#but just so you know im an al ghul stannie

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Warped

I really wish we could talk more about how the Rogues Gallery are all just people. Not in the Superman way, where there are only a few metas and therefore should have been taken out by the gun of an average Gothamite years ago... but in the Batman way, where you have to sympathize with them because they’re not monsters.

They’re unabashedly human, just in the worst ways.

There are the ones that have the stereotypical villainous motivations.

Oswald Cobblepot’s greed.

Edward Nygma’s pride.

They’re all pretty standard for villains, but they’re all things we experience from time to time. And besides...

Isn’t greed just fear that has been given a purpose - a goal?

Isn’t pride all about knowing your worth, your skills and strengths, and wanting to prove it to others?

And the others? They’re all simply people that go too far, who are the warped versions of otherwise good things. And doesn’t just that make them more tragic?

Some of them are driven by values.

Pamela Isley and loves the environment. Humans are ruining the world with their misdeeds. A few people in power create a large part of the world’s problems. It stands to reason that, if she wants to help out the Earth, these people need to stop. So, she makes them stop. One way or another.

Harvey Dent craves justice. Before his mental illness took over and he was becoming lucid less and less, he was all about justice. He still is, in his own way. Harvey Dent wants people to pay for their crimes, wants people to face consequences for their misdeeds. In a place like Gotham, justice is hardly ever served, so he takes it upon himself. He chooses to embody the justice that Gotham lacks. We all know justice is blind. And, if he’s blind, how is he supposed to see when he’s going too far?

And the ones who are based around their emotions.

Victor Fries sees his wife, the woman he loves, in pain and it’s ultimately the preemptive grief he feels over losing her that drives him to keep doing heinous act after heinous act. Can you even guarantee you wouldn’t do the same in the same situation? People say it all the time, after all. They would do anything for the person they love. Can you really blame him for actually going through with it?

Jason Todd is all about weaponizing his trauma. He was murdered, and then he came back. And the man who murdered him? He’s still alive - no, even worse, he’s still laughing. Could you imagine seeing the person who killed you every day on TV? To watch them hurt even more people? Joker has been killing people for years, will continue to kill people for years to come. And Jason wants it to stop. It should have ended with him. He had lived on the street, where an eye for an eye is one of the few things people agree on. And yet his dad, the only person with the ability to kill Joker, still refuses to do so. Jason wonders if his death meant anything - if his life had meant anything. No, he realizes, because Bruce refuses to acknowledge it. So, Jason resolves to force Bruce to acknowledge that the boy he used to know and love is long gone.

Then there are the ones that are driven by traits that would otherwise be seen as good.

Harleen Quinzel wants to help. Joker plays the role of a siren, hand out and begging for the help she wants so desperately to give him. But he keeps backing up just before she can reach him, luring her further and further away, and she can’t seem to see that the teeth in that ever-present smile of his are far too sharp to be human until it’s too late. And she’s already gone this far, hasn’t she? If she gave up now, all that work she did would be useless. No one else will help him, and it’s her literal job to do so. Maybe if she goes just a little further...

Jonathan Crane is curious. He’s infatuated with knowledge, he loves learning about things that interest him. And humans? God, humans are so interesting. He researches psychology and chemistry, he wonders how humans work and he does everything within his power to learn everything there is to know about them. But what he learns in those classes isn’t enough for him. What drives them, he wants to know. And fear, he realizes, reveals. People tend to lie, and lies make for bad data. But fear? People show their true selves when they’re terrified. And he wants to know... so, he does everything within his power to learn everything there is to know.

Many of the issues the Rogues present aren’t complex. Murder is bad, what they’re doing is distinctly wrong. But the point of them isn’t to be morally grey, it’s to make you question yourself.

Given time, resources, and proper motivations... couldn’t you end up the same way?