I'm guessing it's part of the original myth but I'm not sure. Also would the rare good aligned harpy try to keep herself clean? I imagine so, particularly if they want to live among other humanoids.
Cleanliness has little to do with alignment - in theory.
Religion more, maybe, for the cultists of filth and disease patrons, which are admittedly mosrly evil. The rest are usually dirty because they're too stupid to care, see trolls, ogres, low giants etc. The lack of Good idiot races is more the issue on that front. Which is indeed a classic trope.
For Harpies, it's probably at least partly cultural.
As very musky creatures, smell is probably important in traditional society, I presume ? A defining factor of one's identity, like appearance or a name to us.
This could lead to the stench of your old kills proving how good a hunter you are ? That kind of non-sense.
They could still be cleaner than they're described as being, but yeah, stereotype of non-human evil : filthy, stupid and unwashed.
But : Harpies living with other races, in urban settings etc. are specifically called out as often taking the opposite approach and spending quite a bit of effort on being clean, which tends to reinforce the idea of it being in part cultural.
At least, I'm fairly certain I've read that somewhere, but I can't seem to find it right now ? I'll have to look for it.
Harpies are in another game I play, Scion, which tries to stick closer to original myth. Original myth they had an unbearable stench. Them being dirty is a good explanation for this idea.
I think it would be more a practical than moral thing i.e if a good harpy wanted to befriend a town of elves they would obviously be more likely to accept her if she wasn't covered in blood and filth.
Because birds are filthy, filthy creatures. I've had to care for chickens- the filth gets EVERYWHERE.
Alignment only comes into play because developers are more willing to play up the grimy, dirty nature of evil creatures in order to reinforce the negative reaction from players.
Of course, humans aren't exactly clean either. But we are easier to wipe down because we barely have any hair/fur. Also, obviously, we are used to human smells.
Additionally, I will second some of the guesses that there is likely a cultural aspect due to their relationship with humans. They don't even bother making themselves less offensive to humans because they don't care about a human's good opinion. And they might revel in humans' reactions.
From mythology, harpies are well known for fouling up other people's homes.
Do we have anything saying that they foul up their own homes?
Their myths probably relate to sea birds to some degree. Have you ever seen or smelled seagull's nests?
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It's certainly part of the original myth. I believe it's meant to be a stark contrast between the entrancing beauty of the harpy and her song at a distance, and then the up-close disgust of her filth-encrusted body, foul stench, and blood-stained, jagged teeth.
I'd say it's probably cultural, and a harpy that wanted to make nice with the locals could certainly change her habits to accommodate their quirky superstitions about hygiene. She might require frequent reminders to wash her face or put the entrails in the larder rather than keep them wrapped conveniently around her torso in case she gets peckish.