Jim Gordon
[eulogy at Harvey Dent's funeral]
I knew Harvey Dent. I was his friend. And it will be a long time before someone inspires us the way he did. I believed in Harvey Dent.
Tied for 2nd most-quoted character in The Dark Knight Rises (2012): in 7 of its 32 quotes
Most scenes with: John Blake (3)
I see a beautiful city. And a brilliant people, rising from this abyss. I see the lives, for which I lay down my life - peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.
More lines from Jim Gordon
1 quoteScenes with Jim Gordon
5 scenes
Jim Gordon
What's your name, son?
Blake, sir.
Gordon
You got something you wanna ask me, Officer Blake?
It's about that night, this night, eight years ago. The night Dent died, the last confirmed sighting of the Batman. He murders those people, takes down two SWAT teams, breaks Dent's neck and then just... vanishes?
Gordon
I'm not hearing a question, son.
Don't you wanna know who he was?
Gordon
[Gordon looks at the broken Bat-Signal for a moment]
I know exactly who he was. He was the Batman.
Gordon
[A masked Bruce Wayne visits Commissioner Jim Gordon in the hospital]
We were in this together, then you were gone.
The Batman wasn't needed anymore. We won.
Gordon
Based on a lie. And now there's evil rising from where we tried to bury it. The Batman has to come back.
What if he doesn't exist anymore?
Gordon
He must... He must...Batman must come back...
[Gordon and Blake watch Bane appear before Blackgate prison] [addressing media at the gate]
Behind you stands a symbol of oppression. Blackgate Prison, where a thousand men have languished under the name of this man, Harvey Dent, [holds picture of Dent] who has been held up to you as the shining example of justice!
Commissioner, we need to keep you moving until we can get you in front of a camera.
You have been supplied with a false idol [tears up picture] to stop you tearing down this CORRUPT CITY! Let me tell you the truth about Harvey Dent from the words of Gotham's police commissioner, James Gordon. [reads text of speech] "The Batman didn't murder Harvey Dent. He saved my boy, then took the blame for Harvey's appalling crimes so I could, to my shame, build a lie around this fallen idol. I praised the madman who tried to murder my own child. But I can no longer live with my lie. It is time to trust the people of Gotham with the truth, and it is time for me to resign." [calls to prisoners] And do you accept this man's resignation? [prisoners roar with approval] And do you accept the resignation of all of these liars?! Of all the corrupt?!?
Those men locked up for eight years in Blackgate and denied parole under the Dent Act, based on a lie?
Gordon
Gotham needed a hero.
It needs one now more than ever. You betrayed everything it stood for.
Gordon
There's a point, far out there, when the structures fail you. When the rules aren't weapons anymore, they're shackles, letting the bad guy get ahead... One day, you may face such a moment of crisis, and in that moment, I hope you have a friend like I did! To plunge their hands into the filth, so that you can keep yours clean!!!
We take Gotham from the corrupt, the rich, the oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you - the people. Gotham is yours. None shall interfere, do as you please. [one of Bane's captured Tumbler Cannons blows a hole in the prison's gates, allowing his followers inside] But start by storming Blackgate and freeing the oppressed! Step forward, those who would serve! For an army will be raised. The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests, and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure. Courts will be convened. Spoils will be enjoyed! Blood will be shed! The police will survive, as they learn to serve true justice. This great city... it will endure. Gotham will survive.
Gordon
[Selina and Gordon watch as Batman climbs into the Bat to carry the nuclear bomb out over the harbor.] [To Batman]
I never cared who you were...
And you were right.
Gordon
...but shouldn't the people know the hero who saved them?
A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended. [flies off with the bomb under the Bat]
Gordon
[Looking at the Bat as he remembers putting coat around a young Bruce Wayne; catches on]
Bruce Wayne?
Gordon
I can't change your mind about quitting the force?
What you said about structures becoming shackles...you were right. I just can't take it. I mean, nobody will ever know who it was that saved an entire city.
Gordon
They know. It was the Batman.
