Harley and Joker: Love?
Harley Quinn and Joker are a relationship we all know. Some call this relationship "goals" and some call it sick. But here is the question I ask, is it love? And is this love worth everything we see endlessly happening between them?
1.
Joker has literally tried to kill Harley, has beat her to a pulp multiple times, and yet his excuses often seem to be related to her making him feel when he does not want to. We've seen in comic books, cartoons, movies, etc: him tying things around her neck, him throwing her out windows, hurting her so badly it puts her in hospitals, and so on.
I
n a scene from the comic book Batman: No Man's Land there is a scene where Joker asks Harley to come to meet him in a rocket ship. While she is there he basically complains about her making him feel things he doesn't want to/ hasn't in a long time and therefore he must get rid of her to alleviate the issue. He tries to send her off in the rocket ship, but she escapes.
One of Joker's most obvious and known abuses of Harley was when she was his psychiatrist at Arkham before she became the villain we know. Harley was most likely lied to by Joker when he told her stories of abuse from his father that seemed to be very related to her own history with her father, and therefore is what made her feel as though she loved him in the beginning; if it was only this that kept her coming back I would say she truly was delusional, but I don't think that sympathizing over a commonality on familial abuse would be enough to keep someone returning to you, no matter what others conclusions may be on this.
2.
Harley's choice. We like to think that Harley is completely manipulated throughout her relationship with Joker, but in the end she chooses a lot of what we see. Harley chose to break him from Arkham, not to mention keep giving him psychiatric care when she knew how personal this was becoming through his stories that she felt she could relate to and therefore could have asked to not be there anymore due to personal involvement. Harley also in my opinion chose to be crazy for him, she is not naturally insane as I feel we have seen in endless examples. I also believe Harley still sees reason and sense, but chooses to ignore them to be what she things she has to be for her "puddin".
She leaves him many times, not only this but has been kicked out and pushed away by him every chance he finds. Her response is to sooner or later come back to him against the vehement requests from those she calls friend not to.
There is one story where she is with Poison Ivy, and they are the ones working together. This was a clear moment of rebellion against Joker for Harley and could possibly have been a promising one if she hadn't gone running back to him.
There is even a moment in Injustice:Gods Among Us where Harley speaks of her daughter she has hidden away from Joker. This daughter of theirs is to me a simple sign of Harley's sense. Harley's too worried about what he might do to corrupt the little girl. She didn't want her daughter raised up in the evil and insanity that the Joker is and the she plays for him. Doesn't want her daughter to be some kind of toy or to be raised up to be just as insane as the father Harley just can't seem to leave. Her daughter is instead being raised by Harley's sister, a normal life to lead for her.
In Conclusion, I believe that Joker did love Harley. He beat her and pushed her away because he didn't want to. He didn't want to be in love and go through that all again. Didn't want to believe that he could feel. Him being able to feel would mean he had an understanding of right and wrong he'd been denying for so long. He blamed her for "making" him fall in love. A quote from Mark Hamill, "Expressing emotion in any way that's real and meaningful is Alien to the Joker, but he's learning those parts of himself, however unconsciously, through Harley."
Harley loves Joker because she knows he loves her and needs her.
Arleen Sorkin once said, "Everyone else sees the Joker laugh, only Harley has ever seen him cry. It's the only reason she stays with him."
Harley has left him on multiple occasions, had other lovers and relationships, but always seems to go back.
I think they both really love each other and were meant to find each other, but not last forever in a sense. I think she should leave him for good. She needs to let him feel that loss and know he will never get it back. She doesn't need him anymore. She's crazier than Joker for a reason, she chose it, for love.
She shouldn't kill him in the end, his end, either. That's one of the things he wanted, was to push her to that point, or beyond that point if you understand. She should always love him, but cease to be in love with him. There should be a point where she explains to Joker what happened that without him she's happy, and done playing his games. Explain to him everything about why because, then he'll understand she'll always love him, but doesn't need (want?) him anymore.
She should be there in the end when he dies, he shouldn't be killed by anyone other than himself for that matter, because that would only cause Harley to feel a need for revenge that shouldn't exist. HE should be his own downfall, whether by accident or on purpose, but I think Harley should be the first to see it. She should be there one for the necessary closure, and two for proof that no one else is guilty. She needs this for more than just herself, but for everyone. I think Joker needs to cause his own death because, it makes sense if you think about it: he created his empire and he should be why it crashes, for not letting himself be happy and for losing the only person who truly understood him for who he was.
" He loves her as much as he can. He loves her in his way."- Paul Dini
