What is Mothra?

[EdCh]

After seeing all of his/her appearances in my Toho film collection, I just realized I still don't know what and where Mothra came from. Is there an official origin story for her and the Shobijin/Elias/Bambis? Is Mothra a atom-bomb-mutated dinosaur, an alien being, or a natural Earth mutant? Where did the Shobojin come from? Are they selected from a race of small people to be Mothra's prophetesses or are they more like supernatural beings who can alter their appearances? Are the recast Shobijin the same two entities from movie to movie or are they new generations tied with a new generation of Mothra larvae? For that matter, how long do Mothras live after they reach their imago form? What happened to the 2nd larva from Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)? How did she die?

I feel like all these questions would be great material for a new Mothra film...oh wait, now how about King Ghidorah? Wow - I can see why Toho are interested in doing their own Monster Universe!

(BTW I tried replying in the Mothra Monster thread but for some reason I always get auto logged out when I go to that page...)

[Spuro]

I'm reasonably certain that Mothra IS NOT an atom-bomb-mutated dinosaur...

[godjacob]

Mothra is a mythical creature who likely had been guardian of the Earth for generations (Or least her home island) in most incarnations.

[edgaguirus]

Mothra seems to be a natural race of beings that have taken care of nature, and man, since ancient times. In ROM3, we see prehistoric versions of the kaiju. Mothra is a part of the natural world, and not a mutant in any way. As to how long they live, that has never been addressed. However, we saw the Imago form in G vs TSM, and the next time we see a caterpillar is DAM, which takes place in the 1990s. If we assume that the TSM Mothra and the caterpillar confined to Ogasawara Island are parent and child, then that indicates a lifespan of 20 to 30 years.

As for the Shobijin, It appears that they have mystical origins.

[Jetty_Jags]

According to wikipedia, here is the origin of Mothra in her first work, "The Luminous Fairies and Mothra" which I'm fairly certain was written to be developed into the film, but I'm not entirely sure.

In the original story, Fukuda is not on the initial expedition and ventures to Infant Island alone later; the natives reveal to Fukuda the legend of Infant Island; the mythology behind Infant Island include Christian-like overtones which features two Gods (Ajima, the male God of Eternal Night and Ajiko, the Goddess of Daylight) conceiving a giant glowing egg, smaller eggs, and a pair of humans who reproduce and repopulate the island; the smaller eggs hatch caterpillars which turn to moths and fly away, which enrages Ajima to condemn all living things to death and commits suicide by tearing himself apart in four pieces; heart broken, Ajiko also commits suicide by also tearing her body apart in four pieces, which turn into four small immortal fairies dedicated to serving Mothra of the giant glowing egg.

Now the wikipedia page also states that

While adapting the story for the film, screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa picked his favorite aspects of the story and ignored everything else.

so this really isn't a "cannon" origin at all, but interesting to think about. I've always considered mothra more mythical/spiritual than natural.

Now this is from Wikipedia, so you should probably take it with some grains of salt, but I'm also fairly certain the original novel has never been released internationally so we are kind of forced to take these things at face value I guess, unless someone else more knowledgeable can fill in or correct me.

[tbeasley]

Wikizilla sums her up as a 'giant divine moth kaiju' but goes into greater detail here -

Spoiler:

Mothra's origins have somewhat varied from film to film, but she is always portrayed as a benevolent and ancient creature that possesses some level of divinity.

In the Showa era, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla: Final Wars, Mothra is the guardian goddess of the remote Infant Island in the south Pacific Ocean. There, she is perpetually reborn through an egg and is worshiped by the island's natives. She is spoken for by two miniature telepathic fairies, called either the Shobijin, Cosmos, or Elias.

Mothra's origin is gone into in greater depth in Godzilla vs. Mothra. This film explains that Mothra was the guardian of the ancient world, protecting all life on Earth from threats. When an ancient civilization created a climate-controlling device, the Earth became offended and created a dark Mothra, called Battra, to destroy it. After destroying the device, Battra proceeded to eradicate the entire civilization and sought to exterminate all of mankind, believing humans to be a blight on the planet. Mothra challenged Battra and defeated him, sealing him away in the North Sea. Following this battle, Mothra and the Cosmos, the only remnants of the ancient civilization, took up residence on the remote Infant Island, where they lived in peace for the next twelve thousand years.

In Rebirth of Mothra, it is established that Mothra is the last living member of an ancient race of giant guardian moths that defended the Earth throughout its history. In her old age, Mothra lived in solitude with the Elias on Infant Island, and with the last of her strength summoned forth an egg to continue her legacy after her death.

In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Mothra's origin receives its first major alteration. In this film, Mothra is one of the three Guardian Monsters and the Goddess of the Sea. In ancient times, Mothra and her fellow guardians Baragon and King Ghidorah were slain by Japanese warriors. Mothra was laid to rest under Lake Ikeda while the warriors who slayed her prayed for her soul, that she would return one day to save Japan. Thousands of years later, the prophet Hirotoshi Isayama awakened Mothra by transferring the souls of Japan's honorable dead into her, so that she and the other Guardian Monsters could together stop Godzilla.

In the continuity of the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Mothra is a mystical creature which lives in isolation in the Amazon rainforest alongside a tribe of humans known as Mothra's People, who worship her as their deity. Mothra's origins and past are unknown, but she has been living in symbiosis with her people for some time, protecting them from harm and providing for their needs. Mothra also possesses a counterpart named Battra, and together the two moth monsters were believed capable of defeating Godzilla.

In the MonsterVerse, Mothra is again revered as a benevolent goddess, but her origin lies not on Infant Island but rather in China's Yunnan Rainforest. Ancient accounts and paintings of Mothra show that she was worshiped by humans in the ancient past, and she appears in folklore from around the world. Notably, some ancient pictures depict her fighting alongside Godzilla and human warriors against King Ghidorah, either as an account of an ancient battle or a prophecy for a future one. In 2009, a Monarch team headed by Dr. Emma Russel discovered Mothra's cocoon in an ancient temple in the Yunnan Rainforest, dubbed the "Temple of the Moth."

[JAGzilla]

I'll do you one better: who is Mothra?

And I think it's fairly clear that there's a mystical element to Mothra and her accompanying lore. Nature does some really crazy things with evolution and symbiosis, but doll-sized humans communicating with a gigantic, asexually-reproducing, superpowered moth via song and telepathy just... I dunno, man, it just seems like it would have a hard time coming about naturally...

[ROMG4]

I'll do you one better: who is Mothra?

Everyone asks what is Mothra or who is Mothra but no one ever asks

How is Mothra?

[Major sssspielberg!]

I'll do you one better: who is Mothra?

Everyone asks what is Mothra or who is Mothra but no one ever asks

How is Mothra?

Why is Mothra?

[edgaguirus]

I'll do you one better: who is Mothra?

Everyone asks what is Mothra or who is Mothra but no one ever asks

How is Mothra?

I sent a text to the Shobijin, and they say Mothra is fine.

[JAGzilla]

It seems like it would be really awkward for the Shobijin to text on a phone like half their own size. They'd have to either mount it on a wall and just use it like an ATM or something, or lay it down flat and sit beside it while they tried to reach the buttons.

You know... there's probably some untapped potential here. A TV miniseries (because of course it's a miniseries, ha ha I'm funny) about the Shobijin moving to Japan because reasons, and struggling to navigate everyday life in a Tokyo ten times too big for them.

[Spuro]

You know... there's probably some untapped potential here. A TV miniseries (because of course it's a miniseries, ha ha I'm funny) about the Shobijin moving to Japan because reasons, and struggling to navigate everyday life in a Tokyo ten times too big for them.

I'd watch it. Someone pitch this to Toho!

[edgaguirus]

It would make for an interesting show for the small screen. It might be hard to integrate Mothra into a show like that, but I'm sure there's a way.

[EdCh]

The stories of Mothra being a mythical guardian are great, but I wonder how she even manifested as such? For some reason I like to imagine that she was a female human of some sort once, maybe the original Eve, and then she betrayed something or someone (or committed some great some crime). And then an Earth god//spirit/force (say "Gaea") forced her to become a defender of Earth in order to redeem herself. But why a moth? Maybe because she liked to sew alot of silk underwear? Anyways, I'm just spit-balling here. Toho may someday say she's Rodan's hippy-dippy niece from the West Coast and that'll be the end of it! But I hope not.

[Desghidorah]

In the Toho films, she's a mystical being that is, depending on your definition, a kami or god, whom resembles a moth. She's the only kaiju of the classic lot that is very overtly magical and supernatural to some extent, as opposed to science fiction based.

[godjacob]

In the Toho films, she's a mystical being that is, depending on your definition, a kami or god, whom resembles a moth. She's the only kaiju of the classic lot that is very overtly magical and supernatural to some extent, as opposed to science fiction based.

King Caesar? The whole statue thing has a mystical or seemingly mystical background.

[Desghidorah]

In the Toho films, she's a mystical being that is, depending on your definition, a kami or god, whom resembles a moth. She's the only kaiju of the classic lot that is very overtly magical and supernatural to some extent, as opposed to science fiction based.

King Caesar? The whole statue thing has a mystical or seemingly mystical background.

Lemme clarify, when I say 'classic lot' I mean kaiju with more than one movie in their original continuity. Ones who have a higher chance of cropping up in multiple continuities beyond ensemble films (FW).

[ernesth100]

Long story short. Mothra is quite literally a god and doesn't get enough respect. Didn't she actually defeat Godzilla in a film?

[JAGzilla]

Long story short. Mothra is quite literally a god and doesn't get enough respect. Didn't she actually defeat Godzilla in a film?

Depending on your definition, she's defeated Godzilla every time they've fought. Or at least been on the winning side.

[ernesth100]

Long story short. Mothra is quite literally a god and doesn't get enough respect. Didn't she actually defeat Godzilla in a film?

Depending on your definition, she's defeated Godzilla every time they've fought. Or at least been on the winning side.

Godzilla annihilated her in GMK tho.