Arkham Shadow challenges the villain's lore and reinforces it

Major story spoilers for
Batman: Arkham Shadow
first.

Batman: Arkham Shadow continues its premise of highlighting the lesser-known supervillains that have long been talked about in the Arkhamverse. In this way, characters such as Otis Flannegan's Pied Piper or Arnold Wesker's Ventriloquist are emphasized and modified. However, Batman: Arkham Shadow it also shines a bat-like light on high-profile villains, and does so with characterizations that are highly unprecedented.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel, for example, proves to be tremendously sympathetic to the patients at Blackgate's group therapy sessions, while the Rat King is none other than District Attorney Harvey Dent—whether he knows it or not. Harvey becoming Two-Face in the Arkhamverse has always been known. But even though there were references to who threw the acid that scarred him, Shadow makes an amazing case for why Harvey didn't recall the memory as clearly as he might have believed.

Batman: Arkham Shadow's Two-Face Treatment slightly reinterprets his previously established story

Because Batman: Arkham Shadow depicts Two-Face's origin story – brief and abrupt as it is – and was meant to adapt what little had previously been circulated about Harvey Dent in previous Arkham games. For example, the first of three partitions Batman: Arkham KnightTwo-Face Most Wanted's side mission, “Two-Faced Bandit”, takes place at the Bank of Gotham in Chinatown. Once players have successfully eliminated all henchmen, a menacing coin toss voice will appear on the PA system to note:

“You remember the crowd, right? The guys who burned half our faces because they DIDN'T GET TO YOU?'

In fact, all previous evidence in the Arkhamverse suggests that one of Carmine Falcone's associates was the one who threw the acid on Harvey, and yet ShadowA depiction of the event reveals that the reality of the situation is apparently much more bizarre. The culprit, with a hint of irony, is twofold: technically it was a mistake as Dr. Both Jonathan Crane and Bruce Wayne, as it was Crane's acid that was deflected by Bruce, who happened to be on trial disguised as Irving “Matches” Malone. . So technically it was at least partially the fault of Falcone's associate, since Malone was in league with Carmine.

Additionally, as Bane's long-term memory is severely affected by his overdose of TN-1 Venom Batman: Arkham OriginsDr. Leslie Thompkins brushes off any possible retcon by stating that, as a side effect of his dissociative identity disorder, Harvey's “memory of what happened seems to be fading with each new day”.

Harvey is completely unaware of his double life as the Rat King Batman: Arkham Shadowand in retrospect it would make sense if he was also deeply confused by what happened during the skirmish that resulted in his entire left half being melted by acid. This is also a neat way to explain why neither Harvey Dent nor Two-Face remember Bruce Wayne taking off his hood in front of them.

Batman: Arkham Shadow's Harvey Dent/Two-Face/Rat King is an unreliable narrator

After the arrest of
Knight
if the players have already imprisoned the Scarecrow and left Batman's identity revealed to the world, Harvey comments on his understanding of Batman as a completely different personality or fabrication, something he can clearly relate to as someone suffering from dissociative identity disorder: “You're Not Bruce Wayne . Jim Gordon and I didn't agree with Bruce Wayne.”

Shadow this demarcation is clear as day, not only between Batman and Bruce, but Malone as well. So even if Harvey had known or suspected Bruce was Batman all along, it might not have made any difference.

There is a poetic tragedy in how Harvey and Two-Face can obscure each other's facts and beliefs, leading to endless unreliability in their perception of reality. Really, Batman: Arkham Shadow doesn't end with a boss fight and instead ends on a tender and somber note, which retroactively makes Two-Face a phenomenal villain, despite his relatively basic interpretations in Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight.