Elias (Rebirth of Mothra)
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We're called the Elias. You needn't be afraid.
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— Moll and Lora (Rebirth of Mothra 2) |
The Elias (エリアス Eriasu) are a trio of diminutive priestesses in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. Younger sisters Moll (モル Moru) and Lora (ロラ Rora) faithfully serve Mothra and her son Mothra Leo in defense of the planet, while their older sister Belvera (ベルベラ Berubera), believing that humans are inherently wicked, attempts to rid the world of them with the help of various monsters. Moll and Lora were often accompanied by their steed Fairy, while Belvera frequently traveled with Garugaru. Unlike previous depictions of Mothra's priestesses, there are three Elias sisters instead of two and they lack the psychic link that bound previous iterations of the Shobijin together and caused them to speak and act in unison; all three Elias sisters are distinct individuals. Like the traditional Shobijin, however, only two of them serve Mothra.
In Rebirth of Mothra, Moll and Lora sought to prevent Belvera from gaining control over the monster Desghidorah using the Seal of Elias. After the space monster was freed, Moll and Lora summoned Mothra to stop it; while Mothra perished in battle, her son Mothra Leo eventually vanquished Desghidorah, thwarting Belvera's plans. In Rebirth of Mothra 2, Belvera revealed that she was seeking the legendary treasure of Nilai-Kanai, which coincided with the appearance of the aquatic Dagahra wreaking havoc on Earth's oceans. Moll and Lora enlisted the aid of several children to help them find the treasure within a Nilai-Kanai pyramid that rose out of the water. In the end, the treasure instilled Mothra with the strength to defeat Dagahra while Belvera saved her sisters from being trapped in the pyramid before it was destroyed. In Rebirth of Mothra 3, Moll and Lora faced the evil space monster King Ghidorah, who was seeking to eradicate humankind from the planet. After Mothra was unable to stop the monster, Moll gave her life to send Mothra back in time to defeat King Ghidorah when he was younger and weaker, while Belvera teamed up with Lora to oppose the vile beast. Following Mothra's victory over the three-headed King of Terror, Belvera and Lora were able to revive Moll.
Name
The sisters are collectively referred to as the Elias Sisters (エリアス姉妹 Eriasu Shimai), or simply Elias (エリアス Eriasu). Individually, their names are Lora (ロラ Rora), Moll (モル Moru), and Belvera (ベルベラ Berubera). In Omni Productions' English dub for Rebirth of Mothra, Moll is referred to as "Mona." Official North American video releases of the film nonetheless refer to her as Moll on the packaging. In the Mothra Tamagotchi released in conjunction with Rebirth of Mothra 2, Lora was referred to as Mora (モラ Mora), while Moll's name was left intact.
Personality
Moll and Lora are friendly, optimistic, and hopeful. As the elder of the two, Moll is more serious and prone to making the tough decisions, such as calling upon the aging Mothra to stop Desghidorah despite Lora's protests, as both knew Mothra would likely perish in battle. Lora generally seems a bit more free-spirited, as shown when she teased Taiki Goto for what she perceived as his cowardice upon meeting him. Moll described Lora as having a gentle heart after King Ghidorah took control of her. Both sisters were also fiercely protective of any children who end up under their care, as demonstrated when they attacked the fishermen that Belvera sent to antagonize Shiori Uranai and her friends; they were even prepared to continue attacking the fishermen until the kids themselves persuaded the Elias to stop.
Unlike her siblings, Belvera is generally wicked and cruel, having a deep-rooted hatred and distrust of humanity. She reveled in tormenting Taiki Goto with the mind-controlled Wakaba and a dog, and has no reservations about being cruel to her steed, Garugaru. While she attempted to justify her hared of humans by saying they were responsible for destroying the planet, she was also shown to have no problem using Desghidorah and Dagahra in her efforts to rid the Earth of humanity despite knowing that the monsters posed grave threats to the planet themselves. Despite all of this, she still cares for her sisters, even saving them at the end of Rebirth of Mothra 2. By the events of Rebirth of Mothra 3, she seems to have mellowed out a bit, no longer as interested in fighting her sisters when she encounters them on Infant Island; she even allows them to take two of the jewels she stole to protect themselves. After Lora fell under King Ghidorah's control, she pleaded with her to not kill any humans, wanting to preserve her sister's innocence and establishing that her love for her sister outweighed her hatred of humanity. In the wake of Moll's apparent death, she comforted Lora and went on to ally herself with Lora and Fairy against King Ghidorah.
History
- Rebirth of Mothra (1996)
- Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997)
- Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998)
Rebirth of Mothra
The Houkoku logging company discovered a giant, mysterious rock in a Hokkaido forest. Site director Yuichi Goto removed the Seal of Elias from the rock with a screwdriver. Moll and Lora, sensing it from Infant Island, were alarmed, while Belvera was delighted. The twins called upon their mount, a moth called Fairy, and flew to the rock in Hokkaido. Lora quipped that a human being must have removed the Seal, while Moll wondered if it was Belvera, who would make the monster trapped in the rock her slave. Belvera was one step ahead of them, flying to the Gotos' house on her dragon mount Garugaru and taking the Seal from Yuichi's daughter Wakaba. Placing the child under her control, she tied up her mother Makiko and chased her brother Taiki up a tree by controlling a dog. However, the dog left as Moll and Lora arrived. Startled, Taiki fell out of the tree, but they broke his fall using telekinesis. Watching TV, Belvera learned of the Seal's location. The Elias charged in, starting a destructive dogfight as Taiki freed his mother. He managed to catch Belvera and Garugaru in a butterfly net, but the dragon wounded Fairy with a blind shot before retreating, leaving her unable to fly.
With Belvera gone, Wakaba came to her senses. Moll and Lora told the Gotos of Desghidorah, a space monster who arrived on Earth 65 million years ago after draining the energy from Mars. The Elias' ancestors managed to seal it away. With Fairy out of commission, they convinced the Gotos to take them by plane to the forest, where massive rock spikes burst out of the ground. Belvera controlled Yuichi next, making him drive a bulldozer loaded with dynamite towards the spikes. After he hit a bump and fell out, Garugaru fired a beam at the bulldozer, destroying it in a massive explosion. Belvera used the Seal of Elias to begin Desghidorah's awakening. Suddenly Moll and Lora attacked her in a kite directed by Taiki, knocking her off Garugaru to regain the Seal. They used its power to heal Fairy, but were too late to stop Desghidorah's emergence. After leading the Goto kids away from Desghidorah, they gave Wakaba the Seal for safekeeping while they called upon Mothra. Lora argued that Mothra, now the last of her kind and weakened after giving birth, stood no chance against the monster, but Moll countered that no one else could do it. The sang to summon her, and while she took Desghidorah by surprise at first, he quickly gained the upper hand. To Moll and Lora's shock, her son Mothra Leo promptly hatched and swam to Hokkaido to join the fight. Belvera instructed Desghidorah to target Leo, but Mothra carried him to safety before dying of her injuries.
Leo traveled to the island of Yakushima to metamorphose as Moll and Lora sang to him. He challenged Desghidorah again, this time with an overwhelming edge in speed and firepower. As Moll and Lora chased Belvera on Fairy, Leo shot down Garugaru with a pair of Crossheat Lasers. Flames from the battle approached Belvera and Garugaru, the latter revealed to be a machine, but Fairy carried Belvera to safety just in time. After Leo put Desghidorah out of commission with the Shine Strike Buster, Taiki and Wakaba gave Moll and Lora the Seal of Elias to lock the monster away once more. Belvera wriggled out of Fairy's grasp and warned Moll and Lora never to trust human beings before escaping. Leo restored the forest to its former resplendent state while Moll and Lora thanked the Gotos for their help in saving the Earth.
Rebirth of Mothra 2
On Infant Island, Moll and Lora watched Mothra Leo fly overhead. Suddenly the winds whipped up and they felt a sense of unease. Taking to the skies on Fairy, they found hordes of red starfish throughout the ocean. On Ishigaki Island, Belvera tracked down three kids, Shiori, Kyohei, and Yoji, who had discovered a small fuzzy creature called Ghogo. Shiori gave her the basket containing Ghogo, only to slip him out and run away. As Belvera and the boys gave chase, Moll and Lora arrived. The upgraded Garugaru rained down lasers on them and Shiori, tackling Fairy when Moll and Lora tried to block Belvera's path. Belvera revealed to her sisters that she planned to use Ghogo to obtain the miraculous treasure of Nilai-Kanai. Shiori and the boys passed Ghogo to each other, keeping Belvera at bay long enough to reach a heavily populated beach, and she withdrew. Belvera forcibly recruited two fishermen hunting Ghogo after they mistook her and Garugaru for a talking bat.
Moll and Lora formally introduced themselves to the kids. At their school, they researched Nilai-Kanai, which according to Okinawan legend was a magical kingdom that sank into the Pacific Ocean 12,000 years ago, also known as Mu. Translating Ghogo's conversation with Fairy, Moll and Lora learned that Dagahra, a monster created by Nilai-Kanai to consume pollution, had returned, with the Barem he produced threatening to choke the world's oceans. They aimed to stop him using Nilai-Kanai's treasure. Commandeering a computer, Ghogo instructed them to take him to the coast of Ishigaki Island.
The next day, the kids found the submerged ruins of the Nilai-Kanai pyramid. Ghogo dove into a small opening, causing a beam of green light to shoot into the sky and pull them into a water tunnel, which ended inside a room with a stone lion. Suddenly, the entire pyramid rose to the surface, allowing Fairy to enter and blast one of the Barem that followed them in. Belvera urged the fishermen inside. Dagahra arrived to attack the pyramid, but rays from the stone statues flanking it drove him off and caused him to begin attacking the nearby island instead. Moll and Lora flew off to summon Mothra Leo, tasking the kids with finding the treasure.
After a lengthy fight, Dagahra overwhelmed Leo by generating a hurricane which left him covered in Barem. Moll and Lora tried to dislodge them with energy blasts from their hands, but there were far too many. After Dagahra dragged Leo underwater, the pyramid statues intervened, imbuing Leo with a temporary burst of strength which allowed him to surface before collapsing on top of the pyramid.
The fishermen tracked down the kids and Ghogo, but Moll and Lora arrived to stop them, with Fairy destroying their spear gun. Cowed, they apologized, only for Mikio to grab Kyohei and Garugaru to shoot down Fairy. The door in front of them all suddenly opened. Inside they found massive statues, two with impressive orange gems on their foreheads. Mikio and Belvera retrieved them, only for the door to immediately close. An enormous, regal hologram took form at the center of the room and wordlessly sent Junichi flying with a blast of lightning. The Elias made their cases for possession of the treasure: Belvera wanting to use it to wipe out humanity, Moll and Lora striving to save it.
As Dagahra renewed his attack on Leo from underwater, the hologram explained that both Nilai-Kanai and Dagahra were buried by an earthquake just as the civilization's greatest scientists created a treasure to protect it. That treasure was not an object, however, but Ghogo. Belvera lunged for him, but a force field stopped her. Having crawled on top of the pyramid, Dagahra tried to finish Leo, but his weight quickly caused the structure to crumble. The hologram instructed Shiori to bring Ghogo to Mothra, then stopped a statue from falling on them with another force field. The group crossed a bridge which shattered immediately afterwards, triggering a firestorm. As more doors closed, they seemed trapped, but Garugaru tripped a switch at the last moment, shutting another door and saving them. Belvera acknowledged her sisters before flying off. After they made it outside, Shiori presented Ghogo to Leo. The little creature started glowing and floated above Leo, giving his life to transform him into Rainbow Mothra.
Dagahra was no match for this new form; even when he retreated underwater, Mothra followed him, shifting into Aqua Mothra. After ravaging him from the inside, he dropped him on top of the pyramid, setting off a tremendous explosion. As flames consumed the pyramid, it transformed into water, then collapsed as Mothra flew through it. After the humans made it to shore, Moll and Lora comforted Shiori, inviting her to imagine Ghogo riding on Mothra's wing.
Rebirth of Mothra 3
Late one night, Belvera infiltrated a temple on Infant Island and located a large chest. As she unlocked it, Moll and Lora arrived and confronted her, questioning what she was up to. Once all three stood upon the chest, three triangular jewels appeared in a glowing light, each with a label - "courage", "wisdom", and "love". Belvera promptly called upon Garugaru in an effort to snatch all three gems for herself while revealing that she was after a mysterious secret power known as the Elias Triangle. With Fairy's help, Moll and Lora managed to knock two of the jewels from her grasp before she departed, warning them that they may as well keep the jewels to protect themselves from a coming threat. The jewel labeled "courage" fit a sword that Moll carried and caused it to glow with energy, but the "wisdom" jewel was meant for Belvera's sword and did not fit Lora's.
Following a meteor shower, Moll and Lora journeyed to Japan to investigate the fragments left behind by one of the meteorites, finding that it dated back to the time that the dinosaurs went extinct. Moll realized that the meteorites carried with them the creature responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. Elsewhere, Belvera bore witness to school children being abducted by the creature in question - King Ghidorah. Tailing the space dragon, Moll and Lora concluded that King Ghidorah sought to exterminate humanity and called upon Mothra Leo to intervene, discovering a vast dome near Mount Fuji where the abducted children were being taken. Mothra fought valiantly, but was quickly overwhelmed and defeated. After Fairy flew closer to King Ghidorah in an attempt to distract him, the space dragon locked eyes with Lora, taking control of her heart and forcing her to attack Moll, sending them falling over the dome. Fairy rescued Moll, but was unable to prevent Lora from becoming trapped within the dome. While Belvera separately investigated the dome, tendrils shot forth from it and pulled her and Garugaru in as well. Moll met with a boy who avoided being absorbed into the dome named Shota Sonoda, whose siblings had been abducted. The two traveled through underground wind tunnels to reach Mothra Leo.
Meanwhile, the mind-controlled Lora located Belvera within the dome and attacked her, stealing the "love" gem to empower her sword and allow her to easily overpower Belvera, who she then restrained using the disabled Garugaru. Mothra revealed to Moll that King Ghidorah could be defeated if he were to go back in time 130 million years ago to when the space invader first arrived on Earth, as King Ghidorah would have been much younger and weaker then. While Moll was against the idea, as without Lora they would be unable to return Mothra to the present, she eventually relented. Moll sang out to Mothra and instilled him with the energy to send them back in time, depleting her of all her life energy in the process. Before dying, Moll requested that Shota free Lora from her mind-controlled state and rescue her from the dome, giving him her sword. As Mothra and King Ghidorah fought in the past and subsequently caused King Ghidorah to feel the pain of their battle in the present, Shota entered the dome and located Lora, and following an initial confrontation, was able to free her mind by reminding her of her love for children. By combining the three jewels and three Elias swords together, Belvera was able to create a single sword instilled with all of their power and realized that the Elias Triangle referred to all three of them working together. Upon recovering, Lora sang to Mothra across time to imbue the divine moth with additional strength. After Mothra defeated King Ghidorah in the past, King Ghidorah and the dome vanished in the present, freeing the children.
As Lora and Belvera mourned their fallen sister, King Ghidorah inexplicably returned in a fiery explosion, having actually survived his battle in the past by regenerating his entire body from a severed tail. Joining forces, Lora and Belvera launched an attack on the three-headed dragon with Fairy, firing projectiles from the sword while casting an energy barrier around themselves for protection, though they were unable to stop the beast. Suddenly, Mothra returned, having been encased in a cocoon by several Primitive Mothra in the past that created a time capsule, which also gave him a new form - Armor Mothra. Armor Mothra made short work of King Ghidorah, saving humanity. With Mothra's help, Lora and Belvera used the sword to revive Moll. After a brief reunion, Belvera told her sisters that they would always disagree before departing. Moll and Lora joyously witnessed the children reuniting with their parents before departing back to Infant Island with Mothra.
Abilities
Telepathy
Unlike most versions of Mothra's fairies, the Elias do not share a psychic link to one another and are completely independent individuals. However, they maintain a telepathic connection with Mothra and Mothra Leo, able to summon them from great distances. Moll and Lora also used telepathy to understand and translate Ghogo and Fairy's conversation.
Telekinesis
Moll and Lora used telekinesis to break Taiki Goto's fall from a tree. Belvera is able to imbue others with telekinesis as well.
Mind control
In Rebirth of Mothra, Belvera was able to temporarily control the minds of both humans and a neighborhood dog. Her influence granted Wakaba Goto telekinetic powers in the process. Moll and Lora were seemingly able to free the dog from her control, while Wakaba came to her senses after Belvera retreated from the Gotos' house. Belvera later controlled Yuichi Goto to make him free Desghidorah from his prison using dynamite.
Sensing
In Rebirth of Mothra, Moll, Lora and Belvera heard Yuichi Goto's removal of Desghidorah's seal from a vast distance.
Energy blasts
By combining their strength, Moll and Lora are able to launch fiery energy blasts from their hands. They attempted to use these energy blasts against the Barem that swarmed Mothra Leo, though there were far too many for their efforts to be effective.
Elias Triangle
Each Elias sister represents a separate virtue: Moll represents courage, Belvera represents wisdom, and Lora represents love. By combing all of their strength together, Moll, Lora, and Belvera are able to tap into an even greater power called the Elias Triangle. This allows their swords to combine into a single sword capable of launching projectiles, and also creates a shield around them to protect them and Fairy from all attacks, including King Ghidorah's Gravity Beams. Lora and Belvera later used the sword to revive Moll.
Other abilities
The Elias are able to leap extraordinary distances almost to the point of flying.
In Rebirth of Mothra 3, Moll was able to send Mothra Leo to the Cretaceous period to defeat King Ghidorah, though at the cost of her life, placing her into a crystalline state. She was later revived, however.
The Elias are able to lend Mothra, Mothra Leo, and Fairy their strength; when sharing their strength, the Elias will glow. Their connection to the divine moth is so strong that Lora was able to lend Mothra Leo her strength across time itself. However, when Moll and Lora are separated, Mothra Leo becomes weaker.
Video games
- Mothra Tamagotchi (1997) - Bandai Tamagotchi
- Mothra: Dream Battle (1998) - Sega Dreamcast VMU
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android and iOS
Godzilla Defense Force
In the face of a great Xilien invasion, various incarnations of Mothra's fairies appear as unlockable allies who can join forces with the player and the Earth Defense Force against the Xiliens' monsters. This includes the Elias (based on their appearances in Rebirth of Mothra) alongside five different versions of the Shobijin as well as the Cosmos.
The Elias ('96) in Godzilla Defense Force
Gallery
- Main article: Shobijin/Gallery.
Trivia
- The "Elias" name has since been applied to other versions of the Shobijin unrelated to Moll, Lora, and Belvera, namely in IDW's comics Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths and Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II.
- The fairies in the latter comic wear outfits loosely patterned after those of Moll and Lora from the first Rebirth of Mothra, however.
- The concept of a dark counterpart to the Shobijin would be repeated with Minette and Mallory in IDW's Godzilla comics and with Luluvera in the web series Godziban, the latter in particular bearing many similarities to Belvera.
- Curiously, while Belvera had been depicted with the ability to mind control multiple subjects in the first film, she does not use the ability in subsequent films. Notably, she does not take control of the fishermen in Rebirth of Mothra 2 and instead coerces them to help her through fear alone.
See also
References
This is a list of references for Elias (Rebirth of Mothra). 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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