Jerome Valeska

Jerome Cicero Valeska was a deranged, mass murderer and anarchist. He was the more vengeful and chaotic twin brother of the obsessive and methodical anarchist mastermind, Jeremiah Valeska.

Born and raised in Haly's Circus, Jerome murdered his mother roughly at the age of eighteen, which led to his arrest and incarceration at Arkham Asylum. Following a breakout with other inmates orchestrated by Theo Galavan, he became the leader of The Maniax and wreaked chaos upon the city. This later led to his betrayal and murder at Galavan's hands, although his death brought about an underground movement devoted to him and his way of thinking.

Jerome was later resurrected from the dead by a follower, allowing him to once again reign terror upon Gotham City. Jerome grew an obsession with Bruce Wayne and the idea of killing him but was stopped and was re-incarcerated in Arkham once more. After Sofia Falcone defeated Oswald Cobblepot, he got sent to Arkham where he met Jerome. Jerome was shown to have full control of Arkham and could escape at any time, however, he says that he wants to make a show of his escape - further displaying the extent of his 'showman complex'. However, he would soon escape with his new allies and fellow inmates Jervis Tetch and Jonathan Crane. This alliance later evolved into the Legion of Horribles, reinforced with Oswald Cobblepot, Mr. Freeze, Firefly and Solomon Grundy, which operated with the goal to drive Gotham City into madness according to a plan by Jerome, while he promised the other members to rule the city after its downfall. On Jerome's request, Scarecrow therefore developed the dangerous Laughing Toxin that Valeska wanted to spread across the city with a blimp. Shortly after, it came to an ultimate showdown between Gordon and Jerome on the top of a building, in which Valeska got shot, only for him to fall, leading to his life hanging in the balance, as he was able to hold on to a pipe sticking off the building. Even though Gordon reached out and tried to save Jerome, the young villain stated that his legacy will live on in Gotham City before letting himself fall to his second and final death instead of having his life saved by Gordon, laughing all along the way down.

However, Jerome knew that his terror over Gotham did not end with his death, which made it easier for him to accept his fate and die with the confidence that his plans will succeed in the end. Though the potential disaster from the blimp filled with laughing gas was averted by the Penguin, Jerome's ultimate revenge was actually more inconspicuous in form of a jack-in-the-box filled with a special laughing gas that he had his allies deposit in Jeremiah Valeska's secret bunker. When Jerome's brother unsuspectingly opened it, he got sprayed by the laughing gas and as a result, Jeremiah began to act out, smiling and laughing unnaturally as the gas turned his skin pale white and his lips red.

Jerome is an utterly remorseless, unpredictable, ruthless, manipulative and psychopathic person who deeply enjoys needless acts of violence and chaos. While he initially acted as a regular person, crying over his mothers death and being polite to others, he showed his true colours once Jim Gordon deduced he had killed his mother. Unlike most criminals, Jerome does not care about organized crime or profiting from his crimes, he simply wishes to cause as much chaos and violence as possible. He was shown to be a new class of criminal, one who killed who he wanted, and did what he wanted with no overall motive other than making Gotham crazier than it was.

Jerome is a showman; whereas most criminals would work from the shadows and conceal their crimes, he often broadcasted the carnage and violence he would inflict through his crimes, and he would always have a theatricality to his insanity. Jerome desired to create a legacy for himself, no matter how cruel or corrupt, and he shows sadistic pleasure at the prospect of being remembered as a curse upon Gotham. His cruelty and remorseless nature was also shown by the fact that he killed most of his family members, never once hesitating when he had the chance to. It should be noted that Jerome’s family members had abused him throughout his childhood which resulted in a lack of emotional family bonds. This lack of familial attachment and negative experiences are likely the reason he didn't hesitate to kill them, or show remorse after ending their lives.

Despite his ruthless and psychopathic nature, Jerome is capable of making allies and alliances. This is best shown through his leadership of the Maniax before his death, leading a cult that worshipped him after he was resurrected, taking over Arkham Asylum, and leading the Legions of Horribles. However, his only loyalty is to himself, as he would frequently kill his allies or followers if he felt they had outlived their usefulness, let him down, or if he was simply in a bad mood. He did show true respect to Theo Galavan, seeing him as a mentor due to his belief in him, though this respect was later shattered after Galavan killed him, and he was brought back to life, wishing to kill him. Though he initially seemed to have a positive relationship with his father, shown by the fact the man willingly helped him to hide his mothers body, Jerome showed the same disregard for others towards him, eventually killing him and framing him as part of Jerome and the Maniax's escape from Arkham.

In certain instances, Jerome seemed to also have the capacity to spare some of his former opponents for unknown reasons despite having the time and opportunity to kill or torture them. When Jerome was brought back to life he killed the person in charge of inspecting his body, yet he spared Lee Thompkins from any harm after a long discussion about what had been happening to Gotham in the time that he had been 'dead'. It is possible that Jerome may have had other ulterior motives for doing so, perhaps believing that Lee's continued conflict with Gordon would distract and take its toll on the detective.

Jerome was also shown to have a disregard for his own safety, shown when he pulled the trigger on himself three times during a game of russian roulette, and allowing himself to fall to his death instead of letting Jim Gordon save him. He was also highly sadistic and even masochistic, as he enjoyed inflicting pain and had no problem receiving it himself.

After he was brought back to life, Jerome was shown to be even more ruthless, cruel and psychotic. He wished to bring all of Gotham's citizens down to his level, describing how "we could all go insane with just one bad day". However, Jerome also showed a reflective side to himself during this time, as he admitted that no one ever helped him, though he was quick to taunt Bruce for helping him and letting him almost get killed by the man he had saved him from. He would also claim to Jeremiah that their mother gave up on him once he was hidden away, and that she had been 'poisoned by your stories.' This indicates that, while he would always have been ruthless and insane, Jerome may have had a chance at being normal if his family life had been different, though he did not seem to pay much attention to these musings, and instead embraced his insanity.

In his last days, Jerome showed some twisted affection towards his brother: although he threatened to kill him, and did assault him during their last confrontation, he tried to encourage Jeremiah to embrace his hidden insanity as Jerome had, and to no longer hide it. He also showed that he had no problem with dying a second time, as he willingly fell to his own death, laughing as he did so.

Jerome has committed matricide, patricide, avunculicide, suicide, and threatened fratricide.