Alfred Pennyworth (Gargoyle of Gotham)

Bruce's parents were murdered when he was a child after a family night at the movies. The police found Bruce alone and traumatised in an alley and called Alfred to come and collect him, as Bruce had no other family. As Alfred was about to drive them home, Bruce slipped out of the car and stole a police billy club. The police and Alfred searched for him for hours and eventually found him violently assaulting a homeless man who he believed had killed his parents. They pulled him off, but the beating Bruce had inflicted left the man quadriplegic.^[1]

After the Wayne's funeral, Bruce refused to leave his parent's graves, insisting that it was his home now.^[2] In desperation, Alfred allowed Bruce to be institutionalised at Arkham Asylum's children's wing where he was treated by Dr. Charles Quinton. Quinton suppressed Bruce's memories of what he had done, leaving him only with the memories of his parents' deaths and a vision of a demon cub with a broken wing. Quinton directly instructed Alfred never to talk about what had happened or Bruce's treatment in case it triggered another outburst.

Initially it appeared that Quinton's treatment had worked, but when Bruce grew up he decided to become the vigilante Batman. Alfred always privately worried that Batman was another manifestation of the rage Bruce had shown, but chose not to tell him the truth so as not to burden him with what he had done; and because Batman at least gave them both a purpose in life.^[1]

Gotham was terrorised by both a serial killer and a costumed lunatic named Crytoon. Bruce decided that, as the threats to Gotham were escalating, he needed to become Batman full-time and told Alfred that he planned to fake his death once the case was complete, despite Alfred's objections. To find out more about the cartoon character Crytoon based himself off of, Bruce had Alfred ask the cartoon's creator's wife about it, under the guise of a collector. Alfred learned that the rights had been sold away and that the cartoon was banned after a violent incident at a school. Later, Alfred assisted Bruce in tracking and chasing down Crytoon.^[3]

Bruce captured and violently beat Crytoon until the police showed up and attempted to arrest them both, forcing him to flee. He returned to the Batcave and went into a sensory deprivation tank to try and calm down, ashamed of himself for losing control. When he emerged Alfred tried to draw his attention to a protest outside Wayne Enterprises Tower, but Bruce brushed it aside, claiming the protestors didn't know what the real threats were.

The next day, Detective Gordon, who was on the trail of the serial killer, came to Wayne Manor to speak to Bruce. Alfred told Gordon that Bruce was unavailable, although he was in fact watching them from the cave. Gordon revealed that the serial killer was targeting Dr. Quinton's former patients and offered police protection for Bruce, but Alfred refused and hurried him out. As soon as he left Bruce came up to confront Alfred over what Gordon had said, as he didn't remember his time at Arkham. When he realised that Bruce truly did not remember what had happened on the night his parents had been murdered, Alfred told him everything.

Bruce realised that more of his memories could be false, and asked how he could erase Bruce Wayne if he didn't even know who he was. Alfred pointed out that he was following the same flawed plan Dr. Quinton had done by trying to erase a part of himself. Bruce wondered if becoming Batman was even really his idea and Alfred told him that he needed to discover who Bruce Wayne really was. Alfred took Bruce to the assisted living facility where his victim now resided. Despite having maintained his innocence for decades, the man claimed he had murdered Bruce's parents for his mother's necklace, and told Bruce that now he would think about him every night, just like he thought about Bruce.

Later Bruce went out as Batman and met Gordon, who he often secretly worked with on cases. Gordon also showed Batman a symbol that Crytoon had drawn in his own blood, a triangle with two crossed lines drawn through it, during interrogation. Alfred was able to match the symbol to a clock on the Hotel Townsend, a supposedly abandoned tower in Gotham's historic west side.^[1]

Bruce went to the Hotel Townsend to investigate but did not return or report back. Alfred sent a message to Gordon, who had been secretly working with Batman, asking him to go to the hotel and find out what had happened. However, Gordon's phone was dead and he did not receive the message until hours later.^[2]