Viv Ivins (real name Viviana Ivinisova, Вивиана Ивинисова), is a major antagonist in the Left Behind series. She was one of the two spiritual mentors of Nicolae Jetty Carpathia, alongside her god, Satan.
Biography
Before the Rapture
She was a Satanist from Russia who worked under the "association" of Jonathan Stonagal through Project People's Victory, helping Marilena Carpathia become pregnant with Nicolae and then later having her disposed of when he was a young child. During Nicolae's early years she and Reiche Planchette tended Carpathia's every whim.
After the Rapture
During Nicolae's reign as Supreme Potentate of the Global Community, she would help implement the "mark of loyalty" system on all its citizens. Even though she is deeply devoted to Nicolae, she announced that she intended to receive an understated tattoo for her mark of loyalty, as opposed to a prominent mark with large text.
She received a discreet 216 at the Temple Mount while Suhail Akbar and Walter Moon were receiving their marks on the same occasion. She choose to kneel on the pavement while the mark was applied to her. She then ascended up the steps of the Temple on her knees, removing her shoes before, to embrace the feet of Nicolae who is standing besides his image. She then poured out a vial of liquid on his feet. While she was doing his, Nicolae held his head up high, acknowledging that there can be no greater tribute. Nicolae then helped her up. She then became among the many Carpathian loyalists afflicted with the plague of the boils.
After Nicolae Carpathia murdered Walter Moon, she expressed her loyalty and devotion to him, approving of Nicolae's action without expressing any revulsion or fear. She said, "You are doing the right thing, Nicolae. You should kill them all and start over."
While the Global Community cabinet was leaving Jerusalem after Nicolae committed the abomination of desolation, during the last day, Viv Ivins took the opportunity to visit the Temple to be the first woman to be in the main part of the temple and worship Nicolae's image. She also sat on the throne in the Temple, which Nicolae thought was effrontery on her part, because she dare to sit on the throne of god (as Nicolae established himself as god with the abomination of desolation). However, despite her deep devotion, she would later suffer indignities from Carpathia because of this incident, and Nicolae's cold attitude towards her only thawed until a year prior to the end of the Tribulation, after the end of the heat plague.
When it appeared that the Global Community's attack on Petra succeeded as Carpathia's cabinet was watching a live feed from Uri's plane, the people in Carpathia's cabinet congratulated him. While Carpathia returned each of their complements with "thank you", Carpathia was silent when Viv Ivins congratulated him.
During a cabinet meeting during the third Bowl Judgment, she groused that there were times she thought she was going to die if she did not get a shallow of water. Nicolae upbraided her, saying that the Global Community would not halt if she was thirsty. She asked for forgiveness for that selfish expression, but Carpathia told her to be quiet because she did not have any expertise to address the problem of the world's fresh water supply turning to blood. She dejectedly went back to her office. Before she left, Carpathia brought up the incident at the temple in Jerusalem, and Viv said that she repeated apologized for that indiscretion.
After the end of the heat plague, Carpathia was optimistic that the Global Community would recover from God's plagues and had forgiven Viv.
When Lucifer momentarily left the indwelt body of Nicolae Carpathia in the Unity Army command bunker at Solomon's Stables, she was on the floor moaning with ecstasy at the blindingly luminous form of Lucifer. This was her last appearance in the novels.
In the Dramatic Audio presentation, while the Unity's Army operations failed to attain any victory against the contingent in Petra, Viv Ivins offered some comfort and encouragement to the agitated and sullen Nicolae Carpathia, saying that he should not lose hope because they still had the army to attack Jerusalem. However, the jealous Nicolae vehemently questions Viv Ivins' motives, accusing her of hoping to rule with him, tacitly alluding to the incident where Viv Ivins had the audacity to sit on Nicolae's throne in the Temple. Nicolae refers to the legend of Nimrod and Semiramis where Nimrod killed his father and married Semiramis, his mother, and jointly ruled Babylon and Assyria and created the cult of the "mother and the child". Nicolae expresses disdain that Nimrod was content to share power. Nicolae then asserts that he would never share his throne.
Though her fate wasn't mentioned in the book, the Dramatic Audio presentation of the story reveals that she was killed by a 50-lb. hailstone in the seventh Bowl Judgment (in the episode "On The Run"). When Viv Ivins was killed, Nicolae casually dismisses her death as something insignificant. After the second coming she would certainly be one of the condemned souls (Goat) in the Sheep and goats Judgement, due to her involvement in the birth of the Antichrist, her Satanist beliefs, her involvement in branding people with the Number of the Beast (666) during the Tribulation, and her deep devotion to the Antichrist himself.
Appearances
Trivia
- Viv Ivins' name comes from the Roman numerals VI VI VI, which is 666, the Number of the Beast. However, the real Roman numerals for 666, which is "six hundred and sixty-six", is DCLXVI, which if used in an actual name would result in something like Declan Xavier.
- One Left Behind theory was that she's one of the women when Carpathia speaks in the beginning of Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, as Viv Ivins has white hair and a blue shirt on; that's exactly how she was described in Murder in the Holy Place: Carpathia's Deadly Deception. However, this is not very likely; her name was not in the credits concerning characters in the movie in the Internet Movie Database entry.