[ ooc; application ]
Series: Batman (The Dark Knight, 2008 movie)
Series' Medium: As a comic book series that was started in the 1940's, Batman's canon has ranged from a plethora of comic books (some considered official canon, others spin-offs) to a live-action television show to a series of movies (late 80's to late 90's) to a few different animated series to a new set of movies ('00's). The Dark Knight is the second movie in this new set, and it is more or less disconnected from the comics, though a few comics were part of the inspiration for it (Year One, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween).
Character you're applying for: Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Character's role in their canon: Side protagonist turned antagonist.
Character's age: Never officially stated, but based off of the actor's age and the age given for Harvey's mother, I'm going to say 39.
Character's gender: Male
Character's "Real Name": Aaron Eckhart
Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?: I have seen The Dark Knight four times in theatres. To promote the movie before it was released, a viral game (also known as an ARG, or alternate reality game) released a large amount of information about what goes on prior to the movie but after its predecessor, Batman Begins. This includes the details of Harvey Dent's campaign for district attorney, and also has a lot of extra details about both his actions as a public figure and his background. I have read up on all of the ARG information that pertains to Harvey with the help of the wiki centered around the game. I have also seen Batman Begins multiple times. While Harvey plays no role in that movie, he would be aware of some of the events that are detailed in it.
Other than that, I have read all three comics which are said to be inspiration for The Dark Knight (Year One, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween), along with whatever other comics I could find that featured Harvey or Two-Face (for characterization and comparison purposes). Since comics aren't very accessible, I mainly did this by going through the "harvey dent" and "two-face" tags on the LJ community, scans_daily, and by finding downloads with the help of 4chan. I've also read through the Wikipedia article on Harvey Dent in order to get the full picture of his role in the comics.
Lastly, I have seen a good amount of Batman: The Animated Series, and I have seen all of the episodes of it that feature Harvey/Two-Face. Once again, it's a different canon, but I felt it was helpful to compare characterizations.
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character:
Harvey Dent was born in Gotham City, the fictional locale that is the main stage for every Batman series. (In the Batman universe, Gotham is part of the United States, though its exact location is uncertain and varies from canon to canon.) From a young age, Harvey was able to see that his hometown was overrun by crime, and even during his elementary school years he was planning what he could do to fix the state of things. Due to an accident, Harvey's father died when he was fairly young, and he grew up under the sole care of his mother, Lynette, in a middle class neighborhood. Since he lost his father so early on, a double-headed 1922 silver dollar that the man had given him was one of Harvey's most precious possessions.
He was very dedicated to getting good grades in school (most likely because he knew that he would need them to get into college and study law, which according to his mother was his goal the moment he was old enough to understand how the legal system worked), but also excelled athletically. Following high school, Harvey's grades were good enough that he could have gone to any college, but he chose to stay in Gotham, not wanting to leave his city. He obtained both his undergrad and graduate (law) degree at the University of Gotham.
While he wanted to get involved in the government from the get-go, Harvey first worked for a law firm in order to get some real-life experience. He was well-liked there and got promoted before moving to work under the District Attorney, Carl Finch, despite his partner's attempts to keep him. One of the first things he did as Assistant District Attorney was to start cracking down on the corruption in the Gotham Police Department (perpetuated by head mob boss Carmine Falcone) with the help of the Internal Affairs unit. Harvey worked tirelessly and soon got eleven guilty verdicts. His initial focus on police corruption rather than mobsters earned him the nickname "Harvey Two-Face" among the GPD. During this time was also when he met fellow ADA Rachel Dawes, a friend who supported his efforts and would later become something more.
Strangely, Falcone seemed to be in cahoots with Jonathan Crane, director of Gotham's mental institute, Arkham Asylum. Crane was used as a consultant in the courts and worked to get Falcone's men declared insane so they were sent to Arkham rather than prison. (It can be assumed that Harvey dealt with Crane in court a few times and possibly prevented some of these insanity charges from going through.) Taking down Falcone had been the goal of the ADA office for a while, but Harvey and the rest of Gotham was shocked when the headlines and news buzzed with the talk of a masked vigilante, dubbed the Batman, who singlehandedly provided the evidence to put Falcone behind bars. While many people considered this "Batman" a menace who was breaking the law and taking it into his own hands, Harvey saw the vigilante as a symptom of the sickness that was eating at Gotham.
All hell broke loose when in the space of a few days Carl Finch went missing, a discovery that Crane had been using Arkham to pollute the water supply with drugs (Fear Toxin) got him committed, and the Narrows (a slum of Gotham) was driven insane by the release of said drugs in the form of gas. The gas almost spread throughout the entire city, but Batman once again arrived to stop this. Unfortunately, Arkham was destroyed in the chaos, letting loose countless insane criminals.
Gotham was doing even worse than usual after all of this. The loss of Falcone due to Fear Toxin-induced insanity led to a struggle for mob power that resulted in a lot of bloodshed. The appointment of a new DA (Carl Finch's body was never found), Roger Garcetti, who Harvey knew to have mob ties, left him even more hard-pressed to root out the corruption in the GPD. This prompted him to set up a tip line, "We Are The Answer," for citizens to call in if they had any information about corrupt police officers. Harvey took a lot of flak for this, most notably from the GPD and Garcetti, but he refused to back down.
Harvey was really bothered by Garcetti's appointment, enough that he started to consider running for DA himself. He started to make public appearances as often as possible to make his name and face more well-known, and after a few months had passed he put out the word that he was considering running, but would only make it official if there was enough public support shown. Luckily, there was an outpour of it, including a grassroots campaign being started. Inspired by the Gothamites' devotion, Harvey soon made the official announcement that he would be running and set up a campaign headquarters. The endorsements started rolling in.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a smear campaign was put out against Harvey, mainly focused around claims that he was putting innocent cops behind bars and threatening or bribing people to testify in court against these supposed innocents. It hit hard and Harvey was rapidly losing his supporters despite his efforts to fight back and urge that the group behind the smear campaign be investigated. Thankfully, he at least had support from Rachel during this tough time, and they were becoming closer and closer. Soon everyone was expecting Harvey to withdraw from the race, but then one incident turned it all back in his favor again.
This incident was a hostage situation where a paranoid cop by the name of Francis Notaro had a woman at gunpoint. Seeing that this man had been driven to do this because he felt pressured by the way the GPD was being investigated (he was demanding witness protection), Harvey felt responsible for the danger the hostage was in. He personally arrived on the scene and was able to negotiate with Notaro, first exchanging himself with the hostage and then actually talking Notaro down to the point where he was willing to turn himself in to the police.
This brave act earned Harvey the title of "Gotham's White Knight," and he was immediately back in the running as the smear campaign against him fell apart thanks to Francis Notaro's cooperation with the police in revealing the mob's involvement in it. It was probably around this time when Harvey and Rachel started dating, and his lucky coin was involved in getting his first date with her.
Harvey's campaign was going better than ever and the public adored him, though there was a hiccup when a website mocking Harvey's own campaign site was discovered, depicting a vandalized image of Harvey. There were also some threats against Harvey being thrown around, and there was suspicion that the Joker, a mysterious criminal who had been skulking around Gotham for some time, was behind it, but no one knew for certain. Harvey was urged to employ some personal security, but he refused, not shaken by the threats.
Even with so much public support, Harvey didn't get complacent and worked day and night on his campaign up until election day. On voting day three mobsters attempted to attack his voters, but Batman intervened and stopped these men, adding to Harvey's positive view of the caped crusader. In the end, Harvey's hard work was rewarded and he won the election against Garcetti and Dana Worthington in a landslide.
Harvey spent barely any time celebrating, however, immediately getting down to business with a string of prosecutions. He started by exposing Garcetti's connection to the mob and new suspected mob boss, Sal Maroni. He also focused on prosecuting anyone involved in money laundering, hoping to choke off the mob's cash supply. His determination to take these men down one-by-one and his obvious devotion to the people made him the most popular District Attorney in Gotham's history.
Unfortunately, the case against Maroni had to be dropped when Albert Rossi, who was suspected to be the intermediary between Garcetti and Maroni, refused to testify against the mob boss on the witness stand. Instead, Rossi pulled a gun on Harvey, but the DA was quick to disarm the man and give him a punch in the face for his efforts.
Trying to take the fact that Maroni got to walk in stride, Harvey went to meet with the head of the Major Crimes Unit, Lieutenant Jim Gordon. The fact that Gordon had gotten his hands on irradiated bills, a sign of dirty money, made it pretty obvious to Harvey that the man was working with Batman. Even though Harvey had put every known money launderer behind bars, the mob was still getting their money out, and now that Gordon wanted him to approve warrants for five banks, it was easy to see that the lieutenant was planning to bag the mob's cash. Harvey was willing to grant the approvals so long as he got Gordon's trust and was let in on his alliance with Batman. Harvey saw himself and Batman as two men with the same goal, if with different methods, and so he figured it was about time that he met him. Things were tense between Harvey and Gordon, however, seeing how Harvey had investigated Gordon's unit in the past.
That night, Harvey went to dinner with Rachel, though their private time was interrupted when Bruce Wayne -- billionaire, Gotham's poster boy, and Rachel's old friend -- showed up. Harvey's impression of the man wasn't much improved by the meeting, but Bruce did decide to throw a fundraiser at his penthouse for Harvey. Harvey was reluctant to accept, but he couldn't exactly say no.
The night of the next day, Harvey met up with both Gordon and Batman on the roof of the MCU, irritated to hear that the mob banks had already been emptied of their money (which he took to mean that Maroni had some men in Gordon's department), and that Lau (a Chinese businessman who was basically the mob's accountant) had managed to jump a flight back to his country, meaning there was no way to prosecute him (their best bet of getting at the mob) since he was now out of their jurisdiction. Luckily, Batman was willing to go all the way to Hong Kong and bring him back, possibly in a not-so-legal way. (Not that Harvey got to ask for clarification, since Batsy disappeared mid-conversation.)
A week later, Lau was literally delivered to Gordon's doorstep. As Rachel worked to get Lau to agree to testify, Harvey tried to come up with the best way to use Lao to put as many of his clients as possible behind bars. He came up with the idea of using a RICO (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations) case, which allowed them to try about half of the criminals under one charge. The mayor, Anthony Garcia, saw this mass conviction as a "farce," but Harvey believed that it was a big victory for Gotham. The mayor warned Harvey that he would be the one that everyone would be gunning for now, though their conversation was interrupted when the body of a man in a Batman outfit smashed against Garcia's window.
It was obviously another act of terrorism by the Joker, but Harvey couldn't worry about it too long, since he was expected at Bruce's fundraiser that night. Harvey attended with Rachel, though he was uncomfortable around the so-called "trust fund brigade" and perplexed by Bruce's late entrance by helicopter with three women in tow. While Bruce took a few cheap shots at him, the man also had a rather praiseworthy speech to give in Harvey's name. Meanwhile, the amount of danger Harvey was potentially in (considering the mob's vendetta against him) got him thinking that his life was floating in the balance, and there were some knots he wanted to tie before anything unfortunate happened--knots he wanted to tie with Rachel. While he might have known it to be impulsive and rushed, Harvey also knew that he loved her and wanted to be with her for as long as he lived, even if it might not be that long. So he pulled Rachel away from whatever conversation she was having with Bruce in order to propose. Rachel was unwilling to answer, but before Harvey had the chance to be upset about it, he was grabbed from behind and thrown in a closet.
While it's unclear if Harvey was knocked out or what, he later found out that the Joker crashed the party and threw Rachel off the building, but Batman showed up in time to save her. (More points for Batsy in Harvey's book!) He also found out that the Joker had put out hits on himself, the police commissioner, and the judge who had presided over the case that got all of those criminals convicted. (The Joker had also announced that people would continue to die until Batman took off his mask and showed himself.) Harvey was the only one who actually survived, and despite the fact that he could easily be targeted again, he was willing to act as prosecutor for Lau's testimony the following day.
However, that was interrupted by everyone having to attend the funeral procession for Commissioner Loeb. The Joker had given a tip-off that the mayor would be his next target, which meant that everyone was on edge during the ceremony. Still, Harvey walked side-by-side with the mayor and was in the front row with Rachel as Garcia gave a speech about Loeb. Unfortunately, no one had expected the Joker and his men to masquerade as the officers who were doing the 3-volley salute. Due to a distraction, they were able to turn their guns on the mayor, but Gordon took the shot for him.
Harvey rushed Rachel to a car so that she could be taken to safety, but chose to go back to try and get some information out of one of the Joker's men. He found one handcuffed to the back of an ambulance, and the fact that the man refused to speak and also had a tag on his uniform that read Rachel Dawes (an indication that she was next on the Joker's list) forced Harvey to act. He drove the ambulance to an abandoned warehouse, and once he had the man tied up, he called Rachel. When she told him she was at the MCU, he told her that it wasn't safe there and urged her to go to Bruce's penthouse, which Rachel claimed to be the safest spot in Gotham.
Harvey started to interrogate the man, using his coin as a scare tactic. He told the man that if he flipped and got heads, he wouldn't shoot him, but if he got tails, that was another story--not letting on that the coin was two-headed, so he had no intention of actually harming the man. Batman showed up and stopped him, first explaining that the man Harvey had kidnapped was a paranoid schizophrenic and wouldn't have any information for him, and then pointing out how out of line Harvey was. Batman warned that if anyone saw what Harvey was doing, it would undo all of the work he had done for Gotham thus far. Batman then admitted that he would be turning himself in, since he couldn't allow the Joker to take any more lives. This hit hard for Harvey, who saw himself and Batman as two sides of the same coin. (Harhar.) He begged Batman not to do it, but got no response.
The next day, Harvey held a press conference (Batman had asked him to) and tried to plead with the crowd, pointing out that they shouldn't give in to a terrorist and knowing that Batman revealing himself would be the beginning of the end. The crowd insisted that the lives of civilians were more important than one masked man, and so Harvey was left with no choice. He claimed that he was the Batman, knowing that the Joker would show himself in an attempt to get at him and then the real Batman would have a chance to get the psychopath. Harvey was taken into custody, and Rachel came to see him as he was being escorted to the swat vehicle that would move him to central holding. She tried to talk him out of it, saying it was too dangerous, but Harvey was willing to take the risk. He showed her his coin, saying he would go through with it if it landed heads. She chastised him for leaving something so important to chance, but then he gave her the coin so that she could see that it was double-headed, meaning that he couldn't be convinced, and that he "made his own luck."
The ride was a rocky one, and the van he was in got banged around a good amount by the Joker and company, though Harvey didn't have much of an idea of what was going on since he was inside the whole time. Though it was easy to tell when Batman showed up, and when the vehicle suddenly stopped Harvey could only hope for the best. Surprisingly, the back of the van was opened by Gordon, who had faked his death to keep his family safe, and who delivered the good news that they had caught the Joker.
Harvey got taken to a car so that he could be driven home, but the cop (who was supposed to be one of Gordon's trusted men) turned out to be working with the mob, and he knocked Harvey out. Harvey woke up in a warehouse, tied to a chair and rigged up to countless barrels of gasoline. More troubling than that was that Rachel's voice was coming out of a phone near him, and it turned out she was in the same situation. She explained that she'd been told that only one of them was going to live, and their friends would be the ones to choose. Trying not to panic (the timer was right in front of him, ticking down), Harvey tried to convince Rachel (and himself) that they would be coming for her, not him, as he looked for a way to cut his ropes. Instead, he ended up knocking over one of the barrels and his chair, and the gasoline soaked his upper left side--most notably, his face.
Even as Rachel tried to get out some last words before their time was up, telling him that she did want to spend the rest of her life with him, Harvey lied and kept telling her that it was going to work out despite how slim the chance of that was. But then the door Harvey was facing slammed open and Batman rushed in. Harvey knew that meant that he was going to make it out and Rachel wasn't, and he yelled for Rachel and struggled as Batman dragged him out of the building, not understanding why Batman hadn't gone for her instead. They got out, but they were still close enough to the building that the gasoline on him ignited when the building exploded, burning the left side of his face down to his neck and shoulder severely. The agonizing pain was enough that he passed out.
He was in and out of consciousness until he woke up at the hospital, the pain worse than ever. On the side table he saw his coin, and his heart lifted at the possibility that Rachel was alive, since he had entrusted her with it beforehand. But when he grabbed for it and found that the other side was burned...
Harvey Dent snapped.
It was due to a combination of things, Rachel's death being the most prevalent. After all the work he had put into saving Gotham, nothing had come of it. He had put criminal after criminal behind bars, but all that did was make things worse by bringing out the real insanity in the Joker. What he got for his efforts, his determination, and his stubbornness was being betrayed (by Gordon, by Batman, by Gotham), the death of the person who meant the most to him, and the disfigurement of his face. He couldn't take it, not when it was all so unfair.
He ripped off the bandages over his face and refused to let them be put back on; he refused pain medication; he refused skin grafts. When Gordon came by to offer his condolences, all Harvey had for him were bitter words, a thinly-veiled threat, and a request that he repeat the nickname the GPD had for him: Two-Face.
The next thing Harvey was really aware of (other than a lot of commotion around the hospital) was the Joker standing over his bed. Harvey thrashed against his restraints, but to no avail. The Joker, meanwhile, tried to assure him that what he had done was nothing personal, and he started explaining himself. All the things he had done were basically meant to send a message -- to show the police, Gordon, Harvey, and everyone else how pathetic their attempts to control things were. The Joker believed in anarchy, chaos, and doing things just for the sake of doing them.
The Joker knew the exact worst thing to say to Harvey when the man was in such a state of emotional turmoil: "And you know the thing about chaos? It's fair." He pulled out a gun and placed it to his own head, and with the option of killing the man who ruined his life being dangled in front of him, Harvey took his idea of flipping a coin to decide if someone lives or dies and applied it--he accepted Joker's idea of chaos, but gave it some order. Now, everyone got a 50/50 chance, because in his mind that's what Rachel got.
The coin came up on the good side, and so he begrudgingly let the Joker go and then left the hospital himself, despite the pain he must have been in. (It turned out that the hospital had been evacuated since the Joker was planning to blow it up.) On a quest for vengeance, Harvey's first target was the man who had driven him to the warehouse. Harvey found him at a bar and demanded to know who Rachel's driver was. When the man said he had no information, Harvey flipped for his life and when the bad side came up, he put a bullet between the man's eyes.
Figuring Sal Maroni would have the information he needed, Harvey tracked him down and accosted him in the car he was using to get out of the city. When Maroni asked if Harvey would spare his life if he told him what he wanted to know, Harvey simply said it wouldn't hurt his chances. Harvey got the name he was looking for and then flipped his coin, getting the clean side. He flipped again, this time for the driver (loophole!), and got the burned side. After putting on his seat belt, Harvey aimed the gun for the back of the driver's head and pulled the trigger, sending the car into a crash.
For Damned purposes, he'll have passed out in the crash and will wake up in the institute.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
There was a good reason why Harvey ended up with the title of "Gotham's White Knight." Breaking out of the lawyer stereotype (somewhat), Gotham was always his first priority, and he was determined to do things by the book, using law and order to clean up Gotham rather than Batman's more... hands-on approach.
Harvey was also squeaky clean as far as his reputation went, and strongly opposed to the corruption that seemed to be unavoidable in Gotham. Even though a smear campaign was put out against him, it fell apart when it came to light that the people behind it were the truly corrupt ones. It seemed that Harvey could only do good, but the really remarkable thing about him was that he not only was able to recognize what was wrong with Gotham, but he was damned and determined to do whatever was in his power to fix it.
As Gordon himself commented, Harvey was stubborn, and he didn't seem to know the meaning of giving up. On top of that, he had some serious guts, if the fact that he was able to disarm a mobster and punch him out is any indication. He refused to back down even when death threats were put out against him, and considered Bruce Wayne's high-class pals to be a lot scarier than the entire mob.
He was also very charismatic, and skilled at public speaking. While it's true that he was good politician material, which obviously has bad connotations, it's heavily implied that he didn't take all of those steps for fame or recognition, but because he knew that was what he needed to do to get elected -- and he knew that getting elected was the only way that he could start making serious changes around Gotham.
While he might have known how to be diplomatic, he also was very blunt and straight-forward when he could afford to be. He wouldn't beat around the bush, but instead say it like it is. He also had faith in his own skills that might border on arrogance in certain situations. ("If I get him back, can you get him to talk?" "I can get him to sing.") Still, this is understandable considering he was very good at what he did.
All in all, Harvey was a devoted person. Gotham was always top priority for him, and he was ready to do whatever was required to heal the city, but this also applies in terms of his relationships. While Rachel is the only close relationship of his that we know about, he was extremely devoted to her. He valued her life far above his own, and he took at least part of the blame for her death. (This is from a point after when I'm taking him from, but it still applies: When Batman tells Harvey to punish the people responsible, Harvey puts a gun to his own head, indicating that he knew he was part of the problem.) On that note, Harvey was always willing to take responsibility for his actions, which was why he had no problem with the mob being out for him. He wasn't opposed to facing the repercussions of the actions he took -- the problem was when someone else (namely, Rachel) was involved. Because that's just not fair.
He had a very strong moral code, and was able to see past things other people might hesitate at in order to fulfill that code. He didn't hesitate to point out that the corruption in the police force was a serious problem that needed to be addressed, despite the fact that he was stepping on a lot of toes by doing so. Similarly, he ended up trusting both Gordon (if not his underlings) and Batman because he knew them to be good people. With Gordon, he was willing to trust him despite his reservations about some of the other police officers because he knew that Gordon personally was a good person. As for Batman, while most of the Gothamites weren't sure what to think of the vigilante, Harvey was able to see the pinpoint the important thing, and that was that Batman was doing the right thing the best way he knew how. In a way, they were kindred spirits.
But there's a reason I've been writing this in the past tense.
As I mentioned, one of the comics that was the inspiration for The Dark Knight is The Killing Joke, which focuses on the Joker. I mention this because his main philosophy in that comic is that all it takes is one bad day for someone to be driven insane. The Joker in the movie makes a similar comment, when he tells Batman: "Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it needs is a little push." He succeeded in proving that with Harvey, though there was a lot more that also went into his mental breakdown.
Like I already explained in the history, it was Rachel's death (and more specifically, the circumstances under which she died), his own disfigurement, and the fact that he put his all into saving Gotham, which in the end swallowed him up and spat him out, that led to Harvey's descent into madness. Rachel's death is what broke Harvey Dent, but the Joker was the one who molded him and gave his newfound insanity some misguidance.
The Joker pointed out that all the planning Harvey did got him nowhere, and that he needed to accept chaos as the way of their screwed-up world. Someone like Harvey couldn't prescribe to the Joker's views completely, though. Harvey was a man who had used laws (or rules) to make things happen, and so even in his insanity he needed a rule, which is why he decided to fall back on the coin. He now sees it as the great equalizer, and the only real morality in a world so far gone. Seeing how he has already used it to kill three people at the point that I've taken him from, he won't be able to turn back on this idea, and he believes in it without faltering.
Harvey is now full of anger and the need for vengenace. He was never a particularly patient person, but now it's worse than ever, and he won't hesitate in resorting to shouting to get his point across. Despite that, he can also be surprisingly calm and and carry an almost normal conversation with someone. He isn't delusional--it's more that his morality has been severely warped and he's given up on trying to save Gotham, which has led to a whole lot of bitterness. He also seems to think that no one's life is as bad as his, since he chooses to harp on about how horrible his life has become twice during his fairly short killing spree. He has no consideration for human life anymore, seeing how he is willing to kill a young boy in order to prove his point.
That being said, Harvey would not just kill for the sake of it. He doesn't get any thrill out of murder (though he certainly gets some satisfaction), and he isn't exactly run-of-the-mill when it comes to villains. For one thing, he's pretty new to the whole thing, so he's going to have to figure out how he's going to apply his new beliefs long-term. For another, the coin toss is, essentially, bad versus good. A lot of the comics seem to forget that not killing someone doesn't necessarily count as good; it's just not bad. Considering that Nolan (the movie's director) said that this version of Harvey is more of a vigilante, he's got more of a duality to him rather than just being a bad guy. He has the capability to still do some good, but only if the coin toss comes up that way. (Also, this duality pretty much takes place for the multiple personality disorder that's a staple in the comics. This Harvey isn't that particular brand of crazy.) He's no Batman by any means, but he does have the potential for good.
As for his face -- while he's obviously not happy about what happened to him, he doesn't make any efforts to hide his appearance. In fact, he wants to show it off. (God, Harvey, stop being such an exhibitionist~) This ties in a bit with his whole woe-is-me thing, and some more bitterness due to that old nickname. He also makes a comment about not wanting to hide what he really is, since his physical appearance now fits in with his whole live-or-die mantra.
Also, some of his old traits still stick around, since he's still Harvey. He's still stubborn, he's still gutsy, he's still determined. It's just that his mindset has been completely twisted. It remains to be seen how much he'll get into the Two-Face persona and leave his old life behind, but I'll address that more in the following questions.
Please give us a detailed physical description of your character: Harvey used to be a pretty good-looking guy, standing at an average height with an average build with blond hair, blue eyes, and one hell of a cleft chin. The canon kind of makes a point of his good looks (so that the fact that he's made ugly is even more of a big deal), so yeah... he's pretty attractive.
Now he's got quite the burn that's disfigured the whole left half of his face (and his neck and part of his shoulder, though not as severely). All of the skin is burned away so his tendons can be seen in perhaps too much detail, and in some places (chin, jaw) it's so bad that the bone is showing. His left eye is more or less intact, but everything around it is gone, so most of the eyeball can be seen and it gives off the impression that it's popping out. Surprisingly, he can still move it. He can also talk without any problem, and apparently take shots of alcohol like a champ. (But that's because he's a badass.) His lips are pulled apart and apparently are stuck that way, since his teeth on that side are always showing. All of the hair on his left side has burned away (SADLY), so the shape of his skull can be seen. Creepy.
The burn is pretty much right down the middle of his face, though, so the right side is undamaged. From a profile view, you'd barely be able to tell. So he's... half-pretty still.
Obviously, this would be something of a problem at Landel's, so he'll be forced to wear bandages/gauze over that side of his face during the day. He'll be ripping them off every night, but it's not like anyone worries about keeping up appearances during nightshift.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?: After he causes the car that he, Maroni, and Maroni's driver are in to crash.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?: Other than somehow being able to survive with half his face blown off? Nada.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?: For the moment, Harvey staying alive is a good thing. 8D
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?: First off would be his skills as a prosecutor. While we're shown very little of him in the courtroom, the movie implies that he's damn good at what he does, considering he was able to get guilty sentences for pretty much all of the Gotham's money launderers. He also is able to think of a specific case that can be used to net about half of Gotham's mobsters in one go off the top of his head. All of this implies that he's a very persuasive person (and that's backed up by the fact that he was able to talk down the very paranoid Notaro during the White Knight Incident).
He's also a good public speaker, though he wouldn't really be making any use of that at this point, since he's lost all of his faith in those ideals. He would still be pretty damn good at convincing someone of something if he was ever in that sort of position, though.
It's canon that he played on his college varsity soccer team (d'awww), so he's probably still got some leftover skill from that. It's not like he's practiced in ages, but he's probably got a damn good kick in him still.
He's proficient with firearms, though he's mainly shown using one at close range, so it's a bit uncertain how good his aim is. He's also able to name the gun that's pulled on him by Rossi without a second thought, though, so he must pretty familiar with them.
Lastly, he's got some amazing pain tolerance. Like, seriously, it's a mystery how he can even walk around with half of his face blown off, but he does it. And manages to even be sort of lucid. So there's that, too.
How about improbable appendages?: Nope, just an improbable face.
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP: First, I'd like to start off by saying that Harvey is going to be a difficult character to play in this setting, but I've given it a lot of thought, and I'm willing to make it work. For one thing, the point in time I've taken him from will ensure that he does have a reason to want to get out. Not that the reason (get to Gordon and make him pay) is a very good one, but this way he'll have some drive.
Making friends isn't going to be easy for Harvey, but the good thing is that the coin will help some with this. I'm really looking to explore how he'll grow into his new villain persona with this game, including getting more dependent on the coin and developing more of a dual persona. It won't be anything like the MPD he has in most of the comics, since this version of Harvey doesn't have any previous mental problems, but he might act differently depending on his coin tosses.
Speaking of which, I'll be doing what I can to make sure he doesn't overdo it with the coin, but that he also uses it when appropriate. And I'm going to be flipping an actual coin whenever I do it, which will give him some spontaneity that I don't have with any other character.
Harvey won't be very good at meeting new people, especially at the beginning, but I do expect him to mellow out some eventually, and he's smart enough to realize that he isn't going to be able to get much done on his own. Whether he'll actually form close bonds with anyone is doubtful, but hey... Anything can happen! Maybe someone will make it their mission to be his friend, who knows. DX
Also, there will probably be a Batman in the RP one way or another, which is going to make things a lot more interesting for Harvey, since he'll definitely be looking to track him down -- once again, for the oh-so-creative reason of revenge. And there's a Crane in the game already, so he'll possibly be teaming up with him due to a mutual interest in wanting to get their hands on Batman. And there's a Harley -- while Harvey won't know who she is, she'll be able to tell he's some version of Two-Face (I've spoken to the player about this already), which should also make for interesting interaction.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?: The first response is going to be anger. Harvey would probably realize that he should be in an institute (though there would also be some denial about it), but he would still be pissed as hell about it. Considering he just found out who is somewhat responsible for Rachel's death, not being able to track her down and deal with her is going to leave him on edge and even more snappy than usual. He's also going to be upset about the fact that they want him to keep the bandages on, and he'll fight against that until he realizes that all it gets him is a needle-full of sedatives. (Man, it's going to be nice to have a character who is actually nuts enough to get sedated for once!)
As for believing the whole "you made it all up" thing, he won't buy it. What's happened to him is obvious enough in a physical sense, and the pain he went through is too real to have been some figment of his imagination. The fact that they would even suggest that would be enough to get him to fly off the handle.
So yeah, lots and lots of anger at first. It will have to mellow out eventually, though he'll never attain a real calm, I don't think, especially considering the state of things at Landel's. He'll just start to be upset about the fact that after everything else, he's now been trapped in a loony bin that has matching half-dead monsters. There's also a chance that what's left of his rational side will be bothered by the injustice of what Martin Landel is doing, especially since it's going to become obvious that people aren't picked arbitrarily. (If that were the case, he'd probably be alllll for it.)
There's a good chance he'll want to give up eventually since he won't think it's worth it to try and get out, and that could quickly lead to suicidal thoughts. I don't just toss that out randomly, either, since Harvey has a tendency to want to off himself no matter what canon he's from (comics, movie, even the damn cartoon). Obviously I'll have to set it up so that someone talks it out of him, and he usually abandons the idea once he's been stopped. Or loses the coin toss. >_>
Dealing with Batman is going to cause for conflicted emotions, probably, and that'll be made even more confusing for poor Harv when he finds out that Batman = Bruce Wayne. (And there's no doubt that he will eventually, considering Damned and the fact that some people know Batman as a comic book series where they're from.)
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Considering Harvey is unsettling and outright horrific himself, he should be okay.
In all seriousness, he's had to deal with threats being made on his life and obviously knows a whole lot about criminals considering he's had to prosecute his fair share of them. He's intimate with just how ugly the world can be at this point, and while mutated monsters and such are going to be a bit new for him, maybe he can make some disfigured friends. 8D;; NOT REALLY, but-- since he has to look at his handsome mug in the mirror everyday, I don't think it'll be a problem. Not to mention he's proved that he's near fearless, and he has very little regard for his life at this point anyway, so... he's really just going to wonder why his life continues to suck.
As for body: It's true that the pain is going to be rough on him, but considering he manages to haul ass across Gotham and kill some people while in that state, I think he'll manage in one way or another. He's actually pretty physically fit, and it's mainly the pain that's going to be slowing him down, but... like I've mentioned, Harvey is stubborn. He'll find a way to deal. And when all else fails, he can always run. :|
Third-Person Sample:
For a moment, Harvey didn't look at the coin that had landed neatly in his palm. In his veins, he knew he would do whatever it said, and there was something almost empowering about that. With its help, he could pull the trigger; he could kill a madman.
It was strange, knowing how badly he wanted the burned side to show, and the disappointment he felt when that wasn't the result he got would have scared him before now.
"Aww, that's too bad. Better luck next time, Harvey." He felt the Joker pull out of his grasp and it took everything in him not to seize him by the throat.
"Now," the Joker continued, placing a hand on his hip as he glanced at the clock placed neatly on the wall of the hospital room, "I've got a hospital to blow up. I like you, so here's some friendly advice." The man stopped and looked him over. Harvey could feel his painted eyes examining his face and felt more uncomfortable about it than he wanted to admit.
"It would, umm, be in your best interest to leave now." The Joker procured what was obviously a detonator, showing it off before falling into a cackle and almost skipping out of the room.
Focusing on the retreating footsteps, Harvey pushed himself up out of the bed. It caused a flare of pain to shoot through him with every move he made, but he wasn't thinking about that now. The Joker had left the gun, and also given him the opportunity to escape. While he had lost his chance to kill him, he expected the Batman would be able to take care of him for now.
Before, it would have been his first priority to track the psycho down and get him into custody. But the GPD had already captured the Joker once, and it hadn't done them any good. The only way to really get rid of him was with a bullet between the eyes, but he doubted the Batman would have it in him.
Now, though, all Harvey wanted was another chance with the coin, and he knew exactly who his next target would be. With the fingers of one hand curled around the gun, he stalked out the door and quickly located the nurse's station. After some haphazard searching, he found his personal effects. There wasn't much, but at least he could get out of the hospital gown.
He stripped unceremoniously, though he couldn't help pausing when he got a better look at how the burns spread down his left side. He got a whiff of his own sizzled flesh and then turned his head away as he put his suit back on. He didn't miss how it was burned the same way he was, and it seemed like the perfect way to finish off the image.
Two-Face. It was almost too convenient.
He hadn't been able to catch which way the Joker had headed, so instead Harvey followed the hospital signs that led him to one of the exits. The building started going down only a few moments after he had gotten out, almost like the clown had been timing it. The Joker wanted him to live and spread his own brand of chaos, and Harvey was more than ready to at this point.
The fact that the place had been primed to blow meant that the surrounding area was already deserted, and as he walked the abandoned streets and heard the hospital collapse behind him, it really did feel like the world was going to burn along with him.
First-Person Sample:
I really doubt Harvey would bother to write anything down, especially in the beginning when he's just going to be a big ball of rage. Even after he's cooled off, recording his thoughts in a *~*diary*~* just wouldn't appeal to him. He might use it to take notes if needed, but other than that he would just ignore the thing. Oh, though he might record the results of his coin tosses or something like that if he got bored and was looking for something to do.
Series' Medium: As a comic book series that was started in the 1940's, Batman's canon has ranged from a plethora of comic books (some considered official canon, others spin-offs) to a live-action television show to a series of movies (late 80's to late 90's) to a few different animated series to a new set of movies ('00's). The Dark Knight is the second movie in this new set, and it is more or less disconnected from the comics, though a few comics were part of the inspiration for it (Year One, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween).
Character you're applying for: Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Character's role in their canon: Side protagonist turned antagonist.
Character's age: Never officially stated, but based off of the actor's age and the age given for Harvey's mother, I'm going to say 39.
Character's gender: Male
Character's "Real Name": Aaron Eckhart
Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?: I have seen The Dark Knight four times in theatres. To promote the movie before it was released, a viral game (also known as an ARG, or alternate reality game) released a large amount of information about what goes on prior to the movie but after its predecessor, Batman Begins. This includes the details of Harvey Dent's campaign for district attorney, and also has a lot of extra details about both his actions as a public figure and his background. I have read up on all of the ARG information that pertains to Harvey with the help of the wiki centered around the game. I have also seen Batman Begins multiple times. While Harvey plays no role in that movie, he would be aware of some of the events that are detailed in it.
Other than that, I have read all three comics which are said to be inspiration for The Dark Knight (Year One, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween), along with whatever other comics I could find that featured Harvey or Two-Face (for characterization and comparison purposes). Since comics aren't very accessible, I mainly did this by going through the "harvey dent" and "two-face" tags on the LJ community, scans_daily, and by finding downloads with the help of 4chan. I've also read through the Wikipedia article on Harvey Dent in order to get the full picture of his role in the comics.
Lastly, I have seen a good amount of Batman: The Animated Series, and I have seen all of the episodes of it that feature Harvey/Two-Face. Once again, it's a different canon, but I felt it was helpful to compare characterizations.
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character:
Harvey Dent was born in Gotham City, the fictional locale that is the main stage for every Batman series. (In the Batman universe, Gotham is part of the United States, though its exact location is uncertain and varies from canon to canon.) From a young age, Harvey was able to see that his hometown was overrun by crime, and even during his elementary school years he was planning what he could do to fix the state of things. Due to an accident, Harvey's father died when he was fairly young, and he grew up under the sole care of his mother, Lynette, in a middle class neighborhood. Since he lost his father so early on, a double-headed 1922 silver dollar that the man had given him was one of Harvey's most precious possessions.
He was very dedicated to getting good grades in school (most likely because he knew that he would need them to get into college and study law, which according to his mother was his goal the moment he was old enough to understand how the legal system worked), but also excelled athletically. Following high school, Harvey's grades were good enough that he could have gone to any college, but he chose to stay in Gotham, not wanting to leave his city. He obtained both his undergrad and graduate (law) degree at the University of Gotham.
While he wanted to get involved in the government from the get-go, Harvey first worked for a law firm in order to get some real-life experience. He was well-liked there and got promoted before moving to work under the District Attorney, Carl Finch, despite his partner's attempts to keep him. One of the first things he did as Assistant District Attorney was to start cracking down on the corruption in the Gotham Police Department (perpetuated by head mob boss Carmine Falcone) with the help of the Internal Affairs unit. Harvey worked tirelessly and soon got eleven guilty verdicts. His initial focus on police corruption rather than mobsters earned him the nickname "Harvey Two-Face" among the GPD. During this time was also when he met fellow ADA Rachel Dawes, a friend who supported his efforts and would later become something more.
Strangely, Falcone seemed to be in cahoots with Jonathan Crane, director of Gotham's mental institute, Arkham Asylum. Crane was used as a consultant in the courts and worked to get Falcone's men declared insane so they were sent to Arkham rather than prison. (It can be assumed that Harvey dealt with Crane in court a few times and possibly prevented some of these insanity charges from going through.) Taking down Falcone had been the goal of the ADA office for a while, but Harvey and the rest of Gotham was shocked when the headlines and news buzzed with the talk of a masked vigilante, dubbed the Batman, who singlehandedly provided the evidence to put Falcone behind bars. While many people considered this "Batman" a menace who was breaking the law and taking it into his own hands, Harvey saw the vigilante as a symptom of the sickness that was eating at Gotham.
All hell broke loose when in the space of a few days Carl Finch went missing, a discovery that Crane had been using Arkham to pollute the water supply with drugs (Fear Toxin) got him committed, and the Narrows (a slum of Gotham) was driven insane by the release of said drugs in the form of gas. The gas almost spread throughout the entire city, but Batman once again arrived to stop this. Unfortunately, Arkham was destroyed in the chaos, letting loose countless insane criminals.
Gotham was doing even worse than usual after all of this. The loss of Falcone due to Fear Toxin-induced insanity led to a struggle for mob power that resulted in a lot of bloodshed. The appointment of a new DA (Carl Finch's body was never found), Roger Garcetti, who Harvey knew to have mob ties, left him even more hard-pressed to root out the corruption in the GPD. This prompted him to set up a tip line, "We Are The Answer," for citizens to call in if they had any information about corrupt police officers. Harvey took a lot of flak for this, most notably from the GPD and Garcetti, but he refused to back down.
Harvey was really bothered by Garcetti's appointment, enough that he started to consider running for DA himself. He started to make public appearances as often as possible to make his name and face more well-known, and after a few months had passed he put out the word that he was considering running, but would only make it official if there was enough public support shown. Luckily, there was an outpour of it, including a grassroots campaign being started. Inspired by the Gothamites' devotion, Harvey soon made the official announcement that he would be running and set up a campaign headquarters. The endorsements started rolling in.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a smear campaign was put out against Harvey, mainly focused around claims that he was putting innocent cops behind bars and threatening or bribing people to testify in court against these supposed innocents. It hit hard and Harvey was rapidly losing his supporters despite his efforts to fight back and urge that the group behind the smear campaign be investigated. Thankfully, he at least had support from Rachel during this tough time, and they were becoming closer and closer. Soon everyone was expecting Harvey to withdraw from the race, but then one incident turned it all back in his favor again.
This incident was a hostage situation where a paranoid cop by the name of Francis Notaro had a woman at gunpoint. Seeing that this man had been driven to do this because he felt pressured by the way the GPD was being investigated (he was demanding witness protection), Harvey felt responsible for the danger the hostage was in. He personally arrived on the scene and was able to negotiate with Notaro, first exchanging himself with the hostage and then actually talking Notaro down to the point where he was willing to turn himself in to the police.
This brave act earned Harvey the title of "Gotham's White Knight," and he was immediately back in the running as the smear campaign against him fell apart thanks to Francis Notaro's cooperation with the police in revealing the mob's involvement in it. It was probably around this time when Harvey and Rachel started dating, and his lucky coin was involved in getting his first date with her.
Harvey's campaign was going better than ever and the public adored him, though there was a hiccup when a website mocking Harvey's own campaign site was discovered, depicting a vandalized image of Harvey. There were also some threats against Harvey being thrown around, and there was suspicion that the Joker, a mysterious criminal who had been skulking around Gotham for some time, was behind it, but no one knew for certain. Harvey was urged to employ some personal security, but he refused, not shaken by the threats.
Even with so much public support, Harvey didn't get complacent and worked day and night on his campaign up until election day. On voting day three mobsters attempted to attack his voters, but Batman intervened and stopped these men, adding to Harvey's positive view of the caped crusader. In the end, Harvey's hard work was rewarded and he won the election against Garcetti and Dana Worthington in a landslide.
Harvey spent barely any time celebrating, however, immediately getting down to business with a string of prosecutions. He started by exposing Garcetti's connection to the mob and new suspected mob boss, Sal Maroni. He also focused on prosecuting anyone involved in money laundering, hoping to choke off the mob's cash supply. His determination to take these men down one-by-one and his obvious devotion to the people made him the most popular District Attorney in Gotham's history.
Unfortunately, the case against Maroni had to be dropped when Albert Rossi, who was suspected to be the intermediary between Garcetti and Maroni, refused to testify against the mob boss on the witness stand. Instead, Rossi pulled a gun on Harvey, but the DA was quick to disarm the man and give him a punch in the face for his efforts.
Trying to take the fact that Maroni got to walk in stride, Harvey went to meet with the head of the Major Crimes Unit, Lieutenant Jim Gordon. The fact that Gordon had gotten his hands on irradiated bills, a sign of dirty money, made it pretty obvious to Harvey that the man was working with Batman. Even though Harvey had put every known money launderer behind bars, the mob was still getting their money out, and now that Gordon wanted him to approve warrants for five banks, it was easy to see that the lieutenant was planning to bag the mob's cash. Harvey was willing to grant the approvals so long as he got Gordon's trust and was let in on his alliance with Batman. Harvey saw himself and Batman as two men with the same goal, if with different methods, and so he figured it was about time that he met him. Things were tense between Harvey and Gordon, however, seeing how Harvey had investigated Gordon's unit in the past.
That night, Harvey went to dinner with Rachel, though their private time was interrupted when Bruce Wayne -- billionaire, Gotham's poster boy, and Rachel's old friend -- showed up. Harvey's impression of the man wasn't much improved by the meeting, but Bruce did decide to throw a fundraiser at his penthouse for Harvey. Harvey was reluctant to accept, but he couldn't exactly say no.
The night of the next day, Harvey met up with both Gordon and Batman on the roof of the MCU, irritated to hear that the mob banks had already been emptied of their money (which he took to mean that Maroni had some men in Gordon's department), and that Lau (a Chinese businessman who was basically the mob's accountant) had managed to jump a flight back to his country, meaning there was no way to prosecute him (their best bet of getting at the mob) since he was now out of their jurisdiction. Luckily, Batman was willing to go all the way to Hong Kong and bring him back, possibly in a not-so-legal way. (Not that Harvey got to ask for clarification, since Batsy disappeared mid-conversation.)
A week later, Lau was literally delivered to Gordon's doorstep. As Rachel worked to get Lau to agree to testify, Harvey tried to come up with the best way to use Lao to put as many of his clients as possible behind bars. He came up with the idea of using a RICO (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations) case, which allowed them to try about half of the criminals under one charge. The mayor, Anthony Garcia, saw this mass conviction as a "farce," but Harvey believed that it was a big victory for Gotham. The mayor warned Harvey that he would be the one that everyone would be gunning for now, though their conversation was interrupted when the body of a man in a Batman outfit smashed against Garcia's window.
It was obviously another act of terrorism by the Joker, but Harvey couldn't worry about it too long, since he was expected at Bruce's fundraiser that night. Harvey attended with Rachel, though he was uncomfortable around the so-called "trust fund brigade" and perplexed by Bruce's late entrance by helicopter with three women in tow. While Bruce took a few cheap shots at him, the man also had a rather praiseworthy speech to give in Harvey's name. Meanwhile, the amount of danger Harvey was potentially in (considering the mob's vendetta against him) got him thinking that his life was floating in the balance, and there were some knots he wanted to tie before anything unfortunate happened--knots he wanted to tie with Rachel. While he might have known it to be impulsive and rushed, Harvey also knew that he loved her and wanted to be with her for as long as he lived, even if it might not be that long. So he pulled Rachel away from whatever conversation she was having with Bruce in order to propose. Rachel was unwilling to answer, but before Harvey had the chance to be upset about it, he was grabbed from behind and thrown in a closet.
While it's unclear if Harvey was knocked out or what, he later found out that the Joker crashed the party and threw Rachel off the building, but Batman showed up in time to save her. (More points for Batsy in Harvey's book!) He also found out that the Joker had put out hits on himself, the police commissioner, and the judge who had presided over the case that got all of those criminals convicted. (The Joker had also announced that people would continue to die until Batman took off his mask and showed himself.) Harvey was the only one who actually survived, and despite the fact that he could easily be targeted again, he was willing to act as prosecutor for Lau's testimony the following day.
However, that was interrupted by everyone having to attend the funeral procession for Commissioner Loeb. The Joker had given a tip-off that the mayor would be his next target, which meant that everyone was on edge during the ceremony. Still, Harvey walked side-by-side with the mayor and was in the front row with Rachel as Garcia gave a speech about Loeb. Unfortunately, no one had expected the Joker and his men to masquerade as the officers who were doing the 3-volley salute. Due to a distraction, they were able to turn their guns on the mayor, but Gordon took the shot for him.
Harvey rushed Rachel to a car so that she could be taken to safety, but chose to go back to try and get some information out of one of the Joker's men. He found one handcuffed to the back of an ambulance, and the fact that the man refused to speak and also had a tag on his uniform that read Rachel Dawes (an indication that she was next on the Joker's list) forced Harvey to act. He drove the ambulance to an abandoned warehouse, and once he had the man tied up, he called Rachel. When she told him she was at the MCU, he told her that it wasn't safe there and urged her to go to Bruce's penthouse, which Rachel claimed to be the safest spot in Gotham.
Harvey started to interrogate the man, using his coin as a scare tactic. He told the man that if he flipped and got heads, he wouldn't shoot him, but if he got tails, that was another story--not letting on that the coin was two-headed, so he had no intention of actually harming the man. Batman showed up and stopped him, first explaining that the man Harvey had kidnapped was a paranoid schizophrenic and wouldn't have any information for him, and then pointing out how out of line Harvey was. Batman warned that if anyone saw what Harvey was doing, it would undo all of the work he had done for Gotham thus far. Batman then admitted that he would be turning himself in, since he couldn't allow the Joker to take any more lives. This hit hard for Harvey, who saw himself and Batman as two sides of the same coin. (Harhar.) He begged Batman not to do it, but got no response.
The next day, Harvey held a press conference (Batman had asked him to) and tried to plead with the crowd, pointing out that they shouldn't give in to a terrorist and knowing that Batman revealing himself would be the beginning of the end. The crowd insisted that the lives of civilians were more important than one masked man, and so Harvey was left with no choice. He claimed that he was the Batman, knowing that the Joker would show himself in an attempt to get at him and then the real Batman would have a chance to get the psychopath. Harvey was taken into custody, and Rachel came to see him as he was being escorted to the swat vehicle that would move him to central holding. She tried to talk him out of it, saying it was too dangerous, but Harvey was willing to take the risk. He showed her his coin, saying he would go through with it if it landed heads. She chastised him for leaving something so important to chance, but then he gave her the coin so that she could see that it was double-headed, meaning that he couldn't be convinced, and that he "made his own luck."
The ride was a rocky one, and the van he was in got banged around a good amount by the Joker and company, though Harvey didn't have much of an idea of what was going on since he was inside the whole time. Though it was easy to tell when Batman showed up, and when the vehicle suddenly stopped Harvey could only hope for the best. Surprisingly, the back of the van was opened by Gordon, who had faked his death to keep his family safe, and who delivered the good news that they had caught the Joker.
Harvey got taken to a car so that he could be driven home, but the cop (who was supposed to be one of Gordon's trusted men) turned out to be working with the mob, and he knocked Harvey out. Harvey woke up in a warehouse, tied to a chair and rigged up to countless barrels of gasoline. More troubling than that was that Rachel's voice was coming out of a phone near him, and it turned out she was in the same situation. She explained that she'd been told that only one of them was going to live, and their friends would be the ones to choose. Trying not to panic (the timer was right in front of him, ticking down), Harvey tried to convince Rachel (and himself) that they would be coming for her, not him, as he looked for a way to cut his ropes. Instead, he ended up knocking over one of the barrels and his chair, and the gasoline soaked his upper left side--most notably, his face.
Even as Rachel tried to get out some last words before their time was up, telling him that she did want to spend the rest of her life with him, Harvey lied and kept telling her that it was going to work out despite how slim the chance of that was. But then the door Harvey was facing slammed open and Batman rushed in. Harvey knew that meant that he was going to make it out and Rachel wasn't, and he yelled for Rachel and struggled as Batman dragged him out of the building, not understanding why Batman hadn't gone for her instead. They got out, but they were still close enough to the building that the gasoline on him ignited when the building exploded, burning the left side of his face down to his neck and shoulder severely. The agonizing pain was enough that he passed out.
He was in and out of consciousness until he woke up at the hospital, the pain worse than ever. On the side table he saw his coin, and his heart lifted at the possibility that Rachel was alive, since he had entrusted her with it beforehand. But when he grabbed for it and found that the other side was burned...
Harvey Dent snapped.
It was due to a combination of things, Rachel's death being the most prevalent. After all the work he had put into saving Gotham, nothing had come of it. He had put criminal after criminal behind bars, but all that did was make things worse by bringing out the real insanity in the Joker. What he got for his efforts, his determination, and his stubbornness was being betrayed (by Gordon, by Batman, by Gotham), the death of the person who meant the most to him, and the disfigurement of his face. He couldn't take it, not when it was all so unfair.
He ripped off the bandages over his face and refused to let them be put back on; he refused pain medication; he refused skin grafts. When Gordon came by to offer his condolences, all Harvey had for him were bitter words, a thinly-veiled threat, and a request that he repeat the nickname the GPD had for him: Two-Face.
The next thing Harvey was really aware of (other than a lot of commotion around the hospital) was the Joker standing over his bed. Harvey thrashed against his restraints, but to no avail. The Joker, meanwhile, tried to assure him that what he had done was nothing personal, and he started explaining himself. All the things he had done were basically meant to send a message -- to show the police, Gordon, Harvey, and everyone else how pathetic their attempts to control things were. The Joker believed in anarchy, chaos, and doing things just for the sake of doing them.
The Joker knew the exact worst thing to say to Harvey when the man was in such a state of emotional turmoil: "And you know the thing about chaos? It's fair." He pulled out a gun and placed it to his own head, and with the option of killing the man who ruined his life being dangled in front of him, Harvey took his idea of flipping a coin to decide if someone lives or dies and applied it--he accepted Joker's idea of chaos, but gave it some order. Now, everyone got a 50/50 chance, because in his mind that's what Rachel got.
The coin came up on the good side, and so he begrudgingly let the Joker go and then left the hospital himself, despite the pain he must have been in. (It turned out that the hospital had been evacuated since the Joker was planning to blow it up.) On a quest for vengeance, Harvey's first target was the man who had driven him to the warehouse. Harvey found him at a bar and demanded to know who Rachel's driver was. When the man said he had no information, Harvey flipped for his life and when the bad side came up, he put a bullet between the man's eyes.
Figuring Sal Maroni would have the information he needed, Harvey tracked him down and accosted him in the car he was using to get out of the city. When Maroni asked if Harvey would spare his life if he told him what he wanted to know, Harvey simply said it wouldn't hurt his chances. Harvey got the name he was looking for and then flipped his coin, getting the clean side. He flipped again, this time for the driver (loophole!), and got the burned side. After putting on his seat belt, Harvey aimed the gun for the back of the driver's head and pulled the trigger, sending the car into a crash.
For Damned purposes, he'll have passed out in the crash and will wake up in the institute.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
There was a good reason why Harvey ended up with the title of "Gotham's White Knight." Breaking out of the lawyer stereotype (somewhat), Gotham was always his first priority, and he was determined to do things by the book, using law and order to clean up Gotham rather than Batman's more... hands-on approach.
Harvey was also squeaky clean as far as his reputation went, and strongly opposed to the corruption that seemed to be unavoidable in Gotham. Even though a smear campaign was put out against him, it fell apart when it came to light that the people behind it were the truly corrupt ones. It seemed that Harvey could only do good, but the really remarkable thing about him was that he not only was able to recognize what was wrong with Gotham, but he was damned and determined to do whatever was in his power to fix it.
As Gordon himself commented, Harvey was stubborn, and he didn't seem to know the meaning of giving up. On top of that, he had some serious guts, if the fact that he was able to disarm a mobster and punch him out is any indication. He refused to back down even when death threats were put out against him, and considered Bruce Wayne's high-class pals to be a lot scarier than the entire mob.
He was also very charismatic, and skilled at public speaking. While it's true that he was good politician material, which obviously has bad connotations, it's heavily implied that he didn't take all of those steps for fame or recognition, but because he knew that was what he needed to do to get elected -- and he knew that getting elected was the only way that he could start making serious changes around Gotham.
While he might have known how to be diplomatic, he also was very blunt and straight-forward when he could afford to be. He wouldn't beat around the bush, but instead say it like it is. He also had faith in his own skills that might border on arrogance in certain situations. ("If I get him back, can you get him to talk?" "I can get him to sing.") Still, this is understandable considering he was very good at what he did.
All in all, Harvey was a devoted person. Gotham was always top priority for him, and he was ready to do whatever was required to heal the city, but this also applies in terms of his relationships. While Rachel is the only close relationship of his that we know about, he was extremely devoted to her. He valued her life far above his own, and he took at least part of the blame for her death. (This is from a point after when I'm taking him from, but it still applies: When Batman tells Harvey to punish the people responsible, Harvey puts a gun to his own head, indicating that he knew he was part of the problem.) On that note, Harvey was always willing to take responsibility for his actions, which was why he had no problem with the mob being out for him. He wasn't opposed to facing the repercussions of the actions he took -- the problem was when someone else (namely, Rachel) was involved. Because that's just not fair.
He had a very strong moral code, and was able to see past things other people might hesitate at in order to fulfill that code. He didn't hesitate to point out that the corruption in the police force was a serious problem that needed to be addressed, despite the fact that he was stepping on a lot of toes by doing so. Similarly, he ended up trusting both Gordon (if not his underlings) and Batman because he knew them to be good people. With Gordon, he was willing to trust him despite his reservations about some of the other police officers because he knew that Gordon personally was a good person. As for Batman, while most of the Gothamites weren't sure what to think of the vigilante, Harvey was able to see the pinpoint the important thing, and that was that Batman was doing the right thing the best way he knew how. In a way, they were kindred spirits.
But there's a reason I've been writing this in the past tense.
As I mentioned, one of the comics that was the inspiration for The Dark Knight is The Killing Joke, which focuses on the Joker. I mention this because his main philosophy in that comic is that all it takes is one bad day for someone to be driven insane. The Joker in the movie makes a similar comment, when he tells Batman: "Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it needs is a little push." He succeeded in proving that with Harvey, though there was a lot more that also went into his mental breakdown.
Like I already explained in the history, it was Rachel's death (and more specifically, the circumstances under which she died), his own disfigurement, and the fact that he put his all into saving Gotham, which in the end swallowed him up and spat him out, that led to Harvey's descent into madness. Rachel's death is what broke Harvey Dent, but the Joker was the one who molded him and gave his newfound insanity some misguidance.
The Joker pointed out that all the planning Harvey did got him nowhere, and that he needed to accept chaos as the way of their screwed-up world. Someone like Harvey couldn't prescribe to the Joker's views completely, though. Harvey was a man who had used laws (or rules) to make things happen, and so even in his insanity he needed a rule, which is why he decided to fall back on the coin. He now sees it as the great equalizer, and the only real morality in a world so far gone. Seeing how he has already used it to kill three people at the point that I've taken him from, he won't be able to turn back on this idea, and he believes in it without faltering.
Harvey is now full of anger and the need for vengenace. He was never a particularly patient person, but now it's worse than ever, and he won't hesitate in resorting to shouting to get his point across. Despite that, he can also be surprisingly calm and and carry an almost normal conversation with someone. He isn't delusional--it's more that his morality has been severely warped and he's given up on trying to save Gotham, which has led to a whole lot of bitterness. He also seems to think that no one's life is as bad as his, since he chooses to harp on about how horrible his life has become twice during his fairly short killing spree. He has no consideration for human life anymore, seeing how he is willing to kill a young boy in order to prove his point.
That being said, Harvey would not just kill for the sake of it. He doesn't get any thrill out of murder (though he certainly gets some satisfaction), and he isn't exactly run-of-the-mill when it comes to villains. For one thing, he's pretty new to the whole thing, so he's going to have to figure out how he's going to apply his new beliefs long-term. For another, the coin toss is, essentially, bad versus good. A lot of the comics seem to forget that not killing someone doesn't necessarily count as good; it's just not bad. Considering that Nolan (the movie's director) said that this version of Harvey is more of a vigilante, he's got more of a duality to him rather than just being a bad guy. He has the capability to still do some good, but only if the coin toss comes up that way. (Also, this duality pretty much takes place for the multiple personality disorder that's a staple in the comics. This Harvey isn't that particular brand of crazy.) He's no Batman by any means, but he does have the potential for good.
As for his face -- while he's obviously not happy about what happened to him, he doesn't make any efforts to hide his appearance. In fact, he wants to show it off. (God, Harvey, stop being such an exhibitionist~) This ties in a bit with his whole woe-is-me thing, and some more bitterness due to that old nickname. He also makes a comment about not wanting to hide what he really is, since his physical appearance now fits in with his whole live-or-die mantra.
Also, some of his old traits still stick around, since he's still Harvey. He's still stubborn, he's still gutsy, he's still determined. It's just that his mindset has been completely twisted. It remains to be seen how much he'll get into the Two-Face persona and leave his old life behind, but I'll address that more in the following questions.
Please give us a detailed physical description of your character: Harvey used to be a pretty good-looking guy, standing at an average height with an average build with blond hair, blue eyes, and one hell of a cleft chin. The canon kind of makes a point of his good looks (so that the fact that he's made ugly is even more of a big deal), so yeah... he's pretty attractive.
Now he's got quite the burn that's disfigured the whole left half of his face (and his neck and part of his shoulder, though not as severely). All of the skin is burned away so his tendons can be seen in perhaps too much detail, and in some places (chin, jaw) it's so bad that the bone is showing. His left eye is more or less intact, but everything around it is gone, so most of the eyeball can be seen and it gives off the impression that it's popping out. Surprisingly, he can still move it. He can also talk without any problem, and apparently take shots of alcohol like a champ. (But that's because he's a badass.) His lips are pulled apart and apparently are stuck that way, since his teeth on that side are always showing. All of the hair on his left side has burned away (SADLY), so the shape of his skull can be seen. Creepy.
The burn is pretty much right down the middle of his face, though, so the right side is undamaged. From a profile view, you'd barely be able to tell. So he's... half-pretty still.
Obviously, this would be something of a problem at Landel's, so he'll be forced to wear bandages/gauze over that side of his face during the day. He'll be ripping them off every night, but it's not like anyone worries about keeping up appearances during nightshift.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?: After he causes the car that he, Maroni, and Maroni's driver are in to crash.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?: Other than somehow being able to survive with half his face blown off? Nada.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?: For the moment, Harvey staying alive is a good thing. 8D
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?: First off would be his skills as a prosecutor. While we're shown very little of him in the courtroom, the movie implies that he's damn good at what he does, considering he was able to get guilty sentences for pretty much all of the Gotham's money launderers. He also is able to think of a specific case that can be used to net about half of Gotham's mobsters in one go off the top of his head. All of this implies that he's a very persuasive person (and that's backed up by the fact that he was able to talk down the very paranoid Notaro during the White Knight Incident).
He's also a good public speaker, though he wouldn't really be making any use of that at this point, since he's lost all of his faith in those ideals. He would still be pretty damn good at convincing someone of something if he was ever in that sort of position, though.
It's canon that he played on his college varsity soccer team (d'awww), so he's probably still got some leftover skill from that. It's not like he's practiced in ages, but he's probably got a damn good kick in him still.
He's proficient with firearms, though he's mainly shown using one at close range, so it's a bit uncertain how good his aim is. He's also able to name the gun that's pulled on him by Rossi without a second thought, though, so he must pretty familiar with them.
Lastly, he's got some amazing pain tolerance. Like, seriously, it's a mystery how he can even walk around with half of his face blown off, but he does it. And manages to even be sort of lucid. So there's that, too.
How about improbable appendages?: Nope, just an improbable face.
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP: First, I'd like to start off by saying that Harvey is going to be a difficult character to play in this setting, but I've given it a lot of thought, and I'm willing to make it work. For one thing, the point in time I've taken him from will ensure that he does have a reason to want to get out. Not that the reason (get to Gordon and make him pay) is a very good one, but this way he'll have some drive.
Making friends isn't going to be easy for Harvey, but the good thing is that the coin will help some with this. I'm really looking to explore how he'll grow into his new villain persona with this game, including getting more dependent on the coin and developing more of a dual persona. It won't be anything like the MPD he has in most of the comics, since this version of Harvey doesn't have any previous mental problems, but he might act differently depending on his coin tosses.
Speaking of which, I'll be doing what I can to make sure he doesn't overdo it with the coin, but that he also uses it when appropriate. And I'm going to be flipping an actual coin whenever I do it, which will give him some spontaneity that I don't have with any other character.
Harvey won't be very good at meeting new people, especially at the beginning, but I do expect him to mellow out some eventually, and he's smart enough to realize that he isn't going to be able to get much done on his own. Whether he'll actually form close bonds with anyone is doubtful, but hey... Anything can happen! Maybe someone will make it their mission to be his friend, who knows. DX
Also, there will probably be a Batman in the RP one way or another, which is going to make things a lot more interesting for Harvey, since he'll definitely be looking to track him down -- once again, for the oh-so-creative reason of revenge. And there's a Crane in the game already, so he'll possibly be teaming up with him due to a mutual interest in wanting to get their hands on Batman. And there's a Harley -- while Harvey won't know who she is, she'll be able to tell he's some version of Two-Face (I've spoken to the player about this already), which should also make for interesting interaction.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?: The first response is going to be anger. Harvey would probably realize that he should be in an institute (though there would also be some denial about it), but he would still be pissed as hell about it. Considering he just found out who is somewhat responsible for Rachel's death, not being able to track her down and deal with her is going to leave him on edge and even more snappy than usual. He's also going to be upset about the fact that they want him to keep the bandages on, and he'll fight against that until he realizes that all it gets him is a needle-full of sedatives. (Man, it's going to be nice to have a character who is actually nuts enough to get sedated for once!)
As for believing the whole "you made it all up" thing, he won't buy it. What's happened to him is obvious enough in a physical sense, and the pain he went through is too real to have been some figment of his imagination. The fact that they would even suggest that would be enough to get him to fly off the handle.
So yeah, lots and lots of anger at first. It will have to mellow out eventually, though he'll never attain a real calm, I don't think, especially considering the state of things at Landel's. He'll just start to be upset about the fact that after everything else, he's now been trapped in a loony bin that has matching half-dead monsters. There's also a chance that what's left of his rational side will be bothered by the injustice of what Martin Landel is doing, especially since it's going to become obvious that people aren't picked arbitrarily. (If that were the case, he'd probably be alllll for it.)
There's a good chance he'll want to give up eventually since he won't think it's worth it to try and get out, and that could quickly lead to suicidal thoughts. I don't just toss that out randomly, either, since Harvey has a tendency to want to off himself no matter what canon he's from (comics, movie, even the damn cartoon). Obviously I'll have to set it up so that someone talks it out of him, and he usually abandons the idea once he's been stopped. Or loses the coin toss. >_>
Dealing with Batman is going to cause for conflicted emotions, probably, and that'll be made even more confusing for poor Harv when he finds out that Batman = Bruce Wayne. (And there's no doubt that he will eventually, considering Damned and the fact that some people know Batman as a comic book series where they're from.)
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Considering Harvey is unsettling and outright horrific himself, he should be okay.
In all seriousness, he's had to deal with threats being made on his life and obviously knows a whole lot about criminals considering he's had to prosecute his fair share of them. He's intimate with just how ugly the world can be at this point, and while mutated monsters and such are going to be a bit new for him, maybe he can make some disfigured friends. 8D;; NOT REALLY, but-- since he has to look at his handsome mug in the mirror everyday, I don't think it'll be a problem. Not to mention he's proved that he's near fearless, and he has very little regard for his life at this point anyway, so... he's really just going to wonder why his life continues to suck.
As for body: It's true that the pain is going to be rough on him, but considering he manages to haul ass across Gotham and kill some people while in that state, I think he'll manage in one way or another. He's actually pretty physically fit, and it's mainly the pain that's going to be slowing him down, but... like I've mentioned, Harvey is stubborn. He'll find a way to deal. And when all else fails, he can always run. :|
Third-Person Sample:
For a moment, Harvey didn't look at the coin that had landed neatly in his palm. In his veins, he knew he would do whatever it said, and there was something almost empowering about that. With its help, he could pull the trigger; he could kill a madman.
It was strange, knowing how badly he wanted the burned side to show, and the disappointment he felt when that wasn't the result he got would have scared him before now.
"Aww, that's too bad. Better luck next time, Harvey." He felt the Joker pull out of his grasp and it took everything in him not to seize him by the throat.
"Now," the Joker continued, placing a hand on his hip as he glanced at the clock placed neatly on the wall of the hospital room, "I've got a hospital to blow up. I like you, so here's some friendly advice." The man stopped and looked him over. Harvey could feel his painted eyes examining his face and felt more uncomfortable about it than he wanted to admit.
"It would, umm, be in your best interest to leave now." The Joker procured what was obviously a detonator, showing it off before falling into a cackle and almost skipping out of the room.
Focusing on the retreating footsteps, Harvey pushed himself up out of the bed. It caused a flare of pain to shoot through him with every move he made, but he wasn't thinking about that now. The Joker had left the gun, and also given him the opportunity to escape. While he had lost his chance to kill him, he expected the Batman would be able to take care of him for now.
Before, it would have been his first priority to track the psycho down and get him into custody. But the GPD had already captured the Joker once, and it hadn't done them any good. The only way to really get rid of him was with a bullet between the eyes, but he doubted the Batman would have it in him.
Now, though, all Harvey wanted was another chance with the coin, and he knew exactly who his next target would be. With the fingers of one hand curled around the gun, he stalked out the door and quickly located the nurse's station. After some haphazard searching, he found his personal effects. There wasn't much, but at least he could get out of the hospital gown.
He stripped unceremoniously, though he couldn't help pausing when he got a better look at how the burns spread down his left side. He got a whiff of his own sizzled flesh and then turned his head away as he put his suit back on. He didn't miss how it was burned the same way he was, and it seemed like the perfect way to finish off the image.
Two-Face. It was almost too convenient.
He hadn't been able to catch which way the Joker had headed, so instead Harvey followed the hospital signs that led him to one of the exits. The building started going down only a few moments after he had gotten out, almost like the clown had been timing it. The Joker wanted him to live and spread his own brand of chaos, and Harvey was more than ready to at this point.
The fact that the place had been primed to blow meant that the surrounding area was already deserted, and as he walked the abandoned streets and heard the hospital collapse behind him, it really did feel like the world was going to burn along with him.
First-Person Sample:
I really doubt Harvey would bother to write anything down, especially in the beginning when he's just going to be a big ball of rage. Even after he's cooled off, recording his thoughts in a *~*diary*~* just wouldn't appeal to him. He might use it to take notes if needed, but other than that he would just ignore the thing. Oh, though he might record the results of his coin tosses or something like that if he got bored and was looking for something to do.