Cthulhu Mythos

Cthulhu in R'lyeh

Cthulhu mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared themes, characters, and elements in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, his protegés, and writers influenced by him. Together, they form the mythos that authors, writing in the Lovecraftian milieu, have used—and continue to use—to craft their stories.[1]

Although this mythology is sometimes called the Lovecraft Mythos—most notably by the Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi[2]—it has long since moved beyond Lovecraft's original conception. Still, purists who wish to discuss Lovecraft's work, rather than the modifications and expansions of it written by others, consider this to be the most accurate term. Lovecraft himself occasionally referred to it as the Arkham cycle[3], after the main fictional town in his world, or Yog-Sothothery[4], after one of its primary gods.

Lovecraft and the mythos

In his essay "The Lovecraft Mythos", S. T. Joshi defines four key elements in Lovecraft's mythos: (1) the fundamental principle of cosmicism, (2) an imaginary New England setting, (3) recurring "pseudomythological" entities, and (4) works of arcane literature. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft never fully realized his mythos at any time in his career, but instead developed it gradually, adding elements to it with each story he wrote.[5]

Cosmicism

Common themes in Lovecraft's fiction are the insignificance of humanity in the universe[6] and the search for knowledge ending in disaster[7]. Humans are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity[8]. Lovecraft called this viewpoint Cosmicism, a doctrine which holds that humankind's religious beliefs are a mere conceit and that ultimately humanity is alone and defenseless in an uncaring universe.[9]

Imaginary New England setting

Many of Lovecraft's tales take place in a fictional New England setting which may be connected to what Lovecraft called his "Arkham cycle". These ficticious locales may also parallel real-life places in Massachusetts (see table below).[10]

Lovecraft's parallels to real places

Fictional town or city	Actual location in Massachusetts
Arkham	Salem
Dunwich	Vicinity of Hampden, Wilbraham, and Monson
Innsmouth	Newburyport
Kingsport	Marblehead

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Lovecraft's pantheon

Lovecraft's original pantheon

When Lovecraft conceived his imaginary mythology, he apparently never laid out a definitive plan to follow. Instead, he simply launched into writing his stories, adding matter-of-fact references to the various deities and monsters of the mythos. Furthermore, Lovecraft often used these references capriciously, indicating that he probably favored drama over consistency (a noteworthy example is Lovecraft's use of Old Ones, a term whose meaning varied from story to story). Nonetheless, Phillip A. Schreffler, in his book The H. P. Lovecraft Companion, argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings a workable framework emerges for a pantheon of beings (see figure at right).[11] Not included in this chart is Nodens[12], a member of a rival group of potent deities known as the "Elder Gods" (never expanded by Lovecraft) that were more or less benign.[13]

Lovecraft's central deities are Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth, both representing opposing cosmic principles. Azathoth, the "blind and idiotic" ruler of the pantheon, occupies the literal center of the universe, whereas Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth's co-ruler, embodies the infinite, existing in all places and in all times. Next in the hierarchy is Shub-Niggurath (whom Lovecraft mentions but never describes in his stories), representing a kind of pagan fertility god. Attending Azathoth at his court are the Other Gods, mysterious beings that dance mindlessly around Azathoth's throne in cadence to the piping of a demonic flute, and Nyarlathotep, the avatar and messenger of Azathoth and the Other Gods. Nyarlathotep is the only being that can interact intelligently with human beings, though he often manifests himself in human form to disguise his true appearance.

The topmost tier of deities is served by earthbound, non-human beings. Cthulhu is regarded as the priest of the gods, while Dagon appears to be his subordinate. The lowest tier consists of the Elder Things and the Mi-go, both extraterrestrial races, and the Deep Ones, ocean-dwelling humanoids, which serve Cthulhu and Dagon.[14]

Because of the additions of later authors, the mythos pantheon has grown considerably and is now populated by deities and beings never conceived of by Lovecraft. Nevertheless, the original schema, which places Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth at the top of the pantheon, is still widely recognized by many mythos writers.

Gods and devils

According to Robert M. Price in his essay "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", Lovecraft never intended his pantheon of beings—occasionally referred to as the Old Ones—to be supernatural creatures but instead powerful extraterrestrials. For naive humans to worship these beings as gods or to deride them as devils was to feebly attempt to anthropomorphize them and thus render them into mundane and explainable terms. What early humans could not understand they characterized as divine; thus, prescientific cultures deified incomprehensible entities like Azathoth. Though humans might try to placate or earn the favor of these beings by worshiping them, the Old Ones were not welcoming of such veneration and moreover were quick to exploit the gullibility of their worshipers to further their own agenda.

Lovecraft's inspiration was to tear humanity from its supposedly vaunted place in the universe by forcing his characters to confront alien beings far older and wiser than humankind. Unfortunately, August Derleth, as well as other writers who followed after him, misinterpreted Lovecraft's original conception and took the Old Ones to be literally supernatural and godlike. Derleth further distorted Lovecraft's vision by concocting a parallel to the Christian narrative of Satan warring against Heaven, pairing the devils of Lovecraft's mythos (the Old Ones) against a race of benevolent Elder Gods with humanity's fate hanging in the balance. In Price's view, "religious fiction" of this sort could not be further from Lovecraft's fundamental notion of an indifferent, nihilistic universe.[15]

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Cthulhuian pseudobiblia

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A hallmark of Lovecraft's mythos is the various mystical books and other writings of arcane lore which Edward Lauterbach calls "Cthulhuian pseudobiblia"[16]. These tomes were invented by Lovecraft and his imitators to lend more believability to their stories. A good measure of humor was also employed in their creation; for example, Cultes des Goules is credited to the fictional writer Comte d'Erlette, an obvious pun of August Derleth's name.[17]

Selected fictional works
created by mythos authors

Author	Fictional book
Robert Bloch	Cultes des Goules, De Vermis Mysteriis
Ramsey Campbell	Revelations of Glaaki
Lin Carter	Ponape Scripture, Zanthu Tablets
August Derleth	Celaeno Fragments, R'lyeh Text
Robert E. Howard	Unaussprechlichen Kulten
H. P. Lovecraft	Dhol Chants, Necronomicon, Pnakotic Manuscripts, Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Brian Lumley	Cthäat Aquadingen, G'harne Fragments
Clark Ashton Smith	Book of Eibon

Structure of the mythos

The mythos is centered on the Great Old Ones, a fearsome assortment of ancient, powerful deities that once ruled the Earth. They are presently quiescent, having fallen into a death-like sleep at some time in the distant past. [18] The most well-known of these beings is Cthulhu, who currently lies "dead [but] dreaming" in the submerged city of R'lyeh somewhere in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. One day, "when the stars are right", R'lyeh will rise from beneath the sea, and Cthulhu will awaken and wreak havoc on the earth.[19]

Despite his notoriety, Cthulhu is not the most powerful of the deities nor is he the theological center of the mythos[20]. Instead, this position is held by the demon-god Azathoth, an Outer God, ruling from his cosmically-centered court. Nonetheless, Nyarlathotep, who fulfills Azathoth's random urges, has intervened more frequently and more directly in human affairs than any other Outer God. He has also displayed more blatant contempt for humanity, including his own worshipers, than almost any other Lovecraftian deity.

Derleth's involvement

Derleth had his own take on the mythos and tried to make it conform to his own Catholic values and dualism. Instead of a universe of meaninglessness and chaos, Derleth's mythos is a struggle of good versus evil.[21] Derleth once wrote:

As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully at or near Betelgeuze in the constellation Orion, very rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones...
—August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"

Lovecraft was an atheist[22] and claimed that Kant's ethical system "is a joke."[23] Because of this, Derleth's theories about the Cthulhu mythos are inconsistent with Lovecraft's design. The mythos was never intended to be a cohesive, singular entity; instead, it should be regarded as simply a collection of ideas that can be used in separate works to provoke the same emotions.[24]

Another problem with Derleth's mythos is that the Elder Gods never appear in Lovecraft's writings; except for one or two who appear as "Other Gods", such as Nodens in Lovecraft's "The Strange High House in the Mist" (though perhaps this is an example of how "very rarely [they stir] forth"; i.e., usually never). Furthermore, the Great Old Ones, or Ancient Ones, have no unified pantheon[25]. Indeed, the term "Ancient Ones" appears in only one Lovecraft story, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (moreover, the story is actually a collaboration between Lovecraft and his friend and correspondent E. Hoffman Price).

Derleth also introduced the concept of elementals, tying the deities of the mythos to the four elements of "air", "earth", "fire", and "water". This system left gaps which Derleth filled in by creating the beings Cthugha and Ithaqua, representing the spheres of "fire" and "air", respectively. However, the system is fraught with problems. For example, Derleth classified Cthulhu as a water elemental, but if this were so, how could he be trapped beneath the ocean and how could his psychic emanations be blocked by water? Another problem is that Derleth matched the "earth" beings against the "fire" beings and the "air" beings against the "water" beings, which is not consistent with the traditional elemental dichotomy (namely, that air opposes earth and fire opposes water).[26]

Derleth's elemental deities

Air	Earth	Fire	Water
Hastur Ithaqua Zhar and Lloigor	Nyarlathotep Shub-Niggurath Tsathoggua Yog-Sothoth	Cthugha	Cthulhu

To his credit, Derleth became a publisher of Lovecraft's stories after his death[27]. Lovecraft himself was very critical of his own writings and was often easily discouraged, especially when faced with any rejection of his work[28]. Were it not for Derleth, Lovecraft's writings and the Cthulhu mythos might have remained largely unknown.