Love is a powerful drug. It can cloud our judgment, make us someone we’re not, trust people we shouldn’t, and worst of all, love makes us crazy. The best proof of this would be Gotham’s Power Couple; Joker and Harley Quinn. After the release of the movie Suicide Squad many who had not heard of the duo quickly fell in love with their wicked connection. However, many don’t know the long, sad history between The Clown Prince of Crime and his little Harley.

Harleen Frances Quinzel had a relatively normal life. She worked as a psychiatrist at the Arkham Asylum. She was there to help rehabilitate the criminally insane. One day she met the biggest maniac in Arkham, a man who called himself The Joker. She was intrigued by him and decided to take it upon herself to try and heal the man, but something else happened. Harleen had fallen hopelessly in love with the madman. She soon helped him escape Arkham and she would help him escape time after time until she finally couldn’t bare seeing him after the battles with the caped crusader. She quit her job as a psychiatrist to be with her “puddin”. She started wearing a clown costume and took up the name Harley Quinn.

The Joker may seem like, well, a joke, but that’s just what he wants you to think. He is actually a master strategist who is almost always three steps ahead.  The man is a sociopath who will hurt anyone who gets in his way. He doesn’t care about how people feel, they are all just pawns for him to get what he wants. All he cares about is pure chaos, even if he ends up dying in the process. Now when you tell a monster like this that you’re all his, it’s a recipe for disaster. Joker doesn’t care about Harley, but he knows she will do anything for him, so he uses her. She’s his toy, his weapon, his property.

Harley Quinn was once upset with the clown while she was pregnant with his child. She left for six months, had the child, put him up for adoption, and when she came back, Joker hadn’t even realized that she had left. Harley knows that The Joker doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. She’s had the lesson literally beaten into her multiple times. Even though she knows this, she still lets him use her and not out of fear but out of love. A scenario like this is worse than a husband beating a wife and the woman coming back because she thinks he’ll change. What Harley seems to have is Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm Syndrome is when a person starts to sympathize with their captor, and at times, fall in love with them.

Harley time after time has tried to please her love but she always seems to fail. She even once single-handedly caught the Batman. She wrapped him up for her Prince only to be punched out a window by the very man she was trying to please. The Joker didn’t care what she had done or why she did it. All he knew was that he didn’t catch the Bat and that made him angry. He sees Harley as his “harlequin,” his jester, his dumber sidekick. But Harleen Frances Quinzel is more than that, she caught the Batman by herself for god’s sake! She is one of the most well-known comic baddies and one of the saddest. You know what they say, ” love is hell.”