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Mar. 6th, 2029 09:37 am♦ maskormenace: profile ♦ inbox ♦ preferences ♦
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extended history.
May. 1st, 2012 10:42 am- tl;dr timeline:
- Mad Love flashbacks (Harleen spent about 9 months as Joker’s psychiatrist at Arkham)
- Mad Love present (Harley and the Joker spend about three months together before Harley is sent to Arkham as a prisoner)
- Harley and Joker end up back in Arkham (about 6 months while Harley heals from being pushed out a window)
- Earthquake at the beginning of the No Man’s Land arc happens (at the end of 6 months both escape Arkham during this but have very different retellings of how it happened. Harley’s version of events is taken from the flashback scenes in Batman: Harley Quinn)
- entire No Man’s Land arc occurs, including The Code (takes place over the course of about 1 year)
- Both end up back in Arkham at the end of No Man’s Land. Joker is heading from a gunshot wound (approximately 6 months)
- They break out of Arkham again as they do
- Carry on with everyday clown life. At some point Joker shoots Harley off in a rocket and the present-day events of Batman: Harley Quinn occur
- in-depth history:
- Harleen Quinzel was the first child, and only daughter, of Nick and Sharon Quinzel. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and had three younger brothers: Barry, Frankie, and Ezzie.
- Her childhood was (from her perspective, since she wasn't aware that her father participated in crimes for a living) pretty average until the age of 7. At this time, she saw her father attacked by two men who referred to him as Slick Nick Quinzel and who seemed to be angry because they believed Nick had betrayed them on a job.
- 7 year old Harleen attempted to get help from a nearby police officer. Said officer recognized Nick and, instead of assisting aid, handcuffed him and brought him to the police station for questioning. This was notably the first time Harleen begins to question whether the "good people" are really good or not.
- Harleen runs off to Coney Island -- where she had spent the day with her father -- and is followed by employees of a man Nick owes money to. They hold her hostage and use her to lure Harleen's mother there with the money owed. Harleen, uses odds and ends from the Fun House she's in (glitter and crazy glue, among other things), to get away from her kidnappers. She's chased to a pier where her mother appears, using a Strong Man mallet as a weapon, and eliminates the threat.
- After this incident, her father was imprisoned, leaving her mother to raise four kids on her own. Between the age of 7 and 18, Harley played the role of second-mother to her younger brothers while her mother worked multiple jobs to keep them afloat and pay for Harley's gymnastics lessons. The latter paid off because Harleen received a full gymnastics scholarship to Gotham University.
- Her mother often talked about being 'trapped' as she had been a doctor before meeting Nick and felt like she'd lost her opportunity to pursue her profession after marrying and having kids.
- In college, Harleen was premed and learned how to manipulate her professors for better grades.
- During college, she had another notably life-altering experience with a boyfriend, described as: "She came up with a theory about being in love having similarities with being a criminal. About, how far can someone go for love and decided to use her boyfriend, Guy, as the test subject, pretending that she had committed various crimes, such as murdering a teacher, to Guy's surprise. Thinking he was looking out for Harley he shoots an innocent man. Guy thinks that he can't live with the guilt, and wants to die, but can't bring himself to suicide and asks Harley to kill him instead. And she does, for love, disguising the murder as a suicide." citation
- Harleen graduated college and went on to medical school and completed her residency.
- Her first job as a psychiatrist was at Arkham Asylum where she worked under Dr. Joan Leland. After a failed attempt to create a support group for female prisoners -- during which she caught the eye of Poison Ivy and her reputation caught the attention of the Joker -- Harleen became obsessed with becoming the Joker's therapist (and writing a best-selling book about him) after he managed to get a single rose into her office with a note indicating it was from him.
- Over the following months, Harleen's obsession only deepened as the Joker continued to manipulate her and twist her around his finger during intensive therapy. Harleen, of course, was under the impression that she was fully in control of the situation, to the point where her perceptions of things regarding her patient were well and truly warped.
- Through mental manipulation and subtle nudges, the Joker convinced Harleen to quietly become a proponent for an off-site swimming program, then guilt tripped her into including him on the first trip to a local swimming pool (he rode in the Arkham transport van while she followed in her car due to limited space on the van). During transport, the Joker escaped, leaving Harleen behind and falsely believing that he had been a victim of the entire escapade.
- When Batman captured the Joker and returned him to Arkham days later (and after seriously roughing him up), Harleen snapped, believing that Batman was the villain here.
- Harleen decided that she was going to break the Joker out of Arkham while he was still in the infirmary and it was possible to do so. She donned her harlequin costume, dubbed herself Harley Quinn, and performed what she believed is a rescue.
- In the weeks that followed, Harley nursed him back to health at an abandoned amusement park. Once he was well enough to care for himself, he contacted his own gang to pick them up and move them to a different hideout.
- Over next 3 months working as the Joker's henchgirl, the relationship was revealed to be extremely emotionally and physically abusive, though Harley was convinced she's in love and wants to see the best in him.
- After an argument, Harley determined that the problems between her and Joker are Batman's fault. Harley decided to execute a plan to kill Batman.
- When Joker found out about this, he rushed to stop Harley's plan, infuriated that she would dare take the honor of killing Batman away from him. In his anger, he pushed her from a window and she was believed dead. Harley was found by an officer, captured, and sent to Arkham as a patient.
- While recovering from her own injuries, she received another single rose from the Joker and immediately forgave him.
- When a catastrophic earthquake flattened Gotham (No Man's Land), Harley escaped Arkham and (according to her own recollection of events) hunted down the Joker, once again becoming his henchgirl. Joker’s memories of this event differ and who’s telling the truth (if either of them are) is up for grabs.
- The events of No Man's Land, including The Code, occur. At the end of this particular scheme, Harley is captured again and sent back to Arkham.
- After about 6 months in Arkham, giving the Joker time to heal from a gunshot wound, the duo staged another escape from Arkham.
- The following takes place some time later, during the events of Batman: Harley Quinn: "At some point in their tumultuous relationship, The Joker began to realize that he had deep feelings for his beautiful clown princess. So what does he do with this knowledge? - Yup, he sends her off in a rocket and she crash lands in Robinson Park in the center of Gotham only to be found by Poison Ivy. Ivy plans to kill her, but has a change of heart believing that the two women share some form of kinship. Ivy nurses her back to health and offers to help her exact revenge against both Batman and The Joker. It's at this point that Ivy injects Harley with a serum that grants her immunity to various toxins and poisons as well as augments her strength and speed dramatically." citation
- Harley "teamed up" with Batman to capture the Joker which was, of course, a double cross, because she planned on getting even with Joker herself. They fought, he apologized, and Harley (in her infinite wisdom) forgave and rejoined him, leaving Batman in the dust.
TW/CW: suicide/murder/abuse