An Overanalysis of the Cavidad Oscuro
Sep. 28th, 2011 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreI have only read Part 1 (Broken Bat) of the Knightfall arc in trade paperback, and I have read the novel by Denny O'Neill. I don't recall the comic going into detail about Bane's past, but chapter 3 of the novel would make a worthy next Nolan'verse movie on it's own. The problem is, Batman would only have 2 scenes and the movie would definitely not get a rating less than R.
I assume Bane did have an actual name that his mother gave him, but we are never told it. Bane is the name given to him by a prison warden at age 6 or so. Bane's father has committed some atrocity and managed to flee the authorities. Apparently Santa Priscan tradition dictates that the son of a man can carry out his sentence in his abscence. Bane has not yet been born so his mother is interred into Pena Duro prison (a translator informs me that this translates to "hard punishment") to give birth and raise the child until the age of 7, when he would be left to his own devices in the prison. I wonder what they would have done had Bane's mum given birth to a daughter, but anyway.
Being the only woman in a prison full of hard criminals and corrupt staff, Bane's mother is frequently taken advantage of. When he is 5/6 years old, she sits down on her bed one night, lets out a sigh and carks it. The kid is pretty unmoved. The wardens take him out of the prison to witness his mother's 'burial' (she is thrown off a sea-cliff to be eaten by sharks). During the outing Bane gets to feel the wind and see trees and expanses of sky and the ocean, images that will sustain him in the years to come. The warden deems it too much hassle to care for Bane until he is the legal age, and decides to release him into the regular prison system right away. Remember - this is a 6 year old kid.
On his first day heading to the mess hall he is accosted by a particularly unsavory prisoner and 'rescued' by future henchman Trogg. The ensuing argument ends in Bane falling over a railing and ending up in a coma for a month - where he has visions of himself in the future and of the Batman. It would seem the prison system felt good enough to care for him while he was in the coma. Once he comes to however it's back to prison, where Trogg slips the kid an ice pick. That night Bane murders the guy who tried to accost him (multiple stab wounds). The warden then gives him the name Bane and sentences him to solitary confinement in the Cavidad Oscuro - a pit in the ground, flooded daily by the tides. I will go into more detail about this place later. Obviously this place is only intended for brief solitary confinement or torturous execution. But Bane manages to 'embarass the warden by refusing to die'. He manages to endure over 10 years in this pit before being released.
Of course by now, he's a legend among the inmates. He quickly gathers a few lackeys (named Trogg, Bird and Zombie - after the 60s pop groups) and much noterity. He curries favour with the wardens and gets access to the library where he learns as much as he can about pretty much everything. He gets his practice for breaking Batman by breaking an inmate, framing him so he gets thrown in the pit for a while before taking him on and snapping his spine - this time he kills his victim however.
Somehow the wardens decide it's a good idea to let him be a guinea pig in the Venom experiment. He is the first (as for only, I don't know) inmate to survive the treatment and he subsequently escapes after being scarily 'enhanced', flees to Gotham and spends the next while hunting Batman in the events of Knightfall.
Oh, before heading to Gotham he kidnaps the warden and throws him to the sharks, like Bane's mother was. At some point he also jumps off the sea cliff, but punches the shark and eats it's heart... or something. Just to show how badass he is.
Now, what I need are opinions on the realisticness (realisticness? that's not a word!) of Bane's survival (and perhaps even thriving) in this pit.
Pena Duro is located on Santa Prisca, a fictional Caribbean island. Apparently the Cavidad Oscuro (CO) was dug by monks 300 years previous and lined with bricks. I don't know what the soil structure of the island would be like, I'd expect it to be limestone or something mostly. It is lined with bricks (some loose). It is "8 child's paces long and 6 wide". The top of the pit has an iron grate over it and in the bottom of the pit is a smaller hole with another iron grate. There is a narrow ledge around the hole in the bottom, which is wide enough to act as a seat. There are no sanitary facilities, there is nothing else at all as far as I can tell.
Apparently this pit floods from the hole in the bottom upwards at high tide. I can't imagine it's too far from the ocean, and the hole in the bottom is probably a pipe that leads to the ocean. It would seem that enough water comes up through that pipe to almost fill the pit - Bane floats up on the rising water and grabs onto the grid at the top during the highest tide. Is this even geologically/hydrologically possible?
Bane is accompanied by rats and crabs when the pit is dry (which he catches and eats) and is able to catch (and eat) fish when it floods - how likely would it be that fish would come in through the pipe? I'm guessing that the rats would have to come in via the top of the pit, not like they're going to stick around at floor level if the place floods daily.
Apparently Bane devises ways to exercise in his confinement, and also spends a lot of time meditating. Remember, this guy is about 7 when he first gets thrown in here.
Being in the tropics, Bane probably isn't at too much risk of developing hypothermia, but certainly some kind of exposure could be a risk. I have no idea what he's wearing, but he's going to grow out of it before he's released. Being subjected to a few hours of immersion in seawater every day surely isn't too good for you.
I'd assume he relieves himself through the grate in the floor. What kind of risk is there that this waste will flow back into the pit upon high tide (I don't know if the pipe is constantly flooded or if it only floods when the tide comes in). Will the tide flush out the waste and keep the place relatively clean? Are the crabs and fish he eats at risk of being contaminated? What on earth would he do if he got sick in there? (Of course, part of the implication is that Bane has a particularly strong constitution, which is why the Venom experiment didn't kill him).
I can't imagine exercise would pose too much of a risk of injury, the space is too small for much damage to be done.
And the biggest problem - the warden seems to have thrown him in here and then pretty much forgotten about him. He is not brought any supplies. He has no source of fresh water apart from occasional rain and the liquid in the critters he eats - is this enough to survive on for ten years? I strongly doubt it.
Anyone have any knowledge or opinions to impart? Yes, I know, I think way too much about this.
I assume Bane did have an actual name that his mother gave him, but we are never told it. Bane is the name given to him by a prison warden at age 6 or so. Bane's father has committed some atrocity and managed to flee the authorities. Apparently Santa Priscan tradition dictates that the son of a man can carry out his sentence in his abscence. Bane has not yet been born so his mother is interred into Pena Duro prison (a translator informs me that this translates to "hard punishment") to give birth and raise the child until the age of 7, when he would be left to his own devices in the prison. I wonder what they would have done had Bane's mum given birth to a daughter, but anyway.
Being the only woman in a prison full of hard criminals and corrupt staff, Bane's mother is frequently taken advantage of. When he is 5/6 years old, she sits down on her bed one night, lets out a sigh and carks it. The kid is pretty unmoved. The wardens take him out of the prison to witness his mother's 'burial' (she is thrown off a sea-cliff to be eaten by sharks). During the outing Bane gets to feel the wind and see trees and expanses of sky and the ocean, images that will sustain him in the years to come. The warden deems it too much hassle to care for Bane until he is the legal age, and decides to release him into the regular prison system right away. Remember - this is a 6 year old kid.
On his first day heading to the mess hall he is accosted by a particularly unsavory prisoner and 'rescued' by future henchman Trogg. The ensuing argument ends in Bane falling over a railing and ending up in a coma for a month - where he has visions of himself in the future and of the Batman. It would seem the prison system felt good enough to care for him while he was in the coma. Once he comes to however it's back to prison, where Trogg slips the kid an ice pick. That night Bane murders the guy who tried to accost him (multiple stab wounds). The warden then gives him the name Bane and sentences him to solitary confinement in the Cavidad Oscuro - a pit in the ground, flooded daily by the tides. I will go into more detail about this place later. Obviously this place is only intended for brief solitary confinement or torturous execution. But Bane manages to 'embarass the warden by refusing to die'. He manages to endure over 10 years in this pit before being released.
Of course by now, he's a legend among the inmates. He quickly gathers a few lackeys (named Trogg, Bird and Zombie - after the 60s pop groups) and much noterity. He curries favour with the wardens and gets access to the library where he learns as much as he can about pretty much everything. He gets his practice for breaking Batman by breaking an inmate, framing him so he gets thrown in the pit for a while before taking him on and snapping his spine - this time he kills his victim however.
Somehow the wardens decide it's a good idea to let him be a guinea pig in the Venom experiment. He is the first (as for only, I don't know) inmate to survive the treatment and he subsequently escapes after being scarily 'enhanced', flees to Gotham and spends the next while hunting Batman in the events of Knightfall.
Oh, before heading to Gotham he kidnaps the warden and throws him to the sharks, like Bane's mother was. At some point he also jumps off the sea cliff, but punches the shark and eats it's heart... or something. Just to show how badass he is.
Now, what I need are opinions on the realisticness (realisticness? that's not a word!) of Bane's survival (and perhaps even thriving) in this pit.
Pena Duro is located on Santa Prisca, a fictional Caribbean island. Apparently the Cavidad Oscuro (CO) was dug by monks 300 years previous and lined with bricks. I don't know what the soil structure of the island would be like, I'd expect it to be limestone or something mostly. It is lined with bricks (some loose). It is "8 child's paces long and 6 wide". The top of the pit has an iron grate over it and in the bottom of the pit is a smaller hole with another iron grate. There is a narrow ledge around the hole in the bottom, which is wide enough to act as a seat. There are no sanitary facilities, there is nothing else at all as far as I can tell.
Apparently this pit floods from the hole in the bottom upwards at high tide. I can't imagine it's too far from the ocean, and the hole in the bottom is probably a pipe that leads to the ocean. It would seem that enough water comes up through that pipe to almost fill the pit - Bane floats up on the rising water and grabs onto the grid at the top during the highest tide. Is this even geologically/hydrologically possible?
Bane is accompanied by rats and crabs when the pit is dry (which he catches and eats) and is able to catch (and eat) fish when it floods - how likely would it be that fish would come in through the pipe? I'm guessing that the rats would have to come in via the top of the pit, not like they're going to stick around at floor level if the place floods daily.
Apparently Bane devises ways to exercise in his confinement, and also spends a lot of time meditating. Remember, this guy is about 7 when he first gets thrown in here.
Being in the tropics, Bane probably isn't at too much risk of developing hypothermia, but certainly some kind of exposure could be a risk. I have no idea what he's wearing, but he's going to grow out of it before he's released. Being subjected to a few hours of immersion in seawater every day surely isn't too good for you.
I'd assume he relieves himself through the grate in the floor. What kind of risk is there that this waste will flow back into the pit upon high tide (I don't know if the pipe is constantly flooded or if it only floods when the tide comes in). Will the tide flush out the waste and keep the place relatively clean? Are the crabs and fish he eats at risk of being contaminated? What on earth would he do if he got sick in there? (Of course, part of the implication is that Bane has a particularly strong constitution, which is why the Venom experiment didn't kill him).
I can't imagine exercise would pose too much of a risk of injury, the space is too small for much damage to be done.
And the biggest problem - the warden seems to have thrown him in here and then pretty much forgotten about him. He is not brought any supplies. He has no source of fresh water apart from occasional rain and the liquid in the critters he eats - is this enough to survive on for ten years? I strongly doubt it.
Anyone have any knowledge or opinions to impart? Yes, I know, I think way too much about this.
