Imperator Furiosa

“	Out here, everything hurts...	”
– Imperator Furiosa

Furiosa, also known as Praetorian Furiosa or Imperator Furiosa, is the central protagonist of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and a co-protagonist of Mad Max: Fury Road. She was kidnapped into slavery at the age of 10 and traded into the hands of the Immortan Joe where she adapted took on revenge on both her kidnapper - Dementus and her oppressor, Immortan Joe.

Etymology

During the earliest stages of the writing process, George Miller proposed two names for the movie: Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Max: Furiosa. Brendan McCarthy immediately picked "Fury Road" and it became the title of the movie, however it was not decided what to do with the name "Furiosa". At first, "Furiosa" was the proposed name for the area surrounding the Fury Road. That name, however slowly drifted away from that and would not attach itself to anything. Eventually it became the name of the main female lead in the movie, changing it from "The Praetorian", "Warrior Woman" and "The Imperator".^[1] Furiosa was later used as the title for a prequel film "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" that focused on her character.

Biography

Early childhood and kidnap

Furiosa Green Place Apple — Furiosa with a peach in the Green Place

Furiosa was born in a fertile land known as the Green Place. A daughter of Mary Jabassa, she is one of the Vuvalini of Many Mothers. She was taught how to read by the many mothers.^[2] Her initiating Mother was K.T. Concannon and her clan was Swaddle Dog. She was kidnapped from the Green Place by Toe Jam and other members of Dementus's Biker Horde at least 7000 days (around 20 years) prior to meeting the Vuvalini again.

Furiosa attempted to fight back and was tracked by Mary to Dementus's headquarters. Upon arrival at the headquarters, she attacked and severely injured Toe Jam, who pleaded to speak with Dementus, stating that Furiosa had come from a place of abundance. Dementus's lieutenant Rizzdale Pell took possession of Furiosa, claiming the credit for himself and repeating Toe Jam's statement of Furiosa having come from a land of plenty. Dementus attempted to get the location of the Green Place out of her personally, but Furiosa refused to speak.

That night, Mary arrived to rescue Furiosa. She killed a couple of Dementus's men, but spared the life of a woman claiming to be a mother as well. However, upon their escape, she immediately betrayed them, reporting the news to Dementus. Mary escaped with Furiosa on a motorcycle, but Dementus's group gave chase. As it became clear that they could not both escape, Mary ordered Furiosa to leave and return to the Green Place. She gave her a peach seed and direction on how to return home.

Though Furiosa initially obliged, she turned back, unable to bear being separated from her mother. Thus, the both of them were captured by Dementus and his gangs. Dementus tied Mary to a cross. He restrained Furiosa and forced her to watch her mother's brutal torture and murder.

Traded away

Furiosa with Teddy Bear — Furiosa holding Dementus's teddy bear

Following the slaughter of her mother, Dementus kept Furiosa close to him at all times, chained up and inside a cage. At one point, he gave her a teddy bear belonging to him, an old family heirloom. In constant search of the place of abundance, he eventually found himself led to the Citadel controlled by Immortan Joe. Furiosa was present as he demanded to throw down their leaders, but he was easily rebuffed by Joe and his War Boys.

Not deterred by his initial failure, Dementus came up with a new plan. He took over Gas Town. And presented himself in front of the Immortan with a list of demands, which - if not met - would result in the destruction of Gas Town.

He brought Furiosa along for the negotiations, which sparked Immortan's interest as he was looking for girls for his harem. He blatantly lied about her being his daughter, but upon questioning by the Immortan, Furiosa herself came forward and revealed Dementus killed her mother and she was not his daughter. Joe agreed to a portion of Dementus' demands and took possession of Furiosa and the Organic Mechanic as part of the deal. Before leaving, Dementus angrily took back the teddy bear that he had given Furiosa.

Escape and hiding.

Furiosa on War Rig — Furiosa in action aboard the War Rig

Furiosa entered the harem of Immortan Joe's Wives with the intention of raising her as one. After some time she decided to escape by secretly cutting her hair and creating a wig. She was snatched by Rictus Erectus one night and escaped by drawing Rictus' attention to her wig. Once free, she covered her face in tar and assimilated herself into the working class of The Citadel, pretending to be a boy.

She eventually found herself part of a team working on a War Rig that was to be driven by Praetorian Jack. Following the creation of the War Rig, Furiosa joins the service team for the vehicle. They find themselves under attack by a team led by the Octoboss, a former lieutenant of Dementus who has since gone rogue. He and his team repeatedly assault the War Rig using motorcycles with fans and parachute-rigs, allowing them to do battle from the sky. Furiosa, having grown up, but still disguised as a man, repeatedly runs interference, helping to keep the War Rig going, while also fighting back against the Octoboss's forces. Ultimately, she and Praetorian Jack succeed in fighting them all off, but are the only ones left alive in the assault. Furiosa then attempts to seize control of the War Rig from Praetorian Jack, only for him to toss her off, abandoning her to the Wasteland.

Although Praetorian Jack was ready to drive away, he returned to Furiosa, telling her that wherever she thought she was going did not exist. He told her that he had lost his convoy and his crew, but as he was driving off to start again, he thought that he ought to start with her. He told her that she had good vision, that she had kept her head and had a "purposeful savagery" about her. He offered to teach her everything that she would need to know to get wherever it was she was trying to go.

Battle against Dementus

Furiosa Under Fire — Furiosa during the battle against Dementus at the Bullet Farm

Following this, Furiosa served a number of runs on the War Rig with Jack. One day, the two paid a visit to Gas Town for a fillup, but found the place in chaos, Dementus's control slipping and supplies barely existent. The two of them barely escaped, then returned to Immortan Joe to report this news. He ordered the two of them to go to the Bullet Farm and load up on ordnance in order to take back Gas Town from Dementus.

Upon arrival at the Bullet Farm, however, the two found themselves in a fight for their lives, Dementus and his forces in the process of taking the village. Praetorian Jack enacted a plan where he was ride into the Bullet Farm using the War Rig, with Furiosa trailing behind in the Valiant. In the ensuing battle, Furiosa took up a sniper position and attempted to take out Dementus from a distance, but missed. Meanwhile, everyone aboard the War Rig except Praetorian Jack was killed. Furiosa then entered the fray and rescued Jack, but the remains of the War Rig fell over the edge of the road and were destroyed.

Praetorian Jack and Furiosa attempted to flee in the Valiant, but were pursued by Dementus in a monster truck. They intended to head east for three days, eventually seeking out Furiosa's Green Place, but Dementus and his forces succeeded in catching up to them. In the ensuing battle, Furiosa's left arm was crushed between the window frame of the Valiant and Dementus's monster truck, the injury further aggravated when Dementus flips the vehicle. Dementus and his men succeeded in capturing Praetorian Jack, Dementus ordering him to be chained up to one of his force's motorbikes, so that he can be dragged along and tortured.

Dementus captured Furiosa as well, chaining her by her left arm. He then forced her to watch what was happening to Praetorian Jack in a similar manner that he had forced her to watch her mother's murder, though not realizing that the woman he had was the same one he had tortured psychologically so long ago. He shouted, asking where the two of them had been going, so full of hope, when there was no hope for any of them. However, his pension for theatrics once again proved his downfall, as while he and his forces were distracted, Furiosa ripped away what was left of her arm, allowing her to escape.

The darkest of angels

Vengeful Furiosa — Furiosa stares down at Dementus, ready to extract her vengeance

Furiosa returned to the Citadel. There, she declared herself as "Praetorian Furiosa" and got treatment for the stump of her arm, maggots used to prevent the flesh from becoming infected in the absence of actual medicine. She then fashioned herself a new, mechanical arm to take the place of the arm that served as her only remaining link to the Green Place. She told Immortan Joe regarding Dementus that "if you find him, he's mine" and Immortan Joe began the Forty-Day Wasteland War against Dementus and his forces.

Her rage fueled by her grief over everything that she had lost, Furiosa sought a vehicle in order to hunt down and take her revenge against Dementus. By this point, Dementus's forces had been whittled down to only himself and a small handful of his most loyal and hardy followers. Although there seemed to be little left, one of Immortan Joe's men told her that he did, in fact, have a vehicle. Although it was old and beaten, Furiosa and a committed group of helpers were able to cannibalize to form a new vehicle, the "Cranky Black". As Furiosa rode off in it, one of them asked just who she was and the History Man, a defector from Dementus's Biker Horde, declared her to be "the darkest of angels" and "the fifth rider of the apocalypse."

Riding out into the Wasteland, Furiosa succeeded in tracking down and capturing Dementus. As she looked down upon him, asking if he remembered her, he described her as having crawled out of a pitiless grave deeper than hell. He stated that there was only one thing that would do that and that it was not hope, but hate. He argued that there was no shame in it, that it was one of the great forces of nature. It was clear, however, that while Dementus recognized her as the woman he had forced to watch Praetorian Jack's torture, he did not recognize her as the young girl whose mother he had killed as a child, before making a prisoner of her. She asked if he remembered, saying that her mother was magnificent and that she wanted both her childhood and her mother back. She beats him severely.

Dementus told Furiosa that he felt exactly the same way she did. He told her that his own family had been taken from him unjustly. He told her that he was right there with her, crying out for revenge. He told her that she should go around the back, so that she could shoot him and that he wouldn't know the precise moment of his execution. He continued that even if he was dead, it couldn't balance what she had lost, that nothing could balance the scales. As she hit him, he told her that she would never get what she wanted. He passed out from the pain and from the earlier beating.

Upon coming to, Dementus finally recognized her as the girl he had taken prisoner as a child, calling her "Little D." He told her that he had been waiting for someone worthy of him and that she had become him. She protested that she was nothing like him, but he told her that she was and that she was already dead. He said that they were both already dead and that the question was if she had it in her to make it epic.

The History Man explained that there were conflicting accounts regarding how Furiosa had ended Dementus's life, the simplest being that she had simply shot him after he had talked himself out. Others, however, preferred a more fitting end. They therefore spread tales that she had ended him in other ways, such as chaining him up in the way he had done her mother, or torturing him the way his men tortured Praetorian Jack -- "righteous perversities and witty mutilations." He, however, was told by her that she had taken his body deep into the Citadel. There, in the hydroponic gardens, she used the peach tree seed given to her by her mother and planted it within Dementus's body, maggots feeding upon his necrotic flesh.

Serving Immortan Joe

Following her defeat of Dementus, Furiosa would continue to improve her skills. She eventually became Immortan Joe's finest warrior, rising from the rank of Praetorian to that of Imperator. She was the only woman among the military ranks of Immortan Joe's army. Her nickname was "Bag of Nails" ^[3]. Furiosa was ordered by Immortan to protect the five wives from Rictus Erectus and his hot temperament. At first she never engaged with the women, even after witnessing the rapes and medical procedures performed on the Five Wives. One night Furiosa noticed Splendid attempting to perform self-abortion but she stopped her, furious about the fact the Five Wives could not appreciate the luxurious life that they had.

Furiosa started to slowly bond with the women, but at the same time keeping her distance. She wouldn't confirm or deny that she was one of Immortan's Wives, or reveal how she lost her arm. She did, however, briefly explain where she came from and what happened to her mother.

Change of heart

After weeks spent protecting the Five Wives, Furiosa started to become protective of them, especially after Organic Mechanic called them for a routine medical procedure and to act as entertainment for Immortan Joe, which resulted in the Dag's rape and her pregnancy. Furiosa explained to the Five Wives that she can take them to the Green Place even though she was not sure if it still existed. Right after revealing that, she was relieved of her duty as The Five Wives' protector and was given a new War Rig. She was then presumably performing routine supply runs to Gas Town and the Bullet Farm until one night she appeared again in the Bio Dome and ordered The Five Wives to go with her. She hid the women in the tanker of the War Rig and left Miss Giddy in the Bio Dome vault with a shotgun, as she was too weak to survive the journey.

Escape

The next morning The War Rig was prepared for another supply run to Gas Town and the Bullet Farm, to trade water, milk & produce for gas and bullets. While driving on The Last Road aka "Fury Road", Furiosa went off course in order to return to the Green Place. Unfortunately, after meeting the Vuvalini she learns that The Green Place does not exist any more (as it's contaminated, thus making it uninhabitable), and she's forced to find another solution with help of Max Rockatansky. After being critically injured during a road war with Immortan Joe's War Boys, she is given a blood transfusion by Max. Upon her return to the Citadel, she is praised by the people and is lifted up. She makes one last glance of acknowledgement to Max before he disappears into the crowd.

Appearance

Furiosa sports a buzz cut with her forehead often smeared with grease in a fashion similar to other Imperators, and a small number of War Boys. She is missing her left forearm, but it is substituted by a mechanical prosthetic consisting of various parts.^[4] Prior to cutting it, she has a head full of long, flowing red hair.

Blouse

Natural-colored/light tan scoop-neck made of scraps. Tiny French sleeve on the right. Left sleeve is longer. A bunched-up, bandage look around the bustline. The blouse appears to to be made from a pilled cotton knit.

Due to the similarities of the fabric of the blouse to the clothing worn by the Five Wives, some have loosely speculated that her blouse is a remnant from her days as a breeder.^[5]

Girdle

A dark brown, form-fit layer from the underbust to the hips. Laced in the rear. Possibly leather. Possibly a layer of fabric showing through at the top

Belts

Three assorted leather belts cover the waist, and have attachments for the shoulder pad. An additional brown leather belt sits on the hips and carries two leather pouches, as well as a hanging emblem on the front. The emblem has assorted chains hanging from it.

Trousers

Fabric trousers reminiscent of horse riding trousers. There may be some stretch leather panels on them. There are slits bordered with stitching all over the outer panels of the trousers. Interesting stitch patterns on the seams.

Boots

Black modern motorcycle boots. The tops of the boots are obscured by a wide anklet cuff on the left leg, and a zippered half-chap or gaiter on the right leg.

Shoulder Pad

The pad has what appears to be a plastic plate (perhaps from an old motocross roost protector), and a guilted soft padding underneath. The plate appears to have a tiny motor, pull-start handle, and hoses attached (ostensibly to run the prostethic arm). There are also a number of brown leather straps running from the pad to various points on the 3 belts and the prosthetis. Pieces of bicycle inner tube are used in the belts for elasticity. The soft padding appears to be covered in a basic natural-color utility cotton fabric, and is likely filled with cotton batting. It has the appearance of vintage sports protective gear.

Trivia

FURIOSA_-_A_MAD_MAX_SAGA_-_Darkest_Angel_Featurette — FURIOSA - A MAD MAX SAGA - Darkest Angel Featurette

Furiosa's initiating mother was K.T. Concannon. The name Concannon appears in the original script for Mad Max and it belongs to a rookie MFP officer who apprehanded the Nightrider. "Eighteen hours ago he goes berserk down in Sun city. A probie name of Concannon picks him up..."