#yonatan crane

[baileyartblog]

I have so many versions of the Scarecrow but I wanted to try and do a more original take on him! Big ol info dump about him under the cut :3c

Born Josephine Keeny, Yonatan Crane uses his knowledge of chemistry and biology to keep his lycanthropy at bay, lest he go hog wild and start eating people.

When completely in control he is a court-ordered psychiatrist, truly believing that even the most vile criminal can be rehabilitated. Unfortunately for those who refuse change, he resorts to various ways of training them to fear their own crimes. Failed experimentation gives him the ingredients needed to stay human, so he gets over failure quickly. He's highly intelligent, softly spoken, and can be extremely passive-aggressive. He WILL hold a grudge. Despite having studied psychology and knowing it well, he has very poor social skills.

If he fails to prevent a transformation he turns into the Scarebeast, a wild and powerful animal capable of self-awareness but not of speech. The Scarebeast is akin to that of a wild animal and so is harmless if it doesn't feel threatened. You could even pat, brush, and ride the Scarebeast if it sees you as a friend. Transforming back into a human puts great strain on Yonatan's body and mind, meaning that he can be left in an altered state for days to weeks afterwards- This state is the Scarecrow, who is between animal and human. The Scarecrow will run at you on all fours unprovoked and is in fact more dangerous than the Scarebeast in terms of rage and vindictiveness.

The scars covering Yonatan's body are from medical experimentation and strain from transformation, but a majority of them are from the abuse inflicted by his great-grandmother growing up. He was born out of wedlock and was noticeably not white, so the woman treated him as less than human. His condition became obvious and so he was seen as being from the devil, suffering failed exorcisms and various abuse. Growing into a socially stunted but physically beautiful young girl, his guardian felt that he would use his looks for evil and so poisoned his mind into believing he was hideous - Something that he never stopped believing. Ironically she never injured his face as that would then make the abuse too obvious.

His first-ever transformation caused his guardian to suffer a fatal heart attack, and he lived off her corpse for several days before fleeing. He never knew his parents, but he knew about them from photos and journals kept hidden in the house he grew up in; Choosing to change his first name to reflect his half-Jewish mother and taking his surname from his Native American father. He feels entirely disconnected from those cultures and has only recently been studying to learn more.

[crimsonvelvet]

The meanings of Batman’s rogues’ names

So I decided to find out the meanings of the rogues’ names. Idk why, but I find this sort of stuff really interesting.

First of all, I’m not putting here those rogues, whose real names are unknown(like Bane or Joker). I am also putting here the prominent villains. I would love to do them all, but that would take me WAY too long. But who knows, I could make this into a series...

Let’s go with alphabet order.(btw I’m using the Batman wiki for the characters’ order and various websites for the meanings)

First up is Bane. Like I said, his real name is unknown, so there’s not much I can do.

Next up, Basil Karlo, AKA Clayface.(Wow didn’t even know he was considered a primary antagonist...)  Basil comes from the Greek name Βασίλειος (Basileios), meaning "king". Huh... 

Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. Selina is a variant of Celina or Selene. Selene means "moon" in Greek. This was the name of a Greek goddess of the moon, a Titan. This is actually quite fitting for her.

Harleen Quinzel, AKA Harley Quinn. Harleen is, in fact, a name created primarily for Harley’s character in BTAS! So there really isn’t a meaning for it. (But the fact that they made up a new name is actually really cool)

The Joker. Yeah sorry, nothing here. Just like Bane.

Waylon Jones, AKA Killer Croc. Waylon is a variant of Wayland, which, in turn, comes from Wieland, meaning “uncertain”. Hmm, maybe it is a spin on his uncertainty whether he is human or a monster...

Jervis Tetch, AKA Mad Hatter. Jervis is an alternate spelling of Gervase (Old German): possibly derives from "spear". For such an unsual name, it has a really boring meaning.

Kirk Langstrom, AKA Man-Bat. Kirk comes from an English and Scottish surname meaning "church" from Old Norse kirkja. Uhh...maybe Kirk is religious?

Victor Fries, AKA Mr. Freeze. Victor is a Roman name meaning "victor, conqueror" in Latin. Could imply that one day he may achieve victory and find a cure for his wife.

Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin. Oswald is derived from the Old English elements os "god" and weald "power, ruler". Well, he is a very prominent mafia boss, so you could say he is the ruler of Gotham’s underworld.

Pamela Isley, AKA Poison Ivy.  Pamela as a name was invented in the late 16th century by the poet Sir Philip Sidney for use in his poem Arcadia. He possibly intended it to mean "all sweetness" from Greek πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and μέλι (meli) meaning "honey". She sure is sweet, though. Dangerously so.

Ra’s al Ghul. This name is arabic for "Head of the Demon", as revealed in Robin#10. Should’ve guessed.

Edward Nygma, AKA The Riddler. Edward means "rich guard", derived from the Old English elements ead "wealth, fortune" and weard "guard". Uhhhhhh... He is the guard of his *cough* rich intellect?

Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow.(Yay, my favorite DC character:D ). The undisputed origin of this name is that it comes from the Hebrew name Yonatan. This is taken to mean “Yahweh has given” or, “God has given”. YES oh hell yeah he’s a gift from God!

And finally, Harvey Dent, AKA Two-Face. Harvey comes from the Breton given name Haerviu, which meant "battle worthy", from haer "battle" and viu "worthy". hmmm, I mean, he is worthy to battle with Batman.

Aight, that’s it for now. Wow, that took longer than I expected... Sure was fun, though. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll do a part two with the less prominent folks like Firefly or Hush. We’ll see.