You don't know V's Gender!

[Jade_Tarem]

Alright, since most can't be bothered to read the FAQs, maybe we could pool all current knowledge/debate conclusions about V here, and hopefully get the mods to sticky it.

About once a week, someone posts a thread claiming to have the Great Secret Clue that will reveal Vaarsuvius's mystery gender. More often than not (pretty much all the time), they are -

a) Wrong about it being conclusive proof.
b) The 70,000th person to bring that particular point to light.

That said, here we go, with the extended Vaarsuvius thread, containing all relevant knowledge about what our favorite elf is or is not hiding in those robes...

Running Theories about V:

- V is male.

- V is female.

- V is male/female and gay.

- V is actually not an elf but is instead a construct/extraplanar being/shapeshifted awakened camel/transexual goth from California who has been plane-shifted into the OOTS universe.

- V's player accidentaly mixed up some of the text fields during character creation, marking down his character's alignment as Male/Female and his gender as True Neutral, and is being forced to roleplay it by a malicious DM.

- Elves in the Order of the Stick have no gender.

- There are two V's: one male and one female, who use a combination of arcane spellcasting and mad elven ninja skills to switch out between panels at random.

- The trees are epileptic.

- Thog stands alone.

To clarify, The Giant himself has stated, in his FAQ, that he will not reveal V's Gender, and that characters that reference V by one gender or the other are just making their best guess: the fact that some NPC refers to V as "that elf girl" or "he" does not make V female or male. Also note that the one character in the entire comic with the absolute best chance of knowing the truth (Haley) has never referred to V as one gender or the other.

Now for the questions and comments:

--------------------------------------------
"Yes! I have found it! On page X, character Y calls V a Z. That means I win the V's gender debate, teh intarwebz, and a good chunk of the alphabet!

Sorry, but characters in the comic are only taking their best shots at V's gender, and as before, the Giant says that the NPC opinions are not evidence on V's gender. Heck, some NPCs even change (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0252.html) thier minds. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0385.html) Some don't even try (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0173.html) to figure out V's gender.

--------------------------------------

"Dude, what if the elves in OOTS really *don't* have genders?"

Maybe, but I'm at a loss to explain Lirian's very nice 'attributes,' (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html) then.

---------------------------------------

"Ah-hah! But if female elves look like that and V doesn't, then that makes V male!"

Well, not really. V is stated to have a low, low charisma, which may include more masculine features and a lack of a certain kind of charm (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MostCommonSuperPower). I direct your attention to Mialee, who often in 3.5 splatbooks looks about as feminine as John McCain would if he had Down Syndrome. Yeah, think about that for a minute. She's female, alright, but you could've fooled me.

---------------------------------------

"But I heard this became a running gag later on, after V's gender was mentioned for the first time. That means that the first strip with a reference to V's gender is the correct one!"

Again, no. The Giant says it's ambiguous, and with those amazing author powers of his he can say whatever he wants about V and it will be true, even if he said the exact opposite before.

---------------------------------------

"But the early artwork-"

The early art convinced some that V was female, and some that V was male. Others don't really see much of anything at all one way or another.

----------------------------------------

The next two cancel each other out:

"The gender of the wandering scholar in literature is usually male."
"The gender of the elven mage in literature is usually female."

Both are correct, vaguely (there are certainly exceptions). Too bad V fills both roles in the Order.

--------------------------------------

"V comments here/there/yonder that X."
"V acts in manner Y on page Z.

I sincerely doubt that it means what you think it does, if you think it's conclusive proof of gender. To date, V:

Has debated fashion with Haley (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0003.html). (Female)
Sleeps in Haley's room (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0225.html). (Female)
Has taken part in a Charlie's Angel's pose. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0239.html) (Female)
Is prone to aggression and blowing things up. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0323.html) (Male)
Apparently does not experience periods at all (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0237.html). (Male)

OtOoPCs spoiler:
Has called Roy out on needing to establish senseless "masculine dominance" - right after blowing up a table. (OtOoPCs)

And so on... things balance out when you add them all up. Note that none of the above are conclusive, and in fact many of them can be refuted by "maybe V is just wierd."

--------------------------------------

"Oh ho! In this comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0177.html) Belkar claims that he can't tell what V's gender is, and V is naked. Surely that means that V is androgynous!"

Nooo.... Belkar's lack of knowledge about reptiles doesn't mean anything...

--------------------------------------

"Ah, but in this comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0186.html) V is an elf, and naked above the abdomen, so..."

Above the shoulders, you mean. Even Elan has nipples.

---------------------------------------

"The Linear Guild is made of evil opposites, but all of the same gender, person for person, as the Order. Therefore, since both of V's opponents were male, that means that V is male too!"

I think you're forgetting everyone's favorite stumpy lovers... Unless you think Hilgya was male. :smalleek:

Nale indicates here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0254.html) that one way in which Pompey is the antithesis of V is that he has a clearly defined gender.

---------------------------------------

"But V's name is Vaarsuvius - and -us is a male ending in latin!"

So? V's name has been linked to Vesuvius - you know, the mountain that destroyed Pompeii? Note that V is contrasted with the character Pompey in Cliffport, and Pompey was the Roman who married Ceasar's daughter/relative (I forget which) Julia. Cute symbolism all around. Especially since V has a tendency to blow his or her top.

Also linked to the name of the online WotC(?) store.

-----------------------------------------

And now, the grand list of all gender (non)evidence:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0009.html (V-Man)
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0025.html (V's reaction has been debated)
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0028.html (Belkar begins to wonder)





This part is a work in progress, I don't want to go through the entire archives tonight. I'm up to page 75.

And there we are. Did I miss anything?

[archon_huskie]

You should include that references to V's gender in the comic occured after the V's Gender debate came up.

It should be added that some people came to the conclusion that V is female based solely on the Giant's Art work of the early strips. And some people came to the conclusion that V is male based solely on the artwork. of the early stirps.

Some people make a big issue out of V's name having a masculine Latin ending. The responce is: "What is the Latin you speak of? V's name has an Elvish ending."

This thread should be sticked.

[Jade_Tarem]

You should include that references to V's gender in the comic occured after the V's Gender debate came up.

It should be added that some people came to the conclusion that V is female based solely on the Giant's Art work of the early strips. And some people came to the conclusion that V is male based solely on the artwork. of the early stirps.

Some people make a big issue out of V's name having a masculine Latin ending. The responce is: "What is the Latin you speak of? V's name has an Elvish ending."

This thread should be sticked.

Ah yes, I will include that, although I thought the debate started when a forum poster made the fateful post "V-man? I thought V was female."

At least, that's what I was told.

[nosignal]

If people read stickies then this thread wouldn't have been started in the first place.

Also,

There are obviously 2 Varssuvius's, one male and one female, both of which are identical and switch out between panels using elven ninja skills.


Why would they do that?
Both Varsuvusses are obviously multiclass Superninja/wizards, so why would they waste spell slots? Let me give you an example.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0452.html

As you can see, V supposably cast invisibility, but wizards have limited spell slots and he was preparing for a massive battle, so why waste a spell slot on a spell with limited usefullness like Invisibility. Rather we see what is clearly some pink cotton candy in the bottom right hand corner of the panel. 2 panels later V speaks, but in a way that the Capitan cannot discern his location, clearly showing V's clever ninja skillz.
deserves mentioning.

[Jade_Tarem]

If people read stickies then this thread wouldn't have been started in the first place.

Well, I'm kind of hoping that the title You don't know V's Gender! will be eye-catching enough that someone might notice it on their way to starting another V thread. If the mods do sticky it on the bottom of the list, then anyone who has just created a new thread on V's gender, probably called something like "I know V's gender," will proudly look upon their new creation on the OOTS forum thread list, and then realize that it's right below the thread on how they didn't do the research. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch)

And yes, I'll add BRC's theory, because it's hilarious even if he's dead wrong.

[Yendor]

'bout time. Just a thought: all (non-)evidence could be cataloged by strip number for convenience. Also, a large number of claims rely on stereotyping (along the lines of "Oh, a woman would never act like that!"). V doesn't have to conform to someone's preconceived ideas.

Bottom line is, it's not a puzzle, and you're not clever for "working it out".

[Ghastly Epigram]

Incidentally, here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=267672&postcount=46) is the exact point the gender debate started (Whole thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7333)).

[krossbow]

Originally Posted by BRC View Post
There are obviously 2 Varssuvius's, one male and one female, both of which are identical and switch out between panels using elven ninja skills.


so its like the prestige?

[Kato]

Might include the 'Roy's Angels strip' (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0239.html) to support the girls crowd (which I belong to as well).

[CarpeGuitarrem]

so its like the prestige?
LOL

Yup. Nice, very nice.

[Haleyintraining]

V's a robot. Yes, I know that there is a million-and-one reasons why it can't be true, but it is just as realistic as the two-v-ninja-theory.

[Ironwolf172]

You know what I think it is. I think the writer of the comic strip wanted to have a funny running gag about one of the main charecters. Therefore he'll drop hints that fully support either side of the debate. There isn't a real answer. Nobody will ever know V's gender because once they do it won't be funny anymore.

[Emperor Demonking]

This thread has convinced me V is male.

[Degausser]

I agree with the original post. V's Gender is NOT meant to be known, and is a character trait in and of itself.

That being said, I tend to think of V as male, because when he was naked behind the shadow dragon's tail, he had a masculane body type (a.k.a. no curves.) This is by no means conclusive proof of anything, it's just my justification for seeing V the way I do.

[Linkavitch]

What I don't get is why everyone has to keep debating this week after week.

[Mauve Shirt]

I've seen just about as many "V's gender is ambiguous let's get the mods to sticky this thread" threads as "I know V's gender" threads.
Well, that's an exaggeration. There's one of these for every 2 or 3 of those.

[BRC]

:vaarsuvius:Vaarsuvius is too powerful for your puny pronouns! (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20080724.html)

[The Extinguisher]

Don't forget the theory that V is a gnome standing on another gnome's shoulder.

[d'Bwobsling]

This thread should be sticked.

Yeah, if it is, then it will cut down about 70% of the threads that this discusion sparks

[Lira]

Since no one ever seems to read stickied topics anyway, I think a better idea would be if someone linked to this topic every time someone creates a new V gender thread. Then no one else posts in the topic.

[archon_huskie]

That would be a little hard because ont he interwebz, everyone wants two things. To get their two cents in and to have the last word.

[T-O-E]

The thread seems to be working! Congratulations, Jade Tarem.

[AlexanderRM]

The thread seems to be working! Congratulations, Jade Tarem.
Now if we could just agree on a pronoun to use...

[chiasaur11]

Now if we could just agree on a pronoun to use...

Vis? Ver? Vir?

Or we could just use "V" as a pronoun for the elf's name. We do it often enough anyway.

[AlexanderRM]

Vis? Ver? Vir?

Or we could just use "V" as a pronoun for the elf's name. We do it often enough anyway.
I was thinking of V, but since so many people use that as a nickname already, it feels kinda weird to use it as a pronoun. What about ve for the he/she, any of the ones you mentioned for the his/her... I think V is vemale BTW...

[Flickerdart]

Guys, have you never seen the second Futurama movie? There is no more he or she, but shklee. And shklim/shkler. :smalltongue:

[Fawkes]

Great thread. Should be kept bumped.

[R.O.A.]

I was thinking of V, but since so many people use that as a nickname already, it feels kinda weird to use it as a pronoun. What about ve for the he/she, any of the ones you mentioned for the his/her... I think V is vemale BTW...

What if we spell it Vhe?

Great thread. It's a good idea to compile all the v's gender arguements.

[Eleshar]

Well, I must state that for some of us V is inevitably and from the beginning a male due to his name. My language uses declension and grammatical gender to the extent latin did (even more!) and there is a convention for us to take the latin name with the ending -us as masculine for granted and we deal with them adequately. "Vaarsuvius" is for almost any speaker of my language a pseudo-latin name with the ending -us and it would be most naturally declined as
Vaarsuvius - Vaarsuvius, a subject of a sentence or a copula(nominative case)
(bez) Vaarsuvia - (without) Vaarsuvius(genitive case)
(k) Vaarsuviovi - (to) Vaarsuvius(dative case)
etc.

And as such it would be considered masculine and male. I noticed there is a problem with V's gender only after the first visit of this forum. Of course I do not claim anything about V's gender, I only remark there are people who did not have too much of a choice concerning V because there languages are somehow more demanding than English where "Vaarsuvius", "Vaarsuvia" and even "Vaarsuvium" can happily be names for a male, female or anything :smallamused: I hope I clarified why there are so many people who just can't but take V for male.

[archon_huskie]

There is no Latin in the Order of the Stick Universe.

Just like there is no Japan.

[The Extinguisher]

V's name comes from Elvish, who are to good for human declension.

[chiasaur11]

A piece of (pointless) evidence I haven't seen mentioned:
V's letter on the Order application has a slight angle, a little greater than the angle of the "f", but less than most (but not all) people use for M.

I checked.

[Fawkes]

There is no Latin in the Order of the Stick Universe.

Just like there is no Japan.

Next week on missing the point entirely, a fireman saves a bird from a tree.

[DarknessLord]

If the infinity engine has taught me anything, it's that the proper pronoun for V is <HESHE>, and when V reads it <HESHE> will read it correctly.

[Eleshar]

There is no Latin in the Order of the Stick Universe.

Just like there is no Japan.

I know this well enough but it is just more natural to work with the name "Vaarsuvius" as with something pseudolatin. And even without it, it would be almost impossible to take it for a female name in my language. There is no way a word could end with anything like -us and be a feminine noun even if it is not a latin ending (in fact there is only one such word - "Rus" which means "Russia").
It is nothing but the power of a grammar of a particular language that compels some of us to see V as a male (of course in connection with V's not overly feminine features) while not getting the joke...:/

[Lira]

Eleshar... regarding V's name, well, I don't know latin, but these people seem to:

-us is a noun ending in Latin, but it isn't specifically masculine. Manus is a feminine noun of the 4th declension, and corpus is a neuter noun of the 3rd declension, just to name two.

About the Latin declension debate in regards to determining V's gender:

V's name can't have come from Latin, despite mount Vesuvius being similar. While it may have been borrowed phonetically (sp?), the grammar doesn't coincide- the reoccuring as in V's name clash with the rule about every vowel or dipthong having its own syllable, as 'aa' isn't a dipthong. Violating that grammar rule should invalidate the use of the ending grammar rule as evidence.
Using the "Latin" declensions, Vaarsuvius could be...

- 2nd declension, masculine nominative singular (most common by far)
- 3rd declension, masculine (or possibly feminine) nominative singular (unlikely). Most likely an i-stem, if so.
- 4th declension, masculine or neuter genitive singular, or masculine nominative singular or plural. (Depends if the last "u" is long or short).
- then add in adjective or adverb forms (e.g. "ius" mean be a neuter comparative adjective - thus "Vaarsuvius" would mean something like "more vaarsuvy" - or, as I just learned today, a comparative adverb of any gender - "more vaarsuvily").
Or, let's say "Vaarsuvius" is a male name.
In that case, I really don't get the feeling the elves in the OOTSverse are as concerned about gender as us humans are. I think if they have something they want to name their kid, they're not going to go, "Oh no, that's a male name, we can't name our little girl that." And, some names in our world started off as either entirely male or female, but are now used for the opposite gender or both. Who's to say "Vaarsuvius" isn't one of those names in the OOTSverse?

[Danukian]

I know this well enough but it is just more natural to work with the name "Vaarsuvius" as with something pseudolatin. And even without it, it would be almost impossible to take it for a female name in my language. There is no way a word could end with anything like -us and be a feminine noun even if it is not a latin ending (in fact there is only one such word - "Rus" which means "Russia").
It is nothing but the power of a grammar of a particular language that compels some of us to see V as a male (of course in connection with V's not overly feminine features) while not getting the joke...:/

Female names that end in 'us':

Agnus

Alexius, Alexus

Annus (a tragic name, but still a female name)

Cythereaus

Gracious

Hibiscus

Joyous

Lexus

Lotus

Precious

Venus (Latin feminine incarnate, BTW)


not that I think that it is evidence of V's gender, any more than "The Boy named Sue" or the fact the Disney's "Bambi" was a boy.

[Kaytara]

Eleshar... regarding V's name, well, I don't know latin, but these people seem to:


Or, let's say "Vaarsuvius" is a male name.
In that case, I really don't get the feeling the elves in the OOTSverse are as concerned about gender as us humans are. I think if they have something they want to name their kid, they're not going to go, "Oh no, that's a male name, we can't name our little girl that." And, some names in our world started off as either entirely male or female, but are now used for the opposite gender or both. Who's to say "Vaarsuvius" isn't one of those names in the OOTSverse?

Just what I was going to say. Furthermore, this illustrates the main problem with pretty much all possible V gender arguments. For example, many people feel V is male or female based on V's personality and how they perceive a male or female would act. The thing is, while there are certain tendencies to personality and behaviour, e.g. females are more emphatic, males are often more stubborn and determined, etc. etc., they are still nothing but basic guidelines on what to expect from a gender, with plenty of exceptions.
Therefore, while you could assume that a random nameless feminine-acting elf is likely female, the argument is null and void for an actual character like Vaarsuvius. As a character, V can have as few or as many eccentricities as the author wants the elf to have.

For that reason, arguments like gender, personality and how V acts and talks may be used to justify your opinion, as they're likely the factors that influenced your impression in the first place, but they can never be used as conclusive proof, simply because there's nothing stopping Vaarsuvius from being an exception.


There's something else I've been wondering about. To what extent is Vaarsuvius aware of his own androgyny and why hasn't he ever attempted to correct people when they displayed obvious trouble determining his gender? And there's the incident at the tavern when V didn't realise Roy had become a woman...

I have my own little pet theory. Since sexual identities play such a small role in the long lives of elves, anyway, and they generally consider themselves superior to other races, civilised and sophisticated, maybe the elf society (or even not all of it, but individuals, like Vaarsuvius) considers it demeaning to be judged based on something so irrelevant to their daily lives, rather than their abilities and intellect. Therefore, many elves go out of their way to encourage others to appreciate their intellectual merits, rather than their, ahem, Charisma scores.
I think that kind of pseudo-cultural explanation would suit V rather well, as well as explain why he doesn't seem too keen on resolving the mystery - he wants the others to continue treating him based on respect rather than gender.
Also, considering Lirian's noteworthy assets, it might be probable that this kind of gender-taboo tradition only extends to High Elves. Seeing as they're more intellectual and less down-to-earth than Wood Elves, anyway, that would make sense.

As for the tavern incident, V has shown no trouble determining the gender of strangers... So I do think Vaarsuvius is, if anything, more adept at distinguishing genders, if only because in his race the differences are finer and less easy to spot, while with humans they're usually pretty crude. V not noticing Roy's change could have been just a failed Spot check for something that he doesn't consider relevant, anyway. Besides, Vaarsuvius was already looking for something humorous that go Durkon and Haley laughing, so maybe he DID notice the gender change, but thought the cleaning mop was a more likely cause and commented on that, instead... Besides, V sees Roy every day, all day... Failing to notice a somewhat subtle change like that isn't too different from not noticing that a friend has changed hairstyles, or plucked her eyebrows, or whatever, and who can honestly say it's never happened to them? Being somewhat absent-minded is in-character for someone with a not too high Wisdom score, anyway.

[Calamity]

"Oh ho! In this comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0177.html) Belkar claims that he can't tell what V's gender is, and V is naked. Surely that means that V is androgynous!"

Nooo.... Belkar's lack of knowledge about reptiles doesn't mean anything...



But V is androgynous. That's why this debate gets brought up in the first place. :smallconfused:

[Eleshar]

Many of the posters there misunderstand me. I am not talking about latin (of which I have rather intimate knowledge myself) but about Czech. I am well aware that in latin, -us ending can be 2nd declension (masculine, rarely feminine, genitive -i), 3rd declension (neuter, genitive -eris) or fourth declension (masc./fem., genitive -ús). But in Czech, any word from latin which ends -us is considered a masculine and declined according to the paradigm corresponding to the second declension (words like "genius,-i,m.", even "genus,-eris,n." and "abortus,-us,m." would be all in Czech genitive roughly the same) except those that are feminine (like "methodus,-i,f." which is rendered in Czech as "metoda").

I did not want to start any debate whether the name is male or female (or whether V is male or female), I just wanted to clarify why some of us might be compeled to think it is male. Of course I understand that any info regarding latin or Czech is totally irrelevant to the OOTS world, I only explain that any entity named "Vaarsuvius" is, due to the grammar of the language in which my thoughts are encoded, considered defaultly male. Which possibly is why there have been so many discussions about his gender.

addendum: you see? I can't help but to write "his":smallmad:

[Wreckingrocc]

Wow... This joke has gone way too far. The joke is that male elves are always effeminate, as are the females (look at Lord of the Rings). V is obviously male, it's just that a lot of people are ignorant/have taken the joke too far.

[Whoracle]

[...] or the fact the Disney's "Bambi" was a boy.

Wait... WHAT?!? You're not serious, are you?

[Danukian]

Wait... WHAT?!? You're not serious, are you?

In case you are serious (can't always tell on the net), Yes - Bambi was "the little prince" and in spring, fights another male over a doe. Bambi was a boy with a feminine name.

[Whoracle]

I was serious. And there goes the belief of a lifetime right down the drain.
But thanks anyway ^^ always glad to learn new things.

[Kish]

Wow... This joke has gone way too far. The joke is that male elves are always effeminate, as are the females (look at Lord of the Rings). V is obviously male, it's just that a lot of people are ignorant/have taken the joke too far.

:smallsigh: Like the author.

[Ted The Bug]

Guys, have you never seen the second Futurama movie? There is no more he or she, but shklee. And shklim/shkler. :smalltongue:

I vote 'yes' to this.
Only maybe something like "vlee".

[Kaytara]

I was serious. And there goes the belief of a lifetime right down the drain.
But thanks anyway ^^ always glad to learn new things.

What about the, uh, the antlers? They're a male-only decoration for deer, you know. O.o

[UncleWolf]

I just hope all V's gender threads end up dieing like the Belkar love interest thread *remembers and involuntarily gags*.

[archon_huskie]

Wow... This joke has gone way too far. The joke is that male elves are always effeminate, as are the females (look at Lord of the Rings). V is obviously male, it's just that a lot of people are ignorant/have taken the joke too far.

See the title of the thread.

It's true you know. . .

[Jahkaivah]

I don't know guys his voice sounds awfully masculine (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oY2aerfK9uI&fmt=18) :smalltongue:

[kpenguin]

I don't know guys his voice sounds awfully masculine (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oY2aerfK9uI&fmt=18) :smalltongue:

Damn, I was going to do something like that.

[Jahkaivah]

Damn, I was going to do something like that.

I would say "great minds think alike" to compliment us both, but I always found the expression a little flawed, surely complete dumbasses would think alike as well? :smallconfused:

[chiasaur11]

I would say "great minds think alike" to compliment us both, but I always found the expression a little flawed, surely complete dumbasses would think alike as well? :smallconfused:

Ah, but they do not realize it, so they fight.

While men of genius realize they have the same idea. Therefore, they assume the other guy ripped them off to get the patent. So they fight.

[Laurentio II]

:smallsigh: Like the author.
I agree.

New theory (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90235), anyway. Should be added.

[archon_huskie]

Nope it invalidates the whole thing.

I was right all along. V is female.

That new theory proves it beyond a doubt.

[CasESenSITItiVE]

i think it's worth noting that the OP mentioned that V didn't seem to have periods, because he didn't get the joke. However, she didn't miss a "period" joke, he missed a "time of month" joke. We already know that her bowel movements work at different frequencies, so it's concievable periods would have a different schedule as well.

He therefore wouldn't make the connection between month times and periods.

[MyrddinDerwydd]

Wait... WHAT?!? You're not serious, are you?

How can anyone that's seen the movie miss that Bambi is a boy? Now I'm confused as to how you managed to think that he was a girl....

[Fawkes]

i think it's worth noting that the OP mentioned that V didn't seem to have periods, because he didn't get the joke. However, she didn't miss a "period" joke, he missed a "time of month" joke. We already know that her bowel movements work at different frequencies, so it's concievable periods would have a different schedule as well.

He therefore wouldn't make the connection between month times and periods.

He also didn't recognize that Roy is a woman.

[drengnikrafe]

You forgot the theory where V is actually the MITD after gaining ultimate arcane powers, and then surrending most of his/her intelligence to travel back in time to stop Xykon in the past, but forgetting due to loss of INT. Or, does that count... No, wait, that one was a joke. Nevermind, sorry.

[Laurentio II]

He also didn't recognize that Roy is a woman.
So we know that Vaarsuvius is generically oblivious of non-elvish physiology. The same joke of Celia (all the time), occasionally Sabine ("Ehi, I'm the physical incarnation of illicit sex") and Belkar ("I weight like 30 pounds, mostly the head").
If Vaarsuvius was meant to be an expert of human physiology, we would know. Because he would say every two panels, with great verbosity.