Valdaris, the Harpy Aegis

Valdaris, the Harpy Aegis
''Terrarian, I believe in you. I believe that we can stop fighting right now. -Valdaris''

Valdaris is the second hardmode boss you will encounter, meant to be fought right after the Mechanical bosses and Mythril Slime. He takes the appearance of a standard harpy, but with wings armored with Pandaen, various tracking gear on his body, and a blue helmet with a visor.

Valdaris is an incredibly fearsome foe, with the ability to fire Stormfeathers, make powerful charges, summon Crystal Scythes and imbue himself with the powers of Shadelight, which he had gained from his secret studies on the Green Sun and the being known as the C0rrupture Medium.

He is spawned with the Crest of the Storm, or by killing a certain amount of Harpies as of the VU7 update(only if he has not been defeated before yet).

Upon death, he will spawn an abundance of Pandaen Ore in the underground Hallow. Killing him twice does not spawn more ore, so it is basically useless to kill him more than once unless in expert mode.

Movement AI:
Valdaris will alternate between two movement phases. In the first phase, he will make charges at the player. After making a total of five charges, he will switch to his second phase. As his health goes down, he will be able to make more charges before doing so.

In his second phase, he simply flies above the player and moves from left to right, firing projectiles. After a period of time, he will revert back to his charging phase.

If you outfly Valdaris in any phase, he will teleport to you and have special dialogue. In the VU67 update, he will get more angry the more he has to do this. This will change his dialogue while transforming, summoning Valdabot and increase his damage when he is in his final(Shadelight) phase.

Projectile AI:
Valdaris's projectiles are what makes him so deadly. At the start of the fight, he is capable of firing a volley of Stormfeathers. These are not affected by gravity until they hit the ground, of which they ricochet. He can also summon two tall horizontal walls of Crystal Scythes to the left and right of the player, which close in and deal massive damage, as well as summon a trail of short-lived Stormfeathers at the player

The moment Valdaris hits 65% health, he will summon Valdabot, a mechanical version of himself(and one of his only 'friends') to fight. Valdabot has 8000+ hp and charges just like him, except instead of projectiles, he simply stops after charging and fire a volley of three lasers, before resuming his charge.

When at less than 65% health, he will gain the ability to emit huge bursts of Shadelight flame, fire Stormfeathers when he is charging, and conjure Shadeflares that ricochet similar to the Stormfeathers, but deal much higher damage.

When at less than 40% health, his stormfeathers have the chance to split into two homing stormfeathers, he will gain the ability to perform Shadelight bursts when charging at a random chance. He can also conjure Shadelight Rotatums that home in on the player.

Shadelight Mode
When at less than 24% health, Valdaris will enter Shadelight mode. This is evident by him trailing Shadelight particles and becoming semi-transparent. In this phase, he goes berserk, charging insanely fast and spamming Shadelight bursts while he does so, and also gains a incredible boost on his projectile's firing speed. This is your final lap, so push on and try to outdamage him before he outdamages you.

VU7:

 * NOPE! -When you attempt to use an Eye of Evil on him.
 * NEVER! -When you attempt to use an Eye of Evil on him.
 * NO! -When you attempt to use an Eye of Evil on him.
 * I've watched you from above, murderer. Now I'll make you pay. -Upon summon
 * Look. I know Harpies are annoying, but they have lives too.
 * And it is my duty to protect every single Harpy life, no matter how much of a pest that Harpy can be!
 * All these years, I toiled so hard to fulfill my duty, but all the Harpies did was look down on me because I was different. Because I did not have the cognitive anomalies that plagued the rest of my kind.
 * Since my father's death, I was never loved by anyone, not even my brother.
 * But I myself, did love. I love my brother, because no matter what he does, he is still my brother.
 * I love my duty, because I choose to believe that it is helping my kind.
 * And I love all the Harpies, derpy or not. Problematic or not.
 * So please, I beg you, don't ruin my duty. Don't ruin the lives I strifed to protect.
 * Terrarian, I believe in you. I believe we can stop fighting right now.
 * I'll give you this five seconds to quit Terraria...(After doing so, he will stop attacking for five seconds and become invincible while doing so)
 * No? Oh...(If you refuse to quit)
 * Please...(Upon transforming into Shadelight form)
 * Don't hurt my kind.(Death)

Lore Summary
Valdaris is the biological brother of Scifly Grayfeather, current Harpy king and adoptive son of Daedalus Grayfeather, the last true Grayfeather king. He was in every way unlike his brother, who was childish and plagued with mental difficulties. Valdaris as a child was loyal, obedient, righteous, brave and kind, and was celebrated by Daedalus as the role-model Harpy child. He was also incredibly intelligent yet strong, studying traditional Harpy architectural arts, mathematical concepts at a young age. He also mastered combat very fast, which shocked his instructor. Valdaris was loved by Daedalus alot, and was the apple of his eye, but sadly, when the corruption came for the Harpy kingdom, Daedalus had to send him and Scifly away to exile so as to ensure their survival, for he knew that this battle against the corrupt was one he could not win. While Valdaris wanted to fight at first, he ultimately followed his father's decision to be sent away, and left the kingdom with his brother by midday. Daedalus was never heard of again by anyone from that day onwards.

In the present day, Valdaris has given up his rightful kingship as he was the elder to his younger brother Scifly to please him. Instead, he lead the Harpy vanguard and served as the Aegis, or the Royal Protector to the throne. However, since the original Harpy race was basically wiped out by the Corruption, every single Harpy in existence currently has their bloodline from an imperfect clone of Scifly. Albeit, none of the Harpies can come close to being as retarded as their king is(something everyone wants to be.) In the present day floating island, stupidity is considered intellect and the world is flipped upside down, which means that Valdaris, a highly intellectual and powerful Harpy, is the worse anyone can possibly get. As a result, he received alot of hate from the people he strived to protect, but even so, Valdaris knows his duty determines the future and fights on, though there were many days he cried when he retired to his room at night.

Valdaris was also the original discoverer and repairer of the Intelligence Zero, actually a Homelandic transport craft that had crashed into Terraria from space. However, when he displayed his findings to public, Harpy professor Idiotwing seized the opportunity to discredit him and propagate himself as the true creator of the Intelligence Zero, gaining himself lots of fame and popularity while Valdaris was spat at even more.

After that event, Valdaris never published his studies and works ever again, but in secret, he had ventured out to the ruins of his father's castle and there, he met a dark, eldritch being far beyond human comprehension. Utterly terrified, he retreated and vowed to arm himself even more so as to face the impending threat of this creature. He researched into the forbidden topic of the Green Sun, and in order to draw upon it's unending power, he made a pact with a being that unknowingly, was an iteration of the eldritch entity he thought he was going to fight. This gave him a flame known as the Shadelight flame, and imbued him with it's powers. Valdaris knew too well that the flames could consume him with it's sheer power, so he swore to only use it when he really needed.

At the time you are fighting him(or at least, the Shadelight version of him), he is preparing for war against the Slime Army, the arch-nemesis of the Sky Faction ever since the advent of the Legend of Pinky in the 1.1s.