Eldritch Abomination/Literature: Difference between revisions

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* The writings of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] (and the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Mythos]] they spawned) are, of course, the [[Trope Codifier]] for much of literature and fiction in general, as well as much of the language used to describe these things: "eldritch", "gibbering", "squamous<ref>scaly</ref>", "rugose<ref>wrinkly</ref>", et. al. Examples are usually divided into three groups based on distinctions that were somewhat present in his original works, and emphasized more by later writers:

** The Great Old Ones (most famously Cthulhu), which are immensely powerful beings made not wholly of flesh and blood but of something that can only be called matter in the most basic sense. They traveled from world to world [[When the Planets Align|when stars were right]], but now sleep, waiting until the stars are right once more so they may rule again (incidentally, when they wake up, they plunge the world into madness and terror). ~~Cthulhu is one of them.~~

** The Great Old Ones (most famously Cthulhu), which are immensely powerful beings made not wholly of flesh and blood but of something that can only be called matter in the most basic sense. They traveled from world to world [[When the Planets Align|when stars were right]], but now sleep, waiting until the stars are right once more so they may rule again (incidentally, when they wake up, they plunge the world into madness and terror).

** The Outer Gods, which Lovecraft referred to as the Other Gods, exist outside our universe and seem to be embodiments of various cosmic principles. They are ''far'' more powerful than even the Great Old Ones, and seem to be responsible for the creation of ours and other universes, albeit unwittingly. The most famous ones are the mindless leader Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God" who resides in the center of all infinity, and Yog-Sothoth, who exists simultaneously in every point in space and time. Their soul and messenger is the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep.

** The pantheon of Elder Gods were almost entirely created and named such after Lovecraft's time; a major exception in the former case is Nodens, Lord of the Abyss, created by Lovecraft himself. Nodens appeared in a humanoid form, which may either be his true form or [[A Form You Are Comfortable With|one he took in order to not drive mortals]] insane, and was an enemy of Nyarlathotep. Later authors, particularly August Derleth, made Nodens the head of a pantheon called the Elder Gods, who were all mortal enemies of the Great Old Ones; some stories seem to place them at the same power level as the Outer Gods.