The second season of Apple TV’s Monsterverse spinoff show has introduced a brand-new Titan: a terrifying sea monster whose fearsome visage conjures images of Biollante from Godzilla’s 1990s Heisei series. It was shown to have awakened from the Monsterverse’s Axis Mundi world in the season 2 premiere, but it was apparently active before then as well.
The flashback storyline has confirmed that the sea monster – dubbed as “Titan X” – was once a regular visitor to a South American coastal village called Santa Soledad. In addition to offering backstory on Titan X and its connection to Bill, Keiko, and Shaw, this arc calls back to some easily overlooked reveals in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Set Up Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters’ Santa Soledad Twist
The first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 has put together a clear picture of what’s been taking place on Santa Soledad for centuries. The people of the village worship Titan X as a god, whose proximity actually brings prosperity — not terror – to their home, presumably due to an influx of fish from the sea.
It’s for this reason that the residents of the village perform rituals celebrating the creature’s impending arrival, and drive away outsiders who they think may dissuade Titan X from visiting.
This is the first time such a phenomenon has taken place in the Monsterverse, but it’s not the first time it’s been discussed. The Monsterverse first established this type of human-Titan dynamic via the hidden messages in the Godzilla: King of the Monsters credits, which expanded on what the movie itself revealed about the humans worshiping Titans as gods.
Woven together, these messages told a story about the ancient peoples of the Monsterverse having “symbiotic relationships” with Titans. They seemingly benefited in various ways from Titans, one of which safe harbor from other, more dangerous creatures. According to the credits, they built homes near these Titans’ resting places.
They clearly understood the utility in living nearing Titans, which is the same understanding that the people of Santa Soledad apparently reached centuries ago regarding Titan X.
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Confirms That Titan Worship Still Happens In The Monsterverse
It was also mentioned in the credits of Godzilla: King of the Monsters that oral tradition, which was the way in which these practices persisted for so long, had its limits. Over time, knowledge of a civilization’s ties to a Titan would die, effectively putting an end to these symbiotic relationships.
It’s now known from Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 that some of these dynamics may have stood the test of time, impressively making it to the modern era. The symbiotic relationship between Santa Soledad and Titan X persisted at least until the late 1950s, with its people still exercising the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors from so long ago.
After this reveal in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, It’s worth wondering what other communities are out there in the Monsterverse, still following the ways of the past. It’s possible that similar societies will be explored in future seasons or perhaps in Apple TV’s Cold War-era Monsterverse spinoff.
- Release Date
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November 16, 2023
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Chris Black, Matt Fraction
- Directors
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Julian Holmes, Matt Shakman, Mairzee Almas, Andy Goddard, Hiromi Kamata
- Writers
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Al Letson, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Chris Black, Mariko Tamaki, Amanda Overton, Andrew Colville, Matt Fraction, Milla Bell-Hart
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Kiersey Clemons
May Hewitt
