The 5 most powerful creatures in Lovecraft mythology. Lovecraft's pantheon of gods. Cthulhu. Where did the myths come from

On the occasion of the 128th birthday of the great master of horror, Howard F. Lovecraft , recall his pantheon of creatures.

According to the ideas Lovecraft about deities in their myths...

were originally Elder Gods- kind and peaceful, who lived on a star Betelgeuse(or near it) in the constellation of Orion. They very rarely intervened in earthly affairs - in the struggle between good and evil, which they are ancient (Great Old Ones, or otherwise - Ancient Ones).

Systematized "Myths of Lovecraft", better known as "Myths of Cthulhu", appeared after death Lovecraft. His close friend and colleague August Derleth(1909-1971) took the unfinished works of the "father of horrors", edited them, generalized, added something from himself - and published in his own publishing house Arkham House.

ancient

ancient(Great Old Ones) - incredibly powerful beings, presumably the same age as the universe. Members of mystical sects and cults revere them as gods. ancient live in other star systems or even outside of our dimension. It is very likely that many of them are incorporeal, or rather, they do not consist of matter.

Their power is based on forces unknown to mankind, which are traditionally considered magical. It is not unlimited and has its limits, often extending to the entire planet. The ancients can influence earthly affairs only under certain astronomical conditions (a special arrangement of stars in the sky) and only when they are helped by their followers - cultists.

Ancient and outer gods in comic webcomic The Unspeakable Vault (Of Doom)

The Ancients were, the Ancients are, and the Ancients will be. Not in the spaces we know about, but in between. They go imperturbable and primordial, dimensionless and invisible to us. Yog-Sothoth knows the gates. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is both the key and the guardian of the gates. Past, present, future, everything is in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones came from in the past and knows where They will come from in the future.

- The Dunwich Horror, H. F. Lovecraft

Dagon

In real Dagon was a deity of grain and agriculture (dagan, Jude. - grain), revered by the northwestern Semitic tribes. Mentions of him are found even in the Bible - for example, in the fifth chapter of the first book of Kings.

Some researchers also believe that Dagon was the patron saint of fishermen and therefore was depicted as a bearded man with a fish tail instead of legs. The latter seems to have inspired Lovecraft to create a frightening image of an underwater deity, which first appeared in the novel "Shadow over Innsmouth" (1936).

Along with his wife hydra, Dagon is the direct patron deep sea who respectfully call them Father Dagon and mother Hydra. Looks Dagon likewise deep sea(a humanoid with features of a fish and an amphibian), but differs in gigantic size. Dagon mentioned in several works H. F. Lovecraft, including as a character in a story "Dagon" .

huge, reminiscent polyphemus and with all his appearance causing a feeling of disgust, he rushed, like a monster that appears in nightmares, to the monolith, clasped it with giant scaly arms and bowed his disgusting head to the pedestal, while making some indescribable rhythmic sounds.

Cthulhu

Cthulhu- the most famous of the monsters Lovecraft created by the author himself. There are different opinions about the pronunciation of his name. The writer himself said that the name of this deity is rooted in some ancient language, completely alien to people. The closest pronunciation, according to Lovecraft, is: "Khlul'Hluu".

Cthulhu- an evil god who rests in a sunken city R'lyeh and is waiting in the wings when the stars will take the right position and he will return to life to sow chaos and destruction. He is also a brother ancient and driver of their slaves.

Appearance Cthulhu known to all art lovers Lovecraft- this is a giant (he was able to chase the ship in the Atlantic Ocean, standing in the water) of a humanoid form with slippery scaly green skin and claws on his hands (presumably - and legs). Its head resembles an octopus - the skull is devoid of hair, and numerous tentacles grow around the mouth. To complete this nice picture, on the back of Cthulhu there are two wings, like a bat.

IN Myths Cthulhu describes an ancient religious tradition of worship (cult) Cthulhu. According to Lovecraft, worshipers are present in various parts of the Earth; in particular, among the Eskimos of Greenland, and among the inhabitants of Louisiana. During the rites, the clergy perform human sacrifices, rage and recite a mantra. "Ph'nglui mglv'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh vgah'nagl fhtagn", which roughly means "In the depths of the waters under R'lyeh, Cthulhu rests, biding his time".

Cthulhu able to influence the minds of people, but his abilities are drowned out by the water column, so that only the dreams of especially sensitive people remain subject to him. IN "Call of Cthulhu" dreams cast on Cthulhu, terrify those who see them and sometimes drive them to madness. The whole history of mankind is only a moment for Cthulhu. Admirers Cthulhu convinced of the great power of their idol, and the death of civilization seems to them a very likely, albeit insignificant, consequence of awakening Cthulhu.

Cthulla- Secret daughter Cthulhu. As is clear from her middle name, this young (by cosmic standards) lady is the own daughter of Cthulhu. Being a complete copy of her daddy, she hides in some secret place called Yuth(Yth). Its purpose is to revive Cthulhu in case he dies. In this regard, she is of great value to her father - Cthullu carefully guarded by his servants.

Azathoth

Azathoth- disembodied spirit, commanding ancient, which Ancient (Elder) Gods hid from the earth in chaos, behind 11 seals.

Among his epithets are such as "blind mad god", "eternally chewing sultan of demons" and "nuclear chaos". First Azathoth mentioned in the work "A somnambulistic search for the Unknown Kadath" .

...that last formless nightmare in the center of chaos, which blasphemously swirls and seethes in the very center of infinity - the boundless sultan of demons Azathoth, whose name no one dares to pronounce, who greedily chews in incomprehensible, dark chambers out of time to the deaf, maddening terrible fraction drums and quiet monotonous sobs of cursed flutes, under whose vile roar and lingering whistle gigantic Absolute gods slowly, clumsily and bizarrely dance, eyeless, voiceless, gloomy, insane Other gods, whose spirit and messenger is the creeping chaos Nyarlathotep.

Only a madman can almost worship this god - in fact, it is so, because those few daredevils who dared to choose him as their patron paid for it with mind, body and soul. The term "nuclear" was used Lovecraft to indicate the central role Azathoth in our universe, and not for the sake of a hint of its radioactivity.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep (Nyarlathotep)- Creeping Chaos, Messenger Azathoth, Black man. This deity is very different from his fellows. Unlike Hastura living on the stars, or Cthulhu sleeping in the depths of the sea, Nyarlathotep full of life and actively intervenes in the fate of the universe.

His favored appearance is a tall man with dark hair and a good sense of humor. He speaks ordinary human language, has no cult and serves as a messenger Azathoth, realizing his will on Earth.

Nyarlathotepa often associated with an ancient Egyptian god set, as well as the Aztec deities: Tezcat sticky("smoking mirror") and Xype Totekom("man without skin").

Hastur

Hastur (Hastur)- Unpronounceable; The one who can't be named. Lovecraft borrowed it from Ambrose Bierce(story "Shepherd Gaita" ), Where Hastur was the patron saint of shepherds - a purely good entity, in contrast to the evil creature that appeared on the pages of the story Lovecraft "Whispers in the Dark" .

Howard Lovecraft by reading "Yellow Sign" Chambers in 1927, highly appreciated the story and decided to combine the symbolism used by the British writer with his own myths Cthulhu. As a result, he created a "classic" image Hastura as one of Old Gods, which appears in the guise of a black whirlwind and is able to steal the soul and mind of the one who sees it.

Probably the only work Lovecraft, in which Hastur acts directly - this is a story "Dweller in the Dark" , where, in addition, mention is made of the cult of his followers and some of their sacred object - the “sparkling trapeziohedron”, capable of causing Hastura. The name of this deity is also found in the story "Whisperer in the Dark" , which again speaks of the existence of a cult of his admirers and casually mentions Yellow Sign from the story of the same name Chambers. Lovecraft did not describe the role Hastura in the pantheon he invented in some detail.

According to the myths of Cthulhu, anyone could call Hastura, saying his name three times (hence all the above nicknames). The appearance of this deity is amorphous, but before people he appears in the standard "Cthulchian" form - something resembling a giant octopus.

Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth (Yog-Sothoth)- All in one; The one who is outside; The one who opens the way. The best thing about this deity said himself Lovecraft:

Boundless Being embodied the All-in-one and the One-in-all that the waves had told him about. It contained not only time and space, but the entire universe with its immeasurable scope, knowing no limits, and surpassing any fantasies and calculations of mathematicians and astronomers. Perhaps in ancient times the priests of the secret cults called him Yog-Sothoth and whispered this name from mouth to mouth, and he was known to the crayfish-like aliens from Yuggoth as the Beyond-the-Edge. His spiral-brained messengers were recognized by an untranslatable sign, but Carter understood how relative and inaccurate all these definitions were.

– H. F. Lovecraft, "Gate of the Silver Key".

Role Yog-Sothoth in the pantheon - a neutral (false) deity, the keeper of the Gate between the worlds, the physical embodiment of the universe. in the story Lovecraft "Gate of the Silver Key" the hero calls him "Being". Yog-Sothoth locked outside our Universe, it exists simultaneously in all times and in all space. This is an omniscient god, with his power almost surpassing Azathoth and wisdom - Yib-Tstlla. According to the writer Clark Ashton Smith, Yog-Sothoth in one of his incarnations he could command time.

From Yog-Sothoth with an earthly woman dunwich Lavinia Whately twins are born. In his inhuman nature the son Yog-Sothota Wilber had a scaly shell and gray-green tentacles (tentacles) with red suckers emanating from the abdomen. His non-human twin was in the form of a huge many-eyed chicken egg with a dozen legs and consisted of a jelly-like substance. In the description, the monster is compared to an octopus (octopus) and a centipede (centipede).

At Yog-Sothoth there have been several incarnations. Among them:

Aforgomon

Aforgomon, disputed by some, is the epitome of Yog-Sothoth. God Aforgomon was created by the writer Clark Ashton Smith as a super-being revered in many nations. Aforgomon- the god of time, commanding time and space. About the appearance of this incarnation Yog-Sothoth nothing is known because Aforgomon is shown only to those who angered him, and after his appearance, those who were angry can no longer tell anything. It is known, however, that its appearance is accompanied by blinding light. Aforgomon- deadly enemy Xexanota apparently one of Old Gods or from Outer Gods, also invented Clark Ashton Smith.

Tawil at-Umr

Tawil at-Umr(Tawil at-U'mr), otherwise called Umr at-Tawil, The Most Ancient and Oldest of the Living - the incarnation Yog-Sothoth. Rules over vast spaces beyond the Gates of the Silver Key, in which there is no time, and over almost omnipotent ancient living there. Described as a humanoid creature wearing a strange, foamy veil. If he decides to remove the veil, then whoever looks at him will go crazy. Tawil at-Umr considered a benevolent god, as opposed to an evil one Aforgomona.

Dweller on the Threshold

Based on the name, this is the main incarnation Yog-Sothoth.

Shub-Niggurath

Shub-Niggurath(English Shub-Niggurath), also the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Offspring (otherwise the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, “Iä! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!”) fertility”, invented Howard Lovecraft.

First mentioned in his story "Last Test" ("The Last Test", 1928). At the very Lovecraft is never described, unlike his successors, but is repeatedly mentioned in spells and invocations. Shub-Niggurath described as a hazy, cloud-like mass with many long, black tentacles, slime-dropping mouths, and short, goat-like legs. She is accompanied by many small monstrous creatures she has spawned, which she constantly spews out of herself, and then devours and digests again.

Of all the creatures of the mythical pantheon Myths Cthulhu, cult Shub-Niggurath described as the most common. Perhaps because of all ancient she is the only one who shows some favor to her flock: for example, it was she who gave the priest T'yuogu a scroll with a spell to cast down Gatanoa. She is worshiped even by extraterrestrials Mi-go. Having properly performed the rite, you can call Shub-Niggurath in any forest on a new moon, and sometimes she appears in the form of a beautiful woman.

In the work "Beast on the Threshold" the protagonist retells the prayers of the occultists, which he unwittingly visited:

My brain! My brain! God, Dan, how pressing! From somewhere outside, this she-devil is knocking and scratching! Even now Ephraim! Kamog! Kamog! Omut shoggoth! Ya! Shub-Niggurath! A goat with a legion of young ones! .. Flame, flame on the other side of the body, on the other side of life ... inside the earth, oh my!

In the work "Horror in the Museum" also used like this:

It needed nourishment - and It will no longer lack it. He is God and I am the High Priest in His new priestly hierarchy. ia! Shub-Niggurath! Almighty Goat with the Legion of the Young!

Also in the work “Attic window” :

No vegetation, as on a dark star. A circle of worshipers of a stone pillar. Their cries: Ie! Shub-Niggurath!

Ghatanotoa / Gatanoa

Ghatanotoa (Ghatanothoa)- Usurper, god of volcanoes and first son Cthulhu. Presumably, he is buried under the mountain Voormithadreth(Voormithadreth) on Mu(a mythical continent sunk in the Pacific Ocean). Ghatanotoa revered by the inhabitants Mu for his ability to turn people into living statues.

Gatanoa- the central mythical deity of the work Howard Lovecraft "Out of Time" left on earth by aliens Mi-go from the planet Yuggoth long before the beginning of human civilization.

Gatanoa immortal and lives in the dungeon of the fortress, once located on the mountain Yaddith Gho, in the kingdom K'naa, on a lost continent Mu. Geographically, the mountain is located near New Zealand. According to legend, anyone who sees an ancient deity or even his image will fall into a state of petrification, while the brain and internal organs will remain intact and continue vital activity until some external factor destroys the petrified shell. To avoid awakening Gatanoa, people of the kingdom K'naa annually they sacrificed twelve young warriors and twelve girls. Their bodies were burned on fires in a marble temple at the foot of the mountain, since not a single person dared to climb to the fortress at the top of the mountain.

The most significant performance of a man against Gatanoa was committed by a temple servant Shub-Niggurata by name T'yuog, which is described in "Nameless Cults" Frederick von Juntz. T'yuog created a scroll that was supposed to protect him from the destructive effect of the sight of a deity, but due to the substitution by the priests Gatanoa scroll on a fake one, he failed. The events described refer to the Year of the Red Moon, which, according to the version von Juntz corresponds to 173148 BC.

Based on a series of stories Lin Carter “Xothic legend cycle” , Gatanoa is the firstborn Cthulhu.

Glaaki

Glaaki(glaki)- Inhabitant of the lake, Ruler of dead dreams. Lives in the Severn Valley near Brichester, England. First appeared in a story Ramsay Campbell "Inhabitants of the Lake" . Glaaki looks like a huge slug, completely covered with metal spikes. The latter are not just a stylish accessory - they are alive and grow out of the body, like hair. Glaaki can extend tentacles with eyes at the ends to look out of the water.

Not bad character lit up on the cover of the music. album by Belgian death/doom band Tyrant's Kall. The team is known for its passion for the work of Lovecraft. Art by Paolo Girardi.

Cult Glaaki strong enough - mainly due to the magical knowledge that this deity supplies its followers. The latter, according to the authors of the Cthulhu myths, are systematized and recorded in 12 volumes of the book "Revelations Glaaki».

People come to this cult for the eternal life that promises them Glaaki. The deity always keeps this promise - it sticks its steel spike into the next newcomer, fills his body with poison and turns a person into a special kind of zombie - "servants Glaaki” (another little-known creature from myths Cthulhu).

In addition to those already listed, myths Cthulhu occasional mention of others Outer gods: Daoloth(Daoloth), Grotto(groth) Hydra(Hydra) Mlandot(Mlandoth), Tulzucha(Tulzuscha), Ubbo Sathla(Ubo-Sathla) Vordavoss(Vordavoss) and Xiurn(Xiurhn).

Aphum-Zhah (Aphoom-Zhah)- he is "Cold Flame" - a deity invented by a friend Lovecraft - Clark Ashton Smith(1893-1961). This monster is a descendant Kthughi(Cthugha). Like another monster Ithaqua(Ithhaqua) - he sleeps under the ice of the Arctic, waiting for his "finest hour". During the Ice Age Aptum-Zhah often visited Hyperborea (Lovecraft considered it to be an analogue of Atlantis). To humans, it looks like a huge, cold column of gray fire.

Chaugnar Faugn- "God of the Elephants", "Horror from the Hills" - creation Frank Belknap Long (1903-1994).

Others (monsters - approx. MF) originated from much darker and more mysterious, transmitted only by word of mouth, secret legends of antiquity - such were, for example, the black, shapeless Tsatkhoggua, which has many tentacles of Cthulhu, equipped with a terrible trunk Chhaugnar Faugn and other monstrous creatures known to a select few from forbidden books like the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon, or von Junzt's Secret Cults.

— Howard Lovecraft, "Horror in the Museum"

Cthugha- created August Derleth and first appears in the story "House on Crooked Street" (1962). This creature looks like a huge ball of fire. His servants are a race of fire vampires. in the story Derleta "dwelling in darkness" the main character is trying to call Kthughu to banish the incarnation Nyarlatotepa(Nyarlathotep) from a forest in Canada.

Elder gods

Elder Gods- a group of supernatural beings opposing ancient (Great Old Ones), as well as other, smaller divine "fractions" - Outer gods (Outer Gods) And Great (Great Ones).

Literary scholars do not associate Elder gods with the creativity Lovecraft, because they were created by his followers and, in fact, are a compilation of a number of ancient myths.

Bast (Bast), or Bastet- a deity borrowed from the Egyptians. Traditionally associated with the sun, fertility and successful childbirth in women. Bast has two incarnations - a woman with a cat's head (good essence) and a lion's (aggressive). It is believed that, being in the second form, Bast turns into Sekhmet - a lioness who once almost destroyed all of humanity. She was pacified only with the help of cunning - beer was spilled on the ground, tinted with red mineral dyes. The lioness took this liquid for blood, got drunk and fell asleep.

Hypnos- personification of sleep from Greek mythology. Mother Hypnos - Nix(Night), brother - Thanatos(Death). His halls are in a cave where sunlight does not penetrate. Poppies and other sleepy plants grow at the entrance. Children Hypnos- so called Oneroi: Morpheus(dreams) phobetor, he is Iselus(nightmares) and Fantasos(appears in a dream in the form of inanimate objects).

Endymion- a young shepherd who fell in love with the goddess of the moon Selena and received from Hypnos a rare gift - the ability to sleep with open eyes, so that even in a dream he could look at his beloved.

N'Tsi-Kaambl (N'tse-Kaambl)- an insignificant female deity from the category Senior entered in myths Cthulhu writer Gary Myers(story "House of the Worm" ). Sometimes it is identified with Minervoy(Roman goddess of craft and wisdom). There are suggestions that the name of this deity is a homonym of the name Nancy Campbell, however, the identity of this lady is unknown to anyone except himself Myers.

Nodens- Hunter, Lord of the Great Abyss. As mentioned earlier, he first appeared in the story Lovecraft "House on the Foggy Cliff" . It is an elderly man with a long thick beard and gray hair. Nodens travels the world in a chariot made from a huge seashell. His vocation is hunting, and as victims he most often chooses creatures belonging to the pantheon ancient. This does not mean at all that Nodens- protector of good. It's just that evil monsters are the most difficult and, therefore, attractive prey for him.

Ulthar- some deity mentioned Lovecraft in the novel "A somnambulistic search for the unknown Kadat" and story "Cats of Ulthar" . Besides, in myths Cthulhu there is a city of the same name. How exactly he is associated with this deity is still unknown.

Undivine beings

Underground

Underground (Chtonians)- cute little animals that resemble large squids and differ from them in elongated bodies covered with slippery mucus (this morphological feature allows them to easily move underground). ABOUT Underground they are known to live for thousands of years, jealously guarding their offspring from humans, and emitting lingering mournful sounds, by which it is easy to determine their approach. More about these creatures can be found in the collection of short stories. brian Lumley "From the depth" (1974).

deep sea

Deep Ones- fish-frog-like creatures that live deep in the ocean. Being amphibious, they feel good on land and sometimes come out to people. In exchange for human sacrifice deep sea can give gold, jewelry and fill the nets with fish. deep sea can also mate with humans, producing hybrids. In youth, such children look quite ordinary, but with age they gradually turn into deep sea. Their eyes become bulging, their eyelids atrophy, their heads shrink, their hair falls out, and their skin becomes scaly.

deep sea worship Dagon And Cthulhu. Lovecraft described them in detail in the novel "Shadow over Innsmouth" .

Elders

Elder Things / Elders - aliens that inhabited the Earth before humans. They were a mixture of plant and animal. Elders built giant cities on land and under water, fought with the gods (without much success) and probably gave birth to those creatures that inhabit the planet to this day. Civilization the oldest died during the ice age, their frozen city in Antarctica was discovered only in 1931. Described in detail in "Ridges of Madness" .

Elders first came from the distant depths of space to the young Earth. At that time they were a highly technologically advanced race, but used their knowledge only when absolutely necessary. Elders left their planet due to the technological crisis. They considered their past mechanistic civilization to be detrimental to the emotional sphere. Initially Elders inhabited only the underwater spaces of the Earth, but subsequently settled on land.

Early settlers - Elders created the first "native" living organisms on Earth, which then evolved to the present state, as well as artificially selected interesting species and limited the development of harmful ones, from the point of view of Startsev, species. So, the prototype of a man and a monkey is the result of selection, with the aim of breeding tasty meat and as a decorative toy. One of the unique species of organisms created Elders, were shoggoths, protoplasmic beings capable of taking on any form at telepathic command, and used Elders to perform various physical activities.

During the development of their civilization Elders were forced to fight with the descendants Cthulhu, With Mi-go, with creators out of control Shoggoths.

reproduction Startsev occurred by disputes, but was encouraged only when new spaces were settled. Upbringing and education Startsev was at the highest level. As the protagonist of the novel suggests "The Ridges of Madness" , state structure Startsev was socialist.

During a long stay on Earth, the technical and physiological capabilities Startsev faded away. So, they lost the initially available ability for space travel and could not leave the Earth, and also lost control over shoggoths.

One of the most significant and last known land settlements Startsev located in Antarctica. Surrounded by mountains, the city flourished for entire geological epochs, but over time, climate change (severe cooling) forced Startsev move to the caves warmed by geothermal waters below it. The ruins of the city were discovered in 1931 by an expedition from Miskatonic University. According to the corpses discovered by the researchers Startsev and some other signs out of control shoggoths still won Startsev and occupied even the underwater Antarctic city.

ghouls

Ghouls- creatures that were once people, but turned into humanoid monsters hiding from the sun under the ground. The reason for this metamorphosis is cannibalism. It is quite logical that ghouls retain their former culinary habits and feed on human corpses. More about them can be found in the novel. “A somnambulistic search for the unknown Kadat” .

Variety of creatures myths Cthulhu this list is not limited. In other articles, we will talk about the lower races, about the numerous monsters, locations and characters of the works. Lovecraft.

Even the scariest monsters that oppose the heroes of science fiction perform prosaic functions: suddenly jump out of the dark, bite at the most sensitive place and hide into nowhere. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and zombies fall under this pattern. These creatures were born from myths and legends, superstitions and prejudices, in a word, mankind invented them to justify their natural fear of everything unexpected and incomprehensible.

But there are other legends as well. Myths about incredible monsters, much more terrible than a bunch of walking dead, and much more mysterious than translucent creatures walking along the corridors of ancient castles. Unlike European legends, these stories cannot boast of antiquity. They were invented by a single person - a poor American who suffered from nightmares. But modern science fiction (and especially mysticism and horror) is completely unthinkable without them.

Mood Music: Nox Arcana, Necronomicon Album

father of monsters

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (08/20/1890 - 03/15/1937) is rightfully considered one of the fathers of the horror genre. He took much from Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Dunsany, but more was taken from him. Clive Barker, Stephen King, Hans Rudy Giger, Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi and Alan Moore do not hide the fact that they draw inspiration from the work of the man who invented the legend about the "book of the dead" - "Necronomicon".

The merit of Lovecraft is also that he first crossed two previously independent genres - science fiction and horror. Howard created a large-scale pantheon of gods, demigods and monsters - creatures of otherworldly and at the same time real, living either in another dimension, or on other planets, but actively interfering in people's affairs with the help of their supernatural powers.

At the same time, Lovecraft was not a crazy mystic. He treated the monsters in his books with humor. Howard was an atheist and considered his creations solely as a means of earning money - by the way, very modest, barely making it possible to make ends meet.

Yes, I agree that Yog-Sothoth is based on an immature concept, not suitable for really serious literature.

Lovecraft was born in a small American town with the meaningful name of Providence ("Providence"). Father - Winfred Scott Lovecraft - worked as a traveling salesman. Three years after the birth of his son, he fell ill with syphilis, went insane and was admitted to the hospital.

Grandpa Whipley made young Howard read Tales of 1001 Nights, Birth of a Tale by Bulfinch, The Iliad, and Homer's Odyssey. In addition to this, every evening his grandmother told him gothic European fairy tales (not those that we know from children's books, but real ones, not adapted for children - where the heels of Cinderella's sisters, who do not fit into a glass shoe, are chopped off; and the handsome prince, having reached the sleeping beauty, before waking her up, “takes off the flowers of love”).

In his youth, Lovecraft was constantly ill and hardly attended school. He was never able to get a diploma of secondary education and go to university. His marriage to a Ukrainian Jewess Sonya Green lasted only a few years.

Sketch of Cthulhu by Lovecraft. Well, the writer did not know how to draw

Although Lovecraft's works were published and sold well, the writer was poor. He had an unprecedented correspondence (it is believed that this is the largest author's correspondence in the world) with his colleagues, among whom were Forrest Ackerman (famous science fiction writer in the USA), Robert Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian) and Robert Bloch (Psycho).

Lovecraft died of cancer and malnutrition. Admirers sometimes leave an epitaph on his grave (it is quickly erased, but it reappears): “That which lives in eternity is not dead. With the death of time, death will die."

Where did the myths come from

In fact, the systematized "Lovecraft myths", better known as the "Cthulhu myths", appeared after Lovecraft's death. His close friend and colleague August Derleth(1909-1971) took the unfinished works of the "father of horrors", edited them, generalized, added something of his own - and published in his own publishing house "Arkham House".

August Derleth, famous photo against a comic book background

A single mythological picture of the world of Lovecraft is a figment of the imagination of his followers, primarily Derleth. He diluted the "Cthulhu myths" with Christianity, turning them into a description of the traditional struggle between good and evil. This was alien to Lovecraft himself - the writer called Kant's ethics a joke and created in his books a universe full of chaos, nightmares and painful uncertainty.

According to Lovecraft's ideas about deities in his myths ... originally there were Elder Gods - kind and peaceful, who lived on the star Betelgeuse (or near it) in the constellation Orion. They rarely intervened in earthly affairs - in the struggle between good and evil, which are the Ancients (Great Old Ones, or otherwise - Ancient Ones).

August Derleth, from the preface to The Stories of the Cthulhu Myths

In Lovecraft himself, the Elder Gods were never explicitly mentioned (except, perhaps, very similar to them, Nodens, the Master of the Great Abyss from the story "Mysterious House on the Foggy Cliff"). Nor did he have a systematized pantheon of the Ancients. And the term "Ancient Ones" itself is used only once - in the story "Gate of the Silver Key".

It should be noted that the monsters from the myths of Cthulhu do not show deliberate hostility to humanity - they are rather that indifferent and indifferent force of the universe, which can most clearly be compared with a human foot accidentally trampling thousands of tiny insects.

ancient

ancient(Great Old Ones) - incredibly powerful beings, presumably the same age as the universe. Members of mystical sects and cults revere them as gods. The ancients live in other star systems or even outside of our dimension. It is very likely that many of them are incorporeal, or rather, they do not consist of matter.

Their power is based on forces unknown to mankind, which are traditionally considered magical. It is not unlimited and has its limits, often extending to the entire planet. The ancients can influence earthly affairs only under certain astronomical conditions (a special arrangement of stars in the sky) and only when they are helped by their followers - cultists.

Ancient and outer gods in comic webcomic The Unspeakable Vault (Of Doom)

Aphum-Zhah(Aphoom-Zhah) - aka "Cold Flame" - a deity invented by Lovecraft's friend - Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). This monster is a descendant of Cthugha. Like another monster - Ithhaqua - he sleeps under the ice of the Arctic, waiting for his "finest hour". During the ice age, Aptum-Zhah often visited Hyperborea (Lovecraft considered it to be an analogue of Atlantis). To humans, it looks like a huge, cold column of gray fire.

Chhaugnar Faugn(Chaugnar Faugn) - "God of the Elephants", "Horror from the Hills" - the creation of Frank Belknap Long (1903-1994).

Others (monsters - approx. MF) originated from much darker and more mysterious, transmitted only by word of mouth, secret legends of antiquity - such were, for example, the black, shapeless Tsatkhoggua, which has many tentacles of Cthulhu, equipped with a terrible trunk Chhaugnar Faugn and other monstrous creatures known to a select few from forbidden books like the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon, or von Junzt's Secret Cults.

Howard Lovecraft, Horror in the Museum

Kthugha(Cthugha) - created by August Derleth and first appears in the short story "The House on Crooked Street" (1962). This creature looks like a huge ball of fire. His servants are a race of fire vampires. In Derleth's short story "Dwelling in Darkness", the protagonist attempts to summon Cthugha to drive the incarnation of Nyarlathotep out of a forest in Canada.

Cthulhu(Cthulhu) - the most famous of Lovecraft's monsters, created by the author himself. There are different opinions about the pronunciation of his name (in general, about the names of Lovecraft’s creatures, you can rightfully say “you’ll break your tongue”). The writer himself said that the name of this deity is rooted in some ancient language, completely alien to people. The closest pronunciation, according to Lovecraft, is Khlul'Hluu.

As mentioned above, Cthulhu is an evil god who rests in the sunken city of R'Lieh and is waiting in the wings when the stars take the right position and he returns to life to wreak havoc and destruction.

The famous portrait of Cthulhu by Raymond Bayless

The appearance of Cthulhu is known to all fans of Lovecraft's work - it is a giant (he was able to chase the ship in the Atlantic Ocean, standing in the water) of a humanoid form with slippery scaly green skin and claws on his hands (presumably - and legs). Its head resembles an octopus - the skull is devoid of hair, and numerous tentacles grow around the mouth. To complete this cute picture, Cthulhu has two wings on his back, like a bat.

Both Eskimo sorcerers and Louisiana swamp priests sang, addressing outwardly similar idols, the following: "Ph'nglui mglv'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh vgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house in R'lyeh, the dead Cthulhu sleeps, waiting for his hours").

Howard Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

August Derleth in his stories slightly changed the role of Cthulhu, making him far from the most important figure in the pantheon of transcendent beings. The primacy in the hierarchy of the Ancients belongs to Yog-Sothoth (Yog-Sothoth) and Azathoth (Azathoth), but the cult of Cthulhu, however, is the most widespread (and most influential) on Earth.

Cthulhu's main adversary, according to Derleth, is his half-brother Hastur, who lives in the Hyades star cluster in the Taurus constellation. Interestingly, the story "The Return of Hastur" (1939) describes the physical, real contact of these two deities.

Cthulla- The secret daughter of Cthulhu. As is clear from her middle name, this young (by cosmic standards) lady is the daughter of the most famous monster from Lovecraft's books. Being a complete copy of her daddy, she hides in some secret place called Yuth (Yth). Its purpose is to revive Cthulhu in the event that he dies. In this regard, she is of great value to her father - Cthulla is carefully guarded by his servants (including the Deep Ones, which will be discussed below).

Some believe that Dagon should be similar to the Deep Ones and look something like this.

Dagon- another "superstar" of the Cthulhu myths. In reality, Dagon was the deity of grain and agriculture (dagan, Jude. - grain), revered by the northwestern Semitic tribes. Mentions of him are found even in the Bible - for example, in the fifth chapter of the first book of Kings.

Some researchers also believe that Dagon was the patron of fishermen and therefore was depicted as a bearded man with a fish tail instead of legs. The latter, apparently, inspired Lovecraft to create a frightening image of an underwater deity, which first appeared in the novel The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936).

Dagon by Jeff Rimmer

The appearance of Dagon is not known to anyone, nor are the details of his existence known. We only know that, with all the desire, he cannot be called kind and philanthropic. Yes, he can really patronize the fishermen, but the payment for successful fishing will be, to put it mildly, excessive.

Ghatanotoa (Ghatanothoa)- Usurper, god of volcanoes and first son of Cthulhu. Presumably, he is buried under the mountain Voormithadreth (Voormithadreth) on Mu (a mythical continent that sank in the Pacific Ocean). Ghatanotoa was revered by the inhabitants of Mu for his ability to turn people into living statues.

Glaaki- Inhabitant of the lake, Ruler of dead dreams. Lives in the Severn Valley near Brichester, England. First appeared in Ramsey Campbell's short story "Lake Dwellers". Glaaki looks like a huge slug, completely covered with metal spikes. The latter are not just a stylish accessory - they are alive and grow out of the body, like hair. Glaaki can project eye-tipped tentacles to peek out of the water.

The cult of Glaaki is quite strong - mainly due to the magical knowledge that this deity supplies its followers with. The latter, according to the authors of the Cthulhu myths, are systematized and recorded in 12 volumes of the book "Revelations of Glaaki".

People come to this cult for the eternal life that Glaaki promises them. The deity always keeps this promise - it sticks its steel spike into the next newcomer, fills his body with poison and turns the person into a special kind of zombie - "servants of Glaaki" (another little-known creature from the Cthulhu myths).

Hastur (Hastur)- Unpronounceable; The one who can't be named. Lovecraft borrowed it from Ambrose Bierce (the story "The Shepherd Gaita"), where Hastur was the patron saint of shepherds - a purely good entity, in contrast to the evil creature that appeared on the pages of Lovecraft's story "Whispers in the Dark".

Hastur, fig. artist Nuberoja

According to the Cthulhu myths, anyone could summon Hastur by saying his name three times (hence all the above nicknames). The appearance of this deity is amorphous, but before people he appears in the standard "Cthulchian" form - something resembling a giant octopus.

The repetition of the words "Hastur, Hastur, Hastur" is just entertainment and cannot harm you. However, the editors of the "World of Science Fiction" is not responsible for the possible consequences.

Khtsioulquoigmzhah (Hzioulquoigmnzhah)- a deity invented by Clark Ashton Smith, for whose name alone the author should be given a monument. There is nothing special about this creature. According to some vague references in the Cthulhu mythos, it is a distant relative of Cthulhu and Hastur. Has no permanent habitat. It can be found in the world of Xoth, on Yaksh (aka the planet Neptune), and on Cykranosh (Saturn).

Ithaqua- The running wind, the God of cold white silence, he is also Windigo (in the legends of the North American Indians - a formidable cannibal spirit). The indigenous inhabitants of the northern regions of the planet (Siberia, Alaska) worship this terrible deity, appeasing him with human sacrifices. It is believed that Ikhtakva attacks people in a snowstorm. They are later found dead and lying in such positions as if they had fallen from a great height. Facial features are distorted in a wild grimace of agony, some parts of the body are missing.

Nyoghta“Thing that should not be, Dweller of the Red Abyss. Described in Henry Cuttler's The Salem Horror (1937). Lives in voids deep underground, occasionally appears on the Leng Plateau (in the dialect of the Chinese province of Fujian - "cold") - a fictional place in Central Asia. You can only drive him back underground with the help of the Vash-Virai spell and the Tikkun elixir.

Yig (Yig)- Father of snakes. The deity itself is not malevolent, but rather irritable. Punishes his offenders by sending snakes to them. Interestingly, in the early 1990s, this character (or rather, his name) became the subject of a real cult. In Connecticut (USA), teenagers have taken to frightening passers-by by jumping out at them with a yell of “Wig!”, And shouting should be as loud as possible. However, such fun quickly ceased to be fashionable. Now there are only 2-5 cases of "wigging" per year.

* * *

This is just a short list of the Ancients spoken of in the Cthulhu mythos. If you wish, you can find information about their other "colleagues" (for convenience, we will name only the original names):

Atlach-Nacha, Baoht Z'ugga-Mogg, Bokrug, Bugg-Sash, Byatis, C'thalpa, Cynothoglys, Dweller of the Gulf, Eihort, Gloon, Gol-Gorgoth, Hydra, Idh-Yaa, Iod, Juk-Shabb, Lloigor, L'rog'g, M'Naglah, Mnomquah, Mordiggian, Nag and Yeb, Oorn, Othuum, Othuyeg, Rhan-Tegoth, Saa'itii, Sfatclip, Shathak, Shudde'Mell, Tsathoggua, Vulthoom, Y'Golonac, Yhondeh, Ythgotha, Zhar, Zoth-Ommog, Zushakon, Zvilpoggua, Zustulzhemgni.

outer gods

We will not dwell on the creatures called in myths Great Ones (Great). They live in a special world - Dreamlands, and are much weaker (in magical terms) than the Old Ones or Elder Gods. Their intellectual abilities also leave much to be desired.

Much more interesting are the Outer Gods. Unlike others, they are not specific beings, but rather general principles of being. That is why their power has no physical limits.

Abhoth- Source of impurity. Lives in the underground kingdom of N'Kai (N'kai) and appears before people as a disgusting gray mass of living flesh. Various monsters are born from it, but Abhot releases tentacles, grabs his children and devours them. This god is cynical, angry and insane. He has strong telepathic abilities, allowing him to communicate with those around him.

Azathoth (Azathoth)- Demon Sultan, Boiling Nuclear Chaos. This god is at the head of the pantheon of Cthulhu myths. Lovecraft describes it in detail in the novel The Somnambulistic Quest of the Unknown Kadat, the novels Dreams in the Witch's House, and The Whisperer in the Night. According to the author, Azathoth is a blind idiot god with no specific physical form (although he can incarnate in the being Xada-Ngla).

Azathoth by Mika Stone

The term "nuclear" was used by Lovecraft to refer to the central role of Azathoth in our universe, and not to hint at its radioactivity. Only a madman can worship this god - in fact, it is so, because the few daredevils who dared to choose him as their patron paid for it with their mind, body and soul.

Nyarlathotep (Nyarlathotep)- Creeping Chaos, Messenger of Azathoth, Black Man. This deity is very different from his fellows. Unlike Hastur, who lives on the stars, or Cthulhu, who sleeps in the depths of the sea, Nyarlathotep is full of life and actively intervenes in the fate of the universe. His favored appearance is a tall man with dark hair and a good sense of humor. He speaks an ordinary human language, does not have his own cult and serves as Azathoth's messenger, realizing his will on Earth.

Nyarlathotep is often associated with the ancient Egyptian god Set, as well as the Aztec deities: Tezkatlipokoy (“smoking mirror”) and Xayp Totek (“man without skin”).

Nyarlathotep, artist Douzen

Shub-Niggurath- A black goat from the forests with a thousand young ones. As such, this monster was not found in Lovecraft's novels, but its name could be found in several spells (Ia! Shub-Niggurath) - see "Whispers in the Dark", "Dreams in the Witch's House", "Nightmare in the Museum". Outwardly, this creature looks like a huge shapeless mass, dotted with tentacles, drooling mouths - and all this moves on crooked goat legs.

Shub-Niggurath, fig. Khannea Suntzu

Yog-Sothoth(Yog-Sothoth) - All in one; The one who is outside; The one who opens the way. The best thing about this deity was Lovecraft himself:

Boundless Being embodied the All-in-one and the One-in-all that the waves had told him about. It contained not only time and space, but the entire universe with its immeasurable scope, knowing no limits, and surpassing any fantasies and calculations of mathematicians and astronomers. Perhaps in ancient times the priests of the secret cults called him Yog-Sothoth and whispered this name from mouth to mouth, and he was known to the crayfish-like aliens from Yuggoth as the Beyond-the-Edge. His spiral-brained messengers were recognized by an untranslatable sign, but Carter understood how relative and inaccurate all these definitions were.
H. F. Lovecraft, The Gate of the Silver Key

Yog-Sothoth

In addition to those already listed, the Cthulhu myths occasionally mention other Outer gods: Daoloth, Groth, Hydra, Mlandoth, Tulzuscha, Ubo-Sathla, Vordavoss ) and Xiurhn.

Elder gods

Elder Gods- a group of supernatural beings that oppose the Ancients (Great Old Ones), as well as other, smaller divine "factions" - the Outer Gods (Outer Gods) and Great (Great Ones).

Literary critics do not associate the Elder Gods with the work of Lovecraft himself, since they were created by his followers and, in fact, are a compilation from a number of ancient myths.

Bast (Bast), or Bastet - a deity borrowed from the Egyptians. Traditionally associated with the sun, fertility and successful childbirth in women. Bast has two incarnations - a woman with a cat's head (good essence) and a lion's (aggressive). It is believed that, being in the second form, Bast turns into Sekhmet - a lioness who once nearly destroyed all of humanity. She was pacified only with the help of cunning - beer was spilled on the ground, tinted with red mineral dyes. The lioness took this liquid for blood, got drunk and fell asleep.

Hypnos- personification of sleep from Greek mythology. The mother of Hypnos is Nyx (Night), the brother is Thanatos (Death). His halls are in a cave where sunlight does not penetrate. Poppies and other sleepy plants grow at the entrance. The children of Hypnos are the so-called Oneroi: Morpheus (dreams), Phobetor, aka Iselus (nightmares) and Fantasos (appears in a dream in the form of inanimate objects).

Endymion- a young shepherd, fell in love with the moon goddess Selena and received a rare gift from Hypnos - the ability to sleep with his eyes open so that even in a dream he could look at his beloved.

N'Tsi-Kaambl (N'tse-Kaambl)- an insignificant female deity from the category of the Elders, introduced into the myths of Cthulhu by the writer Gary Myers (the story "House of the Worm"). Sometimes it is identified with Minerva (the Roman goddess of craft and wisdom). There are suggestions that the name of this deity is a homonym for the name Nancy Campbell, however, the identity of this lady is unknown to anyone except Myers himself.

Nodens, artist Mark Foster

Nodens- Hunter, Lord of the Great Abyss. As mentioned earlier, he first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The House on the Foggy Cliff". It is an elderly man with a long thick beard and gray hair. Nodens travels the world in a chariot made from a huge seashell. His vocation is hunting, and as victims he most often chooses for himself creatures belonging to the pantheon of the Ancients. This does not mean at all that Nodens is a defender of the good. It's just that evil monsters are the most difficult and, therefore, attractive prey for him.

Ulthar- a certain deity mentioned by Lovecraft in the novel "The Somnambulistic Search for the Unknown Kadat" and the story "Cats of Ulthar". In addition, in the myths of Cthulhu there is a city of the same name. How exactly he is associated with this deity is still unknown.

There is a rather curious comic on "Unknown Kadat"

Undivine beings

In addition to terrible monsters with tentacles and shapeless creatures from the gloomy depths of distant space, the Cthulhu mythos boast a good collection of simpler and more understandable creatures.

Underground (Chtonians)- cute little animals that resemble large squids and differ from them in elongated bodies covered with slippery mucus (this morphological feature allows them to easily move underground). It is known about the Underground that they live for thousands of years, jealously protect their offspring from people and make lingering sad sounds, by which it is easy to determine their approach. More about these creatures can be found in Brian Lumley's collection of short stories Out of the Deep (1974).

Cthonian, artist Borja Pingdao

Deep Ones- fish-frog-like creatures that live deep in the ocean. Being amphibious, they feel good on land and sometimes come out to people. In exchange for human sacrifices, the Deep Ones can give gold, jewelry, and fill nets with fish.

Deep sea. 3D model by artist Stefano Bernardi

Deep Ones can also mate with humans, producing hybrids. In their youth, such children look completely normal, but as they age, they gradually turn into Deep Ones. Their eyes become bulging, their eyelids atrophy, their heads shrink, their hair falls out, and their skin becomes scaly.

The Deep Ones worship Dagon and Cthulhu. Lovecraft described them in detail in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The Deep One from Dagon, a very loose but good film adaptation of Shadows Over Innsmouth

Elder Things- aliens that inhabited the Earth before humans. They were a mixture of plant and animal. The elders built gigantic cities on earth and under water, fought with the gods (without much success) and probably gave birth to those creatures that inhabit the planet to this day. The civilization of the Elders died during the ice age, their frozen city in Antarctica was discovered only in 1931 (Lovecraft's novel "The Ridges of Madness").

Elders, thin Jeff Remmer

Ghouls- creatures that were once people, but turned into humanoid monsters hiding from the sun under the ground. The reason for this metamorphosis is cannibalism. It is only logical that ghouls retain their former culinary habits and feed on human corpses. You can learn more about them from the novel "The Somnambulistic Search for the Unknown Kadat".

Among other, less colorful monsters of Cthulhu myths, one can name dogs of Tyndalos(something reminiscent of Stephen King's langoliers) mi-go(crustacean aliens living on Pluto), Shoggoth(creatures from protoplasm) and zoogs(small elf-like creatures that live in the world of Dreamlands).

Scary, creepy!

Not all representatives of the "menagerie" of Cthulhu myths were presented to you, but this is quite enough to draw several important conclusions. The first thing you have probably been thinking about for a long time is that only a hereditary schizophrenic could write this. The second conclusion is more serious - it was these creatures that became the foundation of the entire modern genre of "mystical horrors".

The Necronomicon became the plot basis of the entire Evil Dead series.

Nowadays, such monsters can seem monotonous, boring and even funny, and the legends associated with them are at least naive. But we should not forget that at the beginning of the 20th century, such stories were read with a bang and were the real action thrillers of that era. Cthulhu myths can now be treated differently, but only one thing is certain: this is a classic that has withstood the most difficult test - time.

For those who don't know who Cthulhu is ;)

ancient gods

The Great Old Ones are incredibly powerful beings, presumably the same age as the universe. Members of mystical sects and cults revere them as gods. The ancients live in other star systems or even outside of our dimension. It is very likely that many of them are incorporeal, or rather, they do not consist of matter.
Their power is based on forces unknown to mankind, which are traditionally considered magical. It is not unlimited and has its limits, often extending to the entire planet. The ancients can influence earthly affairs only under certain astronomical conditions (a special arrangement of stars in the sky) and only when they are helped by their followers - cultists.

Aphoom-Zhah - aka "Cold Flame". This monster is a descendant of Cthugha. Like another monster - Ithhaqua - he sleeps under the ice of the Arctic, waiting for his "finest hour". During the ice age, Aptum-Zhah often visited Hyperborea. To humans, it looks like a huge, cold column of gray fire.

Cthugha - This creature looks like a huge ball of fire. His servants are a race of fire vampires.

Cthulhu is an evil god who rests in the sunken city of R'lyeh and is waiting in the wings for the stars to take the right position and he will return to life to wreak havoc and destruction. This is a giant (he was able to chase a ship in the Atlantic Ocean while standing in the water). Its head resembles an octopus - the skull is devoid of hair, and numerous tentacles grow around the mouth. To complete this cute picture, Cthulhu has two wings on his back, like a bat.

The main opponent of Cthulhu is his half-brother Hastur (Hastur), who lives in the star cluster Hyades (Hyades) constellation Taurus.

Cthulla - Secret daughter of Cthulhu. As is clear from her middle name, this young (by cosmic standards) lady is the daughter of Cthulhu himself. Being a complete copy of her daddy, she hides in some secret place called Yuth (Yth). Its purpose is to revive Cthulhu in the event that he dies. In this regard, she is of great value to her father - Cthulla is carefully guarded by his servants.

Dagon (Dagon) - in reality, Dagon was a deity of grain and agriculture (dagan, Jude. - grain), revered by the northwestern Semitic tribes. Mentions of him are found even in the Bible - for example, in the fifth chapter of the first book of Kings.
Some researchers also believe that Dagon was the patron of fishermen and therefore was depicted as a bearded man with a fish tail instead of legs. The appearance of Dagon is not known to anyone, nor are the details of his existence known. We only know that, with all the desire, he cannot be called kind and philanthropic. Yes, he can really patronize the fishermen, but the payment for successful fishing will be, to put it mildly, excessive.

Ghatanotoa (Ghatanothoa) - Usurper, God of volcanoes and the first son of Cthulhu. Presumably, he is buried under the mountain Voormithadreth (Voormithadreth) on Mu (a mythical continent that sank in the Pacific Ocean). Ghatanotoa was revered by the inhabitants of Mu for his ability to turn people into living statues.

Glaaki - Inhabitant of the lake, Ruler of dead dreams. Lives in the Severn Valley near Brichester, England. Glaaki looks like a huge slug, completely covered with metal spikes. The latter are not just a stylish accessory - they are alive and grow out of the body, like hair. Glaaki can project eye-tipped tentacles to peek out of the water.
The cult of Glaaki is quite strong, mainly due to the magical knowledge that this deity provides its followers with. The latter, according to the authors of the Cthulhu myths, are systematized and recorded in 12 volumes of the book "Revelations of Glaaki".
People come to this cult for the eternal life that Glaaki promises them. The deity always keeps this promise - it sticks its steel spike into the next newcomer, fills his body with poison and turns the person into a special kind of zombie - "servants of Glaaki".

Hastur (Hastur) - Unpronounceable; The one who can't be named. According to the Cthulhu myths, anyone could summon Hastur by saying his name three times (hence all the above nicknames). The appearance of this deity is amorphous, but before people he appears in the standard "Cthulchian" form - something resembling a giant octopus.

Khtsioulquoigmnzhah - this creature is no different. According to some vague references in the Cthulhu mythos, it is a distant relative of Cthulhu and Hastur. Has no permanent habitat. It can be found in the world of Xoth (Xoth), on Yaksha (Yaksh, also known as the planet Neptune), and on Cykranosh (Saturn).

Ithaqua (Ithaqua) - The running wind, the God of cold white silence, he is Windigo (in the legends of the North American Indians - a formidable cannibal spirit). The indigenous inhabitants of the northern regions of the planet (Siberia, Alaska) worship this terrible deity, appeasing him with human sacrifices. It is believed that Ikhtakva attacks people in a snowstorm. They are later found dead and lying in such positions as if they had fallen from a great height. Facial features are distorted in a wild grimace of agony, some parts of the body are missing.

Nyoghta - The Thing That Shouldn't Be, Dweller of the Red Abyss. Lives in voids deep underground, occasionally appears on the Leng Plateau (in the dialect of the Chinese province of Fujian - "cold") - a place in Central Asia. You can only drive him under the ground back with the help of the Vash-Virai spell and the Tikkun elixir.

Yig - Father of snakes. The deity itself is not malevolent, but rather irritable. Punishes his offenders by sending snakes to them.

outer gods

Outer Gods. Unlike others, they are not specific beings, but rather general principles of being. That is why their power has no physical limits.

Abhoth - Source of impurity. Lives in the underground kingdom of N'Kai (N'kai) and appears before people as a disgusting gray mass of living flesh. Various monsters are born from it, but Abhot releases tentacles, grabs his children and devours them. This god is cynical, angry and insane. He has strong telepathic abilities, allowing him to communicate with those around him.

Azathoth - Sultan of Demons, Boiling Nuclear Chaos. Azathoth is a blind idiot god with no specific physical form (although he can incarnate into the being Xada-Ngla). Only a madman can almost worship this god - in fact, it is so, because those few daredevils who dared to choose him as their patron paid for it with mind, body and soul.

Nyarlathotep - Creeping Chaos, Messenger of Azathoth, Black Man. This deity is very different from his fellows. Unlike Hastur, who lives on the stars, or Cthulhu, who sleeps in the depths of the sea, Nyarlathotep is full of life and actively intervenes in the fate of the universe. His favored appearance is a tall man with dark hair and a good sense of humor. He speaks an ordinary human language, does not have his own cult and serves as Azathoth's messenger, realizing his will on Earth. Nyarlathotep is often associated with the ancient Egyptian god Set, as well as the Aztec deities Tezcatlipoca (“smoking mirror”) and Xayp Totec (“man without skin”).

Shub-Niggurath - A black goat from the forests with a thousand young. Outwardly, this creature looks like a huge shapeless mass, dotted with tentacles, drooling mouths - and all this moves on crooked goat legs.

Yog-Sothoth - All in one; The one who is outside; The one who opens the way. The best thing about this deity was Lovecraft himself:
Boundless Being embodied the All-in-one and the One-in-all that the waves had told him about. It contained not only time and space, but the entire universe with its immeasurable scope, knowing no limits, and surpassing any fantasies and calculations of mathematicians and astronomers. Perhaps in ancient times the priests of the secret cults called him Yog-Sothoth and whispered this name from mouth to mouth, and he was known to the crayfish-like aliens from Yuggoth as the Beyond-the-Edge. His spiral-brained messengers were recognized by an untranslatable sign, but Carter understood how relative and inaccurate all these definitions were.
H. F. Lovecraft, The Gate of the Silver Key

Elder Gods

The Elder Gods are a group of supernatural beings that oppose the Great Old Ones, as well as other lesser divine "factions" - the Outer Gods and the Great Ones.
Literary critics do not associate the Elder Gods with the work of Lovecraft himself, since they were created by his followers and, in fact, are a compilation from a number of ancient myths.

Bast (Bast), or Bastet - a deity borrowed from the Egyptians. Traditionally associated with the sun, fertility and successful childbirth in women. Bast has two incarnations - a woman with a cat's head (good essence) and a lion (aggressive). It is believed that, being in the second form, Bast turns into Sekhmet - a lioness who once nearly destroyed all of humanity. She was pacified only with the help of cunning - beer was spilled on the ground, tinted with red mineral dyes. The lioness took this liquid for blood, got drunk and fell asleep.

Hypnos is the personification of sleep from Greek mythology. The mother of Hypnos is Nyx (Night), the brother is Thanatos (Death). His halls are in a cave where sunlight does not penetrate. Poppies and other sleepy plants grow at the entrance. The children of Hypnos are the so-called Oneroi: Morpheus (dreams), Phobetor, aka Iselus (nightmares) and Phantasos (appears in a dream in the form of inanimate objects).

Endymion, a young shepherd, fell in love with the moon goddess Selene and received a rare gift from Hypnos - the ability to sleep with his eyes open so that even in a dream he could look at his beloved.

N'tse-Kaambl is a minor female Elder deity introduced by writer Gary Myers. Sometimes it is identified with Minerva (the Roman goddess of craft and wisdom). There are suggestions that the name of this deity is a homonym for the name Nancy Campbell, however, the identity of this lady is unknown to anyone except Myers himself.

Nodens - Hunter, Lord of the Great Abyss. It is an elderly man with a long thick beard and gray hair. Nodens travels the world in a chariot made from a huge seashell. His vocation is hunting, and he most often chooses creatures belonging to the pantheon of the Ancients as victims. This does not mean at all that Nodens is not a defender of the good. It's just that evil monsters are the most difficult and, therefore, attractive prey for him.

Ulthar is a deity mentioned by Lovecraft in the novel The Somnambulistic Quest for the Unknown Kadath and the short story Cats of Ulthar. In addition, in the myths of Cthulhu there is a city of the same name. How exactly he is associated with this deity is still unknown.

Undivine beings

Underground (Chtonians) - cute little animals that resemble large squids and differ from them in elongated bodies covered with slippery mucus (this morphological feature allows them to easily move underground). It is known about the Underground that they live for thousands of years, jealously protect their offspring from people and make lingering sad sounds, by which it is easy to determine their approach. More about these creatures can be found in Brian Lumley's short story collection Out of the Deep (1974).

Deep Ones are fish-frog-like creatures that live deep in the ocean. Being amphibious, they feel good on land and sometimes come out to people. In exchange for human sacrifices, the Deep Ones can give gold, jewelry, and fill nets with fish.
The Deep Ones can also mate with humans, producing hybrids. When young, these children look completely normal, but as they age, they gradually turn into Deep Ones. Their eyes become bulging, their eyelids atrophy, their heads shrink, their hair falls out, and their skin becomes scaly.
The Deep Ones worship Dagon and Cthulhu. Lovecraft described them in detail in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The Elder Things are aliens who inhabited the Earth before humans. They were a mixture of plant and animal. The Elders built giant cities on land and under water, fought with the gods (without much success) and probably gave birth to those creatures that inhabit the planet to this day. The civilization of the Elders died during the ice age, their frozen city in Antarctica was discovered only in 1931.

Ghouls are creatures that were once human, but turned into humanoid monsters hiding from the sun under the ground. The reason for this metamorphosis is cannibalism. It is only logical that ghouls retain their former culinary habits and feed on human corpses. You can learn more about them from the novel “The Somnambulistic Search for the Unknown Kadat”.
mulberry stole

The American writer Howard Lovecraft is known not only as the founder and unsurpassed master of the horror genre, he is also the creator of one of the most unusual mythologies in modern literature, known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft himself and his followers created a great variety of mysterious creatures, gods and other offspring that inhabit the endless worlds of their works. In this collection, the most famous and unusual creatures from the myths of Cthulhu.

Elders

Elders are a race of highly developed alien beings. Once upon a time, it was they who first came from the distant depths of space to the still young Earth. The Elders had to leave their home planet due to the man-made crisis. Therefore, on Earth, they did not apply their knowledge without extreme necessity, considering their own past civilization to be detrimental to the emotional sphere. It was the Elders in the mythology of Lovecraft who created all life on earth, including the prototypes of man and monkey, which were brought out for the sake of tasty meat and as a decorative toy. The reproduction of the Elders occurred by disputes, but was encouraged only when new spaces were settled. Initially, the Elders had the ability to fly through interstellar spaces with the help of their wings. But later they lost these skills and could not leave the Earth.

Shoggoth

These are shapeless eel-like bubbles of protoplasm. Shoggoths are able to move and form temporary organs to perform the necessary actions. Their size is indicated by the fact that if Shoggoth takes a spherical shape, then its diameter will be equal to five meters. The Shoggoths were created by the Elders to perform auxiliary and physically demanding work. Shoggoths did not possess their own consciousness and, under the influence of hypnotic suggestions, could take any form and perform any action. However, later Shoggoths gained will and intelligence, learned to memorize hypnotic commands and, based on them, independently control their form. The logical result of this was a fierce war between the Elders and the Shoggoths, which the Shoggoths lost by submitting to the Elders. However, during the next or one of the following wars, the Elders were defeated and the Shoggoths gained freedom.

Gatanoa

The central mythical deity in Out of Time. It is known that Gatanoa was left on Earth by aliens Mi-go from the planet Yuggoth long before the beginning of human existence. Gatanoa is immortal by nature and lives in the dungeon of a fortress that was once located on Mount Yaddith-Gho, in the kingdom of K'naa, on the disappeared continent of Mu. Geographically, this mountain is located near New Zealand. Legend has it that anyone who sees an ancient deity or even his image will fall into a state of petrification, while the brain and internal organs will remain intact and will continue physical activity until some external factor destroys the petrified shell. To avoid the awakening of Gatanoa, the people of the kingdom of K'naa annually sacrificed twelve young warriors and twelve girls. Their bodies were burned on fires in a marble temple at the foot of the mountain, since not a single person dared to climb to the fortress at the top of the mountain. Once a servant of the temple of Shub-Niggurath named T "yuog created a scroll that was supposed to protect him from the destructive effect of the sight of a deity and set out to enter the fortress. But the priests of Gatanoa replaced the scroll with a fake one and he failed.

Dagon

One of the lesser deities of the pantheon of Cthulhu myths. Dagon and his wife Hydra are the immediate patrons of the Deep One race, who respectfully refer to them as Father Dagon and Mother Hydra. Like the Deep Ones themselves, Dagon looks like a humanoid with features of fish and amphibians, but differs in gigantic size.

Googie

Googs are huge giants that live in the underworld of the land of dreams. A distinctive feature is a huge, vertically opening mouth and front legs, bifurcated at the elbow. The curse of the gods restricts their diet to terrible ghasts and prevents them from leaving the underworld. Nevertheless, a meeting with a goog is deadly for a person. But it is known that the googs eschew ghouls, although they surpass them in strength many times over.

Hounds of Tyndall

They were created by Tyndall, one of the Old Gods. But after Tyndall was drowned by Dagon, Dogs adopted Shub-Niggur. She taught them hunting skills: cunning, dexterity, strength and, of course, cunning. But after several thousand years, the Dogs kidnapped Cthulhu and transferred them to R "layh. Since then, He began to use the Dogs to find his victims. Due to their connection with space-time intersections, the Dogs can penetrate the material world through the angle between the two any planes, if it is 120º or less.When the Hound enters our world, first smoke starts to smoke from the corner, gradually weaving into the head, followed by the body.It is said that if a person somehow allows himself to be scented by these creatures, The Hounds of Tyndale will follow their prey through space and time indefinitely until they finally reach them, and time travelers risk drawing the attention of these creatures.

Tsathoggua

Legend has it that the hideous and mighty Tsathoggua dwells in the black abyss of N'kai. Not much is known about Him, despite the frequent mention in the writings of the Ancients. Outwardly, Tsathoggua resembles a huge black toad sitting on a throne in the darkness of huge caves, surrounded by a retinue. According to other sources, he does not rule in the abyss, but is chained and waiting in the wings. It is also known that He was worshiped in Hyperborea, where He was one of the supreme deities. He also had admirers among other races: there was a cult in Atlantis, as well as in the civilization of Iota, known as the children of Yiga.

Cthulhu

Perhaps the most famous of all the creatures created by Lovecraft. Cthulhu is a deity, the Beast of the worlds, sleeping at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, but, nevertheless, capable of influencing the human mind. In appearance, Cthulhu is similar in different parts of the body to an octopus, a dragon and a man: the monster has a head with tentacles, a humanoid body covered with scales, and a pair of rudimentary wings. Cthulhu belongs to the genus of the Ancients. He lies in a death-like dream atop the underwater city of R'leich in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. "With the correct alignment of the stars," R'leich appears above the water, and Cthulhu is freed. Cthulhu is able to influence the mind of human beings, but his abilities are drowned out by the water column, so that only the dreams of especially sensitive people remain subject to him. In The Call of Cthulhu, the dreams cast by Cthulhu greatly horrify those who see them, and sometimes drive them to madness. Cthulhu is an alien creature completely alien to human nature, and the whole history of mankind is just a moment of his sleep.

Azathoth

Azathoth is the supreme deity of the pantheon of Cthulhu myths. According to legend, Azathoth lives in the very center of the universe, and around him the younger gods dance to the sounds of ungodly flutes. Among his epithets are such as "blind mad god", "eternally chewing sultan of demons" and "nuclear chaos". It is believed that he himself does not even understand what he creates. Definitely, Azathoth is the most monstrous entity in the entire universe. He does not leave his throne, but comes to many heroes in dreams or mad visions, and the mere sound of his name makes them shudder with horror. As expected, the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred wrote about him in his Necronomicon.

Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth is the all-containing god of the pantheon of the Old Gods. Despite the fact that the most powerful of the supreme gods is Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth is, as it were, above all. He is called the Keeper of the Gates between the worlds and is the physical embodiment of the universe itself. Yog-Sothoth is locked outside our Universe, he exists simultaneously in all times and in all space. This is an omniscient god, with his strength almost surpassing Azathoth, and with wisdom - Yiga. In one of his incarnations, Yog-Sothoth could even command time.

If H. P. Lovecraft were to suddenly find himself in our time, he would be greatly surprised by the popularity of his works. During his lifetime, he had a very narrow circle of admirers. And most considered his stories to be mere fantasy and stupidity. With this article, we begin a cycle on the mythology he created.

Like all writers who have shown little more than a banal fantasy, Lovecraft was not accused of anything. But I advise you to read it, and everything will become clear to you. Supernatural horror occupies an important place in his works. This is not a simple fear of a specific creature, such as a werewolf or a zombie, but of the unknown, incomprehensible. This is horror from the depths of the human psyche. Lovecraft devotes a rather extensive and detailed essay to him, which has now become a classic. The writer most fully explores Gothic literature and evaluates the authors known to him. Later, this phenomenon was called "Lovecraftian horror", because it was he who became the ancestor of the genre of horror literature.

Ancient and other gods

They are probably the same age as the universe. Scary creatures that live among the stars or in other dimensions. They are worshiped by various wild tribes as gods. The appearance of each Ancient is individual, but in human terms it is disgusting. They have a lot of knowledge, primarily in the field of magic, and not only in our world. Their power is enormous, but not unlimited. They can only influence people under certain conditions, and with the help of cultists. They were once opposed by the Elder Gods, but nowhere are they accurately described. The Dunwich Horror contains these lines:

The Ancients were, the Ancients are, and the Ancients will be. Not in the spaces we know about, but in between. They go imperturbable and primordial, dimensionless and invisible to us. Yog-Sothoth knows the gates. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is both the key and the guardian of the gates. Past, present, future, everything is in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones came from in the past and knows where They will come from in the future.

There are also references to Other Gods. They are probably stronger than the Ancients and patronize them. The Others usually include Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth, and Nyarlathotep.

Azathoth

supreme god in the pantheon. The most common epithet applied to him is "mad god". This is a blind god who always plays a very slow melody on his flute. The Necronomicon says that if he stops playing even for a minute, the worlds he created will instantly die. It has no form, it is a bunch of chaos. So he is described in the work "Sonambulic dream

...that last formless nightmare in the center of chaos, which blasphemously swirls and seethes in the very center of infinity - the boundless sultan of demons Azathoth, whose name no one dares to pronounce, who greedily chews in incomprehensible, dark chambers out of time to the deaf, maddening terrible fraction drums and quiet monotonous sobs of cursed flutes, under whose vile roar and lingering whistle gigantic Absolute gods slowly, clumsily and bizarrely dance, eyeless, voiceless, gloomy, insane Other gods, whose spirit and messenger is the creeping chaos Nyarlathotep.

There are those who worship Azathoth, but he is deaf to them. He is only interested in his flute, which creates worlds. The melody of the flute is slow, and the god himself is in constant sadness.

Yig - the serpent god

the oldest of the Elder rulers. It is described in detail in the Necronomicon.

“In the darkness of time, Yig approached the ancestors of man and silently spoke to their minds, offering to teach our race the secret of eternal life in exchange for devotion and worship. But the prophets were afraid of this knowledge of the snake and decided that the covenant with Yig would be rejected by people, so that they would not spoil their souls with the poison of the snake.

The true form of this serpent god. To communicate with people, he takes the form of a man with the head of a snake, but the real form has no limbs. His cult is distributed mainly in Africa and the eastern lands, where he is revered as the monarch of snakes. The constellation dedicated to Yig is the Dragon, and the sectarians believe that God is from there. Before people awakened on earth, Yig brought snakes to the planet, for entertainment and a reminder of his homeland. It is considered the wisest of the Elders, and Saturn corresponds to it, because it is the oldest and coldest planet. Those who revere Yig wear a protective sign with his seal on their bodies. He just has a habit of possessing the bodies of his followers. Yig never speaks, but conveys images to the mind of the magician, and so commands.

Yog-Sothoth

guardian of the gates between the worlds. Comparable in strength to Azathothm, in wisdom to Yig. He is described as follows: “He is seen only in person, he has no body, since his body is the universe itself, but not the very substance of creation, but the dimensions of the angles and distances between it, since it is created from an intangible essence and can only be perceived as a shimmering range of ever-changing colors, such as one sees on a beetle's shell or a dragonfly's wing in the sun."

Those who worship him do so among the dolmens, and "the chief of them is in the grassy deserts of Albion." Doors to other worlds emanate from him, and Yog-Sothoth holds the keys to the gates. Actually, at a certain arrangement of the stars, this god stands at the stones, his face, or rather the sparkling spheres, open the gates. A person can go through them, you will acquire many knowledge, sadness will forever take possession of them. But there are brave ones who want to go a little further than the threshold of the gate, and then the shadows seize them. And who said that you can roam back and forth on unearthly roads just like that? In fact, no one saw them afterwards.

There are also those who wear the sign of Sothoth around their neck, so that God would contribute to their wisdom and good luck. But usually their bones are soon seen whitening in the desert.

Cthulhu - destroyer of worlds

warrior-god, of all the elders, he is the most formidable. His main pleasure is to destroy everything that he sees under his feet. corresponds to the sphere of Mars. This character first appears in the story "The Call of Cthulhu". Then it is mentioned in many works of Lovecraft.

He loves to conquer what was previously free. And this thirst drives him to the worlds. He does not come alone, the army of his descendants moves with him. They are smaller than him, but there are many of them, and they attack like locusts, crushing in numbers. There was no one who could defeat them. But then Cthulhu came to our world, and met an enemy more serious than people. These were the stars. Their light greatly reduces the power of the gods and is able to destroy them. Many left, but Cthulhu remained, having built a city for himself on the island of R'lieh. He invented powerful magic that kept him from the stars. It is most often mentioned that he will wake up when the stars align in a certain way. Up to this point, he commands his worshipers through his dreams. At the time of the stories, the city remains submerged in the sea.

His body has nothing to do with the substances of our world. In fact, it is not solid. It is huge, has wings on which it patches, has clawed paws. And the head "resembles the shapeless mass of an inhabitant of the depths." He keeps his wings folded so that they rise above his constantly throbbing head.

The Necronomicon says that some people wear his mark to protect them. But to believe in a god who loves trash and waste is ridiculous.

Dagon - horror from the depths of the ocean

another god who prefers water. But unlike Cthulhu, he spends time at the bottom of the deepest crevice, although no one knows its exact location. There Dagon lies at the bottom, under the silt, and the radiation of the stars does not interfere with him. Sometimes he wakes up and walks on the seabed. Occasionally it goes to the shallows, but stays there for a very short time, then returns to the depths.

Dagon is immortal. He is tall and has human hands, but longer, webbed fingers. The body is covered with silvery scales. But the substance is not dense, and if the light of the moon passes through it, then it looks like a misty crystal.