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[snakeeyeddarling]

It's interesting to me how Harley genuinely seems to believe that he's doing the right thing but not for the right reasons.

(This is more of a ramble than anything so please excuse any mistakes)

He mentions in chapter four that: "The ONLY difference is that what I fight for actually gains humanity something."

You could just attribute this to Harley trying to turn us against Poppy but I do think he actually meant what he was saying.

We know that Harley lacks humility, yet the actual reason he was kicked from the Young Geniuses Program was more because he was only interested in progress for progresses sake. He only cared about whether he could do something, not whether he should.

Elliot mentions himself in the letter removing Sawyer from the program that: "Scientific progress should ALWAYS be to the benefit of humanity," and I actually do think Harley took that part to heart. Only, he still didn't care about humanity in the slightest and probably didn't have a reason to. He just wanted Elliot's approval. Or perhaps he was trying to spite him.

In Harley's eyes the biggest flaw humanity has is mortality. He describes it canonically as an inferno. A flame to be escaped. That was one of the ulterior motives he had when he created the BBI - a way to turn humans into living beings that would never age or grow sick.

He even says himself before he dies in chapter four: "I was the one that paved the golden path," which I'm fairly certain is a reference to the "Golden Path" in Dune; something that also ties into ensuring humanity's survival.

In the Icepick Arg too you can find this message:

Here Harley describes himself as being merciful, sparing humans from their inevitable fates and the limitations of their own bodies. However he isn't doing any of it for humanity's sake, only for the recognition, approval, and attention. And because Elliot told him to.

He justifies himself here again, fully believing he is in the right and that others will understand in a thousand years, once humanity is "saved" because of an immortality he discovered.

Also consider how Harley's last words are: "You...saved...nobody..."

I think he's talking to us, but also to himself. He's acknowledging that despite his brilliance and achievements, he wasn't the savior he believed he was.

In the end, Harley is such a fascinating character to me because he does believe he's doing the right thing but because he doesn't understand why he needs to do the right thing, he actually ends up hurting people more than he does helping them. Ironically enough, it is exactly what Elliot was afraid of when he removed Harley from the YGP:

"Progress made simply for the sake of progress often winds up hurting us more than it helps."

It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. And despite the fact Harley is an irredeemable, narcissistic psychopath, I think it's tragic that he and so many other people suffered because he fought so hard for a cause he didn't believe in. Not truly.

[snakeeyeddarling]

Elliot.... Look, I'm sure the man had nothing but good intentions and truly cared about Harley but like others have pointed out, he really did not consider Harley's situation at all. He mentions in his observations about Harley that the boy probably has a bad home life:

"From here and there he talks about home, I get the sense that he doesn't miss it very much."

AND YET HE ENDS HIS LETTER TO HARLEY WITH:

"So I challenge you to head for home, Harley, and to look at the people around you."

LIKE SIR YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM PROBABLY AREN'T GREAT WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT

Chances are that Harley did go home afterwards (he is a still child at this point after all, where else can he go?) looked at the people around him and fully threw away whatever humanity he had left after that - becoming the person we know today.

Not to justify Harley's actions at all, but I would feel betrayed too if I opened up to someone about a rough home life, and then when they kicked me out of the one safe place I had they sent me back home.

Like hello?

And again, I truly believe Elliot thought he was doing the right thing. But I don't think he should have made the fatal assumption that every child came from a good home - especially with all the hints already in place.

[snakeeyeddarling]

Does anybody else think that Harley went after Quinn because Quinn reminded him of what he was like as a child?

Think about it right. Both Quinn and Harley while he was at the Young Geniuses Program were anti-social kids with strange tendencies and a "different" way of seeing the world that nobody else really understood, which is how Harley was able to manipulate Quinn into increasing his scores.

I'd imagine that while he was attending the program, Elliot likely said the same thing to Harley as Harley did to Quinn ("There's nothing wrong with you. I see the real you. I understand.") only Elliot actually meant what he was saying and genuinely seemed to care for Harley. Later, when he kicked Harley out of the program, Harley even writes himself "nobody understands," and "I thought you cared."

He sees a bit of himself in Quinn and that's how he knew exactly the right things to say to gain his trust. The exact same thing Elliot told him all those years ago.

And in both cases it worked perfectly.