ok re: that last reblog about jason and bruce:
i think for bruce the concept and site of family is something deeply sacred. the loss of his parents defines him as a wholly negative and traumatizing thing, it changes the landscape of both his life and gotham as a whole and is something that should never be blasphemed against. and then when he takes dick in after the loss of dicks own parents this only reaffirms his feelings, dick does not become his son the way jason later will; and this is not to say that bruce does not love him like a son, but that their relationship is defined by the fact that dick already HAD a family and bruce will always be a poor replacement. dick becomes robin to avenge his parents. bruce became batman to avenge his parents.
to bruce family is akin to how christians think of heaven, your true family is eternal paradise. it is the aspirational promised land. a key part of his deep bruce angst that we all clown on rooted in this. he will never have his true family, his true happiness. in every dc timeline/universe there is in some way or another a batman, and that batman is created by the mutilation of the wayne family. on some level bruce believes he deserves this and that it must happen (because by the laws of their universe it literally MUST happen or the timeline collapses) and so he tortures himself endlessly over it. this is also why the discovery of damian makes him go a little bit insane and tell the rest of the bats that they’re not his children. only DAMIAN is his flesh and blood true son and they will never compare. bc to bruce that IS the truest definition of family. he will always consider alfred a poor replacement for his own parents. he will always consider himself a poor replacement for dicks.
on the other hand, for jason, family has always been a site of instability and mistrust as much as it has been a site of love and comfort. the mother he loved wasn’t his “real” mother. his “real” father was unstable and terrifying. in some continuities he’s basically a complete unknown. and then his “real” mother got him killed. so even after he returns from the dead and all he does is try to antagonize bruce and dick, of COURSE that’s still his dad. of course that’s still his brother ! if anything this further affirms to jason that they are intrinsically connected, just like his flesh and blood family. they cannot separate themselves from each other because they can never unknow one another, or undo the love and grief they felt for each other. the bruce and dick that exist after jason’s death are fundamentally different from before. dick will never be the same with his future siblings, nor bruce with his future wards. to jason and dick and even talia this is obvious an undeniable. for bruce to act like they are not family is a pathetic denial of reality, but of course what else would his first two sons expect of him anyway.
for jason, family is the people he can’t escape or run from, even if he never speaks to them again. of course bruce is his father, literally no one else has had a greater impact on his life. of course talia is his mother, and dick his brother, and alfred is his family too. when bruce declares jason is not his son, how can jason do anything but laugh ? if only it were that simple. if only he could just cut ties like that and pretend it all never happened. but jason knows it’s not. dick knows it’s not. talia knows it’s not. bruce can deny him until he’s blue in the face, but jason can never let go of his past (of course this is what makes jason the MOST similar to bruce, unlike batgirl or nightwing, batman and the red hood as identities cannot meaningfully be separated from the circumstances that created them, for bruce this is witnessing his parents’ murder and for jason this is being murdered himself and then unceremoniously having to dig himself out of his own grave… but i digress).
jason’s death is one of the load bearing tragedies of the batman mythos, up there with the murders of bruce and dicks parents and the mutilation of harvey dent. the nature of jason’s character is such that he only moves in orbit around it. bruce can pretend that all these other things overshadow it and that because jason “turned his back” on bruce’s teachings and guidance that that is enough to sever the ties between them, but jason knows better. under the red hood was basically irrefutable proof, to jason, that nothing can ever sever the ties between him and bruce; even as bruce takes those same events as jason declaring himself not one of them anymore. and of course bruce can never understand this because everything that drives him would come crashing down. anyway if i don’t cut myself off now this post will be absurdly long but you get it.
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Please let me have this. The concept of Jervis is so good even though his comics aren’t…great…..and writing a Wonderland-loving weirdo as a Wonderland-loving weirdo just sounds fun. So, I guess you’d call this my…
• JERVIS TETCH Headcannons / Interpretation •
• ——— •
Jervis Tetch- or, the Mad Hatter- was a once respected neurologist turned criminal. Unassuming at face value, he creates chaos through his backwards intelligence and hypnotism, molding Gotham to fit his vision of ‘home’.
• ——— •
Jervis was a neurologist, studying the subconscious. He was lonely, with few friends as a result of his social anxiety and awkwardness, but otherwise lived an average life.
This loneliness would bubble up into desperation, driving him to begin his criminal career before he would dawn his alter ego- the result of an unreciprocated crush on his coworker. He’d inconspicuously use hypnotism to make strangers steal gifts to impress her with, the small scale and lack of traceability leaving Jervis guiltless. But eventually his crush would catch on, refusing his gifts and eventually demanding he never talk to her again. In a panic, he would hypnotize a group of bystanders into stealing a large sum of money, which accidentally lead Batman straight to him. Batman would find Tetch begging for the woman to willingly leave Gotham with him, promising anything she wants with the stolen money.
His intelligence and fondness for mind control would land Tetch in Arkham Asylum, which was more than a shock to him. Of course he knew he was risking jail time, but Arkham?? He didn’t think anything he was doing was THAT bad! But now, he was sitting next door to some of the Gotham’s worst villains, amongst their ranks! He could never live a normal life again…. He didn’t want linger on those thoughts, escaping through one of the few distractions he had at his disposal- a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He reread and escaped from the reality of the Asylum so often that it soon became his most important influence and, in addition to acclimating to his criminal status, resulted in the creation of his alter ego- the Mad Hatter.
• ——— •
Jervis is deceptively non-villainous- pleasant, soft-spoken, and chipper. He enjoys “helping” others, and has moments of ditziness and anxiousness. If you had met him on the street unknowingly, you’d likely think he was just a well meaning eccentric with his head a little too far in the clouds. He does, however, have an awful temper, and is also quick to shift blame away from himself.
Many say he isn’t ignorant to this perception, with debates whether or not he knowingly plays up his personality to manipulate others. Generally, the people who know his history don’t typically respect him, but also don’t put down their guard around him. After all, there is no arguing his use of hypnotism and mind control, and the wacky schemes that are difficult to crack because of the nonsense logic that only he finds sense in.
The Mad Hatter has two main goals:
Make Gotham into a Wonderland. Causing general chaos, really. What he means by this isn’t clear (perhaps intentionally) as his schemes can be inconsistent. However, it’s usually with two underlying themes- regaining control, and not being alone.
To kill Batman. Ooooh he wants him dead. Jervis blames Batman for the loss of his old life, and sees this more that anything as a service to the people of Gotham, protecting the “innocent” from having their lives ruined as well.
• — — — •
(Character Concepts / Sketches)
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