Anonymous asked:
psyclownsis-a answered:
YES!!!!!!! joker loves harley!!!!! he’s crazy about her!!!! it’s not healthy, it’s not normal, but it’s there and it’s not going away any time soon!!!! he has explicitly stated on at least one instance that she gives him Feelings (see: her arc in no man’s land where he straps her to a rocket because his feelings for her were distracting him from supervillainy and he thinks killing her will solve all his problems), and the creators of her character have said that he does care about her, in his own twisted way. harley is an extremely unique character imo because she’s a villain’s love interest but their relationship doesn’t revolve around the common tropes of “guy is obsessed with manic pixie dream girl and becomes a villain because she rejected him” or “villain wants to redeem themselves and be good for love interest”; instead, it revolves around “girl becomes love interest because she’s a villain waiting to happen”. joker was canonly attracted to her from the very beginning (harley quinn 2001-2003 solo series: he pins her to the desk and begins to strangle her during their first session, clearly with the intent to kill her, and then for some unseen reason he stops a few seconds in and has to take a second to regain his composure, telling her awkwardly that it was just a joke). he was intrigued by the fact that she was intrigued. he could tell that there was something he really liked in her and he wanted to bring it out– so he did. she wormed her way into his heart in a way nobody had even thought about trying to do before. then, when he realized that she wasn’t just a game to him and he actually cared about her and wanted her and loved her, he had an identity crisis (if he cares so much about somebody other than batman what does that make him?? is he losing his edge?? is he going crazy?? is he going sane?? what if she hurts him?? he shouldn’t care if she hurts him?? she shouldn’t be able to hurt him in the first place?? he’s the clown prince of crime?? what the fuck?? he doesn’t have Feelings??) and tried to kill her so he wouldn’t have to deal with all those Feelings. so! yes, she’s made a huge difference in his life, but it’s mostly internal and centered on their relationship. (i would say he’s more healthy emotionally now because he has her there to help him deal with his issues, but, like……. he’s the joker.) he relies on her instinctively at this point because he’s so used to her being around. she tempers him a little bit, because she can help bring him down when he’s mad about something. and do you realize how many times she has saved his ass from certain death??? like, jesus, i’m shocked he even survived as long as he did without her if that’s how he acted before they got together.
tldr: yeah, okay, he’s a sadistic asshole, but he’s her sadistic asshole, and she’s his bubbly psychotic killer, and she’s so deep under his skin at this point that he would fall apart without her.
