the dark knight (2008) // batman: two face strikes twice 1.2// the long halloween (2021) //the once and future king by TH White//the dark knight novelization by Dennis O’Neil // teen titans #48 (1977)
In the novelization of The Dark Knight, Dennis O’Neil gave Harvey Dent an original backstory that incorporated the comics’ canon of abuse (which O’Neil himself oversaw) with original details that tie into his deep contempt for corrupt cops.
After a very rough life, Richard Sharpe had finally found happiness and love with a strong, intelligent woman who was very much his equal. Most of the 2 1/2 years they knew each other they were kept apart due to the Napoleonic wars they were both fighting in, but had been married for 8 months and had a baby daughter when Teresa was murdered by Hakeswill, one of the most loathsome villains ever. As a fighting soldier, Sharpe was unable to look after their daughter and left her in the care of Teresa's family. As far as anyone knows, he never saw her again.
Rachel Dawes
Cause of Death: Held hostage and blown up
Propaganda:
The only major female character of Batman Begins spends the majority of her screentime in The Dark Knight at the center of a go-nowhere love triangle, as her previous narrative significance was given to Harvey Dent. She is then fridged, her death having nothing to do with her, and everything to do with making Bruce and Harvey feel sad.
Do yall ever think about the duality of Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes?
Like, originally Harvey Dent was going to be in Batman Begins as Bruce’s childhood friend who grew up to be a lawyer, but then I guess Nolan created an original female character and gave her the same background and narrative purpose as Harvey to fulfill the film’s need for a lead female character and love interest for Bruce.
Then in the second movie they introduce Harvey, and he’s partners with and dating Rachel Dawes. Bruce never sees Harvey as a rival for Rachel. In fact, he sees him as the key to being with her. He thinks Harvey is a paragon of virtue who can eliminate the need for Batman and free him from the cowl so he can be with Rachel. But then Harvey and Rachel both get kidnapped, and both get blown up. Rachel dies and Harvey effectively dies by becoming Two-Face even before his actual death. Alfred hides the truth from Bruce that Rachel ultimately didn’t choose him so he can believe in a comforting lie while Bruce does the same to the people of Gotham by covering up Harvey’s crimes as Two-Face.
Rachel and Harvey are effectively two sides of the same coin. They are both objects of Bruce’s desire in a way. Where he wants Rachel straightforwardly as a romantic partner and Harvey as his replacement, both of them exist in his mind as the only beings who can free him from the burden of being Batman.
"As keyed-in to him as she was, Rachel noticed the instant that his breathing changed--when it hitched. She lifted her hand away and, concerned, gave a half a step around the chair and a quiet prompting. "Do you want me to stop?"
At her motion he'd bowed his head to hide his face. But at the question…at her question he turned, the fingers of one hand gripping onto her shirt to tug her closer, so that he could press his forehead against her stomach."
Commission for @thehobblefootalchemist of a scene from their fic A Concentrated Dose! Though this took longer to complete than I would have hoped I had so much fun working on this (and I encourage everyone to check out the fic as well)!
[Image Description: A fully lined and mostly flat-color drawing of two human figures, Rachel and Jonathan. Rachel is a white woman with long warm brown hair and deep amber eyes. She is wearing a long-sleeved purple shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and jeans. Rachel is standing and can be seen from the hips up, her right (viewer's left) hand holding up a spray can of what is contextually dry shampoo, while her left hand (viewer's right) is rested tangled in Jonathan's hair. She looks down to him with an almost worried/surprised expression.
Jonathan, meanwhile, is a white man with slightly shaggy dark brown hair, striking blue eyes, and unshaven stubble along his face. He wears a dusty brown button up shirt, and is seen sitting on a chair somewhat in front of Rachel, his left hand reaching up and gripping the side of her shirt while his head rests against her stomach. He is seen from the shoulders up and is wearing a weary, almost pained expression. The background is mostly dark muted brown but on the right-hand side, mostly behind Jonathan, can be seen a silhouette of light from a paned window, lit up in colors of orange and blue. These same colors also dimly light up parts of the figures from both sides. End Image Description.]
Here is another excerpt from “Three Part Round” my follow up to “Double Headed”
“I put the guitar in your room,” she informs her daughter as she sits down at the table.
“Thanks.” Duela’s wearing a black and gold Gotham Rogues sweatshirt liberated from the dusty corner of Rachel’s closet. Harvey’s interest in non-baseball sports could only be measured in nanometers, so it’s probably a gift from some office Christmas party.
I’ll tag:
@radioactivepeasant @thoughtfulraven @nitewrighter and anyone else who wants to join in!
I think I’m the only person in the world who ships Nolanverse Bruce Wayne, Rachel Dawes … Jonathan Chance … and Harvey Dent
Y’know it started after Batman Begins and I was like Christian Bale’s Bruce and Cillian Murphy’s Jonathan but also Katie Holmes Rachel and Jonathan’s not a psychopath he’s just a part time junior professor at Gotham university and psychiatrist at Arkham and then I saw Dark Knight and was like fuck it! Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey, add it (no I can’t answer at what point Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie, honestly I think they’re just one single Rachel Dawes entity in my mind)