Hedorah (ヘドラ Hedora?) is an alien pollution kaiju created by Toho that first faced Godzilla in the 1971 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
Name
Hedorah was named for hedoro, the Japanese word for mud. This is especially befitting, due to most of Hedorah's attacks involving releasing acid-rich dirt at its opponent.
Design
Appearance
In its first form, Hedorah resembled a tadpole. In its second form, it resembled a quadrupedal reptile. Its third form was like a flying saucer, and its final form, ShodaiHedo, took on a humanoid shape. Hedorah's forms all share multiple common characteristics, such as a blob-like form, green, kelp-like surfaces and large, yellow eyes with red irises. These eyes are positioned so that they blink sideways.
According to an interview with Yoshimitsu Banno by the Japanese magazine Eiga Hi-Ho, Hedorah's eyes were modeled after vaginas.[2] In Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla tears out two white orbs from Hedorah's body. Their role is never explained, and no known source so far explains what they are for.
Hedorah's final form has a mossy green, reddish orange and dark gray body. The eyes have red lamps that glow and it has vines all over the body to give it a trashy, unnatural look.
It seems to have a bump on its head, making the right side of its head bigger and more swollen than the left side. The ShodaiHedo also has a long, bushy tail that always is being dragged around the ground.
Portrayal
Hedorah was portrayed with puppets, while its third form, as a suit, was done by Kenpachiro Satsuma.
Roar
Hedorah's gurgling roar comes from Kemular, a poison gas monster from the original Ultraman series. When feeding on toxic fumes, Hedorah makes breathing noises that are recycled from Gezora. In addition, it utters several high-pitched laughter-like sounds, mostly in its final form. Hedorah's laser features a sound effect that is actually King Ghidorah's flying sound at a higher pitch.
Personality
Hedorah seems to be primarily driven by instinct and the will to survive, and the horrific death and destruction it causes are mostly derived from its bizarre biological properties rather than any true malice. However, it does demonstrate aggression and awareness in its encounters with Godzilla. When first confronted by Godzilla, Hedorah answers Godzilla's taunts and seems to even mimic his gestures. During the monsters' final battle, Hedorah even laughs while smothering Godzilla in sludge.
Origins
Hedorah was an alien life form from the Dark Gas Nebula in the Orion constellation that landed on Earth traveling on a comet for at least 243 light years.
History
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Hedorah, an alien from the Dark Gas Nebula, landed on Earth began feeding on pollution. Hedorah's actions soon gained the attention of Godzilla, who attacked the Smog Monster as it was feeding off of a smokestack. At the time, Hedorah was still in a young form, and was easily trounced by Godzilla. The two creatures had a series of battles across Japan, and Hedorah continued to grow bigger and stronger, and achieved a flying saucer-like form, allowing it to fly and spread sulfuric acid mist across Japan while destroying many factories. Hedorah and Godzilla had a final showdown near Mount Fuji, in which Hedorah achieved its final form, a humanoid, walking pile of sludge. Thanks to its acidic, poisonous body, as well as its lethal eye bolts, Hedorah very nearly put an end to Godzilla in their struggle. However, mankind had built a pair of gigantic electrodes near the warring monster. Their plan was that, since Hedorah was merely sludge, they would use the electrodes to dry it out. During a period of the fight where Godzilla was knocked out, Hedorah was lured between the electrodes. Unfortunately, a fuse was blown, and the electrodes were useless.
Thankfully, Godzilla quickly came to the rescue again, using his ray to re-energize the electrodes. Badly dehydrated by their electricity, Hedorah tried to escape, but thanks to Godzilla's new-found power of flight, was returned to the electrodes and was dried out completely. Sensing that there was still wet sludge within Hedorah's dried out husk, Godzilla proceeded to rip out Hedorah's innards, then used the electrodes to fry them. Godzilla had finally killed Hedorah, but not without a price; he had lost one of his eyes, and his right hand was burnt down to the bone. Although the monster is defeated, a picture of another Hedorah is seen in some water with the caption "And yet another one?", ending the film on a cryptic note.
Abilities
Aquatic adaptation
Hedorah has exhibited the capability to emerge from the sea, thereby showcasing its aquatic prowess during its aquatic stage form. However, it remains uncertain whether this ability persists once Hedorah reaches its fully developed final form.
Acidic properties
As one of the strongest opponents Godzilla faced, Hedorah's primary strength was its toxic and acidic physiology, especially its blood. Its primary form of attack was by squirting chunks of its own acidic body at its opponent. Hedorah's toxic sludge was capable of dissolving through Godzilla's armored skin, and even cost Godzilla his eye. Only its eyes are known to be affected by its own liquid sludge; Hedorah used this to its advantage, as after Godzilla punched through one of its eyes, the acidic blood caused the flesh on Godzilla's hand to be burned off down to the bone.
Recombination
Hedorah demonstrates can combine with other Hedorahs to become larger, or divide into multiple smaller Hedorahs.
Eye laser
It could also fire a red laser beam from its eye, capable of setting objects on fire and burning the flesh off any opponent it strikes.
Sludge attacks
Hedorah is shown to also be able to release massive quantities of sludge and dirt without this affecting its size in any way, as shown in Godzilla vs. Hedorah where it traps Godzilla in a pit and releases so much sludge into the pit that it nearly covers Godzilla.
Durability
Hedorah has strong defenses, as it was completely immune to Godzilla's atomic breath even in its comparatively weak second stage, and conventional weapons would merely pass straight through its viscous body. Tearing into Hedorah's body proved to be ineffective as well due to its toxic blood, and it resulted in the flesh on Godzilla's hand dissolving all the way down to the bone.
Sulfate properties
In its saucer form, it was also able to fly, and spread a mist of sulfuric acid as it went along, and in its final form it could revert back to its flying form at will. Hedorah does not require oxygen to survive, but rather thrives on inhaling toxic pollutants. The byproduct of Hedorah consuming these pollutants is a highly concentrated sulfuric mist, which is capable of corroding any metal and completely disintegrating organic life. The sulfuric mist given off by Hedorah's flying form was also capable of causing Godzilla to gasp for air and collapse.
Weaknesses
Dehydration
While it is almost impossible to kill Hedorah by physical means, it depends on its liquid nature for most of its abilities. Thus, subjecting the monster to dehydration robs it of energy and critically weakens it.
Electricity
Hedorah is vulnerable to electrical discharges, as repeated zaps result in him slowly shrinking until he succumbs to the intense voltage.
Eyes
The only part of Hedorah's body which is vulnerable to its own acidic blood is its eyes. When it bleeds over one of its eyes, it has to shut the eyes to prevent them from being damaged.
Video games
Gojira-kun
Monster's Fair
Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
Hedorah appears as a villain in the 1988 Nintendo game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, as well as the sequel, Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters. Hedorah was an enemy in Gojira-kun and the Godzilla Gameboy game as well, and was unique because Godzilla's blows couldn't hurt it, but rather push it back somewhat.
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
Hedorah appeared within the game Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters.
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Hedorah also makes an appearance in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, where it randomly appears in disc form and slows the energy recovery. It can be killed, though this is difficult. When it is killed, it turns into a puff of smoke which dies away.
Hedorah was stated to appear in both of the Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee sequels but for Godzilla: Save the Earth, the game's engine couldn't develop a skeleton for Hedorah since it is a gelatinous blob, and for Godzilla: Unleashed, the cel-shading was a long and complicated process so Pipeworks decided to scrap it.
Godzilla (2014 video game)
Hedorah is a monster of pure contamination, feeding off factory smog and waste fluids to grow. It turns metal to rust and bone to ashes wherever it passes. However, its body is weak against dryness, and ultimately it was turned to ash by electric bolts from the giant electrode plates made by the Defense Forces.
A second Hedorah appeared in "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004). It was manipulated by the Xiliens to attack Godzilla in Tokyo Bay, shooting red lasers from its eyes and spewing sulfate mist out of its mouth. However, Godzilla was able to blast it ashore with its atomic breath, causing it to crash into buildings before ultimately being incinerated.
Hedorah appears for the first time as a playable character in the PS4 version of the 2014 Godzilla game, and as an enemy monster in the PS3 version. It is one of the lower tier characters, and can be fought on any difficulty path.
.png "Hedorah (PS3).png (949 KB)")
Moveset
| Square | One tap: Triangle Stroke Two taps: Headbutt Three taps: Tail Attack |
| X | Tap: Jump Forward + Tap: Forward Jump Back + Tap: Back Jump Left/Right + Tap: Left Right Jump |
| Triangle | Tap: Mount |
| Circle | Tap: Crimson Beam Forward + Tap: Acid Spray (Front) Back + Tap: Acid Spray (Area) Left/Right + Tap: Acid Spray (Wide Area) Roar + Tap: Crimson Beam Combo |
| R2 | Tap: Acid Mist Body Press |
Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
Hedorah appeared within the mobile title Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.
Comics
Godzilla: Legends
Hedorah is featured in the fourth issue of the miniseries Godzilla: Legends. In this issue, Mechagodzilla is sent to China in pursuit of Godzilla. Once the mech and its crew arrive, they find that the entire area has been destroyed and that the air is full of toxic mist. The source of the devastation is revealed to be Hedorah, who attacks and overwhelms MechaGodzilla. Before Hedorah can destroy MechaGodzilla, Godzilla himself arrives and reluctantly joins forces with his mechanical double against Hedorah. Hedorah puts up a savage fight against the two monsters, but in the end is defeated by their combined might.
Godzilla: The Half-Century War
Hedorah appears in The Half Century War #3 as one of the many monsters battling in Ghana in 1975.
Godzilla: Oblivion
Hedorah reappeared in the final issue of Godzilla Oblivion as a monster from another dimension, where it joined Anguirus, Rodan, Zilla, King Caesar, Biollante, and Mothra and her larvae as they joined Mecha-King Ghidorah in his fight against Godzilla. After it caused a lot of destruction in the city and after Mecha-King Ghidorah was defeated by Godzilla, Hedorah challenged him, only to be shot by the leviathan's atomic breath. Later, after Mecha-King Ghidorah was defeated by Godzilla, all of the monsters were left behind as the humans left the Earth as it became covered by tiny robotic cells that served as interdimensional doorways.
In other languages
- German: Hydrox
- Italian: Hidrax
- Russian: Хедора
- Chinese: Hēi duō lā (黑多拉)
Trivia
- Hedorah's design might be based on the mythological yōkai Umibōzu in Japanese folkore.
- Hedorah's suit was made to be very soft so that Godzilla could dig in its body.
- Hedorah was the first kaiju to ever visibly penetrate Godzilla's skin.
- In both of Hedorah's film appearances, its left eye is injured in some way.
- Hedorah was the second alien monster to fight Godzilla in the Showa series, succeeding King Ghidorah.
- Hedorah was the last new monster in the Showa era to completely act on its own independence, as the rest were controlled by aliens.
- The end of Godzilla vs. Hedorah shows one of Hedorah's tadpole forms is still alive, alluding to a sequel that was never made.
- The Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah has one of the highest on-screen death tolls among the Showa era monsters: it killed thousands of people, including some of the oil tankers' crew mates, most of the swimmers and fish in the sea, about 40 people on the first time it went on land, 1600 people when it was first flying, an unknown number when it was flying to Mount Fuji and about 80 of the people who were partying on Mount Fuji. Also, over 3,000,000 people were affected by Hedorah's smog.
- Hedorah's debut in Godzilla vs. Hedorah coincided with the revival of the Ultraman series with The Return of Ultraman. Curiously, the first episode of the new series featured a monster called Zazahn, a kelp monster bearing a remarkable likeness to Hedorah who was supposedly attracted to a city by pollution. Curiously, the episode which featured the debut of Zazahn was also directed by Ishiro Honda.
- Coincidentally, a monster named Hedoron, a massive sea slug mutated by Earth's polution under Ape Man Gori's command from Spectreman, appeared four months before Hedorah even made his on screen debut.
- Hedorah was likely an inspiration for the monster Destoroyah in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Both monsters possess multiple forms, including microscopic, flying, and gigantic bipedal final forms, are composed of trillions of microorganisms that have merged together, are extremely difficult opponents for Godzilla, and are incredibly deadly to organic life. Both Hedorah and Destoroyah likely influenced the creation of the monster Shinomura from the comic Godzilla: Awakening, which also shares many of these similarities.
- In Bandai's 1984 Godzilland merchandise line, Hedorah is depicted as a female monster and one of Godzilla's friends. The Godzilland Hedorah is generally purple in color with long eyelashes above its eyes. This is the only known instance of Hedorah being portrayed as an ally or friend of Godzilla.
List of appearances
Films
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (First appearance)
Video games
- Monster's Fair
- Gojira-kun
- Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
- Godzilla (Gameboy)
- Godzilla: Battle Legends
- Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!
- Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
- Godzilla: Trading Battle
- Godzilla Generations
- Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
- Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed (Scrapped)
- Godzilla (2014 video game)
- Godzilla: Kaiju Collection
Comics
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Official Godzilla Compendium. Profiles of the Monsters; Page 129.
- ↑ 5 best Godzilla movies of all time - CNN
.jpg){kind=link}