What Happens to V at the End of Cyberpunk 2077?

What happens to V at the end of Cyberpunk 2077 depends on one choice on the roof of Misty's Esoterica, but in every base-game ending where V keeps their body, the news is the same: the Relic has done damage that can't be undone, and V has about six months to live. V can join Arasaka, leave with the nomads, become a legend, hand the body to Johnny, or end it on the roof. Only Phantom Liberty's The Tower actually saves V's life. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Why V is dying in the first place#

After the Konpeki Plaza heist, V carries the Relic, an Arasaka chip holding Johnny Silverhand's engram. It saved V's life after Dexter DeShawn's bullet, but it keeps rewriting V's brain to fit Johnny. At the end, in Mikoshi, Alt Cunningham tells V the hard truth: the damage has gone too far, and V has about six months left in any outcome that keeps V's mind in V's body. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The rooftop scene in Nocturne Op55N1 decides who V trusts to get them into Mikoshi, and which options appear depends on side jobs done earlier. (Cyberpunk 2077, "Nocturne Op55N1")

The Devil: V sides with Arasaka#

V calls Hanako Arasaka, helps expose Yorinobu and fights Adam Smasher. V wakes on an Arasaka orbital station, where Johnny is removed and doctors confirm the damage is permanent. Arasaka offers a contract: sign and become an engram stored in Mikoshi with a vague promise of a body one day, or refuse and fly home to live out the months. It's the bleakest of the main endings. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The Star: V leaves with the Aldecaldos#

V calls Panam, and the Aldecaldos help break into Arasaka Tower. In Mikoshi V takes the body back, and Johnny goes with Alt across the Blackwall. V leaves Night City with the nomads through an old tunnel, still dying but with a family around them. Most players find it the most hopeful base-game ending. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The Sun: V becomes a legend#

Johnny takes control of V's body and leads the raid with Rogue, who dies fighting Smasher. In Mikoshi V returns to their body. Some time later V is the most famous merc in Night City and owns the Afterlife, and the ending closes with V taking a job from Mr Blue Eyes: a heist on Crystal Palace, a casino station in orbit. (Cyberpunk 2077)

Temperance: V gives Johnny the body#

From Panam's, Rogue's or the secret route, V can choose in Mikoshi to let Johnny keep the body. V crosses the Blackwall with Alt, and Johnny wakes in V's body, says goodbye to V's friends and leaves Night City to start over. V's mind doesn't come back. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The secret ending and the suicide ending#

If V and Johnny are close enough after Chippin' In, waiting on the roof makes Johnny suggest storming the tower alone. If V dies along the way, the credits play as if V killed themselves. If V reaches Mikoshi, it ends as The Sun or Temperance, and in this version of The Sun, Rogue survives. (Cyberpunk 2077, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper")

The first option on the roof is to put it all to rest. V decides every plan gets someone killed, Johnny accepts it, and a gunshot rings out over the city. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The Tower: V survives#

In Phantom Liberty, if V handed Songbird over to Solomon Reed, Reed offers a cure. NUSA doctors remove the Relic, and Johnny goes with it. V wakes in 2079 from a two-year coma, alive but with a brain that can no longer handle cyberware. V's friends have moved on, and V walks back into Night City as an ordinary person. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Which one is real?#

All of them, depending on how you played. The game doesn't pick one, and the outcome is the player's choice. How to reach each ending, and what each one means, is on the Cyberpunk 2077 endings explained page. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)