#shallelagh

I have been looking for what martial arts Harley Quinn may have learned as she is seen going toe-to-toe with the likes of Catwoman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Lord Death Man, and Batman, to name a few. All that comes up is her backround in gymnastics and learning from the Bat Family, and her aggression and fearless approach of being a wild card. She is a scrapper, but Batman and Nightwing are too skilled to be beaten by a simple scrapper. So, what is her fighting secret?

Source: Pinterest. If you know the artist, please let me know and I will credit their work.

What I am about to present is not canon, and I do my best to stick to canon because this is about Harley Quinn and how she is presented in popular culture and not my fantasies, but martial arts was my first love ♡. I have spent over 30 years training and studying various forms of martial arts from books to learning under local masters, so I have more than a basic understanding of the Fist.

Source: Harley's hammer from a keychain I bought.

First, we all know she had a backround in gymnastics and was a criminal psychologist that worked in Gotham, where crime is the rule and not the exception. With that, before she was the Maiden of Mischief, she was just Dr. Harleen Quinzel, so it would be logical that she took self defense classes. She also grew up in New York and is Jewish, so Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defense art inspired by Israeli military hand-to-hand combat, would make the most sense. Krav Maga is also one of the more popular and efficacious self defense systems in the United States.

Krav Maga uses open hand strikes, clinches, knees, elbows, weapons disarms, and evasion tactics. They also teach eye gouging, throat and groin strikes, as well as grappling defense. Being a military art, it is based on survival and not for sport or beauty like prize fighting or traditional martial arts.

Source: Harley VS. Apokolips

Although she was a gymnast, gymnastics does not teach fighting, but there are martial arts that combine gymnastics and fighting, the most famous being Wushu and Shaolin Kung Fu. There is an ancient kung fu method called Yi Jin Jing, or Muscle Tendon Change Classic, which is influenced by Yoga and combines a mix of flexibility and strength exercises.

Shaolin Kung Fu combines acrobatics, gymnastics, iron body, animal forms, weapons forms, meditation, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. I wouldn't go as far as saying she trained in China, but New York has a large martial arts community and its own Shaolin Temple, so it is a possibility.

Source: Google. Young Sifu Shi Yan Ming training in Shaolin Temple. He runs the New York branch of Shaolin.

Another style that involves acrobatics and kung fu, which is one of my favorite styles, is Drunken Boxing.

It isn't a single style. It is taught to intermediate to advanced students once they have mastered the basics of their style. It has a mix of tumbling, jumping, spinning, flipping, and deceptive tactics and techniques based on the movements of a drunkard.

Sources: Jackie Chan, Drunken Master 2, Gordon Liu, Shaolin Drunken Monk.

Finally, we have her weapons. Her most notable being her bat and (oversized) mallot.

Source: Harley Quinn Animated Series

The Irish have a stick fighting style called "bataireacht" which uses a shillelagh, a hard wood (blackthorn) stick with a natural nob as a handle that is good for hooking and smashing, such as smashing a skull.

Source: irelandjournal.typepad.com

Of course, swinging a bat at someone is a very effective way to end almost any fight.