Cthulhu Mythos#See also

{{short description|Shared fictional universe based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft}}

File:Cthulhu3.jpg drawn by Lovecraft, May 11, 1934]]

The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name "Cthulhu" derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928.{{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=H.P. |title=Tales |date=2005 |publisher=Library of America |isbn=1931082723 |edition=2nd |location=New York |oclc=56068806 |author-link=H. P. Lovecraft}}

Richard L. Tierney, a writer who also wrote Mythos tales, later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish Lovecraft's works from Derleth's later stories, which modify key tenets of the Mythos.{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |date=November 1, 1982 |title=Cthulhu Elsewhere in Lovecraft |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |language=en-US |issue=9 |pages=13–15 |issn=1077-8179}}{{Cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Darrell |title=Discovering H. P. Lovecraft |date=2001 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1587154713 |edition=revised |location=Holicong, PA |page=52 |author-link=Darrell Schweitzer}} Authors of Lovecraftian horror in particular frequently use elements of the Cthulhu Mythos.{{Cite book |last=Harms |first=Daniel |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacthu00dani |title=The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana |date=1998 |publisher=Chaosium, Inc. |isbn=978-1568821191 |edition=2nd |location=Oakland, CA |url-access=registration}}{{rp|viii–ix}}

History

File:H. P. Lovecraft in DeLand Florida, June 1934.png

In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Robert M. Price described two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. Price called the first stage the "Cthulhu Mythos proper". This stage was formulated during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage was guided by August Derleth who, in addition to publishing Lovecraft's stories after his death, attempted to categorize and expand the Mythos.{{Cite book |last1=Lovecraft |first1=H.P. |title=The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre |last2=Bloch |first2=Robert |date=1987 |publisher=Ballantine Publishing Group |isbn=0345350804 |edition=1st |location=New York |author-link2=Robert Bloch}}{{rp|8}}{{Cite book |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |title=H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos |date=1990 |publisher=Starmont House |isbn=1557421528 |location=Mercer Island, WA}}{{rp|5}}

=First stage=

An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe. Lovecraft made frequent references to the "Great Old Ones", a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and have since fallen into a deathlike sleep.{{rp|viii}} While these monstrous deities were present in almost all of Lovecraft's published work (his second short story "Dagon", published in 1919, is considered the start of the Mythos), the first story to really expand the pantheon of Great Old Ones and its themes is "The Call of Cthulhu", which was published in 1928.

Lovecraft broke with other pulp writers of the time by having his main characters' minds deteriorate when afforded a glimpse of what exists outside their perceived reality. He emphasized the point by stating in the opening sentence of the story that "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."{{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=H.P. |title=The Call of Cuthulhu |date=2014 |publisher=Start Publishing LLC |isbn=978-1609772697 |location=Lanham, MD}}

Writer Dirk W. Mosig noted that Lovecraft was a "mechanistic materialist" who embraced the philosophy of cosmic indifferentism and believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe. Human beings, with their limited faculties, can never fully understand this universe, and the cognitive dissonance caused by this revelation leads to insanity, in his view.{{cite book|last1=Mosig|first1=Yozan Dirk W.|publisher=Gothic Press|editor=Gary William Crawford|url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1311861|title=Lovecraft: The Dissonance Factor in Imaginative Literature|date=1979}}{{Cite book |last=Mariconda |first=Steven J. |title=On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations |date=1995 |publisher=Necronomicon Press |isbn=978-0940884816 |location=West Warwick, RI}}

There have been attempts at categorizing this fictional group of beings. Phillip A. Schreffler argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings, a workable framework emerges that outlines the entire "pantheon"{{mdash}}from the unreachable "Outer Ones" (e.g., Azathoth, who occupies the centre of the universe) and "Great Old Ones" (e.g., Cthulhu, imprisoned on Earth in the sunken city of R'lyeh) to the lesser castes (the lowly slave shoggoths and the Mi-Go).{{Cite book |last=Shreffler |first=Philip A. |title=The H. P. Lovecraft Companion |date=1977 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0837194820 |location=Westport, CN |pages=156–157}}

David E. Schultz said Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but rather intended his imaginary pantheon to serve merely as a background element.{{Cite book |last=Connors |first=Scott |title=A Century Less a Dream: Selected Criticism on H. P. Lovecraft |date=2002 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1587152153 |edition=1st |location=Holikong, PA}}{{rp|46, 54}} Lovecraft himself humorously referred to his Mythos as "Yog Sothothery" (Dirk W. Mosig coincidentally suggested the term Yog-Sothoth Cycle of Myth be substituted for Cthulhu Mythos).{{Cite book |last=Mosig |first=Yōzan Dirk W. |title=Mosig at Last: A Psychologist looks at H. P. Lovecraft |date=1997 |publisher=Necronomicon Press |isbn=978-0940884908 |edition=1st |location=West Warwick, RI |page=28}}{{Cite web |title=Yog-Sothothery |url=http://www.timpratt.org/611.html |access-date=November 28, 2012 |publisher=Timpratt.org}} At times, Lovecraft even had to remind his readers that his Mythos creations were entirely fictional.{{rp|33–34}}

The view that there was no rigid structure is expounded upon by S. T. Joshi, who said

{{blockquote|Lovecraft's imaginary cosmogony was never a static system but rather a sort of aesthetic construct that remained ever adaptable to its creator's developing personality and altering interests.... There was never a rigid system that might be posthumously appropriated..... The essence of the mythos lies not in a pantheon of imaginary deities nor in a cobwebby collection of forgotten tomes, but rather in a certain convincing cosmic attitude.{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=S. T. |title=Miscellaneous Writings |date=1995 |publisher=Arkham House |isbn=978-0870541681 |edition=1st |location=Sauk City, WI |pages=165–166 |author-link=S. T. Joshi}}}}

Price said Lovecraft's writings could at least be divided into categories and identified three distinct themes: the "Dunsanian" (written in a similar style as Lord Dunsany), "Arkham" (occurring in Lovecraft's fictionalized New England setting), and "Cthulhu" (the cosmic tales) cycles.{{rp|9}} Writer Will Murray noted that while Lovecraft often used his fictional pantheon in the stories he ghostwrote for other authors, he reserved Arkham and its environs exclusively for those tales he wrote under his own name.{{Cite book |last=Van Hise |first=James |title=The Fantastic Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft |date=1999 |publisher=James Van Hise |edition=1st |location=Yucca Valley, CA |oclc=60496802 |asin=B000E9KQXS |pages=105–107}}

Although the Mythos was not formalized or acknowledged between them, Lovecraft did correspond, meet in person, and share story elements with other contemporary writers including Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner, Henry S. Whitehead, and Fritz Leiber{{mdash}}a group referred to as the "Lovecraft Circle".{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=S.T. |title=H.P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism |chapter=Lovecraft Criticism: A Study |date=1980 |page=23 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=978-0821405772 |location=Athens, OH}}{{Cite book | last=Herron |first=Don |editor-last=Schweitzer |editor-first=Darrell |title=Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction: Essays on the Antecedents of Fantastic Literature |chapter=Of the Master, Merlin, and H. Warner Munn |date=1996 |page=129 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1587150043 |location=Gillette, NJ}}{{cite book |title=The Weird Tales Story |date=1977 |editor-last=Weinberg |editor-first=Robert E. |editor-link=Robert Weinberg (author) |last=Long |first=Frank Belknap |author-link=Frank Belknap Long |page=49 |chapter=Recollections of Weird Tales |publisher=FAX Collector's Editions |isbn=0-913960-16-0}}

For example, Robert E. Howard's character Friedrich Von Junzt reads Lovecraft's Necronomicon in the short story "The Children of the Night" (1931), and in turn Lovecraft mentions Howard's Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the stories "Out of the Aeons" (1935) and "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936).{{rp|6–7}} Many of Howard's original unedited Conan stories also involve parts of the Cthulhu Mythos.{{Cite book |last1=Howard |first1=Robert E. |url=https://archive.org/details/comingofconanc00robe |title=The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian |last2=Schultz |first2=Mark |date=2003 |publisher=Del Rey/Ballantine Books |isbn=0345461517 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/comingofconanc00robe/page/436 436] |url-access=limited}}

=Second stage=

Price denotes the second stage's commencement with August Derleth, with the principal difference between Lovecraft and Derleth being Derleth's use of hope and development of the idea that the Cthulhu Mythos essentially represented a struggle between good and evil.{{rp|9}} Derleth is credited with creating the "Elder Gods". He stated:

{{bquote|As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods.... These Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully...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....{{Cite book |last=Derleth |first=August |title=The Cthulhu Mythos |date=1997 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books |isbn=0760702535 |location=New York |page=vii |author-link=August Derleth}}}}

Price said the basis for Derleth's system is found in Lovecraft: "Was Derleth's use of the rubric 'Elder Gods' so alien to Lovecraft's in At the Mountains of Madness? Perhaps not. In fact, this very story, along with some hints from "The Shadow over Innsmouth", provides the key to the origin of the 'Derleth Mythos'. For in At the Mountains of Madness is shown the history of a conflict between interstellar races, first among them the Elder Ones and the Cthulhu-spawn."{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |date=June 23, 1982 |title=The Lovecraft-Derleth Connection |url=http://crypt-of-cthulhu.com/lovecraftderleth.htm |url-status=dead |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=6 |pages=3–8 |issn=1077-8179 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217054944/http://www.crypt-of-cthulhu.com/lovecraftderleth.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2013}}

Derleth said Lovecraft wished for other authors to actively write about the Mythos as opposed to it being a discrete plot device within Lovecraft's own stories.{{rp|46–47}} Derleth expanded the boundaries of the Mythos by including any passing reference to another author's story elements by Lovecraft as part of the genre. Just as Lovecraft made passing reference to Clark Ashton Smith's Book of Eibon, Derleth in turn added Smith's Ubbo-Sathla to the Mythos.{{rp|9–10}}

Derleth also attempted to connect the deities of the Mythos to the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water), creating new beings representative of certain elements in order to legitimize his system of classification. He created "Cthugha" as a sort of fire elemental when a fan, Francis Towner Laney, complained that he had neglected to include the element in his schema. Laney, the editor of The Acolyte, had categorized the Mythos in an essay that first appeared in the Winter 1942 issue of the magazine.

Impressed by the glossary, Derleth asked Laney to rewrite it for publication in the Arkham House collection Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1943).{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |date=June 23, 1985 |title=Editorial Shards |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=32 |page=2 |issn=1077-8179}} Laney's essay ("The Cthulhu Mythos") was later republished in Crypt of Cthulhu #32 (1985). In applying the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale (e.g., Yog-Sothoth) some authors created a fifth element that they termed aethyr.{{Citation needed|date=December 2016}}

class="wikitable" \|+ Derleth's elemental classifications
Air ! Earth ! Fire ! Water
style="vertical-align: top;" \| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" \| Hastur Ithaqua* Nyarlathotep Zhar and Lloigor* \| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" \| Cyäegha Nyogtha Shub-Niggurath Tsathoggua \| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" \| Aphoom-Zhah Cthugha* Yig \| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" \| Cthulhu Dagon Ghatanothoa Mother Hydra Zoth-Ommog
colspan="4" style="font-size: 90%;" \| * Deity created by Derleth

class="wikitable"

|+ Derleth's elemental classifications

Air

! Earth

! Fire

! Water

style="vertical-align: top;"

| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | Hastur
Ithaqua*
Nyarlathotep
Zhar and Lloigor*

| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | Cyäegha
Nyogtha
Shub-Niggurath
Tsathoggua

| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | Aphoom-Zhah
Cthugha*
Yig

| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | Cthulhu
Dagon
Ghatanothoa
Mother Hydra
Zoth-Ommog

colspan="4" style="font-size: 90%;" | * Deity created by Derleth

Fictional cults

A number of fictional cults dedicated to "malevolent supernatural entities" appear in the Cthulhu Mythos, the loosely connected series of horror stories written by Lovecraft and other writers inspired by his creations.{{cite journal |last=Zeller |first=Benjamin E. |date=2019-12-30 |title=Altar Call of Cthulhu: Religion and Millennialism in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=18 |article-number=18 |doi=10.3390/rel11010018 |doi-access=free }} These fictional cults have in some ways taken on a life of their own beyond the pages of Lovecraft's works. According to author John Engle, "The very real world of esoteric magical and occult practices has adopted Lovecraft and his works into its canon, which have informed the ritual practices, or even formed the bedrock, of certain cabals and magical circles".{{Cite journal |last=Engle |first=John |date=October 15, 2014 |title=Cults of Lovecraft: The Impact of H.P. Lovecraft's Fiction on Contemporary Occult Practices |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26815942 |journal=Mythlore |volume=33 |issue=125 |pages=85–98 |jstor=26815942 }}

Significance

The Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft is considered to have been highly influential for the speculative fiction genre. It has been called "the official fictional religion of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, a grab bag for writers in need of unthinkably vast, and unthinkably indifferent, eldritch entities".{{Cite journal |last=Bialecki |first=Jon |date=2019-01-01 |title=America's Dark Theologian: The Religious Imagination of Stephen King. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=21509298&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA673438134&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Religion and Society |language=English |volume=10 |pages=176–179}}

Biology

Sollasina cthulhu, an extinct ophiocistioid echinoderm, is named after the Cthulhu Mythos.{{cite journal | journal =Proceedings of the Royal Society B | volume=286 | issue=1900 | pages=20182792 | year=2019|first1=Imran A. |last1= Rahman |first2=Jeffrey R. |last2=Thompson |first3=Derek E. G. |last3=Briggs |first4= David J. |last4=Siveter |first5= Derek J. |last5=Siveter |first6=Mark D. |last6=Sutton |title=A new ophiocistioid with soft-tissue preservation from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, and the evolution of the holothurian body plan |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.2792 | pmid=30966985 | pmc=6501687 }}

Yogsothoth is a genus of centrohelid protists.

References

External links

[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ Lovecraft Archive]
{{Cite web |last=Joshi |first=S.T. |author-link=S. T. Joshi |title=H. P. Lovecraft |url=http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050718080221/http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html |archive-date=July 18, 2005 |access-date=July 20, 2005 |website=The Scriptorium}}
[http://www.siamorama.com/lovecraft/index.htm The Virtual World of H. P. Lovecraft] a mapping of Lovecraft's imaginary version of New England
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg9VCf5einY Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown] – full documentary at the Snagfilms company YouTube channel
[https://www.schematax.org/schemata/other-topics/schematax_lovecraft_call-of-cthulhu.pdf Schema on Lovecraft's »The Call of Ctuhulhu« and the Cthulhu Mythos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329043950/https://www.schematax.org/schemata/other-topics/schematax_lovecraft_call-of-cthulhu.pdf |date=2023-03-29 }}