History EldritchAbomination / Literature

* The Children of Old Leech, in Laird Barron's novel ''Literature/TheCroning'', are a form of intergalactic parasite that have been infiltrating humankind for centuries, using human bodies to disguise their their true forms. While their motives remain somewhat mysterious, they're clearly not here to make friends, and characters unlucky enough to discover their existence usually wish they hadn't. They can also be found in many of Barron's short stories, including "The Men From Porlock" and "The Broadsword".

* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'', a RomanticComedy parody of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos with [[MoeAnthropomorphism moe]] versions of the Old Ones. The opening theme for the second season even has "Cosmic Horror" (in GratuitousEnglish) in the lyrics. Of course, the main characters usually only [[HumanoidAbomination take human forms]]; this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] when the human lead Mahiro says he [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller expected Nyarlathotep to look more horrific and less like a cute girl]]. She offers to show him her more monstrous forms, but warns that it'll probably destroy his sanity, so he declines.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* Several Evil Gods from ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'' are downright alien to look at, like a giant hand whose fingers were replaced by one-eyed snakes, a bundle of tentacles arranged to look like a woman, a genderless arachnid made of AlienGeometries and so on. Many of them went through a HeelFaceTurn several thousand years ago and now are allies of the protagonist.

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'': The Black Maw that Swallows All, a tornado-shaped mass of black slime, containing a mouth lined with teeth. If a summoner breaks certain taboos, their Material (summoned being) will transform into the Black Maw. Unlike all other Materials, the Black Maw is entirely uncontrollable by its summoner. Additionally, it is capable of bypassing the protective circle (a normally-inviolable shield that protects the summoner) to [[SwallowedWhole devour them whole]]. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Black Maw is in fact another facet of the White Queen, making her an example of this as well. The White Queen is another uncontrollable Material (though most summoners are unaware of this fact) and is by far the most powerful entity in the setting. She's so powerful that she was able to defeat an army of Unexplored-Class Materials, who represent the laws of the universe and exist specifically to counter the Queen. Because of this, the Unexplored-Class all submitted to her, effectively giving the White Queen authority over the entire universe]].

* Wyrm from ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow'' is one of these. He is a creature that takes the form of an enormous, unspeakably [[SnakesAreSinister ancient serpent]], and was [[SealedEvilInACan trapped underneath the Earth]] by {{God}} himself. While this limits him, he can still communicate [[DreamWeaver through dreams]] and [[ManipulativeBastard corrupt others to try and gain his freedom]]. His "son" Cockatrice is implied to be a weaker, but similar, being.

{{Eldritch Abomination}}s in {{Literature}}.

Series with their own sub-pages:
* ''EldritchAbomination/StarWars''

** The infovore from ''Literature/TheAtrocityArchive'', [[spoiler: the only survivor of a reality where the Nazis actually managed to pull it off. Only thing is, once they unleashed "the frost giant" on the Allies, they quickly began to realize that the thing was draining the heat from... well, everything. Just sixty years later, that universe is nearing entropic heat death, and the infovore wants out...]]
%%** The ancient Chthonian war god in ''Literature/TheJenniferMorgue.''
** The Sleeper in the Pyramid on the Dead Plateau in ''Literature/TheFullerMemorandum'', a nameless thing kept docile through a wall of crucified, undead victims maintaining a quantum observer effect. Nyarlathotep is also name-dropped - and described as being several orders ''worse'' than the Sleeper - and quite a few of his cultists show up (they're not nice people). There's also the Eater of Souls, aka TEAPOT, aka [[spoiler: Angleton]].

** ''Literature/BattleGround'' also provides insight into [[BiggerBad Nemesis]]. [[spoiler:Nemesis is the [[RuleofThree third Walker]] encountered in the series, He Who Walks Beside. While we haven't see anything like their true form, they are capable of possessing, corrupting and manipulating almost everyone in the series, including removing [[CannotTellALie truthfulness restrictions]] from a Queen of Faerie. In their own words, they are "the flaw that corrupts, the infected wound, the maggot that burrows in the mind's eye".]]

%%** The Minotaur, [[UltimateEvil maybe]].

* Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series has its own UltimateEvil: a galaxy-sized region of total nothingness, where all light and matter are absorbed. Moreover, this nothingness possesses sentience and is capable of movement. Naturally, our galaxy is [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in its path]] and only TheChosenOne has any chance of stopping it.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
** ''[[Franchise/StarWarsTheHighRepublic The High Republic]]''
*** [[BotanicalAbomination The Drengir]] are a species of sentient carnivorous plants that not only want to [[AlienKudzu spread themselves across the galaxy]] and feed on all non-botanical life forms, they are also highly-attuned with the Dark Side of the Force, capable of controlling others with a Dark Side poison and severing Jedi's connection to the Force. It's notable that even ''the Sith'' thought they were too much and had them sealed away on Amaxine Station, until [[Literature/StarWarsIntoTheDark a group of hapless Jedi]] who got trapped on the station during the Great Hyperspace Disaster and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally unsealed them and unleashed them on the galaxy]].
*** The Nameless, first introduced in ''[[Literature/StarWarsTheRisingStorm The Rising Storm]]'' via a creature known to Marchion Ro and the Nihil as "the Great Leveler". Not only was the Leveler [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away in high security]] by Marchion's ancestors, these [[AnimalisticAbomination supposedly non-sentient creatures]] are capable of attacking Jedi through the Force. Their mere [[BrownNoteBeing presence]] can cause [[MindRape fear-heightening hallucinations]] in Jedi (obscuring what the creatures look like to them), can cut Jedi off from the Force, and at best, leave them severely traumatized, or at worst, [[TakenForGranite calcified to death]]. In short, they are one of the few things that can scare [[NervesOfSteel Jedi]]. The Nameless are also the subject of many horror stories InUniverse (even being tied to a prophecy pertaining to the Chosen One), and one name given to the creatures, "Shrii-ka-rai", translates to "Eaters of the Force". And while the hallucinations the Jedi experience are horrifying as is, what little we see of the Nameless's [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nameless actual appearance]] from a non-Force user's perspective in ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTrailOfShadows Trail of Shadows]]'' isn't any less. It's a twitchy, deathly-looking long-limbed abomination with claws, many sharp teeth, and mouth tentacles. And the bad news is that Marchion has more of the Nameless at his beck and call.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** There's a case in ''Literature/TheCrystalStar'', with [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Waru Waru]]. "Hethrir's scientists breached the walls between dimensions and brought into existence a massive slab of meat covered with shining golden scales. Though this entity, Waru, lacked discernible sensory organs, it was highly intelligent and could communicate in a deep resonating voice." The scales were variable in size and a syrupy ichor oozed from between them. The ichor could be breathed by humans, and it was BiggerOnTheInside. It was promised a way home by the man who summoned it, and it worked with him and healed the sick, was worshipped, and ate people to replenish its healing energy. It was always lonely and ended up [[EvilIsNotAToy eating the guy who summoned it]] before collapsing in on itself.
** [[spoiler:Abeloth]] from the ''Literature/FateOfTheJedi'' series most definitely qualifies. The mention of [[CombatTentacles tentacles]] and the associated imagery does ''not'' help... Her home planet is a place in the Maw where plants eat animals, which also happens to be the location of Force purgatory. Useful for something that sustains itself by ''eating force-sensitive souls''. The name, incidentally, is a ShoutOut to the aboleths from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', which are ''also'' examples of this trope.
** The 2010 Unknown Regions RPG supplement also added the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mnggal-Mnggal Mnggal-Mnggal]] into Star Wars' growing list of [=EAs=]. It's a formless black goo that takes over a host and devours them. It wants to consume all worlds in existence, which would be bad enough... but it delights in tormenting sentient beings even more than it does taking them over. Doesn't sound too bad by the standards of alien horrors in Star Wars... until you learn that the reason the Unknown Regions have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy since time immemorial is that the [[{{Precursors}} Celestials]] thought that the Mnggal-Mnggal was too much for ''them'' to deal with! WordOfGod says it and Waru are the same sort of being.
** The novella ''[[http://www.starwarstimeline.net/Supernatural_Encounters.htm Supernatural Encounters: The Trial and Transformation of Arhul Hextrophon]]'', which spent over a decade in DevelopmentHell before its release in 2018, works all of the above into an entire pantheon of horrors: [[spoiler:Abeloth, Mnggal-Mnggal, and Waru are all siblings, along with Typhojem the Left-Handed God (the chief deity on the ancient Sith) and Gorog the Night Spirit (the Endorian GodOfEvil from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}}'' animated series), and are children of Tilotny and Cold Danda Sine of Alan Moore's Bedlam Spirits (see the comics page); many other bizarre beings from throughout the franchise make appearances as well]]. The biggest and baddest of them all is implied to be [[spoiler: a Morgoth-like character called Näkhäsh, Father of Shadows, of whom even this WhamEpisode of a story says little, but who is implied to have, at the very least, corrupted the Bedlams in the first place]]. Fortunately, most of them were already disposed of by their {{Good Counterpart}}s, [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels the Celestials]], millennia prior to the events of the films.

* The Gaiaphage in ''Literature/{{Gone}}''. Alien RealityWarper that causes pretty much everything abnormal in the series: The FAYZ, the Freaks, the mutated animals, the sentient coyotes, [[TheDragon Drake Merwin]]’s absolute refusal to die...
** The Darkness as well. Giant pile of living rock that represents itself in telepathic hallucinations as a giant floating mouth.

*** [[BotanicalAbomination The Drengir]] are a species of sentient carnivorous plants that not only want to [[AlienKudzu spread themselves across the galaxy]] and feed on all non-botanical life forms, they are also highly-attuned with the Dark Side of the Force, capable of controlling others with a Dark Side poison and severing Jedi's connection to the Force. It's notable that even ''the Sith'' thought they were too much and had them sealed away on Amaxine Station, until [[Literature/StarWarsIntoTheDark a group of hapless Jedi]] who got trapped on the station during the Great Hyperspace Disaster and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally unsealed them and unleashed them on the galaxy].

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': ''[[Franchise/StarWarsTheHighRepublic The High Republic]]'' sub-franchise gives us [[spoiler:the Nameless]], first introduced in ''[[Literature/StarWarsTheRisingStorm The Rising Storm]]'' via a creature known to Marchion Ro and the Nihil as "the Great Leveler". Not only was the Leveler [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away in high security]] by Marchion's ancestors, these creatures are capable of attacking Jedi through the Force. Their mere [[BrownNoteBeing presence]] can cause [[MindRape fear-heightening hallucinations]] in Jedi (obscuring what the creatures look like to them), can cut Jedi off from the Force, and at best, leave them severely traumatized, or at worst, [[TakenForGranite calcified to death]]. In short, they are one of the few things that can scare [[NervesOfSteel Jedi]]. [[spoiler:The Nameless are also the subject of many horror stories InUniverse (even being tied to a prophecy pertaining to the Chosen One), and one name given to the creatures, "Shrii-ka-rai", translates to "Eaters of the Force". And while the hallucinations the Jedi experience are horrifying as is, what little we see of the Nameless's [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nameless actual appearance]] from a non-Force user's perspective in ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTrailOfShadows Trail of Shadows]]'' isn't any less. It's a twitchy, deathly-looking long-limbed abomination with claws, many sharp teeth, and mouth tentacles. And the bad news is that Marchion has more of the Nameless at his beck and call.]]

* The Aristoteles, also known as the Ultimate Ones (or more commonly as the Types) in ''Literature/{{Angel Notes}}'', are alien monstrosities from other celestial bodies in the Solar System. As the strongest organisms of their respective planets and moons, their directive in destroying the Land of Steel is simply because Earth itself asked them to. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It's a long story.]] Each one is a calamity unto itself, bearing properties from its world that cannot be interfered with by the laws of the world. Namely, death. Besides the use of [[MoreDakka extreme overkill]], or a certain gun that shoots down gods, the Types cannot be killed with sorcery or mere weaponry. It turns out that death is an "Earth thing", as it goes. Their forms too, are incomprehensible. Type-Mercury is a gigantic, 40-meter-tall spider that turns everything it touches into otherworldly crystal, Type-Venus is something between a carnivorous plant and an angelic-looking girl, and Type-Saturn takes the shape of a bastardized mockery of a cross. There's Type-Moon as well, amongst many others, but that's a [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} story]] for another day.

* The Dark One from ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series. It's nothing more or less than ''sentient idea of evil'', and all the evil is born from it. It is possible to destroy it, and if someone succeeds, all evil would be destroyed... along with free will, rendering all goodness hollow. Rand sees it as a void - he can't comprehend it.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yogsoth.jpg]]

* ''Literature/PeterAndTheStarcatchers'' has Lord Ombra, a [[DarkIsEvil shadow monster]] [[YourSoulIsMine who can steal your soul through your shadow]]. [[TimeAbyss He comes from the darkness before the universe]] [[OmnicidalManiac and seeks to return it to that state.]] And he’s not the only one.
* The Ancient Enemy from Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}'' is a massive, lake-size mass of black sludge older than the dinosaurs. It consumes other life forms as sustenance and is able to perfectly mimic any creature it consumes. It can create small "probes" or "phantoms", imitating consumed life forms, to go forth and hunt more prey, obeying the orders of its "hive mind". In addition, the creature absorbs the mental capacity and memories of those it consumes, so its mind grows more powerful, intelligent, and self-aware over time. Besides being able to mimic real animals and people, the creature can also form phantoms based on mental images from its victims; it takes sadistic delight in creating phantoms in the shape of religious demons and monsters to terrorize its victims before killing them. The creature also apparently likes to think of itself as TheDevil. It even has human cultists.

* ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'' (1965) is a novel by Philip K. Dick. The novel involves the use of mind-altering substances to create a fantasy world, similar to the Sims. Palmer Eldritch is a disturbing character, changing form, but always displaying a robotic right hand, artificial eyes, and steel teeth. Eldritch's true nature and the nature of his business is central to the plot. The theme of Eldritch's dangerous drug marketing is later revisited in Dick's ''Literature/AScannerDarkly'', to which the eponymous film is largely faithful.

* ''{{Literature/Touch 2017}}'' presents a creature thus far left nameless, that is supposed to exist beyond our four dimensional understanding of spacetime, that puts the fear of god into whole planets, survived a nuke to the face, and eventually had to have someone [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu burn off all of their skin trying to deal with it.]]

* The [[spoiler: [[PrecursorKillers Dark Gods/Goths]]]] from ''Literature/TheExpanse''. [[spoiler: Leviathan Falls reveals they're some sort of life from another, much older universe that the Ringbuilders created a "bubble" in to extract energy from. What they actually are is never explained, but they interact with our universe by altering the laws of physics in small ways. At the end of the book when Holden's using the protomolecule infrastructure to hold them back, they come across as slick, predatory tendrils trying to force themselves through into our universe in order to snuff out humanity. The only other interactions we see are when ships go "dutchman" in the ring network, causing people to experience a bizarre hyperawareness where they can see so much detail that they see the empty space within atoms, and in this state the Goths look like solid balls of darkness that are more real than anything else.]]

* The [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Mythos]]: The Great Old Ones (most famously Cthulhu, hence the title) in the writings of that began with Creator/HPLovecraft (though other authours have contributed over the decades) are the TropeCodifier and, to a certain extent, the TropeNamer; "eldritch" was an adjective much favored by Lovecraft, [[http://cthulhuchick.com/wordcount-lovecraft-favorite-words/ occurring 23 times in his work.]] This trope probably wouldn't exist in any significant form today if it weren't for him. Usually divided into three groups (the distinction is mostly created by later writers, but it is present in Lovecraft's own work to some degree):

* The Great Old Ones (most famously Cthulhu) in the writings of Creator/HPLovecraft (and the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Mythos]] they spawned) are the TropeCodifier and, to a certain extent, the TropeNamer; "eldritch" was an adjective much favored by Lovecraft, [[http://cthulhuchick.com/wordcount-lovecraft-favorite-words/ occurring 23 times in his work.]] This trope probably wouldn't exist in any significant form today if it weren't for him. Usually divided into three groups (the distinction is mostly created by later writers, but it is present in Lovecraft's own work to some degree):
** The Great Old Ones, which are immensely powerful beings made not of flesh and blood but of something that can only be called matter in the most basic sense. They traveled from world to world [[WhenThePlanetsAlign when stars were right]], but now sleep, waiting until the stars are right once more so they may rule again (incidentally, when they wake up, they plunge the world into madness and terror). Cthulhu is one of them, and although human cultists call him a god he is actually just his race's HighPriest to the Outer Gods. Some mythos stories suggest that the Great Old Ones or their spawn were responsible for the creation of mankind, leading to frequent descriptions of creatures of whom the most horrifying thing is that there is something "[[UncannyValley damnably human]]" in their appearance.
** The Outer Gods (Lovecraft referred to them as the Other Gods), which exist outside our universe and seem to be embodiments of various cosmic principles. They are ''far'' more powerful than even the Great Old Ones and seem to be responsible for the creation of our universe (as well as other ones), albeit unwittingly. The most famous ones are the mindless leader Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God" who resides in the center of all infinity, and Yog-Sothoth, who exists simultaneously in every point in space and time. Their soul and messenger is the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep.
** The Elder Gods. Lovecraft only used one of these deities (the rest are created by other authors, namely August Derleth, as is the term "Elder Gods"), namely Nodens, Lord of the Abyss. Nodens appeared in a humanoid form (whether this is his true form or one he took in order to not drive mortals insane is unknown) and actually indirectly rescued the protagonist of two stories. Derleth made Nodens the head of a pantheon called the Elder Gods, who were mortal enemies of the Great Old Ones (although some stories seem to place them at the same power level as the Outer Gods). In Derleth's works, the Elder Gods were good and the Great Old Ones evil, which doesn't really fit with Lovecraft's cosmology. Most other writers who have used them make them somewhat benevolent to humans, but only because they want to keep the Great Old Ones asleep, which is also what most humans want to do (what with them destroying the world when they wake up and all). Lovecraft did use Hypnos, but its nature (or existence) is unclear due to UnreliableNarrator.
** There are also many species of lesser abominations in the mythos, some independent (like the Flying Polyps) and some subservient (like the Nightgaunts) towards the above God-Things. While not necessarily capable of driving people insane by being observed, Lovecraft has also created a few truly bizarre aliens, like the Elder-Things (''not'' to be confused with the Elder Gods), Mi-Go (described both as crustaceans and fungi, coming to Earth from Pluto but originally from another universe), Shoggoths (literally a BlobMonster capable of changing its form to any shape convenient, once used as servants to the Elder-Things to create their massive empire before also being its downfall), and probably best of all; an alien so bizarre, so incomprehensible, [[Literature/TheColourOutOfSpace that it can literally only be described as a "colour", and a colour the likes of which has never been seen on Earth at that.]]
** [[http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/u.aspx "The Unnamable"]] is largely a discussion of this trope, featuring a monster-ghost embodying it, but it goes so overboard in its vagueness that it's been suspected of being self-parody. On the surface, it's like a defense of the trope, as it features a sceptical character who thought there could be nothing so beyond ordinary experience ("unnamable") becoming convinced:
--->"It was everywhere—a gelatin—a slime—yet it had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. There were eyes—and a blemish. It was the pit—the maelstrom—the ultimate abomination. ''Carter, it was the unnamable!''"
** Lovecraft codified the language used to describe these things: "eldritch," "gibbering," "squamous,"[[note]]scaly[[/note]] and "rugose"[[note]]wrinkly[[/note]] and such.

%%** The burial ground in ''Literature/PetSematary'' could very well be one of these [[GeniusLoci outright]] if it isn't possessed by one. Either way, it's pretty safe to say that it's probably more than just mere haunted ground. In the book, the creature is stated to be a {{wendigo}}. The protagonist sees it in a dream and, while he is [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness a bit too crazy at the time to be sure]], it's possible that he almost ran into it.

%%** In ''Literature/FromABuick8'', the titular car... isn't a car. And ''things'' come out of it... Possibly his most [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief believably creepy]] work, since the object's origin and purpose remain a mystery [[TheUnreveal to the very end]].
%%** And "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" from ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheCorn''. He's implied to be just another form of Randall Flagg, who, as others have said, is more or less just Nyarlathotep with a different name.
** And Tak from ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' and ''Literature/TheRegulators''; a sadistic, incorporeal monstrosity heavily implied to have no true form, it has no apparent motive other than causing chaos and killing everything it comes across. The effects it has on those it possesses are... [[BodyHorror disconcerting]], to say the least.
** As well as another short story, "[[Literature/JustAfterSunset N]]", told through the journals of a psychiatrist analysing a patient who believes that by keeping objects "in order" obsessive-compulsive style, he is keeping cosmic horrors at bay (which doesn't seem so strange at first, since that's a pretty common reason why obsessive-compulsives do the things they do). [[spoiler: The psychiatrist eventually, following the patient's suicide, takes over his "duty" of keeping things in order and ends up killing himself as well, due to the stress involved in keeping the cosmic horror CTHUN and the rest of its reality out of ours. It's implied that even if more people continue the duty, the barrier keeping CTHUN at bay will stop working anyway.]] [[http://www.simonsays.com/specials/stephen-king-nishere/?wsref=3&num=605&v_ref=http%3a%2f%2fwww.stephenking.com%2fn%2f In this making-of featurette]], he cites Arthur Machen's ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'' as his main inspiration.
%%** In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' [[Literature/TheWasteLands Book Three]], Illustrated Edition, a print shown during their trip [[spoiler: aboard Blaine]] shows the part of Roland's world that has yet to even begin to recover from the wars that made it what it is. The bird-things may not reach cosmic-level, but what they indicate about the greater cosmos could snap those old neurons pretty damn fast.

*** If that's the case, one could then say that the [[BigBad Crimson King]] is an Expy for Azathoth. Both are all-powerful, the source of evil, and [[spoiler: brain dead]].
%%** The creatures in the todash darkness from ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series.
%%** The abominations from "Literature/TheMist".

%%** There's also [[ClockRoaches the Langoliers]].

** [[spoiler: The Long Boy]] from ''Literature/LiseysStory'' qualifies as well. That thing... when it eats you, you don't die. You just get eternally digested, and you are ''conscious.''
%%** The titular mansion from ''Literature/RoseRed''.

** ''Literature/{{Revival}}'' features a kind of "Special Electricity", which Pastor Jacobs uses to heal the sick, and eventually, reverse death. The Special Electricity is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:the psychic runoff of an ancient being known as Mother, which rules the afterlife, called Null. In Null, all humans who die are herded by enormous ant-monsters to toil and serve Mother and the other Great Old Ones. There is no hint of anything else after death. After the protagonist trespasses in Null, all of the hundreds of people Jacob had healed with the Special Electricity commit murder-suicides, implied to be a punishment from Mother.]] To make it a little clearer how bad Revival's example is, [[spoiler: an extrusion of Mother followed the protagonist back into our world, and it was made up of the screaming faces of Pastor Jacob's dead wife and son.]]

* The Great Old Ones (most famously Cthulhu) in the writings of Creator/HPLovecraft (and the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Mythos]] they spawned) are the TropeCodifier and, to a certain extent, the TropeNamer; "eldritch" was an adjective much favored by Lovecraft, [[http://cthulhuchick.com/wordcount-lovecraft-favorite-words/ occurring 23 times in his work]]. This trope probably wouldn't exist in any significant form today if it weren't for him. Usually divided into three groups (the distinction is mostly created by later writers, but it is present in Lovecraft's own work to some degree):
** The Great Old Ones, which are immensely powerful beings made not of flesh and blood but of something that can only be called matter in the most basic sense. They traveled from world to world [[WhenThePlanetsAlign when stars were right]], but now sleep, waiting until the stars are right once more so they may rule again (incidentally, when they wake up, they plunge the world into madness and terror). Cthulhu is one of them, and although human cultists call him a god he is actually just his race's HighPriest to the Outer Gods. Some mythos stories suggest that the Great Old Ones or their spawn were responsible for the creation of mankind, leading to frequent descriptions of creatures of whom the most horrifying thing is that there is something "[[UncannyValley damnably human]]" in their appearance.
** The Outer Gods (Lovecraft referred to them as the Other Gods), which exist outside our universe and seem to be embodiments of various cosmic principles. They are ''far'' more powerful than even the Great Old Ones and seem to be responsible for the creation of our universe (as well as other ones), albeit unwittingly. The most famous ones are the mindless leader Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God" who resides in the center of all infinity, and Yog-Sothoth, who exists simultaneously in every point in space and time. Their soul and messenger is the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep.
** The Elder Gods. Lovecraft only used one of these deities (the rest are created by other authors, namely August Derleth, as is the term "Elder Gods"), namely Nodens, Lord of the Abyss. Nodens appeared in a humanoid form (whether this is his true form or one he took in order to not drive mortals insane is unknown) and actually indirectly rescued the protagonist of two stories. Derleth made Nodens the head of a pantheon called the Elder Gods, who were mortal enemies of the Great Old Ones (although some stories seem to place them at the same power level as the Outer Gods). In Derleth's works, the Elder Gods were good and the Great Old Ones evil, which doesn't really fit with Lovecraft's cosmology. Most other writers who have used them make them somewhat benevolent to humans, but only because they want to keep the Great Old Ones asleep, which is also what most humans want to do (what with them destroying the world when they wake up and all). Lovecraft did use Hypnos, but its nature (or existence) is unclear due to UnreliableNarrator.
** There are also many species of lesser abominations in the mythos, some independent (like the Flying Polyps) and some subservient (like the Nightgaunts) towards the above God-Things. While not necessarily capable of driving people insane by being observed, Lovecraft has also created a few truly bizarre aliens, like the Elder-Things (''not'' to be confused with the Elder Gods), Mi-Go (described both as crustaceans and fungi, coming to Earth from Pluto but originally from another universe), Shoggoths (literally a BlobMonster capable of changing its form to any shape convenient, once used as servants to the Elder-Things to create their massive empire before also being its downfall), and probably best of all; an alien so bizarre, so incomprehensible, [[Literature/TheColourOutOfSpace that it can literally only be described as a "colour", and a colour the likes of which has never been seen on Earth at that.]]
** [[http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/u.aspx "The Unnamable"]] is largely a discussion of this trope, featuring a monster-ghost embodying it, but it goes so overboard in its vagueness that it's been suspected of being self-parody. On the surface, it's like a defense of the trope, as it features a sceptical character who thought there could be nothing so beyond ordinary experience ("unnamable") becoming convinced:
--->"It was everywhere—a gelatin—a slime—yet it had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. There were eyes—and a blemish. It was the pit—the maelstrom—the ultimate abomination. ''Carter, it was the unnamable!''"
** Lovecraft codified the language used to describe these things: "eldritch", "gibbering", "squamous[[note]]scaly[[/note]]", and "rugose[[note]]wrinkly[[/note]]" and such.

*** She later attempts to eat [[PhysicalGod Melkor]]. She would have succeeded, too, if the ''Balrogs'' hadn't pulled a BigDamnHeroes... Yes, really. This is ''[[{{Satan}} Melkor]]'', Boss of Sauron, Strongest of the Valar (powers of the world/god-like beings/Angels), and only subservient to Eru (the creator/Super-God/The God) himself. Ungoliant was one big bad mama. She is said to have "descended from the Outer Darkness, maybe, that lies in Eä beyond the walls of the World.[[note]]Outer space, for those of the scientific nature.[[/note]]" After breeding with other... things... [[note]]Giant Insects? Maia? Monsters created by Morgoth?[[/note]] in a valley so [[EldritchLocation corrupted by her presence]] that, 400 years later, Beren is the only mortal to have passed through it and survived, she just... wandered off. "Some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last." But they NeverFoundTheBody.