Talk:Harbinger

The Reapers are Coming?
Are we sure that the Reapers we see in the end game are actually "beginning their journey to the Milky way"? As far as they are out, it would likely take tens or hundreds of years to reach the galaxy without the use of any relays. And they may not have the fuel necessary to make the trip at all. Is that possibly just a foreboding depiction of the Reapers in dark space (i.e., in the intergalactic space) waiting until the Citadel relay is opened so they can return?
 * I agree... the whole point of opening the Citadel relay was so the Reapers could return. If they could have just woken up and moseyed on over to the galaxy, the entire story of Mass Effect would be pointless. Matt 2108 23:44, February 12, 2010 (UTC)
 * The conflicting point is the line in the article, "...all of which reactivate and head toward the Milky Way." is misleading and it implies that the Reapers can move toward the Milky Way. Perhaps it should be reword to say that the Reapers are overlooking Milky Way or something, not heading towards it. I've watched the ending movie over and over again and no where it implies they are going anywhere yet. Teugene 17:35, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

I understand this, and I'm sure that's part of why they left the story off where it was at the end of me2, however we know Sovereign wasn't the only reaper in the milky way galaxy. We also know that literally nobody knows what the Keepers are up to! For all we know, the Keepers reconstructed parts of Sovereign that they salvaged, that were necessary to activate the Citadel so that the Reapers could come through. This would simply mean that the Reapers are "on their way" being ready for the activated Citadel. Or it could be that ME3 does in fact take place ten or fifteen years after ME2, we just don't know yet. I could easily see it taking place a week after ME2, but could also see it taking place years later. Jaline 00:04, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * In response to Matt 2108, the entire point of Mass Effect wasn't actually to prevent the Reapers from returning to the Milky Way galaxy, it was to delay their arrival, to buy some time for the races here to prepare. Whomever you nominate for the Council makes this quite clear in their rousing little end-of-game speech. It wasn't pointless, it was a move to delay the arrival of the Reapers, changing it from a matter of minutes to a matter of (likely) years. And in response to Jaline, we know that Sovereign wasn't the only Reaper in the Milky Way galaxy how? Granted, there was one incomplete Reaper and one essentially dead Reaper, but there has been nothing shown to indicate that Sovereign was not the only Reaper active in the Milky Way galaxy. SpartHawg948 00:44, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

Well I never said "active" I was referring to the essentially dead Reaper when I said that Sovereign wasn't the only Reaper in the Milky Way galaxy, wasn't saying that it had anything specific to do with the group of Reapers that are now coming, but it could be thought that since there were other Reapers around, there could have been another active Reaper somewhere in the galaxy, specifically: What are the heretic geth up to these days now that Sovereign is gone? They obviously didn't immediately return to the Geth as a whole, and the group of geth heretics that we reprogrammed, wasn't *every* heretic geth, at least I didn't understand it that way. Perhaps there's a chance the geth heretics sought out another "old god" in the galaxy, we don't really know one way or the other. Jaline 00:51, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * So the geth heretics are darkspawn? I KNEW IT!!! :P SpartHawg948 01:04, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

Eh? :P I understand the reference, yet not at the same time... How exactly would what I said mean they are the darkspawn? :o Isn't "Old God" what Legion called what the geth heretics said? Or was it "Old Machine" ? I can't quite remember at the moment, but I'm certain you know what I meant :P Jaline 01:10, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, Legion called them "Old Machines" (pretty sure, anyways) b/c remember, Legion did not consider them to be gods. What I meant was you described the geth heretics seeking out another old god in the galaxy, and that's pretty much what the darkspawn do between each Blight. Seek out another old god. SpartHawg948 01:23, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

Well what else would they do? Considering that their solution to the great math problem is to follow the old machines, it was Sovereign at first, but with him destroyed, obviously the heretic geth didn't give up and rejoin the rest of the geth, so the only thing I'd think of them doing is searching for a new leader, which would mean a new "Old Machine" which would mean a new Reaper, from what I understood of the code we used during Legion's loyalty mission, it didn't change over every single heretic geth, there's just no way that every one of them was on that one ship is my point, I don't know the extent of how far the code went into geth space, perhaps it went and turned almost every heretic, but I kinda doubt it... Considering Tali's recruitment mission it almost feels like there's something up with that star, involving "dark energy" and the heretic geth, for all we know there could be a Reaper near that star, taking in the "life" of it, which is causing it to age, perhaps doing something like that is like "eating" for the Reapers, they do afterall have a mix of organic life within their construction. Either way, none of it's confirmed of course, just interesting things to think about since we really don't know all that much about what has gone on with the geth since the end of ME. Jaline 01:35, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

As for it taking hundreds of thousands of years, we dont know how advanced the reapers are, or how far our they are (as it is impossible to judge distance). It is reasonable to assume that they have highly advanced (and thus fast) FTL drives (we know them to have massive Ezo Cores) and they may only just outside the edge of the galaxy (in stellar terms). It is entirly possible that the journy will only take them 2 or 3 years (so a simlar gap between ME1 and ME2). As SpartHawg said, the point wasnt to stop the reapers just delay them, it was very clear at the end of ME1 that the Reaper threat wasnt over. The Citadel was just part of their master plan. Instant Invasion through this super mass relay and then kill the leaders of the galaxy to cause chaos and then systamtically exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy. All Shepard did in ME1 was make them change their plans. I have on quesion though, if the citadel is a mass relay, where is the other mass relay in dark space? We didnt see it at the end of ME2, maybe it was just out of shot. -- Looq 01:01, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

how
How did Harbinger awaken? How did it and the fleet emerge from hibernation? Is it a 'secondary' vanguard in case the first one fails? I don't get any of this. - LordDeathRay
 * You are assuming that they were asleep to begin with. Remember, by the end-game part of Mass Effect (which was two years before ME2), Sovereign was en route to the Citadel to activate it, allowing the other Reapers to use it to exit dark space and wipe out all sentient life and all that nastiness. That would pretty much have to mean that all the other Reapers (including Harbinger) were awake, now wouldn't it? And once they learned that their plan had gone horribly wrong, I doubt they would have just said "oh well" and gone back into hibernation. SpartHawg948 02:48, January 31, 2010 (UTC)

No picture
There does not seem to be a picture of Harbinger on the character page yet since it is unclear what he looks like. however, compare the picture of Harbinger with the Reaper leading the Reaper Fleet. I think it is reasonable to assume that these two reapers are one and the same.

I agree, I believe the pic should be changed.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/File:Harbinger.png

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/File:Reaper_fleet.png

Um
he might not have ever been asleep, he may have just been the reaper in charge of maintaining the reproduction facility, also is harbinger his name i thought that was just what possessed collectors were called, what does the word harbinger even mean, it was a sword in fable but thats all i know. ralok 18:07, January 31, 2010 (UTC)


 * http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harbinger - 83.13.234.242 18:09, January 31, 2010 (UTC)

Control
Does Harbinger control the collecters or does the Collecter Genreal?
 * I think the Collector General controls the Collectors, but the Collector General is either controlled or told what to do by Harbinger. so it's both.--Marshmallow2166 00:56, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

Re: Control
No the Harbinger controls the collectors as a whole THROUGH the collector General. Because the Collector General can control the rest of the collectors. And through the general, Harbinger can assume control of the collector drones, guardians..etc.


 * First of all, we have NO idea what the mechanics are involving controlling any collector much less the Collector General. Harbinger could have clearly assumed control of any Collector at any times by use of the Collector Base. The only "evidence" that the Collector General controls the collectors is from the Codex, which is bias since the Codex at that point wouldn't tell you "Hey, The Collector General you've been talking to is a Reaper". So no, I'm assuming that Harbinger needed the base to control any collector and that the Collector General was just like any other collector (except his appearance). -- (Lone Hunter 23:45, February 28, 2010 (UTC))

Re: How
The cycle... after the extermination cycle ends they most likely go back to sleep. But they failed to activate the citadel thanks to the prothean scientists.

Since all Reapers hibernate around a thousand to maybe thousands of years, as speculation says... nobody is sure, maybe it's not even hibernation or no reapers are even hibernating at all, maybe they are just dormant. But as far as I'm concerned, according to all the information I gathered in WIKI and etc, in my knowledge, the Harbinger was responsible for the Protheans extinction (which was around 50,000 years ago. So it might be possible the Reapers weren't asleep at all. Even now), and responsible for turning protheans into collectors. And is in charge of their big dirty project "human-reaper". Since harbinger is the one controlling the collectors... as sovereign controlled geth (now geth.. or the HERETICS, is worshipping the reapers in general). But that still doesn't explain that Harbinger was responsible for the destruction and abduction of the protheans. But it's possible. It might be a possibility.

A Reaper? Really?
I'd always assumed that Harbinger was simply the name of the Collector General, but I was obviously mistaken. When did we find out that Harbinger was the name of a Reaper? Nosferatu13X 02:22, February 9, 2010 (UTC)

It's assumed that Harbinger is a Reaper due to the ending of ME2, most of the time during ME2 we're lead to believe that the Collector General is the one taking direct control, however during the ending movie, we see the Collector General's control cut, meaning that the whole time, the Collector General was under the direct control of Harbinger, and then Harbinger would selectively control a drone/etc through the use of the general. It's assumed that the reaper on the datapad at the end could be Harbinger, however I'm not even certain of that, because even though we'd know of the march of the reapers, how would we have known which was Harbinger? Unless, there was data of an old race named Harbinger, and the reapers do in fact take their name based upon the name of the race, and when that reaper was seen in the group of repears, it matched whatever data they had on the Harbinger race (perhaps based upon prothean ruins data) Jaline 23:41, February 12, 2010 (UTC)

Also he introduces himself with that name during combat. "We are Harbinger." Interesting that he refers to himself in the first-person plural, like how Legion does. Sovereign referred to himself in the singular. "I am Sovereign." Anyway... JakeARoonie 17:15, February 13, 2010 (UTC)

Quotes
Could someone please compile a list of all of Harbinger's major quotes (squad member dependent ones unnecessary)? That'd be great. --LBCCCP 03:32, February 10, 2010 (UTC)

Re: How
I think the answer is much simpler. From what has been said so far the general consensus seems to be that Soverign was the only active Reaper and that the Reapers were all asleep or that they are all awake. It seems more likely that while the vast majority of the reapers lay domant, that there are several "agents" constantly working (it wouldnt make a lot of sense to entrust the saftey of the entire species to one individual Reaper). Soverign was the Vanguard, designed to judge when the next cycle of extinction should begin and then to active the citiadel.

The books show the collectors have been active a while, and when passing though the mass relay Joke states that some of the wrecks look "ancient". It is safe to assume that as long as the collectors have been active (around 50,000 years) Harbinger has been active, controlling them probably using them as "agents" to gather intelligence about the other races. Remember Soverign couldnt reveal himself for fear that the other races would band against him. A slave species would therefore be useful.

I think it is safe to say that there are several more active Reapers in the Milky Way (each with its own specific duty). This seems likly considering that Soverign called himself a Vangaurd (the leading troop in an army i.e. the first into battle) and Harbinger's name can be simply defined as a "forshadowing" so the meaning there is prettey clear. This Reaper Collective in the Milky Way probably form an advanced guard to prepare for the comming of the Reaper Armada and to prepare the Armada itself.

-- Looq 00:52, Febuary 13, 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, Looq, I don't think it's safe to say that there are "several more active Reapers in the Milky Way" Sovereign was the vanguard, so he was left behind. If there were several more, Sovereign could've just rounded up all his buddies and then make his way to the Citadel, guns a'blazin. --Effectofthemassvariety 09:49, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Harbinger in ME3
Someone's article change about Harbinger appearing in ME3 was undone by a user with the summary comment, "pure, unfounded speculation. As an aside, I would really like to see the crystal ball used to determine Harbinger will appear in ME3." I just want to put this out there and ask why anyone thinks that he WOULDN'T appear in ME3. Really, some people treat this game like it's a murder trial and they need absolute conclusive evidence to everything, and can't seem to understand that foreshadowing in a mildly predictable series like this is usually enough. Harbinger may not be the "big bad guy" of ME3, but all things in the ending considered I think it's pretty damn safe to say he will appear. JakeARoonie 17:19, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * I have to agree, you have no way of knowing whether or not Harbringer will have anything to do with ME3, it's pure speculation and utterly pointless. You might as well be saying Urdnot Wrex will make a comeback as a character in your squad in ME3. It could happen, sure, but you don't know if it actually WILL happen. --96.54.228.29 19:30, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * JackARoonie, it's not that we all think that he won't be in ME3. Simply, this is a wiki, an encyclopedia on the Mass Effect universe. It's supposed to deal in facts, never speculation. We don't treat this game like a murder trial, we treat the wiki like it. Otherwise it would be chaos, with people posting speculation everywhere. If we don't know either way, it's better not to mention it at all. As the old saying goes: "Better safe than sorry." --Effectofthemassvariety 10:09, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Voice actor?
This might be a bit of a stretch but; does anyone know who the voice actor for Harbinger was? As a sidenote; what about Sovereign's too? 71.161.83.114 19:34, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
 * Sovereign's voice was provided by Peter Jessop when he talked to Shepard on Virmire. During the attack on the Citadel, the line "I am Sovereign, and this station is mine," was done by Fred Tatiasciore. I'm NOT sure, but I think one of them did Harbinger's voice. Darth Something

True Power Quote
Is that Harbinger saying "I will show you true power" in the Mass Effect 2 trailer? If so, should we add that to his article?

--Cyberweasel89 01:07, February 15, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I think that's him but I never heard it in-game. Did anyone else find where he says it? JakeARoonie 04:17, February 15, 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure he says it in one of the cutscenes during the Horizon mission Prismvg 23:05, February 17, 2010 (UTC)


 * He says it during combat when he posesses a Collector.--Marshmallow2166 01:00, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

Speculation
why is it speculation to consider the reaper ahead of everyone,is harbinger? it was shown distinctivly as the one with the golden eyes, and while it was possesed, the Collector General had the same eyes, which dimmed out as harbinger released control. its pretty damn obvious that that reaper is Harbinger.--RexGodwin 22:16, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Naming
Do we ever find out who exactly gave Harbinger his current name? We know Saren named Nazara "Sovereign", but as far as I know it's never explained how Harbinger got his. He refers to himself as "the/a harbinger" and just "Harbinger" (as in "We are Harbinger.") from the beginning, which makes little sense considering the fact that BioWare went through the trouble of giving Legion dialogue explaining how Saren named "his" Reaper. 85.147.165.48 22:14, February 27, 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, IIRC, it wasn't Saren who dubbed Nazara "Sovereign", it was the science team employed by batarian Edan Had'dah, who were studying the Reaper at the time. Saren came across Nazara after obtaining the research when he killed Had'dah. SpartHawg948 00:07, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

I haven't read Revelation yet, but Had'dah's article doesn't seem to suggest he or his team already made contact with the Reaper (though the reverse appears to be true as they were slowly being indoctrinated). Also, Legion's quote appears to be quite definitive: ''"Nazara. That was what the programs within the Reaper called themselves. "Sovereign" was a title given by Saren Arterius. Saren and the heretics believed Nazara to be a surpreme ruler. A sovereign." 85.147.165.48 20:17, February 28, 2010 (UTC)''
 * Well, as someone who has read the book, Had'dah himself had not come into contact with Sovereign itself, but as I stated above, one of his science teams had, and they then contacted him, at which point he quarantined them there to study it. As for the quote, you may be correct it's been a while since I've read Revelation so I don't recall if the scientists gave Sovereign that name or if it was Saren at the very end, but it is worth noting that one of the (former) writers at BioWare, who actually wrote most of the material for Legion, and who contributes to this very site, has stated (again, on this site) that dialogue needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as characters will say things that they really aren't in a position to know. I'll see if I can't find my copy of Revelation and see what it says. SpartHawg948 21:13, February 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ok, after an epic battle with some boxes of stuff (isn't moving fun?) I found my copy of the book, and it does appear to state that Saren did not name Sovereign, but that the name had already been given to it before he ever encountered it. I'll quote the relevant paragraph in it's entirety, with one minor note inside the text.
 * "In the privacy of his small one man craft, Saren had been studying the data on the flash drive inside Qian's metal case for hours. His suspicions had been correct: the alien technology was a vessel of some sort. It was called Sovereign; (interjection- I know! I'm surprised too! I'd forgotten that Revelation italicized ship names! However, the game still doesn't.) a magnificent relic from the time of the Prothean extinction; an enormous warship of tremendous power.- Mass Effect: Revelation, pg 320.
 * So, as you can see, the text states that Saren learned about this ship, called Sovereign, from the data of Dr. Shu Qian, who was at this time in Edan Had'dah's employ. No mention of him naming it Sovereign. SpartHawg948 22:03, February 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, anywho, about whoever named Harbinger, I assume it must be Commander Shepard. Shepard is the first one to refer to it in the game, and it probaby came from hearing the word over and over on the battlefield. I mean, it's pure speculation and personal opinion, but it seems to be the only explanation.--Effectofthemassvariety 07:57, March 8, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for going through the trouble of finding your copy of Revelation, SpartHawg. It doesn't really make it clear who exactly named Nazara Sovereign (Had'dah, Qian, Nazara itself through indoctrination or whatever) but it's good to know that Saren didn't come up with that name himself. As for Legion's quote, I suppose the geth have no way of knowing anything about the Reaper before Saren brought it to them, so the geth had no reason to doubt that. As for who named Harbinger, I also thought it might be Shepard, but Harbinger clearly refers to himself/themselves as Harbinger from the moment we see him: ''"We are the harbinger of their perferction." (Horizon intro) and simply "We are Harbinger."'' (sometimes when assuming control). In the first quote it doesn't really appear to be meant as a name, but the second kinda does. Also, the Collector General Codex article seems to imply he/they already had this name: "More disturbing still, victims of the Collectors say the General has spoken to them and referred to itself by a human name: Harbinger." Seems kinda weird that something like this would be in the Codex considering the fact that no one supposedly ever escaped from the Collectors before (atleast before Horizon). Oh well, I should stop overanalyzing this and just enjoy the series. Might as well buy the books while I'm at it. 85.147.165.48 19:48, March 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * No problem! Happy to help. As for the Legion thing, someone else did just point out on another page that Legion also states that Shepard spoke to Sovereign on Ilos, when of course this happened on Virmire. So maybe the geth are just working off some bad data? Either that or it's continuity errors that can also be written off as a mistake on the part of the character in question. All the above information does seem to suggest that Reapers may give themselves names like Sovereign and Harbinger, which is a very interesting concept. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. SpartHawg948 19:58, March 9, 2010 (UTC)

Gender
Harbinger is male. He shouldn't be referred to as "it", because in the endings of ME2 where Shepard survives, he/she says "Harbinger is coming. And you can bet he won't be alone." Therefore, Harbinger should be referred to as male in this article.--Unic of the borg 03:45, February 28, 2010 (UTC)


 * Ok, but does Harbinger call itself male at any time? If not, then it's not male. SpartHawg948 04:50, February 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Are you kidding me? Should we stop calling EDI a "she" then? Even though both Harbinger and EDI are machines and do not have gender, they are cases of gender implied by voice. JakeARoonie 00:29, March 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, EDI has feminine programming, which is apparent, although if EDI doesn't refer to itself as "she", the case could be made that we shouldn't refer to it as such either. However, while Harbinger may sound male to us, we have no idea if this is, in fact, the case. Nothing is implied when we don't know what a Reaper with male or female programming and mannerisms would sound like. We can make a call with EDI b/c it was designed/programmed by humans along human lines, and we can easily differentiate between male and female human voices. With other species such as elcor, hanar, volus, Reapers, turians, etc, where we don't have the ability (as of yet) to point to examples and say 'this is a male voice and this is a female voice' it's not nearly as cut and dry differentiating gender-specific programming. So comparing EDI to Harbinger in this case is hardly a valid comparison. SpartHawg948 01:18, March 8, 2010 (UTC)

The only reason Shepard refers to Harbinger as a He is because it sounds like a male. The Reapers are synthetic, meaning they don't have a gender. Think of it like in Terminator(hoping you have seen it), the chick in Terminator 3 only LOOKS female, but once all the skin and stuff is melted away, it shows no gender whatsoever. Meaning Harbinger is in fact an "it".--UNCxTrinity 04:04, March 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * Indeed! SpartHawg948 04:05, March 8, 2010 (UTC)

Like they always say, Synthetics are Synthetics!--UNCxTrinity 04:25, March 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * Mighty insightful. Hmmm... wouldn't that make it a synthetic insight? We'd better watch out! Might be hearing from Lorik Qui'in soon! :P SpartHawg948 04:25, March 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * HA! ....Oh, and, yeah, I agree. Synthetics have no gender.--Effectofthemassvariety 08:01, March 8, 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it is a matter of what makes sense to us or what we think at all. Harbinger is referred to as a he in-game. Since that's our primary source, it's proper to refer to him that way. It shouldn't be our goal to prioritize our own reasoning over an official source. -- Karm1c 20:16, March 9, 2010 (UTC)

Harbinger, the Reaper, and Harbinger, the Collector Combatant
I am trying to implement the adversaries infobox, but it would require restructuring this article. So far the article has 2 headings: an introduction, which talks about Harbinger, the Reaper character; and the walkthrough, which talks about Harbinger, the Collector combatant (obviously it would be silly to have a tactics guide about Shepard + 2 squadmates vs a dreadnought starship). The way I see this article right now is as a character page about a Reaper, it has the frame and it is written in the same way as a character page. It seems that the 'walkthrough' section is just tacked on and is all about a Collector. I propose two methods of remedying this: either create a new page with a title like Harbinger (Combatant) or Harbinger (Collector), similar to how Horizon and Horizon (mission) are done, or divide this page into two distinct and separate sections. If the latter, the second section about Harbinger, the Combatant will be similar to e.g. Geth Hunter page, basically: (1) Intro/Summary, (2) Capabilities divided into (2a) Offensive and (2b) Defensive, (3) Tactics. Any thoughts? Leaving it is also okay. Dch2404 19:42, March 8, 2010 (UTC)