Harley Quinn (Batman: Arkham Asylum)

"The Joker: Honey, I'm home!" "Harley: Come on in!"

- Harley Quinn and the Joker take over Arkham Asylum.

Biography
An Arkham Asylum psychiatrist assigned to treat the Joker, Dr. Harleen Quinzel instead became obsessively fixated on her patient, believing herself to be in love with him. She helped him escape confinement and took on her own criminal identity as Harley Quinn. Quinn is a violent and unpredictable felon whose only motivation, beyond general mayhem, is achieving the Joker’s approval. Because of his cruel and mercurial nature, this in some ways makes her just another of his victims - albeit a very dangerous one.

Attributes:
 * Surprising strength and stamina
 * Superior gymnastic skills
 * Total disregard for human life
 * Like The Joker, she is a homicidal psychotic who escapes easy classification

Road to Arkham
Already sneaking about in Arkham Asylum, Harley made her way to Bane's holding room in order to sedate him. The reason for this was to keep him quiet when the "visitors" arrive. She then went and sat in the security control room, watching the monitors and awaiting the Joker's arrival for incarceration as her signal.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Whilst Batman was escorting the Joker through the Intensive Care unit of Arkham Asylum, Harley was already in the security control room. As the Joker broke free, she opened the adjacent security field allowing him to escape Batman and implement his takeover of Arkham. The Joker then proceeded to release all his followers from their cells to attack Batman. Harley then took Warden Quincy Sharp hostage, taking possession of his decorative cane as well as wearing his warden identification card, and contacted Batman via monitor. She claimed that the Joker was now in charge of the island and she was substituting for Sharp as warden. She also told Batman that Joker was having a homecoming party with Batman as the guest of honor. Batman gave Harley one chance to surrender, which she refused before smashing her monitor with Sharp's cane, cutting off the feed. When Batman made his way to the elevator shaft, Harley appeared, stating that the Joker didn't need to see Batman just yet. She proceeded to blow up the elevator cord, causing the elevator to crash to the floor below and sending herself to the top, nearly killing a security guard named Henry Smith had Batman not saved him. Harley then regrouped with Frank Boles, who had taken Commissioner Gordon hostage. She and Boles proceeded to secure the front entrance of the Intensive Treatment Center and fight off the guards with an army of Blackgate prisoners. After Boles, who had outlived his usefulness, had been disposed of by the Joker, Harley took Gordon and carried on without him.



Quinn, with Gordon, made her way to the Batmobile first, ordering her goons to break into it. She then proceeded to the Medical Center and sat in the main entrance with Gordon tied to a bench by her, relaxing during her "me time". Batman eventually tracked Gordon to the entrance and found Harley humming to herself, but was unable to reach her due to a energy security gate blocking her. Spotting Batman as he walked in, she told him to scram. He asked where Gordon was, to which she replied "Wouldn't you like to know?". Gordon then shouted to Batman, and Harley told him to shut up and threw a glass mug at him. He called Harley a "crazy bitch", and Joker contacted Harley via monitor. He yelled at her, and she squealed in a startled tone. Joker asked why Batman was in the Medical Center, as it was "too early". Harley apologized and kissed Joker through the monitor, asking him not to be angry with her. He then said "You little minx! I could never stay mad at you!" and turned off the monitor. Harley then said that Batman needed to find another way in and bid him farewell, cartwheeling out of the room. She took Gordon to Bane's holding area, given orders by the Joker to kill Gordon if anyone spotted Batman nearby.



Batman followed a trail of tobacco left by Gordon to the Medical wing, defeating Harley by crashing through the glass ceiling above her, and rescuing Gordon. Harley, however, evaded capture after Bane attacked Batman. Harley made her way back to Warden Sharp and followed Batman to Arkham Mansion. She came across Batman stunned on the floor after the large explosion in the Warden's office killed Dr. Young, making an empty remark of pity and expressing how Joker "hates a squealer". She then took the tape off of Sharp's mouth and smacked him around with his cane, accidentally breaking off the jewel tip of it after aggressively striking him on the head. She left a few goons to take Batman to 'the party', but he defeated them and used the Warden's DNA traces from his severed cane tip to follow Quinn. She then made her way to the Penitentiary with the Warden, forcing him to read a variety of threatening statements written by Joker over Arkham's intercom system and torturing him when he hesitated and insulted her.



After locating the Warden locked up in an abandoned control room, Batman saw Harley on a nearby monitor, passing Poison Ivy's cell. Despite not being on the 'party list', Poison Ivy convinced Harley to let her free. As Ivy happily strode away and blew Harley a kiss, Harley sighed and said "She's a good kid."

Batman followed Harley and surpassed a variety of her traps until there were few goons left standing. Harley even electrified the pacification system on the asylum floor to the maximum power to stop his advance, electrocuting a security guard as a demonstration. Batman eventually got past this obstacle and fought his way through the remaining Blackgate convicts and escaped mental patients before the fifteen remaining thugs attacked Batman in the Extreme Incarceration cell block. After they were defeated, The Joker decided that Harley had failed him, removing Harley from the 'party list', much to her annoyance. Out of anger, Harley used her acrobatic skills to attack Batman but was defeated with ease. Batman took Harley's 'party list' and scanned her hand, acquiring her fingerprints.

Batman locked up Harley in an adjacent cell, with Harley accidentally revealing the Joker's location and claiming he would rescue her. Batman left Harley crying alone in her cell. After walking into a nearby room to examine a glowing green trophy placed there by Riddler, Batman became trapped inside after the a set of bars slid over the doorway. Harley then taunted him: "The stupid bat has fallen into my trap!", suggesting that she had Riddler place the trophy in there to trap him. Batman used his Explosive Gel to destroy the wall above the cell and climbed out back into the cell block, prompting a shocked Quinn to give a violent start and demand, "What? How did you get out of there!?"

It can be safely assumed that Quinn was escorted back to her usual cell by the surviving Arkham staff upon the Joker's final defeat.

After Arkham
Six Month's later, Harley has been incarcerated in a high security cell, believing the rampant rumors that the Joker is dying to be false. However her hopes are soon shattered when she overhears a conversation between some guards not only confirming the Joker's short lifespan but also a conspiracy to have him killed. With this she kills and replaces one of the guards planning to kill Joker and rescues him right in the middle of the attempt on his life.

With this she hijacks a supply boat and uses it to sneak into the recently completed Arkham City, setting up her and Joker's base of operations in a abandoned factory. According to Hugo Strange, Joker's inevitable fate is having a hard impact on her causing her to fall into a depression and adopting a increasing millitant approach. Later on she is shown helping Joker with his recruitment campaign screening a potential recruit Lester Kurtz, giving him his clown mask, and showing him to his room before he ran off.

Batman: Arkham City
Harley Quinn has been confirmed to appear in the sequel. Her style has been redesigned. She is more vicious and deadly as a result of Joker's slow and painful death, she's also has yet another new outfit, a combination of her original, a gothic and a biker chic outfits, with a increase focus on her sex appeal (Dr. Hugo Strange theorized this to be a manifestation of her extreme manic depression as a result of Joker's impending death). At one point in the first gameplay trailer, Harley Quinn, before attacking Batman, is considering not attacking him, as she doesn't want his blood to ruin her new outfit. She is the leader of the Joker's Army and carries out his errands while he is still recovering. She also runs the initiation programme for new inmates wanting to join the Joker's Gang.

Tara Strong will be voicing her in the game, taking the known Harley Quinn actor, Arleen Sorkin's, place.

Psychological profile (by Dr. Young)
Transference is a professional danger that every psychiatrist must be ready for, but Dr. Harleen Quinzel experienced what might be classified as delusional transference where she convinced herself that she and the Joker were in love. Displaying symptoms of bipolar disorder, with the Joker's mood swings as the causuative agent for her manic and depressive episodes, Quinzel also shows a high level of dependence on the Joker. His maltreatment of her gives the dependence a dimension of sadomasochism.

Additional notes

She shows signs of extreme regression in the Joker's presence.

The excessive and intensive psychological screening I had to undergo here at Arkham was largely due to her earlier fall from grace. At times I'm resentful of this; the mere idea that I would become inappropriately involved with the Joker or any other inmates is preposterous.

ESCAPE RISK?

Keep separate from the Joker at all times!!!!

Arkham City Profile: Dr. Hugo Strange
Harleen Quinzel

A.K.A Harley Quinn

The Joker's plaything and sometimes girlfriend, Harley Quinn was happy to leave Arkham Asylum so long as she could be with her 'puddin.' Her devotion to the Joker is admirable, but it is clear that his illness has laid a heavy burden on her as well. Her behavior has become evermore erratic and vicious, as she appears to be in a state of emotional metamorphosis, manifested by her change in wardrobe to a more militant, harsh appearance.

Dr. Hugo Strange: Side Note

Ms. Quinn’s behavior has become evermore erratic and vicious.

~ Dr. Hugo Strange

Patient Interviews
thumb|274px|left|Harley Quinn's patient interview tapes.

Trivia

 * In Dr. Young notes, Harley Quinn is seen to have caught Penguin's attention, due to his signature, and based on the past to present, Harley is seen more as more into the action rather than Joker, and in Arkham City, they are against each other, so from the comics, he needs to eliminate the 'slut.'
 * Harley's first several interview tapes almost directly quotes her lines in the New Batman Adventures episode "Mad Love", while she is taking a tour of the Asylum.
 * Harley's sealed off office can be found, adorned with posters and newspaper articles of the Joker, as well as her original costume's head piece.
 * In Arkham City, Harley is voiced by Tara Strong, rather than Arleen Sorkin.
 * In one of the Arkham City preorder commercials for GameStop, Harley is the narrator.