I'm new to the TFC (The Freak Circus) fandom, I actually started playing the game last week and got to experience quite a bit of stuff in said game, plus I got really into all the lore and all the little facts that the creator @nekoboydreams has given us, but a lot is still in the dark, expectantly, since the game is not yet finished.
From everything I've seen, I think that Harleyquin is likely the most misunderstood character in the game, because his behaviour, way of speaking and the things he's done are seen as problematic, and not many people seem to see through it and try to see him more as a flirty who can't love properly.
Last night, after playing the game some more, finding some new scenes and even looking at some scenes again, I had some more reflections about Harlequin, which I shared with a friend of mine (who's the person who introduced me to the game), and after reading it she told me I should post it here because in her opinion, it was really interesting and thought that the creator should see it as well (which I doubt he would come across this, I wouldn't be surprised nor upset if he didn't, but it'd be interesting if he did).. I wasn't planning to talk about it publicly, but my friend insisted I do, so.. yeah!
Here's what I said to her:
So so soooo I THINK that the way that he is, flirty and shit and like always tryna have sex is probably because, well, first as we've talked about, that he doesn't know how to love and that's the only "approach" that he has and it's the closest thing that comes to love for him, but also something interesting that I saw when I was playing again in Ticket Taker's tent, is that Columbina said that all the members have different ways of coping with what happened/the trauma in "their own twisted ways", soooo I think that Harlequin's way of coping is to focus on sex a lot or like "reject" love in a way? That's something a lot of people do, actually. When they can't handle something, they just escape reality in a way, and I suppose that's his way of doing it.
Also since he doesn't know how to love (or perhaps is afraid to do so??), every time that something romantic/affectionate happens to him (like the hug scene or the hand holding), he immediately changes the subject or tries to make it about sex, like he's trying to run away from that, his feelings or what it might mean.
ALSO in an AMA, it was said that Doctor is the one who gets along with Arlequim the most and he's the one who understands him best, and he said that Harlie hides what he's feeling by smiling all the time and acting the way he does. So, his behaviour is a shield (like the shield that Columbina mentioned), maybe to hide his pain/emotions, or his feelings, and that maybe, POTENTIALLY, sex could be a way for him to shield himself from these feelings and reject them, perhaps.
Obviously, though, that doesn't mean he's less of a horny bean than he is. He's still a horndog, it's just that there's more to it than that, and he shouldn't be reduced solely to that, in my opinion.
Additionally, there's also something else that I thought about, which is the fact that Harlequin doesn't do aftercare (it's a canon fact, he said it himself during an AMA).
About this, when Harlequin explained the roles of the fools + when I played and actually looked at the bad ending myself (when I take the pink ticket but I don't help Pierrot), well, it actually kinda makes sense… It's not nice, but the fools are literally lifeless dolls. I don't think they feel much. Consequently, if Harlequin or someone else (cause he's not the only one to do that) has sex with them, they don't need aftercare at all. It's kind of like with prostitutes, they don't do aftercare. And even then, it's different, cause prostitutes still have feelings and stuff, but the fools are just empty, and it wouldn't make sense to do aftercare since it's literally useless and pointless. It's not something they're used to either, besides, it's not like he does it out of love rather than need, so, yeah.
Also, when answering the question about aftercare, he didn't say he didn't want to do it or that it doesn't interest him, but that he's never done it before, so he's not closed off to that idea, it's just that he's never tried it since he didn't necessarily need to.
It really looks like I'm desperate to defend him, but no, I'm not defending him, I'm just trying to make sense of what's going on with him. If there was no explanation, I'd just say "yeah, this guy's a fucking bastard!" and I wouldn't like him much… but there's actually more behind it than that ^^ also I doubt that Neko-san would do something like that with his characters… It would feel really empty and disappointing if there was nothing more to him than that.
(Neko, if you come across this, hellooooo!!!!! I love what you do <3)
