Is Rorschach Watchmen's Batman (DC) - Similarities between Rorschach & Batman

So, Alan Moore refers to him as the real life Batman, or in other words how Batman would've been if he were present in our present world! Looking for similarities between Rorschach and Batman might not make a lot of sense initially though because Rorschach is a half crazy homeless dude posing as a superhero in Watchmen while Batman is the millionaire playboy working as the legendary Darknight next to Superman himself in the DC universe!

Let's look at the dissimilarities between Rorschach and Batman though, first, to put things in perspective -

1) Rorschach doesn't use any fancy gadgets while Batman is known for his gadgets (more so in the early Batman TV shows and Tim Burton movies) complete with stuff ranging from Bat-shark-repeller-sprays to Bat-plane (or Batwing as fanboys might call it)

2) Rorschach is a rather short and slightly built guy while Batman is towering at six feet with a superb muscular build.

3) Rorschach is a good hand-to-hand combatant with some very good boxing skills and well thats about it! Batman on the other hand is nothing short of a human killing machine! Bruce (Batman) has perfected his martial arts skills and physical conditioning to an Olympics athletic levels, he's pretty much at the maximum level that a human being can reach!

4) Rorschach (as Kovacs) is a homeless guy with no job who pretty much (seems to) collect garbage and hangs out in the neighborhood as any other borderline crazy idiot. Batman (as Bruce Wayne) on the other hand is one of the richest men in the whole wide world! Just like Rorschach (Kovacs), Bruce doesn't seem to have any day job either (pun intended) but well you can easily spot the differences ;)

5) Rorschach kills. Batman doesn't kill. This is pretty much the biggest difference of all in my opinion. Having suffered the loss of his parents, Batman values life, no matter if it's a criminal or not. Batman never kills (and I must add that that's part of his problems) but Rorschach's goal is to impart justice - punishing the criminal for his crimes and if the right punishment (according to Rorschach) is death then so be it!

So those were the similarities and now you must be wondering why indeed Alan Moore refers to Rorschach as being similar to Batman! Well, this is actually a bit more intricate I believe and it requires the reader to understand Batman and Rorschach at an even deeper level -

Basically, when we get to down to it, Batman is not really about his gadgets or wealth quite as much. Batman's martial arts abilities are one of my favorite characteristics of his character but even they are not *really* what *define* batman if you see what I mean! Bruce Wayne was Batman even before before learned the forbidden Kungfu techniques and certainly much before he got his fancy Bat-mobile! In other words, Gadgets don't define Batman! Kungfu is not what Batman is really all about! Wealth is important for Bruce Wayne but not Batman. These things help Batman to become more efficient for sure but they are not what Batman is all about.

Instead, Batman is about that primitive rage that drives Bruce Wayne. That borderline craziness seeking justice, that view of bringing justice to the (seemingly) rotting world, that outright madness that makes him put his own life on line every night are the things that define Batman! These are the things that turn Bruce Wayne into Batman. And as you would observe, these are the very things that Rorschach shares with Batman (or Kovacs shares with Bruce Wayne depending on your view). Rorschach is borderline crazy about doing justice, about revenge (not as direct as Batman's though) just like Bruce Wayne is and no wonder that the same factors that turn Bruce Wayne into Batman are also instrumental in converting a seemingly normal Kovacs into Rorschach!

Another thing I'd like to note here is that Rorschach is more of a "real world" Batman. The very idea of things like Batwing (Batman's plane) and the possibility of all the other gadgets require some severe suspension of disbelief. I know that the recent Batman movies (Batman Begins and Darknight) have tried to correct this considerably but still in my opinion, the fancy gadgets kinda betray Batman's character (Darknight here, if you may!) or at least act as distractions . Rorschach here comes as a welcome relief as he is simply driven by the rage and emotions, he *will* keep on going, wealth or no wealth. He's the realistic portrayal of a Batman who is not a millionaire (or doesn't have access to any fancy gizmos). This is what Bruce Wayne must've become if he was not, well, Bruce Wayne the CEO of Wayne industries! This is also the main point where IronMan (Tony Stark) differs from Batman (Bruce Wayne) by the way, but that's another discussion.

Another important, albeit not quite as important, personality element that Rorschach and Batman share is their desire to work alone and being somewhat (many times unwarranted) distrustful when dealing with other fellow superheroes. This is particularly evident throughout all serious Batman story lines (even more serious stuff like Darknight and Kingdom Come etc) in the way he doesn't really play with Justice League and all; and it's very clearly portrayed by Alan Moore in Watchmen in the way Rorschach interacts with Night Owl (who is his close ally). What is specially important is Rorschach is all nice and friendly initially, he collaborates with Night Owl in a fun way, attends their "superhero meetings" and does all the good stuff but as soon as he comes across the little girl's kidnapping case, it all changes. I'd like to note that the "little girl's kidnapping" case is what was instrumental in converting Kovacs into the real Rorschach. Once he is at that point, i.e. once he has "become" Rorschach, then on Rorschach is more like real Batman! From that point, he is not part of the superhero crowd that does it just for the kicks (in other words just because of the sense of adventure); rather Rorschach does it because he is "compelled" to do it (in Rorschach's describes himself to Dr. Malcolm Long in Watchmen)! From then on, Rorschach is no longer a costumed adventurer, but from then on Rorschach is a real (street) crime fighter (even if borderline psychotic) just as Batman is. This kinda sets both Rorschach and Batman apart!

Another thing that I feel I should elaborate more on, even if I've grazed through earlier, is Rorschach is a Batman without the wealth! To put it in perspective, I'd like you to think what Batman would have been if Bruce Wayne was not one of the wealthiest men in the world. In this case, the rage (or psychosis, what you may) that fuels Batman is still there but the means to get all the gadgets and stuff, that would help steamline things, are lacking; in this case Bruce Wayne would try whatever he can to *still* go fight crime in the best way he can. And if he's smart enough as well (got to be a bit smarter than average to just sustain the intensity) then he would try to use anything and everything as a *gadget* (gadget being things that help him do his job better), thus displaying MacGyverism and bingo, thats exactly what Rorschach does! Also, given the limited means (and some reality), Bruce Wayne would certainly not be able to master all those eastern-deadly-forbidden-secret-martial-arts skills either, rather he'd master what fighting lessons that he can easily get (boxing of example) very well and as you might have guessed, Rorschach learned boxing very well.

Also, at the risk of nitpicking, I think Alan Moore's decision to portray Rorschach as a shorter and thinner guy also helps make him closer to real life because we are trying to portray Rorschach as a noraml average individual who is doing the superhero / vigilante stuff because of that "compelling rage" and not because he is just stronger and can! Rorschach being shorter also emphasizes the intensity of his "compelling rage" as he is not naturally equipped to physically handle a big part of the tall and strong criminal fraternity! Yeah, Alan Moore knew what he was doing when he was creating his Watchmen characters!

So, well I'm sure that we see now how Rorschach is Batman (Darnight rather if I may) minus the suspension of disbelief!

To read more about Rorschach's psychology, click - Rorschach Psychology Analaysis

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 something funny about Rorschach, click - Why does Rorschach stink so bad

Read about funkiness involving Dr. Manhattan's transformation - Osterman's funky transformation into Dr. Manhattan

Is Rorschach (Watchmen) Jigsaw (Saw) gone right?

The way Rorschach killed the kidnapper of the little girl is pretty much how the villain Jigsaw from SAW movies commits his crimes! For those of you who don't know who or what Jigsaw is - Jigsaw is the main villain of a series of movies called SAW who offers "puzzles" that his victims have to solve in order to survive. Please don't confuse Jigsaw with Batman's Riddler though as his puzzles are not the relatively harmless variety. Instead, Jigsaw's puzzles, regardless of the actual solution, have immediate and often horrific consequences for the victims. To explain - most of Jigsaw's puzzles involve some sort of intricate mechanism that the victim is trapped in and in order to survive, the victim has to get out of it. Inability to solve the "puzzle" results in immediate and painful death. So where does Rorschach fit in all this? And isn't Rorschach the good guy (even if an anti-hero)?

Yes, Rorschach is indeed the good guy and doesn't go offering murderous puzzles to anyone. This whole Rorschach as Jigsaw controversy resulted from an incident in Watchmen that is often referred to as "little girl's kidnapping" case. The details can be found here - Rorschach's Psychology in Watchmen

As horrific both the crime and Rorschach's punishement were, they do relate to how Jigsaw commits his own branded crimes. In fact, in one of the SAW movies, Jigsaw offers even the Rorschach's "handcuff-saw-puzzle" with the difference that Jigsaw's victim was not running against the clock to get free. Further, it seems that Rorschach whole point of killing the kidnapper that way is was to make him realize the value of life and the horror of pain. This is again similar to the reason Jigsaw offers - "To help them realize the value of their lives"

But to answer the controversial question - No, Rorschach is not like Jigsaw. Besides the obvious fact that he is a good guy (even if an anti-hero), the main reason is that Rorschach doesn't really care about teaching the criminals about value of their lives or whatever. His core objective is to punish them brutally and immediately instead of causing any reforms or having them atone for their crimes or whatever. This is in stark contrast to Jigsaw's goal of helping the victims realize the value of life. Rorschach's own words (Watchmen book / graphic novel by Alan Moore) "...Stood in street. Imagined limbless felt torso inside; breasts blackening; bellies smoldering;bursting into flame one by one..." indicate that his objective was to kill the kidnapper and not at all letting him live no matter what. Rorschach knew that the kidnapper will never be able to get out and so his offer of that saw was aimed at punishing the criminal psychologically too.

All that said, there is no doubt that Jigsaw (as a character) is actually inspired from Rorschach. Yeah, all the innovations seen in SAW movies are no doubt original (it seems) but the very idea of Jigsaw seems to originate from that part of Watchmen's plot! Heck, even the name Jigsaw has a "saw" in it (saw being the originating from that part of the story in Watchmen)!

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 funny article on Rorschach, click - Rorschach Watchmen Character

Rorschach Psychology Watchmen character

Rorschach is perhaps one of the biggest anti-heroes in Watchmen and other comic-verses. So what exactly is wrong with him? What made Rorschach psychology so screwed up? Is Rorschach really a hero or a villain? What is his personality like in reality? Is Rorschach just short of turning into a bad guy?

I guess we all agree that the main reason behind Rorschach's mental instability or messed up psychology is the way Rorschach handled the little girl's kidnapping case. It's only after his failure to save the girl from the kidnapper that we see Rorschach become the ruthless psychotic anti-hero that he comes across as. This is also evident in the way his psychologist Dr. Malcolm Long's is stunned after listening to the girl's kidnapping case details. Remember that Dr. Malcolm Long is more or so apathetic to Rorschach's personality having made the assumption that Rorschach's vigilante (rather as an anti-hero) efforts are just a misdirection of his subconscious rage originating from his bad upbringing and some crime he happened to notice. But after Roroschach explains the girl's kidnapping's details to him, its after that we see a significant shift in Dr. Malcolm Long's own psychology. Dr. Long is evidently affected by the horrid details of the girl's kidnapping case.

This actually brings an important question - Is everyone supposed to be similarly affected by the details of the girl's kidnapping case? I'm sure not! The reason, in my view, Dr. Malcolm Long was so substantially affected by that is because he, being a psychologist, is much more empathic. Yes, I do think that to be a truly distinguished psychologist one needs to have above average empathy. And Dr. Malcolm Long being distinguished enough to be treating someone like Rorschach (Kovacs) does have that trait. Further, he is consciously making an effort to understand Rorschach and that adds to the fact that he somehow internalizes the thing that hit Rorschach himself so hard. Anyhow, I'm digressing, back to Rorschach's psychology...

So what is this little girl's kidnapping case anyway? To summarize - While trying to solve a kidnapping case (a little girl's kidnapping), Rorschach found that the kidnapper had killed the girl in the *most* horrific and inhuman manner (the details of which have been intentionally kept out of this blog) and mentally unstable as Rorschach was to start with, broke down! His anger led Rorschach to try to punish the kidnapper in a rather grotesque way - Rorschach handcuffed the murderer to something in his house and set the house on fire! But the grotesque part of it was that Rorschach also left a hacksaw next to the handcuffed kidnapper as a way to get out of the burning house. Obviously, it was impossible to saw off the handcuffs themselves in time so the whole point was to see if he will saw off his own arm to get free! That's not all though, Rorschach waited for an hour or so outside the house listening to his victim's cries who apparently couldn't find the courage to saw off his own hand and died by the fire.

So, aside from the girl's kidnapping case I guess we all agree that a lot of it stems from Rorschach's childhood and upbringing and his early years with his mother, growing up as an unwanted child too. That said, I think there is a subtle and often unnoticed aspect of the upbringing part as well! Rorschach's personality also reflects the apparent polarity of the perceived (by him) personalities of his mother and father. His mother being a severely abusive and "low" person while his mental image of his father as a true patriot and a gentleman who he never met! Further, Rorschach's tendency to think of president Truman and his own father sharing similar ideals seem to be doing more damage to his (Rorschach's) perception of right and wrong.

The reason that I think that this apparent difference in Rorschach's perception of his parents is a rather huge reason behind his psychosis is evident from Roroschach's view of the world! Rorschach has a very black and white view of the world - Rorschach's sense of "bad" or "wrong" almost includes everything (as is evident from the third panel of the very first page of Watchmen book) but his sense of "good" or "right" lies at the other end of the spectrum (as is evident from his last decision to tell the truth to the world). Observing these facts, it makes sense that his sense of "wrong" comes from the way he learned to perceived the world in his early childhood (primarily his mother's behavior of course) and his sense of "right" comes from his perception of father's personality (and president Truman ofcourse). So, the reality to Rorschach is all rotten and doomed because that's what he has seen in his formative years but his mental image of "good" (that he is trying to do as a superhero) is all sunshine and rainbows! And consequently we notice Rorschach's inclination to view things in a strictly black & white manner. It's like Rorschach has a case of split personality and while dealing with reality his "bad" (mother's) side takes over and while thinking about doing some good his "good" (father's) side takes over. This basic personality characteristic is evident in the way he created his mask - remember that Rorschach's black & white mask existed even before the girl's kidnapping case! He always had this type of psychology and the girl's kidnapping case acted as the final straw that broke the camel's back (turned a more or less good hearted super hero / vigilante Rorschach into a murdered psychotic anti-hero)!

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 funny article on Rorschach, click - Rorschach Watchmen Character

To learn more about similarities between Jigsaw and Rorschach, click - Comparing Rorschach's psychology with Jigsaw's