‘Dark Knight’ Script Answers Highly Debated Question: Did Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent Live Or Die?

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The script for the blockbuster sequel was made available for purchase on Tuesday and soon after found its way online. It’s a long read at 167 pages, but fans looking for confirmation on the fate of Dent need only look at page 163.

“Dent lies at the bottom of the hole, his neck broken,” the stage direction, written by brothers Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, reads. “DEAD.” (Capital letters their emphasis, not ours.)

Although some already are arguing that because it refers to the character as “Dent” and not “Two-Face,” it’s possible the villain could make a return appearance, but Gotham’s D.A. is always referred to as Dent throughout the script, even after his transformation.

But was that the filmmakers’ intention? According to two new tie-in books, no. In the movie novelization, author Dennis O’Neil wrote, “Dent was sprawled, neck twisted, the mutilated side of his face exposed, his left eye open and staring sightlessly. He was obviously dead.”

And just to hammer the point home further, the script by Jonah and Christopher Nolan — included in The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and Full Shooting Script — states, “Dent lies at the bottom of the hole, his neck broken. DEAD.” The capitalization is their emphasis not ours. And in a later scene, “Gordon stands on a podium at Dent’s funeral. Behind him is a large photograph of Dent smiling.”

So there you have it, fans. The brothers Nolan killed off Two-Face. It makes you wonder if they flipped a coin to decide his fate before they wrote the scene.

If you can provide any reasoning to WHY he spoke Mandarin instead of Cantonese which added to the storyline, I’d give in and agree with you. Otherwise, you won’t be able to convince me of otherwise, just like I won’t be able to convince you that him speaking French is anything but silly.

I wasn’t asking for a dictionary definition (as I’ve already looked it up on m-w.com), as the definition posted above covers a wide array of scenarios. I was asking specifically which definition you were using. As it appears, you’re associating the word with reasonable, which as I’ve stated above, a Chinese person speaking French is not unreasonable, and you’ve already provided examples of Chinese growing up in Canada of France.

And my analogy of your arguments (Cantonese : Madarin :: Mandarin : French) still stand. Everything you’ve argued so far, if you swap out as above results in an argument I can use against you.

Mastering three different languages is much more difficult. It’s far less likely he can speak all 3 languages unless he was raised in some special settings.

What if he only spoke English and French fluently, and not Chinese (only fluent in 2 languages), which has been the counter example I’ve been using all along. You’ve been attacking the French point as being a weakness, but I only arbitrary picked a ridiculous choice to show you the distinction I see between a Hong Kong person speaking Cantonese and Mandarin. However, if you want a more reasonable language, imagine he speaks English to his bodyguard. To me that’d actually be more plausible than him speaking Mandarin.

The adj plausible has 4 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)

1. (2) plausible — (apparently reasonable and valid)
2. probable, likely, plausible — (likely but not certain to be or become true or real; “a likely result”; “he foresaw a probable loss”)
3. likely, plausible — (within the realm of credibility; “not a very likely excuse”; “a plausible story”)
4. credible, plausible — (appearing to merit belief or acceptance; “a credible witness”; “a plausible story”)

“I also don’t think you have the correct definition of plausible. It feels like you’re treating the word as 「likely」, but it’s more like 「believable」. Maybe you can define what plausible means to you or replace plausible with another word in your statement.”

I am an Auditor and the term reasonable and plausible are used frequently for my work. I am pretty clear on the meaning.

“But going with that idea, given that he’s a businessmen who travels around the globe, he could easily be speaking multiple languages fluently. I mean he’s speaking Chinese and English fluently already. What makes you think the character can’t speak French fluently?”

Mastering three different languages is much more difficult. It’s far less likely he can speak all 3 languages unless he was raised in some special settings.

The whole point of me bring up French is to see how you’d react compared to Mandarin. And you reacted to it exactly how I expected you to.

Now swap out French for Mandarin, and swap out Mandarin for Cantonese and you’ll see where I’m coming from.

As you said:

I don’t have empirical data on the number of Chinese who can speak fluent French, but I am pretty comfortable in stating that there are more Chinese who can speak Mandarin than French. Further, there are a lot more Chinese from Singapore or China then say, France?

I can argue the same thing. I am pretty comfortable in stating that there are more people in Hong Kong who can speak Cantonese than those who can speak Mandarin. Further, there are a lot more Cantonese speaking people in Hong Kong than Mandarin speaking people.

What makes you say it’s not plausible? Less plausible maybe, but certainly believable.

I also don’t think you have the correct definition of plausible. It feels like you’re treating the word as “likely”, but it’s more like “believable”. Maybe you can define what plausible means to you or replace plausible with another word in your statement.

I never claimed he was able to speak 2 foreign languages fluently, just like you’ve never claimed he could speak Cantonese and Mandarin fluently.

But going with that idea, given that he’s a businessmen who travels around the globe, he could easily be speaking multiple languages fluently. I mean he’s speaking Chinese and English fluently already. What makes you think the character can’t speak French fluently?

I don’t have empirical data on the number of Chinese who can speak fluent French, but I am pretty comfortable in stating that there are more Chinese who can speak Mandarin than French. Further, there are a lot more Chinese from Singapore or China then say, France?

Giving that the character in the movie is of Chinese descent, one would expect him to be fluent in his native language (i.e. Chinese) and a foreign tongue (i.e. English).

It would be difficult to imagine that he can be fluent in more than two foreign languages, hence speaking French to his body guard is possible but not plausible.

I apologized for being too offensive in my initial post. Wasn’t in a good mood when I wrote it. cheers

The fact that you have to try to come up with reasons why he used Mandarin instead of Cantonese unrelated to the storyline (i.e. the guy looks like he’s from Singapore) is more complexity than needed in my opinion. The director may and probably has considered the implications of having him speak Mandarin, but I just can’t come up with a good reason.

Is the fact he’s from Singapore, Taiwan, or China going to come to play in the story? Is it to attract audience from Mandarin speaking countries? None of these seem to matter to the story. Hence my reasoning of unneeded complexity still stands.

Krunk: The director did not threw in unneeded complexity. For a 200m budget movie, I am pretty darn sure they have considered the implications of him speaking in Mandarin.

Btw, I think you confused the meaning between “possible” and “plausible”. For him to speak French to his body guard would be “possible” but not “plausible”given the context in the setting of that scene..

You say the guy looks Singaporean, but that has nothing to do with the movie. It’s common that actors get hired to play a different ethnicity than what they really are. The movie never does state where he’s from (besides HK). If they did, I must’ve missed it.

I’m not saying the scenario provided is impossible nor even unlikely. I’m just stating that the director threw in a complexity which did not add anything to the storyline. I mean imagine instead of speaking Cantonese or Mandarin, they had this actor speaking French to his bodyguards. Plausible? Yes. Adds to the storyline? No.

That is why I questioned the reasoning for having him speak Mandarin. My only guess is that the actor they hired wasn’t fluent in Cantonese, so they decided to go with Mandarin and hopefully sneak that by the audience.

The cops and security guards spoke in Cantonese which makes perfect sense.

Let me put it this way… Harvey Dent is dead.

TwoFace on the other hand hasn’t had his grand introduction to the public yet.