Top 10 FF Character Themes #2, Terra

A month or so ago, I talked with a friend about the future top 3 themes in this list. When I mentioned Terra's name, she strongly disagreed and told me all of you would be miffed if I put her over Celes's theme, a poignant piece that particularly shone during the suicide attempt. In response to this, I conducted a poll in the Final Fantasy VI forum. The results were rather conclusive. To prepare for this article I spent my entire lunch break listening to this song on repeat on my iPod... now you can experience this too!


Remember when you first heard this song? The start of FFVI. Two soldiers and a mysterious girl in MagiTek armour set off during a blizzard, each step drawing them closer to the glow of Narshe. It wasn't a particularly bombastic or action-packed opening, but I think it was a powerful one.

Listen to the bassline and the drum beat. Steady, precise and rhythmic. Marching music, you could say. Then listen to the main melody and the strings. Hopeful, beautiful and haunting. The bassline and drum? That represents the Empire. The main melody, of course, represents Terra. Terra, constrained by the Empire, longs to be free as she marches off to Narshe. Regular readers of this series will know I am keen not to attribute my interpretations as intentional by Uematsu but I can't see how this wasn't deliberate. It's incredible is what it is.


This emphatic version of Terra's theme is from Distant Worlds. The orchestra really brings out the force in some parts of the song and it's a great imagining of it.

The overwhelming sense I get from listening to this song is hope. One of my favourite parts of the song is the subtle four rising string notes during the main melody. In the final repetition before the main overture comes crashing in, the notes become brass and are a lot more pronounced. It's like the level of hope is rising and Terra is shrugging off the Empire's control.

Hope, of course, was the overwhelming theme of Terra's story. The lost Esper being used as a weapon, and then trying to find herself and trying to find reasons to keep on living. Watching Terra experience the joy of life through the children in Mobliz was a very touching moment.


This vocal version of Terra's Theme is called Wanderer of Time and is sung by Risa Ohki. I don't think I need to say more other than just listen.

I remember reading a post on the Eyes on FF forums nine or ten years ago about this song. The poster, whose identity will forever be lost to the depths of time and EoFF server prunes, said that they imagine this song playing in their head whenever they walk through wind, rain or snow. And upon reading this post, I developed the same condition. By mentioning it here I am actually hoping to spread it!

The song does fit this well. I think there's a sense of pressing on regardless, of steadily moving on. This obviously calls back to the main theme of hope. The game recognises this as well, with it being used for the march across the snow and indeed was the initial world map music. It is probably my favourite world map music from an FF game, which is quite remarkable given that it is a character theme and not intended to be the main world map music.


A final note. You may have noticed I have been trying to only have one song from the same game. That I have included both Cyan and Terra, and ranked them both so highly, should give you a real indication of how wonderful I truly believe these songs are.

2. Terra
3. Laguna
4. Cyan
5. Auron
6. Rydia
7. Hilda
8. Beatrix
9. Snow
10. Bartz

So what do you think? Have I got it right or should I have gone with Celes's theme? Is this a cliched and obvious choice or is it rated highly for a reason? Drop me a comment. With the 25th anniversary drawing near, you can also speculate as to the identity of the #1 theme. You may have noticed the distinct absence of FFVII on this list and I don't mind telling you it's from that game.