Valkyr

For the movie version, see Valkyr (Film).

Valkyr, also known either as V or VD, is a designer drug created by the U.S. Government in Project Valhalla and, after the project's cancellation, secretly manufactured by the Aesir Corporation.

Valkyr was originally intended to be a performance-enhancing drug used by the military. The substance then became illegal and found itself sold on the black market as a highly addictive recreational drug. Valkyr, colored green, is shown to be consumed via an injection and is found in syringes.

Effects[]

Physical and mental effects of taking Valkyr include nausea, long and vivid hallucinations, and partial to total mental deterioration if used over long periods. In addition, many Valkyr junkies exhibit increased strength and resilience due to the drug allowing its user to ignore pain, allowing them to perform feats and take wounds that would kill non-users even if they are mortally wounded in the process. This extreme pain tolerance often necessitates extensive gunfire to put heavy users down by causing too much damage for their bodies to ignore, or explosives or incendiaries to pulverize body parts outright. It also heats up the users body temperature.

History[]

In 1991, the government of the United States commenced and funded a classified research program, dubbed Project Valhalla, to invent a pharmaceutical agent which would strengthen the effectiveness of military personnel. Alfred Woden was involved in the project. However, due to unsuccessful results, the supply of money for the program was discontinued and it was shut down in 1995.

A Valkyr Exchange — A typical black market Valkyr purchase, 2001

Nicole Horne, a member of the Inner Circle and the head of the medical drug development company Aesir Corporation, secretly took over Project Valhalla and continued developing, testing and producing Valkyr, namely in a bunker under the Cold Steel foundry in New York City. Horne use the drug to sell them in the streets of New York by 1995. When Michelle, wife of Max Payne, accidentally came across data regarding Valhalla at the D.A.'s office (sent by Woden), Nicole had a number of her test subjects sent to her and Max's place to silence her, leading to her death and the death of their baby girl, starting Max's vendetta against Valkyr and those responsible for their production.

By 2001, V is routinely sold by the Punchinello Crime Family of Italian Mafia to junkies looking for a fix. Jack Lupino officially oversees the distribution of V, although he is nothing more than a middle man for Don Punchinello who in turn is controlled by Nicole Horne.

A few years later, after the Valkyr Case which completely destroy Valkyr production, V is now a rare occurrence in the city with only some remnants in the poorest neighbourhood. There are still users with one murderer suspected taking Valkyr murdered his girlfriend and the pizza man.

Prominent users[]

Jack Lupino - an underboss of the Punchinello Crime Family, Lupino is a mentally unstable and disturbed mobster addicted to Valkyr and apparently, consuming large doses of it. The hallucinations of the drug might have helped strengthen his belief and fascination with the occult and Norse mythology. Valkyr could also be responsible for his extreme aggressiveness and his incredible resilience to gunfire, to the point that when Max Payne finally brought him down, he emptied a full mag of his Beretta into him, just to make sure he stayed that way.
Max Payne - an unwilling user, he is injected with an overdose of Valkyr by Nicole Horne after being apprehended by her forces in the Punchinello Manor. Payne then has some lucid dreams and hallucinations in which he sees himself in a graphic novel and inside a computer game. Max wakes up from his nightmare in a pool of his own vomit but alive.
Candy Dawn - a prostitute working for Punchinello Crime Family at Lupino's Hotel who was a regular user. She was mentioned by Max Payne while he was reading her dairy that she took the doses of it. One syringe was also seen in her hotel room.

Behind the scenes[]

The mystery of Mona Sax's drug[]

At the end of the chapter An Empire of Evil of Max Payne, Payne meets Mona Sax for the first time but Sax spikes his glass of whiskey with an unknown hypnotic that makes him lose his consciousness and dream nightmares. The drug makes Payne hallucinate (including green-colored visions) and lose his consciousness (both known effects of Valkyr), but it is never really explicitly stated the substance actually is Valkyr. Supporting the theory the drug was not V is the fact that is was introduced via the oral route whereas Valkyr is always shown to be an injectable narcotic.

Nightmare and the 4th wall[]

When having a nightmare during his Valkyr overdose, Max Payne finds out he is in a graphic novel and a video game, this way breaking the fourth wall.

Differences between Valkyr in the games and in the film[]

Valkyr's depiction in the Max Payne film has drawn considerable criticism:

Changing the drug from its form as a green, injectable, nondescript-looking substance to a blue, glowing drinkable substance has been described as unnecessary and this way "dumbing down" its nature and making it appear less dangerous to the audiences in order to achieve a more lenient movie rating. Neither is it particularly scientifically plausible for an orally introduced drug to create such rapid effects on the human body as shown in the film.
Project Valhalla is never mentioned and the government conspiracy theme is eliminated in the motion picture.
Mona Sax's sister, Natasha Sax, is portrayed as a miserable Russian Valkyr addict selling her body as a prostitute, while in the game where she is named Lisa Punchinello, she is the physically abused wife of the Mafia Don Punchinello and never once mentioned to be a drug addict or even of Russian nationality.
However, the most bizarre and despised by fans design idea of John Moore's film direction are the visions of Valkyries that are depicted constantly haunting the Valkyr users. Valkyries as such do not appear in a single graphic novel panel or game scene in the Remedy's 2001 video game. In the film, though, the mythical creatures are shown extensively with much of the movie's visual effects budget having been spent on their production. The idea that a chemical substance would be able to create an adverse effect of a highly specific and always identical hallucination of a Norse mythology creature to all of its users is scientifically absurd.