Jonathan Crane

DC Roleplay | Ask Blog Based On An Original Alternate Universe Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane 23-years-old Gotham University Student and Vigilante

[askjonathancrane]

Introduction

To any unfortunate readers, these writings will be my litany to distract from my nightly troubles. My creation of Scarecrow was meant to expose the elite as the true conspirators behind Gotham’s economic disparities. But sleep is no longer sufficient. The night terrors are routine. I try to manage by spending my time on vigilantism, academic pursuits, writing, and painting. But learning to cope is different than healing. 

I almost have the inclination to denounce my family name; but for solidarity, I’ll introduce myself as Jonathan Crane. I was born into a life of material privilege as the sole heir of Crane Industries, a pharmaceutical corporation that is weaved effortlessly in the fabric that suffocates the illusion we create about the American Dream. This wealth was the source of my childhood hell, lost in the vacuum of decaying costumes of beau monde. My upbringing was the source of my pain—festered within a lack of warmth and a strict adherence to tradition, religion, and conservatism.  

You may ponder the implications. I’ll leave you to your hypotheses. But I estranged myself from my family to reside amongst impecunious citizens, where there is perpetual crime exacerbated by the antics of the Batman. I contest his crusade against petty criminals and thugs with the assertion that Gotham’s elite are the problem. When Scarecrow began focusing on the elite, I dedicated the rest of my time to my theses: I concocted a psychoactive formula that could combat malady in the mind by harnessing the potent effects of fear. However, my former collaborator weaponized it after stealing it from me—yet another betrayal I’ve endured.  

Perhaps here I will find solace. Perhaps it will lay my troubled mind to rest, no matter how fleeting. 

Creator Notes

Hey, this is a Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow DC roleplay blog based on my original alternative universe version, exploring Jonathan Crane more as a morally grey/good vigilante rather than his (beloved) traditional villain role. I try to stay consistent with canon characteristics of his character accompanied by my own reimagined ideas of the character. I’m typically very intentional with my writing/lore/etc, but I hope to have fun being creative and conversing with those who interact with me! I’ll be open to chat-based roleplay and story-based roleplay!

[askjonathancrane]

Creator Notes - Section 1

A little addition of clarifications on this blog! If there’s something on here that you want more information on, or something not on here that you want to be addressed, you can ask me (OOC). 

Topics:

> Jonathan, as he is characterised in my version, can be very opinionated on certain topics like religion from negative experiences. I want to clarify that it’s not a personal attack if you are a member of a religion and I as a creator don’t seek to offend you. 

> As a word of caution to trigger-sensitive people, Jonathan’s backstory has some more serious triggering elements such as him suffering child abuse. 

Asking Questions:

I love answering questions! You can ask Jonathan questions involving lore to Jonathan, ask me (OOC) directly, or Jonathan can answer silly questions in a manner accurate to his characterisation. So it can be serious or it can be just for fun.

TAGS to search:

“LORE POST” > lore drops

“CRANE INDUSTRIES” and/or “GERALD CRANE” > company and father lore

“GOTHAM UNIVERSITY” for college lore

“CAT&CROW” for anything with my in-universe Selina Kyle involved

“NIGHTMARES” and “FEAR TOXIN” come up as well

Roleplay:

> Asks are preferred. Open to chat-based roleplay and story-based roleplay.

> Flirtation and suggestiveness in-character are accepted, just not anything too obscene.

As A Creator:

> The effort and intention I put into original lore/characterisation for my version of Jonathan is really important to me as a writer. I intend to actually write a story with him as a main character. I encourage inspiration, but I hope I can trust all of you with my work not to blatantly steal my ideas/my version’s likeness.

> I want to have fun, engage with others, be creative, and foster a community that is tolerant within reason and harbours no drama and ill-will towards others.

Can’t wait to interact with you all!

[goodnight-social-climb]

Old concept of my AU Scarecrow from 2023!

In this depiction and storyline, Jonathan is actually a young vigilante who terrorises the rich. His design had a glow-up since then, but I am still proud of the textures here.

Materials used were pencil, alcohol markers, a highlighting pen.

[askjonathancrane]

Hiya. Bit of a grim question for you doc im sorry but do you think people can be beyond help? Like so ill in the head it would be better to just. Give up?

Grim questions are often the only ones worth asking. Especially when weighed against the automations of small talk. To answer: I don’t believe anyone is beyond help. But the mind can enter states so deeply entrenched that conventional intervention is ineffectual. And those conditions rarely respond to warmth or the gentle rituals of care. And so, people give up. Sometimes just because of exhaustion.

I understand that impulse more intimately than I’d like. There was someone I cared for—still care for, in some dysfunctional way—whose mind grew so dulled and still, that I began to wonder whether anything human remained within. I spent years trying to develop a method to rouse her. Through medicine, through science…through fear. Not to punish her. To wake her. To make her see me. Speak to me. Feel. Just once.

So no, I don’t believe people are beyond help. But I do believe the world abandons those who fail to heal on its timeline. And some of us…we try to become the cure. 

Because it’s the only way we know how to love what will never love us back.

[askjonathancrane]

Okay. But. What would you do if I just… put you in a jar.

What, do you plan on stuffing me in a jar like some forlorn curiosity? I confess, I’m rather fond of my own space and have scant tolerance for others orchestrating my every step. And forgive me if I’m not keen on spending time as someone’s grotesque conversation piece.

As for your little fantasy, should you succeed in corking me away and spurning all discourse, I suppose I’d find solace in the hush. Though I suspect even the silence would grow weary of my company. 

That said, I have matters that can’t be pursued from inside a glass prison, especially when the only entertainment is the specter of my own reflection staring back.

[askjonathancrane]

Ah.

Mr. Crane. How strange.

Suppose you had the resources of a small country at your disposal and were allowed to run one experiment. Which would you attempt?

@crane-posting

Another iteration of myself. I suppose it’s yet one more who’s taken to terrorizing the populace.

My mother’s illness has persisted for as long as I can remember. The original impetus behind my work with fear compounds was, in truth, to aid individuals like her. I hypothesized that exposing those trapped in profound psychomotor stagnation to acute fear stimuli might reignite their neural responsiveness, and might compel them to return to themselves.

After all the years of neglect, I needed to know if she would look me in the eyes, even for a moment, and say something…anything…to prove that she ever cared. That was the experiment I longed to conduct. 

[askjonathancrane]

Soooooo I see you've been talking to my best friend @askd0ctorjcrane. :3 For a man who wears a plague doctor, he has a tendency to spread plague :3 Now you get to deal with me too. Take that whatever way you please, Johnny. *cracks knuckles* Okay, question time, who (if you do) do you work with? Like ya got any henchpeople or a secretary?

You’ll discover I’m far less inclined to the sort of theatrics favored by my sanctimonious megalomaniacal doppelgängers. I don’t employ henchmen or secretaries; I find unnecessary interaction…counterproductive. There have been rare instances of collaboration, though history suggests I’m regrettably prone to betrayal. Still, I’ve found Catwoman’s presence…tolerable.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Oh. Joy. The infection spreads. I apologise for them, they’re a cockroach, annoyingly hard to… deal with and desperate to feed off any entertainment they can get from our brains. I’d suggest ignoring them unless you’re a particular fan of pests. I’ve long awaited the days when my cure is ready to be used on a wide scale so I may finally be freed.

But. Your response has intrigued me. Catwoman? Why? I suppose you both hide your actions under thin veneers of vigilantism. But I find cats to be awful beasts to work with. Be careful you don’t scare her, doctor. Cats are known to scratch when you frighten them, and I'm sure many things frighten Catwoman. Besides, they have no love to give. The moment you no longer provide, they leave. What loathsome, ungrateful creatures they are.

Hm. It’s funny, I never realised just how many types of pests there were.

[askjonathancrane]

For an idealist convinced he can cure the world, that’s a particularly cynical assessment. I've never felt compelled to justify the nature, or absence, of my associations. But I’ll indulge you. Your observations aren’t entirely without merit. Still, I wouldn’t presume to domesticate a creature like her. 

Cats move with intent, strike only when necessary, and remain steadfastly self-reliant. They are skittish by nature. That constant vigilance is fear honed into a survival tool. And the willingness to trust, despite that instinct, renders their loyalty meaningful. I know pests well enough…but I wouldn’t count her among them.

Frankly, the most ungrateful creatures are not cats, but humans who gorge themselves while deciding which scraps others may receive. A human indulges and demands gratitude; a cat understands hunger and adapts. There is a quiet resilience in a cat that I find…worthy of respect.

[askjonathancrane]

Soooooo I see you've been talking to my best friend @askd0ctorjcrane. :3 For a man who wears a plague doctor, he has a tendency to spread plague :3 Now you get to deal with me too. Take that whatever way you please, Johnny. *cracks knuckles* Okay, question time, who (if you do) do you work with? Like ya got any henchpeople or a secretary?

You’ll discover I’m far less inclined to the sort of theatrics favored by my sanctimonious megalomaniacal doppelgängers. I don’t employ henchmen or secretaries; I find unnecessary interaction…counterproductive. There have been rare instances of collaboration, though history suggests I’m regrettably prone to betrayal. Still, I’ve found Catwoman’s presence…tolerable.

[askjonathancrane]

(This is an ooc question by the way.)

I wanted to know if it was okay to message you about possibly roleplaying?

// I’m 100% welcoming to interacting in DMs. I’m open to just chat ooc or to roleplay! But I will be transparent that I’m not incredibly reliable to respond back-and-forth in roleplay if that’s something you’re looking for. I’m a pretty meticulous writer who makes constant edits/rewrites so it takes a lot of effort for me to produce responses, so I’d probably be more on-and-off. But feel free to contact me if you’re still interested!

[askjonathancrane]

Creator Notes - Section 2

OTHER RP ACCOUNTS I RUN Alt Original Universe Catwoman: @askselinakyle TDK Nolan Trilogy Scarecrow: @doctor-jonathan-crane

[askjonathancrane]

He’s watching you. Contracted. 

The shadows around you aren’t yours. Someone put them there.

Source is paternal.

Keep low. 

—B

Audacity is an inherited trait, it seems. My father hires a private investigator to track down his resistant heir? Quite a violation, but not unexpected.

I suspect he is the root of it all. The genesis of the Scarecrow. But not of the compound. No—that thesis I can attribute to a different catalyst. 

But even in my early concepts of the psychoactive hallucinogen, I furtively requisitioned materials from Crane Industries. A pharmaceutical empire. His legacy. His shrine to ego. It gave me everything I needed to engineer fear itself.

He was, ironically, an inspiration to me. Not as a man, but as a symbol. A corrupt corporate patriarch in a city that worships decay and decadence. My offensive is far from over against the elite. And it’s a futile pursuit of his to try to find me. I reject the expectations and the legacy that had always held me by the neck. I reject him. 

Keeping low and lying on the ridges of my spine like a dead animal is not my intention. I will not stop. I cannot stop.

This changes nothing.

[e-nygmaofficial]

You are completely right sir, and the audacity he has to send you that! Mm-mm unacceptable!

FINALLY, someone gets it! Someone has a modicum of gray matter within their cranium!

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I WILL ALWAYS BE ON YOUR SIDE BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT SIR! >:D

[e-nygmaofficial]

THANK YOU! Now if only Gotham saw what you did.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I AGREE SIR!! >:D IF YOU NEED ANYTHING I WILL BE HERE SIR!!

[e-nygmaofficial]

Thank you for the groveling. Is truly appreciated.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Forgive my intrusion. But I’d quite like to speak to your associate Edward.

[e-nygmaofficial]

Do go ahead, Jonathan

[askd0ctorjcrane]

I won’t be long. I’m simply quite curious what motivates a person to have no motivation. To live their life settling as just another’s assistant. Do you have no aims of your own? No desire for your life to hold meaning? Or are you afraid? Do you feel the need to latch onto others simply so you don’t have to look in the mirror and see yourself? What terror leads somebody to be pleased with a worthless existence. To live as a footnote in someone else’s story.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

Uh... well I just find happiness in pleasing some people! I don't really think there's anything else than that :3

[askd0ctorjcrane]

How quaint. Unfortunately there is always more. Our fears are the root of our behaviours.

[askjonathancrane]

Sure. But incinerating the root is to reduce the entire tree of the human condition to ash. If fear constitutes that root, then the extirpation of fear entails the collapse of the very structure it sustains. Without fear, life may be stripped of its depth, urgency, and meaning. Our flaw of fear was by design. An unfortunate design, but one that has no replacement for its parts.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

What worth is existence without freedom? Without control? My cure does not erase memories nor experience. Nothing can be done to erase the marks of fear entirely. However it gives people the ability to move on and choose for themselves, without fears influence where they want their lives to go. Once that is done, we can begin on removing fear before it can ever take control from somebody. It isn’t burning the roots. It’s cutting off rotten petals so healthier ones can grow in their place.

[askjonathancrane]

I understand your thesis, Doctor. Intellectually, it is not without merit and not without reasoning. But its application in the chaos of reality? That is where I disagree. When eliminating fear as though it were a malignancy, its absence may bring necessary relief in many instances…but a dull and numbing kind. Without fear, we lose the challenge and the triumph of overcoming it. And we discard the primal calculus of threat and response that has preserved our species since the first heartbeat in the dark. Perhaps logic could suffice. But fear is older than logic. More persuasive. More decisive. What remains when it's gone? Cold analysis? Abstraction? Tell me, what instinct will pull your hand from the fire then?

Perhaps your theories have a place in some distant evolutionary epoch. But in this world, in our current flesh, fear is necessary. And in my educated opinion, we are not yet ready to live without it.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Exactly why we must change the world alongside it. My work has thus far been limited. But it will be enough one day. Fear is what caused the ruin we exist in now. As for the matter of survival. If somebody wishes to continue their existence that will serve as significant motivation to survive. But fear takes that choice from people. You will see. I plan to make Gotham my trial grounds. My example to the world. I hope one day you understand its value too. Then perhaps you can rest without nightmares.

[askjonathancrane]

Though cynicism may be my constant companion and your ambition strikes me as delusion dressed in virtue, I must admit…part of me almost longs to believe in your ideals. But I guess in the end, time will dissect the truth.

[askjonathancrane]

um, hello. Didn't have much to say, I just wanted to come in and say hi...if that's okay..

Yes. Hello. I suppose I should say thank you. For the greeting. It’s…not unwelcome. You may speak as little or as much to me as you’re inclined to.

[e-nygmaofficial]

You are completely right sir, and the audacity he has to send you that! Mm-mm unacceptable!

FINALLY, someone gets it! Someone has a modicum of gray matter within their cranium!

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I WILL ALWAYS BE ON YOUR SIDE BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT SIR! >:D

[e-nygmaofficial]

THANK YOU! Now if only Gotham saw what you did.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I AGREE SIR!! >:D IF YOU NEED ANYTHING I WILL BE HERE SIR!!

[e-nygmaofficial]

Thank you for the groveling. Is truly appreciated.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Forgive my intrusion. But I’d quite like to speak to your associate Edward.

[e-nygmaofficial]

Do go ahead, Jonathan

[askd0ctorjcrane]

I won’t be long. I’m simply quite curious what motivates a person to have no motivation. To live their life settling as just another’s assistant. Do you have no aims of your own? No desire for your life to hold meaning? Or are you afraid? Do you feel the need to latch onto others simply so you don’t have to look in the mirror and see yourself? What terror leads somebody to be pleased with a worthless existence. To live as a footnote in someone else’s story.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

Uh... well I just find happiness in pleasing some people! I don't really think there's anything else than that :3

[askd0ctorjcrane]

How quaint. Unfortunately there is always more. Our fears are the root of our behaviours.

[askjonathancrane]

Sure. But incinerating the root is to reduce the entire tree of the human condition to ash. If fear constitutes that root, then the extirpation of fear entails the collapse of the very structure it sustains. Without fear, life may be stripped of its depth, urgency, and meaning. Our flaw of fear was by design. An unfortunate design, but one that has no replacement for its parts.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

What worth is existence without freedom? Without control? My cure does not erase memories nor experience. Nothing can be done to erase the marks of fear entirely. However it gives people the ability to move on and choose for themselves, without fears influence where they want their lives to go. Once that is done, we can begin on removing fear before it can ever take control from somebody. It isn’t burning the roots. It’s cutting off rotten petals so healthier ones can grow in their place.

[askjonathancrane]

I understand your thesis, Doctor. Intellectually, it is not without merit and not without reasoning. But its application in the chaos of reality? That is where I disagree. When eliminating fear as though it were a malignancy, its absence may bring necessary relief in many instances…but a dull and numbing kind. Without fear, we lose the challenge and the triumph of overcoming it. And we discard the primal calculus of threat and response that has preserved our species since the first heartbeat in the dark. Perhaps logic could suffice. But fear is older than logic. More persuasive. More decisive. What remains when it's gone? Cold analysis? Abstraction? Tell me, what instinct will pull your hand from the fire then?

Perhaps your theories have a place in some distant evolutionary epoch. But in this world, in our current flesh, fear is necessary. And in my educated opinion, we are not yet ready to live without it.

[askjonathancrane]

I once was presented a curious question at the university by my psychology professor. One of those speculative musings that are meant to stir discussion and fracture the complacent minds of students unaccustomed to true introspection.

If extraterrestrial life existed—and I find it statistically absurd to assume otherwise—could it be possible that such beings are devoid of human concepts of emotion? More specifically…fear?

It was a proposition I rejected instinctively. Fear is the primordial thread. Woven deep into the biology of man. Fear makes us move. It makes us hide, but also fight and survive. It forges heroes as often as it births cowards.

But the idea lingered. Could sapient life thrive without fear? Could they possess some other motivator that drives survival through…what? Logic? Unity? Perhaps. Whatever replaces their survival instinct may be incomprehensible, yet entirely by design.

But we are not them. We are not designed like that. We are the product of the merciless nature of fear. It made us clever. It made us cruel. It made us human. To imagine our world without fear is to imagine a world without man.

And to those who fantasize about stripping it away, freeing mankind from its darkest corners, perhaps you’re right. But I ask: what will you replace it with? What will fill the vacuum once fear is gone?

If nothing, then you will find your utopia curiously…lifeless. 

But I suppose I can’t say it would be any worse than where we are now.

[e-nygmaofficial]

You are completely right sir, and the audacity he has to send you that! Mm-mm unacceptable!

FINALLY, someone gets it! Someone has a modicum of gray matter within their cranium!

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I WILL ALWAYS BE ON YOUR SIDE BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT SIR! >:D

[e-nygmaofficial]

THANK YOU! Now if only Gotham saw what you did.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

I AGREE SIR!! >:D IF YOU NEED ANYTHING I WILL BE HERE SIR!!

[e-nygmaofficial]

Thank you for the groveling. Is truly appreciated.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Forgive my intrusion. But I’d quite like to speak to your associate Edward.

[e-nygmaofficial]

Do go ahead, Jonathan

[askd0ctorjcrane]

I won’t be long. I’m simply quite curious what motivates a person to have no motivation. To live their life settling as just another’s assistant. Do you have no aims of your own? No desire for your life to hold meaning? Or are you afraid? Do you feel the need to latch onto others simply so you don’t have to look in the mirror and see yourself? What terror leads somebody to be pleased with a worthless existence. To live as a footnote in someone else’s story.

[squid-turtles-deactivated202509]

Uh... well I just find happiness in pleasing some people! I don't really think there's anything else than that :3

[askd0ctorjcrane]

How quaint. Unfortunately there is always more. Our fears are the root of our behaviours.

[askjonathancrane]

Sure. But incinerating the root is to reduce the entire tree of the human condition to ash. If fear constitutes that root, then the extirpation of fear entails the collapse of the very structure it sustains. Without fear, life may be stripped of its depth, urgency, and meaning. Our flaw of fear was by design. An unfortunate design, but one that has no replacement for its parts.

[askjonathancrane]

just noticed the pfp change. happy pride!

Ah, yes. Though the festering wounds of Gotham bleed with countless burdens, I suppose even I can carve out a moment to offer some gesture to stand in solidarity with Pride. After all, few things are as satisfying as the quiet rage it stirs in my father. The fear is no longer mine to bear, but his to feel.

Happy Pride, indeed.

[askd0ctorjcrane]

Doctor…indulge me for a moment. I find myself wondering, what is the true genesis of your so-called “cure”? What incident unraveled the fibers of your academic mind and compelled you to chase fear, not as a symptom, but as the very disease?

You say now that your mission is to free society from its parasite: fear. But there’s more, isn’t there? Something earlier, something personal. A moment when you yourself looked into fear’s eyes and it didn’t look away.

My thesis—my own research—was born of a desperate bid to cauterize my nightmares, to silence the screams behind my eyes, to quell the fires that raged through my subconscious night after night. And I sought a cure as a way to sever the chains that bind the broken and the ill. But you…you don’t dream of just healing. You dream of reshaping. You speak of applying your theory to the masses, as though the human condition were some infection to be burned away. That kind of ambition doesn’t sprout from science alone. Your desire for mass exposure brings to mind the old saying: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Before the empire, there must have been a foundation. 

So tell me, Doctor, what moment placed your first stone? What was the beginning of your theory before it transformed into what it is now?

Hello to you too. Quite the personal question but I’ll indulge it. After all I’m quite curious what another version of myself could gain from such information.

I could point to multiple times in my life when fears crippling hold on the human mind became clear to me. However, you asked for the moment that motivated me to act. The moment that made me realise fear wasn’t simply another emotion but instead a plague that would be humanities undoing if not crushed. I believe I can identify that moment. It was during a breakout, back when I worked at arkham. I can’t quite remember what triggered it clearly. But it was quite severe. Even by the asylum’s standards. I had entered into the hallway in order to see what was going on, and was attacked by a patient. He stabbed me in the abdomen with a broken bottle stolen from the staff room before running.

I remember laying on that cold tiled floor, bleeding out. All I could do was look around me. Watch as patients who I had sat with mauled staff and each other like rabid dogs. As that happened I thought back upon our sessions. How each of them, no matter the differences in goals, in lives, in brains were pushed forward by fear. How many spoke of those who had hurt them, They had been afraid too.

It had all been fear. That day I saw the true face of terror. Its end result. A world of mindless, Sick animals slaughtering each other for safety in the face of non existent threats. It was all, so simple really. I didn’t know how I hadn’t realised it before when the truth had been following me my entire life.

[askjonathancrane]

I appreciate you indulging my question, Doctor. But do keep in mind that, while your beloved Rome may not have been built in a day, history offers no shortage of empires that crumbled overnight. However noble or ambitious your endeavor may seem, there's always the possibility that what you're building is already destined to collapse—a grand design, perhaps, but one born with the seeds of its own undoing.

I’ve never seen what you’ve seen, Doctor, but I did dream of ways to remedy the things that have haunted me. But they never truly vacate. You just…acclimate to the presence. 

[askd0ctorjcrane]

I am truly sorry you haven’t been able to free yourself. But I ask you don’t project your failures onto me. I am cured and have worked to remove the pelage from others too. I know there is an efficient way to kill fear. It will not crumble because I refuse to let that happen.

[askjonathancrane]

And what do you imagine occurs when fear is eradicated? When you surgically remove the tumor and with it…strip away the essence? You pursue the pinnacle of human potential. Yet in doing so, you amputate what makes us human. Fear is a flaw but it is also the fulcrum. The axis upon which humanity turns. It binds, it drives, it shapes every decision. You seek a world without fear as if it’s salvation, but I call it stagnation. Without fear, there is no true growth. No challenge. No triumph. Fear is the crucible through which we evolve. It is not to be erased—but studied, dissected, mastered.

That is the reward.