Edward Nygma/Gotham

Edward Nygma is a fictional Forensics scientist and looney-tune featured on the FOX Network crime drama series Gotham. He is one of the main characters on the show and is played by actor Cory Michael Smith.

Biography
Edward Nygma was a nebbish man in his late twenties or early thirties who worked as a Forensics scientist for the Gotham City Police Department. He had a penchant for speaking in riddles, and would often open conversations with a question, much to the frustration of polic detective Harvey Bullock.

Edward Nygma developed an intense interest in a woman named Kristen Kringle, who worked in the file room at GCPD headquarters. Kristen found Nygma bothersome and strange at first, but eventually came to appreciate him. Kristen began dating a GCPD officer named Tom Dougherty, who would routinely abuse her. When Nygma discovered this, he confronted Doughterty, who assaulted him. This led Nygma to stab him to death with a knife, after which he cut up the remains and disposed of them.

It was around this time that Nygma's deep-rooted psychological issues began to develop. His subconscious developed into an almost separate personality, who would communicate to Nygma, encouraging him to be more aggressive.

Edward Nygma finally got Kristen Kringle to start dating him. She warmed to Edward's polite demeanor, citing how different he was from Dougherty. They even went on a double date with James Gordon and Leslie Thompkins.

Nygma overheard Kringle having a private conversation with Thompkins, in which she indicated how she wished Edward were more assertive, perhaps even a bit "dangerous". Nygma took this to heart, so on their next date, he allowed some small measure of his emboldened self confidence to take control. The two had sex, after which, Edward confessed to killing Tom Dougherty. Kristen was horrified and called Nygma a psychopath. In an effort to restrain and calm her down, Edward pressed Kringle against the wall of his apartment. With his hand to her throat, he promised that he would never hurt her. Not realizing exactly how much pressure he was exerting, Nygma chocked Kringle to death.

The "Dark Nygma" side of his personality became more dominant, and took to disposing of Kringle's body. He left written riddles behind for his normal persona to find, and Nygma had find where his darker half put Kringle's remains. After finding them, he took them out deep into the woods and buried her. A hunter came upon the scene, which forced Nygma to bash him across the head. Now he had two bodies to bury. Finding evidence of someone else in the woods, he followed a trail of blood to a nearby camper. Inside the camper was Oswald Cobblepott, who was bleeding badly from a gunshot wound and required help.

Notes & Trivia



 * Edward Nygma is a re-interpretation of a DC Comics character called the Riddler. The Riddler was a costumed criminal and a foe of Batman. His gimmick was that he would plot extravagant crimes and leave behind riddles as a challenge to the Batman to solve them.


 * This is the second live-action iteration of the Riddler character. The first Riddler was played by actor Frank Gorshin, and later John Astin in the original 1966 Batman television series.


 * If written as E. Nigma, Edward's name sounds like enigma, which is another term for a riddle.


 * The license plate on Nygma's car reads Ridl-Ver.