Cthulhu Mythos

Many eons had died before the birth of man, but there are arts that could revive them when the stars return to their right position in the cycle of eternity. TheyThey certainly came from the stars, and they brought Yours images with They.

-Cthulhu's call

Cthulhu sketch, by Lovecraft in 1934.

The Cthulhu Mythos is a literary cycle of cosmic horror between 1921 and 1935 by the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft and complemented by other writers belonging to the Circle of Lovecraft. Although closely linked to science fiction, the dream genre and pure fantasy, strictly speaking the Cthulhu Mythos belong to the Anglo-Saxon horror tale tradition.

In it the worn-out gothic horror of ghosts and immaterial beings is renewed in a realistic terror, of monstrous and unknown beings that hide in the darkest places of the Earth, time and space. Influenced by Arthur Machen and Lord Dunsany, the Myths blindly explore the perspective that a prodigious and terrifying reality hides beneath the everyday and familiar world that stalks humanity from the darkness and sends anyone who dares to peek into panic or madness. the abysses of that elusive dimension.

Despite the differences in the stories, its fundamental principle was established by Lovecraft himself:

Once our world was populated by other races who, by practicing black magic, lost their conquests and were expelled; but they still live in the exterior, ready at all times to take over the Earth.

Content of the work

Dagon

Preceded by prominent writers (Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, R. W. Chambers, Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood) and enriched by various authors (Frank Belknap Long, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Hazel Heald, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley) Howard Phillips Lovecraft, however, has the leading role in the creation of the Myths. Following, according to Derleth, are named the thirteen Lovecraft stories belonging to this literary cycle ordered according to their creation date:

• The city without name (1921)
• The ceremonial (1923)
• Cthulhu's call (1926)
• The color emerged from space (1927)
• The case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927-1928)
• The horror of Dunwich (1928)
• The one who whispers in the dark (1930)
• The shadow over Innsmouth (1931)
• In the mountains of madness (1931)
• Dreams in the house of the witch (1932)
• The thing on the threshold (1933)
• On the night of times (1934)
• The dweller of darkness (1935)

While these stories are considered canonical, there are numerous writings from Lovecraft's second (realist) period, which can also be considered part of the Mythos, including:

• Randolph Carter's testimony (1919)
• The horror of Red Hook (1925)
• The Pickman model (1926)
• Through the doors of the silver key (1933)

In addition, Lovecraft composed poems related to the Mythos, which were posthumously collected in Mushrooms of Yuggoth (1941).

Creation

Shub-Niggurath

The Lovecraftian universe is known only through incomplete and isolated testimonials, whose descriptions are full of veiled innuendoes and blank gaps. The monstrous beings received numerous descriptions and names from the oral tradition of rural communities, even appearances of the same entity or two independent beings (or, as the always suggested option, it would be the product of the collective imagination added to the madness of the protagonist). As a result, the Mythos were not systematized and the identity and relationships of the aliens remained a confused and impenetrable mystery.

It was mainly August Derleth, Lovecraft's disciple and correspondent, who tried to classify all the beings that inhabited it. Unlike Lovecraft, who was dominated by the ambiguous and a decentralized vision of the cosmos of human hopes and values, Derleth interpreted the purposes of those beings from the perspective of the eternal struggle of good and evil. He created the archetypal Gods, and according to his classification and systematization of the Mythos, it was because of the battle against them that Azathoth was deprived of intelligence, leading the rebellion against them. He tried to represent the Judeo-Christian concept of the God-Devil fight and the fall of Luzbel. Many fans of myths despise this classification, considering that it deprives part of the intrinsic horror of Lovecraft's stories and is totally unnecessary, since he never wanted anything similar in his work.

Structure

Azathoth

The beings that make up the myths are divided mainly into three types: Primals, archetypal Gods and the so-called minor races. Despite being the best known being in the stories, and the most revered, Cthulhu is not the most powerful being of the many out there.

Myths often focus on the Great Old Ones. These are extraterrestrial beings, immortal and of great power. Most of them are sleeping or trapped. Although there are a few on earth, there are hundreds (if not thousands) scattered throughout the universe.

The Outer Gods are less common in the stories, though some are commonly mentioned, notably Shub-Niggurath; his power is infinite and unimaginable, and his existence transcends time and space.

The minor races are much more common beings, which exist throughout the universe, there is an infinite variety of these, only on earth can be found dozens of races hidden from humans. Some are servants of and revere some primal or outer god, but many others are not loyal to any of these higher types of beings.

Influence

The world of the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that includes these and the so-called Lovecraft lands (imaginary triangle created by Lovecraft located in New England, made up of the fictitious towns of Arkham, Innsmouth and Dunwich) has been the subject of several adaptations.

Some of his inventions have contributed to the popularity of myths:

• the Necronomicon (Lovecraft played with the etymology of the name "the book of the dead" or "the image of the law of the dead") whose original title was Al Azif ("Murmur of nocturnal insects", attributed by the Arabs to demons of the night). He even got a tab at the University of California General Library and appeared in book sales ads.
• Cthulhu (the first alien enclosed in the marine depths).
• Nyarlathotep (the messenger of the horrible supreme god Azathoth).
• the deep (batracio men of the marine depths).

During the 1970s, coinciding with the rise of horror magazines, the myths would be reflected in the work of famous cartoonists. Josep María Beà, for example, made use of them in Sir Leo (1971), in addition to starting a bestiary based on texts by Josep Lórman for the New English Library, which would only see the light in fragments as it was not published. find publisher.

Lovecraft cannot be interpreted graphically, it is an example of literary subjectivism... The mind of each reader will generate his own monster in relation to psychic content that by its culture and experiences can sweep. The interpretation of the lovecraftian universe is personal and intransferable.

Josep María Beà.

The most outstanding of these works is The Cthulhu Mythos made by the screenwriter Norberto Buscaglia and the cartoonist Alberto Breccia from 1973 for the Italian magazine Il Mago.

In the early eighties, the role-playing game called Call of Cthulhu was produced, published by the publisher Chaosium. It accommodates all the constituent elements of mythology and works of both Lovecraft and his collaborators. These elements are the beings or creatures of the Mythos, investigative characters who try to thwart the plans of the evil cultists or followers of said creatures and numerous magical artifacts, spell books and places set in the Lands of Lovecraft and other parts of the world. The same publisher, Chaosium, publishes in addition to the role-playing game a collectible card game based on the Cthulhu mythos and titled Mythos.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its appearance, the publisher Edge Entertainment, owner of the rights in Spain, publishes in November 2011 a special anniversary edition, which corresponds to the sixth edition (still unpublished in Spain) of Chaosium, although incorporating additional content. Likewise, a commemorative anthology titled The new Cthulhu Myths comes to light, devised and coordinated by the fantastic genre writer Rubén Serrano, and with the participation of numerous authors from Nocte, the Spanish Association of Horror Writers.

The video game Alone in the Dark, from 1992, has a Lovecraftian influence, but developer Infogrames did not have the rights to the full adaptation, until a year later they were able to acquire the rights from the aforementioned RPG to Chaosium and deliver Shadow of the Comet with a greater handling of Lovecraft elements, specifically from his stories The Shadow Over Insmouth and The Color Out of Space. Several movies have also been created based on some short stories. In addition, the stories have been adapted in the comic format, as well as inspiring the creation of original stories; For example, Young Lovecraft, a webcomic created since 2006, recounts in a humorous tone Lovecraft's supposed childhood years.

In the musical field, several bands have created compositions inspired by this work. Some examples are: Metallica, with the instrumental The Call of Ktulu (from the album Ride the Lightning), The Thing That Should Not Be (from the album Master of Puppets) and more recently with the song Dream No More (from the album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct; Mercyful Fate with "Ktulu (The Mad Arab Part II)" (Into the Unknown); Cradle of Filth featuring "Cthulhu Dawn" (Midian); Nox Arcana (Necronomicon);The Vision Bleak with "Kutulu!"; the Spanish death metal group Ktulu; the DJ and producer Deadmau5 with the songs &# 34;Cthulhu sleeps" and "Cthulhu dreams"; Deicide, with "Dead by Dawn": References the Necronomicon; Iron Maiden with Live After Death: The album cover shows a tombstone with the phrase “That is not dead which can eternal lie/And with strange aeons even death may die”; Tiamat on the Sumerian Cry album and The Astral Sleep with songs like “Sumerian Cry (part 3)” where they mention mentions “Arab’s wise words” and “the Ancient Ones”.

The book The Key to the Abyss by José Carlos Somoza pays homage to this series.