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1This is a compendium of all those things squamous, rugose, and otherwise ''weird'' from the writings of Creator/HPLovecraft and pals. Since most of these are eldritch monstrosities, a paragraph descriptor will be necessary for each. The stars are right.
2
3----
4
5[[foldercontrol]]
6
7!Notable Humans
8[[folder:Abdul Alhazred]]
9!!!The Mad Arab
10Author of the dreaded ''Kitab al-Azif'' (better known by its Greek name, ''Necronomicon''), and a Muslim apostate who worshiped the Great Old Ones. Described as an insane poet, Alhazred visited many strange and dark places filled with weird horrors. He was eaten by an invisible monster in broad daylight in 738 A.D. according to one record.
11----
12* AllThereInTheManual: "The History of the ''Necronomicon''" provides a short essay on the life of Alhazred, and the publication history of his infamous work.
13* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: In ''Necronomicon: The Wanderings Of Alhazred,'' Abdul almost never refers to himself by name in his work and rarely uses the word "I", instead claiming that "a traveller" happened to visit the areas he describes and committed certain acts that he doesn't directly take credit for. It's not until the end of the book that he formally introduces himself as the traveller and by his true name.
14* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The name ''Abdul Alhazred'' was invented by Lovecraft as a child and makes no sense in Arabic. Some modern stories remedy this by saying that this is a Europeanisation of his original name, which is TruthInTelevision, since many ancient Arabic writers were known by Latinized names. (Compare Ibn Rushd/"Averroes" and Ibn Sinna/"Avicenna".) Specifically, it is often said to be a corruption of ''Abd al-Azrad'', a name that can be translated as "servant of the Great Lord" or [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "slave of the Destroyer"]].
15* AuthorAvatar: ''Abdul Alhazred'' was Lovecraft's play name when he was younger.
16* BreakoutCharacter: After Cthulhu and the ''Necronomicon'', "The Mad Arab" is one of the most referenced elements in non-Mythos works.
17* CripplingCastration: Had his genitals cut off as punishment for getting his sovereign's daughter pregnant, along with his ears and nose; as such, most of his original journey into the eldritch was inspired by the hope of finding something that could heal his injuries. It wasn't until his search was fruitless that he finally gave up on all hopes of returning to his old life and embraced his new existence as a nihilistic scholar.
18* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Hoisted in the air and ripped apart by an invisible demon? Yep.
19* DeathFakedForYou: [[spoiler: In at least one version of his fate, it turns out that Alhazred wasn't eaten, that being an illusion. Instead, he was kidnapped, tortured, had his tongue and eyes pulled out, and ''then'' killed.]]
20* EarAche: ''The Wanderings of Alhazred'' reveals that his ears were cut off as part of his punishment for having an affair with his master's daughter.
21* EunuchsAreEvil: In ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred,'' he's revealed to have been castrated in his youth as punishment for having an affair with his master's daughter, which proved to be the beginning of his descent into depravity.
22* EvilSorcerer: A worshipper of both Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu, he learned much arcane lore over the course of his studies - much of it through increasingly horrific acts. His incarnation in ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred'' is easily the closest to this trope, having committed numerous acts of betrayal, theft, murder, cannibalism, and collusion with malevolent forces to accomplish his ends.
23* GoMadFromTheRevelation: According to ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred'', he made the mistake of trying to mug ''Nyarlathotep'' and was given a soul-shattering look at the Black Pharaoh's true face by way of response; this was Abdul's first brush with the eldritch, and it left him sobbing "at the loss of such exquisite emptiness".
24* JunkieProphet: In some stories, Abdul does drugs to ''forget'' the horrors he has seen, while in others, he indulges heavily in hallucinogenic fungi and venom in order to see clearer into the unknown.
25* MadArtist: Was a poet before (and likely after, given how several fragments of the ''Necronomicon'' read) encountering the Mythos.
26* MadOracle: Being the author of the ''Necronomicon'' also means being this.
27* MeaningfulName: His surname a homonym of “all has read”, perfect for a {{Cult}} leader that authored a TomeOfEldritchLore (even moreso when you realized his name was an alias for Lovecraft himself, an author).
28* NasalTrauma: According to ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred,'' one of the punishments he suffered for betraying his sovereign was having his nose cut off. In fact, it's for this reason that Abdul survived his encounter with I'thakuah, who despises beauty in all forms and murders her more attractive visitors; I'thakuah apparently found his mangled face amusing and allowed him to remain as her student.
29* NobleDemon: in the sequels to ''The Wanderings of Alhazred'', make no mistake, he still lies, steals, kills and commits eldritch rituals, but he is shown to be quite protective and caring of the household he eventually gathers during his adventures to the point of risking his own life to save them from harm and [[VillainousValour he gives the middle finger to]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Nyarlathotep]] when the Black Man offers him to restore his missing parts in exchange of murdering one of his allies.
30* SincerestFormOfFlattery: Many of Lovecraft's friends created their own unspeakable tomes in homage to Lovecraft's ''Necronomicon''. Like poor Abdul, the fictional writers of these books meet dark ends.
31* TomeOfEldritchLore: Wrote the modern archetype of all other eldritch grimoires.
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder:Herbert West]]
35->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/HerbertWestReanimator''
36
37Medical student, then a doctor. Postulating that human life was purely material, Herbert believed with the right chemicals could restart life. He and an assistant go about trying to prove this, conducting questionable experiments with... interesting results. Other than the setting of Arkham and Miskatonic University, West has little connection to the wider Cthulhu Mythos. He starred in [[Film/ReAnimator a cult film trilogy]] in which he was played by Creator/JeffreyCombs.
38----
39* AndIMustScream:[[spoiler: After all of the reanimated corpses that West revived team up and tear West apart, West is given some of his own concoction and is last seen as a conscious, ''disembodied head'' being carried away to spend the rest of his existence at the hands of his creations.]]
40* AscendedExtra: Originally the star of a serial that Lovecraft didn't like and largely obscure and unconnected from the rest of the mythos, Herbert West has become one Lovecraft's most well-known characters [[AdaptationDisplacement due to his cult film series]].
41* ChemistryCanDoAnything: Including raising the dead in this case.
42* DamagedSoul: The many failed results of [[CameBackWrong bringing back the dead]].
43* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler: West's ultimate fate, as the reanimated bodies come back and tear him limb from limb.]]
44* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: West's unnamed assistant, originally a medical student who became fascinated with West.
45* MadDoctor: A graduate of the ''Miskatonic University Medical School'' no less.
46* MadScientist: Noble in intent, West's methods become increasingly unethical and deadly. It eventually drives him over the edge.
47* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Played with. West's goal is to preserve life, as is true of medicine. He's just a little fuzzy on when to give up.
48* OffWithHisHead:[[spoiler: His head is ripped off at the end of the story. The dying part on the other hand....]]
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Randolph Carter]]
52->'''Debut:''' "The Statement of Randolph Carter"
53
54Early 20th century Boston author and occultist. One of the few recurring human characters within the Mythos, Carter is capable of entering the Dreamlands. Another AuthorAvatar: an unnoticed writer, prone to nervousness and depression. However, he is capable of courageous feats.
55----
56* AntiHero: Despite being Lovecraft's most recurring protagonist, he does almost nothing to help anyone that doesn't benefit him directly in any of his stories. In fact, [[StrawNihilist he seems to outright reject the idea that anything in human reality matters]]...[[AuthorAvatar perfectly mirroring Lovecraft's own views]] at least during his Decadent period. However, in ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', he repays the cats who saved him from the moon-beasts by alerting them to and helping them foil a Zoog raid (granted, the Zoogs had ''also'' helped him at one point, but then he caught one of them regarding a kitten with a MeatOVision [[EatsBabies leer]].). When he discovers three of the ghouls who helped him, captured and being tortured by said moon-beasts at the nameless rock near Sarkomand, he derails his own quest to summon the night-gaunts and the ghoul army to save them.
57* AuthorAvatar: Like Lovecraft, he is a horror writer with not much attention given to his work, and [[StrawNihilist firmly believes that nothing in human life actually matters]] (see Straw Nihilist below).
58* BadassBookworm: A member of the LegionOfLostSouls, he fought in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI ''and survived'' (barely -- was almost among the 900 legionnaires killed at Belloy-en-Santerre in 1916). That makes him an extreme badass right there, besides the fact that in the Dreamlands, he goes up against ''moon beasts''. You don't even want to ''think'' about those.
59* AChatWithSatan: In the Dreamlands, with Nyarlathotep.
60* FriendToAllLivingThings: Friendly to cats, as well as ''ghouls'' of all things.
61* GodInHumanForm: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" reveals that he's a fragment of an entity implied, though not stated outright, to be [[spoiler: Yog-Sothoth]]. Who switches his consciousness with another of his facets who was an alien wizard that lived 100,000 years ago.
62* IWasHavingSuchANiceDream: Carter's journey in ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''. Also, Carter's philosophy:
63--> Calm, lasting beauty comes only in a dream, and this solace the world had thrown away when in its worship of the real it threw away the secrets of childhood and innocence.
64* TheQuest: Several, including the well known ''Dream-Quest'' [[spoiler: but also his travels beyond time and space.]]
65* {{Seers}}: Since from a young age, Carter had the gift of prophecy, as well as a powerful dreamer.
66* StrawNihilist: Comes off as this in ''The Silver Key''.
67--> He saw that most of them, in common with their cast-off priestcraft, could not escape from the delusion that life has a meaning apart from that which men dream into it; and could not lay aside the crude notion of ethics and obligations beyond those of beauty, even when all Nature shrieked of its unconsciousness and impersonal unmorality in the light of their scientific discoveries. Warped and bigoted with preconceived illusions of justice, freedom, and consistency, they cast off the old lore and the old way with the old beliefs; nor ever stopped to think that that lore and those ways were the sole makers of their present thoughts and judgments, and the sole guides and standards in a meaningless universe without fixed aims or stable points of reference. Having lost these artificial settings, their lives grew void of direction and dramatic interest; till at length they strove to drown their ennui in bustle and pretended usefulness, noise and excitement, barbaric display and animal sensation. When these things palled, disappointed, or grew nauseous through revulsion, they cultivated irony and bitterness, and found fault with the social order. Never could they realize that their brute foundations were as shifting and contradictory as the gods of their elders, and that the satisfaction of one moment is the bane of the next.
68* WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant: Standard for a Lovecraft hero. However, though he was raised as a Protestant Christian, Carter was materialistic later in life.
69[[/folder]]
70
71[[folder:Old Man Whateley]]
72->'''Debut:''' "The Dunwich Horror"
73
74A sinister, crotchety old farmer from the remote, dying hamlet of Dunwich deep in the foothills of Massachusetts. Possessed strong knowledge of the Mythos from his family's collection of occult tomes, despite most of them being half-rotten and/or incomplete copies (and him being only half-literate). Rumors about him being a wizard of great and terrible power proved true when he called down the Outer God Yog-Sothoth to impregnate his daughter, Lavinia, resulting in the birth of twins, Wilbur Whateley and the unnamed Dunwich Horror.
75----
76* AbusiveDad: Him using a ritual to get his own daughter impregnated by an Outer God won't win him any parent of the year awards...
77* BeardOfEvil: Most portrayals give him thick, bushy facial hair.
78* EvilOldFolks: Obviously, [[MeaningfulName given his nickname]].
79* EvilSorcerer: You don't get much worse than using your daughter as a vessel for the spawn of an EldritchAbomination with the ultimate goal of having them open the gates allowing it and its kind to enter our world...
80* OmnicidalManiac: His life's efforts all lead up to attempting to summon Yog-Sothoth to consume the Earth.
81* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: We never find out his actual first name in the story; he is always mentioned as "Old Man Whateley" or "Wizard Whateley".
82* PosthumousCharacter: He died a few years prior to the events of the short story he appears in.
83[[/folder]]
84
85!Great Old Ones
86[[folder:Great Old Ones in General]]
87[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_great_old_ones.jpg]]
88As their titles suggest, the Old Ones are very ancient entities, all of whom possess a vast range of unnatural powers defying physical laws as humanity (and even alien civilizations) understand them. It was said in the distant past, they traveled across the cosmos and rule over many worlds, but most have chosen to lay dormant, waiting until "the stars are right" before rising again.
89
90At present, most Old Ones are sleeping in various planets (including Earth), though after the introduction of Elder Gods into the Mythos it is then stated a few were imprisoned by the Elder Gods. As such, Old Ones are often the center of cults, as despite being dormant many of them are still capable of contacting and influencing lesser beings from within their prison; such "attention" generally lead to madness, death or worse for whoever is on the receiving end. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, cults are often keen on trying to awaken them.
91
92Originally, the term "Great Old Ones" also included the "Outer Gods" (or "Other Gods" as Lovecraft called them) as in Lovecraft's own circle of writers, there was no strict definition for the latter. Authors use different categories to distinguish them, such as their ages (entities who are as old as Cthulhu or younger are Old Ones, anything older are Outer Gods), or their scope of influence (entities who are not dynamic or powerful enough to extend their influence across the cosmos are Old Ones); this wiki uses the latter category, though there are exceptions -- certain Great Old Ones ''do'' manifest with avatars across the cosmos (such as [[SpeakOfTheDevil Hastur the Unspeakable]] and [[SerialRapist Y'golonac the Defiler]])
93----
94* AliensAreBastards: Most are of extraterrestrial origin, and nearly all of them are unfriendly or don't care about humanity (or any local lifeforms in the planet they sleep on) to some degree.
95* BlueAndOrangeMorality: As typical for {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, it's debatable whether they even have morality at all.
96* CivilizationDestroyer: At the very least, this is the usual result when a planet's local Old One is awake. Worse cases usually mean the end of all life on that planet, or even destruction of the whole celestial body.
97* EldritchAbomination: 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 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.
98* EvilIsBigger: Great Old Ones tend to much bigger than humans or any alien race, often to {{Kaiju}} levels of size.
99* LeakingCanOfEvil: BlueAndOrangeMorality aside, the Old Ones are incredibly dangerous entities who can cause madness on humans and alien races alike with their mere presence, thus the fact most of them are currently dormant is a boon for the planets where they reside. However, most if not all Old Ones possess the ability to exert their will even when dormant (for example, Cthulhu can communicate through dreams), thus they can marginally affect the outside world and compel their followers to do their bidding.
100* TheOldGods: It's in their name.
101* PhysicalGod: Most of them are currently dormant, with very limited ability to move or exert their powers, so at present they are not straight examples of this trope (though their cults would say otherwise). They played it straight in the distant past, and would do so again when the stars are right and the Old Ones wake once more.
102* PsychicPowers: One thing most if not all Old Ones have in common is the ability to affect reality around them with just their thoughts. The specifics differ for each one, but generally they all can communicate telepathically and exert their will over their followers.
103* RealityWarper: The Old Ones possess abilities which can only be described as "magic" or "spells" even by their followers and alien civilizations who know of them. Most stories claim it's these spells which they use to preserve themselves over the billions of years they have existed, though the full extent of their magic is not known as most of them are still dormant.
104* StarfishAliens: The majority of them don't resemble any living creature.
105* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]]; while Lovecraft heavily implies this to be the nature of the Great Old Ones (especially in his later writings), how much it is this trope and how much the Great Old Ones are ''genuinely'' supernatural [[DependingontheWriter vary greatly from writer to writer]] even in the original circle.
106* TimeAbyss: Most of them are more than billions of years old, although most probably spend the majority of it sleeping.
107* WeAREStrugglingTogether: According to later writings, the imprisoned Old Ones want to break out of their prisons and revolt against the Elder Gods... except they're just as busy fighting each other. Some are even conflicting with some of the Outer Gods.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:Arwassa]]
111!!!The Silent Shouter on the Hill
112->'''Debut:'''''The Asylum and Other Tales'', Creator/SandyPetersen and Lynn Willis (eds.)
113
114A giant inhuman being with tentacles in place of limbs and a headless neck that opens into a toothless maw which continually yawns as though screaming.
115----
116* BrownNote: It's always howling in a high frequency that's inaudible to humans, yet still drives people mad.
117* CanonForeigner: It was made for the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG.
118%%* CombatTentacles
119* SwallowedWhole: Well, without even a single tooth, you don't have much choice.
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Atlach-Nacha]]
123->'''Debut:''' ''The Seven Geases'', Clark Ashton Smith.
124
125A giant spider with a human face. Other forms include a young woman with multiple arms. It lives in a cavern under Mount Voormithadreth in ancient Hyperborea and works on an endless task of bridging a chasm. Because of its appearance, Atlach is considered the regent of all spiders. The ''Spiders of Leng'' (huge purple spiders) are believed to be her children and servitors.
126----
127%%* AllWebbedUp
128* AnimalisticAbomination: Arachnid, in this case.
129* GenderFlip: Was male when introduced by Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith. Later writers referred to Atlach as a female.
130%%* GiantSpider
131* OddJobGods: Atlach-Nacha spends all her time bridging a vast chasm.
132* SpidersAreScary: Especially when the spider in question is an [[AnimalisticAbomination eldritch monster]].
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder:Byatis]]
136->'''Debut:''' "The Room in the Castle", Ramsey Campbell
137
138A deity of divination and forgetfulness, Byatis is a massive toad-shaped being with a [[{{Cyclops}} large single eye]], wings, crab claws, and a proboscis. Called "serpent-bearded", its face is covered in tentacles. Originally called by the Deep Ones to Earth, it was trapped before Roman troops accidentally freed the being. By the 18th century, "The Berkeley Toad" came under the control of Sir Gilbert Morley and used the creature to further his knowledge of the Mythos. It was kept in a cellar under a castle in Severnford.
139----
140* AnimalisticAbomination: Vaguely toad-like in appearance.
141* AscendedExtra: Originally mentioned (very briefly) in Robert Bloch’s "The Shambler From the Stars". Ramsey Campbell then developed the character in his "The Room in the Castle".
142* {{Familiar}}: According to records, “The Berkeley Toad” was this to Sir Morley. [[spoiler: Ironically enough, it's hinted that Morley ended up being eaten by his captive Old One.]]
143* FatBastard: Byatis feeds on so many people, it grew too big to leave its room!
144%%* GiantFlyer
145%%* HypnoticCreature: Yes, it is a (semi)toad thing that uses Hypnotism. But despite being a Great Old One, Byatis ends up [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu being defeated relatively easily as well]].
146* HypnoticEyes: Anyone looking into its single eye will fall under its control.
147* SealedEvilInACan: At least twice. Once by the Elder Gods, and again when Sir Morley disappeared.
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:Chaugnar Faugn]]
151->'''Debut:''' ''The Horror from the Hills'', Frank Belknap Long
152
153A proboscidian Great Old One first mentioned in Lovecraft's "The Horror in the Museum" and later fleshed out by Frank Belknap Long. A grotesque being that pretends to be a statue of some nightmarish amalgamation of human, elephant, and octopus, with a lamprey-like trunk, Chaugnar Faugn arrived on Earth eons ago from another dimension, at a time when only simple amphibians ruled the world. From these, he shaped a servitor race called the Miri Nigri, which later interbred with early humanoids to form the Tcho-Tcho.
154----
155* AnimalisticAbomination / CruelElephant: He is just elephant-like enough to make all of his more alien-looking traits all the more unsettling.
156* ContinuitySnarl: As is common for the Mythos; supposedly, Chaugnar Faugn is the "grandfather" of the Tcho-Tcho, but there is never any mention of them worshiping him - instead, they are supposedly worshipers of Lloigor and Zhar.
157* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Holds the distinction as one of the few eldritch abominations killed by a technobabble raygun.
158* {{Expy}}: In at least the D20 adaptation of ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', Chaugnar Faugn is depicted as looking like a monstrous rendition of [[Myth/HinduMythology Ganesha]].
159* GagNose: He has a distorted elephant's trunk for a nose. Except it ends in a LampreyMouth and he uses it to feed on blood.
160* LightningBruiser: He looks like a fat human/elephant hybrid. When he wants to, though, he can move incredibly fast.
161* MixAndMatchCritters: This creature looks like an amalgamation of a human, elephant, and octopus.
162* OurGargoylesRock / NobodyHereButUsStatues: Although he's never specifically called a gargoyle, his habit of impersonating a statue puts him in this territory. Worth noting that the trope of gargoyles as living ambush predators, rather than simply statues, was invented by Cthulhu Mythos author Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith
163* OurVampiresAreDifferent: He's a blood-drinking statue of an elephant/man/octopus hybrid.
164* SiliconBasedLife: Chaugnar Faugn appears to be a statue made from some unidentifiable mineral. However, he's still alive and active... when he wants to be.
165* WeaksauceWeakness: Got stuck in mud of all things.
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:Cthulhu]]
169[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cthulhu.jpg]]
170[[caption-width-right:350:"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"]]
171->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu''
172
173'''{{T|ropeCodifier}}he''' EldritchAbomination.
174
175The infamous man-dragon-octopus of horror himself, the monstrous high priest of the Great Old Ones, sleeping in the sunken city of R'lyeh until 'the stars are right' and he can awaken his kin to resume their rule of Earth. A gigantic humanoid form with a squid-like head and dragon wings.
176----
177
178* AdaptationalBadass: While he's portrayed as a serious threat in his original story, he's still able to be temporarily defeated by being rammed with a boat. Later works usually make the character much more powerful and harder to stop.
179* AllThereInTheManual:
180** Cthulhu's genealogy was detailed by Lovecraft in one of his many letters. Cthulhu is the son(?) of Nug, one of ''the Twin Blasphemies''. In turn, Nug and Yeb (the other twin) were spawned by Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth.
181** Clark Ashton Smith made Cthulhu and Hzioulquoignmzhah cousins, having shared the same ancestor named Cxaxukluth.
182* BadassFamily: His kids with Idh-yaa are incredibly dangerous and powerful.
183* BreakoutCharacter: There's a reason H.P. Lovecraft's works are known as the ''Cthulhu'' Mythos, despite Cthulhu himself being much less prominent in Lovecraft's original stories compared to Yog-Sothoth or Nyarlathotep.
184* BreakoutVillain: He's only a direct villainous force in one of Lovecraft's stories, however today he's generally seen as one of the top dogs of Lovecraft's Mythos.
185* CombatTentacles: Having a whole face of them, they're handy to stanch unsuspecting investigators with.
186* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: The TropeNamer for such a look.
187* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Happens to the main man himself. See RammingAlwaysWorks.
188* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Happens in "The House of Cthulhu", in which a band of barbarians go to R'lyeh. The leader believes Cthulhu is nothing more than a myth to scare away the weak, and his "tomb" holds vast riches. [[CurbStompBattle Let's just say he's wrong]].
189* DraconicAbomination: Although an eldritch alien being who shares more traits with cephalopods than dragons, Cthulhu is still described as a vaguely [[DraconicHumanoid anthropomorphic dragon]], thanks to his green scaly skin and draconic wings. Some depictions give him a reptilian tail to emphasize his draconic qualities. At the end of the day, Cthulhu is still a mind-warping, godlike abomination.
190* TheDreaded: Every human that knows of him is scared out of their minds by him, sometimes literally.
191* EvilIsBigger: While he's roughly human-shaped, he's also a hundred sizes bigger, or somewhere thereabouts.
192* ExtraEyes: He's technically supposed to have six eyes split into two circles of three, at least according to [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Cthulhu3.jpg Lovecraft's original drawing]], but [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness when was the last time you saw him depicted with any more than two]]?
193* GoodThingYouCanHeal: It sure helps when some pesky human puts a steam yacht through your head.
194* GreenAndMean: He's green-colored and, while not exactly ''evil'', just utterly alien, he still plays an antagonistic role as far as humanity is concerned.
195* GreenIsGross: In "The Call of Cthulhu", it's emphasized how disgusting he is, and he is colored green.
196* HighPriest: Of the Great Old Ones.
197* KingInTheMountain: Of the lost civilization of the Great Old Ones. Needless to say, a particularly dark example.
198* KnightTemplarParent: Played with, Cthulhu goes great lengths to protect his secret daughter, but not because he cares for Cthylla. Any human emotion is beyond the Great Old Ones.
199* KrakenAndLeviathan: Huge, tentacles, destroys sailors. The Kraken in particular may have been an influence on Cthulhu's design.
200* LordOfTheOcean: Cthulhu has aspects of this, being a large aquatic-looking horror worshipped by unnamed cults. But even then, it just may be a coincidence, as his house/tomb/city just happens to be under the sea.
201* MiniMook: His servitors ''The Star-spawn of Cthulhu'', who are basically smaller versions of Big C. Even then, they're still ''very large'' relative to a human. Lovecraft never describes their size, but the ''Call of Cthulhu'' RPG specifies that they're 30 to 45 feet tall.
202* PragmaticVillainy: Goes to great lengths to protect his daughter Cthylla, not because he actually ''cares'' about her, but because she's his secret backup plan in the case he dies (he'll reincarnate inside her womb).
203* RammingAlwaysWorks: Gets rammed into by the motorboat of the one person who survives him, breaking him up. It buys enough time for the survivor before Cthulhu returns into R'lyeh, which promptly sinks.
204* SealedEvilInACan: Sealed in a tomb under the Pacific, though the Big C is less evil and more just too alien for humanity to comprehend.
205* SeriesMascot: He's the face of Lovecraft's overarching work. It's not called the Hastur Mythos, now is it?
206* SicklyGreenGlow: He's described as having this, when seen.
207* SignsOfTheEndTimes: Every time R'lyeh begins to rise to the surface, strange events occur around the planet: people have dark nightmares, hysteria rises, and cult activities increase.
208* SinisterMinister: Among the Great Old Ones, he actually functions as High Priest to the Elder Gods, which makes the fact that he has worshippers of his own pretty weird.
209* {{Telepathy}}: If not blocked by water Cthulhu can send out dreams to communicate with Cultists, and cause nightmares for anyone sensitive enough.
210* ThreateningShark: The Father of All Sharks, one of his avatars, takes the form of an utterly gigantic and wildly aggressive Megalodon-esque shark.
211* VillainProtagonist: Very often in parodies, Cthulhu will be the protagonist. Taken further with ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'', where the Big C is the hero of a video game.
212* WingedHumanoid: Scaly, membranous wings on a mockery of human shape.
213[[/folder]]
214
215[[folder:Cthugha]]
216->'''Debut:'''"The House on Curwen Street", August Derleth
217[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cthugha.jpg]]
218An entity which appears as a giant fireball. The Fire Vampires, little flame-like monsters that ignite anything flammable, are Cthugha's servitors.
219----
220* BrutishBulls: Its form known as ''Living Flame of Deepest Black'' is a bull-like flaming beast.
221* TheDreaded: Cthugha is one of most powerful of the Great Old Ones. He is the only entity outside of Azathoth that even Nyarlathotep himself fears.
222* ElementalEmbodiment: Derleth created an ''Elemental Theory'', in which certain Great Old Ones were classified by the four classical elements. However, Derleth ran into a problem: no Great Old One could be considered a Fire Elemental. So Cthugha was created to fill in the gap.
223* GenderFlip: At [[Webcomic/TheUnspeakableVaultOfDoom least]] [[Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove two]] [[AffectionateParody Affectionate Parodies]] have Cthugha as a "female".
224* AnIcePerson: Its offspring Aphoom-Zhah. Appearing to be a [[TechnicolorFire gray flame]], [[KillItWithIce Aphoom freezes upon contact]].
225* KillItWithFire: Literally.
226* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Fire Vampires look like little bits of flame, and when they appear will burn anything flammable in their reach.
227* PlayingWithFire: Both Cthugha and his Fire Vampires. Its child, Aphoom-Zhah, is AnIcePerson instead.
228* StartXToStopX: How do you stop Nyarlathotep? [[SummonBiggerFish By summoning Cthugha.]] Screw that up, however... and you summon [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "the Feaster from Beyond the Stars"]].
229* TheSwarm: Fire Vampires tend to appear in large numbers, especially when accompanying the ''Burning One'' when it is summoned.
230[[/folder]]
231
232[[folder:Cthylla]]
233->'''First Mention:''' ''The Transition of Titus Crow'', Brian Lumley
234
235->'''Debut''': "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb", Tina L. Jens
236
237The secret daughter of Cthulhu, and is very vital to his plans.
238----
239* AbsurdlySharpClaws: She is able to defend herself by slashing her opponents with sharp talons at the ends of each of tentacles.
240* BabyOfTheBunch: She is the youngest child of Cthulhu.
241* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler:Cthylla serves as a backup plan. Should Cthulhu be ever truly destroyed, the Great Old One is reborn in his daughter's womb.]]
242* DaddysLittleVillain: Whether or not by choice, being Cthulhu's daughter alone makes her an enemy of mankind.
243* DarkSecret: Cthulhu does not want anyone to know Cthylla exists. And the few humans that discover Cthylla's purpose go mad.
244* ExtraEyes: She has six of them in total.
245* GoodWingsEvilWings: like her father, she too has draconic wings. She can make them larger to allow
246* KrakenAndLeviathan: She is often referred as the Kraken, and can back up that title since she is a gigantic monsterous octopus. Or at least, resembles one.
247* MoeAnthropomorphism: Notable since it's easier searching for art depicting Cthylla as a human girl than an octopus. It might be because of how she is the most docile amongst her siblings.
248* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: She is described as having a red body with black rings.
249* {{Sizeshifter}}: Just like her father, she is able to adjust the size of not only her entire body but also individual limbs.
250* TentacledTerror: She is naturally this given her origins. She can also create more of them if needed.
251[[/folder]]
252
253[[folder:Dagon & Hydra]]
254->'''First Mention:''' ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth''
255
256->'''Debut''': "Dagon"
257
258Sometimes considered part of the Great Old Ones, while other times both are just large (and mutated) Deep Ones. They rule over the lesser specimens of their kind, being considered their monarchs and parents. Dagon is worshipped by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, a secret cult based in Innsmouth that considers him as their father.
259----
260* AmbiguousSituation: Considering the writings of Lovecraft are deliberately ambiguous and left open to interpretation, this isn't really surprising? But what could these two creatures be? Earth spawned gods? Cohorts with Cthulhu? Perhaps even an alias/avatar of Big C? Fellow Great Old Ones? Deep Ones that are bigger, older and/or mutated? Aliens from another world? The origin behind the mermaid myths? Highly evolved prehistoric animals? The different adaptations have went with every one of the above theories and many possible combinations therefore, which means you can just pick any one (or more) and run with it.
261* BlueAndOrangeMorality: All they care about is eating and breeding, while their children also craft golden jewelry and worship creatures far more powerful (and worse) than their parents. Justified, seeing as they are the most animalistic beings and lower on the food chain than the Great Old Ones and especially the Outer Gods. However, by human standards this makes them also more benign and seeing as they are basically just FishPeople, then Father Dagon and his consort Mother Hydra end up being one of the more sympathetic beings. It's however subverted when they serve the other Great Old Ones, which are far more dangerous and hostile.
262* DependingOnTheArtist and [[DependingOnTheWriter Writer]]: How exactly do they look and relate with the other beings of the mythos? The reason this entry doesn't have a posted image is because people have come up with all sorts of designs for Dagon and Hydra in both "official" materials and fanworks.
263* MesopotamianMonstrosity: Dagon is named after a real world historical Canaanite god, and in-universe it's speculated that either he is inspiration behind the myth and/or he is the actual deity. However this is a case of SadlyMythtaken, seeing as the historical Dagon wasn't a sea and fish god but rather he was a god of grains and crops.
264* OurHydrasAreDifferent: Averted, seeing as besides being a large aquatic and scaly creature Mother Hydra doesn't have anything in common with her Greek mythological inspiration.
265* PhysicalGod: Debatable, however Dagon comes the closest to this trope in the mythos considering most other characters here are way too abstract and shapeless to be properly considered physical beings. This means that besides their large size, they are actually one of the ''weakest'' beings in the mythos.
266* RiddleForTheAges: Was the large Deep One that grasped the monolith Dagon or just a random Deep One? That and many other questions will probably never be answered.
267* SeaMonster: Whatever interpretation is chosen for them, one thing is agreed upon- both Dagon and Hydra qualify for this trope due to being large terrifying marine creatures.
268* UnholyMatrimony: Despite being hideous inhuman creatures, they get along surprisingly well. Plus they seem to actually care about their children.
269* WorthlessYellowRocks: We humans consider gold one of the most valuable substances in existance and would do anything to get more of it (including making a DealWithTheDevil). But for Dagon and Hydra it's just pretty rocks that look good as a decoration. This is actually TruthInTelevision as some cultures (like the Aztecs and Incas) didn't use gold as currency but simple jewelry. Heck, the Deep Ones are perfectly content with giving away their gold in exchange for breeding with us mortal humans and producing Deep One hybrids which shows how they differently view gold.
270[[/folder]]
271
272[[folder:Eihort]]
273->'''Debut:''' "The Franklyn Paragraphs", Ramsey Campbell.
274
275A giant gelatinous oval with many legs, Eihort wanders the labyrinth-like underground tunnels of [[CampbellCountry the Severn Valley]]. When encountering a mortal, Eihort will chase and corner them, then offer to lead them out of the tunnels in return for letting it implant its egg inside their body. Should they refuse, Eihort will just smash them into a bloody pulp... which is arguably ''better'' than what those who accept its offer get, as the egg will eventually hatch, and the victim's body will ''shatter'' into countless brood of Eihort.
276----
277* BeastInTheMaze: Eihort wanders labyrinthine tunnels beneath the Severn Valley.
278* BilingualBonus: Eihort's name roughly translates to [[MeaningfulName "Egg Hoard"]] in German.
279* BodySurf: The upside to Eihort's bargain: It'll let you experience other lives in other places. Of course, the reverse is true: Eihort's servants could jump into the Bargainer's body, and have that person face some rather horrible experiences.
280* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Eihort implants eggs inside human bodies.
281* FreakOut: When the time comes for Eihort's brood to emerge, the bargainer begins to feel some weird ''sensations''.
282* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: You're pretty much screwed once Eihort catches you.
283* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Eihort boasts a particularly shitty offer you can't refuse: die immediately or leave the maze with Eihort's egg inside your body and live only until it hatches. Basically, ''you don't want to be caught by Eihort under any circumstances''.
284[[/folder]]
285
286[[folder:Ghatanothoa]]
287->'''Debut:''' "Out of the Aeons", H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald.
288
289Firstborn of Cthulhu, this Great Old One's visage is so horrific that merely glimpsing it leads to... [[AndIMustScream something unspeakable]]. Once ruling prehistoric Mu where its cult dominated, served by [[OurDragonsAreDifferent the Lloigor]].
290----
291* BrownNote: Simply ''looking at him''. The narrator has trouble even finding the words to describe it.
292-->"Even now I cannot begin to suggest it with any words at my command. I might call it gigantic—tentacled—proboscidian—octopus-eyed—semi-amorphous—plastic—partly squamous and partly rugose—ugh! But nothing I could say could even adumbrate the loathsome, unholy, non-human, extra-galactic horror and hatefulness and unutterable evil of that forbidden spawn of black chaos and illimitable night."
293* CompleteImmortality: It's right there in the story:
294-->"The spawn of Yuggoth had perished aeons before, but had left behind them '''''one monstrous and terrible living thing which could never die'''''—their hellish god or patron daemon Ghatanothoa, which lowered and brooded eternally though unseen in the crypts beneath that fortress on Yaddith-Gho."
295* DecompositeCharacter: Considering the similarities, Ghatanothoa might have been just another name of Cthulhu back when Lovecraft introduced him.
296* FateWorseThanDeath: You look at him, and you are near instantly mummified, save for your brain and internal organs. [[AndIMustScream And you are completely awake and aware of everything that goes on around you for every moment of this existence.]]
297* {{Kaiju}}: Notable for appearing as the BigBad in ''Series/UltramanTiga''.
298* TooManyMouths: One rendering of him at [[https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Ghatanothoa The H.P. Lovecraft Wiki]] depicts him as this.
299[[/folder]]
300
301[[folder:Gla'aki]]
302->'''Debut:''' "The Inhabitant of the Lake", Ramsey Campbell
303
304Once trapped inside a meteor, Glaaki now resides in the lake created by the impact of said meteor in the Severn Valley. Looks like a giant slug with a mouth, eye-tip tentacles and [[SpikesOfVillainy lots of metallic spines]]. When Glaaki stabs people with its spines, it injects fluids that turn the victims into zombies which it can control using psychic power.
305----
306* OurZombiesAreDifferent: After a few decades, Glaaki's zombies become sensitive to sunlight. If exposed, they suffer from "The Green Decay".
307* RecurringDreams: People who live by Glaaki's lake have some terrible nightmares. Except [[spoiler: it turns out it's a FlashbackNightmare, and Glaaki is sending them out to dreamers]].
308* SlaveMooks: Its undead servants were once humans, until their transformation.
309* SpikesOfDoom: All over its body, and weaponised as the source of its zombification poison.
310* TomeOfEldritchLore: ''The Revelations of Glaaki''. It not only deals with the spiky one but also the various weirdness in the Severn Valley.
311[[/folder]]
312
313[[folder:Hastur]]
314!!!The King in Yellow
315[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hastur_61.jpg]]
316->'''First Mentioned:''' "Haïta the Shepherd", Ambrose Bierce
317->'''Debut:''' ''The King in Yellow'', Robert W. Chambers
318
319"Half-brother" of Cthulhu. Doesn't mean they get along with each other. Known to be the patron of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking decadence, nihilism, and shepherds]]. Also the mate of Shub-Niggurath, and possibly fathered some of her Thousand Young. His most well-known avatar is the ''King in Yellow'' (a tall masked man-thing wearing yellow rags). Other depictions include that of a [[TentacledTerror octopoid]], but Hastur's true form is unknown.
320----
321* AdaptationalVillainy: In Haïta the Shepherd, Hastur was described as a ''benevolent'' god of shepherds. Nowadays, while he still has the god of shepherds role, the benevolent part, not so much.
322* AscendedExtra: When Lovecraft added Hastur to the mythos, all he did was just mention it among a list of eldritch names without any elaboration. Derleth made Hastur into a Great Old One since Ambrose Bierce originally had it as a deity.
323* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Whoever makes the ''Unspeakable Oath'' ends up dying and [[LivingBodysuit becoming possessed by Hastur]]. Their body becomes scalier, grotesquely obese, and their limbs seem boneless.]]
324* BreakoutCharacter: Easily one of if not ''the'' most popular gods in the mythos not created by Lovecraft himself.
325* BrightIsNotGood: If he takes a humanoid guise, it will often be brightly clothed. He's not any less dangerous.
326* BrownNote: The Yellow Sign, the play, and even Hastur's name can all drive people to madness.
327* CainAndAbel: With the Big C himself. With Cthulhu as Abel.
328* CompositeCharacter: Hastur is essentially a mash-up of several interpretations from several different sources, each either borrowing or name-dropping the previous source. John Tynes finally combined the various aspects, especially the themes of from the original ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'', for the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG.
329* DealWithTheDevil: The Unspeakable Oath, which makes a contract between Hastur and a human.
330* DependingOnTheWriter: Like mad. Even within Chambers' original book, Hastur is alternately a planet, a person, a city, or a god. Even its relationship to the King in Yellow isn't consistent, and Hastur's traits frequently conflate with those of other characters in subsequent fiction. This is very much an intended trait, however, as it's implied that no two encounters with Hastur, the King, or the play are alike.
331* EldritchLocation: The eternal city of Carcosa.
332* HalfSiblingAngst: Played with. It's doubtful the Great Old Ones have human emotions, being such alien entities. But Cthulhu and Hastur are considered half-siblings, and it may be that something of this relationship fuels their antagonism.
333* HumanoidAbomination: The King in Yellow.
334* InTheHood: Artwork of Hastur (as the King) often displays him hooded. [[spoiler: It's not a hood.]]
335* LightIsNotGood: In addition to his yellow robes, Hastur sometimes appears with a halo. He is also usually depicted with [[GoodWingsEvilWings angelic]] [[WingedHumanoid wings]] for no discernible reason. [[note]]Most likely as a reference to Blish's Mythos story ''More Light'', which gives us the closest thing to a full description of the King in Yellow, mentioning that he shifts between the Halo and Winged appearances without rhyme or reason.[[/note]]
336* MadArtist[=/=]MadDreamer: Has influence over these.
337* MalevolentMaskedMen: [[spoiler: Subversion. It's ''not'' a mask.]]
338* MeaningfulName: In-universe, scholars try to avoid naming Hastur aloud, and are deeply concerned when the play, the Yellow Sign, or the city of Carcosa are mentioned in text or conversation. [[ProperlyParanoid They're always right to be worried, too.]] As a meta-example, the first season of Series/TrueDetective name-drops the King in Yellow in the second episode, getting the attention of many a viewer.
339* TheScottishTrope: As a result of CanonImmigrant from the ''Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia'', its name literally became "unspeakable" in the Mythos.
340* SummoningRitual: The play [[TomeOfEldritchLore ''The King in Yellow'']] can call down the eponymous avatar of Hastur. In fact, [[SpeakOfTheDevil sometimes just saying his name is enough]].
341* TheyWouldCutYouUp: ''The Brothers of the Yellow Sign'' hunt down and torment the Mi-go on behalf of Hastur.
342[[/folder]]
343
344[[folder:Hziulquoigmnzhah]]
345->'''Debut:''' "The Door to Saturn", Clark Ashton Smith
346
347Tsathoggua's [[BigScrewedUpFamily uncle]], living in the upper atmosphere of Saturn, where he fled to avoid irritating worshipers and cannibalistic family members. Similar in appearance to Tsathoggua, but with a long neck and many small, elephantine feet.
348----
349* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Unlike most, however, all you really need to do is ''ask''.
350* OurMonstersAreWeird: His appearance, while not as disturbing as the vast majority of the Old Ones, is ''definitely'' bizarre.
351* ThePhilosopher: In "The Family Tree of the Gods", Smith describes Hzi as "a rather reflective and philosophic deity". [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation This is likely why he wants to be left alone.]]
352* TrueNeutral: Possibly the most harmless of Lovecraftian deities, simply by wanting to be left alone.
353* TheUnpronounceable: Even for the Mythos. Given that his debut story is distinctly comedic, this may have been Smith having a laugh at the conventions of the Mythos.
354[[/folder]]
355
356[[folder:Ithaqua]]
357!!!The Wind-Walker
358->'''Debut:''' "Ithaqua", August Derleth
359
360Great Old One that is humanoid in appearance, with glowing red eyes. Limited to frozen wastes, Ithaqua can literally walk on wind as if it was solid ground. He is the central villain of two of Brian Lumley's Literature/TitusCrow novels: ''Spawn of the Winds'' and ''The Moons of Borea.''
361----
362* AlienAbduction: Tends to kidnap people, typically sacrifices, and even entire towns if need be.
363* {{Archenemy}}: Is this to Armandra and Hank Siberhutte.
364* BigBad: The villain of both ''Spawn of the Winds'' and ''The Moons of Borea''.
365* ElementalEmbodiment: Like Cthugha, Ithaqua was introduced (as an embodiment of air) into the mythos to balance out Derleth's classification of the Great Old Ones into elements.
366* EvilOverlord: Ithaqua rules over Borea as its God-King with only the Plateau being free.
367* {{Expy}}: Of the eponymous being in Creator/AlgernonBlackwood's "The Wendigo".
368* GildedCage: His prison by the Elder Gods amounts to his own planet to rule, full of human worshipers.
369* AGodAmI: Forces the people of Borea to worship him as a god.
370* GodEmperor: Of most of Borea.
371* GrimUpNorth: This Old One tends to haunt Alaska and Siberia.
372* AnIcePerson: Rather, an ice deity.
373* ILoveYouVampireSon: Wants Armandra to join him as his ally since he suffers terminal loneliness.
374* LeaveNoWitnesses: Anyone who sees Ithaqua is bound to be hunted down by him.
375* MarsNeedsWomen: Ithaqua attempts to reproduce with humans, apparently so his children would have his powers, but not be imprisoned by the Elder Gods.
376* PhysicalGod: Is as close to this as exists in the Lumleyverse.
377* RedEyesTakeWarning: Especially if that guy is one of the Great Old Ones.
378* WeaksauceWeakness: Anything other than subarctic temperature bars him from movement.
379* {{Wendigo}}: Ithaqua is known as this as well.
380* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: A relic of Lovecraft's writing is Ithaqua prefers Caucasian human females to mate with.
381[[/folder]]
382
383[[folder:Nug and Yeb]]
384!!!The Twin Blasphemies
385->'''Debut:''' "The Last Test", H. P. Lovecraft and Adolphe de Castro
386
387Spawned together on the doomed nebula of Zlykarior through the union of Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath, Nug and Yeb are the parents of Cthulhu and Tsathoggua, respectively. Their aspect matches their mother's, being amorphous spheres of mist which constantly produce and reabsorb eyes, tentacles, maws and hooves (although they are among the smallest Old Ones at only ten feet in diameter). While Nug is known as the "Father of Ghouls," Yeb is the leader of Abhoth's Unclean Ones.
388----
389* ApocalypseMaiden: Their job is the destructive transfiguration of Earth, for the purpose of paving the way for the returning Old Ones. They seek to accomplish this by using something called the "Black Flame", instrumentalized via two devices referred to as the "Furnace of Yeb" and the "Torch of Nug".
390* FlatCharacter: Even for the already poor standard for the quite nebulous and largely unknowable Old Ones, Yeb and Nug are vaguely characterized and hardly ever find a mention in Mythos works.
391* CompositeCharacter: Nug and Yeb are sometimes identified with Zhar and Lloigor, The Twin Obscenities. With both duos being obscure twin deities, and both having very similar titles, the basis is definitely there.
392* DecompositeCharacter: In-universe, they are theorized be the result of the androgynous Cxaxukluth budding via fission, creating the male Nug and the female Yeb. The reason for this idea might be an attempt to reconcile the contradictions between Lovecraft's and Smith's respective family trees. Given the explicitly inhuman nature of the gods in Lovecraft's setting, this theory falls into less acceptable territory for most fans.
393* {{Panspermia}}: They are said to have never visited Earth, yet their progeny happened to foster more ambitious touristic inclinations.
394* TrulySingleParent: Fitting their ameboid likeness, they each fissioned into Cthulhu (Nug's spawn) and Tsathoggua (Yeb's spawn).
395[[/folder]]
396
397[[folder:Rhan-Tegoth]]
398->'''Debut:''' "The Horror in the Museum", H. P. Lovecraft for Hazel Heald
399
400Originally from Yuggoth, Rhan-Tegoth came to Earth millions of years ago, settling in what would become the arctic. However, Rhan went into hibernation and can't move without some outside aid. One of the more unfortunate Old Ones, as he got stuck being used as some statue in a museum. Physically, he's ten feet tall, covered in small tentacles, has six serpentine appendages with black crab pincers, a three-eyed and gilled head, a globular torso, as well as a proboscis.
401----
402* CosmicKeystone: One character believes if Rhan-Tegoth dies, the Great Old Ones will never return. [[UnreliableExpositor Then again, said character wasn't exactly sane...]]
403* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Apparently went into hibernation after his original followers abandoned him. Although, it's more due to that Rhan-Tegoth needs blood to sustain himself than prayer.
404* HumanSacrifice: Played with, the blood of any living thing is sufficient to awake Rhan.
405* RefugeInAudacity: What do you do with a monster that's been sleeping for eons? Stick him in a waxwork display!
406* WaxMuseumMorgue: The guy who found Rhan-Tegoth runs one of these. [[spoiler: Subverted in that some of the statues were various horrors of the Mythos, instead of people.]]
407[[/folder]]
408
409[[folder:Shudde M'ell]]
410
411See Characters/TitusCrow
412[[/folder]]
413
414[[folder:Tsathoggua]]
415!!!The Sleeper of N'kai
416->'''Debut:''' "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", Clark Ashton Smith
417
418Old One whose visage is that of a furry, huge toad. The Sleeper was born outside the solar system, where he immigrated with his family to Yuggoth and eventually making his way to Earth. He briefly resided under Mount Voormithadreth and is often mentioned in the Hyperborean Cycle. Tsathoggua currently resides in N'kai, deep under the Earth and under red-lit Yoth. He is served by the ''Formless Spawn'', black ooze capable of changing shape.
419----
420* AffablyEvil: Surprisingly witty and laid-back for an EldritchAbomination.
421* AmphibianAtLarge: For the most part Tsathoggua resembles a big, fat and furry toad.
422* AnimalisticAbomination: He has elements of toad, sloth, and bat in his appearance
423* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: In Christianity, sloth is considered one of the SevenDeadlySins, but to Tsathoggua, it's a divine trait.
424* BeneathTheEarth: Tsathoggua's lair. Specifically, somewhere beneath Greenland.
425* DeadpanSnarker: He has a sardonic personality and a dark sense of humour.
426* DysfunctionalFamily: Humorously for a cosmic monster, Tsathoggua has a number of family members. [[BigScrewedUpFamily Some of which want to eat each other]].
427* EvilSorcerer: The patron of these back in Hyperborea (The Smith one), including the infamous Eibon.
428* FatBastard: Frequently described as fat, and despite being [[AffablyEvil more personable than most Great Old Ones]], he's still not a good person.
429* JerkassGods: As befits Clark Ashton Smith's more swashbuckling pulp sensibilities, Tsathoggua is written more as one of the temperamental gods of an old pantheon than as some unfathomable force of destruction, the way Lovecraft's gods tend to be.
430** DependingOnTheWriter: Later writers sometimes drop Smith's characterization, treating him as more of another incomprehensible force of pure evil to better fit in with Lovecraft's creations.
431* LazyBum: Frequently described as such.
432* MuckMonster: In "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", one of his abandoned temples is guarded by such a monster, which is called a "formless spawn" in most other media. "The Testament of Athammaus" gives what might be the spawn's [[WasOnceAMan origin]].
433* MundaneMadeAwesome: He's a giant, furry toad from space with magical powers.
434* OhCrap: Was once a popular deity among [[TheFairFolk the K’n-yani]]. When they discovered N'kai and some horrid things down there, they quickly removed any imagery or worship of the toad.
435* PortalDoor: The titular ''The Door to Saturn'' was given by the Toad as a gift.
436* TomeOfEldritchLore:
437** The ''Parchments of Pnom'', which chronicles the genealogy of Tsathoggua and several Great Old Ones. Unlike some other examples, it's not notably dangerous.
438** ''The Book of Eibon'' (aka the Liber Ivonis), which told of the adventures of the titular Hyperborean wizard. Eibon also recorded Tsathoggua's secrets and rituals in the book.
439[[/folder]]
440
441[[folder:The Unimaginable Horror]]
442See Characters/CthulhuArmageddon
443[[/folder]]
444
445[[folder:Yig]]
446!!!Father of Serpents
447->'''Debut:''' "The Curse of Yig"
448
449The half-human "Father of Serpents", this Old One is the patron of snakes. May have been the inspiration for the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, Yig was worshiped in North America by Plains tribes and the K'n-yani. Very impulsive and tyrannical, but beneficial to that kind to his "children".
450----
451* AnimalisticAbomination: Represented as a semi-anthropomorphic serpent.
452* CanonWelding: Later writers posit that Yig is also the Great Serpent of the snake people from Robert E Howard's ''Literature/{{Kull}}'' stories, and either the father of Set, or Set himself, from Howard's [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Conan stories]].
453* FateWorseThanDeath: Do anything bad to his children, Yig torments the transgressor [[spoiler: and mutates them into a snake-like creature]].
454* InstantDeathRadius: Done in the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG, where his poison will instakill if it touches bare skin.
455* PapaWolf: Yig loves his snakes. Just don't do anything to them.
456* SwallowedWhole: Also from the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG.
457[[/folder]]
458
459[[folder:Ythogtha]]
460->'''First Mention:''' "Out of the Ages", Creator/LinCarter
461->'''Debut:''' "The Thing in the Pit", Lin Carter
462
463The second son of Cthulhu, resembling a ''really'' large humanoid frog with a single eye. Imprisoned in the Abyss of Yhe by the Elder gods. In ancient Mu, he had a cult led Zanthu. Served by the ''Yuggs'', giant things resembling white flatworms.
464----
465* ThatsNoMoon: When Zanthu attempts to free Ythogtha, he mistakes the creature's fingertips as ''mountains''.
466* TomeOfEldritchLore: The ''Zanthu Tablets'', inscribed by the titular wizard on black jade. It tells of his struggle with Ghatanothoa's cult, as well as the failed attempt to release Ythogtha.
467[[/folder]]
468
469%%Naturally, we don't allow spoiler tags in Folders, but this one is an exception. Feel free to remove if it feels unnecessary.
470
471[[folder:Y'golonac]]
472->'''Debut:''' "Cold Print", Ramsey Campbell
473[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ygolonachd.png]]
474[[caption-width-right:350:Illustration by Michael Bukowski]]
475Trapped behind some wall somewhere, ''the Defiler'' or ''the God of Depravity and Perversion'', is the Old One of {{Squick}}. His earthly manifestation is that of a fat, headless body with mouths on its hands. Typically seeks out closet perverts, offering them to become his servants in exchange to experience their sick desires.
476----
477* BrownNote: Merely reading his name in the right context is enough to summon him.
478* DepravedBisexual: Implied to go as far as ExtremeOmnisexual, although this may be a way of satisfying the needs of his respective hosts.
479* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: Although "romance" might not be the best way to put it.
480* TheDreaded: Even the cults of Cthulhu fear him and don't dare to speak his name.
481* FatBastard: In his "human" form.
482* GodOfEvil: Because those with [[CovertPervert hidden deviations and obsessions]] are [[ManipulativeBastard easier to control]], he has essentially adopted the role of their god.
483* HateSink: One of the few of his kind that can be regarded as truly evil and all-around odious, being a cosmic SerialRapist and SerialKiller that has absolutely no problems with defiling and murdering anyone he gets his hands on. While there are some others like him who are genuinely malevolent, he's still far more repugnant than most of them.
484* ManipulativeBastard: He knows how to manipulate people.
485* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Known as "the Defiler" and "the Violator".
486* PowerPalms: Its mouths are on its palms, which consume people.
487* SerialKiller: Gravitates toward these. He also shares similar behaviors to them, luring children and teenage boys into a bookstore to devour them.
488* SerialRapist: There are damn good reasons he's called "defiler" and "violator".
489* SpeakOfTheDevil: In some cases, simply ''reading'' his name is enough to summon him.
490* {{Squick}}: In-universe example. It's telling that [[EvenEvilHasStandards not even the servants of Cthulhu]] will talk about "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Violator]]".
491* ToServeMan: He eats people with his PowerPalms.
492* TheUnfettered: He will, quite literally, do ''anything'' to escape his prison.
493[[/folder]]
494
495[[folder:Zhar and Lloigor]]
496!!!The Twin Obscenities
497->'''Debut:''' "The Lair of the Star-Spawn", August Derleth and Mark Schorer
498
499Originally from Arcturus, these two horrors now inhabit the Plateau of Sung, in the underground city of Alaozar. Both appear to be extremely large masses of tentacles, of which Lloigor has wings. Both are served by the ''Brotherhood of the Star Threader'', a cult of Tcho-tcho.
500----
501%%* AstralProjection
502* ConjoinedTwins: The two are connected by tentacles.
503* {{Telepathy}}: How Zhar commands his Tcho-tcho servants.
504[[/folder]]
505
506[[folder:Zoth-Ommog]]
507
508Another child of Cthulhu. Said to has a cone-shaped body with ''Tyrannosaurus rex''-like head, with hair-like tentacles and four thick pseudopods as a mane.
509----
510* TheBrute: Among children of Cthulhu. He doesn't have special powers like Gatanothoa or Ygthogtha and will attack whoever gets close to him.
511* CombatTentacles: Like father, like son.
512[[/folder]]
513
514[[folder:Zushakon]]
515->'''Debut:''' "The Bells of Horror", Henry Kuttner
516
517A winged humanoid of the Great Old Ones, who hates light. For the Mutsune tribe of California, it is a god of Death.
518----
519* DarkIsEvil: It ''really'' hates light, and is always accompanied by darkness.
520* EnemyToAllLivingThings: Its cursed bells drives anyone, human and animal alike, in close proximity to insanity.
521* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Literally with the titular "Bells of Horror". When those bells ring, it summons Zushakon.
522%%* GodOfEvil
523* UnseenEvil: It is never seen, either because it's too dark... [[EyeScream or people have already clawed out their eyes]].
524[[/folder]]
525
526!Outer Gods
527[[folder:Outer Gods in General]]
528[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_outer_gods_by_borja_pindado.jpg]]
529In Lovecraft's writings, occasional cryptic references to entities known as "Other Gods" appear from time to time, and they appear to be a specific group of entities among the Great Old Ones. However, neither Lovecraft nor his peers elaborate on the term, other than specifying certain entities like Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep are among these other gods, who are not of Earth despite being capable of exerting their influence on the planet.
530
531The title "Outer Gods" originated in the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG, and subsequently has been used within Mythos literature and works influenced by the Mythos. In the RPG, Outer Gods refer to entities who operate on a [[CosmicEntity cosmic scale]], who tend to be far more powerful than most Great Old Ones (to the point some of them are noted to be ancestors to certain Old Ones).
532
533Like the Old Ones, writers come up with various categories to define the Outer Gods. A number of writers (including Lovecraft) define Outer Gods as entities who predate time and universes alike, both of which began from Azathoth as the center of all infinity; "outer" beings who came from beyond reality as it is now. Others have related the Outer Gods to natural forces of reality itself, such as Radiation, Space-Time, or Propagation.
534----
535* AboveGoodAndEvil: The Outer Gods cannot be held to conventional morality in any definition of the word. They are best equated to forces of nature, to try to call them evil would be like calling a hurricane evil when it levels a town. For the most part they don't care about humanity (and indeed, most lifeforms in the cosmos), and while summoning rituals and spells might get their attention and they may interact with lesser beings, they are never motivated by drives or desires which could be equated to anything remotely human. [[GodOfEvil Nyarlathotep]] [[TheCorrupter is]] [[{{Sadist}} the]] [[DealWithTheDevil only]] [[TokenEvilTeammate exception.]]
536* AliensAreBastards: Outer Gods are not native to the physical universe, meaning they are alien even to the most eldritch aliens in the Mythos. While some are not as horrible as others, as a whole they are either jerkish or apathetic by human standards. The only exception is Azathoth and its coterie, and that's only because they are mindless.
537* AlwaysABiggerFish: Most of the Old Ones are already godlike beings who can threaten entire worlds in their dormant states. Not only are the Outer Gods even more eldritch, they are [[CosmicEntity cosmic entities]] which sneer at what few limitations the Old Ones have.
538* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Like the Old Ones, if they even ''have'' morality, it is utterly beyond human comprehension. The only exception, of course, being Nyarlathotep.
539* CompleteImmortality: The Outer Gods predate physical reality: in other words they had existed before the first instance of “death” even existed. When they enter reality, whatever forms they have might be possible to harm, but [[FightingAShadow that can never kill the Outer God]].
540* CosmicEntity: To the point all of space-time continuum is barely scratching their scope of influence. Interestingly, this trope is played with as it is precisely because the Outer Gods exist on an incomprehensibly vast scale of existence ''there'' outside of space, they barely even notice what happens ''here''. As such, as far as mortals are concerned, only a few actually exert influence enough to come across as this trope, mainly those who manifest with physical avatars which are actively mobile like Nyarlathotep and Ghroth.
541* EldritchAbomination: Generally the biggest examples in the Mythos.
542* EvilIsBigger: In physical form, most of these cosmic entities tend to be larger than even the Great Old Ones.
543* EvilSmellsBad: "As a foulness shall ye know Them." Applies to both the Outer Gods, and their spawn (e.g. the Dunwich Horror).
544* FightingAShadow: It is generally assumed none of the Outer Gods actually enter the cosmos as they ''[[EldritchAbomination truly]]'' are, instead manifesting a physical form as a compromise of their true nature.
545* HomeOfTheGods: Downplayed. Despite being explicitly connected with each other, the Outer Gods don't share a home; most are doing their own affairs somewhere across reality (which might or might not even be in the known universe). The Court of Azathoth exists, located at the "center of all infinity" but it is not made clear if it actually serves as the home for all Outer Gods other than being their origin (as all of reality originated from Azathoth).
546* NonMaliciousMonster: With the exception of Nyarlathotep, most of them aren't actually malevolent, they just happen to be so powerful and dangerous that their mere presence is deadly to PunyEarthlings, much in the same way your own immune system kills billions of micro-organisms without you even knowing about it.
547* TheOldGods: The oldest of them all.
548* PhysicalGod: Outer Gods who enter physical reality are sometimes deified by civilizations who either encounter them by accident or summon them by intent.
549* RealityWarper: They command vast, immeasurable power over reality far beyond even Great Old Ones. [[TheOmnipresent Yog-Sothoth]] and [[GodOfEvil Nyarlathotep]] in particular use these powers very often.
550* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]]. Like the Great Old Ones, it depends on the writer whether or not these Outer Gods are really supernatural.
551* TimeAbyss: Impossibly ancient, being older than space and time.
552* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: Lovecraft's letters concerning "Other Gods" tend to mention an outer void beyond space itself, which is where they reside.
553[[/folder]]
554
555[[folder:Abhoth]]
556->'''Debut:''' ''The Seven Geases'', Clark Ashton Smith.
557
558One of the gods living under Mount Voormithadreth in ancient Hyperborea. It's a pool of gray, protean mass, which constantly spawns monsters from itself. No two of Abhoth's children are alike; some look like [[BodyHorror singular body parts]], while others look like complex MixAndMatchCritters. Abhoth grabs and devours most of its children, returning them to the mass, although some of them manage to escape. Abhoth shares a large number of characteristics with ''Ubbo-Sathla'', another Clark Ashton Smith deity, to the point that they may be different names for the same creature at different points in its history.
559----
560* AffablyEvil: For a pool of gray goo, it's surprisingly intelligent and polite:
561-->"I, who am Abhoth, the coeval of the oldest gods, consider that the Archetypes have shown a questionable taste in recommending you to me."
562* AutoCannibalism [=/=] OffingTheOffspring: It fits both tropes.
563* BlobMonster: Abhoth looks like a grayish, swelling, quivering protean mass.
564* CombatTentacles: Grabs creatures with these.
565* MotherOfAThousandYoung: Technically, but it reproduces by fission.
566* MuckMonster: Even considered the "ultimate source of all miscreation and abomination". Maybe this is why some mistake or equate it for Azathoth.
567* SmallSecludedWorld: Abhoth likely [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance considers his cavern as his entire world]]:
568-->"There is a bleak and dreary and dreadful limbo, known as the Outer World, of which I have heard dimly..."
569[[/folder]]
570
571[[folder:Azathoth]]
572!!!The Daemon Sultan
573->'''Debut:''' "Azathoth"
574[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azathoth_0.jpg]]
575 [[caption-width-right:350:“And because mere walls and windows must soon drive to madness a man who dreams and reads much, the dweller in that room used night after night to lean out and peer aloft to glimpse some fragment of things beyond the waking world and the greyness of tall cities."]]
576
577The most powerful entity in the main canon (the other candidate, Yog-Sothoth, is implied), Azathoth is a mindless, formless being of unlimited power which may have created reality itself and its countless expanses, of which the known universe is one of many. It dwells at [[TheExactCenterOfEverything the center of all infinity]], with a coterie of (relatively) minor deities which serve as its "entertainment".
578----
579* AlmightyIdiot: He's the most powerful being in all of reality. He also has no mind to think with.
580* BeforeAndAfterPictures: Done in Campbell's "The Insects from Shaggai", where the protagonist sees an image of Azathoth before it became insane. The Daemon Sultan once looked like a multi-legged clam, with cylinders for appendages, a mouthless face, and black hair. The narrator also sees [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm the "After" picture]]...
581* BreakoutCharacter: While not quite to the extent of Cthulhu, Azathoth is certainly more of a recognized name than many other characters on this page. He's quite a popular combatant in online {{Hypothetical Fight Debate}}s as an example of an OP character.
582* DecadentCourt: Of a decidedly bizarre sort.
583* DeusExNukina: Literally, since Azathoth is said to be related to radioactivity by later authors, and can be supposedly summoned [[FantasticNuke using fissionable materials]]. It's even theorized that its physical presence was the ''Big Bang''.
584* DontWakeTheSleeper: In some versions he's meant to be kept asleep by the piping and drummming of his court of madness else he destroy reality as everything knows it. In Lovecraft's stories other than a mention of him being "lulled" he's implied to be very much awake, gnawing hungrily yet mindlessly. Yet further in some interpetations and stories, his waking results in the destruction of the universe because it's [[DreamApocalypse his dream]].
585* {{Expy}}: Editor Robert Price thinks it is one for MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI from ''Literature/TheGodsOfPegana'', and indeed Lovecraft has mentioned in letters that he got ideas for his "Other Gods" (his term for what later became the Outer Gods) from that book. The ''Malleus Monstrorum'' sourcebook even makes MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI another of Azathoth's names.
586** He's also rather similar to Chaos from ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'', who was a mindless, formless void-thing from which the cosmos and all the other gods sprang forth.
587* TheGhost: At least in Lovecraft's stories, Azathoth was only referred to (though it is possible that he was intended to appear in the unfinished story of the same name). Some other writers have shown a bit more, but very few have actually had the nerve to have their protagonist come face-to-face with it.
588* GodIsEvil: The "nuclear chaos" and "daemon sultan" at the center of reality, the Outer God Azathoth is often interpreted as this. Judging from Azathoth's literary inspiration, [[Literature/TheGodsOfPegana Mana-Yood-Sushai]], it seems that Azathoth has the power to end quite literally everything, including all the other eldritch horrors, but for now [[ForTheEvulz just chooses not to]]. And considering [[SatanicArchetype Nyarlathotep]] is its messenger, it would seem likely that Azathoth is also malevolent.
589* GodIsNeutral: Another interpretation. Azathoth is so neutral that not only is it created reality without noticing, [[AlmightyIdiot but is completely oblivious to everything that exists]].
590* GodOfChaos: Represents pure chaos and uncertainty on a cosmically vast, all-encompassing level.
591* HaveAGayOldTime: Lovecraft described Azathoth as ''The Nuclear Chaos''. At the time, "nuclear" referred to something in the center, as in nucleus. As time went on, "Nuclear" became associated with atomic energy and weapons. Later writers took advantage of this, and made Azathoth the patron of radiation.
592* KingOfAllCosmos: One of the weirdest supreme beings out there. Even in the Mythos, it's referred to as "blind idiot god" since it is mindless, and one must be a blind idiot to worship it.
593* MadGod: The Blind Idiot.
594* MagicalFlutist: The Servitors of the Outer Gods, who play flutes and drums to Azathoth. Needless to say, the music likely isn't pleasant to human ears.
595* NoNameGiven: "Azathoth" is a pseudonym. Its real name is (thankfully) unknown.
596* ObliviouslyEvil: Comes with being utterly mindless.
597* OminousFloatingCastle: Replace "Castle" with "Throne", and instead of floating in the air, it floats in the center of cosmos.
598* PointyHairedBoss: Nyarlathotep seems to think of him this way, striking Azathoth's head in resentment over being his messenger in one poem from "Fungi from Yuggoth".
599* PrimordialChaos: Lovecraft called it "Ultimate Chaos". Later authors made Azathoth an inversion: It wasn't always ultimate chaos. It became that way after losing its mind.
600* RedBaron: Widely known as the Daemon Sultan.
601* RocksFallEveryoneDies: Occurs in the ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'' board game when Azathoth is summoned.
602* TopGod: Unlike Yog-Sothoth, his role as this in the Cthulhu Mythos is absolute.
603* TrulySingleParent: If you can call it reproduction, Azathoth reproduced by fission, producing offspring who were hermaphroditic. These "androgynes" also count as this, as they oddly [[BizarreAlienReproduction did not need any aid for reproduction]].
604* TheTunguskaEvent: One of its children, a ''Spawn of Azathoth'', is responsible for this.
605[[/folder]]
606
607[[folder:Buddha]]
608->'''Debut:''' ''Secrets of Japan'', Michael Dzielinski
609
610Yes, that [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Buddha]]. It dwells in Nirvana, which is actually the court of Azathoth at the center of all reality (Azathoth, being the Blind Idiot god, is unaware of the Buddha), and is in some ways Azathoth's (much less powerful) opposite.
611----
612* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Buddha is noted as being partial to "helping" humanity through the offer of Enlightenment. However, attaining Enlightenment in the Buddhist sense constitutes slowly losing your humanity (in game terms, your Mythos score increases and your Sanity decreases permanently, although you can [[MaskOfSanity pass as somewhat sane]] in polite company). Enlightened people who join with the Buddha are no longer even remotely human in a psychological sense.
613* CanonForeigner: Another fellow from the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG.
614* EnlightenedAntagonist: It ''is'' the original Buddha, after all.
615* HumanoidAbomination: The Buddha doesn't have tentacles, wings, or other such weirdness. You still don't want to meet it.
616* LaserGuidedKarma: Tends to be the Buddha's sole method of attack/self-defense.
617[[/folder]]
618
619[[folder:Cxaxukluth]]
620->'''Debut:''' Genealogical chart of the Elder Gods, Clark Ashton Smith
621
622An Outer God that is a direct spawn of Azathoth formed by fission. Cxaxukluth shares similar traits with Azathoth in terms of its physical experience.
623----
624* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Great Old Ones tied to Cxaxukluth, including Tsathoggua fled from their settlement on Yuggoth due to Cxaxukluth's cannibalistic tendencies. Tsathoggua also inherited the Outer God's appetites.
625* BizarreAlienReproduction: Like Azathoth, it produces offspring through fission.
626* TheDreaded: Feared by Great Old Ones and Outer Gods alike for its appetites for Eldritch Flesh.
627* HadToBeSharp: In a [[CosmicHorrorStory reality]] like the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, a fragment of the Daemon Sultan needed to get powerful in order to survive, it is most likely that it grew in power by consuming lesser beings and kept building in power until it was strong enough to casually munch on the unspeakable horrors that make the setting the bleak cosmos it's known for.
628* IAmAHumanitarian: Is this towards its Eldritch brethren.
629* NoBiologicalSex: Shares both [[GenderBender male and female]] characteristics, and yet does not procreate using human sexual reproduction.
630* PintSizedPowerhouse: Smaller than most Outer Gods, enough to inhabit a cave on Yuggoth (which is Pluto by another name) and strong enough to overpower other eldritch horrors and consume them.
631* TookALevelInBadass: [[HadToBeSharp Had to do this]] in order to survive in the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
632* TomeOfEldritchLore: "The Supplication Of Cxaxukluth" a prayer from the Book of Eibon.
633[[/folder]]
634
635[[folder:Daoloth]]
636!!!The Render of Veils
637->'''Debut:''' "The Render of the Veils", Ramsey Campbell.
638
639Extradimensional Outer God who appears to humans as a strange geometrical jumble. Seeing it in person would drive a man to madness. Despite its alien nature and the dangers inherent in summoning it, however, Daoloth is actually one of the Mythos deities ''least'' inimical to humanity.
640----
641* AnotherDimension: Daoloth can send others into these.
642* AscendedExtra: Campbell completed a trilogy of novels featuring him, called appropriately enough ''The Three Births of Daoloth.''
643* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Can be summoned to grant a wish, which in one instance is used to show the true nature of reality. [[DrivenToMadness It doesn't go so well.]]
644* BodyHorror: His gift for three of his most devoted acolytes? [[spoiler: Fuse them into a single body.]]
645* {{Cult}}: His is called the Church of the Eternal Three.
646* MechanicalAbomination: When summoned to our dimension, Daoloth looks like an incomprehensible jumble of every piece of machinery/technology imaginable (or unimaginable) that is constantly moving and expanding in physically impossible ways. Seeing it is just as hard on the human psyche as seeing any Outer God, and its goals seem to be the advancement of scientific/technological knowledge without any regards to the consequences (imagine giving the secrets to easily make nuclear-powered rayguns to bronze-age people but without caring enough to warn them of the potential dangers or to give them radiation shielding).
647* SinisterGeometry: Not intentionally, but Daoloth is dangerous to contact.
648* SummoningArtifact: The image of Daoloth is needed to contact him, as well as some sort of black plastic pentacle to hold him. You do ''not'' want to botch the pentacle part.
649* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Daoloth's images are difficult enough for human eyes to perceive. Also, be careful when The Render reveals how reality itself really appears.
650[[/folder]]
651
652[[folder:Ghroth]]
653!!!The Harbinger
654-> '''Debut''': "The Tugging", Ramsey Campbell
655
656A red-brown planet-sized Outer God that travels space. When he approaches a world, it awakens the local Great Old Ones which leads to a planet's demise.
657----
658* BadMoonRising: So bad it ends worlds.
659* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Has a single, gigantic eye. No planet should have a ''literal'' eye.
660* GeniusLoci: A living planet-sized Outer God.
661* {{Herald}}: Its coming is a sign of bad things to come. In "The Tugging" the appearance of Ghroth is what drives the story's protagonist to investigate his past.
662* HiddenInPlainSight: How does anyone not freak out when a world-sized Old One approaches a world? Ghroth simply keeps its eye closed.
663* RoguePlanet: Ghroth is a planet-sized Outer God that drifts through space.
664* ThatsNoMoon: Might as well be the "Death Star".
665[[/folder]]
666
667[[folder:Magnum Innominandum]]
668!!!The Nameless Mist
669
670The progenitor of Yog-Sothoth, and by consequence the source of one majority of Lovecraft's cosmic deities (the rest being mostly covered by its sibling, as explicated in further detail below).
671----
672* AllPowerfulBystander: By definition of being the direct offspring of Azathoth, and just as dedicatedly passive (though without the excuse of mindlessness).
673* AllThereInTheManual: Its very existence in the canon. Lovecraft conceived of the Nameless Mist in a dream and conveyed the idea as such in his letters. It subsequently found a few aside mentions in several works, but was never elaborated upon beyond its non-name.
674* CompositeCharacter: A nebulous ([[AccidentalPun no pun intended]]) between this and {{Decomposite Character}}, since Lovecraft separately mentioned a "Magnum Innominandum" in one letter, and then a "The Nameless Mist" during a later correspondence. [[WordOfSaintPaul Lin Carter ultimately decided that those two were one and the same.]]
675* NoNameGiven: Later authors of the RPG and the card game named it "N'yog-Sothep", invoking both Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth. Given the spurious and obscure nature of this non-canonical name, it is not used in the title above.
676* PrimordialChaos: A more appropriate candidate than its parent, since there is no indication that the Nameless Mist had ever been anything else before.
677* TimeAbyss: Taken to its logical extreme, since its child is the embodiment of space-time, implying that it precedes the Big Bang.
678[[/folder]]
679
680[[folder:Magnum Tenebrosum]]
681!!!The Darkness
682
683The progenitor of Shub-Niggurath, and thus the source of almost all other cosmic deities not covered by its above-mentioned sibling.
684----
685* AllThereInTheManual: Just like the Nameless Mist, the Darkness comes from Lovecraft's letters. This is an even more extreme case, however, since it was never even mentioned in any works.
686* CastingAShadow: A logical conclusion.
687* FlatCharacter: Beyond giving birth to the goddess that was [[MotherOfAThousandYoung herself notoriously known for giving birth a lot]], the Darkness is basically non-existent.
688* NoNameGiven: Due to naming the Nameless Mist, Lin Carter found it appropriate to likewise name the Darkness, likewise in Latin fashion, as seen in the title of its character page.
689* PowerOfTheVoid: Self-explanatory in its name.
690* PrimordialChaos: A more appropriate candidate than its parent, since there is no indication that the Darkness had ever been anything else before.
691[[/folder]]
692
693[[folder:Nyarlathotep]]
694!!!The Crawling Chaos
695->'''Debut:''' ''Nyarlathotep''
696[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4e33a74ba448a2462457be9fe19eaa4b.jpg]]
697 [[caption-width-right:350:“And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare.”]]
698
699The heart and soul of the Outer Gods, messenger of Azathoth. The most human of the Outer Gods, and indeed, among all the horrors. [[HumansAreBastards Perhaps not-coincidentally]] the most malevolent. Has many "Masks"/avatars that range in [[VoluntaryShapeshifting different shapes and forms]]. The most common visage is that of a tall, dark (so much so that his skin is usually described as ''literally'' black) man with a regal appearance.
700----
701* AncientEgypt: Where it originally was worshiped (at least by humanity), gaining the suffix ''-hotep''. However, ''The Mighty Messenger'' Mask was so evil that Egyptians forbade its cult. On the other hand, the ''Black Pharaoh'' Mask looks like the idealized king of this period, and maybe the one form that isn't outright frightening.
702* AnthropomorphicPersonification: He is described as the heart, the soul, and the messenger of the Outer Gods (particularly Azathoth, from whom all the others are born from). What does it really mean or how he is so has never been properly explained (as it is questionable if human concepts of heart or soul even apply to Outer Gods), thus it has been theorized he is the physical embodiment of the PsychicPowers of all Old Ones.
703* BigBad: Probably the best contender. As he does not operate on BlueAndOrangeMorality and fully understands human morality; said understanding he uses to torment mankind.
704* BlackSheep: Unlike the rest of the Outer Gods, (and most {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in general) Nyarlathotep is NOT AboveGoodAndEvil. By human standards, that is.
705* ChaosIsEvil: He's called [[RedBaron the Crawling Chaos]]. Not coincidentally, he's the most malevolent of the Outer Gods by far.
706* CharacterFilibuster: His speech to Randolph Carter and the end of "[[https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dq.aspx The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]" goes on for several paragraphs on end. In the audio version, it goes on for seventeen minutes. This is all the more notable for being the only moment in the story in which anyone at all speaks—at all other times it is narrated that communication takes place.
707* TheChessmaster: More or less ''the'' greatest example of this in the Mythos.
708* DarkIsEvil: His Masks tend to invoke darkness and the color black, such as ''Haunter of the Dark'', ''Black Wind'' and many others. Even his human Masks tend to be colored black; see ScaryBlackMan below.
709* DealWithTheDevil: He ''will'' try to sucker you into one if he simply doesn't try to gruesomely murder you. The latter is usually preferable unless you don't mind what dealing with a malicious, all-powerful god can lead to.
710* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred'' claims that he's not above having sex with mortal women, having taken human form at least partly to indulge in human company.
711* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: ''Aku-Shin-Kage'', a Mask that plagues Japan. Looks like an armored samurai, but its face is [[TooManyMouths covered in mouths]]. Can also take a normal human look, which was UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga in the past, but usually a businessman in the present.
712* EvilIsPetty: Compared with Cthulhu's continent-destroying and Ghroth's world-shattering, Nyarlathotep is pretty small-scale in his schemes and tends to spend a significant amount of time tormenting beings who should by all rights be beneath his notice. [[ThePlan This is likely intentional]].
713* FightingAShadow: All of Nyarlathotep's physical forms are merely avatars. Being the personification of the soul of the Outer Gods, he may not have a true form at all.
714* FisherKing: In the poem that bears his name, after he moves to a city and presents a show there, the city seems to twist and warp in eldritch ways. But then again, it might just be a case of UnreliableNarrator.
715* FlamingDevil: Nyarlathotep's avatar as the overlord of the Dreamlands is an extremely attractive youth in a sparkly robe and jewelry--a "real flamboyant dude," to quote the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast.
716* {{Flanderization}}: His petty cruelty has been greatly played up by writers post-Lovecraft, to the point that he is usually thought of as [[{{Sadist}} tormenting humans for his own amusement]] more than performing his metaphysical role as the gods' herald and messenger -- if his role is even remembered at all.
717* ForTheEvulz: While most of the Outer Gods are either ObliviouslyEvil or [[BlueAndOrangeMorality completely alien in mindset]], he (in some writers' canons at least) commits atrocities and terrorizes people just for the sheer joy of evildoing.
718* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: He's one of the few gods in the pantheon to even bother taking one, because he enjoys manipulating humans as much as simply driving them to madness.
719* GambitRoulette: Justified in this case, since it's perfectly reasonable to assume he can actually predict and even engineer all possible outcomes.
720* GiantFlyer: His ''Haunter of the Dark'' avatar, summoned via the [[ArtifactOfDoom Shining Trapezohedron]] is described as a winged creature—often portrayed as a monstrous bat—with a single "three-lobed burning eye".
721* GodOfEvil: Very much so. Since he is the heart and soul of the Outer Gods, there is more or less nothing in the Mythos that can stop him from doing anything he wants. On top of that he is tormenting people not out of any necessity or reason besides enjoyment.
722* HateSink: Quite possibly THE most vile and depraved being in the entire Mythos. While most deities in Lovecraftian lore are too alien to truly qualify as heinous, Nyarlathotep is a gleeful sadist who drives humans to madness for no reason other than [[ForTheEvulz his own amusement]] and even leads entire civilizations to ruin.
723* HaveAGayOldTime: In ''Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', he is described as being "resplendent in gay, prismatic robes". The fact that he's described as being tall, slim, and boyish-faced doesn't help.
724* TheHeavy: Among the most active of the Outer Gods, with many of his appearances being spent to torment humans or other lifeforms in some capacity.
725* {{Herald}}: For the Outer Gods.
726* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In ''Fall of Cthulhu'', he drives Cy to madness by telling him his true name. He intends to later send Cy to the Court of Azathoth to speak his (Cy's) name, so Azathoth's attention will be drawn to Earth. [[spoiler:Thanks to the Harlot's advice, Cy instead speaks Nyarlathotep's name, causing the god to be drawn back home]].
727* HumanoidAbomination: Usually, Gnarly appears with human-ish avatars—although even among those, few won't drive to madness or outright kill a person.
728** FormulaicMagic: The ''Kruschtya Equation''—a complex mathematical formula. Whoever solves it is possessed by Gnarly.
729** GenderBender: He has used several female Masks, including the ''Bloated Woman'' and the ''Queen in Red''. These female appearances tend to be used in Mythos-derived works, such as ''Webcomic/OwMySanity'', ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'' and ''Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove''.
730** LightIsNotGood: ''The White Man'', an angelic-looking blond man with white robes.
731** NephariousPharaoh: ''The Black Pharaoh'', an Egyptian pharaoh wearing a brightly colored robe. Also, ''The Mighty Messenger''.
732** VoluntaryShapeshifting: The ''Howler in the Dark'' is capable of shapeshifting and can impersonate other people.
733* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: In probably the most bizarre example of this trope out there, he is shown to have resentment for his position as Azathoth's messenger, but he sure does love to put on a show when performing his cosmic errands.
734* HumansAreBastards: To a degree. The Outer God best in touch with the human sense of morality and yet, also by far one the most reprehensible.
735* IHaveManyNames: In addition to all its Masks, Gnarly has a number of titles: ''Crawling Chaos'', ''Black Messenger of Karneter'', ''Lord of the Desert'', etc.
736* IntriguedByHumanity: Of the Outer Gods, he interacts the most directly with humanity, although his interest is mostly portrayed as being sadistic in nature. Going by the usual metaphor of humanity being like ants to the Outer Gods, then Nyarlathotep can be likened to a cruel kid who loves to torment the ants by burning them with a magnifying glass.
737* IronicName: Hotep means 'be content' or 'be reconciled' or 'at peace'. Needless to say it isn't a very accurate description of him.
738* ItAmusedMe: Seems to be his reason for everything he does. He is all-powerful and can make people worship him if he wants to, but he uses propaganda and manipulates people into worshiping him instead. He can destroy the human race whenever he wants, but would rather trap one in a DealWithTheDevil and eventually FateWorseThanDeath.
739* JerkassGods: And this itself is a MAJOR understatement.
740* KarmaHoudini: [[CosmicHorrorStory Considering the setting]], Nyarlathotep still roams around the cosmos to freely wreck havoc, unopposed and unpunished. While he does become a SoreLoser after getting [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu outsmarted]] by [[BadassBookWorm Randolph Carter]], that's just an inconvenience at best.
741* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Knows a lot about science and [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow horrible secrets]], and will provide answers... [[DealWithTheDevil for a price]].
742* MadScientist: Lovecraft presents Nyarlathotep as this in the eponymous poem.
743* MouthOfSauron: His official role as Herald of the Outer Gods.
744* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: His role as a traveling scientist/showman who gives demonstrations of projectors and electricity is very similar to UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla.
745* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Has a friendly conversation with Randolph Carter in ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', though it's just to trick him.
746* OfficialCouple: According to Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith, the elk-goddess Yhoundeh is Nyarlathotep's wife.
747* OnlySaneMan: He is the only one among the group of all-powerful, all-knowing eldritch entities that actually have any mind to think with. Justified since he is that group's living embodiment of consciousness.
748* OurMonstersAreDifferent: When not outright {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, his non-human Masks tend to look like various things.
749** OurBansheesAreLouder: The ''Dweller in Darkness'' can create wind-like sounds (even when there is no wind) and strange cries at night.
750** TheBlank: ''The Dark One''.
751** OurDemonsAreDifferent: The ''Black Demon'' and ''Dark Demon'' are traditional versions: black, furry, and snouted beasts. The ''Haunter of the Dark'' is a bat-like thing with a three-lobed eye.
752** HostileWeather: Yes, the "Crawling Chaos" even manifests as ''weather'', such as the ''Crawling Mist'', ''Black Wind'', and ''Messenger of the Old Ones''.
753** {{Kaiju}}: The ''Bloody Tongue'', a huge giant thing with a red tenatcle coming from an oriface.
754** LivingStatue: ''The Faceless God'' and ''The Beast'' masks are these of The Sphinx.
755** MechanicalMonster: The ''Tick Tock Man'', in which he appears as a mechanical being. Could range from ClockworkCreature to ArtificialIntelligence.
756* OurSoulsAreDifferent: He is the "soul of the Outer Gods", seemingly literally. He may be Azathoth's soul which is shared with the Daemon-Sultan's closest emanations.
757* PsychopathicManchild: ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred'' describes him as this, claiming that he regards mortals as playthings "to be taken up for a time, then [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness abruptly cast away and trodden into the earth]]."
758* {{Revision}}: ''L'rog'g'' (a twin-headed bat worshiped on Uranus) and ''Shugoran'' (The Black Man with a Horn) had no connection to Gnarly in the works they appeared in. Later [=RPG=] material changed it so they were his avatars.
759** Some subsequent works suggest that the King in Yellow is an aspect of Nyarlathotep, rather than Hastur. Given Nyarlathotep's power and duplicity, both may be true.
760* {{Sadist}}: You wouldn't exactly want to be friends with a guy whose pastime consists of terrorizing humans for his amusement.
761* SatanicArchetype:
762** A messenger (which is what the word "angel" means) for [[MadGod Azathoth]] who's shown to have resentment for the Outer Gods, one of few truly evil figures in the mythos, and a supreme manipulator. Yeah, Gnarly's the closest thing to the Devil, if not worse.
763** The Arkham Witch coven believed that ''The Black Man'' was the fallen angel. Whether or not this was intentional on Nyarlathotep's part or its what the witches just assumed is unknown.
764* ScaryBlackMan: How his human avatars tend to appear. Although it should be noted that it's usually just the color of his skin (as in pitch-black) instead of overall physiognomy.
765* SinisterMinister: Among Japanese artists who don't go for the MoeAnthropomorphism route, Nyarly's human form tend to commonly be portrayed as a dark skinned priest clad in mostly [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver black and red]].
766* SnakeOilSalesman: Appears as this in the story that shares his name. Traveling from town to town, he gives demonstrations on hypnosis and strange electrical devices. When the narrator makes the mistake of heckling him... well, most of the audience is never heard from again.
767* TheSociopath: Unlike his peers, The Crawling Chaos stands out as a cruel and manipulative EldritchAbomination that enjoys tormenting mortals [[ForTheEvulz for his own twisted amusement]], while lacking any capacity for compassion or empathy.
768* SouthernGothicSatan: Handsome and impeccably dressed in human form, building cults and corrupting communities. In ''Nyarlathotep'' he's a showman traveling from town to town, a StageMagician demonstrating untold technological wonders... and displaying images of other worlds which leave the inhabitants PlaguedByNightmares as he goes on to the next town.
769* SummoningArtifact: The Shining Trapezohedron, which calls the ''Haunter of the Dark'' Mask.
770* {{Troll}}: He's somewhere between this and TheGadfly. A lot of his actions can be summed up as "he loves to meddle into human affairs without directly harming them."
771* {{Unperson}}: The Egyptians took great lengths to remove any and all reference to Gnarly, though a few cults remained.
772* VillainsBlendInBetter: It helps that his Masks include several human(ish) forms, however. He's been known to impersonate other people as well before revealing his true nature. [[invoked]][[ParanoiaFuel He could be anyone]].
773* VillainsOutShopping: According to ''The Wanderings Of Alhazred'', he enjoys being around humans "when they drink wine and gamble."
774* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: "... pray to all space that you may never meet me in my thousand other forms."
775[[/folder]]
776
777[[folder:Shub-Niggurath]]
778!!!The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young
779->'''First Mentioned:''' "The Last Test", H. P. Lovecraft and Adolphe de Castro
780[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shub-Niggurath.jpg]]
781Outer Goddess of fertility. One of the most worshiped of the Mythos entities, she is revered by the Mi-go, K'nyani, and human cults past and present, among others. While never described directly in Lovecraft's tales, Shub-Niggurath is often portrayed as a cloud with constantly changing hooves and tendrils. Notably, she is Cthulhu's grandmother.
782----
783* AffablyEvil: Seemingly one of the least apathetic of the Outer Gods, a goddess of fertility who looks after her cultists. It's not as if anyone but her cultists would ''want'' her attention, however.
784* TheAgeless: Can confer biological immortality to followers/sacrifices by ingesting them, and being reborn through her. [[spoiler: The catch is, the person's body is horribly transformed into something unspeakable, which inspired (but not like) FaunsAndSatyrs]].
785* CallASmeerpARabbit: Shub-Niggurath looks like anything but a goat.
786* TheCameo: Most notably in ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.
787* CompositeCharacter: In the short-lived official [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons AD&D]] version of the [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthuhlu Mythos]] (Cthuhlu and his buddies got a chapter in the first edition of ''Deities & Demigods,'' but later editions removed it after a copyright dispute with another publisher), Shub-Niggurath is apparently conflated with Abhoth, being depicted as a noxious lake of protoplasm in a cavern beneath a mountain, constantly generating various monsters out of its own mass and then re-consuming any that foolishly stumble too close to it again.
788* DependingOnTheWriter: Some writers list "her" as an Outer God, others as a Great Old One. Perhaps she's the borderline between the two?
789* ExplosiveBreeder: If her title of Mother of a Thousand Young is any indication.
790* TheGhost: Lovecraft himself only referred to her and vaguely hinted at her character in his stories (most memorably "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness", where the Mi-Go were shown to worship her). It was through later writers that her true nature was revealed.
791* {{Hermaphrodite}}: Also has been called ''The Black Ram of The Forest With a Thousand Ewes'', so Shub-Niggurath may have a male aspect as well. Then again, considering the Outer Gods are beyond human comprehension, [[BizarreAlienBiology attempting to discern the sex of]] [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous one isn't necessarily a valid idea]].
792* LoveGoddess: Probably the closest thing the Mythos has to one, and even then it just may be interested in fertility.
793* MotherOfAThousandYoung: TropeNamer. (The horrible cloud with tendrils and mouths in that trope's image? That's her.)
794* MutagenicGoo: Some RPG materials have Shub-Niggurath producing a substance known as "Mother's Milk" that can cause radical biological changes in whoever ingests it.
795* OfficialCouple: With Hastur. And Yog-Sothoth.
796* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Out of all Lovecraft's Old Ones, Shubby is the only one explicitly mentioned to be "female".
797* WhenTreesAttack: The Dark Young, which look like leafless trees with hooves. Their branches are actually tentacles.
798[[/folder]]
799
800[[folder:Tulzscha]]
801->'''Debut:''' "The Festival"
802
803An obscure god who appears on Earth as a pillar of green flame that casts no shadow, produces venomous verdigris wherever it burns and radiates the clamminess of death and corruption rather than warmth.
804----
805* ColdFlames: Literally, the green flames that Tulzscha casts ''lower'' heat, rather than emitting heat.
806* ElementalEmbodiment: Like Cthauga and Aphoom-Zhah, is an elemental outer god that manifests as a living ball or pillar of flames. However, the precise element is unknown; while there are implications that he is some manner of [[AnIcePerson ice elemental]] like Aphoom-Zhah (the "clammy flames"), it's just as likely that Tulzscha is instead better classed as a [[PoisonousPerson poison]] or [[AtomicSuperpower radiation]] elemental.
807* {{Retcon}}: In ''The Festival'', [[NoNameGiven neither Tulzscha nor his servant monsters]] are named. ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' RPG named him, and the monsters are stated to be Byakhee.
808* TechnicolorFire: Described as a "sickly, eerie green" shade.
809[[/folder]]
810
811[[folder:Ubbo-Sathla]]
812->'''Debut:''' "Ubbo-Sathla", Clark Ashton Smith
813A huge, ancient protoplasmic entity that rests in a grotto beneath the frozen Earth. It is constantly spawning primordial single-celled organisms and is said to have spawned the prototypes of all life on Earth.
814----
815* BlobMonster: It's described as a large mass of protoplasm.
816* CombatTentacles: It has pseudopods, and anything it touches with them is devoid of life.
817* MotherOfAThousandYoung: It has spawned countless single-celled creatures and is basically the source of all life on Earth. This makes it similar to another god, Abhoth, and it has been speculated that they may be the same entity.
818[[/folder]]
819
820[[folder:Yibb-Tstll]]
821->'''Debut:''' "The Caller of The Black", Brian Lumley
822
823An obscure Mythos entity; a gigantic, female, humanoid with detached eyes and clad in a great green cloak. Watching the universe revolve around her, she sees everything at the same time. Has great wisdom, only surpassed by Yog-Sothoth.
824----
825* AlienBlood: ''The Black'', Yibb-Tstll's ebon-hued ichor. Adding to the strangeness is that the blood is not fluid, but appears like snowflakes.
826* BloodyMurder: The Black can be used as by sorcerers to attack and destroy their enemies. It does involve a complicated ritual to do. Not to mention the spell could be [[HoistByHisOwnPetard reversed]].
827* CoveredInGunge: Any victim of The Black is covered head to toe in the stuff.
828* MonsterProgenitor: An ambiguous case with the Nightgaunts, which are described as suckling on her innumerable breasts.
829* {{Multiboobage}}: It has ''innumerable'' breasts, from which Nightgaunts feed.
830* TheOmniscient: Knows a lot since she sees the universe revolve around her.
831* TomeOfEldritchLore: The ''Cthäat Aquadingen'', which hold details how to dream of Yibb, call The Black, or even summon the Ancient One! However, there's always some danger.
832[[/folder]]
833
834[[folder:Yog-Sothoth]]
835!!!The Key and the Gate
836->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard''
837
838[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/05d893ec65babd829c3f5a900eecb162.jpg]]
839 [[caption-width-right:350:"Yog-Sothoth knows the gate, Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate."]]
840
841The other (possibly) supreme deity of the original Lovecraftian canon, Yog-Sothoth is the [[GeniusLoci sentient embodiment of the fabric which makes up reality]], including space-time continuum which forms the known universe. Thus, he/it is aware of all things happening in every point of space and time, and thus generally only manifests when specific rituals are used to gain its attention. Its most well-known form is a conglomeration of ever-changing distortions of space, which appear like glowing spheres to lesser beings. Still, this is just one of several forms.
842
843It serves as a largely neutral but sentient entity who can converse with mortals, as it once did with Randolph Carter. It also utilizes a humanoid avatar known as Tawil at-'Umr who guards the Ultimate Gate, a metaphysical gate which can access Yog-Sothoth's domains over reality. However, this by no means implies it is harmless; it was once infamously called upon to impregnate a human female during the ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror''.
844----
845* AffablyEvil: At least in the form of Tawil at-'Umr, in an AboveGoodAndEvil way.
846* BenevolentAbomination: Generally seen as such, to the point where he's almost a TokenGoodTeammate among his fellow Outer Gods. He [[TheOmnipresent exists simultaneously at all points in time and space]] and so [[TheOmniscient knows everything]], and is surprisingly willing to share that knowledge with his loyal followers. He's also known for having casual chats with human beings and even grants the occultist Randolph Carter a wish on one occasion. There are several stories where Yog-Sothoth is [[SummonBiggerFish invoked against less powerful deities]] as a protector; in Lovecraft's own final tale, "The Haunter of the Dark," the protagonist fervently prays to Yog-Sothoth to save him from the titular monster. Even Yog's appearance is less nightmarish than the other Eldritch Abominations: while they're monstrous, he takes the form of a series of glowing spheres. It's somewhat [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] in that Yog-Sothoth can still drive people insane and operates on BlueAndOrangeMorality; he's just generally more subtle about it than the rest of the group.
847* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Even for the Outer Gods, Yog-Sothoth especially is this. Since Yog is the embodiment of space, time and whatever exists outside of both, it has access to all knowledge and all places both past, present and future. Given its non-linear view of reality, it bases its decisions and actions on what has happened, is happening, and will happen simultaniously. Try making sense of the moral decisions of a creature for which causality doesn't apply.
848* CompleteImmortality: While all Outer Gods have this, Yog-Sothoth may one-up most of them by being the very fabric on which reality itself forms on, and even in the physical universe it exists as space-time.
849* DemotedToExtra: Lovecraft originally referred to his loose Mythos as the "Yog-Sothoth Cycle"; later writers and readers generally do not place much focus or importance to him.
850* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Or in this case Cthulhu's grandpa. Randolph Carter encounters it in the form of its avatar, Tawil at-'Umr, and then later in Yog-Sothoth's sphere form in the Ultimate Gate, as it converses with Carter and even grants his wish.
851* ExtraEyes: Another form Yog-Sothoth occasionally uses is a group of eyes on stalks.
852* EvilSorcerer: Yog serves as the patron of these.
853* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Once summoned to impregnate Lavinia Whateley, the logistics of which are perhaps best left unexamined.
854* AFormYouAreComfortableWith:
855** Tawil at-'Umr, a vaguely humanoid figure donning a cloak. In this form it is able to communicate with mortals, as it does with Randolph Carter.
856** Otherwise, Yog usually appears as distortions in space resembling spheres coming from somewhere outside reality, which are often described as similar to foam coming out of soapy water. Just don't look too closely into the spheres... [[MySkullRunnethOver you might]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation get an]] eyeful of dimensions forming reality, or even other universes beyond your own.
857* GateOfTruth: Being the Gate and knowing much.
858* {{God}}: Some writers have interpreted Yog as the Abrahamic God.
859* InterspeciesRomance: Oh, those Whateleys!
860* LightIsNotGood: Yog's avatar ''Aforgomon'', who appears with a blinding flash, and only shows up when it is somehow angered. That being said, Aforgomon is considered to be sacred to the folk of Hestan, at least to them.
861* TheManBehindTheMan: To Cthulhu, who is both his high priest and grandson.
862* TheOmnipotent: Explicitly described as such in ''Through the Gates of the Silver Key''.
863* TheOmnipresent: All of space-time continuum ''is'' part of Yog-Sothoth, along with whatever exists beyond it. A relatively accurate metaphor is if Azathoth is the center of all infinity, then Yog-Sothoth ''is'' the infinities which expand from it.
864* OmniscientMoralityLicense: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Perhaps.]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Or perhaps not.]]
865* RetGone: Aforgomon does this to particular offenders [[spoiler:such as those who screw up space and time by using Xexanoth's power]]. Instead of wiping them outright, the avatar speeds up the normal process of oblivion. Instead of years, people slowly forget the victim and any record eventually fades away in weeks.
866* SpaceMaster: Helps that Yog ''is'' space-time.
867* SphereOfDestruction: Literally in this case. Physical contact with Yog-Sothoth in its sphere form leads to serious injuries.
868* ThresholdGuardians: Tawil at-'Umr serves as this before anyone passes The Ultimate Gate.
869* TimeMaster: Goes without saying.
870* TopGod: Possibly shares this role with Azathoth, certainly has the powers to back it up.
871* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: It is both space and time, and like all Outer Gods it is also something who exists "outside" it as well.
872* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Even more so than most Outer Gods. Its attempt to distort space to create a physical form which can interact with lesser beings are only observable as a series of spheres to humans and other lesser aliens.
873[[/folder]]
874
875!Elder Gods
876[[folder:Elder Gods in General]]
877Entities of the Mythos who oppose the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. They are not particularly well defined by Lovecraft himself (as he only ever wrote two of them; Nodens and Hypnos, and the latter is a confusing case of TheGhost suffering under UnreliableNarrator), though later writers would establish them as a pantheon of entities who are mortal enemies with the Great Old Ones. Though prone to BlueAndOrangeMorality as much as any EldritchAbomination in this page, they can be considered "helpful" to humanity in that they oppose Old Ones, whose mere presence can spread madness and whose servants tend to actively incite said abominations.
878----
879
880* HomeOfTheGods: Glyu-Uho, the home of the Elder Gods. It corresponds with the star Betelgeuse.
881* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Not necessarily "good" or "caring", but they ''are'' opposed to a bunch of eldritch horrors suffering from severe cases of BlueAndOrangeMorality or ObliviouslyEvil NonMaliciousMonster tendencies, along with the occasional ''[[GodOfEvil actually malevolent]]'' ones.
882[[/folder]]
883
884[[folder:Bast]]
885->'''Mythos Debut:''' ''The Call of Cthulhu RPG''
886
887Based off the mythological goddess of the same name, Bast is the Elder God of Cats. Was classified as Elder God in the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', since Lovecraft was rather fond of felines. Bast was also used in several Mythos tales by Creator/RobertBloch. The story of ''Literature/TheCatsOfUlthar'' is also tied to her in the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. For further details, check out the [[Characters/EgyptianMythology Egyptian Mythology Character sheet]].
888[[/folder]]
889
890[[folder:Hypnos]]
891->'''Debut (?):''' "Hypnos"
892
893Another deity appropriated from Mythology, this time from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greece]]. Listed as an Elder God of sleep in ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', and as such Lord of Dreams. Other than that, little is known of this being.
894----
895* CallingCard: Apparently leaves behind statues of himself.
896* DependingOnTheWriter: Hypnos being an Elder God comes from the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' game. The original short story is told from a [[UnreliableNarrator questionable perspective]], so it's not clear if Hypnos even existed.
897* TheGhost: In Lovecraft's short tale "Hypnos", the character's friend fears something that the narrator or reader never sees. In fact, Hypnos is almost never depicted in any artwork, except only as a marble bust.
898* PillarOfLight: If, for some unknowable reason, a dreamer attracts his attention, Hypnos will seek that person out, and pull them up in a golden light.
899[[/folder]]
900
901[[folder:Kthanid]]
902See ''Characters/TitusCrow''
903[[/folder]]
904
905[[folder:Nodens]]
906!!!Lord of the Great Abyss
907[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nodens_9.png]]
908[[caption-width-right:350:"And hoary Nodens raised a howl of triumph when Nyarlathotep, close on his quarry, stopped baffled by a glare that seared his formless hunting-horrors to grey dust."]]
909->'''Debut:''' "The Strange High House in the Mist"
910
911Named after an obscure Celtic deity, Nodens is unusual in that his main apparition is an old man. Apparently a great hunter seeking out the servants of the Great Old Ones, he is typically seen riding in a seashell chariot drawn by fantastic beasts. Opposes Nyarlathotep.
912----
913* AntiVillain: [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu Described as almost friendly to the humans he speaks with despite being an amoral deity]]. Apparently, he also has a strong dislike for Nyarlathotep.
914* BigDamnHeroes: Nodens, along with the violet gas S'Ngac, helped [[TheHero Randolph Carter]] to escape Nyarlathotep's diabolical trap and return safely to his home realm.
915* CoolOldGuy: What he appears to be (In any case, he ''is'' [[TimeAbyss old]]). While he may not fight the horrors out of compassion for humanity, he still occasionally helps out mortals, such as Randolph Carter.
916* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Takes out the Hunting Horrors pursuing Randolph Carter pretty easily with a burst of light, and manages to drive off Nyarlathotep after that happens. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Nodens is a god and far more powerful than a {{puny|Earthlings}} normal human.
917* TheDreaded: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath repeatedly emphasizes Nodens is feared by various beings, including Earth's Gods and their servants.
918* {{Egomaniac Hunter}}/HunterOfMonsters: He hunts the servants of Nyarlathotep and other horrors. Not because Nodens cares for humanity, but because the Great Old Ones provide the best sport.
919* GodEmperor: Is revered and worshipped as such by the night-gaunts, the alien race mentioned in the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. So much so, that the night-gaunts don't fear even the Outer Gods in comparison to their master.
920* HumanoidAbomination: He may look like an old man, but he is just as eldritch as the others.
921* RedBaron: ''The Lord of the Abyss''.
922* ShoutOut: To ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'', where the name Nodens is briefly mentioned.
923* YouCanNotGraspTheTrueForm: Possibly; considering how alien the cosmos is, it's unlikely Nodens actually looks human. It may be he's [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith taking such an anthropomorphic shape as a courtesy]].
924[[/folder]]
925
926[[folder:Vorvadoss]]
927!!!The Troubler of Sands
928->'''Debut:''' "The Invaders", Henry Kuttner
929
930A lesser-known Elder God who appears in the writings of Henry Kuttner. Sometimes appears as a cloaked, hooded being, enveloped in green flames, with fiery eyes. He may otherwise appear as a misty, silvery being with an inhuman face.
931----
932* AlienGeometries: Vorvadoss's body seems to follow an alien pattern.
933* DissonantSerenity: As alien and disconcerting as Vorvadoss may appear, people around the ''Kindler of Flame'' feel a wave of assurance in its presence.
934* MonochromaticEyes: Eyes dark as space.
935[[/folder]]
936
937[[folder:Xexanoth]]
938!!!The Lurking Chaos
939->'''Debut:''' "The Chain of Aforgomon", Clark Ashton Smith
940
941The "chief cosmic power" hostile towards time, known on the world of four suns named Hestan. Not considered an Elder God properly, its nature makes it opposed to at least one Outer God.
942----
943* ArchEnemy: To Aforgomon, Lord "of the minutes and the cycles" and avatar of Yog-Sothoth.
944* GodOfEvil: To the priests of Aforgomon [[spoiler: since its effects on time causes the logical cycles of nature to go slightly out of whack]].
945* ThisIsUnforgivable: Using its power is considered ''too'' blasphemous, even for evil sorcerers. As one in ''The Chain of Aforgomon'' points out:
946-->"Gladly would I help you... animate her still unwithered body and draw it forth from the tomb. But that which you purpose is another matter. You alone must perform the ordained rites, must speak the necessary words: for the consequences of this thing will be direr than you deem."
947* TimeMaster: As the bane of sequential time, the Lurking Chaos can cause people [[spoiler: and entire planets]] to relive a moment in their past.
948[[/folder]]
949
950!The Dreamlands
951
952[[folder:Great Ones]]
953
954Weak gods of the Earth who reign over Earth's DreamLand. Not even remotely as powerful as the other Ancient Ones, although they are still worshiped in the Dreamlands. They appear to be similar to humanity and distinguished by certain facial features. For whatever reason, the Great Ones are protected by the ''Other Gods'', which include Nyarlathotep. Not to be confused with the Great Old Ones.
955----
956* BigFancyCastle: Their home on Kadath.
957* DefaceOfTheMoon: Carved on the hidden side of Mt. Ngranek is a portrait of the Great Ones. It proves to be an important plot point in ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''.
958* DoNotTauntCthulhu: [[{{Pride}} While one can trick or go against the wishes of the Great Ones]], [[BoltOfDivineRetribution the Other Gods will wreak their vengeance in retribution]].
959* HaveYouSeenMyGod: It turns out to be the case for [[spoiler: Randolph Carter]]. When he arrives at [[spoiler:Kadath]], he discovers the place is empty.
960* HomeOfTheGods: Kadath is the home of the Great Ones. But no one knows where to find it, and a large part of the "Dream-quest" is finding out where it is. However, it turns out the Great Ones have [[spoiler: found a new home: Carter's dream memory of Boston]].
961* IJustWantToBeNormal: Maybe. In ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', Nyarlathotep tells Randolph Carter how the Great Ones desire to abandon their godhood and live as normal humans in the waking world.
962* InterspeciesRomance: The younger Great Ones tend to go down to Earth in disguise and take human women as wives.
963* PhysicalGod: Rather limited ones at that, capable of being tricked by a mortal who is wise enough.
964[[/folder]]
965
966[[folder:The Harlot]]
967->'''Debut:''' ''ComicBook/FallOfCthulhu''
968
969An ugly, feminine being that inhabits Earth's Dreamlands. She fashions herself an InformationBroker, trading away knowledge of the Mythos in return for ''something'' from the other party. Everything that is given to her, the Harlot puts into one of her boxes.
970----
971* CanonForeigner: The Harlot debuted in ''Fall of Cthulhu'', long after Lovecraft's death.
972* TheChessmaster: While ''Fall of Cthulhu'' is one big GambitPileup between Nyarlathotep and Nodens, [[spoiler:the ending reveals that it was the Harlot who played the game best. Nyarlathotep thought Cy was his instrument of destruction, only to realize that Cy had been the Harlot's pawn the whole time.]]
973* DealWithTheDevil: Her modus operandi. She will give you the knowledge you seek, but in return you must give up something of yourself. The more valuable the information, the more she claims in return.
974* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: While she is far weaker than him, she's influential enough that Nodens thinks twice before challenging her.
975* EvilVersusOblivion: She's definitely not a good "person", but she prefers humanity as it is; Easily manipulated and played with. She has no interest in Nyarlathotep's plans to wipe them out.
976* LegacyCharacter: At the end of ''Fall of Cthulhu'', the Harlot informs Lucifer that she isn't the first to carry the title, and won't be the last; Lucifer is her chosen successor.
977[[/folder]]
978
979[[folder:Nightgaunts]]
980->'''Debut:''' ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''
981
982Thin, black humanoids with large wings, rubbery skin, and barbed tails. They are the servants of Nodens, and Creator/BrianLumley had associated them with Yibb-Tstll.
983* TheBlank: Part of what makes them so unnerving is that they're so human-like... except for the total lack of a face.
984* DarkIsNotEvil: Downplayed. They torment humans in their nightmares, and are definitely dangerous, but they also serve Nodens, one of the few gods friendly to humanity, and are happy to help Randolph Carter in his quest.
985* GiantFlyer: Nightgaunts [[VerticalKidnapping tend to carry people away]], and drop them in unwanted places. The Ghouls can also use them as mounts.
986* HorrifyingTheHorror: Nightgaunts has this effect on Nyarlathotep's servants.
987* OurGargoylesRock: They look much like the stereotypical gargoyle.
988* TickleTorture: Using their barbed tails, they tend to do this to the people they capture.
989[[/folder]]
990
991[[folder:Gugs]]
992->'''Debut:''' ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''
993
994The subterranean giants of Dreamlands. Gugs have vertical mouth, ran from the top to the bottom of the head, and each arm split at elbow into two forearms. Said to be banished to the Underworld by the Great Ones.
995----
996* FoodChainOfEvil: Well, ghouls would argue that they're not really evil, especially compared to gugs, but ghouls and ghasts (the latter of which are degenerate, cannibalistic, Morlocks) make up the bulk of the gug food supply.
997* MultiArmedAndDangerous: They have four forearms attached to two upper arms.
998* OurGiantsAreBigger: And in the Dreamlands, these giants are stranger.
999* ToServeMan: And since humans are rarely encountered in the Dreamlands' Underworld, we're kind of legendarily delicious.
1000[[/folder]]
1001
1002[[folder:Ghouls]]
1003->'''Debut:''' "Pickman's Model"
1004
1005Cannibal humanoids with rubbery skin, bony claws, and dog-like faces. They tend to live underground, lurking near graveyards.
1006----
1007* ChangelingTale: Ghouls are also known for kidnapping babies and replacing them with ghoul babies. Don't worry though, they just teach the abducted children how to become ghouls. The ghoul babies also tend to return to ghoule society after living a few decades as humans.
1008* GoodAllAlong: Although presented as horrific, they are sometimes presented in a positive light, being loyal and helpful to some. Considering the Mythos being filled with unspeakable, apathetic horrors, ghouls are one of the nicer species one can encounter. If one knows their language...
1009* GraveRobbing: The ghouls probably call this "Grocery Shopping".
1010* MonstrousCannibalism: Traditionally, ghouls would eat their wounded after a battle. However, [[spoiler: Pickman]] has been trying to discourage this.
1011* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Dog-faced and clawed only adds to the macabre.
1012* TomeOfEldritchLore: The ''Cultes des Goules'', which presumably dealt with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ghouls and their cults]].
1013* TunnelNetwork: Using these to move in both the Real and Dreaming worlds.
1014* TheUndead: Very much averted; Ghouls are an actual true-breeding living species, though humans can become ghouls.
1015* WasOnceAMan: Hanging out with ghouls long enough can transform a human into one, as what happened to [[spoiler:Richard Upton Pickman]].
1016** [[ChangelingTale Ghoul babies switched with human babies]] invert this, though eventually most discover their origins and return to ghoul society, making it a DoubleSubversion.
1017[[/folder]]
1018
1019[[folder:Moon-beasts]]
1020->'''Debut:''' ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''
1021
1022Pale, toadlike creatures with no eyes but a mass of pink tentacles at the end of their snout. They live on the Dreamland's version of Earth's moon.
1023----
1024* MonsterMouth: They have a mass of tentacles where their mouth should be.
1025[[/folder]]
1026
1027[[folder:Shantaks]]
1028->'''Debut:''' ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''
1029
1030Elephantine bird-like creatures with scaly slimy skin, bat wings, two talons, and horse heads. They can be used as steeds, and serve Nyarlathotep and Ithaqua.
1031----
1032* CallASmeerpARabbit: Also called Shantak-birds. Except for flying, these creatures have little in common with birds.
1033* GiantFlyer: Large enough for Randolph Carter to ride one.
1034* HorrifyingTheHorror: As servants of the Crawling Chaos, they're weak against Nightgaunts.
1035* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They can be described as slimy-skinned, horse-faced wyverns.
1036
1037[[/folder]]
1038!Other Creatures
1039[[folder:Other Creatures in General]]
1040
1041Various monsters and aliens. Some act as servants of the Great Old Ones, while others are relatively independent.
1042----
1043
1044* BizarreAlienBiology: Don't expect anything resembling human biology from these things. Even the ones who don't fall into the "alien" category certainly fit into the "bizarre" one.
1045* BlueAndOrangeMorality: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, at least when compared to other beings such as the Outer Gods. Most of the mythos races, like the Elder Things, DO have a sense of "morality" of some kind that can be recognized by humans. It just so happens that their [[BizarreAlienPsychology culture and civilization themselves are so "out there"]] that they still come off as eldritch by our standards.
1046[[/folder]]
1047
1048[[folder:Byakhee]]
1049->'''Debut:''' "The House on Curwen Street", August Derleth
1050
1051Beings that live in interstellar space, noted for their "great wings". Capable of traveling interstellar distances, they can be summoned to be used as transports. Just remember to take some Space Mead or a space suit, since you still need some sort of protection against the cold vacuum. Servitors of Hastur.
1052----
1053* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The Byakhee can. Not necessarily the people they carry.
1054* GiantFlyer: Large enough to be used as mounts by those willing to summon them.
1055* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Though never described in detail by Derleth, the mythological harpies were probably an influence on the author. Celaneo was the name of the Harpy Queen in ''Literature/TheAeneid''.
1056* MagicalLibrary / GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: At the "Fungi From Yuggoth" ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement, the Library of Celaeno is infested with Byakhee, who make sure no one smuggles out any books.
1057* SpeakOfTheDevil: Mentioned in the 1980 Dungeons & Dragons ''Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia'', that Hastur sends Byakhee to kill whoever speaks his name.
1058[[/folder]]
1059
1060[[folder:Cats]]
1061->'''Debut:''' ''The Cats of Ulthar''
1062
1063Lovecraft had a special love of Felines, and it is reflected within his work. In particular are the Cats of the Dreamlands, who are intelligent and more wonderful.
1064
1065Protected by the Elder God, Bast.
1066----
1067* AlwaysLawfulGood: Earth's Cats are always depicted as heroic and benevolent, only ever fighting in defense of themselves or their allies. This makes them one of the few examples of unambiguous good in Lovecraft's writing and the Mythos as a whole.
1068* ArchEnemy: The Cats from Saturn, whom the Dreamland cats have set up outposts to be on the look out for.
1069* AuthorAppeal: Yup, Lovecraft was a cat lover and liked to put cats in his works.
1070* CatsAreMagic: The cats of the Dreamlands are practically Cat Folk: intelligent, have their own language, and are capable of leaping through space to other worlds.
1071[[/folder]]
1072
1073[[folder:Colour Out of Space]]
1074->'''Debut:''' ''The Colour Out of Space''
1075[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_colour_out_of_space.jpg]]
1076"Creature"(?) from outer space, whose visible manifestation is an unknown hue. Contact with earthly life leads to ... [[FateWorseThanDeath terrible fates]].
1077----
1078* CameFromTheSky: Mistaken for a meteor, or was catching a ride with one. Either way, it falls to Earth in its debut.
1079* EnergyBeings: An early example.
1080* EvilTaintedThePlace: While suggesting that it's "evil" is a stretch, the presence of the color blights the land, taints the water, and drives those who live nearby to madness.
1081* FictionalColor: When heated in a spectroscope, a meteorite that carried the colour "displayed shining bands unlike any known colours of the normal spectrum". A globule inside the meteorite and vegetation grown in the area where the meteor fell also display the non-spectrum colors. The colour monster itself is made up of these colors.
1082* FisherKingdom: The Blasted Heath, which was once a farm before everything began to mutate and turn into gray dust.
1083* NotOfThisEarth: Some sort of alien entity from the stars.
1084* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: Scientists studying the meteorite that the colour comes down from are baffled by its properties.
1085* StarfishAliens: Considered the most alien of all of Lovecraft's creatures. While some physical information and effects on Earthly life are known, nothing about the intentions or purpose of the colour is. It's not even clear if the creature is intelligent or not.
1086* UnderwaterRuins: The Blasted Heath, once the Arkham reservoir is built. Unfortunately, the plant life around the new water source has [[ManEatingPlant become rather twisted]].
1087[[/folder]]
1088
1089[[folder:Chthonians]]
1090->'''Debut:''' ''The Burrowers Beneath'', Brian Lumley
1091
1092See ''Great Old Ones: Shudde M'ell''
1093[[/folder]]
1094
1095[[folder:Deep Ones]]
1096->'''Debut:''' "Dagon" / ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth''
1097[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_deep_ones.jpg]]
1098
1099An isolationist underwater civilization of fish-people with a certain... [[MarsNeedsWomen interest]] in humanity. Physically, deep ones are humanoid, a cross of fish and frog, with grey-green skin, white bellies, webbed paws, and gilled necks. Their progenitor is Father Dagon, one of the less actively malicious beasties—apparently wants some peace and quiet more than bringing the world to an end. Not that that's going to help you if you accidentally enter his domain, though.
1100----
1101* TheAgeless: Barring violence or accidents, deep ones are biologically immortal.
1102* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's implied that the Deep Ones may be not much more than unenthusiastic {{Punch Clock Villain}}s for Cthulhu, and the narrator of ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' ultimately decides that they're not so bad.
1103-->For the present they would rest; but some day, if they remembered, they would rise again for the tribute Great Cthulhu craved.
1104* BodyHorror: The below-mentioned hybrids start out seemingly human. And then, after a few years, they start to mutate...
1105* {{Cult}}: The Esoteric Order of Dagon in Innsmouth, which the human collaborators of the deep ones use in worship and controlling the town.
1106* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: While not required for their reproductive methods, the deep ones can breed with humanity when they so want.
1107* FishPeople: Their appearance
1108* HalfHumanHybrid: Deep ones can mate with humans to produce these.
1109* HornySailors: Lovecraft doesn't provide much detail into the "breeding" of the Hybrids. But considering Innsmouth is a port, its only major industry was shipping, and a sea captain who made the alliance with the Deep Ones, it implied that this could be the case.
1110* HybridMonster: Deep ones can produce half-shark and half-dolphin hybrids by mating with these animals.
1111* KrakenAndLeviathan: Dagon and his mate, Mother Hydra, being very huge monsters.
1112* LordOfTheOcean: Again Dagon and Mother Hydra, who are worshipped by the lesser Deep Ones and their human collaborators.
1113* MarsNeedsWomen: They're eager to mate with humans, although all the individual pairings we hear about are male humans and female Deep Ones.
1114* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In-universe, the deep ones inspired the mermaid myth. The problem is, the reality is far more horrible.
1115* SeaMonster: Arguably they qualify for this, though not to the extent of their parents.
1116* SlowTransformation: Deep One hybrids are born identical to humans, but begin to transform as teenagers, start to show deformations by middle age and become normal Deep Ones when they grow old.
1117* TownWithADarkSecret: Innsmouth. Everybody knows something odd about the place, but few are willing to learn why.
1118* UnderwaterCity: Several, such as the city of Y'ha-nthlei.
1119[[/folder]]
1120
1121[[folder:Elder Things]]
1122->'''Debut:''' ''The Dreams in the Witch House''
1123[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_elder_thing.jpg]]
1124Aliens that once colonized Earth billions of years ago. They developed a highly advanced civilization, and they accidentally led to life arising on Earth in the process of creating the [[BlobMonster shoggoths]]. They're described as a barrel-shaped body with a starfish-like head and feet. Featuring radial symmetry, they have five eyes, tentacles, wings, feeding tubes, and brain lobes.
1125----
1126* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: Their city in the "Mountains of Madness".
1127* AncientAstronauts: They're aliens who came to Earth eons before any natural life evolved. In fact, it's implied they begat all life on Earth. ''By accident''.
1128* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Subverted, the Elder Things could travel through deep space, but only by absorbing "certain chemicals". [[spoiler: They eventually lose this knowledge, and end up trapped on Earth.]]
1129* BizarreAlienBiology: At one point Dyer states that the aspects of their biology that make them so long-lived and resilient are probably beyond human understanding.
1130* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: Hinted that terrestrial life could be the unexpected consequence of the Elder Ones trying to grow food and Shoggoths.
1131* CreaturesByManyOtherNames: Within "At the Mountains of Madness," the creatures that built the Antarctic civilization are generally called "Old Ones;" since that name is generally used to refer to a very different class of being in the Mythos they originate from later writers generally refer to them as the "Elder Things," with this page following suit.
1132* DisintegratorRay: Used "curious weapons of molecular and atomic disturbances".
1133* HeroicNeutral: Long gone, for the most part, by modern times, but their enemies coincided with many of those that now trouble humanity. The narrators of the story in which they appear even compare them to human beings. They're also one of the only inhuman races Lovecraft portrayed with any kind of sympathy, explaining the frenzied murder of the researchers in ''At the Mountains of Madness'' as a hysterical reaction to unknown circumstances. Imagine waking up after sleeping for thousands of years and finding one of your kin dissected on a table.
1134* MadeOfIron: Capable of living under deep sea pressures.
1135* MirroringFactions: A rarity in the mythos, the Elder Things don't actually behave too differently psychologically to humans, something which is lampshaded in ''At the Mountains of Madness''. Sure, they killed and dissected those explorers and their dog, but the explorers (unknowingly) did the same to them first!
1136* MysteriousAntarctica: Where their last city ends up being located.
1137* NoBiologicalSex
1138* NoNameGiven: They're only called Elder Things because [[ShapedLikeItself they are elder and they are things]], and that's about how much is known of them. If they have a real name it's never revealed.
1139* PlantAliens: More like half-plant, half-animal aliens.
1140* {{Precursors}}: To all terrestrial life.
1141* {{Pride}}: In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', this is noted as their biggest racial weaknesses. Elder Things keep making the same mistakes over and over, most notably recreating Shoggoths because each colony assumes it's superior to the ones who suffered such disasters in the past and surely it can keep things under control.
1142* SolarSail: As a result of [[ScienceMarchesOn advances in science]], later writers explained that the Elder Things used their wings as living solar sails.
1143* StarfishAliens: Literally in this case, with the Elder Thing's radial physiology and starfish-shaped heads, though they are some of the more comprehensible aliens in the mythos.
1144* UnreliableExpositor: While studying their historical art, Dyer considers the possibility that the Old One’s history may be colored by their pride. The professor wonders if the alien masters of the Star-Spawn and Mi-go are mere mythological constructs to explain the Elder Thing’s defeats. It is also notable that their annals don’t mention the Yithians either.
1145* VestigialEmpire: After shoggoth rebellions, wars against Cthulhu's spawn, the Great Race, and the Mi-go, and the cooling of Earth, the Elder Things are reduced to this.
1146[[/folder]]
1147
1148[[folder:Fire Vampires of Fthaggua]]
1149->'''Debut:''' "The Fire Vampires", Donald Wandrei
1150
1151Described as a sphere of blue-flame, Fthaggua is similar to Cthugha. However, whereas Cthugha is imprisoned, Fthaggua is free and riding across the universe on the comet Ktynga. He is served by his ''Fire Vampires'', which appear as red lighting. It's unknown if Fthaggua is a ''Great Old One'' or not, also if it has any relation to Cthugha.
1152----
1153* CometOfDoom: Ktynga, which houses a bunch of Fire Vampires.
1154* HiveMind: Fthaggua and his Fire Vampires are described as such.
1155* OurVampiresAreDifferent: A radical example, although the basic synopsis is the same. Upon destroying a victim (akin to spontaneous combustion), the Fire Vampires absorbs both the lifeform's energy and memories.
1156* YellowLightningBlueLightning: Averted with the Fire Vampires—they're red.
1157[[/folder]]
1158
1159[[folder:Flying Polyps]]
1160
1161A species who colonized Earth and three other planets in the Solar System more than 600 million years ago. They built basalt cities of huge windowless towers. They warred with the Great Race of Yith until they were driven from the surface. The Great Race then sealed the entryways to the polyps' subterranean abode with trapdoors, which afterwards were diligently guarded. The polyps' cities were left abandoned, perhaps as a reminder of the horrors that dwelt below. Eventually, the polyps rose up and almost exterminated the Great Race, afterwards returning to their subterranean haunts. Having no conception of light, the polyps seem content to remain there, annihilating the few intruders that chance upon them. The entrances to their dwellings are mostly deep within ancient ruins where there are great wells sealed over with stone. Inside these wells still dwell the polyps.
1162----
1163* AliensAreBastards: To put it mildly with these creatures.
1164* BizarreAlienLocomotion: Despite being called "flying" polyps, they have no wings or other apparent methods to keep them aloft. In fact, even though they levitate, they somehow leave behind five-toed radial footprints wherever they go.
1165* BizarreAlienPsychology: Their minds are so strange that the Great Race of Yith can't use their PsychicPowers on them.
1166* BizarreAlienSenses: They don't "see" like humans do, but they're able to sense what lies beyond material obstructions.
1167* BlowYouAway: They can control and direct wind to use as a weapon.
1168* GreatOffscreenWar: They fought a war against the Great Race of Yith and were driven from colonizing the oceans by the Elder Things.
1169* InscrutableAliens: To put it simply: all the tropes listed in this folder is equivalent to the sum total of everything that is known about them InUniverse.
1170* {{Invisibility}}: They can turn themselves invisible, although it's somewhat negated by the whistling noises they make when they move.
1171* NighInvulnerable: Since they're not made of ordinary matter, they're heavily resistant or even immune to most damage. They do have a weakness to [[ShockAndAwe electricity]]
1172* NoNameGiven: Lovecraft never gave their species a true name.
1173* SealedEvilInACan: The Great Race of Yith drove the polyps underground and sealed their tunnels with trapdoors. This didn't stick and the polyps managed to escape, slaughtering the Great Race. However, they also decided they liked it better underground.
1174* StarfishAliens: They're not even made of the same matter as most other life.
1175* TakeOurWordForIt: The Great Race of Yith's records never really describe them in detail, only referring to them as horrible, evil creatures.
1176[[/folder]]
1177
1178[[folder:Great Race of Yith]]
1179->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime''
1180[[quoteright:814:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yithian_3.png]]
1181
1182A highly intelligent race that lived on Earth long before humans. Their bodies consist of fleshy cones with four tendrils (two ended in pincers, one a mouth and one a pair of eyes) sticking out of the top. They ruled a portion of the Earth that includes what is now Australia when Cthulhu was active. They use psychic powers to leap from body to body across time. Their society is described as socialist and placing a high value on individual intelligence. The Great Race of Yith is wiped out in a war with the Flying Polyps but will be re-created in the future thanks to their time-traveling powers. Yithians come across as the closest thing to a "good" race out of the original Lovecraft critters.
1183----
1184* BadassBookworm: One of the more (conventionally) intelligent races in the setting, and the Mi-Go and the Star Spawn of Cthulhu respected them.
1185* BizarreAlienBiology: not unexpected considering the setting. They also reproduce by spores....
1186* BrainUploading: Their specialty via their PsychicPowers. They actually escaped the destruction of their own world by uploading their minds en masse to the species of conical lifeforms they're now associated with, and then they did the same trick to escape into a far-flung future species to avoid being wiped out by the Flying Polyps.
1187* CommieNazis: Their political system is referred to as "fascistic socialism" though this is not used to mark them as evil.
1188* EveryoneHasStandards: While they're not unambiguously ''good'' (they do mentally kidnap sentient beings from the future for research purposes, steal large parts of their lives, wipe their memories of the event, and in emergencies will transfer their entire race's minds into the future, replacing the victim race completely in the process), they do have some moral standards, to a degree unusual for Lovecraft aliens:
1189** Those they swap with are well-treated, with extensive access to Yithian society and libraries. They particularly go out of their way to treat their victims well if the original body dies (trapping them forever in a Yithian body); victims of such accidents are treated as honored guests by the Yithians for the rest of their lives.
1190** They're willing to steal minds temporarily for research purposes, but intentionally swapping minds permanently with an unwilling subject is normally considered a heinous crime. It's also not strictly clear whether the races they replace when moving the entire Yithian race forwards in time to escape catastrophes are sentient.
1191* GrandTheftMe: Usually combined with the mental time travel mentioned below. Can be temporary for research purposes or permanent.
1192* InvadingRefugees: The conical creatures and the Great Race are actually different entities. The real Great Race originated on the planet Yith, but mentally overwrote the minds of Earth's cone-creatures to avoid extinction. They then pulled off a time-travel variant to escape the war with the Flying Polyps.
1193* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Before reversing a temporary body swap, the 'guest' mind is stripped of its memories of its stay with the Yithians. As Professor Peaslee (of "The Shadow Out Of Time" fame) will attest, the process isn't always quite 100% effective.
1194* LightningGun: They wield lightning guns to battle their arch-enemies: the Flying Polyps.
1195* NoBiologicalSex: The conelike bodies of the Yithians do not possess either male or female sex organs. Instead, they reproduce by releasing spores.
1196* PsychicPowers: The Yithians use their psychic powers to possess the minds of other races, even across different time periods.
1197* ShockAndAwe: The main weapon of the Yithian armies is a lighting-shooting device that looks like an old camera.
1198* TimeTravel: Of the {{mental|TimeTravel}} variety, and the source of the appellation "Great Race," as they were the only species to master it.
1199[[/folder]]
1200
1201[[folder:Hounds of Tindalos]]
1202->'''Debut:''' "Literature/TheHoundsOfTindalos", Frank Belknap Long
1203[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_hound_of_tindalos.jpg]]
1204Creatures from the primordial past that are capable of traveling through time. They are only able to enter our dimension through angles.
1205----
1206* AlienGeometries: The Hounds are descended literally from ''angles''. All natural life (including humans) are descended from curves. As a result, the monsters can enter anywhere and anytime there are angles. [[GeometricMagic The only way to hide from the beasts is to be in a totally curved room.]]
1207* CallASmeerpARabbit: They do not look like hounds.
1208* ClockRoaches: Halpin Chalmers caught their attention when he sent his consciousness too far back in time. However, it's not clear if they're a natural defence against messing with time travel, or are just predators who opportunistically chose him as their prey.
1209* FromCataclysmToMyth: Due to some unspeakable act in near the primordial past, the Hounds became “foul” while normal life remained “pure”. The event itself was forgotten, but the myths such as ''The Fall'' from Genesis are allusions to this event.
1210* TheGhost: The Hounds are never seen in the original story they debuted. They're only described as "hungry" and "foul" by one of the characters. As a result, the RPG books get very inventive with their descriptions. Creator/{{Chaosium}}'s ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' describes them as resembling, basically, large shaggy hounds [[CoveredInGunge caked in]] thick blue [[PoisonousPerson toxic]] slime with elongated tongues they use for sucking blood. ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' keeps the tongue but makes them huge-eyed, leathery-skinned, vaguely insectile quadrupeds, somewhat similar to the {{chupacabra}}.
1211* {{Hellhound}}: Described as this, but more for their ravenous, relentlessness hunger than for their physical appearance.
1212* {{Immortality}}: Theoretically they have Biological Immortality since no enzymes exist within the bodies of the Hounds.
1213* ImplacableMan: Once they catch the scent of someone, they will keep on hunting until they get their target.
1214[[/folder]]
1215
1216[[folder:Hunting Horrors]]
1217-> '''Debut:''' ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', by H. P. Lovecraft
1218[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_hunting_horror.jpg]]
1219
1220Serpentine horrors that chase down any unfortunate mortal that came across them. They serve Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos.
1221----
1222* DraconicAbomination: The Hunting Horrors resemble winged serpents with tentacles that end in razor-sharp talons.
1223* DragonsAreDemonic: They're hostile serpentine abominations that serve [[GodOfEvil Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos]], by hunting down unfortunate mortals at his command.
1224* ReducedToDust: They're on the receiving end of this trope, thanks to Nodens vaporizing them with [[WeakenedByTheLight a great flash of light]].
1225[[/folder]]
1226
1227[[folder:Hydra]]
1228-> '''Debut:''' "Hydra", Henry Kuttner
1229
1230A massive monster looking like an ocean of gray goop, upon which sit many heads—some human, but mostly alien. Thankfully it dwells in AnotherDimension, but it has worshipers on Earth.
1231
1232Not to be confused with Mother Hydra.
1233----
1234* AlienSea: Could be mistaken for one of these.
1235* AndIMustScream: Yeah, those heads? From the creature's victims. [[LosingYourHead And they're still very well alive]].
1236%%* MuckMonster
1237* MultipleHeadCase: Technically, since all those heads are still conscious. Not played for laughs though.
1238* OneSteveLimit: Averted; it shares its name with Mother Hydra, Queen of the Deep Ones.
1239* PowerParasite: Using its victim's brains helps empower the being.
1240* TomeOfEldritchLore: Not so much a book, but a pamphlet on "astral projection". [[spoiler:It's really a DeathTrap, allowing the Hydra to enter our universe.]]
1241[[/folder]]
1242
1243[[folder:K’n-yanians]]
1244->'''Debut:''' ''The Mound'', H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop
1245
1246Human-like inhabitants of the subterranean land of [[HiddenElfVillage K’n-yan]], a blue-lit cavern under Oklahoma. According to their legends, they came to Earth with Tulu (aka Cthulhu) and settled underground as the surface was uninhabitable. When R'lyeh sunk, the K’n-yani became isolationist and spent millions of years underground alone. They developed a virtuous high tech civilization, but then abandoned much of it to become a cruel hedonistic aristocracy. They worship a large number of Great Old Ones, Cthulhu and Yig being the most prominent.
1247----
1248* TheAgeless: Having discovered the secret of Immortality, they have ceased to age.
1249* AnimateDead: The ''y’m-bhi''—one of the many slave classes used. Reanimated by using nuclear power, many were other slaves who were used by the Old Ones for "[[ColdBloodedTorture entertainment]]". As a result, many are horribly mutilated.
1250* AstralProjection: Can dream themselves to visit distant places.
1251* BeneathTheEarth: K’n-yan, with red-litten Yoth below, and dark N'Kai below that.
1252* CityOfGold: In-universe, K’n-yan is the source of all the legends about El Dorado. It turns out that gold and other precious metals on the surface are [[WorthlessYellowRocks merely the most common building metals underground]].
1253* DisintegratorRay
1254* HumanAliens: Very odd for a setting with [[StarfishAliens very alien aliens]]. However, the Old Ones have the power to make themselves [[{{Intangibility}} intangible]] at will thanks to their psychic powers.
1255* HumanoidAbomination: ''Gyaa-yoth''—white beasts with black fur on their backs, little intelligence, a singe horn on the forehead, and vaguely humanoid shape. Despite their carnivorous nature, they're somewhat harmless. They're the result of crossbreeding slaves with reptilian beasts.
1256* TheFairFolk: The Old Ones have great powers, and amuse themselves by tormenting slaves and anyone who comes close to their surface entrances. Any outsider who enters K’n-yan can no longer leave. Visitors may be treated nicely (if lucky), but if they attempt to escape...
1257* LostTechnology: Once had an advanced industrialized culture. Then they merely abandoned machinery finding it unsatisfying.
1258* SlaveRace: The y’m-bhi and the gyaa-yothn. Along with them are a K’n-yanians slave caste, some of which are classified as livestock.
1259* TheSocialDarwinist: The ruling class—apparently they rose to power when K’n-yan developed a democratic society. Thus rose the most intelligent, while workers became exhausted and were enslaved.
1260* TelepathicSpacemen: {{Telepathy}} is their primary means of communication, verbal speech being abandoned save for rituals.
1261[[/folder]]
1262
1263[[folder:Lloigor]]
1264->'''Debut:''' "The Return of the Lloigor", Colin Wilson
1265
1266Vortexes of energy that once ruled the prehistoric continent of Mu. Originally from the Andromeda galaxy, they began to lose their power while on Earth, and eventually went into hibernation. Occasionally the Lloigor can take the form of flying reptiles. Servants of Ghatanothoa.
1267
1268Not to be confused with the ''Twin Obscenities'', Zhar and Lloigor.
1269-----
1270* TheCynic: Due to their alien psychology, the Lligor are ''extremely'' pessimistic. Humans may understand pessimism, these creatures ''live'' it.
1271* EnergyBeings: Living whirlpools of [[PsychicPowers psychic energy]].
1272* HumanResources: Because of their weakened state, the Lloigor need to gather energy from sleeping, humans. The good news is that it just leaves a person temporarily drained.
1273* MindOverMatter: Capable of creating massive explosions and altering time with this power.
1274* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Their temporary psychical forms are likely the basis for Dragons, and why there are no remains of said creatures.
1275* WalkingWasteland: Near centers of Lloigor activity, the crime rate increases dramatically with increasingly more depraved activity.
1276* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: They will casually destroy any of their human servants if they even prove the slightest inconvenience.
1277[[/folder]]
1278
1279[[folder:Mi-gos]]
1280!!!Fungi from Yuggoth
1281[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z_cf8c7226.jpg]]
1282->'''Debut:''' "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness"
1283
1284Crab-like fungi aliens that come to earth for mining.
1285----
1286* AlienAbduction: In the Call of Cthulhu game, the Mi-Go are the ones who carry these out.
1287* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Some subspecies.
1288* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Mi-Go brain functions more like a computer hard disk than a human brain. They either know something, or they do not, and intuition is an alien concept to them. This is what fascinates them about humans: our ability to just guess in the absence of any solid information, or to be RightForTheWrongReasons. They find this ''unnerving''. They also have no empathy, and casually show humans things that shatter their comprehension of reality without even the intention of driving people mad, with all the same innocence as a small child microwaving a wet kitten to dry them off.
1289* BrainInAJar: How other subspecies that can't breathe in space travel. Also fond of doing this to humans.
1290* CoolGate: The Devil's Steps in the Severn Valley houses a portal to Yuggoth. Fortunately, a human can use the gate as it reconfigures the traveler to survive its destination. Unfortunately, Pluto houses things far worse than Mi-go...
1291* GrandTheftMe: They sometimes implant the brain of one of their kind in someone's skull.
1292* HiveCasteSystem: At least one sourcebook for the {{RPG}}s divides the Mi-Go into three castes: warriors, workers, and scientists.
1293* LightningGun: In the role-playing supplements ''The Stars Are Right!'' and ''Terror from the Stars'' describe the Mi-go as having ''Electric Rifles''.
1294* MultiversalConqueror: Potentially, as it seems their influence expands beyond our own universe.
1295* MushroomMan: They're fungus aliens but don't have much in common with men.
1296* OrganicTechnology: The ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' [=RPG=] has them using this.
1297* PlantAliens: They seem to be made of some kind of fungus.
1298* SolarSystemNeighbors: The Mi-Go are a race of winged, fungal Mad Scientists inhabiting Yuggoth, a dark planet at the edge of the solar system that's implied to be Pluto. H. P. Lovecraft's initial writings on Yuggoth actually predate the discovery of Pluto; the novella that prominently features the Mi-Go was written immediately after the discovery.
1299* ThatsNoMoon: ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' sourcebook ''Malleus Monstrorum'' mention how Mi-go harvest flesh of the Outer God Ubbo-Sathla and use it to construct a bio-mechanical super weapon capable of traveling through time and space, the living moon Charon.
1300[[/folder]]
1301
1302[[folder:Shans]]
1303!!!Insects from Shaggai
1304->'''Debut:''' "The Insects from Shaggai", Ramsey Campbell
1305
1306Extraterrestrials that worshiped Azathoth. Although highly advanced, this species was also extremely decadent. The Shan are about the size of a pigeon, with leathery wings, large lidless eyes, ten legs with tentacles, six brain lobes and three mouths.
1307----
1308* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Their homeworld was destroyed when a celestial body (likely Ghroth) passed. Considering their extreme decadence, the Shan deserved it.]]
1309* ColdBloodedTorture: As a form of ritual or entertainment.
1310* FuturisticPyramid: The Insects' conical-shaped temples to Azathoth, which are not only capable of teleportation, but also have [[CoolGate gateways]] that allow direct contact with "The Demon Sultan".
1311* IntangibleMan: Because of their affiliation with Azathoth, the Insects are able to phase through organic matter.
1312* InvadingRefugees: [[spoiler: Once their homeworld destroyed]], some of the Insects keep on jumping from planet to planet until finally getting stuck on Earth.
1313* MassTeleportation : The Shan are well versed in teleportation technology, capable of transporting their temples across interstellar spaces.
1314* OhCrap: Twice, often after discovering something disturbing on a planet they visited. And most likely the third time when they realize that Earth's atmosphere interferes with their temple's teleportation system.
1315* PuppeteerParasite: With their phasing abilities, and in combination with their psychic powers, the Shan are able to infest and dominate humans.
1316* SlaveRace: The ''Xiclotl'', tall, meat-eating creatures, which the Shan conquered.
1317* {{Telepathy}}: Allowing then to communicate their thoughts and memories, even into non-Shan beings.
1318* TomeOfEldritchLore: the ''Massa di Requiem par Shuggay'', an opera that tells of the Shan's travels. It's also impossible to perform, since [[spoiler: Azathoth would be summoned midway through the second act. The result would be nightmarish.]]
1319* WhenTreesAttack: To humans, they look like trees. Then they move...
1320* WeakenedByTheLight: Sol's electromagnetic radiation has an adverse effect on the Shan's metabolism.
1321[[/folder]]
1322
1323[[folder:Shoggoths]]
1324[[quoteright:279:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/02_shoggoth.png]]
1325->'''Debut:''' ''At the Mountains of Madness''
1326
1327Vile gelatinous creatures bio-engineered by the Elder Things. They are massive, amorphous, with eyes floating on its tar-like body, and emits green light. They are able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting create organs at will.]]
1328----
1329* BlobMonster: Shoggoths have no real shape. They can adjust their form into whatever is practical for a specific task, but usually, resemble large gelatinous blobs sometimes depicted with tentacles and/or multiple eyes and mouths.
1330* DecompositeCharacter: Robert Bloch's "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" features creatures called Shoggoths but which don't particularly resemble the ones from ''At the Mountains of Madness'', being tree-like creatures with hoofed feet. Sandy Petersen used these as the basis for the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath in the ''Call of Cthulhu'' TTRPG, and claims creator-ship of them.
1331* DumbMuscle: Meant to be living construction equipment/servants.
1332* ExtraEyes: Usually are covered in eyes, absorbing and reforming them as needed to see whatever they can.
1333* PartialTransformation: Shoggoths are versatile shapeshifters, able to create any organ they need. However, the ability seems limited, as most Shoggoths appear to be a horrendous mishmash of organs and black goo.
1334* ServantRace: Shoggoths were bred by the Elder-Things since in theory, they were the perfect servants, and who can blame them? Their capability to easily change shape as needed meant that they were capable of a nearly limitless variety of tasks. Unfortunately, that also made them formidable adversaries when they developed intelligence. The Deep Ones might also use Shoggoths (they were referred to in ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth''), possibly with more success.
1335* SlaveRace: After gaining intelligence, and after their first failed revolt, to the Elder Things. Others (such as the Deep Ones) also use them for their bidding.
1336* {{Squick}}: An in-universe example for Alhazred, who would not even mention Shoggoths unless he was high on drugs.
1337* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Quite famously so. When they evolved intelligence enough to realize they were nothing but slaves to the Elder Things, they turned on them.
1338* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Capable of forming whatever organ it needs. Shoggoth Lords are better at this, [[TheyLookLikeUsNow able to imitate human beings]].
1339[[/folder]]
1340
1341[[folder:Star Vampires]]
1342!!!Shamblers from the Stars
1343->'''Debut:''' "The Shambler from the Stars", Robert Bloch
1344
1345Monsters from outer space that hunger for blood. If they're seen (never a good sight), they're a gelatinous mass with a huge mouth and talons, covered in trunk-like tentacles—each one ending in a sucker.
1346----
1347* GigglingVillain: Its presence is marked by mocking giggling sounds.
1348* InvisibleMonsters: Totally invisible... [[InvisibilityFlicker until they feed]].
1349* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Different form, but the basic principle is the same.
1350* TomeOfEldritchLore: The ''De Vermis Mysteriis'', or "The Mysteries of the Worm". Written by Ludwig Prinn (a 15th-century sorcerer), the book contains the secrets of summoning these creatures.
1351[[/folder]]
1352
1353[[folder:Spawn of Cthulhu]]
1354!!!Star-Spawn of Cthulhu
1355->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness''
1356
1357Oddly enough, the descendants of the Great Cthulhu. An ancient civilization of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who flew in to colonize the Earth many millions of years ago. Unfortunately, it has already been occupied by another interstellar civilization of the Elder Things. After a long and epic confrontation, the spawn of Cthulhu managed to stake out a land mass in the Pacific Ocean, where the city of R'lyeh was built. There they lived for an indefinitely long period, until the stars changed their position, and the entire population of the city fell into a planned hibernation, in their language called fhtagn. Some time later, as a result of geological processes, R'lyeh sank and sank to the bottom of the ocean, where it remains to the present, only occasionally rising for a short time due to perturbations of Earth's crust.
1358----
1359%%* AncientAstronauts
1360* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Outwardly, the spawn of Cthulhu resembles, as it is not difficult to guess, Cthulhu himself the same overweight gigantic humanoids with wings behind their backs and a head similar to an octopus.
1361* FinalSolution: The awakening of Cthulhu and its spawn is one of the main options for TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and the extinction of humanity in Lovecraftian horrors. So it will actually happen or not we do not know. The protagonist of ''Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime'' read in the chronicles of the Great Race an accurate account of how humanity died out, but refused to divulge the details.
1362* {{Shapeshifter}}: According to the chronicles of the Elder Things, they had the ability to change shape, but whether this is so or just an element of political propaganda designed to justify defeat is not completely clear.
1363[[/folder]]
1364
1365[[folder:Spawn / Children of Yog-Sothoth]]
1366->'''Debut:''' ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror''
1367
1368Old Man Whateley used a ritual to impregnate his own daughter with the essence of Yog-Sothoth. The result would be the birth of twin creatures: one is Wilbur Whateley who is a strange HumanoidAbomination who could pass for a human when wearing clothes, the other is a truly horrific EldritchAbomination known only as the Dunwich Horror.
1369
1370''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' would later class beings like Wilbur as being “Children of Yog-Sothoth”, while categorising the Dunwich Horror as a “Spawn of Yog-Sothoth”.
1371----
1372
1373!!Wilbur Whateley
1374----
1375* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the book, Wilbur Whateley is a hulking, goatish HumanoidAbomination. In the 1970 movie, he's a young, nebbishy Dean Stockwell.
1376* AdaptationalVillainy: In the original novel, Wilbur Whateley was merely a puppet groomed by his grandfather, with it being Old Man Whateley who intends to unleash Yog-Sothoth. In the film, it is Wilbur himself who is the mastermind and does the atrocities of his own volition.
1377* AlienBlood: He has yellow-green ichor.
1378* AlliterativeName: Wilbur Whateley.
1379* AnimalsHateHim: Dogs ''loathe'' Wilbur Whateley, to the point where he has to start carrying a gun to defend himself from them. [[spoiler:In fact, it's a dog that eventually kills him.]]
1380* AuthorAvatar: One (mostly busted) theory is that Wilbur may have been one, adding RealitySubtext to the story.
1381--> "Wilbur's being raised by a grandfather instead of a father, his home education from his grandfather's library, his insane mother, his stigma of ugliness (in Lovecraft's case untrue, but a self-image imposed on him by his mother), and his sense of being an outsider all echo Lovecraft himself." - Robert M. Price in the introduction to ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Dunwich-Cycle-Where-Cthulhu-Books/dp/156882047X The Dunwich Cycle]]''.
1382* CreepyChild: Wilbur Whateley is described to be very creepy (both visually, and from his behaviour; he actually is much much much younger than he looks) by all his neighbors and the people he meets. [[spoiler:When he dies, it is revealed from a quick look on his half naked corpse that he actually is an HumanoidAbomination which bottom part isn't even remotely human looking.]]
1383* EnemyToAllLivingThings: People are creeped out by him and animals can't stand him - dogs especially try to attack him on sight.
1384* EvilSmellsBad: "''By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, . . . As a foulness shall ye know Them.''"
1385* EyesDoNotBelongThere: [[spoiler: Wilbur has a second pair of eyes on his hips]].
1386* HalfHumanHybrid: Wilbur himself, having a human for a mother and the Outer God Yog-Sothoth as a father.
1387* YoungerThanTheyLook: Because of his heritage, he grows at an accelerated rate. He was the size of an adult when he was but a toddler.
1388
1389!!The Dunwich Horror
1390----
1391* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: While it is typically InvisibleToNormals, it does leave gigantic footprints the size of barrels. Curtis Whateley being one of the few [[GoMadFromTheRevelation unfortunate enough to have seen it]], describes it as being the size of a barn.
1392* EldritchAbomination: Whoo boy. It’s described as being a gigantic mass of tentacles, mouths, and eyes. It’s overall the size of a barn, and for the most part it’s invisible.
1393* FacialHorror: It's described as having [[spoiler:half a face atop its body.]]
1394* HalfHumanHybrid: As hard as it is to believe, this thing was birthed from a human female.
1395* InvisibleMonster: [[spoiler:As it doesn’t fully exist in our reality, it has a corporeal but for the most part, invisible form]].
1396* IWantMyMommy: [[spoiler:Father variant with the titular horror, whose last words before being destroyed are desperately crying out for its father's help]].
1397* NothingIsScarier: It's a creature built around this idea. We barely get to see it, we don't know its motive or purpose, and all it does is spread destruction.
1398* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: It's never given a proper name throughout the story, only being referred to by the moniker “The Dunwich Horror“.
1399[[/folder]]
1400
1401[[folder:Tcho-Tcho]]
1402->'''Debut:''' "The Lair of the Star-Spawn", August Derleth and Mark Schorer
1403
1404"Abominable humanoids", short and hairless, who serve the Great Old Ones. Their abode is in Burma, on the Plateau of Tsang (which is also an extension of Leng).
1405----
1406* BaldOfEvil: Along with their short stature and other grotesque features, this is a [[RedRightHand major tipoff]] as to how creepy these guys are.
1407* BrainFood: "Bak bon dzhow" (mashed ganglia from human brains) is a Tcho-Tcho delicacy.
1408* CannibalTribe: As if Mythos cults weren't disturbing enough already.
1409* DepravedDwarf: Basically their [[PlanetOfHats hat]].
1410* HalfHumanHybrid: Descendants of humans who mated with the ''Miri Nigri'', a species of dwarfs made from amphibian flesh by Chaugnar Faugn.
1411* HillbillyHorrors: They live and carry out their perverse rituals in the depths of the Southeast Asian jungle, where few outsiders ever travel.
1412* InsanityImmunity: TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu has their SAN halved at birth, and it only gets worse from there.
1413* TheSecretOfLongPorkPies: They even have restaurants that specialize in serving "ethnic cuisine" to unwitting outsiders.
1414* ToServeMan: Human flesh is a dietary staple.
1415* TownWithADarkSecret: In T.E.D. Klein's "Black Man With A Horn," a missionary goes to investigate the group:
1416-->"… the nastiest people who ever lived …They'd been living way up in those hills I don't know how many centuries, and whatever it is they were doing, they weren't going to let a stranger in on it."
1417* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Having migrated to America, the Tcho-Tcho had created crime syndicates to continue their "traditions".
1418* YellowPeril: They're one of the most ''racist'' things to come out of the Mythos. Ironically, the degenerate cannibalism part was not inserted by the infamously racist Lovecraft; that characterization was introduced by the modern [[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu role-playing game]].
1419[[/folder]]
1420
1421[[folder:Tomb-herd]]
1422->'''Debut:''' "The Church in High Street", Ramsey Campbell
1423
1424Immaterial, white, jellylike flopping things. They are capable of creating portals to burial vaults, where they feed off a fungus growing off bodies. Affiliated with Yog-Sothoth, as sites of its worship attract their attention. Because of their lack of substance, they have to possess statues (or someone) for their ghastly deeds.
1425----
1426* FesteringFungus: Leaves an alien fungus behind, though it doesn't seem to have any harmful effects (save for growing on people).
1427* {{Intangibility}}: At least in our reality.
1428* LivingStatue: In order to interact with the material world, these things have special statutes that they can inhabit.
1429* PuppeteerParasite: what they can become when they inhabit a living being.
1430* SpaceMaster: The Herd can warp space to turn back on itself. So if a person wants to get away from a location, they always end up at that location no matter which direction they go! However, this power has a limited range.
1431* TempleOfDoom: In Temphill of the Severn Valley there is a temple of Yog-Sothoth that exists in the same area as a local church. The Herd visits the AncientTomb located bellow, and the local cult goes there for worship.
1432[[/folder]]

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