Monarch: Legacy of Monsters continues to expand the Monsterverse, with episode 5 setting up a major twist for the entire franchise. It’s long been clear that some people can “bond” with the Monsterverse’s Titans, with Jia and Kong serving as the most notable example. These bonds have never been properly explained, with viewers theorizing everything from bioacoustics to a genetic factor.
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The Monsterverse’s ongoing spinoff, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, is increasingly focused on the question of how humans can live with Titans. Apex’s leadership believe Titans can be controlled, which of course raises the question of who has the right to do the controlling. Other members of Monarch‘s cast take very different views, and Anna Sawai’s Cate Randa seems to have just become very important indeed…
Cate Has a Connection With Multiple Titans
Cate Randa has something of a history with Godzilla. She was a survivor of Godzilla’s battle in San Francisco, and Monarch Season 1 hinted at a potential bond between her and the Titan itself. Most curious, there were several moments when the two appeared to lock gazes, as though Godzilla was acknowledging her even as she stared at it. Cate’s own emotions appeared mixed at these points; a blend of shock with awe, as though Godzilla appeared to something buried deep within her.
The idea resurfaces in Monarch Season 2, episode 5. This second season has introduced a new rival for Godzilla, officially named Co’cai, and it’s something of a mystery right now. Worshiped as a god by some South American tribes, Co’cai appears to be a homage to the legend of the Kraken, and Cate has unwittingly unleashed it from the Axis Mundi. In episode 5, she finds herself mysteriously drawn to Co’cai – and, shockingly, the Titan responds by acknowledging her in turn, seeming just as interested in her. There’s clearly a bond between the two.
At first glance, this seems like just a repeat of the Jia pattern. But it’s not, because Cate has demonstrated this with not one but two Titans. There is clearly something unique about Cate, whether or a mystical or genetic level, and the Titans find her appealing. If one human being has the facility to connect to multiple Titans, then it stands to reason others do, and that coexistence is indeed possible. Cate is the key to the Monsterverse’s future.
Cate Appears Sensitive to the Titans’ Calls
We don’t yet know the nature of Cate’s connection to the Titans. That said, Monarch Season 2, episode 4 hinted that it may be based on sound; that she may well have a heightened degree of sensitivity to the sounds emitted by Co’cao (otherwise known as Titan X). In that episode, a drunken Cate submerged her head in the water around San Francisco, and felt a strange mystical communion with something. She called it “the song of the sea,” but she was clearly supposed to be hearing the Titan.
Here’s the catch, though; the episode initially suggested Co’cao was near San Francisco at the time. It wasn’t; Monarch had been misdirected by Apex, and the creature was actually offshore Chile. That means Cate was somehow communing with Titan X over thousands of kilometers. Note that the communion involved sound waves, matching with the theory that some people have a sensitivity to Titan sounds (the “bioacoustic” theory). Given this apparent mechanism, it’s reasonable to assume Cate’s ability to bond with Titans is genetic in nature.
Sound is clearly especially important for Co’cao. The Titan has a symbiotic bond with smaller creatures called scarabs, and appears to be drawn to their breeding grounds based on the sounds they emit; when it “hears” (or more properly, feels) their movement through the water, it knows to head to islands like Santa Soledad. Cate seems to be tapping into this strange connection, but it also clearly runs far more widely than that, also bonding her to Godzilla as well. The acoustic approach is destined to be further refined in Godzilla Vs. Kong, but Cate’s ability hints at something far more interesting – and sets her up for a major role as the Monsterverse continues.
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Image Courtesy of MAPPA/Bandai Namco Pictures
