History Main / EldritchTransformation

Ah yes, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. The embodiment of the incomprehensible, the grotesque, the omnipotent. Nothing can be so terrifying as a CosmicHorror monster, regardless of its origins. Especially if those origins are someone as mundane as your average Joe.

* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' has a [[NightmareFuel very nasty]], and [[TearJerker very tragic]] example in Giygas. [[spoiler:The prequel shows that at first he was [[TheGrays a gray]] TragicVillain, but by the time of ''Earthbound'' he became an insane EldritchAbomination.]]
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':

* The music video for "Fantasy" by ''Music/DyE'' sees a group of teenagers sneak into a swimming pool at night... then suddenly start mutating into eldritch monsters and attacking one another. [[spoiler:The only survivor dives into the pool and finds herself in the presence of a being so horrifying [[EyeScream her eyes burst]].]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{AKIRA}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eldritch_transformation.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[AndIMustScream Kaori... help me...]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', the villagers in the later stages of the game turn into extremely disgusting and repulsive tentacled horrors when wounded enough, with their heads exploding so the tentacles can get out. Leon has to put them down quickly before they get too close, as their tentacles have blades on them that inflict heavy damage.

** People infected by [[OminousObsidianOoze the Filth]] -- if they survive the initial ZombieApocalypse phase - gradually become less and less human until they transform into beings of pure Filth known as Shades. The ultimate iteration of this is the Shade Stalker, a gigantic spidery mass of Filth that's essentially a scaled-down edition of [[EldritchAbomination the Dreamers]] themselves.
** As a result of being at the very epicentre of the Filth bomb used in Tokyo, [[spoiler: John Copley]] [[TheDisembodied transcends physical existence altogether]] and becomes a minor EldritchAbomination known as the [[MouthOfSauron Black Signal]]. Now part of the Dreamers' collective but unbound by the [[CosmicKeystone Gaia Engines]] that normally keep them under control, he is capable of creating bodies out of pure Filth, speaking in {{Brown Note}}s that induce spontaneous suicide in listeners, and manipulating technology in any way he pleases - to the point that he's actually able to ''hack'' the game's lore entries just so he can talk to you.

** Koyanskaya's endgame is to apotheosize into a Beast, [[spoiler:and she eventually succeeds in becoming the nightmarish {{Kitsune}}-like Beast of Cherishment]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In Season 3, [[spoiler:the [[Characters/FinalSpaceTheLordCommandersForces Lord Commander]] succeeds in his GodhoodSeeker goal of transforming himself from a mere empowered mortal into a [[EldritchAbomination Titan]], by merging himself with the Titan fetus in Final Space]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/{{AKIRA}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eldritch_transformation.png]]]]

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}''[='=]s film adaptation is the TropeCodifier. Tetsuo transforms into a giant human amoeba after his psychic powers get to be too much for him to control in the third act of the film. It takes Akira, himself a walking apocalypse, coming BackFromTheDead to stop his transformation, destroying Neo-Tokyo in the process and transporting him and the Espers[[note]]also Kaneda, almost[[/note]] to a new universe.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': When reaching the titular area, [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Darkest Dungeon]], most of the Cultists fought throughout the game "Ascended" thanks to their eldritch master, which means they've turned into horrifying, fleshy, tentacled creatures which barely resemble their humanoid form. Of note are the Cultist Priests, which on the outside look like humans with robes that obscure their face and bodies, but are actually ''the'' most monstrous and eldritch out of all of them underneath. ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeonII'' adds the Plague Eaters, whose consumption of tainted crops and MeatMoss has turned them into horrible, bloated creatures with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Inside Job|2021}}'': When Brett tries to burn a horde of JFK clones, they begin to mutate into a giant mutual flesh blob and [[spoiler:eat "Grassy" Noel Atkinson]]. When Brett warns Reagan about it, he even name-drops ''AKIRA''.
-->'''Reagan''': Of ''course'' I've seen ''Akira''! Anime's very mainstream right now!

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has, in its most [[GuideDangIt obtuse-to-get ending]], [[spoiler:the Hunter transforming into a newborn Great One, though if this is a good or bad thing is highly subjective.]]
** Prior to this, a ''lot'' of misery is caused by the Healing Church's attempt to use eldritch blood to transcend humanity, and while this ''usually'' goes off the rails in a "hideous werewolf monster" direction, some of the creatures born from it are closer to this. The alien-looking Celestial Minions, the bug-headed Gardens of Eyes, the twisted Celestial Children, and by some implications the Brainsuckers, are all examples.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eldritch_transformation.png]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{Akira}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tetsuo_transformation.png]]]]

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': When reaching the titular area, [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Darkest Dungeon]], most of the Cultists fought throughout the game "Ascended" thanks to their eldritch master, which means they've turned into horrifying, fleshy, tentacled creatures which barely resemble their humanoid form. Of note are the Cultist Priests, which on the outside look like humans with robes that obscure their face and bodies, but are actually ''the'' most monstrous and eldritch out of all of them underneath.

* ''ComicBook/TheBadBadPlace'': Lady Malise Castavette, after communing with the ''things'' beneath [[EldritchLocation the Estate]], gradually begins to metamorphose into a Lovecraftian monster; initially only sporting a nightmarish grin after emerging from the tunnels for the first time, by her second visit she's gained a ''lot'' of weight and can now only amble about on crutches; her clothes are eventually revealed to be hiding multiple breasts - [[spoiler: as part of her new role as a MotherOfAThousandYoung]]. She also gains greater magical powers, enough to imbue the Estate with its [[LotusEaterMachine most]] [[ImmortalityField horrifying]] [[AndIMustScream traits]]. Over time, she grows progressively less human: when she finally re-emerges in the 21st century, she has transformed into a bloblike mass of teats and tendrils, a minor EldritchAbomination in her own right.

* Phase IV of ''ComicBook/{{Zenith}}'' reveals that the Many-Angled Lloigor that the heroes have been fighting against all this time were once human - and not just ''any'' humans: they were [[spoiler: Cloud 9, [[FallenHero the original superhero team]], having self-evolved to a level so far beyond humanity that they became Lovecraftian gods existing beyond space and time. In fact, not only have they fought their past selves many times throughout the series but actually inspired their own creation by giving the super-serum formula to the Nazis, prompting the creation of the first superhumans.]] Issues 9 through 10 of this Phase feature the very moment in which the villain team ascend into [[NegativeSpaceWedgie the black sun]] and are reborn as the Lloigor; initially taking the form of [[HumanoidAbomination naked, glowing humanoids with no genitals]], they quickly transform into giant tentacled insects and go on the attack - with apocalyptic consequences.

* ''Literature/QuantumDevilSagaAvatarTuner'': This is what happens with [[spoiler:Harley Q]]. In the beginning, he just like every other person in the Junkyard was infected with the Atma virus, which gives those who have it the ability to transform into Asuras, but [[HorrorHunger forcing them to eat human flesh to maintain it]]. [[spoiler:Harley Q]] went through a VillainousRROD - as is typical with those who are not sufficiently feeding - but instead of kicking the bucket, [[spoiler:he ended up in the sewer system where all the data from all the dead people are stored. From there, he absorbed all that information and eventually turned into a [[BlobMonster black sludge]] made of pure hunger and the desperation of all the dead, and he grew large enough to cover and devour the entire Junkyard.]]

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': In season 3, the Mind Flayer begins infecting ordinary people and rats in Hawkins to allow itself a physical presence in our world. When it decides to take a personal hand in hunting down Eleven (the only one it perceives as a threat), it melts down and assimilates its hosts into a single horrific, arachnid-type body.
* The pilot to ''Series/LovecraftCountry'' has the main cast members and the racist sheriff's deputies who were going to lynch them chased into the woods by a shoggoth. As they all take shelter in a cabin, Tic mentions that, in horror stories, getting bitten by a monster means you become a monster. Guess what happened to the Sheriff...

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade,'' the legendary third generation of vampires--the Antediluvians--have in many cases transcended all semblance of humanity and become godlike monsters.

** Exposure to the darkspawn taint is notoriously corrupting. [[spoiler:Especially for cis women, who transform into the hideous, cannibalistic spawn factories known as Broodmothers.]]

** People infected by [[OminousObsidianOoze the Filth]] - if they survive the initial ZombieApocalypse phase - gradually become less and less human until they transform into beings of pure Filth known as Shades. The ultimate iteration of this is the Shade Stalker, a gigantic spidery mass of Filth that's essentially a scaled-down edition of [[EldritchAbomination the Dreamers]] themselves.

* This is what happens to the avatars in ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives''. They have a close encounter with one of the fourteen eldritch horrors, and they (or whatever remains of them) are [[TheCorruption corrupted]] into a HumanoidAbomination which hunts for other victims in our realm. [[spoiler:The narrator, Jon, is being slowly transformed into the avatar of The Beholder, though he doesn't realise it until season three]].

->''We see the Shade Stalker. Reality bubbles and drips where they step. Did you know they were human once, sweetling? It is hard to tell, harder to fathom. They have become so like the Dreamers, little fractal effigies. The changes you see are only the tip of the black iceberg. They have grown appendages in dimensions you cannot perceive.''

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':

** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'': In the "Milky Way Wishes", when Kirby summons Galactic Nova to wish for Sun and Moon to stop fighting, Marx steals his wish and wishes to [[TakeOverTheWorld control Pop Star]]. Nova then transforms him into a bat-like monstrous form of himself, which is fought as the FinalBoss of the mode (and, by extension, the original game). In the remake, Marx's dead body absorbs the destroyed Nova's parts and mutates into an even more monstrous form known as the Marx Soul, which is fought in the True Arena as the TrueFinalBoss of the game.
** At the end of ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'', when Kirby defeats [[WickedWitch Drawcia]] in her sorceress form, she ends up uncontrollably mutating into a monstrous blob of paint known as Drawcia Soul, which is fought as the final boss of the game.

* ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'': [[TheVillain Otto the Odd]] tries to thwart the Loonatics by using his [=DNA=] scrambler on the Ringmaster, transforming the bizarrely dressed human man into a hodgepodge of LegoGenetics: a thirty-foot-tall monster with a whip-like tail, crablike pincer claws, and a carapace, among other features. This ''ad hoc'' creature is soon defeated, though not easily.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In the episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E3Splicers Splicers]]", the LegoGenetics-loving villain, after transforming himself into a MixAndMatchCritter, is given a couple dozen more injections by Terry, turning him into a [[https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/File:Abel_Cuvier_monster.png nightmarishly malformed creature]] with WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids level of BodyHorror.

However, this only happens once and is most often involuntary. LovecraftianSuperpower, while closely related, covers habitual and usually voluntary transformation. However, these are not mutually exclusive; one with a LovecraftianSuperpower may undergo TheCorruption and end up transforming permanently into an Eldritch Abomination.

** Ennoia has permanently merged with the Earth itself, kept asleep by its rotation [[spoiler: and when she awakens in Gehenna, manifests entirely as earthquakes]].