"A mysterious young woman, controlled by the Empire, and born with the gift of magic..."
—SNES version
"A mysterious young woman, born with the gift of magic, and enslaved by the Gestahlian Empire"
—GBA version
Terra Branford, named Tina in the Japanese version, is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. Her unique abilities make her a key player in the war between the Gestahlian Empire and the rebel factions. Her gameplay name before the player is able to name her is ??????, and her "name" in dialogue is Girl.
Yoshinori Kitase has stated in an interview[2] that Final Fantasy VI has no official main character, as the developers aimed to give the entire cast equal development and standing without anyone standing above the rest. However, Terra features prominently in much of the game's artwork and is pivotal to its plot; she is present in the game's logo, the game's main theme is named after her, and she was chosen as the heroine to represent Final Fantasy VI in Dissidia. Thus, she is widely considered to be the game's central protagonist. This gives her the distinction of being the first female protagonist of a game in the mainstream Final Fantasy series.
Terra is a young woman, eighteen years old at the beginning of the game. In-game, Terra has mint green hair, a red leotard with a purple sash around her waist, red boots, red wristbands and purple shoulder-pads. In her concept artwork, Terra has blonde hair with a sleeveless red dress with floral patterns, flowered white tights, two long red gloves, red boots and a purple-pink cloak with the same flowered design as her tights. In Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 she sports both hair colors; in "normal" mode she is blonde and in "alternate" mode her hair is green. Her hair, regardless of color, is always seen tied into a ponytail. In Terra's esper form, her hair is long and wild, and her entire body, hair included, is vivid lavender.
As a person, Terra is a confused young woman. She often questions her emotions, or lack thereof. She is easily confused and frightened early in the game. However, as Terra learns more about herself, she becomes more assertive and determined. Once she learns her true past, she is insecure about her unique heritage and questions if she can feel love. In the end, Terra is brave and willing to fight for what she knows is right, wanting to help make the world a better place.
Terra was born in the Land of Espers, to an esper father, Maduin, and a human mother, Madeline. Two years after she was born, the Gestahlian Empire raided the Land of Espers and abducted Maduin. Madeline, with her last breath, told Emperor Gestahl to keep away from her daughter; however, it was too late. Terra grew up in the custody of the Empire, and was raised as a weapon of mass destruction. The exact details of this part of her life are unknown, but she developed a fondness for moogles during this time.
Eventually, the Imperial general Kefka Palazzo took a keen interest in her and put a Slave Crown on her head, forcing her to obey his orders directly. Among them was to annihilate fifty of the Empire's finest soldiers, which she did with ease. Presumably this was a test of whether the slave crown actually worked and/or her ability to do so.
Terra with the Slave Crown in an FMV in the Anthology release of Final Fantasy VI.
Sixteen years after the raid on the Land of Espers, Terra is assigned on a mission to Narshe, accompanied by two Imperial troopers: Biggs and Wedge. The mission was to do research on, and to retrieve, the frozen esper lying in the mines. The trio succeed in reaching the esper, but its sheer power removes Biggs and Wedge from the area and knocks Terra unconscious.
She is rescued by Arvis, a resident of Narshe, who removes the slave crown and nurses her back to health, although Terra suffers from total amnesia. The local police know of her location and wants her in custody due to her former control by the Empire. Arvis helps Terra escape, but the guards catch up to her in the mines. This forces Locke Cole to rescue her, along with a group of moogles. They succeed, and Locke takes Terra away to Figaro.
Meanwhile, Kefka is worried his weapon is taken away. He heads to Figaro (where Terra is being hidden by the king, Edgar Roni Figaro, and Locke), to ask about her whereabouts. Edgar lies and says he never knew of her, but this does not stop Kefka from attempting to burn the castle down. Terra, Locke, and Edgar manage to escape riding chocobos, while the Figaro Castle submerges under the desert. Edgar and Locke, knowing of Terra's power, take her to the Returner Hideout in the Sabre Mountains, where Terra meets Edgar's twin brother, Sabin. After passing through the Sabre Mountains, the party meets up with the leader of the Returners, Banon, who tries to convince Terra to join their cause. He does not want to force Terra to do so, because, as Edgar said, forcing her would make them "no different from the Empire", making her decision completely hers.
Depending upon the player's actions, Terra eventually agrees to join. Banon invites Terra to come to Narshe with him, Edgar and Sabin, and she accepts. On the way, the foursome is attacked by Ultros, an octopus inhabitant of the Lethe River. During the battle, Ultros latches onto Terra's leg with a tentacle, and while Edgar pulls Terra away, Sabin tries fighting it off with a Blitz. During the struggle, Sabin is thrown from the raft, and Terra, Edgar, and Banon have to reach Narshe alone and have to trek back through the mines to meet up with Arvis as the local police does not want Terra or the Returners in town.
Thereafter, everyone meets up in Narshe. The Empire stages an attack in order to get the to esper, this time led by Kefka. Banon leads the defense, which Terra participates in. The defense eventually wins and Kefka is forced to retreat. After the battle, the group goes to see the esper, which reacts with Terra. This time, Terra transforms into an esper herself, and flies away to a place unknown.
A search party is set up to look for her. She is eventually found in the city of Zozo, atop the tallest tower. She is being cared for by Ramuh, an esper. Ramuh tells the party that in order for Terra to recover, she has to meet with her father, who is still being held prisoner by the Empire. Celes Chere agrees to lead a party to attack the Empire, and Locke agrees to accompany her.
Locke eventually returns with Maduin, now a magicite shard, and brings him to Terra. She regains her memory, and is able to control her transformation. The party heads for Narshe to form a strategy to attack the Empire, where Banon thinks the best strategy would be to have the espers attack from the east, and then a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would attack the Imperial capital, Vector. Terra has to be the messenger to the espers, since she is the only one who can communicate with them. She leads a team through the Cave to the Sealed Gate, which leads to the Land of Espers. She is ambushed by Kefka, but is able to open the gate to the Land of Espers, and the army of espers that emerge, led by Yura, attack Kefka. Terra's group manage to escape to the party's airship, but the espers are in hot pursuit, and attack the ship, which is forced to land near Vector. The party agrees to enter Vector.
Once they arrive, they find the city up in flames, and Arvis and Banon are confused. Inside the castle, Emperor Gestahl appears to have surrendered. He invites the Returners to a banquet during which he proposes peace. He asks Terra to relay a message to the espers, who are hiding out on Crescent Island to the east. Locke agrees to accompany her, and General Leo Cristophe would act as the Imperial liaison. On the way, Terra asks Leo about love, because it is an emotion she has never felt. She is worried that being half-esper would prevent her from truly falling in love. Leo reassures her and says it wouldn't.
Upon arriving at Crescent Island, Terra and Locke, now accompanied by Shadow, make their way to the remote village of Thamasa, to ask about espers. They find the villagers hostile to strangers, and they ask an old man named Strago Magus for help. Strago denies the existence of espers, but is friendly nonetheless. That night, Terra, Locke, and Shadow are invited to stay for free at the inn. During the night, a building is caught on fire, and Strago's adoptive granddaughter, Relm Arrowny, is stuck inside. Strago asks Terra and Locke to help him rescue her, and they see Strago's magical abilities in the process.
As a result, Strago reveals the truth of his ancestry to Terra and Locke, and agrees to accompany them to the Espers' Gathering Place. Relm follows them, and catch up to them in a fight with Ultros. Eventually, the group reach the area where Yura is hiding with the rest of the espers who attacked Vector. Terra convinces Yura to set up a conference with General Leo.
Back in Thamasa, Yura and Leo begin peace negotiations, but are interrupted by Kefka, who reveals this was a set up for him and Gestahl to retrieve more espers to turn into magicite. Kefka kills Yura and the other espers and wounds everyone but Leo, who fights Kefka, but is defeated and dies. Kefka begins to collect the remains of various espers, and heads to the Sealed Gate to collect more. The Warring Triad are restored and the Sealed Gate rises above the ground and becomes the Floating Continent. Afterward, Terra leads a funeral service for Leo.
One year after Kefka destroyed the world, Terra finds herself in the village of Mobliz, which is attacked by Kefka's "Light of Judgment." All the adults have died, and Terra feels a responsibility to take care of the kids and realizes a new side of her is awakening, and thus she loses her ability to fight. Celes and Sabin try to convince her to take up arms again, but Terra refuses, knowing that she would only be a burden. She even proves her weakness when the town is attacked by Humbaba, a legendary beast. The second time Humbaba attacks the town Terra realizes what her new feeling is, love for the children, and with this new-found knowledge, she defeats Humbaba and rejoins the battle.
As the party prepare to invade Kefka's Tower, Terra's friends, most noticeably Celes, are worried about her fate, as they might have to destroy the Warring Triad, the source of magic which allows the espers' survival. As the party confronts Kefka, even if the player avoids recruiting her, Terra senses the party calling to her and flies to the tower. After Kefka is killed, Terra transforms into an esper and uses the last of her power to help the party escape from Kefka's Tower. Maduin tells her as his magicite is about to shatter, that she would live on as a full human if she was attached to someone or something. Due to her love for the children of Mobliz, Terra is allowed to live, and the game ends with Terra standing at the bow of the Falcon releasing her ponytail and savoring freedom at last.
Terra has all-around good stats, and she equips a variety of equipment including all swords and shields and all heavy armor, as well as female-exclusive equipment. This overall makes Terra one of the best characters, as she is equally adept at magical and physical fighting. Terra's special ability is Trance, also known as Morph, where she transforms into her esper form, doubling her stats for a period of time.
The character that would become Terra Branford was originally a male half-esper in his early 20s. His design was eventually changed to that of 18-year-old Terra. At the end of the game she was supposed to disappear with the espers for good, but the development team decided that it would be "going too far" and so they had her stay alive, just without the magic part of her being.[3]
"Terra" is the game's main theme, and it is worked into the songs "Opening Theme", "Metamorphosis", "Save Them!" and "Ending Theme". The theme also plays on the overworld map in the World of Balance, but is replaced by "Dark World" and later "Searching for Friends" in the World of Ruin. The piece's melody is also incorporated into "Awakening", another theme closely associated with Terra that plays when she experiences a personal revelation, including when Terra awakens in Arvis's house at the beginning of the game.
Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate masters of evil and Cosmos has summoned warriors to thwart their plans. Terra is one of these warriors, and stands as the heroine representing Final Fantasy VI, opposing Kefka Palazzo.
Terra travels most of the game with Onion Knight of Final Fantasy III, and later Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII. She once served Chaos and has lost many of her memories of this time. Compounding matters is her waning control over her powers, to the point she sometimes attacks her friends. Kefka appears to taunt Terra with her abilities' destructive nature, attempting to sway her back to the side of Chaos. Terra rejects his offers, finding hope for a peaceful world where dreams can be fulfilled, including her desire to not have to fear her own abilities.
Her alternate form is a recolor to match her Final Fantasy VI green-haired appearance.
Terra returns in the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy alongside all the other characters from the original. Controlled by Kefka and used as a tool of war, she begins to resist when Kuja weakens Kefka's hold on her, reminded of his own forced servitude. Vaan comes across Kefka as he tortures Terra into submission and helps her escape. Left by Vaan to hide and wait until he takes her to Cosmos, she sees a group of manikins approaching her throne and fights them to protect Cosmos. The weakened Terra stumbles to Cosmos's throne, where the goddess senses she wishes to end the fighting and endows Terra with her powers, allowing her to awaken as a Warrior of Cosmos in the thirteenth cycle.
Her third outfit gives her blue and white garments to match an alternate Yoshitaka Amano artwork. As a bonus downloadable fourth outfit, Terra wears a black and white striped dress that bares her midriff.
Terra is represented in the Final Fantasy TCG by an Ice-Elemental card featuring her artwork from Dissidia. Her special ability renders her untargetable by Summon attacks.
Other cards depict her Final Fantasy VI Yoshitaka Amano artwork, and her Esper form artwork.
Terra appears among a crowd of people that includes Final Fantasy VI characters in the gladiator battle of Antiqua. She appears alongside Locke, Mog, Relm, Strago, and Umaro.
Tina is a common western name, and is the shortened form of "Christina", which is derived from the Latin feminine form of "Christian".
Terra is the Latin word for "earth,"[4] and was chosen for Tina's new localization name by Ted Woolsey after getting a negative response from game testers, as well as to avoid the use of a common Western name.[5] The Greek word, "τέρας" (téras), which means "monster", is completely unrelated to the name, as the transliteration of said word from Greek does not yield her name.
Branford can be split into two distinct parts. Brân is a word of Welsh origin that means "raven" or "crow," an animal associated with sorcery and shapeshifting in Irish and Welsh mythology.[6] This suits Terra's esperian roots as well as her unique command, Trance, by which she transforms into her esper form. A ford describes the shallows of a body of water suitable for crossing unassisted.
Terra has the distinction of being the first female lead in the main Final Fantasy series. The only other heroine who now shares this trait is Lightning.
Along with Faris, Terra was Yoshitaka Amano's favorite character to design.[7]
In data texts for the game, there was a line omitted that was apparently for the flashback to Kefka placing the slave crown on her where Terra shouts "No! Stay Away!" (A similar line is used when she casts Blizzara in Dissidia).
With over two dozen pieces of artwork of her by Yoshitaka Amano, Terra has the most official artwork of any Final Fantasy character.
Edit
Added by JBed
Added by Paramina
Added by TenzaZangetsu
Added by Oranejo
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra riding a green creature.
Artwork of Terra in a red outfit.
Artwork of Terra in a blue outfit.
Artwork of Terra in an aqua blue outfit.
Artwork of Terra in a black outfit.
Tranced Terra.
Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.
Artwork of Terra.
Artwork of Terra with Magitek armor.
Terra riding the armor.
Terra riding the armor.
Terra riding the armor.
Chibi artwork of Terra with armor.
Artwork for a promotional poster.
Portrait.
CG render.
CG render for Dissidia 012.
In-game render
Terra's first alt outfit, based on her Final Fantasy VI sprite.
Terra's second alt outfit, based on an alternate Amano art.
Terra's DLC outfit, based on an alternate Amano art.
Terra's Esper Form, based on concept art.
Terra's Esper Form in her first alt outfit, based on its Final Fantasy VI sprite.
Terra's sword from Dissidia, which can be seen in various Amano Artworks of her.
FMV render from Final Fantasy Anthology.
Terra in an FMV from Anthology.
Terra in an FMV from Anthology.
Terra in an FMV from Anthology, wearing a Slave Crown.
In a Japanese commercial for Final Fantasy VI.
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game card for Terra's Amano artwork.
TCG card for Terra's Trance artwork.
