Cthulhu

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Cthulhu
Cthulhu Mythos character
Cthulhu3.jpg
Sketch of Cthulhu drawn by Lovecraft (11 May 1934)
First appearance"The Call of Cthulhu" (1928)
Created by H. P. Lovecraft
In-universe information
Species Great Old One
GenderVariable depending on the publisher's ideas
Family

Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", [2] published by the American pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon of Lovecraftian cosmic entities, this creature has since been featured in numerous pop culture references. Lovecraft depicts it as a gigantic entity worshipped by cultists, in the shape of a green octopus, dragon, and a caricature of human form. It is the namesake of the Lovecraft-inspired Cthulhu Mythos.

Contents

Etymology, spelling, and pronunciation

Invented by Lovecraft in 1928, the name Cthulhu was probably chosen to echo the word chthonic (Ancient Greek "of the earth"), as apparently suggested by Lovecraft himself at the end of his 1923 tale "The Rats in the Walls". [3] The chthonic, or earth-dwelling, spirit has precedents in numerous ancient and medieval mythologies, often guarding mines and precious underground treasures, notably in the Germanic dwarfs and the Greek Chalybes, Telchines, or Dactyls. [4]

Lovecraft transcribed the pronunciation of Cthulhu as Khlûl′-hloo, and said, "the first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The 'u' is about like that in 'full', and the first syllable is not unlike 'klul' in sound, hence the 'h' represents the guttural thickness" [5] yielding something akin to /ˈq(χ)lʊlˌhluː/.[ original research? ] S. T. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft gave different pronunciations on different occasions. [6] According to Lovecraft, this is merely the closest that the human vocal apparatus can come to reproducing the syllables of an alien language. [7] Cthulhu has also been spelled in many other ways, including Tulu, Katulu, and Kutulu. [8]

Long after Lovecraft's death, Chaosium stated in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game: "we say it kuh-THOOL-hu" ( /kəˈθuːluː/ ), even while noting that Lovecraft said it differently. [9] Others use the pronunciation /kəˈtuːluː/ . [10]

Description

In "The Call of Cthulhu", H. P. Lovecraft describes a statue of Cthulhu as: "A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind." [11] A carving of Cthulhu is described thusly: "It seemed to be a sort of monster, or symbol representing a monster, of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive. If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings." [11]

Johansen in The Call of Cthulhu states that "The Thing cannot be described—there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order. A mountain walked or stumbled." Cthulhu is described again shortly thereafter as a "mountainous monstrosity". His age is described to be at least "vigintillions of years". [12] He is also said to have cast spells which preserved the Great Old Ones until their reawakening.

Cthulhu is said to resemble a green octopus, dragon, and a human caricature, hundreds of meters tall, with webbed, human-looking arms and legs and a pair of rudimentary wings on its back. [11] Its head is depicted as similar to the entirety of a gigantic octopus, with an unknown number of tentacles surrounding its supposed mouth.

Publication history

The short story that first mentions Cthulhu, "The Call of Cthulhu", was published in Weird Tales in 1928, and established the character as a malevolent entity, hibernating within R'lyeh, an underwater city in the South Pacific. The imprisoned Cthulhu is apparently the source of constant subconscious anxiety for all mankind, and is also the object of worship, both by many human cults (including some within New Zealand, Greenland, Louisiana, and the Chinese mountains) and by other Lovecraftian monsters (called Deep Ones [13] and Mi-Go [14] ). The short story asserts the premise that, while currently trapped, Cthulhu will eventually return. His worshippers chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming"). [11]

H. P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu's creator H. P. Lovecraft in Florida, June 1934.png
H. P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu's creator

Lovecraft conceived a detailed genealogy for Cthulhu (published as "Letter 617" in Selected Letters ) [1] and made the character a central reference in his works. [15] The short story "The Dunwich Horror" (1928) [16] refers to Cthulhu, while "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1930) hints that one of his characters knows the creature's origins ("I learned whence Cthulhu first came, and why half the great temporary stars of history had flared forth.") [14] The 1931 novella At the Mountains of Madness refers to the "star-spawn of Cthulhu", who warred with another race called the Elder Things before the dawn of man. [17]

August Derleth, a correspondent of Lovecraft's, used the creature's name to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors, the Cthulhu Mythos. In 1937, Derleth wrote the short story "The Return of Hastur", and proposed two groups of opposed cosmic entities:

the Old or Ancient Ones, the Elder Gods , of cosmic good, and those of cosmic evil, bearing many names, and themselves of different groups, as if associated with the elements and yet transcending them: for there are the Water Beings, hidden in the depths; those of Air that are the primal lurkers beyond time; those of Earth, horrible animate survivors of distant eons. [18] : 256 

According to Derleth's scheme, "Great Cthulhu is one of the Water Elementals" and was engaged in an age-old arch-rivalry with a designated air elemental, Hastur the Unspeakable, described as Cthulhu's "half-brother." [18] : 256, 266  Based on this framework, Derleth wrote a series of short stories published in Weird Tales (1944–1952) and collected as The Trail of Cthulhu , depicting the struggle of a Dr. Laban Shrewsbury and his associates against Cthulhu and his minions. In addition, Cthulhu is referenced in Derleth's 1945 novel The Lurker at the Threshold published by Arkham House. The novel can also be found in The Watchers Out of Time and Others , a collection of stories from Derleth's interpretations of Lovecraftian Mythos published by Arkham House in 1974.

Derleth's interpretations have been criticized by Lovecraft enthusiast Michel Houellebecq, among others. Houellebecq's H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life (2005) decries Derleth for attempting to reshape Lovecraft's strictly amoral continuity into a stereotypical conflict between forces of objective good and evil. [19]

In John Glasby's "A Shadow from the Aeons", Cthulhu is seen by the narrator roaming the riverbank near Dominic Waldron's castle, and roaring. [20]

The character's influence also extended into gaming literature; games company TSR included an entire chapter on the Cthulhu mythos (including character statistics) in the first printing of Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Deities & Demigods (1980). TSR, however, were unaware that Arkham House, which asserted copyright on almost all Lovecraft literature, had already licensed the Cthulhu property to game company Chaosium. Although Chaosium stipulated that TSR could continue to use the material if each future edition featured a published credit to Chaosium, TSR refused and the material was removed from all subsequent editions. [21]

Influence

Politics

Poster from the 2010 Polish presidential election: The caption translates as "Choose the greater evil. Vote Cthulhu." 20100701 cthulhu poster.jpg
Poster from the 2010 Polish presidential election: The caption translates as "Choose the greater evil. Vote Cthulhu."

Cthulhu has appeared as a parody candidate in several elections, including the 2010 Polish presidential election and the 2012 and 2016 US presidential elections. [22] [23] The faux campaigns usually satirize voters who claim to vote for the "lesser evil". "Cthulhu for America" ran during the 2016 American presidential election, drawing comparisons with other satirical presidential candidates such as Vermin Supreme. [24] The organization had a platform that included the legalization of human sacrifice, driving all Americans insane, and an end to peace. [25]

In 2016, the troll account known as "The Dark Lord Cthulhu" submitted an official application to be on the Massachusetts Presidential Ballot. The account also raised over $4000 from fans to fund the campaign through a gofundme.com page. Gofundme removed the campaign page and refunded contributions.[ citation needed ]

Science

Several organisms have been named after Cthulhu, including the California spider Pimoa cthulhu , [26] the New Guinea moth Speiredonia cthulhui , [27] and Sollasina cthulhu , a fossil echinoderm. [28] Two microorganisms that assist in the digestion of wood by termites have been named after Cthulhu and Cthulhu's "daughter" Cthylla: Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque. [29]

In 2014, science and technology scholar Donna Haraway gave a talk entitled "Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene: Staying with the Trouble", in which she proposed the term "Chthulucene" as an alternative for the concept of the Anthropocene era, due to the entangling interconnectedness of all supposedly individual beings. [30] Haraway has denied any indebtedness to Lovecraft's Cthulhu, claiming that her "chthulu" is derived from Greek khthonios, "of the earth". [31] However, the Lovecraft character is much closer to her coined term than the Greek root, and her description of its meaning coincides with Lovecraft's idea of the apocalyptic, multitentacled threat of Cthulhu to collapse civilization into an endless dark horror: "Chthulucene does not close in on itself; it does not round off; its contact zones are ubiquitous and continuously spin out loopy tendrils." [32]

In 2015, an elongated, dark region along the equator of Pluto, initially referred to as "the Whale", was proposed to be named "Cthulhu Region", by the NASA team responsible for the New Horizons mission. [33] It was given the informal name Cthulhu Macula, [34] [35] though the feature was later officially named Belton Regio by the International Astronomical Union. [36]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cthulhu Mythos</span> Shared fictional universe based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft

The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of Anglo-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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R'lyeh</span> Fictional lost city in "The Call of Cthulhu"

R'lyeh is a fictional lost city that was first mentioned in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in Weird Tales in February 1928. R'lyeh is a sunken city in the South Pacific and the prison of the entity called Cthulhu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shub-Niggurath</span> Fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos

Shub-Niggurath is a deity created by H. P. Lovecraft. She is often associated with the phrase "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young". The only other name by which Lovecraft referred to her was "Lord of the Wood" in his story The Whisperer in Darkness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkham</span> Fictional city in H.P. Lovecrafts works

Arkham is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts, United States. An integral part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft, Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers.

Arkham House was an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had previously been published only in pulp magazines. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham, Massachusetts. Arkham House editions are noted for the quality of their printing and binding. The printer's mark for Arkham House was designed by Frank Utpatel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Call of Cthulhu</span> 1928 short story by H. P. Lovecraft

"The Call of Cthulhu" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in February 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hastur</span> Fictional character

Hastur is an entity of the Cthulhu Mythos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovecraft Country</span> Real and fictitious locations in New England related to H. P. Lovecrafts fiction

Lovecraft Country is a term coined for the New England setting used by H. P. Lovecraft in many of his weird fiction stories, which combines real and fictitious locations. This setting has been elaborated on by other writers working in the Cthulhu Mythos. The phrase was not in use during Lovecraft's own lifetime; it was coined by Keith Herber for the Lovecraftian role-playing game Call of Cthulhu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovecraftian horror</span> Subgenre of horror

Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror, fantasy fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games, and comics.

The Xothic legend cycle is a series of short stories by American writer Lin Carter that are based on the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, primarily on Lovecraft's stories "The Call of Cthulhu" and "Out of the Aeons".

<i>The Whisperer in Darkness</i> Novella by H. P. Lovecraft

The Whisperer in Darkness is a 26,000-word novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to The Colour Out of Space (1927), it is a blend of horror and science fiction. Although it makes numerous references to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story is not a central part of the mythos, but reflects a shift in Lovecraft's writing at this time towards science fiction. The story also introduces the Mi-Go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.

A Cthulhu Mythos anthology is a type of short story collection that contains stories written in, or related to, the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction launched by H. P. Lovecraft. Such anthologies have helped to define and popularize the genre.

<i>The Mask of Cthulhu</i> Collection of fantasy and horror short stories

The Mask of Cthulhu is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1958 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,051 copies. It was reprinted by Beagle Books in 1971.

Richard Louis Tierney was an American writer, poet and scholar of H. P. Lovecraft, probably best known for his heroic fantasy, including his series co-authored of Red Sonja novels, featuring cover art by Boris Vallejo. He lived the latter part of his life in Mason City in the great Corn Steppes of Iowa. Some of his standalone novels utilize the mythology of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. He is also known for his Simon of Gitta series and his Robert E. Howard completions and utilisation of such Howard-invented characters as Cormac Mac Art, Bran Mak Morn and Cormac Fitzgeoffrey.

<i>In Lovecrafts Shadow</i> Book by August Derleth

In Lovecraft's Shadow: The Cthulhu Mythos Stories of August Derleth is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1998 by Mycroft & Moran in an edition of 2,051 copies.

<i>The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter</i> Collection of horror short stories by Lin Carter

The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter is a collection of horror short stories by science fiction and fantasy author Lin Carter, edited by Robert M. Price. It gathers together his "Xothic" tales and some of his other Cthulhu Mythos writings. It was first published as a trade paperback by Chaosium in 1997 as book 13 of the publisher's "Cthulhu Cycle" series. The collection has also been translated into German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Conyers</span> Australian author

David Conyers is an Australian author. Conyers writes predominantly science fiction and Lovecraftian horror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cthulhu Mythos deities</span> Fictional deities in H. P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu mythos

American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans. Humans can barely begin to comprehend them; however, some entities are worshipped by humans. These deities include the "Great Old Ones" and extraterrestrials, such as the "Elder Things", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities. The "Elder Gods" are a later creation of other prolific writers who expanded on Lovecraft's concepts, such as August Derleth, who was credited with formalizing the Cthulhu Mythos. Most of these deities were Lovecraft's original creations, but he also adapted words or concepts from earlier writers such as Ambrose Bierce, and later writers in turn used Lovecraft's concepts and expanded his fictional universe.

References

  1. 1 2 Lovecraft, H. P. (1967). Selected Letters (1932–1934). Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House. Letter 617. ISBN   0-87054-035-1 . Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  3. ↑ Callaghan, Gavin (2013). H. P. Lovecraft's Dark Arcadia: The Satire, Symbology and Contradiction. McFarland. p. 192. ISBN   978-1476602394.
  4. ↑ Kearns, Emily (2011). Finkelberg, Margalit (ed.). "Chthonic deities". The Homer encyclopedia. Wiley. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Lovecraft, H. P. Selected Letters V. pp. 10–11.
  6. ↑ Joshi, S. T. "The Call of Cthulhu". The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. note 9.
  7. ↑ "Cthul-Who?: How Do You Pronounce 'Cthulhu'?", Crypt of Cthulhu #9
  8. ↑ Harms, Thomas. "Cthulhu" and "PanCthulhu". The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana . p. 64.
  9. ↑ Petersen, Sandy; Willis, Lynn; Herber, Keith (1981). Call of Cthulhu (2 ed.). Oakland, California: Chaosium.:What's in this box?
  10. ↑ e.g. the video game Call of Cthulhu Archived 2020-09-01 at the Wayback Machine and season 14 of South Park.
  11. 1 2 3 4 s:The Call of Cthulhu
  12. ↑ ""The Call of Cthulhu" by H. P. Lovecraft". www.hplovecraft.com. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  13. ↑ s:The Shadow Over Innsmouth
  14. 1 2 s:The Whisperer in Darkness
  15. ↑ Angell, George Gammell (1982). Price, Robert M. (ed.). "Cthulhu Elsewhere in Lovecraft". Crypt of Cthulhu (9): 13–15. ISSN   1077-8179.
  16. ↑ s:The Dunwich Horror
  17. ↑ Lovecraft, H. P. At the Mountains of Madness. p. 66. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
  18. 1 2 Derleth, August. "The Return of Hastur". In Price, Robert M. (ed.). The Hastur Cycle.
  19. ↑ Bloch, Robert. "Heritage of Horror". The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre.
  20. ↑ Glasby, John S. (2015-08-09). The Brooding City and Other Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Ramble House.
  21. ↑ "Deities & Demigods, Legends & Lore". The Acaeum. Archived from the original on 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  22. ↑ "Cthulhu for America". Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 Aug 2016.
  23. ↑ "Cthulhu Dagon 2012". Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
  24. ↑ Watson, Zebbie (June 16, 2016). "Who Is Behind Cthulhu For America?". Inverse. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  25. ↑ Barnett, David (March 1, 2016). "Could Cthulhu trump the other Super Tuesday contenders?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  26. ↑ Hormiga, G. (1994). "A revision and cladistic analysis of the spider family Pimoidae (Araneoidea: Araneae)" (PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 549 (549): 1–104. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.549. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  27. ↑ Zilli, Alberto; Holloway, Jeremy D. & Hogenes, Willem (2005). "An Overview of the Genus Speiredonia with Description of Seven New Species (Insecta, Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)". Aldrovandia. 1: 17–36. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22 – via Internet Archive.
  28. ↑ Rahman, Imran A.; Thompson, Jeffrey R.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Siveter, David J.; Siveter, Derek J.; Sutton, Mark D. (2019). "A new ophiocistioid with soft-tissue preservation from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, and the evolution of the holothurian body plan" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 286 (1900): 20182792. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2792 . PMC   6501687 . PMID   30966985. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  29. ↑ James, Erick R.; Okamoto, Noriko; Burki, Fabien; Scheffrahn, Rudolf H.; Keeling, Patrick J. (2013-03-18). Badger, Jonathan H. (ed.). "Cthulhu Macrofasciculumque n. g., n. sp. and Cthylla Microfasciculumque n. g., n. sp., a Newly Identified Lineage of Parabasalian Termite Symbionts". PLOS ONE. 8 (3): e58509. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...858509J. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058509 . PMC   3601090 . PMID   23526991.
  30. ↑ Donna Haraway (9 May 2014). Donna Haraway, "Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene: Staying with the Trouble", 5/9/14. Vimeo, Inc. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  31. ↑ Haraway, Donna (2016). Staying with the Trouble. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 174n4. ISBN   978-0-8223-6224-1.
  32. ↑ Wark, McKenzie (September 8, 2016). "Chthulucene, Capitalocene, Anthropocene". PublicSeminar.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  33. ↑ Feltman, Rachel (14 July 2015). "New data reveals that Pluto's heart is broken". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  34. ↑ Amanda M. Zangari; et al. (November 2015). "New Horizons disk-integrated approach photometry of Pluto and Charon". AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #47. 47. American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #47, id.210.01: 210.01. Bibcode:2015DPS....4721001Z.
  35. ↑ Stern, S. A.; Grundy, W.; McKinnon, W. B.; Weaver, H. A.; Young, L. A. (2018). "The Pluto System After New Horizons". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 56: 357–392. arXiv: 1712.05669 . Bibcode:2018ARA&A..56..357S. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051935. S2CID   119072504.
  36. ↑ "Two Names Approved for Pluto: Belton Regio and Safronov Regio | USGS Astrogeology Science Center". astrogeology.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2023-09-27.

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