Scans_Daily

Because Bruce is nostalgically sympathetic and happy that Jason gets this chance to have a mother again, he leaves the boy he's supposed to take care of with a stranger who wasn't expecting him. I don't know if Bruce could have foreseen that she was involved with the Joker, but still. His leaving Jason that day, both right after he meets his mom and in the scans you have here, seem to me a big factor in how things played out.

It's interesting because this is exactly what Bruce says in Gotham Knights 45 - that he wanted to give Jason a chance to meet his biological mother; give him something he could simply not provide, especially since he lost his own mother at such a young age.

Bruce breaks down shortly after saying he felt he gave Jason hope in the face of hopelessness.

In any case, I think the most character-defining moment of Jason's life was that moments before he died, he tried to save the mother he'd never known and who turned him over to the Joker, and told her he loved her, even though he barely knew her.

Absolutely. He not only died a hero, but still tried to save someone who completely betrayed him. Most people wouldn't be able to forgive like that. Jason may not be able to forgive Bruce now for letting the Joker live/not killing him, but Bruce also meant the whole world to that kid. He had no one else, really.

It's probably why this push by DC to turn him into a straight-up villain bothers me: it's really not taking into account all the heroic things he's done both as Robin and since his return. (And he has done some heroic things as Red Hood -- namely giving Dick information to save Black Lightning from death in Outsiders 44 & 45)