Terra

Unreleased

Terra is a character who will appear in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He first appeared in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II titled The Gathering. The video was continued in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, titled Birth by Sleep. In the video Terra was shown fighting against Master Xehanort and Vanitas with companions Aqua and Ventus. He is the oldest and leader of the three Keyblade Warriors.

While Terra means "Earth" in Latin, Riku's name in Japanese means "Land." Any connection between the two is unconfirmed, however similar name meanings also apply with Kairi and Aqua and with Sora and Ventus.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
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 takes off his helmet to gaze up at it, while his eyes turn yellow.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, a secret boss known as the Lingering Sentiment appears. Although it is not confirmed, it is believed to be Terra, albeit with a cape and Keyblade slightly different from the one he is seen with in gameplay. It first mentions Aqua and Ven and mistakes 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, the Sentiment 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, though he may just be testing his abilities just as Xemnas had been. After the fight, he acknowledges Sora as a Keyblade Master.

The Lingering Sentiment is the most powerful enemy in Final Mix, and is arguably the hardest boss in the series.

Abilities
Terra is the most powerful of the trio in terms of the damage aspect. He uses slow, but very heavy and hard-hitting attacks to decimate his enemies. On top of that, he has access to both a variety of magical spells as well as heavy physical strikes. His known Mode Changes are:


 * Fatal Mode: A powerful fighting style that utilizes slow, but heavy hits to their maximum.
 * Rock Breaker: After fulfilling certain requirements, Fatal Mode changes into Rock Breaker. A powerful and long-ranged style that works best on the ground, it summons three large earth crystals from the ground to damage enemies.
 * Thunder Bolt: A swift mode change that unleashes powerful lightning upon attacks.
 * Fire Blazer: A ranged and versatile mode change that focuses the Keyblade to erupt flames while attacking.
 * Blade Charge: In this mode the Keyblade of Terra resembles a purple sword. It can be seen in the 13/12/2009 trailer, when he fight against the Man in The Mirror.
 * Dimension Link: A mode that allows Terra to summon characters from other worlds to aid him in battles.
 * Shoot Lock: Star Burst: Multiple blasts of light fire from his Keyblade to hit the enemies. The input command is to continuously press O. “Fly shining blasts of light!” “Rapidly press the button to release the Finish command.”

Personality
He is the oldest and leader of the three Keyblade warriors. He has a calm and cool exterior but he hides a heart that would fight for his friends. He and Ventus have a strong relationship because he said Ventus had saved his life before. His personality seems to have some similarities with Riku's personality.

Appearance
Terra is a tall young man with brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. Like his friends, Terra wears two intersecting straps over his chest, though his red ones are rather different, dropping much lower down and almost resembling criss-crossed suspenders. Also unlike Aqua and Ven, Terra does not wear his badge (which is gold as opposed to the others' silver) on these straps. Instead, he wears it on his belt. He wears a skintight, black, high-collared shirt, showing that he is rather muscular. Terra's pants bear a distinct feudal Japanese style; his belt is tied like an obi-sash and he wears hakama (traditional samurai pants distinguished by the large pleats). His hakama are dark grey near the top, with several loops for his belt and two buttons, both of which are undone. The rest of the pants are tan with a small, lighter stripe of tan on the bottom hem. Terra wears a plain black wristband on his right arm, while his left arm is significantly more armored.

Like Aqua and Ven, Terra wears armor on one arm, with his bearing similarities to both of his companions. Terra's armor shares the large, ornate crest (colored gold) with Ven and the long, segmented section (each segment alternating between dark grey and dark red) with Aqua, though Terra's is much longer, reaching all the way to the bottom of his hand. He also wears a black, fingerless glove on his hand and what appears to be a black gauntlet on his forearm, over the segmented armor, which also has small pieces of dark red armor on it. Finally, his armored boots are dark brown and gold.

When in his suit, Terra is clad from head to toe in armor, mostly in shades of dark brown, gold, and red. Dull orange lines decorate the armor as well. Notable additions to his armor include upturned, sharp red hooks on the backs of his boots, a navy blue cape, and a dark-visored helmet. His helmet sports two tall, red prongs on either side. The design of the back of his helmet faintly resembles a Nemes. Recent scans have shown Terra in his armor as part of the Joint Struggle mode. His armor is now slimmer, the colors on the armor are much brighter, and the cape is omitted. The dark brown is now shown to be black, as is the visor of his helmet.

Trivia

 * Terra will be voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu, who previously voiced Setzer (a character originally from Final Fantasy VI) in Kingdom Hearts II.


 * Terra's belt buckle slightly resembles the symbol of the Heartless, except yellow. The badges on Ven's and Aqua's chests and Master Erauqs's belt have the same form as Terra's buckle, except white. Turned upside down, it vaguely resembles the symbol of the Nobodies.


 * Terra may become the second super-boss in the series to gain a playable role, succeeding Xemnas. However, the Lingering Sentiment is actually the same Terra from "Birth by sleep".


 * It is unknown as to why Terra continues to ally with the Disney Villains on his quest for the Princesses of Heart. It is possible that they aid him in locating the Princesses of Hearts which lead him to find Master Xehanort.


 * With the above mentioned name similarities, it is interesting to note that both Terra and Riku have helped Maleficent achieve what she wants and that they both seemingly "turned" to darkness.

Terra