Who and/or What is Cthulhu?

[tonmo]

A few weeks ago I asked Greg Ewald and Erich Orser to write an article to answer the popular TONMO.com visitor question, "what is Cthulhu?"... and they have submitted their response! While this is not a holistic Cthulhu definition, a true, good description can be found in Erich's first "spoken" paragraph of the article. He succinctly explains the Cthulhu character, which comes from the mind of legendary author H.P. Lovecraft. The rest of this article is (quite obviously) pure fiction -- but highly entertaining and very much in the spirit of Cthulhu/H.P. Lovecraft lore and fandom. Enjoy, and THANKS to Greg and Erich for the contribution!

[url2=http://www.tonmo.com/articles/cthulhu.php]Who and/or What is Cthulhu?[/url2]

 

[sorseress]

OMG!

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Well, that is sure going to stop me from wacking anymore coprolites with my hammer.

 

[erich orser]

You know, Kevin, if you can properly identify the species (within thirty percent, mind you) based upon texture, shape, what have you, then I don't think a serious scientist like you has much to worry over. If it looks like an RV-sized chunk of petrified cuttlefish dung, then I might be a little worried. I'm sure that your coprolites are perfectly harmless. I hope.

 

[chrono_war01]

The world is a giant coprolite, a produce from an Elder God who had a rather "long sit" at the loo.

 

[cttlfish]

An exellent hypothesis!
"Intelligent Defecation" anybody?

 

[sorseress]

Oooooo, that's good!

 

[erich orser]

Wow, this thread is going right down the toilet. I wonder who's fault that is..? Oh, wait, nevermind...

 

[Daremo]

But...Cthulhu wasn't an Old One, he was their cousin!

 

[cthulhu77]

That depends on which branch of Cthonicism you adhere to, the one straight from HPL, or the additional branches added on by August D and others.

 

[Daremo]

True. I'm afraid I never really enjoyed Derleth's work, though. He took things in a much more conventional "Good v.s. Evil" direction, and I fear I gave up on him, so I tend to forget what he did with the Mythos. Sorry about that.

 

[GPO87]

upon reading the article, I started out enjoying the absolute factness of it... it sounded very profesional. Ya, that was short lived, but I still enjoyed it none the less!

 

[cthulhu77]

True. I'm afraid I never really enjoyed Derleth's work, though. He took things in a much more conventional "Good v.s. Evil" direction, and I fear I gave up on him, so I tend to forget what he did with the Mythos. Sorry about that.

I am in your court completely ! Derleth wrecked a perfectly good non-explainable theology, which is what Lovecraft wanted, not interstellar cowboys and indians. Beings that were so alien that nothing like good or evil applied to them, the concept would have been un-understandable ! I think the story that applies HPL's theorem the best is "The Colour Out of Space", a life changing force that doesn't give a fig about our views of the world as we see it.

 

[Graeme]

Think I've read one Derleth story. Can't rememebr which one, but I also disagree with his classification of the Great Old Ones- Space monsters with different powers according ot the elements...

It all ends up a bit like Captain Planet, or Voltron or something...

Maybe Lovecraft wasn't the most "proffessional" writers in history, but he knew how to take a fantastic story and add it to everyday events, with normal characters and make it seem real. People don't know why Rl'yeh appears sometimes when the stars are right (and sometimes even not) or what the Great Old Ones' motives are...

Another writer that annoyed me a bit was Brian Lumley. I've only read The Burrowers Beneath and forgot about the other two stories in the volume... He created a superhero, Titus Crow, and his trusty sidekick fighting against the baddies; Shudde M'el, Cthulhu (Doctor Doom) etc. I dare say his Necroscope and Vampire Wars series are excellent, but Marvel and Mythos really shouldn't mix. At least, not as a horror story. And a pulpy action story, yes! but cosmic horror?

 

[cthulhu77]

Quite true, another great series of writers have contributed to the "non derlith" sort of Cthonic mysteries, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, etc, have stuck with HPL's original idea of Cosmic beings so far out of our imagination that they are mind-crippling.

Must go now, meteors eat at my mindgate.