Mothra

Mothra as larva

Mothra (モスラ, Mosura) is a giant female butterfly-like kaiju who first appeared in the novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga then in the movie Mothra (1961).

Etymology

The name Mothra is the suffixation of -ra (a common last syllable in kaiju names, viz. Hedo-rah, Ghido-rah, Ebi-rah, Godzi-rah) to moth. In the American dubbing of Mothra vs. Godzilla, Mothra is also referred to as: The Thing.

Description

Mothra is a giant lepidopteran with characteristics both of butterflies and of moths. She closely resembles an Inachis io, or a European Peacock Butterfly. 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—red when angry—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.

Despite having wrought destruction worthy of any Toho daikaiju, she is almost always portrayed as a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction only when acting as protector to her worshipers on Infant Island or to her egg, or as collateral damage while protecting Earth from a greater threat. She has also fertilized her own eggs.

Mothra is occasionally an ally to Godzilla but more often than not engages in conflict with the King of Monsters due to his anger toward the human race. Mothra has achieved the greatest success rate in battle save Godzilla himself: She has once rid of Godzilla in imago form, and twice Godzilla has fought her to the death only later to be bested by her newborn larvae.

Mothra adult

Powers

As 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.)

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. Her final strategy is to emit "scales", a yellow poisonous powder that can hopefully asphyxiate an enemy. She only uses that attack when she knows she is going to die, though, because the extreme loss of scales will cause her to lose her flight.

The Heisei version of Mothra had some differences. She could now fire a beam 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. 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.

In the Mothra Trilogy, Mothra displayed a wide use of energy-projection abilities; ranging from triple prismatic beams from her forehead, to energized tackles, to her Sun Strike Buster, a very potent attack that comes from the sky like a sacred lightning bolt. Mothra Leo, her offspring and successor, shared her energy powers and also possessed the ability to gain alternate forms as a means of adapting to his opponent's fighting styles.

In GMK Mothra was able to shoot poison darts from her abdomen but she lacked both her hurricane force winds and her poison powder. In both Tokyo SOS and Final Wars, Mothra's powder was able to redirect both energy and physical projectiles back to their original senders.

Features

Length

180 Meters (Larva, 1961)
135 Meters (Adult, 1961)
40 Meters (Larva, 1964-1968)
Unknown (Adult, 1964-1966)
120 Meters (Larva, 1992)
65 Meters (Adult, 1992)

Weight

20 000 Tons (Larva, 1961)
15 000 Tons (Adult, 1961)
8 000 Tons (Larva, 1964-1968)
Unknown (Adult, 1964-1966)
15 000 Tons (Larva, 1992)
20 000 Tons (Adult, 1992)

Wingspan

250 Meters (1961)
80 Meters (1964-1966)
175 Meters (1992)

Air Speed

Mach 3 (1961)
Unknown (1964-1966)
Mach 2 (1992)

History

Mothra first appeared in Japan to recue her tiny, foot-tall twin priestesses, who had been kidnapped by an unscrupulous promoter (Mothra, 1961). Later, in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), humanity appealed to Mothra for help against Godzilla's aggression.

In the Heisei Era (1984-1995), Mothra gained her own series of films dubbed in America as the Rebirth of Mothra series (Rebirth of Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra II, and Rebirth of Mothra III). In Japan, the series is simply called the Mothra Series(Mothra, Mothra 2: Adventure Under the Sea, and Mothra 3: Attack of Grand King Ghidorah). These series are not connected to the Showa, Heisei or Millennium Godzilla movies and are standalone films. The movies start off as the last Mothra puts the last of her energy into a new egg. From this egg hatches Mothra Leo.

Mothra Leo is supposedly, and regarded as, male, as opposed to the pure female Mothras before. It also has "ever-increasing energy" which allows it to absorb energy from other sources to become stronger. The 10,000 year-old tree in Rebirth of Mothra allowed Mothra Leo to change into its imago form as "Mothra Leo", thought to be the most powerful Mothra of all time. Mothra Leo gains several forms throughout the Rebirth trilogy, such as Rainbow Mothra, Aqua Mothra, Light Speed Mothra, Armor Mothra, and Eternal Mothra.

In this series Mothra battled three opponents: Death Ghidorah, a flora-destroying horned beast with three heads; Dagahra, a toxic dragon-like sea creature; and finally Cretaceous King Ghidorah/Grand King Ghidorah, who comes back to Earth to feed of the life force of Japan's children.

In Godzilla Final Wars, Mothra once protected the world in ancient times from the space monster Gigan. After being summoned by her Shobijin to help the Earth in a 21st century assault, Mothra flew over Tokyo to aid Godzilla in a battle against Monster X. The Xilien wouldn't let that happen, though, and they sent an improved Gigan to stop Mothra. Mothra is quickly dispatched by Gigan. Mothra quickly recovers and attacks Gigan and Monster X. Gigan resumes his battle with Mothra, using its laser vision beam, turning Mothra to a wall of fire. As a final effort, a burning Mothra flies towards Gigan, and both kaiju are destroyed in a kamakaze attack by the lepidopteran deity. Mothra does survive and returns to Infant Island at the ending credits.

Mothra's Fairies (Shobijin, Cosmos, and Elias)

Mothra is usually accompanied by two tiny priestesses or fairies (often called shobijin—Japanese for "small beauties") who also speak for her. For Mothra's first three film appearances these twin fairies were played by the Peanuts. In Mothra they demonstrate telepathic ability, within speaking range with people and over great distances with Mothra. They explain that while they call to Mothra in prayer and song, they and Mothra are also connected on some deeper level beyond their control, and it is this connection that impels Mothra to find them no matter where they are. These qualities are part of the continuity of all subsequent Mothra appearances. In Mothra vs. Godzilla the Shobijin also demonstrate teleportation, when trying to escape from Kumayama and Torahata. In Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster the girls translate not only Mothra's chirps but an entire conversation among three daikaiju. Decades later, in Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, two other shobijin (portrayed by Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Ôtsuka) demonstrate telekenesis as well.

In the Godzilla films of the 1990s Mothra's priestesses (played by Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) identify themselves as Earth's Cosmos, who claim to have been created by the very life force of Earth, along with Mothra and Battra—a "Black Mothra" (as described in Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth) or Battle Mothra (as described in the Super Godzilla video game manual). The Cosmos speak not only for Battra and Mothra, but for the living Earth as well. The Cosmos say that Battra was first created by the Earth to balance the ecosystem, which was disrupted by the climate-altering device of an advanced civilization, 12,000 years ago. However, Battra proved to be a little too enthusiastic about its task, and not only destroyed the things of man, but of the natural order as well. The first Mothra was then created to restore the true balance, and stop Battra's rampage. The Cosmos revere both Mothra and Battra as two different divine forces of nature. They act concerned when Battra is injured, and are pleased when Mothra finds a nonviolent method of stopping Battra, "making friends", as they say in the film. They know when Battra has awoken, and what his tasks and motivations are, but Battra does not appear motivated to seek them out, unlike Mothra, who seems compelled to protect them, and talks to them directly.

In the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, made in the late 1990s, Mothra's priestesses were the Elias; the Elias differ from earlier incarnations in that they are not mindlinked twins but individual persons, Moll (or Moru or Mona) and Lora. They are also seen to have an older sister, a dark Elias called Belvera. In addition to accompanying Mothra, the Elias would also ride smaller offspring called Fairy Mothras. Mothra would reprise the role of ancient guardian, though with only a passing homage to the Cosmos, (who were the twins from Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys ) in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Film appearances

Mothra (1961)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) (stock footage)
Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) (stock footage)
Monster Planet Of Godzilla (1994)
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) (also as "Fairy Mothra")
Rebirth of Mothra (1996) (also as "Mothra Leo")
Godzilla Island (1997)
Rebirth of Mothra II (1997) (as "Mothra Leo", "Rainbow Mothra", and "Aqua Mothra")
Rebirth of Mothra III (1998) (as "Rainbow Mothra", "Aqua Mothra", "Light Speed Mothra", "Armor Mothra", and "Eternal Mothra")
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) (stock footage)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Art/Fiction

Mothra appeared as a playable character in the NES game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters.
Mothra appeared as a summonable monster in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. A Mothra-shaped icon, when picked up, calls in a "Mothra Air Strike", where she flies around the arena firing her antennae beams at all monsters besides the one who got the item.
Mothra became playable in the sequel, Godzilla: Save the Earth.
In Godzilla: Unleashed, Mothra is a member of the "Earth Defenders" faction, and an enemy of any monster seeking to gain power for itself from the crystals.
Mothra appears and is playable in Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash.
In the video-game series Disgaea, Mothra is a playable monster.
In the Borderlands (video game) Mothrakk is a large unique enemy that must be fought to complete a quest.
In episode 40 of the Kimagure Orange Road anime TV series, the cast are making an amateur movie referencing certain elements from Mothra.
In the Love Hina anime, Motoko has a dream where Mutsumi Otohime appears as two tiny versions of herself who sing to summon a giant version of Tama-chan in a similar fashion to how Mothra is summoned by her fairies.
Mothra has a brief appearance in an episode of The Simpsons where Godzilla is attacking the plane the family is on along with Mothra, Gamera and Rodan.
A song by We Are Scientists, released on their 2002 LP Safety, Fun, and Learning (in that Order) is titled "Mothra Versus We Are Scientists".
A creature aesthetically similar to Mothra has a brief appearance in Episode 48 of Sonic X.
The Pokémon cartoon occasionally makes references to Mothra through Caterpie-Butterfree, who shows clear aesthetic inspiration from Mothra.
Mothra is the name of a track on the Nosferatu album (1979) by The Stranglers' lead-singer and guitarist Hugh Cornwell and Captain Beefheart percussionist Robert Williams.
The ToeJammers wrote a song about Mothra, in which Godzilla sings Mothra a letter he wrote that begs for her forgiveness.
During the events entailed in Silent Hill 1, the lead protagonist, Harry Mason encounters a large larva that he must fight. Later on, it is shown to have evolved into a very Mothra-like giant moth, who seeks revenge.
A common enemy in the Legend of Zelda series is a giant poisonous moth known as Mothula, an apparent play on Mothra's name.