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King Ghidorah (キングギドラ, Kingu Gidora) is a giant extraterrestrial three-headed dragon kaiju. The intergalactic King of Terror, King Ghidorah first appeared in Mothra II: Arrival of Ghidorah, in which, alongside Gigan, he battled and was defeated by the three guardian monsters Mothra, Baragon, and King Caesar.

Many millennia later, in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the great hydra was released from his imprisonment in the 21st Century. Upon nearly wiping out all life on Earth once more, King Ghidorah was destroyed by Godzilla and the rest of Earth's monsters.

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.

Appearance[]

King Ghidorah is essentially a golden dragon or hydra with two legs, three heads on long necks, giant bat-like wings, and two tails. King Ghidorah's multiple heads were inspired by Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed dragon from Japanese mythology.

Mothra II: Arrival of Ghidorah[]

King Ghidorah's entire body is a gold color. His heads had straight horns on both sides, and the eyes are colored red with a snake-like pupil.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah[]

King Ghidorah's next appearance is based on the original, but with more modern updates, featuring a more muscular build. The wings are more dragon-like in appearance, more detailed, and the heads look very similar to that of a mythological dragon, and the scales and feet are both very dragon-like in appearance. As with his original looks, the eyes are also colored red, but the pupils appear more human-like in appearance.

Roar[]

King Ghidorah possesses a high-pitched, wailing, crackling roar with an underlying scratching quality. Additionally, the unique point of his roar is that sometimes King Ghidorah's heads will roar one by one continuously three times.

In Mothra II: Arrival of Ghidorah, King Ghidorah's roar is a combination of the Showa and Heisei versions; recycled/altered Rodan roars mixed with sounds akin to laughter, albeit at a higher pitch. There are also sounds of snakes, such as pythons, cobras, and rattlesnakes, to emulate King Ghidorah's serpentine traits.

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, he retains his roars from the previous movie (albeit, the roars were deepened and mixed with some parts of Orochi's growling noises), but it is also mixed with the Millennium sounds, which are modified from his Showa roar. Additionally, King Ghidorah produces similar vocalizations to the Vastatosaurus rex in Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. He also at times produces low growls not dissimilar to a lion's.

Personality[]

Described as the living incarnation of death itself, King Ghidorah is arguably the most purely malevolent, destructive and hostile kaiju in the saga thus far, which is supported by the skulls depicted surrounding him in the cave painting and the fact that ancient cultures barely wrote anything about him as if they wanted him to be completely forgotten. He is said to be evil, having destroyed countless civilizations on several planets for unknown reasons. His sadistic and ruthless nature is established when he willingly strikes other monsters with his gravity beams. There are also glimpses of his heads seemingly smiling at his potential victims as he pursues or attacks them - the most prominent example was when the middle head smirked before King Ghidorah obliterated the G.D.F. Forces.

Unlike most monsters, who tend to attack somewhat broadly when enraged by anything, King Ghidorah has multiple times gone out of his way to attack, murder and pursue individuals; such as pursuing Mothra when she is down, and targeting and devouring humans in his dome. King Ghidorah furthermore preferred killing his victims with his gravity beams and seemingly couldn't settle for dismissively crushing them, as observed when he was about to kill one of the Mothra Larvae after rooting them out.

Alongside his goal to eradicate all life on Earth and alter the planet's environment to his liking, King Ghidorah possesses a strong rivalry with Godzilla and Mothra, as they are the only two forces powerful enough to defeat him. King Ghidorah's is particularly confrontational and exchanged scowls with the terrestrial King of the Monsters when King Ghidorah and Godzilla met again after King Ghidorah's attack on the world, and the monsters attempted to size each-other up before engaging.

Origins[]

King Ghidorah is an extraterrestrial space dragon called Ghidrahydra venusiensis, who was responsible for the destruction of countless planets and all lifeforms that lived on them. 

History[]

Mothra I: Godzilla Against Mothra[]

King Ghidorah makes his debut in a post-credit scene. Hurdling towards Earth, a meteorite encases a slumbering King Ghidorah, where he has laid for thousands of years. Inside the meteor, King Ghidorah is asleep until the red eyes of his central head open. A roar is heard following that.

Mothra II: Arrival of Ghidorah[]

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King Ghidorah in Mothra II: Arrival of Ghidorah

King Ghidorah, along with Gigan, first arrived and attacked the Earth 13,000 years ago. King Ghidorah, known as Ghidorah, wasted no time and quickly began exterminating almost every other life form on Earth, but it didn't expect retaliation. A race of intelligent beings called the Shobijin of the Elias populated the planet, and they fought against the three-headed demon. The guardians of the Shobijin, a race of giant moths named Mothra, engaged both Ghidorah and Gigan in battle, with the help of Baragon and King Caesar.

Through a long battle, the guardians sent Gigan into a retreat and managed to defeat King Ghidorah, imprisoning him in a gigantic rock that Mothra sent into space. Since then, King Ghidorah had been dormante in space, awaiting the day he would be free from his prison and return to Earth to finish what he started.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah[]

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King Ghidorah in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Sometime in the 21st century, King Ghidorah's meteor prison had returned to the Earth and crashes at the base of Mount Fuji. When the humans discovered the frozen mummified Gogan in Antarctica, the Shobijin warned the humans of the aliens return. When the fighting at Mount Fuji had taken place, Ghidorah's rock had somehow been struck and began to crack. The beast was about to be unleashed, but something was different about it. The monster had changed somehow, as Ghidorah had grown in size and power, evolving into a virtually new beast: now the three-headed monster was now called King Ghidorah.

Powers and Abilities[]

Alpha Call[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, when King Ghidorah rose from his prison as well as when he created his dome in Tokyo with the trapped humans, he let out an extremely powerful call that could be heard by the other monsters all around the world. Upon hearing the said call, most of the monsters would immediately come to King Ghidorah's aid, assisting him in destroying the Earth, minus a select few, who chose to do the opposite. Additionally, his call did not affect Godzilla, who was a rival, or Mothra, who was loyal to Godzilla.

Barrier[]

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King Ghidorah's Barrier

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah's scales can manipulate the light from projectiles to form a protective barrier that can shield him from most energy attacks. However, Godzilla's atomic ray and Mothra's antennae beams were able to penetrate his barrier.

Bio-electrical Nature[]

King Ghidorah has electro-receptor molecular biology, and his skin is covered with traces of gold that acted as a conductor that carries bioelectrical currents throughout his body.

Constricting Necks[]

King Ghidorah constricted his necks around Godzilla in an attempt to strangle him, causing him to foam at the mouth. 

Dome[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah is able to create a dome that allows objects to pass through, yet has a corrosive effect when they try to leave. The dome's exterior is laced with tentacles that pull outside victims inside. Living creatures inside the dome slowly have their life-force drained and transferred to King Ghidorah.

Durability[]

King Ghidorah is extremely durable and resistant to damage, often to an extent close to Godzilla. King Ghidorah's golden scales made him highly impervious to any form of weaponry. He withstands conventional weaponry with no noticeable effect, and can even shrug off point-blank blasts from Godzilla's atomic breath. He was also able to withstand a full-force charge from both Rodan and Godzilla. Even Godzilla's atomic breath couldn't cause any noticeable damage to Ghidorah, merely forcing him backward and causing some form of pain.

Towards the end of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, he survives having his two side heads decapitated and his wings shredded. King Ghidorah's middle head survived the destruction of the rest of his body completely conscious (possibly due to Ghidorah's alien biology) and was only destroyed by Godzilla's Spiral atomic ray firing through the monster's severed body. King Ghidorah tends to use his durability to his advantage, as he often prefers to escape from a battle that he can't win before he suffers more injuries than necessary. 

Electric Bite[]

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King Ghidorah's Electric Bite

Much like Manda, King Ghidorah can release a strong electric shock through his bite.

Electric Bolts[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah can shoot six bolts of electricity the bladed tips from each of his wings. He used this to disable numerous aircraft as well as a few of the flying monsters in the surrounding skies. 

Energy Shield[]

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King Ghidorah's Energy Shield

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah can form a golden round energy shield that deflects most energy-based attacks. King Ghidorah can release this energy shield and send it colliding with the ground, which will cause a massive explosion.

Flight[]

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King Ghidorah flying

King Ghidorah's massive and powerful wings enable him to fly with great speed, up to Mach 3.85 (2,953.986 mph) in the Earth's atmosphere, over long distances and he only needed to pump them downwards to get airborne off the ground. Encasing himself within a meteorite while traveling from planet to planet, King Ghidorah can exceed this speed at Mach 400 (306,908 mph) while flying through space. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah is also able to fly even with the loss of one of his wings using a zero-gravity field.

Gravity Beams[]

King Ghidorah's most famous ability is golden, concentrated, lightning bolt-like gravity beams of electricity he launches from his three mouths. Much like how Godzilla's dorsal plates glow whenever he is about to release his atomic breath, King Ghidorah's necks, throats, and eyes (sometimes even his entire body) glowed in golden color before he fired his gravity beams. Roughly equal to Godzilla's atomic breath, the beams were extremely powerful and destructive, capable of causing large-scale explosions when fired at buildings, easily obliterate structures, seemingly caused humans to instantly combust to ashes, singed Godzilla's scales, and incinerated a weakened monster within seconds. They were also able to generate a great amount of static electricity that shorted out the circuits of all nearby electronics. Individually, these beams can cause serious damage, but combined into a single beam when fired together, they can cause devastating attacks to other monsters. Additionally, despite being imprisoned for 13,000 years, King Ghidorah's gravity bolts became more powerful. 

Hurricane Winds[]

King Ghidorah has hyper-tensile muscle tendons in his wings that were capable of generating hurricane-force winds by flapping his wings, which are capable of blowing away buildings and knocking other kaiju off their feet. This was most notably seen when rhythmic bursts of wind seeming to indicate his wing-beats caused a flag in Japan to fly and fall ahead of his (and his main storm's) arrival.

Meteorokinesis[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah can conduct electrical currents, making water vapor heat up to extreme levels and creating localized storm systems, as well as otherworldly tempests of thunder and yellow lightning. As a result, King Ghidorah was effectively constantly wrapped in or accompanied by such alien storms, which seemed to worsen the longer Ghidorah was active after escaping his prison - starting as anomalous winds and near-constant flashes of thunder and lightning, afterward progressing to the equivalent of a tropical storm and subsequently to a Category 6 hurricane.

Mind Control[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah can install a weak mind control on other beings susceptible to it. This was seen in Ebirah when he was guarding Tokyo Bay.

Oxygen Independency[]

Being an alien, King Ghidorah did not require oxygen to survive. He appeared to produce some fogged exhalation in Mount Fuji, however, though notably not as thick as Godzilla's breaths.

Rattling[]

The spikes on King Ghidorah's tails could be used to create a rattling sound as a form of intimidation, similar to a rattlesnake.

Speed and Agility[]

Each of King Ghidorah's heads was very nimble and quick; able to lash out and quickly strike their intended targets like snakes, and also using their flexible necks and numbers to dodge attacks such as Godzilla's atomic ray. When flying, King Ghidorah's top speed could reach between Mach 3 to 4 (2,301.81 to 3,069.08 mph) - however, unlike Rodan and Mothra, he appeared to be a somewhat heavy flyer without their aerial agility, making up for this with strength, speed, ferocity, and his electrical and meteorokinetic abilities.

Strength and Combat[]

King Ghidorah's intimidation style was very similar to a king cobra. Much like cobras that raise their heads and spread their necks, King Ghidorah's heads arched their necks and spread his wings to make him appear twice as large as Godzilla. His fighting style was also similar to that of a snake, with his heads quickly lashing out and biting onto opponents. During the final battle, King Ghidorah not only relied on his jaws but also used his wings to dislodge Godzilla from the ground while biting him. King Ghidorah also severely weakened Godzilla by using his wings, legs, and tails' strength to lift the 55,000-ton kaiju seemingly above the Earth's troposphere and then drop him. King Ghidorah tends to use his wings as shields against such projectiles as manmade missiles by tucking them over his body and heads.

Teleportation[]

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, King Ghidorah can teleport smaller beings inside his dome.

Weaknesses[]

Even though King Ghidorah is extremely powerful, he has several notable weaknesses.

Bodily Destruction[]

Though King Ghidorah can withstand Godzilla's atomic breath, a direct hit to the front of his necks by Godzilla's more powerful spiral heat ray easily severs it. Godzilla's atomic breath also shreds King Ghidorah's wings while he is trying to fly away, causing him to crash to the ground.

Imprisonment[]

Thousands of years ago, King Ghidorah was neutralized after being rendered inert by Mothra, Baragon, and King Caesar. As a result, they imprisoned him in a meteor-like tomb. This incapacitated him for 13,000 years and King Ghidorah was only released due to Gigan deliberately freeing him from his prison. It is possible the guardians could have imprisoned him again had he not been destroyed.

Nuclear Pulse[]

King Ghidorah is vulnerable to Godzilla's nuclear pulse, which he uses to break free when King Ghidorah is strangling him with his necks.

Numbers[]

Though more than a match for Godzilla in a one-on-one battle, King Ghidorah tends to become overwhelmed when facing multiple kaiju at once. This proves to be his downfall in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, where he is defeated in a battle against all of Earth's monsters at the same time.

Water[]

Since King Ghidorah's physical structure was that of an airborne creature, he was not entirely suited to move underwater. When Ebirah managed to drag him into the waters of Tokyo Bay, King Ghidorah struggled to get out of the water.

Filmography[]

Gallery[]

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