Terra Branford
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:FFVI character "A mysterious young woman, controlled by the Empire, and born with the gift of magic..."
Terra Branford is a fictional character of the Square Co., Ltd.'s computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VI. She is a girl of mysterious origins born with the power of magic, long thought lost. Although Final Fantasy VI has no definite main character, Terra is often considered as such since she is the first character to be introduced and her background is pivotal to the events of the first half of the story.
Terra was born on October 18th.
Contents |
Biography
Terra is the daughter of the Esper Maduin and a human mother, Madonna. Her heritage as a magical being is the source of her powers. She has natural fire- and curative-magic alignment. Much of the turmoil involved with her stems from the dichotomy of her origins. She is neither fully human nor fully esper and therefore, though she can identify with both groups, she does not "belong" in either. Later in the story Terra finds purpose in the innocence of a group of children who are indifferent to her dual origin<ref name="katarin">Katarin: "Terra's been our only hope for survival."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>. She serves as the portal between the esper and human worlds<ref name="espers">Terra: "I am the product of an Esper and a human. I am proof that such a bond can exist."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>.
Terra was raised by the Empire as a soldier after the Empire, including Emperor Gestahl himself, attacked the Espers' home and captured several, including Maduin. Her potential was quickly realized and she's said to have once destroyed fifty Magitek-equipped Imperial soldiers in an exercise<ref name="vicks">Vicks: "And this woman...this...sorceress...why is she here? I heard she fried fifty of our Magitek Armored soldiers in under three minutes!"(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>. When the game begins, Terra is wearing a Slave Crown, suppressing her free will and giving the Empire complete control over her<ref name="arvis">Arvis: "Easy, it was a Slave Crown. The others had complete control over you while you were wearing it."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>. An encounter with a frozen Esper later identified as Tritoch in the mines of Narshe freed her of the Slave Crown, causing amnesia. Terra was left a confused young woman, a much-desired asset for wars she knew nothing about who bears inhuman powers of unknown origin.<ref name="edgar">Edgar: "Banon! She doesn't remember ANYTHING!"(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>
Terra was rescued by the Returners, an underground anti-Empire resistance movement, and eventually made her way to join it. Agreeing to help the Returners in the hopes she might begin to understand her own powers more, this eventually brought a confrontation with the Esper Tritoch (see below for more information), and first awakened Terra's dormant Esper-half. She is tracked to the town of Zozo, where an Esper named Ramuh says she is neither Esper nor human<ref name="ramuh">Ramuh: "No, actually, Terra is quite different."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>. After a trip to Vector to rescuse more Espers, it is revealed that Terra is half-human, half-Esper. At this point, Terra is trusted with opening the Sealed Gate to the Esper World, and bringing peace with the Espers that came from within.
Terra succeeds in opening the Sealed Gate, however, in doing so, she released a group of Espers who went on a rampage and destroyed the Imperial capital of Vector. The Returners have a banquet with Gestahl, who at this point seems to have given up on his war. Gestahl asks Terra to deliver his offering of peace to the Espers, and she agrees. However, she eventually finds out that the peace was a scheme by Kefka and Gestahl to obtain Magicite, the remains of dead Espers, which are very useful for obtaining vast magical power<ref name="gestahl">Gestahl: "My only purpose was to acquire Magicite, and grow powerful."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>.
Terra is found in the World of Ruin in the ruins of Mobliz. The adults of the town died protecting their children, and Terra now cares for them. Earlier in the game, Terra has a long talk with General Leo about her desire to be loved<ref name="leo">Terra: "But, I want to know what love is, NOW!"(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>, and it is speculated that she finds this unconditional love with the children. Due to this love, she defends them from the occasional attack by Phunbaba, but her fighting skills have begun to slip, and thus, she refuses to join the party on the grounds she can no longer fight<ref name="mobliz">Terra: "Ever since I arrived here, I discovered a new part of me that I cannot understand. And the more I try to understand it, the less inclined I am to fight."(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>. Later, Phunbaba attacks again, and Terra begs the party to fight in her place. After Phunbaba uses an attack called BabaBreath to chase away two party members, Terra rushes to the scene, transforming into her Esper form. With Terra's help, Phunbaba is vanquished once and for all. In the aftermath, the children of Mobliz are terrified of Terra, but after a moment, recognize her as their 'Mama'. Terra decides to join the fight against Kekfa to ensure the children can grow up in a peaceful world<ref name="future">Terra: "I'm sorry, children, but your "Mama" has to go away for a while. I'll return when I feel your future's guaranteed!"(Final Fantasy VI)</ref>.
In the final credits, the destruction of the Espers leave Terra highly weakened. However, the Magicite of her father Maduin says that if her human side has a strong connection to some part of the human world, Terra will be able to survive as a human. Terra uses the last of her strength to lead the party to safety in the airship, then flies out of the tower. As her power finally fades, she falls from the sky, but Setzer dives the ship and catches her. Terra awakens aboard the airship, alive and fully human. It should be noted that, even if the player decided not to recruit Terra, she flies to Kefka's Tower to help the party escape anyway.
Abilities
Morph
Later contact with the esper Tritoch brought Terra's quest for identity to an abrupt end as she turned into her hitherto unknown half-Esper form: a flying, glowing pink figure with wild hair. It also drove her into shock, but after eventually recovering she could switch between forms. In battle this makes available the Morph command. When in Esper form her physical power, magical power and magical defense all double. However, she can only keep the form for a short amount of time. This time frame is calculated via the amount of "Magic Points" the player has gained after each battle, and if Terra is in the party, the Magic Points are doubled. This invisible counter has a maximum value of 255.
Magitek
Terra's Magitek command, which is only available if Terra is piloting Magitek Armor, has four more options than other characters do. This is most noticeable in the game's intro and in Cyan's Dream. All characters can use Bolt Beam, Fire Beam, Heal Force and Ice Beam. Terra can also use Bio Blast, Confuser, TekMissile and X-Fer.
Natural Magic
Like Celes, Terra learns some magic automatically without the aid of Espers; Terra's natural spells are predominantly fire-based.
Trivia
- Terra's name comes from Terra, the Roman goddess of earth.
- It is worth mentioning that the other heroine of Final Fantasy VI is a woman named Celes. When one combines Terra's Japanese name of Tina with Celes' name, they make the word "Celestina", which bears a remarkable similarity to the "Celestine Prophecy." There is also an element of contrast, with Terra meaning earth, and Celes resembling the word celestial. This contrast is touched upon in the game with Terra having innate fire magic and Celes having innate ice magic.
- It is also worth mentioning that the Roman goddess Terra worked closely with the grain goddes Ceres in producing farmland, and the two were often worshipped together<ref name="roman">Roman Goddesses Relm</ref>. Often in Final Fantasy VI, Terra and Celes cannot be used at the same time, especially because their skillsets, statistics, and equipment are nearly identical. When one is available, the other usually is not. Their stories are also very similar, as they are both looking for "love" of some kind. While Terra tries to discover the meaning of love, Celes is looking for someone who loves and accepts her for who she is.
- There is a separate world named Terra in Final Fantasy IX.
References
<references />
External links
{{FFVI character external links | name = Terra | ffwiki = Terra Branford | ffocharname = terra | concharpage = terra }} Template:FFVIfr:Terra Branford