Elder Sign (symbol)
Title: The Elder Sign was invented by H.P. Lovecraft, who never described it in his stories, but did draw it in a 1930 letter. It was probably inspired by the mysterious "Voorish Sign" or Arthur Machen.
Origin: (story/scenario the tome appears in)
Description
Again thanking you in Tsathoggua's name for the recent shipment, & hoping to see more items from your pen ere long, I append the Elder Sign & the Seal of N'gah, given in the Dark Cycle of Y'hu. - Ec'h-Pi-El
— H.P. Lovecraft, Letter to Clark Ashton Smith dated November 7, 1930
The Elder Sign is a curious symbol used to ward against the malignant influence of certain Mythos entities; Zadok Allen describes the symbol as a "kind of swastika", and in some places Lovecraft seems to describe it as a hand gesture (characters such as the farmers in "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (fiction)" "make the Elder Sign" when questioned about the Old Ones, instead of answering verbally.) Lovecraft once drew the Elder Sign as a branch-shaped figure in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith.
It's unclear how or why the Elder Sign works: usually assumed to be magic, it might operate on hypergeometry, or the Old Ones might respect the Elder Sign voluntarily for reasons of their own (perhaps it communicates something to them?)
For the Call of Cthulhu RPG spell, see Elder Sign (spell)
Heresies and Controversies
- August Derleth describes the Elder Sign in "Lurker at the Threshold (fiction)" as a star-shaped figure with an evil-eye figure in the center.
- Frank Belknap Long in "The Space Eaters (fiction)" depicts a burning cross-shaped figure as having a similar effect, implied to be a pre-Christian Elder Sign.
- Gary Myers depicts N'tse-Kaambl as the creator of the Elder Sign in "Yohk the Necromancer (fiction)"
