Godzilla: Why Mothra Has NEVER Really Died

In the Godzilla movies, Mothra never really dies, and that’s because the iconic character has a complicated life cycle that makes her unique to her fellow giant monsters. In a sense, Mothra is virtually immortal, despite repeated “deaths” in Toho’s movies, in which she was killed by Godzilla, Gigan, and most recently, King Ghidorah.

The MonsterVerse introduced its own version of the classic Toho kaiju in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. This version of Mothra is revealed to be one of several Titans living on the planet. Mothra, in her larvae form, hatched from an egg in the beginning of King of the Monsters and after emerging from her cocoon, metamorphized into the adult Mothra, complete with her colorful wings. Mothra joined forces with Godzilla in the final battle against Rodan and Ghidorah, and ended up giving her life essence to Godzilla. Mothra died in the conflict, but her energy gave Godzilla the strength he needed to defeat his ancient rival. The King of the Monsters credits teased her return with a photo of a giant egg that’s believed to be Mothra’s.

The reveal that Mothra left an egg behind does not mean that Mothra’s offspring will be a new Mothra. What it means is that the same Mothra who died in battle with King Ghidorah and Rodan will return. King of the Monsters director Mike Dougherty has explained in the past how Mothra’s life cycle works, saying Mothra “represents the eternal cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. And she knows it” [via Twitter]. How can that be possible? Dougherty has stated when Mothra dies, her memories are passed down genetically to her offspring [via Twitter]. So in a sense, the larvae that hatches from the next egg will become the Mothra, rather than a new version. She’ll have all the memories of all the past incarnations of herself.

That’s why the Mothra larvae was surprised when the Twin Fairies who had sung to her for thousands of years weren’t around when she hatched. She had lived through all this before and knew what to expect. Not only does the explanation about Mothra’s memories make sense for the MonsterVerse, but it also works for Toho’s Mothra. In previous versions, Mothra has long been portrayed as a monster who is constantly “reborn”. Every time another Mothra emerges from an egg in the Godzilla movies, she already seems to have an understanding of the world, the Twin Fairies, and Godzilla.

Perhaps the only way Mothra can truly die is if she’s killed before she can lay an egg. Laying eggs is how Mothra ensures that her cycle continues endlessly. The fact that there’s a Mothra egg in the MonsterVerse in a way makes her “death” at the hands of Ghidorah less sad, because even though she’s gone for now, one day she’ll be back in a new body, regardless of if it happens offscreen, in Godzilla vs. Kong, or a different MonsterVerse movie entirely. Mothra will live on.

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