Clown Science

_{This is tumblr user diiscordia’s headcanon about Harley’s feelings toward the Joker.
Please do not reblog this post for any reason.}

         In order to understand Harley’s feelings for the Joker (and, subsequently, how Harleen Quinzel became Harley Quinn), it is necessary to first understand Harleen’s state of mind when she met the Joker. Even as a successful young adult (arguably a prodigy) who had effectively clawed her way out of poverty, Harleen was haunted by her past. Harleen’s troubled childhood, the death of her baby sister at a formative age, and her early involvement with crime are detailed in her biography; however, what is most important is the lasting effect these experiences had on her self esteem and state of mind. 

          Harleen never felt as though she quite fit in with most people. Despite her deep-seated yearning for a “normal” existence, her dysfunctional youth and advanced intelligence often alienated her from others and instilled a sense of nearly permanent isolation in her. Even when she obtained the coveted internship at Arkham Asylum, she did not feel as though she had “made it” or been accepted into a peer group. It didn’t matter how many academic or professional accolades she was granted, Harleen was plagued by a sense of Imposter Syndrome– she was convinced that any success she obtained could be attributed to having “faked” her way to the top. She felt keenly (even if she wasn’t overtly aware of this feeling) that people only ever liked her because they did not actually know her, and that she spent her life pretending to be a socially acceptable version of herself that wasn’t real. This pretense was exhausting, and (particularly in verses where she never meets the Joker) leads to inherently self destructive behaviors. 

          The secondary aspect to Harleen’s psychology revolves around her self-loathing and intensely repressed anger resulting from her sister’s death as well as her upbringing. Despite knowing logically as an adult and as a psychiatrist that what happened to Lichelle wasn’t her fault, Harleen carried a deep feeling of responsibility and failure for her sister’s death. She blamed herself, and often also her mother, and these resentments built up over a lengthy period of time, left to fester unattended. Harleen’s understanding of her formative experiences was colored by her early understanding of faith and the nature of the world, discussed more in depth in her headcanon on religion. Her disillusionment with the world and resentment towards God (combined with her feelings of abandonment) fueled her inner rage, but never found a constructive outlet. Then Harleen met the Joker. 

          Harleen’s determination to understand the Joker was initially motivated by a desire to help him, but as as she began to understand his world view, her own perspective shifted. The Joker showed her a world in which it was possible to end her suffering, to be reborn, as it were, into a life in which she could truly be herself, without pretense, without expectation, to be accepted for who she truly was without judgement. Even if the Joker had never come to return her love and devotion to him, it might not have mattered to Harleen, because the larger gift he granted her was freedom. Freedom from who she was forcing herself to be, but also freedom from the unattainable (the dream of “normalcy” and peer acceptance), and more importantly, freedom from her intense and unrelenting self-loathing. 

          If nothing mattered, and life had no meaning beyond the here and now, if she could accept that there was no God who had betrayed her and taken from her, then she could finally move past the great sin that had defined her for her entire life. In this way, the Joker became a messenger, a prophet speaking of truth and revelation; that is how Harley views him. To her, he is an angel, he is deliverance, he is the idea, the promise of salvation through destruction. He alone raised a hot coal to her lips and delivered her from sin in order to live his truth. In this way, Harley worships him. She lives to be purified by him, and depends on him to maintain her strength and stability. She feels that the Joker alone understands and truly knows her, and that he alone understands the world. Her devotion to him knows no limits. 

          Their relationship is reciprocal and co-dependent, but this definitive aspect is not limited to just crime and sex, but a deeper appreciation of one another. When the Joker’s own illness cripples him, her dedication is unyielding. She will draw him a bath and climb in the tub with him, scrub him down, wash his hair, sing to him, make sure he eats, even paint his make up on if he cannot. When she wakes screaming and choking in the night or cannot discern her home from Belle Reve, the Joker is the only one who can talk her down without getting stabbed in the process. While mind games and violence towards others are a key part of their dynamic, at the core is the most steadfast and nurturing relationship Harley has ever been part of. 

Harley has a dog named Carl Jung, that she loves very much. && if anybody fucks with Carl Jung, they get the business end of a psycho clown. 

This Is Your Brain On Religion

_{This is tumblr user diiscordia’s headcanon about Harley’s religious beliefs.
Please do not reblog this post for any reason.}

         Harley’s upbringing was characterized more than anything else by upheaval and inconsistency. Tammy Lynne’s drug addiction consumed her and often left Harleen to her own devices, largely unsupervised and without basic necessities. She was sent to live with her grandparents on occasion for unplanned intervals of time, and they offered her the only sense of stability in her life, which included regular trips to temple. Harleen’s grandmother had been raised by orthodox Jews and found religion to be immensely important and the only life raft she could offer young Harleen, who so clearly needed guidance. 

          As a child, the thought of an all-knowing and all-powerful God who loved Harleen was comforting. When she was younger, she took the things that she’d learned with her grandparents very seriously and clung to them as the life raft they’d been intended. The Torah became an inherent part of how young Harleen came to understand and relate to the world around her, as well as how to cope with her situation and surroundings, sometimes in a very literal way. As a result, many of her life experiences (particularly traumatic or transcendent experiences) are interpreted through a religious filter wherein Harley associates what is happening with her limited and fractured understanding of Torah passages or faith. 

         After Lichelle died, Harleen thought God had forsaken her. She couldn’t tell if God hated her for killing her sister, or if she hated God for killing her sister– the two seemed interchangeable, and as she grew into puberty and experienced other traumas, she found she had a lot of anger towards the world and the God that created it. She felt abandoned not only by her mother but by her faith. Even once she moved to Gotham to live with her grandparents permanently, the damage could not be reversed, and she grew resentful of going to temple.

          As an adult, Harleen would not identify herself as being religious or spiritual. Her philosophy became more nihilistic, in that she feels morality is inherently arbitrary and that if there were a God, he could not be a benevolent one. She tends to think of organized religion with disdain or irreverent disinterest as a general rule; however, as Harley has gone through more and more stress and upheaval in her adult experience, her mind often copes with trauma or emotional extremes through her early conceptions of divinity, something that has allowed her to process and understand these events. Harley accepts that there are many things in the world that cannot be explained, and her anger with God is perhaps the strongest evidence of her faith in his existence. 

Funny Business

_{This is tumblr user diiscordia’s headcanon about Harley’s business assets. 
Please do not reblog this post for any reason.}

          Harley and Joker have their fingers in many pies, as it were– both in their partnership and independently. Their assets are diversified but primarily rely on a steady income of stolen goods that vary from art and artifacts to luxury vehicles, diamonds and other precious jewels, and even firearms, etc. They have a variety of highly illegal ways of retrieving these objects, and also specialize in smuggling and transporting them– meaning that they do have clients who pay to have their own less than reputable belongings moved overseas. These items are then liquidated through black market auctions or private buyers– some of whom may have hired the clown king and queen specifically to procure particular items. 

          Harley is, at heart, a thief, and still actively works in her field. She goes on missions regularly to obtain very specific items for their collection or for her personal collection. She is also, on occasion, available for freelance work– but the job has to interest her (she doesn’t like anything boring or too easy), and she won’t get out of bed for anything less than half a million. Soiled funds are laundered either through a private banker or through legitimate businesses Harley and Joker have invested in throughout Gotham city. 

          Items that will hold her interest in particular include rarities such as precious gems, vintage automobiles, and of course, inordinate sums of cash. Harley will NOT do business involving drugs or human trafficking, and has a strong distaste for anyone in those lines of work.