Cthulhu

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Cthulhu
Also known as	Tulu, Clulu, Clooloo, Cthulu, Cthullu, C'thulhu, Cighulu, Cathulu, C'thlu, Kathulu, Kutulu, Kthulhu, Q’thulu, K'tulu, Kthulhut, Kulhu, Kutunluu, Ktulu, Cuitiliú, Thu Thu, High Priest of the Great Old Ones, The Great Dreamer, The Sleeper of R'lyeh
Born	**Expanded Mythos** Vhoorl, 23rd nebula
Origin	Outer space
Powers and Abilities	Superhuman Strength, Nigh Invulnerability, Flight, Madness Manipulation, Immortality, Telepathy, Reality Manipulation
Relatives	Azathoth (great-great-grandfather) Yog-Sothoth (grandfather) Shub-Niggurath (grandmother) Nug (parent) **Derleth and Expanded Mythos** Hastur the Unspeakable (half-brother) Ghatanothoa (offspring) Ythogtha (offspring) Zoth-Ommog (offspring) Cthylla (offspring) T'ith (offspring) Kthanid (brother) Cthaeghya(Half-sister) Hnarqu (brother) Kassogtha (sister) Nctosa (offspring) Nctolhu (offspring)
Mate	**Expanded Mythos** Idh-yaa Kassogtha
Affiliations	Great Old Ones
Species	Great Old One
First appearance	"The Call of Cthulhu"
Created by	H. P. Lovecraft

“	In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.	„
	~ H.P. Lovecraft , The Call of Cthulhu

Cthulhu is a Great Old One of great power that lies in a death-like slumber beneathe the Pacific Ocean in his sunken city of R'lyeh. He remains a dominant presence in the eldrich dealings on our.

Quotations

They were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape [...] but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R'lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them.

- Castro on the nature of the Old Ones

'That is not dead which can eternal lie.'

And with strange aeons even death may die."

-Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon:

When the stars have come right for the Great Old Ones, "some force from outside must serve to liberate their bodies. The spells that preserved Them intact likewise prevented them from making an initial move.

-Castro on the Cthulhu Cult:"

[At the proper time,] the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from his tomb to revive His subjects and resume his rule of earth [...] Then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.

-Castro

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

-Popular Cthulhu chant

His Worshippers

It is unknown how large the throng of those who worship the dreaded Cthulhu is, but his cult has many cells around the globe. Though they are uneducated and incompetent, they for some unknown reason, spend actual time attempting to praise their fictional god. The cult is noted for chanting its horrid phrase or ritual: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," which translates as "In his house at R'lyeh dead C'thulhu waits dreaming." This is often shortened to "Cthulhu fhtagn," which might possibly mean "Cthulhu waits," "Cthulhu dreams," or "Cthulhu waits dreaming."

Other Discoveries

Cthulhu is mentioned in other sources, sometimes described in ways that appear to contradict information given the most well-known accounts. For example, rather than including Cthulhu among the Great Old Ones, a quotation from the Necronomicon says of the Old Ones, "Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can it spy Them only dimly." But different Lovecraft stories and characters use the term "Old Ones" in widely different ways.

Human explorers in Antarctica discovered an ancient city, for example, where the Old Ones are described as a species of extraterrestrials, also known as Elder Things, who were at war with Cthulhu and his relatives or allies. The discoverers of the Elder Things were able to puzzle out a history from sculptural records:

With the upheaval of new land in the South Pacific tremendous events began [...] Another race–a land race of beings shaped like octopi and probably corresponding to the fabulous pre-human spawn of Cthulhu–soon began filtering down from cosmic infinity and precipitated a monstrous war which for a time drove the Old Ones wholly back to the sea [...] Later peace was made, and the new lands were given to the Cthulhu spawn whilst the Old Ones held the sea and the older lands [...] [T]he antarctic remained the centre of the Old Ones' civilization, and all the discoverable cities built there by the Cthulhu spawn were blotted out. Then suddenly the lands of the Pacific sank again, taking with them the frightful stone city of R'lyeh and all the cosmic octopi, so that the Old Ones were once again supreme on the planet [...]

William Dyer, part of the Antarctic expedition, also notes that "the Cthulhu spawn [...] seem to have been composed of matter more widely different from that which we know than was the substance of the Antarctic Old Ones. They were able to undergo transformations and reintegrations impossible for their adversaries, and seem therefore to have originally come from even remoter gulfs of cosmic space [...] The first sources of the other beings can only be guessed at with bated breath." He notes, however, that "the Old Ones might have invented a cosmic framework to account for their occasional defeats." Other stories have the Elder Things' enemies repeat this cosmic framework.

In another account , there is a reference to "the fearful myths antedating the coming of man to the earth–the Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu cycles–which are hinted at in the Necronomicon." That suggests that Cthulhu is one of the entities worshiped by the alien Mi-go race, and repeats the Elder Things' claim that the Mi-go share his unknown material compositions. Cthulhu's advent is also connected, in some unknown fashion, with supernovae: "I learned whence Cthulhu first came, and why half the great temporary stars of history had flared forth." The story mentions in passing that some humans call the Mi-Go "the old ones".

Investigations into the cult activity in Innsmouth, Massachusetts has revealed that Cthulhu is also worshiped by the nonhuman creatures known as Deep Ones.

Later revelations

According to correspondence between Lovecraft and fellow author James F. Morton , Lovecraft reveals that Cthulhu's parent is the deity Nug, itself the offspring of Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath. Lovecraft includes a family tree in which he himself descends from Cthulhu via Shaurash-ho, Yogash the Ghoul, K'baa the Serpent, and Ghoth the Burrower.

Recent Discoveries

Family

With the revelation of writing detailing his relations, we have learned that Cthulhu descends from Yog-Sothoth, possibly having been born on Vhoorl, in the 23rd Nebula. He mated with Idh-yaa on the planet Xoth. His offspring are Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha, Zoth-Ommog, and Cthylla.

Associated Materials

Music

• The heavy Metal band Rage has some songs inspired by the Cthulhu mythos: "Lost in the Ice" from the album The Missing Link and "In a nameless time" and "The crawling chaos" from Black in Mind.
• The thrash metal band Metallica has four songs inspired by the Cthulhu mythos: "The Call of Ktulu" on the album Ride the Lightning, "The Thing That Should Not Be" from Master of Puppets, "All Nightmare Long" from Death Magnetic, and "Dream no More" from Hardwired... to Self Destruct.
• Electronic Music Producer deadmau5 has made songs referencing Cthulhu and the sunken city of Ryleh
• The heavy metal band Iced Earth has a song named "Cthulhu" on its album Plagues of Babylon.
• Extreme metal band Cradle of Filth has a song called "Cthulhu Dawn", from the album Midian, based on his rising. Also the song "Mother of Abominations", from the album Nymphetamine, begins with a mantra "Iä Iä, C'thulhu fhtagn".
• A local Heavy Metal band from Rochester, NY has also taken to calling themselves Cthulu.
• The death metal band Black Dahlia Murder has a song inspired by the Call of Cthulhu titled "Thy Horror Cosmic."
• The closing track of the album Death Gods by death metal band Deathchain is called "Cthulhu Rising".

Games

• The Secret World...
• In Fromsoftware's Bloodborne there is a boss called Ebrietas who has a striking resemblence to Cthulhu or Cthylla due to it being a female.
• The Video Game Terraria introduce the Moon Lord boss in its 1.3 update, who has been said by the creator of the game to be Cthulhu's brother.
• In Zeboyd Games's Cthulhu Saves the World the player plays as Cthulhu himself on a quest to reclaim his power.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, much of the Zombies map "Shadows of Evil" contains references to the Cthulhu mythos
• In World of Warcraft, there are beings known as the "Old Gods" evil immortals who corrupted the world of Azeroth in ancient times. Two of these gods are named "C'thun" and "N'zoth" who are based from C'thulu.
• Call of C'thulu
• Payday 2 has an infamous mask named "Cthulhu", based off the creature of the same name. 
• Grand Theft Auto V has a mask shop on the beach that sells masks modeled after Cthulhu's head. 
• PC and console game "Smite" possesses a god named Ah Muzen Cab and he has a possible skin resembling C'thulu.
• The board game "Smash Up" has an expansion centred around the Cthulhu Mythos
• The video game "Evolve" feature two playables monsters, the Kraken and the Elder kraken, that are based on Cthutlu.

Film

Television

• On the Disney Show "Gravity Falls" Season Two Episode "Weirdmaggedon Part One" Cthulhu made a cameo
• On the show "Rick and Morty", Cthulhu makes an appearance at the end of each episode's opening sequence.
• "South Park" featured Cthulu in the "Coon and Friends Trilogy", where Cartman (in his Coon persona) allies with Cthulu to wreak havok on the world, and Kenny learns that Cthulu is responsible for his constant death/rebirth
• "Supernatural" featured Zeboyd Game Cthulhu Saves the World Season six Episode twentyone

Gallery

Cthulhu, as it appears in Russell's Guide (merzo.net)

Artistic imagery

Stephen Hickman's sculpture of Cthulhu.

Cthulhu has served as direct inspiration for many modern artists and sculptors. Prominent artists that produced renderings of this creature include, but are not limited to, Paul Carrick, Stephen Hickman, Kevin Evans, Dave Carson, Francois Launet and Ursula Vernon. Multiple sculptural depictions of Cthulhu exist, one of the most noteworthy being Stephen Hickman's Cthulhu Statue which has been featured in the Spectrum annual and is exhibited in display cabinets in the John Hay Library of Brown University of Providence. This statue of Cthulhu often serves as a separate object of inspiration for many works, most recent of which are the Cthulhu Worshiper Amulets manufactured by a Russian jeweler. For some time, replicas of Hickman's Cthulhu Statuette were produced by Bowen Designs, but are currently not available for sale. Today Hickman's Cthulhu statue can only be obtained on eBay and other auctions.