Amadeus Arkham
Encyclopedia
Amadeus Arkham is a fictional character
in DC Comics
' Batman
comic books, in which he was the founder of Arkham Asylum
, an institution for the criminally insane. He debuted in 1989 in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
. The story is interspersed with flashbacks to Arkham founder Amadeus Arkham's life and childhood. These flashbacks reveal that he was inspired to become a psychiatrist because of his mother's mental illness.
establishes that the Asylum was named after Elizabeth Arkham, the mother of founder Amadeus Arkham. The original name of the asylum was Arkham Hospital. Its dark history began in the early 1900s when Arkham's mother, having suffered from mental illness
most of her life, committed suicide
. (It was later revealed that her son actually euthanized
her, and repressed the memory.) Amadeus Arkham decided, then, as the sole heir to the Arkham estate, to remodel his family home in order to properly treat the mentally ill, so others might not suffer as his mother had. Prior to the period of the hospital's remodeling, Arkham treated patients at the State Psychiatric Hospital in Metropolis
, where he and his wife, Constance, and daughter, Harriet, had been living for quite some time.
Upon telling his family of his plans, they moved back to his family home to oversee the remodeling. While there, Arkham received a call from the police notifying him that serial killer
Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins — referred to Arkham by Metropolis Penitentiary while at State Psychiatric Hospital — had escaped from prison, and sought his considered opinion on the murderer's state of mind. Shortly afterward, Arkham returned to his home to find his front door wide open. Inside, he discovered the rape
d and mutilated bodies of his daughter and wife in an upstairs room, with Hawkins' nickname carved on Harriet's body.
The shock of the murders brings back the memory of killing his mother. For many years Elizabeth suffered delusions that she was being tormented by a supernatural creature, and would call to her son to protect her. One day, however, he finally sees what his mother saw - a great bat, a spectre of death. Taking a pearl-handled straight razor from his pocket, he cuts his mother's throat to end her suffering. He then blocks out the memory, and attributes her death to suicide.
Traumatized, Amadeus puts on his mother's wedding dress and takes out the pearl-handled razor. Kneeling in the blood of his family, he vows to bind the evil spirit of "The Bat", which he believes inhabits the house, through ritual and sorcery. He treats Hawkins for months until finally electrocuting him in a shock therapy
session. This incident is treated as an accident by the authorities. Soon after, Arkham freefalls into madness. He continues his mission even after he is incarcerated in the Asylum himself; he scratches the words of the binding spell into the walls and floor of his cell with his fingernails until the day he dies.
Dr. Cavendish, another doctor in the asylum, believes he is a reincarnation of Amadeus and frees the inmates. Towards the end of the story he takes another doctor, Dr. Adams, hostage, dresses himself in the dress of Amadeus's mother, and relates Arkham's history to Batman before attempting to strangle Batman. Dr. Adams saves Batman by killing Cavendish with the same razor Amadeus used to kill his mother.
Amadeus's role in creating the asylum, Mad Dog's history with Amadeus, and Amadeus's murder of Mad Dog and descent into madness, have become canon, and are the origin of Arkham Asylum in all incarnations of the asylum since.
voiced by Tom Kane
. The spirit of Arkham is unlocked by scanning several tablets scattered around Arkham, supposedly by Amadeus himself. They retell the story of Amadeus murdering his mother, the death of wife and daughter by Mad Dog, Mad Dog's death at the hands of Arkham's guards, and finally Amadeus' descent into madness. It is hinted (and later confirmed) that Warden Quincy Sharp, who believes that he is Amadeus reincarnated, is responsible for the messages as evidenced by his attempts to kill Poison Ivy, Killer Croc
, the Joker, and Harley Quinn
being recorded onto the tablets. While there is no knowledge as to how he attempted to kill them, Sharp mentions his plans to lobotomize Harley and attempt to kill Joker in his sleep, which is thwarted by the Scarecrow
. If Batman scans all the tablets and comes back to the security office where he left Quincy Sharp, he will find in his place a final message telling Batman to continue his work.
In Batman: Arkham City, it is revealed that Sharp's delusions of being Arkham's reincarnation were the result of drugs and hypnotherapy delivered by Dr. Hugo Strange
, with the help of The Mad Hatter. Scanning items related to certain inmates reveal that Sharp had treated the inmates abusively, notably by locking the Mad Hatter in the physically lowest cell in the Asylum with the clear intent of him never getting out (whether he meant to kill him is unclear), and again trying to murder Poison Ivy by locking her in a cell and letting her die of her Titan overdose caused by the Joker, only for a priest covered in pollen to give Ivy the needed ingredients from the pollen to heal herself. Listening to the Blackgate
inmates shows that some of them are aware of Sharp's inhumane treatments towards his patients (having occasionally been victims themselves), as well as Sharp often murdering his patients.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' Batman
Batman (comic book)
Batman is an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics hero of the same name. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27, published in May 1939. Batman proved to be so popular that a self-titled ongoing comic book series began publication in the spring of 1940...
comic books, in which he was the founder of Arkham Asylum
Arkham Asylum
The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, commonly referred to simply as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital in the DC Comics Universe, usually appearing in stories featuring Batman...
, an institution for the criminally insane. He debuted in 1989 in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is a Batman graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean. It was originally published in the United States in both hardcover and softcover editions by DC Comics in 1989...
. The story is interspersed with flashbacks to Arkham founder Amadeus Arkham's life and childhood. These flashbacks reveal that he was inspired to become a psychiatrist because of his mother's mental illness.
Fictional character biography
The one-shot graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious EarthArkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is a Batman graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean. It was originally published in the United States in both hardcover and softcover editions by DC Comics in 1989...
establishes that the Asylum was named after Elizabeth Arkham, the mother of founder Amadeus Arkham. The original name of the asylum was Arkham Hospital. Its dark history began in the early 1900s when Arkham's mother, having suffered from mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
most of her life, committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. (It was later revealed that her son actually euthanized
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
her, and repressed the memory.) Amadeus Arkham decided, then, as the sole heir to the Arkham estate, to remodel his family home in order to properly treat the mentally ill, so others might not suffer as his mother had. Prior to the period of the hospital's remodeling, Arkham treated patients at the State Psychiatric Hospital in Metropolis
Metropolis (comics)
Metropolis is a fictional city that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is the home of Superman. Metropolis first appeared by name in Action Comics #16 ....
, where he and his wife, Constance, and daughter, Harriet, had been living for quite some time.
Upon telling his family of his plans, they moved back to his family home to oversee the remodeling. While there, Arkham received a call from the police notifying him that serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins — referred to Arkham by Metropolis Penitentiary while at State Psychiatric Hospital — had escaped from prison, and sought his considered opinion on the murderer's state of mind. Shortly afterward, Arkham returned to his home to find his front door wide open. Inside, he discovered the rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and mutilated bodies of his daughter and wife in an upstairs room, with Hawkins' nickname carved on Harriet's body.
The shock of the murders brings back the memory of killing his mother. For many years Elizabeth suffered delusions that she was being tormented by a supernatural creature, and would call to her son to protect her. One day, however, he finally sees what his mother saw - a great bat, a spectre of death. Taking a pearl-handled straight razor from his pocket, he cuts his mother's throat to end her suffering. He then blocks out the memory, and attributes her death to suicide.
Traumatized, Amadeus puts on his mother's wedding dress and takes out the pearl-handled razor. Kneeling in the blood of his family, he vows to bind the evil spirit of "The Bat", which he believes inhabits the house, through ritual and sorcery. He treats Hawkins for months until finally electrocuting him in a shock therapy
Shock therapy
Shock therapy or shock treatment may refer to:* A form of aversion therapy in which an electric shock is used as a negative stimulus* Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock, a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anaesthetized patients for therapeutic effect*...
session. This incident is treated as an accident by the authorities. Soon after, Arkham freefalls into madness. He continues his mission even after he is incarcerated in the Asylum himself; he scratches the words of the binding spell into the walls and floor of his cell with his fingernails until the day he dies.
Dr. Cavendish, another doctor in the asylum, believes he is a reincarnation of Amadeus and frees the inmates. Towards the end of the story he takes another doctor, Dr. Adams, hostage, dresses himself in the dress of Amadeus's mother, and relates Arkham's history to Batman before attempting to strangle Batman. Dr. Adams saves Batman by killing Cavendish with the same razor Amadeus used to kill his mother.
Amadeus's role in creating the asylum, Mad Dog's history with Amadeus, and Amadeus's murder of Mad Dog and descent into madness, have become canon, and are the origin of Arkham Asylum in all incarnations of the asylum since.
In other media
The spirit of Dr. Amadeus Arkham was featured in Batman: Arkham AsylumBatman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a 2009 action-adventure stealth video game based on DC Comics' Batman developed for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment...
voiced by Tom Kane
Tom Kane
Tom Kane is a prominent American voice actor with over 25 years of experience. He is most widely known for his animation work...
. The spirit of Arkham is unlocked by scanning several tablets scattered around Arkham, supposedly by Amadeus himself. They retell the story of Amadeus murdering his mother, the death of wife and daughter by Mad Dog, Mad Dog's death at the hands of Arkham's guards, and finally Amadeus' descent into madness. It is hinted (and later confirmed) that Warden Quincy Sharp, who believes that he is Amadeus reincarnated, is responsible for the messages as evidenced by his attempts to kill Poison Ivy, Killer Croc
Killer Croc
Killer Croc is a comic book supervillain in the DC Universe, an enemy of Batman. Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Gene Colan, while there was a shadowy cameo in Detective Comics #523 , his actual first appearance is credited to Batman #357 , which is also the first appearance of Jason...
, the Joker, and Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn was first introduced as a villain on September 11, 1992, in the animated series Batman: The Animated Series, later adapted into DC Comics' Batman comic books. As suggested by her name , she is clad in the manner of a traditional harlequin jester...
being recorded onto the tablets. While there is no knowledge as to how he attempted to kill them, Sharp mentions his plans to lobotomize Harley and attempt to kill Joker in his sleep, which is thwarted by the Scarecrow
Scarecrow (comics)
The Scarecrow is a fictional character, a supervillain, that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane...
. If Batman scans all the tablets and comes back to the security office where he left Quincy Sharp, he will find in his place a final message telling Batman to continue his work.
In Batman: Arkham City, it is revealed that Sharp's delusions of being Arkham's reincarnation were the result of drugs and hypnotherapy delivered by Dr. Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange
Professor Hugo Strange is a fictional comic book supervillain appearing in books published by DC Comics, as an adversary of Batman. He first appeared in Detective Comics #36 , and is one of Batman's first recurring villains, preceding the Joker and Catwoman by several months...
, with the help of The Mad Hatter. Scanning items related to certain inmates reveal that Sharp had treated the inmates abusively, notably by locking the Mad Hatter in the physically lowest cell in the Asylum with the clear intent of him never getting out (whether he meant to kill him is unclear), and again trying to murder Poison Ivy by locking her in a cell and letting her die of her Titan overdose caused by the Joker, only for a priest covered in pollen to give Ivy the needed ingredients from the pollen to heal herself. Listening to the Blackgate
Blackgate Penitentiary
Blackgate Penitentiary is a fictional prison depicted in the DC Universe, traditionally located on a small island in the Gotham Bay, Gotham City...
inmates shows that some of them are aware of Sharp's inhumane treatments towards his patients (having occasionally been victims themselves), as well as Sharp often murdering his patients.