Harold Haardraade

Harold Haardraade or Harald Hardraade is an infantry unit featured in Age of Empires II only in the Scenario Editor. This unit is actually an in game representation of Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. The reason for the naming by Ensemble Studios is unknown, but it may be due to a glitch that caused this unit to be a monk hero rather than a berserker hero.

Age of Kings
In this game, Harold Haardraade is a monk hero in the Scenario Editor. Like all heroes, he cannot be found nor trained in normal games. Harold Haardraade cannot carry Relics but it sacrifices this ability for the ability to move twice as fast as an ordinary Monk and converts any unit in a fraction of a second within 5 Range points. A fully upgraded Harold Haardraade can have as many as 113 hit points and 8 range points.

The Conquerors
In this game, Harold Haardraade is renamed Harald Hardraade. Although the naming is different, possibly to differentiate the two unit types, both represent the same Norwegian King. Like his counterpart, he can be only found in the scenario editor, however, in the form of a beserker. Despite having an icon of a beserker in the main screen, he has a different image for the unit icon. In addition, Harald Hardraade is unique from the other beserkers in that it chucks axes towards the enemy at a distance at a fire rate three times faster than a typical infantry unit.