Analyzing Evil: The Joker From The Dark Knight 

Something that always stood out to me about this version of the Joker is that despite all the horrifying things he does, profanity isn't one of those things.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message.” “Everything burns”

“I believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you… stranger.” He’s suffered trauma of some sort.

watching this as a veteran with PTSD, ive held the theory he served for awhile. Saying "when soldiers die no one cares" is...rather specific in my opinion. It appears the joker has recieved the heart of darkness, followed every step.

"If I have to have a backstory...I'd prefer it to be multiple choice."- Joker

The line where he goes "don't talk like one of them, you're not" it shows the kind of tribalism that the Joker shares with Batman that they are both insane

“You’re crazy” “I’m not….no I’m not” such an underrated line

Out of every version of the Joker, this is the only one who hates being called insane.

"I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve." ~Joker

Heath ledger did an 11/10 job of this role.

Fun fact: In this movie, joker constantly licking his lips was ledger annoyed by a problem with face prosthetics, but it eventually became part of the character

The most fascinating thing about heaths joker is he doesn’t even seem like a person, he’s like some cosmic entity, an unknowable force of nature. It’s hard to comprehend that beneath the makeup is an actual human that eats, sleeps, and grew up from infancy. I want to see how he acts when he’s alone

Complete fiction based on assumption here, but; Joker mentions to Harvey Dent at one point as part of his monologue to explain his ideology is "A truck load of soldiers gets blown up, nobody panics." I always thought that was a weirdly specific thing to mention even among this Joker's wild rants. In my mind, I always imagined this is how he was injured in his military service, being the victim and sole survivor of an IED, giving him possibly brain damage as well as a piece of shrapnel that lodged itself into the side of his face which had to be removed later. I also liked to imagine that, given Joker is such a good tactican, he wasn't just a normal soldier either, but possibly more of a spec-op unit like Delta Force, maybe even a unit acting as covert guerilla fighters in enemy territory under a classified operation. This would explain Joker's extreme skill set and knowledge on dismantling established order and authority, as well as his familiarity with military grade firearms and explosive devices. It also stands to reason that if Joker were part of some kind of spec-op unit like this, its very possible his identification records are either classified, deleted, or marked deceased upon his recruitment, and this along either a wiped or classified military record would make it nigh impossible for him to get the kind of medical help and treatment a severely traumatized war veteran needs to maintain stability, which could further add to his disillusionment with the system and society. This would also explain why Batman and the Police can't seem to find any identification records in their investigation, they may either no longer exist or be behind a high security clearance, which neither the Police or Batman at this time have access to. I also like to believe his wife's face was cut by the mob intentionally to match his own, which has a sense of cruelty about it that seems pretty on-point for the Gotham underworld. For his or her gambling debts (or something else) I don't know, but I feel that when Joker is telling Rachel his scar story there's some truth to it, he sounded quite emotional when he said "She couldn't stand the sight of me!" even though that could just be good acting on his part. In his weird, twisted, and PTSD-affected way of processing information I really do think he cut the other side of his face himself to show her "he didn't care about the scars." But his show of affection completely backfired, and the grim visage probably only further reminded her that her husband is unhinged and will never be able to give her the stability in her life that she needs, which could lead to her suicide, which Joker immediately reflects off himself and projects it onto the mob, system, and society that allowed all this tragedy to happen. Her death makes him snap, essentially, and he was already a very dangerous and very damaged individual that was being neglected before it. Once he snaps, he basically becomes an extremely sophisticated mass shooter... he has no objective other than complete chaos and murder, but this individual in particular has training and experience in disabling structures of power through psychological and guerilla warfare, and he uses these tactics to unleash as much chaos as he possibly can. He doesn't even expect to get that far, but he's so good at what he does and he's so well versed in these kind of tactics, he gets to a point where he's turned an entire city against itself and even the national guard has to come in to help stabilize the region and evacuate the mass exodus of people leaving the city. TL:DR: Joker is more violent Jason Bourne that blames the world, not just Treadstone... and also likes clowns.

I read a theory that the joker actually tailors his stories to his victims to psychologically affect them more. I always thought that was interesting.

Joker only wants it to SEEM like he’s doing random things, when he’s planned everything out medical meticulously. Case in point: when he goes to see Dent in the hospital and puts the revolver to his head, his thumb is still on the hammer. Even if Harvey pulled the trigger, nothing would have happened. He just needed to have Harvey think he was in control. This is similar to how Harvey uses his coin; only he knows its double headed (besides Rachel). He too gives the illusion of choice

We lost such a talent with Ledger’s death. I would have been so curious to have seen what the third Nolan Batman film would have been with him in it.

“If you’re good at something, never do it for FREE.” - 🃏

My theory on the Joker's scars is simple: He was lying to everyone. However, I suspect he would have told Batman the truth.

In my opinion the main indicator that he may have been in the military is how he flawlessly preformed in the 21 gun salute. The reason why is because I've learned it myself and its pretty hard to get the hang of and keep in perfect sync, or even understand the corresponding commands, without some reference.

I don't think The Joker himself really knows how he got those scars. The problem with insanity is that your own memory can become an unreliable narrator.

The lack of coherent backstory is one of the key points that made this Joker so terrifying, he came from nowhere, and he came from everywhere. He is the chaos and darkness within us all, and lurking around every corner, but impossible to find and root out.

5 things stick out to me about this Joker's origin. 1.) His card reveal at the end of Batman Begins is sorted in evidence by a cop named J. Kerr (Joe Kerr being a known alias of Joker). 2.) Joker's first line is "I believe that whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you...stranger". This implies that something, at some point, tried to kill him but didn't, and this led to him being the way he is. 3.) Joker claims in his first origin story that his father was an abusive alcoholic, yet gets mad at a man who says "We're not intimidated by thugs" for reminding him of his father, implying that Joker's dad was probably more of an upstanding citizen than he is willing to admit. 4.) Joker says in an offhand line during the Harvey Dent truck chase "I like this job, I like it." which is kind of a weird thing for him to say. The themes of the first and last movies are of the League of Shadows trying to destroy Gotham, and this is also the aim of the Joker. By calling his actions here a "job" is it possible that he was a special agent of the League created specifically to fight Batman at his own game after Ra's Al Ghul's death? 5.) Joker harbors strong opinions about the police and corruption in Gotham ("Their morals, their code, is a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble.") Most of his primary targets are either members of the mob, who control the police, or the police and justice system itself. He's not averse to killing innocent people in the process, but they're only caught in his crossfire. His real targets are law enforcement and the mob. With this knowledge and the fact that Joker's father was apparently the kind of man who would stand up to "thugs" (like an upstanding cop), J. Kerr being the name on the evidence bag, AND Joker's statement about his survival of what didn't kill him making him "stranger", bearing obvious scars from some botched attempt on his life, I think it's likely that Joker is actually a former cop who was genuine about fighting crime at one time, only for his earnestness to nearly cost him his life when he tried to weed out the corrupt elements in Gotham's police force. This explains why he was able to fill out evidence correctly, and he also knows the procedure for the 21 gun salute, and even has a police uniform and knows about the mob's connections within the police. It explains why he targets the mob and Gotham's police indiscriminately, and why he wants Batman to join him. They have the same goals of ridding Gotham of crime, but Batman is still playing by the rules and allies himself with the police, whom the Joker knows better than to trust. In the end, despite sending Harvey Dent into a psychotic break, leaving dead civilians in his wake, and forcing Batman to take the fall for Harvey's crimes, the Joker actually succeeds in eliminating every boss in the mob, and killing most of the corrupt elements in law enforcement. Whatever revenge he was seeking, he apparently got it by the end of the film, as we learn in Dark Knight Rises the Dent Act helped eradicate organized crime.

I personally believe Joker is a former Special Operator who fell victim to PTSD and snapped. Went completely rogue and went on a killing spree to make himself feel alive back when he was an Operator. The planning and execution of all his plans, the manipulation of indigenous forces (street thugs) to work along side him, the tactical prowess of route planning, demolitions placements and even the bank heist. All of these skills and abilities have to have a "know how" to be able to even plan like that.

"Do I look like a man with a plan? I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught it" The Joker uses his bizarre appearance and mannerisms to lull people into a sense of thinking he is purely insane and not a clever mastermind.

As Joker says in The Killing Joke, the difference between him, Batman, and the rest of the world is just one bad day.

“The Joker says he isn’t a man with a plan, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.” Exactly my thinking when I heard that line. The events he brings into play would require a significant amount of planning

I remember seeing Michael Caine saying that that scene in Wayne Tower almost made him crap his pants he was so scared by Ledger’s Joker.

It's still being talked about even after 13 years. A masterpiece it is

3:50 When he talks to Harvey about how nobody panics when a truck full of soldiers is blown up some have theorised that if Joker was a soldier he might have resented the fact that the army saw him and his fellow officers as expendable.

Both Heath Ledger’s and Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayals are both so unique and so distinct that they impact the landscape of film.

One thing no one ever seems to bring up, and has been my theory for years: The Joker WANTS Batman to stop him. Consciously or unconsciously, like serial killers that leave clues and bait the police. Deep down, maybe after all the horrible stuff he went through, he NEEDS to believe that good will stop evil - after having witnessed evil get away with it so often in his own life. That's why he'd never reveal his identity, or end him - because then the opportunity for good to stop evil, and prove to him that good really exists? It's gone.

I think an important note to make about The Joker's kill count is that, he's killed 34 people *that we know of* . It could very easily, and most likely is, many more than that.

I really do believe Heath Ledger intended this character to be a former veteran of sorts. With no superpowers really existing in the Nolanverse, it is possible that's where he learned how to fight and dismantle infrastructures/foreign governments. That could also explain why he doesn't have a name show up in the public database, he was a former special ops member. It's scary to think about a veteran using what he learned against the people he was hired to protect, destroying the way of life he was assigned to preserve.

what i really liked about him is that he appeared out of no where and it wasnt even explained who he really is like it didnt matter. not knowing who he is makes him more random and scary

I always thought the fact that you can't ever truly identify the Jokers past or who he even is was symbolic to his villain name. In a set of playing cards the Joker is its own class and what is referred to as a Wildcard. The wildcard can be anything you want it to be in your set of cards and in the game you play. Similarly to how Joker can get any sane person to believe anything he says about himself or who he is and they'd believe it.

I remember when I took psychology in College. All my essays were about comic book characters and the Joker was a big part of my emotion/motivation paper. My professor fucking loved it. There was the whole intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation debate and even both are intertwined. Nobody knows what makes him do what he does and deep down, we don't want to know. We had to read the DSM-5 very carefully and the Joker did not meet the criteria for anything. It's as if everyone else around him is mentally ill and he's beyond any diagnosis

I’ve always felt when joker said “ you wanna know how I got these scars?” He wasn’t necessarily talking about his physical scars

there's a line in the animated series that the Joker says: "without Batman, crime has no punch-line"

Heath ledger didn’t just portray the joker like we’d never seen before, he portrayed evil like we’d never seen before

Joker may have been a CIA spook. That could be where he learned all his skills with guns, avoiding authorities, and interrogation (shown during his interrogation with Batman where he says “don’t start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy.”)

You should do Agent Smith from the Matrix! Even though he is not human, he still has emotion-like feelings and distain for humanity that shows in interesting monologues throughout the series.

so glad you did Heath's Joker now that you covered him and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker let's see you do Jack Nicholson's Joker of Tim Burton's Batman ^^

“You complete me.” Lol. Never thought I would get lost in the moment with a grown man wearing clown paint and acting as a villain. That’s how great his joker iteration was. Incomparable!

Watching the Dark Knight after watching A Knight’s Tale really show how amazing Heath Ledger truly is. Bravo to him and RIP.

“I’m an agent of chaos” *makes years of peace in Gotham*

“Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.”

I feel like when the joker talks about his scars he's not talking about the ones on his face for the most part, he's talking about how he became who he is now

Joker: "If I'm gonna have a backstory, I prefer it to be multiple choice."

I love his dog chasing cars line idk why but it's just great. "I'm like a dog chasing cars I wouldn't know what to if I caught one"

"Do you think I would risk everything on a fistfight with you?" - Joker, the schemer.

He was quite possibly the best Villian (or portrayal of a Villian ) that I’ve ever seen in a movie

It's unbelievable how young Heath Ledger was when he played this iconic role

"Joker is like a miracle. He just appears" -Slavoj Zizek

Jack Nicholson's joker: Gangster Heath Ledger's joker: Anarchist Joaquin Phoenix joker: Broken Man

I feel everyone misses one element: the Joker's records are gone. Everyone has a trail: a social security number, dental records, fingerprints, DNA... especially someone who served in the military. Wherever the Joker is from, he had the means to completely erase himself, as if he never existed. He either worked within such a records system, or had contact with someone who did. That is a big clue, there.

I'm pretty sure he was a Green Beret because of his planning, discipline, and ability to take that interrogation and beating with ease. Like he went to SERE School

This trilogy is so good. No superpowers, just a great Script and incredible actors. RIP Heath Ledger

"Wanna know how I got these scars?" Who said he was specifically talking about the physical ones? If his story about his father was about mental scars, all his stories can be true. "Whatever doesn't kill you, only makes you... stranger." I imagine there's a bit of truth baked into the things he tells people about himself. He's pretty honest about his intentions and motivations.

“Let’s say a truck full of soldiers just blows up, it’s just ‘part of the plan.’” The quote isn’t exact but his breaking point may have been one similar to the one from Joker. Though he did nothing wrong and in fact helped his country, the world ignored his suffering, leading him into finally putting on the makeup and scaring his face after everything that’s happened to him.

This guy is so well spoken he sounds like the smoothest text to speech ever.

6:02 you can see how subtly badass Alfred was because he didn’t flinch when The Joker shot the shotgun off right next to him, while everyone else did.

Rest in peace mister Leager, you were without question the best Joker.

By the way. Another theory I heard about his scar stories is this: His scar stories are completely improvised on the spot. Basically he gets inside his victim’s head. For Gamble he talks about an abusive father, which chance’s are Gamble had which creates a false sense of connection to his victim. For Racheal Joker talks about a wife. Which Rachel just had a conversation with Dent about marriage just before Joker barrages into the room with his thugs. Joker even later refers to Rachel as Dent’s “Blushing bride to be.” Difficult to say if Joker is just really good at psychoanalyzing people or just due to his connections in a corrupt city he already as information on his victims. Anyway, all this to say. Because of how he tells his stories he creates that connection with his victim right before he kills them. I think this was intended because he even states later he uses knives to “savor the little emotions” people have in their final moments. By creating that false connection with the victim it allows him to draw those emotions out. As for his actual backstory. Well… it doesn’t technically matter. It is definitely inspired by the “I prefer my backstory to be multiple choice” mentality some of his comic book portrayals used. But ultimately he’s the embodiment of anarchy.

Imagine if Heath Ledger didn't die and got to continue as the Joker for another movie. Like playing in the prequel that Joaquin Phoenix did. He was such a great Joker.

I always enjoyed the fact that the movie left us with enough to speculate over the Joker's past, while also making it ambigious enough that none of it may be true, which is very fitting for the Joker.

"In their last moments, people show you who they really are".

R.I.P Heath Ledger. You were a phenomenal actor and a true inspiration.

one of the reasons i love the joker so much as a villain is that there are so many different versions of the joker, all with their own unique personality and all bring something different to the table. even the worst joker has some interesting things about his personality. the joker is a perfect character that any director can focus on a different aspect of the character and make an excellent villain

17:07 And if Rachel survived Joker probably would have taunted her about Harvey's death and planted the idea in her head that Batman had let Harvey die so he could have her to himself. It wouldn't be true but it would be something Joker could easily get the traumatised grieving Rachel to believe.

"what doesn't kill you makes you..stranger"

Jack Nicolson was a great golden age joker. The Adam West show had a great silver age joker. Heath did a fantastic bronze age joker.

This is why Heath Ledger performance is still legendary since the film's release and proves why the Joker is the best villain of all time.

"I heavily used my role as the Joker to illustrate the plight of gamers in our modern society" - Heath Leger

"I want my god damned electric car, Bruce!" -Joker

Fun fact: Gotham went 10 years without crime cause joker made all the crime bosses bankrupt.

He's not mad or evil, he showed the people how inadequate the system is at protecting them. Batman is not a part of that system and if not for him Joker would've collapsed the system.

I would’ve LOVED to see some kind of interaction between Ledge’s Joker and Hardy’s Bane. I’m curious what kind of dynamic they would have had together.

God this was such a good joker, my favorite one actually. Heath did such a good job, putting his ALL into the character.

The scene where Joker nearly kills the mayor is creepy because unlike many other Jokers Ledger's looked like a normal person apart from the scars and could blend in.

One thing I feel was a bit overlooked is the scene where he's going to blow up one of the boats anyway. He says something about giving the people something to really scare them, therefore pushing them over the edge and making them terrible people. That was the point of the boat experiment in the first place, but since that failed he was going to blow up the boat for a reason different than the one described in this video. He was going to blow it up, not simply to scare people, but to make a new experiment from his failed one. Honestly.... pretty scientific.

I hope we never learn Joker’s back story. The mystery adds to the fascination.

I'm not going to lie, this is still one of my favorite films of all time. Just watching Heath Ledger just own the show is stunning every time. It's such a gap from every joker we'd ever seen, yet so perfected and flushed out. I'm excited to watch this.

Nowadays I really appreciate that feeling of "Not being sure" inna movie. It instigates a mistery and makes me imagine what is real. I know I'll never be sure, there will always be theories and that's magic.

Much respect for the great shoutout to Heath Ledger. Dude was incredible.

2:35 My thought about Joker's scar stories is that the one he told Gambol was him picking up on the fact that Gambol might have been abused due to his anger issues and the story might have been Joker describing Gambol's life to him as if it was Joker's own to scare him before he killed him. And the one he tells Rachel was to mock her relationship with Harvey and scaring her with the idea that something would happen to her from being involved with Dent which proved true when she died in the 250 52nd street explosion. Even if either his stories were true they wouldn't explain him or justify his actions anyway.

I can't even imagine what sort of takes Heath would have on Phoenix's joker. Or what other iconic roles might've been in Heath's future as an artist. Truly a tragic loss on every level.

When an actor, whom no one initially thought was right for this role, can take a well established cross media character...and trully create an original and iconic performance that is still disseminated and quoted even today....really deserves the oscar....

I still make time to watch all 3 once a month or every two months. These movies were what got me into character analysis and film analysis.

I would love to see bane, and his philosophy of being a necessary evil.

Omg thank you for posting this! What an iconic villain and performance

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale, pale moonlight?

I always thought that the Joker told no lies and he lived in the area that was affected by the fear toxin from the first movie but was left untreated of it.

I think the real "answer" to the Joker's scars lies in why clowns wear makeup. They do it to enhance and bring attention to the kind of clown they want to portray, sometimes they'll even use it to call attention to physical features that serve the character. We see that without the makeup, people either don't notice Joker's scars or intentionally ignore them out of politeness. In the police parade scene, he's able to stand in front of the entire police force and get a shot off on the mayor without anyone guessing he's the guy who killed fake Batman in the video he just released that the whole city saw (it was on the news). This is the absurdity that the Joker both exploits and points out: people looking the other way and pretending what's hideous or wrong isn't there so as to maintain the facade that everything's fine and orderly. By applying a little blood-colored makeup, Heath Ledger's Joker makes it impossible to ignore those scars. It's one of the first things he brings up because he knows the question of how he got his defining physical feature is what anyone who meets him wants to ask the most. Painting the scars red is a gambit that forces you to engage. But it's a trick because a clown is no more interested in showing you anything about the person underneath the makeup than a magician is in explaining how his magic actually works. The clown is only interested in the face in the mirror. In who YOU see when you look at that face. So why does the Joker ask the question, "Do you want to know how I got these scars?" It's not because he wants you to feel his pain or know who he was, it's because he's trying to push you over the edge. A clown's face portrays what the clown wants you to feel. The Joker is unhinged. His entire MO is to make Gotham see the world the way he sees it. The origin story for his scars is meant to unhinge you. That's why he tells the tale of a messed up father to the head of a crime syndicate: as a leader and killer of men in the underworld, it's likely he's had to be a father figure to his minions and also has daddy issues of his own. It's also why Joker's story for a bride-to-be is about a display of love gone horribly wrong: what's scarier than committing to a man who will betray you is committing to a man whose love you're forced to betray. A person who jokes doesn't want you to know who he is, they want you to appreciate the world from their perspective. The question's a setup and the punchline is what you least want to hear. It's a joke weaponized to weaken the target's psyche, which is why Batman responds by hitting him in the face. The truth is there just isn't enough in the movie to answer how he got his physical scars, but his actions suggest an answer to how he got his psychological ones. Remember the movie's tagline, "Why so serious?" As much as we would like to explain away why the Joker is so crazy with a personal story of abuse and hardship, the real answer lies in why we are serious and why he's not: because he stared into the abyss while we pretend to be too busy, righteous, "good", and look away. It's likely Joker worked for or with the military, but it's even more likely he worked in intelligence, possibly the CIA. Whichever arm of the US government is currently tasked with maintaining global order via localized chaos. More than a brilliant tactician, he's an expert at destabilizing democratically elected governments. He uses propaganda to sour the populace on Batman. He wipes out key political and legal figures, then reveals their corruption to assassinate both the person and their character. And the way he gets local thugs, mercenaries, and crazies to do his dirty work is pretty much how handlers treat their assets. The only difference here is that the Joker isn't telling himself he's doing it for "freedom", "democracy", or even "capitalism" nor is he interested in replacing the corrupt power structure with his own lackeys. Instead, he wants to create a void. The kind of abyss that would force Gotham to confront its own corruption. Batman sacrifices himself to uphold the facade of Harvey's incorruptible character and keep Gotham's faith in authority alive. In doing so, Batman at once proves himself a hero while also proving the Joker right: society is maintained through the hoax of willful ignorance. Something obviously had to go horribly wrong for the Joker to do what he did. But I doubt "The Dark Knight" Joker's origin story is anything close to Arthur Fleck's "The Joker". Heath Ledger's Joker displays genius-level IQ while Fleck is barely literate. Whatever happened, it so obliterated the last shreds of the former's humanity that all we're left with is this eldritch embodiment of the answer to the question "why so serious?" Answer (according to Joker): Because seriousness is all a morally bankrupt society has left to stave off madness and ruin.

*_I keep forgetting that he's an actor... can't help it but his role feels so real! sometimes a little too real_*

That was a good point about the boats. That almost could have been a bit of a redeeming moment but it seems his chaotic insanity overtook any points he may have been trying to make in that instance, cementing him past the point of redemption

One of my favorite scenes is the interrogation. And that's on both Ledger and Bale. Both of them perform perfectly. Joker is slowly winning this battle of will, with Batman resorting to screaming but being very visibly and audibly scared. Joker came across as both mildly funny but insanly anger inducing. And Batman trying so desperately to be on top and obviously panicking is both impressive and tragic. It's one of only a couple of times we've seen Batman vulnerable in live action. Another being with Pattinson's version as he's trying to reach and save Alfred.

Please do Bane. I feel he's very underrated and could deserve his own video. Also would suggest Niander Wallace from Blade Runner 2049 and his short film released with it. Thanks for the content! I'm absolutely riveted by your analysis, and the only unwatched videos of yours are from films I have not seen yet. Now they're all on my watch list though, so thank you!

Ledger's Joker displays strongly on antisocial personality disorder. Almost inhumanly strongly. Of course some of it might be genuine, but some kind of triggering events may have forced him to cope by adopting a different persona, Joker. Maybe he was intelligence analyst. He has interest on masks, identities and "true self". Most likely family he came from paid close attention to appearances and external signs of success. Exposed to lots of stress and hypocrisy from early age. He always had sociopathic tendencies, but they most likely remained under wraps. He is one of those people who have uncanny talent in something and somebody decides to train him to be even better without thinking is it wise move to do? If man is able to plan terrorist attacks just for fun you might not want to teach him how to do them better. Most likely he has encountered some kind of traumatic event which broke his "mask". That is why he is so obsessed with appearances and layers.

It was so perfect how he told lies(?) about his backstory and the origin of his 'smile' in the form of classic Joker jokes... reminds me of the Judge in Blood Meridian, less a human charater than a dark and chaotic trickster force of nature.

Heath was the best actor to personify the joker. He had maticulous and madness down to a T. Methodical, psyciopathic behaviour that had the movie goer convinced he was all that he projected to be. God bless you heath, your perfection in character portrayals was a rare gift that im sure you worked very hard to master, and master it, you did. Take care son