003. CHARACTER INFO

[birdthright]

☆ basics. (stats,voice, appearance.)
☆ abilities. (skills and power.)
☆ background. (history.)
☆ personality. (traits.)

Comments

[birdthright]

Competence is very important to Damian. His mother was a perfectionist, and it is without a doubt that the League of Assassins that raised him were highly-trained and perhaps unrivaled of their field. This left Damian with an appreciation for the skilled, and a disdain for the unskilled. His differing treatment toward those he deems competent and incompetent is very painfully apparent. To the ones he deem competent, there is less mocking. He speaks with respect, and may even perform gestures most would consider 'nice'. An immediate example would include Colin Wilkes. Colin is a fellow ten-year old who has teamed up with Damian with satisfying results. In thinly-veiled gratitude, and perhaps to enlist Colin as a potential ally, he gave him a motorcycle to make his crime-fighting operations smoother. Damian has yet to be seen giving anyone anything otherwise. On the other hand, to the ones he finds incompetent, Damian is a pest. He will pick at their flaws -- whether relevant ones like a sloppy fight style or inability to keep up, or irrelevant ones like the impracticality of their hairstyle and the size of their chest -- and constantly express his disdain until the very mention of his name can leave throbbing veins in his victim's forehead. He can hate them, or at least tell them that he does, based on this perception of incompetence alone. It doesn't matter if he actually knows them well enough to have a real reason to or not. Stephanie Brown -- Batgirl -- is an unfortunate victim of a lot of this treatment. Tim Drake-Wayne is another.

Though his criticism of Steph's ability is based on objective observation alone, his many criticisms directed at Tim have more emotional roots. Tim is -- or was -- Robin when Damian first met him. Bruce's Robin. His Father's Robin. Not only was Tim Robin, but he was also the adopted son of Bruce. All of that alone was enough to make Damian classify him as a rival, and almost take his life at the second meeting. He found Tim unworthy, and he barely even knew him. It is unclear if Damian still harbours this mindset, but back then he believed strongly in his birthright. As he is Bruce's only biological son, he saw himself deserving of the fortune and also the Robin title -- that place at his father's right hand. Tim was but an obstacle, and in the League of Assassins: You kill anyone who gets in your way. Thankfully, the two of them can function in the same cave now (for the most part), but Damian continues to mock him every chance he gets.

His upbringing with League of Assassins has shaped him in many ways, few of which pleasant. Damian's moral compass can only be described as skewed. He has killed, and will kill again if not for the promise he made his father. Damian's fighting style can only be described as offensive. If the opponent is deserving, he punches to wound and slices to draw blood; he does not wait for the other to attack and go on defensive. In fact, he may question why the people around him fight defensively at all. There are a lot of things that make no sense to him, but fighting does. Killing does. People trying to kill him does. Those were words that came out of his own mouth, and they imply many brushes against death supplied by trainers who spare no chops or slashes. Even as Robin, he has shown a willingness to kill dangerous criminals on several occasions. He takes that promise at face value, you see. Non-lethal force is simply a job requirement to him. He does not have the compassion to register its importance. That is why Dick chose Damian as his sidekick over Tim. Damian needed someone to remind him of his limits.