*Spoilers Ahead*One of Batman's most defining characteristics is that of fear, his control over Gotham's criminals relies on the fact that they are afraid of him and this is one of the key themes in the Arkham Knight videogame. Scarecrow is planning on destroying Gotham, his main weapon is manipulating people's fears, he is able to get the majority of the town to abandon Gotham by the simple means of a threat. Fear can make a person do crazy things, it can make them desperate, aggressive and idiotic, Scarecrow knows this and he prays on it, our fears show us our greatest weakness, if he knows your fear, he knows your weakness. So here we have our contrast, two characters who use fear to manipulate their enemies, but Scarecrow has the upper hand cause he knows what Batman's fear is, losing the people close to him. It was established in the previous game, Arkham City, that Batman does let his love for others cloud his judgement, he was willing to save Talia over the lives of others, let the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many. Scarecrow uses this to his advantage, threatening, kidnapping and at one point convincing Batman that he had killed those close to him.
I've always found Batman to be a stubborn character, he often rejects help from the people he trusts and never gives an explanation why other than saying that he can handle it, which i do believe is true, but it would be a lot easier to have Robin or Nightwing there to help him. This game gives more information by tying it together with the story of Jason Todd, the second Robin who was kidnapped, tortured and then killed by the Joker, a tragedy that to this day, Batman sees as his greatest mistake, his greatest fear is that happening again to someone else he loves, which Scarecrow is able to exploit with the help of Jason as the Arkham Knight. So the idea of using fear against a hero who relies on fear as a weapon is really intelligent and very well handled.
But then there's another layer to The Batman's fear, Joker. Throughout the game we see Batman's psyche slowly dissolve and give into The Joker's toxin from the previous game, eventually taking over The Batman and becoming more dangerous than ever before. The Batman's true greatest fear, letting The Joker win. But then the game takes it in a new twist that i never really thought about before, if Batman's greatest fear is The Joker...what's Joker's greatest fear? It's honestly a thought i never thought of before, Joker always seemed like an unbreakable character, so what is his greatest fear? Being forgotten. Now that may sound like a very identifiable character trait, but really it's the idea that Joker didn't create enough chaos to be remembered. During the final psychological episode where The Joker finally takes over, Batman then turns the tables on him, now he's haunting his thoughts and revealing his greatest fear. Joker can't live without Batman, but Batman can live without The Joker, his true death happens when Batman finally let's him go, he doesn't fear him anymore and he truly has left no everlasting impact, on Gotham, on Batman, on anyone. It's an interesting analysis that I haven't been seen covered by many other formats and gives me a new perspective on the Joker as a character and his relationship with Batman.
-Danny
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