I’ll start with what I feel is the largest and most important aspect of her personality; her obsession. Obsession is what drove young Harleen Quinzel to study hard, work her butt off and graduate top of her class from Gotham University (though being very intelligent certainly helped). It's what led her to creating the criminal persona Harley Quinn so that she could better understand the Joker and eventually fall in love with him. And her obsessive love for the Joker led to her committing countless acts of violence towards others. Even now that she’s broken away from her downwards spiral of self destruction, her obsession is still a significant part of her personality and current lifestyle.
For example, she discovered an animal shelter where over fifty animals were going to be euthanized in 24 hours because they had not been adopted out. Rather then just adopt one of the creatures, and be satisfied with that she had to adopt ALL of them. And when she could not do so legally, she impulsively broke into the shelter after dark and stole all the creatures taking them home with her. "Harley is a woman searching for an identity and purpose in her life. For example, she created a criminal persona while working at Arkham Asylum, she filled the role of the Joker's air-headed accomplice, and as a member of the Suicide Squad, she became the ruthless criminal psychopath that the team wanted her to be. After the Joker's most recent attempt on her life, Harley began her greatest transformation yet.”
This new Harley Quinn is more thoughtful and compassionate then her previous personas, the kind of person who goes out of her way to rescue animals from abuse or who runs directly into a burning building to rescue the people no one else can. She even tries to offer psychological help to those she sees suffer from similar aliments to herself and has begun talking other criminals through their problems and advocating for them to seek help. Examples of this include Redtool and Harley Sin, who themselves became obsessed with Harley and who Harley vowed to help through the correct psychological recovery.
And when it comes to people she loves and cares about, such as Poison Ivy, she will go to any length to protect them. Harley literally catapulted herself from New York to Gotham City and broke into Arkham Asylum (her least favourite place in the world) to rescue Ivy, risking incarceration, running into her old trigger (Joker) and worse all to try and win Ivy her freedom.
While she does still have that dark side to her, these days she usually only reserves her excessively violent tendencies for other criminals; from creatively dispatching various hired guns who tried to kill her for a bounty, to killing and maiming some local street thugs who were stealing trash cans. When Harley lets her destructive side take hold she is shockingly dangerous to anyone in her path with little concern for societal boundaries and consequences. But she has made progress on teaching herself to temper that wild and impulsive attitude, surprising even her closest friends. For example, when confronted for talking loudly in a theater, Harley didn't respond with violence, but instead apologized for her rudeness and politely escorted herself out."
It all comes down to Harley’s own internal moral compass. Depending on her mood she might show compassion, such as when she spent most of her Christmas Day trying to heal a broken family. Alternatively, she might become more violent, such as when she violently forced an airport staff member into a small suitcase in retaliation for her lost luggage.
Harley Quinn is inspired by the heroics of great women such as Wonder Woman, whom she idolized as a child, or even Poison Ivy, one of her closest friends. These figures have inspired her to be a better person and make a difference in the lives of those around her. One attempt at this was when she discovered an amnesiac Power Girl, Harley crafted a new Superhero persona for herself and told Power Girl they were best friends and a crime fighting duo. This idea was impulsive and thought up in a very short space of time but Harley threw her all into it and actually managed to make it work until Power Girl’s memory returned.
And this is what leads to her wish to become a hero. Harley feels good when she’s helping people, inspiring her to established a gang of hard working and slightly unstable volunteers willing to fight crime and clean up the streets for a fee. And when people can’t pay her in money she’s even been shown to accept more humble and personable forms of payment because at the end of the day it’s about doing what’s right, not about the paycheck (though she does like that bit very much also).
Re: Revised Personality 3
For example, she discovered an animal shelter where over fifty animals were going to be euthanized in 24 hours because they had not been adopted out. Rather then just adopt one of the creatures, and be satisfied with that she had to adopt ALL of them. And when she could not do so legally, she impulsively broke into the shelter after dark and stole all the creatures taking them home with her. "Harley is a woman searching for an identity and purpose in her life. For example, she created a criminal persona while working at Arkham Asylum, she filled the role of the Joker's air-headed accomplice, and as a member of the Suicide Squad, she became the ruthless criminal psychopath that the team wanted her to be. After the Joker's most recent attempt on her life, Harley began her greatest transformation yet.”
This new Harley Quinn is more thoughtful and compassionate then her previous personas, the kind of person who goes out of her way to rescue animals from abuse or who runs directly into a burning building to rescue the people no one else can. She even tries to offer psychological help to those she sees suffer from similar aliments to herself and has begun talking other criminals through their problems and advocating for them to seek help. Examples of this include Redtool and Harley Sin, who themselves became obsessed with Harley and who Harley vowed to help through the correct psychological recovery.
And when it comes to people she loves and cares about, such as Poison Ivy, she will go to any length to protect them. Harley literally catapulted herself from New York to Gotham City and broke into Arkham Asylum (her least favourite place in the world) to rescue Ivy, risking incarceration, running into her old trigger (Joker) and worse all to try and win Ivy her freedom.
While she does still have that dark side to her, these days she usually only reserves her excessively violent tendencies for other criminals; from creatively dispatching various hired guns who tried to kill her for a bounty, to killing and maiming some local street thugs who were stealing trash cans. When Harley lets her destructive side take hold she is shockingly dangerous to anyone in her path with little concern for societal boundaries and consequences. But she has made progress on teaching herself to temper that wild and impulsive attitude, surprising even her closest friends. For example, when confronted for talking loudly in a theater, Harley didn't respond with violence, but instead apologized for her rudeness and politely escorted herself out."
It all comes down to Harley’s own internal moral compass. Depending on her mood she might show compassion, such as when she spent most of her Christmas Day trying to heal a broken family. Alternatively, she might become more violent, such as when she violently forced an airport staff member into a small suitcase in retaliation for her lost luggage.
Harley Quinn is inspired by the heroics of great women such as Wonder Woman, whom she idolized as a child, or even Poison Ivy, one of her closest friends. These figures have inspired her to be a better person and make a difference in the lives of those around her. One attempt at this was when she discovered an amnesiac Power Girl, Harley crafted a new Superhero persona for herself and told Power Girl they were best friends and a crime fighting duo. This idea was impulsive and thought up in a very short space of time but Harley threw her all into it and actually managed to make it work until Power Girl’s memory returned.
And this is what leads to her wish to become a hero. Harley feels good when she’s helping people, inspiring her to established a gang of hard working and slightly unstable volunteers willing to fight crime and clean up the streets for a fee. And when people can’t pay her in money she’s even been shown to accept more humble and personable forms of payment because at the end of the day it’s about doing what’s right, not about the paycheck (though she does like that bit very much also).