Tome of Eldritch Lore: Difference between revisions

** The book itself is so evil that it's indexed by sins, and it currently contains at least one of the worst creatures imaginable, {{spoiler|[[Cloudcuckoolander|Excalibur]]. Oh, and there's a Great Old One who bears a striking resemblance to [[Shout-Out|Cthulhu]].}}

** And later we learn that {{spoiler|Noah is actually a ''construct'' of the book itself, embodying one of it's chapters, not it's owner. After the first one (Greed) is defeated, the book produces a new one - embodiment of chapter of [[Oh Crap|Wrath]].}}

* Caster's Noble Phantasm in ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' is Prelati's Spellbook, a tome with a covering made of human skin. It's a self-powering prana generator and allows the user to summon [[Eldritch Abomination]]s. It's also called the R'lyeh text, as a [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]. It can also allow Caster to {{spoiler|[[Fusion Dance|merge with the book]] in order to summon a gigantic [[Eldritch Abomination]]}}. Is it any wonder that Caster is so absolutely insane?

 

== Comic Books ==

** The two completed volumes of the originally intended several-hundred-volume set, to in turn be titled the Dark Side Compendium, were ''The Book of Anger'' and ''The Weakness of Inferiors''. The third almost-completed tome was to be titled ''The Creation of Monsters''. In the audio drama Luke comes across tapes of ''The Book of Anger'' and finds them horrifically compelling. Just listening to them makes him feel cold and perceive the world as getting darker. It takes an effort of the Force to wrench himself away, and even then he wants to study them.

* The [[Star Wars]] Expanded Universe also brings us the Sith holocrons: essentially audio/video/Force recordings of a [[The Corrupter|Sith Lord's teachings]] and accumulated dark wisdom. They're almost always hidden someplace unpleasant, and if you can find one and disarm all the booby traps, you ''might'' get [[Sarcasm Mode|lucky]] enough to [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|learn something]]. Have fun!

 

== Fan Works ==

* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4740583/1/Inter-Vivos Inter Vivos]'', Draco's mother gave him a book that contained "a great deal of Dark Arts knowledge—spells, but also rituals, potions, and many other things, willed into the book by its possessors". When asked a question, it would shift into a book about whatever the subject might be - provided you asked it the ''right'' questions.

 

== Film ==

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':

** Parodying the Necronomicon, is the ''Necrotelecomnicon'' (translated as "On communing with the deceased", or "the Phonebook of the Dead"). Supposedly, reading it would drive a man insane, which suits the purposes of the Librarian just fine (he's an orangutan, and thus not a "man").

** The Octavo - the book containing the eight most powerful spells, left behind on the Disc by its creator. (When Rincewind "accidentally" read the book, one of the spells got stuck in his head; this left him unable to learn any other spells [even after he got rid of it] - and was responsible for much of the plot of the first two books.)

** And then there's the footnote about how, like Oxford's Bodleian Library, Unseen University's Library has the books chained to the shelves. The difference is that in the Bodleian that's to stop the students damaging the books, while at UU it's...the other way around.

** ''[[Discworld/I Shall Wear Midnight|The Bonfire of the Witches]]'', written on behalf of the Cunning Man, is so full of his hatred of witches that a copy of it allows a curse ineptly attempted against a witch to work simply by being in its proximity, and later almost allows said creature to manifest into the world through its pages before it's pressed shut very decisively.

* Robert W. Chambers' ''[[The King in Yellow]]'' stories feature the eponymous ''play'' which simultaneously enlightens and drives mad anyone who reads it all. (Presumably a production would be impossible to stage.) Only a few brief excerpts, not enough to clearly indicate the plot or subject matter, are ever given. Likewise, the Yellow Sign is never actually described. Chambers' stories predated Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos stories and Lovecraft cited them as an inspiration.

* The Darke Index in ''[[Septimus Heap]]''.

* The grimoire of King Gorice of Witchland in E. R. Eddison's ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'', used to harness the powers of Hell.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Kyle, a 12 year old boy wizard from ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'', wields the Necronomicon.

* Subverted in an [[Earthworm Jim]] Episode "The Book of Doom," in which the "most evil book in the universe" is revealed to be Fuzzy Wuzzy's Funny Animal Pop-Up Book. Doubly subverted in that a few copies turned out to have accidentally been printed with a page explaining how to destroy the universe, just after the pudgy-wudgy hippo.

 

== Real Life ==

* All [[wikipedia:Grimoire|grimoires]] [[wikipedia:Category:Grimoires|categorically]] are this by definition.

** The book was a collection of various spells for different Pharaohs, printed on the walls of their tombs. It was essentially a collection of "prayers," or spells, but due to this, the spells were almost entirely unique to the individual. Some spells were very similar to each other, and some Pharaohs even had the exact same spells as others, but the spells were not intended to be used by anyone except the Pharaohs themselves. The spells were usually various forms of magical protection against demons in the underworld, or incantations to help one reach paradise.

* The ''Thousand And One Nights'' aka ''[[Arabian Nights]]'' is said to drive to madness anyone who reads the entire work. It's online at Project Gutenberg for anyone who's curious enough to try it. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090924180954/http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3435]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fictional Document]]

[[Category:These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]]

[[Category:Information Desk]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Magic Items Index]]

[[Category:Bookish Tropes]]