Ohmu

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Ohmu
An Ohmu in the film adaptation of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Alternate names Ohm, King Insect,[1]
Giant Gorgon,WotW GorgonWotW
Species Giant insect
Length 50 centimeters (larva),[2]
70 meters (adult)[3]
Forms Larval stage, imago stage
Place(s) of emergence Sea of Decay
Allies Nausicaä
Enemies Humans, Giant Warrior
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
First appearance Latest appearance
Nausicaä of the Valley
of the Wind
(manga)
Nausicaä of the Valley
of the Wind
(film)
Roar(s)
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Ohmu (王蟲 (オーム),   Ōmu, lit. "King Insect") are giant insects which inhabit the Sea of Decay in the 1982 manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and its 1984 anime film adaptation.

Name

The 1985 Nausicaä English Conversation Book indicates that King Insect was the Ohmu's original English name, a literal translation of the kanji 王蟲 (Ōmu).[1] In Manson International's U.S. release of the Nausicaä film, Warriors of the Wind, the creatures are dubbed Giant Gorgon or simply Gorgon. Buena Vista Sound Services' English dub of the film simplifies their name as Ohm.

Origins

To be added.

Design

The Ohmu seem to heavily resemble pillbugs, a family of woodlice. Ohmu have 14 total eyes, 12 at the front of their bodies and two on either side of their bodies. When the Ohmu are calm, their eyes are blue, and turn red when enraged. They are shaped similarly to that of an isopod, and are protected by segmented, spiked armor plating. They possess several legs on the underside and at the front of their body. They sport several thin, golden tendrils that extend from their front legs.

Behavior

While the Ohmu are usually docile animals, they are extremely protective of their own kind and the other insects who inhabit the Sea of Decay, and will go into an enraged state (with their eyes shifting from blue to red) when any of them are harmed, such as when a herd of Ohmu goes on a destructive stampede in response to a juvenile individual being utilized in a tortuous manner as bait. They will also investigate conspicuous sounds of human activity in the jungle, such as gunfire. The Ohmu have a symbiotic relationship with the fungal growths of the Sea of Decay, subsisting on a large species of fungi known as Mushigo Palms, while also protecting the jungle from threats to allow for the prolonged purification of the polluted soil and water undertaken by it.

History

Showa era

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

In the wake of the destruction of the peak of industrial civilization in the war known as the Seven Days of Fire, the Ohmu evolved to be the mightiest of the new species that soon emerged in the formation of a symbiotic ecosystem of enormous insects and toxic fungi, known as the Sea of Decay. Throughout the Sea of Decay's existence over the course of a millennium, all human-made attempts to destroy it ultimately resulted in massive swarms of Ohmu flooding from the jungle, destroying the human settlements that provoked these upheavals, and the further spread of the Sea of Decay via the fungal spores that the bodies of the insects carried with them.

Princess Nausicaä, daughter of King Jihl of the Valley of the Wind, developed an admiration and respect for the Ohmu from an early age, even attempting to hide a larval individual that entered the Valley from the villagers and her father, fearing it would be killed. Years later, now 16, Nausicaä regularly investigated the Sea of Decay to collect specimens and find materials. On one of these expeditions, she discovered the molted exoskeleton that an Ohmu left behind and used the gunpowder of one of her siren shells and her ceramic sword to remove an eye cavity as a sample to show the villagers. Close by, after Lord Yupa fired at a winged insect carrying away a fox squirrel that he mistook for a human infant, the Ohmu that shed its shell doggedly pursued him and his horseclaws out of the jungle into the open wasteland, where Nausicaä intervened on her Mehve with a volley of stun grenades, ending the enraged Ohmu's stampede. Using her insect flute, she guided the now-calmed Ohmu back to the interior of the jungle.

As Nausicaä escorted an injured Ushiabu back to the Sea of Decay following the crash of a Tolmekian transport ship, an Ohmu waited on the edge of the jungle for its return.

After Princess Kushana of Tolmekia fired her gun to reassert command over a group of hostages who survived the destruction of her air convoy by a Pejitean gunship, a nest of curious Ohmu was drawn to the surface of a lake in the jungle. Nausicaä spoke peaceful entreaties to one of them and fearlessly allowed herself to be engulfed in its tendrils, triggering a telepathic dialogue between the two, where she was shown hallucinations of a golden field and a great tree, and gained the insight that the pilot of the Pejitean gunship was still alive, as the Ohmu, now enraged, departed to his location elsewhere in the jungle.

Asbel and Nausicaä travel to Pejite to discover it has been devastated by Ohmu. Nausicaä learns that the residents of Pejite lured the Ohmu to kill the Tolmekians and in turn plan to lure them to the Valley of the Wind in order to recapture the Giant Warrior.

On the flight back, Nausicaä spots two men baiting the Ohmu into the Valley on a cauldronlike Pejite flying jar vehicle with a wounded baby Ohmu. They notice Nausicaä and start shooting at her, but she forces them to crash-land on an islet in an acidic lake that separates them from the horde of Ohmu.

Kushana awakens the Giant Warrior prematurely to defeat the Ohmu, now heading towards them. The Giant Warrior melts and dies after firing its proton beam twice, killing several Ohmu. Using the flying jar, Nausicaä lands in front of the remaining raging Ohmu with the baby Ohmu but is sent hurtling into the air by the stampede. After falling from the sky, Nausicaä lies before the horde of Ohmu that has now calmed, causing the residents of the Valley to believe she has died. However, the Ohmu release their tentacles, lifting and reviving her. As she stands atop their golden feelers in a dress stained blue with the blood of the baby Ohmu, Obaba realizes Nausicaä has fulfilled the prophecy.

Abilities

Physical capabilities

In spite of their immense size, the Ohmu are extremely agile and can travel at high speeds.

Durability

The Ohmu carapaces are extremely durable, surpassing in toughness even the hardest of the super ceramics left by the ancient civilization, and withstanding artillery fire. Because of that, their shells are often used to make weapons and armor.

Amphibiousness

The Ohmu are capable of submerging for prolonged periods and swimming at a speed comparable to their agility on land.

Tendrils

The Ohmu can release golden tendrils that enable telepathic communication with humans and can heal wounds and other injuries.

Spores

Upon death, Ohmu release spores from their bodies, further spreading the Sea of Decay.

Gallery

Main article: Ohmu/Gallery.

References

This is a list of references for Ohmu. 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 Nausicaä English Conversation Book. Tokuma Shoten. 10 May 1985. p. 4.
  2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Roman Album Extra 61. Tokuma Shoten. 1984. p. 162.
  3. Collection of Materials Related to Studio Ghibli Works: Catalog I. June 1996. p. 19. ISBN 978-4198605254.

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