Mask Fusion

In V for Vendetta, the protagonist V was horribly burned and scarred all over, which is part of why he wears the Guy Fawkes mask he is known for. During a scene in the movie version, the female lead Evey wants to take off his mask and look at his real face. Instead, V tells her that the Guy Fawkes mask is his face. He says that what is underneath is no more his face than the muscles and bone under her skin is part of her face.

This particular example is right on the border between literal and metaphorical mask fusion. In short, he has worn the mask so long and accepted it so thoroughly that it has become his default personality. It is more natural than whatever he was like before putting the mask on.

Mask fusion is an interesting result of mask overuse. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is always seen as a negative. We have this idea that we have a natural personality which is unshakeable, unbreakable, and fundamentally ourselves. Mask personalities are always foreign, alien presences, considered tools at best and invasive forces at worst.

In reality, though, all of our personalities are malleable. We are not the same person we were as children or teenagers. However fundamental we may think of our natural personalities, they change a great many times during our lives. If it so happens that a person pretends to be different and does it so long that it fuses into their default demeanor, how is that unnatural?

When you look at your characters and you wonder who they are, ask yourself who they used to be. How has their personality changed over time? What caused it? Do they wear a mask to change that? And what effect is that mask having on them?