Mothra

Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle: Mothra’s mammoth egg is decoratively colored in blue and yellow waves; her larva, a giant caterpillar, is brown and segmented with glowing blue—sometimes red—eyes; this caterpillar eventually spins a silken cocoon around itself—the pupa stage; from this cocoon hatches the imago (adult) form, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings that produce winds of hurricane speed during flight. Mothra’s life cycle—particularly the tendency of an imago’s death to coincide with its larva’s hatching—echoes that of the Phoenix, resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity. Though having wrought more destruction than most Toho daikaiju, she is almost always portrayed as a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction only when acting as protector to her worshippers on Infant Island or to her egg