Harvey Dent (New Earth-Forty Seven)

Origin
Harvey Dent was born the youngest son, Christopher Dent and his wife. Christopher was a blue collar worker, who often found himself unemployed and would often take out his frustration on his wife and children. Harvey's brother, Murray Dent was no better and often abused Harvey whenever he felt like it. Things weren't helped when Harvey's mother died after falling down the stairs after his father hit her so hard, she developed a concussion and lost consciousness while going down the stairs. Harvey was five when this happened and his father and brother beat on him even more then before.

When Harvey was seven, he lost his father's lucky double faced silver dollar and was beaten unconscious and left in the shed in the backyard. When he awoke he found that his house had been set a blaze with his father and brother nowhere in sight. Before he could react he was grabbed from behind and chloroformed by an unknown individual.

He would awake once again in a church, where masked men were praying in front of a large crucifix. One of the men would take notice of Harvey and remove his mask. The man would introduce himself as Jean-Paul Ludovic Valley and that he had saved him. He would reveal that he is a member of the Order of St. Dumas, who punish sinners and the wicked of this world in the name of God. He would go on to say that Harvey's grandfather was a member of the Order, but betrayed it for selfish reasons. He explains that they killed his father and brother, because they were also sinners like his grandfather, but Harvey can still be saved by his families sins and become righteous. Harvey asks how he can be saved, believing what Jean-Paul says. Jean-Paul tells him that he must join the Order and become a champion of the cause and earn his salvation. He goes on to say that even this may not be enough and the only true way to earn it is to become chosen to bare the title and burden of Azrael to truly become pure. Harvey seeing Jean-Paul as his savior agrees and accepts the offer of joining the Order.

The Order of St. Dumas
Harvey would keep his word and train with the Order for years and be put through rigorous and dangerous tests that put his mind, body and soul to the test and nearly broke him many times over.

His training would reach its end, when he turned 18 and became an active agent for the Order. The Order would return him to Gotham and send him through law school in hopes to secure a position in Gotham politics. He would continue to train during this time and continuing to cultivate his mind and muscles. During this period he would meet and fall in love with a woman known as Gilda Gold and would use her to create a better civilian identity.

When Harvey completed college at 24, he would be assigned mission to retrieve the Order sacred artifacts from the Order's long time enemies the League of Assassins. These artifacts were the twin Swords of Sin and Salvation, which were stolen by the League at the beginning of the 1800s. In order to give Harvey an edge, the Order would bestow upon him the Suit of Sorrows, which would grant the user superhuman abilities and the ability to see the weaknesses of those, who fight against the wearer. The danger of such a suit was that it could drive a person insane over a excessive use. The suit would provide the edge Harvey needed and he would slaughter the Assassins guarding the two swords and managed to return safely to the Order.

With his success, Harvey would be granted the title of Azrael and would be granted all three artifacts to be both protected and used by him in his mission in Gotham.