Rorschach is one of the coolest characters in all of comics. Wizard Magazine once listed Rorschach in the top ten comic book characters of all time. His style, his conviction and his insanity combine to make him a character that everyone wants to read about.
Rorschach’s Style
Rorschach dresses like an old-school detective. He wears pinstripe pants, a tan trench coat and a fedora. If it weren’t for the mask, he could have stepped right out of Dick Tracey. This fits in with how he goes about crime fighting. Rorschach is very good at noticing tiny details of a scene, and is a ruthless interrogator.
The mask really defines his look, though. An ever-shifting pattern of black and white, the mask was crafted from a fancy Venetian dress that he saved from being thrown away when it went out of fashion. The mask serves a few functions. Though it obviously creates a strong iconic image, the fact that it’s never exactly the same twice symbolically implies that his identity is unknowable.
Also, the allusion to the Rorschach Test is significant. It could be that the character wants criminals to interpret his actions as a projection of themselves: because they are killers they can expect to see a killer in him. It could also be a throwaway allusion to something he doesn’t think that scum would get, thus reinforcing his superiority over them. The face has always been an interesting template for commentary about identity, and his mask is as rich with potential interpretations as it is ever-changing.
Rorschach’s Insanity
In one of the first scenes of the graphic novel, Rorschach needs some information. He goes to a dive bar, where everyone is terrified as soon as he walks in the door. He proceeds to break a man’s fingers if he doesn’t get the information he needs. Everyone tells him that they don’t know, and after breaking several fingers he believes them.
His exit is characterized in his journal as “leaving the human cockroaches to discuss their heroin and child pornography.” We are given no reason to suspect that anyone in that bar was a junkie or pornographer. That is purely Rorschach’s speculation based on his estimation of the moral character of his city.
Rorschach is overwhelmed by his convictions. Nothing in the book directly explains why he is so single-minded. One of the chapters is devoted to psychoanalyzing Rorschach, and he offers up an explanation whcih amounts to him being pushed to far by a child abuser. The intellectual nihilistic epiphany that he claims resulted from that still doesn't explain his inhuman willingness to impart pain to others, though.
Conclusion
Regardless of why he is so crazy, Rorschach is an interesting character to watch. He is completely comfortable with the gaping contradictions in his philosophy. Watching him work you continuously marvel at his single-mindedness. He’s not a reasonable person, and his force of will and personality colors Watchmen in dark and uncomfortable shades.
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