Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
It’s that time again.
We love to talk about powerful fictional beasts here on LBQ, and from time to time, we like
to pit them against each other.
And today will be a clash of two of the most powerful creatures we’ve ever touched on;
Cthulhu, and Jörmungandr, the World Serpent.
Will Cthulhu wrap the great snake up in a bow, or will the World Serpent Gulp Cthulhu
down like he’s a giant, disturbing rat?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if Cthulhu Fought the World Serpent?
First of all, if you haven’t watched our videos on Cthulhu and the World Serpent, I
would advise doing so.
It will give you a broader understanding of the two.
However, for those who just don’t feel like clicking away right now, I’ll briefly go
over each of our combatants, before we try to work out who would come out on top.
Starting off with Cthulhu.
Cthulhu is the high priest of the Great Old Ones, an ancient alien civilization that began
hibernating beneath the earth, following a great war with the Elder Gods.
He is a being of grotesque appearance, so hideous and incomprehensible to humans that
one is said to go insane if one gazes at him.
He is an anthropoid creature, with a head like an octopus, a mass of tentacles, a scaly,
rubbery body, and long, narrow wings.
Since Cthulhu has not actually succeeded in rising to the surface in literature, it’s
difficult to say precisely how powerful he would be.
While in his slumber, he is able to enter the dreams of humans, and influence them in
a number of ways, and given his size, it’s clear that he would be rather physically strong.
However, given the abilities of other beings who HAVE risen, he would likely be significantly
more powerful on the surface.
For example, Zoth-Ommog is only able to enter dreams while underground, but on the surface,
he’s able to enter the waking minds of his foes.
In this way, Cthulhu’s psychic abilities would be even more powerful in this fight
than it was in the mythos.
Moving onto the World Serpent.
Jörmungandr is a sea serpent, originating in Norse Mythology.
It is said to encircle Midgard, the name for the Earth in Norse Mythology, holding its
tail in its mouth to complete the ring.
In the mythology, it is said that Jörmungandr would set off Ragnarok, and the end of the
world as we know it.
Of course, if Jörmungandr is large enough to wrap around the world, it is truly a massive
beast, even larger than Cthulhu.
Based on artistic depictions, it seems that it is not particularly thick, but it is said
that it is capable of swallowing a God or a giant whole, which is no small feat.
It’s difficult to determine just how powerful the beast is since it really only fights against
Thor, but it does have a deadly venom.
However, it is generally considered to be of rather low intelligence, which could hinder
it in this fight.
So, how might this fight go?
Well, let’s look at how each fighter might defeat their opponent.
If we were to imagine how Cthulhu might defeat the World Serpent, we would need to have a
good look at his abilities.
While Cthulhu is quite powerful, he isn’t believed to have godly physical strength,
and likely wouldn’t be able to defeat the World Serpent using only brawn.
That snake is tough.
For this reason, he would depend more on his psychic abilities in this fight.
Of course, Cthulhu’s ability to turn any human insane just by looking at him almost
certainly wouldn’t work on the World Serpent, but that isn’t the only power at his disposal.
He is also capable of impressive psychic feats, able to invade dreams and enter the minds
of others.
Normally this might not work on such a powerful foe, but considering Jörmungandr is generally
believed to be of rather low intelligence, it just might be able to be influenced.
This way, Cthulhu could cause it to either quit the fight or kill itself, however, he
saw fit.
On the other hand, however, it’s possible that the lack of intelligence would work in
the World Serpent’s favor since it might not be capable of being convinced of anything.
It might also be further protected by its Godly ancestry, allowing it to shake off any
influence that might take hold.
When looking at how the World Serpent might beat Cthulhu, it’s significantly more straightforward.
As I said, it takes a hell of a lot of power to hurt Cthulhu.
Luckily for the World Serpent, it has a hell of a lot of power.
With such great mass, it could deal with Cthulhu in a number of ways.
It could constrict the Great Old One until he was compressed into a ball.
It could use its powerful venom, through a series of bites, to eventually take Cthulhu
down.
Heck, it could probably just coil up on top of the Great Old One, and win.
Since much of Cthulhu’s power comes from his psychic abilities, he would be hard-pressed
to defend against a physical assault from Jörmungandr.
Of course, it’s important to note that Cthulhu is quite intelligent.
There’s a chance that even if he was unable to *psychically* influence the World Serpent,
he would be able to trick it into making a fatal error, which Cthulhu could then exploit.
However, despite this vast difference in intelligence, The World Serpent is so large that it would
be difficult for Cthulhu to think his way out of danger.
Lucky for Cthulhu, there’s a chance that he would be able to regenerate.
Unluckily, he would probably do so inside the belly of the World Serpent.
And now we return to our question: What if Cthulhu Fought the World Serpent?
Well… it depends.
At the end of the day, this fight would come down to whether or not Cthulhu was able to
sufficiently influence the World Serpent mentally.
If he couldn’t, and this came down to a physical bout, the ridiculously enormous size
of the World Serpent, as well as its toughness and venom, would make it no contest.
However, if Cthulhu was able to get inside the head of the great serpent, he could win
the fight by default, either just forcing the snake to return to its place around the
Earth, or if he was feeling particularly spiteful, he might even force it to swallow itself.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know who YOU think would win this fight.
Bonus points if you explain why you think that.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.