#They are a centuries old cult that literally controls almost everything in Gotham???

[bluegarners]

So I got an ask the other day about my thoughts on the Court of Owls; I gave my general  opinion, but in this post, I’d like to dive into what I actually know about them

The Court of Owls

"Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time,

Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.

They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed.

Speak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."

So the Court we know has existed since colonial times and is pretty much a secret society/crime group that resides in the corners of Gotham City. The Court first appeared in Batman V.2 #3, back in 2011. The Court is composed of some of Gotham’s oldest and wealthiest families that use the Talons as assassins (I’ll make another post about them) for political influence and other gains and means. The members are all human (the so called “Owls”) and wear an owl mask to conceal their identities; the mask doesn’t look much like an owl though. It looks more like a smooth, white, porcelain mask with some slits for eyes

However, the rest of the Court is speculated to be mutant human-owl hybrids with long claws, owl-like distorted faces, and owl-like eating habits. I’m not sure what the mutants role is, but I believe they are experiments gone wrong that the Court just hasn’t killed off yet.

The Court’s origin of operations is Gotham City, but they’ve expanded internationally, where they call themselves the Parliament of Owls (this is explored in the Robin Wars storyline) or the Tribe of Judas (the Court is an extension from this religious cult, but that's a whole other can of worms). Not much else is said about the Parliament of Owls, but it can be assumed they do the same things as Gotham’s Court, but on a more worldly scale. For those who do not know, a group of owls is called a parliament, so this suggests that there are more “groups” of Owls stationed across the globe other than the ones just in Gotham, hence the Parliament.

DC Rebirth Nightwing Series

The Court is led by a Judge of Owls, the overarching leader. They wear a bloodstained owl mask, unlike the clean white masks the rest of the court wears, and garb themselves in a dark cloak to cover their head. Not much is known about the Judge, as there doesn’t seem to be specific criteria that needs to be met for one to be the Judge (taking into account that the Judge of Owls was a woman in the Batman vs. Robin the animated movie, but they also called her the “Grandmaster” instead soooo)

Doomsday Clock #6, 2018

So, because everything must always connect back to Batman/Bruce Wayne,  many of the Court's bases are in hidden rooms in every building established by the Alan Wayne Trust (Bruce’s great-grandfather), supposedly all located on the thirteenth floors. Hilariously enough, Bruce didn’t believe in the Court of Owls for a long time, as his investigations initially did not prove their existence in Gotham. Previously, he had investigated them because he believed they had something to do with his parents' murder. That line of thinking came from a young and traumatized Bruce Wayne, as he believed it didn't make sense for his parents' to have been murdered over some pearls and loose change; he thought there had to be a greater conspiracy than a mugger named Joe Chill with a gun. At some point, young Bruce had asked his father about the Court of Owls but had been denied a true answer; just like when Bruce had needed a sign to become Batman (a bat flew by his window), young Bruce had found an owl nest in his attic, which he proceeded to destroy and kill the owls in it, and thus began his investigation into the Court of Owls and his conclusion that they did not exist.

I always laugh at this panel because Bruce is so darn sure that he knows everything that goes on in Gotham and that there is no legend or myth he doesn’t know about, going on to say that his own work is proof enough that the Court of Owls doesn’t exist because he couldn’t find them. But then we get this great and ominous quote from Dick (who actually plays a larger role in all of this)

“Look, Bruce. No one knows Gotham better than you. It's your city. It's Batman's city... But it's also nearly four hundred years old. Which means over the years, maybe it belonged to something else, too. Something big. Something dark.”- Dick Grayson, Batman V.2 #4, The Court of Owls, Part 4: Face the Court

All you really need to know about that series is that Bruce didn’t believe in them, then almost got assassinated by a Talon and thus fought the Court. He didn’t defeat them, as defeating them would mean having to dismantle everything, but he fought them. Bruce, I suppose, is a more “seeing is believing” type of guy; won’t believe in a deadly court until they send someone to kill him lol

The last thing about the Court specifically, which I feel like is the most focused upon thing in fannon/fanfiction, is the labyrinth. There is an underground labyrinth that contains a drugged fountain, and it is where victims are trapped before they are killed. In the maze, the stories of all their victims are told, eventually leading the victim to their own room where they are killed by a Court Talon. This was heavily focused on when Batman was captured by the Court, where he was forced to spend a week in the labyrinth without food or water, his only source for sustenance being the drugged fountain.

The point of sending a victim into the massive underground maze is to degrade their minds to the point of hallucinations, of which Batman suffered from and at one point saw his parents, slowly going insane. This also weakens the body, making an easier kill for the Talon or an easier persuasion by the Court to join their ranks as an Owl or as a Talon to work for them. It is here in the labyrinth that the bodies of Talons, past and current, are stored, residing in these coffin-like structures with their pictures placed on top (most are pictures of children).

Now, unfortunately, in Batman V.2 #5, Bruce is drugged out of his mind and hallucinates frequently, so not everything he sees can be proven true; for instance, there’s a floating boat with an owl as its ships’ figurehead, and he punches the head of it off in anger. Bruce also talks to himself, though it can be assumed the voice in his head is someone specific, so it just lends to the narrative of how manipulative the Court is. Other than the coffin room, there is also a room where pictures of all the Court’s victims are laid out, showing how they broke down over time and became more and more insane until Talon was sent to kill them.

There’s also a room showing all the names of every person who has ever been involved with the Court, be it the victims/Talons, the members, or enemies they’ve killed. Along with these names are models of Gotham, little buildings, roads, and city maps built as smaller structures.

Batman V.2 #5

I'll make a post detailing more about Talons (uber cool but sad assassins), but this is pretty much all I know about the Court

The Court is such as cool concept, and I'm excited they're getting more attention! I feel like what they do is undervalued/underestimated considering that they've existed for centuries and are composed of almost every major elite and wealthy person in Gotham