# Why is Cthulhu all that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539 "2013-11-22T17:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/1 "2013-11-22T17:18:44Z")
More than any of the other horrors of Lovecraftian fiction that is? He isn’t even the ultimate big-bad of the mythos. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/2 "2013-11-22T17:21:34Z")
Just the most easily recognizable name, icon of the mythos. Most stories aren’t even remotely about him. Although every time his name comes up in D&D games, I take pleasure in pointing out that in the early versions of the _Call of Cthulhu RPG_, he automatically ate d3 (1-3) Investigators (read: Player Characters) per turn. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/3 "2013-11-22T17:23:28Z")
'cause its easier to spell then Nyarlathotep ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/4 "2013-11-22T17:27:02Z")
Because Cthulhu cares. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/5 "2013-11-22T17:28:38Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > 'cause its easier to spell then Nyarlathotep And to pronounce. When you’re screaming and running, you want people to know why. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/6 "2013-11-22T17:33:19Z")
Maybe the description of Cthulhu has a lot to do with it-- all them crazy [face tentacles and dragon wings](http://images.wikia.com/powerlisting/images/9/90/Great-cthulhu.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/7 "2013-11-22T17:37:19Z")
From an Earth-centric perspective, Cthulhu is probably the biggest threat. He’s not as big and bad as some of the things out there, but those other things aren’t paying a lot of attention to Earth. It’s a big theme in Lovecraft’s work that we just aren’t important enough to matter to most of the powers that be. It’s not really worth Nyarlothotep’s time to destroy the Earth anymore than it’s worth your time to chase ants all day. But once Cthulhu wakes up… well, he’s going to be _right here_. But I agree with the others that the actual reason we call the Cthulhu mythos by that name has more to do with the fact that it’s easier to say and spell, while still being strange enough to get the point across. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/8 "2013-11-22T17:47:00Z")
I think we probably owe that to August Derleth, who essentially recast Lovecraft’s mostly scattered and disjointed mythical figures and deities into something approaching a more conventional pantheon, which he christened the ‘Cthulhu mythos’. Why, I don’t know—maybe he just liked the name. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/9 "2013-11-22T17:48:07Z")
And “Hastur” just doesn’t sound eldritch enough. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/10 "2013-11-22T18:11:31Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Maybe the description of Cthulhu has a lot to do with it-- all them crazy [face tentacles and dragon wings](http://images.wikia.com/powerlisting/images/9/90/Great-cthulhu.jpg). I gotta say that if I saw that, and that being “[hundreds of meters tall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu)”, I’d completely lose my shit. Fail my Sanity Check in the game venacular. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/11 "2013-11-22T18:23:15Z")
I have 5 internets that say you don’t have the balls to tell Cthulhu that to His face! ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/12 "2013-11-22T18:28:31Z")
He is the Godzilla of the pulp fiction world. He comes from a time where we were just barely getting an idea how big the universe is, and it totally dwarfs our human imagination. Cthuthy belongs to dimensions we can’t sanely comprehend and what we can see of him is horribly monstrous. He’s the cosmic boogieman of our time. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/13 "2013-11-22T18:35:18Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > From an Earth-centric perspective, Cthulhu is probably the biggest threat. He’s not as big and bad as some of the things out there, but those other things aren’t paying a lot of attention to Earth. It’s a big theme in Lovecraft’s work that we just aren’t important enough to matter to most of the powers that be. It’s not really worth Nyarlothotep’s time to destroy the Earth anymore than it’s worth your time to chase ants all day. But once Cthulhu wakes up… well, he’s going to be _right here_. Nyarlathotep would totally destroy the Earth just for giggles. He’s the only Great Old One who appears to be aware of humans on an individual level. In his first appearance in Lovecraft’s stories, he disguises himself as a human and establishes a cult, and appears to cause the collapse of world civilization, but that last bit is probably just the narrator going off his nut. The real reason that Cthulhu gets his name in the logo is that, of all the Great Old Ones that Lovecraft wrote, he and Nyarlathotep are the only ones who actually show up. The others are name-checked, or are responsible for the creation of the monsters in the story, or maybe get glimpsed in a fever dream or described by a lunatic, but they mostly don’t really appear in any of Lovecraft’s stories. And “Call of Cthulhu” is a much better story than “Nyarlathotep,” so that’s the one that people remember. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/14 "2013-11-22T18:45:41Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Cthuthy belongs to dimensions we can’t sanely comprehend and what we can see of him is horribly monstrous. I guess that is why you are on such affectionate terms with him! ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/15 "2013-11-22T19:21:47Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I guess that is why you are on such affectionate terms with him! I’m not saying I’m in _love_ with Cthulhu but… he is all that. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/16 "2013-11-22T20:04:59Z")
Simply because he’s in the title of one of his better known stories, and that’s about enough to make him stand up over the rest of ancient gods. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/17 "2013-11-22T20:10:28Z")
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**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/18 "2013-11-22T20:14:13Z")
It’s just so [adaptable](http://www.worldofmunchkin.com/callofcowthulhu/). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/19 "2013-11-22T22:14:57Z")
Has there ever been a truly mythic scale Lovecraftian film which has done full homage and honor to the mythos in question? Seems like most of them use the mythos as a flimsy backdrop for some cheap and obvious horror… ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539/20 "2013-11-22T22:25:50Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Has there ever been a truly mythic scale Lovecraftian film which has done full homage and honor to the mythos in question? Seems like most of them use the mythos as a flimsy backdrop for some cheap and obvious horror… Its kinda hard to film something that makes people go insane just looking at it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cthulhu-all-that/674539.md?page=2)