Terra
- "You have to be strong. Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials."
- —Terra to Cinderella upon their first meeting
Terra is one of the main protagonists in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Terra, along with his best friends Ventus and Aqua, is a Keyblade apprentice, and it is his dream to reach the rank of Master.
His name the attention of the evil denizens of the worlds he visits. One is Maleficent, the evil witch taking control over Terra through his darkness and causing him to steal a sleeping Princess Aurora's heart. This action, as well as the many others the dark residents of the other worlds would request of him, would haunt Terra for the rest of his journey, even if his reward was more information on Master Xehanort's whereabouts.
Terra's quest through the worlds eventually brings him to the Radiant Garden, where he witnesses Master Xehanort heading in an unknown direction; assuming there may be some new information for him, Terra follows him. As Terra treks through the world, a battle with a massive Unversed leads him to reunite with Aqua and Ventus. After discovering that Ven had encountered the enigmatic Vanitas, Terra urges the boy to go home, as urgent duties Terra needs to fulfill will make the situation unsafe.
Aqua thinking these duties are not as Master Eraqus had assigned them, Terra quickly tells her that his goal is still to destroy the darkness, to which Aqua counters by stating the fact that Terra seems to embrace it. Ventus quickly comes to Terra's defense, Terra angered when Braig's dirty tactics. However, some quick encouragement from Master Xehanort gives Terra the strength to fight back.
After the battle, Terra gains the upper hand by using his anger as a weapon, thus losing control of his darkness, scarring Braig's harms at the beginning of his quest, Terra wondering why he is there and if he'll ever see Aqua and Ven again. Soon laying eyes upon a young Sora and Riku, he discovers Riku's potential and holds a conversation with the boy. Terra asks why he wants to go to other worlds, later choosing Riku to be his successor when he is able to hold the Keyblade. Riku stating countless times he has cherished things to guard, Terra then makes note that he still has things to protect, as well.
Called soon after to the Keyblade Graveyard by Master Xehanort, Terra learns from the man that Ventus has learned the truth about his past, has gone back to see Master Eraqus about it, and now has a high chance of being eliminated. Terra immediately returns to the Land of Departure, arriving just in time to save Ventus from a would-be fatal attack by Master Eraqus. he himself must be tainted by darkness to have raised his Keyblade against Terra and Ventus in the first place. At that moment, however, Master Xehanort arrives and murders Master Eraqus in cold blood as Terra looks on. With his true intentions exposed, Xehanort beckons Terra to come to the Keyblade Graveyard before shrouding the Land of Departure in darkness, which leaves it in ruins.
Upon arriving at the Keyblade Graveyard, Terra meets up with Aqua and Ventus. Terra explains what happened to their master and admits that he did have to be watched, vowing never to go astray again. However, Aqua warns him that darkness is based on hatred and rage, and that if Terra had come for revenge, then Xehanort has already won. In the ensuing fight with Master Xehanort and Vanitas, Terra succumbs to his darkness once more and battles the elderly man, who makes note of the χ-blade's creation before unlocking his heart and possessing Terra's body, thus forming the new Xehanort, while Terra's mind goes on to find residence within his discarded armor as the Lingering Sentiment. Despite the possession, Terra's heart fights back against Master Xehanort's several times, which leads to the new Xehanort unlocking his heart once again to retaliate, leading to Xehanort's amnesia.
Sometime later, Terra's heart is seen with Master Xehanort's inside the new Xehanort's body, the two disputing over who will control it. Terra, with the heart of Master Eraqus sealed within him, concludes that no matter what, he will do all in his power to hold Master Xehanort at bay, no matter how sure the elderly Keyblade Master was that his evil plans would succeed.
Kingdom Hearts II
{{Q|You don't look like you're half the hero the others were.|Xigbar to Sora, referring to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus in Xigbar at The World That Never Was, as one of the "other Keyblade bearers".
Blank Points
Terra is seen at the Land of Departure with a sleeping Ventus, waking his friend up before they both utter Sora's name with a sense of renewed hope. This indicates that, despite the destruction of "Ansem" and Xemnas, Terra is still alive in some shape or form.
Kingdom Hearts coded
When Naminé explains to the Data Sora about those in suffering that Sora must save, Terra is among those depicted.
Later, King Mickey and Yen Sid speak about their search for Terra, Aqua and Ven, and how only Terra's location remains unknown.
Abilities
Terra summons his Keyblade in a very unique way. The weapon is summoned like data, the numbers then replaced by small cubes.
Terra is also 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 affinity for Earth lets him use the powerful Quake and Meteor spells. In addition, he also makes use of dark powers such as the Dark Firaga spell used later in the series by Riku's Dark Mode, the Dark Volley Shotlock, and the Chaos Blade attack. His Command Styles are:
Weapons
Personality
Terra has a calm and cool exterior, but he hides a heart that would fight for his friends, yet he is constantly tempted by the darkness which is similar to Riku's personality. Oblivious to the fact that Master Xehanort is attempting to seduce him into darkness, he is forced to doubt those most special to him, and only realizes his wrong-doings after they occur. While not gullible, Terra can be overly trusting, which most villians use to their advantage, leading to his misadventures. His experiences with darkness bring a negative vibe to him, but Terra holds his bond with Ventus and Aqua in high esteem, willing to fight for them despite his ties to the darkness, wishing to help them long after his possession. This is seen with both the new Xehanort and the Lingering Sentiment, both instances of Terra's faded consciousness acting on Ventus and Aqua's behalf. He also holds Master Eraqus in high regard, viewing him as a surrogate father, which he proclaims to Xehanort, and also cries at his destruction.
Appearance
Terra is a tall young man with brown hair that reaches to the base of his neck in the back and is styled into rather messy, vertical spikes and bangs that frame his face. He has blue 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.
By touching the armor piece on his arm, Terra will become fully clad in armor. When in his suit in "Birth by sleep", 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, ==Quotes==
- "What I do, I do for friendship."
- "Oy, sometimes you are such a girl."
- "But why? Help me understand, Master Xehanort. What is it that I have failed to learn?"
- "You seem to be mixed up. I'm a peacekeeper, not a tyrant!"
- "There's this girl here - her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is to just believe."
- "I succumbed to it. Just like when I stole Princess Aurora's heart of light. I can never return home now. I'm a failure."
- "All this time, I've been staring into the darkness...But...that doesn't mean I have to jump in."
- "Protect the things that matter...Right. My friends matter to me, too. So, I still have things that I have to protect."
Master - no, my father, Eraqus not enough for you? Leave my friends alone!"
