text: terra ( kingdom hearts ) terra ( japanese : , hepburn : tera ) is a fictional character from square enix 's video game franchise kingdom hearts . he was introduced in kingdom hearts birth by sleep as one of the three protagonists . he had a cameo appearance in a secret ending of kingdom hearts ii and its re - release kingdom hearts ii final mix ; the later game included an optional boss fight against the lingering will ( , ) , a hollow armor containing terra 's mind . in birth by sleep , terra appears as one of the apprentices from master eraqus who trains him alongside his friends aqua and ventus to become masters of the keyblade weapon . when master xehanort disappears , terra is sent to find him and also tame the growing darkness within himself . terra 's character was designed by the director series tetsuya nomura when preparing the secret endings of kingdom hearts ii and kingdom hearts ii final mix . he was developed to be reminiscent to the xehanort featured in previous titles as well as having a connection with riku , one of the series ' main characters . ryōtarō okiayu has done the voice of terra in japanese and jason dohring in the english version . video game publications gave mixed responses to terra 's character , with many noting his similarity to the final fantasy vii character zack fair and later commenting on his naive portrayal in birth by sleep . appearances terra first made cameos in the secret endings of kingdom hearts ii and kingdom hearts ii final mix which depicted events from birth by sleep . additionally , the lingering will , an armor containing terra 's will , appears in kingdom hearts ii : final mix as an optional boss in the world keyblade graveyard . the lingering will fights the game 's protagonist sora upon sensing sora 's keyblade and mistaking sora for xehanort and acknowledges sora as a keyblade master afterward . in the prequel kingdom hearts birth by sleep , terra is a trainee from master eraqus alongside aqua and ventus , developing a strong sibling - like bond with both of them . one day , terra participates with aqua in an exam to become keyblade masters . terra fails to pass the test as eraqus detects darkness in his heart , which he disapproves . eraqus later informs terra and aqua about the appearance of creatures known as the unversed and the disappearance of master xehanort . he orders both of them to eliminate the unversed and find xehanort . during his search for the missing xehanort , he interacts with several disney characters for information on his whereabouts as he faces his inner darkness . when finding xehanort , terra is requested by him to kill vanitas , a figure made from ventus 's darkness and source of all the unversed . xehanort later makes terra return to the land of departure to stop eraqus from killing ventus . unwilling to let ventus die , terra rescues him and confronts eraqus . as the battle finishes , both terra and eraqus apologize to each other for their actions , but eraqus is then killed by xehanort . realizing xehanort 's true nature , terra goes to the keyblade graveyard where he reunites with ventus and aqua , and prepares to face xehanort . there , ventus tells aqua and him that xehanort plans to use him and vanitas to create the legendary χ - blade to help him in his plans which caused eraqus to try to kill him . the three are then confronted by xehanort and vanitas and proceed to fight . when ventus and aqua are wounded in battle , terra attacks xehanort alone and unleashes the darkness in his heart , allowing xehanort to take over his body . however , terra 's mind persists in his discarded armor , becoming the lingering will , and continues to fight xehanort , knocking him out . the lingering will remains in the keyblade graveyard , while terra 's heart has an internal struggle with xehanort 's in his original body when xehanort battles aqua . this results in xehanort stabbing himself to stop terra , but terra 's presence remains within xehanort , swearing to stop him . while terra does not appear in kingdom hearts re : coded , aside from the lingering will making a cameo in the opening , he is mentioned by king mickey , who is searching for the birth by sleep protagonists . terra briefly appears in kingdom hearts 3d : dream drop distance during sora 's dream , where sora 's friends , riku and kairi , are transformed into terra and aqua . terra also appears when sora declares his pride in being connected to many keyblade wielders . a vision of terra makes an appearance in kingdom hearts 0 . 2 birth by sleep : a fragmentary passage , a part of kingdom hearts hd 2 . 8 final chapter prologue . he appears to aqua as she laments not being able to reverse time to spend one more night with her friends . while she is shocked at his appearance , thinking that he did not make it out of the realm of darkness , she resolves to continue her journey . terra 's role from birth by sleep is reprised in tomoko 's light novels of the game . additionally , the final chapter shows the lingering will fighting sora from kingdom hearts ii final mix . 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 involving riku from terra 's perspective were added to the game , though nomura has stated that these foreshadows are not of a precognitive nature . 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 was a dry sort of voice , akio 's a deep resonating sort of voice , and liked how okiayu bore elements from both actors . reception when terra 's character was first revealed , 1up.com 's jeremy parish found him to be very similar to zack fair from final fantasy vii to the point where he wondered whether he would actually be zack . however , when considering terra 's weapon being a keyblade in contrast to all the other final fantasy characters shown in previous kingdom hearts games , he thought he may not be zack . amanda l. from cheat code central found there have been various speculations regarding the similarities between terra and zack , but thought it would not be strange considering the existence of nobodies in the series . selecting terra for a demo of birth by sleep ign 's ryan clements agreed with parish , finding only minor differences between their outfits . terra 's role in birth by sleep has received mixed critics with adam from palgn criticizing his naive personality when finding the three protagonists unappealing . videogamer.com writer emily gera stated that players may know little about them due to their role in kingdom hearts ii , but with birth by sleep , players will able to know about them . writing for gamesradar , antista commented that he did not understand the importance of him and the other characters being briefly featured in kingdom hearts ii , although it could be explained once the player finishes birth by sleep . playstation lifestyle 's thomas williams found the trio as welcome additions to the franchise , finding their stories enjoyable even though the three travel to the same worlds . x - play found terra to be very similar to riku due to his personality and vulnerability to evil 's allure . kevin vanord of gamespot criticized jason dohring 's work as terra 's english voice actor , saying he " can 't express angst , excitement , sincerity , or any other emotion " , affecting the storyline . vanord also pointed this out when terra interacts with disney characters , finding the latters ' voice actors to be " uniformly excellent and absolutely comparable to the original source . " bob miur from destructoid compared terra 's storyline with the film star wars : episode iii – revenge of the sith due to the struggles he faces , and found that gamers familiar to the series may realize that his fate in the game " won 't turn out to be very pretty . " miur also commented on dohring 's work , praising how he makes terra " tortured and conflicted " , but still criticizing the result . ugo networks listed terra 's helmet nineteenth on their list of " the coolest helmets and headgear in video games " , stating " for a minute , but only a minute , the two - horned helmet will get you feeling like the keyblade is a viable weapon . " in a famitsu poll , terra was voted as the fifth most popular kingdom hearts character .