Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters Speculations Part 1: Kaiju Mythological Origins

After the success of Godzilla in 2014, Legendary Pictures gave an all clear for a sequel for the Kaiju king. Later on, three monsters were confirmed to appear in the sequel as well. These announced kaiju are Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. In addition, an exclusive teaser trailer was released at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con showcasing not only Godzilla, but also the other Toho Kaiju. Unfortunately, the teaser was never released to the public but many participants could recollect what happened. 

Recently, Legendary's newest kaiju film, Kong: Skull Island, had an after credits scene where the two main characters portrayed by Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson were held by the secret organization, Monarch. They were then shown a clip show by Monarch that revealed to them that Kong was not alone, that there are other monsters out there. In the clip show, a cave painting of Godzilla was shown. Next up, a cave depiction of a giant pterosaur, or flying reptile, is shown that many confirmed to be Rodan. Then, another painting with a giant butterfly or moth came up that was supposed to be Mothra. After that, a huge cave painting of a winged, three-headed dragon is shown, revealing to be King Ghidorah. Finally, the last cave depiction was one where Godzilla and Ghidorah are shown to be fighting as either an early recording of violent events or as a prophecy foreshadowing future events.

Now, a new question appears to the mind. Just how Legendary will portray these monsters and explain their origins? The way I see it, I believe Legendary will based these kaiju in a mythological standpoint and with a little bit of realistic animal behavior. For example, Legendary's Godzilla is viewed as a force of nature and has the fighting style of a bear. All three kaiju, besides Godzilla will be analyzed to see what kind of origin they will have and how they can be viewed in the upcoming Godzilla film. With that being said, let's get started.

Rodan

The first kaiju will be Rodan. In Toho's Godzilla franchise, Rodan was seen as giant pterosaur that survived extinction and began to terrorize humanity, along fighting with Godzilla at times. His abilities included supersonic speed and flight, creating super winds and hurricanes, and a heat ray that was only used once in the Heisei Godzilla series. For his origin, Rodan should be seen as this malevolent deity that could fly over Pacific villages and cause storms to arrive. His very speed can leave an impression to Pacific natives that he does not care for good or evil, but only comes to bring disaster. Rodan's fighting style should be similar to an eagle's way of offense and defense, and still have the abilities of flying fast and creating super winds, but he should drop the heat ray. In addition, his personality could be that of a rogue, a troublemaker causing destruction and mischief wherever he goes. This could cause Rodan to tussle with Godzilla a lot because his rogue personality can create an imbalance of power in nature. Godzilla's job is to bring balance to that power, and to do that he must bring down Rodan.   

Mothra

The next kaiju to discuss is Mothra. Mothra is one of Toho's most popular Godzilla kaiju who is seen as a giant moth or butterfly with two small fairy-like twin females known as the Shojibin, Cosmos, or Fairies depending on perspective. Mothra was known to be a peacemaker in the series and a sign of hope, but usually she can be overpowered by the likes of Godzilla. Her abilities include creating powerful winds like Rodan's, poisonous powder from her wings, and lasers from her antennae. For Mothra's origin, Legendary should portray her as a goddess of peace. Ensuring that most of the lands within or surrounding the Pacific Ocean are in peaceful terms. This can include protecting the Earth and also humanity. Otherwise, Mothra will use her full force if necessary to maintain peace. For example, Mothra could stop threatening forces that are against humanity and nature such as the MUTOs or even King Ghidorah. The Shojibin that are occasionally with her should be human sized and act as priestesses that are true followers of Mothra. Travelling everywhere in the Pacific to spread word of Mothra's deeds. As for her fighting style, it should be similar to how a flying bug attacks its prey and defends itself. Mothra's powers should retain the same ones as her predecessors from Toho, but replace the laser beams with stingers like the Mothra in GMK. Mothra's personality should maintain the same as her Toho counterpart, but with a much serious attitude. She should act as a serious goddess determined to punish those who bring imbalance in the peace, whether if the evil is monster or man. She could also desist any conflicts between humans or monsters such as wars that could stop humanity's development or the constant fights between Godzilla and Rodan. 

King Ghidorah

The final kaiju to discuss is King Ghidorah. Ghidorah is a golden, three headed dragon that is portrayed by Toho as a destructive kaiju capable of destroying the world if Godzilla and his allies weren't in the way. Ghidorah's abilities include electrical Gravity beams, immense defense, and strength equivalent to Godzilla's. Ghidorah's origin should be that of an evil, destructive god. However, this origin can go two ways. Ghidorah can be from space in an asteroid that contained an organism which grew to be the golden hydra. Alternatively, Ghidorah could have a prehistoric origin like Godzilla's but as a species that rivals Godzilla's kind. Either way, both origins could potentially work for Ghidorah if Legendary scripts it right. Going back to the mythological standpoint, Ghidorah can be seen causing way more havoc than Rodan could. But this time, Ghidorah destroys on purpose in way that the environment or rather the entire Earth is manipulated and recreated in his way. This includes wiping out humanity completely and killing off kaiju that get in his way such as Mothra the peacemaker, Rodan the rogue, and Godzilla the force of nature. Ghidorah's fighting style should be like how an actual dragon fights like in Game of Thrones, Skyrim, or like the fan art above. Additionally, Ghidorah could still retain his old fighting style from previous predecessors: Gravity Bolt spam. King Ghidorah's personality should be that of a greedy, destructive god that wants nothing but death and destruction. The ancient Pacific Islanders would tell stories of Ghidorah's destruction where he destroyed ancient advanced civilizations like Atlantis. In addition, the only one who could or has stopped him was Godzilla. This could help explain the cave depictions of Godzilla and Ghidorah facing off.

These origin myths for the new kaiju are just speculation for now. However, Legendary could take these paths and tweak it up a bit. Either way, I'm really excited to see Godzilla's enemies coming back after so long to duke it out in a daikaiju battle royale or in a 3 vs 1 where Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra fight Ghidorah. Do you guys agree or disagree with my ideas? Leave your opinions and ideas below about how these kaiju could turn out.