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The top of the primordial ecosystem. A god, for all intents and purposes.
― Vivienne Graham about Godzilla (Godzilla)
Overview

Dr. Vivienne Graham (ヴィヴィアン·グラハム,   Vivian Gurahamu?) is a scientist character created by Legendary Pictures that first appeared in the 2014 Godzilla film, Godzilla. She returned in the 2019 sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters.


Personality[]

Since her recruitment into Monarch, Vivienne was always eager about studying the unknown, and is considered by Serizawa to be full of wonder and intelligence. Her personality appears quite similar to Dr. Serizawa, whom she intellectually equals and has a nigh-inseparable relationship with, although she has a more soft-spoken demeanor. Like Serizawa, she's fascinated by nature and holds a deep, profound respect for Titans' role in it, but she's not as critical of human nature as Serizawa. She takes the role of monologuing when she and Serizawa are explaining Monarch's purpose to Ford Brody, and during the meeting summarizing Alan Jonah's attack on Outpost 61.

Among her colleagues and those she's close to, Vivienne is outgoing, effortlessly comforting, and a good friend[3][4], and is considered by Serizawa the most compassionate person he knows[5]. She tends to be considerate of others' feelings, expressing sympathies when she and Serizawa went to Ford Brody and Mark Russell respectively. In the latter case, she took time out getting Mark to open up about what happened between him and Emma after Andrew's deaths, showing kindness and that her consideration of others' feelings isn't merely professionalism.

She's notably not as stoic as Serizawa, seen when she was shell-shocked by the female MUTO's awakening. Despite this, after Admiral Stenz elected to attempt nuking Godzilla and the MUTOs and then silently commanded her to leave, from her body language she was visibly furious. She was aghast at the aforementioned plan and deemed it crazy, and before the bomb disposal mission into San Francisco, she seemed visibly disappointed by the military's folly and what had come of it after they hadn't taken her and Serizawa's advice more seriously.

Relationships[]

Emma Russell[]

Vivienne developed a close friendship with Emma in the years after Andrew's death and acted as a secondary maternal figure to her remaining child,[3][6] making Vivienne's death as an indirect result of Emma's betrayal all the more tragic.

Ford Brody[]

Following the death of Joseph Brody, Vivienne relayed Ford with information on the MUTOs and how Monarch was founded to study the creatures. The first thing she did at the start of the briefing was to give Ford her condolences for his loss.

Ishiro Serizawa[]

Vivienne and Serizawa's relationship began as a mentorship when she first joined Monarch. Overtime, as she proved to be an intellectual equal to Serizawa, they developed a very close partnership, although she still sometimes called him sensei. Vivienne came to see Serizawa as the father-figure that she never had and she was almost never seen on her own when apart from Serizawa. Serizawa was visible helping Vivienne to her feet immediately after the brush with Godzilla in Castle Bravo. Serizawa was crushed after Graham was killed by Ghidorah and he continued dwelling on her death for the (short) remainder of his life.[7]

Madison Russell[]

Vivienne and Madison had a close relationship with Vivienne acting as a secondary maternal figure to Madison while Maddy regarded Vivienne fondly as an aunt figure.[6][3]

Mark Russell[]

Like Serizawa, Vivienne was aware of and sympathetic to Mark's five-years-old grief and her method of helping him to calm down was to get him to talk through it. She talked to him about what had happened between him and Emma after the events at his cabin, and she also mentioned he could yell at her if it would make him feel better[3][4]. Though she was completely patient with Mark at the cabin, she was visibly exasperated when he couldn't get through the briefing on Alan Jonah without losing his temper and descending into another tirade at the Monarch operatives about killing the Titans. Vivienne ultimately died saving Mark's life, staying behind to free him in the damaged Osprey while everyone else fled immediately, which had led to Ghidorah spotting and killing her.

William Stenz[]

Vivienne and Stenz had fewer interactions than Stenz and Serizawa, and it's implied that she and Stenz didn't have the same respect for each-other as Stenz and Serizawa did. Stenz notably sent her a cold, patronizing glare when expecting her to leave at the end of the meeting about nuking Godzilla and the MUTOs (an act which she'd protested during the meeting) and it appears that Vivienne lost whatever respect she had for the Admiral at this point, being visibly furious as she left.

History[]

Vivienne was raised by her mother Susan as her father died before she was born. Vivienne inherited a passion for dinosaurs from her late father, and like him, was drawn to the monstrous aspects of nature. During a field trip to London's Natural History Museum in middle school, Vivienne snuck away from the group to explore on her own and ended up staying in the museum. Later that evening, Susan found her asleep at the foot of a brontosaurus skeleton.

Becoming a naturally gifted paleozoologist with expertise in behavioral science, biology, and fossil analysis, Vivienne was recruited into Monarch by Dr. Serizawa when he discovered her in 1997 as a doctorate candidate in paleobiology at Oxford University. With the promise of examining live specimens, Dr. Graham joined Monarch on January 10, 1999. Over time, what began as a mentorship between Drs. Graham and Serizawa evolved into a partnership as Serizawa acted not only as Graham's mentor but as a father figure. In the same year, Dr. Graham's first field assignment was to accompany Serizawa to the Philippines to investigate the collapse of a mine. While exploring the cavern below, they discovered a gigantic skeleton. Dr. Graham asked Serizawa if it belonged to Godzilla, though he replied it was much older. They also discovered two parasitic spores attached to the skeleton, one of which had split open.

In 2005, Monarch detected an audio signal similar to a Titan song that was previously recorded. Believing the signal to be the sign of a new Titan emerging, Graham, Serizawa, and a field team was dispatched to investigate. They followed the signal to a lab in Boston at MIT and found Drs. Mark and Emma Russell testing their prototype of the ORCA, a device that could potentially revolutionize interspecies communication. Two years later, the couple was brought into Monarch after continuous breakthroughs with their bioacoustics research.[8]

Godzilla[]

Millions of years older than mankind. From an age when the Earth was ten times more radioactive than today. This animal and others like it consumed this radiation as a food source. As the levels on the surface naturally subsided these creatures adapted to live deeper in the oceans. Further underground. Absorbing radiation from the planet's core. The organization we work for, Monarch, was established in the wake of this discovery. A multinational coalition formed in secrecy to search for him. Study him. Learn everything we could.
― Dr. Graham tells Ford Brody about Monarch and Godzilla

Nine years later in 2014, Dr. Graham is working with Serizawa and a team of Monarch scientists at the ruins of the Janjira power plant in Japan to study the MUTO that hatched from the spore and attached itself to the reactor. Recently, the creature's chrysalis had become more and more unstable as the reactor was depleted, and was constantly releasing electromagnetic pulses. When Joseph Brody and his son Ford are caught trespassing in the Janjira quarantine zone, they are captured and taken to the plant by Monarch. Dr. Graham and Serizawa look at the documents Joe Brody had with him and notice that they are all seismic and sonic graphs taken from just before the meltdown 15 years ago, and are almost identical to the readings being currently given off by the MUTO. Suddenly, an EMP is released that disables all of Monarch's systems, forcing Serizawa to order the MUTO destroyed. However, the fully-matured MUTO breaks out of its cocoon and destroys Monarch's base of operations in the plant before flying away.

The United States Navy is sent to Janjira the next morning to take over the pursuit of the MUTO from Monarch and recruits Graham and Serizawa to their task force. At Serizawa's request, Ford and Joe Brody are brought along, though Joe passes away from injuries sustained during the MUTO's rampage. Onboard the USS Saratoga, Serizawa and Graham bring in Ford for questioning, offering their condolences but urging him to tell them all his father knew about the MUTO. Ford tells them his father was working on studying echolocation patterns being given off from the ruins of Janjira. Serizawa and Graham determine that the MUTO must have been trying to communicate with something. They then tell Ford about Monarch. According to Serizawa and Graham, Monarch was formed in 1954 to study a creature called "Godzilla", who was attacking American and Soviet nuclear submarines in the South Pacific. They state that Godzilla is an ancient alpha predator from the primordial age and essentially a living god. Serizawa asserts his belief that Godzilla would return to restore balance to the ecosystem by killing the MUTO.

Later, the MUTO is sighted in Hawaii in the forests outside Honolulu. The military attacks the creature but is rendered helpless by its EMP. The Saratoga's radar begins detecting a large signature approaching from underwater, causing Serizawa to run to the deck. Graham asks him to stay behind, but Serizawa tells her he believes Godzilla is coming at last. From the top deck, Graham and Serizawa witness Godzilla's huge dorsal plates approach the ship before diving underneath it, then proceeding to Honolulu to confront the MUTO. By the next day, the Saratoga was pursuing both Godzilla and the MUTO as they approached the mainland United States. While studying the MUTO's echolocation patterns, Serizawa discovered that something was responding to it. Dr. Graham assured him that the other spore found in the Philippines was dead and dormant and couldn't be responding. A military team was sent to the nuclear waste repository in Nevada where the spore had been taken, only to discover that a larger second MUTO had broken free of the facility. Watching the creature's rampage on video feeds, Graham and Serizawa determine this MUTO is a female preparing to meet up with the mature male and reproduce. The military forms a desperate plan to use a nuclear warhead to lure the MUTOs to an island off the coast of California, knowing Godzilla would follow and then detonate it to kill all three creatures at once. Graham and Serizawa plead for the military to abort the plan, knowing it would not work but are denied.

After the male MUTO retrieves the warhead from the military and builds a nest with the female in the heart of San Francisco, Graham and Serizawa are sent to a base camp outside Oakland. There, the military forme a team to try and retrieve the warhead while Godzilla battles both MUTOs. They then watch and wait helplessly as the operation is undertaken. The next morning, after the warhead is disposed of and both MUTOs are killed, Graham and Serizawa are in the city ruins observing the fallen Godzilla in sadness. However, Godzilla is merely unconscious and wakes up. Graham and Serizawa then watch in awe and joy as Godzilla approaches the sea and roars victoriously before disappearing beneath the waves.

Post-2014[]

In 2016, Graham leads an effort to build a containment and research facility around an extraordinary but dormant creature in the Antarctic. Her classified field notes contained the mysterious footnote: "the devil has three heads".

Godzilla: King of the Monsters[]

Dr. Graham was raised by her mother in a single-parent household, but did inherit her early passion for dinosaurs from a father who died before she was born. Like him, she was always attracted to the wonders of nature at its most monstrous.

During a middle school field trip to the Natural History Museum in London, she snuck away from the group to explore on her own, staying overnight among the fossils and artifacts that had become her childhood obsession. Her panicked mother was relieved to find her peacefully asleep at the foot of a brontosaurus skeleton late that evening.

Growing up to become a naturally gifted Paleobiologist, Dr. Graham was personally recruited to Monarch by Dr. Serizawa, who quickly became her mentor and in some ways the father figure she never had. Vivienne valued Serizawa’s leadership and expertise while he valued her constantly challenging him with scientific focus and what began as mentorship soon evolved into partnership.

Dr. Graham has an expert eye for fossil analysis and paleo-forensics, often joking that she can read striations in bone fragments like her grandmother could read tea leaves. An expert eye in this field is exactly what Serizawa needed, leading to her first field assignment examining an unidentified Titan skeleton found in the Philippines in 1999. A shared fascination with Titanus Gojira bonded the pair through many missions leading to the events of San Francisco in 2014, during which her courage and commitment would mark her out as a key member of Monarch’s leadership team in a post-Godzilla world.

Dr. Graham joined Monarch with the promise of studying live specimens during a time when others would scoff at such a notion, but it was an offer she could not refuse. To live a life of adventure beyond anything that little girl asleep in the Natural History Museum could ever possibly dream of.
― Operative profile[8]

Graham attended a hearing before Senate members with Dr. Ishiro Serizawa and Dr. Sam Coleman, in order to justify Monarch's continued existence and its preservation of the Titans. Senator Williams of Hawaii was of the opinion the military should take away jurisdiction over the Titans from Monarch and simply eliminate them. Graham and Serizawa both protested, saying they should coexist with the Titans who were there to protect them, such as Godzilla. Graham described it as a sort of "symbiotic relationship," though Williams was not convinced by this. Graham received a telephone call informing her that Dr. Emma Russell and her daughter Madison had been kidnapped along with the sonar device the ORCA after armed terrorists attacked Outpost 61 in China. She quickly informed Serizawa and the two made their way out of the chamber, prompting Williams to yell after them. Dr. Coleman tried to distract the Senators with a video clip on Titan reproduction as he caught up with the others.

Graham, Serizawa, and Coleman arrived at Dr. Mark Russell's cabin in Colorado in an Osprey to inform him of the situation. They showed him footage of the kidnapping and apologized for what happened. Mark regretfully said he should have been there for his family, but was angered when he saw that the Orca was taken along with them, as he objected to its existence. The doctors told Mark that whatever the case, the Orca had fallen into the wrong hands and it was their job to get it back along with Emma and Madison. Mark boarded the Osprey with the others, and spoke with Dr. Graham during the journey. Eventually, the Osprey reached Outpost 54: Castle Bravo. Graham headed a briefing with all of the other Monarch personnel, giving them all of the known information about the abduction. She revealed that the culprit was none other than Alan Jonah, a former British Army colonel-turned radical eco-terrorist. Shortly after the briefing, Godzilla began to swim toward the Outpost. Graham watched as the base lowered its weapons and shields at Mark's urging to signal to Godzilla that they were not a threat. Dr. Coleman asked about the blue glow emanating from Godzilla, which Graham replied was an intimidation display, akin to a gorilla beating its chest. Godzilla eventually ceased this display before charging past the base. Mark asked Monarch to track his trajectory, which revealed his destination: Antarctica.

Aboard Monarch's flagship the USS Argo, Graham and Serizawa explained what lay in Outpost 32. It was a huge apex predator that was likely a rival alpha to Godzilla, with Graham heading the team that discovered it frozen in the ice. Emma only called this Titan "Monster Zero." Graham accompanied the other members of Monarch and G-Team aboard an Osprey that landed in front of the Outpost. She watched G-Team venture inside on a monitor, and witnessed as they were ambushed by Jonah's men. She remained behind as Mark rushed in to save his family. When Emma detonated the explosives planted in the ice by Jonah's men, the Outpost collapsed into the ice and from it rose the three-headed Monster Zero. When Godzilla arrived to confront Monster Zero, their battle sent the Osprey with Dr. Graham smashing into a crack in the ice. Mark became entangled in wires as the other scientists escaped the craft, but Graham remained behind to help free Mark. The two then ran, only for Monster Zero to bite down on the ice, swallowing Graham whole. Serizawa fell to his knees in grief in response to this.

Later, as the survivors discussed their next step aboard the USS Argo, Serizawa quietly grieved over the loss of his long-time assistant, whom he had personally recruited into Monarch himself. However, Graham was later avenged by Godzilla as he defeated and killed Monster Zero, aka Ghidorah, which also allowed him to regain his title of King of the Monsters.

Trivia[]

Serizawa and Graham GRoE

Dr. Graham and Ishiro Serizawa in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #18

  • Vivienne's Monarch file sheds further details about her background:[1]
    • Her current residence when she died was 4 Broadwick Street, London.
    • Her blood type is O-negative.
    • She graduated from Imperial College London with an MSci degree in Geology and Geophysics, and from the University of Oxford with a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences.
    • In 2003, she was promoted from head paleozoologist to senior paleozoologist at Monarch.
  • In issue #18 of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, two characters closely resembling Dr. Graham and Ishiro Serizawa can be seen running from Godzilla and Ebirah.
  • According to the Godzilla: King of the Monsters novelization:
    • Vivienne had a few relationships but never married nor remained close to any of them, as far as Serizawa knew.[2]
    • Vivienne was close to Madison and Emma in the few years leading up to King of the Monsters.[2]

List of appearances[]

Films[]

Comics[]

Novels[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://twitter.com/GodzillaMovie/status/1253485250241413121/photo/2
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p. 209. ISBN: 9781789090925.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Godzilla: Aftershock
  4. 4.0 4.1 Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p. 50. ISBN: 9781789090925.
  5. Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p. 208. ISBN: 9781789090925.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p.77 ISBN: 9781789090925.
  7. Keyes, Greg. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. ISBN: 9781789090925.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Operatives: Dr. Vivienne Graham - Monarch Sciences. Retrieved May 7, 2019
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