do you think gothamites from the crime alley/narrows etc. at least recalled the second robin tenderly? do you think they considered jay theirs? do you think they mourned him properly, even if only with small gestures, having only heard rumours about his demise? do you think someone who the second robin saved or comforted once cried after him? that a kid asked their mom: what now? what do we do without robin? or did it become another sad, cynical story about an alley kid meeting a tragic end?
Could you elaborate on why you find Enhypen's Jay interesting?
ask sent January 7, 2026
As I begin year 2 of my being suddenly all about Kpop, I find that I am developing an 'eye' for the players. So at first, all the ballerinas in the NYCB look kind of the same. There are differences in hair color or skin color but like, they're all ballerina shaped and also have the same proportions and move with the same quality of movement as a result of being trained (usually) at the School of American Ballet and doing Balanchine at Lincoln Center. Once you can tell them apart though, is when you start developing preferences. You're like Oh that's HER, that one's my FAVORITE or Hmm, that one critic loves her but I don't understand why. Eventually, you start to be able to tell, from a short clip taken from far away, whether it's the NYCB, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Bolshoi/Kirov (I cannot tell these two apart), the English National Ballet or the Danish Royal Ballet.
Nobody around me admits to knowing anything about kpop (except for my one ARMY buddy), and the thing they say the most to me is that "those boys all look exactly the same as each other." As in, they are Idol Shaped. Kpop is a genre, so there are voices and more importantly, delivery methods that are Kpop-timbre too. And truth be told, Idols are a form of public courtesan, so they also adhere to certain forms of behavior.
I got to know Jay after I developed the capacity to tell even very similar looking Idols (ahem, Ateez's Yunho and TxT's Soobin) apart and have reasons for what I prefer to see each of them doing.
Jay is interesting because he manages to occupy a lot of intersections at the same time.
*This post is about Jay's Idol persona, and not about his Idol artistry, which I am still discovering.
Naturally Unnatural or Unnaturally Natural?
Compared to his friend Sunghoon or his leader Jungwon or my bias Heesung, Jay can look deceptively approachable and boy next door. I say deceptively, because he is exceptionally good looking. So symmetrical. Such golden ratio. So photogenic. But look at this clip, where the other more surreal looking Idol boys in his Idol group come crowding onto the screen and maybe you'll see what I mean. (Or maybe you won't - what I've learned in my pretty intensive interaction with foreign Kpop fans is that we are not using the same standards at all lol).
Part of why Jay looks approachable is that he's not trying to make some sort of Idol Wants You To Find Him Appealing type of face. He doesn't have that mask on all the time. I mean this as a neutral statement- there are Idols who have that mask on all the time that I adore (Yeosang of Ateez, who actually sometimes has it taken off in fits of laughter, feels the cold wind of real life on his skin and snaps the mask back on, Yunho of Ateez when he's in a self-insert fanfic creating kind of mood). There are Idols who almost never put on that mask that I adore (Changbin of SKZ and Mingi of ATZ will be mask off most of the time and when it's mask on to do aegyo or whatever they make a big deal about it). Jay seems to have it mostly off.
He looks annoyed, when he's annoyed. But he also looks annoyed when he's not.
Video by instagram user @ xojakeyxo
The way Jay mutters to himself that he bets it's Jungwon, this is him sounding like all the boys in my family. It's so normal boy. Him going to the door and hollering, WHO IS IT? when he knows who it is, after letting Jungwon go ham on the doorbell, is such natural-looking behavior, inside what is a totally artificial form of marketing - a 'fan call' where the Idols have to perform 'having a chat' with masses of people screeching at them, text only, in their 'off time' in order to cultivate the sense of 'intimacy, friendship and maybe more.'
There are two ways to provide fandom thrills to watchers in this format. One is to lean into its artificiality (Yunho of Ateez in full Geisha mode provides this). The other is to appear unguarded, natural and candid. (Wooyoung and Mingi of Ateez do this).
Jay's 'natural' way of behaving on these live fan chats is what makes it fine and safe for his band members to come crowding in even as he objects. The way he goes, Jungwon-aaaaaaah!!! to try to stop Jungwon from summoning Heeseung sounds entirely natural. That way of Korean hollering - where you put a lot of meaning and nuance into the drawn out aaaaaaah!! part, again so natural.
Meant For This Life but Also Somehow Capable of Shame
One of the most powerful moments for me so far in my watching I-Land was all the segments of Jay failing to achieve his goals. He always tries for the center spot, the number 1 spot, no matter what. In one particular episode, he was just not at his best - he could NOT sing the notes or be on the beat or make it work, but he kept going for every single part, wearing himself out.
I found this very moving, even though it was foolish, because I recognize this. The urge to continue to try. Being the person who can't be discouraged. Deciding on a principle and then overriding your body's signals. And the very cold-eyed view of reality, that the opportunities you don't go for never come back.
The little bit, captured at the Golden Disc Awards 2026, where Jay and Sunghoon were asked to do something that is not suited to them - these cutesy aegyo thing that their faces don't work with, that they're too tall and too built and too mature to pull off. Sunghoon locks in immediately to Idol mode - unflappable, game, and at the same time, he signals that he's beyond this, and he's going to explode the rules of this dance. He'll stay on the beat, and keep the side to side shake, but none of the rest of it. He'll do more 'grown up' motions after the first nod to the original choreography.
Jay is more natural. He does a double take: We're doing this? You're doing this? Ah shit I guess we're doing this. And he locks inat the same time as Sugnhoon, and he is going to just do the thing he is supposed to do. After move 2, he realizes Sunghoon has gone entirely off piste, but he does the cutesy stuff through to the end. (I don't know the choreo actually but my point is that Jay stayed true to the 'cute temper tantrum' theme, whereas Sunghoon just left it behind). Compared to Sunghoon's Idol Mask, which doesn't come off, Jay throws it off as soon as the set bits are over, disavowing the whole thing with a hand-wave, before the civilian level, normal person shame takes over.
Confrontational
I can't tell yet if Enhypen for some reason have an especially bad airport crowd-control problem, especially obsessive fans, or - and this would be the worst actually so I hope it's not true - an especially internally racist overseas fanbase that takes out its anger at not being centered in a genre called K-Pop by gleefully celebrating violence visited upon Korean (and assumed Korean) women.
But! Nevertheless -
Much like Wooyoung of Ateez and Beomgyu of TxT, Jay is someone who has demonstrated a willingness to directly confront what he considers unacceptable behavior. The person who made the edit on this, with all due respect, is wrong by the way - he isn't the first Idol to confront someone who makes invasive calls like this. In addition to Ateez and TxT, I know I've seen examples of at least two or three other groups where members confronted stalkers on behalf of the target member and so on.
What I found interesting about all three boys is that they're in a field where obedience and cooperation are kind of essential personality traits, and yet they have within them this fearlessness and the ability (whether in born or trained) to acknowledge and accept that they are in a situation of attack, and want to confront it head on. All three would be good at fighting, and I like competent fighters.
What I love about Jeia is that it’s both Jay and Leia's first relationship, but in different ways.
Leia is the first woman Jay ever fell in love with and had a real connection. Before her, he was only ever having casual hookups and would tell girls he loved them to get sex. But with Leia, Jay doesn’t pressure her and asks if she’s sure about it. Because he truly loves and respects her and wants it to happen on her terms.
Jay is the first man Leia ever dated and fell in love with. Before him, Leia had never gone out with anyone or had any relationship experience. The most she ever had was that one kiss, in which Jake didn’t even consent and looked very shocked. Jay understands that and gives her that free space with love with understanding, which in turns makes Leia feel more secure and confident in her relationship.
In conclusion, Jeia is perfect and all arguments against them are invalid lmaooo (jkjk, but still)
so there exists this popular belief that the main source of conflict between jason and bruce is that jason needs bruce (his dad) and not batman. it is something that i agree with, but i don’t think the fanon reading takes into account how much jason himself is not aware of this dichotomy and conflict of interest (at least in canon.)
i don’t reckon he would personally be able to articulate it, because the main reason the conflict arises is that he can’t draw a line between batman and bruce. bruce is a father to him both as a civilian and in cowl, and let me tell you, this becomes a problem as early as in his robin days. i would even argue it’s what indirectly leads to his death. when bruce benches jason after the garzona fiasco, jay latches onto the idea that he has a biological mother that he can find, who will be a parent to him instead. that is because while he knows (or knew) that he was loved, for him being son to bruce and robin to batman is the same. in his mind, being benched is as good as being thrown out of the family. and it makes sense, because when you read the 80s run, you really see that the way batman treats robin in the field is nothing short of paternal still. he even calls him “jay” when they’re patrolling alone. all the times we see jason and bruce bonding, even if it’s some fun pastime like going to a museum or a baseball match, it’s also a part of some batman investigation. and if you look further back, bruce asked jason if he wanted to be robin even before he took him in, as batman, before even revealing his identity to him.
so it is completely to be expected that for jason, bruce’s responsibilities as a father, as batman, and as a civilian, are all in the same category. and it also explains why jason confronts him about it in mask himself. in jason’s understanding, it’s not that bruce failed as a father because of his commitment to batman. in jason’s pov batman failed as a father, the same as bruce did, because they’re obviously the same person, and if it’s his no kill rule that caused this failure, then for sure the whole philosophy is kinda shitty. cue developing a whole new code that allows you to kill people in order to protect people you care about. (and it goes without saying that jason cares about everyone, the bleeding heart that he is)
going back to the core of the problem, i think that also because of that, realistically, jason wouldn’t want a deal where bruce accepts him “as his father” or “as a civilian” while batman still actively denounces his methods. he needs acceptance from batman as much as he needs it from bruce wayne, because he doesn’t differentiate between them (for a good reason). he doesn’t understand that there’s any tension between bruce as a vigilante and as a parent. and i think it makes it even sadder because he’s not really able to rationalise it as neatly as meta interpretations do. for him all that is happening is his father rejecting him.
you know, out of many reasons for which bruce did not kill the joker, there’s one that doesn’t get mentioned often, and it’s that he could logically assume that jay wouldn’t want him to do it. especially given that jason did stop bruce from seriously injuring/killing the clown before. here.
i’m not presuming jason would be happy to be reminded about it, but also the notion of bruce telling himself “your son wouldn’t want you to go down this way” while jay, fresh out of grave & the pit, is going mad asking himself why he was not avenged… is pretty hilarious.
(that’s detective comics #569 btw, since promoting barr’s robin jay run is my sole purpose in life)
the reason for which jason struggles with forgiving bruce specifically is because bruce is the only person he ever had so much hope in. the only person he came to truly rely on.
he has a huge heart. he forgave his parents for not being perfect and neglecting him, he forgave two-face for killing his father (and said he pitied him, even), his last act was a self-sacrificial attempt to save a woman who set him up for torture and death. he can justify nearly every offence toward himself, because he feels for people so deeply.
but perhaps part of the reason for which it came so easily to him was also that he never expected these people to do any better. he was a parentified child, and he grew up watching his neighbours slipping into the life of crime due to the flawed system. he understood survival, self-preservation, and despair. he was not always alone, he might have been loved, yet he could not rely on "charity." everyone had their own burdens. so jay, 12, already had a deep conviction that he could not be a priority for anyone, and in his books, that was okay. he still believed in the world as a whole. he just wasn't sure if anyone in this world could genuinely care for him.
and then bruce came into his life, challenging this idea. bruce chose him. bruce spent years gaining his trust, dedicated so much of his time to training him. bruce, who patiently worked through his insecurities with him in the field, who looked out for him. bruce, with whom jay spent most of his time, his world being so narrow, everything concentrating on the joy of being robin. bruce, who made him feel so protected when out fighting criminals, that jay's reaction to getting snatched and tied up the scarecrow was merely saying: batman will put you away!
and by the age of 15, jay is open to being loved and cared for. in fact, jason can't imagine not having someone to lean on anymore, to the point where a single doubt that bruce expresses leaves him petrified. maybe he never realised that he could be so greedy before, that he could crave safety so much. but that fear of losing the thing he never even suspected he could have until a couple of years before – this is what now leads him to that warehouse in ethiopia.
and even after all of that, this implicit trust is not gone. fresh out of soil, jay's first thought is that of his dad. but to discover that the world he came back into feels so unsafe, that he is so alone, makes him feel betrayed. because there was a time when bruce made him believe that he was his priority. that he was loved. that he was special. bruce was one single person in his life that he grew to have expectations of. and where is bruce now? of course he doesn't know jason is alive, but where is bruce now? why does it seem like that love never really mattered? where is bruce now?
there is, of course, a part of him that is so quick to forgive, or rather a part that doesn't even think there's any blame. but he also had expectations, expectations of no one else, expectations that his father worked so hard for. and bruce taught him how to ask for things.
i feel like it’s often forgotten that jay cried in utrh. of course, it was the grand finale, extreme circumstances and all. i don’t think he does it often during confrontations, but i still want to capitalise on it. make him an angry crier. make him just start tearing up next time he has a significant argument with bruce. weeping, voice trembling, eyes as wide as resentful. or maybe he avoids conflict with those he loves specifically because he knows he will turn into a sobbing mess? and others witnessing that would make him feel so helpless that in turn he would get even more furious?
