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Tier Harribel (ティア・ハリベル, Tia Hariberu), was an Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army, and is the former Espada Tres (Three). After her defeat at the hands of Aizen during her battle with then Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, she was subsequently healed by Orihime Inoue at the end of the Winter War and returned to Hueco Mundo. Upon realizing that she was the sole living Espada, Tier took on a leadership role and began forming the new Espada to fit her own ideals. After meeting a human male and falling in love, Tier somehow became pregnant which led to her becoming the mother to Izuna Harribel.
Harribel has dark skin, green eyes, blonde eyelashes, and messy short blonde hair which has three braided locks. She wears a variation of the Arrancar jacket that covers the lower part of her face downward, while baring a good portion of the lower half of her large breasts. The jacket, unlike that of other Arrancar, has a zipper running along its entire length that is opened from the bottom upwards (in the anime, this outfit is extended to fully cover her breasts, a black stripe showing where the original cut of the jacket was). The jacket's sleeves completely envelop her arms, terminating in black glove-like extensions at her extremities, which slightly gives her fingers the appearance of a cat's paws. Harribel carries her Zanpakutō horizontally across her back (similar to Soifon). The sword itself is notably broad and short compared to others, and has a western-style guard.
The remnants of her Hollow mask consist of the sides of her face and her mouth, as well as an extensive area below and around her neck extending down to, and also covering, her nipples; she usually hides these Hollow remnants from view with her jacket (in the anime, the remnants are extended to cover the underside of her breasts due to censorship). Harribel's mask fragment give her a similar appearance to Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, at least in regards to the teeth. To date she has the most intact mask of any Arrancar not including the incomplete Grand Fisher (though the mask is removed upon her Zanpakutō's release). Her Espada tattoo is oddly placed on the left side of her right breast. The location of her Hollow hole is currently unknown, despite the fact that her release form reveals most of her body.
Personality[]
Tier's Former Espada Number
Harribel rarely speaks, and when she does, she's fairly serious. An example would be when she tells her Fracción that being afraid of an Espada's released form is a natural reaction. She calculated the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was more of a fight between two Espada than anything else. She tends to cross her arms when not engaged in combat.
Compared to her fellow Espada, who are usually arrogant, boastful, impulsive, battle-hungry, bloodthirsty, and egotistical, Harribel is composed, receptive, analytical, and prefers not to engage in combat; she is content on silently observing both parties until the fighting reaches its conclusion, and actually fights only when she is challenged and attacked by an opponent or commanded to fight by her superiors (though she appears reluctant to take orders from a higher-ranked Espada). However, when she is betrayed by Aizen, Harribel angrily attacks him, showing that, when provoked, Harribel is quite aggressive and brutal, something that wasn't present during her previous fights with Hitsugaya, Lisa, and Hiyori. Harribel's gender and associated rank in the Espada often draws the unwanted attention of other people; Nnoitra Jiruga attempts to provoke her into attacking him with a sharply-worded comment during the Espada meeting. She also catches the eye of Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, even to the point of him mentioning his (rather positive) opinion of her abilities to his opponent.
Before Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends broke into Las Noches, Harribel is seen in the company of Aizen and her fellow Espada - in Aizen's throne room, the debriefing room, and the room which houses the Hōgyoku. However, she, like the other Espada, has her own quarters. Whenever she is present, Aizen usually greets the group with words such as "ladies and gentlemen of the Espada" or "brothers and sisters", apparently for her exclusive benefit, as she is the only female. She views Aizen and his powers in high regard, which is reciprocated by Aizen to a certain extent, as he seems unconcerned with the prospect of his top three Espada fighting a numerically-superior force led by six Shinigami captains without his aid.
Strangely, Harribel seems to show some concern for her enemies. This was hinted when she observed Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow and was finalized when she asked Hitsugaya about his fluctuating reiatsu during their fight. Unlike most of her comrades, Harribel does care for her Fracción, as she is noticeably upset when she senses their presences fading, and later angrily assaulting Hitsugaya seconds after their defeat at the hands of Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
History[]
Tier still as a Vasto Lorde
Prior to becoming an Arrancar, Harribel was a near-humanoid shark-like Vasto Lorde-class Menos. Some time ago she saved a female Adjuchas-class Hollow, Emilou Apacci, from another, male Adjuchas. Harribel took her back to her lair, where she introduced her to two other female Adjuchas,Cyan Sung-Sun and Franceska Mila Rose, as a new comrade. After Harribel broke up a small altercation between the other three Hollows, she explained that as female Hollows tend to be easy prey for the male ones, she brought Apacci and the other two Hollows there as she thought they would be better if they worked as a group, rather than working alone. They later fought a Hollow who fled, Harribel having allowed him to get away. When they decided to rest, Apacci asked her why they should allow him to escape instead of devouring him. She explained the law of Las Noches and asked Harribel why she doesn't follow it. Harribel explained that she didn't want to become stronger by devouring and sacrificing others. She resolved that if she couldn't win alone she would win in a group. At some point Harribel and her group came face to face with the King of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan Louisenbairn and his court. The two revealed they had previous dealings with each other and upon meeting again Baraggan made note that he was tired of her rebellious attitude. He gave her a choice: either join his army or run off to an area he could not see, noting that there is no place in Las Noches he couldn't see. One of his servants attempted to persuade Harribel but ended up receiving a slash to his Hollow mask for his trouble, for which Baraggan scolded her for being so bold, but allowed her to leave unharmed.
Sometime later the group is attacked in their lair by a stranger. Harribel, who remembered him as the Hollow she attacked at her confrontation with Baraggan and his court, tried to fend him off. He proved his reiatsu to have been stronger then a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow such as Harribel and he quickly gained the upper hand. Harribel refused to give up and asked her subordinates to run away. Though they complied at first, they eventually came back as they resolved to die fighting for Harribel. The assailant quickly defeated the Adjuchas Hollows and then took out Harribel. He then stated his intention to kill her and join the upper ranks of Hueco Mundo. They were interrupted by the arrival of Sōsuke Aizen, who blocked the attack and stated that such power was only natural for an Arrancar as he dispatched him personally. He then noted that the power of sacrifice allowed for many impossible things and apologized to Harribel stating that he gave the assailant Arrancar powers, but not a brain to control it. He then explained the concept of the sacrifice and asked Harribel to join him if she wanted to be strong enough to protect her subordinates.
At some point after this time she was became arrancar in Aizen's army and the 3rd espada. She participated in
Tier frozen by Hitsugaya
the Winter War in the fake karakura town againt the gotei 13, her opponent at the time was then captain Hitsugaya Toshiro. She was a powerfull fighter being able to fight against a captain class shinigami effortlessly. During most of their fight Harribel was able to match blow for blow, using her ressureccion to fight against hitsugaya's bankai and bot were evenly matched due to the same elemental nature of their zanpakuto's. During the late stages of the fight two vizards Hiyori Sarugaki, Lisa Yadōmaru joined the battle. She was able to fight off all three opponents for a while, but an unexpected event occured, she was betrayed by her comannder Aizen Sosuke. Aizen, who notices their fight, suddenly appears behind Harribel. She turns, noticing his presence as he approaches her and before she can react, he slashes Harribel across her midsection. She is shocked as Aizen only responds that he is done with her as it appears that she is not strong enough to fight for him. Harribel looks at Aizen with rage and retaliates by stabbing him through the chest with her sword.
Tier defeated by Aizen
Aizen's expression does not change as he says dealing with her is such a pain, surprising Harribel. She then realizes that she attacked an illusion and that she has been stabbed from the back of her left shoulder by the real Aizen. He then states that he will never allow her to raise her sword against him again and withdraws his sword, which sends Harribel plummeting into the city below. As she fell into the city below, she was lying down about to die when Orihime approached her near the end of the Winter War and healed her. Sometime after this, Tier returned to Hueco Mundo and begin re-creating the Espada to her liking and even met an Arcanist male with whom she fell in love with and helped mother a duaghter with in the form of Izuna.
Powers And Abilities[]
Tier's Spiritual Energy
Immense Spiritual Energy: Even before becoming an Arrancar, Tier Harribel demonstrated tremendous spiritual power. As an Arrancar and one of the top four members of the Espada, Harribel is forbidden to release her Zanpakutō while inside the dome of Las Noches. If she were to do so, her immense spiritual power would be enough to demolish the fortress. Her spiritual power is yellow. After continuing her training following the Winter War, Tier's control over her spiritual energy has continued to increase to the point of her being capable of reinforcing her physical strikes as well her zanpakuto swings with an extra layer of reishi in order to further harm the opponent. She is even capable of surrounding her body with a thin membrane of spiritual energy that allows her to shrug off some spiritual attacks by responding with a spiritual resonance of the complete opposite frequency.
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Harribel has demonstrated tremendous skill in swordsmanship, being able to fight on even grounds with Hitsugaya, a captain-level Shinigami as well as a famous prodigy of swordsmanship Harribel is ambidextrous and can switch her sword from her right to left. She is even capable of defending herself from a Shinigami captain and two Visored simultaneously. Tier's swordsmanship skill has dwindled in the least since the Winter War. In fact, it was what allowed her to maintain control over the now rampant arrancars roaming throughout Hueco Mundo, due to the death of Barrangarn. She is more that capable of utilizing fluid strikes and quick, often confusing motions in order to bewilder the opponent and defeat them quickly. Tier's level of skill in this area is so great that she has subdued many uprisings during her time as leader of the Espada. Her level of combat potential has developed to the point where she is capable of taking on several members of her new Espada at once and still managing to outpace many of them.
Highly Perceptive Combatant: While a person of few words, Harribel has shown herself to be an intuitive person. She is easily able to see through a person's demeanor to determine what they are thinking about. During the battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, she noted how the two were similar, especially in terms of energy signatures. Her keen intellect and intuition is later seen in the initial fight with Hitsugaya, being able to see through his icy demeanor and identify his concern for his Lieutenant. She was able to sense a small wavering in Hitsugaya's Spiritual Pressure after the arrival of Hinamori concerned him.
Master Tactician: Harribel was able to hold her own in a fight against Hitsugaya, who used abilities counter to her own, taking advantage of his attacks for her own purposes. Tier has even taken note that several of members of the current Espada are plotting to overthrow her at some point in time. She has purposefully not taken a stance against them in anticipation of their plan as she currently has one of her own in the works.
Harribel's Cero
Cero: Harribel has been shown to charge her Cero using her sword and being able to fire it in a very wide ranging form, following the arc of her sword swing. She is also capable of rapidly firing her Cero as though they were a machine gun. These machini gun Cero, are the size of a small car and each retain the power of her standard Cero, although they lack accuracy.
Gran Rey Cero:
Gran Rey Impacto: A Cero technique usable by only Tier herself, and Ruiko Crozzeria the Cero Espada. Unlike Ruiko, Tier uses the power behind the Impacto to augment her blade swings in order to cause a large explosion on contact. The massive blast is big enough to engulf the target completely, destroying everything caught inside of it quickly and completely.
Sonido Master: Harribel has demonstrated incredible speed in battle, initially able to outmaneuver Hitsugaya to the point of forcing him almost completely on the defensive. Tier's prowess in speed has been noted to jumped by leaps and bounds over the time-skip since she was last seen. She is capable of leaving fully functional afteriages in her wake, or even moving only enough to avoid being hit, although it seems she has not moved from her location at all.
Garganta: Garganta is how Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Harribel has the ability to use this technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway. She is seen using one to travel to the Fake Karakura Town.
Zanpakuto[]
Tiburón (皇鮫后 (ティブロン), Tiburon; Spanish for "Shark", Japanese for "Imperial Shark Empress"). In its sealed state, Harribel's Zanpakutō, while not particularly long, is unusually wide and has the distinction of being completely hollow in the middle, essentially consisting of nothing more than the edges of what would otherwise be a normal sword. Its handle is purple and its guard is as wide as its blade, with three small holes on either end that Harribel uses to unsheathe it. Oddly, the sword is longer than its sheath. It is worn horizontally on her upper back.
Ola Azul in use
Ola Azul (波蒼砲 (オーラ・アズール), Ōra Azūru; Spanish for "Blue Wave", Japanese for "Blue Wave Gun"): A technique in which Harribel pulls her sword back as it gathers yellow spiritual energy within the hollow portion of her blade and launches it towards her opponent, in the form of an energy blade projectile. She has also demonstrated the ability to keep the energy concentrated within the hollowed out portion of the blade and unleash it in the form of a ribbon when attacking.
Tier's Released State
Resurreccion: Its release command is "Destroy" (討て, Ute). When releasing her Zanpakutō, she holds it with an outstretched arm in front of her with the blade pointing down and declares the release command. She is then completely enveloped by a heart-shaped surge of water that closes around her to form a cocoon-like cyclone which Harribel then cuts herself out of. In this form, all of her clothes are gone, as well as her Espada tattoo. The Hollow fragments she has in her sealed state become a collar with extensions that cover her nipples, in addition to spaulders on her shoulders with two ribbon-like protrusions on her back that bare a resemblance to shark fins. A thin, spine-like structure also forms on her stomach, spanning from her waist to the underside of her breasts. Harribel now wears a mini-skirt consisting of bones that appear to surround a dark undergarment. She wears a pair of knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves as well. Her weapon takes the form of a broad pata, which resembles an elongated shark tooth, featuring an unusual hilt with a hand guard that completely covers her hand. The sword also possesses what appear to be gill markings along either side of the blade. Harribel loses her three braids, making her hair become messy, and gains two blue lightning bolt markings on both sides of her face.
Resurrección Special Ability: In this form, Harribel's speed and strength increase immensely.
Water Manipulation: Her primary ability in this form is the creation and manipulation of water. The water used for her attacks is generated by the gill-markings on her blade.
Trident (トライデント, Toraidento): A technique that allows Harribel to fire a high-force, mist-form Zanpakutō in a series of three shots. Upon contact, it can cause severe damage.
Hirviendo (灼海流 (イルビエンド), Irubiendo; Spanish for "Boiling", Japanese for "Burning Current"): Harribel points her blade out and instantly boils any form of water that comes close to it, including ice, and deflects it around her.
La Gota
La Gota (戦雫 (ラ・ゴータ), Ra Gota; Spanish for "The Drop", Japanese for "War Drop") Harribel is able to condense large amounts of water around her blade before firing it as a blast that resembles a shark tooth. She has also demonstrated the ability to fire multiple blasts in rapid succession with relative ease. The blasts strike with enough force to demolish houses.
Cascada (断瀑 (カスケーダ), Kasukeda; Spanish for "Waterfall", Japanese for "Cutting Waterfall"): Harribel launches a rushing surge of water at her enemy. The torrent of high pressure water is large enough to cover several town blocks.
Tier in her Segunda Etapa
Resurrección: Segunda Etapa (刀剣解放第二階層 (レスレクシオン・セグンダ・エターパ, Resurekushion Segunda Etāpa; Spanish for "Resurrection Second Stage", Japanese for "Sword's Release: Second Level"): Compressing all of her Spiritual Energy into her core, Tier taps into a new level of power known as the Segunda Etapa. In doing so, the armor of her normal release begins to develop a series of cracks before suddenly bursting off of her person in a large flash of light. Once the light recedes, Tier can be seen in what can only be described as a bikini made from remnants of her hollow form. This outfit covers her breasts and has a medium-sized strip of a bone-like material that stretches down her mid-section and around to her rear. On her rear reside two large fins that she uses to thrust herself forward at incredible speeds or deflect attacks away from her being. Tier also has a large tail that she uses for balance and for attacking her opponents as it is covered by sharp protrusions. On her wrists and collar resides fragments of a shark's skeleton adding to Tier's frightening yet appealing appearance.
Tier's Fin Blades
Fin Blades: By detaching the fin's on her rear, Tier is able to connect both of them to her hands and use them as massive lances much like she did in her previous form. When she removes the fins from her posterior, her armor expands and becomes a shadow of what she used to look like, even giving her teal-colored scales around her neck and on her forearms. She also gains a lengthy teal-colored skirt that reaches down to her knees and regains the mask she possesses pre-release. In this form, her tail extends ar out, giving her the appearance of a skeletal mermaid as well. Tier's fins possess enough force to completely crush an opponent's unreleased zanapakuto and even leave large craters in their wake from her just setting them down on the ground. She is capable of opening the 'mouth' of the fins in order to grab onto the enemy and crush them between the two halves or use the mouth as a focus in order to fire a Kaishin Cero.
Overwhelming Spiritual Energy:
Leviatán in use
Leviatán (Spanish for Leviathan): Tier conjures a large amount of water that begins to take the form of a large sphere around her and her opponent. The outside of the sphere is seemingly far more dense than standard water techniques as those on the inside are not capable of breaking out with force alone. Once inside, The opponent must cause Tier to desire to release the technique or risk the chance of drowning, this gives Tier the advantage in battle as she uses her gills and fins to swim through the large dome of water with ease, even causing her speed to increase as well. All opponent inside of the dome are subjected to its ability of draining away their spiritual reserves that will then be transfered to Tier to keep her in top shape. The water also acts as a natural spring for Tier, being capable of healing any non-life threating wounds that she receives over time.
Kaishin (">かいしん, Poseidon): Tier's signature technique in this form. She pulls in moisture and reishi from the surrounding environment, including the opponent's very own blood and molds it into a medium-sized sphere. This sphere then takes on an orangish-yellow coloration that spirals in the palm of Tier's hand continuing to grow as it takes in more and more. She is then able to throw this ball of combined energies and attack an opponent. Whether it strikes the opponent or not is irrevelant, as at the point of impact the sphere expands and begins to swirl about like a maelstrom in the sea as it continues to gather reishi from the surrounding area, pulling in everything it possibly can with the force of several whirlpools working together before detonating into a large explosion. With this technique, Tier is capable of causing widespread damage and is capable of decimating a expansive stretch of land.
Tier using Kaishin
Kaishin Cero (">かいしん; "エターパ, Poseidon's Zero): Merging the previous Kaishin technique with a Cero, Tier is capable of using the destructive potential of both techniques in one. When forming, Tier points her finger at the target as a ball of dark energy begins to swirl at the tip and gathers bolts of reishi causing the ball to give off sparks of what looks like golden electricity, causing the attack to gain a golden hue much like her original Cero. The destructive potential of this attack has yet to be seen as she only used it as a threat against a group of rebellious hollows.
