In Analysis - Survival

    When not trying to escape the village, which to be perfectly honest wasn't all that often, our Number 6 was occupied in ensuring his survival, retaining his individuality and hampering the village authorities in any shape or form he could and at any given opportunity as during ‘The General.’ As well as coming to the aid of damsels in distress as with Monique-Number 50 in ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ aiding Alison-Number 24 during The Schizoid Man with her mind reading act and avenging the death of Number 73 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’

    Number 6 had to survive all the 15 tests put to him, and having survived the "ultimate test" of ‘Once Upon a Time’ Number 6 then went on to be no longer referred to as No.6 or indeed any number at all, having vindicated the right of the individual to be individual, and finally to meet Number 1 during ‘Fall Out.’

    But before all that could happen Number 6 had to fight to retain the individuality which the village authorities wanted to strip from him. However, more than that, Number 6 also had to fight to maintain the secret of his resignation as Number 2 in ‘Arrival’ "They want to know why you suddenly resigned," The Chimes of Big Ben "I resigned because for a very long time.....," ‘A B & C,’ ‘The Schizoid Man,’ ‘A Change of Mind’ "The trivia, the trivia of your resignation!" ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ "You'd think he might give something away!" and ‘Once Upon a Time’ "Tell me boy, why did you resign?" At other times "they" tried to break Number 6, as in Free for All,’ ‘The Schizoid Man,’ ‘Dance of the Dead’ {although here Number 2 tried to win Number 6 over}, Hammer Into Anvil, and ‘Living In Harmony.’ But during ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ it was simply a question of survival, of being able to have Number 6's mind reunited with that of his body back in the village!

    But the Prisoner-Number 6 may have won through in the end, however he was still a Prisoner and never escaped the village. Oh he returned to London alright, as did the ex-No.2 and the Butler along with his new master. But what did the Prisoner do, he jumped straight back into his Lotus 7 and drove off just for it all to begin all over again in some kind of vicious circle! Cue dark clouds.....cue thunder.....cue music.......

    It has been a theory of some, that Number 6 was not Number 1 at all, Number 1 actually being the person of the Butler! How some fans arrived at such a conclusion is because upon their arrival back in London and more back home at Number 1 Buckingham Place, Westminster, it is the Butler who enters the house, as the front door opens electronically with that oh so ever familiar hum, and just because the front door has the No.1 upon it......... well you know what peoples imaginations are like.

     On the whole it might appear that the Prisoner-Number 6 was continually trying to escape the village, he wasn't, nor were the village authorities hard on Number 6 in the extreme, as in the case of Roland Walter Dutton during ‘Dance of the Dead,’ Number 8-the white Queen in checkmate, or the rook-Number 58 or worse, the "Lobo" man in A Change of Mind and other such poor souls in the hospital. No real harm was brought upon Number 6, "We mustn't damage the tissue!" "This man has a future with us!" Although at times Number 2 did want to go further, not caring if Number 6 had a future here in the village or not! During ‘A B & C’ Number 2 wanted to gain the reason for Number 6's resignation, believing he was going to sell out, even if it cost Number 6 his life, and if it did Number 2 would worry about that later! And in Free for All "Will you never learn... this is only the beginning..... We have many ways and means but we don't wish to damage you permanently.... Are you ready to talk?" Number 2 of ‘The Schizoid Man’ wanted to see Number 6 break, also in Living In Harmony if only broken in his mind. And the sadistic side of Number 2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ was going to "hammer" Number 6! But it wasn't just Number 2, the doctor-Number 22 of ‘Checkmate’ would have enjoyed, I'm sure, finding Number 6's breaking point, and also that of her predecessor the doctor-Number 40 "Everyman has his breaking point!"

    I can only add that if the matter of the Prisoners resignation was so important to the village authorities, why didn't they simply use a truth drug on Number6, or simply obtain his letter of resignation which he handed in so forcibly and with much anger?

Be seeing you