#like telltale joker is very different from dark knight joker

[sapphic-storm69]

Clowns are so versatile

[about-faces]

Hi, I want to read some DC comics about how Harvey transformed from former DA to the criminal mastermind who ruled half of Gotham's Underworld (against the Penguin). I've already read/seen: Two-Face: A Celebration of 75 Years Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: Dark Victory (1999) Batman '89 Batman: The Animated Series Batman: The Audio Adventures

Any other reading recommendations? Thanks a lot for your help. :)

So you're looking for origin stories, or at least ones that shed more light on Two-Face's origin? Well first off, I'm glad you read the 75th Anniversary collection, because that has three of my very favorites: the original Harvey Kent trilogy from 1942-43, the Grace Dent story from Secret Origins Special (1989), and "Eye of the Beholder" from Batman Annual #14 (1990).

Besides those, and the ones you've listed, here are a few others to check out. Some are great, some are mixed bags, and some are downright lousy.

First and foremost, I STRONGLY recommend the 1989 Batman newspaper comic strip, which I loved so much that I posted the whole two-year saga on its own tumblr account. You can start from the very beginning right here, but keep in mind that Harvey's storyline--which runs all the way to the very last strip--doesn't really start until the second arc.

Next, Batman: Dual to the Death by Geary Gravel is a YA novelization of the BTAS origin, seamlessly combined with the two-part Batgirl origin episodes. It improves on both the animated versions in small but crucial ways, and it's highly recommended for BTAS fans. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to find.

On a similar note, Peter David's movie novelization of Batman Forever can be found more easily, either in used book form or on the Internet Archive, and it's absolutely worth reading. I love the movie of Batman Forever, but it's objectively a terrible take on Harvey. The novelization adds SO MUCH, including an original prequel scene with D.A. Harvey Dent, and his ending is far more satisfying.

Cartoon Network's CGI animated series Beware the Batman (2013) also features a series-long origin arc for Harvey Dent, but it's one of the worst takes I've ever seen on the character. He's a petty, selfish, ambitious little prick, an absolute scumbag, completely devoid of depth or tragedy. Thankfully, few have seen this arc, since the majority of Harvey's episodes were never aired after the series was cancelled, but they're all available to watch for those morbidly curious to see just how badly someone can screw up Harvey as a character.

"The Big Burn" from Batman and Robin, vol 2 #24-28 (2014), also collected in B&R volume 5. After the huge DC reboot, this was Harvey new origin, which tried some very different things with him. A VERY mixed bag, but one that ended in a hugely exciting way that makes the whole thing worth reading. Follow it up with its sequel, "Ugly Heart," from Detective Comics #1020-1024, collected in Detective Comics Vol 5: Joker War.

Finally, watch the entirety of the recently-released/cancelled CW series Gotham Knights, with Misha Collins performing a surprisingly rich, interesting, and flawed Harvey Dent origin arc. The show got a lot of shit, some of it undeserved, but Collins' Harvey was an intriguing surprise, and I fear nothing we see from Harvey in any Reevesverse media will bring half as much care and interest to Harvey as GK did, for better or worse. All 13 episodes can be watched for free on CW Seed, region permitting.

EDIT: Oh right also the Telltale Batman video game! I haven't actually played that yet because I know enough about what happens and the illusion of meaningful choice indicative of Telltale games that I just don't feel like putting myself through that. People seem to like it a lot, though! I just... don't put me in a position of choosing to save either Harvey or Selina if you're just going to cheat and have him go evil anyway.

[k-s-morgan]

For batjoke is it on every version of Batman or a special version ?

Ooh, this is actually a very complex question! In most versions where Batman and Joker appear together, they share a complex relationship complete with flirtation, tension, and subtext. The really unhinged things take place in comics and in games, but there is some good stuff in the movies and a TV show, too, so I'll cover everything briefly.

In comics, it's repeatedly stated that Joker is in love with Batman; Batman is also said to love Joker. They are married in one of AU universes; they lose any purpose when they think the other is dead; everyone criticizes them for their unhealthy, destructive obsession with each other, but they can't stop. The problem is that there is like a million comics, many of which take place in different continuity, and it's impossible to cover them all even if you want.

The Batjokes-heavy games are Arkham Origins, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight (chronologically). If you don't want to play them, you could watch the excerpts on YouTube. Here's a great example, 3 minutes that basically reflect the essence of Batjokes:

Another game is Batman: Telltale, which also has Batjokes.

Now, as for movies… If you want to get a feel of the dynamic between Batman and Joker, you could watch the 5-minute ending of the animated film The Killing Joke.

It struck me deeply because Batman went through the movie being cold and serious, not smiling once. Joker did horrifying things to his friends here, yet in the end, Batman urges Joker to let him help him. Joker considers it and refuses, but with obvious regret, and then he tells a joke, and Batman bursts out laughing. He then leans close and touches Joker as he keeps laughing with abandon. This is a beautiful scene, it underlines the complexity of their dynamic, and the joke itself speaks volumes.

The Dark Knight movie is the most well-known and it inspired tons of Batjokes. I wouldn't say it has much of it, but it still teases a fascinating dynamic, and it's a brilliant movie by itself. Here's a scene of Batman and Joker having their first lengthy conversation.

There is Gotham TV show. It features young Bruce and young Joker who is called Jeremiah. Their relationship starts out late, at the end of S4, and everything is rushed because the show was cancelled prematurely, but it still wraps everything up and it has brilliant moments. A great fan-edit about that version of Joker, with some Batjokes teasing (Joker is presented both as pretty and as disfigured after the acid bath - it's the same person).

There is a Batjokes-focused fan-edit here, but it has some spoilers.

The latest Batman movie of 2022 teased a great Batjokes dynamic. Here's the scene:

From more light-hearted stuff, there is a Lego Batman movie. I was hesitant to watch it at first, but I liked it and it has probably the most explicit romantic Batjokes :D

Harley Quinn animated series (2019) has some great Batjokes moments, too. Like, in E1 alone, Joker has to choose between saving Batman and his own girlfriend, and he chooses Batman; in E2, he's jealous and keeps claiming Batman is his, and so on.

This has gotten much longer than I expected :D

[buraisu9009]

Carrying on the Cowl Part 1, A Batman Story

(Authors Note)

Well would you look at that my very first fanfiction story so a little background information for all of you first of all if you're taking the time to read this thanks for dropping by secondly a little background information I had to think long and hard as what I wanted this story to be about now as you could probably guess from the title this is a bad man story but the direction I decided to take with it may surprise a lot of people.

I was born in 97 and growing up in the 2000s and 2010s I saw a lot of the earlier superhero movies I grew up with the Sam Rami Trilogy for Spider-Man and I also watched a lot of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies which is the universe in which this story takes place.

I decided for my bad man story I was going to be pulling from three specific storylines the first obviously to set up a lot of the shall we say background is the Christopher Nolan Batman then I'm going to be pulling some details and characters from both The Dark Knight Returns storyline and Telltales Batman for a character that's going to be showing up later on.

So with all that out of the way, let's begin

~

(Story)

Years have passed since the attack by Bane his army of criminals on Gotham and for the first time in a long while it seemed that at last the city could sleep somewhat peacefully the Batman had given his life to defend Gotham the very City in which he grew up in but the city lost to Champions not only did they lose their Dark Knight but they also lost one of the light as well. For Bruce Wayne had finally given up the cow deciding that the long last his fight was over the job the mission done away with it's been many years under that cow countless nights fighting criminals in Gotham streets but he was getting older if you hadn't giving it up when he did someone might have finally managed to kill him.

Despite the bats plea to his oldest friend Jim Gordon to celebrate those that had given their lives in the defense of the city the old commissioner wouldn't have it he would make sure the city knew what had happened that day what had really happened how the bat had given up everything to defend them.

Yet despite the example of Bruce said despite the sacrifice that Batman had given the unfortunate truth is that crime never sleeps at least not forever true Gotham was slowly rebuilding itself, the GCPD now under the leadership of commissioner John "robin" Blake, was doing a much better job at keeping the peace and overall things seem to be going well but the criminal underworld in Gotham and elsewhere outside the city limits was far too large to be extinguished in just a few years time because just like the forces of light Darkness too was Finding its way back to the surface.

A new Criminal gang known as the mutants was starting to spring up everywhere around Gotham and unlike the forces that were led by Bane or the miscreants led by the Joker the mutants were far different, they were well trained organized fanatical and they were everywhere and their numbers were swelling. Pretty soon every street corner every neighborhood has some sort of mutant presence. There were plenty of theories as to where the group had come from some simply blamed it on useful Rebellion how the new generation was doing its best to distinguish itself from the crowd. The police had other theories some believe that perhaps a few of the criminals that were that band had released into the city had disappeared into the underworld and began rebuilding Gathering followers of Their Own.

The third and possible unfortunate likely Theory is that the mutants were simply a response to Gotham itself the city had a tendency to bring out the worst in people at the worst of times and the mutants seemed to Simply Be the latest result of that. Unfortunately there was a problem the mutants continued to grow and soon streets that were rebuilding and even recovering from the onslaught of crime over the past few years suddenly found themselves in the middle of a gang war between the mutants and local police.

Everything eventually culminated with a broadcast going out Citywide of the mutant leader threatening the city. He claims that the mutants were the new Authority and Gotham that the peace that they had enjoyed had made the city weak and they take Gotham for themselves, the future, the city, all of it, belonged to the Mutants.

Commissioner Blake found himself sitting in his office contemplating what to do years ago he had discovered the bat's Greatest Secret the bad cave all the gear all the weapons all the knowledge that Bruce Wayne had left behind was had his fingertips but despite his best efforts John Blake was no Batman in fact he himself wondered if he ever could be could anyone truly replace such a person be as well trained and disciplined and live up to the legend that was Batman?

Blake didn't have the answer yet as the mutant situation grew worst day by day he began questioning himself perhaps he should go back try at least try to take up the mantle after all what's the worst thing that could happen he gets killed by a mutant Thug in the street but as he thought about it more he just couldn't do it Batman gave his life and he couldn't replace him no matter how hard he tried what he could do is protect the city that he left behind and while he couldn't be Batman he could at the very least maybe use some of the information and weapons that he had left behind to help protect the city or at least that was the plan.

For you see why all this was going on will mutants were running the streets the police frantically trying to maintain order and commissioner Blake was going back and forth with his conscience and rational thinking there was another person who was seeing all of this go down.

Carrie Kelly had lived in Gotham all her life the native through and through though like much of the citizenry she hadn't had the easiest of times. Carrie was loved at her school she was a straight A student a great gymnast, had a best friend by the name of Michelle, all in all School kind of served as her safe haven as ironic as that sounds. Where is her home life was chaotic. Both of Carrie's parents were drug abusers most of the time being so absent-minded they hardly paid carrie any mind, and there were even a few occasions where her father got overly violent. This home situation caused Carrie to become far more self-reliant she taught herself how to cook how to do her own laundry but also more practical skills. Well in gym class she also took some interest in martial arts and self defense. Using her Gym training as a baseline she was able to incorporate some martial arts movements along with her gymnastics which allowed her to develop her own fighting style.

On top of this Carrie was also able to use her smarts to really delve deep into research and one facet of research that was almost an obsession was her research of Batman.

My other young girls her age were thinking about boys or catching up with the latest fashion trends Batman was Carrie's Rock her hobby her thing. She wanted to know and learn anything and everything when it came to to The Dark Knight. But that always been that way but her Obsession hit a high point when Carrie saw Batman fly over the ocean, and the bomb that was meant for Gotham, exploded over the horizon. She had always dreamed of meeting him, now, he was gone, and now Gotham was left without its protector.

For a time it seemed things were beginning to get better though. Crime was down, people were friendlier, and the future was bright, then the mutants came and everything seemed to be set right back to zero.

Something had to change

So, one night, while carries parents were still stoned out of thier minds, Carrie snuck out of her home and into the night. She had a plan, it was desperate and stupid, but, it was a plan. For the past few weeks she had been trying to hack into different servers around the city, seeing if she could pull up video footage from any and all cameras and at last, she had found something, the footage was old, years old st the time she had laid eyes on it but, it showed the batmobile, or the Tumbler as some called it, driving into a nearby alley and disappearing. Carrie tried finding footage to see where it had gone but, nothing, suspicious so, she got the address and headed out.

When she arrived at the location there was nothing really special about the place a few barrels on fire smoke dumpsters you homeless people wondering around hell she even ran into a mutant on the way, but, it wasn't anything a good kick in the sack couldn't deal with. But she just couldn't put her finger on it if the Batmobile came in this direction it couldn't have just vanished so she started looking around and eventually she found something if you didn't know what to look for you wouldn't have noticed it but there was a slight crease in a nearby concrete wall with a dumpster in front of it and there was a draft which meant one thing a tunnel.

After a few moments she managed to find a button and the doorway opened, allowing her to slip inside. The tunnel was dark barely lit Kelly was only able to see you due to the flashlight on her phone she had no idea where this tunnel went or how far it was but she just started walking and walk she did for hours it felt like, she had no idea where she was going, she tired, hungry, the more she thought about it, the more this seemed like a stupid idea. Her phone was running out of batteries, soon she be in pitch black with no idea where she was.

That wasn't until she finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel which made her go into a full Sprint and what she saw at the end of that tunnel left her jaw on the floor, the tunnel gave way to a massive cave, the sound of water running in the distance, bats flying everywhere overhead, this was it, this is where Batman lived.

As she slowly ascended the walkways that were connected to the Cave opening if she saw it all the mass of computer or batman did his research most likely what was left of the batmobile of the bat cycle the bad jet was all here even if you trophies from old battles on the display case was the bat suit all seemingly untouched.

Carrie couldn't help her curiosity and she made her way over to the massive computer and dusted off the keyboard taking a seat on the surprisingly really comfortable chair. But of course with her luck there was no power luckily it was easy to reset once the computer came to life a message began playing.

It wasn't Batman or at least it wasn't him in the suit surprisingly it was Bruce Wayne saying that whoever found this and found the cave, and that they were welcome to it but, Bruce didn't speak to her, instead the message was for another, John Blake.

The commissioner? Carrie was a little surprised bad man had chosen John Blake as his successor or at least that seemed the case to her but the longer she thought about it the angry or she got if John was chosen to be the new Batman why wasn't he doing anything the mutants were running rampant and Gotham the streets were turning into a war zone it was like the day Bane invaded all over again just on a more reduced level but if things kept going the way they were it wasn't going to be like that for long.

Has she thought about it more and more her gaze turned to the bat suit and then the words Bruce had spoken were ringing in her head whoever found the cave was privy to it and everything within the weapons the vehicles but most importantly the knowledge. Carrie had studied, researched, and picked apart everything about Batman for years. How he fought, his tactics, the way he interacted with people. Could she truly replace Batman she didn't know maybe she was even foolish for even thinking she could but batman wasn't here anymore, she was, and Gotham needed a hero, and Carrie, she needed a purpose, and it seemed at last, within the caverns of this damp cave, she had found it.

Thus as the bats above circled around her head, her mind was made, and thus, she set to work, success or failure, sink or swim, and new bat rose that night, and soon, all of Gotham would know it.

[fractualized]

since there is a chance of telltale batman season 3 happening one day, i was thinking about ideas for s3. i remember reading somewhere that telltale wanted to use scarecrow, poison ivy, and (i think?) ra's al ghul as villains in future episodes. scarecrow could easily be tied with john being in arkham - crane is hired at the asylum and he uses the inmates as guinea pigs for his fear gas. with ra's, i always suspected agent avesta might actually be talia so that could be a way to incorporate him. not totally sure about poison ivy, perhaps she'd be more of a new outside force

do you have any ideas for season 3 or hopes/things you'd want to see?

The only S3 thing I've read myself was the EW director, Kent Mudle, explaining his idea to have players decide what kind of Robin they wanted to be with different possible mentors, Batman and Joker being two options. But given that it's been 4 years since the last episode, and Telltale Games was rebooted, and any S3 would be a long way off even if they announced it today, I don't know if old ideas would really hold.

That said, I would like Telltale to put their own spin on a character who isn't used as often. Maybe give Killer Croc a story beyond being just a bruiser, or take some Z-list villain who was only seen three times back in the 1960s or something, ha. Though I would be interested in a more grounded version of Poison Ivy, not controlling plants but still an eco-terrorist poisoning people. Whoever the antagonist, I would just love a story that hit me as hard as Enemy Within did.

Really what I think about with Season 3 is if Telltale would stick with their MO of letting the player's decisions from the previous seasons determine the path in the new game because… uh… that would be a lot. Like it's not just if John was a vigilante or a villain; it's if John was a vigilante who bombed the police station or a villain who MURDERED EVERY PERSON IN WAYNE TOWER. It's if Tiffany is your mentee, or your enemy in Gotham, or if she left with the Agency. It's if Bruce quit Batman! If Alfred is even around! It would be inordinately difficult for Telltale to pull off their usual thing unless they went with a story that's removed from Gotham. So hey, yeah, maybe we do get Ra's and Talia because Bruce travels to do some soul-searching and mind-focusing and whatnot.

(Personally I wouldn't make Avesta secretly Talia, because in my head Bruce has already met Talia and Ra's, and also I was very much not a fan of that move— or anything— in The Dark Knight Rises, and also I think linking characters together with twists like that can make a fictional world smaller when you could make it bigger.)

Of course the other option for S3 is that the developers trash Telltale's MO and pick the S2 ending they prefer and go from there. Which is what I would do, but I have no vested interest in the expectations of the fanbase. :P

Hell, if it was up to me the whole game would somehow revolve around Bruce visiting post-Vigilante John in Arkham and they would have more Cafe Triste-type conversations and they'd explicitly fall in love and there'd be people who'd complain "this is just fanfic!!" and heck yeah a fuckin' great one.

[frenchiefie]

I was tagged by @elven-ink aaaaa thANK YOUUUU!! <333

Rules:  name ten favorite characters from ten different things (tv, movies, books, etc.), then tag ten some people.

Ooooh boy this is gonna be tough I have.... a lot of faves bUT HERE WE GO

1. Joker (from all media but some faves are Telltale and Gotham asdhasj)

An awful lad!! A terrible boi, an all time fave!! Chaotic and fun, he’s the worst clown and I love him. I started loving him when I was 11 after watching the Dark Knight and kinda forgot about him and then learned in college how fun the animated/game/comic versions of him are sdfhsdjf,,, He holds a special place in my heart because I met some of the best people in my life through this mutual interest!

2. Handsome Jack (Borderlands series)

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT??? Another awful and terrible lad, it’s debatable that he is worse than Joker. I have a type of fave chara, obviously. I would not want to meet him. Ever. I love him. I think just.... his voice??? The rambles he go on that are just so fun and silly despite the absolute malice behind him or the horrible things he’s saying?? IT’S SO,,, AASHDAJ ALSO HIS HERO COMPLEX.. AWFUL

3. Spinel (Steven Universe)

Ah, finally someone I would want to meet. Also terrible but she’s doing her best and means well!! Please let me give her a hug. She’s toony and silly and I would die for her as quickly as I’d let her kill me. Her animation in the movie is ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING LIKE OH MY GOD. Also her voice and songs are just... chef kissu,,

4. Jack Spicer (Xiaolin Showdown)

hAHAHAHAHA ÑERD! ! ! SUCH A ÑERD!! DON’T BELIEVE PEOPLE THAT SAY HE’S COOL HE AIN’T!! But he is genuinely very smart in terms of robotics despite his lack of street smarts and struggle in interacting with anyone ever and honestly??? I love him so much and want to be his friend. He’s an original fave!

5. Princess Peach (Nintendo)

Ooooh! ! ! OH MY GOD AN ANGEL!! I L O V E HER SHE’S PRETTY AND SOFT AND I WOULD LIKE HER TO BE MY WIFE PLEASE??? She’s my go to in any game where she is a playable character and I love when they give her a sassy and incredibly strong-willed personality like in the first Super Paper Mario game I played ;o;

6.Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)

OH ANOTHER AWFUL TERRIBLE BOI??? I love him but god he’s such a loser. That makes me love him more. He’s got Saturday morning cartoon villain vibes but unlike them he can say “fried chicken fetuses” so like,,, y’know. Love that. ALSO HIS DESIGN!! HE SNEK!! HE SMILEY!! SHORP TEEF!! MANY EYES!! EVOL BABEY.

7. Medic (TF2)

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL TERRIBLE BOIS ALL OVER. HAHAHAHAHA Medic is a pure agent of chaos, I am honestly surprised he lost his medical licence due to the fact that it seems impossible that he would ever get it in the first place. He likes to challenge the laws of nature and radiate evol vibes while also wanting to protecc his team... him..

8. Entrapta (She-Ra)

oooOOOH GOD AAAAAAA SHE,,, What an absolute sweetheart!! She’s eccentric and doesn’t quite know how read the room but she has such a pure heart underneath her seemingly blinding pursuit of scientific discovery. She’s like the evol scientist archetype I love without the evol (despite working for the villains side bUT LIKE... IT’S CO MPL IC A T ED). Also her hair is cool.. love her.. also she loves tiny food??? Cute...

9. Lord Death (Soul Eater)

ANOTHER OLD TIME FAVE FROM MY MIDDLE SCHOOL DAYS! I love Kid equally but like... idk I just always think of Death first cause his design is so MEMORABLE AND FUN. I love characters that look goofy but can and will kill you. And also he loves his son and his school and his students and his son SO HECKIN MUCH I LOVELVOLEOVE

10. Father (Kids Next Door)

MORE OLD FAVES!!! MORE AWFUL BOIS!! I always loved him for his design but after the Operation Zero movie came out and we learned his backstory and what he looks like outside of his fire... uh??? Suit??? HE QUICKLY BECAME A FAVE... IDK LIKE THE... THE ÑERD LOOK.... THE VILLAIN THAT JUST WANTS APPROVAL?? THE RELATION TO THE HERO?? LOVE IT ALL. EXCELLENT. TOP NOTCH CONTENT.

uHHHH I TAG UHHHH @clownmoontoon​ @trashiny @bellandpebbles @alpacasandravens @bubble-beetle​ IF U WANT!! aND ANYONE ELSE! !  WHO WANTS TO DSGASGDHJ

[oikawas]

Number 6 Bruce and Jason PEAS

“No one’s going to hurt you.”

Getting dosed with Fear Toxin is something that is commonplace among the Bats, especially afters all their years of defending Gotham in the dead of night. It’s the reason why the Medbay cots have restraints attached to them, and indirect cause of so many scratches and indentations in the Cave. It’s the only thing other than sleep that can make them relive all their past traumas so viciously and wholly, be it falls, gunshots, deaths.

But for all its commonality, none of them have ever seen Jason Todd high on the toxin. And when they finally do, it’s not something they ever wish to experience again, for secrets have a funny way of bleeding out when there are tears in your eyes and your throat has gone raw. 

It begins as a normal Friday night: an Arkham breakout. 

Such a mess warrants an ‘all hands on deck’ response, which is how Jason finds himself hopping rooftops with Robin nipping at his heels. Batman and Nightwing are already on the scene, putting out proverbial fires as they come, and the rest of them have been tasked with rounding up all the missing convicts. 

“I have three here,” Spoiler chirps, oddly cheerful for someone dealing with escaped prisoners. Jason momentarily wonders how she does it, so consistently and with so much...emphasis. “All subdued, and waiting on cops.”

“I have six by Gina’s Pizzeria on Fifth Avenue, waiting on cops,” Red Robin reports, sounding sluggish. “They just had to pick an off day to break out of Arkham, huh?” 

“Everyday is an off day for you, RR,” Nightwing supplies helpfully, coupled with the background noises of a body hitting the ground. There is a shout somewhere. “At least today wasn’t an especially off day.”

“Oh, you say that now, but you should’ve seen him this morning,” Signal mutters, and Jason’s lips quirk up at the disgruntled tone. He loves team-ups on Tim. “He put salt in my tea. What kind of heathen does that to a man’s tea?” 

“Blasphemy,” Steph fake-gasps. In her distance, they can all hear sirens approaching. 

“Electric chair for the not-so-baby bat,” Jason chimes in. “Salt infractions are punishable by death in good ol’ Gotham.”

“Got any pointers?” Tim asks, none too gently. They’re still working past their bloodied memories, and Jason can accept it for what it is. While he spent time with Damian and Duke, sometimes Steph and Cass, Tim isn’t in Gotham enough for them to try and mend bridges. 

And Jason, truth be told, isn’t sure if he’d want to. Dick and Tim are different from the others, a reminder of the dark stain in their family’s history that they all created together, willingly or not. And while some things can be put behind them, Jason is a sore reminder of everything they all so desperately tried to ignore in favour of the good. 

“Yeah. Cremation,” he veers to the left, finally spotting the man he and Damian had been chasing down for a solid seven blocks. “Very helpful in preventing zombies.”

“Hood,” Batman admonishes, but its softened around the edges in a way that indicates the old man is amused. Jason pretends to doesn’t warm him inside-out, to hear that soft adoration even now after years of fighting. To know he can still do that, pull that affection from the Dark Knight himself.  

“Eyes on Scarecrow,” Damian interrupts. “And if you intend on dying, Red Robin, do hurry. And make sure to make a spectacle of it.”

Jason lets loose a short laugh and cuts his comm before Tim can cuss them off, reaching over to ruffle Damian’s hair in appreciation. The two of them, surprisingly, have gotten closer since Damian’s unscheduled visit with his mother. After Damian had trailed Selina and Bruce, and Talia’s ‘duel’ with the Cat, the heiress had called Jason and pulled a promise to take care of Damian from him. 

And he intends to keep it.

Jason gets a half-smile as a reward for the ribbing of their mutually ‘disliked’ brother, and there is a few heartbeats of peace before all goes wrong.

In hindsight, they probably shouldn’t have let their guards down so close to a recurring villain. And as the older brother in the equation, he definitely should’ve been on top of everything as soon as they touched down on the ground, but as it stands, Damian is in the direct path of a suddenly thrown canister and there’s no time to pull him out of the way. The motion itself would prove futile if and when the gas releases, which left only one option in Jason’s mind. 

Unthinkingly, he throws himself between the canister of Fear Toxin and Damian with his back to Scarecrow, shoving the boy backwards only a few seconds before he hears the telltale hiss of the gas infiltrating the air and, subsequently, his mask. 

To his credit, Damian doesn’t even hesitate before shielding his face, eyes wide behind the white-out lenses of the mask with what he thinks to be realization. Jason grits his teeth against the shivers already beginning to make their way up and down his spine, and is barely able to catch Damian calling for aid.

“…ood? Hood!” 

Somewhere behind them there is motion as Cassandra lands and sends Scarecrow flying into a pile of crates. How she got there so fast, Jason isn’t sure, but the world is beginning to spin and there are embers in the corners of his eyes and fuck. Everything begins to smell like ashes and blood, and he can somehow taste betrayal on his tongue. 

“Hood!” Damian shouts again, and when this is all over Jason will resent the clear fear in his voice. It’s so, so easy to forget how young the boy is, but in times like this…times like this, Jason wishes he could forget. Wishes Damian didn’t have to be out here with the rest of them.

His knees hit the ground the same moment he feels his fingers begin to bleed, callused skin splitting open in the face of persistent abuse. He thought he was sure that his hands were fine, but the panic inlaid in his mind overrides any sense of logic as he curls in on himself, deadly intent focused on not alarming Damian any further. 

“…Father! Father, he was hit with Fear T–” 

Father?

And just like that, Jason is fifteen all over again and screaming and locked in a coffin with nothing but the blood on his skin and the belt around his hips. He doesn’t register anything other than a concerned murmur before his mind breaks from the intense pressure of fragmented memories; already a fragile thing, the imposed trauma rips through him with the subtlety of a bomb going off. 

Shoulders bent, his fingers scrape against what he thinks to be the coffin’s lid in a desperate attempt to find purchase, instead only managing to amplify the pain in his fingers. The wet touch of fresh blood does nothing to deter him, and it’s with near inhuman strength that he pushes off whoever is trying to hold him down.

It was Cass, he’ll later find out, as Bruce looks through his pockets, desperately, for their latest strain of the antidote. Tim, Steph, Duke, and Dick had stayed behind to deal with the Arkham mess, and the comms were off for a thin veneer of privacy. 

(Nobody wants to know his demons, because his demons were so staunch with blood and sacrifice that it would horrify even the most seasoned of heroes.)

Someone manages to take off his leather jacket, he thinks, because he can feel the cool touch of a cape against the nape of his neck but all he can think is he’s trapped, he’s dead, he’s lost, he needs–

“Dad!” Jason sobs, voice cracking in panic. He’s trapped in a coffin. He’s stuck with the Joker and a traitor and in a foreign country. “Dad, Dad I’m here! I’m in here! Please, I’m scared, I’m scared…” 

Damian freezes in both shock and what he perceives to be dismay, and next to him Cass frowns in worry. But both of them have nothing on Bruce, who sucks in a breath so sharp it could slice his throat open, lips parting around a single utterance of ‘son’. 

Jason hasn’t called Bruce ‘dad’ since coming back from the grave. But this, right now…he’d somehow forgotten how many times he’d screamed ‘Dad’ between climbing out of that damned coffin and the fatal car crash that would steal his memories from him. 

“Please please please please,” Jason chants, and the syllables crash into each other like waves against an outcrop of rocks, so similar to the man himself. “B-Bruce where are you? I don’t wanna be stuck in here I don’t!” 

They jerk with the effort it takes to keep the second Robin stationary; Jason is nearly Bruce’s size, and it’s no easy feat, keeping him down. Not with the shock flowing through them over seeing their most steadfast so thoroughly dismantled. 

“I’m sorry about Shelia!” Jason yells, a vain effort to get someone, anyone, to listen. “I...I don’t...all I’ve ever needed was you, Dad, please, I’m sorry...”

“Jason,” Bruce whispers, so soft, so scared. This is a display of all the trauma that stood between them, an open sea of all the times Bruce has failed his second-born. A sea so violent that it drowns both of them whenever they brave it, takes them into its darkness before spitting out even hollower versions of the men who went down under.

But not this time. 

Bruce takes off his belt determinedly and hands it to Cass, a pointed look instructing her to keep searching for the antidote. Jason continues to thrash and cry so openly, carving whole pieces of Bruce out and setting them aflame right there at their feet. This is the closest he’s gotten to the truth about Jason’s rebirth in all their years, and so desperately he wishes it could be different. Wishes it was Jason sharing this willingly, in an effort to mend, an effort to move forward.

But wishes are for men who have time and right now, Bruce has none.

Ignoring the flailing limbs as best he could, Bruce gathers Jason in his arms, softly shushing the boy and beginning to rock him the same way he had done years ago, after every nightmare filled with memories of a broken home. Jason shudders against him, still sobbing brokenly about how badly he hurt, and Bruce…

Bruce feels a bloodlust so vicious he can feel it pushes against the seams of his skin, his soul, and if the Joker had been anywhere near him, Bruce would rip the flesh off his bones with nothing but his teeth and anger. Not even the Gods themselves could’ve stopped the man from tearing apart the Clown Prince limb from limb, from a death so brutal there would be nothing left for the Underworld to punish. 

“Bruce,” Jason whimpers, and somewhere in his toxin-addled brain, there is a pause in the onslaught. He recognizes the arms holding him close, recognizes the tenor of the voice humming to him, recognizes the lips that press a gentle kiss to his hairline. “B, you came. Papá...”

And through his own budding tears at the call in Jason’s mother-tongue, Bruce says, “always. I’ll always come. No one’s going to hurt you. Not anymore, chum.” 

“I was so scared,” Jason blubbers, but through the tears staining his cheeks, there is an attempt at a smile; it takes Bruce’s heart in its grasp and squeezes and squeezes and squeezes until he’s sure there’s nothing left in its hold. How dearly he loves this boy. “But I…I knew you’d come. I always knew.”

And there’s the flash of the Robin who thought Bruce held the world in his hands, is a God, is a good man. There is the Robin--the Jason--who believed in Bruce. In his father. 

Bruce aches with a fierce love, and a longing for a bridge that’s barely there. 

Suddenly, Jason goes slack, his eyes rolling back in his head as the boy is finally given the sweetness of unconsciousness. Bruce startles badly, and glances to the side to find Cassandra holding an empty syringe with a sympathetic smile on her face. 

“Can we…take him home now?” She asks, and he knows the two siblings have their differences but they are bonded by family and she loves him, in a way, and it shows by how softly she strokes his matted hair now. 

Bruce gives her a tired smile, arms full of his lost son. 

“Yes…yes, let’s get him home.”

[clowngrin-aa]

What do you see the differences are between 2019!Joker and Telltale!Joker?

𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒 / 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆!

AAAAAA you’re really going to let me talk about both of my two favorite jokers ( or pre!jokers i should probably say) aren’t you??

ok, so first off all, for those on this blog that aren’t familiar with telltale!joker (aka john doe), i highly recommend watching a playthrough of the game because it’s AMAZING. anyway, with that said and out of the way, time to talk about the differences between 2019!joker and telltale!joker.

so, before we talk about their differences, i think it’ll be good to bring up their similarities first. both john doe and arthur fleck starts off their portrayals of the joker before he becomes the joker and centers more around that. they both come off as someone who’s nervous and lacks confidence. they both think back to being locked up in a mental hospital and misses it. and they’re both very sensitive to criticism.

now, with arthur, we see his life before he becomes a criminal, and up until he has just started doing crimes. we don’t really see him fully evolve into the joker. with john doe, i feel like we sort of start off where the joker 2019 movie ended; with john in the asylum, green hair, violent tendencies, a more bright and bubbly personality. he’s not entirely the joker yet, but he’s already stepped onto the path to becoming the joker when we first are introduced to him in the game, and we don’t get to know what he did to get there, we don’t get to know anything about his past, not even his name. ( as is usual with the various joker stories.) with 2019!joker, we do get to see his past.

anyway... personality wise, they’re a lot different. arthur is a lot darker of a character. or... more visibly darker. we see him struggling heavily with mental illness and it’s portrayed very realistically. he’s not bright and bubbly, he’s clearly hiding his pain behind politeness and a smile (which even seeing him smile is rare because he’s struggling so hard that even that is difficult for him to do.) we see him so far down that he’s contemplating taking his own life. there’s no genuine happiness to be found in arthur.

whereas with john, there’s a lot more subtleness to his darkness, and it’s also darkness in a completely different way. he’s so bright and bubbly that most of the people who watches / plays the game, ends up thinking he’s adorable and cute and doesn’t really see that he’s actually really manipulative as all hell. his nervousness and insecurity is an act, unlike arthur who is insecure and nervous, but is trying to act happy and nice. john intentionally tries to get people (and especially bruce and the viewers/players) to feel bad for him, and he wants to get bruce to understand how he’s become the way he is. i believe john doe was at some point a lot like arthur ( which is more a personal hc since again, we don’t really see anything of his real past in the game.) but by the time we’re introduced to john for the first time, he’s already on his good way of becoming the joker.

now, as for when john and arthur becomes the joker... i think arthur is still going to be a lot more of a darker, realistic joker, similar to the dark knight version, whereas john doe is a little more on the cartoony side. like i’ve always said, i feel like telltale!joker is a perfect balance between realistic and cartoony where both people who prefer the more over-the-top version of joker will enjoy the portrayal and the people who prefer things to be more realistic, and not all superheroes and super villains with superpowers where everything is action-driven, will also enjoy the portrayal.

2019!joker, i don’t see focusing so much on action and the “super” part about villains and heroes, as it would take away a lot of what the movie was about and take away from the version they made.

TL:DR;  john doe = looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill youarthur fleck = burned cinnamon roll; has literally been to hell and back; slightly charred

// @threecardtrick

[jokin-around]

the Broken Stitch

Words: 2972

pairing: Batman/joker (selina/bruce mentioned)

summary: a certain someone has caught wind of Bruce’s upcoming marriage… and he isn’t smiling about it

warnings: attempted suicide

themes: AAANNGST, hurt and comfort

notes: i started writing this a while ago, not related to telltale in anyway despite the title but has a similar tone, I wanted to make something that handled jokers feelings toward Bruce settling down because i love to suffer, enjoy!

Rain fell in Gotham as the batmobile sped down a dark alleyway, its angry rumble disrupting the oddly quiet night. The man at its wheel was silent as he stared down the dark road ahead, gripping the wheel at sharp turns and leaving nothing but a trail of skid marks behind as he rode deeper into the city…

The bat signals light had been casted onto the heavy clouds that loomed over the city earlier that night, and like always batman had been there on the GCPD’s roof in one fell swoop, quiet as a barn owl, speaking to an old man with tired eyes and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Though the scene had been no different than usual, the atmosphere definitely was. an uneasy funk hung in the air, evident by Gordon’s posture and demeanor. As the worn out cop had relayed the situation to the city’s dark clad knight, back turned as he exhaled poisonous puffs of smoke. World weariness replaced the usual anger and sternness batman was so used to hearing from the man he viewed as a constant pillar in his life.

It wasn’t just one soul at risk tonight or two or even a room of hostages…  it was hundreds, possibly thousands.

There was no need for the commissioner to utter the name of the man he was going to be in pursuit of  tonight. There was only one criminal in the city who would dare cause so much destruction to the place gothamites called home, so much blatant disrespect towards humanity. And unfortunately Bruce knew him all too well.

After running red lights and crashing through piles of discarded debri, Bruce was parked at the base of the tallest skyscraper in Gotham in minutes, wasting no time scaling up the buildings exterior. When he reached the top, shooting up into the air with the momentum of his grappling hook and swooping back down with his cape billowing in the cold wind like royal robes, he was greeted by the silhouette of a familiar jester. The clowns slender figure stood precariously off the edge of a very long drop. Tangles of green hair dangling down in front of his face. Something, a bottle of some kind, was in his hand. A tiny black box with a mess of wires poking out of it being gripped, shakily, in the other.

The slightest turn of the man’s head told batman his presence had not gone unnoticed.

“You came.“ He said softly in way that was almost shockingly uncharacteristic  “i was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me” He sighed, turning his attention back to asphalt that lied hundreds of feet below him

The bat was silent for a moment, then spoke…

“Gordon told me you wouldn’t negotiate until I did" He paused, waiting for a reaction, the clown chuckled humorlessly yet in a way that was devoid of any malice.

“Right… thats how it always is isn’t it? Always having to get your attention somehow just for a moment within the velvet of your shadow…”

Jokers words always walked the line between riddles and poetry but he was being unusually cryptic tonight

“Pardon?” Bruce asked

“Our game?“ He clarified “i threaten to bomb a hospital or gas a football stadium and you come running, arms outstretched, to catch me every time don’t you?”

Bruce didn’t reply, whatever point the clown was trying at, he wasn’t grasping it yet

“It’s our lot in life, how we were meant to operate, DOOMED to operate… it’d be foolish to… to think….” He trailed off, still staring down

“To think what?”

Instead of answering Joker laughed again, shoulders shaking, grip on the device on his hand tightening

“To think it could be any other way!!“ He turned, frail body swaying to face the bat, footing unstable, expression wild as always but… disgraced with dark streaks of caked on mascara that streamed down his pale face like rivers. bruce thought it could possibly be from the rain but the look in jokers eyes signaled otherwise. It was a sight batman never correlated with the Joker. Those streaks were caused by tears, the tears of a man, of a HUMAN with emotions, the kind Bruce had tricked himself into thinking  Joker lacked. At this point it was glaringly obvious why the man before him was practically speaking in tongues, the bottle he held in his other hand already half empty

“ Joker… are.. .are you???”

He laughed, genuinely this time

“If you’re asking if i’ve partook in the devil’s nectar, the unfortunate answer is yes… heh, that why they call you world’s greatest detective, batssss?” He jested taking another swig of cherry red merlot

“wasn’t planning on facing you this way y’know?…" He said  looking at the tinted glass container and promptly discarding it, what was left inside spilling out as it fell several stories “But  the mind is a creature of its own… wouldn't’ve been able to keep myself from pressing this button as soon as I laid my thumb upon it if I hadn’t calmed my nerves… heh… but now look, i’ve gone off script and soiled my makeup like a teenage prom queen what a mess…" He rakes his fingers through his stringy wet hair and laughs but it’s closer to a sob  “this is all wrong…”

Bruce isn’t sure what to make of all this, but the clown is definitely upset, more so than usual. Unfortunately the with the city’s fate within his bony hands, he didn’t have time to humor him.

“joker…  whatever this is, there’s no time for it…”  Joker looks at him, unamused.

“gordon told me that you’re putting hundreds, thousands of peoples lives at risk right now…  I came here to negotiate and if  you’re going to make things hard as always then-  !“

“Why didn’t you tell me you were getting married?“ He interrupts. The way he asks the question so nonchalant in comparison to the massive shroud of tension it gave off, shutting batman up almost immediately

“I…” He stammered  “h-how did you???“

“Oh please… don’t act like you didn’t know I knew!… as if that playboy facade could keep anyone in the dark for long, Bruce wayne’s fancy marriage announcement plastered all over the city ….it’s hardly a secret.”

Bruce didn’t know how to react to that… deep down he’d always considered the possibility that Joker secretly knew his true identity. You don’t spend years sparring with someone, only to know nothing about them.

“ Joker…”

“Married… heh… And not just to some, nobody oh noo ho ho, the forever tempting Selina Kyle! gymnast, philanthropist, cat enthusiast… THIEF!…“ He turned to glare directly at Bruce, eyes flaring with hate before shifting into subtle disdain “i’ve watched you two from the shadows before. the way you look at her. the way you breath eachother like scents wafting off forbidden decadence.”

Bruce turned away

“Disgusting is the only word I could use to describe it without leaving a sour taste in my mouth.” He glared at Bruce before looking down as if he suddenly regretted discarding his drink, the action leaving him with nothing to wash the image from his mind

Bruce shook his head, denial still clouding his reasoning “why…w-why would YOU of all people care about me and Selina? For years you’ve wanted nothing but my corpse and this city in ashes and now you’re acting like… like what??  Like that’s not enough?? You need me to stay miserable too?? You want me to be like YOU??”

Joker almost looked offended for a split second before his expression twisted into something so raw and angry Bruce nearly took a step back

“You think that’s all I wanted? You REALLY think that’s what I truly wanted??  what, i’ve ALWAYS wanted! Did you never stop to THINK that possibly MAYBE, the reason I do what I do is because of the one thing you think i’m incapable of!!! The one thing you’ve convinced yourself  I lack understanding of thanks to some misplaced sense of delusional superiority!!”

Bruce froze as he looked at the man before him, real tears trailed from his black ringed eyes as he held the device in his hand above his head, entire body shaking as he breathed heavily with rage.

“A thief…  a criminal…  and you still believe you’re too good, too righteous for me!“ He growled through gritted teeth

“Selina doesn’t kill people  Joker.” Bruce said, his patience thinning and his  anxiety racking as his eyes stayed fixed on the red button under Jokers itchy trigger finger

“AND!? it was like that with us in the beginning!! W-wasnt?…” He argued in desperation, tone wavering “before you got distracted by that flock of pests you call a family…  before it took more than a few bank robberies to get you off that kevlar clad ass of yours”

Bruce shook his head “My family isn’t a distraction! They’re all I have…  and they deserve a family, a real family, the kind I never had.  after raising 6 sons, and 4 daughters… after 15 years, my own death, THEIR deaths… I… I-I-I had to… I have to… for them” every horrible event and tear shared with his children flashed in his mind as he tried to rationalize his reasoning… he didn’t truly know why he had popped the question onto Selina so suddenly, after years of making it clear that he was disinterested in marriage, with anyone, but he knew that had to be part of it.

The clown only scoffed

“Heh… funny…”

“what?” Bruce asked, bemused

“two months ago cowardly and desperate weren’t two words I would’ve used to describe you" His words oozed poison as he looked at Bruce directly with derision . Bruce scowling at him. “don’t act like you’re marrying that mangled stray for anything other than selfish reasons. all of them tying back to the cesspool of mummy and daddy issues that spawned the mess of a man you are now.”

Bruce swallowed, Joker had a strange way of reading him like an open book at times. always peering between the lines, seeing things no one else did. Bruce coped, at times by convincing himself  Joker was only gaslighting and manipulating him, as he attempted to do so often. but sometimes the hidden truths he spoke stung like daggers.

“Forget it clown… you're…" He sighs “…you just wouldn’t understand…”

Joker laughed once more, running his fingers through the mop of green hair in his head “heh… no!….. I wouldn't… of course I wouldn’t. but you know why, don’t you?”

“ Joker…”

“because the only thing I understand in this chaos wrought plight of an existence is us! You! … and lately you… well…”  his demeanor shifted into something softer almost melancholy  “you did the thing you’re oh so skilled at doing when push comes to shove….”

Bruce waited, whispering “what?”  Joker looked up at him with misty green eyes

“You surprised me…

 …isn’t that supposed to be my job.. Ha…”

Bruce was silent, unsure of how to react, Jokers demeanor began to ramp up again.

“I don’t know why I expected anything more from you… you were always too damned narrow minded and stubborn to see the big picture”

There was a moment of cold silence between them before Joker was properly wound again, springing back into action.

“but I digress!“ He continued, switching gears at the drop of a dime  and attempting to wipe the wetness from his face to no avail “None of that matters now! Not me! Not you! Not HER! None of it!” He shook furiously as he raised the trigger box high over his head, eyes wild with desperation. “and so, I’m going to try one last time to blow this city to smoldering smithereens and pray to hell we both go down with it!”

“ Joker NO!” batman calls out as he lunges forward.  Joker begins to laugh hysterically and presses the button as he steps over the buildings edge. As the mans other foot slips from the steep drop, batman reaches him just in time to grasp the cuff his dingey purple suit.  Joker laughs as he dangles several stories off the ground, flailing like a flag hung up on a pole. He looks up at Bruce. The bat stares back, fear on his face as he uses all his strength to keep the man from falling, even as buildings are engulfed in flames on the horizon.  Joker shook his head

“you should know by now bats… “ He yelled for him to hear “You can’t save me!… you shouldn’t bother yourself with it!… ”

“like hell I can’t!” Bruce growled, wearing a face of stubborn determination as he gathered all his strength to pull the other man back up onto the roof, the cuff of his tailored sleeve nearly tearing off in the process. He heaves his body, with a hard slam, back onto stable ground and leans over him, wrinkled shirt in his fists.  Joker reaches for something in his coat pocket and pulls out a switchblade, Bruce braces himself for a slash to the face… but it never comes.

Joker only continues to laugh… holding the knife in the air… before dropping it and falling into a breathless fit of hysterics that slowly fades to soft wheezing and soon, to nothing. His his expression softens and his whole body, slumps lifelessly, not dead, but something inside him certainly is, all his fight, lost.

“ Joker?…”

“It wasn’t supposed to, y'know” He said in a small voice.

“supposed to what?” Bruce asked

“Bother me… “ He explained. “You were so sure that what we had between us wasn’t what we thought… that I… that I had almost convinced myself  the same thing after a while…”

The subdued sadness in his voice was something Bruce hadn’t been prepared for. this was a side of  Joker that existed underneath layers and layers of lies and deceit, fake smiles and giggles. and here it was. bore before him, open and vulnerable.

“When I read that headline, I forced myself to believe the lie you kept pushing between us, because it would be easier…But… after sulking in doubt for five days since?… I just… I-I couldn’t anymore”

Bruce is silent as  Joker starts laughing again. His makeup ruined with tears, the playfulness all but drained from his face

“pretty pathetic huh?” He looked up at Bruce with wide and watery green eyes, Bruce searched them for moment, emotion brimming inside him, before casting his gaze out to the destruction surrounding them. orange hues devoured the night sky as his city fell apart, lives ending, memories and legacies being destroyed all by the hands of a man Bruce could never force himself to kill, or let die or even come to harm… as much as he knew Joker had to atone for his actions, no matter the circumstances, he also knew the man in his arms was sick…

…just like he was.

Perhaps the only person he knew who refused to heal and reveled in their own pain as much as he did. When Bruce looked back to the thin, pale, man in his grasp. His eyes were downcast and vacant.

“ Joker…??”

No response, but his chest moved, he still breathed.

“ Joker!“ He shook him , but there was nothing… a small twitch of his brow, shift of his legs that lay, sprawled, on the ground but… nothing. Bruce sighed. Contemplating. Then… Without waiting another moment…

…Bruce snaked an arm beneath his, wrapping the other around the purple clowns frail legs, and lifted him from the ground. The action woke Joker from his daze with a start, his eyes blinking wide in confusion as his hands flexed, digging his fingers into his bats thick bicep in fear that he may be planning to throw him from the roof himself.

Instead Bruce held onto the other man tightly, and jumped from the roof with him in his arms. His gliders automatically activating allowing him to gracefully fall several stories, riding on the hot winds swept up by the raging fires below. As he scanned the skyline he noticed the damage wasn’t nearly as severe as previously thought. Places like the hospital, the orphanage and most if the highly populated narrows, spared.

“they aren’t safe y’know…”  Joker whispered into his ear… “but you can save them… I left clues”

“I figured”

“of course you did”

Something close to a smile crossed Bruce’s lips. Born more from relief than anything but also… amusement. He should have felt guilty about enjoying such a dangerous game but… it was what they had.

as he swooped down to the Batmobile waiting at the bottom. Bruce popped the hatched and placed joker into the passenger’s seat, fastening restraints onto his wrists. He did not fight. it unsettled bruce beyond belief but he kept it to himself. With a sigh, Bruce squeezed into his own seat and sped away towards the GCPD. The cabinet of the car was silent aside from the low rumbling of the engine for at least 8 minutes. Eventually Bruce took a chance and spoke.

“things won’t change as much as you think they will….” He assured, not sure why he felt the need to do so.

“you don’t know that… “ The other man whispered, staring out the passenger side window as droplets of water raced on the tinted glass. he was curled in on himself. the lack of legroom making him look cramped despite his unreadable expression.

Bruce opened his mouth to counter… then closed it and turned back to the wheel. As they rode off, flames on either side of them turning up ash despite the rain, a certain word or perhaps a certain phrase was left unspoken. but deep down, despite the confusion and hatred and denial … they knew…. After so many years they finally knew and nothing either of could say would ever suffice… the sun was setting and it was  too late for that… much too late.

[judas-had-a-crown]

Hi! I'm new - well not so much, but still - in this fandom. And yes, I'm watching Gotham, I fell for all the Jokers and started Telltale Batman. But like, where I should start for being a "more acculturated" fan? (?) For example, I didn't even know who was Bane in "The dark knight rises" and the trilogy has literally opened my eyes, I really felt ignorant :') Thank you very much!

Hello :) Oh dear, there‘s really not such a thing as a more acculturated fan in my book — if you‘re a fan, you‘re a fan, you‘re a fan. You don’t have to feel ignorant — hell, there are so many versions and universes and literal bullshit going round depending on the comic book writer who gets their hands on a character, I deem it a wonder some people manage to not get lost in everything.

So you don‘t have to know about all 69 versions of Joker and Batman and the other rogues to call yourself a fan or knowing. But if you‘re interested in seeking more information about the charas you like, you can pick just the stories you prefer.

I‘m not a hardcore comic fan myself, I‘m picky when it comes to certain versions and storylines I approve of. But if you want a general dip into most villains, I‘d always recommend you playing or watching a Let‘s Play of the Arkham Games, starting from Origins to Arkham Knight. Also BTAS - Batman: The Animated Series - covers the usual original stories of most villains (also the ones which have been rather thrown under the rug lately) quickly and sweetly.

If you want to see more of Bane in particular, I‘d personally recommend you to read the Secret Six Series, which captures his character pretty well. (Spoiler ahead, you‘ll even get a sweet scene of him dealing with a baby ;3)

Also here are three other comics listed beside the TDKR movie ; http://comicbook.com/dc/2017/05/02/best-bane-stories-ever/#5

For Joker, holy hell, there‘s tons of material - good and bad stuff mind you. The telltale version of Joker differs from his original backstory, but I adore the fresh take with John Doe.

If I‘d have to choose good Joker comics, I‘d go with:

The Killing Joke — THE comic in terms of explaining the dynamic between Joker and Batman as well as having a look at his past before he turned into the Joker.

Joker by Brian Azzarello — Hugely inspired by Heath Ledger‘s portrayal of the character. I‘ve got a love-hate relationship with this comic because Joker does some things which irk me and don‘t fit in with my personal stand on him, but there are also a few highlights hidden inside.

Arkham Asylum: A serious House on a serious Earth by Grant Morrison — Bomb ass art style that‘s all I‘m saying here.

I also am head over heels for Marini‘s art style in his latest piece Dark Prince Charming even though you could say this story plays somewhere in the timeline of the Arkham Games — either that or it‘s just a one hit wonder and I adore it deeply.

aaaand there is a series called Europa which is literally just batjokes it‘s so full of underlying meanings and I love it.

you will find most of this on this lovely website where you can read most comics for free:

https://readcomiconline.to

I hope I could help you with this :) have a lovely day.

[about-faces]

If District Attorney, Harvey Dent NEVER had his face scarred, no thanks to unfortunate circumstances, and was still an ally of Batman and James Gordon, could he do a great job helping those two clean up Gotham City...or inadvertently make things worse for them? Note: This scenario could happen in any DC continuity. ANY DC continuity.

God, that really is THE question when it comes to Harvey, isn’t it? It all really depends on which version of Harvey we’re talking about. What kind of psychological issues and/or mental illness is he dealing with in any given continuity, and what kind of support system does he have from his friends and Gilda-type love interest?

Let’s look at a few examples:

THE CINNAMON ROLLS WHO NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG

Golden Age Harvey Kent, Bronze Age Harvey Dent (1972-late 80′s), Batman Year One, Billy Dee Williams from Batman ‘89, Tommy Lee Jones from Batman Forever, Shatner from Batman VS Two-Face

These are all the Harvey Dents who would have probably been just fine! More or less, give or take a few dozen murder attempts and kidnappings at the hands of Gotham rogues like Gordon has had to endure.The Harveys of the first and third Batman movies would also likely have fit into this category, based on what little we know of them from the films and particularly the novelizations.

None of these Harvey Dents displayed any signs of mental illness or psychological duress, they had nothing traumatic in their childhoods (that we knew about), and they had strong support systems from people like Batman and Gilda. They would have likely had long careers of heroic accomplishments alongside Batman/Bruce and Gordon, and the Bat-Family in general. Hell, they would have been IN the Bat-Family! Sigh, it hurts just to think about what might have been.

THE STRUGGLING HARVEYS WHO MIGHT HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG

Secret Origins Special, the ‘89-’91 comic strips, Aaron Eckhart from The Dark Knight, The Big Burn, Telltale Batman,

They all had issues under the surface, but there was no indication that any of them were in danger of snapping or crossing any moral/legal line worse than what Batman himself was committing (so still illegal, but arguably morally defensible). The comic strip Harvey is an exception, what with the tire-tapping, but even he would have been able to come away from that, as he eventually did at the very end of the series.

I know some people will be all “But wait, Hef! Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey totally snapped when he interrogated the Joker’s henchman! That showed that he had a dark, murderous side!” Not so fast, Mr. Strawman! Harvey was using his two-headed coin, which he knew would never come up tails, so the henchman was never in any real danger. Harvey was in complete control and was just bluffing, just as Batman was when he tried threatening Maroni, who called his bluff. The only thing that drove him over the edge was a combination of grief at losing RAYCHULL, the trauma of having his face burned off, the constant pain he was in, and just bad writing in general.

If these Harveys hadn’t suffered their own individual attacks, these Harveys would also have likely continued to do great work as allies and friends of the Bat-Family, but they would still have benefited from therapy and taking it easier at work, if not finding another job entirely.

THE TORTURED TOSS-UPS, SOME OF WHOM DEFINITELY DID THINGS WRONG

Eye of the Beholder Harvey, Batman The Animated Series Harvey, Crime and Punishment Harvey, Long Halloween, Two-Face: Year One, Nightwing: The Great Leap, My Own Worst Enemy.

These Harveys were both already falling apart even before the scarring. Furthermore, they all display distinct secondary personalities who identify themselves as separate from Harvey Dent himself, and the two sides will even interact. I strongly doubt that they just magically appeared after the trauma of the face scarring. Mental illness doesn’t work that way, not even Two-Face’s fictional (and usually unrealistic) depictions of mental illness.

Not only would these Harveys require a lot of support and therapy, but they would also have likely needed to quit their dangerous, high-stress jobs, which is something neither of these Harveys were prepared to do. For a perfect example, take a look at Gotham Adventures #33, which showed us an alternate reality where TAS!Harvey was never scarred, but still struggled with deteriorating mental illness and MPD.

In the cases of EotB, Year One, and possibly Long Halloween (depending on whether or not you believe Gilda’s version of events at the end), he had already suffered a break and committed murders, but I think that they still might have recovered if he’d gotten the help he needed, even though he would have had to answer for their crimes. 

Even if these Harveys hadn’t been attacked, they would have needed to care for themselves with therapy and medication if there was any chance of them being healthy, happy, and functional at their jobs. They desperately needed help, but they were unwilling/incapable of reaching out for it, and/or they were abandoned by the people they trusted and needed.

THE IRREDEEMABLE JERKASSES WHO DID EVERYTHING WRONG

Citizen Wayne, The Face Schism, Beware the Batman, Batman: Earth One, Gotham by Gaslight (movie)

These Harveys were assholes. They’re not mentally ill or dealing with personal trauma from their childhoods, they’re just pricks. They were useless as crime-fighters, and were often even obstructionist dickbags, if not outright antagonists. They would never have been heroic or useful in any way, and they all deserved to be given wedgies and tossed in the trash along with any other versions of the character which completely miss the point of what makes Harvey such a special, tragic character in fiction.

Ultimately, the question of whether or not Harvey could have continued being a hero and ally depends on the writer and how interested they were in Harvey as a character. My personal preference in somewhere between the struggling and the tormented categories, where he hasn’t snapped or killed anyone, but is actively struggling and dealing with a lot of shit he never asked for.

As a mentally ill person who also had an abusive alcoholic father, it’s very important for me personally to believe that Harvey could have recovered and been the hero he should have been, if the circumstances were even just a little different, and that he might be able to be that man again someday if DC weren’t so obsessed with the status quo of kicking him when he’s down and keeping him a villain.

[twothreads-archive]

CHARACTER META - PART 1. ( INSPIRATIONS )

So, I decided to turn this meta into two different parts. This first part, the “inspirations” part, is the part where I basically just list up all the most important quotes, scenes and overall storylines from other canon Joker stories outside of the telltale game, that I take inspiration from when it comes to my portrayal of John (note that when I say inspiration, I mainly mean that I look at what kind of mindset / person it takes to say and/or do these things, not that my John actually has done any of these things yet...)

The second part, which will be the “character study” part, will be in another post, and will be the post where I talk about how everything listed here plays into my portrayal of John, and basically try to explain as much as possible about John’s mindset / behavior / beliefs / etc, etc.

Anyways, this part is basically just for those who are interested to know just exactly what it is I’m looking at, and what I keep in mind while I try to flesh out John’s character beyond what just the telltale games did, because (as I will get more into in the second part of this meta, the John we see in the telltale games, and the John you mostly see in my interactions on here, is just a facade that he puts up, and not actually the real him.)

Either way, here’s the list of the most important things I draw inspiration from.

                                                                 inspirations

THE DARK KNIGHT

“ Do I really seem like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. I just do things.” - The Joker, about himself

“ I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.” - The Joker, about his “plan” so to speak

“ See, their morals, their code... It’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble.” - The Joker, about people in general

“ Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Alfred, about the Joker. 

We also have a few scenes in this movie I think is important to his character too. There’s the scene where the Joker laughs while being beaten by Batman in the GCPD interrogation room. There’s the scene where Batman is driving the Batcycle towards the Joker, and Joker, in turn, walks towards him, shooting at random cars driving by, while talking about wanting Batman to hit him. There’s the scene where he gets thrilled when Dent decides to flip his coin on whether or not he’ll shoot him in the head, and there’s the scene with the Joker laughing while he’s falling towards his death, before Batman saves him.

Every scene he comes up with a new backstory for how he got his scars, are also scenes that I find worth taking note of.

And of course the iconic scene of the Joker burning up basically a small mountain of money.

There’s also the scene at the very beginning, where the Joker comes up with a plan to rob a bank, except he executes it by telling some of his men, individually, to kill the others once their part of the job is finished, basically setting them all up to take out each other, until there’s only one left, who the Joker then proceed to kill, before driving off with all the money alone.

THE KILLING JOKE

Here, I think the storyline overall is a very important aspect of his character. For anyone unfamiliar with this comic, we see the Joker trying to prove his point to Batman, that everyone can go insane by just having one bad day. Though instead of targeting Batman directly, he decides to prove his point by targeting Jim Gordon. So the Joker and some of his men shows up at Gordon’s home, shoots his daughter, right in front of him, the bullet ending up paralyzing her. then the Joker proceeds to take Gordon with him and tries to mentally torture him to break him and make him go “insane” just to prove to Batman that he’s right.

There’s also a few quotes from this comic that I find important to his character.

“ Most repulsive of all are it’s frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them... they snap.” - The Joker, talking about people in general

“ Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random and pointless, one in eight of them crack and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be crazy!” - The Joker, about people in general

“ No. I’m sorry, but... No. It’s too late for that. Far too late.”  - The Joker, after Batman offers to help him at the end of the comic.

BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS

In the Arkham Origins game, I look at how the Joker is shown to be capable of pulling off making others believe he is Roman Sionis ( Black Mask ) by dressing up as him, imitating his voice, general mannerisms, behaving more “sane”, etc. I think it really shows an interesting aspect of his character that we don’t get to see a whole lot outside of telltale, which is that he is very talented at deception, acting, manipulation, etc, and that he’s not necessarily always blowing things up or killing people off left and right.

There’s also the scene where the Joker was ready to be shot by a bazooka by Bane, laughing excitedly as he’s blown off the building and falling towards his death before the Bat saves him (quite similar to near the end of the Dark Knight movie.) Then, after Batman saves him, he even puts a gun to his head, with every intention to pull the trigger, only to see if the Batman would save him again or not.

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY

Here, it’s not so much the Joker’s quotes I take inspiration from, but more the various Joker thugs on the streets talking about him.

“ Today, however, we shoot ‘em. Yesterday we took 'em in the back room and burnt off their skin. But sometimes, Joker just lets anyone join. Keeps things interesting. [...] You’re just lucky you joined on a good day.”  - The Joker’s men, talking about Joker’s way of “recruitment”

“ At least with the Joker, you know he’s got a plan.” - one of Joker’s men, arguing why he thinks it’s better to work for the Joker than Two-Face.

“ The Joker’s crazy.” - thug 1 “ At least he’s funny.” - thug 2 “ ‘til he kills ya.” - thug 3. - ( Joker’s men, discussing working for the Joker)

“ We do this for the Joker!” - Joker’s men, basically expressing their loyalty for the Joker, even when he’s sick and possibly dying.

There’s plenty more quotes like these, but you get the drift. Some of them aren’t so sure about working for the Joker, while others actually seem to like / prefer working for him.

There is also two scenes with the Joker that I find important in this game. First, the one where Harley approaches a tied up Batman, wanting to remove his mask, but the Joker stops her, because he doesn’t want Batman’s identity to be revealed as he thinks it would spoil the fun.

The second, which is more the overall storyline, is that the Joker wants a cure from the deadly disease he has, so he won’t die, showing that sometimes he actually doesn’t want to die / is worried about death.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT.

In the Arkham Knight game, I take inspiration from the “flashback” scenes that Batman hallucinates / sees Joker’s memories, where the Joker physically and mentally tortures Jason Todd (a teenager at the time) for an extended period of time, and the flashback scene (and Killing Joke reference) of the Joker showing up at the Gordon’s house and shooting Barbara Gordon, paralyzing her, then taking photos of her to show her dad in an attempt to drive him insane.

I also draw inspiration from the generally really dark sense of humor he shows in this game, such as "joking” with Batman by saying that he can’t really save ALL of Barbara, as he (the Joker) killed half of her already, or after he shot Barbara, saying “oh, don’t pass out just yet. Show a little spine.” etc. You get the drift. Really dark “jokes” that aren’t really jokes at all.

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

While I don’t draw a whole lot of inspiration from the animated series, I do think a few small scenes are kind of interesting that we don’t really see a whole lot of in other Joker canons, and that is that in certain moments, he actually does seem worried at the thought of dying. e.g. in the ‘Last Laugh’ episode where he’s dangling upside down over a pit of fire, a wire around his foot being the only thing between him and certain death, while he’s not terrified, or even straight up scared, he does seem mildly concerned at the thought of Batman not saving him. Or in the ‘Joker’s Favor’ episode, when Charlie threatens to blow them both up with Joker’s bomb, the Joker seems genuinely worried, scared even, at the thought of dying there with him. Even to the point of being relieved when Batman shows up, and then, when Charlie tosses the “bomb” at him (which turns out just to be a fake bomb.) he runs to take cover behind Batman.

I also notice in the animated series, that the Joker often pulls out dangerous toys / weapons a lot, which are usually in locations he’s familiar with / spends time around, for example one of Gotham’s abandoned carnivals, which suggests that he makes sure to have lots of getaways and back-up plans to get out of unexpected situations that may arise.

... There’s probably a whole lot more canon Joker stories that I also take inspiration from that I just can’t think of right now, but if I do think of something, I’ll update this list later. For now, I think this summarizes the most important things I look at pretty well, though. So, stay tuned for the second part of this meta, where I go into detail about how all this plays into my portrayal.

                                                          [ PART 2 ]  - [ PART 3 LINK TBA ]

[thepilgrimgeek]

Unintended Symbols: Minor Spoilers for Joker (Part the First)

It's Academy Award season! The nominations are announced! Between now and February 9, ThePilgrimGeek is going full Blockbuster clearance shelf with Minor Spoilers! What made me laugh? What made me cry? What were the films that stuck in my noggin for days? Here's the first of Minor Spoilers at the Academy Awards! Todd Phillips' Joker has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For a director who’s works include The Hangover and its sequels, as well as Starsky & Hutch, it is an astounding and captivating change of form. The cinematography and writing is on point, and Jaoquin Phoenix easily delivers one of the best performances of his career. Joker, in most regards, is a well-crafted film.  Yet, my response to Joker was a cocktail of curiosity, confusion, and more than a dash of despair. I walked out of the theater mulling over all I had watched, a telltale sign that this movie was worth the ticket and that perhaps the haunting sensation that followed me required my attention and prayerful engagement. In doing so I resolved that the only appropriate way to discuss Joker is in two separate Minor Spoiler reviews.  This first installment reflects the part of me that is more generous with the film and what I think may be Philips’ commentary specifically about the Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy and its cultural impact. The second part will approach the character of The Joker both in Joker and in the comic book canon of the DC Universe through a broader theological lens. With no further ado, here is my first of two Joker reviews : Unintended Symbols: Minor Spoilers for Joker I wonder what Joker would look like if there had never been Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. I even wonder if such a movie would exist if Christian Bale had never faced off with a painted Heath Ledger or a masked Tom Hardy a decade ago. 

Christopher Nolan weaves one thematic thread throughout his trilogy: what does it take to create a symbol? From the first moment Bale’s Bruce Wayne conceives Batman, he has one aim. He tells Alfred “I want to be a symbol.” Becoming a symbol to the rest of Gotham City is Wayne’s endgame from the outset. He wants to inspire the citizens of Gotham to have no tolerance for the corruption and villainy of the city’s crime soaked streets and bought-and-paid for bureaucrats and politicians. Wayne continually questions whether or not the symbol is having the resonance for which he is striving. In one of the more humorous moments of The Dark Knight, Batman encounters copycat vigilantes with firearms trying to thwart the schemes of an escaped Scarecrow. Batman reprimands them with his fists and words. They accuse Batman with “What’s the difference between you and me?” The Caped Crusader responds “I’m not wearing hockey pads.” This is more than a mere comment about equipment. This is an indictment about the copycats’ methods under the symbol of Batman. This is revisited in the trilogy’s final installment The Dark Knight Rises. While Batman strove to emphasize what differentiates him from former mentor Ras al’Ghul in Batman Begins, he is now face-to-face with Bane, who calls his whole endeavor into question. If what Batman desired was to be a symbol to mobilize the masses for change, then the Dark Knight was not radical enough. Following Bane’s defeat, the symbol of Batman is passed on to a new Batman in the person of Blake. Batman as a symbol that inspires and mobilizes is at the center of Nolan’s take on the Batman mythos. And yet, the second installment, The Dark Knight, saw pop culture latch on to a different symbol…

In 2007, Warner Bros. embarked on a viral internet marketing strategy in the months leading up to The Dark Knight's release. This included a mock campaign site for Harvey Dent and a "vandalized" duplicate site in which fan emails revealed (pixel by pixel) the first look at Ledger’s Joker, and multiple scavenger hunts launched via the website WhySoSerious.com that led to more Joker images and a teaser trailer. These and other viral strategies put the enigmatic image of the Joker, and his line “Why so serious?” further into the pop culture ether. This strategy was adjusted and refocused on Harvey Dent (Two-Face) following Ledger’s untimely death prior to the film’s release. Despite this transition in marketing, the iconography of The Joker became far more associated with The Dark Knight, perhaps even more so than Batman himself. Even a decade later in 2019, despite having the introduction of two more silver screen Jokers, Halloween brought more kiddos and adolescents in the guise of Ledger’s Joker asking for candy, rather than that of Jared Leto or Jaoquin Phoenix. Undoubtedly, Nolan and Ledger created a definitive symbol of the Joker that has persevered. The pop-culture obsession with the Joker was ignited in 2008. Between the viral marketing of Warner Bros, and Ledger’s iconic performance (which eclipses Bale’s Batman), the real symbol to rise was from The Dark Knight was not the virtuous Batman, but the chaos-relishing Joker.

In light of the pop-culture impact made by TDK, I think it is more than coincidence that in Todd Philip’s film, Arthur Fleck’s murder of three drunken, abusive frat boys while in clown makeup take on in-movie cultural significance. In Joker, the image of the clown becomes the icon under which the disenfranchised of Gotham unite. The image’s power is only fueled by the rhetoric of the city’s elite, namely the Caped Crusader’s own father, Thomas Wayne, who uses "clown" as pejoratively in reference to those praising the mystery murderer. And it is under the icon of the Joker that society breaks out into chaos. In the film’s climax, Arthur Fleck (painted and garbed in what is recognizably the figure of Batman’s arch nemesis, insists to Robert DeNiro’s Johnny Carson-esque late night host that he never meant to be political. Any association between him and the growing symbolism of the clown, he claims, has little to do with him. However, he then goes into an extended socio-political speech that culminates in him killing the late night host. It is the moment that literally sets Gotham on fire as the masses don clown masks and paint, rioting through the city. For a character who does not desire to be a symbol for the politically disenfranchised, he rages against all that the forces that (insofar as Fleck is an unreliable narrator) seem to be oppressing the downtrodden of Gotham.

Fleck has many moments where he basks in the presence of the symbol, grinning at flyers of killer clowns and looking gleeful over news headlines. The film’s near final moments sees the Joker dancing on the hood of a wrecked police cruiser while chaos reigns around him. He is basking in the madness. So the questions remains: what does Arthur Fleck’s Joker stand for? What is Todd Philips’ portraying? At best, maybe Philips is portraying why the iconography that grew around Ledger’s Joker following The Dark Knight is an empty one, offering not hope but only chaos. Maybe we are asked to look at Arthur Fleck, to paraphrase Michael Cain’s Alfred Pennyworth, literally watching the world burn and dancing in the fire light, and ask: what good is there in the cultural popularity and idolization of the Joker?

If Phillips is attempting to draw out this question in a sort of satire of the The Dark Knight's Joker, then we should ask if Philips does this well. If at any point the chaos and violence that Fleck incites (from whatever motivation) is justified or even glorified in its portrayal, then Philips has failed. A satire done poorly is no satire at all, but instead becomes the very object that is meant to be satirized. Maybe Philips has only added to the cultural iconography of the Joker. I think that Tasha Robinson, writing for the Verge, is correct in the assessment that “Phillips suggests in the end that everything he went through was necessary to bring him the power and recognition he deserves. It’s a tempting fantasy, crafted with utter conviction.”  Phillips' satire fails, if that was ever his intent. But perhaps the Clown Prince of Crime is not a force to be satirized. Perhaps any time the Joker becomes a symbol, or is transformed into an icon, there is only one result: the celebration of violent chaos. Perhaps he is not, and was never meant to be, a symbol on par with Batman.  Unless Todd Philips understands that too… but let’s cross that bridge to Gotham next week. Read the full article

[fordarkisthesuede]

The Tolls of Justice: the Tarot, Name Meanings, and More!

Gentlepeople…

BEHOLD!

All the tarot-aligned hints! All the future foretellings! All the silly references! :) Everything you might have overlooked is here for you easy-to-read pleasure!

Naturally, there be spoilers a-plenty ahead for Batman the TellTale Series: The Tolls of Justice, so if you haven't read it (or maybe you're thinking about reading it, or this is your first time hearing about it), I'd advise waiting until you're done with each chapter to read through the sections. You can either click the link and be redirected to Ao3, or look through my tumblr tag #ttoj!

*One forwarding note: the tarot references build slowly in this story, and I only use the traditional Major & Minor Arcana. You'll see a lot of jokes and name-type references before we get to the tarot. I also simplified the numerics, but they're often displayed as roman numerals on cards, hint hint.

Prologue

gang member "Four Ears" - a very very off-the-collar reference to the line "Listen up, four-ears!" from J-Men Forever; in context, it was an off-shoot of the insult "four-eyes" but for music taste, also implying the person's taste was "square".

gang member "Muddy Nye" - his name can be boiled down to "muddy river". It works as an allusion to the messy, unclear case ahead of Bruce and the Batfam, but also as a hint to Clayface, who acted as Muddy in his first sighting of the story.

"Sunset" - a reference to everyone's favorite vampire series to pick on, the Twilight series; back when it was at the height of it's popularity, some drug dealers sold heroin marketed towards the crowd based off it's terrible and unfortunately iconic(?) line from Edward Cullen, "You're my own personal brand of heroin"…hence why the drug of choice BM is shipping here is heroin. Essentially, this plot setup is one big joke.

"FIGS" - a reference to POP! vinyls, hence the capitalized name and spiky word balloon on the packages.

"Gray Ghost [memorabilia]" - one of my (and everyone else's) favorite BtAS episodes, which proves definitively that Bruce Wayne | Batman is not only a Huge Nerd™, but also a massive collector of normal fandom things. (Do you think he troughs through blogs and fanwikis…? What am I saying, of course he does. He edits them.)

gang members "Jack Whendleham and Kirby Noltz" - nod to Jack Kirby, comic artist extraordinaire!

Ch.1: A Different Ceiling

[chapter title] - John does not wake up in Arkham at the start of the story, hence waking up to a different ceiling. He also hits different limitations on what he can do, so it's also a different kind of "ceiling". (Like the term "the glass ceiling", the invisible barrier a demographic hits in a hierarchy.)

St. Dymphna New Life Home - named after Saint Dymphna, the patron saint of mental illness. There's no "'s" at the end because I saw other clinics named after Saints didn't use the possessive form when referencing them.

The Lucky Hotel - an oxymoron, really; the unluckiest place to get stuck at with it's seedy history, but also the place where John "gets lucky"…in a couple of different ways!

Stitched Up Alterations - a heavy nod to the wonderful batjokesy line from S2, "We're two threads in the same stitch". It's pretty deeply ingrained in fanon (and technically canon, if you go with The Dark Knight) that Joker makes his own clothes, hence Batman rarely finding him through his tailor. Since John's thrifty and clearly made his original Joker outfit(s), I piggybacked off it as a legit skill to give him. I mean, come on, the guy is always so stylish! And you're really going to look at me and say he didn't alter his thrifted shirts and vests to fit his sleek frame? Puh-leeease.

13th Street - 13 is a traditionally unlucky number in western culture; hence the "Lucky Hotel" there having a bloody history, along with a failed, closed casino nearby.

Corazón gang - okay, I admit…I'm still a weeb at heart. It's a One Piece reference. Corazon was one of the few post-timeskip new characters I really liked; his name is Spanish for "heart", and he sported a heart motif. Like the gang in this story, he also died before the start of the main storyline.

Ch. 2: Face Values

[chapter title] - A reference to the phrase "not taking things at face value", which is very evident in this story. Also doubles as a rather loose reference to the upcoming Tarot cards.

Sebastian Overfield - The name Sebastian means "from Sebaste", as is derived from the Greek word sebastos ("venerable", someone who has a lot of respect). Overfield of course is "over" and "field", implying the family is on a high hill overlooking/overseeing/maintaining a certain field. As Seb is a reverend, this name is well-fit for him.

orange rose [gift from John] - means "passion" in the language of flowers, and can allude to fascination; this can be taken platonically or romantically…but it's definitely romantic when it's coming from John.

blue iris [gift from John] - means "faith and hope" in the language of flowers, and sometimes are associated with royalty; an allusion to Batman/Bruce's overall symbolism in the eyes of Gotham…and John.

Chandis [ship, circa Prologue] - A reference to Chandi | Chandika, the Hindu deity; the short version of their story is that they are a demon slayer, known to be angry and passionate, wield multiple weapons, and ride a lion. And who was on the ship? Hmm…

Ch. 3: Ink Trails

[chapter title] - A reference to the Alterations' claim slip John finds, which ends up leading back to the Court of Owls. It doubles as a reference to the mask tattoo/clue on Ian 'Nito'.

Faith Ackart - "Ackart" is a variant of "ackhart", derived from "ekkehard", which we can say roughly means "brave/hardy". The name "faith" and "hardy" together is another very subtle clue for the audience towards the villains' motives. (Well, I say that, but it was really more of a joke-clue for me to giggle at. And it makes a good reporter name!)

Lou Monger - the guy's a fish monger…with the last name Monger. It's-a joke! ;D

Ian 'Nito' Coggs - first mentioned without his real last name, but "Ian Coggs, Nito", is a pun on the word "incognito"…which is what Clayface is here.

FriendBook/Chirp/bloggr/uBox - takes on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube respectively. (This started back in my 'Season 3' story, At the Brink of Midnight, though I've since learned that bloggr was a real thing. :T) The 'uBox' is meant to be a play on 'jumping box'/'the box' as other terms for TV, like 'the tube'.

"whole tomato of pins" - the supposed history of tomato-shaped pincushions is that tomatoes placed on mantels repelled evil spirits and guaranteed prosperity, but I really wanted to just allude to the common pin-cushion shape. (My mom once had a whole little basket of strawberry shaped pin-cushions. I remember "borrowing" them a lot as a kid to play with. And then "losing" them.)

"sock and buskin masks" - these are a reference to the "comedic sock" and "tragic buskin (i.e. boot)" of the Greek comedy-tragedy theatre masks. I figured something like them would be a good logo for the "false faces", as BM is obsessed with masks. It also doubles as a natural callback to the "your relationship with x has changed" feature of TT games.

Ch. 4: Suite of Cups

[chapter title] - the first chapter to be a reference to the Tarot, in specific the Minor Arcana of Cups; rather than specifying the card at play outright, this title is a pun on the aforementioned arcana "suite", as the main location of events this chapter are in a casino's hotel suite. One can interpret many Cups cards at play here, but...

○ Specifically, in the Casino's suite/crime scene, there are 8 visible seats, but 7 cups on the table. The 7 of Cups refers to choices, fantasy, and illusion, an indicates there are multiple opportunities or many paths you can take, but they should be chosen carefully; when reversed, it can mean confusion, diversion, and temptation, and indicate a lack of choice or failure to choose.

○ The upright version is definitely in play, with the overall root of TellTale games being choices, and some "the player" makes this chapter will move your relationships with Tiffany and John in different ways, which can strengthen your relationships with them. If "the player" has chosen to be a more violent Batman, the way the Talon - and later, the Court - treats Batman is different.

○ The Reversed reading can be interpreted for the Court's complete disregard for the mere notion of choice.

Bauta - a Venetian carnival mask, meant to represent 'anonymous decisions' via it's original design of protecting identities. It's quite common in carnivals.

Melpomene-Thalia - the Venetian masks for comedy and tragedy, a la 'sock and buskin', the masks used as a general symbol for theatre. You can practically taste the irony, given who's shown wearing it...

Volto - a Venetian mask, meant to represent 'anonymity, quiet exit' for it's blank face. It's also known as the "Citizen Mask" because of it's worn by the common folk (in comparison to the more elaborate masks).

The Lot [casino] - named for "drawing lots", like drawing straws or matches to pick a person to do a task (usually with the shortest straw having to do the task, but it varies). This is both a pun on the fact that it's a casino - where you try your luck at gambling - and corresponds with the theme of foretelling the future that's woven throughout much of the story.

The Wednesday Nighters gang - this doesn't mean anything in particular. I'm a big fan of Midsomer Murders, and there's an episode ("Death in a Chocolate Box") where it references a few dirty cops who frequently took the Friday night shift at a station for episode-plot-reasons, who called themselves The Friday Nighters. It's an off-shoot reference to it, hence the corrupt cops on the gang in this story. :)

[John's voicemail] - Another BtAS episode I love is "the terrible secret of Bruce Wayne". In particular, I loved Joker's voicemail when Dr. Strange calls in ("Boy, do YOU have the wrong number!") and I wanted to do something like that. But, y'know, way less murdery.

"F85H4ND" - l33t-written "Fate's Hand", for…well, the hand of fate, supposedly guiding you through life/events. Another correspondent to the foretelling the future theme.

Michael Hodgson - not all of the names I pick for characters mean anything. Sometimes their names are just loose references to things I like. This is a silly mish-mashup of the original hosts of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Michael [Nelson] and [Joel] Hodgeson. (Joel was the first host + show creator, and Mike was the second host who closed out the original series run.)

"40F5WRD5" [Batcomputer archive] - l33t for the 4 of Swords, a card in the Minor Arcana for rest and restoration; since the archives and file names are randomly generated when not prompted otherwise with manual input, an otherworldly force seems to be saying 'get some damn sleep Bruce'.

[John's ringtone] - I know, TT always has everyone's phone on silent. I don't care. Bruce's ringtone for John is "Mack the Knife", a song about a violent mobster, played on a carnival organ. Chosen because 1) John probably loves that song, 2) I thought it was funny that it has the line "the shark bites - with his teeth, dear - when he shows them pearly whites" and how well that goes with John's A+ dental care... 3) TeamFourStar made jokes in their BtTTS S2 playthrough about having "a special ringtone whenever John calls [them]"…why would I not carry that through? They did get me to where we are now, you know. ;)

Ryde - the in-game stand-in for Lyft, the not-a-taxi service.

Ch. 5: The Wheel Still Spins on the Upturned Chariot

[chapter title] - a reference to 2 tarot cards in the Major Arcana. 1) "The Wheel"/"The Wheel of Fortune", which is a sign for continuous cycles, inevitable fate, and usually indicates good fortune and pre-destiny when the card is presented upright. When reversed, it can signify bad luck and an unfavorable fate. 2) "The Chariot", symbolizing a path forward to success, confidence, and overcoming obstacles; when reversed, it's stands for recklessness and lack of direction/control. 3) As the Chariot is upside down, John's original plans have been upended and everything goes out of his control in a chaotic situation. He’s essentially "not at the driver’s seat" for a little while. "The player" decides which direction to take the wheel in - either letting him lash out violently and send him on more solitary and dangerous path, or satisfy his need for stability by embracing his new relationships. The Chariot is always upturned here, but whether the wheel spins forward or backward is up to "the player's" decisions.

511 N. Blade Street - this one's a bit messy. 511 = V I I, or VII in roman numerals, which =7. The tarot cards are traditionally numbered in roman numerals. North, for pointing upright, and "blade" is synonymous with "sword". So it’s the "7 of Swords", in the upright position – referring to deception and trickery, which is of course what's going on in regards to who Ian 'Nito' Coggs really is…

Apt 1005 - even muddier, but this is referring to the 10 of Swords, which is for betrayal and backstabbing, hinting at the true motives of "Ian" | Clayface. 10-0-5, so 10 and the l33t for "OS" = 10-o-S.

900 Wanda Way - Both a pun on the phrase “wander away” and the 9 of Wands in the Minor Arcana, which alludes to pushing forward to achieve victory. A good allusion for a clinic, me-thought.

400 Wanda Way - The 4 of Wands in the Minor Arcana stands for community, another good allusion for a clinic.

Karen McCarthy - named after the most stereotypically uptight narcissistic asshole the masses have agreed to call 'Karen', and both McCarthyism and another famous lady with the surname McCarthy. Because I wanted you to know the second you see her name that she is *horrible*. (Funny, though, there's 2 senators named McCarthy that are pieces of shit and one infamous quasi-celeb who's the face of the anti-vax scene. Is it just a cursed family name?)

Ch. 6: The Tips of Our Swords

[chapter title] - Refers to the 4 of Swords card in the Minor Arcana, as the "swords" are alluding to the four active members in the Batfam - Bruce, John, Tiffany, and Iman - who work together on the case[s]; you can infer this title to a presentation not unlike the Musketeers joining swords to affirm themselves as a team, as they all gather together. The reversed reading of the card is for restlessness/stress in Bruce's case, and the clear signal of the universe to tell him to relax, and the reading when presented right-side up is for the break it gives to "the player", with the homey atmosphere of the Batfam spending time together. Either reading is completely valid here.

○ BUT, as Alfred is a non-active member of the Batfam, we could also say that 5 of Swords is also at play, right-side-up for the fighting and resentment with Alfred, and John's hinted budding conflict with him; and 5 reversed for Bruce's attempts at making up with Tiffany. If one illustrated the gathering of our four heroes joining swords like the musketeers over a breakfast table, then Alfred would be sitting drinking tea, standing as a symbol of the Ace of Cups, signifying new emotions or stirrings of feelings.

○ If we stretch the metaphor eeeven further, the title can also be a loose reference to the Sword of Damocles; threats always hang above the heads of powerful people, and in this case the looming threat of Black Mask and the mysterious assassin, ever-present in Batman's world…

Dr. Brandi September - literally "Sword" and "Seventh Month", alluding to the 7 of Swords, hinting to deception and manipulation at play.

"I was tired of the soup du jour" - a shameless Devo reference; a tiring of the routine/everyday. "I'm tired of the soup du jour - I want to end this prophylactic tour - ain't nobody around me - understands my potato - I'm only a spud boy - lookin' for a real tomato" - DEVO, "Mr DNA/Smart Patrol".

Motel 11, Augury Road - "augury" is another word for crows; as a gathering of crows can be a method of fortune-telling, this a reference to a gathering of 11 crows, which when seen is supposed to be indicative of disguising or revealing secrets.

Ch. 7: Drawing the Strings

[chapter title] - meant to allude to John aligning the strings connecting the people and crimes together, like an old-fashioned way of mapping clues; can be interpreted as these crime-strings on the proverbial board being drawn closer together, marking the center of the "web" as the Court of Owls

Frieda Baast - Frieda, an allusion to the Norse goddess Freya, who rode on a chariot driven by cats, and Baast, the Egyptian goddess who had the form of a cat. It makes it really obvious who was staying at the Motel 11, huh?

room 14 [Selina Kyle's motel room] - a reference to the 14th tarot card, "Temperance", which when upright is meant for choosing the middle path between choices. This is meant to reference Selina herself, currently at a secret, personal crossroads and being in "the middle"; John can influence her hidden choice by either making her think about what her potential job's employers are really aligning themselves with, or taunting her into how she can't leave her old life behind. (Whether John is violent or not doesn't completely impact her choice, but it does impact how they interact later if Selina winds up in the hands of our villains.)

Oracle, Spoiler, Batgirl, Spectrum - Batman's had a lot of non-Robin sidekicks in comics, including Batgirl (originally Barbara Gordon), Oracle (Barbara Gordon, post-Batgirl-forced-retirement and computer hacker extraordinaire), and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown, who "spoiled" crimes). As a fan of Ao3/tumblr's @fractualized 's own Telltale Bat-verse fics (the "Release John Doe" series), I added in the reference to "Spectrum", which Tiffany became in lieu of "Robin". A wink from one fan-writer to another! ;)

"I'm steppin' out, my dear - to breathe an atmosphere […] - that simply reeks […] with class" - John's singing a classic Fred Astaire hit, "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails".

Eric, Jerome, Jeremiah, Jack [John's "Normal name" ideas] - As this story allows "the player" to pick a name for John to use in place of his own, you can pick between some classic and modern references to Joker's alternate personas over the years. Eric White Border (edit: goddang it that's what i get for looking at White Knight while writing this up and never double-checking), Joker's regular persona in the New 52 Batman comic line; Jerome or Jeremiah of the Gotham TV series, both of which are different aspects of Joker's personality through media, with a more modern gritty version in Jerome (think Heath Ledger's Joker) and a more modern take on Joker's sociopathy in Jeremiah; and last but not least Jack Napier, the first official name of Joker circa Tim Burton's Batman (1989), and the one most popularly used (BtAS and other comics throughout the years since use this name). "The player"'s choice doesn't impact the story or the way John acts, but it does give a surprise feature later. ;)

Matt Chaney - Aka, "Clayface", Matt has both new and old elements in his name alone. Matt, for Matt Hagen, the most well-known/used of the Clayface personas, and Chaney, for classic film actor Lon Chaney, AKA the man of a thousand faces. This Clayface is an aspiring actor who is psychologically dependent on Moddy to keep him handsome after a terrible car accident left his face marred. He uses his excellent makeup skills and acting to infiltrate the False Face Society, and double-plays them and the Court of Owls.

Root / MuSec - stand-ins for Vine and TikTok, respectively. "MuSec" is both a play on the word "musac" (the word for 'elevator music' and generic produced music you hear in fake stores and the like) and the mish-mash of the words "music" and "second", referencing the short length of the videos. "Root" was used in a prior story (At the Brink of Midnight), and acts as another "natural network" type name akin to Vine; though I do recognize "Vine" might have come along as part of the phrase "I heard it through the grape-vine". I have a feeling some Aussie fans might find the fake-Vine name funny...or just awkward.

Ch. 8: It Had to Be You

[chapter title] - A reference to the classic crooner song, "It Had to Be You"; specifically, the one that flows through the first scene is a cover done by Frank Sinatra, meant to align with other Bat-media's use of Sinatra where Joker and Batman are concerned. The Arkham games got his famous "Under My Skin", and another crooner's "Only You". Batjokes fans/content creators have also used "Strangers in the Night" for their relationship. I wanted to present one that would feel at-home in the TellTale universe regardless of what route you end up with, and what's more perfect than a song about finally discovering the love of your life? The song fits them to a tee, in my humble opinion…

Estella Art Gallery - Selina's art gallery, mentioned previously to have been the site of a Talon attack. "Estella" translates to "star", for the tarot card "The Star". When presented upright, it means hope and rebirth; this card can be presented after a disaster, such as an event like "The Tower". Normally, it can be interpreted as a card to show a phase where you have trust and faith in yourself and the universe. Selina was turning over a new leaf and enjoying her new life until the Owls found out who she was.

Mrs. Bollard - "bald-headed person"…this poor woman got her wig snatched as John stole Bruce from her on the dance floor. xD

"I knew today's horoscope was bullshit" - a nod to earlier, where Roman mentioned his horoscope when visiting Bruce; "a friend will help you out of a tight bind." Not that it was mentioned like that... still! I wonder what today's was? "You will be fortunate in your business endeavors"? Ha ha ha! But really, the horoscope is another nod to the theme of foretelling the future, as it's a popular method to try and see how your day, month, season, or year will be. Not that I know what sign Roman is… *thinking face*

[Achievement Unlocked: Batman Who Laughs] - John showing up in the Batman cowl was not only funny, but a direct nod to the Batman Who Laughs. The TT games had Batman comic titles often used as Achievements, so I figured I'd put in some…

[Achievement Unlocked: Batwoman Rises] - Iman helping the team out in the spare Batman suit is naturally a nod to Batwoman, and something I wanted to do for a while. ;D

Brighella - a Venetian mask taken from a play now used to depict a cunning and mischievous servant. Originally the mask was used to depict a greedy villain character.

The Two Gilded Cups - A restaurant in-story that references "The Two of Cups" tarot card, a card representing unity, partnership, and two becoming one. When upright, it's a card that can reference lovers or a new relationship; when reversed, it can represent broken communication, imbalance, or tension. As such, the couple who were seen at the restaurant - Sonja Townsend and her husband - are established lovers who work together for the Court of Owls, but those who were really there are Jackie Lant and Matt Chaney, who are in an imbalanced relationship. "Gilded" implies that "The Cups" are covered unnecessarily with gold - this is both in reference to Jackie and Matt's disguise of the Townsends and the truth about their relationship. Matt's lies are covering for his narcissism and selfishness, and ultimately is the only thing holding him and Jackie's relationship together.

Moddy - A fictional body modification clay-mud-putty that's a product of Janus Industries, this makeup is the favorite of Matt Chaney and the reason we can call him "Clayface". Like the traditional Clayface, Matt is in dire need to have his fix of the makeup, despite what it does to him - as John notes, it leaves a weird burn-like sensation, and since Matt has deep scar tissue he covers every minute of every day, it's made the skin damage worse.

"You’re really committed to drowning in that river" - A riff on the old joke "denial ("de Nile") isn't just a river in Egypt".

"Your words are honey in my ears, but my brain always turns it into bitter wax" - In Futurama, Fry has a silly line of “Sweet words! Sweet words that turn into bitter wax in my ears!”. It always had the potential to be a great metaphor if the words were twisted around! :) Plus, I mean, come on, this is a totally On Brand™ thing for John to say!

Ch. 9: Strength in Numbers

[chapter title] - Referencing the Strength card, for bravery, compassion, and inner strength; the title also doubles as a play on “different kinds of strengths”. Strength is the will the expose your truths. Strength is finding compassion to help others. Strength is staying true to your convictions in the face of opposition. We see all different kinds of strength on display here.

○ It can also a reference to the different partnerships going on, with Jackie joining the team (unofficially), Bruce and Tiffany going off to tackle the other half of our case, and John and Iman’s team-up. :)

"[John] could barely hear it over the tinny electronic whistling tune emitting from his own phone, telling him the person on the other end was a mystery" - this is referencing an old tumblr joke! Yes, John has the “It is a mystery” tone on his phone for unknown calls…complete with the little (:o) ghost icon.

CUP5K1NG [license plate] - Referring to the King of Cups card, a card portraying emotional balance and compassion. As it's not written as "K1NGCUP5", it implies it's a reversed card, signifying there's manipulation and instability at work. Even though Matt doesn't own the car this license plate belongs to, it's definitely tied to him since it's his getaway ride, and thus hints at what's to be revealed in his and Jackie's hotel room.

Aylin Street - the name "Alyin" translates into “moon halo; one that belongs to the moon”, thereby being a reference to the Moon card, representing mysteries and illusions. An investigation is afoot!

“Looks like I’ve got the red light, kiddo.” - In stage acts, the red light is to indicate to the performer their time on stage is up. Generally, it’s reserved for comedians who either overrun their time or are losing the audience. John's joking that he's been given the red light to exit stage left (but not persued by bear).

"What’s the ‘G’ for?” - Iman's 'Gotham Construction' jumpsuit has a G different from John's - it's shaped more like a gear. This is another Mystery Science Theater reference, in particular the logo for Gizmonic Institute, the company/labs that "employed" original host Joel and the mad scientist Dr. Forrester (and his assistant, TV's Frank), who started the experiments of forcing a guy and his robot friends to watch reeeally bad movies. The result was 12 (soon to be 13!) seasons of some guys making hilarious and very memorable jokes at said bad movies' expense. Does this reference mean that Bruce is just as huge a dork as I am, or does it mean that MST3K is real in this universe?! You make the call! ;D

○ …if you read 'What's the 'G' for?' in Invader Zim's voice, that's also valid. Especially if you followed it with “I dON’t know!” in GIR's. (There is no cringing here! We openly embrace our childhood silliness!)

MasterOfClayFace / #IdW3arThat [Matt Chaney's social media login] - naturally Matt is so far up on his high horse that he considers himself a master of clay work…and of course his nickname is ClayFace! His password is a joke in and out of canon, being a riff on Lemon Demon song: “A mask of my own face – I’d wear that” ~ Lemon Demon, “Mask of My Own Face” [Nature Tapes].

3055 [Jackie Lant's InstaPic followers] - According to research, the average Instagram following is about 1000, so Jackie is above average popularity. Anything above 10k is usually(?) celeb status. The number 3055 is meant to be broken up and turned partially into l33t, to make 3-O-S-S, or 3 of Sword[s]. The 3 of Swords card in the tarot signifies heartbreak and grief, stemming from betrayal, loneliness, and rejection. Jackie experienced all three of these heart-piercing swords during her return to Gotham, with Matt basically forcing her into isolation, betraying her trust, and rejecting her input and values in favor of his own; but she didn't really know it until the truth was exposed.

8055 [Matt Chaney's InstaPic followers] - similarly, Matt's follower count is meant to be 8-O-S-S, or the 8 of Swords card. It signifies self-victimization and imprisonment. In particular, the card shows a person restrained and trapped, but their helplessness is a show…they could choose to get out, if they got over themselves. Matt is incredibly selfish, so it comes as no surprise that he will play the victim card.

#OnlyInGotham - Another tumblr reference! I love the @hashtagonlyingotham blog! ( ^3^)

The Herold Rite's Theatre - A play on the word "Hierophant": Herold, like “herald (ruler/champion)” and Rites, like “sacred rites”. In the tarot, the Hierophant card represents following tradition and values, which for the Owls is their very core. This is basically a big ol' hint that Iman and John are heading into Owl territory, but also foreshadows the religious undercut of The Court and Reverend Sebastian Overfield's role.

"a familiar red-pyramid-and-floating-eyeball" [graffiti] - A reference to my icon! ;D You think I can't self-promo?

trading cards [found in theatre storage] - In the Theatre, John finds "old promotional trading cards for an old sci-fi film with big-brained aliens". This is a shameless and loving reference to Tim Burton's 1996 film Mars Attacks!, of which my AO3/tumblr icon and username is lifted - the movie was based on a series of Topps trading cards from the 1960's, and had it's own set of cards with movie scenes and behind-the-scenes pictures (and summaries of events) printed for the movie! They also used them as promotional tools, and if you get very lucky purchasing a copy of the old single-issue comic books from the 1995 Mars Attacks run from Image Comics, you can get a promo card.

https://bit.gt.gd/S3272019F?=RO - Originally "gd" stood for a derivative of Google Drive, but I can’t look at it and not see “get good”. The "S3272019F?" is meant to stand for "Started: March 27, 2019 Finished: ?". I can't believe I started uploading the story in March of 2019! Man, 2020 really messed with my sense of time…

Ch. 10: Tantara Bounces Off of Moonlit Walls

[chapter title] - "Tantara" is defined as "the blare of a trumpet or horn", as seen in the Judgement card, which stands for self-reflection as well as reckoning, and can indicate rebirth. There's of course another reference to the Moon card, for intuitions and the unconscious being. Then what are the "[Moonlit] Walls"? Well, they're the part of the only Major Arcana tarot card to represent a building - they are the walls of the Tower, symbolizing destruction and disaster. When all the cards' meanings are put all together, this alludes to a time of discovery among absolute disaster.

○ Expanded, the whole title is a reference to both forms of Judgement occurring – self-reflection and change are happening with Bruce and John as their mysteries and anxieties are finally put to rest: John is undergoing his final "rebirth", seeing his reality clearly in Arkham’s padded cell; Bruce seems to finally come to terms with working with Tiffany, as his fear of not being able to protect her comes through with her showing she's able take care of herself and prove she's a true asset to the team; and the Court of Owls finally comes to light, with Matt Chaney, the Talon Adam, and the Talon Sonja Townsend finally showing their real motivations.

○ We can also interpret the title as a reckoning coming for the Owls, who have long been obscuring the truth of their deeds and whose true motives have been murky. They've built their own tower of disaster with bricks of delusion, and judgement's horn is blaring a warning through their hallways…

"X-Sharp Manufacturing" - a reference to the 10 of Swords (hence the "sharp"), the tarot card for betrayal, backstabbing, and defeat. For Bruce, there is disaster here beyond his control that ends in a [temporary] defeat. For Roman Sionis, owner of the small factory as part of Janus Inc., he's unwittingly walked into his own betrayal.

"Merlin's Flower Arrangements" - Merlin, a famous wizard, is a reference to The Magician card, who defines “as above, so below”… And as John is taken to a secondary location, so is Bruce. :)

"La Luna Painting" - La Luna, aka The Moon; remember, shadows can play tricks on your eye, so something’s afoot here… Aka "HEY GUYS THIS TOTALLY ISN’T SUSPICIOUS OR ANYTHING NO SIR"

Yelsnia Theater - Yelsnia is…actually a name. But searching for it shows my true hint, as it's "Ainsley" backwards. "Ainsley" derives from Scottish words meaning “alone, solitary” or “hermitage”. This is a reference to the Hermit card – in this case, it's blatantly upside down, referring to loneliness, isolation, and a general disconnection with mankind. AKA, the path Matt is on.

"the looming pillar tower" [Arkham] - A blatant representation of The Tower. It stands for impending disaster and "an upheaval of a foundation of reality". Of course, this can be taken in two ways. 1) That John has overcome/avoided the disaster of another mental breakdown. 2) That John’s foundation of his delusions - that he’ll wake up in or get sent back to Arkham for his sickness - was wrong in a realistic sense, as he’s made serious progress in managing his emotional issues, and right in an unrealistic one, where the only way he could be sent back was through an outside force, i.e. the Owls.

10210475 [inmate number] - When separated for the numeric cipher, we get 10-21-4-7-5, or J-U-D-G-E

13051420 [inmate number] - When separated for the numeric cipher, we get 13-5-14-20, or M-E-N-T

○ When put together, the inmate numbers read "Judgement", the tarot card is shown here for John's choices and character arc on display throughout this chapter. When the card is reversed, it implies a lack of self-awareness, which we can also attribute to "the player's" choices for John if they make Bad Decisions. If you simply take the word "judgement" at face-value (without involving the tarot) it also works wonderfully, applying to John's entire situation as being a trial/judgement set by a higher force.

"The prince returned to the tower" dialogue [the prophetic cell mate] - Whether the person speaking is physical or not, John notes he can hear the scratching of pencil on paper within the cell, implying a person is writing their words down like a story… “The prince,” (John Doe, alias Joker, traditionally the ‘Clown Prince’ of Gotham) “having returned to the tower” (Arkham Asylum, the foundations of John's issues) “to reclaim his crown,” (assurance in himself and his reality; the completion of John's "self" with his final choices and becoming Vigilante!Joker for good) “trails after the fiend” (confronts the Talon Adam, alias Owl-man) “who's flying on wings of retribution” (core beliefs, perceived sense of justice). “The fiend’s wings are big, but the bones are brittle” (the Owl-man is imposing and persistent, but his physical "wings" are his weakness).

○ If you couple the Court of Owl's belief that G*d has written down the destinies of everyone in the world [as they are each born] with the knowledge that someone was writing down a short version of John's events at Arkham…hmmm.....

Room 11 [Iman's cell room] - The 11th card in the Major Arcana is "Justice". This can reference either 1) The just-desserts coming for Talon Adam/"The Owlman", or 2) The outcome of the player’s choice to take Iman with them or not.

11 minutes + 16 seconds [remaining time on bomb timer] - 11:16. 11/16, aka my birthday! :) I only wish I had finished Chapter 10 in time for the chapter's publishing year (2020), lol~

"Our Faith brings Perseverance, and Our Perseverance guides Justice, for Mercy to God." - The Court of Owls' beliefs circle around 3 principles bringing people closer to G*d: Faith, Perseverance, and Justice. Their belief hardens their persistence in their actions (as they are written and not guided by "Evil"), and their goals are ultimately to deliver justice where the human system failed and "Evil" prevailed in "escaping", hence the guiding of one principle to another. "Mercy to God" is what is granted by righting the injustices of the world; as G*d wrote your future down exactly, Evil can corrupt it, and once corrupted this does G*d a harmful injustice. The Court considers themselves close to G*d by "mercifully" stopping further corruption via eliminating "Evil" in all it's worldly forms…

Speaking of the 3 principles, our main Owls are meant to be "embodiments" of these in the story.

○ Talon Sonja Townsend represents Faith, driving home her belief in G*d's absolute destiny. She is corrupted by her own selfish goal of eliminating her son-in-law, but is also so by-the-book she does not think to look at the obvious double-standards of the Court, and doesn't think her underlying actions are guided by "Evil".

○ Talon Adam represents Perseverance, having fought Joker to unconsciousness, and was willing to blow up Arkham with himself still inside just to eliminate it; he is the most brainwashed, but the least corrupt in motivations, only striving to get what he feels is "justice". On the flip side of Adam is Talon Evan, who despite serious injury still appeared in Court and jumped at the chance to kill Joker and Batman, despite the Court's general appreciation of Batman; he is corrupt in personal selfishness, as he possesses no "real" faith in the Court's belief system and doesn't like others getting credit by stealing his targets.

§ ...it's also worth mentioning that the names for Adam and Evan are meant to be derivative of "Adam and Eve". In this way, it can also be seen as a parallel to The Lovers card, which one can attribute to Bruce and John. While Bruce + John are oddly harmonious and undeniably have a strong bond regardless of story paths, Adam + Evan are discontent rivals, with Adam "stealing" Evan's target and good graces with the Court, and Evan very pointedly beating up and kidnapping Batman (who Adam admires) to set up Batman's eventual Judgement.

○ Reverend Sebastian Overfield is the main representation of Justice, though he embodies all 3 principles. The Court’s belief is that their pursuit of justice – stopping Evil/chaos via deaths of criminals – overrides their own traditional sins. Because they are being helpful to G*d, granting Them mercy by righting the injustices of Evil and putting G*d’s Word back on the right path, they are in G*d’s favor. Therefore, as the leader of the Court and the one who organized everything by handing down "God's word", he is the carrier of Justice; without him, the Court would be nowhere and G*d would be shedding more tears over their ruined work…at least, in his mind. Naturally, he is the exact opposite of what justice should be. He is biased and unwavering in strict faith, as much a carrier of chaos as he doesn't want to be…

○ Of course, this is all also up to interpretation. One can interpret Adam as "justice", Evan as "perseverance", and Sebastian as the stand-in for "God", as he is the Court's ruler and is the sole person to hand down "the word of God".

"[…]if two people you normally count on for one reason or another" - Alfred made a subtle dig at John being Bruce's boy-toy. Ouch, Al'…

"[…]given it's your pet project, and all" - Even though Selina is talking about Arkham, she's making a dig at former-Arkham-resident John being Bruce's "pet", who in her eyes was Bruce's main reason for getting Arkham revitalized. :\ Man, everybody's picking on their relationship…

petrichor - The smell proceeding rain. Because it's not a climactic fight scene in Gotham city without rain.

Ch. 11: The Tolls of Justice

[chapter title] - Naturally referring to the Justice card of the tarot, this title is the same as the story title. Funnily enough, this is the 11th chapter, and the 11th card in the tarot deck. (I guarantee you I did not plan this bit… Funny how these things play out, ain't it?) The Justice card naturally stands for cause and effect, clarity, or truth; ultimately, it's a representation of karmic retribution, and what the Owls are in dire need of facing. The title overall is referring to both the [para]phrase "do not ask for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee" (in the original context: a grievance over death for all out of love for community/mankind, not just one person) and the "toll" - as in cost or damage - of enacting justice. What Bruce has put himself through to become and keep being Batman, the enactor of vengeance for all those wronged in the city of Gotham, and what ultimately the Court of Owls has sacrificed - either wittingly or unwittingly - in the name of justice. It also extends to John, who for the sake of "justice" is routinely stuck in Arkham, in one way or another, and has never had a conceivably just or fair life at all - thus paying the unwilling toll opposing Bruce and the Owls. We can also extend it to Tiffany, who is making good on her work with Bruce to "pay her toll" for her own crime, with her toll being seen in a positive light as Robin, compared to what life sentence she might have been paying otherwise.

[the sword in the pulpit] - a symbolic reference to The Justice card, as the Justice card in the major arcana often depicts a sword, either alone or in someone's hand. This can also be interpreted as a reference to the Ace of Swords in the minor arcana, which is normally pointing upwards, referring to victory, truth, or ideas; when flipped, as it would be when looking at the initial depiction of the sword as a "cross", it stands for lies and confusion. The sword in the story itself is a symbol of justice, and uses snakes as the stand-in for the forces of Evil, which are destroyed by the owl making up the handle and supposedly wielding the blade.

"the skull peeking out of the knight’s helmet" [card in the box on Reverend's desk] - A very clear reference to the Death card, famous in the tarot deck. It signifies change, inevitable cycles, and new beginnings/directions. Depending on the reading, it can be interpreted as an actual death, but more often than not it’s merely showing of a life change. As this is the Reverend’s deck, it seems the last card he drew was Death… The viewer can interpret this as a reading from the Reverend into the Arkham plot, where Death is representing John’s own changes, the end of Talon Adam’s latest “cycle”, or the actual deaths that had occurred (no matter how many there are in the end). The viewer can also read this as the Reverend trying to find his own fate, the fate of Roman Sionis for his trial, or Batman’s fate. All of them are quite valid, but I feel the most accurate interpretation is that the Rev' was trying to read the future of the Court of Owls.

○ …as mentioned above, the Death card is the most overt reference to the Tarot. This way, if someone didn't piece together the weird chapter titles, the specified numbers and number-letter strings, and/or the odd names of people and places, they'd be able to double-back and see them as clues. They are put there purely as a storytelling clue for the audience. As you can tell, the tarot references increased with each chapter…almost like someone is trying to get your attention…

[the framed painting] - a reference to The High Priestess, aka card II of the tarot. This card is indicative of intuition and looking within, and can signal to mysteries at hand or a higher power at work. The pillars on the card are (hilariously enough) marked with a B and J, and are in black and white, respectively. They stand for Boaz (Strength) and Jachin (Establishment), and are meant to represent the duality of nature, good/evil, masculine/femine, etc. Naturally, both pillars are equal. In this depiction, it is both relating to “the player’s” own duality, with the ability to be flexible as Bruce and John and have both good and bad decisions play through the story, and as a strong hint to a higher power being present.

8-9-6-3 [candle puzzle] - It takes a bit to work out by sorting through the alphabetic values to each number, but it doesn’t make a complete word. On ye olde phone keypad, 1 is always null in value, so it’s always unlit in the candle sequence, and since there are 4 other numbers present we know it doesn’t count as part of the string. (If there were only 3, you could guess a year from your notes.) My idea for the “game” specs of this part would be that the key-code would be somewhat randomized, either using a specific year (if Tiffany and/or Iman are not present, this is *always* the case, as you have to utilize your background notes and the candles by yourself), a few translated letter combinations just for fun, or an occasional number-card type combo, as presented here. (In some lucky scenarios, “the player” doesn’t have to solve the candle puzzle, since Tiffany can figure out the year by herself and just call you over when she opens the door. You still have the option of looking around, though!) In this case, the values are another tarot-themed hint, using the card number first: 8-w-n-d, for the 8 of Wands, which alludes to quick actions. AKA “Get ready for quick-time events!!!”

"looking more like the king on the throne than a judge" - Meant to allude to The Emperor card, the ultimate royal symbol in the major arcana and always depicted with a king. Traditionally this symbolizes power, authority, control, etc., but when reversed it alludes to overbearingness, arrogance, and chaos. For the Owls, they would likely see themselves as the upright depictions, even when presented upside down before the person doing their reading… And here is no better example, with the Reverend Overfield taking place as the ultimate authority over the Court.

"like [Sonja] had a say in commanding the room" - Alluding to The Empress, in conjunction with Rev’s position, this card alludes to femininity, motherhood, nurturing, creativity, and/or abundance. When reversed, it stands for neglect, creative blocks, overbearing, and/or uncaring. Sonja is a good example of an overbearing mother, trying to make decisions for her child because she thinks she knows best - thus fits the reversed reading well.

[Courtroom layout] - How curious is it that I haven't referenced The Devil when we have so many opportunities? That's because I strove to show this card rather than reference it overtly. The Devil card depicts El Diablo in the upper middle, lording over the card, with two souls chained to him at the bottom. The classic depiction shows a female demon-like human on one side and a male demon-like human on the other. As such, Rev. Sebastian sits on the high bench as the judge, overlooking the courtroom, and Sonja and Evan sit beneath him, one embedded on each side of the lower bench, sitting before him rather than beside him. Naturally, The Devil card represents temptation, manipulation, and materialism (though not necessarily of physical things). There is nothing more suited to The Devil card than the Reverend Sebastian Overfield and the Talons.

Circe | Cindy Peterson - Circe was the original Black Mask's downfall, or at least serious decent into who would be Black Mask. In her origin, she was a model who seduced Roman and ended up being blamed for his poor business choices, as he completely revolved Janus Inc.'s new direction around her image, somewhat at her insistence. Roman seemed to love her, but grew vengeful when she dumped him. She was named Circe, after the witch who lured men to their doom. In this story, she plays a much less active role but ultimately still serves as Roman's downfall, though in a very different way. : she does seem to care about Roman, going so far as to hide him on her yacht, not rat him out for his overt gang activities, and even leave Gotham with him for good to run from Batman despite not being in a relationship with him for long. But Bruce is able to spin this to his advantage, openly lying that she was working for him undercover and twisting Roman's affection for her into paranoid doubt, which he eventually lashed out with and ended up being caught because of. Circe never got a ~proper~ name in the original canon, so I dubbed her Cindy. The name "Cindy" can be boiled down to “person from Kynthos” and since Circe is Greek… Well, it fits well enough!

"[…]waltzing into the danger-zone without his wingman" - It’s Top Gun's “You can be my wingman anytime”, but with ALL the homoerotic implications!

"the Degnah Club" - The Degnah Club can be inferred to be one of Roman Sionis’ clubs, or just one his False-Face Society visited on occasion, but the event that happened there is implied to have taken place before the start of the story. “Degnah” when written backwards is “hanged”, referencing the Hanged Man card. When upright, this card means sacrifice and selfless acts. When reversed, as very much implied here, it’s an unnecessary sacrifice. This is both a play on what Roman’s implying – which is likely a very violent event – being an “unnecessary sacrifice” as part of Matt Chaney’s greater scheme for the Court of Owls, and as an allusion to Matt’s fate, where his morals/good choices/old law-abiding life were thrown away for an inevitably failed pursuit.

"[Tiffany | Robin's] personal count of 13" - The 13th card in the tarot is Death, bringer of change and ender of cycles. It’s also a traditionally unlucky number. This number is the “body-count” of Tiffany’s run through the Court so far. Does it reference the end of the Court's latest cycle, or something else…?

Accompanying the Tarot, as mentioned earlier I also tied in other fortune-telling methods, with the counting of crows and reference to the zodiacal horoscope. I also threw in allusions to luck, with The Lucky Hotel and The Lot (in both name and the fact that it's a casino). This is all tied entirely around the concept of fate and being able to change it with the choices you have made or currently make as "the player". Luck itself has nothing to do with your choices and the fates you guide Bruce and John to, and it's not something "the player" can control - it's an illusion, with things seemingly lucky for our heroes having already been written in on purpose to lead to the next event. It's essentially a long, drawn-out joke.

Talons/Reverend's Owl Masks - I wanted the Talons to be set apart from the rest of the Court and have special owl faces. The Court's owl masks are as follows:

○ Talon Adam - Great Horned Owl; chosen for the owl's large size and hunting ability, as well as the protruding "horn" feathers mimicking Batman's cowl. This is the most common owl used in media. The "horns" are meant to clue the reader into the culprit early on. Adam's a Batman-fan, so he mimicked Bats' style.

○ Talon Sonja - Snowy Owl; chosen for the owl's fairly elegant feather pattern and Sonja's ~colder~ personality. Sonja had a masquerade one to show her "humane" side to prospective Owls, but always wears a full-faced mask for the rest of the Court.

○ Talon Evan - Barn Owl; chosen for it's ghost-like face and screeching call, and it's hunting skills. They sometimes are seen as bad omens. While Adam was a mysterious stalker, Evan is overtly dangerous upon appearance, in no due part to his temper.

○ Reverend Sebastian Overfield - Eastern Screech Owl; this owl is smaller than the other, but has similar "horn" feathers to the Great Horned, and a gray face. The "horns" are meant to be another a mirror to Batman, but can be considered another allusion to The Devil. It isn't the largest or flashiest owl of the bunch, but Sebastian has the most power of all the Court members.

[The "Justice" bell-toll] - traditionally, a church bell tolls to signify someone passing into death. In the Court/Church of Mercy's case, they use a bell rung at midnight to signify a complete "trial" and a carry-out of their own brand of "justice"…which also culminates in death. The "trial" shown in this chapter is a rarity, as the offenders are actually present to get a talking-to before their sentencing - generally, the Church will hold a mock-trial to decide the fates of the perpetrators…after some previous counseling with Talons and select older members. (Think of the Trial like a ceremonial conference for the majority of the time.)

Chapter 12: Ten Cheers to the World!

[title] - The act of cheering, aka toasting, is to raise a cup and drink towards someone or something in celebration or tribute. Here, it's referring to the tarot's Ten (X) of Cups, which is pretty much the best card you could pull in a reading - when upright, as it is here, it means celebration, fulfillment, and happiness! The World card is the final card in the Major Arcana, encapsulating completion, accomplishment, and harmony, all from inner and outer sources. It might seem redundant at first, but the Cups suite in the Minor Arcana is all in regards to emotions, relationships, and love; in comparison, the Major Arcana represents a journey from innocence and ignorance to wisdom and completion. So you have an emotional celebration with fulfilling relationships, and the story's path marked as complete in both a literal and figurative sense.

"An accident at Ace Chemicals" [Iman & John's convo] - Referencing the majority of Joker origins, wherein pre-Joker fell into the vat of chemicals at Ace Chemicals and survived, leading to a psychotic breakdown due to his changed appearance and/or the circumstances around to what led him to Ace Chemicals in the first place.

"the string of deaths in the Velestra mafia" [Iman & John's convo] - a ref to the former mafia/main antagonists in Batman: Mask of the Phantom that kept getting killed off one by one by the Phantom. Whether The Phantom exists in this world…we'll have to wait and see, I guess!

"an unrecoverable ‘data loss’ at the Agency" [Iman & John's convo] - not a reference to canon, but my own theory on a potential background for John being a former Agent…(see further below)

"Et tu, Peeps?" - a riff on "Et tu, Brute?", Julius Ceasar's last words as he was betrayed and stabbed to death.

"Maybe I was someone in the wrong place at the wrong time" / "someone at the right place at the wrong time" [John monologue] - Another reference to the most popular background choice, the Ace Chemical origin story, and it’s variations. Though probably lacking Batsy’s involvement, considering the timeframe…

"Maybe I was some experiment gone wrong" [John monologue] - A reference to a different author's Season 3 replacement fanfic, where John ended up being a genetically modified human/test tube baby. Unfortunately the work got deleted from Ao3??? And my bookmark is gone, so I can't name the fic… But I still remember you, Unknown Author!!! It was a fun story and I've never forgotten that twist!!!! \( >o< )/

"Maybe I was even an Agent, like you" [John monologue] - My own little theory as to why the Agency was so keen on getting him for the Suicide Squad – and why he was considered a dangerous part of the gang despite not doing too much of interest in Season 1 (even if you consider the theory that he was helping Lady Arkham get her chemicals/drugs) – was that he was part of the Agency somehow. Either an agent who screwed up on the job, a rogue agent that escaped death via Agency trap…or maybe a guy who knew too much! But it's a fun, fresh idea to bring to Joker's multi-choice past, right? (( ;w;)) <(please say yes)

hippocampus - The region(s) of the brain that primarily deals with memory.

[the photo] - I wanted to leave it up to the reader/"player" to decide what kind of pre-Arkham past the TellTale!Joker has… So whether you think the picture Iman has is a "real" photo of him or not is entirely up to you.

"[…]'you're the moon to my sun'" [John, 'paraphrasing' Bruce] - In Tarot terms, this is a reference to the Sun card, representing joy, success, and masculinity, as well as another reference to the Moon card. One can also interpret the Sun card as "success in overcoming your obstacles or fears". As the Moon card can represent inner fears and femininity, it's a fitting opposite for interpreting this romantic line. While Bruce doesn't exactly embody the "positivity" and "joy" that this card represents, he brings that feeling into John's life, and Bruce is more traditionally masculine in contrast to John. This is also an overt use of the phrase "[they're] the moon to their sun" - a romantic notion that one person, though the opposite to the other, is completely complementary, like a One True Love. TeamFourStar's playthrough of TellTale Batman: The Enemy Within had not one, but TWO mentions of the "moon to [their] sun" line, the second of which was referring to John and Bruce. This one's for you, fellas!!! ( ^3^)

○ Funnily enough, The Moon is a very broadly interpreted card. Sometimes it's not a good card to have because deception, manipulation, illusion, and mystery/confusion are all potentially at work in your life. Sometimes it's an excellent card, because it tells you examine your feelings to resolve a problem, or tells you that you aren't seeing the whole picture. The reversed of the card is often attributed to avoidance of one's problems and further confusion, but also clarity, truth, and the full view of what's going on. If John is the embodiment of The Moon in the upright position, then I say Bruce is that of the Reversed Moon…

"[…] two lovers against the world" - Another classic romantic phrase that can be turned into a Tarot reference. The original phrase is meaning two romantic partners are pitted against "the world"/external forces that threaten to tear them apart, but they are committed to each other regardless. You can't really pit cards against each other in a reading, but you can read Past-Present-Future. In which case, in story terms, The Fool is always the Past, The Lovers is the Present here, and The World is the Future. As mentioned earlier, The World represents harmony and completion - if reversed, it would mean incompletion and chaos. The Lovers card is representing a strong union being forged between two people, very often romantic in terms of the Tarot. The meaning is usually attributed to decisions in a relationship being made (whether to start a new one, or to deepen the one you have), but it can also represent people outright, as well as an indication that a new partnership/relationship is on the way. When reversed, Lovers represents disharmony, imbalance, or a loss of relationship. In our story, of course, our two lovers are representing the upright reading of the card in the Present, showing as a strong couple. As it's "against", it implies that The World is something that will be a challenge, so it's likely Reversed. Which is a pretty good representation of Gotham in general, isn't it? lol~

○ The Lovers can also be seen symbolically in chapters 8 and 9, when Bruce and John are laying opposite each other and linking pinkies/holding hands at the hotel. :)

○ John uses the romantic line regardless of whether he's a vigilante or not! If you didn't get the Best Ending, aka our Sleepover Ending, Bruce would wind up back in the parlor with John as usual, and once the rest of the fam are gone (if they were there at all), he uses it to describe themselves. In the villain route, Bruce and John converse in the Batmobile on the way back to Arkham, and John uses the line there, too. ;3c

○ Naturally, you don't really get this complete scene if "your" Bruce is with Selina in the vigilante route.

Ending Type - …it's not a tarot reference or anything specific. I just wanted to let you know that you can ONLY get the Sleepover Ending if you have Tiffany and John in Bruce's party on good terms with each other AND with Bruce.

○ You can drive Tiffy away from Bruce by saying she shouldn't be with them at the Court Battle, but also by generally not believing in her/being mean and giving a neutral reaction to her staying during Battle; she won't go back to the cave with Bruce, so you don't get a chance to speak to her directly afterwards as either character. (John can still have his conversation with her via text, and they can still end on the same terms.)

○ If you don't have vigilante!John, there's no one else to help lift the things, so Tiffy's idea is never brought up.

○ John is always simping desperate for Bruce's attention, so even if you don't treat him as well in a platonic relationship, he'll still be there for this Ending type. ;_;

○ If you have a Romanced!Selina in your party, Selina will join you in both Court Battle and the Ending as seen in this story. It'll either cause her to take Iman's place (if she is not present) or to have extra spot suddenly appear above the rest of the group. Like Tiffy, she overheats and needs more space too cool off.

§ You can also talk to her as John, and sort of makeup/say your part of the team now. (But John will still be somewhat jealous of the attention she gets.)

§ John doesn't get the emotional hug with Bruce if Selina is around - especially since she doesn't temporarily leave with Tiffany and Iman - but the conversation is almost the same.

§ Naturally you can talk to her as Bruce, too. I don't think on her options too much, but they'll likely talk about change and what it means to have this "job" and internalizing too much of their emotions/themselves.

§ If you and Selina are only friends, Selina can join you in the Court Battle, but will text you instead of sticking around.

1:06 A.M & [Clock time on Belltower in Chapter 11] - Bruce's sense of time is off, which is why he's surprised it's after 1AM and not closer to 2AM. (Can't blame him, he was unconscious for a while and a whole bunch of stuff happened.) I figured if Bruce broke out of his kidnapping ropes at 10PM sharp, and drove all the way to the GCPD, that's about 20-30 minutes in his supercharged car, if not a little less, plus with 5 minutes to escape proper. If we think GCPD is sort of a halfway point to Old Gotham/The Coventry district, it's another 15 minutes to there. So he'd arrive at the Church of Mercy before 11PM, and wait John for around another 10-15 minutes, including with all the investigating inside. The "trial" scene probably took another 10 minutes until Batman crashed it, and fight scenes seem long because of all the action going on, but by the time Bruce and co' leave, it's not 12AM yet. The bell-tower in the Church of Mercy is actually off by about 20 minutes… And what do you know, card XX (20) of the tarot's Major Arcana is Judgement, alluding to karma at work! It can also be attributed to a life change. ;D

"11:43:20PM" - this wasn't deliberately meant to allude to anything. It took the batfam about 2 minutes from the last toll to leave the church. Bells' tolling speed is varying between clocks and towers, but you can estimate about 30-45 seconds for a full twelve. If it rang at 11:40 exactly, then…ugh, this is sounding like math homework.

Epilogue:

[Still a WIP, so will be updated after it's uploaded! Shouldn't have much, though! Saay, isn't there a Major Arcana card missing? (9v9) I wonder what that iiiiis~]

So that was [just about] all of them! I had a lot of fun weaving them throughout the story this time, especially with the story's themes! AtBoM didn't have as nearly as many, so they weren't really worth mentioning before.

I hope this was helpful to those of you who were interested in diving beneath the surface of BtTTS: TToJ~!

[dougcook]

I wrote words and created sentences to review a game that came out months ago!

               “He will remember that.”

               Well, I goddamn hope so.

               I’ve never played a Telltale game before. I’ve heard they’re great. A lot of people talk about THE WALKING DEAD (Seasons 1 and 2), but I passed because I don’t much care for THE WALKING DEAD. It took me too long to realize GAME OF THRONES was a Telltale game and not a cheap tie-in, and by the time I did I learned the big ending and wasn’t particularly interested anymore. I’ve never played BORDERLANDS so TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS was never really considered. I’m always intrigued by games that have a shifting plot based off of your choices – HEAVY RAIN got a shot years ago because of this, I fell in love with MASS EFFECT partially due to how skillfully it builds on your choices over three games [1], and I randomly took up LIFE IS STRANGE to see how they did it, even though it was an unknown to me.

               But I know Batman. And in the wake of an uncertain future for Batman video games following Rocksteady bowing out after ARKHAM KNIGHT, I was eager to try BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES.

               Alright, so I’m not such a big gamer that I can talk about gameplay for long, and it’s not a huge factor for me. I mean, I need the gameplay to work and be fun, but beyond that there’s not a huge difference. And while I think there’s a lot BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES has going for it that the Rocksteady games don’t, the gameplay is nowhere near as fun or engaging. The QuickTime event nature of its action makes them tedious to me, and anytime I had to move Bruce or Batman around is was mostly frustrating. And I despise the game forcing me to highlight circles when investigating things with the right joystick, it feels so damn awkward, like being asked to write with my non-dominant hand.

               Thankfully, the game’s real interest to me was its story, and how it developed behind my choices. And this is clearly Telltale’s bread and butter. There’s a lot of spoilery stuff to unpack here, so probably stop reading if you haven’t played and want to remain spoiler free. Or don’t. I don’t care, do what you want.

               So the game’s real strength is its use of Batman lore against the player. And it’s undoing as well. It starts off well enough, by introducing Oswald Cobblepot as a handsome, thin young man around Bruce’s age, and an international criminal. It takes a canon idea (the Cobblepots and Wayne’s as rival families, until the Cobblepots crumbled, leaving Oswald bitter), and takes it in a fresh direction of establishing Wayne’s equal and inversion in all ways. It’s fun!

               This even applies to the big thing I presume people being pissed about: Bruce learns that Thomas and Martha Wayne were in league with Carmine Falcone and corrupt Mayor Hill, and that specifically Thomas is the brutal evil mastermind, committing enemies to Arkham Asylum for petty reasons, such as Esther Cobblepot simply to gain her land for the construction of Wayne Tower. Guys what a great idea! By casting the shadow on the memory of Bruce’s parents, it forces the idea of Batman to be analyzed: why does Bruce do this then, if his memory of his parent’s morality was a lie? (This gets compounded when it comes out that Thomas and Martha’s deaths were a hit ordered by Hill, and not a random mugging). Where does Bruce’s moral code come from, and does it remain afterwards? This is, of course, not really a chance for Bruce Wayne to grapple with these thoughts, but a chance for us, the player, as we dictate what kind of a man Bruce/Batman is.

               This takes me back to a memory of a coworker and I discussing THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. I really love the book, I do, but I’m not blind to the unfortunate fascistic implications of the book’s portrayal of Batman. He has power and takes more because only he can be trusted with, etc etc. My coworker didn’t see this as troubling – he’s Batman, he is the only person that can be trusted with power. He couldn’t see that, while the fictional character as written by a person is pure and always makes the right choice, that’s not a lesson we as people can take and use in our lives. Superheroes work best as Aesops, and too much Batman fiction gives into the power trip of the character. It comes from the base root of everything, this intrinsic idea: the trauma instilled Bruce with a hardline moral code that makes him incorruptible. BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES forces us to reconcile how that moral code can remain intact when the cause is shown to be even more impure. I find it interesting so many players make choices as Batman that are more merciful when faced with this.

               It’s a shame the things we don’t control are borderline too much. Like the Rocksteady games, it’s a pretty tough sell that Batman doesn’t accidentally kill anyone with his roughness. Batarangs enter eyes; heads slam against walls. I want to applaud the game’s desire to show violence as brutal, I just don’t know if I have it in me to go through anymore crime scenes where people’s eyes are gouged out.

               Oh yeah, and the game seems to have an obsession with eyes. Batman gives Catwoman a black left eye after punching her; the lens on the goggle on that same eye is broken in the next episode, along with Batman’s left eye. Alfred’s glasses are found with the left lens broken, and he can possibly lose that eye by the end of the game [2]. Penguin at one point dons a…um, thingy that looks like a monocle, leaving his left eye open. Falcone is shot (oh yeah, he gets offed so much earlier than one would expect) with a shot to the left eye. So does Thomas Wayne when we finally get the required Wayne’s death scene. And of course, there’s the Harvey Dent scarring, a major part leaving his left eye uncovered, ala THE DARK KNIGHT [3]. The game’s central focus seems to be on secrets; everyone’s got ‘em, and nobody’s what they appear. Except Gordon. Fucker’s a rock in Batman fiction.

               The first three episodes of the game move at a breakneck pace, with things getting wilder until the third episode’s climax, which reveals you were being played the whole time by…Vikki Vale? Um, cool? It’s not that it breaks canon (I’ve shown a fondness for that so far), it’s not that it’s left field (it’s foreshadowed very well in retrospect), but…like, how the fuck does somebody become Gotham’s Lois Lane while secretly planning…huh, not super sure what her end goal was besides screwing with Bruce Wayne. The fourth and fifth episodes continue to fly by, with fun cameos [4], explosive moments, and some heartfelt scenes. But ultimately, the climax falls short due to Lady Arkham/Vikki Vale just…not being interesting. It works, story and theme wise, to fight her as Bruce Wayne, but it’s so muddled what motivates her and what she really wants. It’ so unclear she comes across more like throwing a tantrum. And to have an interesting version of the Penguin as her number two, and even a Two-Face who’s betrayal stings so much due to a strongly developed friendship with Bruce both playing second fiddle to Lady Arkham, well, it’s disappointing.

               The game starts strong, and ends with a bit of a dud. But its highs, man they’re really high. A quick-hit of amazing stuff in this games: Bruce throwing down the Batman cowl and yelling at Alfred, accusing him of lying about his parents; Bruce and Selina Kyle fight off Penguin’s goons in a bar to, well, jaunty bar music; Bruce pulling off the “I’m about to be caught as the other man in a love triangle so I’ll tip-toe away carrying my clothes to hide” move while carrying the friggin’ batsuit; Batman and Two-Face have a showdown in Wayne Manor; Bruce reassuring a despondent Alfred he’s not to blame for the game’s events.

               BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES can delight and make you weep, but only when the villains aren’t around. Rating: 14 out of 17 Stolen Waynetech Grapplers

[1] – There’s a handful of series in fiction that are so tightly wound together that I never engage with a single installment out of context – I begin the series at its start and I go until it ends. HARRY POTTER, THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, and MASS EFFECT are the three examples I can name without hesitation. I’ve played through the three MASS EFFECT games straight three times. [2] – I confess, this didn’t happen in my play through, I simply read about it after. [3] – I consider it a true delight that I could’ve avoided Harvey getting scarred, but that’s another “armed with canon” moment for you. I assumed it was gonna happen, thus I was complicit. [4] – Let’s talk Joker down here briefly. I liked him, mostly, interpreted as like, that awkward, nerdy guy you knew in college with the weird sense of humor. His knowledge of everything Lady Arkham comes across as 80% “get out of jail free” card, but it does kinda fit. He’s…aight.

[teachergaming-blog]

Batman: The Enemy Within Hack, Cheats, Tips & Guide

Gotham city is in danger again and this time all the villains are free and the only hope is batman and Bruce Wayne to fight them and bring gotham city to safe again, through the newest chapter of the famous game batman the enemy within by “telltale inc.” the game is defined as adventure game and its available for both android and IOS devices, inspired by the famous batman trilogy the dark knight, you will get through the story lines and try to solve many mysteries and puzzles that the enemies left behind them to know how to stop them and catch them to make gotham safe again, also you will have to solve the gruesome puzzles to save his prisoners from his hands and know how to catch him and destroy him, through many adventures and characters who will help you or fight you, you will put an end to crime in gotham by helping Bruce Wayne and batman, and through many adventures that the game will take you through 5 parts full of adventures, you will get addicted to the game and to help batman, as the game is unique of its style, so let’s talk about batman the enemy within tips and know more about batman the enemy within hack.

  Great Design for Great Story.

 The game designs are very great, from the design of terrains, buildings, streets and characters, all are sharp edged and very well deigned, and you will be able to see every character in full details from his toes to the head, and also the costumes and items are well made, and all of this had the best visuals and effects like character talking and moving and the interact between items and characters and the effects of everything, so the result was a great game design and satisfying the eye when it is played, and the more you play will be the more you will see new visuals as there is no repeated visuals or designs and you will find that all the characters are different in manners and designs, the game interface have no buttons or windows to make you get deep into the game crisis and enjoy it, the controls are by swiping and not by fixed buttons so you will be able to see all of the screen, and through the choices you make you will make Bruce move and advance through the game.

The sounds of the game are very good and the character talking is very clear and make you focus and get more into the game and understand it more, so it is very well made from all f the sides.

  Your Batman, Your Choice.

 You will play the game as Bruce Wayne and batman, so all your choices will affect the game story, and as you play the game you will have plenty of choices to choose from you, and you have to take your decision quickly as every decision have limited time to choose from, and as you play you will choose also who you will interact with, and the choices will make you advance through the game but every choice will take you to different side of the story, the story choices are not changeable as you will advance by them and no way to get back, so you will have to choose wisely to get what you want, and through different buttons that appear when you need them you will get the right to interact through the game, so it is not just choices game as you will interact too with the characters, and as you advance through the game you will be able to upgrade your items and equipment, or you can use batman the enemy within cheats and get all the updates for free and with many more benefits through it.

  Many puzzles and Mysteries.

 Through many puzzles and mysteries you will have to solve them to know how to catch these villains and to bring peace to gotham again, starting from the Riddler’s gruesome puzzle and to the mysteries of other villains and you will have to solve each mystery and puzzle separately to know where are their next attack and to stop them and fight their men till you catch them and kill them or just send them to the police, and through the game you can get hints by using batman the enemy within cheats and get hints for the game play and how to solve these puzzles easily.

  The Joker is Back!

 Suddenly john doe is free and back and he is looking for taking revenge, so who will have the last laugh? Through the episode of the joker you will find new challenges as he will be looking to attack you and not just the city like the last time, so he gathers and manage all the villains under his command and through his madness he will break gotham, so you have to be smart and know how to catch him and not one of his crew, and through heave alliances with the joker,, you will have to break those alliances first, and as you play you will help and upgrades to break those alliances, so you can use batman the enemy within cheats and get all of the upgrades and hints for free and with no cost.

  Batman or Bruce?

 Through the game you will play as batman or as the billionaire bruce wayne, and as you play both of the characters you will be masked as them to look for villains, so in some levels you will choose which mask you will wear, and through others you will start with certain one, so you will get through the character and act normal and choose the right choices that will keep you undercover to accomplish your missions, and to know what are the best responses and choices you can use batman the enemy within cheats and get hints and upgrades to help you stay covered and know how to play every episode.

  All Against You.

 The villains have planned to destroy you first before destroying gotham, so you have to discover this dark plot and know how destroy them first before they can reach you and destroy you, and through many fights against the villains and their alliances you will get to know how to reach the and destroy you first, but remember that no one is with you except your loyal servant and little other people, so don’t trust anyone as they could turn against you, you can use batman the enemy within hack and know who is with you and who is against you.

  Batman the Enemy Within Hack.

 As the game most of it by choices and don’t need coins and this stuff, but you will need to upgrade your suite and get hints for the game to finish it faster and know which choose is the right one that will finish the episode faster and with no trouble, so you can use batman the enemy within hack and get all of the hints for free and with no purchases, also it will unlock all of the stages for you and get all the upgrades you need for your suite and items, and through batman the enemy within hack you can get all of the packages for free and with no external purchases, and also it will disable ads and allow you to play the game free without any annoying.

Batman the enemy within hack don’t need rooted device or jail braked one and it is safe and won’t affect your device performance through the gameplay or harm your device.

The First publisher is : Real Gamers

Main Post Link : https://ostatus.org/batman-enemy-within-hack-cheats-tips-guide-2/

Topic :   Batman: The Enemy Within Hack, Cheats, Tips & Guide

Re Shared on “WithoutWax” : http://withoutwax.tv/2017/10/17/batman-enemy-within-cheats-hack-tips-2/

Re-Shared too on “WeAdvance” : http://weadvance.org/batman-enemy-within-hack-cheats-tricks-2/