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The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.

August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, coined Cthulhu Mythos to identify the system of lore originally employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name Cthulhu derives from a central figure in Lovecraft’s short stories, “The Call of Cthulhu” (which  pulp magazine “Weird Tales” first published in 1928). The writer Richard L. Tierney later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish between Lovecraft's works and Derleth's later stories.

Authors of Lovecraftian horror use elements of the Mythos in an ongoing expansion of the fictional universe.

History
In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos," Robert M. Price described two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. During his lifetime, Lovecraft formulated and guided “Cthulhu Mythos Proper,” which Price called the first stage. After his death, August Derleth published Lovecraft's stories which guided the second stage in attempt to expand and categorize the Mythos.,

First stage
An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind when faced with these cosmic horrors that exist in the universe. Lovecraft made frequent reference to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a deathlike sleep. This was first established in "The Call of Cthulhu", where the minds of the human characters deteriorated they glimpse what exists outside their perceived reality. In the opening sentence of “The Call of Cthulhu,” Lovecraft emphasized the point by stating that "the most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."

Writer Dirk W. Mosig notes that Lovecraft, a "mechanistic materialist,"embraced the philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. Lovecraft believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe. With their limited faculties, human beings could never fully understand this universe; the cognitive dissonance caused by limitation leads to insanity. Lovecraft's viewpoint made no allowance for religious belief which could not be supported scientifically; With regards to the incomprehensible in his stories, the cosmic forces of his tales have as little regard for humanity as humans have for insects.

There have been attempts at categorizing this fictional group of cosmic beings. Phillip A. Schreffler argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings, a workable framework emerges that outlines the entire "pantheon" – from the unreachable "Outer Ones" (e.g. Azathoth, who apparently 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 shoggoths and the Mi-go).

David E. Schultz, however, believes Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but rather intended his imaginary pantheon to merely serve as a background element. Lovecraft himself humorously referred to his Mythos as "Yog Sothothery" (Dirk W Mosig coincidentally suggested the term Yog-Sothoth Cycle of Myth be substituted for Cthulhu Mythos ). At times, Lovecraft had to remind readers that his Mythos creations were entirely fictional.

S. T. Joshi reinforced the view that there was no rigid structure stating that "Lovecraft's imaginary cosmogony was never a static system but rather a sort of aesthetic construct that remained ever adaptable to its creator's developing personality and altering interests... [T]here was never a rigid system that might be posthumously appropriated... [T]he essence of the Mythos lies not in a pantheon of imaginary deities nor in a cobwebby collection of forgotten tomes, but rather in a certain convincing cosmic attitude."

Alternatively, Price believed that Lovecraft's writings could be divided into categories and identified three distinct themes: the "Dunsanian" (written in the vein of Lord Dunsany), "Arkham" (occurring in Lovecraft's fictionalized New England setting), and "Cthulhu" (the cosmic tales) cycles. 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. Although not formalized and acknowledged as a Mythos per se, Lovecraft did correspond with contemporary writers Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner, and Fritz Leiber – a group referred to as the "Lovecraft Circle" – and shared story elements:  Robert E. Howard's character 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) and "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936). Many of Howard's original unedited Conan stories also form part of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Second stage
Price's dichotomy dictates the second stage commenced with August Derleth. The principal difference between Lovecraft and Derleth was the latter's use of hope. Derleth believed the Cthulhu Mythos essentially represented a struggle between good and evil. He is credited with creating the Elder Gods. He stated:

As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his Mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully... rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones...

—August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"

Price suggests that the basis of Derleth's systematization is found in Lovecraft, stating: "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 we find the history of a conflict between two interstellar races (among others): the Elder Ones and the Cthulhu-spawn." Derleth himself believed that Lovecraft wished for other authors to actively write about the myth-cycle as opposed to it being a discrete plot device. Derleth expanded the boundaries of the Mythos by including references to other author's story elements by Lovecraft as part of the genre: just as Lovecraft made references to Clark Ashton Smith's Book of Eibon. Derleth in turn added Smith's Ubbo-Sathla to the Mythos.

Derleth also attempted to connect the deities of the Mythos to the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water), but was forced to adopt artistic license and create beings to represent certain elements (air and fire) to legitimize his system of classification. In applying the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale (e.g. Yog-Sothoth) some authors created a separate category termed aethyr.