Nyssa Raatko

Nyssa Raatko (Arabic: نيسا رعتكو‎) is a fictional character in DC Comics. She is the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and the half-sister of Talia al Ghul.

Production history

Nyssa Raatko was created by Greg Rucka and Klaus Janson for the Batman series of comic books. She is an enemy of Batman.

Fictional character biography

In Batman: Death and the Maidens, it is revealed that Ra's al Ghul had a love child born during his travels in Russia in the 18th century named Nyssa. Enamored by the romantic stories that her mother told her about Ra's as a child, Nyssa sets out to find Ra's and eventually locates him at his headquarters in North Africa.

Impressed by her beauty, her warrior skills, and the fact that she was able to locate him, she is promoted to a position similar to that later held by her half-sister, Talia. As a right hand associate, she accompanies him during his adventures. Ra's is so impressed with her abilities, he even allows Nyssa to use his Lazarus Pits. Like her sister Talia, Nyssa eventually becomes disenchanted with Ra's genocidal plans to "cleanse the Earth", and disassociates herself from her father sometime in the early 20th century. Ra's reluctantly approves this, believing that she will return to him and that she or her children will become his future heirs. To his disappointment, Nyssa refuses to give herself or her family to him, causing him to disown her permanently. He does however allow her to keep a Lazarus Pit for herself and, much to his surprise, she finds a way to reuse it, allowing her to survive until modern times.

The Second World War

During World War II, Nyssa and her family are quickly sent to a concentration camp, where Nyssa's entire family dies and she is rendered infertile by very Mengele-style experiments. At one point she begs Ra's for help, but he refuses her, stating that, while he does not agree with Hitler's ideas, his cause could only be aided by the millions who will be exterminated by Hitler's scheme.

Death and the Maidens

Broken by her horrifying experiences during this time, and enraged that Ra's has abandoned her and her family to die at the hands of the Nazis, Nyssa is finally motivated to act when her great-grandson – her last living descendent - is killed. She plots to kill Ra's by befriending, kidnapping, and brainwashing Talia and using her to kill Ra's. To this end, she captures Talia and, using a Lazarus Pit, kills and resurrects her in rapid succession, leaving Talia virtually broken from the trauma of dying again and again in so short a time. Rendered apathetic by her time in the camp, unable to feel anything, Nyssa then attempts to destroy all hope and optimism in the world by assassinating Superman with Kryptonite bullets she steals from the Batcave, hoping that, by uniting the world in one moment of tragedy, she will manage to rouse herself once more.

While Batman is successful in preventing the assassination of Superman, he is unable to stop Ra's from being killed by Nyssa.^[1] This in turn is part of a greater plan by Ra's to ensure that his daughters, both initially dissatisfied with his plans, will realize that he is right, and that they would come to accept their destinies as his heirs. Realizing and accepting this, both Nyssa and Talia become the heads of the League of Assassins. Talia disavows her love for Bruce Wayne, and both half-sisters declare Batman to be their enemy, Nyssa promising that she will not fail her father as Batman departs.

Lazarus Pit

Nyssa is in possession of one of the world's last Lazarus Pits, which has granted her longevity and the ability to heal her wounds; she survives The Holocaust thanks to its powers. She also found the ability to use the pit multiple times. She is also extremely wealthy, especially since she assumes control of Ra's' organization and joins forces with Talia. Like her father and half-sister, she knows Batman's secret identity and the location of the Batcave.

In the Batcave, a Lazarus Pit was created by Batman after he learned that the Pits were necessary to maintain the stability of the world. A third seems to exist high in the Himalayas, used by Black Adam to revive Isis. A fourth Lazarus Pit was revealed to exist in the Australian outback; and a fifth in Tibet.

"Infinite Crisis"

During "Infinite Crisis", Nyssa and her sister connive to use Talia's membership in Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains in order to take over the planet. Nyssa tries to recruit Batgirl (as Cassandra Cain) to stand at her side as "The One Who Is All". She attempts to explain why she is working with the villains of the Society to Batgirl:

"Vast stockpiles of food rot, while people starve. Millions die from curable diseases, while drug companies rake in the billions. Our environment chokes on our waste, becoming so toxic that life fails. It's genocide by greed, apathy, and neglect. These are the real crimes. Something must change".

"But. They're evil".

"The Society's plans are vast. They will succeed. I can't stop them. When the world gets a true taste of violent oppression, and their heroes lie dead and broken – apathy will die. That's when you'll lead my league to sanction key society members. Leaving Talia and I to lead the revolution. A new world will be born, one of peace and equality. Millions of lives will be saved".

Cassandra refuses, and, along with Mr. Freeze, escapes from Nyssa's grasp.

In "One Year Later", Nyssa is seen in Northern Africa, planning an unknown plot with two terrorists. As she gets into her car to leave, it explodes.^[2] In the following issue, Lady Shiva reports that Nyssa Raatko is dead where she was probably killed by the League of Assassins.^[3]

In other media

Television

Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul in Arrow.

• Nyssa appears as a recurring character in the CW series Arrow, portrayed by Katrina Law. Her existence is first hinted at in the episode "League of Assassins", when a member of the League refers to "the child of Ra's al Ghul". In "Heir to the Demon", Nyssa appears in Starling City with the intention of bringing Sara Lance, a former League of Assassins member, with whom she had a romantic relationship, back to Nanda Parbat and the League. Nyssa's last name is al Ghul, rather than Raatko (although she uses the latter name as an alias) and it is later revealed to be the surname of her mother late Amina. Because of her relationship with Nyssa, Sara was many times referred to as the "beloved", mostly by the members of the League (similarly to Batman being Talia's "beloved"). In the end, she releases Sara from her obligation to the League, and disappears. She returned in the season finale episode "Unthinkable" where she and the League assisted Oliver, Sara and Roy Harper against Slade Wilson's army in exchange for Sara's return to the League. She and Sara left the City with the League.^[4] She made an appearance at the ending of the season 3 episode "Corto Maltese" where she attacks Oliver and Roy and angrily asks about Sara. In the following episode, "The Magician", after learning that Sara is dead, Nyssa seeks out Malcolm Merlyn, who she believes to be Sara's killer and also reveals to Oliver that he is alive. Nyssa succeeds in tracking Merlyn down, although he claims that he did not kill Sara, which Nyssa does not believe. After Oliver says that he will defend Malcolm for as long as he is in Starling City, Nyssa leaves, stating that Oliver has made himself an enemy of the League. When she returns to Nanda Parbat she informs her father of Sara's death, Malcolm's presence in Starling City and Oliver's vow to protect him which Ra's takes as an act of war. However Ra's is only seemingly interested in killing Malcolm for violating their codes not for killing Sara. In "The Climb", regardless Ra's does go to efforts to avenge Sara for Nyssa and she kidnaps Oliver and informs her that 50 people per day will die until the killer is revealed. Later Oliver claims that he killed Sara, telling Ra's that she begged him to, and Nyssa watches Oliver's fight with Ra's atop the mountain and watches as he is seemingly killed. In "Nanda Parbat", Nyssa is shown confronting Ra's about Oliver's survival and comes to Starling City to capture Merlyn after being tipped off by Thea. However, while she is successful in having her troops kidnap Malcolm, she herself is defeated and captured by Oliver, who asks her for the location of Nanda Parbat. Later, Thea tells Nyssa the whole truth about Sara's death, but Nyssa decides not to kill Thea in revenge as she was just controlled rather than a willing murderer. After learning that her father has attempted to appoint Oliver as his successor rather than Nyssa due to Ra's feeling that Nyssa's feelings for Sara made her weak, Nyssa decides to remain in Starling City and train Laurel in Sara's memory, later assisting Oliver's team by providing them with the location of Ra's' fake Arrow in an attempt to capture him. After discovering from Laurel that Oliver accepted the offer of Ra's, she is captured by Oliver and the League in exchange for John Diggle's wife that Oliver took hostage. Ra's decides to have Oliver and Nyssa marry. In "My Name is Oliver Queen", While on a plane to release the Alpha/Omega virus to cleanse Starling City, Oliver reveals his deception to Ra's and Nyssa helps Oliver take out the League's assassins on the plane, although Ra's escapes with the virus. After Ra's is killed and the threat to Starling destroyed, Oliver cedes the title of Ra's al Ghul to Malcolm and Nyssa reluctantly kneels before the very same man responsible for killing Sara. Although she continues with the League, when the Lazarus Pit is used to bring Sara back to life a year after her death, Nyssa destroys the Pit in disgust at the soulless version of her former lover that emerges, Sara reduced to a near-feral level from the trauma of her death.

In "Sins of the Father", when thea goes into coma due to side effects of Lazarus Pit, Nyssa offers a cure called "The Lotus" to Oliver in exchange that he will kill Malcom Merlyn. Oliver refuses this offer but later when Malcom challenges Nyssa to trial by combat he fights for her being Nyssa's husband. Oliver defeats Malcom and instead of killing him, cuts off his hand and gives the ring to Nyssa making her Ra's al Ghul.

Video games

• Nyssa Raatko is referenced in Batman: Arkham Origins. She is mentioned on Lady Shiva's assassin profile as an associate of Lady Shiva alongside David Cain and Richard Dragon.
• Nyssa Raatko appears in Batman: Arkham Knight, voiced by Jennifer Hale. Like the comics, Nyssa is depicted as Ra's al Ghul's daughter. She appears in the "Season of Infamy" DLC in the "Shadow War" story. Nyssa is leading a rebellious faction of the League of Assassins. When Batman arrives at a previously-unknown secondary Lazarus pit (separate from the one located in Wonder City) and prepares to blow it up after taking a sample, Nyssa confronts him along with a few of her separatist forces. She takes the detonator and reasons with Batman that each time Ra's al Ghul is resurrected, he becomes less and less of a man, and gives him an ultimatum: deny him the remnants of the Lazarus and she will recall all her forces from Gotham taking the war elsewhere. After detonating the explosive gel that Batman sprayed all over the pit, Nyssa leaves Batman to his own devices. When Batman returns to Elliot Memorial Hospital where Ra's al Ghul is hooked up to a constant supply of Lazarus, Batman can go with one of two choices both of them involving Nyssa:
  • Batman can give the Lazarus to Ra's al Ghul at which point Batman is forced to fight Nyssa and her separatists. Not soon after, Ra's al Ghul regains his former strength and remarks that Nyssa is a traitor where he slashes her torso. Batman tries to fight him, but Ra's al Ghul steals one of his smoke bombs and disappears. Batman offers to save Nyssa with the remaining Lazarus, but she refuses. Batman comforts Nyssa in her dying moments and closes her eyes before he leaves.
  • Batman can deny Ra's al Ghul and after he takes care of Ra's al Ghul's loyalists, Nyssa arrives to see what her father has ultimately become. As she is about to strike him down, Batman stops her and says that he will take him to the GCPD. Nyssa is sated and lives up to her word, recalling all her forces from Gotham while Batman takes Ra's al Ghul to a special cell and straps him to a gurney.

References