Multiple Personalities
Erika Slezak as Victoria’s primary alter ego, Niki Smith, in 1985. Her performance as Niki contributed to her 1986 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
By the final ABC episode, Viki’s six alternate personalities had been integrated with her primary personality. At various times, Viki also impersonated some of her alters, particularly Niki and Jean. In order of their first appearances on One Life to Live, they are:
Niki Smith — Niki first appeared in 1968 and became Viki’s best-known and most frequently recurring alternate personality. Free-spirited, uninhibited and very different from Viki, Niki initially emerged without Viki’s knowledge and developed a life of her own, including a relationship with Vinny Wolek. Niki could also convincingly impersonate Viki when it suited her.
In 1985, Niki resurfaced in a more refined guise as the red-haired Nicole Smith and became involved with Harry O’Neill. During this storyline, Mitch Laurence drugged her as part of a scheme intended to kill Clint and frame Viki/Niki for the crime. Harry arrived instead, and Mitch shot and killed him. The Nicole Smith period presented a notably different side of Niki from the more uninhibited personality viewers had known previously.
Over the years, Niki’s reappearances caused considerable havoc in Viki’s life and relationships. During her 2002 re-emergence, Niki went to particularly dangerous lengths, pushing Viki’s husband, Ben Davidson, from a second-story window at Llanfair and attempting to frame Natalie for the act. Ben survived the fall.
Tommy — a 14-year-old boy who embodied Viki’s anger and rage over the abuse she suffered as a child. Tommy was fiercely protective of Princess, Viki’s frightened seven-year-old alter, and often emerged when that anger needed expression. In 1995, Tommy attacked Dorian, throwing her down a staircase after Dorian confronted Viki with the truth about her childhood abuse.
Jean Randolph — the calm, controlled and emotionally detached “gatekeeper” of Viki’s alternate personalities. Cold and aloof, Jean showed virtually no emotion and disliked being touched. Her glasses and reserved manner further distinguished her from Viki. As gatekeeper, Jean’s primary purpose was to protect Victoria, maintaining control over the other alters and the painful memories they represented. Her name was derived from Viki’s mother, Eugenia Randolph Lord.
In 1995, Jean took control for an extended period and methodically intervened in Viki’s family life. She manipulated David Vickers into divorcing Tina, protected Joey from Dorian by imprisoning Dorian in a secret room at Llanfair, and later forced Dorian to marry David. Throughout this period, Jean remained characteristically calm and unemotional, believing her actions were necessary to protect Viki and her family.
Princess — Viki’s frightened seven-year-old alter, who carried the memories and trauma of the childhood sexual abuse inflicted by her father, Victor Lord. Princess endured what Viki could not consciously face and remained trapped in the fear and pain of those experiences. Vulnerable and childlike, she was protected by Tommy, the angry 14-year-old alter who expressed the rage that Princess could not.
Tori Lord — a vengeful young alter who embodied Viki’s rage toward her father, Victor Lord. Her name, Tori, was derived from Victoria. Tori sought to destroy what Victor had built and was eventually revealed as the alter who had attacked Victor in 1976, an act Viki had no conscious memory of committing. In 1995, Tori set Llanfair on fire, believing the house to be empty. When she discovered Jessica trapped inside, Viki re-emerged long enough to rescue her daughter from the blaze.
Victor Lord — the most disturbing of Viki’s alters, representing the image of her abusive father within her own psyche. Unlike the other personalities, Victor emerged only briefly in 1995, after Viki had begun confronting the truth about her childhood abuse. His presence terrified Viki because he embodied the father whose actions had caused the trauma underlying her alternate personalities. During one of Victor’s appearances, Viki attempted to take her own life in an effort to rid herself of him. She was rescued before the attempt proved fatal.
