Vermouth
| Vermouth | |
| English name: | Vermouth |
|---|---|
| Age: | ? |
| Gender: | Female |
| Nicknames: | Rotten Apple |
| Aliases: | Sharon Vineyard Chris Vineyard Belmot |
| First appearance: | Manga: Chapter 238 Anime: Episode 176 |
| Appearances: | TV: ? Movies: 1 Specials: ? Openings: 8 |
| Keyhole number: | Volume 26 (Vermouth) Volume 35 (Sharon) |
| Japanese voice: | Mami Koyama |
Vermouth (ベルモット Berumotto), also known as Sharon Vineyard (シャロン・ヴィンヤード Sharon Binyaado) and Chris Vineyard (クリス・ヴィンヤード Kurisu Binyaado), is a member of the Black Organization in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan.
Contents
Background
Vermouth's background is very mysterious. She was friends with Yukiko Kudo back when they were acting together under the name Sharon Vineyard, but she was even then secretly a member of the Black Organization. It is unknown for exactly how long she has been a member, but it is known that she had been secretly living at least two lives through the art of disguise: that of herself and her supposed daughter, Chris Vineyard. After staging Sharon Vineyard's death, she now lives as "Chris" and continues to serve the Black Organization. At one point, some twenty years ago, she killed the parents of a little girl who would become the FBI agent Jodie Starling, one of her most bitter enemies.
Vermouth is the boss’s favorite which grants her some independence. She also appears not to age or have de-aged over a period of twenty years between when she killed Jodie's parents and her current appearence. She doesn’t seem to like the research that Ai and her parents engaged in, calling it “foolish.” [1]
Vermouth entered the storyline some time after Shiho Miyano/Sherry/Ai Haibara's mysterious flight from the Organization. Her main objective was to track down and eliminate the 'traitor', and for that purpose she assumed the identity of doctor Tomoaki Araide. But although she managed to discover Shiho's reversion into a child, she did not succeed in killing her, as she met Conan Edogawa, who was able to discover and thwart her plans. She also encountered the FBI during this process.
Vermouth has great personal interest in Conan, constantly calling him "Silver Bullet". Since it has been revealed that she knows about Ai and Kudo's reversion to their child forms, she seems to know the shrinking effect the drug can have, but for reasons yet unrevealed she keeps this knowledge secret from the rest of the Organization.
Personality
At this point, Vermouth seems very mysterious. She knows about Conan being Shinichi, as well as that Haibara is Sherry, yet she has kept this information a secret from the rest of the Organization.
It is frequently implied that Vermouth does not approve with the Organization's plans and is willing to quit, but fears the consequences of doing so openly. She is frequently shown to hold hopes that Conan is the 'silver bullet' that will eventually stop the Organization. She also retains personal feelings for persons who have earned a special place in her heart, such as Shinichi/Conan (as the son of her best friend) and Ran (who had inadvertently saved her life during her and Shinichi's adventures in New York).[2] As a result, she is highly unwilling to do them any harm even when she is ordered to do so.
Relationships
- Vermouth and Gin
Vermouth and Gin are or were in a sexual relationship with one another.[3] They get along well enough on missions, but Gin does not like Vermouth's habit of keeping secrets or her teasing. Before the events of the showdown on the ghost ship, Vermouth and Gin trusted one another, but some of Gin's trust may have disappeared as Vermouth failed to inform even the boss of her intentions.[3]
- Vermouth and Sherry
Vermouth and Sherry have some connection, although it has not been elaborated on. Shiho fears Vermouth more than most other members except perhaps Gin. Shiho was Vermouth's target, but Vermouth gave up on her after Conan's intervention. If Shiho was in a romantic relationship with Gin, then Vermouth and Shiho were love rivals as Vermouth was in a sexual relationship with Gin.[3]
- Vermouth and Pisco
Although Vermouth and Pisco are executive members, Vermouth dislikes and looks down on Pisco despite cooperating with him.[3]
Plot Overview
Jodie's investigation
Jodie’s father in the FBI was secretly investigating Vermouth twenty years before the current storyline.[4] That is too young for Chris Vineyard to be in disguise as she is only 29 currently and would be 9 at the time. After Vermouth killed Jodie's father she inadvertently handled Jodie’s father’s glasses barehanded which had fallen off of him and got her fingerprints on them. Unexpectedly, little Jodie came in and saw Vermouth holding the glasses. When Vermouth left after setting the house on fire, she didn't anticipate that Jodie left to get juice, taking her father’s glasses with her and thus preserving her fingerprint. After she discovered Jodie's corpse was not found in the house, Vermouth looked for the girl desperately in order to rectify her mistake, but Jodie had since been put into witness protection.
Jodie suspected Chris Vineyard of being Vermouth when she saw her at Sharon’s funeral. She somehow determined Chris Vineyard’s prints matched those of the glasses. Chris would have been too young to commit a crime 20 years ago, so later Jodie obtained Sharon’s fingerprints and matched those as well. All three matched, proving to Jodie that the three people were one and the same.
Conan's investigation
At the same time Shinichi and Ran were in New York City, Vermouth disguised as a silver-haired serial killer in order to lure out Akai Shuichi. Later, Conan suspected the serial killer may have been someone in disguise when he heard that the serial killer’s blood and fingerprints on the stair rails were cleaned up, an action uncharacteristic for someone intending to commit suicide. Sharon was the only person Conan knew about in the local area with high disguise abilities, so suspicion naturally fell onto her.
After Vermouth disguised as Araide, Conan deduced from the way Vermouth was behaving that she was trying to avoid involving Conan in her plan and was only targeting Haibara. Additionally Vermouth risked her life to protect Conan in the bus jack case, and helped him out in Sato's matchup case. Since Conan who hadn't existed a year ago has no reason to be “protected” by Vermouth, Conan deduces Vermouth must know his identity as Shinichi and the reason for her “protection” must have to do with something he did as Shinichi. However, Sharon was the only one Shinichi had a connection with, and she is apparently dead. Sharon’s daughter Chris has never met Shinichi and is estranged from Sharon Vineyard so she alone doesn't have an adequate motive to protect Shinichi. Also, it wouldn’t make sense for Chris Vineyard, who isn’t a family friend like Sharon, to be able to recognize Shinichi as Conan; presumably Vermouth saw young Shinichi with Yukiko when she was Sharon learning disguise techniques from Toichi Kuroba. All these clues come together when Conan makes the assumption that Sharon Vineyard is Chris Vineyard who disguised as the silver haired serial killer in NY.
Speculation
Sharon’s mother may also be Vermouth because she died in a fire on the day Sharon debuted.[5] Sharon may not be Vermouth’s first alias. Vermouth would have to be somewhere around 70-85 years old if Sharon's mom is also the same person.
Quotes
General
| “ | A secret makes a woman woman. | „ |
— (Her motto) | ||
Specific
Episode 286: No angel has ever smiled upon me.
V37-8 pg11: We can be both of God and the Devil. Since we're trying to raise the dead against the stream of time.
Trivia
- The name "Vermouth", is actually pronounced "Berumotto".
- Vermouth is or was in a sexual relationship with Gin.[6]
- In the Episode 362 of the Anime, Jodie Starling referred to Vermouth's disguise as a frightening type of perfection.
- Vermouth knows Conan's intentions but does not really try to rat him out to the Organization when having the chance. Due to Shinichi having saved her life when he and Ran had visited New York.
- Although Vermouth's true appearance is a young woman, confirmed by Shuichi Akai in episode 345, it still does not explain why she does not appear to age--the very question that she never answered when Jodie confronted her about it.
