In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, a Titan named Mothra dies while protecting Godzilla from Ghidorah in an epic climactic battle. The film saw epic battles of Godzilla against Ghidorah, and Mothra against Rodan, which left Godzilla as the last one standing.
After Dr. Emma Russel wakes Ghidorah up from his slumber, the vicious Titan assumes the position of the Alpha Titan. He wakes the rest of the dormant monsters, and there goes world peace. Every continent is under the attack of Titans (see what I did there?).
As the climax approaches, Godzilla engages in a rematch with Ghidorah, while Mothra is busy fighting Rodan. By observing the battle between Mothra and Rodan, we can deduce a lot about their personalities.
Rodan seemed fierce, but he was also calculative about his moves. However, Mothra appeared to be a fairly intelligent monster and empathetic towards life forms. She even seemed to hold back her attacks until she had no choice but to stab Rodan with her stinger.
And then it happens. Mothra willingly sacrifices herself as she tries to protect Godzilla from Ghidorah’s attack. Godzilla roars in grief for the loss of a comrade, and his rage defeats Ghidora, and he reclaims his role as the Alpha of Titans (well, except for Kong, because from the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer, we know he bows to no one).
I will talk about Mothra’s death in detail further in the article, but before I get into the good parts, check out the trailer of the upcoming film, Godzilla vs. Kong. And if you haven’t already watched all the films (which I’m sure you have, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, but to be safe), go quickly watch them and then come back for more.
1. How Did Mothra Disintegrate Into Fine Dust?
During the climactic battle of the 2019 film Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mothra jumps into the fight to protect Godzilla against Ghidorah’s gravity beams. It adds to her personality and shows her intelligence and compassion.
However, it’s more complicated than that. It might appear as if Mothra sacrificed herself, but then it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it was a calculated and deliberate move.
As she gets hit by Ghidorah’s gravity beams, her body disintegrates into fine dust particles. These dust particles are actually Mothra’s life essence. The energy gets absorbed by Godzilla, resulting in his new, more powerful form, Burning Godzilla.
The death of his symbiont doesn’t sit right with Godzilla, so he destroys Ghidorah. The battle ends with Godzilla standing as the winner, and the rest of the Titans bowing down to their new King.
Now bear in mind that Godzilla needed Mothra’s added power to stand a chance against Ghidorah. So it is not wrong to say that Mothra’s death was integral to defeating Ghidorah. But what would you say if I were to tell you that Mothra isn’t gone gone?
2. Godzilla May be the Key to Mothra’s Rebirth
Godzilla absorbing Mothra’s life essence in the battle may be the key to bringing Mothra back to life. Quite literally. In the film’s end-credit scene, a clip showing that a new Mothra egg has been discovered appears. It might not be a big deal if we didn’t know about the Mothra species’ life cycle.
After metamorphosing from a larva to a moth, Mothra lay an egg, to which they transfer their life essence before they die. Then they are reborn through the egg.
Now, since Monarch found a Mothra egg following her death, there is a possibility that Mothra had predicted her death in advance. Hence she had laid an egg before heading to support Godzilla. It is a pretty smart move, by the way. Now all that is needed for Mothra’s rebirth is…her life essence.
We know that Mothra had transferred her life essence to Godzilla, enabling him to power-up and fight Ghidorah. We can deduce that Mothra relies on Godzilla to transfer her life essence to her egg, so that she can be reborn again.
So it is only a matter of when Godzilla does his part so that Mothra can return to the world of the living.
3. More Mothra Species Before the Battle in King of the Monsters
Let me put this out in simple words. If Mothra hatched from an egg at the start of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, she must have a mother who laid the egg, right? How else would the egg appear?
The egg that Mothra hatched from in the film was found in the Temple of Moth in China. But the temple had some carvings on the walls, which depicted Mothra being worshipped as a god by people.
So it is confirmed that there were more Mothra species before the one we saw in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It is quite unlike Godzilla and Rodan, which are the same ones that existed millennia ago.
Mothra’s life is cyclic, where she hatches from the egg as a larva, cocoons herself, and re-emerges as a moth, lays an egg, dies, and then is reborn from the egg after the life essence is transferred to it.
So it is safe to say that there have been many Mothra species that existed before the one seen in King of the Monsters. And there is no reason to believe that she cannot appear again.
Mothra was hailed as a “giver of life” by the people who worshipped her. She truly is a gentle and compassionate Titan.
4. About Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is the third installment of the MonsterVerse franchise films. It is the sequel film to 2014’s Godzilla. The film is dedicated to executive producer Yoshimitsu Banno who died in 2017.
In the film, humanity relies on Godzilla and Mothra to defeat Ghidorah, responsible for waking the other dormant Titans to destroy the world.
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