Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Character Analysis - Terra (Final Fantasy VI)

Since Final Fantasy VI debuted on the PSN today, I thought I would analyze Terra (spoilers ahead)  I should also note, she's not my favorite character, Cyan is.  But, I'm saving Cyan for my birthday or something. 

Well, Terra is (arguably) the lead character.  And she's half human.  I know she doesn't look like it, but she's half esper. 

This is actually not only critical to the plot but to her personality.  Esper's have great control over magic, but in doing so have very little emotions.  While Terra can feel emotions, if she does so it is at the expense of her magic.  Well, at least initially.  Eventually she finds out that emotional disturbances end up disrupting her magic.  Like making it ceasing to work.


Or turning her into this:

Which is why the Empire put her in a slave crown at the beginning of the game. She has immense power, but she's also very kind and can not work properly when under stress (like in battle). 

So, if she doesn't like battle, why does she fight?

Because she has a reason.  She wants to find out who she is, and she knows the empire doesn't want to share it.  So, she joins up with Locke to find out... plus now that she's free she realized the Empire is in the wrong.  But, she doesn't realize that anything is particularly odd with her, until she uses Magic in front of Edgar. Upon finding out that she is different, she looks to find out what she can do to "fix" her...

But instead, finds out that she can't understand love.  She has no idea what it is, or how she should recognize it.

This search is a key part of her character. To quote her, "I want to know what love is NOW!"   She wants to know how she's different, she wants to know why, she wants to fall in love.

And she does, but in a wonderful twist, it's not with a person...

Not any one person.

Instead, once they fail utterly and Kefka destroys the world, she takes over a small village and takes care of the kids.  It is there she finds love.  Not in one person, but in a village of children that would not have survived if she hadn't stepped in.  And she couldn't use her magic until she realized that she loved her kids and she wanted to protect them.

It is also what allows her to survive after the end too. 


Love motivates many of the characters in Final Fantasy VI.  But, you'll have to play it to find out everyone else's love.  (And don't forget to sleep in inns with Shadow)

This is one of my favorite games, and I really can't do an analysis of Terra well enough.  She's a very confused young woman who, for all intents and purposes, woke up and had no idea who she is.  She spends parts of the game trying to figure it out, only to find out she's not human, and, eventually, does find her purpose.  In her new family in the town, and her friends who traipsed across an entire world to make sure no one would have to go through what she did ever again. 

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