Tag: oswald cobblepot

nygmobbleblog:

littlehollyleaf:

roguepythia:

I love all the little discussion about Ed’s motivations in 4×14 and
whether he truly wanted to stop Oswald from calling him “Riddler”.

So
I thought I’d bring out some contrasting visuals. Rewatching Kristen’s
scene, I realized it has some striking similarities and contrasts to
4×14.

2×06: “Please don’t call me that!”

4×14: “No, please. Please don’t. PLEASE!”

interesting… yes, Ed did actively try (and succeed, yikes!) to shut Kristen up in a way he didn’t with Ozzie

…though the difference is that with Kristen Ed was, from the start, the assaulter and Kristen the victim?

with Ed and Ozzie this is flipped – Ed is the victim now and Ozzie is the one assaulting him, because even though Ozzie does ultimately back down from his physical attack, he’s still confronting Ed verbally in ways that seemingly make Ed afraid (however logical or illogical that fear might be) – oooh and whether Ozzie knows it or not, via his words/actions he is ‘shutting up’ a part of Ed, like Ed shut up Kristen…

…but Kristen and Ozzie are, with their words, forcing Ed to confront a side, or possible side, of himself he, ostensibly, doesn’t want to confront though – ie. the part of him that could be labelled ‘psychopath’ or ‘Riddler,’ so there is that in common to both… and while Ed’s reaction to the label ‘psychopath’ is violently negative, his reaction to the label ‘Riddler’ is more, nuanced I guess? Like, he absolutely doesn’t want to accept that he might be a psychopath, but part of him is happy and even longs to accept the mantle of ‘Riddler’ …because it’s an identity that paints his darker urges in a more positive light? he’s not a psychopath, he’s The Riddler…

(since we’re comparing the reunion scene to others, I still think there’s a bunch of compelling contrasts/comparisons to the scene with Izzy’s cosplay too, damn wish I could make gifs :p)

Well, and it’s not just that being Riddler paints his darker urges in a more positive light. He said as much to Fox, that he’s always felt like there was someone inside him who was smarter and stronger and more desirable, someone to be feared. He said as much to Oswald that first time too, that he has become a butterfly and can’t go back to being a caterpillar. He doesn’t just see that side of him as powerful, but beautiful too.

He actively seeks out becoming this person again post-ice all the way up until a nice, pretty woman tells him she likes him better without it. And he cares about her and doesn’t want to lose her friendship (or relationship, if you don’t think Riddler planted that thought too) so boom, he splits off again. Riddler only appears when Ed needs to shove part of himself down, the part of him that is so powerful and that he wants to be so badly that it literally can’t be contained and explodes out of him like a bomb in a fist.

So yes, I definitely think Ed had both the means and the motivation to shut Oswald up the way he shut Kristen up. It’s not like he hasn’t tried to kill him 925483 different ways already, and it isn’t like Ed didn’t have the physical upper hand, and it’s not even like he froze completely. He sprang into action the second Oswald started threatening to say the name, and Oswald didn’t have a grip on him, Ed is the one who grabbed Oswald as opposed to leaving or reacting the way he did with Kristen. Because I think you’re absolutely right. It’s not that he himself doesn’t want to be the Riddler, doesn’t want Oswald to validate that he’s the Riddler. If Lee hadn’t inadvertently turned Ed against being the Riddler, it’s still something Ed would have been actively seeking out.