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[Ad-Free] The Problem With Ra's al Ghul (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-22 16:43:45
Edited:
2026-08-22 16:44:16
Imported:
2026-11
Tags:

Content

"Raysh" or "Razz"? Batman fans have been fighting over this for decades. Today, we’re settling the debate once and for all using original comic history, interviews with DC creators, and even talking to native Arabic speakers!

Nerdsync's Ra's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8huScBR2T0

Comments

Gideon Madu

Thank you Algol P.S. "Razz" for life!

Vullord666

Well now I know! Considering Batman Beyond was Thalia in Ra's body, I like to think that was just him doing a little trolling for he lolz. He strikes me as someone that'd gatekeep his own name.

Lord Darqueness

LOL Ross Al'Ghul indeed. He must've been on a break. Yeah I first encountered Ra's in the 90s cartoon so I got used to that pronounciation, even if its technically incorrect. I just prefer the sound. :)

Miriam Rosemary

Excellent video! I agree with the sentiment. Even when you know what's "accurate", people might get mad at you, which is a pity, but it is what it is. Personally, what's important to me is people enjoying the stories, rather than nitpicking over pronunciation. That being said, if you happen to be interested in hearing from someone random on the internet who both speaks Hebrew and has learned basic Levantine Arabic (of a specific dialect) years ago, I have some relevant info. The word for head in Arabic is pronounced "rass", not "razz" (ends with s as in snake or mass). It's also what the Arabic speaker in the video is saying, it's just hard to tell if you're not familiar. Side note: she seems really sweet! Nice of her to agree to be part of the video 😊 Then, even if you get the s right, an English speaker will have a rough time pronouncing the R in Arabic accurately anyway. There are actually two letters in Arabic with two different pronunciations that can (at least sometimes) be represented by the English letter R, both of which are hard for an English speaker to pronounce (and only one of which is hard for a Hebrew speaker to pronounce lol). There's the one in this video, the letter ر (Ra), which is pronounced with the tongue on the palate, and there's the 2nd one, غ (Ra-een/Ghain), which comes from back near the throat, like the letter G. It even appears in the word Ghul. I can't tell if the Arabic teacher in the video is saying Ghul with that special R (like I learned) or with a G, but even if she's saying it with a G, that could be a difference in dialects (there's so much variety between different Arabic languages/dialects) So you won't get it "right" either way, and that's fine! Just enjoy the stories, and pronounce it in a way people will understand what you mean 😊 The stuff about the Hebrew ראש (rosh) and the letter ר (raish) is true. It is also very common to just use the first letter ר (raish) with an apostrophe to represent the word for head in titles and such. For example, the head of an organization would be written as ר' הארגון (the raish of the organization), but you would still say out loud the word ראש (rosh) when reading the ר (raish) with the apostrophe. So ר' הארגון (raish ha'eergoon) would be pronounced rosh ha'eergoon. It's because of this that I was never really surprised that there were two versions of how to pronounce Ra's Al-Ghul's name. I just assumed "oh, whoever came up with that knew a bit of Hebrew and juxtaposed it onto an Arabic name. Both versions start with the word head". Turns out it's more complicated than that, but I was close! Side notes: In the old NerdSync video at 6:14, he accidentally wrote in Arabic the wrong word. Instead of Ra's رأس, he wrote ارو (aru/aroo). I had to look it up, and Google Translate came up with nothing. But it's an understandable mistake when one doesn't know the language. Also, I don't know why they add the apostrophe in Ra's. Maybe it's what you said in the video to show the a is long with the line above the letter, and they replaced it with an apostrophe. Or maybe they thought it showed the "of the" (as in head of the demon) hidden in the name? But then it would be implying the demon is of the head, which is the wrong way around. Or maybe they just thought it looked cool, who knows. And by the way, The Hebrew letter ר (raish) is pronounced like the 2nd Arabic R I mentioned, the one pronounced at the back kinda like a G (but definitely not a G, especially if you make a long sound with it, which is impossible to do with a G). Hope this helps!

Cain&Abel

Could you do a Firestorm video?