Having always been under the impression that R'as strory about his murdered wife was just a lie, a deliberate ploy to emotionally manipulate Bruce into a weapon; The dead wife story, I always assumed, was as much a fabrication as the Ducard persona itself.
thats precisely the kind of thing he would do, particularly to a pupil of such potential as Bruce. He's trying to consolidate within Wayne a sense of belonging, a sense of shared experience that bounds them together; In short, he is manipulating Bruce into feeling like one of them.
Now should Marion be playing a dead wife, that blows this out the water, and fair enough. But I aint holding my breath on that one; Twice in back to back movies with the same director? Unlikely.
Having thought about this since it was announced, I have a few theories regarding possible ways i see it working out, and also on the reasoning behind the inclusion of the LOS at all.
Assuming that they will feature, we need to look at why Nolan would want to have another look at them. And i think now i get it. There is arguably one main theme runninh through this trilogy, and that is escalation. Speciffically, escalation as an effect of Bruce's actions and the creation of Batman. With Nolan having said that this will "finish" his story, what better way to examine the impact made by Batman than by harking back to the beginning?
Say, for example, that Bane is the new head of LOS. What was once a vigilante group dedicated to ridding the world of evil has now become the tool of a man who is only interested in power, in the conquering of others, particularly the man who has dealt the most dramatic of blows to the league itself. This way, we can see the effects the escalation prompted by Batman had on the LOS, and once more we have the concept of his influence not always being for the good?
Alternatively, assume perhaps that Talia is the head of the league, but this is shared with Bane, a prince and princess thing(assuming the flashback of R'as shows his raising of both, maybe taking in Bane and raising him.) Talia shares the ideals of her father, but is faced with a power struggle as Bane increases his influence; so, she tries to recruit, warn or even manipulate Bruce, the one best placed to defeat Bane and thus "save" the LOS. A nice wee bit of irony there, perhaps. Bear in mind that there is every chance Batman's fugitibe status has every possibilty of reaching her ears, so she assumes Bruce has finally had a revelation, has finally come around and is no longer naive as to what is necessary. This would only further enhance his representing to her the best hope of rescuing the LOS from Bane.
With either of these scenario's, we have plenty in way of conflict, plenty in way of character development and fulfilling arcs. Talia may find herself questioning her belief in her fathers philosophy once she encounters and falls for Bruce, who shows that he has not, in fact, reverted to murder. This would then highlight the positive effect Batman and his escalation can have.
Similarly, Catwoman can be yet another example of this. She starts as a thief/thrillseeker/villain or whatever, but interaction with Batman points to a more noble, more meaningful path. She is the personification of Bat-escalation in a way; at first, she is inspired by him to go out and rob or thrillseek, just as joker was inspired by Batman to wreak havoc; this represents the negative effect escalation has on the people of Gotham, and on the city itself. However, she develops into a better person, a figure more inclined with good than evil, after interaction over the duration of the film, perhaps even aiding him in a climactic battle. This would serve as a sort of microcosmic representation of what Batman has done to the city/world merely by existing; "The night is darkest just before the dawn", things get worse before they get better, but the promise is that things get better, and it's almost definatley going to be down to Batman that things improve. Hell, it's in the title. He rises, and his infulence is ultimately proved to be one of good. This is personified in the character arc of Catwoman.
Talia i guess could also join forces with him, although they could also have her decide that she was wrong about Batman and simply wants to let him and bane destroy each other so she can step in, or let them distract each other (as Bane's obsession intensifies) while she tries to finish what daddy started....... or bring daddy back, as she has learned that neither Bane nor Bruce are fit- bane, or willing-Bruce, to take his place, and Nolan blows us all away by bringing in the lazarus pit (come on, let me hope); even as an ambigious myth that we never quite get to see proved real or fake one way or another, Talia believes it cos she is mental or becuase it is real, that could be cool as well.
Anyhow, yeah thats some of my thoughts on this. Very exciting not having much of a clue, isn't it?
