DUCARD
If you make yourself more than just a man,
if you devote yourself to an ideal,
and if they can't stop you,
then you become
something else entirely.
WAYNE
Which is?
DUCARD
Legend, Mr. Wayne.
***
WAYNE
People need dramatic examples to shake them
out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne.
As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored,
I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I
can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.
As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored,
I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I
can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.
***
RA'S AL GHUL
You...fought the decadence of Gotham
for years with all your strength, all your
resources, all your moral authority, and
the only victory you could achieve was a lie.
***
To become a symbol
requires renouncing
all in order to regain all;
we receive the world
as a gift when we
have renounced
the world as
our possession.
In addition,
the human condition
being perfect purgatory,
justice requires its
opposite to be fulfilled,
which is why the Dark
Knight had to be
blamed for the
crimes of Harvey
Two-Face.
Similarly, one
could make the case
that the true Christ needs
to be veiled as Antichrist
to enact the will of God,
just as the Egyptian god
Set needs to be demonised
in order that his twin
brother Horus
be hallowed.
Addendum:
Perfect World
In a perfect
world, Bruce
Wayne would
serve Thomas
Wayne and answer
to Martha Wayne.