King Ghidorah (Rebirth of Mothra III)

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King Ghidorah Incarnations
Heisei King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah 1998
King Ghidorah 2001
King Ghidorah® (1998) trademark icon
King Ghidorah® (1998)
Modern Type King Ghidorah in Rebirth of Mothra III
Cretaceous King Ghidorah in Rebirth of Mothra III
Alternate names Grand Ghidorah, Grand King Ghidorah,
King of Terror, Super Dragon King Ghidorah
Subtitle(s) Super Space Monster
(宇宙超怪獣,   Uchū Chō Kaijū)
Species Extraterrestrial Three-Headed Dragon
Height 60 meters (Modern Type)[1]
40 meters (Cretaceous)
Wingspan 80 meters (Modern Type)[1]
50 meters (Cretaceous)
Weight 50,000 metric tons (Modern Type)[1]
25,000 metric tons (Cretaceous)
Forms Cretaceous King Ghidorah,
Modern Type King Ghidorah
Relations Desghidorah (Relative)
Allies None
Enemies Mothra Leo
Created by Ishiro Honda, Tomoyuki Tanaka,
Shinichi Sekizawa, Eiji Tsuburaya,
Shinji Nishikawa, Okihiro Yoneda,
Masumi Suetani, Kenji Suzuki
Played by Tsutomu Kitagawa
First appearance Latest appearance
Rebirth of Mothra III Rebirth of Mothra III
Design(s) RaishuGhido, HakuAkiGhido
Roar(s)
Modern Type
Cretaceous
More roars

The King Ghidorah (キングギドラ,   Kingu Gidora) from Rebirth of Mothra III is an incarnation of King Ghidorah that appears in the 1998 film, Rebirth of Mothra III.

It is the only incarnation of King Ghidorah to appear in a film without Godzilla.

Name

King Ghidorah's name is composed of "King" (キング,   Kingu) and "Ghidorah." The "Ghidorah" part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the Japanese word for "hydra" (ヒドラ,   Hidora), which is spelled very similarly to the Japanese katakana for Ghidorah.

Each of this King Ghidorah incarnation's forms has its own name. King Ghidorah's younger form is known as Cretaceous King Ghidorah (白亜紀キングギドラ,   Haku Aki Kingu Gidora), while his mature form is called Modern Type King Ghidorah (現代型キングギドラ,   Gendai-Gata Kingu Gidora). Both forms were also given different nicknames by the production staff: Cretaceous King Ghidorah was called Young Ghidorah (ヤングギドラ,   Yangu Gidora) and Modern Type King Ghidorah was called Grand Ghidorah (グランドギドラ,   Gurando Gidora). Grand Ghidorah, or alternatively Grand King Ghidorah, has become a popular name for this incarnation of the character among English-speaking fans. In the film, the Elias Moll refers to King Ghidorah as the King of Terror (恐怖の大魔王,   Kyōfu no Dai Maō).

Appearance

Main articles: RaishuGhido, [[ and HakuAkiGhido]].

Modern Type King Ghidorah exhibits physical characteristics of both the Showa and Heisei incarnations of King Ghidorah. Like the Showa King Ghidorah, this incarnation possesses curved horns on each of his heads, along with a crescent on the top of his heads and pronounced fangs in each of his mouths. Like the Heisei King Ghidorah, this King Ghidorah stands completely upright, and lacks manes of fur on the sides of his heads. Some characteristics unique to this King Ghidorah are his comparatively more muscular build, shorter and thicker necks, and taller and more detailed wings. The ornamentation on his heads is also unique, in addition to the two horns and crescent, each head also features a fin-like projection on its cheek. The middle head also possesses unique forked antler-like horns. This King Ghidorah's skin is a somewhat brighter and shinier shade of gold than that of previous incarnations.

King Ghidorah's younger form, Cretaceous King Ghidorah, has dull gold-colored skin. The necks are relatively short but thick and are covered in bright gold spines, while the his three heads are proportionally larger than in previous designs. In keeping with the other ancient monsters who appear in the film, Cretaceous King Ghidorah is designed to look more primitive and fierce. Cretaceous King Ghidorah also draws on features from theropod dinosaurs, as seen in the suit's legs and faces.

Personality

This incarnation of King Ghidorah returns to the Showa incarnation's depiction as a malevolent space monster that arrives on Earth to decimate all life. The explanation for this King Ghidorah's destructive nature is that he feeds on the life forces of the creatures he kills. King Ghidorah caused the Cretaceous extinction millions of years ago, and returns to Earth in the present day to feed on the life forces of children. This King Ghidorah appears to be more intelligent and methodical than past incarnations, constructing a huge dome in which to trap his victims and slowly harvest their life forces. He is also capable of instilling mind control on other beings, and does this to turn the Elias against each other.

Origins

King Ghidorah is an evil giant three-headed dragon from outer space and a more powerful relative of Desghidorah. He first arrived on the Earth millions of years ago as Cretaceous King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah wiped out the majority of life on Earth and consumed their life forces. He then returned to Earth in the modern day in his more powerful mature form, intending to feed on the life forces of human children.

History

Heisei Series

Rebirth of Mothra III

Cretaceous King Ghidorah

King Ghidorah's younger form, Cretaceous King Ghidorah  (白亜紀キングギドラ,   Haku Aki Kingu Gidora), first arrived and attacked the Earth 130 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. Cretaceous King Ghidorah quickly caused the KT extinction event, exterminating the dinosaurs and almost every other life form on the planet and feeding on their life forces. Cretaceous King Ghidorah then encased himself within a meteor and left the Earth, using the life-essence of the creatures he had destroyed to live as he traveled through space. However, Mothra Leo managed to transform into Light Speed Mothra and travel back to the Cretaceous period and attack Cretaceous King Ghidorah while he was still on Earth. King Ghidorah's younger form was still more than a match for Leo, shredding both of his wings and mortally wounding Leo before being dropped into a volcano and seemingly killed. Unbeknownst to Leo, one of King Ghidorah's tails was severed in their battle, and burrowed underground to hide and regenerate.


Modern Type King Ghidorah

130 million years later, Cretaceous King Ghidorah arose again as Modern Type King Ghidorah (現代型キングギドラ,   Gendai-Gata Kingu Gidora). King Ghidorah came to Japan in a meteor to feed on humans, mainly children, but he soon started to eat adults. King Ghidorah built a dome in the Mount Fuji area where he kept his victims and absorbed their life forces. Rainbow Mothra heard of this monster, and he quickly took action to defeat it. Even with all of Rainbow Mothra's power, King Ghidorah quickly defeated him. Rainbow Mothra touched down nearby, but was healed and transformed into Light Speed Mothra by his priestess Moll and traveled back to the Cretaceous period to defeat King Ghidorah's younger form. When Leo returned to the present day, King Ghidorah had vanished and it appeared he had been victorious. However, King Ghidorah reappeared in the sky and resumed his reign of terror, having regenerated from the tail Leo had left behind millions of years ago. Leo was reborn as Armor Mothra and engaged King Ghidorah in battle again, this time proving to be the more powerful combatant. Armor Mothra sliced off King Ghidorah's wing with his own razor-sharp wing then completely destroyed him with a powerful laser beam.


Abilities

The King Ghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra III demonstrates many unique abilities not shared by any incarnations before or since, in addition to the character's traditional abilities.

Flight

King Ghidorah can fly at a speed of mach 3 while in the Earth's atmosphere. He flies at subsonic speeds while in outer space. King Ghidorah is able to fly even with the loss of one of his wings using a zero gravity field.

Gravity Beams

Modern Type King Ghidorah can fire the character's traditional golden gravity beams from his mouths. These beams are powerful enough to easily destroy buildings, and injure Mothra Leo. King Ghidorah's younger form, Cretaceous King Ghidorah, spits fireballs from his mouths in place of gravity beams.

Hurricane Winds

While flying, King Ghidorah's wings produce hurricane-force winds that blow away cars and buildings.

Durability

Modern Type King Ghidorah cannot be harmed at all by any of Mothra Leo's various attacks, at least until the latter transforms into Armor Mothra.

Fireballs

Cretaceous King Ghidorah spitting fireballs in Rebirth of Mothra III

Cretaceous King Ghidorah can spit fireballs from his mouths in place of his mature form's gravity beams.

Regeneration

King Ghidorah is shown to have regenerated his entire body from a severed tail that was cut off by Rainbow Mothra in the past. It is suggested in an informational book about the film that King Ghidorah could still regenerate from the wing that is cut off by Armor Mothra in their final battle.[2]

Barrier

King Ghidorah deflects Mothra Leo's beams with a barrier in Rebirth of Mothra III

King Ghidorah's scales can manipulate the light from projectiles to form a protective barrier.

Electric Bolts

King Ghidorah fires electric bolts from his wings in Rebirth of Mothra III

King Ghidorah can shoot six bolts of electricity from each of his wings.

Dome

King Ghidorah and his dome in Rebirth of Mothra III

King Ghidorah is able to create a dome that allows objects to pass through, yet has a corrosive effect when they try to leave. The dome's exterior is laced with tentacles that pull outside victims inside. Living creatures inside the dome slowly have their life-force drained and transferred to King Ghidorah.

Teleportation

King Ghidorah can teleport smaller beings inside his dome.

Mind Control

King Ghidorah can instill a weak mind control on other beings susceptible to it.

Weaknesses

King Ghidorah's younger form, Cretaceous King Ghidorah, is considerably weaker than his mature form, allowing Mothra Leo to eventually defeat him by throwing him into an active volcano. In addition, King Ghidorah's mature form is susceptible to Armor Mothra's attacks, which sever one of his wings and eventually cause him to completely explode.

Filmography

Video Game Appearances

Gallery

Main articles: RaishuGhido, [[ and HakuAkiGhido]].

Roar

Modern Type King Ghidorah's roars are recycled from the Heisei King Ghidorah's roars, themselves modified from Rodan's roars. This time, the roars have been deepened and mixed with growling noises. Cretaceous King Ghidorah's roars are modified from Desghidorah's elephant-like roars at an increased pitch. Cretaceous King Ghidorah's roars would later be recycled for Orga in the Japanese version of Godzilla 2000: Millennium.

Modern Type King Ghidorah's roars in Rebirth of Mothra III
Orga's roars in the Japanese version of Godzilla 2000: Millennium (recycled from Cretaceous King Ghidorah's roars)

Trivia

  • Despite being considerably smaller than the Showa King Ghidorah, Modern Type King Ghidorah weighs 20,000 metric tons more.
  • This incarnation of King Ghidorah made him the first monster to debut in the Godzilla series and then later appear in a film without Godzilla.
  • This is the only onscreen incarnation of King Ghidorah since the Showa series so far to be a space monster.
  • This incarnation was originally planned to represent King Ghidorah in the PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4 Godzilla video game, but due to time constraints the developers were forced to replace him with the Heisei incarnation. Even so, a still of King Ghidorah from Rebirth of Mothra III is used as King Ghidorah's in-game picture, and he is stated to be an alien monster rather than three mutated Dorats.
  • Both forms of this King Ghidorah were portrayed by suit actor Tsutomu Kitagawa, who would go on to portray Godzilla in five of the six Millennium Godzilla films.
  • This incarnation of King Ghidorah is the second incarnation of the character to appear in any piece of media without Godzilla, the first being the Showa King Ghidorah, who appeared without Godzilla in two episodes of the show Zone Fighter.

References

This is a list of references for King Ghidorah (Rebirth of Mothra 3). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Rebirth of Mothra III; Page 104
  2. Kenichi Kusakari & Kurajo Saki. Mothra 3 Ultra Complete Works. Shogakukan, 1999. Page 39.
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