There's the old CABAL : me, the Joker, Catwoman, Penguin and Two-Face. There are all the minor villains, like the Mad Hatter or Scarecrow, some of them my best friends. And there are these gangs we made up, two or three thugs each with cute names and delightful little costumes : Quiz, Query, Mo, Lar, Cur...

This is all a GAME : we've got our logos, our colors, our gimmicks, our allies, our intimate foes... Two-Face plays it at heads or tails, Catwoman like a gymnastic contest, and the Joker without obeying any rule - but this is not to be taken very seriously. The Joker would call it a JOKE. Those of us who don't understand it, like that poor Victor, are bound to mourn in eternal sorrow.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I've never hurt anybody. Not really. Nobody DIED. Now, I guess it's all a matter of choosing who's an actual player and who's an expendable background character. How you DEFINE the game.

Uh...

What you BELIEVE is reality. French philosopher and mathematician Descartes was right, nothing is real but what you perceive, and want to believe is real. Mortality makes a joke out of the quest for objective, absolute reality : isn't a lie you believe all your life more real to you than a truth you've never believed in ?

Perhaps I've been RAVING for years in Arkham Asylum and have never physically been the Riddler nor seen the Batman, and you're another hallucination. Or you and I could in fact be trapped in a giant, artificial set built by superior beings, and our hopes and griefs are just part of some TV SHOW. Or maybe I'm actually playing a futuristic VIRTUAL REALITY program. Who knows ?

You somehow remind me of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. When I first met her she was a helpful, serious psychiatrist unable to hurt a fly. Now she's the sexy accomplice of Gotham's most dangerous criminal.

She changed her take on reality. Maybe you will, one day.