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[[File:Cthulhu3.jpg|thumb|A sketch of [[Cthulhu]] drawn by Lovecraft, May 11, 1934]]
The '''Cthulhu Mythos''' is a [[mythopoeia]] and a [[shared fictional universe]], originating in the works of Anglo-American [[Horror fiction|horror writer]] [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. The term was coined by [[August Derleth]], a contemporary correspondent and [[protégé]] of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name "[[Cthulhu]]" derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]", first published in the [[pulp magazine]] ''[[Weird Tales]]'' in 1928.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=H.P. |title=Tales |date=2005 |publisher=Library of America |isbn=1931082723 |edition=2nd |location=New York |oclc=56068806 |author-link=H. P. Lovecraft}}</ref>
[[Richard L. Tierney]], a writer who also wrote Mythos tales, later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish Lovecraft's works from Derleth's later stories, which modify key tenets of the Mythos.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |date=November 1, 1982 |title=Cthulhu Elsewhere in Lovecraft |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |language=en-US |issue=9 |pages=13–15 |issn=1077-8179}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Darrell |title=Discovering H. P. Lovecraft |date=2001 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1587154713 |edition=revised |location=Holicong, PA |page=52 |author-link=Darrell Schweitzer}}</ref> Authors of [[Lovecraftian horror]] in particular frequently use elements of the Cthulhu Mythos.<ref name="Harms">{{Cite book |last=Harms |first=Daniel |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacthu00dani |title=The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana |date=1998 |publisher=Chaosium, Inc. |isbn=978-1568821191 |edition=2nd |location=Oakland, CA |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|viii–ix}}
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==History==
[[File:H. P. Lovecraft in DeLand Florida, June 1934.png|thumb|upright|H. P. Lovecraft, the creator of the Cthulhu Mythos|alt=A June 1934 photograph of H. P. Lovecraft, facing left]]
In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", [[Robert M. Price]] described two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. Price called the first stage the "Cthulhu Mythos proper". This stage 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.<ref name="Bloch">{{Cite book |
===First stage===
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Lovecraft broke with other pulp writers of the time by having his main characters' minds deteriorate when afforded a glimpse of what exists outside their perceived reality. He emphasized 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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=H.P. |title=The Call of Cuthulhu |date=2014 |publisher=Start Publishing LLC |isbn=978-1609772697 |location=Lanham, MD}}</ref>
Writer [[Dirk W. Mosig]] noted that Lovecraft was a "mechanistic materialist" who embraced the philosophy of [[Cosmicism#Cosmic indifferentism|cosmic indifferentism]] and believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe. Human beings, with their limited faculties, can never fully understand this universe, and the [[cognitive dissonance]] caused by this revelation leads to insanity, in his view.<ref>
There have been attempts at categorizing this fictional group of beings. Phillip A. Schreffler argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings, a workable framework emerges that outlines the entire "pantheon"{{mdash}}from the unreachable "Outer Ones" (e.g., [[Azathoth]], who occupies the centre of the universe) and "Great Old Ones" (e.g., Cthulhu, imprisoned on Earth in the sunken city of [[R'lyeh]]) to the lesser castes (the lowly slave [[shoggoth]]s and the [[Mi-Go]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shreffler |first=Philip A. |title=The H. P. Lovecraft Companion |date=1977 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0837194820 |location=Westport, CN |pages=156–157}}</ref>
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The view that there was no rigid structure is expounded upon by [[S. T. Joshi]], who said
Price said Lovecraft's writings could at least be divided into categories and identified three distinct themes: the "Dunsanian" (written in a similar style as [[Lord Dunsany]]), "[[Arkham]]" (occurring in Lovecraft's fictionalized [[New England]] setting), and "Cthulhu" (the cosmic tales) cycles.<ref name="Price" />{{rp|9}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Hise |first=James |title=The Fantastic Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft |date=1999 |publisher=James Van Hise |edition=1st |location=Yucca Valley, CA |oclc=60496802 |asin=B000E9KQXS |pages=105–107}}</ref>
Although the Mythos was not formalized or acknowledged between them, Lovecraft did correspond and share story elements with other contemporary writers including [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[Robert E. Howard]], [[Robert Bloch]], [[Frank Belknap Long]], [[Henry Kuttner]], [[Henry S. Whitehead]], and [[Fritz Leiber]]{{mdash}}a group referred to as the "Lovecraft Circle."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=S.T. |title=H.P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism |date=1980 |publisher=[[Ohio University Press]] |isbn=978-0821405772 |location=Athens, OH}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Darrell |title=Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction: Essays on the Antecedents of Fantastic Literature |date=1996 |publisher=Wildside Press |isbn=978-1587150043 |location=Gillette, NJ}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}}▼
▲Although the Mythos was not formalized or acknowledged between them, Lovecraft did correspond, meet in person, and share story elements with other contemporary writers including [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[Robert E. Howard]], [[Robert Bloch]], [[Frank Belknap Long]], [[Henry Kuttner]], [[Henry S. Whitehead]], and [[Fritz Leiber]]{{mdash}}a group referred to as the "Lovecraft Circle
For example, Robert E. Howard's character [[Cthulhu Mythos biographies#Von Junzt, Friedrich Wilheim|Friedrich Von Junzt]] reads Lovecraft's ''[[Necronomicon]]'' in the short story "The Children of the Night" (1931), and in turn Lovecraft mentions Howard's ''[[Unaussprechlichen Kulten]]'' in the stories "Out of the Aeons" ([[1935 in literature|1935]]) and "The Shadow Out of Time" ([[1936 in literature|1936]]).<ref name="Price" />{{rp|6–7}} Many of Howard's original unedited ''[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]]'' stories also involve parts of the Cthulhu Mythos.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howard |first=Robert E. |url=https://archive.org/details/comingofconanc00robe |title=The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian |last2=Schultz |first2=Mark |date=2003 |publisher=Del Rey/Ballantine Books |isbn=0345461517 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/comingofconanc00robe/page/436 436] |url-access=limited}}</ref>▼
▲For example, Robert E. Howard's character [[Cthulhu Mythos biographies#Von Junzt, Friedrich Wilheim|Friedrich Von Junzt]] reads Lovecraft's ''[[Necronomicon]]'' in the short story "The Children of the Night" (1931), and in turn Lovecraft mentions Howard's ''[[Unaussprechlichen Kulten]]'' in the stories "Out of the Aeons" ([[1935 in literature|1935]]) and "The Shadow Out of Time" ([[1936 in literature|1936]]).<ref name="Price" />{{rp|6–7}} Many of Howard's original unedited ''[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]]'' stories also involve parts of the Cthulhu Mythos.<ref>{{Cite book |
===Second stage===
Price denotes the second stage's commencement with August Derleth, with the principal difference between Lovecraft and Derleth being Derleth's use of hope and development of the idea that the Cthulhu Mythos essentially represented a struggle between good and evil.<ref name="Bloch" />{{rp|9}} Derleth is credited with creating the "Elder Gods". He stated:
{{bquote|As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder
Price said the basis for Derleth's system is found in Lovecraft: "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'' is shown the history of a conflict between interstellar races, first among them the Elder Ones and the Cthulhu-spawn."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |date=June 23, 1982 |title=The Lovecraft-Derleth Connection |url=http://crypt-of-cthulhu.com/lovecraftderleth.htm |url-status=dead |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=6 |pages=3–8 |issn=1077-8179 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217054944/http://www.crypt-of-cthulhu.com/lovecraftderleth.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2013}}</ref>
Derleth said Lovecraft wished for other authors to actively write about the Mythos as opposed to it being a discrete plot device within Lovecraft's own stories.<ref name="Connors" />{{rp|46–47}} 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 ''[[Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature#Book of Eibon|Book of Eibon]]'', Derleth in turn added Smith's [[Outer God#Ubbo-Sathla|Ubbo-Sathla]] to the Mythos.<ref name="Price" />{{rp|9–10}}
Derleth also attempted to connect the deities of the Mythos to the [[Classical element|four elements]] (
Impressed by the glossary, Derleth asked Laney to rewrite it for publication in the Arkham House collection ''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'' (1943).<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Robert M. |date=June 23, 1985 |title=Editorial Shards |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=32 |page=2 |issn=1077-8179}}</ref> Laney's essay ("The Cthulhu Mythos") was later republished in ''Crypt of Cthulhu #32'' (1985). In applying the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale (e.g., [[Yog-Sothoth]]) some authors created a fifth element that they termed ''aethyr''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2016}}
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! Water
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | [[Hastur]]<br />[[Ithaqua]]*<br />[[Nyarlathotep]]<br />[[Zhar (Great Old One)|Zhar and Lloigor]]*
| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | Cyäegha<br />[[List of Great Old Ones#Nyogtha|Nyogtha]]<br />[[Shub-Niggurath]]<br />[[Tsathoggua]]
| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | [[List of Great Old Ones#Aphoom-Zhah|Aphoom-Zhah]]<br />[[Cthugha]]*<br />Yig
| style="padding:0em 0.75em;" | [[Cthulhu]]<br />[[Deep One#Father Dagon and Mother Hydra|Dagon]]<br />[[Ghatanothoa]]<br />[[Deep One#Father Dagon and Mother Hydra|Mother Hydra]]<br />[[Xothic legend cycle#Zoth-Ommog|Zoth-Ommog]]
|-
| colspan="4" style="font-size: 90%;" | * Deity created by Derleth
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== Fictional cults ==
A number of fictional [[Cult (religious practice)|cults]] dedicated to "malevolent supernatural entities" appear in the Cthulhu Mythos, the loosely connected series of horror stories written by
== Significance ==
The Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft is considered to have been highly influential for the [[speculative fiction]] genre. It has been called "the official [[fictional religion]] of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, a grab bag for writers in need of unthinkably vast, and unthinkably indifferent, eldritch entities".<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Bialecki |first=Jon |date=2019-01-01 |title=America's Dark Theologian: The Religious Imagination of Stephen King. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=21509298&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA673438134&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Religion and Society |language=English |volume=10 |pages=176–179}}</ref>
== Biology ==
''[[Sollasina cthulhu]]'', an extinct [[Ophiocistioidea|ophiocistioid]] [[echinoderm]], is named after the Cthulhu Mythos.<ref>{{cite journal | journal =Proceedings of the Royal Society B | volume=286 | issue=1900 | pages=20182792 | year=2019|first1=Imran A. |last1= Rahman |first2=Jeffrey R. |last2=Thompson |first3=Derek E. G. |last3=Briggs |first4= David J. |last4=Siveter |first5= Derek J. |last5=Siveter |first6=Mark D. |last6=Sutton |title=A new ophiocistioid with soft-tissue preservation from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, and the evolution of the holothurian body plan |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.2792 | pmid=30966985 | pmc=6501687 }}</ref>
==See also==
* {{annotated link|List of Cthulhu Mythos characters}}
* {{annotated link|Cthulhu Mythos deities}}
* {{annotated link|Cthulhu Mythos anthology}}
* {{annotated link|Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture}}
* {{annotated link|Weird fiction}}
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==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Robert |title=Strange Eons |publisher=Whispers Press |year=1978 |isbn=0918372291 |author-link=Robert Bloch}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burleson |first=Donald R. |title=Survey of Science Fiction Literature |publisher=Salem Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-89356-197-0 |editor-last=Magill |editor-first=Frank N. |volume=3 |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |pages=1284–1288 |chapter=The Lovecraft Mythos}}
* {{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Lin |title=[[Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos]] |publisher=Ballantine Books |year=1972 |isbn=0-345-02427-3 |location=New York |author-link=Lin Carter}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=August |first=Derleth |author-link=August Derleth |date=August 1, 1996 |title=H.P. Lovecraft—Outsider |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=3 |pages=16–18 |issn=1077-8179 |orig-year=1937}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Dziemianowicz |first=Stefan |date=March 19, 1992 |title=Divers Hands |magazine=Crypt of Cthulhu |issue=80 |pages=38–52 |issn=1077-8179}}
* Dziemianowicz, Stefan. "The Cthulhu Mythos: Chronicle of a Controversy". In The Lovecraft Society of New England (ed) ''Necronomicon: The Cthulhu Mythos Convention 1993'' (convention book). Boston: NecronomiCon, 1993, pp. 25–31
* {{Cite book |title=Cthulhu and the Coeds: Kids and Squids |publisher=Twilight Tales |year=1999 |editor-last=Jens |editor-first=Tina |location=Chicago}}
* {{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=S.T. |title=H. P. Lovecraft |publisher=Starmont House |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-916732-36-3 |edition=1st |location=Mercer Island, WA |author-link=S. T. Joshi}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=Howard P. |url=http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=70 |title=The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1999 |editor-last=S.T. Joshi |location=London / New York |chapter=The Call of Cthulhu |author-link=H. P. Lovecraft |chapter-url=http://mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=70 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214041343/http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=70 |archive-date=December 14, 2007 |url-status=dead |orig-year=1928}}
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Robert M. |title=The New Lovecraft Circle |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-345-44406-6 |editor-last=Robert M. Price |location=New York |chapter=Introduction |author-link=Robert M. Price}}
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Robert M. |title=An Epicure in the Terrible: a centennial anthology of essays in honor of H. P. Lovecraft |publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]] / [[Associated University Presses]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8386-3415-8 |editor-last=Schultz |editor-first=David E. |location=Rutherford, NJ / Cranbury, NJ |chapter=Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology' |editor-last2=Joshi |editor-first2=S.T.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Turner |first=James |title=Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos |publisher=Random House |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-345-42204-0 |edition=1st |chapter=Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Frank Walter |title=Watchers of the Light |publisher=Lake Forest Park Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-9774464-0-7 |edition=1st printing |location=Lake Forest Park, WA}}
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* [http://www.siamorama.com/lovecraft/index.htm The Virtual World of H. P. Lovecraft] a mapping of Lovecraft's imaginary version of New England
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg9VCf5einY Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown] – full documentary at the Snagfilms company YouTube channel
* [https://www.schematax.org/schemata/other-topics/schematax_lovecraft_call-of-cthulhu.pdf Schema on
▲* [https://www.schematax.org/schemata/other-topics/schematax_lovecraft_call-of-cthulhu.pdf Schema on Lovecraft’s »The Call of Ctuhulhu« and the Cthulhu Mythos]
{{Cthulhu Mythos}}
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{{The Call of Cthulhu}}
{{At the Mountains of Madness}}
{{Hugo Award Best Series}}
{{Narrative}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos| ]]
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