Nightwing Log File – 001 – Origins

Nightwing Log File – Master Record
Confidential – Batcomputer Internal Node

File 001 – Origins

I was born Richard John Grayson, the youngest of three in a family of circus performers — the Flying Graysons. From an early age, the circus was both home and training ground. Acrobatic skill, discipline, and trust were not lessons I learned in school; they were lessons of survival in the air, where a single mistake meant death.

The trapeze taught precision. The crowd taught composure. My parents taught courage. And then, in an instant, it was all taken. During a performance, my parents were killed — sabotaged by a criminal attempting to extort the circus. I survived only because I was below the wire at the moment of the fall, a child amidst chaos. I had nothing left but grief, fear, and anger.

Bruce Wayne found me soon after. A man cloaked in shadows, observing the world with eyes that missed nothing. He offered guidance, a path forward, a purpose. At first, I resented the idea of being molded into a weapon. I was a child, not a soldier. But grief has a way of shaping choices. I became his ward, and soon, his partner.

Robin was not a costume; it was a responsibility. My life as Dick Grayson was replaced with nights spent learning combat, strategy, and detective work. Gotham’s streets are cruel teachers. I learned patience, precision, and the discipline required to fight a city that consumes innocence. My father’s lessons in courage became my own in different form — grounded in action, not spectacle.