Edward Nygma (Gotham)

"Remember I mentioned fate? Recently, I've going through a sort of change... "What kind of change?" you ask....I started murdering people!"

- Edward Nygma to Oswald Cobblepot Edward "Ed" Nygma is a supporting protagonist and later protagonist villain in the Batman prequel TV Show Gotham, where he is portrayed by Cory Michael Smith. He is the show's version of the supervillain Riddler.

In the first season he is a supporting character and works as a police forensics investigator for the Gotham City Police Department, who normally gives Harvey Bullock and James Gordon results of crime scenes. He is also shown for having a love for puzzles, and despite lacking empathy does not act as a villain for a majority of the first season. A subplot involving Edward shows his interest in colleague Kristin Kringle. His start of darkness occurs when he murders her abusive boyfriend Tom Dougherty, which shows him having a breakdown and in the last episode of season 1, having an argument with himself.

In second 2, which is dubbed "Rise of the Villains", Edward begins his journey to villainy when he is shown to have developed a split personality/schizophrenia and accidentally kills Kristin when confessing that he murdered Tom. His darker side soon takes over when Edward soon realizes he takes pleasure in getting off with his crimes.

Start of Darkness
Possessing a crush on his co-worker Kristen Kringle, towards the end of the season he discovers that her boyfriend, Tom Dougherty, is abusive. Confronting him to stop him from seeing her again, he ends up stabbing Dougherty multiple times. This event causes him to have a simultaneous remorse and breakdown. Using his position he manages to destroy Tom's body before anyone can find out that he is dead and creates his first ever Riddle, a forged note from Tom claiming he had just left town. However, if only the first letter of every line is read it spells out "NYGMA".

After Kristen solves the riddle and asks Edward if he knows anything about it Edward realizes that he has almost been discovered.

Breakdown
At the beginning of the season it appears he has a split personality and has conversations with a darker version of himself in the mirror. Ed gets upset by his alter egos presence and warns him to leave Kringle alone.

When Jerome Valeska and his teammates attack the Police Department, Ed saves Kringle by tackling her to the ground out of the way of the gunfire and ends up taking a bullet. Kringle appears to show appreciation to end and is later seen giving him medication after the bloody incident is over.

To confess his love to her, he practices his speech in the police archives. However, due to his split personality his evil part gains more and more influence over him. When telling Nygma that she owes him for saving her life, Edward walks to Kringle while she speaks to three other officers. He invites her to dinner and she agrees, saying that she would like that, much to the astonishment of the other cops.

When Kristen arrives at Nygma's house, she tells Edward that when his invite said "chez moi" she expected a restaurant. Edward apologized for being so unclear and tells her that he loves to cook. While inviting her in, she tells him to call her Kristen. While their dates continues, Kristen apologizes to Edward for being mean to him the whole time to which Edward replies by apologizing for annoying her for so long. Kirsten does not accept the apology, saying that she was mean while all he was was sweet. She also apologizes for implying that he wrote Dougherty's goodbye letter to her. While Kristen talks about Dougherty, Edward accidentally says that he is glad that Dougherty is dead. Kristen confused replies that he only left town. Edward saves himself by stating that it was only a figure of speech, meaning that he is "dead to her". While Kristen apologizes and goes to the bathroom, the evil Edward congratulates Nygma for blowing it up. Edward tells his evil self to leave him alone, which Kristen hears and thinks that he meant her. She prepares to leave, but Edward admits that he is talking to himself and that the stronger version of himself inside his head prevents him from botching up everything. Kristen answers that she can understand that and tells him that they all have a voice like that. When Edward tells her that his inner voice was angry for spoiling the mood, she kisses him.

After dinner with Edward and Kristen, Leslie tells Gordon that strangely Nygma seems to maintains a sense of coolness, which Gordon cannot believe.

Killing Kringle
Edward later overhears Kristen talking to Leslie saying she wished he would be more open. Later that evening after having sex, Edward ends up confessing that he was responsible for killing Dougherty. Kristin gets angry and sees Edward as a sicko, however he insists he did it for her and didn't want her to be abused by him. When she tries to escape, he covers her mouth to stop her screaming in order to explain himself, however ends up strangling her to death unintentionally when holding her by the neck. Edward breaks down and cradles her body and screams in anguish.

The New Nygma
Edward awakens the next morning to discover Kringle's body gone. His split personality appears again via hallucination, where it is now revealed it is able to take over his body. The alternative personality took over Edward's body when he was unconscious and has now hidden Kringle's body, and gives Edward the task of finding it at the G.C.P.D. Edward heads over there and follows the clues and discovers Kringle's severed hand inside a vending machine.

Edward heads to the morgue, where he discovers her corpse. He attempts to remove it however Leslie walks in on him. Edward quickly explains he was trying to look for her, and claims that Kringle left him after an argument and he wants relationship advice over coffee. Leslie, taking sympathy, agrees and they both leave.

Later on Edward returns to the morgue alone. His hallucination appears and Edward asks him why he is doing this. The hallucination asks him how he felt about Leslie walking in and Edward admits he was terrified as she could have discovered the body. The hallucination continues on, telling Edward about how much a rush it was and tells him how it feels. Although previously conflicted, Edward replies "beautiful". Embracing his darker side, he begins to smile and proceeds to cut up Kringle's corpse.

Edward took her remains to a remote woodland and put the body in a type of coffin and dug a grave. He had prepared sandwiches and drinks in order to say a proper goodbye to Kringle. When a hunter came across him, Edward killed the man with a spade. Edward then noticed someone had taken his sandwiches and followed a blood trail. A while passes and Edward comes across a caravan in the woods, and when he approaches it the door flings open and he falls to the ground. Edward puts his glasses back on and is surprised to see it is Oswald Cobblepot (who he had briefly met some months prior at the GCPD headquarters) and is badly injured. Oswald begs Edward for help, before collapsing.

Teaming up with Penguin
Edward brings Penguin to his home and nurses him back to health. When Penguin wakes up, he at first thinks that Nygma wants to kill him, but Edward assures that he has no ill will towards him. He tells Penguin that he has recently started murdering people, three in total. He asks Penguin, whom he sees as one of the best killers in town. However Penguin does not plan to stay because he sees his empire in ruins. While walking towards the door, Penguin faints.

When Penguin wakes up again, he sees that Edward has kidnapped a man. Nygma tells him that this man, named Mr. Leonard, worked for Theo Galavan before the latter was sent to prison. He tells Penguin that he kidnapped him as a gift for Penguin, as a kind of revenge. However, Penguin tells Nygma that he's "done" and will leave Gotham after a nap. After Penguin has gone to bed, Edward adresses Leonard, telling him that he really expected Penguin to like him. He then drags the tied up Leonard out of the room while humming.

Later, when Penguin awakens once again Nygma plays the piano and sings a song which he thinks has meaning for Penguin as he was humming it under his sheets. Penguin admits that his mother sang this song for him when he was small. Nygma then shows him the glasses of Kristen Kringle and says that these are the only things he has left of her. Penguin once again plans to leave but is stopped by Nygma who coldly tells him that his mother died because of his weakness because he did not realise his weakness was her. Penguin grabs a knife and puts it at Nygma's throat, tearfully exclaiming that his mother was a saint and everything he had. Nygma replies that a man who has nothing to lose can not be betrayed and won't answer to noone but himself. He says that this man, a free man, is whom he sees before him. Penguin then sobbingly hands him the knife.

Later, while having dinner, Penguin asks Edward where he kept the lackey of Galavan he kidnapped. Edward smiles and pulls Leonard out of the cupboard.

Victims

 * Tom Dougherty - Stabbed to death.
 * Kristin Kringle - Choked to death.
 * Unnamed Hunter - Hit in the head with a shovel.
 * Leonard - Unknown.

Season 1

 * "Pilot"
 * "Selina Kyle"
 * "Arkham"
 * "Viper"
 * "Spirit of the Goat"
 * "The Mask"
 * "Harvey Dent"
 * "Lovecraft"
 * "What The Little Bird Told Him"
 * "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon"
 * "The Fearsome Dr. Crane"
 * "The Scarecrow"
 * "The Blind Fortune Teller"
 * "Everyone Has a Cobblepot"
 * "Beasts of Prey"
 * "Under the Knife"
 * "The Anvil or the Hammer"
 * "All Happy Families Are Alike"

Season 2

 * "Rise of the Villains: Damned If You Do..."
 * "Rise of the Villains: Knock, Knock"
 * "Rise of the Villains: Strike Force"
 * "Rise of the Villains: Scarification"
 * "Rise of the Villains: By Fire"
 * "Rise of the Villains: Mommy's Little Monster"
 * "Rise of the Villains: Tonight’s the Night"
 * "Rise of the Villains: A Bitter Pill to Swallow"

Trivia

 * Edward working for the Gotham City Police Department is probably taken from the Arkham video game series Riddler, who was shown working for the G.C.P.D in the prequel game Batman: Arkham Origins.
 * Edward's relationship with his alternative personality is similar to the relationship between the unnamed Narrator and Tyler Durden in the 1999 film Fight Club.
 * In some versions of the character he has the surname "Nashton", where he ends up taking the name Nygma (sometimes spelt Nigma depending on the writers).