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| “ | Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. | „ |
| ~ Harbinger to Commander Shepard |
Harbinger is the primary antagonist of the entire Mass Effect original trilogy. Harbinger is the leader of the Reapers who every 50,000 years destroy all organic life and convert them into slaves for their use.
Harbinger serves as the unseen overarching antagonist of Mass Effect, the main antagonist of Mass Effect 2, its Expansion Arrival, Mass Effect: Paragon lost, Mass Effect: Redemption, Mass Effect: Ascension, one of the three main antagonists in Mass Effect 3 (alongside the Illusive Man and The Catalyst) and the primary antagonist of Mass effect 3: Multiplayer.
History
Harbinger was the first Reaper to be built by the Intelligence, also known as the Catalyst who was created by the Levianthans (the first sapient and complex species to ever rise and dominate the galaxy billion years ago). The Levianthans who noticed that many of the organic races they commanded were eventually felled by their own synthetic creations once their civilizations grew too much powerful and technological, created the Catalyst to oversee the relations between organics and synthetics in the hopes to stop this infinite circle and keep life preserved in the galaxy. After million years analyzing, the Catalyst came to the conclusion that organics create synthetics to improve their own existence and technology that allows them to travel across the space. To exceed those limits, synthetics must be allowed to evolve to surpass their creators, resulting in ultimate betrayal of an entire species. The final conclusion of the Catalyst is that to prevent such thing from happening synthetics must exterminate their creators so they can no longer reach their status as a technological advanced race and keep them as primitives and limited as much as possible.
The Catalyst then turned on its creators without a single warning, using its organic pawns to overthrow the Leviathans and use their bodies to use their liquids to construct the very first Reaper, the Harbinger that took form of the Levianthans. The memories of the Leviathans used to create Harbinger were preserved as the Reaper's gestalt consciousness, which in turn was incorporated into the Catalyst itself. As the first Reaper, Harbinger solely wiped out all life in the galaxy at its first harvest for countless million years, producing more Reapers on the process for thousands, if not millions of harvests every 50,000 years; the limit of waiting put by the Catalyst to let all civilizations rise from the ashes once the Reapers can once again harvest the galaxy for hundred years before returning to their slumber in the dark space (the dark space located outside of the galaxy).
It is the very first Reaper, like Sovereign from the first game, and is the controlling force behind the mysterious aliens known as the Collectors (who are actually indoctrinated and highly modified Protheans). It directly controls the Collector General, and during gameplay it can possess the body of any regular Collector, changing it from a normal grunt into a super-powered enemy with a damage absorbing barrier, enhanced durability, and the ability to fire biotic attacks and fireballs. Harbinger also expresses an interest in Commander Shepard, due to their victory over Sovereign, and often orders the Collectors to capture Shepard alive if possible. Harbinger's goal is to use the Collectors to kidnap humans and use them to create a Human-Reaper. At the end of the game, Shepard and friends destroy this monstrosity and destroy the Collector base (or alternatively, sterilize it and allow Cerberus to salvage its technology). Harbinger is then forced to lead the Reaper invasion manually by slowly travelling across the Galaxy towards civilization.
In Mass Effect 3, Harbinger is still the leader of the Reapers but has a much smaller role, thus making him the Bigger Bad. It is leading the Reapers' invasion of Earth. Its only actual appearance is during the final mission, where it appears behind the beam to the Citadel and personally attacks what remains of Hammer strike force, though the Normandy manages to evacuate Shepard's critically injured squad. Harbinger fires a powerful laser beam at Shepard which severely injures them, but immediately assumes that the Commander is dead and leaves, allowing Shepard to get to the Citadel beam. Afterwards, Harbinger, along with all other Reapers, is either destroyed or helps to rebuild the galaxy depending on Shepard's final choice.
Gallery
Trivia
- Harbinger is best known by fans for its famous line "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL", which he says sometimes when he takes control of a Collector.
 Villains
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Reapers and Servants Cerberus Corrupt Party Members Villainous Organizations and Species Mercenaries and other Criminals Other Villains | ||