❝Ask me about my demons:❞
What person, what place, or what thing has she most wanted to destroy? You know as well as I, the aspect of death that Harribel represents as the Tercera is not destruction (though death in itself is certainly a form of destruction, Hollowification an even greater form in terms of destruction of the soul and one's fate after death), but sacrifice. Harribel's process of Hollowification likely came as a result of that sacrifice. I am sure it is a shared headcanon, among other moderators of blogs who write for this character, taking into account the location of her Hollow hole, Harribel's sacrifice could have been the loss of a mother, a loss in childbirth or a nest that was emptied in tragedy, or a loss of life at her own accord, leaving a child behind or the chance of a child behind, it is not sure, but she takes the role of an ever watching mother over her Bestias, does she not? A figure of silent leadership. It is assumed a Hollow grows closer to its human memories the more it evolves. Nelliel, for instance, had a great emphasis on an Arrancar's return to a more human mindset and the way one turned their back on the bestial thoughts of a Hollow. A Vasto Lorde class Menos may have had less of a haze surrounding their human life, as their mask minimized and a more human appearance was taken. With that in mind, I think what Harribel wants most to destroy, to bring to a close, to rid herself of, would be the grief seeded in those memories, the what ifs, the could have beens, the realization of the true passage of time between her death and her current point of existence. I do not think she would wish to destroy what she has become. Harribel is a woman with a heavy sense of responsibility, and the life she has come to make for herself in Hueco Mundo is, in a way, her soul's own rest.
It is not, of course, the same sort of closure she would receive if she took part in a true burial of the soul and was reborn in the Soul Society, but in a metaphysical sense, what Harribel would most want to destroy is the remnants of her past as she made some attempt to move to the future. There is an obvious secondary, a more expected answer. Those that threaten her kind, that threaten her Fraccion, that threaten Hueco Mundo, those that pose a harm and a threat to the place where her loyalty lies are enough of an instigator for her to raise her sword and speak words of destruction. Harribel once only existed to protect herself, her evolution, then her Bestias, then the aims of Sosuke Aizen. When he struck her down he gave her a new something to destroy. When the Steinritter laid waste to the remnants of Las Noches, her pacifistic heart was again spurred to protect. That which threatens her loyalties must be destroyed, that is quite certain.
Does she consider herself compassionate or harsh to others? I'm quite sure this is a two-sided answer to the same sort of double edged question. Unless one is truly at the polar edges of the alignment grid (top left being lawful good and bottom right being chaotic evil) I don't think there is any case where a person is entirely lacking compassion or simply too virtuous to be harsh or give in to their temper in the company of others. When not swayed by great goals or a rare wave of anger, I'd like to think our characters share a minutely similar disposition, a neutrality that is only changed by certain aims (it is a singular goal in Starrk's case, a desire to escape loneliness, and a companionate goal in the case of Harribel, who will follow the aims and whims of and even respect those who are stronger in will and blade if it means it will result in what she perceives to be a better standing for the status quo). Harribel is more of a lawful neutral in my eyes, swayed by only what she believes to be right, the sort of person with every ability to live by their own willpower but who is perfectly happy to step aside when one bearing greater aims and the means to carry them out comes along...
Again, it is a situational variance. Harsh treatment would be doled out to those who cross those goals, who cross her boundaries, who break bonds or loyalties or incite harm upon those individuals and ideals she has deemed herself responsible to protect and responsible to serve. Again, a situation like this is hard to bring about. Harribel is a hard woman to sway. She is quiet, inquisitive, calculating, subservient but entirely independent. Cracking this exterior and revealing the face beneath the mask warrants treatment far from harsh. Compassionate behavior, however, is a behind-closed-doors phenomena, but far from rare at all, especially among her Bestias, I would think.