| This article is about the character. You may be looking for the Boss. |
"If you try and go against réalité... Réalité will surely crush you. Réalité will kill you. And réalité will continue to go on az if not'ing ever happened... From yesterday to today, and from today to tomorrow. Réalité marchez on... Leaving your crushed body behind..." — Harle to Serge |
Harle (ツクヨミ Tsukuyomi?) is a mysterious harlequin aiding Lynx in Chrono Cross. Harle speaks with an interlanguage called Franglais, which is a blend of English and French, similar to Pierre. In her vocabulary of French words, she most often uses the words "moi" and "oui". Unlike Pierre, Harle uses French phrases, such as Je m'appelle ("my name is"/"I am called").
Profile
Appearance
Harle bears a strong resemblance to Kid in facial and physical features such as thin limbs and body with large eyes (albeit red instead of blue). Harle wears a bright red and periwinkle blue outfit that covers everything except her face, which is painted white with strong black eyeliner, and a red tear under her right eye. Around her neck she wears a long, dramatically pointed mantle that has blue gems in the front, and swallow-tail tailcoats that end in gold pieces. Her head is adorned with a "Horns" type jester hat that ends in bells, and white pompoms near her ears. She wears boat-neck leotard with golden knot adornments along the neckline, breasts and down the two sides of her upper body, the sleeves and sides are periwinkle that end in large, flared red gloves. At her pelvis, there is a white fluffy lining that ends the leotard and starts her flared, sheer blue pants that billow, ending at her ankles with white fluffy anklets and lead into curled red shoes.
Personality
Story
Created in the year 1006 A.D. Harle is the enigmatic seventh Dragon from the 81st Dimension. Controlled by the will of the Time Devourer and housed in Chronopolis, the Dragon God is tended to by the citizens of the city. Her birth occurs during the magnetic storm that temporarily flat-lines the power sources of Chronopolis, which allows the Dragon God to create a life form that could go undetected and act as an agent in El Nido. When created, she bears the resemblance of an eighteen-year-old girl dressed in colourful garments resembling those typically worn by jesters. From her inception Harle is ordered to retrieve the Frozen Flame and return it to the Dragon God; to this end, she befriends Lynx and feigns obedience to his cause where her loyalties lie elsewhere. In the year 1015 A.D. she accompanies him to Lucca's house, where they start a fire and abduct Lucca in hopes of disengaging the Prometheus Circuit which protects the Frozen Flame. When this effort fails, Harle and Lynx decide to wait for Serge to cross dimensions and retrieve the Flame for them.
Biding her time until she can execute her plan, Harle takes up residence in Viper Manor's parlour where Serge finds her sleeping on a sofa while infiltrating the Manor in search of the Flame. In the year 1020 A.D., she meets Serge for the first time and she flirtatiously teases him which angers Kid (having developed romantic feelings for him). Harle's feelings for Serge also deepen into genuine affection and she displays it several times, even going so far as to warn him against entering Fort Dragonia to hunt down Lynx. Before this event she resides in Hermit's Hideaway, having burned the tree-stump cottage of Radius, betrayer of the Acacia Dragoons, in which Harle serves as a spy for the Dragon God under the guise of a faithful member. Should Serge seek the Radius hoping to find Lynx's whereabouts, she will engage him in battle but flee before being seriously wounded.
After Serge adopts Lynx's body through the power of the Dragon Tear, Harle personally helps him exit the Temporal Vortex and regain his footing in the world, putting several philosophical questions concerning reality to him to make him ponder the recent turn of events. Harle soon becomes despondent as any relationship with Serge would be precluded by her mission to retrieve the Frozen Flame. As time continues, this becomes too painful for her and after the party's visit to the Pearly Gates, she cries aboard the S.S. Invincible, torn between her mission and her now sincere romantic feelings. Though Starky ponders why she is sad, she soon leaves the party to wait for her opportunity to seize the Frozen Flame.
When at last Serge reaches Chronopolis, she reappears to prevent Kid from obtaining the Flame and allow the Dragon God enough time to fuse with the other Dragons and claim it. As the Dragon God arrives, she bids Serge farewell and presumably disappears into the newly reformed monstrosity.
Gameplay
Boss Fight
- Main article: Harle (Boss)
Harle is fought as an optional boss at Hermit's Hideaway. To avoid battling her, simply board the S.S. Invincible and assist Fargo with fending off the Ghost Ship. Very rarely, a rare accessory called Moonglasses can be stolen from or dropped by her in this battle. The item reduces all damage taken with a single character by 25% and is arguably one of the most useful accessories in Chrono Cross.
Recruitment
Harle joins the party in the Temporal Vortex.
Harle also joins when Serge uses the Chrono Cross in a New Game+ if the player defeats the Time Devourer anytime between escaping from Sprigg's dimension, as Lynx, and saving Riddel from Another World's Viper Manor. Harle is not required to be in your party when you face the Time Devourer, as you will get the same ending either way.
Tech Skills
- MoonBeams - 3 Stars
- MoonShine - 19 Stars
- Lunairetic - 25 Stars
Assessment
Strengths
- High Stats, no real weaknesses
- Large Element Grid
Weaknesses
- Only available for a short portion of the game
Gallery
Trivia
- Harle is a condensed form of Harlequin, a jester-like figure which corresponds to her character's appearance.
- Tsukuyomi is Harle's Japanese name, meaning "the god of the moon" in Shinto and Japanese mythology. This is fitting considering Harle's true identity as the Dark Moon Dragon.
- She shares the same fortune given to Kid by the Fortune Teller of Termina. Many attribute this to the fact that if the Dragon God were to create a human being, the closest set of genetics would be Schala trapped within the Time Devourer. Kid and Harle could thus conceivably come from Schala's genotype.