History Headscratchers / BatmanTheTelltaleSeries

* One of the news reports before Lucius' funeral refers to him as a "father of three." However, only Tiffany and Luke are named in either game. There is a third member of the Fox family at the funeral, but she's likely his wife. Old photographs only show a girl and a boy. Where's the third kid? It's unlikely the news would getting something that obvious wrong, and even more unlikely that it would be selected by the game to play over the funeral. Outside of being a [[Characters/RobinSeries one-off comic reference]], what's the explanation?

** The way he said it could come across as "I know what you really are: One of those people who acts all nice and normal, but is just as crazy as the rest of the people in here." This would fit in with other characterizations of the Joker, who tries to form a bond with Batman based on how they're NotSoDifferent, or in "The Killing Joke," when he tried to drive Jim to madness to show that everyone can be just as bad and crazy as he is. It would also fit in with the Joker claiming that he gets all his info from TV, which presumably has been in an uproar over the rich billionaire playboy who's currently at the center of a scandal about his family being monsters attacking the current head of his own company on live television.

* So why exactly are people thinking that Bruce is [[spoiler:a criminal like his father? Bruce was eight when his parents were killed, and he seems to be mid-twenties here, so he'd be too young to get involved with whatever Falcone and Hill were doing between Crime Alley and the start of the game.]]
** [[spoiler:I suppose the citizens of Gotham have a LikeFatherLikeSon mentality. Which is silly, but there you go.]]
** [[spoiler:Well that and people love a scandal. Rich idle boy Brucie's money coming from criminal enterprises? It would explain so much about him not having a job...]]
** [[spoiler: Well, you know, technically, [[RightForTheWrongReasons they are right]]; he ''is'' a criminal, just more "outlaw vigilante" than DiabolicalMastermind.]]
** [[spoiler:You'd be surprised how much people use that kind of quote-unquote "logic", where blood relation automatically makes people assume they're alike. Hell, it's pretty much what kicks off Bane's origin story.]]

*** [[spoiler: This troper found their trust in Selina taking a huge nosedive in Episode 4. After saving her at the theater, after understanding her reasons in not speaking to Harvey in the hospital, after trying to explain to Harvey that there ''wasn't'' anything going on between Bruce and Selina (in their playthrough), after all that what does she end up doing? Cut and run, leaving Bruce with just one less ally in his darkest hour. True, it'll likely result in a last-minute return to help Bruce in the finale but it took everything this troper had not to want to cuss her out for being so monumentally self-centered.]]
*** [[spoiler: On the other hand, try to see things from Selina's point of view: a simple job has gone south for her and she's managed to earn the ire of both the Children of Arkham and the newly-elected mayor of Gotham city, a man who appears to have gone insane. Both of them know who she is, and it won't take long for them to find out where she is. Even if Selina stayed she'd be marked for death, and while she's had some close calls she's got enough experience to know her luck will run out eventually. Bruce's (and by extension the player's) offer of protection is genuine, but Selina is only too aware that he's got his own battles to fight right now. Leaving may not be the most emotionally satisfying choice for a player pursuing Selina, but it is the pragmatic one, which is in keeping with her character.]]
*** [[spoiler: Keep in mind that the same Episode 4 shows how vulnerable even Bruce is when Harvey is in power. Bruce escapes from Arkham only with help of GCPD and his lawyers, assets which Selina does not have. She is indeed not a hero (in fact this troper thinks most potrayals share this very sane idea of valuing her life more than other people's), so she leaves. This troper in fact at later point in game found himself appreciating her leaving, precisely because otherwise she could have ended up where Alfred ultimately ended up - a hostage of Bruce's enemies.]]

* Two questions regarding Arkham Asylum. For one, [[spoiler: how the hell does the head of psychiatry say that John Doe is a "model" patient when his deranged antics is so visibly obvious? Sounds like a case of HorribleJudgeOfCharacter to me. And she says that Bruce Wayne needs help. And the security. The GODDAMN security in that place is so stupid that I have to think that their "surveillance cameras" are turned off or something. What's up with that? Even the others could obviously see that the Joker instigated the breakout.]]

* In Episode 4, [[spoiler: when Bruce is making himself an antidote for the HatePlague Lady Arkham drugged him with, it's noted that the drug does something to one's genetic structure and has long-term, maybe permanent effects, and that if they wanted to make enough of the antidote for everyone in Gotham, they would need to get DNA samples from literally every single person in the city. But wait a minute. Who else do we know that was drugged with this stuff? That's right. '''Harvey'''. So why did it never occur to Bruce to try and cure him?]]

* I'm sorry, but I don't buy for one second [[spoiler: Mayor Harvey Dent]] getting away with his over-the-top Saturday morning cartoon villainy. [[spoiler: Replacing the city police force with mercenaries? Detonating a bomb in downtown Gotham? Burning Wayne Manor down? Seizing Jack Ryder for summary execution on live television?]] Why on earth didn't the state governor or city council or the DOJ or somebody remove this maniac well beforehand?

* Just how does [[spoiler: Vicki Vale]] fight Batman to a standstill? And where does [[spoiler: she]] get [[spoiler: her]] [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys equipment from]]?

*** Yes, but most writers since the silver age have felt an obligation to ''explain'' a characters fighting skills and advanced tech. Seems like they didn't really think her character through, but who knows. Maybe there was going be be some dialogue or a reveal in future seasons about how Vicki was ex-special forces, and that Lexcorp was supplying the Children of Arkham to destabilize Gotham and give Luthor oppurtunities (similar to his actions in "No Man's Land".
** The other explanation is that maybe she wasn't working alone. Persumably, a 3rd season was planned, but was never followed through on given Telltale tanking. [[spoiler:It's probable that she was funded by the Court of Owls. For many observant comic fans, they noticed several members of the court popping up in the first season. The ending fight scene in the church basement in Arkham IS the meeting place of the court in the comics. Many of the aristocrats of Gotham are in the court which, persumably, included the Arkhams themselves. This would explain why the court was in their mental health facility's basement and why Vicky knew it was there. A third season might have seen Batman fight this organization's assassins like he did in the comics.]]
* In episode 4 [[spoiler:we choose whether to go to Wayne Enterprises or Wayne Manor. If we go to Wayne Manor, we get to encounter Harvey, who states that his goal is to make Wayne Manor vanish. Indeed, if we choose to go to Wayne Enterprises instead, we see Harvey basically burning/exploding the place.]] However, in episode 5 [[spoiler: Alfred is kidnapped by Lady Arkham from that very manor and somehow there's no damage seen at all. ]]
** Presumably from the dynamics of the fire, it's possible the room [[spoiler: Alfred was kidnapped from]] was simply spared from the inferno. Someone likely extinguished the flames if Harvey felt safe enough to hold people hostage there.
* So, does Gotham just not have any real health care at all? I mean Harvey Dent gets [[spoiler: half of his face seared off, depending on player choice]] and yet there isn't a single suggestion concerning reconstructive surgery, or facial transplants, or even just basic effing bandaging so the massive festering wound isn't constantly dripping blood and pus everywhere? I mean, yeah, you have to have the classic Two-face look, but the idea that anyone, let alone the mayor of a large American city, would be permitted to just wander around outside with that kind of injury exposed to the elements is just absurd. Partial face transplants have been around since 2005 for god's sake. Heck, a few skin grafts could probably have done the job until a donor could be found. It just makes no sense for a wealthy, well-connected version of Harvey Dent to obtain the injuries he did and not do something about them! He does [[spoiler: go completely crazy after a while]] but he still spends a significant amount of time after the injury with some degree of lucidity. And since [[spoiler: the game's story will still turn Dent into Two-face regardless of whether or not he gets burned]], I just don't see the point of including it as a possibility at all.

* After Bruce us drugged by [[spoiler:Vicki Vale]] at the press conference and convinces him to attack Cobblepot, he is sent to Arkham indefinitely thanks to Harvey's influence. However Bruce never seems to defend himself to the doctors by saying he was poisoned, despite the puncture wound still being on his hand and the drugs still being in his system. It is even stranger as Renee Montoya was drugged in a similar fashion and a drug test could prove that he was not in control of himself, similar to her.

** This headscratcher gets answered in episode 3: the reason it's such a big deal that Regina caught Bruce with Harley and John is that [[spoiler:it's one of several things that makes Jim Gordon suspicious of Bruce Wayne (though not of Batman); Gordon concludes that Bruce must be "dirty" and working with criminals.]]

* I'm confused about the whole "steal the laptop" thing in Episode 3. I went to that underground Riddler place with Selina, and we found a decrypter that only works in conjuction with the retinal scan goggles. Selina stole the decrypter because...uh...she wants to "finish things on her own terms", or something? I guess the implication is that the data will allow her to find these Lotus people and assassinate them, and Bruce is opposed to that because of his One Rule. So anyway, she gets away and now John and I are faced with the problem of what to do about it, since no one wants to tell Harley that we screwed up. John agrees to steal Harley's laptop, becuase...why? What are we planning to ''do'' with this laptop? We can't get to the files without the decrypter. Maybe the idea is to just prevent Selina from getting her hands on the files? But ok, obviously Harley's going to notice that the laptop is gone. So then what? Maybe the plan all along was to frame catwoman for the theft, but I don't remember them discussing that while they were making the plan. But anyway, John talks to Bruce and agrees to steal the laptop, and later he steals the laptop and shows Bruce that he stole it, and the next thing we see is him offering the laptop to ''Batman''. Was this part of the plan? Did John tell Bruce that he was going to make a deal with Batman? Because I don't remember him talking about that. And what is this deal with Batman, anyway? John gives Batman the laptop, and in return Batman promises not to hurt Harlen when the Pact gets taken down? Is John outright betraying the Pact here? And if he is, why doesn't he just tell Batman ''everything''? Why offer just this one laptop? And what the hell is Batman supposed to ''do'' with the laptop if he presumably possesses neither the decrypter nor the retinal scan goggles? Is John trying to scam him or something, by offering up a laptop that he can't actually access? But if that's the case, then why give him a genuine laptop with genuine files on it when he could just give him some other laptop? I have no idea what's going on.
** As of Episode 4 [[spoiler: it seems to be the final nail in the coffin John needs to prove that Bruce is Batman. "You kind of gave yourself away with the laptop."]]

* So in the end it turns out that [[spoiler: Tiffany was the one that killed the Riddler out of revenge for her father. Except how did she know he was involved at all? The cause of Lucius' death is covered up and even if you tell her the truth she doesn't get a bunch of information out of you. Somehow she not only knows how Lucius died but where his killer was in time to stage an ambush? How'd she pull all that off?]]
** [[spoiler:It's quite possible that Tiffany tracked down the drone Batman was using and that led her to Riddler. If you told her the truth at the Funeral she has the motivation to track you down and she has the tool to do so, and even if you lied to her, She would get suspicious about the sudden activity of the drone.]]
** [[spoiler: Riddler's symbol was on the disc, along with a riddle on the outside. She suspects that the disc was related to Lucius' death, and confronts Bruce about it at the funeral. If Bruce tells the truth or says nothing, then she knows that the disc had a hand in his death and can pretty easily put two and two together. If Bruce lies, she mentions not knowing who to blame, implying she's still searching. Perhaps she used the drone, as the previous troper suggested, or perhaps she simply realized that Bruce wasn't being completely honest with her and returned to her previous hypothesis.]]
* So [[spoiler:Alfred decides to leave]] because he feels that Batman creates the evil he destroys with Two-Face, Cobblepot, Lady Arkham and the Joker as notable examples. How does Alfred come to this conclusion? He knows Lady Arkham and Cobblepot were evil years before even meeting Batman and there reasons for turning out the way they did had nothing to do with him.

* One of the news reports before [[spoiler:Lucius']] funeral refers to him as a "father of three." However, only [[spoiler: Tiffany and Luke]] are named in either game. There is a third member of the [[spoiler: Fox]] family at the funeral, but she's likely his wife. Old photographs only show a girl and a boy. Where's the third kid? It's unlikely the news would getting something that obvious wrong, and even more unlikely that it would be selected by the game to play over the funeral. Outside of being a [[Characters/RobinSeries one-off comic reference]], what's the explanation?
* "You thought Riddler was bad? Penguin? Lady Arkham? None of them knew you... like I DO! I know just how to press those buttons!" ... Really? Penguin and Lady Arkham subjected Bruce to an epic BrokenPedestal, stole control of his family company, and turned his closest friend against him. Said close friend did serious damage to his ancestral home and threatened his father figure, and represents his shattered dream for justice and peace in Gotham. Riddler [[spoiler: killed Lucius Fox]]. Is it me or did all of them succeed at hitting Bruce close-to-home in a much bigger way than John?

** Judges sentence you to serve time in jail, but before a trial, criminals are held in holding cells. Judges don't determine where the criminal is sent for holding. Police do. Batman is just giving advice.

* In episode 4 [[spoiler: we choose whether to go to Wayne Enterprises or Wayne Manor. If we go to Wayne Manor, we get to encounter Harvey, who states that his goal is to make Wayne Manor vanish. Indeed, if we choose to go to Wayne Enterprises instead, we see Harvey basically burning/exploding the place.]] However, in episode 5 [[spoiler: Alfred is kidnapped by Lady Arkham from that very manor and somehow there's no damage seen at all. ]]

* So [[spoiler:Alfred decides to leave]] because he feels that Batman creates the evil he destroys with Two-Face, Cobblepot, Lady Arkham and the Joker as notable examples. How does Alfred come to this conclusion? He knows Lady Arkham and Cobblepot were evil years before even meeting Batman and there reasons for turning out the way they did had nothing to do with him. What makes this even more confusing is that depending on how the game is played Joker [[Spoiler:(Vigilante Route - Waller)]] and Harvey's downfall wasn't because of anything Bruce did.

* So [[spoiler:Alfred decides to leave]] because he feels that Batman creates the evil he destroys with Two-Face, Cobblepot, Lady Arkham and the Joker as notable examples. How does Alfred come to this conclusion? He knows Lady Arkham and Cobblepot were evil years before even meeting Batman and there reasons for turning out the way they did had nothing to do with him. What makes this even more confusing is that depending on how the game is played Joker and Harvey's downfall can barely be contributed towards Batman.

** Consider who’s talking. It’s [[ComicBook/{{Joker}} John]]. This isn’t a statement by the game—it’s a statement from a specific character with delusions of grandeur which carry through most of Episode 5 (at least in the Villain Route). John sees their battles as a game, with the sole objective of pushing Bruce/Batman’s buttons. He sees himself as the best villain Batman can have. John is the only one of those villains to know Bruce is Batman and know him personally in both identities. Penguin didn’t know, Lady Arkham had a full on VillainousBreakdown if Bruce revealed his identity to her, and Riddler only killed Lucius (hurting Bruce) by accident. John knows how to push Bruce’s buttons both as Batman and Bruce, and knows that that button pushing carries over, and he’s arrogant enough to brag about he’ll do it better than any of Bruce’s other foes.

* "You thought Riddler was bad? Penguin? Lady Arkham? None of them knew you... like I DO! I know just how to press those buttons!" ... Really? Penguin and Lady Arkham subjected Bruce to an epic BrokenPedestal, stole control of his family company, and turned his closest friend against him. Said close friend did serious damage to his ancestral home and threatened his butler, and represents his shattered dream for justice and peace in Gotham. Riddler [[spoiler: killed Lucius Fox]]. Is it me or does John not even come close to hitting Bruce as close to home as any of them?

** Riddler's symbol was on the disc, along with a riddle on the outside. She suspects that the disc was related to Lucius' death, and confronts Bruce about it at the funeral. If Bruce tells the truth or says nothing, then she knows that the disc had a hand in his death and can pretty easily put two and two together. If Bruce lies, she mentions not knowing who to blame, implying she's still searching. Perhaps she used the drone, as the previous troper suggested, or perhaps she simply realized that Bruce wasn't being completely honest with her.

** [[spoiler:It's quite possible that Tiffany tracked down the drone Batman was using and that lead her to Riddler. If you told her the truth at the Funeral she has the motivation to track you down and she has the tool to do so, and even if you lied to her, She would get suspicious about the sudden activity of the drone.]]

* One of the news reports before [[spoiler:Lucius']] funeral refers to him as a "father of three." However, only [[spoiler: Tiffany and Luke]] are named in either game. There is a third member of the Fox family at the funeral, but she's likely his wife. Old photographs only show a girl and a boy. Where's the third kid? It's unlikely the news would getting something that obvious wrong, and even more unlikely that it would be selected by the game to play over the funeral. Outside of being a [[Characters/RobinSeries one-off comic reference]], what's the explanation?

*** Yes, but most writers since the silver age have felt an obligation to ''explain'' a characters fighting skills and advanced tech. Seems like they didn't really think her character through, but who knows. Maybe there was going be be some dialogue or a reveal in future seasons about how Vicki was ex-special forces, and that Lexcorp was supplying the Children of Arkham to destabilize Gotham and give Luthor oppurtunities.

* Since Harley started as a villain before Joker where did she get the idea to have a clown theme?

* So [[spoiler:Alfred decides to leave]] because he feels that Batman creates the evil he destroys with Two-Face, Cobblepot, Lady Arkham and the Joker as notable examples. How does Alfred come to this conclusion? He knows Lady Arkham and Cobblepot were evil years before even meeting Batman and there reasons for turning out the way they did had nothing to do with him. What makes this even more confusing is that depending on how you play the game Joker and Harvey's downfall can barely be contributed towards Batman.

* So [[spoiler:Alfred decides to leave]] because he feels that Batman creates the evil he destroys with Two-Face, Cobblepot, Lady Arkham and the Joker as notable examples. How does Alfred come to this conclusion? He knows Lady Arkham and Cobblepot were evil years before even meeting Batman and depending on how you play the game Joker and Harvey's downfall can barely be contributed towards Batman.