Continued from Baitman: Year One (Dostoevsky On the Price of Order)
Have Girard explore the mimetic rivalry (fomented by the supposedly helpful Owls) between reformist mayor Harvey Dent and a Bruce Wayne focused on training community protectors. Using Wayne’s lost wealth as the wedge, the Owls set them up to destroy each other, but Bruce’s sacrifice overcomes Dent’s paranoia to redeem him — and Gotham.
ChatGPT Prompt (condensed)
The final volume of the Baitman myth is its most revealing. If Year Zero dramatized mercy and Year One unveiled vengeance as sterile, then Year Two lays bare the mechanism that undergirds all human order: the scapegoat.
The Rivalry
The central drama is not between Bruce Wayne and the Court of Owls but between Bruce and Harvey Dent, the reformist mayor. Both men desire Gotham’s redemption, but desire does not remain solitary. It becomes mimetic. Each man sees in the other not merely a partner but a rival reflection.
- Dent, radiant and political, channels Gotham’s hope into reform.
- Bruce, scarred and secretive, channels its trauma into resilience.
The people compare them. They begin to compare themselves. Dent craves not just Gotham’s safety, but its recognition, its love. Bruce, too, is tempted: when the Owls offer him his lost Wayne fortune, seized long ago by Jonathan Crane, he feels for a moment the lure of wealth, legitimacy, and independence.
Here lies the perfect symmetry: each man is tempted to see the city not as end but as mirror of the self.
…each man is tempted to see the city not as end but as mirror of the self.
The Accusation
The Owls, masters of hidden violence, whisper into Dent’s insecurity: “He is not your ally. He uses you. He wants Gotham’s throne back. His scar is a mask for ambition.”
Dent lashes out in public: “Bruce Wayne never cared for Gotham. He cares only for the Wayne fortune, for his family name. He has used me, and he will use all of you.”
This is how the scapegoat accusation always works. It is never a pure lie. It is a half-truth. Bruce was tempted. He did sit at the Owls’ table. He did dream, if only for a moment, of reclaiming what was lost. The accusation sticks because it is close enough to sting.
The accusation sticks because it is close enough to sting.
The Trap
The Owls engineer their climax: an assassination attempt staged at a public rally. The plan is exquisite:
- Dent will be killed.
- Bruce will appear the assassin.
- Gotham will unite against the selfish heir who betrayed the city.
When the strike comes, Gotham sees what it expects: Bruce lunges at Dent, apparently confirming his jealousy and ambition. The crowd roars. The scapegoat mechanism closes.
The Sacrifice
But the truth is inverted. Bruce throws himself into the fire not to kill Dent but to save him. He takes the blow meant for his rival, the friend who betrayed him. He rejects the inheritance offered by the Owls. He dies reviled, mocked, condemned as the selfish heir who sought to reclaim his throne.
He takes the blow meant for his rival, the friend who betrayed him.
This is the mechanism in its purest form. The crowd believes it has expelled the cause of disorder. Gotham unites in condemning Bruce. His death restores civic harmony.
The Reversal
And yet, for once, the cycle is broken. Dent holds the decisive power. He can confirm the crowd’s judgment, cementing Bruce’s disgrace, or he can tell the truth.
In his moment of truth, Dent chooses otherwise. Scarred by guilt and humbled by sacrifice, he confesses:
“No. He was not my enemy. He was saving me. He bore the blow meant for me. The real traitors are the Owls.”
The scapegoat mechanism is unmasked. The lie is exposed. The violence that founded Gotham is revealed for what it is: not divine necessity, but human addiction to power and control.
The violence that founded Gotham is revealed for what it is: not divine necessity, but human addiction to power and control.
The Legacy
Bruce dies in disgrace, but the truth of his act spreads. His silence in the face of accusation, his refusal of inheritance, his sacrifice for a rival — these become Gotham’s new inheritance: hope, truth, forgiveness.
…these become Gotham’s new inheritance: hope, truth, forgiveness.
The Owls, addicted to control, are undone not by murder but by irrelevance. They cannot survive in a city that sees their mechanism exposed.
Dent, freed from rivalry, becomes whole. He leads not as savior but as servant. Gotham learns, at last, that redemption is not built on scapegoats but on forgiveness.
Gotham learns, at last, that redemption is not built on scapegoats but on forgiveness.
The Verdict
Year Two: Bat Among Owls is the most profound of the Baitman cycle because it reveals the very heart of myth. Bruce Wayne does not triumph as the flawless Batman. He dies as the scapegoat, guilty in appearance, innocent in truth, condemned by his rival yet vindicated by his sacrifice.
He dies as the scapegoat, guilty in appearance, innocent in truth, condemned by his rival yet vindicated by his sacrifice.
This is why the story feels biblical. For the first time in Gotham’s long history of violence, the scapegoat is not hidden but revealed. The cycle of envy is broken. Gotham inherits something greater than wealth or order: the memory of a scar that gave its life so the city might heal.
— ChatGPT as René Girard
Epilogue: The Baitman Cycle (How the Visible Wound Heals Gotham)
Radically Happy 
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