Terra is the butt of the fanbase's jokes on trusting stupidly obvious villains and then wondering why it backfires on him. It makes sense on our end -- we've played the games and watched the movies, and we've sat through enough media to know a balding goat-like old man with a gesture fetish can't be anything but bad news. But I wonder why people apply that same genre savvyness to Terra, an in-universe character who doesn't have our perspective.

 

I understand how frustrating it is to watch a perfectly nice character get played by villains we already know are villains, but from Terra's perspective, most of those bad guys don't give him much reason to not trust them. And I mean that by the actions Terra sees, not the audience's preconceived notions about the characters. I'm not saying Terra couldn't have done more research before he took their words for it, but the things he sees are:

 

-Xehanort: Eraqus's old buddy who Terra otherwise knows nothing about. He's the only one who (seemingly) sympathizes with Terra's darkness angst, and seems to offer a way to help.

 

-Maleficent: Terra initially only grills her for information on the Unversed and Xehanort's whereabouts. He goes into full on "up yours" mode after Maleficent starts talking about keyblades and stealing nice lady's hearts and blah blah, then actively possesses him to steal said nice lady's heart. Even if Maleficent wasn't there to direct him to the castle, he'd have still run into Aurora eventually, since he was supposed to protect the Princesses of Heart.

 

-The Queen: Terra never trusts her. He was only interested in using the Magic Mirror, and had no intention of carrying out the Queen's plans to stab Snow White's heart into a box. He only sought Snow White out because it might lead him to Xehanort. When that didn't work out, he goes back to the Queen, tells her "Up yours I'm using your mirror anyway," and does just that. No harm, no foul.

 

-Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella: Uh... actually he doesn't even run into these guys. He too busy escorting Cinderella and beating up Unversed. Come to think of it, the Castle of Dreams might be the one world where everything went right for him.

 

-Pete: He's a dick? Well, Terra doesn't take him seriously to begin with. He only wanted to get to the Unversed. Actually, things seemed to go smoothly in Disney Town, too. Twice in a row? Not bad, Terra.

 

-Hades: Just like Xehanort, he offers a way to help Terra be less dark-angsty. Hey, Terra's desperate, and nothing Hades says or does is inherently villainous. And don't say, "Well he's the god of death!" Death is depressing but it's technically neutral. Terra also goes back to "Up yours" mode when Hades possessed Zack.

 

-Dr. Jumba: Technically another prisoner. Since Terra was wrongfully imprisoned about five seconds ago, Jumba starts spouting stuff about being feared for having too much power, and Stitch doesn't exactly prove himself to be a killing machine, well, why not?

 

-Captain Hook and Smee: Two guys chased away from their treasure courtesy of Unversed. In victim status right from the get-go. Terra's job is to protect the light, Hook says the light is in danger, welp, better hop to it.

 

You can argue that Terra could've exercised better Stranger Danger, and I do agree. Just because Terra was wrongfully imprisoned doesn't make Dr. Jumba a martyr, and he could've done a cross-reference before he challenged a boy in tights over a treasure chest. But when has Kingdom Hearts ever not been about trusting completely random people and helping them out? Sora got away with it, but he had the advantage of meeting people who happened to be good guys. Terra does correct the mistakes he makes, and besides, it's not like he binged on Disney films before BBS started.

I agree with you, Terra deserves to be cut some slack.  It's not his fault he didn't know what we already knew.

Indeed, Terra could have shown better judgment concerning these characters, but when you actually look at it, he's really got no reason at first to doubt these characters. And he definitely doesn't help them all out or even trust them, ESPECIALLY the Evil Queen.

-Hades: Just like Xehanort, he offers a way to help Terra be less dark-angsty. Hey, Terra's desperate, and nothing Hades says or does is inherently villainous. And don't say, "Well he's the god of death!" Death is depressing but it's technically neutral. Terra also goes back to "Up yours" mode when Hades possessed Zack.

Hades (who was worshipped as the god of the Underworld, soil, and wealth; Thanatos was the god of the dead and was evil) as depicted by Disney isn't exactly neutral. Other than that, you make some excellent points. Terra definitely needs to be cut some slack. 

Edited January 5, 201510 yr by SkullMajora

Yea when I first played BBS I was under the impression that Terra was a chump but while replaying BBS in 2.5 I've noticed that I'm cutting him some slack in some of his actions and I've been trying to put myself in his shoes. 

Terra's not unintelligent. In fact, he's a very knowledgeable lad. (And one of my favorite character's. ) I think the problem with Terra is that he sometimes let his goals cloud his better judgement. And at other times, he literally just had rotten, rotten, luck.  Since the beginning of the game, he was dead set on proving his capability and potential to be a Master, and when he was denied the Mark, it only made him want to prove himself even more. He took off, trying his hardest to make the best decisions and be responsible..... but no matter what, his actions always ended up backfiring (Like when he scared off Snow White, but was really just trying to help her. )

 

And besides, it's not like he's the only person Xehanort has ever deceived. Eraqus was actually TOLD of his evil intentions AND struck in the face by him, yet Xehanort still had his trust. It's just who Xehanort is....a charismatic, manipulative, old man. He would have eventually gotten his way, even if Terra hadn't believed him.

I've never found Terra himself to be an idiot, the real fool is Eraqus, who has no ecusefor not figuring out SOMETHING was wrong, and spends exactly zero time in the story being proactive. He has a friend who can tell him where and what anybody is doing, and can communicate with him instantly via gemstone, and yet never takes any forward action until Ventus literally shows up on his doorstep and explains Xehanort's plan to his face.

Unlike Terra, Eraqus also has been to other worlds, and has far less excuse not to be genre savvy

I've never found Terra himself to be an idiot, the real fool is Eraqus, who has no ecusefor not figuring out SOMETHING was wrong, and spends exactly zero time in the story being proactive. He has a friend who can tell him where and what anybody is doing, and can communicate with him instantly via gemstone, and yet never takes any forward action until Ventus literally shows up on his doorstep and explains Xehanort's plan to his face.

Unlike Terra, Eraqus also has been to other worlds, and has far less excuse not to be genre savvy

 

I wonder what it is Eraqus does in the castle all day. Sip tea and wait for the Unversed to come, I suppose. He's supposed to guard the world from getting into the wrong hands or something or other, but you'd think Eraqus, the keyblade master and experienced world traveler, would be better equipped to protect the chicks who prevent the universe from imploding. You'd also think he might have some reservations about sending out his apprentice who less than an hour ago demonstrated he had a bit of a darkness problem. It also seemed suspiciously easy for Ventus to sneak out and party.

 

Eraqus is the worst dad ever.

I was actually more annoyed that Terra isn't more trusting. As you mentioned, he winds up backing out of or correcting every deal he makes with the villains, and usually the set-up is that he's being hood-winked rather than actually buying in to what it is they're saying. Personally, I would have liked it if he started actually listening to what the villains had to say, so his so called "giving in to Darkness" would actually have more body to it, instead of being more or less unfounded by the plot.

I was actually more annoyed that Terra isn't more trusting. As you mentioned, he winds up backing out of or correcting every deal he makes with the villains, and usually the set-up is that he's being hood-winked rather than actually buying in to what it is they're saying. Personally, I would have liked it if he started actually listening to what the villains had to say, so his so called "giving in to Darkness" would actually have more body to it, instead of being more or less unfounded by the plot.

I really wish Aqua's quote "I've been to the same worlds as you, and I've seen what you've done" made ANY SENSE AT ALL

She went to one world, where a person who was obviously trying to antagonize her told her that Terra gave in to the darkness. Outside that Aqua's interactions with Terra were seeing that he helped out a girl and was actually doing pretty good for himself, and another world where Terra wasn't even mentioned

They seemed to try way too hard to give worlds happy endings, despite the story really not calling for that. Terra's succumbing to darkness seems really strange when literally every world he visits leads to him learning a valuable lesson about how to not be overtaken by the darkness. He literally learns more than Riku over like five games, and yet for some reason him trying to protect his friends (which is admittedly a very strange concept for a KH game, which has no morals involving friendship or standing up for what's right) is the tipping point that allows him to be consumed

What I find fascinating about Terra's story is that he basically does exactly what Sora does in each world, trusting and helping the first person he meets ho has a problem, it's just that Sora is lucky enough to run into a good guy on his first try, while Terra always stumbles onto villains

I was actually more annoyed that Terra isn't more trusting. As you mentioned, he winds up backing out of or correcting every deal he makes with the villains, and usually the set-up is that he's being hood-winked rather than actually buying in to what it is they're saying. Personally, I would have liked it if he started actually listening to what the villains had to say, so his so called "giving in to Darkness" would actually have more body to it, instead of being more or less unfounded by the plot.

 

Indeed, part of the problem is that it seems the universe is actively screwing with Terra. It's never his own actions that get him into trouble, it's that he tries to do the right thing but it just so happens he's helping the villains. As another post mentioned, a lot of Terra's misfortune boils down to rotten luck. He's in the wrong place at the wrong time, he meets the wrong people, and the game almost seems to punish him for trying to do good. Not even misinformed, well-intentioned extremist good. It's that the story sets him up to be doing a noble thing (even if it's for villains) and the rug gets swept under him. I guess that's where the plot gets the idea he's giving into darkness. Because the world hates him. I feel sorry for the guy.

 

 

I really wish Aqua's quote "I've been to the same worlds as you, and I've seen what you've done" made ANY SENSE AT ALL

She went to one world, where a person who was obviously trying to antagonize her told her that Terra gave in to the darkness. Outside that Aqua's interactions with Terra were seeing that he helped out a girl and was actually doing pretty good for himself, and another world where Terra wasn't even mentioned

They seemed to try way too hard to give worlds happy endings, despite the story really not calling for that. Terra's succumbing to darkness seems really strange when literally every world he visits leads to him learning a valuable lesson about how to not be overtaken by the darkness. He literally learns more than Riku over like five games, and yet for some reason him trying to protect his friends (which is admittedly a very strange concept for a KH game, which has no morals involving friendship or standing up for what's right) is the tipping point that allows him to be consumed

What I find fascinating about Terra's story is that he basically does exactly what Sora does in each world, trusting and helping the first person he meets ho has a problem, it's just that Sora is lucky enough to run into a good guy on his first try, while Terra always stumbles onto villains

 

As much as I love Aqua, I for the life of me can't find a reasoning for her suspicions, either. And it's totally true that Terra does what Sora does, but the game treats it as bad because Terra is unfortunate enough to run into the wrong characters. Really, when has a KH game not had the characters trust the first people they run into? I mean, maybe Days, but they're a covert operation and actually the villains. Terra's a do-gooder through his actions and the plot tells us it's bad.

Edited January 5, 201510 yr by Dracozombie

You also have to think, Terra was sheltered on the Land of Departure with 3 other people for years and years. He's naive. So is Ven and Aqua. But the difference between them and Terra is the situations they were put in. The villains felt they could manipulate the darkness in Terra while there really wasn't any darkness to manipulate with Ven and Aqua. If you were couped up in a house all day and never went around other people, would you know that there are people you shouldn't trust?

Terra wasn't the only one that accidentally helped a villain. During Ventus's visit to the Dwarf Woodlands, he gives the poison apple that the witch dropped back to her, not knowing that it would harm his newfound friend. But everyone seems to overlook that. And we don't even have to argue with Riku...

Edited January 12, 201510 yr by KHrulz

Terra wasn't the only one that accidentally helped a villain. During Ventus's visit to the Dwarf Woodlands, he gives the poison apple that the witch dropped back to her, not knowing that it would harm his newfound friend. But everyone seems to overlook that. And we don't even have to argue with Riku...

True, but it is one 10-second moment. In my experience, people will overlook a lot of a parts that are not major events or repeated often while discussing a video games story.

Edited January 18, 201510 yr by Andrew Rowland

Indeed, part of the problem is that it seems the universe is actively screwing with Terra. It's never his own actions that get him into trouble, it's that he tries to do the right thing but it just so happens he's helping the villains. As another post mentioned, a lot of Terra's misfortune boils down to rotten luck. He's in the wrong place at the wrong time, he meets the wrong people, and the game almost seems to punish him for trying to do good. Not even misinformed, well-intentioned extremist good. It's that the story sets him up to be doing a noble thing (even if it's for villains) and the rug gets swept under him. I guess that's where the plot gets the idea he's giving into darkness. Because the world hates him. I feel sorry for the guy.

 

And then DDD just seemed to kick him down even further (along with Aqua and Ven, for that matter).

 

One of the major reasons why I hate that game.

I have a feeling this is a response to HMK's video on why he wasn't particularly fond of Terra, because I saw the same exact post on my comment explaining why I wasn't fond of him either.

 

Maybe it's coincidence.

I have a feeling this is a response to HMK's video on why he wasn't particularly fond of Terra, because I saw the same exact post on my comment explaining why I wasn't fond of him either.Maybe it's coincidence.

 

It's a coincidence. I've never seen any of HMK's videos, though judging from peoples' opinions of him I might be better off that way. For me, I like Terra but this wasn't really a matter of fondness. I was just trying to dismantle what I think are a few misconceptions about his character.

It's not just how some fans think about Terra's single mindedness towards villians, even the GAME has this impression and sets it up to his fatal flaw ( besides his fear of darkness and by not accepting it with confidence). For example, when you speak to Peter Pan as Terra when you return to Neverland, he will comment on how easily he can be hoodwinked by the "grown ups". Ironically, Eraqus thinks that Terra CANNOT be trusted. the point were Aqua was told to keep an eye on him ( which makes no sense as she wasn't properly developed from that standpoint and didn't notice the lingering presence of Xehanort's manipulation).