I really can and will blame the 9-5 for everything. "We're in a loneliness epidemic" well, we have to spend a third of our day interacting with people in a professional way that makes forming real friendships difficult and then we're peopled out by the time we're done. "People are eating more and more unhealthily" people have to spend more than a third of their day doing work related tasks and they don't want to spend their tiny amount of free time making food. "People aren't involved in their local communities" after spending more than a third of their day doing work related things people are tired and also all those community events take place during normal working hours. "People need to get more hobbies" after spending more than a third of their day working, people are TIRED and don't want to do anything that takes yet more energy. "Literacy is dying" to maintain your critical thinking skills you need to read/watch things that make you think and after spending more than a third of your day doing work related stuff you are TIRED and don't want to expend even more brainnpower. "People need to get outside more" People. Are. TIRED. Because they have to spend all of their time working or preparing for work or recovering from work or doing all the chores they couldn't stay on top of because of work. I can blame fucking anything on having to work, it is truly the root of all fucking evil.
𝑫𝑶𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑬𝑹 & 𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳 𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑺 , jason todd according to bram.
Concerning My Influences:
I'm not particularly loyal to any one portrayal of Jason, so, what you'll find instead is a blend of inspirations taken from pieces of media that I enjoy. I'm going to be building on the bare bones of his character and discarding things I don't think fit. I'll probably wind up doing a deep dive into his catalogue of appearances and further cherry pick what I do and don't consider canon. The DC timelines hurt my brain, so please allow me some time to do that. One thing I know for a fact I don't follow is the kingpin/crime lord angle. While I agree that Jason is morally grey, and he's willing to make temporary alliances with criminals (and even some of the rogues) to put someone worse away, he refuses to turn to crime to do it. Not because he thinks he's above the desperation that drives people to crime, but because he wants to show the most unfortunate in Gotham that there are alternatives to gangs. There are always ways to fight back against the system. For the purposes of my blog, he's a vigilante and a hero, albeit a very ambiguous, grumpy, and at times, violent one. His plan to "control crime" was his ruse for getting Batman's attention, a ruse he will keep up in order to get into all the seedy places that Batman can't. It's important to my portrayal that Jason doesn't want to be a crook or a criminal. It's an act.
For now, please consider the following comics and Batman-centric media to be heavy inspiration for this blog's version of Gotham, the wider circle of characters in Jason's life, and Jason's characterisation and background: 'Batman 1940' (issues #408-#425), 'Detective Comics' (issues #568-#582), 'Batman: The Cult' (1988), 'Red Hood: Lost Days' (2010-11, we do not acknowledge the Talia/Jason thing towards the end here, that shit didn't happen), 'Under the Red Hood' (both the 2010 animated film and the 2005-06 comic run of the same name, I blend both canons here), 'Batman: Death in the Family' (2020), 'The Batman' (2022), 'The Penguin' (2024), 'Batman: Arkham Knight' (2015), 'Gotham Knights' (2022.)
And some pieces of non-Batman media that have influenced my reading of Jason are as follows: 'V for Vendetta' (1982-89.) David Fincher films, most notably 'Se7en' (1995), 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (2011), and 'Fight Club' (1999.) 'Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus' by Mary Shelly (1818.) 'Monkey Man' (2024.) The John Wick Films. Shakespearean Literature. Greek Myth and tragedy. Neo-noir narratives. The unpacking of the revenge narrative.
Concerning Jason's Death:
I don't follow the 'Death in the Family' storyline exactly as it was depicted in the 80s, as it holds lots of dated elements that I detest entirely! I also don't like shoving Jason's birth mother into the mix just so she'll betray him later, but I do love the idea of him trying to save her regardless, as that's exactly how I see Jason. Good through and through, even when he's been stabbed in the back. So, consider this to be a compromise pulled from multiple sources and stitched together with my own headcanons.
Jason went after the Joker on his own. Now, if you were to ask Jason why he did this? He'd probably shrug and say it was because he had to. But the truth of it is this: Jason wanted to prove himself worthy, he wanted to be more than what the world thought him to be. He wanted to impress Batman, he wanted to earn his place as Robin. (Even though he never had to, he was already proving himself to be resourceful and skilled and kind and everything Robin needed to be. Everybody was already proud of him, proud beyond words, but Jason just couldn't see it past his own teenage angst and insecurity.) Joker also manipulated Jason into following him, claiming to have found his birth mother. Jason always knew his biological mother wasn't Catherine, but Willis never got around to telling Jason who his real mum was. So, she remained a mystery. A mystery Joker was promising to help him solve. And if he didn't? She was going to die. An innocent woman was going to die.
Ignoring Batman's instruction to stay put, Jason goes to save the woman. His mother or not, he couldn't handle having her death on his conscience. Batman had taught him better than that. Ultimately, Joker captures Jason and uses the explosion of a forgotten warehouse on Gotham's waterfront to cover for the fact that he keeps Jason hostage for a little under a year in a completely different warehouse on the same waterfront. The only remains of that explosion that were ever found were those of a woman. She and Jason shared no DNA whatsoever. So, Batman continues to search for Jason, hoping to find him alive. As much as Joker breaks Jason and his spirit, he very nearly breaks Batman's too.
Joker was only ever meant to capture Jason as a distraction, to keep him occupied while Ra's al Ghul broke Gotham's economy. Instead, Joker escalates the whole situation. He beats Jason with a crowbar, tortures him, berates him, and starves him. All in an attempt to get him to turn and spill Batman's true identity. Jason refuses him at every turn, and even figures out that insulting Joker's sense of humour gets him to storm off angrily or hit him harder. Either way, it makes the line of questioning stop. It gives him the briefest of respites. Jason insults him one time too many and the Joker winds up shooting him dead. Then he blows up the warehouse he was holding him in. This is when his body is finally found by Batman.
Concerning Jason's Rebirth and The Lazarus Pit:
After his funeral took place, Talia al Ghul unearthed, stole and replaced Jason's body with a silicon replica. From there she would submerge him into the waters of the Lazarus Pit, where he would arise with his life, his soul, and his body returned to him. Where I differ from the way this is shown in the comics and the animation is that this process did not take mere moments, it was not easy. It was agonising. It took hours. He thrashed and fought back in the beyond. Jason did not want to come back. He'd suffered enough. He'd earned his peace. But the magic of the pit was far stronger than the broken spirit of a dead teenager. He came back coughing and spluttering and confused.
Having been submerged in the pit for so long, Jason went from having warm, hazel eyes to having shocking pale green eyes. Eyes the same colour as the mist that emanates from the pit. A section of his hair at the front of his head becomes a bone-white colour. It's also because of his long exposure to the pit that he's more durable. He heals faster than the typical human, his aging process has slowed down, and his immune system has been enhanced. His metabolism is also quicker, which means he's always looking to snack. His stamina, reflexes, speed, agility, and strength have been boosted to near-superhuman levels. For a non-meta, Jason's incredibly powerful.
I must stress that while his body was physically healed by the pit, his mind recalls the pain he suffered in vivid detail. Because of this, Jason often suffers with phantom pains in his chest, ribs, shoulders and wrists. His time in the pit is also the subject of many of his night terrors. He saw the beyond (which is a kind of limbo where the souls of the dead linger, tortured with the knowledge that their lives were woefully incomplete.) No living person is supposed to see that and comprehend it. But Jason did, and Jason really wishes he hadn't.
It's worth noting here that Jason's body never developed as it should. Being kept captive and being tortured by the Joker meant that his body stayed stuck as it was when he was fourteen. He was fifteen when he died, and when he was brought back, he would have turned sixteen. So, when Jason is submerged in the Lazarus Pit, it forces both his body and his mind to catch up with his actual age. His body physically grows to catch up with all the muscle growth and the height he should have had as a healthy teenager. This process adds to the fact that Jason never really feels as though his body is his own post-resurrection. It might not seem like a massive shift in terms of age, physical size, or mentality but think about it: Fourteen to sixteen is a massive jump in terms of growing up. It's when most people get a growth spurt, it's when most people begin to develop their adult features. Jason must have seen his reflection in the waters of The Pit and seen a stranger staring back at him.
Concerning Robin, and his adoption:
Jason spends four years as Robin. (tl;dr: he was never considered the angry one. nor was he ever considered to be a bad kid. of course, he was reckless, headstrong, and mischievous. but he was never angry. he was never a 'bad kid.' he adored being robin. he was always happy-go-lucky and ready to leap into action. he adored bruce, and dick, and alfred. sibling bickering was constant but there was never any genuine hatred or jealousy, not from jason's end. if anything, he was a little star-struck by it all, not that he'd ever admit as much out loud. most of all though, jason relished in being able to help people, people like his parents, people like his friends from school, people like his neighbours. i do think that, while bruce had good intentions, jason would have benefited most from just being a normal kid, which is why jason's ultimately angrier at bruce than he is at joker.)
Concerning Red Hood:
INFORMATION TO BE ADDED. (tl;dr: jason spent a long time planning his return as the red hood. i'm going to have it where jason had already been making moves to amass something of an underground network of mercenaries in the states in the months leading up the events of utrh. it's worth reiterating that jason doesn't want to be a crime lord, he's just using this plot as a front to gain bruce's attention once he's in gotham. i do think jason plays into the misconception that he is one though, he doesn't think that bruce's fear tactic is working, it's never worked (it didn't save him, did it?) jason would rather be the biggest monster gotham has to offer, ready to consume all the other smaller monsters before they become too difficult to contain. keeping up the illusion that he is a crime lord is his way of making sure he scares criminals and keeps reporters guessing when it comes to his motivations. jason doesn't kill for the sake of it, but he won't shy away from it either. he'll do whatever he deems necessary to deal with the threat at hand, bruce's approval be damned. i should note here that he doesn't enjoy killing. he doesn't relish in it. he hates it, hates himself for it, he carries a lot of guilt, but he's not naive enough to believe that his guilt absolves him of any wrongdoing. if he needs to be the villain? then so be it. he's happy to be the most vicious dog in the kennel if that's what it takes to keep criminals away from innocent people. he also takes the 'they're still breathing, aren't they?' approach to beating low-level criminals and thugs up. even more so when they're, in his words, 'abusive pieces of shit.'
FULL NAME : Jason (meaning: healer) Peter (meaning: rock or stone) Todd-Wayne (meaning: fox / craftsman)
NICKNAME(S) : Jay, Jace, JJ, Jaybird, The Ghost of Gotham.
KNOWN ALIASES : Red Hood. Robin (formerly.)
AGE : 29. Though, it should be noted that I'm open to writing Jason at any age, really. So long as it makes sense for the plot and the thread at hand, of course.
ZODIAC : Leo Sun, Cancer Rising, Virgo Moon.
DATE OF BIRTH : 16th August 1996.
DATE OF DEATH : 27th April 2011.
GENDER : Cisgender Male.
PRONOUNS : He/Him.
ORIENTATION : Bisexual / Biromantic.
NATIONALITY : American.
ETHNICITY : White ( has Italian, Irish, and Polish ancestry. )
BIRTHPLACE : Gotham City, New Jersey, USA.
CURRENT HOME : Gotham City, New Jersey, USA. / Depends on the verse.
OCCUPATION : Vigilante, Mechanic ( full-time, he opened up his own shop 'Park Row Repairs' once he'd decided to settle in Gotham. He runs the business side of things, works besides his employees, and uses it as his base of operations as Red Hood. All of his employees are very well taken care of. Paid fairly, have health insurance, dental, the whole sh-bang. He even yanks a few wayward teens out of gangs and makes sure them and their families are looked after by giving them weekend jobs or getting them involved in doing the paint jobs on cars he's working on. I'll make a more detailed meta about this in the future and link it here. ), Volunteer Librarian ( part-time, he often does this when he has a free weekend to spare. )
EDUCATION : Legally, Jason Todd is still dead. So, he has no formal education beyond his freshman year of high school on file. That being said, he was tutored extremely well once he'd come under Bruce's care and guardianship officially. Jason is well versed in mathematics, computer science, forensics, literature, sociology, history, the arts, languages, and so on, and so on. Talia al Ghul furthered his education while Jason was training with The League, a sharp mind was of equal value to a sharpened blade after all. Jason's incredibly capable and intelligent, he just doesn't have any documented qualifications to show for it because of his untimely demise.
LANGUAGES SPOKEN : English, Spanish, German, Polish, Arabic, and Japanese. He also knows some Russian, Italian and Portuguese, but not enough to be able to hold up a conversation.
VOICE / ACCENT : Jason's accent would be best described as a softer Jersey accent, though it tends to thicken when he's either drunk or tired. Jason has a rough, grumbling voice that rattles through his chest. He never needs to raise his voice, for it booms already. He's always been unapologetically loud and cheeky, and his voice perfectly encapsulates that. It should be noted that he does speak in a lower tone during intimate moments, when he's allowed himself to be vulnerable. This is usually reserved for his siblings, trusted friends, and significant others.
FACECLAIM(S) : Lorenzo Zurzolo.
HEIGHT : 6’3” (190cm.) 225lbs (102kg.)
BUILD : Jason is tall, broad, and built like a brick shithouse. He has a wide back, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and long legs. One might take a look at him and think that he's built solely for brute strength, which is the furthest thing from the truth. He's surprisingly nimble for someone of his stature, and incredibly acrobatic.
HAIR : Jason's hair is a mess of black curls with a streak of bone-white at his hairline (as shown here and here.) That white streak is easily his most identifiable feature, besides his height, and because of that, Jason sometimes uses a temporary spray to blend it with the rest of his hair while he's out on patrol (if he's not going to be wearing his helmet at any point, obviously.) He's found that dying that streak of hair, even with permanent hair dye, doesn't keep it away for long. It always comes back through within a week, so he's stopped trying to dye it. His hair is usually kept in styles like this, or this.
EYES : A warm, dark hazel (before his death.) A shocking, pale green (post-rebirth.) Before he died, Jason's eyes might have best described as wide and full of wonder. He was always curious, always eager to know more, even before meeting Batman. Afterwards? Jason's eyes often look heavy-lidded and tired, one might even go so far as to say they seem resigned. You'll often catch him having a thousand yard stare-off with the wall, the pages of a book, or the city skyline. However, they tend to brighten up whenever he's in a good mood, and they disappear behind his cheeks whenever he properly smiles or laughs. I will also note here that Jason's eyes glow eerily in the dark, and flash dangerously whenever his temper flares.
SCARS : He's essentially a walking gallery of scars. You'll find multiple scars from multiple incidents criss-crossing across his back, his torso, and his shoulders. You'll find a thin, spindly scar on the left side of his neck, where a batarang that Bruce threw at him grazed his skin at the end of 'Under the Red Hood.' You'll only be able to see that one if you're stood up close to him. While most of these scars are the results of his time as Red Hood, the most notable of them were inflicted by The Joker. They are as follows: A Large 'Y' shaped scar on his torso from the autopsy performed on him following his death. A jagged 'J' shaped scar on the left side of his face (a good visual example for which can be found here and here) that begins at the corner of his mouth and stops just above his cheekbone, following the curve of his eye socket. A a gunshot scar can be found on his chest, exactly where his heart is. This was the killing wound. You'll also find lots of tiny scars across his knuckles, across his knees, and the backs of his fingers, these are from years of being a vigilante.
SKIN : Jason's skin is pale, with warm undertones. He also has the faintest smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, cheeks, and shoulders. It's soft in places, but others, like his hands, are far rougher in comparison. This is down to years of fighting, training, working out, and tinkering with mechanics. Jason also tans easily under the sun.
TATTOOS & PIERCINGS : An eyebrow piercing in his right eyebrow, examples for how he tends to wear it can be found here, here, and here. (Jason got this done just after he left The League, he had originally planned to get it done on his 16th birthday.) Both ears are pierced exactly as shown here and here. Jason also has snake bite piercings that we wears as shown here and here. I will make a more extensive meta on Jason's tattoos, detailing where they are on his body, why they're there, and so on, at a later date. For now, use this section of Jason's pinterest board to get a rough idea for the style and the types of tattoos Jason has.
FASHION : Comfort and practicality are the name of the game when it comes to Jason's style choices. With that said, he's very much into an alternative/darker style of dress, and has been since he was a kid. He's a proud metalhead, though he enjoys any sort of music, so long as it's loud and fast. The main staples of his wardrobe are leather jackets, biker jackets, jean jackets covered in band patches, bomber jackets, hoodies, dark baggy jeans, combat boots, combat pants, a simple wrist watch, sunglasses, band shirts, muscle tees, tank tops, dress shirts, belt chains, rings, heavy chain necklaces, and so on. Look here for visual examples.
ABILITIES, POWERS & SKILLS : A ruthless hand-to-hand combatant, an expert marksman, swordsman, weapons master, and freerunner/acrobat. He's able to keep up with the best of the best, and uses that to further feed into the intimidation factor he brings with him. Red Hood is absolutely not to be underestimated in a fight, though he almost always is, as there's a common misconception that he relies too heavily on his firearms to get the job done. I should note here that Jason blends all of the forms of martial arts he knows to favour brawn, speed, and utter brutality. Jason has proven himself to be a master of stealth, espionage, infiltration, disguise, and sabotage. All of which makes him a fantastic vigilante and investigator. He's also stupidly competent behind the wheel of a car or on the back of a motorbike. He favours the latter when out as Red Hood. Jason's also shown himself to be an expert on the occult thanks to his training with the All-Caste, and is even able to summon the All-Blades in the presence of pure evil. In essence? Jason is terrifyingly competent thanks to all of his training under the watch of some of the scariest people imaginable!
A SHORT CHARACTER PLAYLIST : Dethrone by Bad Omens, Renegades of Funk by Rage Against the Machine, Breathe by The Prodigy, Vigilantes by WARGASM, Stay Away by Nirvana, R.i.p (dusckcCOre remix) by Bring Me The Horizon, Liberate by Slipknot, Antagonist by Nova Twins, Clockwork by Chelsea Grin. ( listen to his full playlist here. )
HOBBIES & INTERESTS : After his rebirth, and after his return to a world free of magical assassins and endless training, Jason struggled to connect with his old passions. Not because he didn't have those same passions anymore, but because he wouldn't allow himself to indulge in them. His obsession with vengeance got in the way, and as usual, he was his own worst enemy. Eventually, Jason gets over that hurdle. He enjoys collecting old editions of classic novels, listening to heavy metal music as loud as it can go, tinkering with every type of car or motorbike you can imagine, playing video games, getting tattoos, working out or training, training and playing with his dogs, writing, cooking, and reading. Most of all, Jason enjoys helping people, as gruff and stunted as he can be about it, it comforts him to know he's making a difference, to know he's needed.
D&D CLASS : Fighter (Battle Master.) / Rogue (Assassin.)
MORAL ALIGNMENT : Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good.
MENTAL ILLNESSES : C-PTSD, General Anxiety Disorder, ADHD.
SYMPTOMS : Panic attacks, night terrors, insomnia, showcases some addictive traits (he smokes, he drinks caffeine like he might die if he doesn't, he has drank himself into a stupor on more than one occasion), struggles connecting with people despite his best efforts, he has pervasive feelings with worthlessness and self doubt, and he struggles to contain his emotions sometimes. He also immediately assumes the worst in people and struggles to see the "bright side" of any problem or stressful situation he's presented with. He's developed an almost impressive cynicism that he's always at odds with, as he still feels a strong desire to do good wherever and however he can. Even if that good is done in ugly ways.
Jason also suffers with stomach aches and regular headaches that cause dizziness. He detests asking for help, and simply refuses to do so, this is because he's distrusting of the world around him. Though he is trying his best to get better about it. Even if that's just angrily plonking himself next to Bruce or one of his many siblings in silence. He finds that physical company helps him the best, hence the three dogs he's adopted. Jason also has auditory, and sometimes visual, hallucinations of his younger self on particularly bad days. These are the days when he's at his lowest, contemplating whether or not he should even be alive still. I also think Jason sinks into dissociative states, where he doesn't quite feel solid or real. He often feels as though he's a stranger in his own body, which is why he's quick to get another tattoo, or to try dying his hair, or to get another piercing. Anything to reclaim ownership over his own autonomy is a step in a good direction for him healing.
DIRECT FAMILY : Willis Todd (father, deceased.) Catherine Todd (stepmother, deceased.) Biological mother, unknown (I know, I know. I can already hear you. 'Bram, we know who she is in the comics!' And I hear you, but I kind of... hate it. I hate the whole thing. So I'm gonna just leave her unknown until I can figure something better out, okay? Okay. Glad we're all in agreement.)
ADOPTED FAMILY : Bruce Wayne (adoptive father), Richard "Dick" Grayson (adoptive older brother), Cassandra Cain (adoptive older sister), Tim Drake (adoptive younger brother), Duke Thomas (adoptive younger brother), Damian Wayne (adoptive younger brother.) Honourable mentions go to Barbara Gordon for being an older sister figure, and to Alfred Pennyworth for being a grandfather/father figure to him.
SIGNIFICANT OTHER : None / Verse dependent.
CHILDREN : None. Unless you count the wayward teens he keeps an eye on in his neighbourhood. People who live locally actually do refer to them as 'Jay's kids.' So.
PETS : Darcy (female longhair tabby cat, five years old.) Oberyn (male doberman, two years old.) Titania (female doberman, two years old.) Winnie (formerly known as 'Dog', female pitbull/bullmastiff mix, three years old. Jason names her once he decides to bring her home with him.)
How does one hate a country, or love one? […] I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply?
— Ursula K. Le Guin; The Left Hand of Darkness; 1969
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