Godzilla Movie

How would you do King Ghidorah's origin?

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KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 10:51 AM

Alright, guys, as we all know, Edwards and Tull have acquired the rights to King Ghidorah for this new Godzilla franchise from Legendary, and I've heard many different fan theories all over the internet, YT vids/comment section, other forums, etc on how they may-or potentially could-incorporate him into this trilogy, so I wanna know: how would YOU pull it off? Mind you, this rebooted franchise prides itself on a "grounded" setting, so it has to be done as realistically as possible, which is a tall order seeing how he's the least realistic of all the Toho monsters, but it must be done.

Anyways, I've shared my idea for a reimagined Ghidorah origin in the past, but I thought I'd tweak it a bit after giving it some thought, so my origin idea goes as follows: a trio of bipedal, winged serpent creatures known as Hydras, which are, in fact, prehistoric snakes evolved from consuming the same nuclear energy as Godzilla and all other kaiju that existed during his time, are discovered in a pod in a lake somewhere by the Mayans (centuries later during the human's time on earth, of course), who bow to a God-like entity as the "King of Terror". The humans, after eventually learning of their existence, try to hunt them down, which forces the Mayans to send the pod safely into outer space. The three Hydras are buried in a crevice after crash-landing on the moon somewhere, where they spend centuries feeding off antimatter particles from outer space.

This causes them to conjoin and fuse together into one giant, three-headed galactic Hydra, who also gains his signature gravity beams and cosmic powers from consuming the antimatter. Monarch henceforth names him King Ghidorah, his tag being a combination of his King of Terror nickname from the Mayans and a derivative of Hidora, the Japanese term for "Hydra".

So yes, I reworked certain bits of my last Ghidorah origin idea while keeping key characeristics intact. Basically, I did a more grounded approach to the "Dorat fusion" origin idea, and gave him his gravity beam abilities in much the same fashion as Godzilla gaining his atomic breath. If consuming nuclear energy as a food source gives him his nuclear breath, then Ghidorah consuming space antimatter could reasonably give him his gravity beams in similar fashion. Oh, and since this is a grounded franchise, and since dragons already kinda resemble snakes, I figured, why not have him evolve from them somehow in his new origin? This is probably as realistic as you can possibly get for a new origin for King Ghidorah, which isn't saying much since he's, again, probably the least realistic of all the Toho monsters, but it's not too terribly far off Godzilla's whole nuclear, plasma-breathing dinosaur origin as far as infeasibility is concerned.

39 Replies

The King of the Monsters

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 11:41 AM

I would approach Ghidorah in a way that is vague but still keeps him true to his origins. The most popular origin for Ghidorah is an alien creature that destroys entire worlds. Legendary made Godzilla's origin more plausible by making him a giant prehistoric creature that remained hidden deep underwater for eons. They never explained how he evolved to such a huge size or how he is able to metabolize radiation, he just does. The same idea could work for Ghidorah. Either he arrives from space mysteriously or emerges from some crevice deep in the Earth and lays waste to the planet for no logical reason. Humanity would be baffled by the appearance of such a strange creature and its chaotic destructive tendencies. Godzilla would be forced to do battle with Ghidorah to protect the natural order of the world and possibly even have to team up with Mothra and Rodan to stop him. This way, there is no need to explain some far-fetched evolution for such a creature or just copy-and-paste Godzilla and M.U.T.O.'s origins. Plus, keeping his seemingly extraterrestrial origin vague would prevent Ghidorah falling under the cheesy alien invader archetype.

"When man falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born." - Professor Hayashida, The Return of Godzilla

kaijudinosaurfan12345

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 12:02 PM

yosemite mt he's what stopped it from blowing up

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaNov-28-2014 12:31 PM

Someone around here had the idea that he was inside the asteroid that brought about the end of the dinosaurs (or some other era). Afterward his presence on Earth, dormant or otherwise, would bring on the many Asian legends of god-like dragons and serpents.

This would keep his extraterrestrial origins intact and vague while also linking him to Earth's history. I think it's rather brilliant. We wouldn't need any more than that.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Sci-Fi King25

MemberGiganNov-28-2014 1:05 PM

^ That's probably the best way to go.

“Banana oil.”- George Takei, Gigantis: The Fire Monster

Therizinosaurus Rex(aka Kaijusaurs)

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 2:32 PM

I would make KG's origin kind a like his origin from RoM3

Therizinosaurus for JW2!

Durp004

MemberBaragonNov-28-2014 2:41 PM

I just want him to be from space, besides that I'm not sure

High FLYERS Tag Team

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 2:49 PM

It just depends on which Incarnation origin! Showa = Space, Hesisei and GMK = Earth

There are strong men and weak men. The strong ones are here to keep the weak ones up when ever they fail.

KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 3:53 PM

@GMAN, I thought of that, but then it raises the question of just how on earth did he end up in there in the first place (no pun intended).

If they really wanted to go the "grounded" approach, I think three snake-evolved radioactive creatures conjoining (a la the Dorats approach in GvKG) after being sent into space would make the most sense, but that's just my opinion. Snakes and dragons look almost exactly alike, just Google some pics of the two, you can barely tell the two apart, and since dragons are fantasy/mythical creatures that don't exist IRL, they would have to go the evolution route if audiences were to buy that a dragon of any kind actually existed on this earth at any point in time (whether it originated there or not), especially a three-headed one. Plus, it's been said around here that they hope the humans find Ghidorah buried on the moon at some point, that would explain how he wound up there.

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-28-2014 4:14 PM

Honestly, the mutation angle works LESS for this "grounded" approach. This new universe doesn't play around with mutation like the Heisei series did. It's a well-known fact that organisms can arrive on different planets by way of asteroids. It's also well-known that the more adaptable the organism, the more likely it is to survive. It's also a well-known fact that Kaiju are highly adaptable creatures. It's also a well-known fact that different living conditions result in different physiological variation

Suddenly, an ancient evolved non-Earth-based organism like King Ghidorah isn't sounding so farfetched in comparison. The idea of any sort of creatures becoming conjoined by way of mutation is somewhat farfetched when it comes to a functioning animal. ON EARTH. Other living conditions elsewhere are allowed to produce totally different results without abiding by Earth-based evolution because the conditions for life are totally different.

The King of the Monsters

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-28-2014 4:25 PM

I agree with Gman2887. The idea of King Ghidorah being the meteor that caused a prehistoric extinction not only invokes his origin as a world destroyer from the Showa series, but being the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs in Rebirth of Mothra III. Plus it makes him a perfect anithesis to this version of Godzilla: an indiscriminate chaotic engine of destruction and death. It also ties him to the history of Earth like Godzilla and avoids the need to come up with a complicated unrealistic explanation for Ghidorah that would also upset fans.

"When man falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born." - Professor Hayashida, The Return of Godzilla

GG

ModeratorGiganNov-28-2014 5:28 PM

What the Awesome Gman, and The King of the Monster said.

Good grief.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaNov-29-2014 1:20 AM

Yeah I agree with TheGman123, I'm not feeling the mutation angle. The whole snakes mutation thing sounds like something better saved for a Sharktopus sequel. Plus it falls victim to the overexplaining of the Heisei series. Things like that aren't necessarily grounded, it just feels like over reaching.

Besides, nothing in the Legendary movie has hinted at mutations. There's a love for naturalism which was highly embraced by early Showa monsters. A sense of less explaination and a simple dropping of these lifeforms into our world. (They lived here millions of years ago and have awakened.)

Meanwhile, King Ghidorah never really had an explained origin in the Showa series and that worked just fine. I think some vague links to space with no definite answer to his genesis are far more mysterious and give King Ghidorah a hint of unexplained creepiness.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 5:51 AM

@TheGMan: if you're talking about the evolution of the 3 creatures to be conjoined (the Hydras in my idea), it's no more "ungrounded" than Godzilla mutating and growing by absorbing nuclear radiation because, guess what? That's how LegendaryGoji came to be in this "grounded" universe, it follows that exact same formula. Plus, my origin idea explains how he gained his cosmic and gravity-based powers in the first place. A three-headed golden dragon that can shoot lightning from his mouths "just because"? Not buying it. They at least offered an explanation for how LegendaryGoji is able to shoot nuclear plasma from his mouth in G14, even though it also isn't realistic in any way.

Plus, how can a creature literally be born inside of an asteroid (as in, originate there)? I'll admit, I'm no scientific or evolution expert or anything, I've said this in the past, but I'm just not feeling it as far as realism is concerned.

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 5:59 AM

Conjoining after birth is unheard of on Earth. And being sent into space? HOW? By Humans? Well, then he doesn't have enough time to truly be able to become a monster by the rules set by the Legendary universe. By the way, the Legendary Godzilla doesn't mutate. His species, and several others, evolved to specifically feed off of radiation. No mention of mutation whatsoever.

And I said arriving in an asteroid. I never said being born inside one. It's more of a situation where the species hitches rides on asteroids to new planets, like how parasites hitch rides on larger animals to arrive in new areas to grow and breed. Please pay closer attention to what I actually said. I'm VERY SPECIFIC when I say something.

KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 7:09 AM

Another thing, creatures that naturally suffer from polycephaly, i.e: naturally born with three-heads tend to not have a long life force, or have a hard time moving and operating all 3 heads, or some other deformities in them, as in, they're not all symmetrical, not all the same size, whatever. At least this way, they could all feasibly be the same size and all actually work. Since he consumed dark matter, or cosmic energy, whatever, while in space, and is not one entity, but several conjoined ones, that could reasonably allow him to anatomatically sustain and operate all 3 heads and have a long life force when he otherwise couldn't. It also explains him being able to shoot lightning from his mouth, there's that, too.

A three-headed golden space dragon born with an extremely rare condition and an even rarer lack of deformities from said conditition and can inexplicably shoot lightning from all 3 mouths and fly through the vacuum of space is the furthest thing from realistic there is out there. My idea at least offers a plot device that would allow him to bend these rules a little bit, i.e: absorbing cosmic/dark energy from space, the same plot device that enables Godzilla to breath plasma (energy consumption/absorption). It would also explain how he's able to move through the completely airless depths of outer space, since it gave him gravitational/magnetic powers. They could say he gives off gravitational/magnetic force energy or whatever as a result of this energy source to do it.

The King of the Monsters

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 7:17 AM

In other galaxies, creatures could follow different evolutionary patterns. While Godzilla evolved to be 355 feet tall, feed on radiation, have rows of giant spikes on his back, and spit an atomic heat beam, and alien reptile could have evolved over time to have three heads, fly in the vacuum of space, and naturally harness electrical powers with no explanation. Having snakes get shot into space and absorb cosmic energies and then mutate and come back to Earth and all this other stuff is way to complicated and sounds even more sci-fi-ish than just making Ghidorah an alien of unknown origins. This would be like making Godzilla a mutated dinosaur like in the Heisei series instead of the evolved ancient creature that he is. Gareth chose to go with vague mysterious origins that allowed Godzilla and M.U.T.O. to fit his vision in a way that did not beg further explanation or blatantly challenge realism. The same should go with King Ghidorah.

"When man falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born." - Professor Hayashida, The Return of Godzilla

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 7:20 AM

Not exactly, either. The thing is that, being a non-Earth-originated lifeform affords conditions to develop in that don't constrain certain physiological differences and variation. No amount of true science can explain King Ghidorah, just like the other creatures.

Not even Legendary Goji's plasma breath was thoroughly explained, just that he can access his radiation reserves to create and wield it. Becoming conjoined by way of cosmic radiation doesn't make much more sense, since it still means space is creating non-Earth conditions, but is basically retreading Heisei territory, which most people don't prefer as the origin of King Ghidorah.

We're not just talking about the explanations. We're talking about what's already been established, what's been seen so far in the Legendary universe. Conjoining by way of cosmic conditions is no more grounded than a creature simply evolving that way through cosmic conditions, but at least evolving that way fits in line with the groundwork already established in the Legendary universe.

Huge-Ben

MemberBaragonNov-29-2014 8:00 AM

I would comment but i do believe that the king of monsters, and Gman2887 have pretty much said what i would have said.

http://hugeben.deviantart.com/  check out my gallery of Godzilla artwork! Follow me on Twitter@thebigbadben90.

vexxed

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 8:03 AM

I kind of like his origin in GMK, but that wouldn't really work in the legendary universe.

Huge-Ben

MemberBaragonNov-29-2014 8:07 AM

^I wouldn't think so either. He has to arrive from space. It would make alot of fans happy to know that he is coming from space.

http://hugeben.deviantart.com/  check out my gallery of Godzilla artwork! Follow me on Twitter@thebigbadben90.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaNov-29-2014 9:19 AM

Yeah, again all of this mutation/evolutionary deformation...etc...etc... is just making King Ghidorah even less buyable. The more we throw, "Yeah science!" at King Ghidorah the more silly he sounds. That's why it's best left ambiguous with an extraterrestrial origin.

Give him an Earth background linking him up with asian mythology and legend and the conclusion he landed on Earth in an astroid millions of years ago. That takes the character as far as he needs to go. We've never had to learn the in-and-outs of King Ghidorah's origins in the Showa series (hell, we didn't really know how he came into being in GMK) and I don't think it's an important point to make now.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 11:03 AM

BTW, the whole snake mutation angle isn't completely far-fetched, dragons evolved from snakes according to Japanese/Chinese mythology and closely resemble snakes, take a look at this pic of the Hydra from Hercules 2014 and tell me they don't bear a snake-like appearance or could have easily evolved from them:

Even Ghidorah's three heads have some very snake-like features to them:


Notice the coiled tongue on the bottom most head (the left one). If Godzilla was able to mutate and grow into a 355 foot tall, nuclear, plasma-breathing dinosaur from absorbing nuclear radiation, then I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility per this franchise for a trio of prehistoric snakes to evolve into creatures of similar figure as in the pics above from the same nuclear energy as he. In fact, I could see them very much resembling them.

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 11:12 AM

We're not doubting the evolution angle. Far from it. We're all very much in support of an ancient non-terrestrial lifeform evolving somewhere out there. What most of us don't like is the idea of the resultant evolution being due to some scion made up of three separate creatures. It just doesn't fit with the whole idea of a singular organism like King Ghidorah. I can maybe see creatures forming colonies eventually becoming singular in some place not on Earth.

I'm not doubting that a snake-like being could  be the origin of such a creature liek King Ghidorah. But neither Legendary's Godzilla nor the MUTOs had any real other explanation other than being ancient evolved beings. I think you might be overthinking it, since we've been saying he's an evolved creature not from Earth, but nothing more.

The King of the Monsters

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 1:24 PM

@Kmanx You're missing the point. Legendary Godzilla DID NOT mutate to be 355 feet tall and breathe radioactive plasma. He is a naturally evolved creature. He and the M.U.T.O.s evolved to metabolize radiation and reach incredible sized, they WERE NOT mutated by radiation. Godzilla is the result of earthly evolution, just as King Ghidorah should be the result of unknown extraterrestrial evolution.

"When man falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born." - Professor Hayashida, The Return of Godzilla

KManX89

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 1:35 PM

That's because Godzilla and the MUTO were already on earth from the very beginning and it's actually possible for a creature to originate on land here on earth, whereas it's not possible for any creature to originate inside of an asteroid barring some insane plot device that would require an explanation just like Godzilla's atomic breath, that's the difference. Plus there was nothing ambiguous about their species, hence there was nothing to explain of their origin apart from their mutation and their special abilities (EMP and atomic breath, respectively), which, as they explained in G14, was a result of them absorbing nuclear radiation 250 million years ago in the world's most radioactive era. A complete mythical creature like a dragon miraculously being born with three heads and no deformities of any kind coming from outer space (again, whether he originated there or not) and can shoot lightning from his three mouths, on the other hand, raises a ton of questions, unlike Godzilla or MUTO's origins.

Please understand the difference. Godzilla and MUTO didn't need much explanation because their origins are fairly open and shut with not much mystery to their respective character, Ghidorah, not so much.

Also, just because he doesn't come from space right off the bat doesn't mean he can't arrive on earth from outer space later on in the film with filler parts in between to make it interesting. For example, a group of astronauts could find him on the moon after getting reports of mysterious sightings from their satellite feeds and inadvertantly awakens him, which I think would make for quite an entertaining and thrilling scene, or they could arrive there and there's no sight of him, only for Ghids to mysteriously arrive and blow crap up with his gravity beams. And then he could be sent from outer space sometime afterwards via some kind of solar disruption, even by accident, via solar devices, satellites, whatever. And then he could've been buried in an asteroid extraneously somehow and the whole moon arrival scene was archive footage as opposed to him originating there right off the bat which, again, isn't possible.

The King of the Monsters

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-29-2014 1:45 PM

We are not suggesting that Ghidorah was born in a meteor, only that he used one to travel to Earth. King Ghidorah could have been born on some other planet and evolved over time in an extraterrestrial evolutionary cycle. However, as this occured outside of Earth, humankind can only speculate about what he is and why he exists. All that matters is that he exists and hitched a ride on a meteorite and came to Earth at some point. Explaining his origin in a complex and frankly impossible way is just going to be unneccessary and clunky. King Ghidorah is supposed to be a mysterious character. We don't know where he came from or what he is, while we understand what Godzilla and M.U.T.O. are. That is the entire point. Ghidorah is mysterious and has no definite origin and doesn't need explanation. Why would we need to have an entire complex impossible backstory for him when we could just be teased with his mysterious quality? 

And there you go again with Godzilla and M.U.T.O.'s mutation. Their size and powers are not mutations, they are evolved traits. They fed on radiation, they didn't become mutated from it.

"When man falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born." - Professor Hayashida, The Return of Godzilla

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 1:50 PM

A creature like Ghidorah doesn't make much sense anyways, regardless of the way it's approached. It's just as unlikely on Earth as it is in space. And we're not saying he should just inexplicably appear either. Nor have we been saying he specifically originates inside an asteroid.

Arriving on Earth via asteroid is no less realistic than coming from the Moon or from Earth, since it's been proven that organisms can survive hitching rides on asteroids, which invalidates your argument that it's impossible. And who says it has to be a sudden asteroid? It could've been one of the mega-asteroids, that ended those previous eras of life.

As well, the analogy of King Ghidorah coming to Earth by hitching a ride inside an asteroid carries a lot of thematic weight as well. Like the MUTOs being a parasite of the Godzilla species, so too could the King Ghidorah species, only on a much grander scale, acting as a parasite for entire planets, which means the species would have an elevated threat level since their kind are destroyers of life wherever they go to further propagate the species.

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 1:56 PM

Hey guys, what do you think about such an analogy? I can imagine Serizawa or Graham discussing his appearance and reasoning sort of like this:

King Ghidorah. An odd name implying something grand in design and stature. Whilst both are true, the role of the species appears to be more akin to that of a parasite, like the MUTOs, only on a much grander scale. This creature appears to not be of this Earth, but is consuming resources as though by instinct. I believe that this may point to it acting like a parasite for entire ecosystems, traveling to other planets by way of asteroid, never fully satiated.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaNov-29-2014 2:27 PM

I don't understand why King Ghidorah in an astroid would need explaination. How many of the more horrific (and better) horror films dealing with alien lifeforms have left much of the explaintion ambiguous. If King Ghidorah were revealed to have been in an astroid and dormant for millions of years, how much more could the characters really learn about him? It simply confirm there was life outside of Earth and give them no further leads-- So who exactly is going to (over) explain the origin?

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

TheGMan123

MemberTitanosaurusNov-29-2014 2:35 PM

Hey guys, I made a blog on a Wiki site that explains more about my "King Ghidorah is a parasite" idea. Click it, read it, then come back here and we can discuss it further C:

Here's the link to my blog with the expanded details on my theory :D

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