Oh wow, it’s already day 2, m’kay.
- Who is your favorite male character?
We all know this… it’s Ed. Cory Michael Smith was my Riddler attraction awakening, just like other actors for different characters in the DC Universe.
Anyway, since this is a #LovinEdNygmaHourPost, the reason was because season 1 Ed reminds me a lot of myself in terms of social awkwardness. He’s already nervous to talk to people anyway, so the fact that he’s even asking you a riddle when he comes up to you takes a lot of courage. In person, I’m actually really shy. Granted working in customer service releaves some of the anxiety because it’s a job but in a social setting… you’re lucky if I even compliment your nails. I think initially the fact that he’s a socially awkward person is what drew me in.
Another reason is that I love villains, but I love their origin stories more. With comics Riddler, his origin is easy to read up on because it’s in the comic, but on screen Riddler, his reasoning is very straightforward but not much is understood (mostly due to a limited time window, he’s obsessed with Batman and riddles and that’s all you need to know), but with Gotham Riddler you get to see a deep dive on how he actually became the Riddler. It wasn’t an overnight decision, it’s a slow burn, and I loved every second of it. I’ll keep it vague for spoiler reasons, but I notice that season 1 Ed gets very little screen time, but with each of his story beats he gets more, and more, and more, and like all of my fictional boo bears, my eyes are drawn to him everytime 
The third reasoning is more straightforward… he’s hot in numerous ways. Season 1 Ed has that cute adorable nerd thing going on, and it’s carried over into season 2 but with more… edge? Insanity? Something stronger, I know that. And with each season he gets more suave and extra and I just… love him, there’s really no other way of putting it.
And of course, I couldn’t gush about Ed without acknowledging that big smart brain of his. As someone who is challenged in terms of memory and academics… the concept of even having memory and being great at math is attractive to me. He’s also one of the few versions of the Riddler that doesn’t use his knowledge to put down others the same way most Riddlers do (and trust me I have dated enough “geniuses” to understand when one is smart and when one thinks they’re smart). He doesn’t walk around verbally explaining that he’s better than everyone else because of his genius intelligent, instead he would probably love to share his knowledge if certain circumstances didn’t happen the way they did. One of the ways he tries to talk to people in season 1 is with riddles and trivia facts. I know that flies constantly hum to the key of F because of him! I think there are some instances where he makes backhanded remarks, but it’s towards people he actively doesn’t like and you understand the context of it. It’s not like Arkhamverse Riddler where he has the personality of a 13 year old boy Fortnight or COD player 
Also… Cory Michael Smith 
, so I guess there’s a little nostalgia there.
