Yog-Sothoth

(If the last post was as pellucidadj.1 as ichorn.1 then have a look here.)

Of all the gods in the Lovecraft Cosmos pantheon, Yog-Sothoth is paramount, “...an Outer God … coterminous with all time and space yet…supposedly locked outside of the universe we inhabit. Its cosmic nature is hinted at in this passage from “Through the Gates of the Silver Key” (1934) by Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price:

It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self — not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence’s whole unbounded sweep — the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of earth have whispered of as YOG-SOTHOTH, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of Yuggoth worship as the Beyond-One, and which the vaporous brains of the spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable Sign...” – Wikipedia entry

Such a deity would be utterly beyond human comprehension and any futile and foolhardy attempt to fathom its sheer enormity can only instigate abject and incurable insanity.

Please therefore exercise the utmost caution before undertaking such a venture.

A great image of Yog-Sothoth

Limited Print image

Of Other Gods and Outer Gods and Dreadful Elder Things

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”
“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”


Whilst the Lovecraft Cosmos gods were given the overarching title the Cthulhu Mythos after that eponymous ‘dead but dreaming’ god by August Derleth (not Lovecraft himself who used the term Yog-sothothery), Cthulhu is by no means the most dreaded and terror-inspiring of the Great Old Ones. That dubious accolade is no doubt being closely clutched by the god whose name Lovecraft used, Yog-Sothoth – “...only a congeries of iridescent globes, yet stupendous in its malign suggestiveness.” (H. P. Lovecraft, ‘The Horror in the Museum’). Yog-Sothoth is an Outer God (and as such is much more puissant than a Great Old One such as Cthulhu) but s/he/it has an eldritch connection to the Old Ones. The Elder Things are also sometimes known as the Old Ones who must not be confused with the Great Old Ones since they are sworn enemies.

This legendarium and its pantheonn.3 of deities has its roots in the belief that aliens visited earth many millennia ago and either created humanity themselves (via biotechnology) or instigated the rise of early civilisations – in particular Sumeria and Egypt. Believers in this find proof in ‘alternative’ archaeology and out-of-place artifacts.

H.P.Lovecraft and Stephen King

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was, until recently, one of the most underrated science fiction/horror/fantasy writers who ever set pen to paper. Aliens and anomalies, witchcraft and wormholes, insanity and Elder Things, the Cthulhu Mythos and creatures from hell – all of this lies ‘dead but dreaming’ awaiting readers.

“All my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.”– H.P. Lovecraft

Human beings inhabit (infest?) a minor planet in an insignificant solar system surrounding a commonplace star on a featureless arm of a run-of-the-mill spiral galaxy in what may be one of a multitude of universes. Unnameable horrors could be lurking just out of sight beyond the moon or under the oceans or in the deepest jungles – or, next-door.

Lovecraft’s skill, like that of Stephen King’s, was to couple the mundane with the preternaturaladj.1/3 – “…King is a fan of H.P Lovecraft and refers to him several times in in Danse Macabre. Lovecraft’s influence shows in King's invention of bizarre, ancient deities, subtle connections among all of his tales and the integration of fabricated newspaper clippings, trial transcripts and documents as narrative devices. King’s invented trio of afflicted New England towns—Jerusalem’s Lot, Castle Rock and Derry – are reminiscent of Lovecraft’s Arkham, Dunwich and Innsmouth. King's short story Crouch End is an explicit homage to, and part of, Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos story cycle. Gramma, a short story made into a film in the 80’s anthology horror show Tales From the Dark Side, mentions Lovecraft’s notorious fictional creation Necronomicon, also borrowing the names of a number of the fictional monsters mentioned therein. I Know What You Need from 1976’s anthology collection Night Shift, and ’Salem’s Lot. also mention the tome. Another tribute to Lovecraft is in King’s short story ‘Jerusalem’s Lot’, which opens King’s book Night Shift. King differs markedly from Lovecraft in his focus on extensive characterization and naturalistic dialogue, both notably absent in Lovecraft's writing. In On Writing, King is critical of Lovecraft’s dialogue-writing skills, using passages from The Colour Out of Space as particularly poor examples. There are also several examples of King referring to Lovecraftian characters in his work, such as Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth.” –Wikipedia entry