Scarecrow Sequences (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
At the heart of Batman’s reputation lies fear. Bruce Wayne is a man who turned the childhood trauma of falling down a well and being frightened by a flock of bats into his greatest ally. His costume is meant to give the appearance that he’s a terrifying bloodsucker of the night, and his reliance on shadows makes crooks pee their pants when they see those white eyes in the darkness. The name “Batman” is a reflection of this as well; as Christian Bale puts it in Batman Begins, “Bats frighten me. It’s time my enemies shared my dread.”
Johnathan Crane also uses fear to his advantage. Whereas Batman uses it to toy with his victims on an emotional and physical level, the Scarecrow uses it psychologically. His Fear Toxin can turn even the strongest man into a crying mess in mere moments, and if multiple people are around when the Toxin goes off, they’ll see their own fears and tear each other to bits. Even worse is when someone high on the Toxin looks at Crane in the eyes as he’s donned his Scarecrow visage. Don’t do that, because it’ll just screw with your head even more, mate.
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, players get an idea of what it’s like to be high on Crane’s Toxin not one, but three times, each one more of a mindbender than the last. The first one is the least horrifying, since it only shows Commissioner Gordon dying and the corpses of his dead parents talking. Second time around, the memories of the dead parents come much more into the forefront, as the player walks around as young Bruce Wayne, listening to the night his parents died (and the first time he met Gordon).
The final hallucination is the most infamous and damaging of them all, starting with a glitch that made everyone think the game had suddenly crapped out on them. Afterwards, players have to go through the opening of the game again, but in the Joker’s boots as Batman is carted to his cell. It’s definitely the most cerebral of the three sequences, and the Caped Crusader’s anguished declaration of “Cut me free!” drives home the feeling of helplessness even further. Scarecrow is returning in Arkham Knight, and with Batman being the reason his face is half ripped to hell, it’s a safe bet that some hellish hallucinations await our hero.
