Em Batman começa , o Ra's Ghul dives esta explicação depois de treinar Bruce e prepará-lo para retornar a Gotham:
As Gotham's favored son you will be ideally placed to strike at the heart of criminality... Gotham's time has come. Like Constantinople or Rome before it the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die. This is the most important function of the League of Shadows. It is one we've performed for centuries.
E mais tarde, quando os dois se encaram novamente, ele diz:
Gotham, ao que parece, sintetiza tudo o que há de errado com a civilização ocidental aos olhos da Liga das Sombras: "sofrimento ... injustiça ... corrupção ... decadência". É um símbolo, um centro que eles pretendem destruir para que algum grau de equilíbrio seja restaurado à sociedade.The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence we return to restore the balance.