Lovecraft vs. Warhammer!

[Mr.Squishy]

Neither, I just invented my own deity, supermegagohantotallynotazathoth, who exists on so many layers of reality he can do anything, even crush the lovecraftian gods with his pinky, then simultaneously tentacle rape the chaos gods and the Q collective in the space the blink of an eye.

Seriously though, it's hard to compare because the settings are very different, and fictional characters are only bound by the author's constraints, so if anyone does want to create a more serious analogue to my - no pun intended - forementioned monster, then voila, it's as good as made. And honestly, I've always had a hard time wrapping my head around omnipotent beings. If you can do anything, then why not snap your fingers and erase your enemies from existence in a heartbeat? It just raises so many questions, many of which keep me up at night.

 

[DanDeFool]

I think I'm just going to sit back and watch the fireworks. Hopefully I don't go so insane that I forget that last bullet I saved for myself.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Team Mythos for the win.

To be perfectly honest, the 40K pantheon is rather weak, compared to the products of an imagination fueled by a mixture of Pulp stories, horrific nightmares, hydrophobia and almost hilariously outdated racism, even for its time. There's a core of terrible earnestness in Lovecraft's Mythos, whereas Games Workshop's baby reminds me of myself when I used to obsess over poorly conceived D&D campaigns.

"Oh, um... That Evil God's name is... um... KHORNE! And stuff! And he... um... needs blood! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Yeah! Yeah, that sounds badass. Probably..."

Azatoth and Shub-Niggurath are where it's at.

Also, as someone else has so aptly explained through a nifty 'shop job; Khorne?! That's the dumbest name ever for any god!

I cannot take that guy seriously. With all due respect, 40K fans, I'll give the Imperium a shot when I won't feel one of your mythological concepts is Cap'n Crunch's long-lost cousin.

 

[Darknacht]

And honestly, I've always had a hard time wrapping my head around omnipotent beings. If you can do anything, then why not snap your fingers and erase your enemies from existence in a heartbeat? It just raises so many questions, many of which keep me up at night.

Thats what Azathoth does, as soon as it knows something exists, it makes it vanish from existence. The only reason it has not blinked everything out of existence is because it does not know that anything else exists.

 

[Gooey]

I really did enjoy reading through this thread, and as a fan of both pantheons, I'd go with Cthulhu and pals. Cthulhu had no real power, he was just an alarm clock for the more powerful gos that the Elder Gods put under. Also, if we're including the entire Cthulhu mythos, I'd like to put forward Ghroth from Campbell: "Ghroth (the Harbinger) resembles a small, rust-colored planet or moon with a single, gigantic red eye which it can close to avoid detection. Ghroth drifts throughout the universe singing its siren song, the Music of the Spheres. As it swings by a planet, any Great Old One or Outer God sleeping there is awakened by the song. This usually results in the extinction of all life on the planet or perhaps even the utter destruction of the planet itself.
Ghroth is believed to be responsible for the periodic mass extinctions that wiped out 90% of all life on earth, including the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous era."

I know that he probably doesn't compare to some of the Chaos gods, but the idea of a sentient planet that just floats around ruining people's days makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[Acier]

The Chaos Gods would likely walk over the majority of Lovecrafts Deities.... But Azathoth.

I dunno.

What about Abhoth, Source of Uncleanliness and Daoloth, Render of Veils?

The other outer gods need love too :'(

 

[The Great Purtabo]

Holy Terra has it's own demi-god protecting it.

isnt the machine god a long slumbering eldar god? god of ignorance and corruption or something like that.

 

[Seanfall]

Cthulu is relatively weak when compared to Lovecraft's Outer Gods Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth.

Look at this artist's interpretation of Azathoth.

When I look at this, I imagine him as unfathomably immense. At the center of all infinity.

HOLEY FUCK BALLS ON SHIT MOUNTAIN!! and I thought the Deep ones where scary. Man...Lovecraft was a radical guy. I love the imagery and visual details from those books. How he leaves so much of it up to the mind of the reader. The horror in our minds will always trump reality.

As for the Chaos gods....they can't really affect reality without a host or something right? I mean why else would they need human's? The Gods in Lovecraft...we are dust under their feet and only exist cause we're not worth the effort to wipe out.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Well.. My own impression is that Warhammer "gods" are very limited, or rather i should say "specialized" creatures. You have "war guy", there's "sick guy" and stuff. Lovecraftian true gods were creatures indistinguishable from the fabric of reality at some level. Their presence only would suffice to distort reality and make the universe bleed. I don't think that WH deities would stand any chances in the typical mano-a-mano with Azathoth. :]

BTW :
In the next edition of WH40k the Ultra-Grey Marine will probably wield enough firepower to singlehandely kick ass of Khorne. Just sayin'...

 

[ScreamingNinja]

Or Khorne would just lay waste to his face and make him sad and die. Problem soooolved!

I don't think you understand Azathoth cannot be harmed in any way as soon as something comes in contact with Azathoth, or Azathoth even notices it exists, it no longer exists. Azathoth is an infinite being, an amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity beyond space and time on a curiously environed black throne at the centre of Chaos. He created everything and if he ever becomes aware of it he will destroy it.

And yet, Khorne would rip what passes for a face off it, and spit down what is left of what it has as a neck. Winning!

 

[ScreamingNinja]

I think... I think I know what everyone is trying to say. What everyone is trying to say here is that The Chaos Gods will pollute the Eldar Gods and turn them into pawns.

 

[triggrhappy94]

I'm curious to see how many people actually took the time to read the Necronomicon, it's fucking huge.
I was tempted to read it over the summer, but decided against it and settled for At The Mountains of Madness. I'm half way through The Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath, for those of you who know what I'm talking about.

Spoiler

If I remember correctly, what's his face has just gotten to the place where the people who look like gods live.

 

[Seanfall]

Cthulu is technically the 'preist' of these gods isn't he? I remember him being mentioned as some kind of priest in 'call of Cthulu'. And yet he's still enough to wipe humanity out. But yeah...the elder outer gods? They aren't the stuff of the nightmares. Their the stuff nightmares WISH they could be. Really the Lovecraft verse and Warhammer verse work on two different power scales.

 

[Darknacht]

Or Khorne would just lay waste to his face and make him sad and die. Problem soooolved!

I don't think you understand Azathoth cannot be harmed in any way as soon as something comes in contact with Azathoth, or Azathoth even notices it exists, it no longer exists. Azathoth is an infinite being, an amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity beyond space and time on a curiously environed black throne at the centre of Chaos. He created everything and if he ever becomes aware of it he will destroy it.

And yet, Khorne would rip what passes for a face off it, and spit down what is left of what it has as a neck. Winning!

Nope, that was just the delusion he had as he passed out of existence.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

Or Khorne would just lay waste to his face and make him sad and die. Problem soooolved!

his dreaming is reality, killing him would just end up wiping out reality.

but really, this is like setting a man(WH40K) in a death match against superman(lovecraft mythos).
its a "what the fuck do think was going to happen you idgit?".

and anyways, the original always beats out the cheap knockoff.

 

[Korak the Mad]

Team Mythos for the win.

To be perfectly honest, the 40K pantheon is rather weak, compared to the products of an imagination fueled by a mixture of Pulp stories, horrific nightmares, hydrophobia and almost hilariously outdated racism, even for its time. There's a core of terrible earnestness in Lovecraft's Mythos, whereas Games Workshop's baby reminds me of myself when I used to obsess over poorly conceived D&D campaigns.

"Oh, um... That Evil God's name is... um... KHORNE! And stuff! And he... um... needs blood! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Yeah! Yeah, that sounds badass. Probably..."

Azatoth and Shub-Niggurath are where it's at.

Also, as someone else has so aptly explained through a nifty 'shop job; Khorne?! That's the dumbest name ever for any god!

I cannot take that guy seriously. With all due respect, 40K fans, I'll give the Imperium a shot when I won't feel one of your mythological concepts is Cap'n Crunch's long-lost cousin.

Oh Man that is funny, and I agree with you.

The mythos have always struck a cord with me, because the way lovecraft described how some of these being would exist, is entirely possible. They are Metaphysical beings, They CANNOT be destroyed.

Lovecraft also explained how certain things could be done, like time travel, in the most likely way. He described that time travel is not done physically, but mentally. My favorite story of his "The Shadow Out of Time" and I bet the Yithians could switch minds with the chaos gods and cause them to destroy one another.

 

[nasteypenguin]

I'm curious to see how many people actually took the time to read the Necronomicon, it's fucking huge.
I was tempted to read it over the summer, but decided against it and settled for At The Mountains of Madness. I'm half way through The Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath, for those of you who know what I'm talking about.

Spoiler

If I remember correctly, what's his face has just gotten to the place where the people who look like gods live.

You'll excuse me if I'm too stupid to see what you did there, but the Necronomicon isn't a real book. Theres a lovecraft collection that called itself the Necronomicon, which I have but haven't finished the last few stories of, but the book itself is something entirely different within the fictions.

Also, did you mean to choose two of his longest works? Most of Lovecrafts stuff are short stories but you've started with his novellas, not that it's a bad thing but you might be a bit jarred when you see the shortness of his other stuff.

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

Or Khorne would just lay waste to his face and make him sad and die. Problem soooolved!

I don't think you understand Azathoth cannot be harmed in any way as soon as something comes in contact with Azathoth, or Azathoth even notices it exists, it no longer exists. Azathoth is an infinite being, an amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity beyond space and time on a curiously environed black throne at the centre of Chaos. He created everything and if he ever becomes aware of it he will destroy it.

Show him a mirror then.
OT i think that it would be... incomparable, because when comparing entity's from 2 different fictional universes, there is no way to actively compare them.
On the other hand, seeing nurgle and an old god duke it out would be vastly entertaining.

EDIT: The chaos gods are pure emotion...and since they themselves feel emotion...There's some practical immorality for ya.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Lovecraft also explained how certain things could be done, like time travel, in the most likely way. He described that time travel is not done physically, but mentally. My favorite story of his "The Shadow Out of Time" and I bet the Yithians could switch minds with the chaos gods and cause them to destroy one another.

While this does sound highly badass, I doubt it would actually be possible. The Yithians are still physical beings; they're pretty much aliens on the same sense than any other Sci Fi storyline with aliens. I don't really feel like giving points to Games Workshop here, but gods are kinda intangible or exist as abstract concepts made up by the squishy ones like ourselves.

So going by that logic, a Yithian trying to possess a Chaos God would be like me trying to close my hand around thin air. The Yithians could try the same thing with an Elder God and it wouldn't work for the same reason.

Yay for overthinking?

None of this really matters, anyway. GW lifted things off of Michael Moorcock and Lovecraft is being cut apart and copy-pasted like nobody's business. We've even gone from Great King Chtulhu to Chibi-thulhu, available in green plush in about forty berjillion Etsy vendor accounts and your usual slew of big-name geek-related stores.

Besides, even the Chaos Gods and the 40K universe get occasionally Disneyfied.

Oh, and by the way, doesn't "Blood for the Blood God" actually come from somewhere else, too? Like, some sort of Viking war cry? I'm really not sure and I don't remember where I heard that, but I read somewhere that this is actually some sort of protective Norse saying. Basically it's a supernatural and religious way to justify raping and pillaging or something. Like, "Hey, we're doing this for an actual reason! Okay, so it's theological, but that's better than nothing, right?"

I'm probably floundering, here.