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“ | Remember it when you are 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...Ghidorah. | „ |
~ Metphies revealing the secret of Ghidorah to Haruo. |
“ | The Planet is a seed from which life grows, and humanity is the flower that blooms from it. While the fruit that ripens is Godzilla. We Exif have witnessed this cycle countless times on many planets, and at the end of this cycle, the one who picks the fruit is indeed our god. | „ |
~ Metphies explaining the Exif's ideology of Ghidorah's destroying of worlds. |
King Ghidorah is a three-headed, interdimensional dragon kaiju that serves as the main antagonist of the GODZILLA Anime Trilogy. He is the fifth onscreen incarnation of King Ghidorah which initially mentioned in GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle, the second movie of the trilogy before making his proper debut in GODZILLA: The Planet Eater.
History
Origins
As with his Showa counterpart, Ghidorah is a space 3-headed dragon kaiju that responsible for destruction of countless worlds. What made this incarnation much more powerful and terrifying than the former however, are its nature as god-like kaiju and inversed relationship with an alien civilization: This Ghidorah evolved as an energy based lifeform from an unknown dimension where life forms lack physical form and was worshiped by Exif race as their God; 100,000 years ago, Exif race sacrificed their homeworld Exifcalus to the god-like kaiju out of belief that creatures such as him are a form of divine punishment intended for decadent civilizations that pronounce themselves the lords of creation. Worshiping Ghidorah's three-headed aspect as the "Golden King," Exif wandered the vastness of space for many millennia after the destruction of the planet to convert 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.
Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle
Metphies reveals to Haruo the secret of Ghidorah, which alludes to the next film.
Godzilla: The Planet Eater
Following the destruction of Mechagodzilla City, Metphies and his death cult see it that the time has come for them to summon Ghidorah to Earth, where Ghidorah will wreak havoc on the planet and challenge Godzilla Earth's supremacy. Upon being summoned, the god-like kaiju extended his head through the black holes, destroying Aratrum and killed its occupants before made its way for Earth, alerting Godzilla who then awakens from his slumber to protect the planet from being destroyed.
Despite Godzilla's power, Ghidorah is impervious to Godzilla's attacks thanks to its otherworldly nature, making humanity realized that the god-like kaiju form they see is not from their own dimension and guided by someone through an amulet, which also established the link between it and that of their dimension. The said amulet is none other than Garbetrium bead that replaced one of Metphies' eyes which allow Ghidorah to perceive Earth's surroundings and enable Metphies and his cult to communicate with the god-like kaiju via. telepathy
After Mothra's distraction allowed Haruo to shatter Metphies' Garbetrium eye, Ghidorah became trapped in the Earth's plane of reality. This allows Godzilla to rip off Ghidorah's heads before firing his atomic breath into Ghidorah's portal, causing it to explode and shatter. Though Ghidorah survived the encounter thanks to its physiology.
Appearance
This King Ghidorah variation is far different in appearance from other incarnations. It does have three heads, wings, two tails, and a golden color, like the past designs. However, it has tiny legs, and a more horizontal posture. It has a powdery texture, rather hand the scaly skin seen on past incarnations. Overall, this Ghidorah's design is more alien in appearance, with large fangs in the jaws, and multiple eyes. Thorns run across the necks. Another feature of the necks is their vast length, which exceed all the length of many other Ghidorah variations. Following the concept of Godzilla Earth's appearance, Ghidorah is plant like in design. However, it is more like thorny plants.
Powers and Abilities
Super Gravity
Ghidorah is said to use the power of Super Gravity to devour planets. A demonstration of the said ability is shown when he destroyed Aratrum, though it was not employed in full-force since the intended target was a starship.
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 and their exposed flesh turned neon blue.
Intangibility
Thanks to its energy-based body composition and his extradimensional nature, Ghidorah can perform 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.
Space-Time Manipulation
Ghidorah can cause distortion on both time and space themselves thanks to his extradimensional nature, as shown through the chaos he caused on Aratrum. In combat, Ghidorah displayed the ability to distort space and time in order to deflect energy attacks, all while rendering the United Earth's tracking system ineffective to measure and detect both him and distortion him caused as well as phasing through Godzilla's Asymmetrically Permeable Shield.
Gravity Beam Emission
As with its other incarnations, Ghidorah can project Gravity Beam at will, though only in form of electric bite and electric shock projected from the neck.
Gematron Communication
Ghidorah can communicate through the Gematrons that the Exif have.
Weaknesses
While in this dimension, Ghidorah can properly interact and see with the guidance of an Exif cleric who has replaced one of his own eyes with a Garbetrium bead. The destruction of the said bead would expose it to the laws of this dimension and loses his ability to see through the said Exif cleric, causing it to vulnerable to attack as seen when Ghidorah easily dispatched it back to its home dimension once its physical manifestation is destroyed.
Gallery
Trivia
- At an estimated 20 kilometers in length, this is both the largest King Ghidorah incarnation, and the largest Toho Kaiju to date.
- It is also possibly the largest Kaiju ever.
- Similar to the Showa Era King Ghidorah and the King Ghidorah in Rebirth of Mothra III, this King Ghidorah variation is a planet destroying monster from space.
- Unlike those incarnations however, whose are pawns of alien invaders, this Ghidorah is an inversion case, for it the death god worshipped by Exif.
- The roar for this King Ghidorah variation is the same as the Heisei Era King Ghidorah.
- Though it is King Ghidorah, it is merely referred to as just Ghidorah in the film.