How Would You Characterize Tim Drake, Quirks And All?

How would you characterize Tim Drake, quirks and all?

I’ve been having an IDENTITY CRISIS trying to figure this boy out because I think I kin him but then I’m like “but do I really know him though? Is my knowledge on him REALLY enough to Kin him?

I don’t want to bother you or anything! Im just curious to see if maybe from your response it can validate me LMAO.

Oh my dear lovely anon, you came to the right place. Tim Drake breathes and I kin it with all of my being.

Either way, I've been analyzing his character for the past two years through fanon and what comics I can get my hands on and this is kinda what I know so far.

Hope you enjoy.

To really understand Tim's character you have to look at his childhood. Now, in canon, his parents are neglectful at times but they aren't as bad as fanon likes to portray them. In both, Tim is usually left on his own in either a mental/emotional or physical state. He learned very early on that his parents are role models and authority figures, not caregivers or emotional support. So he grew up to value independence to an extreme extent.

Relying on people is a gamble but relying on himself is always secure. He's the kind of kid who will ask the teacher if he can do a group project alone because he knows he'll get an A that way and will avoid the drama of teammates. Tim flies solo extremely often half because its easier and half because the boy has trust issues.

One thing unpredictable parents gives you is paranoia, and this boy has it in loads. He's slow to trust because again, people are a gamble. He has a million backup plans but people are unpredictable and still stump him sometimes. Even within his own family, Tim feels out of place. He's caught in a constant state of "waiting for the second shoe to drop". It's a nasty habit but every time people make plans with him he'll never expect them to follow through.

Tim is incredibly secretive, enough that he has and will lie to his teammates and even Batman himself. He is often seen as the smart "perfect Robin" (think Ravenclaw) when really, Tim is the most cunning and tactical of any of them. Tim will do whatever is necessary for the sake of the mission and for the sake of lives. He will play dirty. Think Lawful Chaotic: he has a set of moral rules but no one can figure them out. He's a Slytherin through and through, he's resourceful and incredibly conniving.

That being said, the poor kid is traumatized, depressed, and starved for affection. It may take years to gain his trust but once that trust is given, Tim is the most loyal person on the planet. He will fight for the people he loves and will destroy the world making sure they stay safe. He never gives up when there's still a chance, even if its infinitesimal, Tim will fight like it's a certainty.

It may seem like Tim sucks at partnerships but his loyalty and cunningness makes him one of the best partners to have on a team. The Core Four is a true testament to how much Tim's habits change when it comes to the people he loves. He is adaptable and will be whatever you need him to be. Yet, that comes with a price as well.

See, Tim only ever receives love after being useful. His parents gave him praise after achieving something or being a good Drake model---something that was useful to them and not an actual Tim trait. Tim finds a loving home only after becoming a stand-in Robin. This typically manifests in Tim constantly needing to feel needed or useful in some way, shape, or form.

He's a team leader not only because he finds it hard to delegate tasks to people (trust issues) but because he finds security in people relying on him. Tim will stress himself out to the brink just so he can continue to be useful to the people around him. If you asked him to list his favorite traits about himself that didn't have to do with pleasing others, you'll stump him. The second he isn't useful all his insecurities and paranoia will fester until he pushes people who love him away.

With all these mental blocks, it comes as no surprise that Tim has terrible self-esteem. The Red Robin series makes it painfully obvious how little Tim cares for his life, he'll pawn it off if it'll advance a case. He's cautious and strategic about his attacks, yet reckless and self-sacrificing at the same time. He has little regard for himself because no ones ever proven otherwise.

At the end of the day he's prized for his intellect the most and that's what he's notorious for. He's the "smart" Robin. And while that is true, with earning Ra's respect and managing to pull off the entire Red Robin run, that does dismantle a lot of the other Robin's intelligence. Tim is smart, but so is literally every other Robin. Tim however, is calculating. Tim's intellect is precise and strategic. He is the dumbest idiot alive but he has a plan for everything, he can predict the smallest things and read people through and through. He's great at chess and monopoly because he can predict his opponents and plan far in advance, but the second you make him play something on the Wii like bowling or the airplane game, he's terribly stupid. Considering his lack of interest in school, he relies more heavily on street smarts and his heightened common sense.

Tim tries to know a little about everything but accidentally hyper fixates on one thing, so if you happen to bring it up, he'll talk your ear off. It makes him seem super smart but he's really just a bored nerd with too much unmonitored access to the internet.

He can be serious at times without meaning too because he doesn't like to waste too much of his time. He thinks time is precious and every second matters, that's why he spends so much time working rather than doing anything else. Robin gave him something to work towards, made him useful and his life worth living, he needs it. When it was taken from him it was crushing so he'll do anything to make sure he can stay in this line of work. Once again, feeling the need to prove himself to those around him instead of trusting that he is loved unconditionally.

But he really is a goofball. He's a nerd at the end of the day, a very tired, busy nerd, but a nerd nonetheless. He has passions and hobbies and will geek out over anything that's related to those things. He's funny and charming, incredibly witty, and knows how to be charismatic for show.

Tim was raised in the public eye so he has a lot of proper habits that will never get beaten out of him. His posture tends to be stiff and perfect until he's comfortable enough to change it or too out of it to care. He has impeccable manners and will be a proper gentlemen out of habit. He knows the differences between all the cutlery at expensive restaurants and knows when to use them without looking like an idiot.

Time passes by him easily so he will lose track of dates and the time of day. He stays busy a lot because he won't have to feel any other emotion other than stress and he's used to stress, stress is comfortable for him. He often forgets that too much stress isn't healthy.

Death is also a morbid comfortability for him. He witnessed each of his parents die in some way or the other and continuously watched his siblings perish (whether fake or not). This gives him a pretty interesting take on life. Like I said, he thinks time is precious so he doesn't like to waste it. But at the same time, he has terrible time blindness. It's an paradoxical quirk of his.

Tim's entire personality is being a contradictory genius. Try to pin point a quirk of his and you'll end up spirally because it shouldn't make sense, yet it does. Tim is confusing because he's such a paradox of a person. His personality doesn't align with what his trauma tells, or what his thoughts project, or how he was raised, or even his morals, and yet, here he is. And it makes perfect sense all at the same time.

He's a puzzle, but man is he interesting to figure out.