Note: This article contains spoilers. Read with caution.
God Warriors [1] (巨神兵, kyoshinhei, lit: Giant God Warrior) are giant biomechanical beings considered largely responsible for the Seven Days of Fire.
Appearance[]
In the movie, the God Warriors are first seen in the opening as large humanoid beings wielding lances of light. They march in line through the ruins of a burning city. The tapestry shown in the opening scene also depicts the God Warriors' creation where their organs are being assembled by humans.
During the story, the God Warriors have become nearly extinct and are only found as large horned skulls that protrude from the Sea of Corruption.
One God Warrior was still found alive in the city of Pejitei. It first appeared as a large lump of organic matter with a beating pulse. The Torumekian tried to revive it but released it too early, causing its flesh to dissolve away soon after it was used.
In the manga, the God Warrior was first discovered as an empty skeleton rather than a lump of organic material. The Pejite miners who discovered it accidentally activated its genesis machine, causing it to start forming flesh. It was taken by the Dorok people and eventually fully revived. This completed God Warrior, Ohma, had a thin, muscular appearance with a fanged mouth and spikes protruding from its back.
In the canon prequel short "Giant God Warrior Appears In Tokyo", the God Warriors are shown in full detail for the first time. Physically, they are massive biomechanical humanoid creatures as tall as skyscrapers. The God Warriors have brownish flesh, glowing green eyes and sharp, long golden spikes in their upper bodies. The six smaller spikes in their backs are able to shapeshift into wings of light, while their energy beam is shown to come out from a cannon inside their mouths, which is deployed by their upper teeth lifting and moving upwards. They also have seven glowing spots in the front side of their bodies, with two of them between the eyes and five more in a line from the chest to the groin.
Abilities[]
In the movie, the God Warriors' most prominent ability is the energy beam that they can fire from a cannon inside their mouths. This beam is powerful enough to produce a large explosion that consumed several dozen Ohmu and created shockwaves.
In the manga, the God Warriors are shown with more abilities, including flight, speech, and intelligence. Upon awakening, the God Warrior asked Nausicaä if she was his mother. Nausicaä showed him the Control Stone, unintentionally confirming that she was his mother. At first, the God Warrior behaved like an infant, but later, Nausicaä gives him the name Ohma. Doing so causes his intelligence to increase considerably as shown when he shortly proclaims himself an "Arbitrator and Warrior".
The God Warriors have the ability to fly by "twisting space", shapeshifting the spikes in their backs into glowing wings. They have both the large beam shown in the movie as well as smaller beams that can be fired from the two glowing spots on their forehead. These abilities are fueled by nuclear energy, and contact with them is known to cause radiation poisoning, which suggests that the Seven Days of Fire may have been at least partially a nuclear holocaust. The characters of the manga refer to the radiation emitted by the God Warriors as "poisonous light". The God Warriors are also able to form long glowing staves with their power.
The interior of at least one dead God Warrior appears to have an operator's seat, with controls and gun mount as well as interior doors [2].
History[]
The God Warriors were created by the ancient people and caused the Seven Days of Fire, in which they likely destroyed most of the world of the past. They eventually broke down or were destroyed and by the end of the Ceramic Era they were mostly extinct.
By Nausicaä's time, the metal/ceramic skeletons of God Warriors are a common sight across the landscape. However, a live God Warrior is discovered by the people of Pejite in the Pejite Pit. Princess Kushana invades Pejite [3] in order to gain control of the God Warrior. In the movie, the God Warrior is taken, along with an imprisoned Rastel, on a Bumblecrow which crashes into the Valley of the Wind after being attacked by insects.
Rather than attempt to transport it again, the Tolmekian decide to take over the Valley and use it as a facility to revive the God Warrior. The Pejite attempt to stop this by luring a swarm of enraged Ohmu to destroy the entire Valley. Kushana is forced to release the God Warrior before it is fully revived. Despite having a deteriorating body, it displays immense power by firing an energy beam that creates an explosion akin to a small nuclear weapon. It fires a second, weaker beam before collapsing completely, leaving only a large skeleton by the end.
Manga[]
In the manga series, the events diverge after the God Warrior is found by the Pejite. The God Warrior is able to generate itself when it was activated by the Control Stone, which was taken by Rastel who fled on the Pejite Brig. The brig crashes and Rastel passes the control stone to Nausicaä. The control stone is tracked down by Princess Kushana to the Valley of the Wind but Nausicaä forces her to withdraw.
Kushana later confronts Nausicaä about the location of the control stone. By then, however, she has given them into the care of Asbel, Rastel's brother and prince of Pejitei.
Eventually, the God Warrior is brought back to life by the Dorok, but believes Nausicaä is his mother since she possessed the control stone at the time. Nausicaä plans to take the God Warrior to the Crypt of Shuwa to be destroyed and does so by playing along with the role as the Warrior's mother. This causes her internal conflict as she wants this being to die but is pretending to be its mother and taking care of it.
When the God Warrior playfully kills several soldiers, Nausicaä tries to teach it to use its powers responsibly. She decides to give it the name Ohma, meaning "innocence" in the Eftal language. This causes Ohma's intelligence to increase, hinting to Nausicaä that the God Warriors are not merely weapons of destruction and may have been intended to rule or judge the world as gods.
Together they travel to Shuwa where they intend to destroy the Crypt. Along the way, Teto dies so Nausicaä buries him in front of the Garden. She becomes trapped here by the Master of the Garden so Ohma moves on ahead without her. He reaches Shuwa and starts causing destruction before Nausicaä is able to rejoin him. The Crypt and Ohma both fire energy beams at each other, causing mutual damage. Ohma manages to split the surface of the Crypt but falls into the moat.
In the end, Nausicaä enters the Crypt with the Vai Emperor and ultimately tells Ohma to destroy it. He dies after doing so but not before Nausicaä tells him that she is proud of him.
Gallery[]
References[]
a See Page Conversions Between Editions to convert Deluxe Edition volume 1 (DE1) to other editions
| Creatures
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|---|---|---|
| Domesticated Animals • Dorok Cavalry Mounts • Fox-squirrels • God Warriors • Hebikera • Heedra • Hisokusari Fungus • Horseclaw • Kai and Kui • Kest • Landgrub • Ohma • Ohmu • Pipeworm • Royal Yanma • Slugworm • Teto • Tobimushi • Wingworm | ||