History Characters / GothamCriminalGroups

* DeathByAdaptation: Subverted. [[spoiler:He's killed by Bruce Wayne and stays dead for the majority of Season 4 (but occasionally pops up in a flashback or vision during Barbara's story). However, with the show's knack for bringing back dead characters and Ra's's immortality in the comics, you'd better believe it doesn't last, as he indeed comes BackFromTheDead in "To Our Deaths And Beyond".]] [[spoiler:Then he dies again in the season 4 finale "No Man's Land", but again as noted above Ra's has died and come back from the dead in the comics before, so who knows how long that will last.]]

* TheInformant: Out of a combination of malicious amusement and old feelings for Jim, she'll act as this to Gordon when he needs a favour, particularly when Penguin isn't around.

** One of Ra's major traits is the fact that he's absolutely terrified of dying and will do anything to prevent it. Here, Ra's has no such fear and is instead actively seeking out ways to end his immortality.

* BadassInCharge: The supreme leader of the League of Shadows, the greatest order of assassins in the world. When he's not [[spoiler:actively trying to get Bruce to kill him]], he's one of the series' most formidable combatants.

* TheManBehindTheMan: He's essentially the underlying motivator for everything going on in the series ''since Season 1'', even (indirectly) the Wayne murders:
** In Season 1, corrupt executives at Wayne Enterprises called a hit on Thomas and Martha Wayne because they were investigating what their company was doing at Indian Hill, a subdivision of Arkham Asylum. The brewing mob war at the start of the series between Falcone and upstart Maroni sparks into all-out conflict over the lucrative Arkham land redevelopment deal, including who controls its Indian Hill subdivision (which is allegedly just a waste dump).
** In Season 2, we find out that Hugo Strange's operation at Indian Hill is a secret factory to experiment on the inmates to produce monsters and super-soldiers. Though we then see that Dr. Strange himself reports to a shadowy conspiracy of people wearing owl masks, the Court of Owls.
** Season 3 explains that the Court of Owls is a secret Illuminati-like conspiracy that has controlled Gotham for generations. Wayne Enterprises, Indian Hill, and (loosely) Falcone's mob empire all answered to them. Wayne Enterprises itself ordered a hit on the Waynes, not them, because they were getting too close to exposing them. The Court was actually upset at this, as it drew more attention to them, and killed the executive responsible as punishment. The Court then enacts a fallback plan to deploy an insanity virus to destroy Gotham - claiming that in order to rebuild it they need to burn it clean first for a fresh restart (and that they've done this a few times throughout history). Ra's al Ghul himself, however, then appears at the end of Season 3. He takes an interest in Bruce Wayne's dogged investigations, and deems that he is a worthy heir to be his right hand, his "knight in the darkness" to help rebuild Gotham after destroying it. It turns out that the Court of Owls is basically a regional, city-level subsidiary answering to the even larger ''world''-spanning Illuminati-like conspiracy of the League of Shadows, run by Ra's al Ghul. In the Season 3 finale, Ra's al Ghul even ''kills off'' the entire Court of Owls, for a combination of their failures and to impress Bruce Wayne into joining him. Thus Ra's al Ghul was the Big Bad behind all the other Big Bads since the beginning.
* MythologyGag: He always refers to Gordon as "Detective", like he does to Batman in the comics.

* CombatClairvoyance: A pretty nifty side-effect of the power of the Demon's Head - she almost [[spoiler:wins her duel with Ra's because of it]].

* EvilIsPetty: One of her defining hallmarks as a villain: due to her ManChild status, she frequently acts like a schoolyard bully DrunkOnTheDarkSide. Witness her numerous attempts to kill Lee soleley for the crime of dating Jim Gordon after their split, or her mocking a gangster's inability to say "club" after she had just broken his nose. Even Penguin, no stranger to this trope himself, is exasperated beyond words at that latter example.

** After the ten-year time skip in the finale she's somehow become one of the largest real-estate developers in Gotham, a hell of an achievement for someone with her history.
** Though during the finale, it's likely she'll lose her " Queen of Gotham " title once Bruce Wayne reestablishes himself, and her past does come back to haunt her in the form of a visit from the newly reborn Joker.
* LateArrivalSpoiler:After the Season 1 finale, the show makes no attempt to hide that Barbara's an AxCrazy murderer.

* OfficialCouple: {{Zigzagged}} with Gordon. First they're engaged, then they temporarily separate, then they get back together. She leaves ''again'' at the end of "The Mask" because she couldn't take the pressure of being targeted by Falcone's and Mooney's people and apparently has no problem soothing her stress by cheating on him with her ex-girlfriend, Renee Montoya. But then in "Rogues' Gallery", Montoya realized it was a mistake, which Barbara didn't take very well. Once she becomes a full-fledged villain, it's unlikely they'll ever get back together. [[spoiler:Until the stress of No Man's Land and the Haven bombing lead them back to each other in season 5]].

* LateArrivalspoiler:After the Season 1 finale, the show makes no attempt to hide that Barbara's an AxCrazy murderer.

* VillainessesWantHeroes: As much as she wants Gordon to suffer for leaving her, she's still very much obsessed with him. She even tells Lee in Season 2 that he and she are meant to be together because they both have 'the same darkness' inside them. She looks to have given up on this by season 4 though.

* NotSoDifferent: She lies to Gordon's girlfriend to try to break up their relationship, a tactic used by Renee earlier in the season.

* CanonForeigner: The Mad Hatter never had a sister in the comics. Though in ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', he was obsessed with his secretary, named Alice.

* CanonForeigner: The Mad Hatter never had a sister in the comics.

* ForegoneConclusion: Subverted. In the comics, she's Commissioner Jim Gordon's wife and Batgirl's mother and namesake. As she is a murderous psychopath in this continuity, it's unlikely that that will come to pass. [[spoiler:But then played partially straight, courtesy of a HazyFeelTurn in the final season and the birth of her and Jim's child after a one-night stand.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Has been the source of a lot of grief for Gordon.

* ArchEnemy: Aside from Jerome ([[spoiler: and later Jeremiah]]), Ra's is one of Bruce Wayne's most personal adversaries. He's also the only one to make him [[spoiler: break his [[ThouShaltNotKill no killing rule]].]]
* ArcVillain: Of the last two episodes of the third season, as well as [[spoiler:the last few episodes of season 4, alongsinde Jeremiah]].

* BadassDecay: She's originally Galavan's [[TheDragon Dragon]], and one of the most formidable martial characters on the show up to that point. Subsequent story arcs demoted her to the love interest of Butch and Barbara, and even to DamselInDistress when [[spoiler:Ra's threatens her life to get the power of the Demon's Head back]].

* TheBadGuyWins: Early in Season 4, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he wants Bruce to kill him. And he does.]]

** [[spoiler: She's not gonna give up her baby to Gordon and Lee.]] Though see the AdultFear entry for her reasoning on this one.