- "Dad always said this town could wreck a person. It's what happens when you're playing a rigged game. I convinced myself winning meant getting out. But in what world do you get to leave the ring and declare victory? This is where I belong. In the fight. It's who I am. I've rolled around in the mud for so long. Wash me clean and I don't recognize myself. So how about I just accept the mud...and the tendency I have to find myself rolling in it? My name is Veronica...and I'm an addict. Hello, Veronica."
- –Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the titular character of the series. She is a highly-intelligent teenager/young woman who regularly assists her father, Keith Mars, in private-investigation work. Using the skills she learned to help her father, she often helps out her friends or is hired to help solve minor crimes/scandals. After her best friend Lilly Kane was murdered and her dad lost his job due to accusing Lilly's father, Jake Kane, Veronica became motivated to solve the mystery herself.
Biography
Childhood
Young Veronica Mars watching a sock-puppet show performed by Keith Mars.
Veronica Mars was born between August 1 and August 22, 1987[1] to Keith Mars and Lianne Mars.
By the time Veronica was six her mother's problems with alcohol were evident enough that Veronica would half-keep an eye on the levels in the bottles around the house, already understanding that there was a connection between them and her mother's behavior.
Veronica spent much of her childhood around the Balboa County Courthouse. Her father began as a deputy and was elected Sheriff when she was nine. Veronica and her mother would visit him on lunch breaks and, in later years, Veronica would do homework in an empty interrogation room while eavesdropping on the dispatch.
At some point during elementary school, Veronica began dreaming of going to Stanford University.
Veronica eventually became friends with Lilly Kane and, for at least three years before her death the two went without missing a single lunch together.
Before the murder of Lilly Kane
Veronica Mars in theme song before Lily's Murder
During Veronica's teenage years, she attended school with her best friend Lilly Kane and started a relationship with Duncan Kane. Until her sophomore year at Neptune High, Veronica led a carefree life as one of the popular teens at school. Along with Lilly's boyfriend Logan Echolls, Veronica, Lilly, and Duncan were at the forefront of the school's wealthy and popular "09er" clique that ruled Neptune High's social scene. Though Veronica did not meet the economic status of the other 09ers, she was accepted into the clique because she was dating Duncan, Lilly was her best friend, and Veronica's father's was the sheriff.
One day, in September of their Sophomore year, Duncan stopped talking to Veronica, effectively breaking up with her with no explanation. Soon after Veronica and Duncan's breakup, Lilly was found dead at the side of her family's pool. Sheriff Keith Mars accused Lilly's father, software mogul Jake Kane, of the hiding something about the murder. The citizens of Neptune were horrified and rallied behind Jake Kane, who many of them owed their wealth to, and Keith quickly found himself voted out of office through a recall election and turned into a pariah by the wealthy 09er community. Keith's credibility took another blow when his replacement, former Deputy Sheriff Don Lamb, arrested disgruntled former Kane employee Abel Koontz, who confessed to Lilly's murder. Also turning public opinion against Keith was the release of the crime scene video from Lilly's murder, which most assumed had been leaked by Keith.
The shock and loss of income destroyed the Mars family; Veronica's mother abandoned the family months after the Mars family lost their home. Veronica further sealed her fate as an outsider when she refused to denounce her father and stand with her former friends. Logan stopped speaking to Veronica, turning his anger and hurt on her, and the rest of the 09ers followed suit. Veronica found herself banished from the exclusive 09er social scene and by all of her former friends.
Incident at Shelly Pomroy's Party
Veronica Mars appears in front of Inga to report what happened at Shelly Pomroy's party.
Two months after Lilly's death, Veronica went to a party hosted by Shelly Pomroy to prove to her former friends that she did not care what they said about her. At the party, Veronica is handed a drink which she later finds out was spiked with rum and GHB. The next morning, Veronica wakes up on a bed at Pomroy's house, without any recollection of the night before; to her horror, she realizes she has been raped when she finds her underwear on the floor. Terrified, scared, and confused, Veronica cries in horror before leaving the house and reporting the crime to Sheriff Lamb, who mocks her and calls her a liar as he throws her out of his office.
Veronica later discovers that her drink laced with GHB had been meant for Veronica's longtime enemy, Madison Sinclair; Madison had spat in her drink (giving Veronica a 'trip to the dentist', and handed it to Veronica as a prank. Veronica believes that Duncan had raped her, but discovers that Duncan had also been drugged with GHB, and reportedly (from Duncan's recollection of the night) that she had consented while under GHB's influence. However, shortly after her graduation from high school, Veronica puts more pieces together and discovered that Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas had actually raped her that same night, and gave her chlamydia.
These events left Veronica changed forever; she became a cynic, filled with contempt and disgust towards her classmates and Neptune's wealthy elite. A pariah like her father, she funneled her time and energy into helping him in his own detective agency. But when a chance encounter with a new transfer student Wallace Fennel led to her gaining a new friend at the beginning of her junior year, she began to use her investigation talents and energy to help her fellow students and to go head to head with her former friends and their corrupt ways.
Veronica slowly begins to outgrow her cynicism, with the help of new friends like Wallace Fennel, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Manning, Parker Lee, and Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, whom she meets while attending Hearst College. However, when a video of her and Piz in a compromising situation is sent around Hearst's campus, it becomes apparent that Veronica's Biblical sense of justice is still intact.
The Neptune High Detective
Detective Veronica Mars.
Since her dad became a private investigator after being ousted from the Sheriff's Department, Veronica has had an after-school job as a secretary at Mars Investigations, her father's PI business. Though she is often forbidden to handle certain cases, she often oversteps her boundaries and sometimes even completely solves the case before her father. On top of that, she is the small-time private investigator for Neptune High: tracking down computer crackers, digging up dirt on parents, finding out who stole the school's mascot, and the like. She keeps one step ahead of her father and Vice-Principal Van Clemmons through the occasional help of her best friend Wallace; Watson to her Holmes; and classmate Eli “Weevil” Navarro, the leader of the PCH biker gang.
Veronica Digging up Dirt on Parents
Logan Echolls , once a close friend, had helped organize the blacklisting of Veronica from the 09er clique. The two crossed swords on several occasions before Logan sought Veronica's help in finding out if his mother, Lynn, might have faked her death when she jumped into the ocean. Still reeling from the abandonment of her own mother shortly after Lilly's death, Veronica empathized with Logan's pain, and the two reconciled most of their differences.
Toward the close of the third season of the series, Veronica successfully completes her California state examination to receive official license as a detective in her own right.
Hearst College Detective
While Veronica initially tried to leave behind her life of sleuthing behind, she always found herself drawn to cases brought to her by schoolmates and friends. At Hearst College, Veronica remained close to Wallace, Mac, Logan, and even Dick to some extent. She also became friends with rape victim Parker Lee and Stosh Piznarski, whom she later dates after breaking up with Logan.
Veronica solving case at Hearst.
Leaving Hearst and her old life
Veronica departed Hearst College after her first year and transferred to Stanford, where she finished her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, then progressed to Columbia Law School, where she graduated near the top of her class. Upon graduation, Veronica is offered job at Truman-Mann Associates, a law firm in New York.
Over the years, she's kept in touch with her father Keith, her friends Wallace, Mac, and others but hasn't seen or even spoken to Logan or her town of Neptune in almost 10 years.
She hasn't worked a PI case in nine years, thinking that the path had caused too much chaos in her life particularly when she ruined her dad's chance for re-election. However, when Logan's pop-star girlfriend is found murdered and Logan is seen as the prime suspect, Logan turns to his ex-girlfriend for major help.
Love life
- Boyfriend(s): Duncan Kane | Troy Vandegraff | Leo D'Amato | Logan Echolls | Stosh "Piz" Piznarski
Duncan Kane
Veronica dated Duncan Kane until approximately September, 2003. Both Veronica's mother Lianne Mars and Duncan's mother Celeste Kane were against their relationship, though Veronica never knew why (she did not find out until much later, after Duncan had broken up with her and Lianne had disappeared). Some time before Lilly's death, Celeste revealed to Duncan that his father Jake had had an affair with Lianne, and that Veronica might in fact be his half-sister. Duncan broke up with Veronica because of this, not telling her his reasons for doing so. Keith Mars had a paternity test done near the end of season one which proved without a doubt that he is her father, not Jake Kane.
Veronica and Duncan season 2
Veronica did not speak to Duncan on a regular basis for nearly two years. She did confront him, however, when she believed he had raped her. The issue was eventually resolved when the fact that both parties were under the influence of GHB came to light.
In the summer between the first and second seasons Veronica and Duncan got back together on her 18th birthday. They stayed together until roughly the middle of the second season. Unbeknownst to Duncan, his previous girlfriend Meg Manning was pregnant before they broke up. Meg was on the bus that crashed at the beginning of the season and she died of her injuries shortly after coming out of a coma. Their daughter was born just before she died. In order to prevent Meg's abusive parents from getting custody of his baby, Duncan decided to kidnap her and run away. Veronica helped him to do so, bidding him a tearful farewell before he left.
Troy Vandegraff
Troy and Veronica Season 1
Troy Vandegraff was a childhood friend of Duncan Kane who attended Neptune High for a short period early in the first season. Despite the bad rumors about Veronica circulating around the school, Troy took a liking to her. Veronica was reluctant to date him at first, but warmed to him when she realized his good intentions toward her. In the fifth episode though, Troy deceives her into unwittingly helping him escape being sent to boarding school so he can run away with an old girlfriend. Veronica realizes his plan and double-crosses him. Veronica does not meet Troy again until the second season episode "The Rapes of Graff" when they both go to visit Hearst College. Though she is at first cold toward him, Troy insists that he's changed. He also tells her that his feelings toward her were real when they dated and that he's sorry for how he treated her. When he is suspected of raping and shaving a girl's head after a party, Veronica helps to prove his innocence and they part amicably afterward.
Leo D'Amato
Veronica and Leo Season 1
Leo D’Amato is a deputy at the Neptune Sheriff Department whom Veronica dated for a short time in the middle of the first season. At first, Veronica merely went to him for help in getting access to classified evidence or files in the police station, but she soon fell for him. Veronica broke up with Leo after she and Logan Echolls kissed and she didn't want to keep dating Leo while she figured out her feelings.They had an age difference of 29 months.
Logan Echolls
Veronica began to date Logan Echolls at the end of the first season. While she was going out with Leo D'Amato, she kissed Logan in thanks for saving her from a would-be kidnapper, who actually turned out to be an ATF agent. Their kiss turned into something more when Logan pulled her into a passionate embrace. They begin to secretly date.
Their relationship quickly ran into trouble when it was revealed Logan was the one who supplied the GHB that would end up leading to Veronica being drugged and raped at Shelly Pomroy's party. For a time, Veronica even suspected that Logan was her rapist. When she discovered that he wasn’t, she resolved everything with him. Their relationship was revealed to Logan's 09er friends at a party. At the same party, Veronica discovered cameras trained on the bed in Logan's pool house and stormed out. Soon after, Veronica found out that Logan had no alibi the day Lilly was murdered and feared that he had killed her.
Veronica found out that the cameras in the pool house had been set up by Logan's father Aaron and discovered that he was the one who killed Lilly after she stole the tapes he made of them having sex. The night Aaron was arrested for Lilly's murder, Logan turned up at Veronica's house having been severely beaten by the PCHers. Veronica stood by him when he was accused of murdering one of them, Felix Toombs. Though he was acquitted, Logan's behavior became erratic that summer, both because of his trial and because of the revelation that his father had been having an affair with Lilly and had killed her. He and the 09ers began a vicious turf war with the PCHers. Veronica broke up with Logan soon after, telling him that he was out of control and enjoyed participating in the violence.
Late in the season though, he drunkenly revealed to Veronica that he still had deep feelings for her and thought that their love was ‘epic’. Veronica returned to him the next morning to tell him that she felt the same, only to find out that he had no memory of what he’d said and had in fact slept with old flame Kendall Casablancas the night before. But during her stand-off with Cassidy Casablancas on the roof of the Neptune Grand, it was Logan that Veronica phoned for help. Logan prevented Veronica from shooting Cassidy and comforted her while she thought her father was dead.
Logan And Veronica Season 3
Afterwards, they resume their relationship and become closer over the
summer. At the beginning of the third season, they begin attending Hearst College together. Their relationship is as heated and loving as before, but Veronica has developed severe trust issues over the last few years because of everything that has happened to her. She constantly struggles with her instincts to track him and verify everything he says and does, while Logan resents the expectations she places on him and her inability to admit that she might be wrong. Though she spurns him when he reveals that he and Mercer left a motel in Tijuana in flames without helping people to escape, she realizes her feelings for him when he comes to her aid after she is drugged by the Hearst rapist.
Unable to deal with Veronica being in constant danger, Logan tries to convince her to drop her investigation into the rapes and even has a bodyguard tail her without her knowledge, infuriating Veronica when she finds out. Though they fight out their problems and both admit that they love one another, Logan breaks up with Veronica in the ninth episode. He says that they can both see that they aren’t working out because neither of them can change their ways (Veronica with her trust issues and Logan with his need to protect her despite her wishes) and that he would rather a little pain now than a lot later. He tells her he will always be there for her. Veronica is deeply upset afterwards and breaks down when she gets home. Although Logan tries to help Veronica find out who the rapist is, he is still elsewhere when she is attacked by Mercer and Moe. When he learns that Mercer was the one who attacked Veronica, he purposely gets himself arrested so he can be in the same cell as him — for revenge.
They spent the next six weeks apart. During the break-up, Dick tried to help Logan move on by bringing him to the beach, later meeting up with a group of girls. Later, Veronica showed up at Logan's place and they shared a passionate kiss, realizing that they had missed each other, and became a couple again. In the next episode, Logan told Veronica that he had hooked up with someone else who "meant less than nothing to him" over their 6 week break, but didn't elaborate on who it was. It turns out that Logan had slept with Madison Sinclair in Aspen, which Veronica saw as one of the worst insults he could pay her (though Logan didn't know this). This time, sexual jealousy and an unwillingness to forgive and forget ended their relationship.
Logan moved on to Parker Lee, while Veronica did the same with Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. Veronica vows never to speak to Logan again after he beats Piz up because he believes Veronica had been wronged. However, the series ended with Logan and Veronica sharing one last ambiguous look, leaving their relationship unresolved.
Veronica and Logan during the Veronica Mars Film
Although they haven't seen each other in nine years, the characters reconnect in the Veronica Mars film, when Veronica helps Logan when he's accused of murder. They reconcile and Logan vows to return to Veronica after his Navy deployment, and in the end she ends up with Logan. They are also together during The Thousand Dollar Tan Line.
Stosh "Piz" Piznarski
Veronica met Piz on her first day at Hearst College when Wallace (Piz's roommate) requested her help to find Piz's missing things in 'Welcome Wagon." When they first meet, Piz seems momentarily stunned by Veronica, and develops a crush on her, which she doesn't return at the time because she is still going out with Logan Echolls. Although she ignored his romantic feelings, a steady friendship developed between them: Veronica shared her thoughts with him about her problems with Logan, and, after Piz unknowingly gave her the advice she needed, Veronica and Logan reunited (much to Piz's internal disappointment).
Veronica and Piz Season 3
After the final break up with Logan, Veronica unwittingly toys with Piz's emotions at Parker's birthday party by pretending that he is her boyfriend to get rid of a persistent admirer. Wallace gently tells Veronica off, saying he knows "she's smarter than that" and that she should be kinder to Piz, considering how Piz feels about her. Chastened, Veronica goes to Piz and tries to explain that she is sorry if she misled him, but they are just friends, only to be stunned when he kisses her (on Wallace's advice), says "Just friends... I get it", and then walks away. After recovering from the kiss (and her reaction to it) Veronica quickly follows him and returns the kiss just as Piz is about to leave. Unfortunately, the elevator doors open to reveal Logan, which makes Piz and Veronica break apart, slightly embarrassed. After this, Veronica gets cold feet and tries to return to a purely platonic relationship, but is won over by Piz's honourable nature, telling him "you're a good guy, Piznarski". As Veronica's boyfriend, Piz earns Keith's approval.
Piz and Veronica seem quite happy together, and stand by each other when a racy video of them is emailed around Hearst. When Logan attacks Piz after jumping to the conclusion that Piz made the video, Veronica vows never to speak to him again. After finding out who sent the video, Veronica and Logan are talking when the culprit walks in. Logan goes to attack him, but Veronica holds him back, advising him that the culprit is very connected ("connected, connected"). While he appears to obey, when Veronica turns, Logan beats the culprit up with much passion (as he does not have any reputation left to lose). Piz appears behind and Logan apologises to Piz for attacking him and leaves after one last smouldering look at Veronica. Veronica glances at Piz, and then at Logan, torn. The outcome is never resolved.
Veronica and Piz during the Film high school graduation scene
In the film, Veronica and Piz are living together in New York City. When Veronica returns to Neptune to help Logan prove his innocence in Bonnie Deville's murder, their relationship eventually comes to an end. He is last seen breaking up with Veronica over the phone while his parents are standing in the background.
Quotations
- "It's Mac! And the people coming to take me away!"
- "I just ignored all the spoiler alerts, which I know is kind of douchebaggy, but... "
- "Some girl going wild? As I understand it, it happens all the time in college. I'm on the verge of it right now."
- "It's not often you get to see bikini babes in their natural habitat. Such gentle, yet elusive, creatures."
- "[to Logan after sex] Woof! You should seriously consider going pro in that."
- "Here it is, first day of college. What do you say, Veronica? New school, fresh start - how about you try not to piss anyone off this time around?"
- "Qu'est-ce que c'est 'FRAK'?"
- "Breasts or holy grail guitar?"
- "And you call yourselves college men. Where are the posters of beer and half naked ladies?"
- "This is my school. If you go here, your parents are either millionaires, or your parents work for millionaires. Neptune, California, a town without a middle class. If you're in the second group, you get a job. Fast food, movie theaters, mini marts. Or you could be me. My after school job means tailing philandering spouses or investigating false injury claims."
- "Let's not forget Logan Echolls. His dad makes twenty million a picture. You probably own his action figure. Every school has an obligatory psychotic jackass. He's ours."
- "Congratulations sport. In your short time here, you already managed to piss off the motorcycle gang and the local sheriff."
- "Life's a bitch until you die."
- "The best way to keep a guy at least ten feet away? Dry heave. Vomit is the new mace."
- " The '70s had the hustle, the '80s the moonwalk. We've got the faux lesbian dance."
- "So what would Stan Marsh say in a situation like this? I think we all learned a valuable lesson about faith. You give it to the people you love. But the people who really deserve it, are the ones who come through even when you don't love them enough."
- "Howdy boys. Anyone up for going to a Pi Sig blowout? Beer and ladies and music and other stuff guys like, I'm sure. Fast cars, loose slots, electronic gadgetry, televised sports, pornography. Nothing? None of this grabs you?"
- "If there's hilarity, I charge extra."
- [To Logan before meeting with her father] "No jokes. No innuendos, no quips. Don't even think of alluding to having seen me naked or having touched any part of my body that does not have fingers. "
- "Football: the systematic violation of the Geneva Convention made into a sport. I'm surprised the A.S.P.C.A. doesn't protest."
- "So my Grandma Reynolds was always saying, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I wish she was still alive because I'd really like to ask what she suggests for when life gives you chlamydia."
- [To Logan] "Did you just make a Jane Austen reference? It's official, the end of days are upon us."
Appearances
As the series' protagonist, she appears in all 64 episodes, the movie, and the first book . She also appears in the second book.
Trivia
- Veronica is one of only two characters to appear in all 64 episodes of the TV show, the movie, and the first book. The other is Keith Mars.
- According to series creator Rob Thomas, Veronica's birthday is in August, making her a Leo.
- Amanda Seyfried (Lilly Kane) and Alona Tal (Meg Manning) auditioned for the role of Veronica.
- Veronica takes criminology and sociology classes at Hearst College.
- Veronica got a 95 on her private investigator test.
- Veronica occasionally uses the word 'frak' (also spelled 'frack') taken from the show Battlestar Galactica after Moe Slater (Andrew McClain) uses and then explains the term in Welcome Wagon.
- It remains unknown if her father was aware of her rape, as they never discuss it, and she never mentions it in his presence.
- She is 5 feet 1 inches tall.
- The name "Veronica" is the Latin form of 'Berenice', which means "true image" (a little nod to Veronica's job as a private investigator and her desire to find out the truth). St. Veronica is the patron saint of photographers.
- Veronica's residence in the series is at Sunset Cliffs Apartments #101, Neptune, California.
- The My Little Pony references are a running gag between Veronica and her father.
References
- ↑ Veronica Mars (veronicamarscw) on Myspace. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved on 23 October 2014.
- Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.
- Official character MySpace