Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love

November 9, 2010

I never hated Talia, but I didn’t particularly like her either. I didn’t see past how so many writers used and reduced and exploited her. I didn’t see past the vile role of Forbidden Exotic Fruit she’s so often cast into.

Then I read some stories that treated her like a human being. That showcased just how strong she was in her constant conflict. How resourceful and resilient and relentless. How skilled and sly, compassionate and callous. How complex and sympathetic she can be.

Talia is a fascinating person and a damn good character in the right hands, like any other, and one I’ve come to admire and love in her own right.

And for the record? Divided loyalties do not make her weak. Supporting others, accepting being second in command, does not make her weak. Obsession does not make her weak. If a character trait would not be mocked and denigrated in a male character, it shouldn’t be in a female character.

Well said! I always had a fondness for Talia and grew to really like her after reading The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul. She’s portrayed as “bad mother who spoils her child” and “mamma bear.”

My first introduction to Talia was through Batman: The Animated Series. And I remember thinking, “Whoa. This lady is badass.”

The more stories I read of her, the more I dislike what Grant Morrison has done to the character. I also really dislike what fandom seems to think of her and I should point to this post made by DCWomenKickingAss about how Talia is often written. I particularly am grossed out by the idea that because she loves Bruce, she must remain chaste to him, because that shows a serious double standard as there have never ever, ever been any suggestions that because Bruce loves her, he must remain chaste to her.

Regarding Talia in Red Hood Lost Days, she is the second main star of this series. The series begins and ends with her: in the beginning, she is threatened by her father for pushing Jason into the Lazarus Pit and is being held by the throat for her defiance. In the end, she is the one who tells Jason what to do and gives him the tools to do it. The final page shows Jason holding a gift from her, one of two important gifts she gives him: a dagger from her father and the Red Hood helmet.

Now, I believe that Jason was the one who chose the Red Hood moniker to represent both Bruce and the Joker’s pasts, but Talia is an incredibly strong presence and role in this story, which is essentially Red Hood Year One, or Jason as Red Hood’s origin story. She’s the one who finds Jason, who revives him, who advocates for him, who gets him training and funding. The only issue she does not physically appear in is #5.

It is interesting, at the end of the first issue, in her letter to Jason, she says: “(My father) is arguably immortal. And for that reason, he took great interest in you. I had other reasons. … I am doing this for love.” Love of Batman/Bruce Wayne is what she means here, of course, and that is stressed throughout the series.

I do think there are parts of this that were flawed and could have been better written for her, and I definitely could have had more Talia and more of her inner dialogue.

By the end of the series, what we’ve seen is a very human Talia. One who is misguided, compassionate, passionate, defiant, vulnerable and caring. And, well, thankfully, not just *bitch/crazy bitch.*

2:06pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZWvbJy1Q-W_L

(Notes: 15)