Gen V: Is Thomas Godolkin Cipher?

The second season of Prime Video’s ‘Gen V’ brings Marie and her friends back to God U, where they face a new challenge in the form of their dean, called Cipher. Since the first episode, he has been an enigma who has become more challenging to crack with each turn. The more Marie finds out about him, the less she seems to know. This mystery surrounding Cipher is finally unraveled in the penultimate episode of the season. The revelation by the end of it puts a lot of things in perspective, while also setting the stage for a finale that is going to get bloodier by the minute. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Cipher’s True Identity is Revealed

At the beginning of the second season, Cipher is introduced as the dean of Godolkin University. He has come to the school to reform it and is singularly focused on raising Supes to the glory they deserve. However, in the seventh episode, it is revealed that the man whom everyone thought was Cipher isn’t really so. He is just a random man who had been posing as Cipher, when the real Supe is actually Thomas Godolkin, the burned man in the basement, who seemed too frail and weak to do anything about his situation.

It turns out that the reason Thomas Godolkin didn’t die in the fire all those years ago is that he, too, is a Supe. He possesses the incredible powers of mind-control, but his mental prowess wasn’t enough to heal his body. It kept him alive, but he was still left incapacitated. For years, he suffered, watching his name and his research go down the drain as Supes turned into something entirely different than what he’d wanted for them. He believed that they were superior to humans and should have been worshipped as gods, but things turned out quite differently. Eventually, it became clear to Godolkin that he needed to get back in the game, and because he couldn’t heal himself, someone else needed to do it. Project Odessa needed to be brought back into the picture, but Godolkin still needed a proxy. This is where Hamish Linklater’s character comes into place.

Godolkin borrowed his way into the mind of a man who was easy for him to control. He used this man, naming him Cipher, as a way to function in the world. This also explains why Cipher seemed to have powers without the V in his blood. He was just a vehicle for the mad scientist. Since his mind was still working at full capacity, Godolkin revived his research, brought Project Odessa back to life, and Marie was born. She was supposed to be the answer to all her problems, but when she didn’t get her powers, she was abandoned. It wasn’t until she got her first period that her powers were activated, and this put her through a long journey until she was God U, and Godolkin finally had the opportunity to make her do his bidding.

Thomas Godolkin’s Shocking Plan for Marie and Other Supes Comes to Light

Taking over the university as Dean Cipher, Godolkin’s only goal was to get Marie to reach her fullest potential so that she could use her powers to heal him, allowing his mind and body to become whole again. Of course, he couldn’t reveal his plan to her, so he had to manipulate her in a way that she would come to him willingly. This is where Sage came up with her master plan. Being the smartest person in the world, Sage knew how to push Marie’s buttons. She knew that once a villain was placed in front of her, Marie would try everything in her power to figure out a way to defeat him. So, if Dean Cipher became her villain, she would need someone who could defeat this guy, which is where Thomas Godolkin’s story comes in.

Marie was led to believe that Thomas Godolkin is the only one who can defeat Cipher. Not only that, he could also help defeat Homelander. And with that, Marie was convinced that Godolkin needed to be brought back into the picture. It remains to be seen whether Stan Edgar was also manipulated by Sage or if he was a part of her plan, considering that he would want to go back to Vought, and Sage could have made a deal with him. In any case, once Godolkin was painted as the savior they needed, nothing would stop Marie from healing him, and that’s exactly what happens. In an exceptional display of her powers, she brings Godolkin back to his original physical state. By the time she is done, it looks like Godolkin had never been in a fire.

Now that he has his body back, he doesn’t need the proxy guy. Neither does he need to put on a show anymore. What makes his resurrection worse is that he is not the one who will stop Homelander. In fact, he seems worse. While Homelander looks down on weak Supes, he still considers them a part of the Supe race. His prejudice is limited to humans, so far. Godolkin, on the other hand, doesn’t want the master race to be weakened by Supes with unnecessary or weak powers. He wants to eradicate them so that only strong Supes remain, which will further lead to stronger Supes. Now that he is back to his full powers, he seems unstoppable.

Read More: Gen V: What Happened to Andre? How Did Chance Perdomo Die?