Great Old One

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A Great Old One is a type of fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Collectively, the Great Old Ones (sometimes referred to as the Old Ones^[1] by some authors or the Cthulhu Cycle Deities by Brian Lumley in his Titus Crow stories) are not as powerful as the Outer Gods, nor do they have as much influence. Nonetheless, they are served by devoted congregations of worshipers, made up of both human and non-human cults.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Table of Great Old Ones 2.1 Overview 2.2 Table 3 References 3.1 Books 3.2 Notes

[edit] Summary

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
—Abdul Alhazred, The Necronomicon

The Great Old Ones are ancient creatures of immense power, and most are also colossal in size. They are worshipped by deranged human cults, as well as by most of the non-human races of the mythos. The Great Old Ones are currently imprisoned—a few beneath the sea, some inside the Earth, and still others in distant planetary systems (and beyond). The reason for their captivity is not known, though there are two prevailing theories:

1. They were sequestered by the Elder Gods for committing past transgressions, or
2. they are sealed off somehow from the rest of the universe by their own volition.^[2]

According to the first theory, the Great Old Ones were once members or servants of the Elder Gods. When they committed some unknown blasphemy, they were cast out and imprisoned in various places in the universe. The Great Old Ones impatiently await the time of their release, eager to seek retribution against their jailors.

The second theory holds that the Great Old Ones are intentionally quiescent. To account for this, it is possible that the universe experiences cosmic cycles, similar to the natural seasons which occur on earth. Just as some animals hibernate during the winter, so too must the Great Old Ones rest in a death-like sleep during the present cosmic cycle.^[3] If this is so, the Great Old Ones are currently trapped by powerful cosmic forces and must remain so until such time as "the stars are right"—the event upon which they may be released and can revel once more across the cosmos.^[4]

[edit] Table of Great Old Ones

[edit] Overview

This table is organized as follows:

• Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the Great Old One.
• Epithet(s), other name(s). This field lists any epithets or alternate names for the Great Old One. These are names that often appear in books of arcane literature, but may also be the names preferred by cults.
• Description. This entry gives a brief description of the Great Old One.
• References. This field lists the stories in which the Great Old One makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. Sources are denoted by a simple two-letter code—the key to the codes is found here. A code appearing in bold means that the story introduces the Great Old One.

[edit] Table

Great Old Ones

Name	Epithet(s), other name(s)	Description	References
Aphoom-Zhah	The Cold Flame, Lord of the Pole	Appears as a vast, cold, grey flame.	AF, AT, HG, LP
Arwassa	The Silent Shouter on the Hill	A vast, wailing, floating monstrosity.	[citation needed]
Atlach-Nacha	The Spider God, Spinner in Darkness	A giant spider with a human-like face.	PS, SG
Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg	The Bringer of Pestilence	A huge, flying, scorpion-like beast.	n/a[5]
Basatan	Master of the Crabs	?	MC
Bokrug	The Great Water Lizard, The Doom of Sarnath	Appears as a giant lizard.	DC, SC
Bugg-Shash[6]	The Black One, The Filler of Space, He Who Comes in the Dark	Appears as a slimy mass covered with eyes and mouths.	DI, EL, KB, RS
Byatis	The Berkeley Toad, The Serpent-Bearded	Appears as a gigantic, spider-like crab with a proboscis.	BY, RC, SF
Chaugnar Faugn	Horror from the Hills, The Feeder, Caug-Narfagn	An elephant-headed humanoid.	HF
Cthugha	The Living Flame, The Burning One	Appears as a living ball of fire.	DD, EL, HC, LM
Cthulhu	The Sleeping God, Master of R'lyeh, Kthulhut, Tulu	A gigantic, winged, octopus-headed humanoid.	AM, BI, CC, FH, GU, HC, HM, LY, MO, PS, RH, SE, TU, YT?
Cthylla	Secret Seed of Cthulhu	Appears as a huge, octopus-like creature.	ID, TC
Cxaxukluth	—	Probably appears similar to Azathoth.	FT, TA
Cyäegha	The Destroying Eye, The Waiting Dark	Appears as a gigantic eye covered with tentacles.	DM
Cynothoglys	The Mortician God	Appears as a shapeless, mutating entity with a single arm.	PR
The Dweller in the Gulf	Eidolon of the Blind	Appears as a huge, eyeless reptilian creature with whip-like tails.	WL
Eihort	The Pale Beast, God of the Labyrinth	Appears as a huge, pallid, gelatinous oval with a myriad legs and multiple eyes.	BS, FP
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra	—	Both appear as abnormally large Deep Ones.	DA, DB, RD, SI
Ghadamon	A Seed of Azathoth	A shapeless, inky, protoplasmic mass.	[citation needed]
Ghatanothoa	The Usurper, God of the Volcano	Amorphous with multifarious appendages and grotesque members; too horrid to behold, viewing causes petrification.	HT, OE, RL, SX, TP
Ghizguth	—	—	FT
Glaaki	The Inhabitant of the Lake, Lord of Dead Dreams	Appears as a giant slug with metallic spines.	GL, IB, IL
Gloon	The Corrupter of Flesh, Master of the Temple	Manifests through a Dionysian sculpture; resembles a monstrous sea slug.	TE
Gol-goroth	Golgoroth, Gol-Goroth, The Forgotten Old One, God of the Black Stone	Appears as a gigantic, black, toad-like creature with an impossibly malevolent glare.	FO, FR, GB
Hastur	The Unspeakable, He Who is Not to be Named, Lord of Interstellar Spaces	"True" form remains a mystery; said to be amorphous, possibly octopoid.	FA, HS, LT, RH, SS
Huitloxopetl	Haunter of Dreams, The Nightmare Walker	?	H1, H2, H3, H4
Hziulquoigmnzhah	—	Has spheroid body, elongated arms, short legs, and a pendulum-like head dangling underneath.	DS, FT, TA
Idh-yaa	—	—	OA
Iod	The Shining Hunter	A levitating, sinuous, glowing creature.	HU, IN, SZ
Ach' narrgutha	The evil toad	A brown globulous fiend of pain	HU IN GD
Ithaqua	The Wind Walker, The Wendigo, God of the Cold White Silence	A horrifying frozen giant.	BW, CD, IM, IQ, SW, TW, WE
Juk-Shabb	God of Yekub	Appears as a great ball of energy.	CF
Kag’Naru of the Air[7]	?	?	?
Lloigor	See Zhar and Lloigor below.
M'Nagalah the Eternal[8]	The Great God Cancer, The All-Consuming	A massive, tumorous, blob-like thing.	TU
Mnomquah	Lord of the Black Lake	A very large and eyeless lizard-creature with a "crown" of feelers.	MD, MQ, SB
Mordiggian	The Charnel God, The Great Ghoul, Lord of Zul-Bha-Sair	A horrifying giant with eyeless head and limbless body, much like a worm.	CG, IC, RE
Nug and Yeb	The Twin Blasphemies	Appear similar to Shub-Niggurath.	BF, EH, LA, OA, TO
Nyogtha	The Thing which Should Not Be, Haunter of the Red Abyss	Appears as an inky shadow.	AF, HG, SH, SR
Oorn	?	Appears as a huge, tentacled mollusc.	MD
Othuum	Deep Slumberer in Green, Great Master of Those-Who-Wait-Without	Black, cyclops-like demon with two pairs of legs.	OT, RS
Othuyeg	The Doom-Walker	Appears as a great, tentacled eye (similar to Cyäegha).	DF, VC, SP
Quachil Uttaus	Treader of the Dust	Appears as a miniature, wrinkled mummy with ankylosed, outstretched claws.	KU, RU
Q'yth-az	?	A crystalline entity.	EF
Rh’Thulla of the Wind[9]	?	?	?
Rhan-Tegoth	He of the Ivory Throne	A tall humanoid with crab-like appendages; hard to describe in a few words.	HM, LT
Rlim Shaikorth	The White Worm	A gigantic, whitish worm with a huge maw and eyes made of dripping globules of blood.	CW, HG, LP
Saa'itii	The Hogge	A giant, spectral hog.	[citation needed]
Sfatlicllp	—	—	FT
Shathak	—	—	FT
Shterot	?	Separate, living tentacles.	[citation needed]
Shudde M'ell	The Burrower Beneath, The Great Chthonian	Appears as a colossal worm with anterior tentacles.	BU, CS, TC, WU
Summanus	Lord of Hell, Monarch of Night, The Terror that Walketh in Darkness	A mouthless, grotesque human with tentacles.	FH, WG
Tharapithia	?	?	[citation needed]
Tsathoggua	The Sleeper of N'kai, The Toad-God, Zhothaqqua, Sadagowah	Appears as a huge, furry, almost humanoid toad.	BC, DS, FT, IU, OL, RT, SG, TS
Vulthoom	The Sleeper of Ravermos, Gsarthotegga	May appear as a monstrous plant with an enormous, elf-like blossom.	VU
The Worm that Gnaws in the Night	Doom of Shaggai	A massive, worm-like fiend.	AG
X'chll'at-aa	Lord of the Great Old Ones, The Unborn God, Enemy of All That Live	?	[citation needed]
Y'golonac	The Defiler	Appears as a naked, headless human with a mouth in the palm of each hand; other features are nebulous.	CP
Yhoundeh	The Elk Goddess	Perhaps an elk-like humanoid.	DS, LE
Yibb-Tstll	The Patient One, The Watcher in the Glade	Gigantic, bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes; truly horrible to behold.	CB, OK, SC
Yig	Father of Serpents	A scaly, serpent-like humanoid.	CY, SJ, VY
Ythogtha	The Thing in the Pit	Appears as a colossal, cyclops-like Deep One.	OA, PD, TC, TP
Zathog	?	?	FB, WZ
Zhar and Lloigor	The Twin Obscenities	Both appear as a colossal mass of tentacles (have a rumoured triplet).	SA, LS, SX
Zoth-Ommog	Dweller in the Deeps	A gigantic entity with a cone-shaped body, a reptilian head, and starfish-like arms.	HG, OA, TC
Zstylzhemghi	Matriarch of Swarms, Zystulzhemgni	?	FT, TA
Zushakon	Dark Silent One, Old Night, Zul-Che-Quon	Appears as a swirling, black vortex.	BH, KD
Zvilpogghua	Feaster from the Stars, The Sky-Devil, Ossadagowah	Winged, tentacle-faced, toad-like giant.	LT, RM, SV

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Harms, Daniel (1998). The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, 2nd edition, Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.

• Lovecraft, H.P. (1982). The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, 1st edition, Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35080-4.

• Price, Robert M. (1996). “Introduction”, Robert M. Price (ed.): The New Lovecraft Circle. New York, N.Y.: Random House. ISBN 0-345-44406-X.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Old Ones" has variable meanings in Lovecraft's stories. Although it is synonymous with Great Old Ones, Old Ones can also refer to the Elder Things. (Harms, "Old Ones", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. 228–9).
2. ^ Harms, "Great Old Ones", pp. 126–7.
3. ^ Ibid. While the first theory, which proposes that the Great Old Ones were forcibly imprisoned by the Elder Gods, is delineated by the writings of August Derleth, the second theory (relating to "cosmic cycles") is debatable but is favored by Harms.
4. ^ Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928), The Best of H.P. Lovecraft, p. 88.
5. ^ Scott D. Aniolowski, "Mysterious Manuscripts" in The Unspeakable Oath #3, John Tynes (ed.), Seattle, WA: Pagan Publishing, August 1991. Periodical (role-playing game material). Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg first appeared in this gaming supplement.
6. ^ When Brian Lumley read David Sutton's short story "Demoniacal", he wrote a sequel entitled "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash". Lumley expanded Sutton's tale and gave his unnamed entity its name—Bugg-Shash—which effectively tied Sutton's creation to the mythos. (Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xx–xxi). The name "Bugg-Shash", however, appeared earlier in Lumley's short story "Rising with Surtsey" (Harms, "Bugg-Shash", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 41).
7. ^ Kag’Naru of the Air, the sibling of M'Nagalah the Eternal (from Swamp Thing fame) and Rh’Thulla of the Wind, debuted in Challengers of the Unknown #83.
8. ^ M'Nagalah first appeared in the comic book Swamp Thing #8 (1974) in a story by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (Harms, "M'nagalah", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 196). The being has since shown up in stories in Challengers of the Unknown, The Trenchcoat Brigade, and The All-New Atom. His siblings, Rh’Thulla of the Wind and Kag’Naru of the Air, debuted in Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
9. ^ Rh’Thulla of the Wind, the sibling of M'Nagalah the Eternal (from Swamp Thing fame) and Kag’Naru of the Air, debuted in Challengers of the Unknown #83.