# Homecoming of Cthulu **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091 "2002-05-09T15:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/21 "2002-05-11T23:41:55Z")
You need a score card. The Elder Gods used to own Earth. They arrived from outer space. The Great Old Ones fought the Elder Gods and caused them to lose their grip on the physical parts of our world, except for a few gateways which can be opened by their (the Elder Gods’) minions and followers. The main city of the Great Old Ones was in Antartica, but they have been extinct for several million years, being done in by their servants, the shoggoths. Cthulhu’s minions and special servants on Earth are the Deep Ones. These are froggy-fishy humanoids. During the great whaling voyages from New England to the South Seas, some of the more degenerate sea captains brought back females of the Deep Ones as wives. Their decadent descendants are the fish people of Innsmouth. Cthulhu is presently dreaming in Ry’leh, which seems to be in modern Indonesia around the Sunda Strait. Yog-Sothoth is his own gateway, and a rather sentient conduit which could allow others of the Elder Gods access to this plane. Shub-Nuggurath is sort of the Earth/fertility elemental in the mythos, as Cthulhu is a water elemental and Hastur is associated with the air and interstellar space. All books \*you \* are likely to encounter entitled _The Necronomicon_ are rip-offs and drug induced sixties-era homages to Lovecraft and Anton LaVey. Don’t bother reading any of them. And yes, the wild dogs of India are also called dholes. Any errors and ommissions are entirely the fault of my aging memory. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/22 "2002-05-12T03:02:59Z")
Am I the only one who likes “The Tree”? No Cthulu, and not particularly frightening, but just a good story. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/23 "2002-05-12T04:41:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*Cthulhu is presently dreaming in Ry’leh, which seems to be in modern Indonesia around the Sunda Strait. > \*\* Actually, the co-ordinates given in “Call of Cthulhu” place it off the Southeastern coast of Australia, near Sydney. Yes, I was bored enough to look them up. P.S. Try “The Shadow Out of Time” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/24 "2002-05-12T16:43:21Z")
Don’t forget the “Necronomicon Ex Mortis” invented by Sam Raimi for the “Evil Dead” trilogy of movies, obviously inspired by HPL’s invention. Nice thing about the Reanimator movie is that it starred Jeffery Combs, later immortalized on Star Trek DS9 as both Weyoun and Brunt (and I believe an Andorian on an Enterprise episode). By the by, there used to be a great Cthulu Mythos FAQ on the internet, but my bookmark for it has gone 404 on me, sorry…TRM p.s. - trivia question: what was the name of the “Mad Arab” who alegedly wrote the Necronomicon? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/25 "2002-05-12T18:45:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tim R. Mortiss \* > \*\*p.s. - trivia question: what was the name of the “Mad Arab” who alegedly wrote the Necronomicon? \*\* Abdul Alhazred, if memory serves. jayjay ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/26 "2002-05-12T19:01:58Z")
How do you pronounce Cthulu? Is it Sthoo-loo, or Ka-thoo-loo? The scariest part of the mythos is that the head of the “gods” is a blind idiot. That, and trying to spell their names. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/27 "2002-05-12T19:02:27Z")
Actually, Abdul Alhazred was Theodoras Philetas’ corruption of the proper Arabic name, Abd al-Azrad. al-Azrad, of course, didn’t name his text “The Necronomicon,” as he was neither Greek nor Roman. The original title of his book was Al Azif. Philetas may have coined the term Necronomicon, although that credit most likely belongs to the infamous Olaus Wormius. So, am I King of the Geeks, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/28 "2002-05-12T19:28:36Z")
Oh, and **DrFidelius** has got the events mostly right, but the names a little mixed up: First off, there are the Outer (or True) Gods: Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, and Nyarlathotep. Except for Nyarlathotep, who is the most traditionally evil of all Lovecraft’s creations, none of the Outer Gods are sentient in any sense we understand it: rather, they are primal, chaotic forces. Then there are the Great Old Ones, beings of immense and alien power, but not quite dieties. These include Cthulhu, Hastur, Shudde M’Ell, and a host of other creations, most by authors other than Lovecraft. The Great Old Ones were the first inhabitants of Earth, before some sort of cosmological shift trapped them here. Some, like Cthulhu, sought out the inaccesible corners of the globe and became dormant. Others remained active, but trapped here. Finally there are the lesser races. Mortals, like us, but alien. These include the Mi-Go, a highly advanced, sentient insectoid fungus, the deep ones, a race of humanoid fish (worshippers of Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, not Cthulhu, BTW), the Great Race, and the Elder Things. Of all these races, the Elder Things were the strongest, and ruled this world after the fall of the Great Old Ones but before the rise of mankind. Indeed, it may have been the Elder Things’ experiments that gave rise to terrestrial life as we know it. They built great cities all over the planet, but were eventually destroyed when their slave race, the abominable shoggoths, rebelled against them and wiped them out. Two of their cities still stand, one in the Antaractic ice, the other on the ocean floor. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/29 "2002-05-12T19:48:20Z")
[Here’s a Cthulhu Mythos FAQ](http://members.tripod.com/~danharms/mythos.htm). I always pronounce it Ka-THOO-loo, but who knows for sure? ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/30 "2002-05-12T19:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanstaafl \* > **Collect Call of Cthulhu** … it’s _about time_ they replaced Carrot Top and Eva Savalot. :rolleyes: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/31 "2002-05-13T01:41:30Z")
Most people pronounce it Ka-THOO-loo, but most people are wrong. In “More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft,” Joshi quotes one of Lovecraft’s letters, as follows: > [@](#): > > The actual sound–as nearly as human organs could imitate it or human letters record it–may be taken as something like _Khlul’hloo_, with the first syllable pronounced gutterally and very thickly. The _u_ is about like that in _full_; and the first syllable is not unlike _klul_ in sound, since the _h_ represents the gutteral thickness. So there you are. Khlul’hloo. Say that ten times fast. ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/32 "2002-05-14T00:14:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Damn. It’s been years since I read it. I must have been caught by one of those “inspired by Lovecraft” collections. > > jayjay (sci-fi geek, ashamed) 🙂 \*\* Don’t feel too ashamed about attributing “The Hounds of Tindalos” to Lovecraft. It’s an easy enough mistake to make, considering that Lovecraft did author a story titled “The Hound.” ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/33 "2002-05-14T00:16:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Damn. It’s been years since I read it. I must have been caught by one of those “inspired by Lovecraft” collections. > > jayjay (sci-fi geek, ashamed) 🙂 \*\* Don’t feel too ashamed about attributing “The Hounds of Tindalos” to Lovecraft. It’s an easy enough mistake to make, considering that Lovecraft did author a story titled “The Hound.” And on another note, “The Mound” was one of Lovecraft’s anonymous “revisions,” originally written by Zealia Bishop but almost entirely rewritten by H.P. It can be found in the anthology THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM, along with numerous other stories revised so much by Lovecraft that many of them stand up against the best of his “official” work. ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/34 "2002-05-14T07:09:57Z")
Thanks for clearing up the Elder Gods/Great Old Ones stuff. Sorta. I guess I am hopelessly incompetent when it comes to Lovecraft. So, um, not to be annoying or anything, but a few more questions? \ Please don’t hurt me. 🙂 Dr. Fidelius, you mentioned any book “I’m likely to find”. So, there are other Necronomicons? Are you saying this book has some basis in literary fact, i.e., a similar book existed at some point somewhere? For what? Also, these True Outer Gods: what exactly, are their jobs? Just being scary and disorganized, and randomly driving moneyed New Englanders to insanity? Do they actually control anything, like most mythological gods do? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/35 "2002-05-14T09:44:48Z")
(Sourced using the Call of Cthulhu d20 RPG source book…the True Gods haven’t come up in any of the Mythos stories I’ve actually read.) The True Gods don’t control anything. They ARE the forces of nature, made manifest. Azathoth IS chaos, entropy, and destruction. Shub-Nigurath IS life and creation. Yog-Shogoth IS time. Nyarlathotep…is…different. He’s sort of…a face for the others, if you will, though he seems to have his own agenda as well. (CoC d20 (and perhaps the original CoC RPG) corrects the redundancy of Abdul Alhazred as Abdul Hazred, so it might differ from other takes on the Mythos in other ways as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/36 "2002-05-14T09:52:42Z")
Oh…and as to the Necronomicon…no, its creation was totally an act of Lovecraft’s. I’m not sure what Dr F means by the ‘any books you’re likely to have encountered’…though I’d disagree that there’s no point in reading ANY of them (the most common one I’ve seen is fairly well fleshed out, fairly deftly melding the Mythos with Qabalah and other mysticism, and is interesting just for that), even the good ones more or less match the description he gave. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091/37 "2002-05-15T01:10:02Z")
Heh heh heh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homecoming-of-cthulu/108091.md?page=1)