Throughout most of Gotham's fifth and final season, fans have been looking to the likes of Cameron Monaghan's Jeremiah Valeska and Shane West's Eduardo Dorrance (the eventual Bane) to be the villains at the forefront of the story's conflict. Any death and destruction teased in the trailers was instantly tied back to one of these recognizable villains, but we all turned out to be wrong. Gotham's biggest villain, who has been pulling the strings of nearly every event this season, has finally been revealed, and it's not who anyone expected.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the latest episode of Gotham! Continue reading at your own risk...

While Bane may be the face of evil in this episode, the person who employed and helped create him is actually responsible for every terrible thing that has happened to Gotham since Jeremiah turned it into No Man's Land. The government official Theresa Walker, who has been talking to Jim on the phone for months and sent Eduardo in to "fix things," has secretly been making every decision with the end goal of watching Gotham wiped from existence. She wants to take the city down, and specifically Bruce Wayne and Barbara Kean down with it. After she and Bane captured Bruce and Jim in Thursday night's episode, she finally revealed her true identity.

As it turns out, her name isn't Theresa Walker at all (imagine that). Her real name is Nyssa al Ghul, the daughter of R'as al Ghul. After torturing Bruce, she reveals that she has returned to kill both him and Barbara, as they were the ones who shoved the knife through her father's chest. The efforts to destroy the city were just an attempt to carry on her father's mission, but her quest to eliminate his killers was entirely personal.

The episode ends with the government dropping bombs across the city, thanks to a general being mind-controlled by Nyssa, taking her plans take another massive step forward. With only two episodes left, Nyssa will have a lot of work to do, but she's got Bane to help her finish the job.

What did you think of Gotham's al Ghul twist? Will there be any more villainous surprises in the final two episodes? Let us know in the comments!

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