Terra

Unreleased

Terra (also known as the "Armored Youth", the "Enigmatic Soldier" or the "Enigmatic Knight") is a character from the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, although he makes his first true appearance as a boss in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+. He is the tallest and assumed to be the oldest of the three Keyblade knights; the other two are companions Aqua and Ven.

Kingdom Hearts II Cinematics
At the end of Kingdom Hearts II, a secret movie called "The Gathering" can be unlocked if certain conditions are met in the game. In the opening of the secret trailer, Terra, in his knight's armor seems to be standing triumphantly, holding his massive Keyblade behind his back. He then notices something from off screen and jumps down. As he walks away, the object he was standing on blows away like a dust. As Terra walks to the middle of the crossroads, Aqua appears from another direction, along with Ven appearing in the opposite. Three keyblades lie in the center : Kingdom Key, Way to the Dawn and Mickey's Kingdom Key. Terra picks up the Kingdom Key while Aqua picks up Mickey's Kingdom Key and Ven picks up Way to the Dawn. Then they all notice a shadowed figure off in the distance.

In the "Birth By Sleep" cinematic, unlocked at the end of Final Mix+, the story is continued; the three are portrayed as the protagonists against Master Xehanort and his companion, and he, like the others, wields a keyblade. He begins the battle by rushing at Master Xehanort, but the old man avoids him by separating himself from the others with a makeshift cliff. Terra is hit by a blast of lightning from the old man's guardian, but ignores him to pursue Master Xehanort. He is at first unable to reach the man because of the cyclone of keyblades, but after being aided by Aqua's magic, he is able to reach the man's cliff and attack him. The old man, wielding a keyblade of his own, is able to fend him off with a freezing spell. Once the old man gets a hold of Ven, a younger knight, Terra is thrown off the cliff by the keyblade cyclone, ending his involvement in the struggle. He is seen one last time after the appearance of Kingdom Hearts, when he pulls off his helmet to gaze up at it. His face and his reaction to the appearance of Kingdom Hearts, which turns his eyes yellow, have given rise to much speculation among fans, who have connected him to Xemnas/Xehanort, Saïx and other characters, though no concrete connection has been made by Nomura.

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ Appearance
Terra did appear in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ as a secret boss, at first mentioning Aqua and Ven and mistaking Sora as "the one he has chosen" (possibly Riku, who was originally chosen by the Keyblade), then wonders if Sora is "Xehanort" before finally attacking him. Unlike Sephiroth, another secret boss in the game, Terra fights against both Sora and his main companions, Donald and Goofy. After losing once, he can be challenged again, this time saying that he has nothing more to give to Sora except his hatred for "Xehanort". It's unclear why he actually attacks Sora. After the fight, he acknowledges Sora as a Keyblade Master.

He, like the game's other secret bosses, is difficult to defeat; his most basic moves are attacking with his Keyblade (using a combo attack almost identical to Sora's, except that at the end he turns his Keyblade into a drill-like object for the foward thrust), and can fly at very high speeds. His main abilities are transforming his Keyblade into various attacking forms. He can turn into a whip that does less damage then the blade form, but its greater speed and reach makes up for it (it's so fast that if Sora is hit by it he won't be able to dodge or block the other hits), or a massive cannon (which is even bigger then he is) that fires out a large, very powerful ball of energy (Sora, however, can deflect this back to Terra, which leaves him very vulnerable), a jet-ski like object that lets him fly extremely fast, a cog-like object that spins around so fast that if Sora gets hit by it once, then the rest of the hits will also hit Sora. He can also conjure a "ritual" like attack, which undergoes into a berserker-like condition (similar to Riku's transformation into Dark-mode) in this form, red auras surrounds him, which he can split his Keyblade into two weapons. This, when added with his combos, makes him extremely lethal.

In addition to his Keyblade, Terra has other abilities as well. He can also create an unusual looking seal that either creates an orange or blue orb. An orange orb causes Sora to be unable to attack and a blue orb prevents him from using magic or items. He can also conjure drone-like objects which fire plasma at Sora and his party. A particularly deadly attack is trapping Sora in a triangle of objects that drain his heath at a very fast rate (similar to an attack used by Xemnas, but much more powerful), and only a "Break Free" command on Sora command list can save him from it. Finally, Terra has one last attack where he gathers energy and unleashes it in a flurry of strikes that reduce Sora to 1 hp. Interestingly, when he strikes Sora with his Keyblade(s), most of his combos resembles Sora's combos, most notably the Valor and Final Form combos.

Terra is the most powerful enemy in Final Mix+ and is arguably the hardest boss in the series. His level of power compared to all other bosses in the series may be a foreshadowing of sorts to something as-of-yet unrevealed.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Terra will be featured as a player character. He also has been revealed to know Fire and Blizzard magic. He is thought to have the ability to fly/glide, for his position is certain screen shots show him in a stance that is similar to Sora's, when he is gliding. He is revealed to be the strongest of the trio, using powerful striking hits. He is also known to have some as-yet-unknown connection with Maleficent. In early promos to "KH:BBS", Terra was searching for Master Xehanort, only to have feelings of betrayal when he finally finds him.

Theories
The main underlying theory behind Terra is that he is a younger Xehanort. This is supported by the facts of his supposed access of darkness as mentioned by both Maleficent and Master Xehanort. Future players of Birth By Sleep speculate that Terra is somehow flung far from his home and his memories erased only to have Ansem the Wise find him and take him in. Possibly only remembering the name Xehanort, he could adopt that name. Then, he becomes more obsessed with the power of darkness that he had previously wrangled with and, once he succumbs to it, takes a second name, Ansem. Another reason of support is when Xemnas enters the room of sleep, he "talks" with an old set of armor that looks remarkably like Aqua's. The reason Xemnas calls it "friend" would be understandable considering Terra and Aqua were previously freinds. The third support for this speculation is Terra's appearance. First, obviously is the hair. The spiked hair on the back of Xehanort's and Terra's hair match. Also, the yellow eyes, which Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas all feature, are seen in the Birth By Sleep trailer by a furious looking Terra. Finally, if one considers the names of the main characters, there is a similarity in characteristics. Knowing how well Aqua relates to Kairi and how Ventus relates to Sora/Roxas, one can see that Terra matches well with Riku, who in his earlier years did succumb to darkness.

Trivia

 * While Terra's name means 'earth' in Latin, Riku's name means 'land'. Any connection between the two is un-confirmed, however similar name meanings also apply with Sora/Ven and Kairi/Aqua.
 * Terra is speculated to have some connection to Zack Fair, from Final Fantasy VII, similar to the speculated connection between Reno and Axel, largely due to Terra's appearance being very similar to Zack Fair's in Crisis Core, including spiky black hair and bright blue eyes.
 * Terra's hairstyle is similar to that of Xehanort. Also, at the end of Birth By Sleep, his eyes turn yellow, much like those of Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas. However, as flashbacks in Kingdom Hearts II reveal, Xehanort had brown eyes as opposed to Terra's blue eyes, and any change in Terra's hair color is unmentioned, leaving fans baffled as to what connection Terra has to Xehanort if any.

Terra (KH)