ooc: Application
Name: Terra
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Gender: Male
Age: Never specified, but likely a little older than Aqua, so 18-19
Time Period: Right before leaving Destiny Islands
Wing Color: A color that Wikipedia calls raw umber
History: Terra @ KH wiki
Personality:
Terra is, sometimes first and foremost in his mind, a Keyblade bearer and apprentice to Keyblade Master Eraqus in the Land of Departure. He has studied under Eraqus and alongside fellow pupils Aqua and Ventus for years, learning how to use the Keyblade skillfully and responsibly. Eraqus emphasizes maintaining a worldly balance and would stamp out the darkness entirely if it were possible, which causes conflict for Terra as he begins feeling the pull of the darkness inside him.
Much like the other trio characters (Sora, Riku, Kairi; Ventus, Terra, Aqua) introduced in Kingdom Hearts, Terra's name can provide hints to his personality. Like the earth, Terra is best described in layers--what's on the surface, the uncertainties that lie beneath, and the core that keeps it going.
On the surface, Terra is serious, almost stern, and focused when he has a task at hand or thought on his mind. He isn't as visibly expressive and open as someone like Ven or Sora, which tends to cause his friends to worry; Ven is sometimes left speechless or visibly anxious by Terra's bouts of silence and body language, as Terra also tends to turn his back when he needs to distance himself, think, and hide any expression he might show. An example of this would be when he meets with Aqua in the Castle of Dreams and speaks to her with his back turned when she mentions Ven has run away from home. Another would be when he refuses to take Ven with him when they meet in Radiant Garden, turning his back as he delivers his answer.
He has respect for rank, age, and experience, shown in how he treats Master Xehanort with equal respect to Master Eraqus despite not knowing him very long and his use of the title "Your Elderness" when speaking with Merlin in Radiant Garden. Unfortunately, this sense of respect and trust in others without proper wariness is quite dangerous, as Terra does little to openly question what he is told by these people--he practices Eraqus' teachings of needing to suppress the darkness for years, but is also easily swayed by Xehanort's words that darkness is not to be feared only after a short meeting; he does not question why Maleficent is awake in a kingdom that she acknowledges is entirely asleep; he trusts Captain Hook that he is guarding "the light" from Peter Pan when he is in fact guarding a treasure chest of pirate loot. It's only when Terra witnesses things that contradict what he's been told that he begins to question the original information he was given--and he tries to rectify the mistakes he's made, with varying degrees of success.
Below the generally calm and strong surface is where Terra forces his emotions, where the darker emotions are allowed to fester and smother the more positive ones. While this does not seem to come into play much before the events of the game, Terra's entire storyline in Birth by Sleep builds on this existing character flaw and uses it to change his heart--beginning with his failing the Mark of Mastery test. Losing such a defining test for a Keyblade wielder, especially because of his untamed darkness (given physical form during his battle with Aqua), greatly shakes Terra's confidence, and he forces feelings of doubt and weakness deep down by telling himself he can handle his own darkness (when, in fact, the internalizing of his doubts simply feeds his darkness). Despite telling himself that he can handle things, his doubts lead him to look towards Master Xehanort, who in turn begins to manipulate Terra by arranging situations where Terra's darkness is magnified (particularly Terra's meeting with Maleficent). Terra tries to deny his problems with his darkness for a long time, even as Maleficent provides him a warning that he doesn't seem to grasp: "The darkness of the heart cannot be held back by force or strength."
Terra's tendency to quash his feelings leads to moments of intense emotion. Terra's darkness is shown to manifest when he has an intense desire to overpower his opponents (notably Aqua during the Mark of Mastery trial and Braig when Terra believes Master Xehanort is in danger), and when anger clouds his better judgment (notably when Xehanort taunts him for being unable to stop Vanitas from going after Aqua and Ven). These intense reactions are closely related to Terra's core being.
At his heart, Terra wants to grow stronger, even though he isn't able to pinpoint why until he develops bonds through his journeys away from home. When he visits Destiny Islands and meets the young Riku, Terra is quite taken by Riku's simple desire to grow stronger to protect what happens to him, and this meeting helps Terra's resolve that he can in fact go back home, and that his friendship with Aqua and Ven is very important to him. (He first comes to the realization that he misses his friends when Stitch steals his Wayfinder, but it's a gradual process for him.) He cares deeply about his friends and doesn't wish to see them--or, really, anyone--come to harm, especially if he can tie his own inadequecies to the situation. He is well-intentioned and wants to do the "right" thing, and he has a good idea of what is right and wrong--but his ways of going about this take him closer to the darkness simply because he tends to be less discerning in the ways he solves problems. He interacts with unsavory characters, agrees to go along with their plans even if he has no intention to follow through (such as when the Evil Queen wants him to kill SnoW White), and even proves to be a little underhanded himself (when he frees Tinkerbell after he asks Captain Hook for the lantern she is imprisoned in). While these are ultimately the "right" thing to do, they are signs that Terra is less scrupulous in his ways than his friends--which would explain Aqua's warning in Radiant Garden that he shouldn't place himself so close to the darkness.
It's only when Terra is stripped of every possible physical way to fight back that his strength of heart truly shows itself--the desire to use his strength to protect what's important to him. He shows this in his attempts to stop Xehanort after he has taken possession of his body, his willpower manifesting in the form of his armor and his heart struggling to keep Xehanort from hurting Aqua. It's that strength that keeps him from completely succumbing to Xehanort's darkness, and what may sustain him long after his sad ending in Birth by Sleep.
Strengths:
physical | Terra is physically the strongest of Eraqus' pupils, striking with powerful swings and with the finesse to spin or rotate his body for an even stronger single attack. In gameplay, he swings his Keyblade less than Ven, making up for less hits with more damage.
Like the other apprentices, he is skilled enough with his Keyblade to use it in different ways -- notably using Shotlocks (projectiles fired from the Keyblade), transforming his Keyblade into a Keyblade Glider, and transitioning through Command Styles in the middle of battle. He is somewhat skilled in magic, though not nearly to the level as Aqua; he excels in earth-based magic, with some of his unique Command Styles triggered by earth- or mine-based magic. His unique Finish Commands are also earth-, mine-, or darkness-based, further hinting to his magic strengths. More so than magic, he relies on attack skills, with more unique attack commands than either Ven or Aqua. Such attack commands include Zantetsuken, Geo Impact, and Meteor Crash.
mental | Strength of the mind is not exactly Terra's forte. He's not dumb by any means, since he's able to figure out what he's doing wrong once he has the proper information. As mentioned in the Personality section, he is at least able to recognize his mistakes and take steps towards correcting those mistakes.
emotional | Terra can be something of a normal teenage boy, outside of his duties as a Keyblade wielder; he can be friendly and fairly affectionate, joking with Aqua and Ven in that brotherly type of way. He is able to find strength in his bonds with others, which means he is willing to put himself out there to make friends; he was the first to approach Ventus when he had first arrived in the Land of Departure, curious and interested in learning about the younger boy. He's mature in the distance he provides other people, tending to respect boundaries and keeping a somewhat respectful tone until a situation devolves into tense conflict. He also is very willing to take on responsibility, returning a book he thought Merlin had dropped and providing escort to Cinderella when she tries to enter the Castle of Dreams.
Weaknesses:
physical | While relatively fast in battle, Terra is slow to react when his guard is broken or his attacks are deflected, leaving himself open longer than Ven and Aqua. And as mentioned, he is not as skilled in magic as Aqua, with a much more limited choice of spells. This doesn't seem to be much of a problem for Terra though; given how he rushes forth in most of his battles (notably the FMV battle versus Xehanort and Vanitas), Terra is likely to forgo using magic when overcome with anger.
mental & emotional | Terra's greatest weaknesses are emotional and mental, which is why I am grouping them together. When Terra is willing to take on responsibility, he takes it very hard when he feels he has failed; the first canon example would be his failing the Mark of Mastery exam, where he distances himself from everyone else to dwell on the results. In the Enchanted Domain, when he believes he has succumbed to Maleficent's will and taken Aurora's heart, he is distraught and openly says that he feels he can't go home--even when he does not understand what has happened. He is also quick to jump to conclusions, and not for the better--he is rather pessimistic, dismissing Aqua's attempts to explain her mission in Radiant Garden and shutting out her further attempts as he walks away.
Samples
First Person:
Drafted? Experimented on, captured, weakened, and now something like this... I know they told me, and it's in the guide, but-- [An audible sigh, then a pause. His tone when he speaks again is flat, stoic.] Fine. I'm familiar with fighting battles I don't completely understand, I guess.
[...] No, that's not right. I can't even begin to justify that to myself. We're trapped here, forced to do these things. They expect us to fight or be slaughtered ourselves, because we have our friends trapped here along with us. If we fail, they die. It's emotional blackmail.
[If I fail... He lets out a frustrated sound, pushing his journal away as he tries to think. His voice is less audible with the journal further away.]
The power to protect what's important. I need to keep that thought near my heart. It doesn't matter how long I'm trapped here, or how strong this 'Third Party' actually is; if I'm with Ven and Aqua, I have to protect them. That's what I've chosen to do.
...I'll just need all the power I can get.
Third Person:
He didn't remember leaving the islands. He didn't remember putting on his armor, summoning his Keyblade Glider, or opening a path into the Lanes Between. But here he was, in another world.
Without his armor, Keyblade, or a way to open the Lanes Between.
Terra sighed to himself, frowning deeply as he settled down on the nearest rock. His back and shoulders ached, and the muscles twitched strangely. After attempting to wait out the pain and even stretch the offending areas, he reached over his shoulder--and immediately recoiled his hand like he had been burned.
Feathers? He tentatively reached behind again, his expression stoic with concentration as he felt the outline of a wing. What was worse was the fact that his body twitched in reaction; the wing was somehow attached to his body.
Even with his attention focused so much on this strange new appendage, he couldn't help but notice a squirrel run by on its way to another tree. It didn't take much to notice how he could hear its chittering translating into "Nuts food gather now."
Not at all perturbed by this, he called out. "Excuse me, where am I?"
The squirrel chittered something (this time unintelligible), then disappeared up a tree. Maybe it hadn't heard him.
Terra slowly stood up, dropping his arms back to his sides for a moment before crossing them over his bare chest. Sitting around wasn't going to do him any good. He looked upward for a moment, as if doing so would somehow help him figure out how he had ended up in this predicament.
First things first: Find his Keyblade, find some clothes, and find some people who could tell him where he was. ...Particularly in that order.
His mind set, Terra picked a direction and walked off into the forest. He didn't take notice of the small, out-of-place journal lying near a bush close to where he had initially woken up.
The power to protect what's important. It's ... such a simple concept, and it was in front of me the entire time. Why did it take that one meeting for me to realize that?
Everyone wants power for one reason or another. You may not think you want it, but the desire is there. I don't know everyone's reasons; they can be as pure or as dark as you want. It's also about ... choices. How we choose to do things, the roads we take to make things happen.
I thought I understood what I needed to do my tasks and do them responsibly. I listened to my elders, did as I was told, and apologized for my mistakes. And I wondered how things could go so wrong in the worlds I visited.
Master... You were right. I'm not done learning yet.
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Gender: Male
Age: Never specified, but likely a little older than Aqua, so 18-19
Time Period: Right before leaving Destiny Islands
Wing Color: A color that Wikipedia calls raw umber
History: Terra @ KH wiki
Personality:
Terra is, sometimes first and foremost in his mind, a Keyblade bearer and apprentice to Keyblade Master Eraqus in the Land of Departure. He has studied under Eraqus and alongside fellow pupils Aqua and Ventus for years, learning how to use the Keyblade skillfully and responsibly. Eraqus emphasizes maintaining a worldly balance and would stamp out the darkness entirely if it were possible, which causes conflict for Terra as he begins feeling the pull of the darkness inside him.
Much like the other trio characters (Sora, Riku, Kairi; Ventus, Terra, Aqua) introduced in Kingdom Hearts, Terra's name can provide hints to his personality. Like the earth, Terra is best described in layers--what's on the surface, the uncertainties that lie beneath, and the core that keeps it going.
On the surface, Terra is serious, almost stern, and focused when he has a task at hand or thought on his mind. He isn't as visibly expressive and open as someone like Ven or Sora, which tends to cause his friends to worry; Ven is sometimes left speechless or visibly anxious by Terra's bouts of silence and body language, as Terra also tends to turn his back when he needs to distance himself, think, and hide any expression he might show. An example of this would be when he meets with Aqua in the Castle of Dreams and speaks to her with his back turned when she mentions Ven has run away from home. Another would be when he refuses to take Ven with him when they meet in Radiant Garden, turning his back as he delivers his answer.
He has respect for rank, age, and experience, shown in how he treats Master Xehanort with equal respect to Master Eraqus despite not knowing him very long and his use of the title "Your Elderness" when speaking with Merlin in Radiant Garden. Unfortunately, this sense of respect and trust in others without proper wariness is quite dangerous, as Terra does little to openly question what he is told by these people--he practices Eraqus' teachings of needing to suppress the darkness for years, but is also easily swayed by Xehanort's words that darkness is not to be feared only after a short meeting; he does not question why Maleficent is awake in a kingdom that she acknowledges is entirely asleep; he trusts Captain Hook that he is guarding "the light" from Peter Pan when he is in fact guarding a treasure chest of pirate loot. It's only when Terra witnesses things that contradict what he's been told that he begins to question the original information he was given--and he tries to rectify the mistakes he's made, with varying degrees of success.
Below the generally calm and strong surface is where Terra forces his emotions, where the darker emotions are allowed to fester and smother the more positive ones. While this does not seem to come into play much before the events of the game, Terra's entire storyline in Birth by Sleep builds on this existing character flaw and uses it to change his heart--beginning with his failing the Mark of Mastery test. Losing such a defining test for a Keyblade wielder, especially because of his untamed darkness (given physical form during his battle with Aqua), greatly shakes Terra's confidence, and he forces feelings of doubt and weakness deep down by telling himself he can handle his own darkness (when, in fact, the internalizing of his doubts simply feeds his darkness). Despite telling himself that he can handle things, his doubts lead him to look towards Master Xehanort, who in turn begins to manipulate Terra by arranging situations where Terra's darkness is magnified (particularly Terra's meeting with Maleficent). Terra tries to deny his problems with his darkness for a long time, even as Maleficent provides him a warning that he doesn't seem to grasp: "The darkness of the heart cannot be held back by force or strength."
Terra's tendency to quash his feelings leads to moments of intense emotion. Terra's darkness is shown to manifest when he has an intense desire to overpower his opponents (notably Aqua during the Mark of Mastery trial and Braig when Terra believes Master Xehanort is in danger), and when anger clouds his better judgment (notably when Xehanort taunts him for being unable to stop Vanitas from going after Aqua and Ven). These intense reactions are closely related to Terra's core being.
At his heart, Terra wants to grow stronger, even though he isn't able to pinpoint why until he develops bonds through his journeys away from home. When he visits Destiny Islands and meets the young Riku, Terra is quite taken by Riku's simple desire to grow stronger to protect what happens to him, and this meeting helps Terra's resolve that he can in fact go back home, and that his friendship with Aqua and Ven is very important to him. (He first comes to the realization that he misses his friends when Stitch steals his Wayfinder, but it's a gradual process for him.) He cares deeply about his friends and doesn't wish to see them--or, really, anyone--come to harm, especially if he can tie his own inadequecies to the situation. He is well-intentioned and wants to do the "right" thing, and he has a good idea of what is right and wrong--but his ways of going about this take him closer to the darkness simply because he tends to be less discerning in the ways he solves problems. He interacts with unsavory characters, agrees to go along with their plans even if he has no intention to follow through (such as when the Evil Queen wants him to kill SnoW White), and even proves to be a little underhanded himself (when he frees Tinkerbell after he asks Captain Hook for the lantern she is imprisoned in). While these are ultimately the "right" thing to do, they are signs that Terra is less scrupulous in his ways than his friends--which would explain Aqua's warning in Radiant Garden that he shouldn't place himself so close to the darkness.
It's only when Terra is stripped of every possible physical way to fight back that his strength of heart truly shows itself--the desire to use his strength to protect what's important to him. He shows this in his attempts to stop Xehanort after he has taken possession of his body, his willpower manifesting in the form of his armor and his heart struggling to keep Xehanort from hurting Aqua. It's that strength that keeps him from completely succumbing to Xehanort's darkness, and what may sustain him long after his sad ending in Birth by Sleep.
Strengths:
physical | Terra is physically the strongest of Eraqus' pupils, striking with powerful swings and with the finesse to spin or rotate his body for an even stronger single attack. In gameplay, he swings his Keyblade less than Ven, making up for less hits with more damage.
Like the other apprentices, he is skilled enough with his Keyblade to use it in different ways -- notably using Shotlocks (projectiles fired from the Keyblade), transforming his Keyblade into a Keyblade Glider, and transitioning through Command Styles in the middle of battle. He is somewhat skilled in magic, though not nearly to the level as Aqua; he excels in earth-based magic, with some of his unique Command Styles triggered by earth- or mine-based magic. His unique Finish Commands are also earth-, mine-, or darkness-based, further hinting to his magic strengths. More so than magic, he relies on attack skills, with more unique attack commands than either Ven or Aqua. Such attack commands include Zantetsuken, Geo Impact, and Meteor Crash.
mental | Strength of the mind is not exactly Terra's forte. He's not dumb by any means, since he's able to figure out what he's doing wrong once he has the proper information. As mentioned in the Personality section, he is at least able to recognize his mistakes and take steps towards correcting those mistakes.
emotional | Terra can be something of a normal teenage boy, outside of his duties as a Keyblade wielder; he can be friendly and fairly affectionate, joking with Aqua and Ven in that brotherly type of way. He is able to find strength in his bonds with others, which means he is willing to put himself out there to make friends; he was the first to approach Ventus when he had first arrived in the Land of Departure, curious and interested in learning about the younger boy. He's mature in the distance he provides other people, tending to respect boundaries and keeping a somewhat respectful tone until a situation devolves into tense conflict. He also is very willing to take on responsibility, returning a book he thought Merlin had dropped and providing escort to Cinderella when she tries to enter the Castle of Dreams.
Weaknesses:
physical | While relatively fast in battle, Terra is slow to react when his guard is broken or his attacks are deflected, leaving himself open longer than Ven and Aqua. And as mentioned, he is not as skilled in magic as Aqua, with a much more limited choice of spells. This doesn't seem to be much of a problem for Terra though; given how he rushes forth in most of his battles (notably the FMV battle versus Xehanort and Vanitas), Terra is likely to forgo using magic when overcome with anger.
mental & emotional | Terra's greatest weaknesses are emotional and mental, which is why I am grouping them together. When Terra is willing to take on responsibility, he takes it very hard when he feels he has failed; the first canon example would be his failing the Mark of Mastery exam, where he distances himself from everyone else to dwell on the results. In the Enchanted Domain, when he believes he has succumbed to Maleficent's will and taken Aurora's heart, he is distraught and openly says that he feels he can't go home--even when he does not understand what has happened. He is also quick to jump to conclusions, and not for the better--he is rather pessimistic, dismissing Aqua's attempts to explain her mission in Radiant Garden and shutting out her further attempts as he walks away.
Samples
First Person:
Drafted? Experimented on, captured, weakened, and now something like this... I know they told me, and it's in the guide, but-- [An audible sigh, then a pause. His tone when he speaks again is flat, stoic.] Fine. I'm familiar with fighting battles I don't completely understand, I guess.
[...] No, that's not right. I can't even begin to justify that to myself. We're trapped here, forced to do these things. They expect us to fight or be slaughtered ourselves, because we have our friends trapped here along with us. If we fail, they die. It's emotional blackmail.
[If I fail... He lets out a frustrated sound, pushing his journal away as he tries to think. His voice is less audible with the journal further away.]
The power to protect what's important. I need to keep that thought near my heart. It doesn't matter how long I'm trapped here, or how strong this 'Third Party' actually is; if I'm with Ven and Aqua, I have to protect them. That's what I've chosen to do.
...I'll just need all the power I can get.
Third Person:
He didn't remember leaving the islands. He didn't remember putting on his armor, summoning his Keyblade Glider, or opening a path into the Lanes Between. But here he was, in another world.
Without his armor, Keyblade, or a way to open the Lanes Between.
Terra sighed to himself, frowning deeply as he settled down on the nearest rock. His back and shoulders ached, and the muscles twitched strangely. After attempting to wait out the pain and even stretch the offending areas, he reached over his shoulder--and immediately recoiled his hand like he had been burned.
Feathers? He tentatively reached behind again, his expression stoic with concentration as he felt the outline of a wing. What was worse was the fact that his body twitched in reaction; the wing was somehow attached to his body.
Even with his attention focused so much on this strange new appendage, he couldn't help but notice a squirrel run by on its way to another tree. It didn't take much to notice how he could hear its chittering translating into "Nuts food gather now."
Not at all perturbed by this, he called out. "Excuse me, where am I?"
The squirrel chittered something (this time unintelligible), then disappeared up a tree. Maybe it hadn't heard him.
Terra slowly stood up, dropping his arms back to his sides for a moment before crossing them over his bare chest. Sitting around wasn't going to do him any good. He looked upward for a moment, as if doing so would somehow help him figure out how he had ended up in this predicament.
First things first: Find his Keyblade, find some clothes, and find some people who could tell him where he was. ...Particularly in that order.
His mind set, Terra picked a direction and walked off into the forest. He didn't take notice of the small, out-of-place journal lying near a bush close to where he had initially woken up.
The power to protect what's important. It's ... such a simple concept, and it was in front of me the entire time. Why did it take that one meeting for me to realize that?
Everyone wants power for one reason or another. You may not think you want it, but the desire is there. I don't know everyone's reasons; they can be as pure or as dark as you want. It's also about ... choices. How we choose to do things, the roads we take to make things happen.
I thought I understood what I needed to do my tasks and do them responsibly. I listened to my elders, did as I was told, and apologized for my mistakes. And I wondered how things could go so wrong in the worlds I visited.
Master... You were right. I'm not done learning yet.