#i honestly think his lack of civilian identity should be a bigger part of his character

[dick-the3rd]

op's tags and yes yes yes

so there exists this popular belief that the main source of conflict between jason and bruce is that jason needs bruce (his dad) and not batman. it is something that i agree with, but i don’t think the fanon reading takes into account how much jason himself is not aware of this dichotomy and conflict of interest (at least in canon.)

i don’t reckon he would personally be able to articulate it, because the main reason the conflict arises is that he can’t draw a line between batman and bruce. bruce is a father to him both as a civilian and in cowl, and let me tell you, this becomes a problem as early as in his robin days. i would even argue it’s what indirectly leads to his death. when bruce benches jason after the garzona fiasco, jay latches onto the idea that he has a biological mother that he can find, who will be a parent to him instead. that is because while he knows (or knew) that he was loved, for him being son to bruce and robin to batman is the same. in his mind, being benched is as good as being thrown out of the family. and it makes sense, because when you read the 80s run, you really see that the way batman treats robin in the field is nothing short of paternal still. he even calls him “jay” when they’re patrolling alone. all the times we see jason and bruce bonding, even if it’s some fun pastime like going to a museum or a baseball match, it’s also a part of some batman investigation. and if you look further back, bruce asked jason if he wanted to be robin even before he took him in, as batman, before even revealing his identity to him.

so it is completely to be expected that for jason, bruce’s responsibilities as a father, as batman, and as a civilian, are all in the same category. and it also explains why jason confronts him about it in mask himself. in jason’s understanding, it’s not that bruce failed as a father because of his commitment to batman. in jason’s pov batman failed as a father, the same as bruce did, because they’re obviously the same person, and if it’s his no kill rule that caused this failure, then for sure the whole philosophy is kinda shitty. cue developing a whole new code that allows you to kill people in order to protect people you care about. (and it goes without saying that jason cares about everyone, the bleeding heart that he is)

going back to the core of the problem, i think that also because of that, realistically, jason wouldn’t want a deal where bruce accepts him “as his father” or “as a civilian” while batman still actively denounces his methods. he needs acceptance from batman as much as he needs it from bruce wayne, because he doesn’t differentiate between them (for a good reason). he doesn’t understand that there’s any tension between bruce as a vigilante and as a parent. and i think it makes it even sadder because he’s not really able to rationalise it as neatly as meta interpretations do. for him all that is happening is his father rejecting him.