Mothra (モスラ, Mosura) is the Guardian of the Earth and a
giant, divine, butterfly/moth-like deity kaiju, regarded as female.
Name
The name "Mothra" is the suffixion of "-ra" (a common last syllable in kaiju names) to "moth". Since the Japanese language does not have dental fricatives, it is approximated "Mosura" in Japanese. She is among one of my most popular characters, primarily among female fans, and she has appeared in a few Godzilla film era and in some of her own movies.
Physical Appearance
Mothra is basically a giant butterfly/moth.
Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle: Mothra's mammoth egg is decoratively colored in blue and yellow waves. The egg hatches into her larva, a massive brown, segmented caterpillar (resembling a silkworm) with glowing blue, sometimes red, eyes. In rare circumstances, twins may emerge from the egg. The caterpillar eventually spins a silken cocoon around itself (the pupa stage), and from this cocoon the imago (adult) Mothra emerges, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings. Mothra's life cycle—particularly the tendency of an imago's death to coincide with its larvae hatching—echoes that of the Phoenix, resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity.
History
On a distant land, called Infant Island, a tropical oasis in the Indonesian Archipelago, a pair of Cosmos Faries, called
Mothra flying off Infant Island
the Shobijin of the Elias, dwell, praying day and night to a mighty god. Bathing her mythical spirit with praise and utmost devotion to her greatness. It was not until the arrival of Ghidorah, did the Shobijin know of death, suffering, and evil.
Thousands of years ago, two space monsters, Ghidorah and Gigan, arrived to destroy the planet Earth. These demonic kaiju were forced to deal with resistance in the form of a giant dinosaur, a lion-like deity, and a species of highly advanced, enormous moths, which are known as Mothra. These moths were the protectors of the Shobijin of the Elias, a race of tiny, human-like fairy beings, who
Mothra after sending Ghidorah into Space
inhabited the planet. After the ensuing battle, Gigan retreated to Outer Space and King Ghidorah was defeated and sealed within a giant rock and sent into space, although a great deal of life on the planet Earth was lost.
An ancient guardian, Mothra saved the
Earth in times past from the monstes, Gigan. When the cyclops appeared on her island, she appeared in her larva form to stop him, but she wasn't strong enough, so Mothe cocooned herself and eventually was powerful enough to fight Gigan. The monsters battled thousands of years ago over the fate of Earth, and Mothra ended up being victorious over her cybernetic foe.
Old Mothra
How, in the future, in order to preserve her legacy, a Mothra gave birth to an enormous egg, however, she became physically exhausted from the ordeal. With the rampaging Godzilla decimating half the countryside of Japan, Mothra, though weak in her current state, would journey to Japan to face Godzilla. Unfortunately, if she did leave, and was triumphant, she would not have the strength to return. So, lifting from her cavern shrine, the monstrous insect carried the prayers and wishes of the world on her wings. A few days passed before the angelic monster reached the mainland and forced a war with the roaring nuclear menace. The adult Mothra fought a long and difficult battle to repel the Monster King, and in response to her declining strength, her young larva prematurely hatched in order to assist her mother. Though his energized silk seemed to turn the tide of battle in the favor of the protectors, Godzilla attempts to use his atomic breath against the larva but Mothra sacrifices herself to save her child. The persistent insect leaped at the creature, but the massive monster again repelled the diminutive worm.
Powers/Weapons/Abilities
Mothra has proven a formidable adversary in combat: in larval form she may use her silken spray to wrap and immobilize an opponent, and has a knack for biting and clinging to foes' tails. In imago form her powers vary widely from film to film, including very animalistic scratching and dragging, incorporating several bolt and beam weapons in the Heisei era, and often concluding with a poisonous yellow powder (or "scales")—her last defense.
Mothra is one of the most powerful psychics in the my Godzilla Saga. She has had the ability to use this power benevolently, to communicate with humans and monsters, or defensively, to destroy her enemies. As suggested earlier, Mothra is assumed to be divine and draws many parallels to the Phoenix, which makes her one of the more powerful kaiju of the Godzilla Saga.
Being a larva, Mothra's sprays her opponents with a stream of silk as a ranged attack (to entrap or disorient an enemy). She also uses her mandibles for a close combat bite. (Mothra has a habit of biting opponents'; tails, although it is rarely effective and, predictably, is usually self-defeating. It's usually used as a desperate attempt at stopping a creature much larger than itself.)
As an adult, her wings can (and generally do) create gales which tear apart buildings and send other kaiju flying. Her great bulk of a body is commonly used to her advantage in battle to slam into opponents (both in larva and adult form), and her surprising levels of strength can help her to drag and even lift monsters like Godzilla and even King Ghidorah. Her final strategy is to emit "scales", a yellow poisonous powder that can hopefully asphyxiate an enemy. However she only uses that attack when she knows she is going to die, this is thought, because the extreme loss of scales will cause her to lose her flight.
However, some Mothra's have had some differences. She could fire powerful, destructive beams of energy from her antennae, and fire arcs of lightning from her wings, or keep it in her body to release to another through touch.
The powder now had a different effect; It would act as a 3-D mirror to trap energy blasts, making them rebound over whatever was inside the cloud of powder over and over again. This proved very effective in turning Godzilla's own atomic breath against him and the same for King Ghidorah's Gravity Beams. The powder could also be used as an instrument in team-based strategies. Ironically, Godzilla's Nuclear Pulse wasn't reflected by her mirror and she was thrown back, possibly because her mirror can't reflect energy attacks if it is able to pass around her mirror.
One Mothra was able to shoot poison darts from her abdomen but she lacked both her hurricane force winds and her poison powder. Mothra's powder was able to redirect both energy and physical projectiles back to their original senders, but some individuals believe that the powder also has the ability to cause a short-circuit in electronics. As seen on The Battle of the Century for the Whole World Mothra has the ability to counter enemy beams not only with reflecting them she can use them to attack with her kamikaze attack with which she destroys Moguera.
Filmography
- Mothra I: Mothra against Godzilla
- Mothra II: The Arrival of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
- Mothra III: The Return of Gigan
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: The Battle of the Century for the Whole World