Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep (the Crawling Chaos) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. He is one of the cosmic Outer Gods and appears in the works of Lovecraft and August Derleth, among others.

Nyarlathotep - A desert noise cult who's namesake has convicted some to create "loathsome sounds from beyond".

Nyarlathotep in the mythos

Nyarlathotep differs from the other beings in a number of ways. Most of them are exiled to stars, like Yog-Sothoth and Hastur, or sleeping and dreaming like Cthulhu; Nyarlathotep, however, is active and frequently walks the Earth in the guise of a human being, usually a tall, slim, joyous man. Most of them have their own cults serving them, while Nyarlathotep seems to serve them and take care of their affairs in their absence. Most of them use strange alien languages, while Nyarlathotep uses human languages and can be mistaken for a human being. Finally, most of them are all powerful yet purposeless, yet Nyarlathotep seems to be deliberately deceptive and manipulative, and even uses propaganda to achieve his goals. In this regard, he is probably the most human-like among them.

Nyarlathotep enacts the will of the Outer Gods, and is their messenger, heart and soul; he is also a servant of Azathoth, whose wishes he immediately fulfills. Unlike the other Outer Gods, causing madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep. In this sense, he strongly resembles the traditional role of the devil.

According to the Necronomicon, Nyarlathotep will play some part in the End Time. It is stated that he will allow Nyogtha to wipe the Earth clean in preparation for the return of the Great Old Ones - although it doesn't specify how Nyarlathotep will accomplish this. It also fails to mention any timeframe for this to occur, although it would presumably be after the fall of Zothique some 5,000 years in the future.

Table of Nyarlathotep's forms

Nyarlathotep has many forms (some literature refers to these forms as Masks and claims that he has a thousand of them) and is thus known by different avatars.

Overview

This table is organized as follows:

• Name. This is the name of Nyarlathotep's form.
• Region. This is the geographical location where Nyarlathotep's form is active.
• Description. This entry describes Nyarlathotep's form.
• Notes. This field contains additional information.
• References. This field lists the sources that contain references to Nyarlathotep's form. If the source is a story, it is denoted by a two-letter code—the key to the codes is found here. Otherwise, the source is denoted as follows:
  • rpg means a role-playing game and includes a footnote to the source.
  • MofN means the Masks of Nyarlathotep web site.

If an entry appears in bold, this means that the reference introduces Nyarlathotep's form.

Table-a (A–D)

Nyarlathotep's forms

Name	Region	Description	Notes	References
Ahtu	Congo	Appears as a gelatinous mass extruding golden tentacles.	Ahtu 's cult is made of crippled and disfigured natives (though Europeans with similar deformities can join). He can be called by a magical, golden bracelet, which is kept separated into two halves to prevent accidental summonings. Also knowns as the Spiralling Worm.	rpg, UD, SoK
All-Seeing Eye	?	?	—	MofN
Aku-Shin Kage, "Dark Warlord", "Ghost of Nobunaga"	Japan	Appears as a shadowy figure or charismatic man in a dark suit.	Unwitting cults of ambitious warriors, gangsters, corporatists, etc. drawn to the avatar's charisma, power, and wealth, who are motivated to reshape the world on his command.	RPG, SoJ
Baron Samedi	New Orleans, Haiti	A tall black man, his face painted like a grinning skull, wearing a black top hat and black coat with long tails.	Voodoo cults	RPG, SoNO
The Beast	Worldwide	Manifests through the Sphinx.	In this form, Nyarlathotep is worshipped by the Brotherhood of the Beast. This manifestation can only appear in a specific location in Egypt.	rpg
The Black Bull, "The Black Bull from the Other Side of the Stars", "Herald of Doom", "Corrupter of Man", "Ambassador and Preparer of the Way of the Other Gods"	Ancient Khem, Egypt	A giant black bull with one swollen red eye and the other eye with two pupils, or sometimes a humanoid form.	Cult is supposed to have a long-standing feud with the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh, as they share overlapping territory.	Steffen Schütte, "Im Zeichen des Stiers"
The Black Demon	—	Appears as a black, furry, snouted creature which fears light but is not harmed by it.	Although special talismans can be used to control the Black Demon, there is still the risk that the summoner will be attacked.	rpg
The Black Lion, Destroyer of Egypt	?	?	—	Template:Fact
Black Man	England	Appears as a hooved, hairless, swarthy man.	Nyarlathotep is worshipped by witch covens in this form.	DW, FG
Black Messenger of Karneter	?	?	—	MofN
Black One	?	?	—	MofN
Black Pharaoh	Egypt	Appears as a haughty Egyptian pharaoh wearing a brightly colored robe.	The Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh worships Nyarlathotep in this form.	DQ, rpg
Black Wind	Kenya	Manifests as a devastating storm.	—	IK, rpg
Blind Ape of Truth	?	?	—	MofN
Bloated Woman	China	Appears as a five-mouthed, morbidly obese woman with numerous tentacles.	The Bloated Woman hides behind the Black Fan to conceal its great bulk from unwary victims.	rpg
Bloody Tongue	worldwide	A giant black humanoid figure with three legs, a pair of clawed arms, and a single enormous blood-red tentacle in place of a face.	One of the most organized and widespread cults of Nyarlathotep, specializing in gruesome murders and sacrifices.	rpg
Bringer of Pests	Egypt	Appears as a swarm of preternatural locusts.	This avatar had a following in Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty. Today it is worshipped by the Knights of the Silver Twilight.	rpg
Crawling Mist	Dreamlands	Appears as a putrid, living fog.	—	EL
Dark Demon	—	Appears as a larger version of the Black Demon yet more treacherous.	Those who study the black arts are sometimes contacted by this avatar. In return for entering their bodies, the Dark Demon promises them great rewards. Unfortunately, Nyarlathotep never makes good on this promise.	KD
Dark One	California, Louisiana	Appears as a pitch-black, eight-foot-tall, faceless man who can walk through any physical barrier.	—	MK
Demon Messenger	?	?	—	MofN
Devil	?	?	—	RPG
Dweller in Darkness	Wood of N'gai (somewhere in northern America)	Appears as a hideous, howling giant with a tentacle in place of a face.	—	DD

Table-b (E–M)

Nyarlathotep's forms

Name	Region	Description	Notes	References
Earth Creature	?	?	—	MofN
Effigy of Hate	Africa	A winged creature that manifests through a war totem.	—	rpg
Elder One	?	?	—	MofN
The Faceless God	Ancient Egypt	Appears as a winged, faceless sphinx.	This avatar has the ability to send its worshippers back through time.	FG
Faceless One	?	?	—	MofN
Father of Bats	Australia	Similar to the Haunter of the Dark	—	RPG?
Father of Maggots	?	?	—	RPG?
Father of the Million Favored One	?	?	—	MofN, WD(?)
The Floating Horror	Haiti	Appears as a bluish, red-veined jellyfish-like creature.	—	AP
Fly-the-Light	?	Similar to the Haunter of the Dark	—	RPG?
God of the Bloody Tongue, Howler in Darkness	Kenya	Appears as gigantic monster with a red tentacle in place of a face.	In this form, Nyarlathotep is worshipped by the Cult of the Bloody Tongue.	rpg
God of the Desert	?	?	—	MofN
Green Man	Celts	Appears as an animated, man-like effigy made of plant material.	—	rpg
Halloween Man	United States, worldwide	A stick-thin man with unnaturally long and pointed chin and nose, dead black eyes, and long clawed fingers. He dresses in tattered black dress clothes including tuxedo with tails, spats, and battered top hat, carrying a large black sack over his shoulder.	Inspiration for the urban legend. See also the Bogeyman.	rpg
The Haunter of the Dark	Australia; Providence, Rhode Island; Yuggoth; Dreamlands	A bloated, batlike creature with a single, burning, three-lobed eye which appears able to kill by fear alone. This avatar is destroyed by light.	Its most important cult is the Church of Starry Wisdom, based in Providence, which can summon the avatar using the Shining Trapezohedron. It is also worshipped by some modern Aborigines. Its other epithets include Face Eater, Father of All Bats, Dark Wing, Sand Bat, and Fly-The-Light.	CD, HD, rpg, S5
High Priest Not to be Described	Dreamlands (Monastery of Leng)	A humanoid entity draped in yellow silk robes with a mask obscuring its horrific face.	Might be mistaken for the King in Yellow	DQ
The Horned Man	Celts	Appears as a man with stag-like horns.	This avatar can only be viewed while under the influence of certain hallucinogenic drugs.	rpg
The Horned One	?	?	—	rpg
The Host	Haiti	A possessed human victim covered in a black, scaly growth.	Voodoo Cult	A.A. Attanasio, "The Star Pools"
Human Form of Nyarlathotep	Ancient Khem, Dreamlands, worldwide	"A tall, slim figure with the young face of an antique pharaoh, gay with prismatic robes and crowned with a pshent that glowed with inherent light, with the fascination of a dark god or fallen archangel, and around whose eyes there lurked the languid sparkle of capricious humor."	—	DQ
The Howler at the Moon, Howler in the Night (?)	?	Appearance is the same as the God of the Bloody Tongue.	—	DD(?)
Jack O'Lantern	Ireland, United States, worldwide	May appear either as the misshapen, bug-eyed, wide-mouthed man or as a man with a grinning jack o'lantern for a head. He sometimes is seen in rags and sometimes in elegant dress clothes complete with tuxedo with tails, carrying or wearing a carved pumpkin/turnip/gourd/etc. lantern.	Cult of Halloween.	W. Haden Blackman, The Field Guide to North American Monsters
Kokopelli	Southwestern United States	Depicted as a one-eyed, stick-thin figure with an arched back, playing a flute.	Originates primarily with the Anasazi tribe, but is a well-known figure in Soutwestern states of the USA and parts of Mexico.	RPG
Kruschtya Equation	Alien cultures, and sometimes scientific communities	A complicated alien equation of quantum mathematics that, once solved, opens the mathematician to possession by Nyarlathotep.	known by some of the more advanced races of the Mythos, such as the Mi-Go, Insects from Shaggai, Inhabitants of Yekub, Great Race of Yith, and Denizens of Yaddith. The Hyperboreans may well have known the secrets of the Kruschtya Equation, as do possibly the People of K'n-yan. Those who know the Equation and its solution understand its power and use it with great caution.	RPG
Lord of the Desert	?	?	—	MofN
L'rog'g (also Lrogg), Bat God of L'gy'hx	The planet L'gy'hx (Uranus)	Appears as a two-headed bat (debatable).	Avatar worshipped by the cuboid inhabitants of L'gy'hx and by a group of renegade Shan.	IS, rpg
Lurker in the Star-Pool	Haiti	An amphibious, amorphous conglomeration of webbed wings, mouths, and other parts.	In servitude to the Floating Horror Cult.	John Carnahan, "Devil's Canyon"
Many-legged Goat	?	?	—	MofN
The Masked Messenger	Morocco Kenya	Human Female aspect with acid skin.	Avatar worshipped by the Sisterhood of the Masked Messenger.	SoK, rpg
Master of Evil	?	?	—	MofN
Messenger of the Old Ones	—	Appears as an enormous black mass that seems to creep across the sky.	This form is manifast only during occasions of cosmic importance, such as the awakening of Cthulhu.	rpg, WA
Mighty Messenger	?	?	—	MofN
Mr. Skin	Los Angeles	Indistinguishable imitation of an African American pimp.	This avatar is closely associated with certain worshippers of Shub-Niggurath.	MK

Table-c (N–W)

Nyarlathotep's forms

Name	Region	Description	Notes	References
Narla	Worldwide	A Woman in the Red Dress-like virtual reality entity.	—	MofN
Nyarlatophis, the Sorcerer	?	?	—	Template:Fact
Narlato	?	?	—	MofN
Narlotep	?	?	—	MofN
N'hyarlothatep	?	?	—	MofN
Night Messenger	?	?	—	MofN
Old God	?	?	—	MofN
Pazzuzu, "Angel of Disease", "One Who Shuns the Light"	Mesopotamia and Ancient Babylon, Ancient Khem	A thin demonic figure with a bestial, scowling face, four great wings, a scorpion's tail, a mouth full of fangs, and clawed hands and feet.	—	RPG
The Pool of Shadow	Druids	?	This avatar was worshipped for thousands of years by a small druidic cult.	rpg
Prince of Darkest Dark	?	?	—	MofN
Queen in Red	Dark Ages Europe, Dreamlands (Carcosa)	"A fearsome woman, with hair streaming wildly, with clawed hands. She is bat-winged, and her clothing is stiff with mire. She swings a scythe, eager to end the joy and delight of the world."	—	RPG
Set	Egypt	?	This avatar is worshipped by the Majestic Order of the Great Dark One, a cult which may still be active in Egypt.	rpg
Sand Bat	?	Similar to the Haunter of the Dark	—	RPG?
Shugoran	Malaysia	Appears as a black human-like creature playing a horn.	This form is worshipped by the Tcho-tcho people. They sometimes summon this avatar to punish offenders.	MH, rpg
Skeletal Horror	Egypt	Manifests as a twelve-foot-tall living skeleton with enormous claws and the head of a human embryo.	—	rpg
Skinless One, Xipe Totec	Middle East	Appears as a skinned corpse.	This avatar was worshipped by an abhorrent cult in Turkey and its environs. The Aztecs revered this avatar as Xipe Totec.	rpg
The Small Crawler	India	A small human figure with four arms and three tentacles for legs.	This avatar is described in the Cthäat Aquadingen and has a small cult in India.	rpg
Stalker Among the Stars	?	?	—	MofN
Tezcatlipoca	Mexico	Dark-skinned man with a foot that looks like a smoking mirror.	This avatar was a prominent deity among the Aztecs.	rpg
The Thing in the Yellow Mask	Dreamlands	A creature clothed in yellow silk.	This avatar is only known to manifest in the city of 'Ygiroth in the Dreamlands. Some claim that it is the lone occupant of the remote, unnamed monastery on the Plateau of Leng (see High Priest Not to Be Described).	CE, FY, YG
Thoth	Ancient Khem, Egypt, Dreamlands	A large man with the head of an ibis (bird).	Worshiped widely by the ancient Egyptians; a small following persists today in both the waking world and the fantastic Dreamlands.	RPG
The Tick-Tock Man	Any technologically advanced civilisation	An advanced piece of machinery for the time period.	This avatar is most commonly found in technologically advanced races, or at times when science begins to supersede religion. It can manifest itself from something as mundane as a complex carriage clock to an extremely advanced artificial intelligence. Sources claim it was Nyarlathotep that gave humanity the final keys to unlock the atomic age, unwittingly ushering in the time of their own destruction.	Template:Fact
The Wailing Writher	?	A column of writhing black tentacles and screaming mouths.	This avatar has no known worshippers.	rpg
The White Man	New England	Appears as a blonde man in a shiny white robe.	—	NS
The Wicker Man	England, Wales, and rarely in Canada, New England, Australia, and India	A large, creaking, rattling, rustling man-shaped figure of straw and wicker, almost like a towering scarecrow or Guy Fawkes dummy.	The cult is largely inactive in the modern world, seeing only occasional revivals in remote areas of the British Empire or its remnants.	NS

Quotations

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences - of electricity and psychology - and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare.
—H.P. Lovecraft, "Nyarlathotep (fiction)"

What his fate would be, he did not know; but he felt that he was held for the coming of that frightful soul and messenger of infinity's Other Gods, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep.

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (fiction)

There was the immemorial figure of the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers - the 'Black Man' of the witch cult, and the 'Nyarlathotep' of the Necronomicon.

—H.P. Lovecraft, "The Dreams in the Witch House (fiction)"

There are references to a Haunter of the Dark awaked by gazing into the Shining Trapezohedron, and insane conjectures about the black gulfs from which it was called. The being is spoken of as holding all knowledge, and demanding monstrous sacrifices.

—H.P. Lovecraft, "The Haunter of the Dark (fiction)"

Appearances

• Outside the Lovecraft mythos, Nyarlathotep appears in the Persona series of PlayStation games as a god symbolic of the destructive potential of Carl Jung's collective unconsciousness, humanity's collective soul. He is the ally/enemy/doppelganger (it is complicated) of the Philemon character, and appears in various forms.
• Nyarlathotep appears as "Nylonathatep, the laddering horror" in the Discworld game Discworld Noir.
• Stephen King's character Randall Flagg was also known as Nyarlathotep; Flagg used a wide variety of names.
• Magic spells in Conan the Barbarian comic books feature invocations to "Nyarla Thotep".
• Brad Strickland, a writer of children's stories, used Nyarlathotep as the primary antagonist in his book The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost.
• In an issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the turtles find themself in a tower which inhabits forgotten deities. They found their enemy in the deceitful Loki who, in an ensuing battle, summons Nyarlathotep, "tearer of souls, ripper of flesh"
• Appears as Nyarlathotep, N., Priest of the Ether, Chaos Made Flesh, etc. as a character in the webcomic Friendly Hostility where he is a friend of several main characters and his entrance preceded (his whereabouts known) by the occurrence of strange, random, usually gruesome events.
• Appears as a God card in the trading card game Hecatomb by Wizards of the Coast.

See also

• References to the Cthulhu Mythos

References

• Template:Cite web
• Harms, Daniel. "Nyarlathotep" in The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), pp. 218–222. Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.

Role-playing game material

• Aniolowski, Scott D.
  • "The Sundial of Amen-Tet" in Lurking Fears, Lockport, NY: Triad Entertainments, 1990.
  • Ye Booke of Monstres, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1994. ISBN 1-568-82019-4.

• Conyers, David. Secrets of Kenya, Chaosium Inc, 2006.

• Detwiller, Dennis, Adam Scott Glancy, and John Tynes. Delta Green: A Call of Cthulhu Sourcebook of Modern Horror and Conspiracy, Tynes Cowan Corp, 1997. ISBN 1-887-79708-4.

• Diaper, John, et al. The Arkham Evil, Theatre of the Mind, 1983.

• DiTillio, Larry and Lynn Willis.
  • "City beneath the Sands" in Terror Australis, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1987. ISBN 0-933-63540-0.
  • Masks of Nyarlathotep, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1996. ISBN 1-568-82069-0.

• Gillian, Geoff.
  • "Regiment of Dread" in Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, , Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1991. ISBN 0-933-63583-4.
  • —et al. Horror on the Orient Express, 1991.

• Hallet, David and L.N. Isinwyll. "Eyes for the Blind" in Dark Designs, 1991.

• Hamblin, William. "Thoth's Dagger" in Different Worlds #27, 1983.

• Herber, Keith.
  • "Dead of Night" in Arkham Unveiled, 1990.
  • The Fungi from Yuggoth, 1984.
  • Return to Dunwich, 1991.

• Johnson, Sam. A Resection of Time, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1997. ISBN 1-568-82095-X.

• Lyons, Doug and Isinwyll, L.N. "One in Darkness" in The Great Old Ones, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1989.

• Petersen, Sandy
  • "The Rise of R'lyeh", 1982) in Shadows of Yog-Sothoth.
  • —and John B. Monroe. "The Ten Commandments of Cthulhu Hunting" in The Cthulhu Casebook, 1990.

• Ross, Kevin. Escape from Innsmouth (2nd ed.), Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1997. ISBN 1-568-82115-8.

• Williams, Chris and Sandy Petersen. The Complete Dreamlands (4th ed.), Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1997. ISBN 1-568-82086-0.

Notes

1. ^ Harms, "Nyarlathotep", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 218–9.
2. ^ Detwiller et al, Delta Green; Herber, "Dead of Night".
3. ^ Herber, The Fungi from Yuggoth.
4. ^ Lyons & Isinwyll, "One in Darkness".
5. ^ DiTillio & Willis, Masks of Nyarlathotep.
6. ^ Ibid.
7. ^ Ibid.
8. ^ Petersen & Monroe, "The Ten Commandments of Cthulhu Hunting".
9. ^ Gillian, "Regiment of Dread".
10. ^ Harms, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, "The Floating Horror", pp. 222. This name was created by Harms.
11. ^ DiTillio & Willis, Masks of Nyarlathotep (first appeared in this scenario?); Johnson, A Resection of Time.
12. ^ Hallet & Isinwyll, "Eyes for the Blind".
13. ^ DiTillio et al, "City beneath the Sands"; Petersen et al, The Complete Dreamlands.
14. ^ Herber, Return to Dunwich.
15. ^ Aniolowski, Ye Booke of Monstres.
16. ^ Ibid; Petersen, "The Rise of R'lyeh".
17. ^ Diaper et al. The Arkham Evil.
18. ^ Aniolowski, "The Sundial of Amen-Tet".
19. ^ Ross, Escape from Innsmouth.
20. ^ Hamblin, "Thoth's Dagger" in Different Worlds #27.
21. ^ Gillan et al, Horror on the Orient Express.
22. ^ DiTillio & Willis, Masks of Nyarlathotep.
23. ^ Johnson, A Resection of Time.
24. ^ Ross, Escape from Innsmouth.