Now, you know that we all love some Howard Phillips Lovecraft over at Top 5 Scary Videos,
but for the most part - we’ve only ever covered the great, fleshy, tentacle creatures
that want to spread madness and ruin throughout the universe - but we’ve never really touched
on the few brave souls that try to combat them - or, well - in most cases, brave victims.
Lovecraft had a penchant of creating flawed, oftentimes throwaway characters that served
as the tasting menu for the Great Old Ones - and the only thing left for us to do, is
to pay tribute to them.
Hello horror fans - and welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube - Top 5 Scary
Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch - as we finally receive our diploma
from the Miskatonic University - before heading out into a horrifying new world - and take
a look at the Top 5 Scariest Lovecraftian Protagonists.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was the 2012 release of The Whisperer In Darkness,
the H.P Lovecraft Societys cinematic interpretation of the story of the same name.
Which we actually recently covered in our Scariest Lovecraftian Movies list - and it’s
great, so give it a watch.
Now, there are a few honorable mentions for this list.
Albert Wilmarth being one of them, as well as Herbert West, Randolph Carter and Gustaf
Johansen - but you know, I’m just keeping it fresh.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Dr. Henry Armitage, The Dunwich Horror
And this guy is perhaps the most hardcore, eldritch-hating mother trucker in the entire
Cthulhu Mythos.
Even more impressive then, that this guy maintains his status as a cosmic badass at the ripe
old age of 73.
He’s seen it all, and he isn’t about to fall agasp at the sight of a tentacle spewing
horror.
Nah, he’s not about that.
Appearing in Lovecraft’s 1928 short story, The Dunwich Horror - Dr. Henry Armitage is
the stern-faced librarian of Arkham’s Miskatonic University - and although he isn’t exactly
the leading man of the story, which is what this list is all about - he’s the one who
inevitably puts Wilbur Whateley and his grotesque twin brother in their place.
Move over Yog-sothoth - there’s a new daddy in town.
Lovecraft himself said that he identified with Henry Armitage, seeing himself as a frail
old scholar who had the passion and drive to combat the maddening armies of the void.
Throughout the last act of The Dunwich Horror, Dr. Armitage proves exactly what he went to
school for - deciphering an ancient text to summon lighting from the cosmos and subsequently
blowing The Dunwich Horror to smithereens.
Yeah, if that’s not enough reason to love this guy - I don’t know what is.
Coming in at Number 4 - Walter Gilman, The Dreams In The Witch House
And it’s really, really hard not to like Walter Gilman - in all of his bittersweet,
tragic glory.
And when you boil it down, The Dreams In The Witch House, written by Lovecraft in 1932,
is actually a really, really emotional story.
A curious bright young man, just trying to find a room to rent so he can keep a roof
over his head while he studies - who gets caught up in the evil goings on of a witch
and her elder gods - and inevitably dies one of the most hardcore deaths in all of Lovecraftian
fiction.
As the short story explains, Walter Gilman is a student of mathematics and folklore at
Miskatonic University - studying non-Euclidean calculus and quantum physics.
Pretty noble stuff.
Well, shortly after moving into his new rental at The Witch House, the famed ancestral home
of Keziah Mason - an infamous Massachusetts witch - he starts having a series of bizarre
dreams that quickly become alarmingly real.
Then he finds an ancient eldritch artifact - and what does he do?
Does he flee the house like any reasonable person?
Of course not, he’s a scientist - and he knows he’s got to get to the bottom of these
strange happenings.
Turns out - the witch is real, she’s sacrificing a child to Nyarlathotep, and has a terrifying
cat-rat familiar called Brown Jenkin.
Thankfully, our boy Walter saves the day but sadly not the child - kills the witch - and
then gets eaten in half by Brown Jenkin.
As in, it literally burrows through his body and eats his heart from inside out.
Nasty.
Swinging in at Number 3 - Dr. William Dyer, At The Mountains of Madness
And this is exactly what I love about Lovecraft, because with the right setting and circumstances,
even a geologist can become the biggest badass in the valley.
If you haven’t read At The Mountains of Madness, I’d highly recommend it - and for
me, it’s one of Lovecraft’s greatest novellas - simply because of it’s atmospheric world
building, and also because of this guy, Dr. William Dyer - the man who knows no fear.
During the events of the story, William Dyer, a professor of geology at Miskatonic University
- plans an expedition to Antarctica to return to the discovery of an ancient ruin that lies
beyond a range of mountains bigger than the Himalayas.
Of course - in typical Lovecraftian fashion, the ruins are brimming with Shoggoths and
vile cosmic creations - but does our boy William Dyer turn tail and run at the first sniff
of madenning fear like the majority of Lovecraft’s characters?
Nah.
Nah, he’s a geologist - and his only goal is to figure out exactly what the hell these
ancient alien invaders are planning.
Granted, later on he actually IS chased out of the ruins by a Shoggoth and heads back
to civilization - but is he a bumbling, rambling ruin of madness and cosmic fear?
Nah, he’s planning another trip.
So much so, that Dr. William Dyer is one of the very few characters to make a canonical
return, and is back at it again, making an appearance in The Shadow Out Of Time - heading
off to Australia’s Great Sandy Desert in pursuit of ancient aliens once again.
He’s unstoppable.
Next up at Number 2 - Titus Crow, the Titus Crow Series
And, I know I’m probably going to perturb a few people for putting this guy so high
- but what the hell, it’s my list.
First appearing in the 1970’s short story, Billy’s Oak by Brian Lumley, Titus Crow
is a Lovecraftian character, written by an Englishman in the mid-seventies - that is
not unlike any other character in the Cthulhu Mythos.
But that’s the beauty of Lovecraft’s fictional legacy, right?
Other writers who were there to pick up the torch, and carry on with the Eldritch battle
of cosmic horror - and in my opinion, Titus Crow is one of the most badass protagonists
in the entire mythos, figuring himself as a bizarre, Lovecraftian blend of Van Helsing,
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who.
Great mix.
Why?
Well, as Brian Lumley himself explained - he had trouble relating to characters who fainted
at the hint of a bad smell, as is often the case in HPL’s work.
The difference here being, that his guys fought back.
And Titus Crow is pretty damn good at fighting back - often locked within a never end battle
between the Great Old One Ithaqua, clutching his arsenal of ancient eldritch artifacts,
including the Clock of Dreams - which really, is… a Tardis.
But whatever..
Hey, he even becomes a cyborg after the events of The Transition of Titus Crow, and fully
kits himself out with a Great Old One hunting skin-suit so he can better combat the evil
forces of cosmic horror.
Now that’s my kind of story.
And finally - at our Number 1 spot - Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett, The Case of Charles Dexter
Ward
And wow - that was a mouthful, but I was determined to fully address the man exactly as Lovecraft
intended.
Seriously, he uses his full name like -- all the way through the story.
I usually do that when I’m trying to pad out the word count.
I like your style Howard, I really do.
Nevertheless, Dr. Willett is perhaps one of the most badass characters that has ever faced
an eldritch entity - and he makes the top spot on our list for one reason, and one reason
alone - this humble, human doctor - outwits an ancient, eldritch warlock at his own game.
Believe me, that’s no small feat.
Throughout the events of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, written in 1927 but published
posthumously in the May and July issues of Weird Tales in 1941 - the novel describes
how Charles Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen - an alleged
wizard who was in cahoots with Yog-Sothoth, and had the ability to resurrect the dead.
All in all, he was a pretty nasty guy - and Charles Ward inevitably becomes brutally murdered
by his long-lost great-grand-uncle after politely resurrecting him.
Well, in the long run - he’s no match for Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett - who is so sick
and tired of the whole ordeal, and he’s had enough of chasing necromancers through
abandoned asylums, that in a desperate battle of incantations - he manages to somehow out-spell
the un-out-spellable and crumble old Joseph Curwen to dust.
See ya later bud!
Well, there we have it horror fans - out list for the best of the best Lovecraftian protagonists
- why don’t you let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
Unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s video - but before we depart,
let’s read out a quick few comments from over the past few days.
Michael Yoder says -- Would love to see something on John Wyndham’s work - many movies like
The Day of the Triffids, Chocky, The Crysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos -- and great suggestion
Michael, I’m from the same county of Warwickshire as the man himself, cheers buddy, I’ll see
what I can do - I’ve been recently thinking we should cover some Mervyn Peake stuff, so
maybe it would slot in nicely.
Great stuff.
Wonder Wierdo says -- Jack, do more Lovecraft content.
If you don’t I’ll ring your doorbell and run away -- well, that’s just straight up
rude - Wonder Weirdo, and I don’t negotiate with doorbell ringers.
Just kidding man - you got it.
Also, we used to call that game Knock-A-Door-Run back in the UK.
What did you guys call it?
There you go.
Comment content.
Well on that note, I’m gonna Knock-A-Door-Run out of here.
Cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, make sure to hit that thumbs up button - as well as
that subscribe bell - and I’ll be seeing you in the next one.
As always, you’ve been watching Top 5 Scary Videos - I’ve been your host Jack Finch
- and until next time, you take it easy.