Melisande

"*I founded this Court, I created it's values, it's rules, it's goals. It's all mine. Your ancestor helped out of course but I never was very fond of Sebastian. I wanted to control and bend the city to my will. All he wanted was to earn even more money. The Waynes were always a bore.*"
—Melisande to Bruce Wayne.[src]
**Melisande** (c. 1600s – March 29, 2018), formerly known as **Vesper Katherine Fairchild,** **Elizabeth Washington**, **Rebecca Walters**, **Antoinette Vanderbilt**, **Abigail Jenkins**, **Edith Walker** and **Patricia Monroe** was a mysterious and immortal figure, being the leader of the shadowy organization, the Court of Owls, known as the **Judge of Owls**. As Vesper Fairchild, she was the host of a radio talk show, an old friend/ex-girlfriend of Bruce Wayne and the ex-lover of Ra's al Ghul. Her and almost the entirety of the Court were slaughtered by the ex-talon, William Cobb, as revenge for the experiments he endured. After the fall of the Court, Vesper activated a back up plan in the form of bombs that levelled Gotham City, turning it into a No Man's Land.

## Biography

### Early Life

Melisande was born sometime in the early 1600s where she grew up in the location that would later be founded as Gotham City. She grew up despising the rich such as the Waynes, Kanes, Elliots and Crownes. She worked as a thief for most of her early life, pick pocketing the rich in order to survive on little to nothing. One night, Melisande managed to defend herself against a group of attackers by herself, attracting the attention of a mysterious man that has been eyeing up the location, Ra's al Ghul.

### Building a Society

#### Founding the Court of Owls

She was then taken in by Ra's and trained by him and members of the League of Assassins to peak perfection, becoming a highly skilled assassin herself. However, after several years, the woman wanted to return to her plan of taking over her old home but Ra's did not agree with her ideas, forcing her to return home herself by fighting her way out of the League of Assassins, a feat that has not been achieved by many people, but not before stealing gallons of Lazarus water from the Lazarus Pit in order to retain her youthful appearance. By the time she returned, Gotham City had been founded by the rich and powerful families she envied as a child.

After acquainting herself with the wealthy Sebastian Wayne, the woman slept with him and she later shared her plans of gaining control of the city. This led the two to devise a scheme to assemble a secret organization that would rule the city from the shadows. They did just this and soon enough, thousands of members of Gotham City's elite had joined the society, now going by the name, The Court of Owls. The court then took control of the cities politicians, lawyers, police, judges in order to secure it's grip on Gotham's society.

They remained in the shadows and the regular citizens of the city had no knowledge of the Court's mere existence, the only evidence being the mysterious disappearances of certain elite society members who wouldn't adhere to the Court's will. After a while, the woman and Sebastian eventually married as she believed they shared the same goals. However, he revealed he wanted to go public with their actions and gain fame and notoriety. The woman knew that he was now a threat to their society and murdered him in his sleep in order to stop him from exposing them. After this incident, she no longer allowed herself to become close to anyone

#### Later Years

Over the years of leading the Court of Owls and secretly ruling over Gotham City from the shadows, the woman had held many names and professions. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, she was known as Edith Walker, a respected and powerful judge.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Lazarus-Altered Physiology:**
	+ **Longevity:** Due to the stolen waters from the Lazarus Pit, Vesper has been able to retain her youthful appearance and fighting capabilities no matter how old she becomes. Being born during the 1600s, Vesper is over 420 years old, however, she is still an expert fighter and is capable of holding her own against Batman.

### Abilities

* **Peak Human Physical Condition:**
	+ **Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist:**
	+ **Acrobatics/Free-Running:**
	+ **Honed Senses:**

## Appearances

### *Batman: Anarky*

Season 1
* "Pilot" (indirectly mentioned)
* "Green Fingers" (indirectly mentioned)

Season 2
* "Lost Love" (phone call)
* "Abandoned" (indirectly mentioned)
* "Fractured Minds" (mentioned)
* "Swimming With The Fishes" (indirectly mentioned)
* "Arkham Has Fallen" (indirectly mentioned)

Season 3
* "Jokes On You" (indirectly mentioned)

Season 4
* "Shadows" (mentioned)

Season 5
* "Crazy Love"
* "The Owls are Watching"
* "Allegiances"
* "Watch Your Back" (mentioned)
* "Girls Night Out"
* "Backstabber"
* "Heritage" (mentioned)
* "Speak Not a Whispered Word"
* "Regrets"
* "Harley & Ivy" (photograph)
* "Attack on the Nest"
* "The Gray Son of Gotham" (photograph)
* "Sisters Are Forever"
* "Judgement Day, Part 1"
* "Judgement Day, Part 2"

Season 6
* "No Man's Land" (photograph)

## Behind the Scenes

* In DC Comics, **Vesper Fairchild** was a prominent love interest of Bruce Wayne and a well known talk show host throughout Gotham. She was later killed by David Cain and her murder was pinned on Bruce.
* In DC Comics, **Melisande** is the late mother of Talia al Ghul as well as the late wife of Ra's al Ghul, who was killed by Quinlan, a rogue member of the League of Assassins.