Explain how "malevolant" the Lovecraftian gods/deities/demons are?

[MerlinCross]

Really it depends. Most the big names kinda aren't as they move in ways unknown to us and we are lower than dust or bacteria to them. Or even a part of them. Ubbo-Sathla, Daoloth, Atlach-Nacha, etc etc.

However the more...., actual interaction a 'deity' has with humanity the more malevolent we can call them. We can get away with calling Cthulhu malevolent due to his followers acting on earth. Nyarlathotep too but he does it more out of boredom and needing to share his suffering with others though he's also a plans within plans kinda of deity so might help to hurt later down the line if it's a bigger impact.

Then you kinda get into the less well known guys like Yig, Ithaqua, Glaaki and Chaugnar Faugn. Who are malevolent but tend to be in the smaller scheme of things(Mind you these are still beings of inhuman power so, scale is messed up)

Spoiler: Yig

Yig is probably one of the more even and yet unknown guys. "Father of serpents" he's easy to anger and please. Just don't mess with him really or snakes and snake headed cultists are gonna show up. He tends to get fleshed out in other material such as Pathfinder or games. What his goals are who can say but he's one that takes an actual hand in doing stuff on Earth

Spoiler: Ithaqua

Ithaqua is basically Wendigo. On steroids. He's got a cult acting on earth and those that live in the frozen places of our planet tend to live out offerings in order to bribe him off. Ithaqua also has a bunch of monsters/servants and tends to kidnap(read drag) people to an ice world he rules. Some to kill and maybe eat. Others to press into worshiping him there. Also has a thing for trying to mate with women to produce a being that can surpass himself and free the rest of the old gods. Not good news for us but more personal and tends to be understood. Comes in kills and freezes and then drags people back to horrible fates.

Spoiler: Glaaki

You live in England? Well you got Glaaki, a giant slug like being with metal spikes living in a large lake. Knowledge and magic are his stick though the knowledge is mainly about other things living nearby or associated with water. Many call upon Glaaki for either knowledge or immortal life. Unsure about the first one but the second one he gives out freely; driving a metal spine into them and giving them an injection. Problem is this turns them into zombie like servitors that can't stand the sun as they 'age' into this new state. What he does with the cultists is anyone's guess.

Spoiler: Chaugnar Faugn

Chaugnar Faugn 'the Elephant' is this, thing that combines the worst aspects of octopus, elephant, and human being. He's got his own cult; the Tcho-Tcho people. At first he was worshipped by amphibians when he first arrived on earth but he made those things into servants and then had those mate with humans. Said hybrids would become the Tcho-Tcho years later, who are kinda cannibalistic. Chaugnar himself uses his trunk to drink blood from beings that are brought to him. Now he doesn't seem to be an outright threat but some expanded materials seem to point towards his people trying to spread worship of him..., and thus the practice of cannibalism. Ugh...

Mind you there are some debates about if they are Elder/Outer gods or just strong beings. But they are beings that are currently on or are acting on earth even if it's through cultists.

 

[Fox12]

What is the worse Cthulhu and all the other Eldritch Space Gods can do and are capable of?

Well, they can fart and accidentally wipe out space time.

Most Lovecraftian monsters aren't really malevolent. They just don't know or care about humanity. There are different levels of Godhood, though. Cthulhu would consider us slaves, for instance. The elder gods would consider us bacteria. The horror comes from living in uncaring universe. It's a metaphor for nihilism.

The really nasty monsters are usually pretty weak in the lovecraftian universe. Cthulhu himself was just a priest, for instance. The most powerful entity that knows about and hates humanity is Nyarlathotep, who supposedly will end the world.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What is the worse Cthulhu and all the other Eldritch Space Gods can do and are capable of?

Well, they can fart and accidentally wipe out space time.

So basically these gods are bullshit?

Yeah I am not really scared by something that can utterly destroy all existance just by waking up. At this point just accept it. Why live when such forces exists?

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:


He just writes off the Dracula/Werewolf aspect but goes fanboy on Lovecraft

 

[Neverhoodian]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Snip

He just writes off the Dracula/Werewolf aspect but goes fanboy on Lovecraft

D-don't talk about senpai that way!

I love you, always forever,
Near and far, closer together...[footnote]No homo[/footnote]

You wanna see how deep the Bunnyhop hole goes? Try watching his Critical Close-Up for Metal Gear Solid 2. It's seriously pretty heady stuff. I had to stop and mull it over a good while afterwards.

I'm not too familiar with Lovecraftian horror, but I do find the concept intriguing. I don't like most forms of contemporary horror with their reliance on gross-out visuals and "BLAH JUMPSCARES." The few times I do dabble in the genre it's psychological or cosmic horror. The mind can conjure up things far more terrifying than anything put to a screen.

Love it or hate it, you gotta admit Lovecraft is certainly different.

 

[The Madman]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Isn't accusing someone of being snobbish while simultaneously calling something you don't really know anything about overrated at the same time, well, kinda snobbish itself? Also Bunnyhop is awesome.

ANYWAY the thing about Lovecraft is that

A: He's sort of the forefather of his own brand of existential horror. While it might not have been him who did it first, he's definitely the one who made it popular.

B: He's got a style completely unique to him that hasn't quite been replicated since.

There have been far better writers before and since Lovecraft, in fact objectively he was never a very good author, and there have been scarier works before and since as well, but none ever did it quite like Lovecraft did. His particular brand of dream-like uncertainty and horror, his weird obsessions, his (yes I'm going there) paranoid racism, combined with his peculiar writing style all worked together to make something distinct enough that long after the actual man died alone and poor his writing has only grown in popularity.

Lovecraft had some really unusual and vivid ideas in that messed up head of his, and it's incredibly cool as a fan of his works to see it pop up sometimes in games and media. Finally considering there's never really been a major blockbuster Lovecraft movie (Does Re-Animator count as a blockbuster? Also I want Del Toro's Mountains of Madness so badly) and yet the number of various Dracula/Werewolf movies I can't even begin to count kinda makes him the undeniable underdog in that particular race.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Snip

He just writes off the Dracula/Werewolf aspect but goes fanboy on Lovecraft

D-don't talk about senpai that way!

I love you, always forever,
Near and far, closer together...[footnote]No homo[/footnote]

You wanna see how deep the Bunnyhop hole goes? Try watching his Critical Close-Up for Metal Gear Solid 2. It's seriously pretty heady stuff. I had to stop and mull it over a good while afterwards.

I'm not too familiar with Lovecraftian horror, but I do find the concept intriguing. I don't like most forms of contemporary horror with their reliance on gross-out visuals and "BLAH JUMPSCARES." The few times I do dabble in the genre it's psychological or cosmic horror. The mind can conjure up things far more terrifying than anything put to a screen.

Love it or hate it, you gotta admit Lovecraft is certainly different.

That video of MGS 2 is what made me call out on him pretentious in the first place, I am sorry but he was really looking at things that really was not there.

And regarding Lovecraft being "different" well Lovecraft has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore.

Anybody can now make up their own eldritch tenticled abomination any more that may I say can look very unintimidating at times and sometimes can appear generic and blur together.

Look at these 2 and tell me which one is Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth and don't cheat by looking at their URL links or google the images.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Isn't accusing someone of being snobbish while simultaneously calling something you don't really know anything about overrated at the same time, well, kinda snobbish itself? Also Bunnyhop is awesome.

If that is the case than I am a snob that is calling out the snobs if that makes any sense.

And Bunnyhop eh made some decent stuff but man can he get way too pretentious.

 

[The Madman]

If that is the case than I am a snob that is calling out the snobs if that makes any sense.

And Bunnyhop eh made some decent stuff but man can he get way too pretentious.

Dude is enthusiastic and does legit research on the subjects he talks about. If that counts as snobbish, then I wish more content creators were as while I don't always agree with him or his conclusions, I have nothing but respect for the guy and always look forward to his videos.

Also:

Look at these 2 and tell me which one is Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth and don't cheat by looking at their URL links or google the images.

Lovecraft never actually described any of the 'monsters' of his works in any great detail. In fact quite the opposite, he'd often go out of his way to leave what these things looked like vague as a main plot point in a number of his stories are the creatures indescribable nature. How do you draw something that's supposed to be impossible to comprehend? That's the challenge, and also why a lot of fan works like the ones you linked look kinda similar.

Anyway why not just go read some Lovecraft yourself? Guy's been dead long enough that his works are free domain, you can find most of them online and it's totally legit. HERE

The Colour out of Space and Rats in the Walls are short, easy standalone reads. If you want to get into the whole Cthulhu mythos then Shadow Over Innsmouth and Call of Cthulhu are the two you want. And my personal favourite but also one of his longest works is At the Mountains of Madness.

You can listen to the awesome Call of Ktulu while you read:

 

[Fox12]

What is the worse Cthulhu and all the other Eldritch Space Gods can do and are capable of?

Well, they can fart and accidentally wipe out space time.

So basically these gods are bullshit?

Yeah I am not really scared by something that can utterly destroy all existance just by waking up. At this point just accept it. Why live when such forces exists?

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:


He just writes off the Dracula/Werewolf aspect but goes fanboy on Lovecraft

Lovecraft was a product of his time. People were becoming fully aware of the size of a godless universe, and it terrified them. I think this is why he became more popular as time went on. That said, what filled Lovecraft with terror can fill Neil Degrasse Tyson with wonder. It's all about perspective, and as people get used to the idea of the vastness of space I think there will be a cultural shift in how we see it. Hell, I think it already occurred.

Lovecraft wasn't perfect. His prose were pretty bad, and he held some rather backwards views. That said, I rather like him. I like the people he inspired even more. I like sunless sea, and darkest dungeon, and Bloodborne. I like the many books and movies inspired by him. I wouldn't call him overated, since he's a pretty contentious writer. At the end of the day you have to take the bad with the good.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Yeah I am not really scared by something that can utterly destroy all existance just by waking up. At this point just accept it. Why live when such forces exists?

The thing is, with many of the Elder Things, it's not just gonna be "lights out". They can incite gibbering madness, drive humans to mindless aggression or cannibalism, cause the very world to warp. Many of the cults that have gathered around them are trying to get the attention of these creatures in hopes that they'll simply wipe us out all at once and spare us inevitable centuries of misery.

 

[Rabish Bini]

It's interesting how, amidst all the incomprehensible horror that Lovecraft created in his stories, the most horrifying was a fucking colour.

That said my personal favourite was The Rats In The Walls. Come to think of it I think I generally prefer his non Cthulhu mythos stories.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Yeah I am not really scared by something that can utterly destroy all existance just by waking up. At this point just accept it. Why live when such forces exists?

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be

You are totally free to be that guy, but I'd suggest you not be him until you've at least read some of Lovecraft's stories. The Call of Cthulhu, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror and Color out of Space are all good stories to give you the general vibe of Lovecrafts horror.

As with many other things, Lovecraft's brand of horror is best experienced, not explained.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Don't feel bad. I think he's overrated too, though it needs to be reminded that Overrated =/=Bad. I like his stuff. I just think what came after and what he inspired was better (Howard's take on the Mythos especially).

 

[FalloutJack]

Ze pics

It's probably because I'm well-read, but the two pictures are very clear, in that Shub's Dark Young are all over the first one. The artist's interpretation of Yog-Sothoth, is different from the classic mass of irridescent globes for some reason, but other than that...

 

[DoPo]

And regarding Lovecraft being "different" well Lovecraft has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore.

You say that and then...

Anybody can now make up their own eldritch tenticled abomination any more that may I say can look very unintimidating at times and sometimes can appear generic and blur together.

Immediately refute it with the next thing you bring up. Well done. People who make tentacled monstrosities aren't really doing what Lovecraft did. Not to mention that most of the time they make them actually malevolent. Also interactable with, (usually, at least partially) beatable and also comprehendable. Lovecraft's entities are not this.

If people wanted to be the same as ye ole H.P. they should just stop sticking random tentacles to stuff because that's not really him.

 

[Fox12]

I am gonna say it, I am gonna be that guy, Lovecraft is overrated. Everyone making these things out to be the epitome of horror fiction just baffles me. I mean look how snobbishly people like this make Lovecraft out to be:

Isn't accusing someone of being snobbish while simultaneously calling something you don't really know anything about overrated at the same time, well, kinda snobbish itself? Also Bunnyhop is awesome.

If that is the case than I am a snob that is calling out the snobs if that makes any sense.

And Bunnyhop eh made some decent stuff but man can he get way too pretentious.

Dude, you gotta stop with the snobby and overrated talk. Just learn to enjoy things.

Trying to understand things doesn't make you pretentious.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

That video of MGS 2 is what made me call out on him pretentious in the first place, I am sorry but he was really looking at things that really was not there.

And regarding Lovecraft being "different" well Lovecraft has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore.

Anybody can now make up their own eldritch tenticled abomination any more that may I say can look very unintimidating at times and sometimes can appear generic and blur together.

Look at these 2 and tell me which one is Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth and don't cheat by looking at their URL links or google the images.

[/img]

To look at Lovecraft this way is both a massive oversimplification and a misinterpretation. I'm sorry, but go read some of his work and then get back to us. Lovecraftian horror isn't, never has been, and will never be, about big scary tentacle monsters who could totally beat up Goku, Arthas and Superman guys! The memetization and reduction of his work to chibi Cthulhu plushies and making big baddies tentacle monstrosities is bastardization of art of the highest order. The Lovecraftian "look" of things has become mainstream, but not the type of horror he wrote.

If you step outside the Cthulhu mythos (which is far from the only thing he wrote, which people often forget), you'll see that all of his work shares a common thread with the incomprehensible. His stories, both standalones and connected works, are about coming to contact with some horrifying revelation, discovery, entity or secret the human mind cannot imagine or comprehend. In his works, especially those concerning the Old Ones, the protagonists come to question concepts like morality, death, time, existence and reality: concepts which we can only understand via our way of thinking. As such, trying to understand the greater Lovecraft entities is a futile effort, hence why so many main characters in his stories end up killing themselves, going mad or similar. To the Old Ones, human concepts like good or evil are irrelevant, and trying to pinpoint how "good", "evil" or "powerful" they are is missing the point.

Lovecraftian horror isn't mainstream because it's rather hard to do right. His brand of horror boils down to the concept that the universe is vast beyond comprehension, utterly uncaring, and that you are, have always been and always will be completely helpless before its greater powers. Not even Lovecraft could do Lovecraft right all the time. It relies on narrative devices that don't translate well to film for example: how do you illustrate something that's supposed to be indescribable in human languages? How do you create sounds that are utterly alien to human senses? A lot of Lovecraftian horror comes from the inner turmoil and monologue of the protagonist, which is hard to convey well in audiovisual form. There's little character development, or even character, period, too: most characters in the stories are just passive observers or victims. Hence why it doesn't even translate into the basic arc or structure of a story.

The best example I can think of Lovecraftian horror working in audiovisual form is (surprise surprise) Bloodborne, where it captures both the spirit and also what is considered the Lovecraft "look". It's an escalating spiral of madness and nightmare with only fleeting glimpses of the greater workings of it all. Characters get swept up and swallowed in the forces wracking Yharnam with no hope of relief. Even when it's all over you have very little idea of what even happened, and even less why.

 

[Thaluikhain]

And regarding Lovecraft being "different" well Lovecraft has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore.

Anybody can now make up their own eldritch tenticled abomination any more that may I say can look very unintimidating at times and sometimes can appear generic and blur together.

Yes and no.

A lot of people looked at Lovecraft, saw big tentacle beasts, and decided they'd be the next Lovecraft if only they put tentacle beasts in. In the same way that anyone can be the net Tolkien if they have elves and dwarves that don't like each other, but work together to fight orcs.

And, yeah, that doesn't work, but it doesn't stop people trying all the time, usually totally missing the point.

Though the ideas are inherently only somewhat scary, Lovecraft made them work with his writing style. He was very good at making anything scary, though he gets very samey.

As an aside, there's a story (don't remember the name in 3 parts, written by 3 different authors, of which Lovecraft was the first. It starts off as a horror about someone having their mind swapped with an alien on a distant planet. Then Howard (best known for the Conan stories) takes over and it becomes about the strong and inherently superior human hero fighting off aliens. Then someone else (don't remember the name) takes over and it's about how the human alien regrets its violence and becomes their wise king. The alien concepts remain the same, it's what the authors did with them and how they wrote them that matters.

And in any case, a lot of Lovecraft's stuff wasn't about big cosmic horror, it was about xenophobia and bigotry.

 

[hermes]

I would say that is a pretty lousy position to take. To attack Lovecraft because "he has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore" doesn't hold much water because he was the first in a lot of things (or, at least, the first to popularize it). He is not responsible for those that came after him. It is like saying CoD 4 is overrated because everyone now does leveling systems in multiplayer, Mario 3 is overrated because every platformer has an overworld now, or the Twilight Zone is overrated because their stories has been remade to infinity.

The point of Lovecraftian horror, like most horror, is about how his work resonated with the fears of the times. The same way werewolves reflected on the fear of the wilderness and outsiders that was pretty prevalent in times when communities were mostly villages and a very prominent theme of religion was "humans are special because they can fight their lowly instincts"; Frankenstein reflected on the fear of going too far in a time when science was moving by leaps and bounds and the pursuit of scientific knowledge was starting to be seen as the highest calling a scholar could pursuit; and zombies were a handy allegory for consumerism and mob mentality during the 60s and 70s.

By the same token, Lovecraft resonated with the homo centrist society of the early 20th century, the same society that used to think that "there are only few things left to understand" (one of them ended up being quantum physics and the other being nuclear power, so...) For such a society, to present them with the idea that we are not a gift to the universe, but something rather insignificant, that the "real powers" of the universe don't care for us, they don't even notice if they step on us, and we are powerless to even make them flinch, was powerful. And, since we are living in a rather nihilistic era of society, it keeps resonating with us, not as much as terror, but as validation.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I would say that is a pretty lousy position to take. To attack Lovecraft because "he has become so mainstream right now its not really "different" anymore" doesn't hold much water because he was the first in a lot of things (or, at least, the first to popularize it). He is not responsible for those that came after him. It is like saying CoD 4 is overrated because everyone now does leveling systems in multiplayer, Mario 3 is overrated because every platformer has an overworld now, or the Twilight Zone is overrated because their stories has been remade to infinity.

The point of Lovecraftian horror, like most horror, is about how his work resonated with the fears of the times. The same way werewolves reflected on the fear of the wilderness and outsiders that was pretty prevalent in times when communities were mostly villages and a very prominent theme of religion was "humans are special because they can fight their lowly instincts"; Frankenstein reflected on the fear of going too far in a time when science was moving by leaps and bounds and the pursuit of scientific knowledge was starting to be seen as the highest calling a scholar could pursuit; and zombies were a handy allegory for consumerism and mob mentality during the 60s and 70s. By the same token, Lovecraft resonated with the homo centrist society of the early 20th century, the same society that used to think that "there are only few things left to understand" (one of ended up being quantum physics and the other being nuclear power, so...) For such a society, to present them with the idea that we are not a gift to the universe, but something rather insignificant, that the "real powers" of the universe don't care for us, they don't even notice if they step on us, and we are powerless to even make them flinch, was powerful. And, since we are living in a rather nihilistic era of society, it keeps resonating with us, not as much as terror, but as validation.

Out of all the various responses I like yours the best.