King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah (キングギドラ, Kingu Gidora) is a fictional monster, or kaiju, which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. The monster was initially created by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya and Shinichi Sekizawa as an homage to the eight-headed mythological Japanese dragon Yamata no Orochi. Although the name of the character is officially trademarked by Toho as "King Ghidorah", the character was originally referred to as Ghidorah or Ghidrah in some English markets.
| King Ghidorah | |
|---|---|
| Godzilla character | |
A production image of the first Ghidorah suit, not fully painted | |
| First appearance | Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) |
| Created by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Eiji Tsuburaya Shinichi Sekizawa |
| Designed by | Akira Watanabe |
| Portrayed by | Shōwa era: Shoichi Hirose Susumu Utsumi Kanta Ina Heisei era: Hurricane Ryu Tsutomu Kitagawa Millennium era: Akira Ohashi Legendary Pictures: Jason Liles Alan Maxson Richard Dorton |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Ghidrah King Ghidra King Ghidora Monster Zero The 10,000 Year Old Dragon The King of Terror The Gold King God of the Void King of the Void Titanus Ghidorah The Death Song of Three Storms Ghidorah The One Who is Many |
| Species | Three-headed dragon-like monster |
Although King Ghidorah's design has remained largely consistent throughout its appearances (an armless, bipedal, golden and yellowish-scaled dragon with three heads, two fan-shaped wings, and two tails), its origin story has varied from being an extraterrestrial planet-destroying dragon, a genetically engineered monster from the future, a guardian monster of ancient Japan, or a god from another dimension. The character is usually portrayed as the archenemy of Godzilla and a foe of Mothra, though it has had one appearance as an ally of the latter.
Despite rumors that Ghidorah was meant to represent the threat posed by China, which had at the time of the character's creation just developed nuclear weapons, director Ishirō Honda denied the connection and stated that Ghidorah was simply a modern take on the dragon Yamata no Orochi.