#riddler text

- Born Edwin Nashton in Trois-Rivières, Québec

- Third of four sons, the other three having great success as doctors and lawyers; about 5′11″ but broad-shouldered and somewhat stocky

- Moved to Toronto to attend the University of Toronto at the age of nineteen, intending to follow in the tradition of a medical degree

- Academia was stressed as very important throughout his life and he was driven to excel in everything

- He was not as naturally gifted as the first two of his brothers, so he at times had to make up for this with a bit of trickery and manipulation

- Two years into his bachelor’s he met a young lady he eventually began a long-term relationship with

- Two months later it was discovered she had become pregnant

- Pressure from both of their families drove them to keep the baby; Edwin’s father in particular said in no uncertain terms that he would no longer consider Edwin his son if he did not own up to this mistake

- With no support from either of their families, both Edwin and his reluctant partner were forced to leave school in order to support themselves; living in Toronto was too expensive for them to work solely part-time

- Edwin was not there when the baby was born, and refused to see him for as long as possible

- It was several weeks later that Edwin learned she had given the boy the middle name ‘Edwin’ as a way to further rub in his mistake, which made him furious

- It was evident early on that his son was every bit as intelligent as he was, if not more, and this triggered a resentment in Edwin that never faded

- Edward’s mother was equally resentful of him and they fought over him constantly

- When Edward was eight years old his mother left and never came back; she simply vanished off the face of the earth so effectively that not even her family knew where she had gone

- Edwin realised he now had to give up on his own life entirely to raise a boy he didn’t want, something he made very clear to Edward at all times

- Edwin’s family eventually disowned him anyway for failing to live up to their high standards in career and education, as well as the fact that he had never actually married the mother of his son, leading Edwin to become even more angry and resentful of Edward

- He became intensely frustrated with the fact that Edward was obviously intelligent, and yet had marks in school consistent of a child several years behind

- No matter how Edwin reprimanded him, Edward seemed simply unable to do his schoolwork and instead spent copious amounts of time staring out the window or reading anything that made its way into his hands

- The first time Edwin hit his son was the result of a disastrous parent-teacher meeting in which he was told Edward needed to repeat the grade; to a man from a family with such high academic expectations, this was unacceptable

- Edward did as he was told for a short while after that, and it soon became evident that it was the only way to get him to listen

- The first time Edwin really assaulted his son was upon receiving a call from one of his teachers stating Edward had cheated in some sort of puzzle contest; the boy somehow maintained that he had not cheated, but between the teacher and his son Edwin was convinced his son was the liar

- Edwin from then on felt that Edward was acting the way he was on purpose, in order to rub in Edwin’s face his own lost potential; why ELSE would a boy so obviously intelligent cheat?

- Into his teenage years Edward developed some incredibly bizarre habits that Edwin was convinced he had set into to infuriate him even more; to his chagrin this particular set of imperfections were made worse by his disciplinary measures, not better

- Over the years Edwin became increasingly resentful of how carelessly he perceived Edward to be squandering his intelligence

- Edwin had been forced to bring his life to a halt for a boy who seemingly did not value what he had

- Edwin had found himself driven to bartending to make a living, and as he did so turned to alcohol in an attempt to make the disaster his life had become less burdensome

- One night he lost control of himself entirely and assaulted a customer, which caused him to be terminated immediately

- When he returned home that night he took his drunken fury out on his son, now sixteen years old, who disappeared by the following morning

- Surprisingly, the boy finally being gone did not fix anything

- He managed to finagle some sympathy from an old family friend, who set him up in Philadelphia as a receptionist at a dentist’s office

- He did not hear anything from or about his son until almost eight years later, when he sighted him on the news

 - He was stunned initially, unable to believe that boy had gotten even worse than he’d been when he had disappeared 

- The one good thing he’d done was change his last name so Edwin did not have to be embarrassed by his relation to a lunatic

- He made the trip down to Arkham Asylum to see it with his own eyes, and it was true; Edward had thrown his intelligence away on baiting some vigilante in his underwear with silly puzzles instead of doing something useful with it, like getting an education and a good career

- Even as an adult, Edward was shocked and afraid to see Edwin when he arrived; if Edwin raised his voice or leaned forward too far, Edward would flinch or move farther back

- It soon became obvious to Edwin that he was the only one who had the ability to control Edward; he and Batman, that was

- In his opinion Edward knew, on some level, he deserved Edwin’s discipline and had turned to someone even more able to give it to him when he’d left home as recompense for his becoming even worse of a human being

- He periodically goes down to the Asylum to bait Edward in the hopes that the staff there will smarten up and send him to Blackgate where he belongs, but according to a sympathetic staff member Edward has somehow managed to secure a fantastic lawyer who studiously guides Edward’s cases through every loophole on the books

- Edwin eventually gets picked up for an aggravated assault charge on a future girlfriend and is imprisoned himself