document_title: Ra's al Ghul

question_text: who has been trained by ra's al ghul

question_tokens: who has been trained by ra 's al ghul

text: Ra's al Ghul

text: Publication history[edit]

text: Created by editor Julius Schwartz, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams, he was introduced in Batman #232's "Daughter of the Demon" (June 1971).[2] The character's creation and depiction was inspired by other works of fiction, such as the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the Fu Manchu fiction. The Bond film has international crime lord Draco wanting the agent to marry his daughter Contessa Teresa. Another visual antecedent for Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia are found in Saloud (actor James Lanphier) and Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale) in the 1963 film The Pink Panther.

text: Character overview[edit]

text: Ra's al Ghul is an international criminal mastermind whose ultimate goal is a world in perfect environmental balance.[citation needed] He believes that the best way to achieve this balance is to eliminate most of humanity.[citation needed] Ra's usually tries to assault the world's human populace with a biological weapon, such as a genetically-engineered virus. He is aided in this quest by the Lazarus Pits, reservoirs of rejuvenating chemicals that restore the dead and dying to life; these pits have granted him a lifespan of several centuries.

text: He regards Batman as his worthiest opponent, addressing him as "Detective" out of respect for his intellectual brilliance, and has frequently sought to make the Dark Knight his successor. He is one of the few criminals in Batman's rogues gallery to have deduced his secret identity as Bruce Wayne, but keeps silent on the matter due to the same sense of respect for Batman. For his own part, Batman's opposition to Ra's is complicated by both his own respect for al Ghul's genius (if not his goals and methods) and his attraction to his daughter, Talia, which she reciprocates.

text: Fictional character biography[edit]

text: Origin[edit]

text: Ra's al Ghul's real name, early life, and exact age have been described differently by various writers. His Post-Crisis origin story is told in the graphic novel Batman: Birth of the Demon (1992) by Dennis O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle.

text: As told in Birth of the Demon, Ra's al Ghul was born over 600 years before his first appearance in Batman comics, to a Bedouin tribe of nomads in a desert somewhere in Arabia, near a city whose inhabitants' ancestors had journeyed to the Arabian Peninsula from Morocco. Developing an interest in the sciences at an early age, Ra's abandoned his tribe to live in the city where he pursued life as a researcher. He subsequently became a physician and married a woman named Sora.

text: Ra's discovered the secret of the Lazarus Pit, and he saves a dying prince by lowering him into it. The prince, who is sadistic to begin with, is driven completely insane by the Lazarus Pit. He proceeds to strangle Sora, on whom he has already had his eye for some time. The sultan, unwilling to admit to himself his son's culpability, declares Ra's guilty of the crime and sentences him to a slow, tortured death in a cage with Sora's corpse.

text: Ra's is set free by the son of a dying elderly woman, who Ra's had earlier examined. The son feels that he owes Ra's a debt for easing his mother's suffering during her last few hours. Ra's and the son head into the desert to seek the tribe of Ra's' birth. Ra's convinces the head of his tribe, his uncle, to follow Ra's in his quest for revenge by promising the downfall of the sultan. By understanding the germ theory of disease hundreds of years before anyone else, Ra's is able to infect the prince with a deadly virus by sending him contaminated fabrics. When the sultan comes to ask Ra's to cure the prince again, Ra's kills both him and his son. Ra's then leads his tribe to raze the city to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants. Subsequently, Ra's declares himself "Ra's al Ghul", the "Demon's Head".

text: Batman: Birth of the Demon provides a rough figure of 500 years for Ra's al Ghul's age. Due to living so long, he is assumed to have lost track of how old he is. Azrael #6 (July 1995; written by Dennis O'Neil) places Ra's age closer to 450 years. As he tells Jean Paul Valley, "I appear to be a vigorous fifty. I am actually a very vigorous four hundred and forty-eight...or is it four hundred and fifty-three? I lost count during the Black Plague. No matter". In Batman Annual #25 (published in 2006), Ra's al Ghul is described as a "700-Year Old International Terrorist".

text: Using the Lazarus Pits to extend his life, Ra's spends the next several centuries journeying the world. He fights in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and becomes a formidable warrior. As the world entered the modern age and industrialization began to cover much of the Earth, Ra's grew to despise the humans who he believed were destroying the world's natural beauty, thus setting him on a path of eco-terrorism. Also during this time, Ra's, his uncle, and the boy who freed him from the sultan are all using the Lazarus Pits to prolong their lives until an incident in London. Ra's catches the boy writing his own memoirs in their original language, of which Ra's has forbidden all records. During a battle, Ra's kills the boy and flees to a Lazarus Pit, which he uses. When he returns to their home in London, his uncle has vanished with the remnants of their historical records.

text: Over time, he becomes a master of many forms of combat, notably fencing. He also builds up vast wealth and creates The Demon, a huge international organization. According to Justice League of America (1st series) #94; "It has been whispered in the darkest places for 500 years that a cartel of criminals has slowly sucked its way into the rich veins of the Earth. Many are its names spit from the mouths of men, but most often it is cursed only as. The Demon. It has a leader. A Head". The League of Assassins, one of the many smaller organizations making up The Demon, is thus sometimes called "The Demon's Fang" or "Demonfang".

text: Contagion and Legacy[edit]

text: Ra's returns to prominence and comes dangerously close to realizing his dream of worldwide genocide in the "Contagion" story arc of the Batman titles. His organization unleashes a deadly virus known as Ebola Gulf A (a.k.a. "The Clench") in Gotham City, putting Batman in conflict with a force he seemingly cannot defeat. A cure is eventually located by Batman and his allies, though the mastermind behind the outbreak is not discovered until the follow-up story "Legacy".

text: Learning that the Demon's Head still lives, Batman and his team circle the globe, preventing further outbreaks of the virus. Ra's allies himself with Bane, the man who once crippled and nearly killed Batman. Ra's considers Bane a potential heir to his empire, despite his daughter Talia's distaste for the criminal mastermind. Eventually, Batman deduces a way to eliminate the Clench virus from an ancient "Wheel of Plagues" artifact whose knowledge has aided Ra's in the creation of the disease. The long-lived madman eludes justice again.

text: JLA: Tower of Babel[edit]

text: In the "Tower of Babel" storyline, in JLA #43–46, Ra's discovers Batman's contingency plans for stopping the other members of the Justice League of America, should they turn or be turned evil, and uses them to try to destroy the group. Meanwhile, Ra's steals the bodies of Batman's parents. This theft prevents Batman from realizing Ra's is using his traps until it is too late, as he is distracted by the search for the corpses of his parents.

text: Though defeated, Ra's does cause the temporary exit of Batman from the JLA, who now distrust the Caped Crusader. However, though some of the League resent Batman's plans, they eventually accept that the plans were created for the right reasons once Batman confirms that he trusts them by revealing his secret identity to the rest of the team.

text: Talia, disillusioned with her father, leaves the League to run LexCorp for former U.S. President Lex Luthor, before selling the company to Bruce Wayne for his Wayne Foundation to aid Batman and Superman's victory over Luthor. Ra's blames Batman for his failed relationship with Talia, and stages a plot where he tries to separate Batman from his heir, Dick Grayson, shortly before Wayne officially adopts his former ward as his son. The plan fails, and Wayne and Grayson go ahead with the adoption.

text: Ra's is also featured in Birds of Prey #31–35, where he has a romantic fling with the Black Canary. The superheroine is injured and healed in the Lazarus Pit, which also restores the Canary Cry she lost years earlier.

text: Death and the Maidens[edit]

text: In Death and the Maidens (2004), Ra's' other daughter, Nyssa Raatko, furious at her father for abandoning her in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, begins plotting to destroy him, prompting Ra's to contact Batman to make a deal for access to a Lazarus Pit to give him the strength for a final confrontation with Nyssa; in exchange for the location of a Pit, Ra's provides Batman with a serum that will allow him to walk in the spirit world and speak with his parents. While Batman experiences his "vision", Nyssa befriends Talia and then kidnaps and brainwashes her. Nyssa plots to destroy all hope and optimism in the world by assassinating Superman with Kryptonite bullets she steals from the Batcave. While Batman stops Nyssa from killing Superman, he is unable to stop her from mortally injuring her father.[6] A dying Ra's reveals that this is all part of his greater plan to ensure that his daughters will realize that he is correct in his perceptions about the world and what needs to be done to it, and that they would come to accept their destinies as his heirs. Ra's' plan works: both Nyssa and Talia become the heads of The Demon and the League of Assassins. Talia disavows her love for Bruce Wayne, and both sisters declare Batman their enemy. It is too late for Ra's, as Nyssa stabs her father through the heart, seemingly killing him for good. To ensure Ra's will not return, Batman oversees his nemesis' cremation.

text: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul[edit]

text: In Batman Annual #26, Talia is prompted to read the history of Ra's al Ghul to her son Damian by a mysterious figure from Ra's' past: the White Ghost. Unbeknownst to her, the White Ghost plans to use Damian as a vessel for Ra's' return. However, mother and son escape before the plan is completed. After the escape, Batman confronts the White Ghost; he fights Batman, but accidentally falls into a Lazarus Pit.

text: As of Batman #670 Ra's al Ghul has returned, having evaded death by transferring his consciousness into the body of another. Because his host body is decaying from radiation poisoning, he needs to transfer his mind into another host body. His first choice is that of his grandson Damian Wayne, but Damian escapes to alert his father.

text: Upon taking Ra's to a "Fountain of Essence", which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit, Batman is confronted with the sight of the Sensei, who is revealed to be Ra's' father.[7] After defeating Ra's, Sensei fights and impales Batman with a cane. Determined to win, Batman drags the Sensei into the Fountain, where he is killed for not being a pure soul. Ra's, meanwhile, has taken over the body of a Nanda Parbat monk and departs. Healed by the Fountain, Batman emerges and yells for Ra's.

text: Ra's attempts to make amends with Batman after his resurrection, but Batman responds by crushing his decaying fingers. Ra's accepts this latest rebuke and, with the help of his men, overpowers Batman and captures Damian, who has arrived to try to help his father. Ra's attempts to take over Damian, but Batman breaks free just as Robin, Talia, Alfred Pennyworth, and Nightwing arrive to save him. While the battle ensues at Nanda Parbat, the White Ghost takes Ra's to a secluded place, where he appears to accept the fact that his death is inevitable. The White Ghost is revealed as Ra's' estranged albino son Dusan, and offers up his own body instead. Ra's performs the transfer of souls, but the White Ghost apparently dies soon afterward. Ra's resumes the battle and attempts to kill Batman, but the monks at Nanda Parbat stop him and banish him from the temple.

text: Following his resurrection, Ra's al Ghul, in his new body, moves his base of operations to Gotham City where it is revealed that a remnant of his son Dusan's consciousness still remains within him. Since the White Ghost was his son, Ra's was able to use the resemblance between them to modify his new body's appearance to be more like his own. This arrogance contributes to the brazen move to Gotham and a subsequent ninja attack on Batman, which indirectly leads to the discovery of a map of all the known Lazarus Pit locations across the globe. Batman then infiltrates Ra's al Ghul's new Gotham penthouse headquarters and easily defeats his horde of ninjas and Ra's himself. To ensure Ra's is not a constant threat within Gotham City, Batman comes up with the false identity of "Terry Gene Kase", and plants it along with credible photos, medical records, and police records for both Blackgate Penitentiary and Arkham Asylum. Batman takes an unconscious Ra's directly to Arkham where it is believed he really is the prisoner "Terry Gene Kase", a criminal with multiple personality disorder who has just been transferred to Arkham to finish out multiple life sentences. Along with attaching false information and a false identity to Ra's al Ghul's file, Batman attaches a false prescription of potent medication that ensures slurred speech and next to zero mobility.[1]

text: Despite these precautions, Ra's eventually escapes when the orderlies miss his dosage once, which allows him to become conscious enough to escape from Arkham.[8]

text: The Return of Bruce Wayne[edit]

text: Ra's realizes that Batman has apparently died after Darkseid's invasion during Final Crisis. After confronting Nightwing with his knowledge, he and the hero eventually duel with swords. Nightwing defeats Ra's and earns the immortal's respect, signified by leaving his sword in the Batcave as a gift after their fight. Ra's refuses to believe his enemy's passing despite the evidence, leading him to be involved in the Red Robin's (Tim Drake) quest concerning the fate of the original Dark Knight. After Drake finds proof that Wayne is still alive but lost in time after his battle with Darkseid, the former Boy Wonder cripples Ra's' organization, the League of Assassins, from within. In response, Ra's returns to Gotham to begin his attack to destroy every legacy of the Wayne Family. While his men target everyone close to the Waynes, Ra's makes a pact with Hush as part of his plans. Unknown to both men, Bruce Wayne has already named Tim as his heir prior to his disappearance, leaving him in control of the Wayne Family resources.

text: Enraged, Ra's then engages Tim Drake in combat, which ends with Tim mocking Ra's by saying that there's nothing he can do to harm the Bat Family anymore; in response, Ra's smiles and says "Well done. Detective" (a name he has only ever reserved for Batman, and Nightwing once before). He then proceeds to kick him out of a skyscraper window and retreats from the battle. Later, in seclusion, Ra's reveals everything which happened was a test for Tim Drake, from the League, the Council, the Men of Death, and the plot against Bruce Wayne.

text: Learning of Bruce Wayne's return, Ra's muses that his next confrontation with the detective will be particularly interesting as he believes that Batman has at last had a taste of the immortality that Ra's himself enjoys.[9]

text: He goes after Vicki Vale and almost kills her. He spares her life only after she refuses to publish the identity of Batman and gets rid of all of the evidence she has to that effect. He also realizes that Vale may be a descendant of a French opponent, Marcel du Valliere, from centuries before; therefore, his business with her may not be finished.

text: The New 52[edit]

text: In The New 52 (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), Ra's al Ghul appears in a hooded robe at the League of Assassins' city of 'Eth Alth'eban. He enters the Well of Sins after an encounter with Jason Todd.[10] When he emerges, Ra's is consumed by the evil that corrupted the Untitled centuries before, and he feels compelled to rid himself of the machinations of his daughter and Ducra by killing Jason. At Ra's' command, the prisoners are brought to him, and he promises to use his newfound power to destroy them.[11] Red Hood engages Ra's, as Essence joins the battle. She insists that he will allow Jason and his friends to leave his realm, or he will be forced to die a mortal death just as he always feared he would. Despite having destroyed the All-Caste, Ra's al Ghul's actions have led to their eventual rebirth. Defeated, he swears that he will visit great agony upon Red Hood if he ever sees him again.[12]

text: Batman and Aquaman head to an island, where the League of Assassins are located, after Ra's has the bodies of Damian Wayne and Talia exhumed. Ra's had ordered the hunt of whales, creating genetically altered super-humans in the wombs of sperm whales, part of a plan to rebuild the League of Assassins. Inside the compound, they find that Ra's is wiping the hard drives clean, preventing data recovery. As his parting gift, he has left Batman the Heretics to keep him entertained. Batman fights his way to Ra's escape aircraft. He sees Talia and Damian's bodies stored within it, and clings to the fuselage from outside as the plane takes off. Though Ra's plans to go to Paradise Island, he is nearly surprised to see Batman pounding on the cockpit's windshield. From outside, Batman screams for Ra's to give back his son, but Ra's responds that he is blood of Damian's blood and the boy is in good hands. He orders the plane to tilt its angle, causing the wind shear to rip Batman from his purchase and drop down into the sea. Luckily, Aquaman is there to catch Batman.[13]

text: Batman and Ra's then encounter Glorious Godfrey.[14] Glorious Godfrey's reason to come to Earth is to retrieve the Chaos Shard, a powerful crystal once belonged to Darkseid which Ra's al Ghul revealed was hidden inside the sarcophaus he crafted for Damian.[15]

text: During Batman Eternal, Bruce briefly speculates that Ra's is the mastermind behind most of the attacks against him that have left Wayne Enterprises bankrupt and Batman pushed to the limit. However, when he confronts Ra's, his foe reveals that, while he was invited to participate in the attack by the true mastermind, he rejected the offer as Ra's would prefer to destroy Batman when the Dark Knight believes that his legacy will be as eternal as Ra's, rather than tear him down in such a manner.[16]

text: DC Rebirth[edit]

text: This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2017)

text: Ra's al Ghul appears in Detective Comics issues #953-956 as part of the "League of Shadows" story arc, which runs from issue #951-956 (April–July 2017).

text: Ra's al Ghul appears in Dark Nights: Metal issue #2 as a member of the Immortals, a group formed by the oldest beings in the multiverse. He participates in a discussion on how they will fight the Dark Multiverse invasion.

text: Powers, abilities, and weapons[edit]

text: Due to his expanded life span, Ra's has accumulated a vast knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, chemistry, detective artistry, physics, and martial arts (all of which are greater than that of Batman). He has also gained many international contacts and a vast fortune over the course of centuries. When in combat, he favors more ancient weaponry (as he has had more time to utilize them than more modern weaponry). These weapons include scimitars, katana, bolas, throwing stars (shuriken), smoke pellets, and miniaturized explosives. Ra's is also assisted by his devoted, musclebound servant Ubu.

text: Ra's' greatest tools are his Lazarus Pits, which heal any injury including recent death and restore the user back to the prime of life, but cause temporary insanity (or, for those already insane like the Joker, sanity).[17] His constant exposure to the pits have granted him slightly enhanced endurance, strength, and healing but also comes with the price of a gradual onset of insanity if overused.

text: Along with his physical abilities and resources, Ra's al Ghul has been shown to possess a certain degree of proficiency with mysticism. In an effort to guarantee his continued existence, he has on several occasions demonstrated the ability to transfer his soul into the bodies of others, giving him a way to live on in the event that his physical body is destroyed and unable to be transported into a Lazarus Pit. The exact details of this process have remained inconsistent; at times it appears as though a complicated ritual is required to achieve this effect, while on other occasions he is capable of performing this feat on a whim, merely by making physical contact with his intended host.

text: Family[edit]

text: The following are members of Ra's al Ghul's family:

text: The Sensei[edit]

text: Created by Neal Adams in 1968,[18] the Sensei was originally introduced as high-ranking member of the League of Assassins. He was portrayed as an aged but highly skilled martial artist. During the Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul storyline, he was revealed to be Ra's al Ghul's centuries-old father.[19] He dies during the same storyline.[19]

text: Dusan al Ghul[edit]

text: Created by Peter Milligan and David Lopez in 2007,[20] Dusan al Ghul (Arabic: دوسان الغول) was Ra's' only known son. He was also referred to as Ash'Shabah Al-Abyad (Arabic: الشبح الأبيض), meaning "the White Ghost". Though little is known about his past, it is stated that he was born out of a union meant to strengthen his father's hold over "some long-extinct people",[21] suggesting that he was older than Ra's' other children. As an albino, he was never considered a potential heir to his father's empire.[21] He ultimately sacrificed himself to ensure his father's survival during the Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul storyline.[21]

text: Nyssa Raatko[edit]

text: Created by Greg Rucka and Klaus Janson in 2003,[22] Nyssa Raatko (Arabic: نيسا رعتكو) is Ra's al Ghul's oldest known daughter. She was born to an unnamed woman in 18th century Russia.[23] She would later become a Holocaust survivor.[24] She is murdered by Cassandra Cain during the One Year Later storyline. Nyssa appears in Arrow.[25]

text: Talia al Ghul[edit]

text: Created by Dennis O'Neil and Bob Brown in 1971,[26] Talia al Ghul (Arabic: تاليه الغول) is Ra's al Ghul's daughter. Talia's mother was a woman of Arab ancestry[27] named Melisande,[28][29] who met Ra's at the Woodstock festival.[27][29] Talia was born not long after. Talia also appears in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. Talia also appears in Arrow season 5.

text: Damian Wayne[edit]

text: Originally appearing as an unnamed infant in the 1987 graphic novel Batman: Son of the Demon,[28] the character was introduced as Damian Wayne or Damian al Ghul (Arabic: دميان الغول) by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert in 2006.[30] Damian is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, making him the grandson of Ra's al Ghul. Heir to the Demon Head and expected to one day lead the League. He raised to be the new Alexanda the great. Bred from birth to take and rule the world by his mother Talia al Ghul. He was very aggressive until he met his father, Batman. Batman taught him how to calm himself and trained him to be the new Robin. His genetic perfection and genetic makeup unfortunately marked him as the ideal host for his grandfather who wants to take over his body.

text: Mara al Ghul[edit]

text: Created by Benjamin Percy and Jonboy Meyers, the character debuted in Teen Titans Vol.6 in December 2016. Mara al Ghul is a granddaughter of Ra's al Ghul, daughter to the late Dusan al Ghul and a cousin to Damian Wayne. Introduced as an enemy to Damian she was also raised by the League of Assassins. She and Damian were both members of the Demon's Fist, an elite group within in the League. Damian was supposed to lead the Demon's Fist but Mara now leads the group since Damian's choosing his father over the League. Mara hates Damian since he left her with a scar across her right eye during a training session when they were younger. Mara has not inherited her fathers albinism; she has black hair with red bangs. Like the rest of her family she is a skilled fighter and is also noted to be a talented artist.

text: Athanasia al Ghul[edit]

text: Athanasia al Ghul is a character featured so far only in the Injustice 2 prequel comics and does not appear in the prime earth continuity. She is the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, sister of Damian Wayne and granddaughter of Ra's al Ghul. Athanasia is the secret daughter of Talia and Bruce and raised by Talia without Bruce or even Damian's knowledge. While Talia allowed Damian to become a hero and work with his father for a time, Talia kept Athanasia a secret from her father and raised her as a member of the League of Assassins. Athanasia is first seen beside her mother Talia breaking her brother Damian out of Prison. She is insulted by Damian's apparent rudeness and wants him to say please before letting him out. When Warden Dan Turpin tries to arrest them she kills him and the guards. While exiting the building Damian tells his mother to control her 'servant', Athanasia, who then assaults him. It is only then that Talia reveals Athanasia is Damian's sister and the "Daughter of the Bat". After the fall of Superman's regime Athanasia and the rest of the League come out of hiding. She works alongside her mother and grandfather in a scheme to reclaim the Earth from humans who were destroying it. During a fight with Batman in their secret base in the Amazon Rainforest Athanasia was seemingly killed when El Diablo exploded and Athanasia wasn't shielded by the blast. She later appeared again alongside her grandfather in Gorilla City as King Solovar's guests.

text: Others[edit]

text: Although he fathered children with several women, Ra's al Ghul has only two confirmed marriages. The first was to Sora,[20][27] whose death set Ra's on the path to becoming the "Demon's Head". The second was to Melisande,[28][29] Talia's mother.

text: Ra's also appears to have an unnamed sister[31] or half-sister,[32] a female assassin belonging to a group called the "Daughters of Acheron", whose members share the same father.[32][33] Another member is a woman using the alias "Promise".[33] It is unclear if their common father, "Acheron", is in fact the Sensei (making them all Ra's' half-sisters) or if Ra's only has one half-sister on his mother's side.

text: In Batman and Robin #12, it is revealed that Talia has cloned her son, Damian.[34] The clone is, therefore, a grandson of sorts of Ra's al Ghul. Additionally, Nyssa once stated that she has given birth twelve times,[35] opening the possibility of Ra's having many other descendants.

text: Involvement with Batman[edit]

text: After Talia encounters and falls in love with Batman in Detective Comics #411 (May 1971), Ra's begins to consider Batman as a possible heir. Ra's first deduces Batman's secret identity when he reasons that the Dark Knight has to be rich, and learns that only Bruce Wayne has bought the equipment that a crime fighter would have; he is then ready to put Batman to a final test.

text: Ra's surprises Batman in the Batcave, seemingly to enlist Batman's aid in rescuing both Talia and Dick Grayson, the first Robin, both of whom have apparently been kidnapped. Batman soon discovers that the whole affair is a charade orchestrated by Ra's to test Batman, which he passes. Ra's asks that Batman become his heir, which Batman refuses, appalled by his genocidal plan to "cleanse" the world. This story was later adapted into a two-part story in Batman: The Animated Series during its third season under the title "The Demon's Quest".

text: Despite being mortal enemies, Ra's al Ghul and Batman maintain some level of respect towards one another. Similar to The Riddler, Ra's admires Batman's intellectual prowess first and foremost, regularly referring to Batman as "Detective" or "The Detective" when speaking to or about him. And despite being aware of Batman's true identity as Bruce Wayne since their first meeting, Ra's has never exposed that information to the public or Batman's other foes; something Batman once attributed to Ra's' personal code of honor. However, Ra's has repeatedly used that knowledge to his own advantage when fomenting plans and contingencies against Batman.

text: In the story "Resurrection Night" in Batman #400, Ra's helps all of Batman's foes to escape from Arkham Asylum and the Gotham State Penitentiary, setting them on a plan to abduct certain individuals across Gotham City who are linked in one form or another to Batman. Ra's' true intent is to show Batman the folly of his efforts to protect a corrupt society that, to his mind, allows criminals to exist and flourish. Ra's eventually uses the Pit while still healthy, both increasing his strength and putting his life at risk, in an attempt to outmatch the Dark Knight. The plan backfires, as Ra's is left writhing in the pit, seemingly destroyed.

text: Other versions[edit]

text: Son of the Demon[edit]

text: In the graphic novel Son of the Demon, Ra's successfully enlists Batman's aid in defeating a rogue assassin and warlord, Qayin (a variation on the spelling of Cain), who has murdered Ra's' then-wife Melisande (Talia's mother). During this storyline, Batman marries Talia and she becomes pregnant. Batman is nearly killed protecting Talia from the assassin's agents. In the end, Talia ends her relationship with Batman, unwilling to put him in danger. She claims to have miscarried and the marriage is dissolved. The child is eventually born and left at an orphanage (eventually taking the name Ibn al Xu'ffasch). The only identification provided is Talia's jewel-encrusted necklace, which once belonged to Talia's mother. Two Elseworlds stories, Kingdom Come and Brotherhood of the Bat, feature two alternate versions of Ibn as an adult, coming to terms with his dual heritage. For a time, DC Comics' policy was that Son of the Demon was not canon and that Batman had no son. The recent appearance of the child (under the name Damian) in an issue of Batman implies that this policy may have changed.

text: 31st Century[edit]

text: Ra's has previously been revealed as alive in the 31st century setting of the post-Zero Hour reboot Legion of Super-Heroes, impersonating Leland McCauley.

text: Superman & Batman: Generations[edit]

text: In the first Superman & Batman: Generations series, created by John Byrne, Bruce Wayne tracks down Ra's al Ghul after passing the Batman mantle on to his son. Ra's offers Bruce (whom he addresses as "Adversary") a chance at immortality. Ra's has determined that if two people enter the Lazarus Pit, the Pit will merge both life forces together, destroying one soul in the process and imbuing the other with youth and immortality without the ensuing madness. With his only alternatives being a fifty-fifty chance at death in the Pit or being murdered by Ra's' men, Bruce agrees to the process. He survive exposure to the Pit and subsequently uses Ra's' criminal empire to clandestinely set up an international humanitarian network. He also becomes a near-immortal, aging one year for every century.

text: Spider-Man/Batman[edit]

text: In the Batman & Spider-Man: New Age Dawning crossover book (considered an Elseworlds story), Ra's begins plans for worldwide devastation. He manipulates the Kingpin to his side by infecting the crime lord's wife Vanessa with cancer and promising him the cure in return for his allegiance. Ra's then orders him to press the button on his machines which would send New York City under the ocean. Ultimately, Spider-Man and Batman interfere and the Kingpin reveals that he knows Ra's' plans and allows the two heroes to board his plane so they can assist him. Defeated, Ra's bows out of the plan gracefully but claims that there is no cure for the cancer. Vanessa convinces her husband that she wishes no further violence, and they leave. Talia soon gives the cure to Batman, who then gives it to Spider-Man, who passes it on to the Kingpin.

text: The Batman Adventures[edit]

text: In The Batman Adventures #1, albeit Ra's didn't appear, he plays a larger role behind-the-scenes along the Society of Shadows and the Penguin.[36] Ra's finally appears in issue #4, in which he fights Batman again only to be defeated by him one more time.[37] Series writer Ty Templeton originally wanted to bring back Ra's in issue #5 depicting him at prison, but his script for the planned story was rejected because DC Comics told him and Dan Slott that they were 'done' with Ra's and it was time to move with other characters, resulting in issue #5 as a story of Black Mask's False Face Society.[38]

text: Amalgam Comics[edit]

text: In the Amalgam Comics alternate dimension, Ra's is fused with Marvel Comics supervillain Apocalypse to become "Ra's Al-Pocalypse". Ra's' daughter Talia is fused with Lady Deathstrike to become "Lady Talia".

text: Earth-C[edit]

text: In Captain Carrot and the Final Ark, Ra's is parodied as Rash Al Paca, an alpaca who plans to save the environment from "animalkind" by increasing global warming and flooding the planet.

text: Kingdom Come[edit]

text: In Kingdom Come, a rogue superhuman claimed that Ra's al Ghul was killed. Ra's' grandson, Ibn al Xu'ffasch, is a member of Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front. When the appearance of Gog threatens this reality, Ibn uses a Lazarus Pit to restore Ra's to life to try to find a solution in collaboration with Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but they fail to find a solution. All three of them attempt to betray Ibn, and Lex and Brainiac die in their own trap for him. Ra's gets into a sword duel with his grandson in the Batcave and is killed by him.

text: Flashpoint[edit]

text: In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Ra's al Ghul is a young boy and member of the H.I.V.E. council. He voted against using nuclear weapons to end the war in Western Europe between Aquaman and Wonder Woman.[39]

text: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[edit]

text: In the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover miniseries, when the Foot Clan initially arrive in Gotham, Batman considers the possibility that they are a branch of the League of Assassins, but dismisses the idea as the Foot's combat skills show a focus on a specific area of martial arts as opposed to the more varied skills of the League.[40] After Shredder attempts to escape a confrontation with Batman and the Turtles, he is confronted by Ra's, who offers him an alliance.[41] With a batch of fresh mutagen brought to the DC Universe by Casey Jones,[42] Shredder and Ra's try to bring the world to its knees by unleashing their mutated monstrosities (starting with the inmates of Arkham Asylum),[43] but are defeated by the combined efforts of Batman, Ra's' own grandson Damian, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter, who force Ra's into flight.[44]

text: Batman '66[edit]

text: Ra's appears as the main antagonist in a crossover story between Batman '66 and Wonder Woman '77 (taking place in the continuity of Adam West's portrayal of Batman and Lynda Carter's portrayal of Wonder Woman). He and his daughter Talia first meet Bruce in the 40s at a Wayne Foundation auction to support the war effort, where The League of Shadows and the Nazis attempt to bid for a book detailing ancient treasures and locations. When they confront the book's auction winner Mr. Finlay, the young Bruce and Talia escape with both of the books to keep them safe. Ra's finds Bruce in the maze and threatens his life, but Bruce escapes as Ra's manages to obtain one of the books.

text: Twenty-two years later, Talia hires Catwoman to steal the second book from Mr. Finlay. Batman, Robin and Catwoman travel to Paradise Island to warn Wonder Woman and her people that the League of Shadows will be invading one of the nearby areas, with Diana knowing that Ra's is after the island's Lazarus Pit. Ra's uses the pit to restore his youth and offers the four the chance to join the League of Shadows, but they refuse. Ra's tries to bury them alive, but they are saved thanks to the intervention of Wonder Girl and Talia rescuing them behind her father's back (still harboring feelings for Bruce). Talia is placed in prison by the Amazons while Ra's manages to escape.

text: 11 years later, Catwoman aids Talia in escaping Paradise Island and the two Ghuls continue their search for Lazarus Pits. Thanks to spying on Wonder Woman and Batman, the League discovers there's a Pit in Gotham underneath Arkham Asylum. Ra's hires the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Killer Croc, and Cheetah to keep the heroes at bay. Batman follows Ra's near the Pit and tries to stop him, but Ra's uses his magical assassins to prevent them from interfering. Due to using the Pit sooner than the last time he used it, Ra's is de-aged into a ten year old. The two Ghuls are taken into authorities, with Batman saddened that Talia chose to follow her father's influence.[45]

text: Injustice 2[edit]

text: Ra's serves as a major antagonist in the comic prequel series to the video game Injustice 2.[46] After the fall of the Regime, he takes control of the Suicide Squad, using them to break out Damian Wayne out of Stryker's Island and kidnap the heads of large companies for execution, including Ted Kord. He also organizes the kidnapping of the relatives of active superheroes as a deterrent to their involvement in his plans and resurrects Alfred Pennyworth with one of his Lazarus Pits. Ra's' plan is eventually stopped when Batman and the remnants of the Insurgency, including Ted's successor as Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes, break into his base, inadvertently killing all endangered life he was protecting. As he leaves, Ra's reveals that he had ordered Jackson Hyde to attack the US congress, causing the deaths of thousands and damage to Batman's plans of rebuilding society. It is also revealed that he has been working with Solovar and has possession of the android Amazo.[47]

text: In other media[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text: Animation[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul made his first appearance in media other than the comic books in the DC animated universe, voiced by David Warner.

He first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series. At the very end of the episode "Off Balance", he's informed about Batman by his daughter Talia al Ghul. This sets the stage for subsequent appearances where he's the episode's villain. In the two-part episode "The Demon's Quest", Ra's adapts his attempts from the comic to make Batman his heir and then to cleanse the world of humanity. After Batman refuses to follow in Ra's footsteps, he activates a plan to detonate bombs in Lazarus Pits around the world. Ra's is presumed dead when he falls into one of the pits but the ending reveals him to be alive. In the episode "Avatar", Ra's makes an attempt at true immortality. Though Batman manages to catch him in the end, Talia ends up freeing her father and sending Batman on his way. In the episode "Showdown", he relates an event on a tape left for Batman and Dick Grayson after his men abducted a specific old man from a retirement villa. The recording describes how Ra's and his son Arkady Duvall (voiced by Malcolm McDowell) battled Jonah Hex in 1883. When Hex defeated Arkady, Ra's was forced to abandon his son. When Batman and Robin catch up with Ra's in the present day, Ra's reveals that the old man is Arkady having vanished after completing a 50-year prison sentence. Since Arkady's mind and body are beyond the Lazarus Pit's power to mend, Batman lets Ra's take his son with him so that they can spend some time together before Arkady dies.
Ra's next appeared in Superman: The Animated Series. In the episode "Knight Time", Tim Drake mentions him as a suspect Batgirl and Nightwing thought responsible for Batman's disappearance. The episode "The Demon Reborn" reveals that Ra's is dying due to the Lazarus Pit being ineffective at prolonging his aging body, thus became shriveled and confined to a wheelchair. He plotted to siphon life energy from Superman with a Native American artifact, in order to rejuvenate himself. Though Ra's passes away, Talia begins the process, bringing Ra's back to life, and makes him stronger than ever. When Batman forces Ra's to choice between gaining more strength from Superman or saving Talia, Ra's chooses his daughter, and both fall into an underground river before their lair explodes.
Ra's also appeared in Batman Beyond. Sometime prior to the original Batman's retirement, Talia assisted in defeating Ra's during one last confrontation in the Near-Apocalypse of '09 that left Ra's apparently too injured for even the Lazarus Pit's healing capabilities. Using a device that could copy his thoughts and memories onto a close genetic relative, he has Talia make the ultimate sacrifice and transfer his mind into Talia's body. In the "Out of the Past", Ra's poses as his daughter (voiced by Olivia Hussey) to manipulate the elderly Bruce Wayne into using the Lazarus Pit to regain youth before imprisoning Bruce in his mansion hideaway. Having modified the device to apply the transfer process to any host, he intends to take over his nemesis' body and pose as Bruce and Talia's son to take control of Wayne Enterprises. Ra's is thwarted by the new Batman (Terry McGinnis). While trying to preserve the mind-transfer equipment, he is killed when the Lazarus Pit ignites in a fiery explosion.

Ra's al Ghul appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Peter Woodward.[48] This version is interested in making Dick Grayson an heir rather than Batman or his own daughter. In the episode "Sidekicks Assemble", he attempts to infect Coast City with mutated plants using his flying island, but is stopped by Robin, Aqualad and Speedy. Ra's manages to get away with Talia al Ghul. He later makes a cameo in the opening narration of the episode "The Siege of Starro" (Part 1) where he and Ubu are foiled by Batman. Ra's' final appearance is in the episode "Crisis 22,300 Miles Above Earth" when he attempts to flood and 'cleanse' the Earth by melting the polar ice caps. His plan and his army are stopped by Batman, the Justice League International and the Justice Society of America with help from Talia. Ra's is last seen falling into an abyss in the Himalayas after a fight with Batman.
Ra's al Ghul appears in Young Justice, voiced by Oded Fehr. In the episode "Targets", he hires his League of Shadows assassin Cheshire and enforcer Sportsmaster to kill Lex Luthor and a pair of Asian diplomats. The plot is foiled by Red Arrow and Aqualad. It is later revealed that Ra's and Luthor are plotting together to have the diplomats saved by Mercy Graves from the assassins and have them make a weapons deal with Luthor in order to assist the Light (Project Cadmus's Board of Directors). In the episode "Revelation", it is revealed that Ra's is L-2 of the Light. In the episode "Auld Acquaintance", Ra's, Luthor, Queen Bee, Ocean Master, Brain and Monsieur Mallah infiltrate Project Cadmus and steal the clones as well as the original Speedy's cryogenic pod. In the episode "Darkest", Ra's was with the Light when Black Manta tells them the progress of the mission and that Aqualad has 'seen the light'. Ra's is the one who congratulated and tells Aqualad that it's time to meet the Light's partner. In the episode "Summit", Ra's joins the Light in meeting with the Reach in the caves of Santa Prisca. During the meeting, Ra's manages to figure out that Tigress is Artemis upon removing the special medallion on her that has a Glamour Charm. During the team's fight with the Light and the Reach, Black Beetle stabs Ra's as Ubu gets his body away from Santa Prisca.
Ra's al Ghul appears in Beware the Batman, voiced by Lance Reddick.[49] At the end of the episode "Sacrifice", Lady Shiva finds the package that Anarky had temporarily stolen from the League of Assassins had contained Ra's' body. In "Fall", a flashback reveals that he encountered MI6 Agents Alfred Pennyworth and Edogawa Yamashiro (the father of Katana) in the past with Edogawa forced to betray Alfred to Ra's in their last encounter under threat of his family. Ra's ordered Edogawa to use the Soultaker Sword on Alfred, but Alfred fought back, causing the powers of the sword to activate, leading to Edogawa's death. In the present day, he is revived by Lady Shiva and is ready to use the Ion Cortex to drain all of Gotham City's electricity leaving it in darkness. Batman and Katana arrive to stop him. Ra's fights hand-to-hand against Batman where he defeats Batman considering him a 'worthy opponent'. Ra's nearly kills Batman before Alfred arrives and interferes. Katana and Alfred barely escape from the League of Assassins with Ra's commenting on how Alfred killed Edogawa. Ra's activates the Ion Cortex plunging all of Gotham City into darkness. In "Darkness", Ra's directly threatens Gotham's citizens by making an example of it to the rest of the world by taking it over and 'cleansing' it from the evils of technology, and even has the unnamed police commissioner killed to make his point. In addition, he has Alfred and Katana captured when they try to break into his lair. He also causes a breakout at Blackgate Penitentiary at the end of the episode. In "Reckoning", Ra's recruits Professor Pyg, Mr. Toad, Magpie, Tobias Whale, and Phosphorus Rex as well as League of Assassins operative Cypher to kill Batman (who had escaped with the help of an imprisoned Silver Monkey) in exchange of a small piece of the city. Ra's also manipulates Katana into killing Alfred to avenge the death of her father. She refuses, forcing Ra's to kill them all, only for Tobias to arrive with a captured Batman. Batman breaks free and stalls Ra's in combat while Barbara Gordon hacks into the Ion Cortex, disabling it from the League of Assassins' control and bringing electricity back into the city. Batman ultimately defeats Ra's by using a reverse chant to release all of the souls in the Soultaker Sword (particularly all of Ra's enemies throughout the centuries). The vengeful spirits drag Ra's into a bottomless pit, presumably to his death.
Ra's al Ghul will appear in Justice League Action.[50]

text: Live action[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul appears in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Matthew Nable. Film actor Liam Neeson expressed an interest in reprising his role from Batman Begins for the series, but couldn't take up the role when offered due to scheduling.[51]

The character appears in the third season of The CW's TV series Arrow, after being alluded to in the previous two seasons. As the leader of the League of Assassins and father of Nyssa al Ghul, Ra's al Ghul is portrayed as a moniker passed from one successor to another, eventually leading to the Ra's who approved the training for both Malcolm Merlyn and Sara Lance (The Canary). Merlyn was trained in the advanced fighting techniques he used in his war against Oliver Queen (the Arrow) in season one, though Ra's later sought to kill Merlyn for breaking the League's code after leaving Nanda Parbat. However, Malcolm was seemingly killed by Oliver and John Diggle at the end of season one, and Ra's al Ghul considered the matter settled. His daughter Nyssa also trained Sara to be an assassin, as revealed in season two. In season two, it is revealed that Malcolm did indeed survive but neither Oliver nor the League knew he was alive as Oliver's mother died before telling him. He killed Sara by manipulating Oliver's younger half sister and his daughter Thea, which reignites Ra's' vendetta against Malcolm. To save his sister from Ra's' vengeance, Oliver falsesly confesses that he was the one who killed Sara and challenges Ra's to a trial by combat in Nanda Parbat, where he is apparently slain. However, he narrowly survives and is healed by Tatsu Yamashiro. When Ra's learns of Oliver's survival, the prophecy deems Oliver worthy of being his heir; having survived the blade of Ra's al Ghul, Oliver must become the new Ra's al Ghul. After Oliver declines to take Ra's al Ghul's place, Ra's systematically attacks Oliver's home of Starling City to pressure him into taking the title on. Finally, Ra's mortally wounds Oliver's sister Thea so that Oliver will have to come to Nanda Parbat and accept Ra's offer in exchange for healing Thea with the Lazarus Pit. Desperate to save Thea, Oliver agrees to train as the heir Al Sah-him. Ra's tells him that he and a man known as Damien Darhk used to be friends. They both wanted to be Heir to the Demon and when Ra's became Heir to the Demon, he was forced to kill Damien but hesitated allowing him to steal waters from the Lazarus Pit to keep him from aging and escape. He formed a hive of supporters and Ra's tells Oliver he wants him to kill Damien this time. that In the season finale, Ra's plans to unleash a bio weapon attack on Starling City so Oliver will not feel the pull of his former home. However, Oliver reveals that he is still loyal to his friends. With help from Nyssa, Oliver foils the plan and duels Ra's again, this time killing him. As part of a previous deal, Oliver surrenders the Ra's al Ghul title and control of the League of Assassins to Malcolm. In the fourth season, Malcolm used many of his connections as Ra's al Ghul for his own means until Oliver helps Nyssa regain control of the League in exchange for Thea's life, curing the bloodlust that was a side-effect of her use of the pit but costing Merlyn his left hand in a duel with Oliver. Nyssa, influenced by Laurel Lance, releases the entire League from their oaths and destroys the Ring of Ra's al Ghul, ending the line of succession.[52] His other daughter, Talia, later seeks revenge on Oliver for killing Ra's and works with Prometheus to do so. She and Nyssa battle on Lian Yu and Nyssa defeats her. Nyssa survives the explosion on Lian Yu, while Talia presumably dies, though her fate is not clarified.
Ra's al Ghul reappears in Legends of Tomorrow.[53] After Sara Lance, Ray Palmer and Kendra Saunders are inadvertently stranded by Rip Hunter's team in 1958, they move on with their lives. After ten weeks, Sara decides to once "again" rejoin (from her perspective) the League. Sara both impresses and surprises Ra's with her fast progress in combat training. Ra's al Ghul is also raising his young daughter, Talia, at the time. Two years later, Sara's team (with Ray and Kendra back among them) go to Nanda Parbat to rescue her. However, Sara suddenly turns on them, resulting in the team being captured. Rip challenges Ra's to a trial by combat to win their freedom. Ra's decides to choose Sara as his champion and gives Rip the same offer. Rip nominates Kendra to be his own champion. Sara ultimately gains the upper hand, and Ra's al Ghul entreats her to finish Kendra. But due to the pleas of her teammates, she decides not to. Then the temporal bounty hunter Chronos invades the arena and kills several League members, despite their efforts. Rip quickly appeals to Ra's to free them if he wishes to preserve the League and his life, which Ra's does. After they defeat the bounty hunter, Ra's al Ghul releases Sara from the League, deducing that she is from the future and is divided over killing others. Right before leaving, Sara advises Ra's al Ghul to ensure that his unborn daughter, Nyssa, be at Lian Yu in 2008. Ra's al Ghul agrees and is delighted to know that he will have another child.[54]

Ra's al Ghul appears in the third and fourth seasons of Gotham, portrayed by Alexander Siddig.[55] This version of the character, in addition to leading the League of Assassins, is also tied to the Court of Owls, although he has his acolytes dispose of the Court once he is finished with them. He is first mentioned in "Heroes Rise: Pretty Hate Machine" as "The Demon's Head", the mastermind of a plot to destroy Gotham City with a weaponized virus. In "Heroes Rise: Destiny Calling", Ra's al Ghul meets with Bruce Wayne, whom the Court's minions have brainwashed, and entreats the boy to become his heir. As a "final test", he orders Bruce to kill his butler Alfred Pennyworth. In "Heroes Rise: Heavydirtysoul", when Bruce stabs Alfred and snaps out of his conditioning, Ra's tells him to use the Lazarus Pit waters to save Alfred. He subsequently praises Bruce for his ability to resist, and says that he has not yet given up on turning Bruce into his heir. Ra's then disappears. In the fourth season, he tries to track down an ancient knife prophesied to be the only thing that can kill him. In the episode "A Dark Knight: The Blade's Path", he begs Bruce to stab him with the knife and end his suffering; when Bruce refuses, Ra's threatens to kill everyone he holds dear, goading Bruce into stabbing and apparently killing him. He appears to Bruce in a hallucination in the episode "A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness".

text: Film[edit]

text: Live action[edit]

text:
Liam Neeson portrayed Ra's al Ghul in The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Ra's al Ghul appears in the film Batman Begins. He is the head of the millennia-old League of Shadows organization based in Bhutan that is dedicated to keeping order and justice in a world which it views as decadent and corrupt. During the first half of the film, the character goes by the name "Henri Ducard" and poses as a servant of Ra's al Ghul's decoy (portrayed by Ken Watanabe). Ducard acts as Bruce Wayne's mentor, teaching the stealth and martial arts training that his protégé will one day use as Batman. He orders Bruce to execute a thief as a final test, but Bruce refuses and burns down the league's temple. Subsequently, the decoy is killed by falling debris, while Bruce saves Ducard. During the film's climax, he reappears and reveals his true identity to Bruce, and explains his plan to disperse Jonathan Crane's fear-inducing toxin into Gotham's water supplies. Ra's then tells Bruce that the League of Shadows had tried to destroy Gotham once before by creating an economic depression that indirectly resulted in the murders of Bruce's parents. In their final confrontation, Batman defeats Ra's and leaves him on a runaway train which falls off a bridge, crashes, and explodes, killing him.
Ra's al Ghul makes a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight Rises.[56] As a hallucination, he tells Bruce that he has an heir who is carrying on the League of Shadows' mission to destroy Gotham. Josh Pence plays a younger version of the character in flashbacks set 30 years before the film's events.[57] In an ancient part of the world, he was a mercenary who worked for a local warlord. He fell in love with the warlord's daughter and married her in secret. When the warlord found out, he condemned Ra's to a prison known as "The Pit". The daughter intervened on Ra's' behalf, so the warlord exiled him and sentenced her to life in "The Pit". Unbeknownst to Ra's, she was pregnant with his child. After his wife was killed in an attack by the other prisoners, their daughter Talia was rescued by Bane and later escaped from the Pit and went to find her father, now the leader of the League of Shadows. Ra's turned the League on the prison, killing several inmates and freeing Bane. But even after Bane saved Talia's life, Ra's saw him only as a reminder of the Pit where his wife died and so excommunicated him from the League. During the film's main timeline, Talia and Bane assumed leadership of the League of Shadows after Ra's' death, traveled to Gotham to finish his work and avenge his death, for which they blame Batman.[58][59][60][61] Recited in the Pit, the prevalent chant deshi basara (Arabic: دشي بسرعة) is of the Moroccan language, indicative of Ra's al Ghul's Arab background.[62][63]

text: Animated[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul appears in the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, voiced by Jason Isaacs.[64][65] This version is responsible for Jason Todd's resurrection after Robin was killed by the Joker. Halfway through the film, Batman travels to Ra's' stronghold to question him. Ra's reveals that he had been planning to ruin Europe's economy by destroying its financial centers and had hired Joker to provide Batman and Robin with a distraction. The Joker went rogue, however, and killed Robin. Plagued with guilt, Ra's resurrected Jason with the Lazarus Pit, but the boy was driven insane and returned to Gotham City as the murderous vigilante Red Hood, intent on taking revenge on Joker. Ra's is last seen watching the news bulletin about Red Hood's disappearance and Joker's return to Arkham Asylum.
Ra's al Ghul appears in Son of Batman, voiced by Giancarlo Esposito.[66] This version is depicted as Damian Wayne's mentor and possible father figure. During the film's beginning, he and Dusan al Ghul are victims of Deathstroke's takeover. He is shown as an extremely skilled warrior but is taken out by a gunship rocket attack and even then almost makes it to a nearby Lazarus Pit before dying. Following his death, Damian attempts to submerge his grandfather into the Lazarus Pit, but Talia al Ghul states that the Lazarus Pit cannot save him.
Ra's al Ghul appears to return in Justice League vs. Teen Titans, voiced by Terrence C. Carson. As a follow-up of Son of Batman, a demon claiming to be Ra's al Ghul is encountered by Robin in Trigon's hellish realm where he claims that Trigon is the creator of the Lazarus Pits and that their usage would entail a price in the form of eternal servitude following the recipient's death. As a servant of Trigon, he shatters the crystal that Raven intends to use to imprison Trigon. Robin, having accompanied and bonded with Raven, attacks the demon Ra's in Raven's defense, eventually slicing his head. His body is then dragged into a monolith by a horde of Trigon's demons.

text: Video games[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul is the final boss in the 2003 video game Batman: Dark Tomorrow, voiced by Don Leslie.
Ra's al Ghul appears in the Batman Begins video game based on the movie with Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul and Ken Watanabe as "Decoy Ra's al Ghul".
Ra's al Ghul appears in DC Universe Online.
Ra's al Ghul appears as an unplayable support card in the iOS version of Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Ra's al Ghul appears briefly in Injustice 2. He is also mentioned by several characters within the opening dialogue for matches, particularly if they're pitted against Damian Wayne. Ra's is seen as part of Black Adam's ending. When Black Adam brings his dead wife's corpse to the Lazarus Pit following Brainiac's attack, Ra's blocks the way to prevent from doing so. Ra's offers Black Adam use of the pit, but they would help overthrow Superman's newly restored regime in return. Despite their differences, Black Adam agrees and the two begin their crusade against Superman.

text: Lego Batman[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul is featured as an unlockable character in Lego Batman: The Video Game.[67]
Ra's al Ghul appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, voiced by Steven Blum. He is a boss fight and unlockable character who is found at the North Metro Station.
The Batman Begins version of Ra's al Ghul (aka Henri Ducard) appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham via downloadable content.

text: Arkham series[edit]

text: Ra's al Ghul has been a staple in the Batman: Arkham franchise where he has been voiced by Dee Bradley Baker:

text: In Batman: Arkham Asylum, his body can be found zipped up in a body bag in the morgue part of Arkham Mansion near Dr. Penny Young's office. His character bio is gained after scanning the body. If the player returns to the Morgue later in the game, after completing the main story, the body is gone, most likely taken by the League of Assassins to be resurrected in a Lazarus Pit.

text:
In Batman: Arkham City, after Batman is infected with the Joker's poisoned blood, he attempts to collect a sample of Ra's' blood (which has regenerative capabilities) in order to find a cure. Heading to Wonder City's ruins, Batman and Ra's al Ghul fight when the Dark Knight refuses to kill Ra's and take his place as leader of the League of Assassins. After a long battle, Batman eventually defeats Ra's and forcibly collects his blood, telling him that the Lazarus Pit has corrupted his mind and giving him one chance to end his crusade. Ra's is later revealed to be the power behind Arkham City's warden, Hugo Strange, having seen the professor as a possible successor instead of Batman. He appears in Wonder Tower and kills Strange for his failure when Protocol 10 was deactivated by Batman. However, the professor uses his dying breath to activate Protocol 11 (a self-destruct protocol for the command center in Wonder Tower). Saved from the explosion by Batman, Ra's, rather than be captured, stabs himself with his sword mid-fall before landing on the Arkham City gate. If the player returns to the gate later in the game, after completing the main story, Ra's body is gone, and only his sword remains.
In Batman: Arkham Knight, Ra's sword is placed in the GCPD evidence room prior to the game. Gotham's alleyways also have graffiti on it that says "The Demon's Head will return", likely written by the League of Assassins. Later, Ra's appears in a side mission "Shadow War", which is a downloadable content (DLC) pack only available with the game's Season pass in December "Season of Infamy". While having survived his previous battle against the Dark Knight, Ra's al Ghul is left sickly and barely clinging to life by having the remains of the Lazarus Pit constantly pumped into him. This weakening of Ra's inspires his daughter, Nyssa Raatko, to form a rebel faction of the League to take control of the organization, resulting in a war breaking out between them and Ra's loyalists within Gotham. As this ultimately draws Batman's attention, he soon discovers Ra's hideout under Elliot Memorial Hospital, and learns of his deteriorating condition. Appealing to Batman's sense of morality, Ra's followers tell him of another, purer, Lazarus Pit within Gotham, and ask him to use it to heal Ra's. Upon finding the second Lazarus Pit, Batman returns to Elliot Memorial Hospital, where he has two choices:

Batman gives the Lazarus to Ra's, at which point Batman is forced to fight Nyssa and her rebels. Not soon after, Ra's regains his former strength and fatally slashes Nyssa for her treachery. Batman tries to fight him, but Ra's al Ghul steals one of his smoke bombs and disappears. Batman comforts Nyssa in her dying moments and closes her eyes before he leaves.
Batman decides against giving the Lazarus sample to Ra's, and destroys the equipment keeping him alive. After he takes care of Ra's loyalists, Nyssa arrives to see what her father has ultimately become. As she is about to strike him down, Batman stops her and says that he will take him to the GCPD. Nyssa is satisfied and lives up to her word, recalling all her forces from Gotham while Batman takes Ra's to a special cell at GCPD and straps him to a gurney, with Ra's telling the Dark Knight that he is proud of him for apparently breaking his code.

text: Parodies[edit]

text: Ra's al Ghul appears in Robot Chicken. In the episode "Password: Swordfish", Henri Ducard (voiced by Seth Green) trains Heimlich to save people who are choking on food in a segment that parodies Batman Begins. Dee Bradley Baker later reprises his role from Arkham video game franchise in the third DC Comics special. In the segment, Batman chases him down to the Lazarus Pit where Ra's uses it to rejuvenate and become younger, but Batman continuously kicks him in which causes his age to regress into nothingness. Batman quickly leaves, not wanting anyone to know that a baby was just killed.

text: Miscellaneous[edit]

text:
Ra's al Ghul appears in The Batman Adventures. He arrived to break up a fight between Batman and Sensei and even had to allow Sensei to go with Batman.
Ra's al Ghul appears in the comic book tie-in to Young Justice. In issue 11, Ra's al Ghul oversaw the hijacking of the rocket at Cape Canaveral and had the original research payload replaced with a diamond lens that would turn sun beams into death beams that would attack the various cities. Batman and Robin end up fighting Ra's al Ghul which ended with Ra's falling off the tower to his death. Ubu and Talia were able to get Ra's back to Infinity Island where Sensei used the Lazarus Pit to revive Ra's al Ghul. After emerging from the Lazarus Pit, Ra's al Ghul ordered Sensei to prepare their weapon called the Serpent. In issue 12, Ra's al Ghul arrived where he found Sensei and Talia being attacked by Clayface and learned from Sensei that the monster was their operative Matt Hagen. After Ra's al Ghul stated to Clayface that he was still a member of the League of Shadows and commanded him to sleep, he ordered Sensei to ship Clayface to Gotham City for him to bother Batman and then demanded an explanation from Talia on how Clayface came to be.

text: Collected editions[edit]

text: His stories have been collected into a number of volumes:

text:
Batman: Tales Of The Demon (1991), collecting the original 1970s Ra's al Ghul stories by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams
Batman: Birth Of The Demon (1992) by Dennis O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle, giving the origin of Ra's al Ghul
JLA Vol. 7: Tower Of Babel (2001), by Mark Waid, in which Ra's goes up against the Justice League of America (ISBN 1-56389-727-X)
Batman: Death And The Maidens (2004) by Greg Rucka and Klaus Janson, giving the ultimate death of Ra's al Ghul (ISBN 1-4012-0234-9)
Year One: Batman – Ra's al Ghul (2005) by Devin K. Grayson and Paul Gulacy, which takes place a year after Ra's' death in Death And The Maidens
Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul (2008) by Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Fabian Nicieza, and Paul Dini, chronicles Ra's al Ghul's resurrection.


document_title: Toilet

question_text: what the back part of the toilet called

question_tokens: what the back part of the toilet called

root

text: Toilet

text: Overview

text: The number of different types of toilets used on a worldwide level is large.[1][3] Toilet types can be grouped by:

tag: p

text:
Having a water seal or not (which usually relates to flushing or not, i.e. flush toilet versus dry toilet)
Being used in a sitting or squatting position (sitting toilet versus squat toilet)
Being located at a household level or in public (toilet room versus public toilet)

tag: ul

text: People use different toilet types based on the country that they are in. In developing countries, access to toilets is also related to people's socio-economic status. Poor people in low-income countries often have no toilets at all and resort to open defecation instead. This is part of the sanitation crisis which international initiatives such as World Toilet Day draw attention to.[4]

text: With water as an odor seal

text: Flush toilet

text: A typical flush toilet is a ceramic bowl (pan) connected on the "up" side to a cistern (tank) that enables rapid filling with water, and on the "down" side to a drain pipe that removes the effluent. When a toilet is flushed, the sewage should flow into a septic tank or into a system connected to a sewage treatment plant. However, in many developing countries, this treatment step does not take place.

text: The water in the toilet bowl is connected to a pipe shaped like an upside-down U. One side of the U channel is arranged as a siphon tube longer than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects to the drain. The bottom of the drain pipe limits the height of the water in the bowl before it flows down the drain. The water in the bowl acts as a barrier to sewer gas entering the building. Sewer gas escapes through a vent pipe attached to the sewer line.

text: The amount of water used by conventional flush toilets usually makes up a significant portion of personal daily water usage. However, modern low flush toilet designs allow the use of much less water per flush. Dual flush toilets allow the user to select between a flush for urine or feces, saving a significant amount of water over conventional units. The flush handle on these toilets is pushed up for one kind of flush and down for the other.[5] Another design is to have two buttons, one for urination and the other for defectation. In some places, users are encouraged not to flush after urination. Flushing toilets can be plumbed to use greywater (previously used for washing dishes, laundry, and bathing) rather than potable water (drinking water). Some modern toilets pressurize the water in the tank, which initiates flushing action with less water usage.

text: Another variant is the pour-flush toilet.[1] This type of flush toilet has no cistern, but is flushed manually with a few litres of a small bucket. The flushing can use as little as 2–3 litres (0.44–0.66 imp gal; 0.53–0.79 US gal).[1] This type of toilet is common in many Asian countries. The toilet can be connected to one or two pits, in which case it is called a "pour flush pit latrine" or a "twin pit pour flush pit latrine". It can also be connected to a septic tank.

text: Flush toilets on ships are typically flushed with seawater.

text: High-tech toilet

text: "High-tech" toilets, which can be found in countries like Japan, include features such as automatic-flushing mechanisms; water jets or "bottom washers"; blow dryers; or artificial flush sounds to mask noises.  Others include medical monitoring features such as urine and stool analysis and the checking of blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar. Some toilets have automatic lid operation, heated seats, deodorizing fans, or automated replacement of paper toilet-seat-covers. Interactive urinals have been developed in several countries, allowing users to play video games. The "Toylet", produced by Sega, uses pressure sensors to detect the flow of urine and translates that into on-screen action.[6]

text: Astronauts on the International Space Station use a space toilet with urine diversion which can recover potable water.[7]

text: Vacuum toilet

text: A vacuum toilet is a flush toilet that requires very little flushing water and is connected to a vacuum sewer system. For example,  they are used on planes (aircraft lavatories) and on trains (passenger train toilets).

text: Without water as an odor seal

text: Many types of toilets without a water seal (also called dry toilets or "non-flush toilets") exist. These types of toilets do not use water as an odor seal or to move excreta along. For example, from simple to more complex: a bucket toilet (honey bucket), a tree bog or arborloo (two simple systems for converting excrement to direct fertiliser for trees), a pit latrine (a deep hole in the ground), a vault toilet (which keeps all the waste underground until it is pumped out), a container-based toilet, a composting toilet (which mixes excreta with carbon-rich materials for faster decomposition), a urine-diverting dry toilet (which keeps urine separate from feces), and incinerating and freezing toilets.

text: Dry toilets use no water for flushing. They also do not produce wastewater. Some of these devices are high-tech but many are quite basic.[3]

text: Pit latrine with direct drop

text: A simple pit latrine uses no water seal and collects human excreta in a pit or trench. The excreta drop directly into the pit via a drop hole. This type of toilet can range from a simple slit trench to more elaborate systems with seating or squatting pans and ventilation systems. In developed countries they are associated with camping and wilderness areas. They are common in rural or peri-urban areas in many developing countries. Pit latrines are also used in emergency sanitation situations.

text: The pit or trench can be dug large enough so that the pit can be used for many years before it fills up. When the pit becomes full, it may be emptied or the hole covered with earth and the pit latrine relocated. Pit latrines have to be located away from drinking water sources (wells, streams, etc.) to minimize the possibility of disease spread via groundwater pollution.

text: A ventilation improved pit (VIP) latrine adds certain design features to the simple pit latrine which reduces flies from exiting the latrine, thereby reducing the spread of diseases.[1]

text: Vault toilet

text: A vault toilet is a non-flush toilet with a sealed container (or vault) buried in the ground to receive the excreta, all of which is contained underground until it is removed by pumping. A vault toilet is distinguished from a pit latrine because the waste accumulates in the vault instead of seeping into the underlying soil.

text: Urine-diverting dry toilet

text: Urine diversion toilets have two compartments, one for urine and one for feces. A urine-diverting dry toilet uses no water for flushing, and keeps urine and feces separate. It can be linked to systems which reuse excreta as a fertilizer.

text: Portable toilet

text: The portable toilet is used on construction sites, film locations, and large outdoor gatherings where there are no other facilities. They are typically self-contained units that are made to be easily moved. Most portable toilets are unisex single units with privacy ensured by a simple lock on the door. The units are usually light weight and easily transported by a flatbed truck and loaded and unloaded by a small forklift. Many portable toilets are small molded plastic or fiberglass portable rooms with a lockable door and a receptacle to catch waste in a chemically treated container. If used for an extended period of time, they have to be cleaned out and new chemicals put in the waste receptacle. For servicing multiple portable toilets, tanker trucks (vacuum trucks or honeywagons) are equipped with large vacuums to evacuate the waste and replace the chemicals. Portable toilets can also be urine-diverting dry toilets.

text: A bucket toilet, also known as a honey bucket, is a very simple type of portable toilet.

text: Chemical toilet

text: Chemical toilets collect human excreta in a holding tank and use chemicals to minimize odors. They do not require a connection to a water supply and are used in a variety of situations.

text: Aircraft lavatories and passenger train toilets were in the past often designed as chemical toilets but are nowadays more likely to be vacuum toilets.[citation needed]

text: Types by usage posture

text: Toilets can be designed to be used either in a sitting or in a squatting posture.

text: Toilet with a pedestal for sitting

text: Sitting toilets are often referred to as "western-style toilets".[8] Sitting toilets are more convenient than squat toilets for people with disabilities and the elderly.

text: Squat toilet

text: A squat toilet (also called "squatting toilet", "natural position toilet", or by many national names) is a toilet of any technology type (i.e. pit latrine, urine-diverting dry toilet, flush toilet etc.) which is used in a squatting position rather than sitting. This means that the defecation posture used is to place one foot on each side of the toilet drain or hole and to squat over it.

text: Squatting toilets are the norm in many Asian and African countries, and  are common in most Muslim countries. They are also occasionally be found in some European and South American countries.

text: In 1976, squatting toilets were said to be used by the majority of the world's population.[9] However, there is a general trend in many countries to move from squatting toilets to sitting toilets (particularly in urban areas) as the latter are often regarded as more modern.[10]

text: Usage

text: Urination

text: There are cultural differences in socially accepted and preferred voiding positions for urination around the world: in the Middle East and Asia, the squatting position is more prevalent, while in the Western world the standing and sitting position are more common.[11]

text: Anal cleansing habits

text: In the Western world, the most common method of cleaning the anal area after defecation is by toilet paper or sometimes by using a bidet. In many Muslim countries, the facilities are designed to enable people to follow Islamic toilet etiquette Qaḍāʼ al-Ḥājah.[12] For example, a bidet shower may be plumbed in. The left hand is used for cleansing, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many Asian countries.[13]

text: There are toilets on the market where the seats have integrated spray mechanicms for anal and genital water sprays (see for example Toilets in Japan). This can be useful for the elderly or people with disabilities.

text: Accessible toilets

text: An accessible toilet is designed to accommodate people with physical disabilities, such as age related limited mobility or inability to walk due to impairments. Additional measures to add toilet accessibility are providing more space and grab barsto ease transfer to and from the toilet seat, including enough room for a caregiver if necessary.

text: Public toilet

text: A public toilet is accessible to the general public. It may be municipally owned or managed, entered directly from the street. It may be within a building that, while privately owned, allows public access, such as a department store, or it may be limited to the business's customers, such as a restaurant. If its use requires a fee, it is also called a pay toilet.

text: Depending on culture, there may be varying degrees of separation between men and women and different levels of privacy. Typically, the entire room, or a stall or cubicle containing a toilet, is lockable. Urinals, if present in a men's toilet, are typically mounted on a wall with or without a divider between them. In the most basic form, a public toilet may be not much more than an open latrine. Another form is a street urinal known as a pissoir, after the French term.

text: Public health aspects

text: To this day, 1 billion people in developing countries have no toilets in their homes and are resorting to Open defecation instead.[14] The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goal relating to drinking-water and sanitation (MDG 7, Target 7c). One target of this goal is to: "Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation" and publishes figures on access to sanitation worldwide on a regular basis.[15] Another organisation which focuses on toilet and sanitation is the World Toilet Organisation which has its founding date, November 19, used for the UN's International World Toilet Day.[16]

text: Toilets are one important element of a sanitation system, although other elements are also needed: transport, treatment, disposal, or reuse.[1] Diseases, including Cholera, which still affects some 3 million people each year, can be largely prevented when effective sanitation and water treatment prevents fecal matter from contaminating waterways, groundwater, and drinking water supplies.

text: Example of cholera in England

text: There have been five main cholera outbreaks and pandemics since 1825. In London alone, the second killed 14,137 people in 1849, and the third took 10,738 lives in 1853–54. In 1849 the English physician John Snow published a paper On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, in which he suggested that cholera might be waterborne.  During the 1854 epidemic, he collected and analyzed data establishing that people who drank water from contaminated sources such as the Broad Street pump died of cholera at much higher rates than those who got water elsewhere.

text: Toilets in developing countries

text: Flying toilet

text: A "flying toilet" is a facetious name for a plastic bag that is used as a container for excrement and are then simply discarded. Associated especially with slums, they are called flying toilets "because when you have filled them, you throw them as far away as you can."[17]

text: Floating toilet

text: A floating toilet is essentially a toilet on a platform built above or floating on the water. Instead of excreta going into the ground they are collected in a tank or barrel. To reduce the amount of excreta that needs to hauled to shore, many use urine diversion. The floating toilet was developed for residents without quick access to land or connection to a sewer systems.[18] It is also used in areas subjected to prolonged flooding.[19] The need for this type of toilet is high in areas like Cambodia.[20]

text: Toilet connected to livestock or aquaculture

text: The pig toilet, which consists of a toilet linked to a pigsty by a chute, is still in use to a limited extent.[21] It was common in rural China, and was known in Japan, Korea, and India. The "fish pond toilet" depends on the same principle, of livestock (often carp) eating human excreta directly.

text: History

text: Ancient history

text: During the third millennium BC, toilets and sewers were invented throughout the world. Mohenjo-Daro circa 2800 BC is cited as having some of the most advanced, with toilets built into outer walls of homes. These toilets were Western-style, albeit a primitive form, with vertical chutes, via which waste was disposed of into cesspits or street drains.[22]

text: These toilets were only used by the affluent classes; most people would have squatted over old pots set into the ground or used open pits.[23] The people of the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and northwestern India had primitive water-cleaning toilets that used flowing water in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. The flowing water removed the human waste.[24] The Indus Valley civilisation had a rudimentary network of sewers built under grid pattern streets.[25]

text: Other very early toilets that used flowing water to remove the waste are found at Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, which was occupied from about 3100 BC until 2500 BC. Some of the houses there have a drain running directly beneath them, and some of these had a cubicle over the drain. Around the 18th century BC, toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete, Pharaonic Egypt, and ancient Persia.

text: In 2012, archaeologists found what is believed to be Southeast Asia's earliest latrine during the excavation of a neolithic village in the Rạch Núi archaeological site, southern Vietnam. The toilet, dating back 1500 BC, yielded important clues about early Southeast Asian society. More than 30 coprolites, containing fish and shattered animal bones, provided information on the diet of humans and dogs, and on the types of parasites each had to contend with.[26][27][28]

text: In Roman civilization, toilets using flowing water were sometimes part of public bath houses. Roman toilets, like the ones pictured here, are commonly thought to have been used in the sitting position. The Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers which were periodically "flushed" with flowing water, rather than elevated for sitting. Romans and Greeks also used chamber pots, which they brought to meals and drinking sessions.[29] Johan J. Mattelaer said, "Plinius has described how there were large receptacles in the streets of cities such as Rome and Pompeii into which chamber pots of urine were emptied. The urine was then collected by fullers." (Fulling was a vital step in textile manufacture.)

text: The Han dynasty in China two thousand years ago used pig toilets.

text: Post-classical history

text: Garderobes were toilets used in the Post-classical history, most commonly found in upper-class dwellings. Essentially, they were flat pieces of wood or stone spanning from one wall to the other, with one or more holes to sit on. These were above chutes or pipes that discharged outside the castle or Manor house.[30] Garderobes would be placed in areas away from bedrooms to shun the smell[31] and also near kitchens or fireplaces to keep the enclosure warm.[30]

text: The other main way of handling toilet needs was the chamber pot, a receptacle, usually of ceramic or metal, into which one would excrete waste. This method was used for hundreds of years; shapes, sizes, and decorative variations changed throughout the centuries.[32] Chamber pots were in common use in Europe from ancient times, even being taken to the Middle East by medieval pilgrims.[33]

text: Modern history

text: By the Early Modern era, chamber pots were frequently made of china or copper and could include elaborate decoration. They were emptied into the gutter of the street nearest to the home.

text: In pre-modern Denmark, people generally defecated on farmland or other places where the human waste could be collected as fertilizer.[34] The Old Norse language had several terms for referring to outhouses, including garðhús (yard house), náð-/náða-hús (house of rest), and annat hús (the other house). In general, toilets were functionally non-existent in rural Denmark until the 18th century.[34]

text: By the 16th century, cesspits and cesspools were increasingly dug into the ground near houses in Europe as a means of collecting waste, as urban populations grew and street gutters became blocked with the larger volume of human waste. Rain was no longer sufficient to wash away waste from the gutters. A pipe connected the latrine to the cesspool, and sometimes a small amount of water washed waste through. Cesspools were cleaned out by tradesmen, known in English as gong farmers, who pumped out liquid waste, then shovelled out the solid waste and collected it during the night. This solid waste, euphemistically known as nightsoil, was sold as fertilizer for agricultural production (similarly to the closing-the-loop approach of ecological sanitation).

text: The garderobe was replaced by the privy midden and pail closet in early industrial Europe.[35]

text: In the early 19th century, public officials and public hygiene experts studied and debated sanitation for several decades. The construction of an underground network of pipes to carry away solid and liquid waste was only begun in the mid 19th-century, gradually replacing the cesspool system, although cesspools were still in use in some parts of Paris into the 20th century.[36] Even London, at that time the world's largest city, did not require indoor toilets in its building codes until after the First World War.

text: The water closet, with its origins in Tudor times, started to assume its currently known form, with an overhead cistern, s-bends, soil pipes and valves around 1770. This was the work of Alexander Cumming and Joseph Bramah. Water closets only started to be moved from outside to inside of the home around 1850.[37] The integral water closet started to be built into middle class homes in the 1860s and 1870s, firstly on the principal bedroom floor and in larger houses in the maids' accommodation, and by 1900 a further one in the hallway. A toilet would also be placed outside the back door of the kitchen for use by gardeners and other outside staff such as those working with the horses. The speed of introduction was varied, so that in 1906 the predominantly working class town of Rochdale had 750 water closets for a population of 10,000.[37]

text: The working class home had transitioned from the rural cottage, to the urban back-to-back terraces with external rows of privies, to the through terraced houses of the 1880 with their sculleries and individual external WC. It was the Tudor Walters Report of 1918 that recommended that semi-skilled workers should be housed in suburban cottages with kitchens and internal WC. As recommended floor standards waxed and waned in the building standards and codes, the bathroom with a water closet and later the low-level suite, became more prominent in the home.[38]

text: Before the introduction of indoor toilets, it was common to use the chamber pot under one's bed at night and then to dispose of its contents in the morning. During the Victorian era, British housemaids collected all of the household's chamber pots and carried them to a room known as the housemaids' cupboard.  This room contained a "slop sink", made of wood with a lead lining to prevent chipping china chamber pots, for washing the "bedroom ware" or "chamber utensils". Once running water and flush toilets were plumbed into British houses, servants were sometimes given their own lavatory downstairs, separate from the family lavatory.[39] The practice of emptying one's own chamber pot, known as slopping out, continued in British prisons until as recently as 2014[40] and was still in use in 85 cells in the Republic of Ireland in July 2017.[41]

text: With rare exceptions, chamber pots are no longer used. Modern related implements are bedpans and commodes, used in hospitals and the homes of invalids.

text: Development of dry earth closets

text: Before the widespread adoption of the flush toilet, there were inventors, scientists, and public health officials who supported the use of "dry earth closets". One person developing these was the English clergyman Henry Moule, who dedicated his life to improving public sanitation after witnessing the horrors of the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1854. He invented what he called the dry earth system, somewhat similar to a composting toilet or a bucket toilet. In partnership with James Bannehr, in 1860 he took out a patent for the process (No. 1316).[42] His system was adopted in private houses, in rural districts, in military camps, in many hospitals, and extensively in the British Raj.[42]

text: Ultimately, however, it failed to gain the same public support in Europe as the water closet, although variations of the design remain today in use (see dry toilet).

text: Development of flush toilets

text: Although a precursor to the flush toilet system which is widely used nowadays was designed in 1596 by John Harington,[43] such systems did not come into widespread use until the late nineteenth century.[44] With the onset of the industrial revolution and related advances in technology, the flush toilet began to emerge into its modern form. A crucial advance in plumbing, was the S-trap, invented by the Scottish mechanic Alexander Cummings in 1775, and still in use today. This device uses the standing water to seal the outlet of the bowl, preventing the escape of foul air from the sewer. It was only in the mid-19th century, with growing levels of urbanisation and industrial prosperity, that the flush toilet became a widely used and marketed invention. This period coincided with the dramatic growth in the sewage system, especially in London, which made the flush toilet particularly attractive for health and sanitation reasons.[37]

text: Flush toilets were also known as "water closets", as opposed to the earth closets described above. WCs first appeared in Britain in the 1880s, and soon spread to Continental Europe. In America, the chain-pull indoor toilet was introduced in the homes of the wealthy and in hotels in the 1890s. William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer in 1906, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes.

text: Names

text: Etymology

text: Toilet was originally a French loanword (first attested in 1540) that referred to the toilette ("little cloth") draped over one's shoulders during hairdressing.[46] During the late 17th century,[46] the term came to be used by metonymy in both languages for the whole complex of grooming and body care that centered at a dressing table (also covered by a cloth) and for the equipment composing a toilet service, including a mirror, hairbrushes, and containers for powder and makeup. The time spent at such a table also came to be known as one's "toilet"; it came to be a period during which close friends or tradesmen were received as "toilet-calls".[46][49]

text: The use of "toilet" to describe a special room for grooming came much later (first attested in 1819), following the French cabinet de toilet. Similar to "powder room", "toilet" then came to be used as a euphemism for rooms dedicated to urination and defecation, particularly in the context of signs for public toilets, as on trains. Finally, it came to be used for the plumbing fixtures in such rooms (apparently first in the United States) as these replaced chamber pots, outhouses, and latrines. These two uses, the fixture and the room, completely supplanted the other senses of the word during the 20th century[46] except in the form "toiletries".[n 2]

text: Contemporary use

text: The word "toilet" was by etymology a euphemism, but is no longer understood as such. As old euphemisms have become the standard term, they have been progressively replaced by newer ones, an example of the euphemism treadmill at work.[50] The choice of word relies not only on regional variation, but also on social situation and level of formality (register) or social class. American manufacturers show an uneasiness with the word and its class attributes: American Standard, the largest firm, sells them as "toilets", yet the higher priced products of the Kohler Company, often installed in more expensive housing, are sold as commodes or closets, words which also carry other meanings. Confusingly, products imported from Japan such as TOTO are referred to as "toilets", even though they carry the cachet of higher cost and quality. (Toto, an abbreviation of Tōyō Tōki (東洋陶器 Oriental Ceramics), is used in Japanese comics to visually indicate toilets or other things that look like toilets; see Toilets in Japan.)

text: Regional variants

text: Different dialects use "bathroom" and "restroom" (American English), "bathroom" and "washroom" (Canadian English), and "WC" (an initialism for "water closet"), "lavatory" and its abbreviation "lav" (British English).

text: Euphemisms

text: "Crapper" was already in use as a coarse name for a toilet, but it gained currency from the work of Thomas Crapper, who popularized flush toilets in England.

text: "The Jacks" is Irish slang for toilet.[51] It perhaps derives from "jacques" and "jakes", an old English term.[52]

text: "Loo" – The etymology of loo is obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary notes the 1922 appearance of "How much cost? Waterloo. Watercloset." in James Joyce's novel Ulysses and defers to Alan S. C. Ross's arguments that it derived in some fashion from the site of Napoleon's 1815 defeat.[53][54] In the 1950s the use of the word "loo" was considered one of the markers of British upper-class speech, featuring in a famous essay, "U and non-U English".[55] "Loo" may have derived from a corruption of French l'eau ("water"), gare à l'eau ("mind the water", used in reference to emptying chamber pots into the street from an upper-story window),  lieu ("place"), lieu d'aisance ("place of ease", used euphemistically for a toilet), or lieu à l'anglaise ("English place", used from around 1770 to refer to English-style toilets installed for travelers).[53][56][57] Other proposed etymologies include a supposed tendency to place toilets in room 100 (hence "loo") in English hotels,[58] a dialectical corruption of the nautical term "lee" in reference to the need to urinate and defecate with the wind prior to the advent of head pumps,[n 3] or the 17th-century preacher Louis Bourdaloue, whose long sermons at Paris's Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis prompted his parishioners to bring along chamber pots.[59]

text: Gallery