Jenrietta Valeska

> There's nothing more contagious than laughter!
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JENRIETTA VALESKA'S MOST FAMOUS CATCHPHRASE.

> You're all prisoners. What you call sanity, it's just a prison in your minds that stops you from seeing that you're just tiny little cogs in a giant absurd machine. Wake up! Why be a cog? Be free like us. Just remember, smile. Oh! Time to go, but don't worry, we'll be back very soon. Hang onto your hats, folks, cause' you ain't seen nothing yet!!!
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JENRIETTA SENDING A MESSAGE TO GOTHAM AFTER ORCHESTRATING AN ATTACK ON GCPD POLICE HEADQUARTERS.

**Jenrietta Valeska** is a major antagonist of the TV show Gotham, serving as a minor antagonist in Season 1, appearing as the main antagonist of the 16th episode, The Blind Fortune Teller, the tertiary antagonist of the Rise of the Villains arc in Season 2, the main antagonist of his own arc in Season 3, as well as the main antagonist of the second half of season 4.

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

Jenrietta and her twin sister, Jeriah, 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 very cold hearted and abusive, especially towards Jenrietta. Lila was very selfish and never gave a shit about anyone. She was also very 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. On her and Jeriah’s 9th birthday, when Haly’s Circus traveled to Kansas City, her mother and a random man she was with both boozed, boned, & beat Jenrietta up. She was crying outside the trailer when Paul Cicero, the blind fortune teller at Haly’s Circus, told her that the world didn't care about her and that it was better to realize it then.

Jenrietta also performed in the circus like her mother. She performed with The Flying Graysons before murdering her mother at eighteen years old due to her being a “nagging drunken whore.”

After having been busted out of Arkham Asylum by Theo and Tabitha Galavan, Jenrietta was offered the chance to wreak havoc in Gotham in the Season 2 opening story arc "Rise of the Villains". As the leader of the Maniax, Jenrietta now terrorizes whole Gotham. Although she was betrayed and killed by her boss Theo Galavan (who wanted to be seen as a hero to the city) Jenrietta left a legacy leading to some citizens to follow her example and lead to the possible future creation of the Joker. She ultimately ended up revived by Hugo Strange, and was among the freaks who escaped the hijacked bus.

## Biography

**Early Life**

Jenrietta Valeska was born and raised in Haly's Circus. Jenrietta and her twin sister, Jeriah Valeska, were both born to Lila Valeska and Paul Cicero, the snake dancer and the blind fortune teller at the circus. Jenrietta and Jeriah were both raised by their mother, Lila Valeska. Jenrietta and Jemima never knew about their father. Jenrietta was told by her mother that her father was a sea captain named Sven Karlsen, who died while at sea. Their mother was cold-hearted and never loved anyone, not even her daughters. She was abusive, alcoholic and very promiscuous and would constantly abuse Jenrietta, sometimes even having her lovers abuse Jenrietta. On her and Jemima’s 9th birthday, when Haly’s Circus traveled to Kansas City, her mother along with a random man she was with both boozed, boned, & beat Jenrietta up. She was crying outside the trailer when Paul Cicero, the blind fortune teller at Haly’s Circus, told her that the world didn't care about her and that it was better to realize it then.

Jeriah was favored and treated better than Jenrietta as they were growing up. Jeriah took advantage of this and made up lies about Jenrietta scaring and abusing her to their mother. One night, their uncle Zachary, with their mother’s knowledge, secretly sent Jeriah away from Jenrietta and the circus to live at St. Ignatius for her own safety from the abuse. Jeriah ended up getting adopted by The Wildes, a wealthy rich family in New York, and never came back. Jenrietta was left all alone and abandoned by her own sister in the circus. Jeriah turned all of her family against Jenrietta by making up lies about her and then left her in the circus for good. This resulted in Jenrietta developing a hatred for her twin sister and a thirst for revenge.

**Murdering her Mother**

> Why did you kill your mother, Jenrietta?
> "Oh, you know how mothers are. She just kept pushing! And I'm like, 'Fine, mom. Be a whore, be a drunken whore even, but don't be a NAGGING DRUNKEN WHORE......' you know? And don't yell at me to do the dishes when you are **banging a clown in the next room!** You know?
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JENRIETTA VALESKA, EXPOSES HER INSANITY AND PSYCHOTIC PROFILE

> My mother was a cold-hearted whore who never loved anyone, and she'd never touched **a pathetic old creep like you**!
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JENRIETTA TO HER FATHER, CICERO

Jenrietta Valeska's mother, Lila Valeska, was the snake charmer and dancer at Haly's Circus. She was abusive, alcoholic, and very promiscuous. She had sex with any male that worked at or performed in the circus and she was also a hateful and mean woman to everyone around her, especially towards her daughter Jenrietta. She abused Jenrietta physically, emotionally, and verbally, and would constantly nag her. Due to her life style and the way she treated her by always giving her orders, Jenrietta hated her and wanted to see her suffer. Jenrietta finally snapped and hacked her to death with a hatchet. She later faked lack of knowledge of what happened to his mother and faked sadness for her death, although she was eventually caught by James Gordon, also revealing that her birth father was Paul Cicero, the blind fortune teller at the circus. When Jenrietta was questioned by James Gordon on why she killed her Jenrietta began to laugh as if it were all a big joke and told her she was a “nagging drunken whore” that needed to die. She was later incarcerated at Arkham Asylum.

**Escaping at Arkham Asylum**

Jenrietta, who is a lesbian herself, immediately takes a quick interest in Barbara Kean at Arkham Asylum, who was previously brainwashed to kill her parents by the now deceased Ogre. She developed a crush on her and tries to befriend her. When newcomer inmate Zaardon dramatically introduces himself to the prisoners, he chokes up knockout gas and inmates Jenrietta, Barbara, Richard Sionis, Robert Greenwood, Aaron Helzinger & Arnold Dobkins. are broken out of Arkham orchestrated by Tabitha Galavan. The bunch are tied up and meet Theo Galavan, who inspires them to be part of a team of elite criminals. Sionis refuses and is killed by Tabitha, much to Jenrietta's joy. Jenrietta laughed manically as she watched Sionis get beaten and strangled to death by Tabitha in excitement.

**Leading the Maniax**

Jenrietta and the other inmates end up forming The Maniax, led by Jenrietta herself.

The Maniax make their presence known by breaking into a shipyard and stealing a fully loaded refueling truck. They bring the seven hostages on the roof of the Gotham Gazette, write letters on each and throw them off the roof so that the corpses on the ground spell MANIAX. When Dobkins asks what they do with the spare hostage, Jenrietta paints a "!" on the man's chest and tells Helzinger to throw him down too.

While in their new headquarter, Jenrietta finds a sword which Greenwood immeadiately takes from her. When Jenrietta asks her nicely to give it back, Greenwood tells Jenrietta to "make him", calling her a little brat. Jenrietta takes a chainsaw and the two of them prepare to fight but are disturbed by Theo Galavan who orders them to stop immediately. When Dobkins chides them because they are a team, Greenwood proclaims himself the team captain but Jenrietta immediately denies that, planning to become the leader herself. Sensing the tension between the two, Galavan states that this problem must be resolved immediately. He draws his gun and removes all but one bullet, asking them if they know this game. Greenwood takes the gun, aims at his head and shoots but nothing happens. After Jenrietta does three times in a row, telling Greenwood she's the boss and laughing after saying that, Jenrietta is made the leader of their organization by Galavan's permission.

As the next part of their plan, the Maniax hold a cheerleader school bus hostage (apparently the decision was between it and a senior citizen bingo party, with the cheerleader school bus ultimately being decided) and plan to set it on fire with the fuel from the refueling truck they stole earlier. After spilling the fuel in the bus, Jenrietta realises that her lighter isn't working and, embarassed, asks the cheerleaders if any of them has fire. She is provided with a lighter by Dobkins, however the incident cost them enough time for the police to arrive. Jenrietta tells the Maniax to stand their ground because the policemen cannot risk to shoot at the bus. She tells Helzinger and Greenwood to get the truck and, after running out of ammunition for her revolver while firing at Gordon, orders Dobkins to light the bus up. The Maniax leave with Jenrietta continuing spilling fuel from the hose while they drive off but Dobkins is left behind. Their plan was ultimately foiled due to the quick thinking of Gordon after she accidentally set the fuel alight.

When they find out that the police is searching for them, the Maniax except Helzinger and Barbara enter the GCPD precinct disguised as policemen. Jenrietta tells an officer that she needs to speak with Commissioner Essen immediately and enters her bureau. When she recognized her, she draws her gun to keep her quiet while her colleagues start shooting up the precinct. With Greenwood filming them, Jenrietta has a discussion with Essen after the massacre. Essen tells her that she will soon be dead and that the world will go on without her, but he replies that she and the Maniax will leave a mark on the city. When Greenwood interferes, saying "there's nothing more contagious than laughter," which Jenrietta was about to say, Jenrietta shoots the cannibal for stealing her line.

When Gordon returns to the precinct, he finds most of his colleagues dead. Searching for his boss he finds Essen dying, having been mortally wounded by Jenrietta. While cleaning up the precinct, Gordon is told to look at the news. When he looks at the TV he sees a video message from Jenrietta, in which she reveals herself as the leader and the "shot caller" of the Maniax. She tells the viewers that she will be back soon and that they have seen nothing yet.

**Murdering her Father**

When Jim Gordon and the reinstated Harvey Bullock get a lead on Paul Cicero, who bailed on Jenrietta during their first interogation, Jenrietta and Tabitha confront him and stab him in the eye before escaping after Jim Gordon was knocking on the old man's door, although not before learning from Cicero that Jenrietta will ultimately spawn Gotham's worst curse. Before Jenrietta escaped, she hid knockout gas in Cicero's jacket, knocking Bullock unconscious. Jim attempted to fight Jenrietta, but was knocked out by Tabitha.

**Hostage Situation**

> By the way, nobody here is getting out *alive*.
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JENRIETTA JUST PRIOR TO MURDERING DEPUTY MAYOR KANE.

That following night at the Gotham Children's Hospital Gala, Jenrietta and Barbara disguise themselves as the annual showgirls, wearing sexy burlesque costumes and fancy masks. Jenrietta, while ominously telling the audience while still disguised as a burlesque show girl, that no one was getting out alive reveals herself mid-way through the act by throwing a knife at Deputy Mayor Kane and the rest of the Maniax attack the audience, quickly convoluting into a hostage situation. She then proceeded to subdue Leslie Thompkins and then string her up to a wheel, as well as confiscated her cellphone to contact Jim Gordon for a ransom, as well as hijacking the news cameras to give her demands: Either she get $47 million in ransom money, a getaway helicopter, her dry cleaning (while sarcastically warning Gordon that the man in charge of the dry cleaners, Mr. Chang, was a crook) as well as a pony, and that she expects her to get all these items in 10 minutes, or else she'll start killing the hostages, which she made clear will be demonstrated on live TV on every house across Gotham. There, Jenrietta goes terrorizing the attendees until their boss, Theo Galavan acts like he is the hero and stands up to the two until Barbara knocks him out with a hammer and says "boring."

**Death**

> "I'm so sorry Jenrietta. You have real talent but now you see: The plot thickens - enter the hero!"
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"You said I was gonna be..."

THEO & A DYING JENRIETTA

Jenrietta calls out for Brooke Wayne and holds Alfred Pennysworth as the next victim until Brooke stands up to Jenrietta. She puts a knife on Brooke's throat and slowly starts to slit it until the GCPD arrive. Theo, having regained consciousness, stabs Jenrietta in the neck to better his appearance as a hero. While Jenrietta falls to the floor, Theo apologizes to her and acknowledges her talent but reveals that she only used Jenrietta to boost her popularity. With her last words, Jenrietta tries to answer but dies with a blood-crafted smile on her face before she can finish her sentence.

**Aftermath**

> You will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleep screaming at the thought of you. Your legacy will be death and madness.
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PAUL CICERO'S FORESHADOWING QUOTE PREDICTING JENRIETTA'S EFFECT UPON GOTHAM CITY

As foretold before, Jenrietta's contributions to The Maniax caused a disfigurement on Gotham, intriguing other citizens, young and old, to undergo her personality and wreak havoc on Gotham. People like Oswald Cobblepot considered her tedious because her motivation was chaos for the sake of chaos.

A band devoted to the Maniax was created by a woman named Jeri and her nightclub included images and news footage of Jenrietta and her gang, as well as their mugshots. Some of the attendees to the band are also seen wearing similar straight-jackets the Maniax themselves wore during their attempt to set fire to the school bus. Peri herself also wore clown like makeup.

As for Jenrietta herself, she was seen dying with a blood-sculpted smile on her face as her body was left to be examined in the GCPD Forensics Room. Her body later came under possession by Hugo Strange at the Indian Hill facility.

**Revival and Escape**

After her demise, Jenrietta was transported to the research facility, Indian Hill, where she was stored into a glass tube along with other deceased people including Theo herself.

Jenrietta later became one of many test subjects to be revived from the dead by Professor Hugo Strange. Along with the other revived "monsters" Jenrietta was put on a bus to be delivered to another facility upstate, but another revived inmate Fish Mooney hijacked the bus and crashed it in Gotham City. Jenrietta, along with the other "monsters", were released with the help of an unsuspecting elderly homeless woman, and left the area in bound for the city.

## Personality

Jenrietta was a remorseless, unpredictable and utterly psychopathic girl with a deep enjoyment of needless acts of violence and chaos, committed by her and the Maniax or just in general. Unlike anything Gotham had ever seen before, Jenrietta was not an ordinary criminal in regards that she cared nothing about organised crime or profiteering but how she only relished in the mindless agony of everything around her. Penguin even states how she went against how usual criminals behaved due to her chaotic and unreasonable methods; singlehandedly, Jenrietta introduced the city, and perhaps even the world, an altogether different class of criminal, one that personified complete sadism, madness and pure, unadorned evil with no distinguishable objective or reasoning, beyond simply that he could or she enjoyed doing so. Her presence, even after death, tipped the scales of the kind of maniac Gotham could produce. It is heavily implied that her sociopathic views and her vile behavior, even by Gotham's standards, was the result of both her horrible childhood of being abused by her mother as well as Cicero, far from comforting Jenrietta on her ninth birthday, telling her that no one's going to care about her.

A showgirl, Jenrietta had a theatricality to her insanity that Galavan described as being "charismatic and charming". She enjoyed her time in the spotlight to the point where the rest of Gothan's criminals would operate within the shadows, she would televise her crimes for everyone to see. Whatever atrocities she would commit, one would always guarantee that there would be cameras nearby and she would do such act with a smile on her face. Cruel yet charismatic, Jenrietta desired to create a name for herself and a legacy that would never be forgotten, she brandished a smile when Paul Cicero claimed she would become a "curse upon Gotham". Her plans were usually intricate and needlessly complex, sometimes finding the challenge of them becoming a fruition or a failure entertaining nonetheless if they succeeded or otherwise and usually showcased her cunning and ingenuity in her designs. In the mind of Jenrietta, sanity was only a prison that prevented everyone from seeing what they were: pointless cogs within a monogamous machine stuck between a never-ending loop. Jenrietta and the Maniax believed that they were free from this prison due to their different ways of thinking and acting in comparison to everyone else and encouraged others to behave like they did, although they only thought this way because they were all mentally troubled, delusional and borderline insane.

One of her most noticeable traits was her disturbed sense of humour which was accompanied with a never-ending, manic giggling and outright laughter towards everything which fit right within Jenrietta's own beliefs on what was funny. She was sadistic and found immense joy in the idea of pain and death towards others, she smiled broadly when Richard Sionis was strangled to death and shot an injured police officer whom interrupted her broadcast from the GCPD, claiming she had "no manners". Jenrietta demonstrated a fondness for sarcasm, using it in a sick sense such as telling her father, who was blind "long time, no see" after breaking into her house. She enjoyed her own pain as well, making her suicidal as demonstrated while playing Russian Roulette, shot herself three times in a calm manner and how she found Commissioner Essen spitting at her and head butting her as "strangely pleasant" and laughing crazily, respectively. Even while being killed, she found enough humour within the situation to smile.

Jenrietta had a definable relationship with most members of the Maniax. She seemed to respect Galavan for believing in her and promising to make her a star, she also nicknamed him "Sensei" but was very shocked when the latter stabbed her in the neck. She was sociable towards Richard Sionis and Barbara Kean within Arkham Asylum, as she appeared to be friends with her and speaking for her when trying to ask Barbara for a date, although she found him being brutally murdered funny enough to grin at. She and Barbara worked together at Gotham Charity Ball and she was the one who granted her a phone call to threaten her ex-boyfriend. The most frictional relationship would be with Robert Greenwood whom mocked her for her young age and prepared to fight her to lead the Maniax. Though they worked together to kill the officers with GCPD and were a part of the same team, Jenrietta shot her dead for stealing her line and mocked her corpse later on.

Regarding her parentage, Jenrietta absolutely hated her mother and father. Though she finally discovered that Paul Cicero was her birth father, Jenrietta initially seemed to have a low opinion of her, claiming she was "pathetic" and a "creep". Even after learning that Cicero was her birth father, Jenrietta merely stated "I'll be damned" in a non-chalant manner, only shortly afterwards realizing the humor in the revelation. Cicero was somewhat unsympathetic towards his daughter and admits he was a bad father but loved her nevertheless and constantly gave her shelter and a home, even helping Jenrietta cover up her matricide for that reason alone. Whilst meeting with him after breaking into his house, Jenrietta mockingly called him "pops", "daddy" and "dad" all before killing him. Her mother was her first ever victim. She was stated to be cold and abusive to her daughter, and highly promiscuous and alcohol but Jenrietta claims that the only reason she killed her was because she asked him to do the dishes while having sex with a clown, which pushed her over the edge once too far.

## Victims

Kill count: **24**

1. Lila Valeska - Bludgeoned with a hatchet.
2. Unnamed police officers - 5 shot, 1 stabbed.
3. Robert Greenwood - Shot in the stomach.
4. Sarah Essen - Shot or stabbed.
5. Paul Cicero - Stabbed in the eye.
6. Mayor Kane - Knife thrown in his heart.
7. Unnamed men - 2 run over, 1 dropped into a piranha tank.
8. Dwight Pollard - Blown up.
9. Unnamed makeup artist - Stabbed.
10. Unnamed follower - Shot in the back,
11. Zach Trumble - Shot.
12. Unnamed board members - 2 eviscerated with a shotgun.
13. Carl - Shot.
14. Unnamed singer - Head bashed in with microphone stand.
15. Commissioner Reynolds - Head blown off.
16. Archbishop McGregor - Head blown off.

### By Proxy

1. Unnamed Yellen shipyard employees - 7 thrown off a roof by the Maniax.
2. Unnamed police officers - 5 shot by the Maniax.