King Ghidorah
| King Ghidorah | |
|---|---|
| Godzilla film series character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) |
| Last appearance | Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) |
| Created by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Portrayed by |
Shōwa Shoichi Hirose Susumu Utsumi Kanta Ina Heisei Hurricane Ryu Tsutomu Kitagawa Millennium Akira Ohashi |
| Aliases | Ghidrah Ghidora Monster Zero Thousand Year-Old Dragon Grand King Ghidorah King of Terror |
King Ghidorah (キングギドラ Kingu Gidora?) is a kaiju film monster that first appeared in Toho's 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Although Toho officially trademarks the character as King Ghidorah, the character was originally referred to as Ghidrah in English markets.
Although King Ghidorah's design has remained largely consistent throughout its appearances (an armless, golden-scaled winged dragon with three heads and two tails), its origin story has varied from being an extraterrestrial planet killing dragon, a genetically engineered monster from the future, or a guardian of ancient Japan. The character is usually portrayed as an archenemy of Godzilla and 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 Ishiro Honda denied the connection and stated that Ghidorah was simply a modern take on the dragon Yamata no Orochi.
The initial idea for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster came from Tomoyuki Tanaka, who also created Godzilla. Tanaka's inspiration came from an illustration of the Lernaean Hydra in a book about Greek Mythology, and Orochi of Japanese folklore. Tanaka was enamored with the idea of Godzilla fighting a multi-headed serpent, but considered 7-8 heads to be excessive, and thus the number of heads was reduced to three. The final version was an armless, three-headed dragon with large wings, two tails and of extraterrestrial origin. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa insisted that the Ghidorah suit be fabricated using light-weight silicon-based materials in order to grant the wearer greater mobility. The final Ghidorah design was constructed by special effects artist Teizo Toshimitsu, who had initially painted it green in order to further differentiate it from Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, but changed it to gold on the insistence of Eiji Tsuburaya, after his assistant noted that being a creature from Venus, the "gold planet", Ghidorah should be that color. The monster costume itself was built by Akira Watanabe, and worn by Shoichi Hirose, who also played King Kong in Toho's King Kong vs. Godzilla. Hirose walked hunched over inside the Ghidorah costume, holding a metal bar for balance, while puppeteers would control its heads, tails and wings off-camera like a marionette. The monster's heads were each fitted with remotely controlled motors, which were connected to operators via a wire extending from the suit's backside. Performing as Ghidorah proved challenging to Hirose, as he had to time his movements in a way that would not conflict with the separately operated heads and wings, as doing so would have resulted in the overhead wires tangling. Because of the suit's weight, it frequently snapped the overhead wires supporting it. Special effects were added as the creature is capable emitting destructive, lightning-like "gravity beams" from its mouths and generating hurricane-force winds from its wings. Despite King Ghidorah's central role in the film's plot, the character was given little screen time, as Hirose had fallen out with special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, who never forgave Hirose for accepting a Hollywood deal, and subsequently hired Susumu Utsumi to play King Ghidorah after Invasion of Astro-Monster.
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