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“ | Oh, puddin', aren't you delicious. | „ |
~ Ecco tauntingSelina Kyle. |
“ | I was willing to look death in the face. To allow the old me to die. It's the gift Jeremiah's brother Jerome left him, and the gift he wants for all his followers. | „ |
~ Ecco to Selina Kyle. |
Ecco is a supporting antagonist in the TV series Gotham. She is Jeremiah Valeska's assistant and henchwoman and is the predecessor to Joker's sidekick and girlfriend Harley Quinn from the DC universe.
She was portrayed by Francesca Root-Dodson.
Biography[]
Ecco claims her father moved out of her home before her sixth birthday. At some point in her life, Ecco becomes the assistant to Jeremiah Valeska (who at the time went by the alias Xander Wilde) and acts as his proxy, handling his public business herself. Other than these details, little is known about her life.
Ecco waits up for Jerome to get at her apartment, where she captures him, later sending him into a special room in Xander's maze, where the last one pretended Jerome to die in there.
Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock ask him to hand Jerome to the GCPD, but Jeremiah refuses. However, after following the polices, Tech and Crane arrived to the maze bunker, Mad Hatter hypnotize Ecco to guide them throw the way of the laberynth and sends her to kill Jim Gordon and Harvey and to bring Jeremiah to Jerome. She fights a little against Harvey and James, who ends to defeat her. She is freed from Tetch's control and resumes working for Jeremiah.
Being alredy aware of Jeremiah's murderous tendencies, she saw no purpose in attempting to help him into fight Jerome's special gas, as the own Jeremiah claimed, it was mere water like him.
As Jerome's followers gather up after Jerome's death, a woman dressed as a Mummer in a jester costume shows up on her motorcycle at the cemetery in which they are all gathered. The leader of the troupe tells her the gathering is invitation only and tries to kill her by throwing a knife at her, only for her to block it with her wrist and blow an air horn. Gaining their attention with the noise, she holds up a voice recording to the horn, projecting a message from Jerome, giving the cult instructions to dig him up.
Jim Gordon shows up to Jeremiah's bunker and a video of Jerome begins to play on the screen. The Mummer shows up points a gun towards Jim's head and Jerome tells him not to mind her. Jim knocks the gun away and tries to fight the Mummer, but she puts up a fight back. Jerome begins being choked on the monitor. Jim gets the upper hand on the Mummer and knocks her out. He removes her mask to reveal Ecco as the Mummer, while on the screen "Jerome" is revealed to be Jeremiah with makeup. Ecco, taking advantage of his shock, sneaks away and locks Jim inside the bunker, which explodes.
Later, Jeremiah (now with pale white skin) arrives at Wayne Enterprises. The guards ask him if he's alone and he reveals Ecco behind him, who shoots the guards. The two of them steal the keycards and use them to enter the room where all of the self-perpetuating generators that Jeremiah wants to use as bombs are stored.
After the bombs activated, destroying the bridges and plunging Gotham into No Man’s Lands, Ecco sneaks into the GCPD and glances at a map that has information about the location of all the other villains. She hears a woman radioing for Jim and hides after drawing the Cult of Jerome symbol on the map. Jim almost catches Ecco, but she gets away just as he turns around.
Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle find Ecco as a cult leader. She is trying to recruit others into becoming followers of Jeremiah. It is also revealed that since has been helping him hire slave drivers to find an escape route. Selina thinks she tricks Ecco into letting her become a member, but Ecco knows who she is. Ecco reveals that the candidates have to play a game of Russian roulette and aim the gun at each other. Selina jams the gun of the guy behind her. Ecco sends those that survived into another room to be “reborn” while she confronts Selina, who suggests she play the game. Ecco reveals that she had and shows her the scar below her ear, adding that the bullet is still inside her, and even puts the gun to her own head and pulls the trigger twice, laughing maniacally. Selina says Ecco is insane, who responds that she stared death in the face, which allowed the old her to die. She then reveals she knows who Selina is, saying she and Jeremiah know all about Bruce’s life, amd says neither of the, are ready to embrace their truth selves. Selina knocks Ecco’s gun away, and they fight until Selina gets the upper hand and holds the gun to Ecco’s head, who stabs her in the leg and gets away.
Ecco brings the recruit to Jeremiah, who is disappointed by the low number. Ecco says she thought he would want quality over quality. Jeremiah grabs her by the throat, pulls her close and looks at the side of her head, saying she has set the bar high for devotion. He pulls her into dance and she tells him about Bruce and Selina looking for him. After Ecco leaves with the recruits, Selina somehow gets a hold of Ecco’s mask and robe and uses it to get close to Jeremiah where she stabs him nine times,
Jeremiah survives the stabbing and is stitched up. He rests while Ecco supervises Jeremiah’s digging operation. She wakes him up when they reach their destination and shows concern over Jeremiah’s injury. He notes that the bullet is making her sentimental has her shake her head to get rid of those feelings. As Ecco helps him up, he reminds her why he had to let Selina think he was dead. He asks her if she has news and Ecco says all systems are go. Jeremiah has Ecco lead him into what looks like Wayne Manor where he has prepared Thomas and Martha Wayne look-a-likes via plastic surgery.
Jeremiah planned to recreate the night Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered. He and Ecco made a “Mask of Zorro” styled film where she helped him, murder people, they had captured. Ecco was then stationed at Ace Chemicals, along with Jervis Tetch. They captured Jim Gordon and Lee Thompkins, and Jeremiah has Ecco tell Tetch to hypnotize Jim and Lee into thinking they were Thomas and Martha Wayne. Ecco drove a truck full of rockets to the site where Jeremiah planned to shoot Jim and Lee. Selina intervened and Bruce tackles Jeremiah, so Ecco turned on the bombs. Jeremiah got away and ordered Ecco to activate the bombs before they both fled with Bruce and Selina in pursuit. Jeremiah lured Bruce to Ace Chemicals alone, after an short but intense fight with Bruce, Jeremiah finally became severely disfigured and brain dead after falling into a vat of chemicals. Completing his transformation into The Joker. Ecco’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Sometime after the reunification, Ecco infiltrated Arkham Asylum where she cared for Jeremiah, who only faked being brain dead while he waited for Bruce to return to Gotham. Ten years later, Jeremiah and Ecco made their move, keeping up their cover as they plotting to blow up the new Wayne Tower. After Jim figures out that Jeremiah is the culprit, Jeremiah and Ecco leave Arkham and show up at the Sirens club, planning to kidnap Barbara Lee Gordon. Ecco holds a knife to Barbara Kean’s throat, but Barbara Lee saves her mother by throwing something at Ecco’s head, and Barbara stabs Ecco with her own knife. As Ecco bleeds out, Jeremiah laments her inevitable death, and says there will never be another like her. Ecco is happy to hear that, and then Jeremiah fatally shoots her. Ecco gives one last bloody smile before falling dead on the floor. Jeremiah then casually states that he supposes that there are other fish in the sea.
Personality[]
Ecco was originally very stoic. She showed little to no emotion, as seen when Jerome held a knife to her face and she didn’t flinch. She is also clear, concise, and doesn’t mince words. She does have a bit of an arrogant side to her as seen when she taunted Jerome about transporting him in a cage while smiling at him.
Since she is extremly devoted to Jeremiah, her morals are at best questionable as she is whatever Jeremiah needs her to be. She supported his plan of starving Jerome until death, even personally sending him with Jeremiah, making sure to serve the best to his goals. After Jeremiah became a villain, she was very disposal to help at his plans; she tried to help him kill Jim Gordon by trapping him in the bunker with a self perpetuating generator, and killed two guards without hesitation, Jeremiah didn't even needed to order her to do so, as they represented mere obstacle to his schemes. She would even assist him in his plans to destroy Gotham, and even seemed to show some joy in Jeremiah’s plans to rebuild Gotham as she smiled when she looked upon all of the self perpetuating generators.
At No Man's Land, to prove her loyaty and devotion to Jeremiah, she shots herself in the head, after survive but with the bullet still inside, Ecco’s personality shifts to a more energetic and unhinged one, even though at times she still can maintain her stoic calm personality.
Another thing that changed is that her devotion for Jeremiah became more openly honest and crude, at the point of somehow recognize him as her god and messiah figure. She also seemed to have a sense of gratitute towards Jerome by extension, claiming that the near death experience that Jerome gave to Jeremiah was a gift that made him reborn, so Jeremiah wants to share that gift to his followers, and Ecco is doing Jeremiah's will.
As a result of her new found self, Ecco adopted a more nihilistic persona as she didn’t fear death, laughing maniacally as she held a gun to her head and pulled the trigger multiple times. She also cheerfully strolled around while humming, used her finger to scrap blood off the wall, and then licked her finger with the blood on it, and promoved Jeremiah's worldview of letting macabe experiences to lead people into greater ways of freedom through chaos.
Despite her injury, she still maintained her stoicism as seen when she entered the GCPD and showed no reaction when she heard the radio trying to contact Jim. She also speaks softly and calmly most of the times.
In general, she is more mocking, sadistic, condescendient, despective and intentionally cruel. However, when she is in Jeremiah’s presence, she is very submissive and pleasent around him, and excites happily when he interactsp playfully with her as proven when she is shown to be hopelessly infatuated with him as seen while dancing with him and after she had finished.
Ecco became gradually more unhinged after the No Man's Land, as she undertook increasingly twisted acts to prove her loyalty to Jeremiah. Even after he was legally declared brain dead, she stayed by his side, devoting the next ten years of her life to caring for him.
The ten year time jump showed Ecco could still maintain her stoic personality as part of her cover. She even ordered an inmate out of her way, in a tone that sounded very similar to way she talked back before Jeremiah's becoming, as she returned Jeremiah to his room. Even when she killed two inmates that were heckling Jeremiah she showed no emotion.
However, it is proven that her macabe humor remains in her, because when she did break her cover, she told Jeremiah they their cover is “blownsky”.
When she and Jeremiah have captured Barbara, she is too busy listening to Jeremiah rambling and gloating to notice Barbara Lee throwing a decorative candle holder at her head, which then allowed Barbara to get out of her grip and stab her. She was deeply lost in her eternal love for Jeremiah, as she either couldn’t read between the lines when he started talking about her in the past tense and said she was no longer his echo, or she just didn’t care and acepted her faith at the hands of her beloved. Prior to that, she treated the fact that she had been stabbed like a minor inconvenience referring to it as just being “nicked”, as well, she reffered to Jeremiah as "Daddy" in a creepily crazy girl tone.
Physical appearance[]
Ecco has blonde hair that she always seems to tie up with a black ribbon. In her first appearance, she wore a grey shirt with different colours on them, a black skirt that zipped up at the back, black leggings and shoes.
Ecco’s Mummer costume was a red and black jester looking outfit with a white porcelain mask. The costume was bulky and had body armour built into it. When she broke into the GCPD, she wore her long blonde hair in a pony tail.
Her appearance during the episode 3 to the 6 of season 5 consisted of her wearing white face paint with one eyebrow shaved off and a black line drawing under that same eye with smeared lipstick. She wore a white cloak with strips that were uneven and half red half black. Underneath, her hair was pinned up in to two seperate buns. She wore a sleeves black shirt, a jacket with short sleeves that was half red and half black and had a diamond on the back. She wore black gloves, pants that were also half red and half black with a diamond on the side of one, and one boot that was red and one boot that was black.
During her time at Ace Chemicals. she briefly modified her outfit where she wore a white long sleeve shirt with black stripes under her jacket and some kind of red cape with white ruffles and ragged white tips that wer somehow attached to her jacket. She replaced her gloves with red and black fingerless gloves that revealed her nail polish that was red on one hand and black on the other. She also wore shoes that resembled her boots with pink rolled blades attached.
When undercover at Arkham, she wore a red and black dress with long sleeves and a white hat. She had her hair tied up in a bun again. After escaping with Jeremiah, she wore her old outfit, minus the jacket, and replaced her fingerless gloves with sleeve gloves. She wore a white collar with frills around her neck.
Abilities[]
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Ecco is a highly trained hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist, as seen during her fight with Jim and Harvey, though Jim was able to hold his own for longer than Harvey. She later fought and nearly killed Jim, only losing when he managed to knock her out from behind. She was also able to hold her own against Selina Kyle in a fight.
- Marksmanship: Ecco is a proficient marksman, as seen when she shot two guards in quick succession before either of them could react.
- Skilled knife wielder: Ecco is a capable knife wielder, as seen when she used a pair of broken scissors against Jim Gordon. She also manged to quickly stab Selina in the leg with a knife in order to escape.
- Stealth: Ecco snuck up on Jim while he was distracted by Jeremiah’s video and he didn’t notice until she put a gun to his head. She was also able to escape without Jim noticing. Later, Ecco was able to sneak into the GCPD without anybody seeing her. She spied on Jim briefly before leaving and again, he didn’t suspect anything until she was already gone.
- Inventor: Ecco apparently has enough skills to design a body armour for Jeremiah, even though he refused to wear it.
- Manipulation: She was able to get Jeremiah's believers, taking advantage on their faith on him to play Russian roulette and caused the deaths of many people because of it. The survivors stayed loyal to her and Jeremiah, and let Ecco put them to work in joining the Soothsayers to dig a tunnel into Wayne manor. She made people think she was sane enough to work at Arkham Asylum.
- Stoicism: Prior to No Man’s Land, Ecco kept up a stoic appearance, keeping her emotions in check. This likely made her more effective at her job. Even after going insane, she had moments where she was still able to still maintain her stoicism and hide any traces of her insanity. For 10 years, she was able to make people think she was sane enough to work at at Arkham Asylum.
- Dancing: Ecco was able to make a pretty good dance with Jeremiah in Ruin
Weaknesses[]
- Jeremiah: Ecco has devoted her life to Jeremiah and is so devoted to him that she has no set morals and would kill if he commanded her to. She even shot herself in the head, sacrificing her sanity in the process, just to prove how loyal to Jeremiah she was. She will even get rid of any feelings of sentimentality she may have if Jeremiah commands her to do so, by shaking her head so the bullet in her brain will altar how her brain works. Even after Jeremiah was legally declared brain dead, she stayed by his side, devoting the next ten years of her life to caring for him. Her loyalty to Jeremiah ultimately led to her death as after she was stabbed by Barbara, he then shot her dead.
- Insanity: Ecco was insane to the point where it seemed she was willing to die for Jeremiah. She shot herself in the head to prove her loyalty, which pushed her over the edge. When confronted by Selina, she put a gun to her own head and pulled the trigger, laughing maniacally as she did so. Finally, her insanity came to a head when after Barbara stabbed her, she either couldn’t read between the lines when Jeremiah started talking about her in the past tense and said she was no longer his echo, or she just didn’t care. Prior to that, she treated the fact that she had been stabbed like a minor inconvenience referring to it as just being “nicked”.
- Short attention span: Ecco is implied to have a short attention span when it comes to Jeremiah being involved (as she is shown to normally be very single-minded when it comes to her other tasks). When holding Jim at gunpoint, she easily got distracted when Jeremiah, posing as Jerome, pretended to strangle “Jerome”. She looked away for a moment, which led to Jim overwhelming her. Ten years later, when she and Jeremiah have captured Barbara, she is too busy listening to Jeremiah rambling and gloating to notice Barbara Lee throwing a decorative candle holder at her head, which then allowed Barbara to get out of her grip and stab her.
Equipment[]
- Mummer costume: As The Mummer, Ecco wears a jester costume with a red and black diamond design, which has body armor in the torso. She also uses a white mask that only leaves open her eyes in order to hide her face. Even after discarding her costume, Ecco still used the mask to hide her face, although the mask has become dirty and cracked on one side.
- Guns/Firearms: Ecco has been shown to wield firearms on multiple occassions such as handguns and revolvers.
- Knife: Ecco used a knife to stab Selina in the leg in order to escape. She later used a knife to kill two inmates that were heckling Jeremiah, and then held it to Barbara Kean’s throat. Ironically, this would be her undoing as Barbara would end up stabbing her with her own knife.
- Motorcycle: Ecco has a motorcycle that she uses as transportation.
- Crowbar: Ecco used a crowbar to attack and knock out Jim Gordon.
- Roller blades: While at Ace Chemicals, Ecco used roller blades.
Appearances[]
Season 4[]
- A Dark Knight: Mandatory Brunch Meeting
- A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse
Season 5[]
- Legend of the Dark Knight: Year Zero
- Legend of the Dark Knight: Penguin, Our Hero
- Legend of the Dark Knight: Ruin
- Legend of the Dark Knight: Pena Dura
- Legend of the Dark Knight: Ace Chemicals
- Legend of the Dark Knight: The Beginning
Trivia[]
- Ecco is the predecessor to Joker's sidekick and girlfriend Harley Quinn from the DC comics and other media. In the Season 5, Ecco uses the nickname "Puddin'", which is what Harley famously calls the Joker.
- Her name may possibly be a homage to the character of Isabelle Cheranova aka Echo, who was a Russian assassin that fought Batman during the events of the No Man's Land comic crossover event, an event that served as partial basis for the last episode of Season 4 as well as the entirety of Season 5.
- Ecco returned in Season 5 and gained a new costume and an appearance that is closer to Jeremiah's. Her outfit bares a slight resemblance to Harley Quinn’s outfit in Arkham City, and her jacket is similar to the one worn by thugs that worked under her in City and Knight.
- In the Season 5 premiere, Ecco looks like she did at the end of Season 4 and still has her stoic personality, implying something will happen to her that will make her become more unhinged as the season progresses.
- This is semi-confirmed in the third episode when Ecco confirms she got shot in the head and that the bullet is still in her brain. She implies the experience is what drastically changed her personality. However, unlike most versions of Harley Quinn, she aided her employer in his crimes even before her transformation.
- According to Francesca Root Dodson, she believes Ecco suffered her head injury prior to Season 5, and her personality shifted slowly. This is implied during 5x03 when she seems to alternate between her stoic and calm personality to her more insane and flamboyant personality.
- As seen in the series finale, Ecco never really lost her stoic personality as she could still maintain it as a part of her cover. That said, it could be just an act.
- It is unclear if Ecco is her real name or an alias she has adopted. Just before Jeremiah kills her, he says that she is “no longer my echo”, implying it was an alias chosen because of her devotion to him and how she literally “echoed” his will.
- She shares some similarities with Bane in that both are minions of the main antagonists of the fifth season (Jeremiah Valeska and Nyssa Al Ghul).
- Ecco is the last character to die in Gotham, as well as the only character to be killed in the ten year time jump. Chronologically, she has also lasted the longest from the time she was introduced to the time she was killed, living for eleven years with ten of those years being offscreen.
- Assuming she was around Jeremiah’s age, she would have been in her twenties when she was introduced and in her thirties when she died. That said, she could also be older than him given her looks.