Sage Harpuia

Sage Harpuia, known in the Japanese version as Kenshou Harpuia (「賢将」ハルピュイア, 「Kenshō」 Harupyuia, literally Wise General Harpuia or Intellectual Commander) or simply as Harpuia is a member of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia in the Mega Man Zero series. He was created from X's DNA towards the end of the Maverick War with the task of cleaning the skies and atmosphere of toxic gases after the war had ended. Some time later, he became a military general of Neo Arcadia, commanding the Rekku Army (literally Army of the Fierce Sky), Neo Arcadia's military air force. Though Harpuia for the most part serves as a major antagonist, he's not a true villain.

In the Mega Man ZX series, he makes an appearance as Biometal Model H.

Design
Like his siblings, his armour is based on that of his biological origin, X, with thematic alterations. Harpuia's armour is coloured green, symbolising his alignment with wind and lightning, and his design appears to be derived both from the Harpies, wind spirits from Ancient Greek mythology with bodies of eagles and the heads of women, and the Valkyries, female spirits from Norse mythology who led the souls of deceased heroes to Valhalla. Harpuia's name itself is the Ancient Greek word for Harpy. Harpuia more closely resembles a Valkyrie in his Reploid form. His helmet is mounted with wing-like extensions that bear resemblance to a Valkyrie's helmet, and short wing-like thrusters are mounted on his back, which he uses for flying. He wields two identical energy-based swords, which presumably represent talons, and has the ability to summon whirlwinds and lightning bolts, marking his elemental parallel with the Harpies and the Valkyries respectively. Harpuia's voice is also distinctively feminine, and this, together with his parallels to female mythological figures, has led to a great deal of confusion over his gender.

In his Armed Phenomenon form, Harpuia's armour expands to become a fighter jet aircraft in the shape of an eagle. Harpuia's head appears at the helm, giving the impression of a human-headed bird, bearing a great resemblance to a Harpy.

Personality
"You will pay dearly for your futile resistance, Zero!"

Originally, Harpuia was a stubborn and loyal follower of X and later his duplicate Copy X. He was proud to serve such an heroic leader and fulfilled any task given to him with absolute obedience and without any hesitation. However, things began to change when he suffered his first defeat in decades at the hands of Zero. His pride fell down to Earth and he slowly began to realize that battles couldn't be won if one didn't have the will to truly do so.

Harpuia matured during the course of the story, becoming more and more like the real X in terms of character and determination, sharing the same opinion that humans and Reploids in fact can live in peaceful coexistence, but will still destroy every Reploid who tries to threaten humanity.

The first instance of his true nature is at the beginning of Mega Man Zero 2, when Zero collapses after endlessly fighting Neo Arcadian forces for a year following his defeat of Copy X. As soon as he collapses, Harpuia arrives, riding on the griffin form of the revived Aztec Falcon. He could have easily destroyed the unconscious and heavily weakened Zero and yet brought him to the newly created Resistance Base without causing hostilities. This hints at a sense of fairness and that he is learning that the Resistance and Zero are not so different from him. The only other Guardian who seems to realize this is the deceased Phantom, who only attacked Zero in Cyberspace to test his worth as a being, having learned the truth of the legendary hero.

He shows contempt towards the Resistance, even if his character had evolved by then, as he seemed disgusted at the idea that they rescued him from Omega and repaired him, if only because it would've been a blow to his pride as they were still enemies considering their sides.

Maverick War era
Sometime during the Maverick War, four Reploids were created from the DNA of Mega Man X. These were Hidden Phantom, Fairy Leviathan, Fighting Fefnir and Sage Harpuia. Originally, these four were designed to fulfill certain tasks to rebuild the planet after the war ended. Harpuia's task was to cleanse the atmosphere, and he commanded a giant weather control mechaniloid in order to do so. However, it is unknown whether or not he completed this task because shortly after the Maverick War had been ended by X and the Mother Elf, a new war broke out, the Elf War.

The Elf War
The role of Harpuia and his siblings during the Elf War is unknown, but it is most likely that they participated as combatants on the side of humanity during the war, assisting X in his battle against Dr. Weil and his creation Omega.

Rekku Army
At some point, either before, during or after the end of the Elf War, Harpuia, along with his three siblings, became military generals of Neo Arcadia, responsible for the overall safely of Neo Arcadian habitants, both humans and Reploids. Harpuia, given his unrivaled superiority in the sky, was appointed to become the leader of the Rekku Army, Neo Arcadia's Air Forces. He commanded various air-type forces and Mutos. The Mutos Reploids Aztec Falcon, Herculious Anchortus, along with his brother Kuwagust Anchus and Panter Flauclaws belonged to his forces.

Mega Man Zero
Zero first encounters Harpuia as the boss of the "Rescue Colbor" mission. He fires energy waves from his twin blades and attacks mostly from above, and also manipulates wind and electricity. He is vulnerable to Ice elemental attacks. Zero fights against the Four Guardians again in Area X, the last stage of the game, but they are defeated by him and one of them (Phantom) died. Copy X ordered them to retreat and fights against Zero.

Mega Man Zero 2
After Copy X's death, Harpuia became the leader of Neo Arcadia. He finds Zero unconscious in a desert and takes him to the Resistance Base. After Elpizo's Operation Righteous Strike, Harpuia sent a ship that carried a bomb meant to destroy the Resistance Base, but Zero stopped the ship. When Zero went to the Crystal Cave looking for Elpizo, he found the wreckage of the ship, but Elpizo escaped with an IFF Beacon, as part of his quest to find the Dark Elf. Before Zero could go after Elpizo, Harpuia appeared and the two do battle. Later, Zero fights him again, in the last temple before Yggdrasil (the last stage of the game), and Elpizo uses the Baby Elves to activate Harpuia's Armed Phenomenon Form and forces Harpuia to fight Zero ironically against Harpuia's will.

Mega Man Zero 3
Harpuia appears in the first stage right outside the Derelict Spacecraft, where he warns Zero to stay away. After Zero and Omega first do battle, he would reappear to challenge the massive Reploid himself. However, Copy X appears and says that Omega and Dr. Weil are now allies, and Harpuia has to retreat. Back to Neo Arcadia, he see the changes Weil did to the Eight Gentle Judges. Harpuia tries to warn Copy X about Weil (Harpuia didn't, with good reason, trust Weil), but Weil appears to say that the Dark Elf was found in Area Z-3079, a human residential district. Later, he tries to fight Omega after the city was destroyed with a missile to take the Dark Elf. The fight is short and one-sided, as Harpuia is unable to hurt Omega. Omega retaliates with his new power and soundly beats Harpuia. Harpuia is injured and Zero rescues him, taking him to the Resistance Base. After recovering, he leaves the base. He appears in the end of the game with Fefnir, Leviathan and the original X, where they help Zero to defeat Omega.



Mega Man Zero 4
Harpuia made no appearance in Mega Man Zero 4 and wasn't mentioned either. However, prior to the Japanese release of the game, a web blog entry of the developers stated that X, along with the Four Guardians, assisted humans outside Neo Arcadia in escaping Dr. Weil. However, with the release of Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works, the blog was retconned as the remaining three of the Four Guardians were stated to have died in the explosion of Omega at the end of Mega Man Zero 3. Artwork featured in "Vile's Incident", an information booklet included in "Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Physis", showed Harpuia, along with his siblings and Original-X, witnessing the fall of Ragnarok, all of them wearing ceremonial coats like X.

Biometal era
Before the events of Mega Man ZX, Ciel discovered Biometal Model W, a piece of Ragnarok infused with Dr. Weil's soul. To combat this threat Ciel made six Biometal to fight Model W. One of these was Model H, infused with the spirit, wisdom, and power of Harpuia. Vent/Aile where able to use this Model by Double Megamerging with Model X. It further gave evidence it was Harpuia by stating it fought for humans centuries ago.

In Mega Man ZX Advent, Model H is stolen and used by Aeolus. Model Z suggests that Model H is working with him against his will, as Model H was made to fight Model W, and Aeolus was trying to awaken it. However, Aeolus does share many of Harpuia's notable personality traits, such as his dedication to perfection, as well as Harpuia's determination.

Armed Phenomenon
Like his three siblings and Copy-X, Harpuia possesses a powerful alternative form called "Armed Phenomenon" which he is able to activate when facing tougher enemies. When activating his Armed Phenomenon, Harpuia's body transforms into a giant green and white plane modelled after a harpy, with giant wings and two clawlike feet. In this form, he attacks with powerful dash attacks, as well as generating chains made of lightning energy and generating tornado with his two thrusters located within his wings. He is also able to fire several missiles from his body.

Unlike Copy-X or his siblings, Harpuia was forced to activate his Armed Phenomenon in Mega Man Zero 2 when he was possessed by the Baby Elves while trying to fight Elpizo in the Temple of Wind and was manipulated into battling Zero in this form. When he was defeated, he reverted to his normal form again and the Baby Elves left his damaged body.



Other Appearances

 * Harpuia has his own mini-game in Mega Man Zero 3 in which he rides Aztec Falcon, a boss in the first game and seen with him on it in the second one.

Mega Man Zero (Rescue Colbor mission)

 * Battle Tutle Bros.
 * Pantheon Flyer
 * Pantheon Hunter
 * Raven
 * Top Gabyoall

Mega Man Zero 2 (Crystal Cave)

 * Hidden Sub-boss: Golem Type E
 * Carryarm
 * Hottalook
 * Pantheon Hopper
 * Pantheon Hunter
 * Signaloid
 * Spiking
 * Top Gabyoall

Mega Man Zero 2 (Temple of Wind)

 * Bombnet
 * Mellnet
 * Panel Cannon
 * Pantheon Hunter
 * Poplan
 * Barrier Counter

Trivia

 * Harpuia's gender was a subject of discussion in the English speaking Mega Man community when he made his first appearance in Mega Man Zero. Due to his mythological background of being a harpie and Ogata Megumi's voice acting, he was thought to be a female, which is not true. However, even today, Harpuia's gender is still being confused by players not familiar with the series.
 * The new Robot Master from Mega Man 9, Tornado Man, bears a striking resemblance to Harpuia. In an interesting nod to this, the character is seen standing side by side with Mega Man, possibly referring to X and Harpuia, in which the latter matured into a character similar to the former, personality-wise.
 * Furthermore, coincidentally, his seiyu, Megumi Ogata, voiced Yugi in the first season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime (referred to as the 'Zero season' outside of Japan), who was often aided by an older version of himself who existed as a separate entity. In the sequel to the second-series anime, Yugi is seen to resemble Yami, even in his voice (though his face is obscured), much like how Harpuia begins to act much like X before his death in Mega Man Zero 3.