Horst Harness – MechaBay | Mobile Suit Gundam

Horst Harness was a Neo Zeon civil servant and chief of staff of Kaises M. Buyer. He was a genuine Zeonist who wished for the revival of Zeon and played a key role in negotiating Neo Zeon’s acquisition of Axis from the Earth Federation.

Biography

Early life

Horst Harness started from humble beginnings as a resource collector in his teens, collecting scrap metal in space colonies. He established a widely distributed garbage company that later expanded to the size of an enterprise, becoming a huge corporation. He was considered the best example of starting from scratch in the Universal Century, where space colonies, lunar cities, and other emerging markets provided unlimited business opportunities for individuals to create wealth.

Although space junk allowed Harness to accumulate a huge fortune, he abandoned the garbage trade due to his growing hatred and mistrust for the Earth Federation and Earth’s human population. The administration of space colonies was saddled with huge debts and sent redevelopment funds back to Earth, causing the Federation and its associated NGOs’ credibility to be increasingly questioned by spacenoids. Because of this, Harness came to view the Earth Federal Government and all Earth-bound humans as recalcitrant leeches.

One Year War

During the One Year War, Harness was said to have been in charge of Zeon’s military administration, supporting the Principality of Zeon in its struggle against the Earth Federation.

Post-war activities

After the war, Harness appeared as a senior officer of Axis Zeon during the UC 0080s. He maintained his position as a Neo Zeon civilian administrator whilst working towards the revival of Zeon ideals.

Second Neo Zeon War

In UC 0093, during the Second Neo Zeon War, Harness served as chief of staff to Kaises M. Buyer, helping coordinate Neo Zeon’s administrative and political operations. As a genuine Zeonist, he played a crucial role in negotiating for Neo Zeon’s acquisition of the asteroid fortress Axis from the Earth Federation, which would serve as Char Aznable’s base of operations for his plan to drop the asteroid on Earth.

Personality and beliefs

Harness was a true believer in Zeonist ideology who held the view that humans must evolve during this period of transition into new humans and must first avoid repeating the follies of absolute democracy and the Earth Federation. He believed in noble ideals to manage society, which formed the ideological source of the future “cosmic aristocracy” concept.

In Harness’s worldview, he promoted reform whilst realising that he did not possess a distinguished pedigree himself. Although he died before seeing his ideals fully realised, his family would later inherit his legacy and create a doctrine derived from cosmic aristocracy called the Cross Mission.

Legacy

Harness’s vision of cosmic aristocracy would ultimately influence future events in the Universal Century. His family created the Cross Mission doctrine, and his daughter’s son Carozzo Ronah would marshal a trained fighting group called the Crossbone Vanguard to ensure sufficient military strength for their vision of establishing a human society that never perishes—Cosmo Babylonia.

Behind the scenes

Horst Harness was voiced by Masaru Ikeda in Japanese and Louis Chirillo in the English dub of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. Ikeda had previously played General Revil in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and would later voice minor roles in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.

Harness’s background story was primarily detailed in the novel version of Char’s Counterattack, titled Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – Beltorchika’s Children, which provided extensive information about his rise from scrap metal collector to influential Neo Zeon administrator.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden

External links

Horst Harness on the Gundam Wiki