King Ghidorah (GODZILLA Anime Trilogy)
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SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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- Haruo Sakaki: “Metphies. Was your planet destroyed by monsters, too?”
- Metphies: “Yes. To that which brought the end of our civilization, we hesitate greatly to carelessly say its name. Words just have that much strength.”
- Haruo Sakaki: “So it's like a bad omen?”
- Metphies: “Yes. But Haruo, to you who is about to face Godzilla, I should probably tell you. The destructive name that we Exif have been secretly hiding.”
- Haruo Sakaki: “Why me?”
- Metphies: “Remember it when you're in battle, and about to be swallowed in fear. There is a far greater destructive power lurking somewhere in space. Compared to that, Godzilla would not even be worth the fear. [...] It's Ghidorah.”
- ― Metphies reveals to Haruo Sakaki the name of the being that destroyed Exifcalus (GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle)
Ghidorah (ギドラ Gidora) is a three-headed dragon kaiju that is mentioned in the 2018 animated Godzilla film GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle, and goes on to appear in the film's sequel, GODZILLA: The Planet Eater. It is the fifth onscreen incarnation of King Ghidorah, and marks the character's first appearance in a film since 2001.
A monstrous entity that takes the form of a golden three-headed dragon and inhabits the void between dimensions, Ghidorah has used super gravity to consume countless worlds throughout the millennia. 100,000 years ago, Ghidorah destroyed the planet Exifcalus, while the surviving members of the native Exif race took to the stars to find new worlds and appease their God. With each new world the Exif found and converted to their faith, Ghidorah was fed a new planet.
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.
This incarnation of the character is referred to simply as Ghidorah (ギドラ Gidora), both in dialogue and in official Japanese press releases, though he is at one point referred to by Metphies as King Ghidorah (王たるギドラ Ōtaru Gidora) spelled without using the katakana kingu (キング), as with all previous incarnations of the character. The tag for Bandai's Movie Monster Series figure of this incarnation of the character misspells this name in English as Gidrah, while other official sources use the correct spelling. The English story description on the film's official website instead calls him by his full name of King Ghidorah. He is mostly alluded to as God (神 Kami) by the Exif and other characters, as the Exif consider "Ghidorah" to be the "sacred name" and as such speak it only very rarely. The Exif faith also speaks of Ghidorah as the Space Intelligence (宇宙知性 Uchū Chisei).[6]
Development
Like Godzilla Earth, Ghidorah's design was inspired by plants. But while Godzilla Earth was based on trees, Ghidorah's design was patterned after roses and other plants with thorns, an influence which is visible in the numerous spikes sprouting from Ghidorah's necks and heads. According to Hiroyuki Seshita, Ghidorah was designed to appear both fearsome and divine, even to those who do not believe in a religion. Seshita says that Ghidorah's design was derived from screenwriter Gen Urobuchi's idea for the character. Seshita prepared a rough sketch of Ghidorah, which was eventually developed into a CG model by Eiji Kawada. The central theme of Seshita's sketch for the character was "lightning." The new Ghidorah design was conceptualized as a "completely differently evolved Godzilla," and as such the Godzilla derived-Servum's model was used as a base for Ghidorah's.[4] The design shares a few basic traits with past incarnations of King Ghidorah, those being its three dragon-like heads and golden color. Seshita believed that being overly conscious of King Ghidorah's original design would limit the filmmakers' ability to do something new with the character, so he was not too concerned with being too close or too different from the original design.[5]
Design
The GODZILLA anime trilogy's version of King Ghidorah retains the very basic premise of the character's appearance. He is a gigantic golden three-headed dragon-like creature with two bat-like wings at his sides, two legs, and two tails. Unlike past incarnations of the character which stood upright on their legs, this Ghidorah possesses comparatively smaller legs and is positioned horizontally from his heads to his tails. His heads only superficially resemble the character's traditional heads, which are based on Eastern dragons in the Showa series and Western dragons in the Heisei series. This Ghidorah's heads are adorned with pointed spikes in a similar arrangement to the Heisei King Ghidorah. Even larger spikes cover the entirety of Ghidorah's necks, eventually transitioning to three rows of smaller spikes on his back and a single row on each of his tails. His heads possess thin elongated snouts with long sharp teeth on the rim of his upper and lower jaws. Ghidorah possesses multiple small eyes on the top of his heads, similar to the Servum. In the film itself, only Ghidorah's necks and heads are seen in full emerging from portals in the sky, with the silhouette of his entire body appearing in visions. His necks appear proportionally much longer after passing through these portals than they do in the silhouette or on Ghidorah's full CG model. This may signify that his necks are capable of extending or simply become distorted after passing through dimensions.
A view of Ghidorah's full CG model, clearly showing one of his legs.
Origins
Ghidorah is an energy-based being originating from a mysterious other dimension. According to director Hiroyuki Seshita, Ghidorah is the result of an evolutionary path where life discarded its physical body and evolved into a form of pure energy. This evolution into an energy being grants Ghidorah the ability to pass through dimensions.[5] 100,000 years ago, Ghidorah destroyed the Exif home planet of Exifcalus, which had been willingly sacrificed to the monster. The Exif began to worship Ghidorah's three-headed aspect as the "Golden King,"[3] with many Exif such as Metphies believing that creatures such as him are a form of divine punishment intended for decadent civilizations that pronounce themselves the lords of creation. Metphies noted to Haruo Sakaki that the Exif had witnessed numerous civilizations destroyed by monsters during their time wandering space, with Godzilla's appearance on Earth simply being the latest instance. In reality, while the Exif wandered the vastness of space for many millennia after the destruction of Exifcalus, they converted the inhabitants of countless other worlds to their faith before summoning Ghidorah to eat them, and intended to do the same to Earth. Some ancient human civilizations may have been aware of Ghidorah as well, possibly through contact with the Exif, as suggested by the presence of multi-headed dragons in Slavic and Turkic mythology.[6]
History
Post-Millennium Series
GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle
When Haruo Sakaki asked Metphies if the Exif home planet of Exifcalus was destroyed by monsters like Earth was, he replied that it was. He explained that the Exif hesitated greatly to carelessly speak the name of the being that destroyed their planet, but said that he should tell Haruo its name. He told Haruo to remember the name when he faced Godzilla in battle and was about to be consumed by fear, because there was a far more destructive force than Godzilla lurking in outer space. Compared to it, Godzilla would not even be worth the fear. Metphies leaned in and whispered into Haruo's ear the forbidden name of this being: Ghidorah.
GODZILLA: The Planet Eater
Ghidorah battles against Godzilla Earth.
Filmography
- GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) [mentioned]
- GODZILLA: The Planet Eater (2018)
Abilities
Super Gravity
Ghidorah is said to have eaten thousands of planets through the use of Super Gravity (超重力 Chō Jūryoku).[3] He demonstrates an ability to control gravity when he attacks the Aratrum, generating a strong gravitational field around the ship which allows him to trap it and crush it until it explodes.
Interdimensional Travel
Due to being composed of energy rather than physical matter, Ghidorah has the ability to pass through dimensions. His heads pass into other dimensions through three black portals, and his necks can extend to incredible lengths. During his summoning ritual, Ghidorah initially manifests in this dimension as a shadow that bites down on the shadows of the cultists present at the summoning, which causes their actual bodies to be dismembered.
Space-Time Distortion
When summoned into this dimension, Ghidorah can alter space-time. When he surrounds the Aratrum, Ghidorah interferes with its systems, constantly giving it different data and run time errors. Ghidorah can also override the ship's steering and navigation systems. He also alters the the passage of time on the ship. For example, when the crew on the bridge receive a transmission from Halu-elu Dolu-do from the engine room, it turns out the engine room was already destroyed 40 seconds ago. The Aratrum's systems also show that all life signs on the bridge have ceased even while moments before Ghidorah finally destroys the ship. When fighting Godzilla Earth, Ghidorah is able to interfere with his atomic breath by shifting space-time and causing the beam to curve around his head. He is also able to bypass Godzilla's Asymmetrically Permeable Shield and neutralize the heat he generates by converting his electromagnetic energy. Even the United Earth's tracking system are unable to track Ghidorah's electromagnetic and infrared waves, only detecting gravity waves. Martin Lazzari determined that this was due to Ghidorah coming from another dimension, meaning the laws of this dimension do not apply to him.
Intangibility
Another effect of Ghidorah's energy-based body composition and his extradimensional nature is selective intangibility. Both physical and energy based attacks from Godzilla Earth are shown to pass harmlessly through Ghidorah's body, while Ghidorah is able to bite down on Godzilla and restrain him.
Bite
Like both Mecha-King Ghidorah and the GMK King Ghidorah, this incarnation of the character is able to discharge electrical energy through his bite in order to injure Godzilla. Additionally, he can drain energy through his bite thanks to his space-time distortion abilities. He uses this to drain Godzilla Earth's electromagnetic energy and the intense heat he produces as fast as he generates it.
Gematron Calculation
Ghidorah has the capacity to communicate with Exif clergy through a technology called Gematron calculation. The Exif pick up Ghidorah's messages through a device wielded by Endurph and Metphies known as the Garbetrium. Gematron calculation can be used to develop advanced artificial intelligence and carry out complex mathematical calculations, as well as provide the Exif with probabilities and even predict the future. The Garbetrium is also a key component in the ritual to summon Ghidorah.
Weaknesses
While in this dimension, Ghidorah is guided by Metphies, who has replaced his own eye with a Garbetrium bead which allows Ghidorah to see. When Haruo destroys the bead, Ghidorah becomes subject to the laws of this dimension and loses his ability to see through Metphies. This causes him to release Godzilla Earth, who becomes able to physically strike Ghidorah with his attacks. In this state, Ghidorah is no match for Godzilla and is easily dispatched back to his home dimension once his physical manifestation is destroyed.
Roar
Like the Heisei King Ghidorah and Modern Type King Ghidorah, the anime Ghidorah's roar is a modified Rodan roar. Additionally, the Showa King Ghidorah's cackling roar is used to represent Garbetrium communication.
Trivia
- This is the first onscreen incarnation of King Ghidorah to be portrayed as a space monster since his incarnation from Rebirth of Mothra III. It is also the first incarnation of the character in a Godzilla film to be a space monster since his Showa incarnation.
- Calculated as possessing a total length of 20 kilometers by the filmmakers during the development of his CG model,[4] this incarnation of Ghidorah is not only easily the largest incarnation of the character, but possibly the largest known monster in the entire franchise. The only monster which comes close to Ghidorah is Mechagodzilla City, which possesses a diameter of 14 kilometers, and may exceed Ghidorah in terms of absolute size given the countless buildings that comprise it.
- The Exif symbol, a seven-pointed star, represents Ghidorah's three heads, two wings, and two tails.[4]
- The anime Ghidorah is a unique case among other incarnations of the character in that instead of being the pawn of an alien race, the alien Exif race serves him.
References
This is a list of references for King Ghidorah (anime trilogy). 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]
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