Harley & Yarnaby/Quinn Analysis, Part 1: Quinn's Anxiety & Harley's Script
Harley and Quinn/Yarnaby, the duo that everyone has done a big analysis on, haha, I aspire to be no different.
Well, actually, there is ONE big thing I want to do different.
I'm going to try and focus on the pre-experimentation Quinn in this document and my thoughts on the relationship.
I admit that it took me a long time to write this because I wasn't sure how to go about it: I wanted it to be respectful and NOT dismissive of Quinn/Yarnaby's suffering. When I go in depth, my natural perception on the situation is slightly...different then other people's because of my perception of Harley.
I decided to just be forthright. Not downplay what happened to Quinn but not hide my perceptions of what happened, and I do indeed perceive it as terrible wrong and horrifying.
I know I said that the pictures of Quinn's game station performance would be part of the Harley & Yarnaby analysis, but I want to get this out of the way first, because while discussing Harley and Quinn is ALWAYS going to be dark, this perception they have of Harley's view of Quinn pre experimentation is...NOT supported by canon, and it always cast a dark shadow over Harley & Yarnaby analysis.
And I guarantee you, after clearing up Part 1, we WILL go over all of that. We will go over the isolation, the conditioning that Harley inflicted on Quinn. We will go over the strange anecdotes, the other experiments Harley conditioned as his pets (Baba Chops, etc.)
But first, I want to go over this, because so many people get this wrong.
If I had to phrase it one way, I would say it like this: Harley didn't care about Quinn: but he was attached to Yarnaby. Pre-Surgery: Quinn was just another test subject, just another experiment. But after the Yarnaby procedure, Quinn became, in Harley's Mind: A Kitty.
"But why, pray tell, does it matter so much to you that Harley only became fascinated with Yarnaby after he became an experiment?"
Like, some people do like to portray Harley and Quinn having some kind of bond before Harley's attempted motivational speech to Quinn in Playcare, but I don't see it on either end. It paints a very socially adept version of Harley, that just doesn't vibe with what we know about him.
After Experimentation was undeniably a different story: THAT is when Harley's fascination begins. THAT is when he begins to fixate, and be reminded of his own cat, and begin rambling about Yarnaby's "funny noises".
From what I've seen in canon Quinn was somewhat ambivalent around Harley at first, but then grew uneasy after Harley's attempt to "motivate" him.
On Harley's end, I would never deny the toxic and screwed up and wrong actions of experimenting on another human and then conditioning them to be your pet.
Nothing can excuse or undo the damage done to Quinn, of course. Baseline Quinn I believe was frightened of Harley, and overwriting that to become emotionally dependent is sickening.
I just think that it's important to talk about this:
Quinn's game station scores are notably...strange after Harley's talk. He outright did worse at Musical Memory-going from an average three to a flat zero because he simply refused to engage with the test at all. That boy was scared. I think the fact that he was holding back in the first place might've actually realized that the kids who did best at the game station often "disappeared".
[Image ID: A comparison of two documents:
Document Text 1:
Game Station Test Subject Assessment Form
Subject Name: Quinn Navidson
Procter Name: Matteo Lata
Assigned Toy: Yarnaby
Performance [1-5]: 3
Results:
Several mistakes, but finished with roughly par time.
Performance [1-5]: 2
Results:
Quinn's awareness and response time leaves a lot to be desired. Frequently missed their target.
Performance [1-5]: 3
Results:
Completed the obstacle course within expected time, but lost once and was instructed to restart.
Game Station Test Subject Assessment Form
Attached Post-It Note: Can't find 1166's damn
files. IT needs to get
more organized.
We need some sort of
recover command.
Subject Name: Quinn Navidson
Procter Name: H. Sawyer
Assigned Toy: Yarnaby
Performance [1-5]: 1
Results: Was unresponsive to the trial. No apparent comprehension of the rules or goals.
Unable to complete the game and no attempt seemed to be made.
Performance [1-5]: 4
Results: Was able to outperform the previous run-through, despite not being able to properly handle a GrabPack.
Bit the heads off several of the stuffed toys used for the game.
Performance [1-5]: 5
Results: Completed the obstacle in under 20 seconds.
Ran back into the course when handlers attempted to remove him from the room.
Hid in the foam pit and could not be located for 15 minutes.
(Between the two documents, an arrow with the text: "One Harley Motivational Speech Later")
(Text between the two documents, comparing the two scores:
"
Goes from perfectly average to zoning out the entire game. Quinn definitely held back here.
Score from 3 to 4
Mateo Lata did not mention Quinn mishandling a grabpack in the previous document. I'm sure he would've, since if you're grading the kid's "awareness" and "response time" it would seem very notable if the kid was struggling with the equipment. Despite Harley stating Quinn "outperformed", I'm not sure what metric Harley was using since if the huggies were close enough to bite, then Quinn wasn't using the grabpack to repel them as the test instructed. Quinn was likely trying to underperform again too, or else acting out due to anxiety, but Harley graded unexpectedly...high.
Quinn actually did what Harley wanted for this one alone, but him running away and hiding for fifteen minutes indicates anxiety.)]
Quinn is not acting like a child eager to impress Harley. He's acting like a terrified child acting out due to stress.
Now for what instigated Quinn's strange test fluctuation:
Disclaimer: EVEN IF HARLEY IS FAILING, THERE IS OBVIOUSLY STILL A CLEAR MANIPULATION ATTEMPT, SO PLEASE GO GET HELP IF SOMEONE APPROACHES YOU LIKE THIS XD
So let's dig into the one place we see Quinn before his surgery, there one conversation, on both ends. Quinn's growing unease and Harley's...Harleying.
First of all, notice that his conversation with Quinn is labeled as an "assessment". This wasn't some conversation Harley had with Quinn in some corner off the record. The Harley - Quinn conversation was part of the assessment. Someone was transcribing this. Someone set this up. Combined with baseline Harley's social ineptitude and...yeah, guys, I think that someone had to help Harley come up with this script.)
[image id: an annotated transcript. text:
Assesment [Annotation: This is directly entitled “assessment” which shows us Harley was not randomly approaching Quinn on his own time] of p██████████████████████date Dated██████
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT [Annotation: “BEGIN TRANSCRIPT” and “Dated”, combined with the fact that this is officially an assessment, make it clear this was a documented procedure]
Dr. Sawyer: Quinn? Might I ask what it is you're doing?
Quinn: Making my toys prettier, Doctor Sawyer.
Dr. Sawyer: And you think they'd be prettier without heads?
Quinn: I think so. Their heads get in the way of their bodies. But if you put dolly's head from... this body over here... onto THIS one... See? He moves all better now.
Dr. Sawyer: I'm sure this is no surprise to you Quinn, but your Counselors are concerned. They perceive your behavior, what you're doing right now, to be troublesome.
Quinn: Oh... I'm sorry...
Dr. Sawyer: Do you agree with their assessment?
Quinn: I don't know that word... I just want to make things prettier. [Annotation: Around this point Quinn becomes significantly less talkative and begins answering with generic phrases like “Why?” and “Okay.” like he’s becoming alienated from Harley]
Dr. Sawyer: Yes, don't we all...
Dr. Sawyer: You want to know what I think, Quinn?
Dr. Sawyer: I think you hold back a lot of yourself. I think you mess up to make others have lesser expectations of you. And I think this, your behavior, is just a result of seeing the world a little differently. There's nothing wrong with that.
Dr. Sawyer: I think you're smart. I think you're capable. And I think in your next test, you will give all of yourself to achieve a good result... Do you know why?
Dr. Sawyer: Because I see you, and not the version of you others want to. I see the real Quinn Navidson... And believe me this: I want the same prettier world you see.
Dr. Sawyer: So next week, when you have another go at the Game Station, I'll be watching, and I want to see all of the real Quinn on display. Do we have a deal?
Dr. Sawyer: Good. Don't disappoint me." [ANNOTATION: Conclusion: While both Quinn and Harley seem familiar with each other, Harley seems out of his depth here, using words too big for Quinn to understand and opening by making Quinn feel like he’s in trouble])
Notice something? Quinn's answers get shorter and shorter, Harley's speeches get longer and longer. The tiny "Okay." from Quinn at the end doesn't feel like someone who's been won over, it feels like someone who wants the interaction to end. And really, I don't blame Quinn for that at all.
If I were a kid and some guy came up to me, implied I was in trouble, and then began giving me a lecture about holding myself back and seeing "the real me", I would be kind of freaked out too.
The only thing that points to any kind of familiarity before this interaction, is that Quinn knows Harley's name before he speaks.
But, that doesn't really imply that Harley was spending any time with Quinn before this conversation, because we clearly see in Chapter 3 there are tons of little minilabs/mini hospital areas where some of the scientists were implied to have gone. The scientists were a part of even the non-experimented orphan's every day lives.) I think that someone gave him this speech as a framework and he was following it. I don't think he has the capacity to manipulate a child like this (especially since he tries to force total compliance over the course of a single conversation).
Notice finally that Harley seems bizarrely unaware of Quinn tuning out Musical Memory.
"Was unresponsive to the trial. No apparent comprehension of the rules or goals. Unable to complete the game and no attempt seemed to be made."
This to me strengthens my theory that Harley was not the one who noticed Quinn's underperforming, and rather was simply the one to carry out the assessment. Because if he did notice Quinn's underperformance, why does it look like he was completely fooled by it?
"No apparent comprehension" is one thing, but then he writes unable to complete the game with no qualifiers.
So...do I think Harley cared about Quinn as an unexperimented orphan? No. The only sign is that Quinn knows Harley's name, and we've already gone over why that doesn't necessarily mean closeness. That might sound cold, but Harley just...that just isn't who he is. He's not sociable. He's not charismatic. He almost certainly does not have a stable attachment model. And, most tellingly, he describes Playtime orphans, and perhaps other people in general, as drooling automotons. And that's a terrible terrible thing to say and a disturbing way to view the world.
But does that mean that his feelings towards Quinn as Yarnaby were the same? No, that's where it gets surprisingly nuanced, though still disgusting, since I think we all can agree it would've been best if poor Quinn and all the other orphans hadn't become experiments at all.
If you want an example of a man cultivating a relationship with an orphan to prime them for experimentation, look no further then Elliot Ludwig & Oliver.
This is more in line with the Harley I tend to analyze. He's not socially adept. He's not charismatic. And, no, he...generally lacks any real manipulative ability. And he isn't really the type to randomly go trying to get buddy buddy with children the way Elliot Ludwig, Bruno White, or Gracie Green would.
I'm not even clear if Harley was the one who noticed Quinn's holding back of himself. He says "I will be watching" like it's some kind of a reward or a treat (And of COURSE grandiose, egotistical Harley would treat his personal supervision as some kind of gift or blessing, though Quinn probably felt the opposite)-the question, of course, being: is Harley actually regularly at the game station? We saw in Jane Ellswin's assessment he was present, but is this consistent?)
Before I go on to part 2, which will mainly cover the beginning of the more infamous, toxic relationship that fans are more familiar with I want to hold a moment of silence for Quinn Navidson.
Here's what we know about him:
He was smart. He was smart enough to modify his toys and smart enough to perhaps realize something about Playcare, even though he couldn't really do anything about it in the end. The 12 Days of Playtime hammers in how much was taken from him.
(Image ID: A picture of Yarnaby, a yellow lion with huge googly eyes and a rainbow mane of yarn and a goofy painted on smile, with text that reads: "A stunted mind that once showed so much promise, Yarnaby was deemed to be a failure in all ways other than the fact he survived. Don’t let that fool you though, he’s highly agile, and can be downright ferocious when angered." "A stunted mind that once showed so much promise" is underlined.)
He was ambivalent to Harley, but became uneasy. He apologized when it seemed like the counselors were upset with him.
And yeah he bit heads off the wuggies, but he was scared and didn't know the truth.
I think he sounds like a pretty great kid.
