Dangerous First-Class Monsters

Forbidden Monsters (禁忌モンスター, Kinki Monsutā) are a group of five Elder Dragons that Capcom had disallowed from being represented or shown in any promotional material, keeping their existence secretive outside of the games themselves. This ban is not active anymore.

The Forbidden Monsters

The five Forbidden Monsters are Fatalis, Crimson Fatalis, White Fatalis, Alatreon and Dire Miralis. In tales and legends, they are sometimes seen as the one and same mythical monster, the Black Dragon, regardless of appearance and coloration. In those myths, they are all Fatalis. They notably do not have an in-game icon depicting them, with their icons being a single "?" symbol, except Fatalis and Alatreon who received proper ones in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. All Forbidden Monsters are known for their immense and destructive power, and many things about them, such as where they live and their ecology, is merely assumption.

"Forbidden Monster" is more an out-of-universe term than an in-universe one, meaning it is not used within the Monster Hunter world. While Forbidden Monsters are all among the most powerful monsters, the term itself doesn't refer to power. Part of the fandom has taken to considering other powerful monsters as Forbidden Monsters or unofficial synonyms, notably Safi'jiiva, Zoh Shia, Vorsphyroa and Merphistophelin.

Other Terms

Black Dragons

As mentioned, all Forbidden Monsters are, in legends, seen as the one and same Black Dragon. Three of them also have "Black Dragon" in their title: Fatalis the Black Dragon, Alatreon the Blazing Black Dragon and Dire Miralis the Molten Black Dragon. A common mistake is the usage of this term as if it were a category of Elder Dragon.

Dangerous First-Class Monsters

The term Dangerous First-Class Monster (第一級の危険モンスター) is used once to refer to Alatreon. Some fans have taken to using it as an unofficial synonym of Forbidden Monster.

Disaster Level Monsters

Disaster Level and Catastrophic (Japanese 超災害級 for both) are terms used a few times to refer to Alatreon and Safi'jiiva. Weirdly, there is one text passage where it seems to be referring to Elder Dragons in general.

Forbidden-Class Monsters

The term Forbidden-Class Monster (Japanese 禁忌級) is used twice to refer to Zoh Shia. Unfortunately, its nuance was completely lost in the English translation. It sounds similar to Forbidden Monsters, but the context and meaning is likely different.

Known Forbidden Monsters

1st Generation

• Fatalis
• Crimson Fatalis

2nd Generation

• White Fatalis

3rd Generation

• Alatreon
• Dire Miralis

Extended List Including Presumed Dangerous First-Class Monsters :

The following are monsters sometimes unofficially categorized alongside Forbidden Monsters by fans due to their immense power. They are not Forbidden Monsters.

5th Generation

• Safi'jiiva

6th Generation

• Zoh Shia

Frontier Generation

• Vorsphyroa

Monster Hunter Online

• Merphistophelin
• Elemental Merphistophelin

Photo Gallery

Fatalis

Crimson Fatalis

White Fatalis

Alatreon

Dire Miralis

Safi'jiiva (not a Forbidden Monster)

Zoh Shia (not a Forbidden Monster)

Vorsphyroa (not a Forbidden Monster)

Merphistophelin (not a Forbidden Monster)

Elemental Merphistophelin (not a Forbidden Monster)

Notes

• Gogmazios, despite being a literal black dragon and final boss, is not actually titled as a Black Dragon, its title being the Giant Halberd Dragon. It is also not considered a Forbidden Monster due to the lack of out-of-universe secrecy around it, despite it being highly enigmatic in-universe.
• All the Elder Dragons unofficially considered to be in this category have some relationship to an established Forbidden Monster/Black Dragon:
  • Safi'jiiva has unprecedented abilities to reshape the environment on an ecosystem-wide scale, and was mentioned to have provoked Alatreon into traveling to the New World to eliminate it and its offspring. The developers of Iceborne explicitly described it as a counterpart, equal, or even rival to Fatalis design-wise, with supplementary material implying that its presence may have been the catalyst for Fatalis' awakening.
  • Zoh Shia shares attacks with several Forbidden Monsters, including Fatalis, Crimson Fatalis, White Fatalis, and Alatreon, as well as physical similarities to the first.
  • Vorsphyroa bears many similarities to Alatreon, having virtually identical builds and powers, up to and including their status as "living natural disasters" that render their habitats inhospitable by existing due to their instability. Any actual relation between them is unknown.
  • Not much information is known about Merphistophelin, but it notably has a very similar body structure to Fatalis, Alatreon's ability to control multiple elements, and extreme destructive potential surpassing a normal Elder Dragon.
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne was the first game to give a Forbidden Monster a proper icon, giving icons to both Alatreon and Fatalis.
  • This could be linked with the lore of Monster Hunter. As evidenced by the in-game dialogue, all records of Alatreon within the Old World were said to be destroyed out of fear that such a creature could exist. When the Third Fleet Master returns from reporting the Alatreon research to the guild, she is confronted by "self-important people" that demand her to stop the operation and burn all the records, to which she refuses.
• Zoh Shia being referred to as a "forbidden-class" (Japanese 禁忌級) monster had lead some fans to believe it to be a Forbidden Monster, but, as mentioned, the context and meaning here is likely different.

Sources

• Hunter's Encyclopedia 3
• Dive to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
• Principles of Creativity 2
• Monster Hunter 3
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Monster Hunter Frontier Z
• Monster Hunter Online