Hedorah (GvH)

Template:Tabber2Showa Template:Infobox MonsterHedorah (ヘドラ,   Hedora^?) is an alien pollution kaiju created by Toho that first faced Godzilla in the 1971 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah. Template:TOC

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 his opponent.

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 took on a humanoid shape. Hedorah's forms all share multiple common characteristics - all have 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. In his Godzilla: Final Wars design, this allusion is significantly toned down, and his eyes were tilted, thus appearing to have a more 'normal' appearance.

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.

Personality

Hedorah seems to be primarily driven by instinct and the will to survive, and the horrific death and destruction he causes are mostly derived from his bizarre biological properties rather than any true malice. However, he does demonstrate aggression and awareness in his 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.

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was under mind control and did not act independently. His only visible onscreen actions involve him being blasted out of Tokyo Bay, then visibly waving his arms and panicking before Ebirah's claw pierces his eye.

In the comic series Godzilla: Ongoing, Hedorah is aligned with the other space monsters, and seems to be intentionally causing destruction.

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, he utters several high-pitched laughter-like sounds, mostly in his final form. In Godzilla: Final Wars, his roar mostly remains the same, but he also emits sounds that are similar to an elephant trumpeting that has been lowered in pitch, and his roar now echoes.

Origins

In the Showa series, 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. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah was one of many monsters under the control of the Xiliens, but his origin and how he came under the Xiliens' control is never explained.

In IDW Publishing's Godzilla: Ongoing comic series, Hedorah is an alien monster that came to Earth along with fellow aliens Gigan, Monster X and SpaceGodzilla in order to wreak havoc.

History

Showa Series

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 he 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 him 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 his final form, a humanoid, walking pile of sludge. Thanks to his acidic, poisonous body, as well as his 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 him 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. At the end of the movie, a picture of another Hedorah is seen in some water, with the caption 'And yet another one?', but no sequel to the film was produced.

The Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah killed thousands of people. Hedorah killed some of the oil tankers' crew mates, most of the swimmers and fish in the sea, about 40 people on the first time he went on land, 1600 people when it was first flying, an unknown number when he 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. Strangely enough, it is not shown in the Millennium series whether Hedorah kills any people at all.

Godzilla Island

Hedorah in Godzilla Island

Hedorah appeared in the television show Godzilla Island. He attacked Mothra and managed to injure her, but was dehydrated by Godzilla.

There was also another Hedorah in Godzilla Island called Neo Hedorah.

Millennium Series

Godzilla: Final Wars

Hedorah in Godzilla: Final Wars

Hedorah later returned, albeit briefly, 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.

Abilities

Hedorah is one of the strongest opponents Godzilla faced in the Showa series. While Hedorah's attacks were incapable of killing Godzilla, they were still incredibly effective. Hedorah's toxic sludge alone was capable of burning Godzilla's armored flesh, and even cost Godzilla his eye. Hedorah's blood was able to actually burn all of the skin off Godzilla's hand. As a result, Hedorah was the first kaiju to ever visibly penetrate Godzilla's skin.

Acidic properties

Hedorah's primary form of attack was by squirting chunks of its own acidic body at its opponent.

Combining abilities

Hedorah 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 his size in any way, as shown in Godzilla vs. Hedorah where he traps Godzilla in a pit and releases so much sludge into the pit that it nearly covers Godzilla.

Strong defenses

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 disgusting body. Tearing into Hedorah's body proved to be ineffective as well, and it resulted in the flesh on Godzilla's hand dissolving all the way down to the bone, as Hedorah's blood alone is very toxic. Only his eyes are known to be affected by his own liquid sludge, and when he bleeds over one of his eyes, he has to shut the eyes to prevent it from being damaged.

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.

During 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 he was not shown to have used in battle, although he is seen using it during the boss fight against his '04 incarnation in the iOS game Godzilla: Defense Force.

The sulfuric mist given off by Hedorah's flying form was also capable of causing Godzilla to gasp for air and collapse.

Video games

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Gojira-kun

Hedorah in Gojira-kun

Monster's Fair

Hedorah in 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 him, but rather push him back somewhat.

Hedorah in Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

Hedorah appeared within the game Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters.

Hedorah's Sprite in 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 him.

Hedorah's flying form in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

Godzilla (2014 video game)

Pollution deposits at Shizuoka Prefecture's Taganoura Port triggered mutations in Hedrium, a mineral life form that piggybacked its way to Earth on a meteor. At first, it took the shape of a large tadpole, but after repeated cell division and amalgamation it eventually reached its fully evolved form—an uncanny destroyer of life and civilization.

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 Kaiju Guide bio

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. He is one of the lower tier characters, and can be fought on any difficulty path.

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.

Hedorah in 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: Ongoing

In Godzilla: Ongoing, Hedorah is one of the space monsters that attacks Earth, the others being Gigan, SpaceGodzilla, and Monster X. Hedorah does battle with Kiryu and almost destroys him, but Godzilla arrives and takes on the smog monster while Kiryu escapes to get backup. Hedorah badly wounds Godzilla with his deadly toxic body and knocks him into a canyon, where he attempts to drown Godzilla in toxic sludge. Godzilla uses his atomic breath to fly out of the canyon and resumes his battle with Hedorah. Godzilla tears Hedorah into pieces and burns him into dust with his atomic breath. Godzilla then leaves to battle the other space monsters, leaving Hedorah apparently destroyed.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War

Hedorah appears in The Half Century War #3 as one of the many monsters battling in Ghana in 1975.

Hedorah in Godzilla: The Half-Century War #3

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

Hedorah is briefly seen in the first issue of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, as part of Dr. Kenji Ando's conference about the reasons why kaiju have gained their own place in the natural order. In the presentation, it's learned that the "Smog Monster," as the news like to call Hedorah, attacked several oil rigs in the ocean. Though Hedorah is presumably still alive and present on Earth during the events of the series, no attempts have been made to locate or capture him, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Godzilla: Oblivion

Hedorah reappeared in the final issue of Godzilla Oblivion as a monster from another dimension, where he joined Anguirus, Rodan, Zilla, King Caesar, Biollante, and Mothra and her larvae as they joined Mecha-King Ghidorah in his fight against Godzilla. After he 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 laser features a sound effect that is actually King Ghidorah's flying sound at a higher pitch.
• In both of Hedorah's film appearances, his left eye is injured in some way.
• In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah's tail resembles the Choju King Crab's from Ultraman Ace.
• Hedorah's blood is very toxic and acidic, but the only part of his body which is vulnerable to it is his eyes. If Hedorah bleeds over his eyes, he has to close them to prevent them from being damaged. However, in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Hedorah used this to his advantage, after Godzilla punched through one of his eyes, the acidic blood caused the flesh on Godzilla's hand to be burned off down to the bone.
• In the Showa series, Hedorah was the second alien monster to fight Godzilla.
• Hedorah was the last new monster in the Showa era to completely act on its own independence, as the rest were controlled by aliens.
• It is almost impossible to kill Hedorah, as his only weakness is dehydration.
• It is never explained whether Hedorah is on the side of the Xiliens in Godzilla: Final Wars, or if he simply arrived on Earth to feed on the pollution given off by Tokyo.
• The end of Godzilla vs. Hedorah shows one of Hedorah's tadpole forms is still alive, alluding to a sequel that was never made.
• Due to Hedorah's very brief appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars, he carries out the least on-screen destruction in the entire film, as he was only shown feeding on the pollution in Tokyo Bay before Godzilla attacked him. The footage showing him using his sulfuric mist suggests that he was to have more screentime in the film, but that it was cut as a result of time constraints.
  • Hedorah is also the only monster in the entire film (other than Gigan and Monster X) not to appear before the Xiliens reveal their plans.
• In Godzilla: Final Wars, Hedorah's theme was cut from the movie's soundtrack along with his fight with Godzilla.
• 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)
• Godzilla: Final Wars

Television series

• Godzilla Island

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

• Godzilla: Legends
• Godzilla: Ongoing
• Godzilla: The Half-Century War
• Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
• Godzilla: Oblivion

References

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