If Terra was meant to have blonde hair...

[MJN SEIFER]

Then did Square give her green hair in the game? It can't be technical stuff because Celes was blonde. I'm sure many of us grew accepting green as Terra's official hair color, but every other official product has Terra as a blonde character; it's in the official art work, she's blonde in Disisida, she was going to be blonde in FFVI-2 assuming that was a real Square game (I've seen pictures, but I dunno if Square had anything to do with it).

[champagne supernova]

If Celes is blonde, having 2 blonde characters would make them look similar. Making her hair green made her more identifiable.

[Wolf Kanno]

PreTty much what CP said. I feel Terra was given green hair to distinguish her from Celes, but also due to her origins, its just a visual reminder of her otherworldy self. I'll admit it works, cause watching the CGI sequences in Anthology, it can be difficult to discern which is Terra and which is Celes by going on their faces alone.

In a way, I felt they did it for the same reason why Faris and Leena have pink hair in V, cause if they made them blonde like, Krile, it would be visually jarring for the player.

Personally, I'm more curious as to why Garnet and Eiko are not blondes like their Amano artwork, (besides the fact Amano just has an obsession with that hair color for females) seeing how FFIX easily had the technology to do so and there is no in-story reason to give them alternate hair color.

[champagne supernova]

I don't know, but I don't see Garnet looking good with blonde hair. Her features and outfit seem to suit her hair colour.

Eiko they probably wanted her to be more exotic - being the last of a Summoner Tribe etc.

[Wolf Kanno]

I don't know, it wouldn't have looked so bad if Garnet kept the White Mage Robe as part of her outfit. It just struck me odd, then again, Amarant doesn't have ash colored skin either in the Amano artwork.

[VeloZer0]

In all honestly looking at official artwork often feels like looking at some random fan's interpretation of the character.

I like Terra much better with the green hair, for all the reasons listed. I just can't fathom after having it that way for so many years why they would go back. So what the artwork was one way, the actual game (you know, the thing people actualy see and play) should be the definitive work.

[blackmage_nuke]

Because all the best main characters in Japanese media have whacky hair

[Wolf Kanno]

Cause Blonde is more exotic in Japanese than green hair. :D

[MJN SEIFER]

In all honestly looking at official artwork often feels like looking at some random fan's interpretation of the character.

I like Terra much better with the green hair, for all the reasons listed. I just can't fathom after having it that way for so many years why they would go back. So what the artwork was one way, the actual game (you know, the thing people actualy see and play) should be the definitive work.
That's pretty much how I feel about it. Some of the official artwork doesn't work for the other characters (Locke wearing cap, Bartz from FFV has white hair in some arts), but I always thought Terra's change was the strongest - since we grew up with a green haired Terra, that's what we should get.

Having said that, I just discovered that Terra's alt costume in Disisida has green hair.

[espritduo]

Terra's hair was green because of palette limitations. Celes uses a different palette that has the yellow color in it, so her hair is blonde. Terra's particular palette, which she shares with several different characters, does not have the yellow color in it, and so the programmers were forced to use the next best available color, which was green. These kinds of space limitations commonly affected how characters were portrayed back in the gold old days of gaming.

And Garnet and Eiko do have blonde hair in their trance modes, so Amano's art wasn't completely disregarded. The thing is, though, Amano likes blondes. Alot. Almost every woman he's ever drawn is blonde. If FF was solely up to Amano, we'd have almost nothing but blonde-haired characters.

[rjamlegend]

Her father, Maduin has green hair. But both Terra, and her father have hair in the color of Teal, not green. And it wouldnt be so hard to distinguish Terra and Celes with blonde hair. Terra has a ponytail, Celes has waist length hair. No difficulty there. And their faces? Umm Terra wears a circlet, Celes wears no facial gear. Terra has pale jade eyes, Celes has either light blue or grey eyes. Terra is also taler than Celes by 2 inches, and Celes has a different body build, whereas she is a little more ripped (gotta look close), Terra is more softer in build. I wouldnt want to be on the recieveing end of Terra's roundhouse kick though. -Ouch- That's a couple of lost teeth.

[VeloZer0]

Terra is also taler than Celes by 2 inches
I feel the game sprites made this quite clear.

[Spooniest]

I think the pallette limitation is the best explanation I've heard so far, but there is the fact that blonde hair is seen as very very unusual in Japan. There seems to be some talk that it can even get you stared and pointed at in public. The MC1R hair color gene is not typically present in the indigenous population (in other words, Japanese usually aren't blonde), so it looks exotic and alien sometimes.

Now, Terra may have been given green hair to help out with the pallette choices, but there might have also been some thinking that they wanted to achieve a similar effect to having blonde hair, in a game they hoped would be played by a Western audience.

Put another way, Terra or Celes having blonde hair is as strange and exotic to them as Terra having green hair is to us, perhaps.

[rjamlegend]

Terra is also taler than Celes by 2 inches
I feel the game sprites made this quite clear.

Look at the art work too. Terra is nearly as tall as I am ( I am 70 inches, Terra is 68 inches). Celes is 66 inches.


I think the pallette limitation is the best explanation I've heard so far, but there is the fact that blonde hair is seen as very very unusual in Japan. There seems to be some talk that it can even get you stared and pointed at in public. The MC1R hair color gene is not typically present in the indigenous population (in other words, Japanese usually aren't blonde), so it looks exotic and alien sometimes.

Now, Terra may have been given green hair to help out with the pallette choices, but there might have also been some thinking that they wanted to achieve a similar effect to having blonde hair, in a game they hoped would be played by a Western audience.

Put another way, Terra or Celes having blonde hair is as strange and exotic to them as Terra having green hair is to us, perhaps.

Imagine Terra having red hair. The SNES version of Final Fantasy III there is a glitch that changes her hair color to red. Only in battle though. I don't know how it works, and I think in the first half of the game only.

But to answer your query...the color gene is inherited through European population. The native Americans weren't blonde either. Actually, most of the Native Americans came from eastern Asia, Japan, and even the Phillippines during the massive freeze aka the Ice Age. Brown hair, was also uncommon as well. That comes from black hair, being sun bleached to brown. It eventually became genetic, and most of the brown haired people came from South America, and Austrailia.

Please use the edit feature at the bottom of your post. -G13

[Chels]

It looks like this has already been pretty thoroughly addressed, but I just wanted to say it really weirded me out when I realized Terra was "supposed" to be blonde after she had been so solidly driven into my head as having green hair. I haven't played Dissidia yet, but I'll be getting her alt green hair asap when I do. Not to get too far off topic, but it feels like a lot of characters in the early FF games ~officially~ have blonde hair (or hair that is light and ambiguously colored)...I like them better with their varied crazy hair. Variety is the spice of life! And the fact that such a high percentage are blonde kind of kills the "blondes are meant to be exotic" argument for me personally, in respect to the FF world. Celes wasn't supposed to be exotic (...right??), but she was given blonde rather than the average brown hair. I'd believe "Amano is a blondophile" over the exotic thing, even if the exotic argument is true of Japan itself...but as for the switch to green, yeah, I think it's to keep her separate from Celes (even if their outfits seemed distinct to me) and because green is more otherworldly than blonde.

Or maybe Terra just went swimming in too much chlorine water, idek. One of those.

[Greatermaximus]

Imagine this coming from my avatar Terra.

"Oh, why don't I try magicitemiracle cream. Using magic to change hair color isn't overrated."

...

"I'll also create a new coat. I hope I don't run out of MP during a blizzard."

[the_best_noob]

I like her with green hair. It sets her aside from the rest of the party (other then being able to transform into an esper at will, of course). Also, FFVI-2 would suck. There would be no magic. They sealed the plot so there was no real way to make a sequel. At all.

[Mirage]

Terra with blonde hair would make half her sprite look the same as celes' sprite, at least from the rear.

[Jiro]

Also, FFVI-2 would suck. There would be no magic.

The first quarter or so of the game limited your magic immensely. The lack of magic would not be the reason why FFVI-2 would suck. The fact it wouldn't live up to the original - nostalgia goggles or not - is why it would suck.

[Spooniest]

It's a moment in gaming that just plain can't happen again, agreed.

[Roogle]

To be honest, the original designs for Terra and Celes look awfully similar. That might have been intentional on the part of the artist, but a lot of his work has a certain distinct style that can be easily seen in past and present designs. You know, kind of like how Akira Toriyama's character designs are similar?

[Mirage]

To be honest, the original designs for Terra and Celes look awfully similar. That might have been intentional on the part of the artist, but a lot of his work has a certain distinct style that can be easily seen in past and present designs. You know, kind of like how Akira Toriyama's character designs are similar?

Similar? I have no idea what you're talking about (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1132077/images/1295033892943.jpg).

[the_best_noob]

Also, FFVI-2 would suck. There would be no magic.

The first quarter or so of the game limited your magic immensely. The lack of magic would not be the reason why FFVI-2 would suck. The fact it wouldn't live up to the original - nostalgia goggles or not - is why it would suck.
Very true, but part of the great,great fun of the game is being able to walk around farming monsters on celes's island in the WoR and getting ultima. Thinking more, how would it play out? They kept the story of that game sealed and left so they could not make a (good) sequel.

[VeloZer0]

Unless they made it 1000 years in the future and referenced the events of FF6 like they did with the War of the Magi in the past. That would be interesting to get to see how the world has evolved since then.

And to have a WoR like cataclysm that actually returns the continents to their original positions.

[Spooniest]

Come on, they'd have to do a story where they bring the characters back from the original, or what's the point?

And as far as not having magic, it really does make it touchy to do any kind of extended story. You could handwave it, but not without seeming lazy. And trying to do a Final Fantasy game without the signature magic spells is just pointless.

If it were me (and it isn't), I would do something involving Figaro using its newly developed submarines to investigate a series of ships being lost way far out in the ocean. They find the wreckage of the ships deep underwater, right next to the remains of the Sealed Gate.

So Edgar gets Setzer to take him to Mobliz (Setzer has been funding the building of a proper orphanage, now that he's not blowing all his money on liquor anymore), and asks Terra if she would mind going on a submarine voyage to investigate...and we're off!

[VeloZer0]

Come on, they'd have to do a story where they bring the characters back from the original, or what's the point?
Because then you can capture on nostalgia of the original without cheapening it. Lets face it, magically dreaming up some event even on par with Kefka destroying the world in the characters lifetime is going to make it seem less like the most epic story that ever happened to the planet and more like a piece of fanfiction.

If you place it far into the future every reference to the events of the past or people who participated in them is a delicious little treat fans of the original FF6. Not only that it will be able to target a much larger audience who may not have played FF6. (And hopefully go back and play it after.)

A good story always leaves you wanting more of the characters. But just think of the old addage, Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. If the story had closure then it probably isn't the best idea to open it up again.

[Wolf Kanno]

would say sequels are not going to happen for VI. It's ending is pretty definitive for the most part. On the other hand, prequels give you a lot of room to play around with.

[Mirage]

Unless they made it 1000 years in the future and referenced the events of FF6 like they did with the War of the Magi in the past. That would be interesting to get to see how the world has evolved since then.

And to have a WoR like cataclysm that actually returns the continents to their original positions.

I am strangely attracted to this idea... Attracted in a way I previously thought only possible to be to other human beings.

[VeloZer0]

It's ending is pretty definitive for the most part.
I bet that is what they said at the end of the War of the Magi. :p

[Wolf Kanno]

Well considering VI ends with the party wiping magic out as opposed to the War of the Magi where it simply sealed itself away, unless some new gods show up, I don't see a new War of the Magi in the future unless it's going to be the boring nuclear weapon variety. :p

[Mirage]

They didn't wipe out magic. It's just gone from their world.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well considering the only known source of magic is gone and the game never mentions if there are others that can do it, then yeah... I would say magic is gone for good. :p

[Mirage]

No man, Maudin said he had to leave this world, he didn't say anything about being wiped out forever. And espers can't exist without magic.

[Wolf Kanno]

He didn't say they were traveling somewhere either:



Maduin: Terra... We must part now. We espers will disappear from this world. You may fade away as well...
Maduin: But perhaps if the human part of you feels something strong enough , then maybe... just maybe you will be able to remain here as a human.

Considering the Magicite you have is literally turning to dust in your party's hand. I would say that killing the Warring Triad took out the remaining espers and their magicite as well. Hell, in an old V-Jump interview, the Kitase, Sakaguchi, and Saga, revealed that Terra was meant to share the fate of the espers but decided that was going too far and didn't want to give the game a downer ending, so they gave her a Disney Death instead. So I would say, that "disappear" and "fade" in this context means to cease to exist.

So in order for an FFVI sequel to have magic, they would need a new set of beings like the Warring Triad.

[VeloZer0]

Or that the warring triad wasn't really the source of magic, but just the conduit that allows it to manifest itself in our reality. Remove the warring triad and any physical manifestation of magic disappears, but the essence of magic itself is just as intrinsic to our universe as everything else.

[Wolf Kanno]

Considering how FFVI treats magic as an unnatural force, I would argue it's not some intrinsic force of the universe. At least not their universe, if we're going into baseless hypothetical metaphysics. ;)

As far as we know, magic didn't exist until the Warring Triad came into the picture, so I have a hard time believing that magic is an intrisnic force of nature, that Espers and the Warring Traid simply made available. Granted, there is very little known about the VI world before the War of the Magi, even the world/character guide books start the timeline during the war, and says very little. So it is possible people knew about magic before the Warring Triad appeared but we'll never know.

[Mirage]

Yeah, well, if magic came into being with the warring triad, who created the warring triad? Couldn't another warring triad just be made?

[VeloZer0]

Yeah, well, if magic came into being with the warring triad, who created the warring triad? Couldn't another warring triad just be made?
We have a winner!

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah, well, if magic came into being with the warring triad, who created the warring triad? Couldn't another warring triad just be made?

You are assuming they were made. They are originally translated as gods, so yeah...

[Mirage]

Who created the gods?

[the_best_noob]

Who created the gods?
I think the point is, nothing. The concept of gods is that they are there from the start. You don't just create gods. gods are what create you. Except in Soviet Russia.

[Wolf Kanno]

Who created the gods?
I think the point is, nothing. The concept of gods is that they are there from the start. You don't just create gods. gods are what create you. Except in Soviet Russia.

We have a winner!

[the_best_noob]

We have a winner!
I'm so special...:kakapo:

[Mirage]

Are the warring triad the only gods? Were they first? Did they have ultimate power over everything, or just "magic", whatever that is.

[VeloZer0]

If magic isn't an intrinsic property of the universe that means that the Triad can't have always have existed as part of the universe, as they are distinctly separate from it.

And I think it is a recurring theme in Final Fantasy that just because something claims to be a god doesn't necessarily mean it is.

[Mirage]

That first part is a good point!

[the_best_noob]

If magic isn't an intrinsic property of the universe that means that the Triad can't have always have existed as part of the universe, as they are distinctly separate from it.

And I think it is a recurring theme in Final Fantasy that just because something claims to be a god doesn't necessarily mean it is.
In that game, it said that the warring triad were 3 gods of magic. This is the one of the few times the game distinctly pronounces someone(or thing) to be gods. Kefka was not a true god because he became a god. He was just as powerful as a god. Think of it this way. If the gods are removed, what they controlled is removed. Analogy Time!!!My way to put this into human terms is; If your heater is removed from your house, you will have no heat. This doesn't mean that the heater wasn't built into the house at the beginning. I do like your point. This is one of the better debates I've had on this forum.

[VeloZer0]

But the heater was put there by something, so removing it doesn't mean there can never be another heater. It just means there is no heat for now. The electricity just works, you just need a new heater to transfer the already existing electricity into something tangible you can use like heat.

And it was just one of the characters who said that they were gods. But really how would any of of them know? They were just parroting what they had been told. Obviously if they were killed they couldn't have been all that godly.

[ReloadPsi]

it can be difficult to discern which is Terra and which is Celes by going on their faces alone.

Depending on who did the artwork it can be pretty difficult to discern many FF characters on faces alone.

[the_best_noob]

But the heater was put there by something, so removing it doesn't mean there can never be another heater. It just means there is no heat for now. The electricity just works, you just need a new heater to transfer the already existing electricity into something tangible you can use like heat.

And it was just one of the characters who said that they were gods. But really how would any of of them know? They were just parroting what they had been told. Obviously if they were killed they couldn't have been all that godly.

They theoretically weren't killed. Just sapped of their powers and made useless. Just like the espers. You do have a very good point. Good job on taking the analogy deeper then I was thinking. There were 2 magical creatures. The espers and whatever the hell the warring triad was. The espers created Terra and all the mages of Thamasa. The espers source of magic was the warring triad, who had no source of magic other then themselves (Gods have no source of power, which is why kefka was not a god.) When Kefka sapped the power out of the warring triad and was killed, the espers and Terra's and Thamasa's mages powers were gone. The espers life force is magic, so when you take it away, they die. When the ultimate source of magic that as no source it taken away, you lose all magic, never to be recovered again. Going deeper on the analogy, if you take away everything that supplies electricity(yes, that would include lightning), How are you going to power the heater even if you get another one?

[Wolf Kanno]

In Japan's mythology, gods can be killed, this isn't the western Judeo-Christian "omnipotent" variety of god. Think of them more like ancient polytheistic deities, like the Greek or Egyptian Pantheons. It's very plausible that they are actual gods in terms of the Ancient Worldview. I mean they turned themselves to stone and yet were still "alive" and affecting the world. There power is also enough to tear the surface of a planet apart when it's just seeping out of them unfocused. In truth, we never actually do get to see the full potential of the Warring Triad since their first awakening is simply the overflow of their power being knocked out of balance, and later Kefka is only using part of his power to torture the world.

Part of the issue here is that the Woosely script kind of screws things up, because his script mentions that their are other beings like the Warring Triad, where as the Japanese and GBA scripts downplay that entirely. Simply stating the Warring Triad feared each other's powers and went to war. As far as they are concerned, they are the only three sources of magic. Magic could only return in a sequel if it was revealed that there was more beings like the Warring Triad and if they possessed the power of magic as well.

Honestly, I feel that would cheapen the whole story of VI if a sequel came out and it just involved a new Warring Triad showing up and making humanity repeat another War of the Magi. I actually really like the finality of VI, in terms of being a fantasy story.

[the_best_noob]

Honestly, I feel that would cheapen the whole story of VI if a sequel came out and it just involved a new Warring Triad showing up and making humanity repeat another War of the Magi. I actually really like the finality of VI, in terms of being a fantasy story.

That's what I was trying to say. They sealed the story completely so there could not be a sequel EXCEPT for an exact repeat of the story.