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THIS!! This theme persists throughout Tim's story. Where Bruce is unable to step away because of his trauma, guilt and lack of life outside Batman, Tim is unable to leave due to a sense of selflessness. In almost every step of the way he has a truly full civilian life waiting for him but he cannot leave Bruce and his family to drown in their grief alone. Because of what that means for them but also what it means for the city. He knows his role and has resigned to the fact that it is necessary regardless of his own needs and wants.
This is also what irks me about the "Rim is destined/likely to be a killer" characterization. While it is a really interesting concept, ignoring this incredibly selfless aspect of his motivation and replacing it with Batman's motivation is frankly wasted potential
the misinterpretation of a lonely place of dying by later retellings drives me nuts because ‘tim finds out who batman is’ is nearly not as much of a big deal as ‘tim doesnt want to be robin’ in the actual origin and it pretty much sums up whats wrong with modern tim drake. ALPOD is a tragic story of a twelve year old boy who had everything and willingly gave it up for a greater good. he is not like dick and jason who became robin to escape tragedy nor bruce who had everything and then lost it. robin was nothing but a curse he accepted to bear and he did so because of his selflessness. that selflessness is his driving rod, his smarts and physical talent are only the tools he uses to achieve his goals. he is not ‘the smart one’, he is a sacrificial lamb for a cause he became an unwilling spectator of. a twelve year old boy thought ‘people need saving, its that simple’ and put on the clothes a dying kid not much older than him wore because of nothing more than his selflessness and everyone he loved paid the price for it. he paid an even greater price for it.