Alright guys--you know what time it is.
It’s been quite a while since we clambered down into the shadowy pit of eldritch horror,
but you know what they say about cosmic horror, right?
The abyss only makes the heart grow fonder.
Sorry, that was a terrible joke--but the point is, I get a little broody when we’re talking
about writhing tentacular monstrosities--and Lovecraftian themed dad jokes are a new niche
market that I’m trying to corner.
Well, we’ve already traversed three parts of this particular list--and you gobbled them
up more convincingly than a ravenous Dagon--so, let’s peel back the lid and take a look
at what shambling creations are lurking inside.
Hello horror fans, what’s going on--and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube, Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch--as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Scariest Lovecraftian Monsters - Part 4.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from Stuart Gordon’s 1986 sci-fi cosmic
horror, From Beyond--based on the short story of the same name by the one, the only, Howard
Phillips Lovecraft.
Because of course it is--this is a Lovecraftian Monsters list--and as I always note, I’m
a stickler for immersion.
Also, it leads me to an interesting point--because as is the case with our previous three entries
of this series, this list will not be featuring The High Priest of the Great Old Ones Himself,
the Great Dreamer, The Sleeper of R’lyeh--Cthulhu, because, come on guys, we’re better than
that.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Rhan-Tegoth
And it’s in the form and implication of this particular Great Old One where the Lovecraftian
terror truly lies, because as will be the case with many entries on this list, many
of the shambling horrors that lurk within the deep have a particularly apocalyptic purpose,
and Rhan-Tegoth’s cosmic significance pretty much spells the end of civilization as we
know.
Well, that’s if it wakes up, anyway--so, lets tread carefully.
Created by Hazel Heald with an uncredited co-creation from Lovecraft himself, Rhan-Tegoth’s
first appearance came in the astounding short story, The Horror In The Museum--which is
exactly as it sounds, and yes, a Lovecraftian protaganist was stupid enough to find a Great
Old One and stick in a museum.
And as we all know, that’s terrible for business.
Also known as the Terror of the Hominids--yes, as in us--and He of the Ivory Throne, Rhan-Tegoth
is described as a fifteen-foot medusa-esque insectoid amphibious god, that is particularly
acclimatized in the deep dark ocean.
For millennia, it lived in the vaporous, boiling seas of Yuggoth, before it’s machincations
were devised--and it was hurtled toward Earth roughly three million years ago during the
Pliocene Epoch, where it landed in a remote part of Alaska and commenced its slumber.
As The Horror in the Museum describes, it was discovered by George Rogers in 1926, where
it was briefly contained in London, before being lost to a shadowy cult, briefly appearing
again in the 1980s and the 1990s.
The thing is with Rhan-Tegoth, although of little power compared to the rest of its brood--this
guy spells the return of the Old Ones.
When it crashed into Earth, it was the last of the cosmic horrors to fall asleep--and
the High Priest himself intended Rhan-Tegoth to be the first one to wake, to herald the
return of the Great Old Ones.
Coming in next at Number 4 - The Shoggoths
Because although we’ve covered Great Old Ones, Outer Gods and Shambling Horrors alike--I
feel that we’re yet to fully take a look at some of the more monstrous races that inhabit
the Cthulhu Mythos, and perhaps the most vile and interesting of those creations are The
Shoggoths, one of Lovecraft’s most curious and divisive devices--who have played an incredibly
interesting yet equally horrifying role in the mythos.
The Shoggoths are a race of amorphous, shapeshifting beings--originally created by the Elder Things
through highly advanced genetic engineering, to serve them for eternity as formless tools
that would do their bidding.
The Shoggoths are blobs of self-shaping gelatinous flesh, almost like an amoeba--and are capable
of shaping themselves into whatever organ or shape they find needful.
The Elder Things abused them for aeons, creating their vast underwater cities and ancient kingdoms
deep in the bowels of Planet Earth.
The thing is though, despite being thoughtless, writhing masses of tentacles and maws--eventually,
after millennia, they mutated and developed sentience, where they rebelled against their
masters and consumed them--and from there, they created their own giant cities, which
is where we first got a taste of the horrifying Shoggoths in Lovecraftian fiction--in 1931’s
At The Mountains of Madness, where the last remnants of this vile race of fleshy beings
were found buried deep beneath the Antarctic Ice, by the one and only William Dyer.
And as it turns out, the last Shoggoth had sustained itself… by feasting on penguins.
Which makes it *that* much more evil.
Next up at Number 3 - Tsathoggua
And this guy comes from a long line of Great Old Ones that are incredibly difficult to
pronounce, which even for Lovecraftian fiction--is probably on the more Master Tier side of deciphering
the eldritch tongue, but--whatever, I’ll give it ago.
Zathoggua, whose Grandfather is Czazukluth, whose father is Ghisguth, whose
mother is Zstzlyzemghi and whose child is known as Zvilpogghua.
Okay.
Nailed it, maybe?
I think so.
But anyway, the point is--this particular Great Old One was created by Clark Ashton
Smith--one of Lovecraft’s contemporary's, who--whilst having a penchant for language,
also had a desire to create some of the vilest, weirdest cosmic horrors in the genre.
Zathoggua, also known as the Sleeper of N’kai, is a Great Old One that often appears in the
form of a monsterous, vile, toad-like creature, who is often found asleep in the deep bowels
of his kingdom, waiting for eternity for sacrificial offerings.
He’s definitely the couch-dweller of the brood, but the slothfulness of Zathoggua is
exactly what makes him so horrifying.
Deep beneath the Earth, Zathoggua waits within his black temple--where his will is carried
out by a writhing, formless spawn of polymorphic entities made of a black goo, that sit beside
his throne in basins carved from ancient stone.
Although the Great Old One himself rarely moves, the formless spawn are alive and writhing
within his kingdom, ready to consume any curious adventurer or lost soul that stumbles upon
him, where they’ll attach themselves with their undulating appendages, rip their flesh
to shreds and feed it to their master bit by bit.
Perhaps more than any other Great Old One in the mythos, Zathoggua isn’t willing to
lift a finger to bring about an apocalyptic cosmic horror--he’d just rather get fat
and sit on his obsidian throne, and wait for it to come to him.
Swinging in at Number 2 - Byatis
And I absolutely adore the lore behind this particular deity--simply for the fact that
it approaches human history in an incredibly interesting, and equally terrifying way.
When you think of Lovecraftian Fiction, you don’t exactly think of the Roman Empire,
do you?
Well, let me introduce you to the Serpent Bearded Byatis, The Berkeley Toad--a writhing,
multicoloured entity with a single eye, the claws of a crab and and endless beard of tentacles.
His appearance is caught somewhere between a Spider, somewhere between a Crab, and somewhere
between the Horror that Lies At the End Of All Dreams.
Created by Robert Bloch, Byatis first appeared in the September 1935 issue of Weird Tales,
but would later go on to play an integral role in Ramsey Campbells’ 1964 short story,
The Room In The Castle.
Although not exactly on the most powerful scale compared to the rest of the Great Old
Ones, in ancient times, Byatis was summoned to Earth by the Deep Ones to join the rest
of his brood, but yet during some unknown event, Byatis was cut off from the rest of
his ilk by the warring Elder Gods, and sealed behind a stone door in what would later become
the Severn Valley.
Aeons later, when the Roman’s conquered Britain, a small band of soldiers heard the
whisperings of the Great Old One, and became corrupted by his will.
Driven mad with cosmic torment, the Roman Soldiers formed a cult around the god, which
were eventually consumed by his eldritch will in a failed attempt to escape the stone-seal.
Centuries later, a Norman Castle was built over the site that contained Byatis prison--and
it wasn’t until the 18th Century, when Byatis was discovered by a warlock named Sir Gilbert
Morley, and eventually used as a puppet for his dark arts.
For hundreds of years, Byatis would feast upon the townsfolk, offered to him by Morley
to keep his primal needs satiated--but eventually, Byatis became so large that he trapped himself
within his cavernous prison for eternity.
Well, until he sheds a few pounds at least--and then I’m guessing he’ll be really, really
mad.
And finally, coming in at our Number 1 spot - Ubbo-Sathla
And our final spot is reserved for an incredibly interesting--and different kind of Lovecraftian
concept, because although this specific anomalous entity is very much an Outer God of the Cthulhu
Mythos--one of the most powerful ancient beings in existence--it’s also a creation that
is far, far removed from anything else.
Let me introduce you to Ubbo-Sathla, which is perhaps the eldritch progenitor of all
life as we know it.
Yeah, get ready for an existential kind of crisis.
Ubbo-Sathla, also known as the Unbegotten Source, or the Demiurge--is a huge protoplasmic
mass resting within a forgotten grotto deep beneath the frozen earth.
The being itself is a lifeform like few others within the mythos, and is comprised of a mass
of writhing substances, spontaneously generating primordial single-celled organisms that pour
unceasingly from its shapeless form.
It is thought that Ubbo-Sathla was the original spawn of all forms of life on Earth, spitting
forth prototype after prototype before it reached it’s cosmic epoch--and just as the
giver of life, it can also just as easily take it away, as whatever it’s endless mass
of pseudopods touch, becomes forever devoid of life.
Created by Clark Ashton Smith, and first appearing in it’s short story of the same name--the
ultimate purpose of Ubbo-Sathla is relatively unclear, yet deep within it’s ancient hive,
it is said to guard a set of stone tablets believed to contain a hidden knowledge of
the Elder Gods.
However, some cultists also profess that Ubbo-Sathla’s destiny is to someday reabsorb all living
things on Earth back from whence they came, consuming it back into its endless, formless
shape of Ubbo-Sathla.
It is also said that in ancient times, the Demiurge split off a portion of itself, and
became the vile, protean mass known as Abhoth, The Source of Uncleanliness--that now resides
deep beneath the horrifying landscape of Mount Voormithadreth, spitting forth endless horrors
of miscreation and abomination.
Yeah, if you can’t tell, Ubbo-Sathla is pretty damn terrifying--and this eldritch
horror has its fingers in many pies.
I mean, if it had fingers.
Well, there we have it horror fans--our Part 4 list for the Top 5 Scariest Lovecraftian
Monsters.
Now, I know you all have quite the appetite for the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods alike,
so why don’t you let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below, as well
as any choice picks of your own--and who knows, maybe somehow we can peer back into the abyss
and find enough horrifying components for a Part 5.
Before we depart from today’s video though, let’s first take a quick look at some of
your more creative comments from over the past few days.
Patrick Darling says ---
My bucket list includes going to outer space, reaching the bottom of the mariana trench
and getting a shout out from Jack at Top 5 Scary Vids.
-- Well Patrick my good man, that’s one hell of a bucket list--and look, you’ve
already got one ticked off that list.
Here is your resounding bucket list shout out, now--you better get building a submarine,
or a rocket.
I guess they’re pretty similar, so maybe you can reuse some of the parts.
Well, on that oddly specific note, unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got time for in todays
video--cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.
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