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Brief Look at Rorschach


During chapter four of the excerpts of Hollis’ (the first Nite Owl) book, he says that “Dressing up in a costume takes a very extreme personality, and the chances of 8 such personalities getting along together were about seventy-eleven million to one against.” While he is referring to the Minute Men, who proceeded the current generation of heroes within the narrative, I believe this to be even truer of the current heroes than of the Minute Men.

The characters of Watchmen are all very extreme characters. Of the characters, the second Nite Owl, Dan Dreiburg seems to have the mildest personality. Rorschach is borderline, if not outright psychotic, viewing the world starkly in black and white. The Comedian, though deceased at the start of the story, is volatile and violent cynic. Laurie, the second Silk Spectre is brash and outspoken. Ozymandias is an egotistical genius. And of course Dr. Manhattan is one step below godhood.

Alan Moore creates characters that are at once believable and yet larger than life. Discarding the typical origin stories for his characters, Moore brings them out of the grime. Often spurred against their wishes or by tragedy, the characters don’t take up the mantle of hero out of a grandiose feeling of duty. Rorschach rather aptly describes it as a compulsion (6.15.8). As one of the most extreme characters, in terms of personality, Rorschach is compelled by something that seems wholly beyond him. He derides the other characters for having hung up their capes and called it quits.

Even in interpreting conventional heroes as having extreme personalities, Moore takes it to the breaking point with Rorschach. In many stories, such as Batman and Superman, there is argument over who is the true personality. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent versus Batman and Superman. Rorschach is the logical conclusion in such an argument. The character views his own physical being as a disguise, while his costumed self is the real deal. As he becomes entirely Rorschach, his sense of morality is both distorted and made more extreme. He calls himself soft for sparring villains in the past, and now kills them, and maims others to get information. Discarding his original identity, Rorschach becomes incredibly volatile and unpredictable.

I found it interesting that he believes that at one point he was Walter Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach, having not reached the character’s current level of brutality. For him, it was a sliding scale, as he shifted from the mistreated son of a whore to the brutal and uncompromising crime fighter. Rorschach lacks an origin story in the conventional sense, having slowly transitioned into what/who he is. But out of it springs one of the most intense and often frightening characters in the genre. While condemning evil acts, the line between Rorschach and those he fights is very slim, as he kills criminals with the same brutality that they harm their victims, if not more so.

As the compulsion that he speaks about grows, the Rorschach identity would become more necessary, more definining than that of Walter Kovacs. Walter becomes important only insofar as Rorschach is able to use him to gather information and scope out criminals. Likewise it's important to remember that Rorschach is the only masked vigilante that stays active and uncontrolled by the government. While once partnered with Nite Owl, he is during the story, wholly isolated.

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