Rorschach is arguably one of the creepiest characters in Watchmen and rest of the DC Marvel universes! If you don't know about him then let me explain what he is like - Take Batman and strip away all his money, all of his gadgets (bat-mobile, bat-plane, bat-whatever) and make him about 10 inches shorter and multiply Batman's psychosis by ten; the result is Rorschach! Yeah, he's that fu-ked up!Rorschach is probably the ONLY "superhero" in the whole DC+Marvel universes who stinks! Yeah, he stinks so bad that even the toughest supervillains can't stand it! No, don't get me wrong, the super-stench not like some superpower or anything; he's just a regular guy totally devoid of any crazy powers, its just that he just doesn't take bath and hates to do laundry! I personally empathize with the laundry issue though but I feel that the stench must be messing up his "stealth" too but probably he doesn't need stealth as the criminal fraternity would be totally terrorized to move when his stenchy self is around anyhow!
Another interesting thing about Rorschach is that he doesn't have a "day job" (or secret identity if you may!). You see, Superman works as a press reporter, Spiderman works as a photographer, Ironman works as Starks-Industries-whatever, even Batman kinda works as Wayne Industries CEO; but our Rorschach dude doesn't do anything at all! Yeah, his cover is that of a homeless guy and all he does is to hangout in the neighborhood with a signboard saying "The End is Nigh"!
Since Rorschach doesn't have any job you might be wondering how he arranges for food etc, here's how he takes care of that problem - Whenever he goes to any super villains to interrogate them or whatever, the first thing he does is to clean out their refrigerator and eat up all he can. Then he stuffs the poor super villain in the now empty refrigerator for a few minutes before starting the interrogation process! Its kinda fair too as that way he's getting paid for risking his life while fighting crime and stuff, no need to find a day job and stuff. The guy is doing what he loves and making a living out of it, I'd say we all agree on the importance of having a job that you love, right! Rorschach doesn't stop at the supervillains though, he snacks away even when he is visiting his fellow superheroes! All the better for him as they even ask him if he would like some cheese with the stolen bread!
Probably Rorschach is also the ONLY superhero who could be a possible SAW's Jigsaw suspect! Yeah, the dude once left a criminal handcuffed in a burning house with just a little saw to cut the handcuff (or his limbs) off to escape the fire! Yeah, the Rorschach guy is not your everyday super hero; Rorschach is like a super psycho super villain material gone right! To be fair though, he is actually pretty good at investigating and torturing criminals till they squeal out the truth.
Unfortunately for him, most notable members of the criminal fraternity are at least one foot taller than him, he turns out to be a bit less intimidating than how he really is! So poor guy has to wear elevator shoes to gain a few precious inches (talking about the height here). But don't underestimate him, Rorschach once killed almost all members of a gang while being locked up, yeah the dude is extremely resourceful. Another instance is when Rorschach beat up full SWAT team attacking him! Unfortunately, since he is ugly as fu-k he hides it all behind a mask and a trench coat. Yes children, if you wear a mask, a coat and high heel sandals, then all muggers will be instantly terrorized by you! Now you know how to dress up to stay safe in brooklyn nights (hey it works for him!)
To read about Rorschach origins and psychology, click - Rorschach's Psychology and Anti-heroism
To find why Alan Moore calls Rorschach Watchmen's Batman, click - Is Rorschach Watchmen's Batman? Rorschach vs
Batman
To read about how Rorschach shows himself to be a true superhero at the time of his death, click - Rorschach dies as a true superhero
To read a comparison between Rorschach and Jigsaw, click - Is Rorschach in Watchmen same as Jigsaw in SAW
Wiki On Rorschach
he a lot better then superman because he never compromise even on the face of Armageddon while supes listen to the govt.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess that is the area that Watchmen (as a book) explores - Exactly what makes something better or worse and what is compromise! Superman (in Frank Miller's Dark Knight) has compromised his independence so that he doesn't have to make a compromise on his vow to save humanity. Rorschach, on the other hand, is willing to compromise the safety of the world so that he doesn't have to compromise his own principles!
ReplyDeleteRorshcach is the best!! somehow... he is cool in a way... super heroes that doesn't have any power like batman but in truth he really have power, in this matter (just like you said) rorschach's power is his psychotic and resourcefulness. while batman is pressing on more to the power of "fear" but i dont think batman is all that fearsome... has fear ever been any cool to anyone? i mean batman outfit was meant to be cool yet meant to be feared? i'd prefer Rorschach's outfit to be feared...
ReplyDeleteGreat article! Informative AND entertaining. Your other blogs are interesting too.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment! I am hoping to focus on my more generic movies blog - http://movies-review-music-lyrics.blogspot.com/ - these days and write here and there when I get some time off work. I'd love to hear any more suggestions/ideas as well!
ReplyDeleteThe world's safety is always in jeopardy. Rorschach stood for his principles because he believed they were best for the world in the long run.
ReplyDeleteAllowing people to live in delusion so that they'll stop conflict is not stable, it's dangerous.
Good point there Tyciol! The way I tend to see it though - Rorschach is fighting his own demons (a bit like Batman) as a superhero. When he's fighting a criminal he's subconsciously fighting the men who abused his mother or the murderers of the girl (that was murdered with people watching) or, more importantly, the guy who murdered the little girl (when he finally snapped). He had such a tormented childhood that he has lost his sense of perspective - He sees bad/wrong and he "has" to fix it. Now anyone else might give up or even become a criminal but Rorschach is actually pretty damn smart and physically able enough to be able to fight and win and therefore he hasn't given up (because he still can). When he's fighting a crime, he's not helping the world, per say; rather, he's "punishing" the criminals. This is a classic case from a psychological point of view - If don't get something that we really want in our childhood, then we tend to keep fighting to get it even after we grow up .
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