Walter Kovacs

## Rorschach

"*Never compromise, not even in the face of armageddon... or crap.*"
—Rorschach on masquerading as a janitor for weeks
**Walter Kovacs** or **Rorschach** is a violent vigilante and detective. He is an old acquaintance of Doctor Manhattan.

## Physical appearance

As Rorschach, Walter wears a dark brown coat and a fedora. He has a white mask with ink blots on it that morph to form different expressions.

## History

### Life on Earth-Prime

Adrian Veidt faked an alien attack on the world that brought humanity back from the brink of nuclear warfare. However, Rorschach's refusal to let his world live a lie caused him to have his journal published, which detailed the truth of Veidt's plan. This destroyed world peace and eventually the entire Earth. Doctor Manhattan brought Rorschach to Earth-16A instead of letting him die.

###  The Search for Manhattan

On November 12th, 2011, Rorschach approached conspiracy-theorist hero Question while he was closing down his bar for the night. Rorschach revealed that he was a friend who'd been following the same case and was actually from an alternate universe. The two agreed to work together. Rorschach told the Question that he knew who was behind the strange changes in the world and that they needed to start their search by visiting a certain comedian.

At Arkham Asylum, the Question and Rorschach visited the Joker in his cell, thinking that the villain was so insane he might be aware of the changes in the universe. The Clown Prince of Crime revealed that Manhattan dropped by to visit him, afraid that the villain would "tell on him". The Joker told the detectives that the annual supervillain auction was being held in Metropolis later that night, where Lex Luthor would be attending with a tracker that could take them to the person they were looking for.

Hawkman gave Question and Rorschach a ride to Metropolis, much to their collective annoyance. Question's wife Huntress masqueraded as Talia al Ghul to blend in at the auction. She was terrified to discover that Superman was at the event, using his secret identity Clark Kent, as he could blow the whole operation if discovered. Hawkman, Question, and Rorschach literally crashed the event, searching for their tracker: a tiger-like beast called Bubastis II. After fighting off the event's security, Sportsmaster and Scandal Savage, Rorschach pursued Lex Luthor, who had absconded with Bubastis II.

The detective followed Luthor up to his penthouse, demanding the cat. The billionaire attempted to kill him but was stopped by Ozymandias, the one who'd tried to lie to Rorschach's world and the owner of the cat. The villain revealed that Doctor Manhattan was responsible for corrupting Superman. Alfred Pennyworth arrived out of nowhere and killed Ozymandias, though the villain's plans had already been completed. Rorschach took Bubastis II and went to talk to Manhattan one last time.

Rorschach ran into Superman, who was trying to work towards real heroism. Bubastis II revealed that he was Jor-El, Superman's father. However, Rorschach saw through the facade, knowing that the cat was really Doctor Manhattan. The god revealed that he had been influencing the universe for decades, wanting to see what would happen if he twisted a "black and white" world. Manhattan knocked out Superman and erased his memory of the encounter. He sent Rorschach to another alternate Earth, the home of Mega-City One (the universe of *Judge Dredd*) where the vigilante could punish criminals with impunity.

## Resources

### Abilities

* **Hand-to-hand combat:** Rorschach is a skilled fighter.