@ apex legends let me write the lore
the al ghuls’ whole thing is supposed to be protecting endangered exotic species of animals etc so i really think that talia (arab princess-adjacent that she is) would definitely have falcons for falconry especially bc it’s literally part of her heritage
commissions
What are your guys thoughts on the Al Ghuls having a connection to magic/potentially being magic users themselves? Do you prefer the scientific approach to Lazarus, or the magical side? Would you like to see Damian, Talia, Ra’s, or Jason have some sort of magic as a result of their connection to the Lazarus magic?
Personally, I wish DC would do more with it. I think there’s a way to give them a slight magic connection without it making them over powered. The idea that the dramatic use of Lazarus has made it bind with their blood and thus always with them is so interesting.
The way I think about it is just that Ra’s was more in tune with the scientific side of things, sticking with more grounded realistic ideologies, which makes his disconnect with magic very realistic. Thus Talia would be rather uninformed about that side of things until much later in her life. I really want to focus on her exploration of magic in the story I’m writing, hopefully that’s something people will be interested in seeing!
ALSO! Do you guys prefer Talia to use traditional weapons like swords, bow/arrows, etc or do you prefer her original choice of guns? I genuinely like to see a mix of them all, but I sort of prefer the traditional weaponry, despite my having drawn her with guns a few times. I think it shows how she has become more ingrained into the league over the years.
Lighthearted Talia hcs rq
Her public image is drastically different from what is known underground. To most, she is seen as a figure of royalty. Daughter to the leader of a mysterious country. Equivalent in popularity to a real life royal, like Rania Al Abdullah. Much more popular in Africa/Middle east/Asia than the Americas, so when she’s over there on a public outing with Bruce Wayne people are often unaware of her status. Though the way she carries herself is certainly a tell, as everything she does is done with an air of regalia. Of course every world leader has secrets that few actually know.
Talia is a philanthropist through and through. She dedicates time and money to various projects that work towards a better world. She is often traveling the world rather than staying in one place because of the amount of sanctuaries she needs to check in on. She’ll often invite Bruce to these places for romantic getaways.
She is a Jack of all trades. Her intellect matches her strength, she’s witty and flirty, but stoic and serious when she needs to be. A master of traditional and modern weaponry and fighting styles (a more in-depth analysis of this coming soon.)
She goes against traditions much more than Ra’s. Where he strictly only uses weaponry like swords, Talia stays strapped when she needs to be. Where he almost always wears cultural clothing, Talia switches styles often.
My Talia is tall, like 6ft but always in heels because she can pull it off. So she’s practically Bruce’s height most of the time. She does love to look down at him.
I thoroughly enjoy the comparisons of Talia to Morticia Addams with Bruce being Gomez and Damian being Wednesday. It is very much canon to me. I love when Batman is written as a super simp because some of his old comics with Talia or so sweetly written and their interactions are so cute.
I’m hard right now
bloodhound may have picked up some phrases from walter
ape sex legends
I thought about Lifeline with her hair down and got killed on the spot by my own heart
DC gals
I saw the comments you left under some of my posts and I love them. Do you have any more Talia and Brutalia headcanons?
I always do!! And I will be posting tons of hcs as I post my writings and art here down the line. I come up with them on a whim usually so I’ll just say the ones I’ve been pondering lately!
Also, I’m so sorry if I was spamming you 😭 I was scrolling Brutalia tag in the middle of the night and didn’t realize that like half the most recent posts were you!!
To start, I’ve been thinking about the Lazarus pits a lot lately. Especially everything between Talia and Nyssa, and the effects and details of her brainwashing. It is a confusing timeline that I’m trying my hardest to piece together, but it seems like DC has sort of just pushed that to the back of their minds? Which is unfortunate, honestly, because if they wanted a true villain Nyssa would have been the clear answer. Instead, we ended up with evil Talia for seemingly no reason… until that black Pearl stuff showed up, and then also disappeared.
The timeline I’ve pieced together, loosely, is made with an effort to stay as true to canon as possible while also keeping away from the extremely ooc writing. I want to find a way to keep in that brief moment of freedom she had when she was running LexCorp, as well as her journey toward becoming a mother. Which I will detail a bit now, because I love to think of Talia’s relationship with motherhood!
Talia has always loved children dearly. However, the idea of being a mother herself was always sort of scary. She’d lost her own mother when she was young, and never really had a clear example of how to mother a child aside from distant memories. (I can detail my hcs about her relationship with her mother soon as well, bc those are some that I hold close to my heart.)
It wasn’t until she’d been with Bruce for a while and spent enough time around Jason that she began to feel that ‘maternal pang’ so to speak. Jason is such a bright eyed child with so much potential, and each moment she’s spent around him she only seems to like him more and more. Bruce tells her not to spoil him so much but she can’t help it! Her relationship with Bruce and Jason give her a small amount of hope for a more normal life away from the league, though she is not yet at the stage where she would be able to fully leave her father.
When Jason died, it hit her like a truck. She’d distanced herself from Bruce at that time, thinking that her presence would only cause more trouble for them if the rest of the league suspected her of defecting. So she hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye, or try to make things right. She brings him back for Bruce’s sake, but for her sake as well. She would have ordered the Jokers head if she could have, but she couldn’t directly cross Bruce in such a way. If Jason’s death would ever be avenged, she knew he’d have to do it himself.
Talia doesn’t just raise him from the dead and train him right away. She spends a long time nursing him back to health, taking baby steps with him. She has some of the best doctors in the world taking care of him, and when he shows the signs of being ready, then she starts his training. She doesn’t train him with hopes that he will be a killing machine. She tries to teach him responsibility, and good judgement. She tries to right the wrongs that have been committed against him as much as she can. And then he’s gone.
This is where the timeline is a bit iffy. I’m wondering if Damian would have been born at that time or not? Would he have been incredibly young? In my head, it does make sense for him to be born by then. Talia distances herself from Bruce and Jason not only for their safety, but because of the series of miscarriages she’d had in her effort to have a child with Bruce. All were kept a secret from him, except the first. She was ashamed and depressed for so long because of it. After a few tries, she’d gotten desperate enough to run back to her father for help. The Lazarus helped her birth Damian, a perfectly healthy baby, finally. But with everything that happened, it felt unfair to return to Bruce with a baby out of nowhere.
I could sit here and ramble about this for hours and hours but I’m unfortunately very busy today. Please stay tuned and I’ll continue with more of these ramblings when I can. Thank you for asking! Please give your opinions on what I’ve written, because none of my hcs are set in stone and I would love to hear if I’ve gotten something completely wrong. Although it should absolutely be noted that the version of Talia I’m writing isn’t directly related to canon. :)
Teuta Matoshi ‘Flourishing Meadow’ Haute Couture Collection
weekend warm up of some kind of mother+son secret mission team up but idk how to render it so here's the archived sketch (for now?)
(edit: whoops this was meant to upload on @arkhamochi my bad)