The Psychology of Talia
For throwntotheair, who has a few questions about Talia. :) Iâm grouping this under a few broad questions that should bleed into answering some of the others you mentioned.
The preface of this, of course, is that all of my answers are based in the character of Talia al Ghul prior to Grant Morrison writing her. So the 30+ years of content and development we had beforehand. Grant largely ignored the fundamental pieces of her character that were recurring themes over the years, turned her into an infanticidal rapist and, generally speaking, made her as 2-dimensional as possible. His interpretation also gave Talia wildly inconsistent motives, so he is not a good measure for delving into her character.
What are her motives?
Talia has always been motivated by one thing: love. Love for her father, love for Bruce, love for Damian. Even love for the planet (though less so than Raâs). Each step of her journey has love somewhere in the why. The primary conflict for her, especially early on, was the tug-of-war between acting for good (because of her love for Bruce) or acting for evil (because of her love for her father).Â
The animated series still gives one of the best summaries of Taliaâs goals, too: she says that she believes in her fatherâs vision for the world, but not in his means (namely mass genocide).Â
Even in dealing with Damian (Morrison, again, notwithstanding), I think she meant everything for love (Iâll explain more in the âwhy did she raise him this wayâ section).
When she throws Jason into the Lazarus Pit in Lost Days, her letter to him says that she has done this âfor love.â
Despite her badassery, Talia is actually a very loving, empathic person (though sometimes she denies it). Either way, love is at the core of what she does. For her father, that love spills over into loyaltyâŚmost of the time.
Why the loyalty to Raâs (Why has she never stood against him?)
Wellllll this is two parts. The first question: love and indoctrination. The second question: she has.
First we have to understand that Talia is pretty much a psychological trainwreck. In Batman Chronicles #8, we see one of the only stories thatâs specifically from Taliaâs point-of-view. This and Lost Days are as close as we really get to such direct access to her thoughts.
Yeah. Sheâs messed up. We should note that Raâs, despite his being just about Worst Dad Ever, does genuinely love Talia, in his own way.
Realize that Talia has been raised exclusively in Raâs in environment (like Damian) and that the way she raised Damian was A LOT like she was raised. Sheâs in a place where he father is viewed as a deity, itâs this massive, powerful cult, and so thereâs a level of indoctrination going on.
But that saidâŚEven from the beginning, Talia was defying her father.
She thinks for herself and, growing through the years, she becomes increasingly agitated, worn down and plain olâ fed up with her father. I would argue that in most cases, she betrays him for Bruce (or Jason, or Damian) because she knows heâs wrong.
(Prior this panel, Batman asks why Talia is betraying Raâs, and if itâs because she loves him:)
Doesnât she seem to be lacking independence?
Hereâs where I think there was a massive missed opportunity. Talia, after being shot for betraying her father in Tower of Babel, nopes out and goes off on her own. Sheâs fed up with both Bruce AND Raâs.
Raâs shows up and has Talia kidnapped to bring her back. She winds up rescuing Bruce one more time before leaving BOTH of them and heading off to Hong Kong, where she becomes a successful businesswoman in her own right.
At the time, Lex Luthor is about to run for president. He shows up at her door:
Talia becomes CEO of LexCorp. I wish so much that more happened in this era for her. She butts heads with Superman a few times (and even teamed up once and it was awesome), but it was so under-utilized. In the end, though, she runs the long con on Luthor, willfully bankrupts LexCorp and sells off the assets to Wayne Enterprises. Mostly just to spite him.
She hates Lexcorp mostly because sheâs an environmentalist. And because Luthor.
So sheâs this awesome independent businesswoman who manages to trick one of the smartest men in the DCU.
Unfortunately, her half-sister shows up during this era in Death and the Maidens. She kidnaps and tortures Talia by murdering her over and over and bringing her back with her Lazarus Pit. This goes on until Taliaâs psyche shatters.
Nyssa brainwashes Talia, first with intent to kill Raâs. Raâs eventually kills Talia.
When Nyssa kills Raâs, she and Talia both continue with Raâs mission (with Nyssa as the Demonâs Head until her death). Then Talia, still brainwashed, becomes the Demonâs Head and leads into the modern area (as with Villains United which ran pretty close up to the New 52).
Why did she raise Damian in that environment?
To put it short: because it was how she was raised and because she knows itâs the only way for him to survive. When Talia was 18 (her first appearance) she was kidnapped by an enemy of her father. Her entire life has been violence, danger and bloodshed. Her father is a powerful, dangerous man in a dangerous world.
If Damian had not been trained, in her mind, he would not have survived. I think she believes it was the best way for him to be able to protect himself. Some indoctrination bleeds through (as her raising him would be post-brainwashing, though the timeline is a bit wonky).Â
I hope that helps! Iâve got a lot more essays in on my blog, plus one thatâs a comprehensive account of Taliaâs history.
