Protagonist

* Male Artwork
* Female Artwork

The **Protagonist** (Japanese: 主人公, *Shujinkō***?**) is the playable character in *Harvestella*. They are a traveler who awakens in  Lethe Village during the height of Quietus, the season of death.

## Appearance

The **Protagonist's** gender and appearance are customized by the player at the beginning of the game. By default, the **Protagonist** has long, blond hair and blue eyes.

## Weapon

The **Protagonist's** weapon is known as the Proshades. It is an impressively versatile device which can change form to suit the combat, and  farming and  harvesting needs of the **Protagonist**, ranging from sword to  fishing rod. It changes form in accordance with its owner's will. It also vibrates when close to  Motus Monolites.

## Biography and Main Story

The **Protagonist** is a traveler who collapses in an isolated town known as  Lethe Village during the height of a particular Quietus, a calamity that comes with each changing season and a threat to all life. After the deadly dust had abated, the village doctor,  Cres, happened upon them and found shelter for them. Since then, the Protagonist lives in their own  home near the village. They tend to their crops, go  fishing, raise  livestock, socialize with the townsfolk, venture into dungeons, and explore the world and various neighboring towns.

Early in their adventure, they discover  Aria, a scientist who claims she's from the future. Aria begins living with the  **Protagonist** as she searches for a way to return to her own time and delves into the mysteries of Quietus. The two of them take the first step on a journey that will reveal the origins and the world and the truth behind the calamity along the way. The **Protagonist** also goes on to meet  Dianthus of the Omen, who agrees to venture to the  Fall Seaslight to investigate the recent, unusual activity, which begins a series of investigations into the four Seaslights and Quietus.

The **Protagonist** is also able to communicate with a mysterious long-haired girl who claims they were chosen for a specific purpose and have a duty to uphold. This woman often appears when the **Protagonist** is sleeping or unconscious, leaving cryptic clues about why they were chosen and what their fate is.

During their adventure, they and Aria are joined by various characters consisting of Asyl, Emo, Istina, Heine, Brakka, and Shrika after helping them with their situation with the Seaslights. Dianthus and Unicorn join them much later in their quest. The Protagonist also spends time doing side mission for them.

Following their investigations with the Seaslights and foiling the plans of a rogue Omen named Geist, they learn more about the Omen, Lost Gaia (aka Earth), Quietus, where Aria actually came from, ReGaia (the planet that they live on), and the Paradise Project, which involves having to either sacrifice the Cains (the people of Lost Gaia) or the Abels (the people of Earth) using the Proto-Seaslight as ReGaia cannot hold both species and also because of Quietus. The revaluation of the project causes Aria (who is a Cain while the others are Abels) to become her villainous persona: the Harbinger, who chooses to save her own people. Against this idea, the Protagonist puts a stop to the Paradise Project (turning Aria back to normal in the process) and instead seeks to end Quietus and save both the Cains and the Abels, although the project goes awry when the Proto-Seaslight (revealed to be sentient, which the Omen didn't know of) tries to wipe out both species. Its plan is foiled by Aria and the Protagonist at the last second.

The Protagonist and their friends later discover that a girl named Gaia is the cause of Quietus, who seeks to grant humanity's wish of being extinct. After being knocked out and transported into their own consciousness, Gaia tries to discourage them by stating that others are not like them, making them lose hope, but their friends all help free them from their depressed state before proceeding to stop Gaia.

By the end of the game, after Quietus is stopped for good, the Protagonist heads for the Orbital Cradle alone where they meet up with the mysterious girl. If they choose to know the truth of their origins (after being warned that there may be no going back to their life if they know), it is discovered the Protagonist is actually a Cain just like Aria and that their actual self is in a stasis pod among the other Cains. The girl (who by now is revealed to be ReGaia) connected their consciousness to a decreased Abel body to have them stop Geist, Harbinger Aria, and Gaia from wiping out humanity and put an end to Quietus, all while ensuring that they don't commit the same misdeeds as Aria. She thanks them for saving both the Cains and the Abels, and then allows the Protagonist to live out their lives in their new home. If they choose not to know, then ReGaia will respect their choice and will just thank them.

In the ending, they and their allies later help Aria with an discovery on Lost Gaia, which is heavily implied to be recovering.

## Personality

The Protagonist is a very caring, selfless, strong-willed, and brave person who is determined to do whatever it takes to help their friends. Even after Aria was kidnapped by Geist, they did not give up and kept struggling to rescue her. This shows that they will fight to the bitter end to complete their goal, all while refusing to admit defeat while facing threats and being unconvinced by discouragements stating that they may fail or any ideas that they oppose. After Aria becomes the Harbinger, the Protagonist is shown to still deeply care for her, even though they are forced to fight her at first, as well as being unfazed by her delusional claims of being an enemy (as they are aware of her insecurities). The Protagonist is also highly persistent and is even willing to put themselves at risk in certain situations such as when entering Aria's consciousness to help her while she's the Harbinger despite the danger, helping Aria redirect the Proto-Seaslight to stop it from destroying ReGaia, approaching the falling Proto-Seaslight at a dangerously close range to retrieve Aria, and confronting Gaia to stop Quietus. Their persistence is so great that some characters, especially Aria, consider them to be quite strange as it is nearly impossible for them to understand the Protagonist's strong will. Even after learning the truth of who they really are, they remained mostly unfazed. They are also firmly against killing or sacrificing innocent people, which puts them to the point of stopping Aria's malevolent plot to sacrifice the Abels to save her own kind, refusing to choose between sacrificing the Cains or Abels despite Geist’s insistence, choosing to go back and save Aria when she decides to sacrifice herself to save ReGaia from destruction, and desiring to stop Quietus in order to save both the Cains and the Abels. The only time they were close to giving up is during their confrontation with Gaia, who states that others don't have the same strong determination as them. This causes them to fall into a hopeless state of depression, but their friends reach out for them and convince them to not lose hope (although Aria was the only one who was able to get through to them), regaining their confidence.

## Trivia

* Because the Protagonist is both a Cain and an Abel, it is presumed that their Cain self will eventually awaken and return to the presumably recovering Lost Gaia.
	+ It is not known what will really happen to the Protagonist if their Cain counterpart awakens; however, ReGaia stated that the Protagonist's conscious was embedded within an Abel body, not transferred, meaning that both versions of the Protagonist will remain active while sharing a single conscious. This is backed up by the fact that the Protagonist is still active in the good ending (although it is still unclear if the Cains have awakened before this or not).
	+ The possible reason why the Protagonist fell unconscious in Chapter 6 is because their consciousness connection was severed when arriving in Lost Gaia.
* Before starting the game, the Protagonist is given a default name: Ein. This can be changed to whatever name the player wants to use.
* Out of all the antagonists, Gaia was the only villain who was able to break through the Protagonist’s strong determination, as she is very well aware of it.
	+ Aria, Geist, and Geist Mk-II are also aware of the Protagonist's strong will, but they do not understand it as much as Gaia does.

## Gallery

### Artwork

The **Protagonist** showing Dianthus the process of Farming Carrops and Tingle Radishes in Bird's Eye Brae.Brakka and Heine join the **Protagonist** on a mission.The **Protagonist** and the Fighter weapon.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Heaney, Duncan (June 28, 2022). "What is HARVESTELLA? We take a closer look at the game". *Square Enix*. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
2. ↑ HARVESTELLA for Nintendo Switch at Nintendo.com. *Nintendo*. Retrieved June 29, 2022.