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Arkham Asylum
Dr. Gerry Lang
Dr. Gerry Lang
Played By: Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
The director of Arkham Asylum.
- Bald of Authority: The ultimate authority in Arkham is bald.
- Hate Sink: He constantly acts as antagonistic as possible to Gordon and ensures that his time at Arkham is a living hell. Absolutely no tears are shed when he's killed by his own inmates.
- Jerkass: He repeatedly blames Gordon for things that are not his fault and that he couldn't have prevented. When a fight breaks out during a play and there are several guards around, Gordon becomes his scapegoat by virtue of being the one to break it up. Subverted in that once confronted with the facts he does help Bullock with the investigation by explaining the risks of electroshock, and points out that someone Gordon thinks is on his staff really isn't...
- Jerkass Has a Point: He insists the electroshock torture was done by an inmate and not a member of the staff, and the victim was clinically alive, if braindead, and thus no murder had been committed. While he may have done so just to prevent the police from getting involved, he was right.
- Karmic Death: Killed by inmates that got out due to his flippant disregard for proper security.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: When one of the patients has undergone electroshock therapy that rendered them braindead, he declared that since he was still breathing there was no murder, and so there was no need to call the cops for a simple case of in-house violence.
Warden Reed
Played By: Damian Young
Director of Arkham at the start of Season 4. Indifferent and corrupt, he outright sells Jonathan Crane to the Merton gang, an action for which the Scarecrow makes him pay.
- Bad Liar: When Jim and Bullock come to question him about Jonathan's whereabouts, he lies through his teeth as he denies any wrongdoing. Even if the two didn't already know he was lying, his flippant behavior and implausible answers would have given it away.
- Break the Haughty: He goes from a corrupt, negligent Jerkass shamelessly abusing his power over the asylum patients to joining them as his mind is permanently warped into delusional madness courtesy of the Scarecrow.
- Deadpan Snarker: He mouths off to Jim and Harvey when they question him; they're not amused in the slightest by his attempts at levity, and it takes them informing Reed that the Penguin will kill him if he finds out about his involvement in the Mertons' plan to get him to start taking the matter seriously.
- Hate Sink: As all these other tropes show, the viewers are not meant to like this man; a corrupt, dishonest Jerkass who abuses his power over the inmates with reckless abandon, and nary a tear was shed when the Scarecrow — once a victim of his harmful practices — corners him and takes his revenge.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: If Reed hadn't sold Crane to the Merton gang, they might not have created the fear toxin that the Scarecrow would later use to break the warden's mind.
- Jerkass: Tortures his patients, colludes with criminals in exchange for bribes, and seemingly unable to speak to anyone without an oily smirk and a condescending tone.
- Mad Doctor: Not only is he not above selling his patients to criminals or lying to the police to cover it up, but the way Scarecrow tells it, Reed has no problem tormenting his patients with ice baths and painful electric shocks instead of making any real effort to understand or treat their illnesses.
- Monster Clown: The Crane fear-toxin makes Reed hallucinate that demonic clowns were everywhere. After Scarecrow's brainwashing, he applied clown makeup to himself and joins Arkham's other lunatics in menacing Jim Gordon.
- Never My Fault: Acts like he doesn't know what Gordon and Bullock are talking about when they question him about Jonathan, then instantly switches to claiming the Merton gang threatened him when he realizes the police have proof the younger Crane was taken by the gang.
- Politically Correct Villain: While he couldn't care less about the asylum patients otherwise, he still gets on Harvey's case for calling them "loonies."
- Revolvers Are Just Better: He keeps a revolver in his desk in case of emergency; he tries to pull it on Scarecrow, but doesn't get a chance to use it before taking a face full of fear toxin; revolver still in hand, Reed goes on a murder spree through the asylum, killing what he thinks are demonic clowns but are actually his own staff.
- The Shrink: Of the Harmful variety. Reed apparently made no effort to cure Jonathan of his toxin-induced hallucinations, only to keep his patient "manageable". His methods of doing so consisted of shock treatment, isolation, and exploiting the young man's terror of scarecrow-imagery.
- Smug Smiler: He seems incapable of saying anything without a phony-looking smirk plastered on his face; Crane's fear toxin proves just the thing to cure him of this ailment.
- Smug Snake: He has a smarmy, above-it-all demeanor as he barely puts up the pretense of not being corrupt. It doesn't last long once the Scarecrow storms the asylum and takes his revenge.
- Wardens Are Evil: "Evil" is a strong word here (if only because of all the villains in this show who are even worse), but Arkham Asylum's reputation as a Bedlam House is well in hand under his watch.
People of Gotham
Leslie "Lee" Thompkins
Played By: Morena Baccarin
Initially one of the medical staffers at Arkham Asylum, after the medical examiner at the GCPD is fired, she takes his spot in the office. She served as medical examiner for three seasons before leaving the position at the end of Season 3 after a major falling out with Jim after he killed her fiance. Returns to become the de facto ruler of the Narrows, Gotham's slums in season 4 via a shaky alliance with the Riddler before reconciling with Jim in season 5 and marrying him.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Attracts her own in season 4 in the shape of the Riddler, who becomes obsessed with getting her to unleash her inner darkness once more.
- Action Survivor: Has survived Barbara trying to kill her numerous times, Jerome taking her hostage and Eduardo having his men try to execute her, but she's a lot tougher than she appears and always manages to fight her way out.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, Leslie is an older, matronly mentor figure to Bruce. In this series, it's Morena "Inara" Baccarin!
- Age Lift: Inverted; unlike other characters, she goes in the opposite direction, being younger than Alfred, whereas their comic counterparts are around the same age. Her comics counterpart is also around Thomas Wayne's age, whereas Baccarin is quite a bit younger than Grayson McCouch, who plays Thomas Wayne.
- Agent Mulder: Season 1 shows she's a bit more willing to believe in supernatural theories than Jim.
- Arch-Enemy:
- She and Barbara are this for the first few seasons due to Barbara's belief she stole Jim from her - even after her being cured from the Tetch virus the first thing she does when she sees a resurrected Barbara is punch her in the face. Cools off in season 5; the two reconcile during the birth of Barbara's daughter, enough that the younger Barbara is given the middle name Lee as a reminder of who's watching her back in Gotham.
- In season 4 she regards Sofia Falcone as this after she smashes Lee's hand to get at Gordon.
- Ascended Extra: Once a recurring character in Season 1, now a main character in the following seasons.
- The Atoner: Becomes this as of season 4, in light of her actions while under the influence of the Tetch Virus in season 3. Since she stopped Jim from preventing the virus' release, she has returned to Gotham to help out in the Narrows, the slums of Gotham, which were hit the hardest by the outbreak.
- All for Nothing: Throughout season 4 she tries to make life better for the people of the Narrows by any means necessary - killing Sofia Falcone, robbing banks and allying with the Riddler to keep them all safe. In season 5 the Narrows have gone to the dogs after Jeremiah blew the bridges, and she says this word for word when viewing the Narrows gangs running riot.
- Back-Alley Doctor: "The Blade's Path" reveals that she became this after returning to Gotham.
- Berserk Button: As of "Anything For You", just Nygma's presence is this. She despises him for what he had done to her and Jim, and especially for Kristen's death, but they're in a bizarre Catch-22 position where she can't do anything serious to him (bar a good right cross) due to his position as Mayor Cobblepot's Chief-of-Staff, nor he to her due to her marrying the son of Carmine Falcone.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: After making the mistake of being near Mario when Jim catches him in full "If I Can't Have You…" mode.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Through first her exposure to the Tetch virus, and later Hugo Strange putting a mind-control chip in her head for Nyssa al Ghul.
- But Now I Must Go: After being cured, Lee decides to take a proper leave from Gotham but promises to come back once Gordon makes Gotham better for everyone, including both of them. She does, but it takes another season before reconciling with Jim, then marrying him.
- Cat Fight: With Barbara in the Season 1 finale.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Shows shades of this whenever Barbara's around, or Jim has to go to her for help. More justified than most examples given her long history with Barbara.
- Commuting on a Bus: She's absent for the latter half of season two and a good chunk of early season 3 due to Baccarin's real life pregnancy. She also misses the first half of season 5 due to the actress's other commitments.
- Composite Character: She's obviously got the medical background and caring nature of the comics version of Leslie, but she also shares many traits with comic!Sarah Essen from Batman: Year One, being she's a close ally of Gordon and has an affair with him. She also eventually marries Jim, like Sarah.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Come season 4, she returns to Gotham to help the victims of the virus.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most notably in season 3 and 4, where she's gotten way more jaded.Lee: Theo Galavan's dead.Jerome: No! Who beat me to it?Lee: ...which time?
- Despair Event Horizon: After a gruelling road, Lee crosses the line in "All Will be Judged;" lost in her hatred of Gordon and deciding that there is no justice or hope to be found in Gotham, she injects herself with the Alice Tetch virus.
- Disney Death: She and Ed stab each other to death at the end of season 4. They're both back on their feet in season 5, thanks to Hugo Strange.
- Evil Costume Switch: She's fond of wearing all-black outfits, including black eyeliner, once she injects herself with the Tetch virus.
- Flanderisation: Her season 5 portrayal is much closer to the compassionate but strong-willed doctor she was in season 1 than the morally dubious gang boss of season 4 - likely to make her reconciliation with Jim more plausible.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: Her portrayal in season 4 is interesting: she's trying to do good by ensuring the people to the Narrows are cared for and protected from the Penguin/Falcone gang war and still helps Jim find Jeremiah's bombs (even strong-arming Riddler into helping), but she's willing to both use dirty tactics (like poisoning a rival gang boss and ransoming the cure for the Narrows' safety) and later ally with the Riddler to rob banks to give them enough money to buy food for themselves.
- Honor Before Reason: She will never abandon her patient no matter what. Even if it's a pregnant Barbara.
- Hospital Hottie: She wears some outfits that are probably quite inappropriate for a doctor in a maximum security psychiatric hospital.
- The "I Love You" Stigma: She exploits Ed's feelings for her, saving the life of one of the contestants in his lethal gameshow by giving him a riddle where the obvious answer is "I love you". Due to his attraction to her (and aversion to positive feelings in general) he Cannot Spit It Out, and she wins.
- Idiot Ball: Grabs it firmly with both hands in season 3. OK, so her being furious at Jim for gunning down her husband is reasonable, as she doesn't know the full story. But even after she sees the depths to which the Tetch virus can reduce someone to (in Barnes), she persists in being basically making everything about Jim's life harder. Among other things, she threatens to expose that his uncle Frank killed himself (which would almost certainly lead to the Court killing him), almost gets Bruce killed when her sniping about Gordon killing Mario almost makes her fail to bring up Jerome's mentioning Bruce in time, and finally decides to inject herself and Jim with the virus when burying him underground, then actually stops him stopping the Court's virus bomb, leading to hundreds of deaths and riots throughout Gotham. Really, it's a minor miracle she's not in jail by season 4.
- Improvised Weapon: Shattered her bathroom mirror and used one of the shards to defend herself against a knife-swinging Barbara.
- In-Series Nickname: Most of the characters refer refer to her as "Lee", something notably not present in the comics.
- Karma Houdini: She willingly steals and injects herself with the Tetch virus, assaults and infects Jim too, screws up his attempts to stop a gas bomb that directly caused dozens or hundreds more to be infected - and never gets punished. Jim even ends up marrying her a few seasons later.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: In a matter of speaking. The law couldn't get to her, but the weight of her conscience did, so she returned to Gotham to help the victims. She does end up getting some karmic retribution later on in Season 4 when Sofia seizes control of the Narrows from her and brutally mutilates her hand with a hammer.
- The Lost Lenore: Regards Mario as this after his death in season 3 - very, very inaccurately.
- Manipulative Bitch: She can't match his intelligence, but takes advantage of Riddler's prior attraction to her, emotionally playing him like a fiddle throughout season 4.
- Mirror Character: Barbara, interestingly - once their lives go sideways in seasons 1 and 3 respectively both display an utterly irrational hatred of/obsession with Jim, both are unwilling to admit their roles in their own downfalls, both end up becoming gang leaders in their own right - and both end up redeemed, even sharing the name of Barbara's daughter.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's always wearing short skirts and fancy dresses in most of her appearances.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She speaks to a Tetch-inflicted Barnes, and has a big one of these when she realises how insane the virus has made him - and that she's had Falcone put out a hit on Jim for his killing Mario for something he was probably right about.
- Never My Fault: Blames Gordon for everything that goes wrong in her life in season 3, ignoring that she completely blanked Jim's warnings that Mario was infected with the Tetch virus, and Mario's own increasingly sketchy behavior towards her. Tellingly, despite Jim, Harvey, Barnes and even Carmine Falcone all pointing out to her that a. Jim saved her life and b. she obviously still has feelings towards him, she ignores all of them and ends up injecting both herself and Gordon with the virus.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Moves from Arkham to the GCPD as the new coroner almost as soon as Jim is reinstated there.
- Nice Girl: Jerkass moments aside, Lee is overall a kind, caring and compassionate woman. Gets thrown out the window in season 3 and 4, but comes back in season 5.
- Official Couple: While they have their fair share of snags along the way, eventually becomes this with Jim - getting married late in season 5.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When Eduardo orders his men to kill her out of sight of Jim, by the time Gordon fights off Eduardo to get to her, she's dispatched her would-be executioner with two pistol rounds.
- Only Sane Man: Frequently, most notably when pointing out the flaws in Jim's alliance with Penguin to take down Galavan.Lee: You're on the run from the law, you want to attack the mayor with the help of a depraved sociopath, that's not crazy?!Penguin: I can hear you.Lee: Shh! Don't speak!
- Parental Substitute: She's not shown interacting with Bruce all that often, but Jeremiah Valeska regards her as this enough to target her in season 5.
- Pet the Dog: She strongly implies she came to have real feelings for Ed in season 4 when she stabs him, but that Ed's psychosis would never let her be the Lee Ed wanted.
- Promoted to Love Interest: In the comics, Leslie has occasionally been a potential love interest for Alfred, and has rarely, if ever, interacted directly with Gordon or the Gotham Police Department. Here, she's working for them, and is forming a very close bond with Gordon himself.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: As of mid-Season 2, Leslie Thompkins was pregnant with Gordon's baby. In real life, Morena Baccarin had her partner Ben McKenzie's baby around this time. Interestingly, subverted in practice - interviews indicated
that the writers had always planned on doing a pregnancy storyline anyway, and real events simply tied into that. - Related in the Adaptation: The comic version of Lee was not married to James Gordon.
- Revenge: Is determined to gain this on Sofia Falcone after she's forced out of the Narrows, even going so far as to work with Penguin and Riddler to get rid of her. She ends up shooting her in the head while she's distracted trying to kill Jim, and crushes the hand of Sofia's underboss Samson as symbolic retribution.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Does this several times, leaving Gotham after Jim chooses his crusade against Galavan over her and their unborn child in season 2, then again in season 3 after the anarchy caused by the Tetch virus unleashes her own dark side (though it turns out she never left, just cut all contact with the rest of the main cast members).
- Super Doc: Is apparently qualified to do everything from provide trauma counselling to obstetrics.
- Surgeons Can Do Autopsies If They Want: Leslie is first seen as a physician at Arkham Asylum. A few weeks afterwards, she takes up the post of medical examiner. Two very different specialties are involved here.
- Took a Level in Badass: She becomes a lot tougher and more self-confident in Season 4 when she takes over the Narrows. She's far more physically capable too, as shown when she takes down Firefly by destroying her fuel tank.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Hugely in season 3 when Jim kills her husband Mario (unbeknownst to her, infected with the Tetch Virus) to save her life. She constantly blames and berates him, even after she discovers the truth of Mario's affliction. It ends up with her taking the Tetch virus, then forcing it on Jim too.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- After Gordon cures her in the Season 3 finale, she decides to leave Gotham after all the trauma she's experienced, although she does leave him an uplifting goodbye letter saying that she believes he can save Gotham and that when he does, she'll come back to him, implying that she's finally forgiven him for Mario's death.
- She's a lot nicer in season 5 than the prior season, eventually marrying Gordon.
- Ungrateful Bitch: She hates Jim after he kills Mario who was seconds away from stabbing her. Even after medical examination confirms Jim's claim that he was infected with the Tetch virus, she still treats him with open disdain and later it's shown she STILL refuses to believe Mario was infected and trying to kill her.
- Unscrupulous Hero: She gets Dwight's informant to talk simply by injecting him with truth serum, in stark contrast to Bullock's Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique. And that's not even getting into the laundry-list of offences she commits as Queen of the Narrows...
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- She innocently asks Jim to look into Kringle's disappearance, which leads to a paranoid Nygma framing Gordon for killing a fellow officer, which kicks off the whole Mario subplot of Season 3 behind the scenes, which ultimately destroys Gordon's truce with Falcone, not to mention his relationship with her.
- Also, while talking with a resurrected Jerome, she confirms for him that Bruce Wayne is still alive, leading Jerome to go after Bruce Wayne to try to finish him off.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gives Jim a LOT of these in the first two seasons, the kicker being when Jim chooses to go after Theo Galavan with Penguin instead of coming with her and their unborn child. Noticeably more so, but with far less justification in season 3 after everyone at the GCPD - Jim, Harvey, Barnes - all get fed up with her constantly blaming Jim for Mario's death.
- Yandere: Unsurprisingly, Alice's blood turns Lee into one for Gordon. She takes after Barnes's example, seeing the virus as a blessing rather than a curse, and wants Gordon to inject himself too so they can be psychopaths together, so much that she's willing to bury him alive to force it.
- You Are in Command Now: After Cherry's death, Lee finds herself in control of the Narrows, as she was one of the most well-respected members of the community.
Gertrud Kapelput
Gertrud Kapelput
Played By: Carol Kane
Oswald Cobblepot's mother.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, Oswald's mother was Miranda Cobblepot. As course, his family in the comics has always been upper-class American or possibly even possessing some British ancestry (certain adaptations do depict him being raised in Britain at the very least), whereas here she hails from Soviet-era Hungary.
- Broken Pedestal: Maroni tells her the truth about the Penguin's criminal doings to get back at him. She's devastated at the thought, but insists she'll always stand by Oswald even if he breaks her heart by telling her it's true. Being the Penguin, he lies to her yet again.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Oswald's arms.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Selling out someone to the secret police because you have a beef with his daughter certainly qualifies.
- Dreadful Musician: Well, singer, actually. She doesn't have a good singing voice, but Oswald doesn't seem to care because she's his mother. When one of Oswald's patrons starts badmouthing Gertrud, Oswald decides to "talk" with him, killing the patron as his mother sang in the background.
- Everyone Has Standards: It's one thing to get a classmate's father arrested, but her son being a murderer devastated her. She also tries to no avail to convince Oswald against striking her captors, but Oswald assures her he's simply giving them what's coming. Too bad Butch had been released from his control...
- Female Misogynist: Implied since she's repeatedly told Oswald that women are nothing but trouble and will only break his heart.
- Good Parents: Creepy as she is, she clearly loves Oswald very much, and likewise.
- Impoverished Patrician: Set Decorator Andrew Baseman stated that "We think she's a Middle Eastern descendant of great wealth that fell on hard times."
- Like Parent, Like Child: Informing to the police on your enemies to get them out of the way seems to be a proud Kapelput / Cobblepot family tradition.
- Living Emotional Crutch: She is very much this to her son. Out of all the characters in the show, she is the only one that Oswald genuinely loves (outside of perhaps Edward Nygma), and she provides for him some much needed comfort and affection after a long, violent day in the criminal underworld. Once she is kidnapped (and eventually killed) by the Galavans, Oswald becomes a complete emotional wreck, with Ed eventually convincing him this event can let him become The Unfettered.
- My Beloved Smother: Anytime she doesn't see Oswald for more than a day, she believes he's been seduced by some painted hussy and insists that he can trust no one but her... while bathing him.
- Revenge by Proxy: On both ends throughout the series. She had a problem with a classmate at school, so she got the girl’s father in trouble. This, of course, makes Maroni getting back at Penguin just as indirectly, by trying to shatter her good impression of her son seem like karma.
- Ruritania: Her accent shows that she comes from some nondescript Eastern-European country not explicitly said until well after her death.
- The Stool Pigeon: Of the Petty Patty variety, back in the "Old Country".
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Her accent is an undefined Eastern European one. It takes until long after her death, but "The Blade's Path" reveals that Gertrude was Hungarian.
Paul Cicero
Paul Cicero
Played By: Mark Margolis
A blind fortune teller in a circus that visits Gotham, as well as father to Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska.
- Blind Seer: In addition to actually being blind, serves as the fortune teller for Haley's Circus. It's left ambiguous as to whether his powers are real or not.
- Canon Foreigner: He's the father of the man who will eventually become The Joker - except it eventually turns out it isn't Jerome, but his other son, Jerome's twin brother Jeremiah. Whilst The Joker has alluded to his father in other media before, the man has never made a personal appearance, and its never been clear how much of what Joker says about him is true.
- Dying Curse: His final prophecy, which he delivers to Jerome.Paul Cicero: You will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleep, screaming at the thought of you! Your legacy will be death and madness!
- Eye Scream: How Jerome kills him.
- Frame-Up: Was intended to be Jerome's fall guy for the Arkham breakout.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Confirms Jim’s suspicions that he is Jerome’s father, something Jerome hadn’t known before.
- Psychic Powers: Toyed with. While most of his prophecies in his debut episode turn out to be lies to cover Jerome's tracks, his final prophecy turns out to be right on the money.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: And then some. Cicero's inability to keep it in his pants led to the birth of one of the greatest monsters in the DC universe.
Nora Fries
Nora Fries
Played By: Kristen Hager
The wife of Victor Fries, whose desperation to cure her terminal illness causes him to become the villain Mr. Freeze.
- Ascended Extra: She's typically already frozen and simply serves as Mr. Freeze's motivation, with this show being one of the rare times she gets to be a character in her own right.
- Blood from the Mouth: Without her medication she starts hemorrhaging a frightening amount.
- Death by Adaptation: While typically she's still alive and frozen, and Victor's villainous actions are attempts to save her, here she kills herself in remorse for what she drove him to become and her failure to stop him, and he becomes Mr. Freeze by trying to kill himself with his formula afterwards.
- Face Death with Dignity: Once she decides to sabotage the cartridge, she holds herself together and says all the loving things she can to her husband without giving away what she did. Then she allows him to freeze her, knowing she will die.
- Friend to All Living Things: She was quite regretful of all the "mice" being killed so she could live. When she found out what was actually going on, well...
- Heroic BSoD: Victor told her he was using mice in his freezing experiments, and upon discovering he was actually using people, she simply sits and stares until the cops coincidentally arrive.
- Living MacGuffin: The entire motivation for Victor to become a supervillain.
- Pronouncing My Name for You: Confirms to Harvey and Jim that her last name rhymes with "ice."
- Undying Loyalty: Even though she's horrified by what Victor has done, she refuses to betray him since she knows he did it all for her.
Valerie Vale
Valerie Vale
Played By: Jamie Chung
A newly arrived reporter who quickly latches onto Gordon as her best source on the fight against the monsters infesting Gotham.
- Alliterative Name
- Cool Aunt: The aunt of Bronze Age Batman love interest Vicki Vale.
- Good Is Not Nice: She's a Jerkass, practically manipulating Gordon, but she is morally superior to most of the rest of the cast.
- Intrepid Reporter: She'll stop at nothing to get the scoop on Gotham's underbelly; clearly where her niece will learn it.
- Leg Focus: She is mostly wearing shorts and miniskirts that show off her legs, and even manages to seduce Gordon with them.
- Put on a Bus: Leaves before the Mad City arc finishes after Mad Hatter tries to kill her and Lee, but also seeing that Jim loved Lee more.
- Race Lift: Vicki Vale is typically portrayed as white, while her aunt is played by an actress of Korean descent.
Isabella
Isabella
Played By: Chelsea Spack
Ed's librarian love interest who bears more than a passing resemblance to Kristen Kringle.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Her face looks exactly like Kristen Kringle's.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: She was hit by a train and killed.
- Erotic Asphyxiation: She, ahem, really enjoyed helping Ed get past his fear of choking her to death.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She really seems to believe that Ed is some kind of tragic hero.
- Identical Stranger: She's played by the same actress as Kristen, making her this, even more so when she changes her hair and wears glasses to look identical to Kristen.
- The Lost Lenore: Isabella learns very quickly of Ed's past relationship and subsequent murder of Kristen, as well as her own resemblance to the dead woman and Ed's reaction to her. As of "Blood Rush", she deliberately invokes this trope, coloring her hair and wearing glasses to resemble Miss Kringle, much to Ed's initial panic.
- Replacement Goldfish: Initially, despite her face resembling Kristen's, Ed seems genuinely interested in her love of riddles as well. After she remakes herself to look like Kristen Kringle, Ed tells her to leave her glasses on, hinting at the start of this.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Her favorite stories all invoke this - from Romeo and Juliet to Antony and Cleopatra, she seems drawn to tales of tragic love. Considering her rather extreme enthusiasm for Ed, despite or perhaps because of his past tragic love story with Kristen Kringle, one wonders if she plans to invoke this for herself and Ed.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: She imagines her relationship with Ed as the classic tragic-style love story, with Ed being some kind of tragic hero.
Barbara Lee Gordon
Barbara Lee Gordon
Played By: Jeté Lawrence
The daughter of Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean, who was conceived after a one night stand and born during Gotham's separation from the mainland. We see her as a young girl in the Time Skip, where she lives happily with her father Jim and stepmother Lee.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: She's a brunette instead of a redhead in this continuity. Ironically, her mother (who herself became blonde for the show) dyes her hair red during the time jump.
- Damsel in Distress: She's kidnapped by Jeremiah and left dangling above an Ace Chemicals vat. She's eventually saved by both her father and Batman.
- Little Miss Badass: She saves her mother by chucking a small lamp at Ecco, freeing Barbara from her clutches. This should be expected from the little girl who would grow up to become Batgirl.
- Mythology Gag: The colors she wears in the time skip (purple and yellow) is a homage to the color scheme of her original Batgirl outfit.
- Named by the Adaptation: Is given the middle name Lee, after her stepmother Lee Thompkins.
The Van Dahl Family
Elijah Van Dahl
Elijah Van Dahl
Played By: Paul Reubens
Oswald Cobblepot's biological father.
- Adaptational Heroism: He previously appeared in Batman Returns (Paul Reubens also previously played him in that movie), where he and his wife abandon Oswald by dumping him in the sewers. That is not the case here, where he genuinely loves Oswald.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, his name is Tucker Cobblepot.
- Casting Gag: Not the first time Paul Reubens played the Penguin's father.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Oswald's arms, much like Gertrud did.
- Good Parents: He really bonded with Oswald, during the short time they knew each other.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Seems oblivious that his wife only married him for his money. Zig-Zagged with Oswald, whom he understands that he just wants to be loved but still seems a bit too willing to overlook that his son was a violence-prone sociopath.
- It Runs in the Family: He admits to Oswald that all of the males in the family suffer from violent tendencies and urges his son not to give in to his demons.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Realizes that Oswald's his son when they meet.
- Morality Chain: Oswald's re-connection with his father actually starts to bring out a genuine sense of happiness and compassion out of the former crime lord. Following Elijah's death, Oswald almost immediately relapses into his violent temperaments.
- Nice Guy: Doesn't hold Oswald's criminal past against him, in fact he's actually impressed that his son was a famous crime boss.
- The Teetotaler: His health prevents him from drinking. Tragically, he breaks this once to celebrate and ends up downing a glass of poison meant for his son.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He's probably one of the very few compassionate people Penguin's encountered in his life and tragically dies completely by accident.
Grace Van Dahl
Grace Van Dahl
Played By: Melinda Clarke
Oswald Cobblepot's stepmother.
- Arc Villain: She's pretty much a filler villain for the Penguin's story arc.
- Asshole Victim: You'll probably cheer upon seeing her death.
- Beehive Hairdo
- Bullying a Dragon: Precisely how she thought it would be a good idea to abuse and functionally enslave someone she knows has been an extremely dangerous gang boss and murderer is beyond comprehension.
- Dead Guy on Display: Penguin turns her head into a trophy.
- Familial Cannibalism Surprise: Is horrified when Oswald reveals to her that the dinner she was eating was made from none other than her own children, whom Oswald killed in revenge.
- Gold Digger: Is clearly after Elijah's wealth.
- Jerkass: Is extremely unpleasant to Oswald.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: Penguin leaves her corpse literally at the dinner table for a couple of weeks.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her Stupid Evil decisions accidentally trigger Oswald's memories, bringing the Penguin back.
- Off with His Head!: Penguin decides to decapitate her and make her head into a trophy to keep in his mansion.
- Oh, Crap!: She's quite shocked to discover that the Penguin fed her Sasha and Charles before learning that she's next on his kill list.
- Rich Bitch: She's wealthy and a total bitch.
- Slashed Throat: How she dies, courtesy of Oswald.
- Stupid Evil: Kept the poisoned sherry instead of disposing of it. Oswald even calls her on it.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Discreetly withholds Elijah's medication, giving him mints instead, to worsen his condition so she can inherit his money faster. She also poisons a bottle of sherry in hopes of killing Oswald, which Elijah ingested by mistake.
- Too Dumb to Live: Apparently she thought that it was a good idea to keep an emotionally unstable criminal psychopath as an abused servant under her control. Unsurprisingly, she ends up pushing him too far and he strikes back. To boot, she leaves the poisoned sherry wine in a cupboard where Oswald, as her servant, could find it, which he even mocks her for before he kills her.
- Wicked Stepmother: A textbook case.
Sasha Van Dahl
Sasha Van Dahl
Played By: Kaley Ronayne
Grace's daughter, and Oswald's stepsister.
- Asshole Victim: You'd probably be more disappointed that you didn't see her death before Penguin confirms it.
- Attempted Rape: Tries to force herself on Oswald.
- Co-Dragons: She and her brother are this for their mother.
- Honey Trap: She attempts this on Oswald, but since they're step-siblings he doesn't bite.
- Jerkass: To Oswald, much like her mother.
- Killed Offscreen: Oswald kills her and Charles, then feeds their processed carcasses to Grace.
- Rich Bitch: She's wealthy and a total bitch.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Oswald kills her and processes her into food for her mother. According to Oswald, she was more tender than her brother.
Charles Van Dahl
Charles Van Dahl
Played By: Justin Mark
Grace's son, and Oswald's stepbrother.
- Ambiguously Gay: Offers to try to seduce Oswald when Sasha's efforts fail. It's not clear whether this means he's actually homo/bisexual or just willing to attempt the Honey Trap. Or he might have just been mocking his sister.
- Asshole Victim: You'd probably be more disappointed that you didn't see his death before Penguin confirms it.
- Co-Dragons: He and his sister are this for their mother.
- Jerkass: To Oswald, much like his mother.
- Killed Offscreen: Oswald kills him and Sasha, then feeds them to Grace.
- Pet the Dog: There were a few small scenes where he genuinely tried to compliment Oswald.
- Rich Jerk: He's wealthy and a total jerk.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Oswald kills him and processes him into food for his mother.
Historical Figures
Celestine Wayne
Celestine Wayne
Played By: Sophie Lee Morris
A member of the Wayne Family who lived two hundred years ago.
- False Rape Accusation: When the Wayne men found her in bed with Caleb Dumas she claimed that he had forced himself on her.
- Old Maid: According to Edwige, she never married and died alone. It might be karma for her false accusation.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Her beauty was such that she was known as the "crown jewel of Gotham".
Johnathan Wayne
Johnathan Wayne
Played By: TBD
Celestine Wayne’s brother who lived two hundred years ago.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Cutting off the arm of the man who you believe raped your sister is one thing… running his entire family out of town, stripping them of all their property and wiping their very memory from Gotham’s history is a bit much.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: He cut off half of Caleb Dumas’ arm when he thought he had raped his sister.
Caleb Dumas
Caleb Dumas
Played By: Bryan Howard Conner
The Galavans’ ancestor who was exiled from Gotham along with the rest of his family.
- An Arm and a Leg: Johnathan Wayne cut off his right arm halfway up the forearm.
- The Exile: While his family was utterly destroyed, he was forced into exile overseas.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: What he claimed Celestine and him were. She had other ideas.
