Jeriah Valeska

**Jeriah Valeska** is the secondary antagonist in the second half of the fourth season in *Gotham*, and one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Bane) during the entire fifth season. At first an ally, Jeriah was actually hiding her true colors and wearing makeup just so she could rebuild Gotham with Brooke Wayne. She becomes Ra's al Ghul's partner.

Jeriah Valeska is the female version of Jeremiah Valeska. Her twin sister, Jenrietta Valeska, is the female version of Jerome Valeska.

Jeriah and her twin sister, Jenrietta, was born and raised in Haly’s Circus to Lila Valeska and Paul Cicero. Their mother, Lila Valeska, the snake charmer and dancer at the circus, raised both girls as a single mother. Lila Valeska was cold hearted and selfish and never gave a shit about anyone. She was extremely promiscuous and sleazy and constantly brought dozens of different guys from the circus over and have sex with them. She and her ex lovers would abuse the shit out of Jenrietta after drinking and having sex. Lila was very cold hearted and abusive, especially towards Jenrietta. Jeriah took advantage of this, manipulating Lila and the rest of their family against Jenrietta by making up lies about Jenrietta abusing her and trying to kill her. She acted threatened by Jenrietta and made up stories about Jeriah attempting her murder her on various occasions, claiming that on their birthday she “held a cake knife to her throat” and later “lit her bed on fire.” Jeriah was later sent away to St. Ignatius and was adopted by a rich couple in New York, abandoning Jenrietta in the circus and leaving her with their abusive alcoholic mother.

## Biography

**Early Life**

Jeriah Valeska and her twin sister, Jenrietta, were born to Paul Cicero and Lila Valeska. As a child, Jeriah convinced her mother that Jenrietta was dangerous and abusive. She constantly accused Jenrietta of trying to kill her, accusing her of trying to stab her and later light her on her. Jeriah deacribed living with Jenrietta was like "living in a nightmare" and that she was constantly afraid of Jenrietta. Jenrietta later claimed this was false and that Jeriah's rejection of him caused her to go completely insane. Regardless, Jeriah ran away with the help of her uncle. She got adopted by a rich family in New York and was sent to St. Ignatius. Jeriah became a genius in math and design, and later studied to become an engineer, hiding out in a bunker designed like a maze to stay safe from Jenrietta. Jeriah changed her name to "Alexandra Wilde" and only used her proxy to communicate with clients such as Thomas Wayne, the head of Wayne Enterprises.

## Insanity Gas

That night Jenrietta died, Jeriah returned to her secret office, dejected after her sister's death. After she drank a glass of whiskey, Jeriah discovered a wrapped gift on her desk and unpacked it after reading an enclosed card that claimed it was sent by Wayne Enterprises. After removing the packaging, she opened the strange looking box, revealing it to be a jack-in-the-box in the form of a laughing disfigured clown head that sprays Jeriah with a special mixture of the laughing venom created by Jenrietta. As Jeriah started thrashing around and trashing her office in her attempt to resist the toxin's disastrous effects while struggling to do so, Jenrietta's voice spoke to her in a recording coming out of the gift box, telling her that "it was time to have some fun" and that the gas will "set her free," and encouraging Jeriah to continue on for her and to be her ultimate revenge. Jenrietta then told her to calm down and to breath, in the special mixture, she had made just for her in order to finally set her free. The gas caused Jeriah's skin to turn white and her lips to turn red and her eyes to turn bright green. She started laughing manically, clutching her hair during an apparent mental breakdown while tears stream down her face as Jenrietta told her that "it was time to have some fun" and to "burn it all down."

Jeriah would later claim that other than the cosmetic changes, the gas did nothing to her sanity. This indicated that Jenrietta was telling the truth about Jeriah's mental state and that she indeed shares her sister’s psychosis, something the gas simply set free. Jeriah would also later admit that her sister's toxin did indeed transform her mentally in some way since she revealed during her 'one bad day speech' that only by losing everything was she able to face what was inside her. This seemed to hint that Jeriah already had some darkness inside of her, but that the laughing gas was the catalyst that reinforced these characteristics. It was however in Jeriah's interests to deny her sister credit, which left the exact degree of the gas' effects upon her unknown.

## Revealing her dark side

> Behold, the face of true sanity…
>
>

JERIAH VALESKA TO BROOKE WAYNE AND THE CULT OF JENRIETTA.

Jeriah created a recording tape of herself disguised as her deceased sister, Jenrietta, and stated that she would have a wake at the GCPD. She then set her girlfriend, Ecco, to invite Jenrietta's fanatics that were celebrating at her grave.

When Brooke Wayne visited Jeriah Valeska, she showed Brooke Wayne the prototype of the device she was working on. She also pulled out Jenrietta's diary which Arkham gave to her after her death. There, she revealed that the book was disturbing and holding her back but Brooke morally supported him by saying to quit the book. Shortly after, Brooke received a phone call about Jenrietta's wake and Jeriah became paranoid. Jeriah confessed that she was sprayed the Insanity Gas as Jenrietta's last sick game and Brooke convinced Jeriah to visit Jenrietta's grave to truly convince the cowering Jeriah that she was truly dead. After visiting the grave and finding it empty, Jeriah runs away inside the cemetery building and when Brooke catches up to her. It appears as Jeriah is losing her mind, now that she views that Brooke is her dead sister.

After Jeriah chases Brooke towards Jenrietta's Graveyard, Jenrietta's body is now placed next to the tombstone. Still not buying the fact that her sister is dead, she pulled out a knife from Jenrietta's corpse and fought Brooke Wayne. Jim Gordon investigates the bunker and a recording starts playing. when Ecco arrived and placed a gun at his head, the recording starts and it looked like Jenrietta had an extra tape regarding Jim Gordon. After an extensive fight with Ecco, it is revealed to Gordon that Jeriah was faking the Jenrietta act as she peels off the fake damaged skin and rubs the makeup off with a cloth.

Meanwhile, after a thug proclaims proudly "Jenrietta is victorious at last" Jeriah murders him in cold blood due to her believing that she was the victorious one and not her sister since she was dead. Now cold and monotone, Jeriah wiped the blood of her victim off her face, along with the makeup disguising her altered features; she apologizes for the act, saying it was to show Jenrietta's followers what an utter dud her sister was.

Kicking Jenrietta's corpse into the grave, she then revealed her plans for Gotham as she pulls out the diary and states she is going to outdo her sister’s goals in a sane matter. Brooke disregards her plan, saying it's complete madness and to carry out Jenrietta's plans in a "sane" manner. Jeriah replies with an entry from Jenrietta's diary: "Jenrietta wanted to slather you in honey and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles - me, if I wanted to kill you I'd just do it." However, Jeriah then said she didn't wish to kill Bruce, as she truly does see her as her best friend. She then reveals to Brooke and Gordon that the generators she invested her money in can double as highly powerful bombs. Back at Jeriah's residence, the bunker's generator starts to overload, but luckily Jim finds a secret buzzer underneath the table and unlocks the door and escapes the bunker before it explodes. Jeriah and Brooke both presume Jim has died, and Brooke angrily vows that he will stop Jeriah. Jeriah knocks her out and drops her into the grave with Jenrietta's corpse.

Jeriah and Ecco then head to Wayne Enterprise and kill two guards to obtain their keycards. they open the locked door with the key cards and it is revealed that there is a room full of the power generators Jeriah created and Brooke invested in. She then orders Ecco to move them as she plans to destroy Gotham and "Rebuild it."

## Plan to rebuild Gotham

> I'm going to create a new Gotham in my image, but every artist needs a blank canvas so all of this has to go
>
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JERIAH VALESKA TO HARVEY BULLOCK

Jeriah gave Jenrietta's followers uniforms to show their new loyalty to her; they chanted her name every time she mentioned an accomplishment. Donning a purple and black and green version of her normal business clothing, Jeriah leads her new followers to the GCPD, where she wished to reveal her success at killing Jim Gordon.

Once Bullock was outside, Jeriah announces that she is responsible for Jim Gordon's death and that her generator bombs are hidden all around Gotham City. When Bullock and the GCPD point their guns at her, she reveals a dead-man's switch and warns that if they kill her, the explosives will trigger. Bullock claims Jeriah is sicker than Jenrietta was; Jeriah simply laughed it off, stating "Don't compare me to that short-sighted psychopath; she just wanted to destroy things. Me? I'm a builder. I'm gonna create a new Gotham, in my image. But every artist needs a blank canvas, so... all of this has to go"

Jeriah gives Bullock six hours to evacuate the city and destroys the Gotham Clock Tower to show he is telling the truth. Shortly afterward, her minions are shown knocking out and capturing Alfred Pennyworth at Wayne Manor.

Later, when Brooke meets with Bullock, Jeriah calls her and tells her the address Alfred is at and warns Brooke not to tell the police as Jeriah knows where Brooke is. Allying with Scarecrow, Jeriah later watches Brooke via CCTV as she is sprayed with Scarecrow's fear toxin and forced to witness Alfred being tortured in an attempt to drive her mad. Jeriah remarks that she "envies" Brooke having a "transformative experience" and that she wants her to be able to embrace her true, darker nature after being forced to lose everything and everyone she loves.

As Jeriah enters her safehouse, ahe finds The Penguin, Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan, and Butch Gilzean waiting for her with one of Jeriah's henchmen, Jongleur, hostage; they have also located and taken the core relay that allows her to detonate all her bombs at once. They demand an additional hour to evacuate the city and $50 million. Jeriah, knowing they will double-cross her anyway, pretends to agree to their demands and calls the mayor, but then claims she was put on hold, pulls out a bazooka and blows up Jongleur and the core relay. Furious at Penguin's assertion that she is "out of her mind", Jeriah remarks that she has always had a backup plan and can simply detonate the bombs in sequence instead. She then tells them she has changed her mind about the deadline due to their interference, and will detonate the bombs as soon as she's a safe distance away. Jeriah orders her followers to "kill these idiots" and escapes during the subsequent firefight. Arriving at another bunker where the Cult of Jenrietta are gathered, Jeriah prepares to detonate the bombs, but it's suddenly revealed that Gordon is still alive, much to her fury. Jeriah triggers the detonator for the first generator, but it doesn't explode as Bullock found and disabled it just in time. The Cult of Jenrietta gets angry at Jeriah, calling her a liar and a fake; she reacts by sealing them inside the bunker and incinerating them, saying she anticipated their betrayal. All but one of Jeriah's generator bombs are retrieved by the GCPD, while Brooke is able to rescue Alfred and overcome Scarecrow's fear gas with the help of Selina Kyle.

Later, hiding out alone at an abandoned theater, Jeriah wonders aloud how she was defeated; he concludes Gordon must have found her maze blueprints and sabotaged the sequence by finding and disarming the first bomb (which is almost correct, except for Harvey Bullock being the one who disarmed the bomb). As Jeriah decides she must start over, she is interrupted by the appearance of Ra's al Ghul, who compliments her on her tenacity and suggests they can cause the destruction of Gotham together. Jeriah sarcastically replies that "recent events have convinced me of the benefits of working alone" and tries to shoot Ra's, who easily evades her bullets. Realizing that her attempts to kill the Master of the League of Shadows are futile, Jeriah reluctantly hears her out. Ra's explains that Jeriah's plan for a "new Gotham" can still come to be with the help of the League of Shadows, and both their plans are not just about Gotham, but about Brooke Wayne, which draws Jeriah's interest.

Later at Wayne Manor, Brooke and Selina are talking about Jeriah's obsession with Brooke. Brooke explains that Jeriah was working on the premise that "one bad day" can drive someone insane. She wonders if the trauma of her own parents' deaths "made her a little insane", and if Jeriah had sensed that and was trying to bring it to the surface. As Selina replies that Bruce proved her wrong, Jeriah suddenly enters the room and holds a pistol to her abdomen, remarking that the day's not over yet. She shoots Selina in the stomach, knocking her backward, then smiles and throws her gun away. As Brooke desperately tries to keep Selina alive, Alfred rushes in, knocks Jeriah down and begins pummeling her repeatedly in the face.

## Becoming Allies with Ra’s al Ghul

> I didn't yet understand the vision I was servicing, but I do now, my eyes are open, as will yours be.
>
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JERIAH VALESKA TO JIM GORDON

After being arrested, Jeriah is held at the GCPD. Talking with Gordon, Jeriah mockingly says she wishes to press assault charges against Alfred for punching her in the face, to which Gordon (with equal sarcasm) replies that she thinks Jeriah looks just fine, ordering Harvey to prepare to transport her to Arkham. Jeriah offers to give up the location of "other" bombs she claims to have planted around the city, in exchange for being allowed to speak alone with Brooke. A few moments later one of her generator bombs (planted by Ra's al Ghul) goes off and destroys City Hall, killing the mayor and seemingly confirming that Jeriah is not bluffing. Gordon attempts to beat the locations of the other bombs out of Jeriah, who barely reacts, merely grinning and humming "Ode to Joy". A major finally has Brooke Wayne meet with the restrained Jeriah, attempting to get the location of the other bombs. Jeriah excitedly urges Brooke closer, suggestively, then admits that she believes Jeriah is her kindred spirit. She goes on to taunt her about Selina's injuries in a show of jealousy and amusement. When pressed about the location of the "other bombs", Jeriah reveals that the only other bomb was the one she used on City Hall.

Jeriah finally reveals to Brooke she is working with Ra's al Ghul. The lights suddenly go out, during which several guards are killed and Brooke and Jeriah both vanish; they have both been evacuated from the GCPD by the League of Shadows, which also steals all of Jeriah's confiscated bombs and re-distributes them across Gotham's bridge system. The League then brings Jeriah and Brooke to an abandoned building overlooking Gotham River, where Ra's is waiting for them. Ra's and Jeriah tell Brooke they'll create a legacy by destroying Gotham, allowing Bruce to be "reborn" as the Dark Knight of Ra's visions. Jeriah admits ahe is skeptical of prophecies and visions, but the idea of she and Brooke rising out of the fall of Gotham together appeals to her.

Shortly after, Barbara Kean, wielding Ra's cursed knife, arrives, referring to Jeriah as a "freak". At first they think Barbara came alone, however, Penguin then started screaming and shooting a machine gun at the League, while the whole alliance of Tabitha Galavan, Alfred Pennyworth and the Sisters of the League appeared behind her and began battling Ra's al Ghul's men. Ra's defends himself against Alfred and Barbara, asking her if she will never learn, but she finishes the sentence for him, telling him she gets that the knife has to be held by Brooke Wayne only. Jeriah uses Brooke as a shield and shoots a member of the Sisters of the League, but Tabitha's whip ties his hands together and pulls him away from Brooke. Galavan then laces her whip around Jeriah's throat, trapping her in a stranglehold and forcing her to her knees in front of her. She tells her "this is for Selina", but before she can deliver a killing blow, Jeriah manages to draw Tabitha's own knife and stab her in the leg. Jeriah then grabs Tabitha, throws her on the ground and grabs her throat with one hand, holding her knife near her eye with the other, smiling sadistically while telling her that it must be very disappointing for her to die like this in case she wanted to avenge Selina. However, Jeriah is suddenly shot in her shoulder by the Penguin. Surprised that Cobblepot, of all people, saved her life, Tabitha looks at him in confusion; she doesn't know yet that he has his own reasons for keeping her alive. After knocking out Palden, Brooke turns to fight Ra's, but both she, Barbara, *and* Alfred are kept at bay by the Master of the League of Shadows. While Ra's is fighting Alfred, Barbara forces the knife into Brooke's hands before ramming it into Ra's stomach. Jeriah, still lying on the ground with an injured shoulder, watched this with surprise. As Ra's body began to disintegrate, he looked at Barbara Kean, saying "Well done, Barbara".

Right then, the sound of an explosion shakes the whole city, drawing the attention of Barbara, Brooke and Ra's, as well as the horrified Oswald Cobblepot and Jeriah Valeska, the latter one smiling savagely as one of Gotham's main bridges collapses into the Gotham River. Multiple other bridges follow the same fate, crashing into the water after their connections to the mainland give in to the detonation of Jeriah's generator bombs. Shocked by this sight, Penguin, Barbara, Tabitha, Bruce, and Alfred witness power failures affecting the fallen city. The dying Ra's grabs Brooke's shoulders, looking into her eyes and telling her that the choice is now hers: she can either stay Brooke Wayne or accept her destiny and become Gotham's dark knight. With that, Ra's al Ghul's body disintegrates, leaving only the knife behind. Horrified, Brooke turns to face the destruction of her city. By this point, Jeriah Valeska has already taken advantage of the confusion and escaped. The alliance against her had failed to prevent the city's downfall.

Shortly afterward, Brooke is seen interrogating a small-time criminal about Jeriah's whereabouts; he tells her to let Jeriah know he is coming for her.

### No Man's Land

Jeriah remained hidden, but at some point had Ecco prove the extent of her loyalty to her by shooting herself in the side of the head. She had the Soothsayers digging underground while she sent Ecco out to gather new recruits to join them by establishing the Church of Jeriah Valeska. Ecco is sent to the GCPD to spy on Jim Gordon, where she knows more than Jim lets on. She then leaves graffiti with Jeriah's laugh symbol on the map of Gotham, and reports back to Jeriah to report on events Jeriah has not witnessed, such as the death of Tabitha, (Indicating that she will not be a danger to her anymore) and the explosion of the Wayne supply helicopter. Unbeknownst to Jeriah, Lucius Fox had taken one of Jeriah's disabled power reactors and modified it to be utilized for its original use: As a power supply, this time supplying the GCPD with a backup energy source.

#### No Man's Land: Day 96

Sykes approaches Jeriah, telling her that she is working her followers too hard and they won’t break through for at least another two days. Jeriah responds by slashing Sykes’s throat and says they won’t get anyway with that attitude. Jeriah addresses the Soothsayers as their new leader and says to dig a little deeper because that’s the only way they are making it out. Jeriah is busy laughing and arguing with herself about a gift that someone’s going to love when Ecco returns with the new recruits. Jeriah clears her throat and composes herself. She asks Ecco if those are all the new recruits, and she said she thought she would want quality over quantity since not everyone can pass a high caliber test of faith.

At first, Jeriah grabbed Ecco by the throat, seemingly out of anger, but then pulled her close to examine her scar. She agrees that she has set a very high bar for devotion, and then pulls her into a dance. As they dance, Ecco tells her about Bruce and Selina, and that Selina can walk and is out to kill her. Ecco says if she sees Selina she will tell her and then adds that she will kill her. Jeriah smiles at Ecco and sends her away with one last twirl before turning away as Ecco walks away with the recruits.

## Faking her death

Jeriah is fanning herself with her hat while “encouraging” the Soothsayers to continue digging. She compares their efforts to a river due to persistence and has them chant that they will dig a little deeper to each of hee questions of persistence. "Ecco" returns (it's actually Selina disguised as Ecco) and abruptly stabs Jeriah, who looks shocked until she removes her mask to reveal Selina’s face. Selina asks Jeriah if this is deep enough for her. Jeriah rasps that she must say, but Selina stabs her again and tells her not to say anything. She then stabs her seven more times and raises the knife before Brooke stops her. Jeriah falls to the ground and the Soothsayers attack Selina. Alfred intervenes and throws a smoke grenade while Jeriah lies on the ground with her eyes open, apparently dead. In reality, she had faked her death because she knew that Brooke and Selina were on her trail, not yet ready to unveil her plans.

## Continuing her plan

Jeriah is later found, resting on a makeshift bed while her followers continue digging. As soon as they break through, Ecco runs to wake up Jeriah. She shakes her and Jeriah says "Ouch". Ecco notes that the stitches were still sore and that this wouldn’t have happened if she wore that armor she prepared. Jeriah says that the bullet was making her sentimental and orders Ecco give her head a shake. Ecco shakes her head and Jeriah asks if she was better. Ecco nods yes, and helps Jeriah as he gets up. Jeriah reminds Ecco that she had told her that she had to let Selina thrust the knife into her at least once to make it look real which trumps precaution for him. Ecco says she understands she had to let Brooke and Selina think she was dead in order to continue the plan without Brooke and Selina being on her tail.

Jeriah suddenly grabs Ecco and tells her she takes it that she has news. Ecco says all systems go, and Jeriah impatiently tells her to lead the way. She grabs a lantern and stumbles after Ecco, who leads her into what looks like Wayne Manor where two people sit wrapped in bandages. Jeriah tells the doctor that she is hearing good things, and the doctor says the bandages are ready to come off, and says his assistant thought she would like to see the results for herself. Jeriah says she would, and waits as the doctor unveils the bandages. Jeriah laughs and says they look beautiful. She walks closer to them and says she loves family reunions.

Later, when Alfred is walking on the street at night, Jeriah surprises him and knocks him unconscious. Alfred wakes up in Wayne Manor to see Jeriah. After Alfred threatens Jeriah if she touches Brooke, however, Jeriah answers “Today is the big day.”

## Ace Chemicals accident

> You need me! I'm the answer to your life's questions! Without me, you're just a joke... without a punchline.
>
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JERIAH VALESKA TO BROOKE WAYNE

Sometime after capturing Alfred, Jeriah had him hypnotized by Jervis Tetch, along with two kidnapped civilians that she had surgically altered to resemble Brooke's parents. She stashed bombs all over Wayne Manor in order to have leverage over Brooke. Once her trap was set, Brooke found a tunnel that led to the Wayne Manor where she is in shock to see Alfred, her "parents" and Jeriah in the corner of the study. Eventually, Jeriah sets up a dinner with them, where "Thomas" gives "Martha" a pearl necklace as he has a chat with Brooke. When Brooke asks why she is doing this, Jeriah explains her plan to have Brooke experience her parents' death all over again in order to connect to Brooke and place herself in Brooke's past. She studies over every detail of how the event went in the kitchen with Brooke before leaving so she can set up the rest of it, leaving Brooke and Alfred to deal with the bomb. After Brooke managed to snap Alfred out of being hypnotized, she followed Jeriah.

Brooke is then led by Jeriah to the theater where Thomas and Martha had shown her *The Mark of Zorro*, showing her her own recreation of the past theatric production where Jeriah is "the star of the show". She taunts Brooke about how she left the theater because she was afraid during one scene in the film. However, she then gets "Thomas" and "Martha" to leave the theater using Tetch's commands, causing Brooke to follow them.

While Brooke is still looking for them, Jeriah finds out about Jim Gordon and Lee Thompkins infiltrating Ace Chemicals and that Tetch was able to hypnotize them. She decides to use them as replacements for Brooke's parents in the alley and shoots the lookalikes, believing that killing Jim Gordon would be like killing Brooke's second father and killing Lee would be like killing one of Brooke's closest friends. She continues to prepare her plot in the alley where the real Thomas and Martha died.

Brooke arrives at the alley, and Jeriah tells her to step back as she holds a gun, ready to shoot Jim and Lee, who has a pearl necklace like that of Martha Wayne, keeping them hypnotized until the pearls break. She explains how she seeks to be bonded to Brooke more than just some random mugger who shot her parents before she reveals that she now has Lee and Jim under Tetch's control instead of her parents, which concerns Brooke. Jeriah also prepares Ecco with enough chemicals preparing to launch that the mainland will never help Gotham. The murder is interrupted by Selina pouncing from the fire escape. Leading to Jeriah starting her plan early and ordering Ecco to activate the chemicals. Leaving that for Gordon to handle while she baits Brooke to Ace Chemicals. They have a face-off where Jeriah gets extremely desperate in trying to prove her point, taunting Brooke by asking if she feels a connection between them and how Brooke needs her. Jeriah doesn't seem to fight back when Brooke begins to continuously punch her until Brooke states that Jeriah is nothing to her.

When Jeriah gets the upper hand, she knocks Brooke into a railing and begins to continuously punch Brooke until she ducks one of Jeriah's punches, causing Jeriah to break the railing and fall into the chemicals below.

### Aftermath

Jeriah is later recovered but is found comatose, severely disfigured as a result of the chemicals. Though Selina is surprised that Jeriah managed to survive the incident, Brooke claims that she has no brain activity and is no longer a threat to them or Gotham.

Despite being "comatose", Jeriah still affected some of the events of No Man’s Land indirectly. Her toxic chemicals mutated some of the civilians into ravenous monsters, and Ivy Pepper decided to use the chemicals to poison all of Gotham. Brooke later decided to use one of Jeriah’s generators to knock down Wayne tower in order to stop Bane’s forces from advancing to the GCPD. Lucius was able to make the device more efficient when she managed to separate the core and the activator from the majority of the reactor, thus allowing it to be carried and utilized much more efficiently.

## 10 years later

#### Planning to destroy Wayne Tower and framing Harvey Bullock

Sometime after falling into a vat of chemicals, Jeriah is sent to Arkham Asylum and she awakens from her coma; however, she remains in a fake coma, seeing no reason to take any actions until the one person she was obsessed with, Brooke Wayne, finally returned to Gotham.

After Brooke manages to return to Gotham after a decade, Jeriah finally takes action and creates a plan to blow up the newly constructed building, Wayne Tower, at its opening party by getting a security guard to obey her orders as well as kidnap Edward Nygma and help her escape Arkham Asylum. In Arkham Asylum, Jeriah is seen in a wheelchair with severe scars on her face and minor strands of hair remaining on her head, with another inmate moving a paint brush along the remaining hairs on Jeriah's head. However, Nygma intervenes, telling the inmate that this was Jeriah Valeska and that even if she can't think or feel anything, she is still a legend, before telling the inmate that if she's gonna screw with a legend then she has to do it properly, breaking the paintbrush in half and stabbing Jeriah in the leg with half of it. Despite this, Jeriah remains still and doesn't do anything. Shortly after, an alert in the Asylum occurs as inmates are taken, with Jeriah being taken by Ecco, who is now a nurse at the Asylum, and Nygma being taken by apparent guards, who work for Jeriah. After the GCPD begins to search for Edward, Harvey Bullock and Vanessa Harper discover the address of a guard who didn't show up for work and as a result, Harvey decides to travel to the location of the guard. As Harvey enters the home of the guard, he is knocked down to the ground by the guard, who tells him to keep his mouth shut and talk to the woman on the phone, Jeriah. As Harvey is frightened to discover the return of Jeriah after a whole decade, the guard aims a gun at her head and shoots herself, claiming that she didn't have a choice. As a result, Harvey is framed for murder by Jeriah and out of fear, Harvey plays along with being framed, claiming that he's guilty to Jim Gordon, however, the rest of the GCPD doesn't seem to believe this.

As Edward wakes up in an old warehouse, he finds himself in an old warehouse and faced with a letter, stating to be from Oswald Cobblepot, however, it is revealed that Jeriah left the note in order to manipulate Edward into using the bombs left for him to destroy Wayne Tower. When Gordon is faced with an enraged Oswald Cobblepot at the Gotham Docklands, he tells Oswald that he doesn't need to attack the Wayne Tower in order to kill him, however, Oswald doesn't seem to have any clue as to what Gordon was referring to, helping Gordon piece everything together and see that Jeriah Valeska was behind this all. When Gordon stops a police officer from arresting Harvey Bullock, he asks if the person who framed him was Jeriah Valeska, before the police officer tries to attack them. After defeating the officer, they check if the officer has a wire under his shirt, which he does have, leaving Harvey in immediate fear of what Jeriah will do.

## Reuniting with Brooke

Later, Ecco is watching an Asylum guard talk to an inmate about how much it would cost to harm Jeriah in Jeriah's cell. However, Ecco manages to slit the guard's throat and stab the inmate in the gut, killing them both and telling Jeriah that their cover was blown, which causes Jeriah to giggle and grab Ecco by the throat, surprising her. When Barbara Kean and her now 10-year-old daughter returns to her old nightclub for Barbara retrieve a gun from a drawer, she is faced with Jeriah and Ecco. As Barbara is unarmed by Ecco, who holds a knife to her throat, Jeriah claims that this was just a surprise party for Barbara Kean, calling her the Queen of Gotham. Jeriah states that there was another Barbara and claims that holding on to what's real is enough to drive someone mad, before Barbara Lee throws an item at Ecco, giving Barbara the chance to stab Ecco. As Barbara attempts to harm Jeriah, she shoots Barbara Kean, knocking her to the ground and picks up Barbara Lee, telling Barbara Kean that her daughter has the same eyes as her. When he turns to face Ecco, she notices Ecco holding her bleeding stomach, and stares at her while also briefly glancing down to assess how injured she is. Jeriah tells her that she is no longer her sweet Ecco and that there will never be anyone else like her, which surprises and excites her before Jeriah shoots her and a large amount of blood comes out of Ecco's mouth. After Ecco dies, Jeriah states that "there are other fish in the sea" and tells Barbara Kean that Gordon is probably searching her apartment, telling her to leave a message for her. After Gordon finds a deceased Ecco and a scared Barbara Kean on the ground, she tells her that she took Barbara Lee and that Gordon needs to go to Ace Chemicals or else she kills Barbara Lee.

When Gordon finally arrives to Ace Chemicals, he discovers that Barbara Lee is dangling over a chemical vat, with duct tape over her mouth and that she was tied to a rope, being held by Jeriah. As Gordon aims a gun at Jeriah and slowly walks towards her, Jeriah talks about how it's funny being in the place where she was born again, claiming that she can feel her flesh sizzling as it melted away. Gordon tries to reassure his daughter by telling her that everything will be fine, however, Jeriah claims that everything is far from being fine. When being asked why Jeriah is doing this, Jeriah replies by asking if there's a Jeriah there, before Gordon asks what to call her. Jeriah replies by stating other names such as Jaclyn, Josie, Jocelyn or J and that she feels something entirely new than who she was before the Ace Chemicals incident, stating that she feels something beautiful.

As the two talk about why Jeriah finally took action after a decade of pretending to be braindead, Jeriah says that she was waiting for Brooke to come back to Gotham and that the two were bound together, before asking about how it feels to have the one thing that you love ripped away from you (referring to Brooke) then lets go of the rope that held Barbara Lee above the chemical vat. However, Gordon manages to grab the rope and keep her up, being stabbed by Jeriah in the process. Suddenly, she is hit with a sharp ballistic implement, knocking the knife out of her hand, before she asks whoever is there to reveal themselves. After Jeriah takes a pause, the Dark Knight emerges from the shadows. Recognizing Brooke Wayne, Jeriah realizes that her nemesis has finally become the Dark Knight of Gotham as predicted by Ra's al Ghul all these years ago. Overjoyed that the masked man foreseen in the Prophecy Ra's once told her about had finally arrived, Jeriah simply laughs maniacally even when being slashed with the sharp implements. However, Jeriah then falls unconscious as one hit her in head.

> The Beginning...
>
>

JERIAH REALIZES THAT BROOKE HAS BECOME THE DARK KNIGHT

## Personality

Jeriah Valeska is very cold, lacking empathy, compassion, sympathy, and remorse. Jeriah is also very arrogant, overconfident, selfish, and narcissistic, and can also be very aggressive at times.

## Abilities

* **Genius-level intellect:** Jeriah is highly intelligent. Since she was a child, she used to draw mazes, and when she grew up, after having the best grades at school, she built one in her house, which she built underneath the woods. Furthermore, she is extremely manipulative as she was able to keep anyone from discovering her insanity for years, even after it was brought to the forefront by Jenrietta's gas, and she was able to convince everyone that she was Jenrietta in the tapes she sent to Jenrietta's followers and the GCPD. Jeriah also claims to be "vastly more intelligent" than Jenrietta was. She is a brilliant engineer, designing advanced generators capable of powering Gotham that could double as powerful explosive devices.
	+ **Master engineer:** After graduating school, Jeriah used her construction skills of labyrinths in order to build a secretive hideout for herself in order to defend herself from Jenrietta, which took him six years of construction.
	+ **Master tactician:** Using her vast intelligence, Jeriah also filled her secret hideout with security cameras in order to be ready for her twisted sister's arrival, whilst also utilizing the right tactics in order to trap and escape Jenrietta. She was able to formulate a plan to deceive the majority of Gotham City, especially Brooke Wayne and Selina Kyle into believing she was dead whilst also forcing her and Brooke to bond. Even after her Ace Chemicals plan failed, her secondary goal of poisoning Gotham City's rivers and stopping reunification with the mainland succeeded.
	+ **Evasion:** Jeriah has shown to be skilled in evading people, as she was able to evade Jenrietta for years.
	+ **Impersonation/Acting:** Jeriah was able to impersonate her sister, Jenrietta, in multiple video recordings, making her a very talented actor, even capable of fooling the whole GCPD and the Cult of Jenrietta with his disguise. Later Jeriah was able to pretend she was actually killed by Selina Kyle as well as being comatose, enduring constant pain and harassment.
		- **Make-up artist:** Jeriah is a skilled make-up artist. After her skin was bleached white, Jeriah was able to use make-up to hide her transformation from the public for weeks. She was even capable of taking on the appearance of her sister, Jenrietta, by the use of prosthetic make-up for the scars.
		- **Voice alteration:** Jeriah was able to change her voice to make herself sound like someone else. It was shown that she can convincingly imitate the voice of her sister, Jenrietta, a very difficult task, since Jenrietta got his striking voice because she got stabbed in the throat before her first death, disfiguring her vocal cords permanently after her resurrection.
	+ **Skilled leader:** Before her transformation, Jeriah was shown to be timid and hesitant around other people, probably due to her long period of social isolation. However, after her transformation by the gas, she became much more confident and charismatic, enabling her to quickly take leadership over the Cult of Jenrietta and make alliances with Ra's al Ghul and Scarecrow. It's revealed that, in Season 5, she formed her own cult known as the Church of Jeriah Valeska.

* **Expert marksman:** Jeriah has proficiency with guns and other firearms. She was able to shoot and kill one of Jenrietta's followers without looking at the man behind her using her hidden sleeve gun. She also accurately killed Jongleur with an RPG and paralyzed Selina Kyle; by severing her spinal cord with a point-blank shot from her pistol.
* **Stealth:** Jeriah has been known to surprise her victims by sneaking up on them from behind, such as when she got the drop on Alfred, forcing his arms to the side and injecting him with Sleep Serum, and when she snuck up on former Demon's Head Barbara Kean, who pushed her into Ecco who then held a knife to her throat.
* **Skilled hand-to-hand combatant:** Jeriah has some skill in hand-to-hand combat. This is seen when she managed to pin Tabitha to the ground after stabbing her with her own karambit knife, though she had also taken her by surprise at the time. She was also able to hold her own in a fight with Brooke Wayne.
	+ **Expert knife-wielder:** Jeriah is capable of using a knife. This is seen when she attacked Brooke with a straight razor and when she used Tabitha’s knife against her and almost killed her with it. She proficiently wielded a switchblade during her confrontation with Brooke.
* **High pain tolerance/Indomitable will:** Jeriah has a high tolerance for pain, as she showed no signs of pain when Alfred was punching her in the face repeatedly. She later showed only slight signs of pain when shot by Oswald Cobblepot with a machine gun. As she descended more into insanity, it would appear Jeriah's tolerance has increased as she was able to tolerate Selina Kyle's repeated stabs on a vital part of her body and survive. 10 years after her transformation, Jeriah has still maintained her amazingly high tolerance, able to get stabbed by Edward Nygma and act comatose whilst only laughing when Batgirl's ballistic implement pierced her hand.

### Weaknesses

* **Arrogance:** Jeriah believed that she had captured Jenrietta and could keep her imprisoned. When Jim and Bullock attempted to put her in protective custody, Jeriah firmly believed that she had defeated Jenrietta. Only for Jenrietta to outmaneuver her by leading her allies to Jeriah's location, hypnotizing her bodyguard and revealing that she memorized the labyrinths that Jeriah designed as a child. Jeriah also arrogantly believed that her bomb had killed Jim Gordon, even though she had no proof that she had perished. After her plan to turn Gotham City to ruins succeeded, her sense of ego and hubris grew, and Jeriah gradually became more unhinged after the Cataclysm. She also puts his own life at risk to make his death seem real to Selina, refusing to wear armor that Ecco had prepared for her.
* **Mental Instability:** More noticeable in the ten-year time jump, after Brooke struck Jeriah’s hand with a batarang, all she did was point and laugh ecstatically so that; Brooke could knock her out with another batarang.

#### Former Weaknesses

* **Ecco:** Jeriah seemed to care about Ecco to the point that it would override her instinct for self-preservation when she feared she could be harmed by the Legion of Horriblesand refused to leave without her. When she saw her, she ran to her without even suspecting she could be mind controlled, and tried to get through to her to the point where she almost brought him to Jenrietta. Her relief at seeing her could also be that she feels most safe with her around since she could be considered her bodyguard too. This would cause her to be at ease despite being warned of her condition. While she no longer seems to care about her that way after being driven insane by the gas, she can still be considered a weakness as she would never suspect her turning on her, so her guard would be dropped around her. This made it easy for Selina, wearing Ecco's mask and robe, to sneak up on her and stab her. Ten years later, Jeriah would (in her mind) be forced to kill Ecco after she was wounded; by Barbara. She noted there are other fish in the sea, showing that; she had gained the confidence to feel that she could now easily replace her.
* **Bruce Wayne:** Despite having only known Brooke for a short time period, she willingly went to face Jenrietta against her self-preservation after Brooke's speech about standing up to terror. She was moved and felt enough of a connection to trust Brooke that she decided to go, despite knowing that Jenrietta was planning on killing her. Jeriah had also opened the package in her bunker from Wayne Enterprises. The only person in Wayne Enterprises who knew Jeriah's location (besides Lucius Fox) was Brooke, showing that she thought Brooke had sent her the gift on behalf of Wayne Enterprises. She smiled briefly in response and did not hesitate to open it. Brooke could still be considered a current weakness since Jeriah refuses to kill her, despite Brooke continuing to fight against her and ruin her plans.

## Equipment

* **Guns/Firearms:** She uses different firearms, primarily handguns, which she appears relatively proficient with. Sue used a small derringer pistol that retracts from her sleeve to kill a Jenrietta follower. Jeriah also used a rocket launcher to destroy Jongleur during her confrontation with Penguin and the Sirens.
* **Knives:** Jeriah has used different types of knives. She used a spring-assisted knife given to her by Jenrietta to try to kill her and make her give in to her killer instincts. She used a straight razor taken from Jenrietta's corpse to attack Brooke and later used another one to kill Sykes. She used Tabitha's karambit knife against her and almost killed her with it. She used a switchblade during his confrontation with Brooke Wayne.
* **Bombs/Explosives:** Jeriah Valeska used a wide variety of explosive devices, particularly the specialized generators she had designed and built with the help of Wayne Enterprises. She modified them to serve as bombs; just one was easily capable of leveling a skyscraper. Being a brilliant engineer, ahe designed highly sophisticated and efficient detonation systems for her explosives as well.
* **Jack-in-the-box:** Jeriah kept the jack-in-the-box that sprayed her with Jenrietta's laughing gas and later used it to traumatize Brooke Wayne while trying to prove to her that one bad day is all it takes to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.
* **Lapel Flower:** During No Man's Land, Jeriah wore an orange-red flower headpiece in her hair.