Batman: Arkham Knight - 8 Reasons The Joker Should Stay Dead
4. Batmans Emotional Stress
By now everybody knows that Batman has one rule, and that rule is to never kill anyone whether it be intentional or accidental. At the end of Arkham City he fails himself and breaks that rule. One of the most bittersweet moments in gaming is the shot of Batman exiting the theatre with The Joker dead in his arms. Bringing him back from the dead in a surprise twist or a random plot point will hurt the story and Batman's character. From the trailer it is already evident that even one year removed from the event, Batman is still in a state of emotional distress from failing to uphold his rule. That tension and consequence is gone entirely if The Joker is brought back, and the story would just turn into another game of cat and mouse between the two rivals that are seemingly intertwined in each other's fate. The central moral theme of the game needs to be about Batman dealing with - and eventually overcoming - the traumatic stress he has endured from killing another human being. And the only way to achieve that is by keeping The Joker rotting in a digital grave.
