The Halloween Grab Bag: Your Guide To The Great Old Ones

[MockBot]

Automatically generated comment thread for The Halloween Grab Bag: Your Guide To The Great Old Ones (http://www.i-mockery.com/halloween/bag/great-old-ones.php).

[RaNkeri]

Freaking awesome, Iä!

[Fat Ugly Drunk]

Good read, I liked the summary for Nyarl

[OxBlood]

Always nice to see the whole bunch of them...I really love the mythos and I think it would be an addition to the universe if they were a fact :D

I mean, what´s better

"The Universe is a big boring empty space devoid of all kind of life"

or

"The universe is full of beings from beyond sanity, so twisted an alien that it LITERALLY blows your mind. Be ever watchful of the skies, for they are always there...watching...waiting *twitches*"

Iä.

[dakotacruz]

Hastur the Unspeakable

Is it just me or does this dude look like he's wearing the lampshade?
Evil and a total dick when he's drinking!

I have an Aunt Hester, which is the way I pronounce the Unpseakable's same...by far the least scariest fella on the list. oh! Unless that big purple octopus is backing him up, then more scarier

[McFly]

I agree with dakotacruz on Hester, as he seems about as scary as an Ewok. The octopus behind him makes me think that he is either a Pokemon trainer or resorts to some very odd magic. How intimidating would it be to have an Octopus coming at you, especially one that looks as lame as the purple one in the picture.

As for the rest; Azathoth looks like it is playing a concert (in a non-color world) attended by a lot of the townsfolk. Cthulhu is playing with his toy sailboat (who new he was such a softy?). Ithaqua seems to be the coolest of the bunch with glowing eyes and severed head. The wendigo is supposedly supposed to drive people insane and make them cannibals, so he does not seem like much of a people person. Nyarlathotep looks like he got the raw deal when it came to him. Not having an eyes and mouth can make anyone a little cranky. Even in the picture, it looks like he is getting bitched by the trees. Ol’ Shub may want to join Yog-Soruth and Yig (who looks like a bad Jurassic park reference) and start a rock and roll band. Shub already has the groupies, so music talent is not much of a necessity. Just don’t put Yig on vocals as his lisp may get in the way.

[Durin]

McFly, That isn't a toy boat, Cthulhu is just that big.

[Finn]

Actually, the big purple octopus IS Hastur. The King in Yellow is just one of Hasturs avatars. The god/thing itself likes to spend its time doing pretty much what Cthulhu is, sleeping in a large body of water. Luckily, however, the body of water Hastur resides in is somewhere near the star Aldebaran. I got this information from the CoC Core rulebook for, i think, 6th edition.

[dakotacruz]

Even a giant octopus isn't terribly scarey, being on land and he's defeated!!
And yellow, poor choice of color, not menacing enough

BUT I always focus on the lampshade, kinda of like Mushmouth

moving on, Yig looks like he's in the DnD monster manual!

But Shub-Niggurath is really scarey!!

[the Platinum Poppy]

Hm, how many of these actually appear in Lovecroft's writings? Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, Cthulu, Yog-sothot and Shub-niggurath for sure, but the rest? I'm pretty certain that in his actual writings it was Nyarlathotep that went around in a yellow robe posing as a nameless priest in some realm that Randolph Carter stumbled into, not some guy named Hastur. But as the wise proto pointed out, it's pretty menacing to have an easy name like Hastur and THEN tell you that you shouldn't say it.
Lovecroft was wise enough to never describe what his monsters looked like. But still, enough is said about Azathoth to make associations to American Idol almost inevitable...

[Angryhydralisk]

Great stuff. Makes me want to go read some more Lovecraft.

[HeroliciousDeBlanc]

Lovecraft and the gang sure like their tentacles.Ithaqua and Yig are the only ones without, and even Yig has those tentacle like head-dealies.

[caffman]

AAAAHHHHHHH THE SIGHT OF THEM HAS SENT ME INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!!
now for some mashed banana!

[LordMalrog]

Brilliant, i've been waiting for this list for a long time.

[Cult_Status]

Seeing this article has completly cemented my desire for a Cthulhu tattoo. Stoked!

[Primortal]

Wow... I guess Lovecraft didn't have much of an imagination when it came to thinking up how almost half of his "insanity beasts from beyond infinity" looked. Seriously, 2 out of 4 Great Old Ones are pretty much just blobby masses with tentacles. How am I supposed to know if I'm dealin with either Yog, Shub, or Az? :P

No wonder Cthulhu's so popular, his appearance is so distinct that it sets him apart from his peers.

[Brunbb]

It's possible that Shub-Niggurath is meant to be pronounced that way. HP Lovecraft was really, really racist. He had a cat named "n-word man" and his wife said he would go into fits of uncontrollable rage around ministries. Sometimes you can just substitute black people for the villains in his stories and they still work remarkably well.

[captain516]

There really needs to be a Lovecraft comic book series.

[Thanos]

captain516 - There are actually two really great Cthulhu comic series going right now from Boom Studios. They're called "Fall of Cthulhu" and "Cthulhu Tales." I heavily suggest reading both. I dare say "Fall of Cthulhu" is one of the top ten best comics published right now. If you want a mind-fuck of a read, then it's the right comic for you!

[rizzo]

Nice rundown, Protoclown. I personally like the 'giant jet black flute player' avatar of Nyarlathotep, but to each his own.

[MarioRPG]

(nevermind the picture, he obviously killed a guy who was also 60-feet tall) :lol

But that was an awesome article. I've only ever read Call Of Cthulu (ok, it was an audiobook). Very cool stuff.

[BurnPianoBurn]

Hastur the Unspeakable is my next door neighbor, that or he's an 80 year old alzheimer's patient who I never understand what its name is, hell I dont know if its a he or she.

[homor]

very nice article, if lovecraft were still alive i'm sure he'd sue your asses for everything you have.

[Dungeonbrownies]

pretty good guide, though i found that even though his world was well made, it really wasnt as good as his Reanimator stuff.

[Ferrit]

Great guide Proto - it'll come in very valuable once the LHC rips a crack in dimensional reality and these guys slip on through and start wrecking shit.

I for one welcome our new other dimensional overlords.

[Purple Man]

A great list, but my personal favourite would have to be Y'golonac. I know he's not strictly canon (being a Ramsey Campbell creation) but I love the faceless bastard.

How many Sanity Points were lost in the writing/reading of this article?

[Copper]

"All this scroll says on it is Hastur...Hastur...Hastur..."

This article definitely brought about quite a few chuckles, for more reasons than one. And I'm proud to say that I'm proud supporter of Cthulu...in beanie baby form. *laughs*

And that's an idea for a costume, Proto! Go as the King in Yellow!

[greenimp]

yes, yes, a thousand times YES! this site is now perfect, Cthulhu was the final piece needed

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fthagn!

[captain516]

ThanksThanos, I'll go look for those.

[Beardy Goodness]

I love the guy, but Lovecraft sure has a thing for tentacles and blobs.http://bodhranman.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/cthulhu4prez-preview-5.png?w=420&h=420

[Chuggernaught]

I loved playing CoC. I usually tried to play the "quiet guy" that would seek to murder whomever he was with. Sometimes it would be overt like stabbing someone in the back, othertimes it would be as simple as tripping someone while we ran from the cultists.

Good times.

[KillerMcGee]

makes me want to play some arkham horror.

[Julio]

Are you sure Ithaqua wasn't the one that captured Luke in The Empire Strikes Back?

[testtube]

There's some site I can't find now, not even off hplovecraft.com of live action Lovecraftian roleplaying games that stretch as far back as 1980. People make props and gather in the woods and pretend to be scared of monsters and shoot capguns at each other, sometimes they even went out in the desert on a helicopter and pretended like they were at an archaeological dig site in Nevada standing around in dorky trench coat and goofy hat costumes with notepads while helicopter pilots looked on scratching their heads embarrassed beyond belief. Hilariously depressing site but interesting.

[Mister Tea]

Silver: Good try, but Protoclown beat you to it in his own article.

[BurntToShreds]

I like Nyarlathotep's human avatars more. Sometimes he's a happy guy, other times he's a Nikola Tesla allegory, and some other times, he's a completely black (imagine a living silhouette) figure wearing a robe.

[Geminate]

Hmm, I found this article sadly incomplete and is some respects incorrect. I mean why bother, maybe it took ten minutes to throw this together?

"for to go into any greater detail on these horrible, horrible creatures would be to invite utter madness upon you" What a cop-out, where's the content.

[Tadao]

Hey look guys, he can change his font! This dude Geminate... wow, I am simply amazed at his in depth criticism. He is the master of the written word in bold font.

[executioneer]

Hmm, I found this article sadly incomplete and is some respects incorrect. I mean why bother, maybe it took ten minutes to throw this together?

"for to go into any greater detail on these horrible, horrible creatures would be to invite utter madness upon you" What a cop-out, where's the content.

IT'S INTENDED AS COMEDY YOU LOUSY ASPIE

[Protoclown]

Guys, I have to confess that I may have made some of that content up

from my head

[wobzire]

GODDAMNIT. I COME TO THIS SITE TO LEARN.

[wobzire]

And to read Max Burbank.

So is he alive still or what?

[Tadao]

Guys, I have to confess that I may have made some of that content up

from my head

Whew! That's a relief! Because I said Hastur's name aloud and then was immediately raped by my father. But it was all make believe.

[Geminate]

I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just commenting on the obvious.

[Tadao]

Talk tough and then apologize? You wimp

[yabuturtle]

Very good selection. Cthulhu was always my favorite. I never knew Lovecraft had so many creatures that had tentacles. Very funny stuff you did Protoclown. I cracked up at Nyarlathotep's section XD. Also, not to be a nit picky bastard, but some guys like Azathoth, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth are technically not part of the Great Old Ones. They are actually the Outer Gods, and the Outer Gods are much more powerful than the Great Old Ones. Just thought I'd say it.

And Yig reminds me of El Seed.

[Goldenkitten01]

Great read.

Sort of...two years behind here but I think it bears mentioning. Lots of folk are pointing out the number of tentacle/bulbous/amorphous-blob gods in the Cthulhu mythos and how that isn't very creative. I'd just like to point out that at the time it WAS pretty creative, sure today it's been overdone but at the time it was a pretty grotesque concept. It was the gore/splatterfest of the day to put essentially unimaginable horrors to pen that did terrible things to people that in that day and age no “decent” individual would have dared spoken of. At that time a monster/demon was a werewolf, a vampire, a gremlin, not a galaxy sized monstrosity that could rend the very fabric of the universe and your sanity apart like a tissue napkin. This was the start, this was what made all these tentacle creatures make their way into modern day literature to an over saturation point, but at the time it was unique.

[Omega the Zainin]

,,,,