Terra (Kingdom Hearts) - Creation and Development

Creation and Development

Although Terra, Ventus and Aqua first appeared in the ending of Kingdom Hearts II wearing armor, director Tetsuya Nomura still had not designed their real look, having only thought about their story. Despite not revealing their identities, Nomura still said that they are characters from the past from the Kingdom Hearts series. Following the release of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Nomura revealed a connection between them and the game's villain Xemnas but wanted to leave it up to people's imaginations as he still could not reveal his identity. Terra's face was first shown in the 2006 Tokyo Game Show in which he was described as an avenger of Xehanort. Nomura also confirmed that Lingering Will was connected with Terra. He also stated that his name means "earth" from Latin, following the "land" theme Riku represents as well as connecting him with the other main characters' names from the series. In October 2007, Nomura was asked if the Lingering Will was actually Terra due to their similarities, but he responded it was still uncertain. When asked about what was the Will's true nature after being revealed to contain Terra's memories, Nomura stated it was not a Heartless. Nomura expressed that the fans liked the inclusion of the Will's battle due to his challenging difficulty, which led the staff to design another hard boss character for Birth by Sleep.

From the three protagonists from Birth by Sleep, Terra's design was the only which was decided how should it be from the start, with Nomura stating he would be designed younger than shown in previous games. Japanese-inspired designs were incorporated into Terra's outfit based on the "master and apprentice" relationship featured in the game. Nomura had troubles designing Terra's, Ventus's and Aqua's armors due how they would be able to summon them. Therefore, an "X" was added to their clothes as a mean to activate the armors as well as due to the fact it was one of the game's keywords. Ever since development of Birth by Sleep started, the staff already decided that the three stories would be told in separate scenarios with Terra's story being the first one written. Terra's conversation with Riku was written by Nomura early on development wishing to explain the reason for Riku's ability to use the Keyblade, and he requested the staff in charge to make it into the game. The staff also wanted emphasize the lack of coincidences in the series, leading to the interaction between the three scenarios. Nomura recommended players to first play as Terra in Birth by Sleep in order to understand the story better. His gameplay was also described by Nomura as "heavy" in comparison to Ventus's and Aqua's.

To expand the connection between Terra and Riku, scenes foreshadowing future events from Terra's perspective were added to the game, although Nomura denied that Terra could actually see the future. Nomura expects that in future games, the connection between both of them would be expanded. Ryōtarō Okiayu was chosen as Terra's Japanese voice actor as the staff wanted one actor similar to Chikao Ōtsuka, Xehanort's voice actor, and Akio Ōtsuka, Xehanort's voice actor while using Terra's body. The staff found Chikao's voice to have a dry sort of voice, Akio's a deep resonating sort of voice, and liked how Okiayu beared elements from both actors.