Issue 1 Spring 2022

Fictional Characters
With Mental Illness
Written By: Rose Kinoshita | Designed By: Alison Jiang and Olivia Liu
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Azula, a firebending prodigy and the daughter of the ruling
Fire Lord, fights relentlessly to eliminate her older brother
Zuko in competition for obtaining the throne. In the final
episodes of the series, we see Azula exhibiting schizophrenic
tendencies. Her paranoia increases, causing her to have
auditory and visual hallucinations of her mother. However, the
visions of her mother are highly contradictory to the way
Azula remembered her. The emotional turmoil resulting from
the conflicting visions causes Azula’s downfall, eventually
landing her in a psychiatric ward.
Princess
Azula
DC Comics
Harley
Quinn
Originally, Dr. Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist for
the maximum-security prison Arkham Asylum.
However, she transforms herself into the volatile Harley
Quinn, a partner to the psychotic Joker. Although there
are many iterations of her character, the one
commonality is that Harley Quinn’s descent into villainy
begins with a psychotic disorder, in which the Joker is
the primary, or the aggressor & inducer, while Quinn is
the induced, being heavily influenced by his delusions
or criminal grandeur.
Sherlock Holmes
Although Sherlock Holmes, a proficient detective,
claims to be a high-functioning sociopath, it is significantly
more likely that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on
the autism spectrum. Those who have Asperger’s are
more likely to be highly observant and often hyper focus
on an interest, both traits contributing to the success of
Holmes’ career, evident in his picturesque memory. Of the
personality traits he is most known for, Asperger’s often
causes difficulty communicating and empathizing,
causing others to view Sherlock as cold or uncaring.
Sherlock
Holmes