Since Lovecraft’s death in 1937 other authors have taken up the mantle and the Mythos has expanded in many new directions. Other authors joined in with this world building, adding dark gods, strange races of creatures, myth cycles, lost artifacts, more forbidden tomes, and so on until together they’d created a vast and rich narrative universe which has become known as the “Cthulhu Mythos”. Lovecraft wrote a bunch of stories set within the same universe as Cthulhu, using common themes, characters, and objects, such as the fictional book ‘The Necronomicon’ which documents much of this terrible “reality”. If upon reading this article, you’re somewhat struggling to pronounce “Cthulhu”, then you’re not alone, and that was kind of Lovecraft’s point with the name - it’s meant to sound inhuman, and we struggle to pronounce it using our puny human voice boxes. Both deity and disciples await the time he’ll wake, breakout of his watery prison, and retake his rightful place as the planet’s ruler. Such is Cthulhu’s power, that even asleep he is able to influence the dreams of humans and has created a fragmented but global cult of worshippers who consider him a god. Once, many aeons ago, Cthulhu and other beings like him ruled the earth. When I was young I discovered the Mythos and have been reading, writing, and creating works ‘inspired by’ it ever since! Right now I’m one of the team working on an adaptation of the hit roleplaying game Achtung! Cthulhu.įor those unfamiliar with the Cthulhu Mythos, the titular Cthulhu is a titanic alien being who slumbers in the inhuman sunken city of R’lyeh which lies in the South Pacific. The majority of us have heard of “The Call of Cthulhu” in one form or another. Yet over 90 years since he set out the plot of The Call of Cthulhu, the idea, themes, and the eponymous creature has finally reached the mainstream. When he died in 1937 he would only know that his works had reached a limited audience, never having made enough from his works to make a living as a writer. Lovecraft himself would never know the success and cultural impact this or any of his other works would have. The various iterations and spins on Cthulhu have resulted in everything from deeply disturbing renditions of the Great Old One as a dark, alien destroyer, to being rendered as a cute plushie toy! Perhaps plushie-hood was inevitable once Cthulhu and its ilk became a meme replicated millions of times in many languages. It would inspire countless short stories, novels, video games, films, songs, and more, all created by writers and artists taking the core Cthulhu themes, and putting their own twist into the canon of Mythos. This story would be published in Weird Tales in 1928 and would go on to have an immense cultural impact - one that is still growing today. In the summer of 1926, a then little-known writer, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, was writing what would become his most well-known work, The Call of Cthulhu. Cthulhu (presumably) does not have godlike power and abilities, but is certainly more immediate than either of the above, and could wake up tomorrow for all we know.The Mainstreaming of Cthulhu: How a Fringe Horror Creation Became Popular He does, however, exist on the Earth right now (for whichever value of "now" you're using), and clearly has purpose and intent on Earth. Great Cthulhu is the third option, and he's not a god, just a really big alien creature. ![]() Nyarlathothep is also a god, with that kind of power, but unlike Azathoth he seems to take direct interest in humanity, and have a large amount of direct contact through various avatars and cultists - the "power" is nowhere near Azathoth, but the intent could be (and usually is) actively malicious, or at least capricious. That's the source of the cosmic horror, but possibly irrelevant on a reasonable scale. ![]() He could wave you aside without thinking, but you don't mean anything to the universe. As /u/mmslash says, it's not really relevant - and especially if you're actually considering Lovecraft's writing - but for something like the Call of Cthulhu rpg there are really three answers:Īzathoth is the "strongest" in the sense that he's the centre of everything, but he's also indifferent and idiotic.
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