The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer
H. P. Lovecraft. The term was first coined by August Derleth,
a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu—a
central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus of Lovecraft's short story "The
Call of Cthulhu"—to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary
successors. The writer Richard L. Tierney later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to
distinguish between Lovecraft's works and Derleth's later stories.
Authors of Lovecraftian horror use elements of the Mythos in an ongoing expansion of the
fictional universe.
History Robert M. Price described, in his essay "H.
P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos," two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos.
The first stage, termed the "Cthulhu Mythos proper" by Price, was formulated during Lovecraft's
lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage was guided by August Derleth
who, in addition to publishing Lovecraft's stories after his death, attempted to categorize
and expand the Mythos. First stage
An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face
of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe. Lovecraft made frequent reference
to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who
once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a deathlike sleep. This was first established
in "The Call of Cthulhu", in which the minds of the human characters deteriorated when
afforded a glimpse of what exists outside their perceived reality. Lovecraft emphasised
the point by stating in the opening sentence of the story that "The most merciful thing
in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
Writer Dirk W. Mosig notes that Lovecraft was a "mechanistic materialist" who embraced
the philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. Lovecraft believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and
uncaring universe that human beings, with their limited faculties, could never fully
understand, and the cognitive dissonance caused by this leads to insanity. Lovecraft's viewpoint
made no allowance for religious belief which could not be supported scientifically, with
the incomprehensible, cosmic forces of his tales having as little regard for humanity
as humans have for insects. There have been attempts at categorizing this
fictional group of beings, and Phillip A. Schreffler argues that by carefully scrutinizing
Lovecraft's writings a workable framework emerges that outlines the entire "pantheon"
– from the unreachable "Outer Ones" and "Great Old Ones" to the lesser castes.
David E. Schultz, however, believes Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but
rather intended his imaginary pantheon to merely serve as a background element. Lovecraft
himself humorously referred to his mythos as "Yog Sothothery" and at times had to remind
readers his mythos creations were entirely fictional.
The view that there was no rigid structure is reinforced by S. T. Joshi, who stated "Lovecraft's
imaginary cosmogony was never a static system but rather a sort of aesthetic construct that
remained ever adaptable to its creator's developing personality and altering interests... [T]here
was never a rigid system that might be posthumously appropriated... [T]he essence of the mythos
lies not in a pantheon of imaginary deities nor in a cobwebby collection of forgotten
tomes, but rather in a certain convincing cosmic attitude."
Price, however, believed that Lovecraft's writings could at least be divided into categories
and identified three distinct themes: the "Dunsanian", "Arkham", and "Cthulhu" cycles.
Writer Will Murray noted that while Lovecraft often used his fictional pantheon in the stories
he ghostwrote for other authors, he reserved Arkham and its environs exclusively for those
tales he wrote under his own name. Although not formalised and acknowledged as
a mythos per se, Lovecraft did correspond with contemporary writers – and shared story
elements: Robert E. Howard's character Friedrich Von Junzt reads Lovecraft's Necronomicon in
the short story "The Children of the Night", and in turn Lovecraft mentions Howard's Unaussprechlichen
Kulten in the stories "Out of the Aeons" and "The Shadow Out of Time". Many of Howard's
original unedited Conan stories also form part of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Second stage Price's dichotomy dictates the second stage
commenced with August Derleth, the principal difference between Lovecraft and Derleth being
the latter's use of hope and that the Cthulhu mythos essentially represented a struggle
between good and evil. Derleth is credited with creating the Elder Gods, and stated:
As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the
Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good,
and existed peacefully...very rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle
between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously
known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones...
—August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"
Price suggests that the basis of Derleth's systemization are found in Lovecraft, stating:
"Was Derleth's use of the rubric 'Elder Gods' so alien to Lovecraft's in At the Mountains
of Madness? Perhaps not. In fact, this very story, along with some hints from 'The Shadow
over Innsmouth', provides the key to the origin of the 'Derleth Mythos'. For in At the Mountains
of Madness we find the history of a conflict between two interstellar races: the Elder
Ones and the Cthulhu-spawn." Derleth himself believed that Lovecraft wished for other authors
to actively write about the myth-cycle as opposed to it being a discrete plot device.
Derleth expanded the boundaries of the Mythos by including any passing reference to another
author's story elements by Lovecraft as part of the genre: just as Lovecraft made passing
reference to Clark Ashton Smith's Book of Eibon, Derleth in turn added Smith's Ubbo-Sathla
to the Mythos. Derleth also attempted to connect the deities
of the Mythos to the four elements, but was forced to adopt artistic license and create
beings to represent certain elements to legitimise his system of classification. In applying
the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale some authors created a separate
category termed aethyr. Derleth matched earth against fire and air against water, which
is inconsistent with the classical elements pairings.
"Lovecraft" mythos A lesser known term employed by the scholar
S. T. Joshi to describe the works of Lovecraft. Joshi identified four key elements in Lovecraft's
mythos, being the fundamental principle of cosmicism, the imaginary New England setting,
a pantheon of recurring "pseudomythological" entities and a collection of arcane books
that supposedly yield insights into the mythology. See also
Cthulhu Mythos anthology Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature
Cthulhu Mythos biographies Cthulhu Mythos deities
Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture Dreamlands
Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos Notes
References Books
Bloch, Robert. "Heritage of Horror". The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of
Horror and the Macabre. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35080-4.
Bloch, Robert. Strange Eons. Whispers Press. ISBN 978-0-918372-30-7.
Derleth, August. "The Cthulhu Mythos". Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sauk City, WI: Arkham
House. Burleson, Donald R.. "The Lovecraft Mythos".
In Frank N. Magill. Survey of Science Fiction Literature. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press.
pp. 1284–8. ISBN 978-0-89356-197-0. Harms, Daniel. The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana.
Chaosium, Inc. ISBN 978-1-56882-119-1. Jens, Tina. Cthulhu and the Coeds: Kids and
Squids. Chicago, IL: Twilight Tales. Joshi, S. T.. H. P. Lovecraft. Mercer Island,
WA: Starmont House. ISBN 978-0-916732-36-3. Lovecraft, Howard P. [1928]. "The Call of
Cthulhu". In S. T. Joshi. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. London, UK; New York,
NY: Penguin Books. ISBN. Mosig, Yozan Dirk W.. Mosig at Last: A Psychologist
Looks at H. P. Lovecraft. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 978-0-940884-90-8.
Murray, Will. "In Search of Arkham Country I". In James Van Hise. The Fantastic Worlds
of H. P. Lovecraft. Yucca Valley, CA: James Van Hise. No ISBN.
Price, Robert M.. "Introduction". In Robert M. Price. The New Lovecraft Circle. New York,
NY: Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-345-44406-6. Price, Robert M.. "Lovecraft's 'Artificial
Mythology'". In David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi. An Epicure in the Terrible: a centennial
anthology of essays in honor of H. P. Lovecraft. Rutherford, NJ and Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press and Associated University Presses. ISBN 978-0-8386-3415-8.
Schultz, David E. [1987]. "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?". In Scott Conners. A Century Less
a Dream: Selected Criticism on H. P. Lovecraft. Holikong, PA: Wildside Press. ISBN 978-1-58715-215-3.
Schweitzer, Darrell. Discovering H. P. Lovecraft. Helicong, PA: Wildside Press.
ISBN 978-1-58715-471-3. Shreffler, Phillip A.. The H. P. Lovecraft
Companion. Westport, CT and London, England: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-8371-9482-0.
Turner, James. "Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!". Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Random House.
ISBN 978-0-345-42204-0. Thomas, Frank Walter. Watchers of the Light,.
Lake Forest Park, WA: Lake Forest Park Books. ISBN 978-0-9774464-0-7.
Journals August, Derleth [1937]. "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider".
Crypt of Cthulhu #93: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal 15. Robert M. Price,
West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. Original publication: Derleth. "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider".
River 1. Dziemianowicz, Stefan. "Divers Hands". Crypt
of Cthulhu #80: A Post-structuralist Thriller and Theological Journal 11. Robert M. Price,
West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. Price, Robert M.. "H. P. Lovecraft and the
Cthulhu Mythos". Crypt of Cthulhu #35: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal 5. Robert
M. Price, Mount Olive, NC: Cryptic Publications. Further reading
Carter, Lin. Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
ISBN 0-345-02427-3. External links
Lovecraft Archive Joshi, S. T. "H. P. Lovecraft". The Scriptorium.
Retrieved July 20, 2005. The Virtual World of H. P. Lovecraft a mapping
of Lovecraft's imaginary version of New England