Okay, this is really interesting to me because, as I’ve discussed countless times regarding why Batman took on Dick and Jason as Robin, *gestures vaguely into the air* it was really more about him than anything else. Right, he did it for himself, then masked it with a bunch of other reasons, for Gotham, for justice, for Dick or Jason’s own good...
But then, with the third one, the reason the comic give is clearly about him, because hey, Batman needs a Robin! And it doesn't matter what he thinks he wants. *amused*
Oh, so now it’s about him and for him and because of him. Batman had become reckless and was pushing himself too hard after Jason died, so he needed someone there to rein him in, even if that someone was... *looks at timothydrake*... yet another 12-year-old kid. But hey, that didn't matter.
But wait, it gets even better!
Batman—the "I'm not doing it for myself, I'm doing it for him" guy—initially rejected Tim's reasoning, asking if that meant he should put a child in danger... but it was then that Tim offered a different argument: "If it not for you—then for those criminals you hunt down. Do you want them to think you can get away with murder?" And for some reason, that made Bruce listen, he actually seemed almost convinced. In the end, he acknowledged that he created Batman as a symbol, and to be effective, the symbol has to be greater than the reality, and he considered taking Tim on as Robin.
*blinks* and yet another reason to the "I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for..." list. Great.
I have to admit, I’m someone who is vehemently opposed to the whole "Batman needs a Robin" thing, but even so, I can grasp where that argument comes from even if I still think it’s utter nonsense. But that second argument Tim makes... I struggle to even understand what it is, because it basically makes no sense at all.
"If it weren't for you—for those criminals you hunt down. You want them to think you can get away with murder?" Sorry, but isn't that exactly the case? I mean, I’ve already written a whole separate post about the lack of consequences following Jason’s death [gestures vaguely in the air because I’m too lazy to elaborate]. I mean, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but there really weren't any consequences after Jaybin died, were there? I’m not specifically talking about "the Joker had to die" or anything like that, but please help me point out a single concrete consequence of Jaybin’s death… Joker knows that he killed the second Robin and faced no real consequences for it, he knows that he can get away with murder, and that he will keep getting away. It really irks me that Tim would bring up this ridiculous argument to Bruce, and that others would actually agree with it, especially when my blorbo literally dug himself out of his own grave just to confront Bruce and ask why there were no consequences. Why on God’s earth is the Joker still alive after causing so much suffering for thousands of people? "I thought I’d be the last person you’d ever let him hurt." Yeah, turns out criminals really can get away with murder. Suprised.
And it certainly doesn't help convey to the other criminals Batman hunts down aside from the Joker that they can't get away with murder. After all, what Bruce and Tim did basically amounted to... covering up Jason's death? It’s an interesting contrast to the time Bruce fired Dick and the news reported Robin was dead and Bruce told Gordon he wouldn't bother explaining to the public that Robin was still alive because he simply didn't give a damn what they thought.
So, what happened? The only real aftermath of Jason’s death was Bruce’s grief and his tendency to become "more reckless and aggressive".... only for a brand-new Robin to show up and fix that? You’d think a logical consequence would be the end of the Robin mantle, since Batman shouldn't be putting any more kids in harm's way, but that never actually happened because... well, there you go. Jason’s death basically just became a cautionary tale about not being reckless or disobeying Batman…. yeah, exactly. And then... *looks at Steph and Damian* ...you know what? Never mind. Ultimately, this was all about DC needing to sell comics, not about Batman's actual choices.
