The Dark Knight Rises Bruce's/Batman's Guilt

[Carnotaur3]

We all know that there is a lot of grief that Bruce Wayne is dealing with. Starting from his childhood with his parents and then to Rachel.

At the end of The Dark Knight Batman takes up the sins of Dent and that continues into Rises. But I think it's time to discuss something nobody's really talking about. Does Bruce Wayne believe he did kill those people?

Much of TDK deals with Batman's presence spawning chaos and death. And I'd like to know if he's actually bought that idea at the end and why that might be why Batman is absent for 8 years.

If he truly does believe this at the end, then I think getting over it will help him get over his parents and really make this whole trilogy come full circle because one of the issues that plagued him and was not resolved for Bruce in Batman Begins was his guilt for leading his parents down that alley.

Bruce has always believed that the loved ones that have died around him was because of him. And at the end of TDK guilt crosses into Batman too. "I killed those people. That's what I can be."

It's going to be interesting how Nolan approaches this. How do the two personas get rid of guilt and receive vindication?

 

[Blue Sugar]

This Bruce really have a tendency to blame himself. If he can get over that and feel like a real hero for Gotham, then like you said maybe he can finally get over the guilt for his parents death. Thus closure.

 

[KalMart]

I think he's actually over his guilt regarding his parents in TDK. TDKR seems more to do with the tragedy of losing Rachel and Dent, and Batman having to shoulder the literal blame for much of that in the public eye. He coudl maybe see it as a fate that his parents may not be happy about for his sake...which is probably what Alfred will express....but I think he realizes by now tat his parents' death wasn't his fault or responsibility.

Heck, he basically got over it (or at least found a way to live with it) in BB...he just went from using their deaths in his transformation into Batman for anger, into using their lives as motivation.

 

[J.Howlett]

Either way, the pain that Bruce feels about his loved ones needs to be addressed if this is the end of Bruce's story. I only emphasize that because it seems that every interview we're read so far, they keep point to it as Bruce's story, not Batman's.

And if that's the case, he has to deal with the pain of tragedy and how that's shaped him.

Can he regain what he lost all those years ago and finally move forward with his life if his task is done?

 

[The Joker]

He looks like a wreck in some of the pics. A beard, slobbing about Wayne Manor in a dressing gown with a cane.

I don't think 'retirement' agrees with him.

 

[Carnotaur3]

He looks like a wreck in some of the pics. A beard, slobbing about Wayne Manor in a dressing gown with a cane.

I don't think 'retirement' agrees with him.

I think I would be scouring the halls of a mansion, shooting arrows at walls, and looking depressed as hell if I never resolved issues. I think the Batman takes up the sins is just another way looking at Bruce as never getting over his guilt. Batman and Bruce aren't guilty of anything other than striving for good.

"My anger outweighs my guilt."

What happens when the anger gets controlled? What's left for Bruce? The guilt. He deserves his vindication. He deserves to be the hero Gotham needs.

 

[KalMart]

He looks like a wreck in some of the pics. A beard, slobbing about Wayne Manor in a dressing gown with a cane.

I don't think 'retirement' agrees with him.

Yeah, I think that's kind of the point. Or at least that retirement on those terms didn't treat him well.

 

[Blue Sugar]

Yeah, I think that's kind of the point. Or at least that retirement on those terms didn't treat him well.

Yeah, It is a retirement based on guilt and pain.

 

[KalMart]

Yeah, It is a retirement based on guilt and pain.

Mainly over Rachel and Dent, but also a sudden stop to what he was doing and not an end on his own terms.