PERSONALITY
TW: Depression, paralysis, permanent character injury.Barbara is extremely intelligent, shrewd, and driven. She has an extremely high IQ and, unlike some people in the same intelligence level, she has a good amount of common sense as well. Sometimes her intelligence can be a weakness, in that she can't see the forest for the trees in a sense. Sometimes, the bigger picture is lost because she has her skills and abilities focused on such a narrow subject. Also, she's a problem-solver and a strategist. She picks apart complicated problems and solves them. But that only works on computers and mathematics and vigilante type things, not with personal lives. Really, Barbara is fairly unable to straighten out her own personal life.
Emotionally, Barbara has her ups and her downs, though more than likely she's in a downward spiral instead of an upward one. Between her parents' death when she was so young, being uprooted to Gotham, and then the more recent paralyzing attack by the Joker, Barbara has had quite a few dark times in her lifes. She has given nearly all of herself to protecting others, especially this city she has come to love. Yet she feels like she's been betrayed or let down by those she loves. Her parents, her uncle, Bruce Wayne / Batman, Helena, sometimes, and ultimately Wade. While these let-downs haven't been directed toward or or done in any malicious way towards her, Barbara isn't always able to see that distinction. She is self-conscious, especially now that she feels and is (in her eyes) a broken woman.
Barbara is passionate and full of a desire to do everything that she can for others. She's always looking for ways to make things better, including her own life and the lives of those around her. That's what drew her to becoming Batgirl and eventually ending up currently as Oracle.
Ultimately, Barbara doesn't like being told she can't do something. She is stubborn, driven, and focused, and she will find a way to do it, no matter what it is. Even if it's walk again, no matter how much it hurts to use her spinal cord neuro-enhancer, no matter how much it's breaking apart her body, she will succeed. The same goes for anything someone tells her she can't do.
ABILITIES & WEAKNESSES
ABILITIESEidetic memory, expert computer hacker, genius-level intellect, (former) skilled martial artist, PhD in computer science from New Gotham University.WEAKNESSES
As a woman who was once very physically active and a vigilante crime fighter, her biggest weakness is her paralysis, a result of being shot by the Joker.
HISTORY
WIKI: Oracle via Birds of Prey, and The Killing Joke for specifics.Watch: Birds of Prey (TV) opening/overview
Expanded on below:
Barbara Gordon was born to Roger and Thelma Gordon and named for her aunt Barbara, her father's brother's wife. She was raised in Star City and moved to Gotham to live with her aunt and uncle (James Gordon, Gotham's police commissioner) when she was thirteen, after her parents were killed in a car accident. Though her parents deaths affected her greatly, Barbara found solace in her schoolwork and, more noticeably, in computers. Additionally, she began pushing herself to the limit with her body, enrolling in multiple aerobics, strength, and martial arts classes. Between them and school, her time was sucked dry. Still, Barbara managed to graduate from high school at the age of 16 and head off to MIT.
At MIT, Barbara studied computer sciences and technology. She followed that up with a PhD in computer science from Gotham University. It was Gotham, then, where she made her home. By then, she had three black belts, in karate, judo, and tai kwon do. She hoped to get into the Gotham Police force, though her uncle frowned upon it and blocked her application twice. Her skills (computers and advanced degrees) did not go unnoticed, and she soon found herself working in research and development and IT for Wayne Industries. It didn't last as long as she would have liked, though it did bring her into direct contact with Bruce Wayne and, then, more importantly, with Batman.
Since the police force didn't work out (not Barbara's choice), she chose to join Batman as a fellow defender of Gotham -- Batgirl. Together, they kept the lunatics at bay and did things that the police and Barbara's uncle, the commissioner, couldn't do. There were always difficult enemies -- the Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Clayface -- but they usually came out on top. Together they were unstoppable. Or so it seemed. One night, everything went wrong.
It was the Joker who plotted to turn the tides, to change everything at once, for Barbara. And for Bruce as Batman. One, Selina Kyle (Catwoman) was killed, leaving behind Helena Kyle, Bruce's secret daughter. And two, the Joker tracked Barbara down and shot her in the back, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down, wheelchair-bound, and never able to be Batgirl again. In the whirlwind, before anyone could react to what was happening, Bruce (and, more importantly, Batman) was gone, leaving the city to decay without either of its heroes.
It was very hard for Barbara to come out of recent events unscathed. Besides her broken body, Barbara sank into a difficult depression which resulted in her leaving her position at Wayne Industries and eliminated her from most social aspects of life. It was Helena that changed those things. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Helena ended up with Barbara. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's long-time butler, found Helena who was now heir to the Wayne fortune with Bruce permanently gone, and he got the two women in touch. Barbara didn't need a daughter, and she wasn't looking for a friend, but it seemed as though she found both in Helena. It was quickly discovered that Helena had special abilities, a result of having a human father and a meta for a mother. So because of Barbara's computer abilities, her history as Batman, Helena's legacy and her abilities, they decided to take up the mantle and return to the protection of Gotham.
Barbara became Oracle, and Helena became Huntress. Instead of returning to the work force in computer technology, Barbara got a third degree in English Literature and began teaching high school English. It was a good cover for her. A few years into their endeavor, they were joined by a young metahuman named Dinah, a runaway that Barbara took under her wing in addition to Helena. Their time as the "Birds of Prey" since Dinah arrived has so far involved a lot underground and ended up coming to a head with an infiltration by Harley Quinn, intent on getting back at them for putting the Joker in jail.