Rin — Roleplayer Guild

"You thought I was just another bubble-headed blonde bimbo!  Well, the joke's on you, 'cause I'm not even a real blonde!"


Name: Dr. Harleen Quinzel
Alias: Harley Quinn
Age: Mid-to-late twenties
Occupation: Community service
Skills & Abilities: 

Skilled Combatant: Due to her previous career as a supervillain, Harleen is more than capable of holding her own in a fight.  She's not at the same level as, say, Batman, but against most regular criminals she can easily come out on top.
Gymnastics: Harleen was a dedicated gymnast during her school days, to the point of being able to obtain a sports scholarship to university.  Her skills haven't exactly waned since, which is handy for a former supervillain turned crimefighter.
Intelligence: Harleen is far more intelligent than her ditzy "dumb blonde" persona lets off, especially in the field of psychology.  Many people have underestimated her in the past, only to find themselves outwitted by what they assumed to just be the Joker's crazy groupie.
Enhanced physical capabilities: Thanks to a serum administered to her by Poison Ivy, Harleen's physical strength is greater than her slight frame would imply.  Not only that, but her agility reaches low levels of superhuman ability, which coupled with her gymnastic skills allow her to pull off death defying acts of acrobatics with the greatest of ease.
Toxin immunity: Again thanks to Poison Ivy's serum, Harleen possesses immunity to most known toxins and poisons.
Equipment: Old habits die hard, and thus Harley Quinn possesses several comedy-themed gadgets and weaponry, although due to her rehabilitation none of them are as deadly as the Joker's.  In addition, she is often seen wielding an oversized wooden mallet.
Personality & History:

Mad Love

Harleen Quinzel grew up in a broken home.  Her father was a con-artist who is still in jail for his crimes, his incarceration causing the rest of her family to grow more and more dysfunctional.  In an attempt to try and understand and possibly help them, Harleen took an interest in psychology and soon after earning her degree she was given an internship at the (in)famous Arkham Asylum.  And that is where she met... Him.

It wasn't like she hadn't heard of him before.  He was Arkham's most famous patient, after all, a diabolical fiend whose very name instilled dread into the hearts of even the most hardened supercriminals.  His true name unknown, his age unknown, his history unknown, he was the Clown Prince of Crime, the Harlequin of Hate, the Ace of Knaves... The Joker.  Initially, Harleen was only drawn to him due to his infamy, and wished to discover the true root of his psychosis (and of course publish a treatise on it that would bring her great prestige and wealth).  However, when she got the chance to analyze him, she slowly grew more and more obsessed, an obsession not helped by the Joker using his own brand of psychology against her, manipulating her emotions and feeding her lies and half-truths until Harleen eventually found herself falling in love with him.  Soon, she had found herself secretly helping him escape the asylum on more than one occassion, and it was after he was returned to Arkham after one of these incidents that her slip into insanity was complete.  For how could she possibly cope with seeing the one she loved like that, all beaten and bruised, severely injured in a battle with the Batman?

Harlequinade

And so Harleen quit her job at Arkham in a most spectacular fashion: by donning a jester costume and staging a breakout for her beloved "Mistah J".  And so the Joker found himself a sidekick of sorts, someone who would always stick by him and help with his schemes and marry him and have two beautiful children named- well, that's how the newly dubbed "Harley Quinn" saw it at least.  The Joker... Didn't exactly reciprocate her affections.  To him, she was at best a pawn that was far more easily manipulated than his other henchmen, and at worst a source of perpetual annoyance that he could at least use as a meatshield.  The Joker would often emotionally and physically abuse Harley, and even tried to kill her on more than one occassion.  Even though she always returned to him in the end, whether because he threw her out or she felt he'd gone too far on certain occassions Harley often left the Joker to strike out on her own.  Not long after the first time this happened, she ended up teaming up with Pamela Isley, more commonly known by her supervillain alias Poison Ivy, who would quickly become her best friend and other main partner in crime.  Indeed, Ivy cared a great deal for Harley (possibly even having romantic intentions of her own), something that served to cause a deep resentment towards the Joker in her, and which led her to administer a serum into Harley that granted her immunity to most known toxins as well as low-level superhuman physical capabilities.  Whenever she had had enough with the Joker, Harley was always able to confide in Ivy, and for a long time the green-thumbed villainess was the only person who wasn't a psychotic clown that she truly cared about, and even during the times one or both of them were sent back to Arkham they always tried to keep in touch.

Rev up your Harley!

Eventually, however, the Joker went too far.  It's not exactly known what he did, but whatever it was it led Harley to proclaim that he was no longer the man she'd fallen in love with.  Not long afterwards, she turned herself over to the authorities, wishing to distance herself from her "puddin'" and at least try to rehabilitate herself.  She'd long since realized she was mentally ill, after all, and although she'd occassionally tried to seek professional help she always ended up going back to the Joker.  In fact, it was because of this that she was sent to an all-female prison rather than Arkham, as it was felt that seperating her from the root of her illness would probably help her treatment.  And so for a few years she underwent psychological treatment and rehabilitation, and without the negative influence of the Joker hanging over her she made a startling recovery.  Released early due to good behaviour and being a model prisoner, Harleen suddenly began to wonder what exactly to do with her life now that she'd (hopefully) lost her former reason to be.  It wasn't long until she came to a revelation: if she really wanted to distance herself from the Joker, surely the best way would be to instead latch on to his greatest adversary, the Batman!  Instead of being a force of madcap chaos and destruction, she would now be a dark avenger of the night!  And so, once more, Harleen found herself slipping into that old harlequin costume, grabbing her trusty wooden mallet and heading out into the streets of Gotham, this time intending to only terrorize criminals and fight against injustice.

Character Impressions:
Story Arc: Well, she needs to confront Mistah J at some point, right?  Harley would be left with the most important choice in her life: continue upon the path to redemption, or throw everything away to be with her puddin' once more?
Extra: Harleen keeps up a correspondence with Poison Ivy whenever Ivy is in Arkham, although she never gets to visit her for the obvious reason of needing to stay away from the source of her mental illness.


"Did you see the way I handled those creeps?  Pow!  Bam!  Batgirl, eat your heart out!"
Rin Member

Status

Recent Statuses

Bio

Most Recent Posts
