Harle (Chrono Cross)

“	Je m'appelle Harle.	„
	~ Harle

Harle also known as Tsuki Yomi in the original Japanese, is the right-hand jester magician of Lynx in the game Chrono Cross. Though a servant of Lynx, she develops an affection and attraction to main-hero - Serge, even as he opposes Lynx. She is an enigmatic figure for most of the game - following Lynx slavishly for unknown reasons but then suddenly siding with Serge the second Lynx's scheme technically creates a loophole where she can serve Serge and Lynx at the same time. She will eventually be exposed as something less than loyal and far more dangerous than the baboonish side-kick she initially appears as.

History[]

After mysteriously falling into a portal on the beach - main hero Serge finds himself in another reality - one where, among other things he is dead and a vast butterfly effect has taken place as a result - just different enough to be noticeable but still overlapping greatly with his own world. At his alternate self's grave, Serge meets the Dragoon Knights Solt, Peppor and Karsh - sent by a man named 'Lynx' who knew he had crossed over and wanted him. Serge is joined by a mercurial hot-headed girl named 'Kid' who helps him fight off the Dragoon Knights. Kid tells Serge that the Dragoon Knights are stationed in a place called Viper Manor so this 'Lynx' must be there, though it is usually the dwelling place of the head of the Isle - the stern 'General Viper'. Serge and optionally Kid will head to the manor to find out what Lynx knows about him - and hopefully how Serge can get home. Even if Serge doesn't want to travel with Kid - she will still meet him in the manor as she has a score to settle with Lynx.

Once inside the manor is the first time Harle will be met - wandering in from the library. Harle will casually introduce herself and explain Lynx is there to enter into an alliance with General Viper and she is Lynx's assistant. Harle has no issue with Serge and so leaves him be aside from some brief flirting with him - though cautions him to stay out of her master's way if possible before strutting off. Lynx will eventually be confronted - revealing a few things - that he is fully aware of Serge's situation, that he had sent Lord Viper's men to capture Serge since even if they failed it would eventually bring Serge to him, that he is instrumental in something Lynx is interested in and that he killed someone Kid cared about. Lynx exposes a large blue gem called "The Dragon's Tear" it glows and as it does Serge receives visions of an advanced complex from which a singularity is expanding out from - as well as a brief vision he had had in his dreams of a fortress surrounded by dragons and a close up of Lynx's face. Serge is overwhelmed but Kid will arrive inside as he is looking at the Tear to finish off Lynx. Surrounded by General Viper's troops Serge and Kid have no choice but escape to a balcony and then jump off to the waters below - however before she can dive - Kid is cut by Lynx.

The following morning they wake up - Kid having fished Serge out of the sea and both of them helped out of the water by the ferryman they hired - Kocha, who had taken them to his home of Guldove - an isolated fishing town built onto a reef. Kid says she's fine and glad Serge is awake, until she suddenly falls ill. Taking her to Doc - the regionally recognized physician living on Guldove, he reports she has been poisoned by Hydra venom spread on Lynx's knife - which can only be cured by Hydra bone-humor - however with Hydra's extinct there is no way to cure her. Harle struts in after Serge receives the news. Harle playfully taunts Kid - whom she seems to have a disdain for. She tells Serge to give up on her and be on his way, but can see Serge is worried about Kid. Harle states that Hydra's went extinct long ago, and if only he were back in his home world he might have a chance of helping her since they weren't extinct there. Harle says Serge should just ignore her and go home - that he can make a life for himself. Light catches Kid's amulet and Harle points out it is the key to traversing worlds - so if Serge just takes it he can just go home without Kid. Kocha becomes infuriated and lashes out at Harle - but she just vanishes into thin air, With Harle's explanation Serge and Kocha realize he can use Kid's Astral Amulet to go to his own world and slay a Hydra to save her. The player will have a choice if they have Serge opt to save Kid he will go to the Home World to fight a Hydra and begin a long dungeon to save Kid - doing this aside from time locks out certain characters from recruitment like the knight Glenn who will be scared off by the ever belligerent Kid if she is alright, but not doing it locks out other characters like the pixie Razzy who is about to be eaten in the Hydra swamp unless Serge rescues her.

Regardless of Serge/The Player's choice - Kid will survive - Doc is given the humor by someone he had never seen before who vanishes shortly after giving it to him, and Kid is cured. Whether Serge stops to save Kid or not he will eventually need to make his way to Hermit's Hideaway - where Lynx was headed. Arriving at the Hideaway Harle is there - she will have just set the area on fire on behalf of Lynx. Serge and the party will fight her. Harle once defeated will vanish into thin air - her work done anyway. As she vanishes Harle tells Serge Lynx's gone to Dragon Fortress seemingly out of little more than having developed a crush on Serge as she's been keeping tabs on him.

Serge will encounter the pirate Fargo - who hates Lynx and cautions him the fortress is passed Mount Pyre - an active volcanic area and only the breath of a Dragon can cool it, but the Water Dragon who could create such a breath is long gone from the world... though Serge realizes - not his own world, and Water Dragon Isle was said to house the Water Dragon in his home-world - something the fishers in his village had mentioned previously. (Serge actually does not need to retrieve the breath as the fires of Mount Pyre can hurt but not kill Serge so as long as he avoids battle he won't be killed trying to cross the lava - just be very weak - however the narrative is counting on the Blue Dragon being met and there is a follow-up to Serge's efforts in Hydra swamp if he went to help Kid.)

Once encountered the Blue Dragon will freely give Serge a sample of his breath - a patch of air made so cold it will freeze lava. In Mount Pyre Serge will meet another dragon, the Red Dragon - who comments on how only his brother's breath could have allowed Serge safe passage. The Red Dragon wishes to fight Serge if only to pay a toll through combat. The Red Dragon says something similar to the Water Dragon - that he wishes to see Serge take on Fate - how he will live and how he will die. With the way through Mount Pyre all clear even if Kid was not saved will arrive to announce how she was saved by some guy Doc had never seen before and has recovered - aiming to join the party to get back at Lynx still. The Dragoons will be their final conflict in Mount Pyre but once they are defeated Harle will once again appear out of thin air. Harle is not there for a fight this time - but to warn Serge - Lynx is expecting him and she would not hold it against him if he were to just go. Kid shooes Harle away and Serge comes upon the valley - now knowing the dragon fortress he witnessed in his dreams and then in his waking vision at the Dragon's Tear was this place - Fort Dragonia - ancient shrine built by the Demi-Humans of long ago in honor of their gods - The Dragons. Serge recalls how his dream ends - with his stabbing Kid and seemingly taking joy in it - backing up Harle's claim that it may be best to avoid the area - and yet going on anyway - too invested at that point to leave.

After a long dungeon - Serge and Kid arrive at the top of Fort Dragonia's main tower. Lynx and General Viper are waiting for them there. Though General Viper seems in the dark about the details of Lynx's actions he has been told that placing the Dragon's Tear at the top of the tower will unlock the ancient power of the Dragons, and he wants it to re-enforce his rule over the island, so goes to fight Serge and company but will be defeated. With Lynx at the top of the tower with the Dragon's Tear he no longer needs Viper, so he figuratively and literally stabs General Viper in the back.

As General Viper is writhing on the floor in pain, Lynx directs Serge's attention towards the Dragon's Tear - now active as a key at the fort's alter. The Dragon's Tear Glows, Serge has similar visions to what he did back at Viper Manor only this time feels his consciousness getting sucked into the Tear. When the whirling sensation and a brief light show is over Serge has a sadistic look on his face - one he can see from across the room - as he has been transferred into Lynx's body, and Lynx is quickly revealed to be in Serge's body. Lynx briefly co-opts the situation to incite the party against Serge in his old body, but after the battle Kid notices something is wrong with Serge - at which point Serge's vision takes places and "Serge" stabs Kid - followed by a sadistic smile across his face - inhabited by Lynx. Lynx destroys the Dragon's Tear to prevent Serge from being able to switch back to his old body, and in doing so creates a distortion that shatters the alter and sucks them all in briefly - however as Serge's current body is from one reality and his soul is from another the distortion does not have any indication of where to eject him as it does the others and Serge is lost in a limbo between realities.

It is in this reality where Harle is met formally. Harle is keenly aware that Serge is not Lynx, however Lynx has no further need for her, so he dismissed her to the limbo between worlds. With Serge still adamant to find a way out, stop Lynx and recover his body, Harle sees an opportunity. Harle tells Serge that the distortion if properly traversed can indeed lead him out and she will come with him to help. Harle states it is her job to serve Lynx, and Serge is technically "Lynx" at that point, so she can fulfill her primary duty and stay by Serge's side at the same time, formally joining his party.

Harle remains a constant companion of Serge, dealing with an invasion, traversing a haunted island, understanding the blight of the Demi-Humans and reopening the distortion between worlds by beating the infamous boss Miguel, but things come to a head at the point the Dragons contact him. They wish to help Serge in his quest and will activate the Dragon's Tear of the Home World if Serge goes to all their shrines. It is at this point Harle becomes troubled. She insists Serge does not have to be himself again, and if he stays as "Lynx" they can be together. Serge still intends to get his body back and with Harle rejected she decides she must leave - though bidding Serge farewell as she goes and insisting her offer will remain open if he changes his mind before he changes bodies.

After gaining the blessing of all the Dragons and being sent back into the Home-World's version of Fort Dragonia the Dragon's use the Tear to instead of switching Serge's body, as Lynx stays away once he has it, instead reincarnating the Lynx body, breaking it down to a fetus and altering it to be genetically identical to Serge's original body, and then speeding up it's growth until Serge is a version of himself again. With his body back Harle is now unable to exploit the loophole of staying with Serge to serve "Lynx". Serge has one last bit of business though, to chase Lynx, still in his original body and stop him once and for all.

Lynx as it turns out is an avatar of an A.I. called FATE, which got into a quantum battle of realities with a rival A.I. from an alternate reality called the Dragon God - operating system for the fortress the Reptides - enemies from the previous game, Chrono Trigger, lead by the villainous but noble Azala. Serge finds Lynx in the Sea of Eden in a facility the A.I. once operated out of before it was shut down for getting caught in a homicidal logic loop. Lynx was created before the main CPU was shut down to conspire to reactive it, but could not get in as the door had been locked by syncing up with the DNA of the last person inside, a toddler Serge - bought there in a storm that carried his father and Miguel off course while trying to get to Doc to cure him of a deadly poison. With the doors locked Lynx needed Serge or at least his body to get back in and re-activate FATE/his/her/it's-true-self.

Serge will fight and defeat Lynx, though at the cost of killing his original body in the process. As soon as Lynx is dead, Kid, who had previously been under one of Lynx's sleep spells, awakens in something of a trance - something she had described previously, that she could not explain. Kid goes to destroy FATE's main research point - the Frozen Flame - what had caused it to become obsessed to the point it had to be shut down when it was denied access to it in the first place. Harle appears to warn the entranced Kid not to destroy the Frozen Flame interface - that what was bound to happen would happen now but it would only expedite things if she destroyed the Flame interface. Kid in her entranced state cannot be reasoned with, and Harle turns to Serge begging him to stop her or else she would become his enemy - but it is too late and Kid destroys FATE's interface. With the destruction of the interface the Dragons all feel it and appear over the complex even though up until then they had been split between realities. As the Dragons reunite Harle must go and bids Serge a farewell.

Above the Dragons merge into one - FATE's rival from the quantum war where realities clashed - The Dragon God. The Dragons had been using Serge. FATE had beaten them in an event mentioned numerous times in the facility as the "Time Crash" where FATE's experiments with The Frozen Flame apparatus had accidently crashed one reality on top of another leading to a war - one FATE had won. The Dragon God - the A.I. of the alternate facility had been divided into smaller sub routines assigned to bio-mechanical interfaces to keep them apart and then shot to different realities by FATE with the Flame. With FATE gone though, the Dragons could start reconnecting, but with the Frozen Flame interface destroyed they didn't even need to wait to find methods into the same reality and could all just be drawn back to their point of dispersal; Thus the Dragons had in-fact been using Serge the entire time. All six Dragons merge is flashes of light, as well as a then unexplained 7th light drawn into the merger and the Dragon God is reborn - ready to finally purge the humans of their current reality from the planet.

Serge will find in his final encounter at the Dragon's fortress "Terra Tower"/"Dinopolis" that there was a seventh Dragon - The Dream Dragon, who was the seventh light to be drawn into the Dragon God's reforming. The Dream Dragon turns out to have been created by the other six, from their shared collective. It took on humanoid form and was to follow around Lynx after he was formed by FATE and was to "aid" him, though really to keep tabs on him. The Dream Dragon was Harle - her over-arching purpose she keeps referring to as irrefutable being assigned to her by the other Dragons - likely without even Lynx knowing. As a singular entity though, any part of The Dragon God that might have been Harle is overwhelmed by the whole, and it attacks Serge without remorse when encountered shortly after the revelation.

Skills & Abilities[]

Harle frequently flits into and out of dangerous situations. She just appears out of thin air in Viper Manor where she is first met, but she also vanishes back into thin-air after being caught setting fire to Hermit's Hideaway. She casually appears in Guldove when Kid is poisoned to drop clues for Serge to help her, while genuinely glad in seeing Kid at death's door she then vanishes effortlessly. Part of her sudden appearances are illusion, while the other part are actual transportation. When she joins Serge she does not use either of these skills to help surpass the various challenges - through she very firmly is established to still have them and casually uses them for ostentation. Once in battle she is exposed to have high M.P. and high Power, as well as high Accuracy - making her a potent spell caster who can build her spell bar quickly thanks to her physical hits rarely missing. Her main draw back is offense - her attacks may be accurate, but they are not very strong. Her high magic skill can clear low-to-mid tier enemies quickly but her Black Element means she is only strong to White Elements - a rarity at the point she is met.

Personality[]

Harle appears happy-go-lucky and even boarder-line mad. Her foppish clothing and quirky mannerisms paint the picture of a manic sociopath; This is of-course, exposed as all an act eventually. Harle is actually pensive, conniving and melancholy. She serves Lynx because she has been told to - not because she has any love/loyalty for him. Left up to her she would play and flirt with Serge until he eventually gave into her self-perceived charms, and in one possible ending - if Serge uses the time warp to fight the Dream Devouring while he is still in Lynx's body - she can be seen settling down with Serge in Marbule as a couple; Harle quite happy her duty and her personal affection for Serge have never come into conflict. Harle has little-to-no affection for most human-life - that part is not an act. However she feels a sense of tragedy when she sees great misfortune occur and is genuinely concerned for Serge's safety as she keeps running into him. Despite her seemingly golden-heart outside a cruel frame - she is still a killer and does so with no remorse. She burns down Lucca's house with many children inside and it is implied Lucca herself; She burns down Hermit's Hideaway as little more than a chore that is required of her; She relishes seeing Kid hurt, and only drops hints for how to cure her because she sees Serge worried about her - all of these are signs of sociopathy - however as she shows regret and empathy towards the end of her time in the party she is not truly a sociopath - just very, very disturbed by human standards. She knows much about what is going on in the world and Lynx's scheme - however she is very tight-lipped - only chuckling to herself about how much of what Serge is doing at any one moment is something that will matter or not.

Trivia[]

Though Harle disappears once Serge begins the portion of the game to find the Dragons - she can still be obtained permanently - by beating the game on a New Game + before she leaves, thus making her part of the Past Allies that can be summoned from the previous run by the Chrono Cross once it's obtained. Once part of the characters and transferred to a new run - Harle is part of the summoned characters and can interact with parts of the story she otherwise would not be present for.
Harle's encounter at Hermit's Hideaway is not required - triggering the Pirate Ship encounter can be done without visiting the Hermit's Hideaway and that triggers the following story line - so it is entirely possible for Serge to never have to fight Harle. However as Harle has unique gear to steal the encounter may still be advantageous.
Harle and Kid are made to be so opposed to each other they cannot exist in the same party at the same time, however if summoned back with the Chrono Cross they can interact with each other - they have almost identical dialogue aside from Harle's frequent French affects, however they will always tug at different moral choices with said dialogue - with Kid in favor of brash action to save the day, and Harle in favor of cold-pragmatism.
Harle's Japanese name "Tsuki Yomi" is named after the Shinto god of the moon - and why all her personal moves have moon motifs.
As Harle can be summoned with the Chrono Cross before the fight with the Dragon God she will actually be fighting herself in the battle.

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Villains

Lynx | Gil | Lilith | Mandora Monster | Frozen Flame