Great Old Ones (Deities)

This article is about the fictional dieties. For other uses of Great Old Ones, please see Great Old Ones (Disambiguation)

A Great Old One is a type of fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Collectively, the Great Old Ones (sometimes referred to as the Old Ones[1] by some authors or the Cthulhu Cycle Deities by Brian Lumley in his Titus Crow stories) are not as powerful as the Outer Gods, nor do they have as much influence. Nonetheless, they are served by devoted congregations of worshipers, made up of both human and non-human cults.

Great Old Ones in the mythos

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons, even death may die.
—Abdul Alhazred, The Necronomicon

The Great Old Ones are ancient creatures of immense power. Most are also colossal in size. They are worshipped by deranged human cults, as well as by most of the non-human races of the mythos. The Great Old Ones are currently imprisoned—a few beneath the sea, some inside the Earth, and still others in distant planetary systems (and beyond). The reason for their captivity is not known, though there are two prevailing theories: (1) They were sequestered by the Elder Gods for committing past transgressions, or (2) they are sealed off somehow from the rest of the universe by their own volition.

According to the first theory, the Great Old Ones were once members or servants of the Elder Gods. When they committed some unknown blasphemy, they were cast out and imprisoned in various places in the universe. The Great Old Ones impatiently await the time of their release, eager to seek retribution against their jailors.

The second theory holds that the Great Old Ones are intentionally quiescent. To account for this, it is possible that the universe experiences cosmic cycles, similar to the seasons of the earth. Just as some animals hibernate during the winter, so too must the Great Old Ones rest in death-like sleep during the present cosmic cycle. If this is so, the Great Old Ones are currently trapped by powerful cosmic forces and must remain so until such time as "the stars are right"—the event whenupon they are released and can revel once more across the cosmos.

Another theory suggests that the Great Old Ones have fallen into hibernation due to unsuitable conditions. It is also possible that they are subject to some combination of the theories previously proposed.

Table of Great Old Ones

Also see: Category:Great Old Ones

Overview

This table is organized as follows:

• Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the Great Old One.
• Epithet(s), other name(s). This field lists any epithets or alternate names for the Great Old One. These are names that often appear in books of arcane literature, but may also be the names preferred by cults.
• Description. This entry gives a brief description of the Great Old One.
• References. This field lists the stories in which the Great Old One makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. Sources are denoted by a simple two-letter code—the key to the codes is found here. If a code appears in bold, it means that the story introduces the Great Old One.

Table

Great Old Ones

Name	Epithet(s), other name(s)	Description	References
Aphoom-Zhah	The Cold Flame, Lord of the Pole	Appears as a vast, cold, grey flame.	AF, AT, HG, LP
Arwassa	The Silent Shouter on the Hill	A vast, wailing, floating monstrosity.	?
Atlach-Nacha	The Spider God, Spinner in Darkness	A giant spider with a human-like face.	PS, SG
Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg	The Bringer of Pestilence	A huge, flying, scorpion-like beast.	n/a
Basatan	Master of the Crabs	?	MC
Bokrug	The Great Water Lizard, The Doom of Sarnath	Appears as a giant lizard.	DC, SC
Bugg-Shash	The Black One, The Filler of Space, He Who Comes in the Dark	Appears as a slimy mass covered with eyes and mouths.	DI, EL, KB, RS
Byatis	The Berkeley Toad, The Serpent-Bearded	Appears as a gigantic, spider-like crab with a proboscis.	BY, RC, SF
Chaugnar Faugn	Horror from the Hills, The Feeder, Derzh-Hophazh Caug-Narfagn	An elephant-headed humanoid.	HF
Cthugha	The Living Flame, The Burning One	Appears as a living ball of fire.	DD, EL, HC
Cthulhu	The Sleeping God, Master of R'lyeh, Kthulhut, Tulu	A gigantic, octopus-headed humanoid.	AM, CC, FH, HC, HM, MO, PS, RH, SE, TU, YT?
Cthylla	Secret Seed of Cthulhu	Appears as a huge, octopus-like creature. Daughter of Cthulhu.	ID, TC
Cxaxukluth	—	Probably appears similar to Azathoth.	FT, TA
Cyäegha	The Destroying Eye, The Waiting Dark	Appears as a gigantic eye covered with tentacles.	DM
Cynothoglys	The Mortician God	Appears as a shapeless, mutating entity with a single arm.	PR
The Dweller in the Gulf	Eidolon of the Blind	Appears as a huge, eyeless tortoise with whip-like tails.	WL
Eihort	The Pale Beast, God of the Labyrinth	Appears as a huge, pallid, gelatinous oval with a myriad legs and multiple eyes.	BS, FP
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra	—	Both appear as abnormally large Deep Ones.	DA, DB, RD, SI
Ghadamon	A Seed of Azathoth	A shapeless, inky, protoplasmic mass.	?
Ghatanothoa	The Usurper, God of the Volcano	Amorphous with multifarious appendages and grotesque members; too horrid to behold, viewing causes petrification.	HT, OE, RL, SX, TP
Ghizguth	—	—	FT
Glaaki	The Inhabitant of the Lake, Lord of Dead Dreams	Appears as a giant slug with metallic spines.	GL, IB, IL
Gloon	The Corrupter of Flesh, Master of the Temple	Manifests through a Dionysian sculpture; resembles a monstrous sea slug.	TE
The Gog-Hoor	?	?	?
Gol-goroth (or Gol-Goroth?)	The Forgotten Old One, God of the Black Stone	Appears as a gigantic, black, toad-like creature with an impossibly malevolent glare.	FO, FR, GB
Hastur	The Unspeakable, He Who is Not to be Named, Lord of Interstellar Spaces	"True" form remains a mystery; said to be amorphous, possibly octopoid.	FA, HS, LT, RH, SS
Huitloxopetl	Haunter of Dreams, The Nightmare Walker	?	H1, H2, H3, H4
Hzioulquoigmnzhah	—	Has spheroid body, elongated arms, short legs, and a pendulum-like head dangling underneath.	DS, FT, TA
Idh-yaa	—	—	OA
Iod	The Shining Hunter	A levitating, sinuous, glowing creature.	HU, IN, SZ
Ithaqua	The Wind Walker, The Wendigo, God of the Cold White Silence	A horrifying frozen giant.	BW, CD, IM, IQ, SW, TW, WE
Juk-Shabb	God of Yekub	Appears as a great ball of energy.	CF
Lloigor	See Zhar and Lloigor below.
M'nagalah	The Great God Cancer, The All-Consuming	A massive, tumorous thing.	TU
Mnomquah	Lord of the Black Lake	A very large and eyeless lizard-creature with a "crown" of feelers.	MD, MQ, SB
Mordiggian	The Charnel God, The Great Ghoul, Lord of Zul-Bha-Sair	A horrifying giant with eyeless head and limbless body, much like a worm.	CG, IC, RE
Nug and Yeb	The Twin Blasphemies	Appear similar to Shub-Niggurath.	BF, EH, LA, OA, TO
Nyogtha	The Thing which Should Not Be, Haunter of the Red Abyss	Appears as an inky shadow.	AF, HG, SH, SR
Oorn	?	Appears as a huge, tentacled mollusc.	MD
Othuum	Deep Slumberer in Green, Great Master of Those-Who-Wait-Without	Black, cyclops-like demon with two pairs of legs.	OT, RS
Othuyeg	The Doom-Walker	Appears as a great, tentacled eye (similar to Cyäegha).	DF, VC, SP
Quachil Uttaus	Treader of the Dust	Appears as a miniature, wrinkled mummy with ankylosed, outstretched claws.	KU, RU
Q'yth-az	?	A crystalline entity.	EF
Rhan-Tegoth	He of the Ivory Throne	A tall humanoid with crab-like appendages; hard to describe in a few words.	HM, LT
Rlim Shaikorth	The White Worm	A gigantic, whitish worm with a huge maw and eyes made of dripping globules of blood.	CW, HG, LP
Saa'itii	The Hogge	A giant, spectral hog.	?
Sfatlicllp	—	—	FT
Shathak	—	—	FT
Shterot	?	Separate, living tentacles.	?
Shudde M'ell	The Burrower Beneath, The Great Chthonian	Appears as a colossal worm with anterior tentacles.	BU, CS, TC, WU
Summanus	?	A mouthless, grotesque human.	WG
Tharapithia	?	?	?
Tsathoggua	The Sleeper of N'kai, The Toad-God, Zhothaqqua, Sadagowah	Appears as a huge, furry, almost humanoid toad.	BC, DS, FT, IU, OL, RT, SG, TS
Vulthoom	The Sleeper of Ravermos, Gsarthotegga	May appear as a monstrous plant with an enormous, elf-like blossom.	VU
The Worm that Gnaws in the Night	Doom of Shaggai	A massive, worm-like fiend.	AG
X'chll'at-aa	Lord of the Great Old Ones, The Unborn God, Enemy of All That Live	?	?
Y'golonac	The Defiler	Appears as a naked, headless human with a mouth in the palm of each hand; other features are nebulous.	CP
Yhoundeh	The Elk Goddess	Perhaps an elk-like humanoid.	DS, LE
Yibb-Tstll	The Patient One, The Watcher in the Glade	Gigantic, bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes; truly horrible to behold.	CB, OK, SC
Yig	Father of Serpents	A scaly, serpent-like humanoid.	CY, SJ, VY
Ythogtha	The Thing in the Pit	Appears as a colossal, cyclops-like Deep One.	OA, PD, TC, TP
Zathog	?	?	FB, WZ
Zhar and Lloigor	The Twin Obscenities	Both appear as a colossal mass of tentacles (have a rumoured triplet).	SA, LS, SX
Zoth-Ommog	Dweller in the Deeps	A gigantic entity with a cone-shaped body, a reptilian head, and starfish-like arms.	HG, OA, TC
Zushakon	Dark Silent One, Old Night, Zul-Che-Quon	Appears as a swirling, black vortex.	BH, KD
Zvilpoggua	Feaster from the Stars, The Sky-Devil, Ossadagowah	Winged, tentacle-faced, toad-like giant.	LT, RM, SV
Zstylzhemgni	Matriarch of Swarms, Zystulzhemgni	?	FT, TA

References

Books

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Notes

1. ^  In Lovecraft's fiction, the term "Old Ones" is used in different contexts. In his short story "The Call of Cthulhu" (the first mythos story to mention the "Great Old Ones"), Lovecraft alternately used "Old Ones" in place of "Great Old Ones"—although in this context, the name referred to Cthulhu's spawn (Harms, "Great Old Ones", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 128). In Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness (fiction), "Old Ones" referred to the Antarctic-based Elder Things. In "The Dunwich Horror (fiction)", Lovecraft named the "Old Ones" as beings associated with Yog-Sothoth. In Lovecraft's revision story "The Mound (fiction)", the term "Old Ones" referred to the denizens of K'n-yan. Nonetheless, despite its varied usages, "Old Ones" more commonly refers to the Great Old Ones or the Elder Things. (Harms, "Old Ones", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 228–9).
2. ^  Harms, "Great Old Ones", pp. 126–7.
3. ^  Ibid. While the first theory, which proposes that the Great Old Ones were forcibly imprisoned by the Elder Gods, is delineated by the writings of August Derleth, the second theory (relating to "cosmic cycles") is debatable but is favored by Harms.
4. ^  Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928), The Best of H.P. Lovecraft, pp. 88.
5. ^  This information lacks a reference. You can improve this article can providing one.
6. ^  Scott D. Aniolowski, "Mysterious Manuscripts" in The Unspeakable Oath #3, John Tynes (ed.), Seattle, WA: Pagan Publishing, August 1991. Periodical (role-playing game material). Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg first appeared in this gaming supplement.
7. ^  When Brian Lumley read David Sutton's short story "Demoniacal", he wrote a sequel entitled "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash". Lumley expanded Sutton's tale and gave his unnamed entity its name—Bugg-Shash—which effectively tied Sutton's creation to the mythos. (Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xx–xxi). The name "Bugg-Shash", however, appeared earlier in Lumley's short story "Rising with Surtsey" (Harms, "Bugg-Shash", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 41).
8. ^ M'nagalah first appeared in the comic book Swamp Thing #8 (1974) in a story by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. (Harms, "M'nagalah", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 196).

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