Rorschach (comics)
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Rorschach is a character featured in the acclaimed 1986 DC Comics series Watchmen.
Wearing the inkblot-like mask he considers his true face, Rorschach has continued his one-man battle against crime long after superheroes became both detested and illegal. Despite being an atheist, Rorschach’s actions and journal writings display a moral absolutism, where good and evil are clearly defined and evil must be violently punished. He has alienated himself from the rest of society to achieve these aims.
Rorschach was created by Watchmen writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons but, like all characters in the series, was derived from a Charlton Comics character, in this case The Question, created by Steve Ditko. His real name, Walter Kovacs, references Ditko's tendency to give his characters names beginning with the letter K.
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[edit] Character history
His real name is Walter Joseph Kovacs, born March 21, 1940. His mother, a prostitute who resented his interference in her business, abused him viciously. At age 10, he was cruelly abused by two bullies and attacked them, partially blinding one with the bully's own lit cigarette, and became a ward of the state, sent to the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children (a pun on Charlton Comics). In high school, he excelled in religious education and literature, as well as in boxing and gymnastics, and also wrote an essay in which he praised President Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, asserting that the bombs helped save lives by stopping the war.
During those high school years at age 16, Walter was informed of his mother's gruesome murder; her pimp force-fed her a bottle of Drano until she died in agony. Walter's only reaction consisted of the single word: "Good."
Reaching maturity, in 1956 at age 16 he found work as an unskilled garment worker; noting later to a prison psychiatrist "Job bearable but unpleasant. Had to handle female clothing". Working in this capacity, in 1962 he grew fascinated by a new fabric made possible through technologies developed by Doctor Manhattan, containing viscous fluids between two layers of latex. Two liquids, one black and one white, continually shifted in response to heat and pressure, forming symmetrical patterns like a Rorschach inkblot test while never mixing to produce a grey colour. Kovacs learned of the fabric when a young woman chose not to buy a dress which she had ordered made from it; subsequently Kovacs took the dress home and experimented with the fabric. He learned to cut the fabric and maintain the seal using heated scissors.
Two years later, when Kitty Genovese (both in real life and in Watchmen) was brutally murdered in front of a building full of tenants who didn't bother to help her, Kovacs decided that she had been the woman who had ordered the dress ("Young. Pretty. Italian name. I'm sure it was her"). Kovacs cut up the dress, making it into a mask and becoming Rorschach (taking his name from the test) to avenge the powerless victims of crime.
Eventually, in 1965 he teamed up with another superhero, Nite-Owl (II), whose technical skills and resources complemented his skills as an investigator.
In 1975, Rorschach was searching for a kidnapped child and found her captor's vacant hideout. A cursory inspection revealed, to his horror, that the girl had been murdered, butchered, and fed to two German Shepherd dogs. In the face of this atrocity, Kovacs' mind snapped and assumed the mental identity of Rorschach as a separate personality. He killed the dogs with a meat cleaver and waited for the kidnapper. When the man returned, he wordlessly chained him to a pipe, ignoring his claims of innocence (the man telling Rorschach: "you can't prove anything, there's no evidence", suggesting that he fed the girl to the dogs to get rid of the 'evidence'), then placed a hacksaw near him and set the house on fire. Finally speaking, he told the terrified man that he would not have time to cut through his restraints before the fire killed him (implying that he would have to sever his own arm to escape). Kovacs calmly watched the structure burn from across the street; the suspected kidnapper did not emerge. In a much-later interview with a psychologist, Kovacs explicitly mentions the incident as the point after which he became "Rorschach, who sometimes pretends to be Kovacs"; before that, he claims, he was only "Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach." He no longer refers to his "mask"; now he only calls the mask his "face".
After the Keene Act passed in 1977 (outlawing costumed vigilantes) demanded his retirement, he grew even more violent, murdering notorious multiple rapist Harvey Charles Furniss and leaving his corpse in front of a police station; a note pinned to his chest read, "Never!" True to his word, Rorschach remained an active "adventurer" in open defiance of the law.
Rorschach lives in a slum run by a landlady with multiple children by multiple fathers; he pointedly comments on his belief that she cheats on welfare. It is never mentioned whether he continued to work in the garment trade or found some other source of income. During the day, he walks around New York with a sign reading "The end is nigh".
[edit] Events of Watchmen
Image:Strip2.jpg During a mid-1980s murder investigation of a man named Eddie Blake, Rorschach discovered that the victim was the alter ego of The Comedian, an amoral government-sponsored "costumed adventurer" and former colleague. Suspecting a plot to eliminate superheroes, he pursued the investigation accordingly, interviewing and warning several former members of the hero community. Although no one took his theory seriously, the sudden public denunciations and subsequent self-exile of Doctor Manhattan and the attempted murder of Adrian Veidt (the former Ozymandias) bolstered his confidence that he was on the right track. Before long, however, he was framed for the murder of Moloch, an ailing former adversary, and was arrested. Not surprisingly, Rorschach chose to fight back, improvising methods with ordinary household materials.
In prison Kovacs was examined by a clinical psychologist, and subject to numerous death threats and attacks by vengeful prisoners. A former organized crime head called The Big Figure orchestrated a prisoner riot as a distraction while his flunkies attacked Kovacs. He easily, almost leisurely, dispatched the would-be assassins before drowning The Big Figure (a diminutive old man) in a toilet. During this battle, Nite-Owl (II) and Silk Spectre (II) were attempting to break him out of prison, and used the chaos of the prison riot to do so. They sought his help in their own investigation into the murders of the former superheros.
Investigating jointly, Nite Owl and Rorschach learned that the mastermind behind the plot was Adrian Veidt, who had been hailed as the smartest person in the world. Rorschach and Nite Owl traveled to his home in Antarctica to confront him; however, they were unable to prevent him from accomplishing his ultimate goal. Before the duo arrived, Veidt teleported an enormous Lovecraftian "alien" that he had manufactured into the heart of New York City, killing millions and psychically traumatizing millions more. Exactly as Veidt had predicted, the hoax united the world against the perceived alien threat and thereby avoided a brewing nuclear showdown.
Shortly after Veidt confesses his plot to Nite Owl and Rorschach, they are joined by Doctor Manhattan and the Silk Spectre. After a brief struggle, the adventurers realize that by exposing Veidt's act they would only manage to return the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. The other heroes agree that they must keep the hoax a secret, but Rorschach flatly refuses to comply ("No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise."). Manhattan attempts to persuade him, but Rorschach maintains his defiance. In tears, he demands that Manhattan kill him; wordlessly, Manhattan complies.
However, Rorschach's legacy may have greater consequences; prior to departing for Antarctica, he wrote a lengthy journal detailing his investigation and sent it to a reactionary fringe newspaper. Whether or not the journal's contents would be printed, or whether it would be taken seriously by the public since his mental illness is well known, was left as an open question at the very last page of the Watchmen comics series.
[edit] Themes
Rorschach's driving philosophy is that of moral absolutism, the practitioners of which believe in an unalterable moral code that requires the strict and severe punishment of any infraction. His opposition to the evil of crime is evident in his total lack of empathy for criminals, and his disdain for conventional immorality, lawlessness, government, and the police, being willing to torture or execute criminals in the pursuit of his aims. His view of the world is black and white with no shades of grey - thus reflecting the properties of the mask that he wears. Additionally, in this respect, the nature of a Rorschach test, which is heavily open to interpretation, contrasts with Rorschach's moral views, which are not open to debate.
In his interview with a prison psychologist, Rorschach reveals that his bleak worldview was informed by the idea that the world has no inherent meaning, only that which human beings attribute to it, stating that "[Existence] Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long". It's arguable that Rorschach is powerfully motivated by his formative experiences as a child. Lacking a father figure he grasps onto his mother's comment that his father left due to a disagreement over President Truman. He later writes an essay praising the destruction of Hiroshima. This can be seen to influence many of his hardline ideas as an adult.
After the discovery of Ozymandias' plot, Rorschach attempts to escape Ozymandias' Antarctic fortress to inform the world of the plot, as he cannot abide by the actions carried out, even though they were intended for the greater good. Dr. Manhattan, knowing Rorschach could not be reasoned with in order to prevent him from telling the world of what really happened, kills Rorschach by scattering his molecules.
Despite his moral absolutism, many of Rorschach's choices are inconsistent. Because of his mother's story about his father's political views, Rorschach agreed with Truman's decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, ending war by sacrificing tens of thousands of civilians. Even though that is similar to the Ozymandias plot he rejects, the irony is lost on Rorschach. The last person Rorschach admired was The Comedian, considered by every other character to be the least moral superhero of recent times. He pursues justice by breaking the (questionably) innocents' fingers for information; Rorschach does not fight to protect the innocent, but to punish the wicked. Alan Moore's message[citation needed] in these paradoxes is that just because one rejects utilitarianism in favor of objective morality does not guarantee that one's moral choices will be correct. No one has the perfect moral compass.
[edit] Abilities and Equipment
Like most characters in Watchmen, Rorschach has no "super powers." He is a resourceful, ruthless investigator and fighter. He is exceptionally skilled at improvising objects within reach to escape desperate situations, at various times using hairspray, cooking fat, and a toilet bowl to lethal effect. Rorschach ignores bodily pain and discomfort, once braving antarctic temperatures with only his trenchcoat.
Rorschach lives in poverty and has few possessions. Besides his mask and trenchcoat, the only permanent items Rorschach keeps on his person are a journal of observations, and a grappling gun. The gun was a gift from Nite Owl II, and is used for scaling buildings (though he did use it as a weapon on one occasion).
[edit] Sexuality
Rorschach had a troublesome childhood. His mother, a prostitute, beat him when he walked in on her having sex with a client. As a child in a foster home, he wrote of sexually-charged nightmares influenced by that incident. He is uncomfortable with sexual imagery, pausing disdainfully at the sight of naked couples in their bedroom windows or the graffiti image of an embracing couple. He is uncomfortable handling women's clothing and dislikes Silk Spectre's revealing costume.
Rorschach associates homosexuality with moral error. When he suspects Ozymandias of being a homosexual, he files the observation for further investigation. Intriguingly, he is seen holding Dan Dreiberg's hand for an uncomfortably long time after a handshake, mirroring an earlier scene where Dan awkwardly betrayed his affection by holding Laurie's hand for too long. This however, could be attributed to him being overwhelmed that someone considered him a friend after his otherwise detested existence and antisocial lifestyle. It should be additionally noted that this is the only example of positive physical contact Rorschach experiences throughout the entire series (perhaps his life).
[edit] Artistic details
[edit] Mask
Although the black-and-white pattern on Rorschach's mask changes from frame to frame, apparently randomly, there are several aspects in which the pattern has significance:
- The pattern is identical during three moments when Rorschach registers surprise:
- Chapter 1, Page 8, Frame 2, upon discovering Edward Blake's hidden Comedian costume and gear;
- Chapter 5, Page 24, Frame 5, upon discovering that Edgar William Jacobi (aka Moloch) has been shot; and
- Chapter 6, Page 20, Frame 9, upon realizing that the bone being fought over by Gerald Grice's dogs is a human femur.
- During Rorschach's arrest (Chapter 5, Page 28, Frame 3) he asks himself who has framed him. His mask pattern resembles a question mark.
- The pattern resembles the "embracing lovers silhouette" (a common visual theme throughout the series) immediately after a frame of Laurel Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II) and Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II) embracing (Chapter 12, Page 23, Frame 1), as well as a flying owl when referring to the Owlship (page, Frame 5).
- Just before, and while Rorschach mentions joking (Chapter 12, Page 20, Frames 4-7), his face resembles a laughing clown.
- The pattern on Rorschach's mask is identical each time he enters Happy Harry's bar to question criminals.
- At the very end when he takes his mask off, the black ink becomes a single circular blot in the center, probably representing the coalescing of the black-and-white moral absolutism that proves to Dr. Manhattan he cannot endure in the new world Ozymandias created.
[edit] Speech
When speaking with others, Rorschach's speech pattern is very clipped and direct. He speaks largely in sentence fragments, often omitting linking verbs, adverbs, and articles entirely. His writing is somewhat more grammatically structured (perhaps because he views his journal as being for posterity, while speech is transient), but often shares the very blunt, emotionless style of his verbal communication. Also, Rorschach's word balloons feature a distorted shape whenever he has his mask on, and become regular ovals when he speaks unmasked. This distortion is meant to graphically represent the "horrible monotone" voice that Silk Spectre II refers to in issue 1. Oddly, the distorted balloons do not appear when Rorschach speaks during the flashback sequence on the aborted founding of the Crimebusters in issue 2. This would seem to suggest (as Rorschach discusses in his sessions with Dr. Long) that the Rorschach "personality" (as opposed to Kovacs) had not emerged yet.
[edit] Trivia
- Rorschach appears as a cameo character in the limited DC Comics series Kingdom Come by Alex Ross and Mark Waid. He appears in volume two as a background character in the metahuman bar.
- The Question, on whom Rorschach was based, actually read Watchmen in one issue of his own comic book, and decided that he admired the character of Rorschach. He tried to emulate the character's brutal style of justice, but was beaten up. In the end he decided that "Rorschach sucks."
