TOP 30 CHARACTER PART 3 #10-1
Theme Song by Brian Setzer and owned by Walt Disney Records
Theme Song by Patrick DeRemer and owned by Walt Disney Records
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the final part of the character themes list and a continuation of MUSICAL MARCH MADNESS! I’m pulling out the big guns today this is the best of the best! Let’s continue shall we?
#10 The Imperial March music by John Williams
How could I not put this theme on here? Even though the empire isn’t really a character there are plenty of people that represent it and this is the perfect theme to a dictatorship. It gives off the fact that in this galaxy people are small and that the empire is the way to go and that freedom is a foolish idea. The theme captures the villainy of the most evil empire in popular culture.
#9 Cosmos Theme music by Takeharu Ishimoto
This theme is from the Final Fantasy fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy. Dissidia is a great game even though its story is weak, but the music is absolutely excellent! Now technically this isn’t the real Cosmos theme because there is an actual song on the soundtrack, but I went with this because this theme plays the most when Cosmos the Goddess of Harmony appears while the song is only battle background music that in some cases need to be selected. It is a peaceful piano song and it does convey a warm and hopeful atmosphere fitting of the Goddess of Harmony.
#8 Chaos Themes music and lyrics by Takeharu Ishimoto
Cantata Mortis and God in Fire
Chaos is the God of Discord and is opposed to Cosmos from the same game. He is the a god so he needs to have a theme fitting of his wish to drown everything in destruction and discord. Messenger(performed by Your Favorite Enemies) fits that role better than expected and is in a sense a worthy theme to the god of discord. In the sequel to Dissidia Chaos took a new form and was a feral creature called simply Feral Chaos. Now he needed an epic theme and that’s where the epic choir is brought in and the second half is a rock song that in some ways tells the story of Garland (Final Fantasy 1’s villain who became the mortal vessel for Chaos) and is performed by the Kidney Thieves. It’s an amazing theme worthy of the God of Discord that is insanely hard to beat.
#7 Warriors of Cosmos music by Takeharu Ishimoto
This is also a song where I changed the title. It is normally called “Ansewrâ€, but I changed it because when it’s played it shows the strength and comradery of the Warriors of Cosmos which consists of all the main characters from the first 10 Final Fantasies. These beloved characters are together for the first time and this theme (a re working of Cosmos’s theme) shows that they will stand together and that even though the odds are completely against them they are still going to carry on and fight toward the Final boss Chaos the God of Discord! The warriors are: THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT, FIRION THE WEAPON MASTER AND GUARDIAN OF THE WILD ROSE, LUNETH THE ONION KNIGHT, CECIL HARVEY THE DARK KNIGHT/PALADIN, BARTZ KLAUSER THE WANDERING MIME, TERRA BRANFORD THE HALF ESPER, CLOUD STRIFE SOLDIER 1ST CLASS, SQUALL LEONHART SeeD OF BALAMB GARDEN, ZIDANE TRIBAL THE THIEF OF TANTALUS, TIDUS THE DREAM OF THE FAYTH.
#6 Kefka’s Theme and Dancing Mad music by Nobuo Uematsu
Dancing Mad Black Mages Version
The theme to one of the greatest villains in the entire Final Fantasy franchise. Some would argue that he is even better than the greatest Final Fantasy villain Sephiroth. Kefka Pallazzo is a mad clown mage and is basically the Joker if Joker was more insane and was a magic user. The excellent thing about Kefka’s normal theme is that it’s very goofy to go with the clown persona, but when you first see him and the music kicks in you think he’s a joke and then when he starts burning castles to the ground and committing genocide he quickly becomes an extremely evil and cruel force to be reckoned with. Now whenever the theme kicks in you know that it has a twisted and unspeakably cruel and gruesome edge to it and the fans love it! Now Dancing Mad is the theme of the Final boss when Kefka becomes the God of Magic. The orchestral and metal versions are the best, but I kept the original SNES version because I like the fact that the technology couldn’t support a voice audio so the Latin singing parts are all sung by this awesome disconcerting moan. It also has multiple parts for each stage of the final battle. Normally the song is over 10 minutes, but with the soundtrack doing a second loop of each stage the song is about 17 minutes long!!!!!! Also Kefka’s distinctive laugh can be heard in the last stage of the song. That’s awesome!!!!!! An absolutely fantastic song!!! An excellent final battle theme to one of the franchise’s best villains and I would say best villains EVER!!!
#5 The Encounter music by Yoko Shimomura
I bet you guys were wondering when Kingdom Hearts was going to make it on this list. Well here it is! You know all the songs that were sung by Disney villains in the original films? I want you to forget about all of them!! Yoko Shimomura has composed a theme to encompass all the Disney villains!!!!!!!! I know this is technically a boss battle song, but it captures all the bravado, egos, and villainy of the Disney villains! It is used as the Disney boss music and I love every single second of it!!!! This theme is absolutely exhilarating and it a lot of fun!! Here are two battles to illustrate the awesomeness.
#4 All The Kingdom Hearts character Themes music by Yoko Shimomura
Now we’re actually going to get into the individual character themes of the series. Each of these themes is perfect for their character. Some are better than others, but they are each entertaining, beautiful and even heartbreaking.
Sora’s theme is a very bright and optimistic theme which suits his character perfectly. It’s full of energy and is raring to go on an adventure to save the Disney universe!!!
Riku’s theme is similar to Shadow’s in that it is more reserved and shows Riku’s strength and that he is a soft spoken and is a lot more reserved than Sora. It shows that he is a loner on a journey of redemption and is willing to do whatever it takes to help someone even if it means going to the dark side!
As I said in my Kingdom Hearts 1 review Kairi’s theme is soft and serene fitting Kairi’s kind nature. It is like a calm ocean and the sound of the waves on the beach. Brilliant.
Namine’s theme is just as soft and serene as Kairi’s. It shows Namine’s lonliness of being trapped in Castle Oblivion against her will and her just wanting to be around someone who doesn’t treat her like dirt. When Sora shows up it gives her the courage to resist the Organization and stand up for Sora and herself. It’s not just peace, but also strength.
This is a somber theme to contrast the more optimistic themes. It conveys the character’s pain and struggles of constantly being denied a normal life and not possessing the emotion we take for granted every day as well as constantly living and being defined by his other: Sora. This theme starts to appear when he starts to piece together that his existence is not his own and that he must return to Sora so that Sora can become a complete being once again and Roxas in the end is willing to make that sacrifice.
Musique Pour la Tristesse de Xion
This is probably the saddest of all themes in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It’s sad for the same character reasons that Roxas’s theme is sad, but it’s worse because at least Roxas can live on as a part of Sora while Xion is nothing, but a puppet with a true false existence and didn’t have one to begin with. She is Roxas’s friend and even when she figures out her false existence she is willing to make the ultimate sacrifices to ensure the protection of the one’s she holds dear. She is treated like crap from the Organization XIII members and what Roxas has to do and what happens to her at the end of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is absolutely heartbreaking. I normally don’t cry when watching media, but Square you are able to make me cry at times like this! An EXCELLENT Theme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yoko Shimomura hits it out of the park again! This theme is dark and mysterious much like the Organization and it showcases the emptiness and the apathy and sometimes cruelty that the Organization is capable of. A very cool and awesome theme to the ultimate baddies of the KH universe.
This is in my opinion the weakest of the KH themes. It still fits Master Xehanort as a character and exposes that he is a manipulative and scheming villain, but it doesn’t even show his cruelty and barbarism as a character not even in a subtle way. And that admittedly is disappointing. Still a  good theme.
Now this is the perfect theme to give Disney’s first tragic hero! It has all the strength and epicness while still containing a little bit of the vulnerability that will eventually lead to his downfall. I love the intensity and the strength behind it as well as that hint as to what will happen even though we knew it wasn’t going to end well.
Ventus’s theme is interesting because it is a combination of Sora and Roxas’s themes all slowed down to fit the more serious melancholy mood of the game and the serious facts that are revealed about Ventus’s role in Master Xehanort’s evil scheme. A very good theme!
This theme is also very sad especially when you find out what happens to her at the end of the game. Aqua’s theme is a very slow and melancholy theme. It shows wisdom, maturity as well as a strong will and responsibility and caring for the ones she loves. Another excellent theme!
#3 Part of Your World music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman
Okay you should all know me by now. You should know this has to be on here. Ariel is my favorite princess and Part of Your World is one of my favorite Disney songs and it embodies Ariel’s hopes and dreams of finding her place in the world with the answers being on land. I love the passionate lyrics by Howard Ashman and the lovely melody by Alan Menken and Jodi Benson’s beautiful performance. There’s really nothing more to say it’s just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
#2 One Winged Angel music by Nobuo Uematsu
Advent Children Complete Version
It was really hard picking slot #2. It was either going to be Part of Your World or this. After a very tough decision I made Part of Your World #3. So the second slot on the list went to Sephiroth the most popular villain of the Final Fantasy franchise as well as my favorite villain EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! This theme is absolutely legendary! It’s a fan favorite and is so iconic and mindblowingly awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first few notes are instantly recognizable and everything you need to know about Sephiroth is in the song! His cruelty, his malice, his insanity as well as his incalculable power and strength!! All hail the Son of JENOVA and the One Winged Angel of Death SEPHIROTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I know all you Kefka fans are wishing death upon my name for this and while I admit Dancing Mad is technically a stronger achievement there’s much more to a song then technical quality. For me it’s the fact that One Winged Angel is catchier, more memorable and just flat out cool as well as my own personal nostalgia. Not to say that Dancing Mad isn’t all of these things and more it’s just that One Winged Angel wins the nostalgia vote. I was first introduced to the song when I played Kingdom Hearts 1 and fought him as a boss. I had not played FF VII and I had no biases or favorites so I didn’t know what to expect despite the reviews of FF VII I read. When this theme started playing I was forever hooked and I said to myself “I’m going to die†and I did multiple times. That fight made me feel the power of the son of JENOVA! That was when I fell in love with this theme! I have both KH versions and the Advent Children one which is a metal version which is flat out awesome! Also the best orchestral version which is the Distant Worlds concert version! The origins of this song are also interesting. To quote Nobuo Uematsu “I don’t know if you’d call it inspiration, but it occurred to me. If Igor Stravinsky and Jimi Hendrix wrote a song together what would it sound like?†That is just flat out awesome!!!!!!!!! That is a musical genius at work!!!!!! What an amazing idea and that’s why this song can be done by metal bands as well as orchestras or better yet both and still be absolute musical perfection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1 The Raiders March music by John Williams
Terra Branford’s Theme music by Nobuo Uematsu
Yeah folks my #1 pick is a tie. Words can’t describe how awesome and how beautiful these pieces are. These pieces are the perfect embodiments of the characters that they represent. Indiana Jones is my favorite character EVER!!!!!! The character and especially his theme are the definition of adventure and excitement. Indiana Jones defines adventure so much that he even taught Ariel everything he knows about adventuring. As for Terra Branford’s theme (not to be confused with the Kingdom Hearts Terra) that is the theme to the main character of Final Fantasy VI. Such a timeless, memorable, beautiful and captivating piece by Nobuo Uematsu!!!! There are so many ways you can interpret Terra’s Theme whether she has a heroic march quality to it or whether you want to tap into the emotional calm and caring side of Terra. Either way the different interpretations of the piece are absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Enough blabbing these are my #1 character themes!!!
Terra Branford Theme Orchestra
I hope you enjoyed my list of character themes and join me next time where I pay tribute to the Sherman Brothers to mourn the loss of Robert Sherman where I talk about the documentary about the Sherman Brothers called “The Boysâ€!!
