History Main / TheMadHatter

Usually a fun character, and a little cartoonish, though it can also be played tragically (this is how it usually goes when TheMadHatter's illness is organic in origin) as a character is overcome by the knowledge that they are losing their mind and are powerless to stop it. Can also be played for horror, if the affliction [[AxCrazy goes beyond]] "quirky", as such characters can [[HeelRealization know exactly what they are doing]], and [[IgnoredEpiphany just not care]].

* [[InsaneProprietor Crazy Dave]] from ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' is a good example. Why? [[CatchPhrase because he's Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy!]] Even further delved is the official trailer for ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'' which shows the inside of Crazy Dave's house with Newspaper Clippings stating he stopped the Zombie Invasion. So in the first game you were playing as Dave, and were actually talking to/selling things to yourself throughout the game.

** Deadbeat/Kingpin in "[[/Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowintheGalaxy The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]".

* Gogo Dodo from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''. He's so crazy that his insanity is mentioned in the ''theme song!'' Meanwhile, when he ends up in {{Wackyland}}, he sums it up perfectly:
-->'''Gogo:''' Home surreal home!
* Bill Cipher from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
-->'''Gideon:''' You're insane!\\
'''Bill:''' Sure I am! What's your point?
** Also comes up in an exchange in the finale:
-->'''The Author:''' You're insane if you think I'll help you!\\
'''Bill:''' Hahahah! I'm insane either way, brainiac!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' has Banana Joe's mom Banana Barbara, who suffered a complete mental breakdown from work-related stress that ''liquified'' part of her brain. This left her with [[PowerBornOfMadness the ability to divine or warp the future through painting]] and full of bliss. Joe paraphrases the quote used on this page to describe how she's living with her mental illness.
* Jet from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' is a huge {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and enjoys every minute of it. He creates odd inventions, sings silly songs, prepares odd dishes, talks in an eccentric English, does strange dances, is perpetually optimistic and upbeat, and adores everyone.
* A dark example is given in WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries in the form of Obake. A FreakLabAccident he experienced as a child damaged his temporoparietal junction, the part of the brain that allows us to distinguish right from wrong. Despite his condition being treatable, Obake leaves it as it is because he finds the ability to act without guilt or remorse to be liberating.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Lelouch is the Mad Hatter in ''Nunnaly in Wonderland''. The first thing he does is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLYMePNrD3c laughing mad]].
* Just about everyone in ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' qualifies, but the reigning champion would definitely be [[spoiler:Claire Stanfield]], a.k.a. "the Rail Tracer". He's so crazy that just about everyone in the cast (including ''himself'') has a moment where they question if he's even human. And he couldn't be happier with his mental illness.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Delirium of the Endless is completely aware that she's insane. She's also aware that everyone else is insane, and that she's ''sane'', and that she's a fish who swims in an ocean of words. With great concentration, she ''can'' force herself to align to more or less the same mental frequency that the rest of the universe runs on, but it's implied that it hurts her. Evidently, she was once Delight, until some great cosmic truth happened to her and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drove her to madness]].

* Marv from ''ComicBook/SinCity'', who's aware he's borderline psychotic (and considers himself less clever than he really is). "I've got a condition. I get confused." He also worries about "turn[ing] into what they always said [he] was gonna turn into -- a maniac, a psycho killer." In fact, when he uncovers the truth, he takes some time to find more evidence, just to be sure his mind isn't playing tricks on him.

* Rosy the Rascal, Amy's evil counterpart from an alternate universe in the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''. A mentally unbalanced clingy jealous girl taken to the extreme (she believes the only way to get Scourge (evil Sonic)'s attention is to smash him with her hammer). She seems aware of her insanity (due to a magic ring she used on herself to get Scourge's attention, but which shattered her mind as a result) yet is unconcerned with his fact, as her only focus now is Scourge.

* In a ''ComicBook/BatmanBeyond'' storyline where the future Justice League faced their equivalent of the [[MirrorUniverse Justice Lords]], this was interestingly played with by Justice Lord Flash. It was previously established that regular universe Danica Williams hears the voices of the Flashes that have entered the speed force. EvilTwin Danica is utterly contemptuous of this idea, which regular Danica initially thinks is because she can't hear the voices. Evil Danica retorts that she hears ''lots'' of voices -- she assumes this is because she's crazy and her counterpart is just too weak to accept this. At the end of the story which of them was right was actually unresolved.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' has Ruber well aware of his insanity. This is lampshaded during his song.
-->'''Lady Juliana''': [[YoureInsane You're mad!]]\\
'''Ruber''': [[InsultBackfire I'm so glad you've noticed.]] [[LampshadeHanging I've been working at it for years]].
* Gramma Tala in ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' claims to be this, although she doesn't really do anything out of the ordinary.
-->'''Moana''': Why are you acting so weird?
-->'''Tala''': I'm the village crazy lady. That's my job.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Creator/MichaelKeaton, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst and Creator/ChristopherLloyd in ''The Dream Team'' (1989).

* Creator/DavidLynch 's films are full of examples, for example, ''Film/WildAtHeart'' has the wild-eyed 00-Spool telling nonsensical stories about his dog, and pigeon-obsessed George Kovic.

* ''Film/{{Malice}}'': Jed doesn't have a God ''complex'' -- he ''is'' God!

* This is one interpretation of John Nash at the end of ''Film/ABeautifulMind,'' after he comes to terms with his schizophrenia. When a man he doesn't recognize greets him at his classroom, before he addresses the man he asks a passing student to confirm that she can see him. Then he turns back and says with a smile, "Okay. I am always suspicious of new people. Now that I know you're real, who are you, and what can I do for you?"

* Antryg Windrose, from ''Literature/TheWindroseChronicles'' by Creator/BarbaraHambly. This character -- influenced somewhat by Creator/TomBaker's [[Series/DoctorWho Doctor]] -- is very charismatically eccentric, has a reputation for being "dangerously insane", and in deep characterization confesses that he really is mad, from long years of having to sustain beliefs contrary to the reality of others around him.
* The lost explorer Gordon Willikers (get it?) from Creator/DanielPinkwater's ''The Worms of Kukumlima'' frequently discusses or makes reference to his insanity. No one questions this even though he's quite lucid and isn't a great deal more eccentric than anyone else in the book. His insanity, therefore, comes across as a mix of an InformedAbility and a RunningGag.

* ''Literature/MobyDick'': Ahab says, "They call me mad, but I'm demoniac: I am madness maddened."
* In Lisa Goldstein's ''A Mask for the General'', a prison psychiatrist tells Layla [=MacKenzie=] that the complete economic collapse of the US drove her insane. She rejects that: "I made it [her madness] myself, like a work of art."

* ''Literature/TheManyLivesOfStephenLeeds'': Stephen Leeds knows perfectly well that he's not normal and that the fifty-odd companions he sees and interacts with every day are just hallucinations that do not, technically, exist. However, he repatedly argues that since he's perfectly capable of functioning in spite of his condition, he isn't ''mentally ill'' per se.

* Spike for a time on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' ("I'm crazy. What's ''his'' excuse?").
%%* Dr. Langstrom in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Quarantine".
%%* John Crichton after his ordeal with Scorpius on ''Series/{{Farscape}}''.

%%* Sylvia Van Buren in ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988''.
%%* Mick Belker on ''Series/HillStreetBlues''.

** Deadbeat/Kingpin in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy".
** In "Caves of Androzani", the villain Sharaz Jek goes into a "Do you think I am mad?" rant, before quietly concluding "I ''am'' mad."

* "Howling Mad" Murdoch from ''Series/TheATeam'' qualifies, assuming his condition wasn't ''totally'' an act to avoid the stockade.
* Who forgot the Mads from ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]''? [[CardCarryingVillain "What do you want from us? We're evil!]] ''[[CardCarryingVillain EVIL!!!]]''"
* Tracy Jordan of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' is so proud of how crazy he is that he was completely outraged when a tabloid suggested his odd behaviour was due to drug abuse. Tracy felt this constituted "libel" and "character assassination."
--> In his own words: ''I'm not on drugs! I'm straight up mentally ill!''

* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'''s segment "Hats-Off folks" discusses the origin of this trope via the life and death of a hatter named Barnaby, who first goes mad and then dies of mercury poisoning.
* Series/{{Sherlock}}:

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. Root is regarded as somewhat crazy by the rest of Team Machine, given her [[TokenEvilTeammate sociopathic tendencies]] and fervent MachineWorship. In "YHWH" she steals a police car while the [[DonutMessWithACop cops have stepped into a donut shop]].
-->'''Finch:''' Are you out of your mind?\\
'''Root:''' Since when is that relevant?
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "City at the Edge of the World", Avon points out that Bayban dare not use a spaceship's laser cannon at point-blank range, as the [[AttackBackfire backblast would kill him and everyone else in the area]].
-->'''Cally:''' You'd have to be insane to use it, then.
-->'''Bayban:''' Well maybe that's it. Maybe I am insane.
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. Alice, the insane leader of the Wonderland gang, and her adopted brother Mouse, leading to the obligatory quote of the TropeNamer from the Creator/LewisCarroll-spouting villains at the end of "Mine Is a Long and Sad Tale".
-->'''Mouse:''' Are we mad? I'm afraid so.
-->''Alice gives EvilLaugh''

* [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]] once referred to himself (accurately) as the "kept lunatic" of The Who.

* ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': The good Geniuses are the ones who know they're crazy. The ''bad'' Geniuses are the ones who think they're ''totally sane''. As many disadvantages as their madness may carry, it's kind of hard not to enjoy one's madness when one can channel it into [[GadgeteerGenius physics-defying devices and gadgets]], and power them through pure crazy.
* Nearly all characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}'', with the exception of ''Crawl of Catchooloo'' characters who have been rendered sane by the [[EldritchAbomination Slurping Horrors]] (yes, ''Toon'''s SanityMeter works in ''reverse'') and the [[CulturePolice Serious Police]] in ''Toonpunk 2020½'', are crazy in a Daffy Duck/Warner Siblings sort of way, and proud of it.

* In ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'', when CuteWitch Marisa Kirisame [[spoiler:is exposed to "pure" lunar rays, which can drive humans mad, she isn't concerned because, in her own words, "I'm insane to begin with"]]. This is the only time she comes out and says this, however.
* [[InsaneProprietor Crazy Dave]] from ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' is a good example. Why? [[CatchPhrase because he's Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy!]] Even further delved is the official trailer for ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'' which shows the inside of Crazy Dave's house with Newspaper Clippings stating he stopped the Zombie Invasion. So in the first game you were playing as Dave, and were actually talking to/selling things to yourself throughout the game.
* Slak the berserker in ''Videogame/DefendersQuest''. He gets much more aware of it in the NewGamePlus, at one point scolding the party for going on a trip that was his idea in the first place. They really should know better.
* The Voices of Nerat from ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' is a MindHive whose initial and dominant personality was a sadistic, paranoid psychopath, and adding progressively more and more [[YourSoulIsMine souls]] didn't help. He's also entirely aware that he is insane, joking about it in [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu rare "friendly" conversations]] and using it as an intimidation tactic. His deranged jests unbalance his foes and leave them [[ConfusionFu entirely uncertain what new madness the Voices will devise next]].

* Kisume in ''Webcomic/TouhouNekokayou'', who implies that her entire species must be mad for opting to spend their lives in buckets.

* Most of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes gang know how far out-of-kilter they are.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E12Babel Babel]]", after Shriek explains his demands to Barbara Gordon:
-->'''Barbara:''' You're out of your mind.\\
'''Shriek:''' ''Duh''. ''[hangs up]''
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': PsychoElectro Megavolt gives us this gem.
-->'''Megavolt:''' They called me crazy, they called me insane, they called me loony! Boy, were they right!
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]] occasionally demonstrates awareness of her own... [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} strangeness]].
--->'''Twilight:''' You're a great friend. Even if we don't always understand you.\\
'''Pinkie:''' Thanks, guys. You're all great friends too. Even when ''I'' don't understand me.
** In a more villainous example, Discord: self-proclaimed Spirit of Chaos (with enough power to back it up), and completely and utterly mad. Best exemplified in his first lines:
--->'''Celestia:''' ''[about the Elements of Harmony disappearing]'' This doesn't make sense!\\
'''Discord:''' ''[{{evil laugh}}]'' Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': The Monkey King, once he stops being a pest, brings out the AxCrazy and lowers [[PuppetPermutation Puppet-Jackie]] into a woodchipper.
-->'''Jade:''' You wouldn't! That's [[ForTheFunnyz not funny!]]\\
'''Monkey King:''' Haven't you noticed? I have a '''WEIRD''' sense of humour!
* Doctor Weird from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', possibly. "It works! ''I'' am one can short of a six-pack!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'': [[ScrewballSquirrel Screwy Squirrel]] knows he's nuts, and ''loves'' it. (To the point where [[InsaneEqualsViolent some find him very disturbing]].)
* The early WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck-{{Expy}} version of WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker used to sometimes deny his insanity even though [[IAmSong he frequently sang a theme song about how insane he was]]. Which only made him seem ''more'' insane.

* ''Toys/EverAfterHigh'' has Madeline "Maddy" Hatter, the daughter of the man himself. She's basically her father, only female.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Leela in "The Sting": "Okay, I'm insane. But I'm still sane enough to know it."
** Professor Farnsworth. "I called myself mad, but I showed me!"

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', after Shriek explains his demands to Barbara Gordon:

** [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie]] [[GenkiGirl Pie]] occasionally demonstrates awareness of her own insanity.

--->'''Celestia:''' ''[about the Elements of Harmony disappearing]'' This doesn't make sense!
--->'''Discord:''' ''[{{evil laugh}}]'' Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?

* The vile Wrestling/{{AAA}} stable Los Vipers had Maniaco, Histeria, Super Crazy and Psicosis II among its members but the trope wasn't just limited to {{rudo}}s, as they feuded with {{tecnico}} group, Charly Manson, May Flowers, Nygma and Picudo: Los Vatos Locos.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'',

* Colonel Jax in the short story [[Creator/AlastairReynolds "Nightingale"]] freely admits that he has gone mad after [[spoiler: being turned into a living artwork representing the horror of war.]] The sentient hospital ship responsible for his fate, though, seems blissfully unaware of her insanity. (And some readers might agree that she's the sanest personality in the story....)

* In Lisa Goldstein's ''A Mask for the General,'' a prison psychiatrist tells Layla [=MacKenzie=] that the complete economic collapse of the US drove her insane. She rejects that: "I made it [her madness] myself, like a work of art."

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' has Freed Sellzen, who in the dub refers to himself as a "psycho priest free agent," right before he reveals that he willingly became a chimera and ate two devils.

* Just about everyone in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' qualifies, but the reigning champion would definitely be [[spoiler:Claire Stanfield]], AKA "the Rail Tracer". He's so crazy that just about everyone in the cast (including ''himself'') has a moment where they question if he's even human. And he couldn't be happier with his mental illness.