Something I see a lot is the idea that after Jason’s resurrection he should’ve just gone home, that he would’ve been welcomed with open arms and they would’ve embraced having him back.
I feel like people forget that Jason died after running away. His relationship with Bruce was not good when he died, so of course he didn’t feel like he could go back. Not when Bruce told him to his face he wasn’t his son. The whole reason Jason goes looking for his biological mother is because he feels like his place in the manor isn’t secure. He doesn’t feel like he’ll get to stay.
I also think it’s important to point out that things wouldn’t have been magically fixed if Jason hadn’t died in Ethiopia. His relationship w/ Bruce was still shit. He still would’ve left in some capacity, at some point.
There is no world in which Jason stays at the manor, because there is no world in which Jason’s and Bruce’s ideologies don’t clash.
Because even as Robin. Even before he died Jason believed that if a criminal dying would save a victim, it was worth it. To him, killing could be justified, even back then. To Bruce it will never be justified, and that is the fundamental difference between them. That is the bridge that can’t be crossed.
Because accepting Jason back means acknowledging his ideology, it means admitting the merit in his beliefs. It means seeing that in some circumstances, killing can be justified. If Bruce admits to that, if he accepts and acknowledges Jason morality as having merit, he then goes against his entire belief system as Batman. He is defined by his belief that everyone can be redeemed, and while Jason is defined by the belief that redemption is not something everybody deserves.
Jason and Bruce will always be separated by this, just as they have been since the beginning of Jason’s tenure as Robin. Jason will always highlight the flaws and fallibility of Batman, of Bruce. He’s a contradiction to Bruce’s most central beliefs, and that is a canyon in their relationship. That is the separation, and that is not something that can be patched up or mended. It isn’t a misunderstanding.
In my mind, there will never be a true reconciliation between Bruce and Jason. There can’t be. Not if we want them to remain as the characters they are. The reason the divide between them is so great is because of how fundamentally they oppose each other and their belief systems. To reconcile would mean conceding on those beliefs, which are integral to both characters. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe the tragedy isn’t who Jason became, but the inevitability of their divide. Because it was always going to happen, in every universe.
Because in every universe, Jason runs.
