What's so great about Cthulhu?

[Tips_of_Fingers]

[
Pretty much this. He is pretty much the reason we have any good horror as he more or less gave birth to modern horror.

Yup. My personal timeline of the innovators of the horror genre goes like this: Poe - Lovecraft - King.

I did a lot of research into Lovecraft whilst I was at university and can safely say that, despite his obvious racism, Lovecraft was exceptional at what he did. His prose is a bit awkward, yes, but that's pretty much a result of the time he lived in.

Cthulu, as many people have already stated, is only featured in one story. Sometimes he's referred to in others but most of Lovecraft's work have nothing to do with Cthulu at all.

Lovecraft's fiction was spurred on by the unknown and man's relationship with it. In his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, Lovecraft opens by saying: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." The idea behind a lot of Lovecraft's work is that man cannot comprehend certain things; a feeling directly related to, as others have said before me, the progresses of science during the early 20th century. Lovecraft was specifically interested in space, That infinitely huge and terrifyingly daunting unknown. As a result, his writing explored the idea surrounding fears of infinitely unknowable things.

Cthulu epitomises this idea completely. Cthulu acts as the ultimate unknown, that's why whoever learns about or sees this god-like being goes utterly mad.

 

[Racecarlock]

I don't fear him so much as I think he's balls tighteningly awesome and would love to play as him in a rampage style sandbox game one day where I shall destroy all of civilization muahaha. Think about it. You'd be banishing people, setting things on fire, destroying stuff, and since he has wings you'd probably also be able to fly. Sit there and tell without irony that that wouldn't be awesome. Seriously, try to do that.

 

[Owen Robertson]

The Durnwhich Horror. I

Nothing. Nothing at all. When it comes to eldritch beings, I like Zalgo better, or even the Slender Man.

Fuckin' Slender Man.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

I don't fear him so much as I think he's balls tighteningly awesome and would love to play as him in a rampage style sandbox game one day where I shall destroy all of civilization muahaha. Think about it. You'd be banishing people, setting things on fire, destroying stuff, and since he has wings you'd probably also be able to fly. Sit there and tell without irony that that wouldn't be awesome. Seriously, try to do that.

That just sounds like a Rampage(albeit without the Sandbox) game with Cthulu as one of the bonus characters. It'd be cool...but I'd likely still find myself playing as Ralph.

Although, thinking about it...Playing as Cthulu would be kinda dull; you'd just need to stand there whilst all of the humans go utterly mad.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Godzilla vs Cthulu anyone? That would be an awesome movie.

 

[Pharsalus]

Cthulhu scares me 'casue before I even heard much about it i met some misguided goth chick who actually believed in the stuff as a religion. And she was ugly sooo...

 

[Racecarlock]

I don't fear him so much as I think he's balls tighteningly awesome and would love to play as him in a rampage style sandbox game one day where I shall destroy all of civilization muahaha. Think about it. You'd be banishing people, setting things on fire, destroying stuff, and since he has wings you'd probably also be able to fly. Sit there and tell without irony that that wouldn't be awesome. Seriously, try to do that.

That just sounds like a Rampage(albeit without the Sandbox) game with Cthulu as one of the bonus characters. It'd be cool...but I'd likely still find myself playing as Ralph.

Although, thinking about it...Playing as Cthulu would be kinda dull; you'd just need to stand there whilst all of the humans go utterly mad.

Well, I did say rampage style sandbox game, didn't I? Also, I was kind of thinking more about the south park version of cthulu rather than the original lovecraft version.

 

[tacotrainwreck]

People often over-represent Cthulhu, but don't let that drag down your opinion of Lovecraft in general. Believe me, he wrote about a lot more than just Cthulhu. Unfortunately, when one nerd latches onto something, a million more do until it's only an annoying reference. Once the fad passes and you ever choose to give it a more open-minded look (And less diluted by flavor-of-the-week fanboying.) you might see why he's considered so frightening.

 

[RaikuFA]

Screw Cthulu, Nyarlathotep for life people. Love this type of stuff.

 

[Versuvius]

People often over-represent Cthulhu, but don't let that drag down your opinion of Lovecraft in general. Believe me, he wrote about a lot more than just Cthulhu. Unfortunately, when one nerd latches onto something, a million more do until it's only an annoying reference. Once the fad passes and you ever choose to give it a more open-minded look (And less diluted by flavor-of-the-week fanboying.) you might see why he's considered so frightening.

I thought we were talking about the Mythos as a whole which is wide and varied? Cold Air is a good short story, and is absolutely nothing to do with the old gods but in the same setting with the story revolving around a bit of a tidbit of "What we shouldn't really know"

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

What I want to know is why the internet has developed such an attachment to the entity of Cthulhu in particular, rather than just the theme of control.

Because Cthulu kind of became the poster boy for lovecraft's work. He's become the symbol of that genre of horror.

Also, While lovecraft's work and influence is totally awesome...

Cthulu...is kinda overused. IMO, He's only scary when he's the boss you've picked out to fight in Arkham Horror. >_<

 

[kuyo]

one time, I tried to get into the mythos by reading the books, so I went to the library to read a few. They were completely indecipherable. Each one had a first page that required a computer at hand just to look up every other word because it was some other monster that I didn't know about. I'm not going to do that, so I'm just going to replace all the stuff that isn't properly explained with highschool girls making duck faces.

 

[Something Amyss]

Cthulhu's the only name from the mythos that ever really made it into popular culture.

He's not even the most interesting part of the Cthulhu mythos, but what can you do?

 

[PatrickXD]

I find the idea that the mind of a human being so fragile terrifying. That's what I took away from the Cthulhu story, that it will target the weak minded and drive everyone into a mass hysteria, in the process unlocking creatures unexplainable in any human language and allowing them to ravage all life on Earth.
The sense of inevitability in the story I found to be refreshing and horrific.

 

[Macgyvercas]

I don't fear him so much as I think he's balls tighteningly awesome and would love to play as him in a rampage style sandbox game one day where I shall destroy all of civilization muahaha. Think about it. You'd be banishing people, setting things on fire, destroying stuff, and since he has wings you'd probably also be able to fly. Sit there and tell without irony that that wouldn't be awesome. Seriously, try to do that.

That would not be aweso...okay, I can't say that with a straight face. A game like that would be fucking kick ass.

 

[Mr Somewhere]

Have you read any of the stories? It's all in the context, Cthulhu, in context is also much more understated. The internet has a tendency to blow things out of proportion. We actually see very little of Cthulhu, and through the Mythos cycle stories he does not appear much either.
I actually find the tendency for readers obsess over the Cthulhu Mythos stories quite irksome, it tends to undermine Lovecraft's work.

If you're basing your opinion on what you've gleaned through the internet, I'd give the actual stories a chance.

 

[Something Amyss]

one time, I tried to get into the mythos by reading the books, so I went to the library to read a few. They were completely indecipherable. Each one had a first page that required a computer at hand just to look up every other word because it was some other monster that I didn't know about. I'm not going to do that, so I'm just going to replace all the stuff that isn't properly explained with highschool girls making duck faces.

I'd like you to site that story. I bet it's every bit as real as Cthulhu. Or, if we're going less mainstream, Yog-Sothoth.

I can't name a single Lovecraft story that was that rife with "monsters" from the beginning.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Never really thought of the story as being about an anthropomorphic squid-thing. Seems to be more about that whole feeling of disquiet followed by terrible dawning realization.

No monster movie is really scary once the titular beastie has been revealed.

That's my two cents, in any case.

 

[Madara XIII]

Nothing. Nothing at all. When it comes to eldritch beings, I like Zalgo better, or even the Slender Man.

I prefer the Outer Gods over the Elder Gods

Yog Sothoth and Azathoth severely outweigh Cthulhu, Nyarlethotep, Dagon, Hydra and Shub Niggurath.

 

[Versuvius]

Nothing. Nothing at all. When it comes to eldritch beings, I like Zalgo better, or even the Slender Man.

I prefer the Outer Gods over the Elder Gods

Yog Sothoth and Azathoth severely outweigh Cthulhu, Nyarlethotep, Dagon, Hydra and Shub Niggurath.

I am the gate, i am the key.