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EspañolCTHULHU MYTHOS
The 'Cthulhu Mythos' encompasses the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. Together, they form the that authors writing in the Lovecraftian milieu have used—and continue to use—to craft their stories.[1] The term was coined by the writer August Derleth, although this legendarium is also sometimes called the ''Lovecraft Mythos'', most notably by the Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi.[2] It has long since moved beyond Lovecraft's original conception.
Development
Robert M. Price, in his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", sees two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first stage, or "Cthulhu Mythos proper" as Price calls it, took shape during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage occurred under August Derleth who attempted to categorize and expand the Mythos after Lovecraft's death.[3]
First stage (the Mythos proper)
Main articles: Lovecraft Mythos
During the latter part of Lovecraft's life, there was much borrowing of story elements among the authors of the "Lovecraft Circle", a clique of writers with whom Lovecraft corresponded. This group included Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner, and others.
Lovecraft recognized that each writer had his own story-cycle and that an element from one cycle would not necessarily become part of another simply because a writer used it in one of his stories. For example, although Smith might mention "Kthulhut" (Cthulhu) or Iog-Sotôt (Yog-Sothoth) in one of his Hyperborean tales, this does not mean that Cthulhu is part of the Hyperborean cycle. A notable exception, however, is Smith's Tsathoggua, which Lovecraft appropriated for his revision of Zelia Bishop's "The Mound" (1940). Lovecraft effectively connected Smith's creation to his story-cycle by placing Tsathoggua alongside such entities as Tulu (Cthulhu), Yig, Shub-Niggurath, and Nug and Yeb in subterranean K'n-yan.
Most of the elements of Lovecraft's Mythos were not a ''cross-pollination'' of the various story-cycles of the Lovecraft Circle, but were instead ''deliberately created'' by each writer to become part of the Mythos — the most notable example being the various arcane grimoires of forbidden lore. So, for example, Robert E. Howard has his character Friedrich Von Junzt reading Lovecraft's ''Necronomicon'' in "The Children of the Night" (1931), and Lovecraft in turn mentions Howard's ''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'' in both "Out of the Aeons" (1935) and "The Shadow Out of Time (1936).[4] Howard frequently corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft, and the two would sometimes insert references or elements of each others' settings in their works. Later editors reworked many of the original Conan stories by Howard; thus, diluting this connection. Nevertheless, many of Howard's unedited Conan stories are arguably part of the Cthulhu Mythos.[5]
The Mythos as a background element
According to David E. Schultz, Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but rather intended his imaginary pantheon to serve merely as a background element. Thus, Lovecraft's "pseudomythology" — a term used by Lovecraft himself and others to describe the beings appearing in his stories — is the backdrop for his tales but is not the primary focus. Indeed, the cornerstone of his stories seems to be the town of Arkham and not beings like Cthulhu.[6][7]
Furthermore, Lovecraft may not have been serious when he spoke of developing a "myth-cycle" and probably would have had no need to give it a name anyway. Since he used his Mythos simply as background material, he probably had this in mind when he allowed other writers to use it in their own stories. Moreover, it could be said that Lovecraft's Mythos was a kind of elaborate inside joke, propagating among the writers of his circle and wearing thin upon his death. Derleth seems to have not understood this and believed that Lovecraft wanted other authors to actively ''write about'' the myth-cycle rather than to simply ''allude to'' it in their stories.[8]
Second stage (the "Derleth Mythos")
The second stage began with August Derleth[9] who added to the mythos and developed the ''elemental system'', associating the pantheon with the four elements of ''air'', ''earth'', ''fire'', and ''water''. To understand the changes that Derleth made to Lovecraft's Mythos, it is important to distinguish among Lovecraft's stories. Price says that Lovecraft's writings can be divided into three separate groups: the Dunsanian, Arkham, and Cthulhu cycles.[10] The Dunsanian stories are those that are written in the vein of Lord Dunsany (and may include Lovecraft's so-called Dream Cycle tales), the Arkham stories include those that take place in Lovecraft's non-pseudo-legendary New England setting, and the Cthulhu cycle stories are those that utilize Lovecraft's cosmic story-cycle (the ''Lovecraft Mythos'').
Rather than distinguish among Lovecraft's various cycles, Derleth combined them, ignoring individual distinctions, to create a large, singular story-cycle. So, for example, Derleth appropriated Nodens from the Dunsanian cycle and leagued him with the ''Elder Gods'' against the ''Old Ones''. Derleth also introduced a good versus evil dichotomy into the Mythos that was contrary to the dark, nihilistic vision of Lovecraft and his immediate circle.
Derleth further ignored any distinction between the story-cycles of Lovecraft and those of other writers. If Lovecraft referenced a name from another author, Derleth took that as justification to include the other author's story-cycle in the Cthulhu Mythos. For example, he developed Hastur into a Great Old One represented as an avatar by the King in Yellow of Robert W. Chambers from a passing reference linking Hastur and the Yellow Sign in Lovecraft's ''The Whisperer in Darkness''.
Finally, Derleth apparently classified any story that mentioned a mythos element as belonging to the Cthulhu Mythos — consequently, any other element in the story also became part of the mythos. Hence, since Lovecraft made passing reference to Clark Ashton Smith's ''Book of Eibon'', Derleth added Smith's Ubbo-Sathla to the mythos. Because of Derleth's broad canon, the Mythos would indeed grow enormously.[11]
Third Stage
Further removing the Cthulhu Mythos from its source were stories written by such authors as Lin Carter, Colin Wilson, and Brian Lumley. Carter was especially influential in setting out detailed lists of gods, their ancestry, and their servitors through his Mythos tales, attempting to codify the elements of the Mythos as much as possible. Through this process, more gods, books, and places were created and interlinked with each other.
Another influence has been the Call of Cthulhu RPG published by Chaosium in 1981. Largely developed by Sandy Petersen, this version of the Mythos broke Lovecraft's entities down into further sub-groupings: Outer Gods, Great Old Ones, and the nebulously-termed Other Gods. Material from these sources has slowly crept back into mainstream Mythos fiction, as Chaosium published fiction related to, or written by players of the game.
Many of the newer generation of Mythos authors (especially those published in Chaosium compendiums) take their cue from this more clinical, continuity-focused brand of the Mythos instead of Lovecraft's more mysterious version.
Structure
The Mythos usually takes place in fictional New England towns and is centered on the Great Old Ones, a fearsome assortment of ancient, powerful deities who came from outer space and once ruled the Earth. They are presently , having fallen into a death-like sleep at some time in the distant past.[12] The most well-known of these beings is Cthulhu, who currently lies "dead [but] dreaming" in the submerged city of R'lyeh somewhere in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. One day, "when the stars are right", R'lyeh will rise from beneath the sea, and Cthulhu will awaken and wreak havoc on the earth.[13]
Despite his notoriety, Cthulhu is not the most powerful of the deities, nor is he the theological center of the mythos.[14] Instead, this position is held by the demon-god Azathoth, an Outer God, ruling from his cosmically centered court. Nonetheless, Nyarlathotep, who fulfills Azathoth's random urges, has intervened more frequently and more directly in human affairs than any other Outer god. He has also displayed more blatant contempt for humanity, especially his own worshippers, than almost any other Lovecraftian deity.
Theme
The essence in the Mythos is that the human world and our role in it are an illusion. Humanity is simply living in a fragile bubble, unaware of what lies behind the curtains or even of the curtains themselves, and our seeming dominance over the world is illusory and ephemeral. We are blessed in that we do not realize what lies dormant in the unknown lurking places on Earth and beyond. As Lovecraft famously begins his short story, The Call of Cthulhu, "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
Now and then, individuals can, by accident or carelessness, catch a glimpse of, or even confront the ancient extraterrestrial entities which the mythology centres around, usually with fatal consequences. Other times, they are represented by their non-human worshippers, whose existence shatters the worldview of those who stumble across them. Human followers exist as well. Because of the limitations of the human mind, these deities appear as so overwhelming that they can often drive a person insane. They are portrayed as neither good or evil; within the Mythos these are concepts invented by our species as a way to explain inexplicable intentions and actions.
The Call of Cthulhu was the premiere story in which Lovecraft realized and made full use of these themes, which is why his mythology would later be named after the creature in this story, as it defined a new direction in both his authorship and in the horror fiction genre. This is also the first and only story by Lovecraft where humans and one of the cosmic entities called the Great Old Ones comes face to face.
In his final years, Lovecraft used fewer supernatural elements to represent the dangers which threaten humanity. Instead, he gradually replaced them with non-supernatural cosmic beings and phenomena, based on principles outside the laws of nature in our own space-time continuum. This sci-fi trend particularly becomes clear in works such as At the Mountains of Madness.
Derleth's involvement
Derleth had his own take on the mythos and tried to make it conform to his own Roman Catholic values and dualism. Instead of a universe of meaninglessness and chaos, Derleth's mythos is a struggle of ''good versus evil''.[15] Derleth once wrote:
As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully at or near Betelgeuze in the constellation Orion, 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...
—August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"[16]
Lovecraft was an atheist,[17] and claimed that Kant's ethical system "is a joke." Because of this, Derleth's theories about the ''Cthulhu Mythos'' are inconsistent with Lovecraft's design. The Mythos was never intended to be a cohesive, singular entity; instead, it should be regarded as simply a collection of ideas that can be used in separate works to provoke the same emotions.[18]
Another difference with Derleth's mythos is that the Elder Gods never appear in Lovecraft's writings, except for one or two who appear as "Other Gods" such as Nodens in Lovecraft's "The Strange High House in the Mist" (though perhaps this is an example of how "very rarely [they stir] forth"; i.e., usually never). Furthermore, the Great Old Ones, or ''Ancient Ones'', have no unified pantheon. Indeed, the term "Ancient Ones" appears in only one Lovecraft story, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (moreover, the story is actually a collaboration between Lovecraft and his friend and correspondent E. Hoffmann Price).
Elemental theory
Derleth also connected the deities of the Mythos to the four elements of ''air'', ''earth'', ''fire'', and ''water''. This system left gaps which Derleth filled in by creating the beings Ithaqua, representing ''air'', and Cthugha, representing ''fire''.[19] However, the system has a few problems. For example, Derleth classified Cthulhu as a ''water elemental'', but if this were so, how could he be trapped beneath the ocean and how could his psychic emanations be blocked by water? Another problem arises when applying the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale (such as Yog-Sothoth)—some authors have tried to get around this by creating a separate category of ''aethyr'' elementals for Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlathotep, and Yog-Sothoth. Finally, Derleth matched the ''earth'' beings against the ''fire'' beings and the ''air'' beings against the ''water'' beings, which is not consistent with the traditional elemental dichotomy (namely, that ''air'' opposes ''earth'' and ''fire'' opposes ''water'').[20]
| Air | Earth | Fire | Water |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hastur ★ ★ Ithaqua ★ ★ Zhar and Lloigor ★ | Azathoth(?) Cyäegha Nyarlathotep(?) Nyogtha Shub-Niggurath Tsathoggua Yog-Sothoth(?) | Aphoom-Zhah Cthugha ★ | Cthulhu Dagon Ghatanothoa Mother Hydra Zoth-Ommog |
★
★
★ Deity incorporated by Derleth.
Conclusion
Derleth became a publisher of Lovecraft's stories after his death.[21] Lovecraft himself was very critical of his own writings and was often easily discouraged, especially when faced with any rejection of his work.[22] Were it not for Derleth, Lovecraft's writings and the Cthulhu Mythos might have remained largely unknown.
Fundament
As stated above, new elements have constantly been added to the mythology after Lovecraft's death, including works by others as well as stories by Lovecraft himself that were not originally included in the mythos. Other short stories written by Lovecraft are included because of references to such elements as Necromonicon, cosmic terror and non-human species, despite lacking direct encounters with any of these things. The basic origin of what Derleth would name the Cthulhu Mythos can be traced back to a collection of seven stories with great impact which form the main fundament of Lovecraft's final and major fictional work:
The Call of Cthulhu (February, 1928)
The Dunwich Horror (April, 1929)
The Whisperer in Darkness (August, 1931)
At the Mountains of Madness (March-April, 1936)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (April, 1936)
The Shadow Out of Time (June, 1936)
The Haunter of the Dark (December, 1936)
Of these seven, The Whisperer in Darkness, At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time involves alien species with superior alien technology and are closest to science fiction, containing Lovecraft's typical atmosphere of horror, and reflect his materialistic atheism and the direction he was heading at the end of his life. The Shadow Over Innsmouth stands more or less alone as the origin of the threats, which in this case can be traced to the hostile depths of the ocean rather than the darkness between the stars, but otherwise shows the classical elements and pattern; the three remaining tales can best be described as dark fantasy. Combined, they cover all of Lovecraft's universe of mind numbing horror, cosmic beings, outer gods and hidden dangers.
See also
★ Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos
★ Cthulhu Mythos anthology
★ Dreamlands
★ Elder Gods
★ Great Old Ones
★ Outer Gods
★ The Cthulhu Mythos has become part of popular culture. See Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture for a list.
★ For a list of characters, see Cthulhu Mythos biographies.
References
Books
★ The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, , Robert, Bloch, Ballantine Books, , ISBN 0-345-35080-4
★ Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, , August, Derleth, Arkham House, ,
★ The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, , Daniel, Harms, Chaosium, Inc., , ISBN 1-56882-119-0
★ H. P. Lovecraft, , S. T., Joshi, Starmont House, , ISBN 0-916732-36-3; ISBN 0-916732-35-5 (paper)
★ Mosig at Last: A Psychologist Looks at H. P. Lovecraft, , Yozan Dirk W., Mosig, Necronomicon Press, , ISBN 0-940884-90-9
★ The Fantastic Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, , Will, Murray, James Van Hise, 1999, No ISBN.
★ A Century Less a Dream: Selected Criticism on H. P. Lovecraft, , David E., Schultz, Wildside Press, 2002, ISBN 1-58715-215-0
★
★ Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, , James, Turner, Random House, , ISBN 0-345-42204-X
★ Cthulhu and the Coeds: Kids and Squids, , Tina, Jens, editor, Twilight Tales, 1999,
★ Watchers of the Light,, , Frank Walter, Thomas, Lake Forest Park Books, , ISBN 0-9774464-0-9 (paperback)
Web sites
★ H. P. Lovecraft
Notes
1. Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'', pp. viii–ix.
2. Joshi, "The Lovecraft Mythos", ''H. P. Lovecraft'', p. 31ff.
3. Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", ''Crypt of Cthulhu #35'', p. 5.
4. Ibid, pp. 6–7.
5. Patrice Louinet. ''Hyborian Genesis: Part 1'', page 436, ''The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian''; 2003, Del Rey.
6. Schultz, "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?", ''A Century Less A Dream'', pp. 46, 54.
7.
That Lovecraft gave more weight to his "Arkham cycle" locations than to his pseudomythology is perhaps demonstrated by his so-called revision stories. Will Murray points out that while Lovecraft often employed 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. (Murray, "In Search of Arkham Country I", pp. 105, 107.)
8. Schultz, "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?", pp. 46–7.
9. The writer Richard L. Tierney coined the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish between August Derleth's version and Lovecraft's (Cf. Richard L. Tierney, "The Derleth Mythos", ''Discovering H. P. Lovecraft'', p. 52). Dirk Mosig, however, goes further and recommends that the term ''Cthulhu Mythos'' be dropped altogether in favor of the ''Yog-Sothoth Cycle of Myth'' (Mosig, "H. P. Lovecraft: Myth-Maker", ''Mosig at Last'', p. 28).
10. Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", ''Crypt of Cthulhu #35'', p. 9.
11. Ibid, pp. 6–10.
12. Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", p. viii.
13. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928).
14. Mosig says that Cthulhu "is perhaps one of the weakest and least important of the main entities [in the mythos]—save for his immediacy". He also notes that in the Necronomicon passage in Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" (1929), Cthulhu is demoted to "their cousin". (Mosig, "H. P. Lovecraft: Myth-Maker", ''Mosig at Last'', p. 25.)
15. Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 9.
16. Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos", ''Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos'', p. vii.
17. Joshi, ''The Scriptorium'', "H. P. Lovecraft", section II.
18. Turner, "Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!", ''Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos'', p. viii. Turner writes: "Lovecraft's imaginary was never a static system but rather a sort of construct that remained ever adaptable to its creator's developing personality and altering interests... [T]here was never a rigid system that might be posthumously appropriated by the ... [T]he 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."
19. Derleth created Cthugha when a fan, Francis T. Laney, pointed out that he had neglected to include a fire elemental 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). (Robert M. Price, "Editorial Shards", ''Crypt of Cthulhu #32'', p. 2.) Laney's essay ("The Cthulhu Mythos") was later republished in ''Crypt of Cthulhu #32'' (1985).
20. Harms, "Elemental Theory", p. 101.
21. Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 8.
22. Joshi, ''The Scriptorium'', "H. P. Lovecraft", section I.
External links
★ The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide; extensive information, including an annotated bibliography and index
★ Cthuugle, the H. P. Lovecraft search engine
★ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive
★ Mythos Online, short stories relating to the Cthulhu Mythos
★ Mythos Tomes, stories, articles, and reviews relating to the Cthulhu Mythos
★ The Official Cthulhu Mythos FAQ, by Daniel Harms
★ The City Of Arkham, a tour of some of the past and present inhabitants of Arkham MA
★ Cthulhu Mythos Artwork, a 23-piece art portfolio realistically illustrating the various imaginary creatures and elements of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos such as: Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Dagon, Abdul Alhazred, the Necronomicon, and more.
Further reading
★ , , Lin, Carter, Ballantine Books, , ISBN 0-345-02427-3
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