During a confrontation with Mother Soul, Robin is seemingly cursed with a demon, but is it a metaphor or literal?
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Robin #10, on sale now.
Having recently foiled Mother Soul’s plans to unleash the Lazarus Demon upon the world, Damian Wayne was dragged into the memories of his great-grandmother to be shown the true history of his family. In Robin #10 (by Joshua Williamson, Roger Cruz, Norm Rapmund, Luis Guerrero, ALW’s Troy Peteri), Damian learned that his family has been haunted by visions of a demon since the time of Ruh al Ghul and that now he may be next in line to plagued by it. If this proves true, it could be the exact amount of pressure Damian needs to finally break bad as it adds a literal demon to his metaphorical ones.
Ruh explained that her devotion to the demon was born from visions of it. Ra’s al Ghul also suffered from these visions. Unlike his mother though, Ra’s chose to reject the Demon’s will and devoted himself to science. In the process, he took increasingly darker actions, resulting not only in the death of his first wife, but also the extermination of an entire city. Ruh believed that like Ra’s, Damian would also be haunted by the visions.
There are some key facts worth noting though. The demon seems to take a bat-like form as opposed to the green monstrosity Ruh revived in the previous issue. It could be that the demon is a metaphor for Ra’s struggle to accept that there is another way besides his own, the demon in this case being a symbol for his future struggles with Batman. In his grandson’s case however, it may have a more internal meaning than an external one.
Since the moment he first entered Batman’s life, Damian has struggled between his two heritages. One of justice and another of wrath. Now though, if Ruh’s words turn out to be true, Damian will be plagued by visions of demon trying to guide him towards its will. Ra’s’ story proves the demon can be resisted, but it only leads to a different form of darkness. The past is not the only reason to worry though, the future bodes poorly for the young Robin as well.
There exists one possible future where Damian has made a literal deal with the Devil to make himself immortal. If this demon is real, then it could be the prelude to all of Damian’s dealings with the infernal. This isn’t to say that Damian is now set on the path to becoming the dark Batman of that future, but he hasn’t been this close to it for some time.
The most likely result is that Damian will slowly have his will worn down by this creature. It seemed to briefly manifest as the Lazarus and Bat Demons dueling each other within his mind. This implies that the fight is a battle for his soul, determining which heritage Damian will choose to honor in the future. Thus far, he has found it impossible to reconcile the two outlooks on life, but has not been inclined to side with either. This demon could be what tips the scales, sending Damian careening on the path to choose his al Ghul lineage over his Wayne half. If that happens, Damian might be the deadliest al Ghul yet, the recipient of both the Bat’s indomitable will and the fierce devotion to his cause from his maternal side.
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