Gorath

Gorath

 (ゴラス,   *Gorasu*?) is a runaway celestial body that first appeared in the 1962 Toho film *Gorath* and later made an appearance in the film *Godzilla: Final Wars* in 2004. Template:TOC

## History

### Showa era

#### *Gorath*

In 1979, the world's astronomical community noticed the presence of a rogue celestial object entering the solar system. This body was promptly called Gorath, and a crew of scientists aboard the Japanese JX-1 *Hayabusa* spacecraft were dispatched to investigate it. Computational results equated the mass of Gorath as 6,000 times the Earth's, but the *Hayabusa*'s crew failed to account for Gorath's relatively small size, roughly half that of Earth. Identified as an extremely dense, newly formed star, it was realized that Gorath would destroy Earth if the two bodies collided. Unable to escape the force of Gorath's gravity, the crew of the *Hayabusa* relayed the last details of Gorath to Earth before being killed upon collision with the star's surface. Upon their death, a United Nations task force was formed to figure out how to deflect Gorath or move the Earth out of its path.

### Millennium era

#### *Godzilla: Final Wars*

After the Xiliens revealed themselves to the people of Earth and teleported away the monsters attacking the planet's major cities, the Xilien Commander explained that his race had come to save mankind from an impending disaster. He revealed that a gigantic runaway asteroid called Gorath was on a collision course with the Earth and would arrive and destroy it very soon, and that the Xiliens wanted to prevent this disaster from happening. However, Miyuki Otonashi and some of the Earth Defense Force's members concluded that Gorath was merely a hologram, and that the Xiliens had more sinister intentions. The Commander was usurped and murdered by his protege, the Controller of Planet X, soon afterwards.

After the Xiliens' plan was exposed and the remaining members of the EDF boarded the Xilien Mothership, the Controller released his trump card against Godzilla. The Controller summoned the real Gorath asteroid to Tokyo, but Godzilla managed to destroy it with his atomic breath, creating a massive explosion that destroyed a large area of the city. However, Gorath was merely a vessel for transporting the Xiliens' ultimate weapon, the creature known as Monster X, who descended to the ground and challenged Godzilla.

## Video games

* *CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God* (2010) - Pachinko

Gorath Pachinko.gifGorath in *CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God*
## Books

* *GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla* (2018)

### *GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla*

Gorath was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomers in 2038. It was an asteroid with a diameter of about 30 kilometers, and a mass comparable to the Moon, and its constituent substances were never fully known. In 2040, Japanese astronomer Dr. Tajiri realized that Gorath was going to collide with the Earth in 2042, and noted that Gorath seemed to have a will of its own, following an abnormal path to put itself on a collision course with Earth. Because of this, Tajiri proposed that Gorath could have been a space monster. Because it was determined to be difficult to change Gorath's path, it was declared the greatest threat to humanity in 2041, and thus preparations to evacuate the planet and establish a base in outer space were begun. However, in 2042, Godzilla appeared in the Arctic for the first time in five years and fired his atomic breath into space at the approaching Gorath, completely destroying it. It was later theorized that the reason Godzilla suddenly disappeared in 2037 was because he detected the approach of Gorath and went into hibernation to store enough energy to destroy it. The monster Battra also awoke earlier than his counterpart Mothra in order to respond to the approach of Gorath, but was apparently killed in battle with Godzilla.

## Trivia

* Gorath also appears in the 2015 TOHO KAIJU expansion for Bandai's trading card game *Battle Spirits*. Like in *Godzilla: Final Wars*, it has a direct connection to Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah. When deployed, it allows a player to add any card with those names to their hand if it is among the bottom five cards in their deck.
* In the 1997 television series *Godzilla Island*, there is a volcano named after Gorath.
* Gorath's role in *GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla* is a reference to the film *Godzilla vs. Mothra*, where it is revealed Battra was destined to stop an asteroid from colliding with and destroying the Earth.

## References

1. ↑ Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
2. ↑ The Planet Gorath | Battle Spirits Wiki