So, question for you about Battle for the Cowl since it seemed like you might know.
You mentioned in an answer yesterday that the BftC writers justify Jason’s actions with “there was this childhood trauma that got triggered recently”. And I was aware that BftC referenced some “secret” childhood trauma of Jason’s that Bruce and Jason never told anyone about. And I saw the comic pages about that with Bruce’s appalling “you’re my greatest failure” speech.
But I wasn’t aware of anything happening that was implied to have triggered Jason. Do we know what it is that triggered him? Does it give us any insight into what that secret childhood trauma was?
(To me, it seemed like the only answer that made sense was CSA, and I know others have read it that way too. I also know we’ve been accused of “projecting” that interpretation, and I’m genuinely trying not to do that. I just don’t know what other trauma fits makes sense with what Bruce is saying there. But if Jason was triggered by something in comic maybe that would provide some insight?)
Oh, no, I mean that Bruce bringing up that "secret" in his posthumous video message was the trigger.
This is Battle for the Cowl we're talking about, so we're not working with super comprehensible motives here, and we're certainly not working with a whole lot of sensitivity. But my best interpretation of events is that:
years ago, Jason underwent some trauma as a child, previously unknown to readers, which he kept a secret
when he was Robin, Jason confided in Bruce (and only Bruce) about it
otherwise, he mega suppressed that shit
years later after Bruce's death, Tim lets Jason into the cave to see the message Bruce left him (Robin #183), in which Bruce brings up said secret trauma (and tells Jason that he is broken, and Bruce's greatest failure; BftC #3)
hearing this triggers Jason
he goes on a murder spree about it, tries to kill Tim again and also Damian and Dick, etc (BftC)
This is all lined out by Dick in narration, after he finds the video message and figures out what's going on. Quote: "Bruce's last will and testament didn't go over well with Jason. Whatever traumatized him all those years ago was buried deep. Bruce dug it up, forcing Jason to deal with it. [...] And whatever scab he formed over the years was unexpectedly ripped off."
As for what that secret trauma is, no, unfortunately it's never revealed or followed up on at all. The perils of Jason having a different writer every storyline.
And I...yeah, don't think CSA is an unfair interpretation. I don't think it's the only interpretation--
(Alternates: Something awful he witnessed happen to his mom. Something awful his mom did, to someone else or abuse towards him, that he didn't want to share because he loves her :( Or the same with his dad. (Easy to forget, but afaik Willis was not shown to be abusive in post-crisis, only after the new 52 retcons, so that would be a secret here.) Or something traumatizing he witnessed as a kid otherwise--particularly something illegal, that he wouldn't want to tell about growing up in a no-cops/no-snitching community. Or some morally wrong thing that he was desperate enough to do as a homeless child, but felt too guilty about later to let anyone know. Or something else I haven't thought of!)
--but the way it's presented by Bruce as a secret, and something that Jason never told anyone else, and something that Bruce also kept silent about for his sake even though in hindsight he thinks that was the wrong choice... Plus Bruce getting cut off as he brings up "a brilliant doctor who--" which isn't necessarily connected to said secret (it could just be about Jason's current undead murderboy state) but probably is considering the surrounding dialogue...
I mean yeah. It's not the only answer, but I absolutely see why a lot of people interpret this as a reference to CSA, not just projecting.
But it wasn't revealed in Battle for Cowl. And then Jason went into different stories with different writers later, and none of them ever picked up this thread to resolve it.
