Mordiggian

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Mordiggian is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. "He" is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and appears in his short story "The Charnel God" (1934).

Cthulhu Mythos Shared fictional universe based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft

The Cthulhu Mythos is 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.

Clark Ashton Smith American author

Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures".

Short story Brief work of literature, usually written in narrative prose

A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a "single effect" or mood, however there are many exceptions to this.

Contents

Mordiggian in the mythos

. . . [A] colossal shadow [appeared] that was not wrought by anything in the room. It filled the portals from side to side, it towered above the lintel – and then, swiftly, it became more than a shadow: it was a bulk of darkness, black and opaque, that somehow blinded the eyes with a strange dazzlement. It seemed to suck the flame from the red urns and fill the chamber with a chill of utter death and voidness. Its form was that of a worm-shapen column, huge as a dragon, its further coils still issuing from the gloom of the corridor; but it changed from moment to moment, swirling and spinning as if alive with the vortical energies of dark aeons. Briefly it took the semblance of some demoniac giant with eyeless head and limbless body; and then, leaping and spreading like smoky fire, it swept into the chamber.
—Clark Ashton Smith, "The Charnel God"

Mordiggian is a Great Old One [1] and is worshipped by ghouls. When he appears, all fire and heat is sucked into his swirling void-like body, instantly lowering the temperature by many degrees, and filling the area with a deathly cold and still air. All within the presence of the Great Ghoul, are blinded by the weird changing and dazzling form of the necromantic god.

Ghoul folkloric monster or evil spirit from Arabic mythology

A ghoul, is a demon or monster originating in pre-Islamic Arabian religion associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh. In modern fiction, the term has often been used for a certain kind of undead monster.

Mordiggian attacks by engulfing victims, sucking away their life force, and dissolving their bodies. Nothing remains of the Charnel God's prey, and they are never seen again in the waking world or in the Dreamlands. However, Mordiggian does not appear to be especially malevolent ("Mordiggian...was a benign deity in the eyes of the inhabitants of Zul-Bha-Sair"), and has been known to spare those who have not personally offended him or his followers (the ghouls); when a trio of Necromancers sneaked into the temple, the wizards were torn apart by the Ghoul priests while Phariom and his newly revived wife were spared at Mordiggian's bidding. As one of the Necromancers said "Mordiggian's Wrath, though rarely loosed, is more terrible than any other deity. And it should not be thought by wise men to break into his sacred house." So while Mordiggian is attributed with immense powers of destruction, he is apparently a calm and benign deity.

Mordiggian's cult

Mordiggian's Priesthood consists exclusively of ghouls, though other races may offer up their dead to the Charnel God, but only as appeasement and not as actual worship, though some citizens of Zul-Bha-Sair, like the owner of the Tavern that Phariom and his wife were staying in, believed fully in him. The ghoul priests of Mordiggian cover themselves in long hooded robes of funeral-purple and silver skull-like masks. A tome known as The Ghoul's Manuscript deals with Mordiggian and his cult.

Although Mordiggian dwells within the Dreamlands, he is capable of entering the waking world, using the same grave-tunnels and tombs as his ghoul followers. It is likely that Mordiggian has some relationship with the waking lands. Proof of this is demonstrated by his worship in the city of Zul-Bha-Sair on the continent of Zothique in the distant future. There he is the only god since "from years that are lost to man's memory", and all who die in the city are offered to him as provender.

Zothique series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith

Zothique is an imagined future continent in a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Zothique is also the title of the cycle of tales which take place there. In terms of number and extent, the Zothique cycle is the largest collection of stories written by Smith. The cycle belongs to the fantasy genre, and more precisely to the Dying Earth subgenre.

A different name for Mordiggian is Morddoth, mentioned as the dark god of the ghouls revered in the Valley of Hadoth by the Nile, in the ancient land of Altuas and in a time-lost continent likely matching with Zothique. So does the appearance fit with Mordiggian's one. [2]

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References

  1. ↑ According to Aniolowski's Malleus Monstrorum.
  2. ↑ See Ambuehl's Nekros Nomos Eikonos.

Bibliography

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