Harpy enemy line

The Harpy (ハーピィ), Virago (ハルピュイア Harpyior), and Harridan (サイレンハーピィ Siren Harpy) are enemies that are randomly battled throughout each game in the Golden Sun series. These monsters, resembling humanoid bird creatures without beaks, are palette-swapped variants of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games. This is the only enemy line in the series in which each variant is present in all three games.

Harpy
A Harpy is a blue variant with yellow eyes, and it is level 10 in Golden Sun and level 12 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun it is battled throughout Mercury Lighthouse. In The Lost Age it is battled throughout Air's Rock.

In the first game, none of the Harpy's statistics are as strong as the Siren it is often fought alongside, and it is also outperformed by the Lizard Man in durability. It is generally not something to watch out for there; in The Lost Age on the other hand, it's easily the best enemy on the exterior portion of Air's Rock, and is outperformed by the Mummy in the interior portion of the dungeon only by a small margin.

A Harpy's statistics are as follows:

A Harpy uses these battle commands:

Virago
A Virago is a light-green variant with violet eyes, and it is level 17 in Golden Sun and level 24 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun it is an enemy that does not appear in random encounters at all, only appearing as parts of limited scripted encounters along with other enemies, namely one alongside two Man o' Wars as the third battle on the Tolbi-bound Ship and two alongside the Hobgoblin at the entrance to the first dungeon floor of the optional Crossbone Isle. In The Lost Age it becomes a traditionally battled random enemy, appearing throughout Aqua Rock.

In the first game, since only three are ever fought, two of which are weak "assistants" to a bigger enemy, they should be no problem at all to deal with area-of-effect offensive Psynergy. The same could be said of its appearance in the second game, where from the start of Aqua Rock it is quite outperformed in all stats by the Roc, which itself is hugely outperformed in Agility by the Faery, and that is not to mention the other stronger monsters fought throughout the dungeon interior.

A Virago's statistics are as follows:

A Virago uses these battle commands:

Harridan
A Harridan is a whitish-red variant with turquoise eyes, and it is level 22 in Golden Sun and level 27 in The Lost Age. In Golden Sun it is randomly fought throughout Suhalla Desert, and one of them appears alongside two Stone Soldiers as the monsters supporting the Lizard King mini-boss that is fought in a scripted battle in front of the fifth dungeon floor of the optional Crossbone Isle. In The Lost Age it is battled throughout Tundaria Tower, Ankohl Ruins and the earlier, easier portion of the optional Treasure Isle.

In the first game, it is the fastest of the enemies fought throughout Suhalla Desert, and its attacking and power is about the same as the others, with less durability in comparison to them. In the second game, though, it is nothing special, with monsters like the Minotaurus providing higher threat levels with all of its statistics being higher.

A Harridan's statistics are as follows:

A Harridan uses these battle commands:

Harpy
A Harpy is a light blue level 11 variant with purple-tipped wings. It is randomly fought on Passaj Mountain Climb, the overworld region between Passaj and Kaocho, and on the surface of Ayuthay; in all locations, they are only fought until the Grave Eclipse occurs.

A Harpy's statistics are as follows:

A Harpy uses these battle commands:

Virago
A Virago is a violet level 28 variant with orange-tipped wings. It is randomly fought in Belinsk Ruins.

A Virago's statistics are as follows:

A Virago uses these battle commands:

Harridan
A Harridan is a blue level 34 variant with light blue-tipped wings. It is randomly fought in the Eastern Sea region outside the Grave Eclipse.

A Harridan's statistics are as follows:

A Harridan uses these battle commands:

Cultural References
Harpy, Virago, and Harridan are all archaic insults against women in general in some form:


 * Harpy, as a term, has connotations that are comparatively evident due to the familiarity of the mythological creature in Greek myth that has that name, wherein it is a winged death-spirit with a woman’s head and a bird’s body. The name comes from the ancient Greek word “harpázein” meaning "to snatch". It is often envisioned as a violent creature, and much popular culture, Golden Sun included, depicts it as making piercingly loud, shrill shrieks.
 * Virago technically denotes a strong, brave, or warlike woman, which seems to be a positive aspect and was viewed as such initially. However, since this was viewed as a departure from the normative gender roles of society that were in place in England at the time, Virago became a pejorative to demean women who acted aggressively.
 * Harridan is a woman regarded as scolding and vicious.