Cthulhu Mythos deities
Writer H.P. Lovecraft created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career, including the "Great Old Ones" and the "Outer Gods", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities (e.g. Nodens). The Elder Gods are a later creation of writers such as August Derleth, who is credited with formalising the Cthulhu Mythos.[1][2]
Great Old Ones
An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a deathlike sleep.[3]
Lovecraft named several of these deities, including Azathoth, Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and Yig. With a few exceptions, Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, et al, this loose pantheon apparently exists 'outside' of normal space-time. Though worshipped by deranged human (and inhuman) cults, these beings are generally imprisoned or restricted in their ability to interact with most people (beneath the sea, inside the Earth, in other dimensions, and so on), at least until the hapless protagonist is unwittingly exposed to them. Lovecraft visited this premise in many of his stories, notably his 1928 short story, The Call of Cthulhu, with reference to the eponymous creature. However, it was Derleth who applied the notion to all of the Great Old Ones.
Table of Great Old Ones
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 from the Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography and the Cthulhu Mythos alphanumeric reference code and bibliography. A code appearing in bold means that the story introduces the Great Old One. If the code is given as comics or rpg it means that the Great Old One first appeared in the Call of Cthulhu Role playing Game or are mentioned/depicted in comics rather than novels.
Name | Epithet(s), other name(s) |
Description | References |
---|---|---|---|
Abholos[4] | Devourer in the Mist | A grey festering blob of infinite malevolence, described as lesser brother of Tsathoggua or spawn of Cthulhu born from his bile and tears. | DM7 |
Alala[5] | Herald of S'glhuo | An entity of living sound native of the Gulf of S’glhuo, manifesting as a huge monstrous being. He is served by the Denizens of S’glhuo which are made of his same substance. | PL, VA, WP |
Ammutseba | Devourer of Stars | A dark, cloudy mass with tentacles which absorbs falling stars. | LO, SK |
Aphoom-Zhah | The Cold Flame, Lord of the Pole |
Appears much like Cthugha but grey, and cold. | AF, HG, LP |
Apocolothoth | The Moon-God | A mysterious Lunar entity dwelling in the dimension of Enno-Lunn. | IS13, MW4, TL |
Arwassa | The Silent Shouter on the Hill | A humanoid torso with tentacles instead of limbs, and a short neck ending in a toothless, featureless mouth. | AY4 |
Atlach-Nacha | The Spider God, Spinner in Darkness |
A giant spider with a human-like face. | AT, PS, SG |
Ayi'ig | The Serpent Goddess, Aeg, Aega | Daughter of Yig and the Outer Goddess Yidhra, appearing as a gigantic octopus-like horror with serpentine eyes and detachable tentacles which may move independently. She dwells in the cavern of a deep canyon somewhere in Texas. | ME |
Aylith[6] | The Widow in the Woods, The Many-Mother | A tall, shadowy humanoid figure with yellow glowing eyes and strange protrusions like the branches of dead trees. She serves Shub-Niggurath. | TT13 |
Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg | The Bringer of Pestilence | A huge, flying scorpion with an ant-like head. | MT4,[7] VG |
Basatan | Master of the Crabs | Not described, probably a humanoid crustacean or a gigantic crab.[8] | MC |
B’gnu-Thun | The Soul-Chilling Ice-God | Appears as a cyanotic humanoid followed by an eerie blizzard. The fiery Ruhtra Dyoll is the twin brother of his. | CC2, SS2 |
Bokrug | The Great Water Lizard, The Doom of Sarnath |
Appears as a gigantic water lizard. | DC, SC |
Bugg-Shash[9] | The Black One, The Filler of Space, He Who Comes in the Dark |
Appears as a black, slimy mass covered in eyes and mouths, much like a Shoggoth. | DI, EL, KB, RS |
Byatis | The Berkeley Toad, Serpent-Bearded Byatis |
Appears as a gigantic, multicolored toad with one eye, a proboscis, crab-like claws, and tentacles below the mouth. | BY, RC, SF |
Chaugnar Faugn | Horror from the Hills, The Feeder, Caug-Narfagn |
A vampiric elephant-like humanoid with a mouth on the end of its trunk. | FO, HF, HM, RH |
Coatlicue | Serpent Skirted One[10] | A humanoid reptilian giant of with two facing snakes in place of head as in Coatlicue statue. She was former mate of Yig revered in K'n-yan along with her consort. | FS15, RS2 |
Coinchenn[11] | A marine tentacled horror made of fish, whale and octopus-like features. | Comics[12] | |
Crom Cruach[13] | Master of the Runes, Bloody Crooked One[14] | Not described, but likely something gigantic and serpent or worm-like. | DS11, WW9 |
Cthaat | The Dark Water God, "Cthaat Aquadingen" |
A formless mass of shape-shifting water. | DV, PS4 |
Cthaeghya | |
(Half-)sister of Cthulhu, which spawned the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu. | OO |
Cthugha | The Living Flame, The Burning One |
Appears as a living conflagration. | DD, EL, HC, LM |
Cthulhu | The Call of Cthulhu | A mix between a giant human, an octopus, and a dragon, and is depicted as being hundreds of meters tall, with human-looking arms and legs and a pair of rudimentary wings on its back. | DV, PS4 |
Cthylla | Secret Daughter of Cthulhu | Appears as a huge winged octopus-like creature with six eyes. | HW11, ID, TC |
Ctoggha | The Dream-Daemon | No description available. | GD4 |
Cyäegha | The Destroying Eye, The Waiting Dark |
Appears as a gigantic black mass of tentacles with a single green eye at the centre. | DM, SN11 |
Cynothoglys | The Mortician God, She Whose Hand Embalms | Appears as a formless mound with one arm-like appendage. | PR, SS11 |
Dhumin | The Burrower From the Bluff | A serpentine (likely Tremors-like) earth-shaking horror dwelling in the subsoil of Memphis, USA. | BB7 |
The Dweller in the Gulf | Eidolon of the Blind | Appears as a huge, eyeless, black, soft-shelled tortoise with a triangular head and two whip-like tails, and suckers on the end of each tail. | WL |
Dygra | The Stone-Thing | A jewel-facetted, semi-crystalline geode with mineral tentacles. | CC2, SS2 |
Dythalla | Lord of Lizards | A gigantic saurian creature similar to Bokrug but terrestrial and endowed with a mane of tentacles.[15] | BB3, LD5, SS2, TH4 |
Dzéwà[16] | The White God | A ravenous plant-god arrived from Xiclotl to Earth, awed by the Insects from Shaggai. He appears as a white orb hiding an enormous magenta excrescence, like an orchid or a lamprey mouth with emerald tentacles tipped with hands emerging from the mass. | LJ |
Eihort | The Pale Beast, God of the Labyrinth |
Appears as a huge, pallid, gelatinous oval with a myriad legs and multiple eyes. | BS, FP, GS8 |
Ei'lor | The Star-Seed, The Plant-God | A plant-like, parasitic horror native of the jungle planet Kr’llyand, which orbits a dead, green star. | CC2, EO, SS4, SS8 |
Etepsed Egnis[17] | |
A formless monstrosity with a huge, arm-like appendage. | EE, GS2, UI |
Ghadamon | A Seed of Azathoth | A bluish-brown, slimy monstrosity riddled with holes, and an occasional malformed head. | CD2, OF, PC6 |
Ghatanothoa | Lord of the Volcano, Thoa[18] | Appears as a colossal horror with multifarious appendages with Gorgon-like powers. | OE, RL, TP, DS11 |
Ghisguth | The Sound of the Deep Waters | A titanic mass of jelly material. | PN, OO |
Glaaki | The Inhabitant of the Lake, Lord of Dead Dreams |
Appears as a giant three-eyed slug with metallic spines, and tiny, pyramid-like feet underneath. | GL, IB, IL |
Gleeth | The Blind God of the Moon | An eyeless and deaf Lunar deity worshiped in the ancient continent of Theem’dra as well as in Dreamlands, often mentioned as similar to Mnomquah, though apparently not related each other.[19] | MD, HC2, SY5 |
Gloon[20] | The Corrupter of Flesh, Master of the Temple, Glhuun |
Usually manifests through a Dionysian sculpture, but its true form is that of a gigantic wattled slug-thing. | MM, II, TE |
God of the Red Flux | |
A vaporous red entity haunting the rainforest of Central Africa. It has the power to turn humans in zombie-like servants, the Tree-Men of M'bwa. | MW |
Gog-Hoor | Eater on the Insane | A giant entity dwelling in some reverse dimension, resembling a huge bullet with a long proboscis. | SC6 |
Gol-goroth | Golgoroth, The Forgotten Old One, God of the Black Stone, Golgoroð |
Appears as a gigantic, black, toad-like creature with an impossibly malevolent glare, or a tentacled, scaled, bat-winged entity. | BP, FO, FR, GB, SC12 |
Golothess | |
An entity cut in ten pieces by Yig during a time of great battle (one of these pieces is an alabaster dish found in Egypt, dated back 1,300 BC). It resembles and has a similar domain as Greek god Bacchus. | YV |
The Green God | The Horror Under Warrendown | A sentient plant-entity dwelling in subterranean caverns where it is always served by mutant rabbit-like worshipers. | HW2 |
Groth-Golka | The Demon Bird-God, The Bird-God of Balsagoð | A monstrous bird-like fiend with sharp teeth, dwelling beneath Antarctica, vaguely resembling an extinct Pterosaur. | BP, FO |
Gtuhanai | The Destroyer God of the Aartna | A destructive entity manifesting as a ravenous metallic vortex. He seems to be another half-brother of Cthulhu like Hastur and related to the slug-like Glaaki too. He dwells somewhere in the Pleiades stellar region and when summoned he brings devastation. | FN |
Gurathnaka | Eater of Dreams, Shadow of Night | A shadowy incorporeal entity dwelling in Dreamlands. | PV |
Gur'la-ya | Lurker in Doom-laden Shadows | A great shadow-thing with two red, glaring eyes, able to transform the skull of its own victims in green glowing stones carved with strange symbols. | DS2, SY3 |
Gzxtyos | Mate of Othuyeg | The consort of Othuyeg, likely similar to her bridegroom. | GS2, SD14 |
Han | The Dark One | A being made of cold, howling mist, bound to Yig's worship | SF |
Hastalÿk | The Contagion | A microbial entity, responsible for plagues. | rpg |
Hastur | The Unspeakable, He Who is Not to be Named, Lord of Interstellar Spaces, The King in Yellow |
Its true form is unknown, but usually manifests either as a polypous, ravenous floating mass endowed with tentacles, drills and suckers or, more frequently, as the King in Yellow, a humanoid being wearing tattered, yellow clothes and a mask hiding the face. It is said to be Cthulhu's (half-)brother. | FA, HS, LT, RH, SS, WD, YS |
H’chtelegoth | The Great Tentacled God | A towering greenish trunk with a crown of tentacles, a row of multiple eyes and a couple of additional, lateral grasping appendages. | HL, BM9 |
Hnarqu | The Great One | Lesser brother of Cthulhu manifesting as a gigantic mouth surrounded by countless tentacles, similar to a titanic sea anemone. | TT2 |
Hziulquoigmnzhah | The God of Cykranosh, Ziulquag-Manzah | Has spheroid body, elongated arms, short legs, and a pendulum-like head dangling underneath. It is the brother of Ghisguth, and uncle of Tsathoggua. | DR14, DS, OO, PN, TA |
Idh-yaa | Cthulhu's Mate, Xothic Matriarch | A gigantic, pale, worm-like horror dwelling beneath the crust of star Xoth. She has been Cthulhu's first bride, which spawned the three main sons Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha and Zoth Ommog. | OA |
Inpesca | The Sea Horror | A formless expansive bluish-black mass, haunting Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts, mentioned in Cthäat Aquadingen as inimical to the Deep Ones. | YE |
Iod | The Shining Hunter | A levitating, sinuous, glowing creature. | HU, IN, SZ |
Istasha | Mistress of Darkness | A cat deity similar to Bastet but vicious and malignant. Her sister is the sylvan Lythalia. | SS2, SS4 |
Ithaqua | The Wind Walker, The Wendigo, God of the Cold White Silence |
A gigantic, corpse-like human with webbed feet and glowing red eyes. | BW, CD, IM, IQ, SW, TW, WE |
Janai'ngo | Guardian and the Key of the Watery Gates, The Lobster of the Deep | A crustacean-like tentacled, half-amorphous marine horror which serves Cthulhu, dwelling in the depths of the Bay of Rhiiklu, somewhere in USA East coast. | TL |
Juk-Shabb | God of Yekub | Appears as a great shining ball of energy. | CF |
Kaalut | The Ravenous One[21] | Likely a gigantic, larva-like horror, dwelling on the distant ammonia planet K'gil'mnon along with the insectoid servants of his. | GI, HG3 |
Kag'Naru of the Air[22] | |
Mentioned in American comics "Challengers of the Unknown" (1977) as sister of M'nagalah. | Comics |
Kassogtha | Bride of Cthulhu, The Leviathan of Diseased | A huge mass of coiled, writhing tentacles. She is Cthulhu's sister and mate, who bore him two twin daughters (Nctosa and Nctolhu) | NH |
Kaunuzoth | The Great One, Cannoosut | A squat, sea cucumber-like monstrosity with five eyes, three-toed, taloned appendages and large mouth. He is described as one of Glaaki’s brethrens and dwells in Moore Dam lake of USA. | MR10 |
Khal'kru[23] | All-in-All, Greater-than-Gods | A dark, octopoid horror similar to Norse Kraken, but dwelling inside a temple somewhere in a hidden, warm valley in Alaska. | DM9 |
Klosmiebhyx | |
Sister of Zstylzhemghi. | OO |
K'nar'st | Spawn of the Forgotten | A humanoid with four, seven-clawed arms with tentacles in place of legs. The head is lion-like but bony and the mouths encases three long tongues. He lies trapped in the seafloor, inside a seamount called Nayhgof. | KN5 |
Kurpannga | The Devil-dingo | A giant hairless dingo-like fiend living in Dreamlands (or the Dreamtime of Aboriginal myths). | DL |
Lam | The Grey[24] | An alien entity similar to Grey aliens dwelling in the dark side of planet Mars.[25] | GW6, MR11, rpg |
Lythalia | The Forest-Goddess | A female seductive humanoid entity covered in vines and vegetal parts. Somehow she has been mate of the Elder God Nodens bearing him the twin gods Vorvadoss and Yaggdytha.[26] The feline Istasha is the sister of Lythalia. | SS2, SS4 |
Mappo no Ryujin | Harbinger of Doom, Mappo's Dragon | A dragon-like entity covered in pseudopods, regarded as the mother of the Snake-God Yig and said to be imprisoned beneath the sunken continent of Mu. | JN |
M’basui Gwandu | The River Abomination | A spider-eyed, bat-winged horror lurking in Congo River. | NT8 |
M'Nagalah[27] | The Devourer, The Cancer God[28] | A mass of entrails and eyes, or a massive blob-thing. | NH, TU, comics[29] |
Mnomquah | Lord of the Black Lake, The Monster in the Moon | 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, Morddoth[30] |
A shapeshifting cloud of shadow. | DT5, CG, GD7, IC, NS7, RE |
Mormo[31] | The Thousand-Faced Moon | Mormo appears in many forms, but three are most common: as a mocking vampiric maiden, as a tentacle-haired gorgon, or as a hunched toad-like albino with a mass of feelers instead of a face. This last is the form of her servitors, the Moon-beasts. | BX, HR2, TR5 |
Mortllgh | Storm of Steel | A lustrous orb floating at the centre of a whirling vortex of razor-sharp, metallic looking blades. | KN2 |
Mynoghra | She-Daemon of the Shadows | A succubus-like fiend with alien traits and tentacles in place of the hair. She is mentioned as cousin of Nyarlathotep in the O’ Khymer Revelations and worshipped in witch-cults of Salem, Oregon. | WN2 |
Nctosa & Nctolhu | The Twin Spawn of Cthulhu | Twin daughters of Cthulhu, imprisoned in the Great Red Spot of planet Jupiter. They appear as huge shell-endowed beings, with eight segmented limbs and six long arms ending with claws, vaguely resembling their "step-sister" Cthylla. | NH |
Ngirrth’lu | The Wolf-Thing, The Stalker in the Snows, He Who Hunts, Na-girt-a-lu | A ferocious and towering wolf-like humanoid with bat wings. He is served by werewolf servants known as the Lupine Ones. | SS2 |
Northot[32] | The The Forgotten God, The Thing That Should Not Be[33] | A mysterious entity related to Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath and Azathoth too which manifests either as a faun-like humanoid with colour-changing hair or as a glowing halo of unknown colour. | NT4, RE3 |
Nssu-Ghahnb[34] | The Heart of the Ages, Leech of the Aeons | Sort of a gigantic beating heart secluded in a parallel dimensions. It would have spawned the monsters of all the times. | rpg |
Nug and Yeb | The Twin Blasphemies | Two horrid nebulous masses of shape-changing vapour from which eyes, tentacles, maws and hooves emerge; somewhat like Shub-Niggurath. They have been spawned by Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath and both (or either) are regarded as blasphemous parents of Cthulhu[35] and perhaps Tsathoggua too.[36] | BF, EH, LA, OA, TO |
Nyaghoggua | The Kraken Within[37] | A blurry, dark, kraken-like entity mentioned in the Song of Yste and said to dwell in the Outer Space. | AB, NY7 |
Nycrama | The Zombifying Essence | A tall larva-like monstrosity with hundreds of segmented, taloned tendrils, exiled by the Elder Gods in a parallel dimension with close connection with South America rainforests, wherefrom he lures human victims to enslave from other dimensions. Formerly he was too an Elder God. | NY4 |
Nyogtha | The Thing which Should Not Be, Haunter of the Red Abyss |
Appears as an inky shadow. | AF, HG, SH, SR, SY4 |
Ob'mbu | The Shatterer | A giraffe-like reptilian monster. | NH |
Oorn[38] | Mnomquah's Mate | Appears as a huge, tentacled mollusc. | HW10, MD |
Othuum | The Oceanic Horror | A twisting, ropy-tentacled mass with a single alien face somewhere in the center of the slimy squirming mass. | OT, RS |
Othuyeg | The Doom-Walker | Appears as a great, tentacled eye similar to Cyäegha, but much more to the monster featuring in the horror movie The Crawling Eye.[39] It dwells in the subsoil of Kansas in the fabled Seven Cities of Gold along with the consort of his, Gzxtyos. | DF, SD14, SP, VC |
Pharol | Pharol the Black | A black, fanged, cycloptic demon with arms like swaying serpents.[40] The entity normally dwells in another dimension—a "seething and sub-dimensional chaos" beyond the mundane universe.[41] The wizard Eibon of Hyperborea sometimes summoned Pharol to query him for arcane information.[42] | AF |
Poseidon | A powerful extragalactic entity awed by ‘Ymnar. It battled against the Elder God Paighon. | NN | |
Psuchawrl | The Elder One | A tall humanoid with an eyeless, sea anemone-like face and a beaked grinning mouth, who can be summoned like a jinn. | OJ |
Ptar-Axtlan | The Leopard That Stalks the Night | A mysterious entity related to zoomorphic shapeshifters, especially werecats. | CD8 |
Quachil Uttaus | Treader of the Dust | Appears as a miniature, wrinkled mummy with stiff, outstretched claws. | KU, RU |
Quyagen | The Eye of Z'ylsm,[43] He Who Dwells Beneath Our Feet | Worshiped as a deity in a lost continent located in southern Atlantic Ocean. It appears related to Nyarlathotep and its form is likely octopoid, with myriads of horns along a maddening body. | TL, TN5, VC |
Q'yth-az | The Crystalloid Intellect | A towering mass of crystals, residing on the lightless planet Mthura. | EF |
Raandaii-B'nk | |
A shark-like humanoid native to the Bermuda Triangle, possibly similar to Cthulhu's avatar the Father of All Sharks. | FD |
Ragnalla | Seeker in the Skies | A titanic raptorial fiend with a huge, single eye and a crown of tentacles. | CC2, RA, SS2 |
Raphanasuan | The One From Sun Race[44] | A gigantic and likely multiarmed fiend. | WT10 |
Rhan-Tegoth | Terror of the Hominids, He of the Ivory Throne | A three-eyed, gilled, proboscidian monster with a globular torso, six long, sinuous limbs ending in black paws with crab-like claws, and covered in what appears to be hair, but is actually tiny tentacles. | AF, HM, LT, PD, RR |
Rhogog | The Bearer of the Cup of the Blood of the Ancients | A dead-black leafless oak tree, hot to the touch, with a single red eye at the centre. | RG |
Rh'Thulla of the Wind[45] | |
Mentioned in American comics "Challengers of the Unknown" (1977), as brother of M'Nagalah. | Comics |
Rlim Shaikorth | The White Worm | A gigantic, whitish worm with a huge maw and eyes made of dripping globules of blood. | CW, HG, LP |
Rokon | A mysterious extradimensional entity regarded as brother of Yig, ruling over a dimension called Zandanua. | SS10 | |
Ruhtra Dyoll | The Fire God | Not described, likely fiery and the opposite of his sibling, B'gnu-Thun. | CC2, SS2 |
Saa'itii | The Hog | A gigantic, ghostly hog. | H5 |
Scathach | One of Hziulquoigmnzhah's children, supposedly female.[46] | OO | |
Sebek | The Crocodile God | A crocodile-headed reptilian humanoid, equal to the Ancient Egyptian god Sobek. | EK |
Sedmelluq | The Great Manipulator, Ishmagon | A colossal glowing worm with starfish-shaped head dwelling in Antarctica and served by the Mi-go. | IO |
Sfatlicllp | The Fallen Wisdom | The granddaughter of Tsathoggua, an amorphous mass which mated with a Hyperborean Voormi and spawned the legendary thief Knygathin Zhaum. In Chaosium's Dead Leaves Fall RPG supplement she appears as a fiend with oily, snakey skin and prehensile dreadlocks like a Gorgon. | BT11, ES4, PN, VH |
Shaklatal[47] | Eye of Wicked Sight | Dark skinned humanoid horror with tentacles sprouting from his head and glowing red eyes, worshiped by earliest African civilizations as the god Amun. He is said to be rival of Cthulhu. | UF |
Shathak | Mistress of the Abyssal Slime, Death Reborn, Zishaik, Chushaik | Not described, likely an amorphous mass. | PN |
Shaurash-Ho | |
Mysterious entity mentioned in Howard Phillips Lovecraft's letter to James F. Morton[48] as descendant of Cthulhu which spawned other two horrid descendants (K'baa the Serpent and Ghoth the Burrower). The latter would have sired with a Roman noblewoman Viburnia the legendary ancestor of Lovecraft himself in a fictional family tree. The appearance of Shaurash-Ho has never been described. | S4 |
Sheb-Teth[49] | Devourer of Souls | An eyeless, alien humanoid entity massively overgrown with strange flesh and machinery. | MN3 |
Shlithneth[50] | A gigantic, slimy worm with a mass of black tentacles surrounding its maw. | CT4 | |
Sho-Gath | The God in the Box, The Big Black Thing | A dark smoky column with red malevolent eyes and a grotesque face imprisoned in a vintage box. | GO |
Shterot[51] | The Tenebrous One | A starfish-like horror spawned by the Outer God C'thalpa. It has been cut in pieces but individual fragments live independently. | AF2 |
Shudde M'ell | The Burrower Beneath, The Great Chthonian |
Appears as a colossal worm with tentacles for a head. | BU, BT3, CS, LO, TC, WU, |
Shuy-Nihl | The Devourer in the Earth | A dark blob of darkness endowed with tentacles. | CC2, MT13, SS2 |
Sthanee | The Lost One[52] | A gigantic marine horror with twelve snaky limbs endowed with suckers and a beard of tentacles, served and revered by a vicious merfolk known as the "Children of Sthanee". | Comics,[53] NY7 |
S'tya-Yg'Nalle | The Whiteness | An invisible entity made of snow and chill, servitor of Ithaqua. | WT2 |
Summanus | Monarch of Night, The Terror that Walketh in Darkness |
A mouthless, grotesque humanoid with pale tentacles protruding from underneath a dark robe. | FH, WG |
Swarog[54] | |
A hideous being appearing as a dark gigantic, legless bird-like horror swathed in dark flames, with its long neck topped by a black lump, half of which endowed with a big glowing eye and the other being covered in innumerable tentacles. It was revered by Slavic and Viking folks as the Solar god Svarog, though sharing almost nothing with the traditional deity. | JS |
Thanaroa[55] | The Shining One | A mysterious evil entity manifesting as a pillar of dazzling light dwelling in the ruins of Nan Madol near Ponape. Its name recalls that of Polynesian creator God Tangaroa. | MN9, MN10 |
Tharapithia | The Shadow in the Crimson Light | Slavic and Ugric God-like creature, photophobic and burrowing fiend awed in Middle Ages. It cannot endure the Solar light and eludes it by tunnelling deep under the roots of the oaks. | CL2 |
Thog | The Demon-God of Xuthal[56] | An octopoid monster of Hyborian Age which haunts the underground of Xuthal city. | SS28 |
Th'rygh[57] | The Godbeast | A monstrous entity manifesting as a horrible patchwork of flesh and soil and alien matter. | VT |
Tsathoggua | The Sleeper of N'kai, The Toad-God, Zhothaqqua, Sadagowah |
Appears as a huge, furry, almost humanoid toad, or a bat-like sloth. | BC, DS, IU, OL, PN, RT, SG, TZ |
Tulushuggua | The Watery Dweller Beneath | A mysterious subterranean horror dwelling deep within the flooded caves of Florida, served by the eel-like horrors known as the Tulush. | SN9 |
Turua[58] | Father of the Swamps, The Bayou Plant God | A fungine entity with tentacles and tendrils which haunts the swamplands of Florida, somehow similar to the The Green God. | UF |
Uitzilcapac[59] | Lord of Pain[60] | A sadistic entity trapped by the Elder Gods in a remote dimension of Space-Time continuum and appearing as a 4-m tall lizard-like horror with 6 legs and a mouth filled with vicious fangs. | MT21 |
Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her | The Great Horned Mother, Black Glory of the Creation | A huge faceless creature with various appendages sprouting from its head, a beard of oozing horns, and many reddish teats and fish-like fins sprouting from an egg-shaped body. | NH |
Vhuzompha | Mother and Father to All Marine Life, The Hermaphroditic God | An amorphous monster of prodigious size, covered in a multitude of eyes, mouths, projections and both male and female genitalia. | BV, CC2, SS2 |
Vibur | The Thing from Beyond | A huge furry and rapidly shifting entity casting radioactive stones. | MT3 |
Vile-Oct | A dragon-like or reptilian entity said to be familiar of Yig. | CC10 | |
Volgna-Gath | Keeper of the Secrets | A slimy shape-shifing mass, which can be summoned with mud and the blood of the invoker. | SC2, SS2 |
Voltiyig | Yig's Terrifying Son | Spawn of the Snake-God Yig appearing as a winged and feathered serpent with flaming nostrils, somehow similar to the Aztec God Quetzalcoatl, trapped inside a dark tower topped with a giant five-pointed star. | IS13, TL |
Vthyarilops | The Starfish God | A tentacled horror similar to a Sun star but endowed with branching tentacles, spines, myriads of blue glaring eyes and gaping maws. | KN6 |
Vulthoom | The Sleeper of Ravermos, Gsarthotegga |
May appear as a huge, unearthly plant. | VU |
The Worm that Gnaws in the Night | Doom of Shaggai | A massive, worm-like fiend, similar to a Graboid from Tremors. | AG |
Xalafu | The Dread One | A titanic, globular mass of various dark colours, endowed with a huge, single eye in the middle of the alien bulk. | ZS |
Xcthol[61] | The Goat God | A sadistic, mind-controlling, faun-like humanoid, likely related to Shub-Niggurath. | RS7 |
Xinlurgash | The Ever-Consuming | A bristly mass with large gaping maws, made up with tentacles and spidery limbs. | MN7, MN8 |
Xirdneth | Maker of Illusions, Lord of Unreality | An illusion-making entity with no true form. | KI, SS2, SS4, TH4 |
Xotli | Lord of Terror, The Black Kraken of Atlantis[62] | A rolling cloud of ebony darkness or a vortex of boreal cold, revered by Atlanteans priests of Hyborian Age. | IS14 |
Xoxiigghua[63] | A three-eyed, octopoid and parasitic horror trapped inside a mountain range of Central America. | OL7 | |
Yegg-Ha | The Faceless One | A 10 foot-tall winged being which rules over the Nightgaunts, defeated in ancient Britain by a centuria of Roman soldiers. | IE |
Y'golonac | The Defiler | Appears as a naked, obese, headless humanoid with a mouth in the palm of each hand; other features are nebulous. | CP, LN6, TN12 |
Yhagni | |
A hideous female or hermaphroditic entity of tremendous power, cousin of Cthulhu and Hastur imprisoned by the Great Old Ones being themselves awe of her powers. She dwells in Temple of Pillars in the depths of Kyartholm, located somewhere in Northern Hemisphere. Her appearance is never described, but likely formless, larva-like and tentacled as the minion-spawn which serve her parasitizing human victims. | PS6 |
Yhashtur | The Worm-God of the Lords of Thule | A worm-like monster dwelling at Northern Polar latitudes, said to be rival or inimical to Nyarlathotep. | SC4 |
Yig | Father of Serpents | A giant snake with human arms covered in scales. Son of the Mappo's Dragon, children of his are Ayi'ig and Voltiyig, whereas Rokon is regarded as the brother of Yig. | CY, SJ, VY |
Y'lla | Master of the Seas | A monstrous, barrel-shaped sea worm with tentacles and lamprey-like mouth. | CC2, DR12 |
'Ymnar | The Dark Stalker | A shape-shifting entity spawned by the Outer God Ngyr-Korath to serve him only. It may grant great powers to whoever chooses to serve it and its master but its final aim is the destruction of all sentient and intelligent life in the Cosmos. | FS4, HW3 |
Yog-Sapha | The Dweller in the Depths,[64] Lord of the Things Which Dwell Beneath the Surface | A gigantic, amoeboid, glowing and multihued gelatinous mass living in dark depths of Earth. | TH3 |
Yorith | The Oldest Dreamer | A huge crystalline being residing in the seas of the ocean planet Yilla. Its hypnotic abilities force those spacefarers who stray too closely to plunge into the depths of its lethal sea. | OR |
Ysbaddaden | Chief of the Giants[65] | One of Hziulquoigmnzhah's children, supposedly male and gigantic.[66] | OO |
Ythogtha | The Thing in the Pit | Appears as a colossal Deep One, with tentacles surrounding its one eye. | OA, PD, TC, TP |
Yug-Siturath | The All-Consuming Fog | A vampiric vaporous entity which adsorbs vital forces. | DY |
Zathog | The Black Lord of Whirling Vortices | A festering, bubbling mass that constantly churns and whirls, putting forth vestigial appendages and reabsorbing them. Bubbles burst on its surface to reveal hate-filled eyes, and slobbering mouths form and close randomly about his horrible body. It dwells in Xentilx galaxy served by the Zarrian aliens. | FB, WZ |
Zhar and Lloigor | The Twin Obscenities | Both appear as a colossal mass of tentacles, trapped in the Plateau of Sung, somewhere in Burma. | LS, MT11, SA, SX, TP |
Zindarak | The Fiery Messenger | A mysterious fiery entity that shall release Cthulhu from his prison as the stars are right. | DX |
Zoth-Ommog | Dweller in the Depths | A gigantic entity with a cone-shaped body, a reptilian head, a beard of tentacles, and starfish-like arms. | HG, OA, TC |
Zstylzhemghi | Matriarch of Swarms, Zystulzhemgni |
Spawn of the Outer God Ycnàgnnisssz, she is described as a living, alien swarm. She has also a sister named Klosmiebhyx. | OO, PN, TA, ZY |
Zushakon | Dark Silent One, Old Night, Zul-Che-Quon, Zuchequon |
Appears as a swirling, black vortex, revered by Mutsune Native Americans as a dire death god. It is also worshiped by the mysterious servitors known as the Hidden Ones.[67] | BH, DN, EB, KD |
Z'toggua[68] | An obese bat-winged humanoid with a long polypous snout and a wide mouth opening in the belly, served by the Deep Ones. | CG8, SY6, ZG | |
Zvilpogghua | Feaster from the Stars, The Sky-Devil, Ossadagowah |
A bat-winged, armless toad with tentacles instead of a face. | LT, RM, SV |
In Joseph S. Pulver's novel Nightmare's Disciple several new Great Old Ones and Elder Gods are named. The novel mentions T'ith and Xu'bea, The Teeth of the Dark Plains of Mwaalba. Miivls and Vn'Vulot, are said to have fought each other in southern Gondwanaland during the Cretaceous period, whereas Rynvyk has been one of the mates of Cthulhu's sister Kassogtha who bore him three sons (one named Ult), and now rests in a crimson pool in the Hall of Tyryar, somewhere in Norway.[69]
Outer Gods
The Outer Gods are ruled by Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God", who holds court at the center of the universe. A group of Outer Gods dance rhythmically around Azathoth, in cadence to the piping of a demonic flute. Among the Outer Gods present at Azathoth's court are Lesser Outer Gods, the entities called "Ultimate Gods" in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and possibly Shub-Niggurath, the "Black Goat of the Woods". Yog-Sothoth, the "All-in-One", co-rules with Azathoth and exists at all places and in all times in the cosmos, yet is somehow locked outside the mundane universe. Nyarlathotep, the "Crawling Chaos", is the avatar and soul of the Outer Gods, and serves as an intermediary between the deities of the pantheon and their cults. The only Outer God to have a true personality, Nyarlathotep possesses a malign intellect and reveals a mocking contempt for his masters.[70]
List of Outer Gods
Abhoth
See Clark Ashton Smith deities.
Aiueb Gnshal
Aiueb Gnshal (The Eyes Between Worlds, The Child-Minded God)[71] is a mysterious Outer God which has his abode in a forgotten temple located somewhere in Bhutan. He appears as a formless black void with seven pulsing orb-like eyes and is mainly worshiped by ghouls which tribute him a defiled cult described in the mysterious Cambuluc Scrolls of the wizard Lang-Fu, dating back 1295 AD. Peering through the eyes of this god, after a hideous and devastating ritual, allows to see straight into Azathoth's court. It is rumoured that the power of Mongolian warlord Temujin had the favour of Aiueb Gnshal.
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Azathoth
See Azathoth.
Azhorra-Tha
Azhorra-Tha[72] is an Outer God imprisoned on planet Mars as it fled from Earth after the imprisonment of the Great Old Ones. Its appearance is that of an insectoid to toad-like squid, but its shape continuously changes emitting an awful buzz. The Mi-Go discovered the prison of Azhorra-Tha millennia after and made everything to not reveal its location to any human being.
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The Blackness from the Stars
The Blackness from the Stars is an immobile blob of living, sentient darkness, torn from the primal fabric of the cosmos at the center of the universe. It is distinguishable in darkness only as vaguely shimmering oily pitch. Although intelligent, it speaks no known language and ignores attempts to communicate.
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The Cloud-Thing
A man-eating, cloudy mass, unnamed Outer God at the court of Azathoth.
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C'thalpa
C'thalpa[73] (The Internal One[74]) is a huge mass of living, sentient magma, located in Earth’s mantle. She is mother of the Great Old One Shterot and other five unnamed hideous children. The Outer God is served by a race of mole-like humanoid burrowers named Talpeurs.
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Cxaxukluth
Cxaxukluth (Androgynous Offspring of Azathoth) is one of the Seeds or Spawn of Azathoth, grown to adulthood and monstrous proportions and power. In appearance, Cxaxukluth resembles something of a cross between Azathoth and Ubbo-Sathla: an amorphous, writhing mass of bubbling, nuclear protoplasmic gel. It normally dwells alone in some unnamed place beyond time and space, unless disturbed or summoned away.
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Daoloth
See Ramsey Campbell deities.
D’endrrah
D'endrrah[75] (The Divinity) is sort of blurry female entity of supernatural beauty living inside a dark palace located on Mars' Moon Deimos. She lives in a hall with myriads of mirror altering her actual image, which is that of a tentacled dark abyss. This Mythos entity is somewhat inspired to C. L. Moore's Shambleau, illusionary Martian she-vampires of lust.
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Ghroth
See Ramsey Campbell deities.
Gi-Hoveg
Gi-Hoveg (The Aether Anemone) is a cosmic entity manifesting as a gigantic spongy and fleshy mass covered in myriads of eyes and spines. It is said to be the archenemy of the Outer God Uvhash, usually summoned to contrast this deity.
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Haiogh-Yai
Haiogh-Yai (The Outsider) is a monstrous, amorphous, whirling thing living on a wandering black hole named Vix’ni-Aldru, which also hosts a monstrous city made of titanic blocks at its center. There is served by strange, crawling creatures which resemble worms or lizards.
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Huitloxopetl
Huitloxopetl (The Haunter of Dreams) is part of the innumerable spawn of Azathoth but for some reason it has not taken part to the battle between the Outer Gods and the Elder Gods and has chosen to live in Sygroth, a dark-laden galaxy located at the outermost rim of the universe. It usually manifests in dreams. This entity has been introduced in a round-robin story so far composed of 15 or more chapters and probably yet to be finished.
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The Hydra
See Henry Kuttner deities.
Ialdagorth
Ialdagorth (The Dark Devourer) is cousin and servant of Azathoth and appears as black, shapeless, malevolent cloudy thing.
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Kaajh'Kaalbh
Kaajh'Kaalbh[76] is a lesser Outer God servitor of Azathoth but secluded in a parallel chaotic dimension where everything is instable. The god itself is constantly formed and disrupted and has no true form at all. Anyway whoever attempts summoning this entity needs the aid of a Dimensional Shambler and the deity may manifest in variety of forms, often as an immense lava lake or a vast pool of solidified quicksilver.
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Lu-Kthu
Lu-Kthu (Birth-womb of the Great Old Ones or Lew-Kthew) is a titanic, planet-sized mass of entrails and internal organs. On closer examination it appears a wet, warty globe, covered with countless ovoid pustules and spider-webbed with a network of long, narrow tunnels. Each pustule bears the larva of a Great Old One.
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Mh'ithrha
An invisible wolf-like fiend similar to Fenrir of Norse mythology (if not coincident). Mh'ithrha (Arch-Lord of Tindalos) is the lord of the Hounds of Tindalos and the most powerful. Although not an actual Outer God as such, its form and awesome powers defy standard classification. Mh'ithra's eternal battle with Yog-Sothoth is said to be legendary.
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Mlandoth and Mril Thorion
See Mlandoth and Mril Thorion.
Mother of Pus
A Lesser Outer God composed of slime, tentacles, eyes, and mouths. The Mother of Pus was spawned through an obscene mating between a human and Shub-Niggurath. When summoned to Earth, the Mother of Pus seeks refuge in pools of stagnant, foul water.
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The Nameless Mist
The Nameless Mist (Nyog' Sothep?) is a misty, shapeless thing.
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Ngyr-Korath
Ngyr-Korath (The Ultimate Abomination or The Dream-Death) is a dark blue-green mist which causes a sense of terror as it approaches. Once close, an eye of flame forms within. It spawned by fission the Great Old One ‘Ymnar and its nemesis is the Elder God Paighon. It may coincide with the entity known as the Magnum Tenebrosum.
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Nyctelios
Once an Elder God, Nyctelios[77] has been punished by his peers - especially Nodens - for having created a race of foul servitors. He has been permanently banned from the Elder God's olympus and imprisoned beneath the eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Greece, in a dark, basalt-built citadel named Atheron. However the exiled deity is not dead, but just sleeping and one day he will rise again from his abyss manifesting himself as a dark blue, 6-meters tall cyclops-like monstrosity with the bulk of his body entirely covered in crawling worms.
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Olkoth
Olkoth (God of the Celestial Arcs)[78] appears as a demoniacal god-like entity able to reincarnate in human bodies as the stars are right (sort of a "Cthulhian" Antichrist).[79] Olkoth may emerge in our dimension through an eyeless, grotesque statue of the Virgin Mary.
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Shabbith-Ka
Shabbith-Ka appears as a shapeless, roughly man-sized purplish aura, spitting and crackling with powerful electrical arcs. A sense of power, malignancy, and intelligence accompanies it and persons able to gaze at its form long enough can see a rudimentary face or faces within the glowing mass.
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Shub-Niggurath
See Shub-Niggurath.
Star Mother
The Star Mother appears as a chunk of yellow-green stone about the size of an infant. Its shape suggests a plump, huge-breasted, faceless female figure. From it extend dozens of pencil-thin root-like strands. It is one of the Larvae of the Other Gods and has no cult, although served by zombie slaves.
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Tru'nembra
Tru'nembra (The Angel of Music) is the name given in Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in Howard Philips Lovecraft's novel "The Music of Eric Zahn". It has no shape, but manifests as a haunting music.
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Tulzscha
Tulzscha (The Green Flame) is the name given in Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in Howard Philips Lovecraft's story The Festival. Tulzscha appears as a blazing green ball of flame, dancing with its Lesser Outer Gods at the court of Azathoth. Called to our world, it assumes a gaseous form, penetrates the planet to the core, then erupts from below as a pillar of flame. It cannot move from where it emerges.
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Ubbo-Sathla
See Clark Ashton Smith deities.
Uvhash
Uvhash (The Blood-Mad God of the Void) appears as a colossal, vampiric, red mass of tentacles and eyes. It dwells in the realm of Rhylkos, which matches with the red planet Mars and whoever summons Uvhash witnesses an atrocious doom. It seems having affinities with the star vampires and is rumoured to have been one of mad emperor Caligula's eldritch sponsors too. There is enmity with the Elder God Nodens and the Outer God Gi-Hoveg.
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Xa'ligha
Xa'ligha (Master of the Twisted Sound or Demon of Dissonance) is an entity made of maddening sound, somehow similar to Tru'Nembra. There is some affinity with the Great Old One Hastur[80]
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Xexanoth
See Xexanoth.
Ycnàgnnisssz
Ycnàgnnisssz is a black, festering, amorphous mass that constantly blasts and erupts violently, spewing out bits of churning lava-like material. It spawned the Great Old One Zstylzhemgni by fission.
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Yhoundeh
See Yhoundeh.
Yibb-Tstll
A gigantic, bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes, wearing a green robe. This horrible deity sees all time and space as it slowly rotates in the centre of its clearing in the 'Jungle of Kled', in Earth's Dreamlands. Beneath its billowing cloak are a multitude of nightgaunts, suckling and clutching at her breasts. Having a close connection to the Great Old One Bugg-Shash,[81] so should Yibb-Tstll be regarded as a Great Old One - specifically in the Drowners group introduced by Brian Lumley, parasitic alien entities which thrive vampyrizing the Great Old Ones themselves[82] - though in RPG materials she is classed as "Outer God".[83]
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Yidhra
Yidhra (The Dream Witch or Yee-Tho-Rah[84]) usually appears as a youthful, attractive, earthly female, though her shape may vary.
Yidhra has been on Earth since the first microorganisms appeared and is immortal. To survive in a changing environment, she gained the ability to take on the characteristics of any creature that she devoured. Over time, Yidhra split herself into different aspects, though each part shares her consciousness.
Yidhra is served by devoted cults found in such widely separated places as Burma, Chad, Laos, Sumer, New Mexico, and Texas. Members of Yidhra's cult can gain immortality by merging with her, though they become somewhat like Yidhra as a consequence. Those who serve her are also promised plentiful harvests and healthy livestock. She usually conceals her true form behind a powerful illusion, appearing as a comely young woman; only favored members of her cult can see her as she actually is.
One of her avatars is Madam Yi, appearing as a human female dressed in beautiful white and black robes which constantly billow on some unseen wind, on which she may hover or fly. Her beautiful face is like the painted face of a porcelain doll and her bloodred lips and closed almond-shaped black eyes are forever frozen on a smooth and bone-white face. Long black hair is braided into a single ponytail. The avatar’s hands both end in very long, razor-like black fingernails.
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Yomagn'tho
Yomagn’tho (The Feaster from the Stars, That Which Relentlessly Waits Outside) is a malevolent being who wishes nothing more than the destruction of mankind for unknown reasons. He waits in his home dimension in Pherkard, until he is summoned to Earth. When first summoned, Yomagn’tho appears as a small ball of fire that quickly expands to a large circle of fire with three flaming inner petals. The reptilian burrowing folk of the Rhygntu is known to worship this malignant deity.
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Elder Gods
In post-Lovecraft stories, the Elder Gods oppose the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Derleth attempted to retroactively group the benevolent deity Nodens in this category (who acts as deus ex machina for the protagonists in both The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and "The Strange High House in the Mist").
As for Great Old Ones, Joseph S. Pulver mentions in his Nightmare Disciples (2006) a series of original Elder Gods, though lacking of any description about their true form. The story introduces entities as Adaedu, Alithlai-Tyy, Dveahtehs, Eyroix, Ovytonv, Urthuvn, Xislanyx and Xuthyos-Sihb’Bz'. Others have a cult title as Othkkartho (Sire of the Four Titans of Balance and Order), which is said to be Nodens's son, and Zehirete, who is The Pure and Holy Womb of Light. Sk’tai and Eppirfon are brothers and the former (female) has been Cthulhu's second bride who bore him a son, T'ith, now dead, murdered by Cthulhu himself.
Another Elder God with no description is Walter C. DeBill, Jr.'s Paighon, an extra-galactic entity which now dwells in Earth's core, said to be inimical of the Outer God Ngyr-Korath and its servitor 'Ymnar.
List
Bast
Bast (Goddess of Cats or Pasht) appears as a female human with a cat's head.
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Kthanid
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See Brian Lumley deities.
Orryx
Orryx[85] (The Bright Flame) manifests as a giant pillar of blinding white and purple flames. Although its expression is bright and blinding, no one feels its heat. No one can look at Orryx more than a few seconds since the first assault, the eyes of anyone who looks sore and watery.
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Oztalun
Oztalun (Golden and Shimmering One) is an Elder God introduced by James Ambuehl. It is symbolized by a seven-pointed star symbol, which is its own Seal.
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Nodens
Nodens (Lord of the Great Abyss) appears as a human male riding a huge seashell pulled by legendary beasts. In CthulhuTech supplement Nodens is said to be the avatar of the Forgotten One Savty'ya.
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Shavalyoth
Shavalyoth (Shadowy and Shapeless One) is an Elder God introduced by James Ambuehl, supposed to be dark and formless.
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Ulthar
Ulthar (or Uldar and also Ultharathotep[86]) is a deity sent to Earth to hold vigil over the Great Old Ones.
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Vorvadoss
Vorvadoss* (The Flaming One, Lord of the Universal Spaces, The Troubler of the Sands, Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark) appears as a cloaked, hooded being, enveloped in green flames, with fiery eyes. He is described as son of the Elder God Nodens and the Great Old One Lythalia and has got a twin brother too, Yaggdytha.[87]
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Yad-Thaddag
See Brian Lumley deities.
Yaggdytha
Yaggdytha (The Incandescent One) is twin brother of Vorvadoss, manifesting as a great amorphous, incandescent ball of cyan living energy, spread itself into a web of giant talons of light.
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Great Ones
The Great Ones are the "weak gods of earth" that reign in the Dreamlands. They are protected by Nyarlathotep.
Name | Description | References |
Hagarg Ryonis, The Lier-in-Wait | Usually appears as a huge, reptilian monster. | DL, WH |
Karakal | An elf-like humanoid. | DL, WH |
Lobon | Appears as ivy-crowned youth bearing a spear. | DC, DL, WH |
Nath-Horthath | Chief god of Celephaïs. | CE, DL, DQ, KA |
Oukranos | River god | DQ |
Tamash | Appears as a short, silver-skinned, ebon-haired, and bearded man. | DC, DL, MG, WH |
Zo-Kalar | God of birth and death. | DC, WH |
See also
References
- ↑ Robert Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 8.
- ↑ Robert M. Price, "H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, p. 5.
- ↑ Daniel Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", p. viii.
- ↑ This entity is introduced in RPG scenario "Devourers In The Mist", featuring in "Stunning Eldritch Tales: Trail of Cthulhu Adventures"
- ↑ Regarded as Great Old One in Daniel Harms's Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana, p. 4
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Twilight Memories" (2005), by Clint Krause.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ It does not feature in Chaosium's Malleus Monstrorum.
- ↑ 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. (Robert M. Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xx–xxi). The name "Bugg-Shash", however, appeared earlier in Lumley's short story "Rising with Surtsey" (Daniel Harms, "Bugg-Shash", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 41).
- ↑ This is the title the Aztec goddess Coatlicue was usually worshiped, also mentioned in Ann K. Schwader's "Fiesta For Our Lady" (2012).
- ↑ This entity recalls the Coinchenn, cetacean sea monster of Celtic Mythology.
- ↑ Coinchenn features in Abraham Martinez's "Coinchenn" featuring in Lovecraftian comics Strange Aeons, issue#1. Webcomic version of this episode is available at http://reymonstruo.elwebcomic.com/coinchennpag00/
- ↑ Crom Cruach is mentioned several times in Brian McNaughton's horror stories "Downward to Darkness" and "Worse Things Waiting" (2000) along with the Great Old Ones Hastur and Shub-Niggurath.
- ↑ See Name, nature and functions.
- ↑ As in James Ambuehl's short poem "Dythalla", featured in Etchings & Odysseys, issue #7 (October 1985). Available online at http://www.oocities.org/area51/rampart/4059/jamb03.html
- ↑ This entity is introduced in roleplay game scenario "The Lord of the Jungle", featuring in Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement "Shadow Over Filmland".
- ↑ He is first mentioned in Dawid Lewis' short novel "Etepsed Egnis" and cited again in Cthulhu Cultus #11, in the novel A Core Unto Itself.
- ↑ Polynesian cult title featuring in "Destroying Paradise, Hawaiian Style", roleplay game scenario of "Atomic Age Cthulhu".
- ↑ Daniel Harms, Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana, p.113.
- ↑ This entity is introduced in the role-play game Call of Cthulhu. The name is fictional, H. P. Lovecraft has not described it in the original story "The Temple".
- ↑ As ravenous Kaalut in J.B. Lee's "Genuine Article" (1998).
- ↑ Kag'Naru of the Air and Rh'Thulla of the Wind are mentioned in the comic book Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
- ↑ This entity features in A. Merritt's Dwellers in the Mirage (1932), a fantasy novel which involves many of H. P. Lovecraft's leitmotivs.
- ↑ According to Kenneth Grant this would be an extraterrestrial intelligence with the occultist Aleister Crowley came in contact in 1919 (Grant's The Magical Revival, p. 84).
- ↑ Scott D. Aniolowski, Malleus Monstrorum, p. 171.
- ↑ James Ambuehl, The Star-Seed (2004).
- ↑ M'Nagalah first appeared in the comic book Swamp Thing #8 (1974) in a story by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (Daniel 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).
- ↑ Title introduced in DC Comics series Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- ↑ M'Nagalah also features as villain in DC Comics series Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- ↑ see Mordiggian
- ↑ Mormo is informally introduced in H. P. Lovecraft's "Horror at Red Hook". Kenneth Hite's "Trail of Cthulhu" RPG material lists her as a Great Old One and relates her to the Moon-beasts.
- ↑ This Great Old One has been created for Call of Cthulhu French role-play game website Tentacles.net.
- ↑ Same title used for Nyogtha
- ↑ This Great Old One has been created for Call of Cthulhu French role-play game website Tentacles.net. URL at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc/tocyclo_fiche.php?type=crea&id=402
- ↑ Daniel Harms, Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana, p. 203.
- ↑ Less likely, since Clark Ashton Smith has provided an utterly different genealogy. See Tsathoggua.
- ↑ As in short poem Nyaghoggua of Robert Lowndes (1941).
- ↑ This entity has been mentioned in R. H. Barlow and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Hoard of Wizard-Beast" (1933).
- ↑ As in Crispin Burnham's People of the Monolith: Stone of Death.
- ↑ Lin Carter, "Shaggai", The Book of Eibon, p. 206.
- ↑ Lin Carter, "Shaggai", The Book of Eibon, 207.
- ↑ Daniel Harms, "Pharol", p. 238, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. Daniel Harms believes that Pharol was invented by C. L. Moore, Henry Kuttner's wife, since the being appears in many of her stories.
- ↑ Crispin Burnham "People of the Monolith: Stone of Death" (1997).
- ↑ As in Ravana page.
- ↑ Kag'Naru of the Air and Rh'Thulla of the Wind are mentioned in the comic book Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
- ↑ This entity is supposed to coincide with the legendary Scottish war goddess Scáthach featuring in Ulster Cycle.
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Utatti Asfet".
- ↑ "Selected Letters vol. 4", 633rd letter, April 2, 1933
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Once Men" (2008), by Michael Labossiere.
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Cthulhu Britannica: Avalon - The County of Somerset" (2010), by Paul Wade-Williams.
- ↑ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
- ↑ Or lost Sthanee as in Lowndes' "Nyaghoggua" (1941).
- ↑ Sthanee is mentioned in Robert Lowndes' short poem "Nyaghoggua" (1941), but its physical appearance was depicted in Lowndes' comics panels of "When Sthanee Wakes" (pp. 32-33) featuring in Scienti-Comics issue#2, originally published in sci-fi magazine Spaceways, July 1940. Scans of the original comics are publicly viewable at http://fanac.org/fanzines/ScientiComics/ScientiComics2-05.html
- ↑ This entity is introduced in German Pegasus Press roleplay game magazine Cthulhu. Berlin. Im Herzen der großen Stadt. Rollenspiel in der Welt des H. P. Lovecraft, in Jan Christoph Steines' scenario "Jahrhundertsommer" (i.e. "The Millennium Summer").
- ↑ This entity is introduced in Abraham Merritt's fantasy novel "The Moon Pool" (1918) and its sequel "The Conquest of the Moon Pool" (1919) (then collected in 1948 as a whole story on Fantastic Novels magazine, divided in multiple issues), sometimes cited as an influence on The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft, which may in turn have itself influenced Merritt's later story Dwellers in the Mirage. See The Moon Pool.
- ↑ Though not officially related as Great Old One, this entity is introduced by Robert E. Howard as "demon-god", very similar to Lovecraft's Great Old Ones.
- ↑ This entity features in Gareth Hanrahan Warpcon XII Call of Cthulhu supplement "Verboten: Operation Faust"
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Utatti Asfet".
- ↑ This entity is introduced as a in French Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Le Maître des Souffrances" (1986).
- ↑ English translation of French title Le Maître des Souffrances.
- ↑ This entity is introduced as Great Old One in John Gary Pettit's roleplaying game material "Ravenstone Sanitarium" (2008).
- ↑ Like Thog, Xotli appears not officially related as Great Old One, though introduced in a Conan the Barbarian's story of Lyon Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter as "demon-god of Elder Night" with significant similarities with Lovecraft's Great Old Ones, besides canonical "Cthulhu Mythos" cult title.
- ↑ This Great Old One is introduced in French "Call of Cthulhu" roleplay game scenario "Une Ombre Couleur Sépia" (2006) by Benjamin Schwarz.
- ↑ Not to be confused with Zoth-Ommog.
- ↑ According to Culhwch ac Olwen.
- ↑ This entity is supposed to coincide with the vicious giant Ysbaddaden featuring in Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen.
- ↑ Lin Carter, Descent to the Abyss.
- ↑ Not Zothaqquah nor Tsathoggua.
- ↑ Joseph S. Pulver, "Nightmare's Disciple"
- ↑ Daniel Harms, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, "Azathoth", pp. 16; "Nyarlathotep", pp. 218; "Shub-Niggurath", pp. 275; "Tulzscha", pp. 304; Yog-Sothoth, p. 346.
- ↑ This entity is introduced in "Eyes Between the Worlds", roleplay game scenario featuring in Kevin T. McKinnon and Dylan K. Sharpe's Call of Cthulhu RPG monograph "Tales of Dread and Wonder #1"
- ↑ This entity is a creation of TOC website (http://www.tentacules.net) and officially employed in Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement "Cthulhu Rising"
- ↑ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
- ↑ Translated from French Le Interieur, referring to her location in the depths of Earth's mantle
- ↑ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
- ↑ This entity is introduced in "Full de Drames", a French "Call of Cthulhu"-type role-play game scenario available at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc_/scen/full_de.pdf.zip
- ↑ This entity is introduced in "Le Regard Dans L’Abime", a French "Call of Cthulhu"-type role-play game scenario available at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc_/scen/cb_leregard.pdf.zip
- ↑ English translation of Olkoth, le Dieu des Arcs Célestes featuring in French "Call of Cthulhu" roleplay game scenario.
- ↑ This entity is introduced in French Tentacules.net's "Call of Cthulhu" scenario available at http://www.tentacules.net/index.php?id=5046
- ↑ See James Ambuehl & E.P. Berglund's "Whiteout" (2006).
- ↑ Scott D. Aniolowski's Malleus Monstrorum, p. 131.
- ↑ Daniel Harms's Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana, p. 324.
- ↑ Scott D. Aniolowski's Malleus Monstrorum, p. 241.
- ↑ Walter C. DeBill, Jr.'s "What Lurks Among the Dunes" (2006), Black Sutra, p. 39.
- ↑ This entity has been introduced without name in August Derleth's "The Lair of the Star-Spawn" (1932). The name Orryx is given in Call of Cthulhu RPG suppelement "The Creature Companion"
- ↑ Daniel Harms, Encyclopaedia Cthulhiana, p. 291.
- ↑ James Ambuehl, The Star-Seed (2004).
Bibliography
- Harms, Daniel (1998). "Heritage of Horror". The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
- Lovecraft, Howard (1982). The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (1st edition ed.) (1st ed. ed.). Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35080-4.
- Price, Robert M. (1996). The New Lovecraft Circle. New York, N.Y.: Random House. ISBN 0-345-44406-X.
- Thompson, C. Hall (1946). Spawn of the Green Abyss (3rd ed. ed.). Robert M. Price, Fedogan & Bremer, 1992. ISBN 1-878252-02-X.
- Myers, Gary (1975). "Xiurhn". The House of the Worm. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-9789911-3-3.
- Pulver, Joseph S. (1999). Nightmare's Disciple. Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-118-2.
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