Atlantean magatama
| This article is a work in progress. Please help in the creation of this article by expanding or improving it. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Atlantean Magatama is a comma-shaped bead of Atlantean origin that first appeared in the 1995 Gamera film, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe.
Origins
The magatama were created by the ancient Atlantean civilization in order to awaken Gamera if the Gyaos threat should ever return. A series of them were strewn across Gamera's atoll in order to make them easy to find.
Design
In accordance with their namesake, Atlantean magatama are comma-shaped prayer beads. The Magatama associated with Gamera are a brownish color, while those associated with Iris are black and slightly different in shape.
History
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
While searching the bizarre moving atoll that had run the Kairyu-Maru aground, Yoshinari Yonemori and his colleagues discovered several magatama scattered around the ground. Yonemori brought several of the magatama to his employer, Naoya Kusanagi, when they discussed their strange discovery and the giant monster that had later emerged from the atoll. They concluded that the magatama and the obelisk they discovered on the atoll were connected to a super-ancient civilization that likely inspired the Atlantis myth. The runes inscribed on the obelisk mentioned "the last hope, Gamera" and stressed that it should awaken with "the shadow of evil, Gyaos." They determined that the monster that emerged from the atoll must be Gamera, while the bird-like creatures it attacked in Fukuoka were Gyaos. Yonemori gave Kusanagi's daughter Asagi one of the magatama as a gift. When Asagi held the bead in her hand, it began to feel warm and glow. Unbeknownst everyone at the time, the magatama had selected Asagi as a priestess of Gamera and formed a telepathic bond between them. Asagi continued to carry the magatama with her, as she gradually learned of her bond with Gamera when she developed the same wounds he did and could read his thoughts.
Gamera 2: Attack of Legion
When Asagi Kusanagi and Midori Honami visited the seemingly dead Gamera in the ruins of Sendai, they witnessed him suddenly become surrounded by strange glowing energy. The energy flowed into Gamera and miraculously revived him, and he quickly took flight and headed to Tokyo to stop the Legion. During Gamera's resurrection, Asagi's magatama shattered in her hand, slightly injuring her hand and severing her telepathic bond with Gamera.
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
In the three years following Gamera's battle with Legion, self-proclaimed psychic and Atlantean descendant Mito Asakura and her assistant Shinya Kurata collected several Atlantean magatama, which had all shattered when Gamera severed his bond with humanity in order to absorb the planet's Mana and rise from the dead. Meanwhile, a young woman named Ayana Hirasaka discovered a black Atlantean magatama in a shrine in Nara Prefecture which was said to house the demon known as the Ryuseicho. Ayana found a stone egg in the shrine as well, which hatched into a bizarre creature she named Iris. Like it had done between Asagi Kusanagi and Gamera, the magatama formed a telepathic bond between Ayana and Iris, a twisted bond fueled by their shared hatred for Gamera.
When Asakura learned about Ayana's bond with Iris, she and Kurata took her from the hospital following Iris' unsuccessful attempt to physically fuse with her and brought her to Kyoto. Asakura believed Iris was a holy creature whose destined purpose was to destroy Gamera, which was necessary in order to allow Gyaos to wipe out humanity and save the Earth. She and Kurata planned to use Ayana to bring Iris to Gamera so it could kill him. Asagi and Mayumi Nagamine tried to take Ayana out of Kyoto, but both Gamera and Iris arrived in the city and began to battle. As the monsters approached the Kyoto Station, Asakura grabbed the black magatama and attempted to command Iris, but was killed when the ceiling collapsed and crushed her as a result of the monsters' battle.
Comics
Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe
To be added.
Mechanisms
The Atlantean magatama can form a telepathic bond between a human and a kaiju. This is demonstrated by the bond between Asagi Kusanagi and Gamera and between Ayana Hirasaka and Iris.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
