Lagos Island
Lagos Island (ラゴス島 Ragosu-tō) is a small, fictional Pacific island in the Marshall Islands that is featured in the 1991 Godzilla film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. It was home to a Godzillasaurus who, during World War II, saved an outnumbered Japanese garrison from American forces. Upon being exposed to the 1954 Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at nearby Bikini Atoll, the dinosaur transformed into Godzilla. However, when a group of time travelers spearheaded a mission to 1944 Lagos to remove the dinosaur from the island and erase Godzilla from history, three Dorats were secretly left behind to become King Ghidorah instead.
Name
The island's name is rendered in English as "Ragos" on a map of the Marshall Islands shown in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Despite this, the film's international English dub and most official English-language materials opt to romanize it as "Lagos."
History
Heisei era
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
A small island located in the Marshall Island chain, Lagos Island was the site of a fierce battle between American and Japanese forces during World War II in 1944. A small Japanese garrison led by Major Yasuaki Shindo took up refuge in a cave on the island, while the majority of Japan's forces in the Marshall Islands were wiped out. Refusing to surrender, Shindo and his men launched a strike on the American forces at dawn. As the battle raged, both armies were suddenly halted by the sound of a deafening roar. The jungle began to shake as a huge dinosaur emerged from the trees. The Americans opened fire on the dinosaur, but their bullets had no effect outside of enraging the creature. The dinosaur trampled some of the soldiers to death and pursued them to the shoreline while the Japanese garrison watched in awe. When the dinosaur came within sight of the American battleships waiting offshore, they opened fire on it, drawing blood and causing it to collapse. As the American forces surrounded the fallen dinosaur, it stirred back to life and resumed its attack, prompting the Americans to retreat. The wounded dinosaur then returned to the jungle, where it collapsed. Shindo and his garrison approached the fallen dinosaur and saluted it, thanking it for saving their lives and expressing their regret that they could not take it back to safety. The Japanese garrison then left, leaving the dinosaur to presumably die of its wounds.
However, a group of people from the year 1992, accompanied by Futurian Emmy Kano and her android M11, had been watching these events unfold from a distance. Emmy's cohorts had concluded that this dinosaur would be exposed to an H-bomb test at nearby Bikini Atoll in 1954, mutating it into Godzilla. Intending to prevent Godzilla's creation, M11 used KIDS to transport the wounded Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea. Secretly, Emmy left behind three small genetically engineered pets called Dorats on the island before the ship returned to 1992. In 1954, the Dorats were exposed to the nuclear test in the dinosaur's place and merged together into the monster King Ghidorah, which became the pawn of the Futurians in the present day in a bid to bring Japan to its knees before it could become an economic superpower in the 23rd century.
All was not as it seemed though, as the Godzillasaurus in the Bering Sea was exposed to radiation from a Russian nuclear submarine crash either in or before 1984, transforming it into Godzilla in the altered timeline.
Placement
Two conflicting accounts of Lagos Island's geographic position are given in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Veteran Masukichi Ikehata tells Kenichiro Terasawa that the island is situated "between Roi and Kwajalein Island," which would likely place it somewhere in the middle of Kwajalein Atoll. However, a map of the Marshalls obtained by Terasawa shows Lagos being north of Kwajalein Atoll, with Rongelap and Rongerik to its north, Taka to the northeast, Likiep and Jemo to the east, Wotho to the west, and Ailinginae and Bikini to the northwest. When KIDS departs for Lagos, its destination coordinates are displayed as "N. 010. E. 166." which, while inexact, roughly correspond with what the map shows.
Gallery
Lagos Island on a map
Comments
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