Kay Challis's alters are members of Kay's DID system. They inhabit the Underground, which is the mental construct inside of Kay's head, composed of memories and stations occupied by specific alters. Each alter seems to have a specific purpose, many of them designed to protect Kay, though not all of the 64 are known.
History[]
Origin[]
As a little girl until her early adolescence, Kay Challis was sexually, physically and emotionally abused by her own father. The continuous trauma she suffered caused her to develop Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and manifest 64 different alters.
Characteristics[]
Each of the alters have their own "role" or "job" within the hierarchy of the Underground, a reason for existing that ultimately assists in maintaining the "equilibrium" within the Underground, as stated by the Secretary and Lucy Fugue, and further elaborated upon as the story unfolds. Crazy Jane is the designated primary throughout most of the Doom Patrol story, the one who is "surfaced" or fronting the majority of the time and in control of Kay's body while the other alters are not. Jane, as primary, is charged with caring for the system and making vital decisions to protect them and most importantly, Kay. At one point, it is revealed that Jane wasn't their first host: a previous alter named Miranda was once the host until she abdicated, following a failure to protect them.[1]
While many of the alters are there to protect Kay and the system, there are some who do not seem to share this role. The role of Driver 8, for example, seems to be to transport and navigate the Underground, bringing each of the alters to the "surface" when they are needed. The Weird Sisters' role seems to be to "advise" the alters, having done so for Miranda in the past and Jane more recently. Penny Farthing has stated her role is to "run away from danger", while Hammerhead and Driller Bill are not just protectors, but they also seem to also act as law enforcers within the Underground. Hammerhead in particular seems to take up the role of reigning in rebellious alters, confining and imprisoning them until they "cool off" before presumably returning them to their individual station, as she did with Karen. Black Annis's "role" seems to be to stand guard on the entryway to the Well and prevent any man from passing.[1] The Secretary acts as a mediator when interventions between system alters is necessary. The roles of the alters was further made clear in an argument between Hammerhead and Jane, where Hammerhead angrily told Jane their job wasn't to protect ordinary people but to instead protect the girl.[2] To this end, alters like Flaming Katy and Doctor Harrison are shown to explicitly only surface when Kay is endangered by a specific kind of threat, as seen where Katy appears when Jane is being harassed. Dr. Harrison was implied to only surface only when they faced torture or psychological abuse.
Alters not specifically meant for protecting Kay may be instead meant to calm down Kay when in stressful situations: Karen is known to only surface whenever Jane becomes deeply depressed and appears to cheer her/them up by "finding her one true love". The Hangman's Daughter has stated that her role was to simply paint in peace and quiet in order to calm themselves down. After Baby Doll and Flaming Katy are killed, Jane wonders if the Balladeer was meant to mourn whenever an alter is 'killed'.
Although unconfirmed, due to their status as psychological constructs of the original Kay Challis, it has been stated and theorized by Jane that they themselves cannot be killed, with her later revealing that sometimes a few of the alters within the Underground simply go dormant within her mind only to later resurface later completely fine years later. This was later proven to be somewhat true upon Miranda reemerging from the Well despite the alters' belief that she destroyed herself. It was later revealed however that this was not Miranda but instead Daddy, pretending to be her.
As revealed in "Dad Patrol", alters do indeed truly "die" when their bodies are thrown in the Well, as seen where Baby Doll, Scarlet Harlot, Lucy Fugue and Miranda's bodies were seen floating lifelessly in the Well.
The overall leadership or even hierarchy of the alters is unknown, but it is shown that the alters themselves consider themselves as nothing more than protectors of Kay Challis . As such, the system believes that it is their first priority that they should pursue any situation that is either in Kay's best interest, or whether their actions fall into what she wants. With Hammerhead, Crazy Jane and the majority of the alters agree that what they need personally is second to Kay's own needs.
Becoming Kaleidoscope[]
After Kay began to interact with the alters in the underground and braved the surface to befriend the Doom Patrol, Kay got all her alters to admit the truth – that they were raped by their father, that Kay created them because of this, and that the rape happened to all of them. With this admission, the jigsaw puzzle was completed and Kay merged with her alters, no longer having dissociative identities but becoming a new, integrated being, Kaleidoscope. They destroyed the Underground and left for their new kaleidoscopic looking home that Kay built for their now merged and healed existence as Kaleidoscope.
Known Alters[]
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Appearances[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
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Season 3[]
Season 4[]
Trivia[]
- According to both Jane and Hammerhead, the majority of Kay's persona's harbors deep mistrust, if not outright hatred for men. With so far only one or two of them being shown not to share this sentiment. This bias was likely due to the psychological abuse that Kay endured under her father that created them in the first place.
- Dr. Harrison notably enjoys psychology tormenting men.
- Kay herself showed apprehension when a man saved her from colliding with a car when on a bike. This sparked Kay beginning to think she should give men a chance.
- They have no issue with Niles Caulder, Cliff Steele, Vic Stone, and Larry Trainor, due them being proven trustworthy.
- They are base on dolls that Kay's Grandmother, Jane made. They were meant to make less of the pain.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dalzine, Marcus (writer) & Jierjian, Harry (director) (April 12, 2019). "Jane Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 9. DC Universe.
- ↑ Dingess, Chris (writer) & Rodriguez, Rebecca (director) (May 17, 2019). "Penultimate Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 14. DC Universe.