Rachel Dawes

"Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about making yourself feel better, which is why we have
an impartial system."
―Rachel to Bruce
She is Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and have been around him since. Her mother used to
work for Bruce’s parents – Thomas and Martha Wayne and she got closer to Bruce since
then. However, when Bruce’s parents were killed, her mother left the place with Rachel to
seek other employment opportunities. As she grew older, she got herself enrolled into a law
school, interned with the Gotham’s District Attorney’s (D.A.’s) office and subsequently
became the assistant D.A. She was striving for success and bold in her career. When Bruce
revealed in Batman Begins that he would have killed Chill himself had Carmine Falcon not
killed him already. This made Rachel terrified and convinced that Bruce was traumatised of
the incident his parents being killed by the mugger and has changed him forever.
"It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you."
―Rachel to Bruce
Rachel was committed to eliminate crime and violence from Gotham City in her capacity as
Assistant D.A. She believed that actions spoke louder than words. Both Batman and Rachel
pursued similar goals, the only difference being that Rachel was always within the law in her
pursuit of goals. During her tryst in Batman Begins, she made enemies with both Dr Crane
and Falcone. She keeps working fearlessly with Batman to fight the organised crime without
knowing that Batman is Bruce Wayne behind the mask. In the end, while Batman saves
Rachel from Victor’s assassination attempt, he says “It's not who I am underneath, but what
I do that defines me.” to make his identity being revealed to Rachel. However, even though
she cared for Bruce deeply, she claimed that she could not be with Bruce if he were
determined to lead a dual life of Bruce and Batman. She wondered if Bruce sough justice or
revenge as Batman. However, she was trustworthy and promised to keep Bruce’s identity a
secret and hoped that Bruce returned to her when Gotham no longer needed the Batman, and
he has fulfilled his purpose.
"Harvey. It's okay, it's alright. Listen. Some -" – Rachel’s last words

Rachel works with Harvey Dent in Batman: The Dark Knight at the D.A.’s office and grows
closer to him affectionately. Throughout the movies, her life has been defined by the 2 men –
Harvey and Bruce. In “The Dark Knight”, Harvey fights against the mob and the mob hires
Joker to get rid of Batman. Rachel is a pragmatic person – she suggests Batman to not reveal
his identity when threatened by Joker. She is not afraid to speak her mind and let Bruce know
whenever he is wrong. She also manages to keep both Harvey and Batman grounded
throughout the movie at numerous instances. During the last scene, when Rachel was
surrounded by bombs, she hoped that Batman would come and rescue her but she soon
realises that Batman is meant for greater good – saving Gotham and hence Batman rescues
Harvey instead for Gotham needs him.
We see how Rachel got sacrificed tangled between her relationships with Bruce and Harvey.
She was determined for the greater good of Gotham and hence chose to get over her feelings
for Bruce and let him pursue his goals and be Gotham’s Batman. She leaves a letter behind
with Alfred for Bruce proclaiming her love and friendship for Bruce. Alfred burns the letter
because he feels sometimes people need lies to fulfil their hopes when Bruce hopes that
Rachel would have waited for him.
Selina Kyle – The Cat
Selina Kyle is a master cat burglar and mistress of disguise. She is present only in the last
part of the trilogy. She is very sharp, cunning, shrewd, astute, devious, and cynical and
targets the wealthiest of people in Gotham in her mischievous acts. She is very agile, flexible,
and adaptable to whatever circumstances she finds herself in. She uses her appeal and attitude
to con the richest men in Gotham.
"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches,
because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and
leave so little for the rest of us."
―Selina Kyle
Selina is a keen observer, quick wit and has an astute presence of mind and acts quickly on it.
When she delivered the congressman and Bruce Wayne’s finger prints to Phillip Stryver in
exchange for a USB stick that would clear her record from every database across the globe,
she quickly anticipates that Stryver would double cross her and she makes Stryver use
congressman’s phone to call his friend which alerts the entire police force to their location.
On a later night, while attempting to steal from another wealthy businessman, she is
interrupted by Bruce Wayne when she warns him of a “storm coming” and then manages to
steal his parking ticket and his Lamborghini from the valet.
Batman: “No guns. No killing”
The Cat: “Where's the fun in that?!”
―Batman and Selina Kyle
Selina has a dwindled relationship with Batman – as she does not realise that he in fact is
Bruce Wayne. She is saved by Batman when Daggett ambushes her when she tries to retrieve
the USB device. When Daggett uses the stolen fingerprints to buy Bruce Enterprises and
make Bruce go bankrupt, he visits Selina as Batman to help her in finding Bane. She betrays
Batman by leading him into the sewer tunnel alone with Bane and blocking all the exits. Bane
brutally beats him up and Selina cries learning that Batman is in fact Bruce and feels sorry for
betraying him again. We see the emotional side of Selina in this scene and that she is not all
cold hearted.
Selina Kyle: “Come with me. Save yourself. You don't owe these people anymore. You've given
them everything.”
Batman: “Not everything. Not yet.”
―The Cat and Batman
We see how Selina has been seeking a fresh start to her life throughout the movie. In the
aftermath of Selina betraying Batman, Bane takes over Gotham and she realises that the
“Storm” has arrived. Bruce again asks for Selina’s help in rescuing Lucius to fend off the
nuclear bomb. Selina asks Batman to escape with her claiming that he has given Gotham his
everything but Batman refuses. We see Selina grow close to him affectionately. Towards the
end of the movie we see Batman using The Bat to carry the bomb over the bay and Bruce
Wayne is thought to be dead. However, in the end it is revealed through the eyes of Alfred
that Bruce survived the explosion and that he and Selina are living together in Florence and
she gets the fresh start that she pursued for long.
Joker:
"Introduce a little anarchy - upset the established order, and everything becomes
chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos - it's fair."
―The Joker persuading the disfigured Harvey Dent.

The Joker, the main Antagonist of The Dark Knight, portrays the role of a psychopathic
criminal mastermind who is an agent of chaos and destruction. He sends the entire Gotham
city into turmoil and becomes the kingpin of crimes. He is characterised by his purple
coloured suit & lunatic Glasgow smile. He derives sadistic pleasures out of tormenting the
citizens of Gotham and his criminal peers too. It appears that he is indifferent to pain and
suffering and this makes him look even more dangerous.
Walk the talk
A good leader needs to follow-up on his/her words and be committed to it. We see how Joker
when he claims that he would kill a person every day until Batman reveals his identity,
actually ends up sending dead bodies to Batman. In another scene, Joker says that he would
perform a magic trick and make a pencil disappears and we see how he shoves a man’s head
into the pencil embedded into the table and makes the pencil disappear. A good leader needs
to deliver whatever has been committed by him/her verbally to gain trust and credibility. A
good leader walks his/her own talk.
Planning and Execution
A good and efficient leader is a meticulous planner and executor. Joker, in the movie, depicts
this trait of planning and executing his plans throughout the movie quite skilfully. The
sequence where he blows up Gotham General Hospital and transported the entire bus full of
frightened hostages to an empty building in the centre of Gotham without being seen by
anyone required careful planning and he executed it perfectly. When Batman figures out his
location, he dresses up the hostages as clowns and himself and his team as doctors to confuse
the police force when they would break in and shoot. In the last sequence, where he ties up
both Rachel and Harvey with bombs together in different places, he anticipated that Batman
would come and save Rachel and he would manage to escape the police through his planted
assassins at the precinct. A good leader plans well ahead and executes it perfectly to achieve
his/her goals.
"Why so serious?"
―The Joker mocking Gambol.

A good leader needs to not take himself/herself too seriously. If you have made a detailed
plan and motivated people to follow it but not allow people to have a laugh around you, you
are just an anarchist. Having a good sense of humour allows people, specially leaders to
navigate through difficult and stressful times A leader needs to ensure that there is an
environment where there is a space for occasional jokes/light moments without being too
uptight about it. We see how Joker enjoys painting at the museum, runs a parade of balloons,
and races an 18-wheels truck through the tunnel. He knows how to let himself free and enjoy
the moment.
Ability to motivate:
One of the best traits demonstrated by the Joker was his ability to motivate others. A great
leader similarly needs to motivate and inspire others to drive them towards a common
purpose and make them see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the movie, Joker interrupts a
mafia meeting and says, “I know why you have your group therapy sessions in broad
daylight…the Batman.” He understood that in order to operate their crime ring, the mafias
needed the Batman to be eliminated and hence he was able to motivate them towards his own
goal and have them on his side. A good leader needs to understand what his/her
followers/allies want and then motivate them towards a common purpose so that they would
perform even when the leader is not in the room.
Working in a team – trusting and delegating
A wise leader knows that not everything can be done by alone and needs a team to execute
the plan for achieving the set targets. A leader needs to trust the team members and
effectively delegate tasks to them to make the plan a success. The leader also needs to stand
by the team in difficult and stressful times and not desert them to be left on their own.
Joker uses the team very effectively to carry out his mischiefs. When he crashes Bruce
Wayne’s party, his crew hunts down Harvey. He could have just let his crew do the task but
instead he chooses to be a part of the exercise and shares the risks/rewards. In the scene
where Joker plans to plant explosives on both the ferries, he again uses his crew to carefully
execute the task. In the instance when Batman appears and starts beating his crew, the Joker
does not run away and instead helps his crew.
Fairness v/s Chance:
I don't leave anything up to chance, I make my own luck.
- Harvey Dent
Christopher Nolan has beautifully portrayed the theme that not everyone gets what they
deserve through the Trilogy. It was a matter of (bad) luck that Bruce Wayne’s parents were
killed and in order to seek justice/vengeance, he became Batman. He accepted his fate and
became hell-bent to make Gotham get rid of crimes and injustice. On the other hand, we see
how Harvey carried a double-headed coin and flipped it to make his decision claiming that he
makes own luck. However, when he is bombed and Rachel is killed owing to the Joker’s
random game of chance, he becomes the Two-Face and starts seeking revenge and begins to
flip an un-biased coin to decide the fate of others arbitrarily. He fails to accept his fate in
contrast to Batman and using random rules begins to live his life to seek justice for his
disfigurement and Rachel’s death. We see a stark contrast in how 2 individuals being
subjected to bad luck choose entirely different paths to seek justice. In real life, individuals
need to realise the factor of luck in their lives – both good and bad to understand that one’s
success is not entirely deserved, and that the failure of others is not entirely deserved either.

Anarchy vs Rules:
Across the first 2 movies in the Trilogy, we see how Gotham slips from being under
organized crime leaders Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni to under complete chaos and
anarchy being led by the Joker. Joker does not believe in set rules and norms and rather
would see the whole world be as chaotic as possible. He plants the seeds of disruption and
anarchy in Gotham when he burns piles of cash and bombs a hospital. His own decision-
making philosophy is without any set rules – he tosses a coin to make decisions. He is an
anarchist – does not like to follow rules and instead derives fun out of chaos and
uncertainties. On the other hand, we see how Commissioner Gordon and Rachel Dawes
always seek to be within rules in their fight for justice and eliminating crime from Gotham. It
is equally important to ponder about this in context to modern day organizations – should
there be an extent to which organizations should impose rules and restrictions to the
employees? Does excessive imposition of rules hinder innovation and creativity because
employees are expected to follow certain norms and rules? How should organizations (not
necessarily business) strike a balance between rules and “anarchy”?
Character Comparisons:
Rachel Dawes and Saint Joan
Rachel’s character traits are very similar to that of Saint Joan (Joan of Arc). Rachel was
visionary in how she wanted to get rid of crime from Gotham city. She was guided by her
passion to eliminate crime and she pursued her degree in law from Yale University and later
secured an internship with the DA’s office. She was also logical, intelligent, and practical and
tended to keep both Harvey and Bruce grounded and pragmatic in their approach. She
believed that Batman was guided by revenge that seeking justice for the people of Gotham.
She was the one who prevented Batman from revealing his identity when threatened by the
Joker. She also had self-conviction in whatever she believed – be it her tryst for eliminating
crime or be romantically involved with Harvey instead of Bruce because she could not take
Bruce leading dual personalities. She was also bold, fearless, and courageous in speaking her
mind and facing the crime lords of Gotham and didn’t hesitate to pick up a gun to protect
herself. All these traits could be directly compared with that of Joan of Arc that she
demonstrated in her pursuit of a united France – she fearlessly led the army in the Battle of
Orleans driven by her passion and goal and was self-convinced that she was meant to do so.
Joker and Chanakya
The traits of Joker could be compared to that of Chanakya in the sense that both of them were
master planners and executioners. Joker meticulously planned his mischiefs and executed
them with perfection with the help of his teams (mafia). Chanakya also similarly planned his
tactics with precision and carefully and used his messengers to execute them. Chanakya was
a visionary – wanted Rakshasa on his side as an aide to Chandragupta and went to unethical
measures to achieve his goal – valued ends over means. This is similar to how Joker was
determined to corrupt Batman and carried out several carefully planned mischiefs to attain his
goal (though he failed). He was an anarchist and chose to not follow any rules and norms and
rather led the Gotham city into total chaos. He valued ends over means just like Chanakya
did.