguin (DC Comics) would. He doesn’t seem to have any interest in an extravagant lifestyle, as shown by his “second-hand tie” and cheap suit. He simply consumes. Mirrored in his bulimia, Varga doesn’t seem to want this money for any reason but to have it, the same way he consumes food just to vomit it back up. Even his very initials are a mystery. Varga is one of the most unsettlingly mystifying antagonists written for television, and yet it feels that if one were to pry into his past and learn about who he is, they would wish they had not.