Can someone please...
Ian L. Bonnycastle
tales, fantasy, fact about this dude, but I've never heard what he looks
like. R'lyehy. I'm telling the truth. (A little pun there, but I don't
think it'll make the top 10.)
Ian
--
Ian Bonnycastle % and I fail
Chemistry / Computer Studies % but when I can, I will
Trent University % try to understand
[ cs...@blaze.trentu.ca ] % that when I can, I will
Jason D. Puckett
> Ian
Sure. He's about 100' tall (check me on this, somebody), green-gray in
color, with a head that looks like a giant octopus or a squid, and webbed
hands and feet.
Gods help me, I knew that off the top of my head. I gotta get a hobby.
--
=============================================================================
Jason Puckett | "Sometimes I become spellbound
College of Law fnord Library | in the middle of Wal-Mart."
Georgia State University, Atlanta | -- The Vampire Lestat
Arran Stewart
> ...tell me what hte heck Cthulhu looks like? I mean, I've heard stories,
>tales, fantasy, fact about this dude, but I've never heard what he looks
>like.
Well, H. P. Lovecraft's story, "The Call of Cthulhu" contains not only a
detailed description of its eponymous hero, but also descriptions of the
alien sculptures of Great Cthulhu that have been made by various
perverted and atavistic cults throughout the world.
Failing that, the Call of Cthulhu game, published by Chaosium, contains
an excerpt from Lovecraft's story. I forget exactly what it says, but
I'm pretty sure that it says something about his vast titanic bulk (he's
not a weight-watcher) and ends with "a mountain walked or stumbled ..."
(that's pretty big).
I don't have his vital stats to hand at the moment, but perhaps the
following will give you some idea of what Cthulhu is like:
Height: At least 100' tall
Weight: A few hundred tonnes
Hair Colour: bald
Eye Colour: unknown
Skin Colour: greenish (he doesn't get much sun)
Distinguishing Features: Reptilian, rugose hide; vast, leathery wings; a
mass of tenatacles covering his face
Residence: The sunken city of R'lyeh
Hobbies: Sleeping
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arran STEWART
University of Western Australia
zste...@tartarus.uwa.edu.au
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John W. Goodrich
evil thing of using them to clean his ears (does Cthulhu have ears?) or
other bodily orifaces.
THAT's the only D1000/D100 SAN loss I can think of.
The Laughing Priest! {Jgo...@nmsu.edu}
Hastur! Hastur! Hastur! See nothing ha-
ltwi...@news.delphi.com
> Thos poor three guys. I always figured tthat Cthulhu did the truly
>evil thing of using them to clean his ears (does Cthulhu have ears?) or
>other bodily orifaces.
AAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!! TAMPONS!!!! CTHULHU'S A FEMA....
Oh, sorry, nevermind.
Sincerely,
Lieutenant Wilkes
seb...@wkuvx1.wku.edu
>
> I don't have his vital stats to hand at the moment, but perhaps the
> following will give you some idea of what Cthulhu is like:
>
> Height: At least 100' tall
> Weight: A few hundred tonnes
> Hair Colour: bald
> Eye Colour: unknown
> Skin Colour: greenish (he doesn't get much sun)
> Distinguishing Features: Reptilian, rugose hide; vast, leathery wings; a
> mass of tenatacles covering his face
> Residence: The sunken city of R'lyeh
> Hobbies: Sleeping
Eating sailors (or sucking their souls out, or playing
frisbee with them, or whatever we decided)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Arran STEWART
> University of Western Australia
> zste...@tartarus.uwa.edu.au
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lemming
b. devereux
it should be followed by "Condition: Haemorrhoids". Or maybe "Condition:
All-Consuming Hatred for Earthly Life". Not sure there's an ointment
for that, but I can see a market for it, among both Elder Things and
Great-Old-One-worshipping misanthropes.
"You know, dear, I just feel like wreaking wholesale slaughter in a
remote community tonight."
"Right, I'll get the Preparation Ftagh."
...on second thought, maybe we're better off without it.
...Benet (deve...@julian.uwo.ca)
"It seemed to me, when I first read _Fungoids_, that, oddly enough,
the Diabolistic side of him was the best. Diabolism seemed to be a
cheerful, even a wholesome, influence in his life."
-Sir Max Beerbohm, "Enoch Soames"
JFEL...@delphi.com
wants? Remember in the end of "Call of Cthulhu" when the big guy
took an uppercut from a small ship, and then simply reformed himself to his
original configuration? It seems to me that ge simply likes the form that
he is in. Perhaps, in his forays into the dreams of the human race, he
has discovered the form that inspires the most fear and awe for the psyche of
man, and his anthropoid with wings and a nasty facelift look is the result of
his searches?
James Fellrath
JFEL...@delphi.com
Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt
>Isn't it important ot note that Cthulhu can basically take whatever form he
>wants? Remember in the end of "Call of Cthulhu" when the big guy took an
>uppercut from a small ship, and then simply reformed himself to his original
>configuration? It seems to me that ge simply likes the form that he is in.
This is the first time I've heard this passage interpreted as meaning Cthulhu
can shapeshift. I've always understood it to mean Cthulhu could return to his
form after being disrupted, sorta like an extreme Stretch Armstrong.
Anthony M Christopher
I have to agree. Although Chaosium seems to assume limited shape-modifying
abilities to Cthulhu, I always interpreted the passage as simply being really
tough to hurt because he can regenerate.
I hope he IS allergic to humans. Maybe that's wht he's asleep...
Rick LeMon
[Text about Cthulhu deleted]
>I hope he IS allergic to humans. Maybe that's wht he's asleep...
Yeah, those antihistamines always wipe me out too.
--
Rick LeMon
Pencom Systems Inc. Vacuum packed for freshness
r...@austin.ibm.com return if ring is lifted.
r...@cactus.org
Andrew Bulhak
: JFEL...@delphi.com writes:
I always thought that originally Cthulhu could change form at will;
however, the same forces that keep him under house arrest at R'lyeh
prevent him from exercising this power.
And what are these forces? I would think that some factors are
draining him of energy or preventing him from having enough energy to
rise from R'lyeh; something to do with the stars, I think.
--
Andrew Bulhak |"Spam was, Spam is and Spam shall be. After summer
a...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au| is winter, and after winter, summer. It ruled once
Monash Uni, Clayton, | where Man rules now, where Man rules now it shall
Victoria, Australia | rule again . . . As a foulness shall ye know it."
Chris Jarocha-Ernst
>Isn't it important ot note that Cthulhu can basically take whatever form he
>wants? Remember in the end of "Call of Cthulhu" when the big guy took an
>uppercut from a small ship, and then simply reformed himself to his original
>configuration? It seems to me that ge simply likes the form that he is in.
This is the first time I've heard this passage interpreted as meaning Cthulhu
can shapeshift. I've always understood it to mean Cthulhu could return to his
form after being disrupted, sorta like an extreme Stretch Armstrong.
--
Yog-Sothoth Neblod Zin,
Chris Jarocha-Ernst Rutgers University Computing Services
Internet: c...@gandalf.rutgers.edu BITnet: JAROCHAERNST@ZODIAC
Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt
>I always thought that originally Cthulhu could change form at will;
>however, the same forces that keep him under house arrest at R'lyeh
>prevent him from exercising this power.
Aside from the one passage in "Call" about him reforming, have you seen
anything else that contributes to this theory?
> And what are these forces? I would think that some factors are
>draining him of energy or preventing him from having enough energy to
>rise from R'lyeh; something to do with the stars, I think.
According to Brian Lumley, the Elder Signs/star-stones have their affect
because fear of them has been genetically implanted into the Great Old Ones and
their servitors by the Elder Gods.
Of course, August Derleth, who popularized these things, also said the stones
don't affect the GOO, just their servitors.
JFEL...@delphi.com
tribution to the Mythos in question anyway? I was under the impression from
works such as _The Shadow Out of Space_ that he basically took some of HPL's
notes and wrote a bunch of rip-off stories, while turning the Mythos into a
good-guy-bad-guy idea instead of the mind-numbing hopelssness that HPL was
putting out.
James Fellrath
JFEL...@delphi.com
Shannon Appel
Ah. The favorite sport of Derleth bashing. What you say is true to a
certain extent. Derleth did use some of Lovecraft's notes to write
some posthumous "collaborations". But then, he had good reason for
doing so. He was trying desperately to keep Lovecraft's work in the
public eye, so that people would be interested in the Arkham House
collections of Lovecraft's work. As a result, we have a book of
stories that are mediochre at best, and really not deserving of the
name collaboration. On the other hand, these stories helped Arkham
House to survive, and thus Lovecraft's fiction is still easily
available today. Sounds like a fair tradeoff to me.
On the issue of "good guys v. bad guys", yes, that was Derleth's
contribution too. Mostly. Lovecraft actually walked down that road a
bit himself (notably in "the Strange High House in the Mist" (1926)
which is available in DAGON AND OTHER MACABRE TALES). It should also
be noted Lovecraft actually saw the first of Derleth's stories which
explained the Old One/Elder God conflict ("The Lair of the Star-Spawn"
(1923), recently reprinted in TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS).
Lovecraft never spoke ill of that story, but perhaps he was just too
much the gentleman. It is important to note, however, that elements
of that story were later used by Lovecraft (eg the Tcho-Tcho People).
In other words, he incorporated the elements into his work, to make
them "official", just as he did with Bloch's Mysteries of the Worm,
Smith's Tsathoggua and so many other things.
I will agree with you that Derleth invented many things not in the
original stories. In reality, _he_ invented the Cthulhu Mythos, not
Lovecraft. Sure, Lovecraft wrote a number of wonderful stories which
mentioned Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu and others. But, in reality, they
were unconnected tales which just happened to use the same names to
make them more "realistic". So, although you might not be happy with
the polarized universe which Derleth presented, you should also
realize that a lot of the actual Mythos (and for that matter, the
actual survival of Lovecraft's writings) is due to him.
I always find it somewhat odd when someone derides some Mythos author,
saying that his books are too far from the Lovecraft norm. Frankly,
I'd find reading 30-40 tomes full of stories all written in exactly
the Lovecraft style, boring. What makes the Mythos exciting to me is
seeing the many vastly different interpretations of the Mythos.
Lovecraft would never have written stories of Smith's Hyperborea or
Lumley's Primal Land. He would never have set stories in Campbell's
Severn Valley. The fact that others have doesn't lessen the stories
in my eye. Instead, it enrichens the whole Mythos.
Shannon
Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt
> It should also be noted Lovecraft actually saw the first of Derleth's stories
> which explained the Old One/Elder God conflict ("The Lair of the Star-Spawn"
> (1923), recently reprinted in TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS).... It is
> important to note, however, that elements of that story were later used by
> Lovecraft (eg the Tcho-Tcho People). In other words, he incorporated the
> elements into his work, to make them "official"
This is a point often ignored in the Derleth-bashing of today. Thanks for
bringing it up, Shannon, and for the general support of "shared world" concept
of the Mythos.
> In reality, _he_ [Derleth] invented the Cthulhu Mythos, not Lovecraft. Sure,
> Lovecraft wrote a number of wonderful stories which mentioned Nyarlathotep,
> Cthulhu and others. But, in reality, they were unconnected tales which just
> happened to use the same names to make them more "realistic".
Um, I'm not sure I follow the point here. Derleth certainly coined the term
"Cthulhu Mythos", but that just put a single handle on the set of trappings HPL
et al used for their stories. Saying those stories were "unconnected" is
definitely misleading, as much of the impact of the trappings came from the
(very real) connections.
Some hard-core Lovecraftians may reject Derleth's contributions to the
trappings (the term "Cthulhu Mythos", the star-stone-as-crucifix idea, the
GOO-vs.-EG battle, etc.), but that's not playing the game fairly. If we reject
Derleth's contributions because we don't like what he did, we leave ourselves
open to the arbitrary rejection of Howard, or Smith, or anyone other than
Lovecraft, by anyone who doesn't care for those authors. And if we eliminate
the "group project" aspect of the Mythos trappings, a lot of what HPL himself
did becomes less significant. It was partly *because* he and his friends
explicitly shared common elements in their fictional worlds that HPL gained the
attention he did.
Shannon Appel
> ap...@erzo.Berkeley.EDU (Shannon Appel) writes:
>>In reality, _he_ [Derleth] invented the Cthulhu Mythos, not Lovecraft. Sure,
>> Lovecraft wrote a number of wonderful stories which mentioned Nyarlathotep,
>> Cthulhu and others. But, in reality, they were unconnected tales which just
>> happened to use the same names to make them more "realistic".
>Um, I'm not sure I follow the point here. Derleth certainly coined the term
>"Cthulhu Mythos", but that just put a single handle on the set of trappings HPL
>et al used for their stories. Saying those stories were "unconnected" is
>definitely misleading, as much of the impact of the trappings came from the
>(very real) connections.
Right. I wasn't precisely clear there. Without a doubt, Lovecraft
created many of the elements of the Cthulhu mythos (Cthulhu,
Yog-Sothoth, Yig, etc), and he did show connections between them.
However, to a large extent, he did it in only a very loose manner
(although, I think this was changing by the end of his career). He
mentioned the various elements of the Cthulhu Mythos in his stories to
increase their impact, but he didn't really tie them together into a
harmonious whole. The elements of the Mythos were a set of names that
were all mentioned by benefit of being in the same universe, but not
really a mythology per se.
I think it was Derleth who first created a mythology out of the huge
number elements that Lovecraft (and Bloch and Howard and Smith) had
put together. Sure, he framed it as an eternal battle between good
and evil, but still... And, of course, later people have created
mythologies out of the elements that Lovecraft et al created too, Lin
Carter and Sandy Petersen for example. They're clearly not the same
mythologies as Derleth's, which is part of what makes the whole
Cthulhu Cycle fun.
Shannon
Ezzie
Shannon Appel <ap...@erzo.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
>
>Lumley's Primal Land. He would never have set stories in Campbell's
>Severn Valley.
Frankly, it's nice to see an author setting Mythos tales in England/UK for a
change. This is also a query about RC, after reading Cold Print over
Christmas, particularly "Among the pictures are these", I'm wondering if RC
has everhad any of the art work described there produced commercially. Can
any one help me here?
Andrew
--
Andrew J. Stoker | "My lord, I cannot ride!"
Leicester Uni. | "Capital, we shall give you a horse that can't be ridden."
aj...@leicester.ac.uk | ``Wyrd Sisters'', Terry Pratchett
Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt
> This is also a query about RC, after reading Cold Print over Christmas,
> particularly "Among the pictures are these", I'm wondering if RC
> has everhad any of the art work described there produced commercially.
"Among the pictures..." was first published in NYCTALOPS. It's been a while
since I looked at it, but I believe the "Exham" drawing was used as an
illustration in that first printing. That's the only place I know of where the
art may have been reproduced.
BTW, the art is pretty crude, high-school-level stuff. If you've seen a copy
of the "Ghostly Tales" issue of CRYPT OF CTHULHU (publishing art and stories
done by RC as a teen), you'll get the idea.
> Andrew
>--
>Andrew J. Stoker | "My lord, I cannot ride!"
>Leicester Uni. | "Capital, we shall give you a horse that can't be ridden."
>aj...@leicester.ac.uk | ``Wyrd Sisters'', Terry Pratchett
Branney
to the survival of HPL's work. However, when it comes to talent, Derleth was a
passable editor and basically a lame writer.