CEO of Damian al-Ghul Wayne defender || We love the al-Ghuls in this house, no bashing allowed || FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸 || Jumping back and forth between Fandoms || Alternative/commentary account is @yurrrsssss-ghoul ||
This is my primary (art) blog, whereas my secondary (commentary) blog is @yurrrsssss-ghoul where I post my equally mediocre takes. Currently, I'm in a DC Fandom, but I might hip-hopping into some other fandoms soon enough.
Let me preface by saying by this; I'm a relatively new fan to the comic entertainment industry (both Marvel and DC, as well as some other), so if anyone has comic recommendations + overall advice on my characteristics, please let me know!
My other interests involved Death Note, Gravity Falls, Ajinn, Chainsaw Man, SpyxFamily, The Amazing Digital Circus, and such! I'm also planning to get into Dandadan and Gachiakuta, so beware of that :)
Here's my additional accounts if you want to see/support me!
My alt account: @yurrrsssss-ghoul
My artistree: ellestrade
Support me on ko-fi !
This is the masterpost to my current project: Wayne Family Chronicles ! Give it a read and let me know what you think ;)
One of the funniest (+mildly irritating) things about the "T*m Drake is so special in Ra's heart that he calls him 'detective'!!" Crowd is the fact that 'Detective' isn't some exclusive premium member title that Ra's used... Like that is a job title. He be calling everyone who works as a detective (or in this case specifically, Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, etc) detective, with only an exception of DAMIAN. His grandson. And Talia. His beloved daughter.
Does Ra’s have Tim’s Speen? A Deep Dive into Fandom Racism
The whole ‘Ra’s stole Tim’s spleen!!’ debacle is a very prevalent story in DC/batfam/tim drake fan spaces, with many people assuming its canon and creating even more content surrounding this narrative. This post intends to dive into the following topics:
The inherent orientalist writing of the al Ghuls
The canon events leading to Tim losing his spleen (spoiler alert: Ra’s doesn’t have it)
Why it is racist to parrot the idea of Ra’s having stole it
Common reasons people cite to defend this narrative
The inherent orientalist writing of the al Ghuls
First of all, what is Orientalism? Orientalism is a broad term describing the Western stereotype of Eastern cultures, or the Orient (particularly Asia and North Africa), as backwards and exotic. Coined by Edward Said, it describes the way Western civilization portrays itself as superior and rational, while portraying the Orient as irrational and wrong. Common orientalist stereotypes include the assumptions that Eastern societies are misogynistic, barbaric/violent, sexual/perverted, and inherently behind societally.
When it comes to DC, the way the al Ghuls are portrayed is inherently orientalist. They are of mixed arab/chinese descent - you can find some more details about that in this post by @/daminette-56 (the post is about Damian's Chinese heritage in particulal, but it still applies). They fit into the racist trope of the ‘Asian Assassins’ - elite East Asian ninja assassins which use traditional/ancient combat forms to kill. Ra’s is the controlling man, Talia is the Dragon lady/Femme Fatale, and their overall concept can be attributed to oriental views. This is furthered by the existence of Damian’s character, since it caused Talia to be converted to a 2-dimensional villain to facilitate Damian’s white saviour story when he is sent to live with his white father to ‘learn to live normally’, or to be civilized.
Despite this, the al Ghuls are interesting characters. Ra’s motive as an environmental terrorist and Talia’s inner dilemma over her loyalty to her father make them complex characters. Damian’s love for animals stemming from his upbringing with the al Ghuls The fandom tends to ignore this, however, and keep them as boring background characters without much depth.
When I analyze fandom racism surrounding the al Ghuls, it is important for me to distinguish between what is coming from DC and what is coming from the fandom. As such, it is vital to determine whether or not Ra’s having Tim’s spleen is canon.
2. Does Ra’s have Tim’s spleen?
The short answer is no.
Lets summarize the events which caused Tim to lose his spleen. Tim loses his spleen in his standalone Red Robin series. It happens in the second arc of the series (issues 5-8), called The Council of Spiders. There's a bunch of buildup, but Tim essentially teams up with Ra’s al Ghul to complete his current mission - finding Bruce, who is lost in the time stream. Tim agrees to work with Ra’s (after he kidnaps him and his coworker Tam), however he secretly plans to take down the League Of Assassins from the inside.
During this time, Tim survives an ambush by a group called the Council of Spiders. Later on, Ra’s tasks him with defeating this rival assassin group since he is the only one known to have survived an attack from them. Tim sets up a plan, however it backfires and they are attacked by the Spiders. In this attack, Tim is stabbed and resigns himself to death, however he is saved by White Ghost who stitches him up (presumably with the help of fellow assassins) and removes his spleen due to the damage it has sustained. When this happens, Ra’s is nowhere near.
Tim’s spleen is never mentioned again. The arc concludes with Tim blowing up all LoA bases that currently exist, and Ra’s threatens to blow up Wayne Enterprises in retaliation.
Ra’s is not shown to be nearby when Tim’s spleen is taken. He is not implied to have it. He is never shown in possession of it.
It is safe to conclude that Ra’s al Ghul is not in possession of Tim’s spleen.
3. Why is it racist to parrot the idea that Ra’s has Tim’s spleen?
The reason this fandom narrative is inherently racist is since it feeds into multiple orientalist stereotypes. As defined before, Orientalism is the idea that Western society paints itself as superior to Eastern society. Here are the two most harmful ideas it feeds into:
Creepy Brown Man imagery: Brown men in media are often painted as inherently creepy and dangerous. This is closely linked to the ‘othered foreigner’ trope, where writers focus on the otherness of characters of colour rather than any other trait. Now, I will not deny that Ra’s is dangerous. However, the way he is portrayed by the fandom as borderline obsessed with Tim, going as far as to keep his spleen as a trophy, clearly feeds into the ‘creep’ aspect of this stereotype. It also ignores the fact that Tim was kidnapped by Ra’s for this mission purely due to the tactical advantage - Tim was the only one to have survived a Spider attack, so it was logical to have him be part of the mission. Instead, it shifts the narrative to make Ra’s seem irrationally attached to Tim.
Sacrificing characterization for propping up a white character: Ra’s is never portrayed as anything other than an evil tyrant within the Tim Drake fan space. His characterization as an eco-terrorist whose goal is to save the Earth from ecological destruction is sacrificed, and he is instead characterized as power hungry, obsessed (see above paragraph), or plain evil with no reasoning behind it (all of which contribute to the Evil Brown Character stereotype separately. Together? It's even worse). Once again, it ignores the logic that accompanies Ra’s decision in choosing Tim, and either paints him as a poor victim attacked by Ra’s, or a fighter so powerful that even Ra’s had to acknowledge him. Any logic Ra’s applied to the decision is ignored in favour of propping up the white character.
4. Common justifications given for this narrative/storyline
It's literally canon! → as I've already broken down, it isn’t.
But Ra’s is obsessed with Tim!! He calls him Detective and respects him and his fighting! → Ra’s also refers to both Bruce and Dick as ‘detective’. This title is not exclusive to Tim and does not prove anything. Additionally, respecting someone as a fighter and stealing their body parts as a trophy for beating them are two very different things.
It is not out of character for Ra’s to take his spleen! He’s a cult leader and taking trophies from people isn’t uncommon !!! → Ra’s is an ecoterrorist. He has no use for anyone’s spleen. Although he is sometimes depicted taking trophies, they are in the form of land or material items, not body parts. (The assumption that Ra’s takes human body parts as trophies is also orientalist, by the way. Goes back to the original ‘Asian Assassins’ trope, as well as the ‘Barbaric Brown People’ ideal.)
Idk why but I have this one need of wanting to see at least one art of Damian where he had a thousand-yard stare. He's actually listening, just... Not here at the moment.
Honestly if I was damian I’d be so petty to bruce constantly. Oh you want me to do something? Why don’t you go ask one of the sons you like. Oh you want me to get along with my siblings? Remember the time I said that about you and mom and then you let me get exploded by a bomb.
Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.
Oh hello mysterious and intimidating cat entity. How kind of you to visit my humble blog.
I don't play a lot of games, honestly. I prefer to watch people play them, and the few that I did play I almost never finish. HOWEVER— there's this one game that I did finish, and the characters became an inspiration in terms of aesthetics in my current project.
The boy and Aznana.
I have no reason to like them, really, but they're dear to my heart.
People are posting/celebrating their exam results rn in my country— which is equivalent to the SATs— and I'm seeing a lot of them that goes, "Was it so bad that my parents couldn't even look at me?"
And I empathize a lot with those posts.
Except I was 12 years old, recently have gone through a surgery, and dragging a heavy load through an open field begging for my father to look at me. I kept apologizing for the 2Bs that I got while calling for them to at least look at me.
I take my education pretty seriously. When push comes to shove, I don't play around, and am really hoping for good results. This extends far beyond wanting my parents approval, but also my satisfaction. However, I myself cannot deny the long-lasting impact that might as well be a lifetime feature when parents openly show their disappointment towards their children, especially when it comes to something like this— almost as if telling them that they are what they put on paper, and nothing else matters.
I still have a sort of transactional problem with my parents until this day; associating them with not two people who genuinely love me, but someone who's investing and I the shining plate they could show around and boast every once in a while. It's an ugly feeling, and it's going to take a lot of future intervention, therapy, and advice for me to finally come to terms with it.
So for my younger audience out there that's soon sitting for a big exam, or any exam in general, just know that you are beyond the scores and test marks that were a throughput of your own struggle. You did your best.
