Hedorah (ヘドラ Hedora?) of the Final Wars continuity is an alien pollution kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 2004 Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars.
Name[]
Hedorah was named for hedoro, the Japanese word for mud. This is befitting, due to most of Hedorah's attacks involving releasing acid-rich dirt at its opponent.
Design[]
Appearance[]
Hedorah is an amorphous kaiju with a crude, humanoid shape. It has gray, oil-like surfaces with reddish pipes scattered around its body, and large, red eyes with bright yellow irises. These eyes are slanted inwards, making them open and close normally, as opposed to the previous version, which had the eyes open and close sideways. This Hedorah has a much less trashy look than the first one, and it is thinner than the ShodaiHedo design, with more distinguishable legs. The spines on the tail are much more pronounced.
Portrayal[]
Hedorah was portrayed by Kazuhiro Yoshida. In Godzilla vs. Hedorah, it was portrayed by Hikaru Yoshida.
Roar[]
In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah's roar mostly remains the same as its Showa era roar, but it also emits sounds that are similar to an elephant trumpeting that has been lowered in pitch, and his roar now echoes.
Personality[]
In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was under mind control and did not act independently. Its only visible onscreen actions involve it being blasted out of Tokyo Bay, then visibly waving its arms and panicking before Ebirah's claw pierces his eye.
Origins[]
Hedorah was one of many monsters under the control of the Xiliens, but its origin and how it came under the Xiliens' control is never explained.
History[]
Millennium Series[]
Godzilla: Final Wars[]
Hedorah in Godzilla: Final Wars
Hedorah appears under the control of the Xiliens in Godzilla: Final Wars. Hedorah, along with Ebirah, was seen being blasted out of Tokyo Harbor by Godzilla and crashing into a building, with Ebirah's claw piercing Hedorah's left eye. The two were then destroyed by a blast of Godzilla's atomic ray, much to X's frustration. During the end credits, a few deleted scenes were shown, one of which was Hedorah destroying Tokyo using his sulfuric acid mist emitted from his tube.
Reiwa era[]
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021 film)[]
Hedorah appeared in Tokyo, feeding on the polutents of the city. However, before Hedorah could do anything more, Godzilla arrived to battle Hedorah. Both Hedorah and Godzilla breifly got into a battle. As Hedorah started gaining the upper hand, Godzilla knocked it into a bunch of powerlines, electrocuting Hedorah and allowing Godzilla to finish him off by using his atomic breath, completely blowing up Hedorah.
Abilities[]
Acidic properties[]
Hedorah's primary form of attack was by squirting chunks of its own acidic body at its opponent.
Sludge attacks[]
Hedorah is shown to also be able to release massive quantities of sludge and dirt without this affecting his size in any way.
Sulfate properties[]
Hedorah's chemical nature has the properties of sulfuric acid. During the aftermath of Godzilla's fight with him in Tokyo Bay, when Ebirah's claw stabbed Hedorah's left eye, sulfuric acid mist can be seen spraying from Hedorah's body, though only for a split second; this may have been a feeble attempt at trying to repel Ebirah. In the ending credits of Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah is also shown spraying sulfuric acid mist from tubes on his body, while stomping through city ruins. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was also given a whip-like arm, which it was not shown to have used in battle, although it is seen using it during the boss fight against his '04 incarnation in the iOS game Godzilla: Defense Force.
Video games[]
Godzilla (2014 video game)[]
Final Wars Hedorah is mentioned in Hedorah's bio.
Trivia[]
- While the original Hedorah's eyes were said to be modeled after vaginas,[2] its Godzilla: Final Wars design had this allusion significantly toned down, and it's eyes were tilted.
- Hedorah's tail resembles the Choju King Crab's from Ultraman Ace.
- Due to Hedorah's very brief appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars, it carries out the least on-screen destruction in the entire film, as it was only shown feeding on the pollution in Tokyo Bay before Godzilla attacked it. The footage showing it using its sulfuric mist suggests that it was to have more screentime in the film, but that it was cut as a result of time constraints.
- A theme for Hedorah was made for its fight with Godzilla,[3] however it was cut from the movie's soundtrack.
List of appearances[]
Films[]
- Godzilla: Final Wars (First appearance)
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021 film)
- Godzilla Fest 3: Gigan Attacks
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Godzilla: Final Wars; Page 118.
- ↑ 5 best Godzilla movies of all time - CNN
- ↑ Hedorah (Godzilla Final Wars Soundtrack OST)
