Visitors (V Science Fiction Franchise) - The Leader

The Leader (or commonly referred to by the Visitors as "Our Great Leader") is the head of a military dictatorship that controls the population on Sirius 4 and controls every resource and ship-of-the-line in the entire Sirian Fleet through his ministers. The Leader was constantly mentioned, but never seen, in the series, except when he manifested as a purple glow in the series final episode.

Note, the following information was gleaned from the 2 fan made technical information manuals, and is not based on any information released by the studio, writers, producers, or by Kenneth Johnson, V's creator. Hence, it is not "canon"

Early in the Leader's military career, he was regarded as a military genius and quickly rose through the ranks, then the Visitors suffered a massive defeat in an interplanetary war with an unnamed alien superpower that resulted in the destruction of several Visitor colony worlds. This was the only defeat he ever suffered and he vowed he would have his vengeance. He then left the military and joined the political sector of their society.

His rise to power began when Sirius 4 experienced several extreme environmental and economic disasters (both natural and visitor-made) which left the planet critically short of food and water. He constantly blamed the weakness of their civilian leaders for lack of relief in the crisis and for their defeats in the war the Visitors were engaged in and used the populations' frustration at their current leaders to expand his powerbase. When the environmental and economic problems became critical, the Leader launched his coup and overthrew the original republic-based government and replaced it with a more military-favorable one.

With the entire military at his command; he began his war of revenge on the Visitors' enemy, but his resources began to dwindle. His science officers discovered the planet Earth 8.7 light years away, which contained an abundance of resources. He planned to steal every drop of water (leaving the planet a wasteland) and humans themselves for food and cannon fodder in the war. He sent a total of 50 Motherships, led by Supreme Commander John and his personal envoy Diana, to conquer and complete the mission.

The Leader was "most disturbed" by the defeat of the military force sent to Earth following the Red Dust's deployment, but with so few remaining resources left in his war machine he knew Earth was too valuable to abandon and he authorized Fleet Security Officer Lydia to lead another fleet back to Earth to recommence harvesting operations. He decided to keep a close watch on the invasion's progress, and sent several key military figures to Earth to assist in the invasion. This resulted in Charles' death and Inspector General Philip's defection to the Fifth Column (he remained unaware of the latter).

The Leader finally decided to personally come to Earth and declare peace, And to take Elizabeth as his mate, the reasons behind his reasoning were never explained or explored in the episode,only the script for the unproduced episode, "The Attack" does so, whether this script is to be considered canon is much debated by fans.

It is also notable that in the original miniseries, the Final Battle, and The Series, the Leader is often referred to as a man. However, in The Second Generation, it is revealed that The Leader is a woman.