Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos
Encyclopedia
The following tables and lists feature elements of the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...

, that are often shared between works within that fictional setting.

The Cthulhu Mythos were originally created by writer H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

 in his horror short stories, although the term itself was coined later by August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...

. Many writers, both during Lovecraft's lifetime and after, have added stories and elements to the Mythos. There is no central co-ordination of these stories nor any oversight of the Cthulhu Mythos in general. Becoming part of the Mythos can be based on personal opinion and inclusion of these elements.

Overview

Tables appearing under these entries are organized as follows:
  • Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the being or mythos element.
  • Epithet(s), Other name(s). This field lists any epithets or alternate names. These are names sometimes mentioned in books of arcane literature
    Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature
    Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in the Cthulhu Mythos. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoteric knowledge that is unknown to the general populace. However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an...

    , but may also be the names preferred by cults.
  • Description. This entry briefly summarizes the being or mythos element.
  • References. This field lists the sources in which the being or mythos element makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. A simple two-letter code is used—the key to the codes is found here
    Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
    The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

    . If a code appears in bold, this means that the reference introduces the being or mythos element.

Great Old Ones

(includes a table listing all the Great Old Ones in the mythos)

The Great Old Ones are powerful, ancient creatures worshipped by deranged human cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

s. Many of them are made of an unearthly material with properties unlike normal matter. A Great Old One's influence is often limited to the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 where it dwells. If it is based on a planet outside the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

, it can only extend its influence to Earth when the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

 of its planetary system
Planetary system
A planetary system consists of the various non-stellar objects orbiting a star such as planets, dwarf planets , asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and cosmic dust...

 is in the night sky. In such cases, the help of cultists performing various rituals may be required.
----

Outer Gods

(includes a table listing all the Outer Gods in the mythos)

The Outer Gods have unlimited influence, unlike the Great Old Ones, and function on a cosmic scale. They include a subgroup known as the Lesser Outer Gods, or Other Gods.
----

Elder Gods

(includes a table listing all the Elder Gods in the mythos)

The Elder Gods oppose the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Many consider them to be non-Lovecraftian, because they introduce a good versus evil dichotomy into the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction. However, others argue that these beings have no more concern for human notions of morality than the beings they oppose, and that humanity and the human world are beneath their regard.
----

Great Ones

The Great Ones are the so-called "gods" of the Dreamlands, but they are not as powerful as the Great Old Ones and are not even as intelligent as most humans. However, they are protected by the Outer Gods, especially Nyarlathotep.
----

Other supernatural beings

Supernatural beings
Name Epithet(s),
Other name(s)
Description References
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Alala
Being made of living sound that dwells in the Gulf of S'glhuo; Possibly unimaginably hideous. PL, WP
Beast of Averoigne
A seemingly supernatural being which is recorded as having descended upon the French principality of Averoigne, particularly Vyones and Ximes, from an ominous red comet which appeared in the sky in 1369. It has no true body of its own, but needs to take possession of the body of another to feed, transfiguring and horribly reshaping the host's body. Resulting form is that of a pitch-black semi-humanoid figure, surrounded by a hellish nimbus of changing, fiery light, dimly revealing its shape. The limbs sway and writhe like boneless serpents, and grow sharp, hard claws. The neck similarly extends to a serpentine length and flexibilty, whereas the head turns flat and reptilian, earless and noseless. BA
Broodlings of Eihort Gestalt Servants of the God of the Labyrinth The Broodlings of Eihort are gestalt beings made up of millions of the tiny white spidery brood of the Great Old One Eihort. A broodling looks like a deathly pale, totally hairless human. rpg
Brown Jenkin
A mysterious rat-like creature with a human-like face. The being was said to be the familiar of Keziah Mason. Probably a Rat Thing - see below. DW, PY
Desh (Lesser and Greater)
Desh is the name given by Hyperboreans to those creatures living in a near but alternate dimension. Existing in many different forms, these creatures float through the invisible spaces around us, as unaware of our presence as we are of theirs. Although the varieties of Desh may be unlimited, only two forms are described (Lesser and Greater). Although of solid matter, they are semi-transparent, continually fading in and out of view. rpg
Droom-Avista The Jester True form not described, but likely a great demon to be invoked as a genie JD
The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...

Son of Yog-Sothoth, Bugg-Shaggog An invisible egg-shaped monster of a gelatinous consistence, covered in tentacled suckers and "feet like hogsheads", with a mostly human face. DH
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...

, LC
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra
Both appear as abnormally large Deep One
Deep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...

s.
DA, DB, RD, SI
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....

Fthaggua Lord of Ktynga Appears as a bluish ball of energy. Fthaggua is the lord and leader of the fire vampires, and dwells with them and their god Cthugha
Cthugha
Cthugha is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction, the creation of August Derleth. He first appeared in Derleth's short story "The House on Curwen Street" .-Description:...

 on or near the star Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus and one of the brightest stars in the sky. Fomalhaut can be seen low in the southern sky in the northern hemisphere in fall and early winter evenings. Near latitude 50˚N, it sets around the time Sirius rises, and does not...

.
FV, HG
Fishers from Outside
The Fishers from Outside are much more avian in appearance than shantaks, though having one leg and a glaring Cyclopean eye and hideous, hooked, fang-lined beak. They are the servitors of the obscure Great Old One Groth-Golka, acting as proxies for their sire by accepting human sacrifices and worship by cultists. Fishers brood in caverns on the Moon and are also sometimes connected with worship of the lunar Great Old One Mnomquah. Their sire is the hideous Quumyagga. FO
Fosterlings of the Old Ones
The Fosterlings of the Old Ones are the mutant offspring of matings with human females and Outer Gods or Great Old Ones. Through a special ritual the Outer God or Great Old One sends a dream which reaches into the womb of a pregnant woman, altering the
genetic structure of the unborn fetus. Born, the child spends many years as a normal human until one day it transforms into something more closely resembling its alien parent.
FC
The Four Horsemen of Nyarlathotep
These characters feature in the comics series Fall of Cthulhu as servitors of Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe created by H. P. Lovecraft. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop...

 and should thus be regarded as Million Favoured Ones. They are in order: Sysyphyx (The Scourge of Atlantis; she is a multi-eyed shape-shifting worm, but she may also appear as a fat, cyanotic red-headed fat woman); Gr'nuk of Volkunast (a ravenous winged demon), The Masked Mute (She appears as a young girl with innumerable masks to display her mood, since her true face has to be of indescribable horror) and Gith (Father of Pestilence,Champion of Damnation; he appears as a banded man with blue flames in place of the eyes).
Fungus Vile
A kind of parasitic life form, neither really plant nor animal in nature, able to infect any organism it comes into contact with. It is suspected that this material originated on cold Yuggoth
Yuggoth
Yuggoth is a fictional planet in the Cthulhu Mythos. H. P. Lovecraft himself said that Yuggoth is the then newly-discovered planet Pluto. However, other writers claim that it is actually an enormous, trans-Neptunian world that orbits perpendicular to the ecliptic of the solar system.-In the...

 and subsequently spread through the cosmos with the mi-go
Mi-go
The Mi-go are a race of extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft and others. The name was first applied to the creatures in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" , taking up a reference to 'What fungi sprout in Yuggoth' in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth...

.
rpg
Gnoph-Keh
Appears as huge gnophkeh
Gnophkeh
The Gnophkehs are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos. They are humanoid cannibals described as being covered in coarse, matted hair with large protruding ears and proboscidean noses. They originally lived in Hyperborea and worshiped the Great Old One Rhan-Tegoth. But Rhan-Tegoth eventually...

 — possibly an avatar of Rhan-Tegoth or an independent entity.
HM
The High Priest Not to Be Described
High Priest Not to Be Described
The High Priest Not to Be Described is a fictional character in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. He first appeared in the Lovecraft short story "Celephaïs" .-Summary:...

Humanoid wearing a silken mask. CE
Celephaïs
"Celephaïs" is a fantasy story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early November 1920 and first published in the May 1922 issue of the Rainbow.The title refers to a fictional city that later appears in H. P...

, DQ
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...

Knygathin Zhaum
Appears as a hairless, quasi-humanoid Voormi
Voormis
The Voormis are a fictional race of cave-dwelling humanoids who worship Tsathoggua.-Description:The Voormis are the primary focus of a "posthumous collaboration" short story by Lin Carter after Clark Ashton Smith's death, The Scroll of Morloc...

; Final form of no discernible species.
FT, TM
K'thun (female)
and
Noth-Yidik (male)
Abhorrent, malodorous beings whose mating spawned the Hounds of Tindalos. HM, MT
The Lurker in the Star Pool
One of the Million Favored Ones of Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe created by H. P. Lovecraft. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop...

, possibly one of the Outer God’s offspring. For aeons it has dwelled in the Star Pools, and today is in the servitude of the Floating Horror cult. Highly mobile, the Star Pool Lurker has large membranous wings for flying and webbed appendages for swimming or walking on land. The creature's full appearance is confusing to behold as it appears to be a mass of multiple independent wriggling and squirming monstrosities.
AP
Magnum Innominandum Great Not-to-Be-Named, The Nameless Mist, N'yog-Sothep, Milk of the Void According to H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

, this being is the spawn of Azathoth
Azathoth
Azathoth is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and Dream Cycle stories of H. P. Lovecraft and other authors. Its epithets include Nuclear Chaos, the Daemon Sultan and the Blind Idiot God.-Inspiration:...

 (making it on par with the Magnum Tenebrosum and Cxaxukluth) and is associated with, and possibly the progenitor of, Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth is a cosmic entity of the fictional Cthulhu Mythos and the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. Yog-Sothoth's name was first mentioned in his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward...

. It is also associated with Hastur
Hastur
Hastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...

. Little is known about this god, but it is considered to be extremely dangerous to sorcerers, hence its title "the unnameable" (archaic terminology, meaning not to be summoned or ritually named in an incantation.
rpg
Million Favored Ones
Beings said to be Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe created by H. P. Lovecraft. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop...

's spawn.
MF, WD
The Whisperer in Darkness
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...

Mlandoth and Mril Thorion The Source,
The One
Unknown. WY
Mr. Shiny
Mr. Shiny (or Albert Shiny) is a shoggoth
Shoggoth
A shoggoth is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being was mentioned in passing in sonnet XX of H.P...

 lord and an unusually intelligent and purposeful one, capable of controlling his body shape so as to pass for human. Controlling his body in this manner requires continuous mental effort.
rpg
Our Ladies of Sorrow
Our Ladies of Sorrow-or the Three Mothers-are three powerful entities, and three of Nyarlathotep’s Million Favoured Ones. They are: Mater Lachrymarum ("Our Lady of Tears"), the eldest, followed by Mater
Suspiriorum
("Our Lady of Sighs") and finally the youngest Mater Tenebrarum ("Our Lady of Darkness"). They have inspired many legends, including that of the triple goddess, the fates, the gorgons, and Shakespeare’s three weird sister-daughters of darkness (witches).
VC, rpg
Pharol the Black
Appears as a black, fanged demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

 with tentacles instead of arms.
AG, HY?
The Shaping Tree
A hideous tree-like horror with branches like rat's tails and weird pustules. It is able to transform human male victims into jelly amorphous vectors of strange broodlings. The Shaping Tree is located in Australia and is likely related to Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath, often associated with the phrase “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young”, is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft...

.
FS3
Sho-Gath The God-Box A smoky entity with the travesty of a human face, entrapped into a box. GO
Sss'haa
Leader of the serpent people of Valusia. HG, TH, VY
Ubb Father of Worms Leader of the planarian-like Yuggs. It is a large aquatic, chthonian-like entity, pale gray and slug-like with a large suckermouth full of horn-like teeth and ringed with tentacles. Ubb dwells in the cold fastness of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 with the rest of its race. The yuggs are said to guard their god, the Great Old One Zoth-Ommog, whose tomb, legend tells, lies at the bottom of a abyssal trench near the island of Ponape
Ponape
Ponape may refer to:*Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia*Ponape , a German sailing ship...

.
OA, PI, UV, TP
The Five Vaeyen
Quintet of vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...

-like statues that both guard and sequester the Great Old One Cyäegha
Cyäegha
Cyäegha is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and first appeared in Eddy C. Bertin's short story "Darkness, My name Is" .-Summary:...

DM
Wilbur Whateley
Mostly-human twin of the aforementioned Dunwich Horror. DH
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...

, LC
The Worm That Walks The Putrefied Horror A loathsome being, looking like a human corpse decayed into tones ofgreen, black, and blue, witk dripping pieces offlesh hanging from it. Prodigious claws or talons dangle from this apparition's fingers, and from the undead monster's eye sockets stare lidless, ban, eyeballs. rpg
Wuthoqquan's Bane
A large, shapeless beast lurking in the sewers of Commoriom. WQ
Xathagorra The Chaos Spawn Vile, multiform creature with a vast wingspan. CH
Xexanoth Bane of Aforgomon Unknown. CM
Xiurhn Guardian of the Dark Jewel A slothlike, winged thing with a terrible face. XI
Yegg-Ha Lord of Nightgaunts A huge, faceless humanoid with tiny wings. IE, TC, WI
Zoth Syra & Yoth Kala Queen of the Green Abyss Both appear as shapeless, multi-limbed marine horror, with hypnotic beckon. The latter, Yoth Kala, also bears a whip-like appendage endowed with a single, spherical eye. GR

Table-a (A–F)

Non-human species A–F
Name Description References
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Adumbrali Extradimensional beings that appear as orbs of darkness. AB
Aihais Humanoids from Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

.
VU
Alskali Hairless, cyclops
Cyclops
A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...

-like hypnotic beings witk dead-gray skin and huge hands and feet. They are servants of Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe created by H. P. Lovecraft. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop...

.
rpg
Antehumans Slender, tall, gaunt proto-humans of great intelligence. EB, SG
Antareans Tall, multicolored tripod-beings with a strange crest and three eyes. They are greatly advanced space travelers with a strict caste system. PC
Beings of Xiclotl Horrifying, oddly plant-like, carnivorous giants. IS
Bholes
Dhole (Cthulhu Mythos)
Dholes, also called bholes, are creatures described in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.Below him the ground was festering with gigantic Dholes, and even as he looked, one reared up several hundred feet and leveled a bleached, viscous end at him....

Gigantic, worm-like creatures that inhabit the Earth's Dreamlands. DL, DQ
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...

Blupes Translucent, bluish, oval-shaped creatures that can float through the air. DL
Brothers of Chaugnar Faugn Beings that resemble smaller versions of Chaugnar Faugn. HF
Byakhee
Byakhee
-Summary:There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things ... not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings, but something I cannot and must not recall.—H. P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"...

Resemble bat-like, hornet-like human corpses. FE, GS, HC, WS
Cats from Saturn Cat-like beings from the Dreamlands with abstract, multi-hued bodies. DL, DQ
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...

Cats from Uranus Like those from Saturn, but far more hideous. DL
Chakota A hideous entity composed of dozens of human faces set into a thickly cylindrical, worm-like mass of sickly, purple-veined muscle. rpg
Children of the Sphinx Sub-cult of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. n/a
Children of the Wind Foul entities dwelling regions susceptible to high winds. In one account, the creatures haunt a mysterious placein the desert near Syria, known only as the City of the Seven Winds. They may also be connected with [Irem]], the City of the Pillars. SS3
Chthonians
Chthonian (Cthulhu Mythos)
Chthonians are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos. The species is the creation of Brian Lumley and was first featured in his short story "Cement Surroundings" —though the creature never made a direct appearance...


(The Burrowers Beneath)
Gigantic, squid-like worms. BU, CS, YA
Colour out of space
Colour out of space (species)
A colour out of space is a fictional extraterrestrial in the writings of the horror fiction author H. P. Lovecraft. It first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Colour Out of Space" .-Description:...

Appears as a shapeless, plastic entity glowing with the colors of an unknown spectrum. CO
The Colour Out of Space
"The Colour Out of Space" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the wild hills west of Arkham, Massachusetts...

, CT
Crawling Ones
(The Worms that Walk)
Appear as humans made out of tiny worms. FE
Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath Appear as ropy, black tentacles on a pair of stumpy, hooved legs. MK, NF
Deep One
Deep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...

s
Ocean-dwelling humanoids that appear to be half-frog and half-fish. AW, BU, DO, GS, HC, HG, RD, SA, SI
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....

Dholes
Dhole (Cthulhu Mythos)
Dholes, also called bholes, are creatures described in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.Below him the ground was festering with gigantic Dholes, and even as he looked, one reared up several hundred feet and leveled a bleached, viscous end at him....

Gigantic, worm-like creatures. DR, TG, WP
Dimensional Shamblers Dimension
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...

-hopping humanoids with rough, leathery bodies and huge claws.
HM
Doels Tiny, extradimensional, flesh-eating creatures. HN
Dwellers in the Depths The Dwellers in the Depths are a race of truly horrible amphibious creatures who serve the Great Old Ones, particularly those associated with water: Cthulhu
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...

, Dagon
Dagon
Dagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and fish and/or fishing...

, Hydra
Hydra
Hydra is the name of the Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed serpent in Greek mythology."Hydra" may also refer to:- Astronomy :* Hydra , the largest of the modern star constellations* Hydra , a satellite of Pluto...

, Ythogtha and Zoth-Ommog. They appear as eyeless, bloated horrors with eight tentacular arms and four legs. In place of eyes there is only one sponge-like organ in the center of the forehead and mouth appear toothless, but endowed of tiny tentacles
RB
Elder Thing
Elder Thing
The Elder Things are fictional extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings first appeared, although not named in H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Dreams in the Witch-House"...

s
(Old Ones)
Appear as five-sided, oval-shaped barrels with starfish-like appendages at each end. AM
At the Mountains of Madness
At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories...

, IV, PW
Fire vampire
Fire vampire
Fire vampires are fictional characters in the Cthulhu Mythos. The term refers to two distinct types of beings: the Flame Creatures of Cthugha, created by August Derleth, and the Fire Vampires of Fthaggua, created by Donald Wandrei....

s
1. (Flame Creatures of Cthugha) Appear as tiny points of light that ignite everything they touch. DD
2. (Fire Vampires of Fthaggua) Appear as bursts of crimson lightning that set fire to sentient beings. FV, HG
Fishers from Outside Enigmatic, prehistoric, flying race associated with Gol-goroth and the shantaks. FO
Flying polyp
Flying polyp
A flying polyp is a member of a fictional alien race in the Cthulhu Mythos. The creature first appeared in H. P...

s
Appear as floating, semi-visible, polypous horrors capable of controlling great winds. PW, ST
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...

, SY, WF
Formless spawn of Tsathoggua and Knygathin Zhaum Appear as gelatinous, shape-shifting, black goo. MO, TZ

Table-b (G–M)

Non-human species G–M
Name Description References
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Ghasts Fearsome, underground-dwelling humanoids with kangaroo-like legs that inhabit the Earth's Dreamlands. DQ
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...

Ghoul
Ghoul
A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...

s
Corpse-eating, canine-like humanoids. DQ, IC, PM
Gn'cht'tyaacht A tree-dwelling humanoid some seven feet in height, but thin and lanky with a long pointed head, huge claws and sharp teeth. rpg
Gnophkeh
Gnophkeh
The Gnophkehs are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos. They are humanoid cannibals described as being covered in coarse, matted hair with large protruding ears and proboscidean noses. They originally lived in Hyperborea and worshiped the Great Old One Rhan-Tegoth. But Rhan-Tegoth eventually...

1. Six-legged, furry, rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

-like creatures with an affinity for cold climes.
HM, LT, SM
2. Hairy cannibals that once dwelt in Lomar. PO
Gnorri Resemble mermen
Merman
Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...

 with possibly one or two additional arms.
SK
Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath Transmogrified, once-human cultists of Shub-Niggurath. ML
Great Race of Yith
Great Race of Yith
The Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...

Resemble tall, rugose cones with four appendages: two claws, a trumpet-like limb, and a yellow, globe-like organ. CF, PW, SO, ST
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...

, SY
Gugs Horrifying, furry giants of the Dreamlands with a mouth that opens sideways. DQ
Gyaa-Yothn Quasi-human, rhinoceros-like quadrupeds used as beasts of burden by the denizens of K'n-yan. MO
Haemophores Small, vampiric creatures with webbed hands and feet. DL
Hounds of Tindalos
Hounds of Tindalos
A Hound of Tindalos is a fictional creature created by Frank Belknap Long for the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Long's short story "The Hounds of Tindalos" . Lovecraft mentions the creatures in his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" .-Description:"They are lean and...

Extradimensional horrors that can enter our universe through any three-dimensional corner. EL, HN, MT, TC
Hunters from Beyond ?
Hunting Horror
Hunting Horror
A Hunting Horror is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The creature was first mentioned in Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath .-Description:...

s
Resemble huge, immaterial serpents with bat wings. DQ, LT
Hyperboreans A race of early pre-humans. DS, SG, TZ, UB
K'n-yan, Natives of
K'n-yan
K'n-yan is a fictional, subterranean land in the Cthulhu Mythos. The underground realm was first described in detail in H. P. Lovecraft's revision of Zealia Bishop's "The Mound" , in which it is discovered by the 16th century Spanish Conquistador Zamacona...

Technologically and psychically advanced humanoids who dwell underground. OE, MO
Kyresh Vicious, wolven creatures of the Dreamlands. YG
Larvae of the Outer Gods Protean
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...

 beings spawned by the Outer Gods.
DQ
Lamp-Efts Resemble small, flying iguana
Iguana
Iguana is a herbivorous genus of lizard native to tropical areas of Central America and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his book Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam cum Experimentis circa Venena...

s.
DL
Leeches of Yoh-Vombis Parasitic Martian creatures.
L'gy'hx, Natives of Cube-shaped, multi-legged, metallic beings that inhabit the planet L'gy'hx (Uranus). IS
Lloigor
Lloigor (Cthulhu Mythos race)
The Lloigor are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings first appeared in August Derleth and Mark Schorer's short story "The Lair of the Star Spawn" .-Summary:...

Beings that may alternately appear as vortices of energy or dragon-like dinosaurs (Ghatanothoa may be a particularly powerful one). IU, RL
Men of Leng
Men of Leng
The Men of Leng are a fictional race in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. They are the primitive, satyr-like inhabitants of the Plateau of Leng in the Dreamlands. They call Leng Y'Pawfrm e'din Leng. They are mentioned throughout Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, especially in the novella The Dream-Quest of...

Satyr
Satyr
In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....

-like beings that inhabit the Plateau of Leng
Leng
Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. The Plateau of Tsang, referenced by H. P...

.
DQ
Mi-go
Mi-go
The Mi-go are a race of extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft and others. The name was first applied to the creatures in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" , taking up a reference to 'What fungi sprout in Yuggoth' in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth...


(Fungi from Yuggoth,
Outer Ones)
Resemble human-sized, winged crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s with globular heads covered with cilia.
AM
At the Mountains of Madness
At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories...

, DE, DT, GU, PF, OW, WD
The Whisperer in Darkness
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...

Miri Nigri Amphibious humanoids created by Chaugnar Faugn. Ancient Progenitors of the Tcho-tcho people. HF
Moon-beast
Moon-beast
A moon-beast is a creature in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. They are “great greyish-white slippery things which could expand and contract at will, and whose principal shape — though it often changed — was that of a sort of toad without any eyes, but with a curious vibrating mass of...

s
Plump, toad-like humanoids. DQ, MD

Table-c (N–Z)

Non-human species N–Z
Name Description References
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Nagäae
Cyäegha
Cyäegha is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and first appeared in Eddy C. Bertin's short story "Darkness, My name Is" .-Summary:...

Toadish servants of Cyäegha. DM
Nameless City, Denizens of Alligator-like, seal-like humanoids. NC
New Great Race of Yith
Great Race of Yith
The Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...

 (Coleopterous Race)
Resemble human-sized beetles. ST
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...

Nightgaunt
Nightgaunt
Nightgaunts are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos and is also part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. The creatures appear in the poem "Night-Gaunts" and the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, both by Lovecraft...

s
Faceless, bat-like humanoids. DQ, HE, OK, WI
Nioth-Korghai 1. Extraterrestrial, carnivorous monster held in captivity by King Ossaru in Zothique. TB
2. Extraterrestrial, aquatic creatures that feed on the life-force of human beings. PS
Ny'ghan Grii Luminous spherical, cycloptic creatures from another dimension. They move by floating or crawling and are accompanied by thick fog and icy cold. IN
Rat-Things Tiny, rat-like creatures with human-like faces. DW
Sand-dwellers Appear as sand-encrusted, skeleton-like humanoids with large claws. GW
Serpent Men
Serpent Men
Serpent-Men have also appeared in the Marvel Comics universe.The original Serpent-Men were a race of reptilian semi-humanoids who were created by the demon Set and who ruled areas of prehistoric Earth. Due to the efforts of Kull and Conan, the original Serpent-Men became extinct about 8,000 years...

Serpent-like humanoids. HG, HK, IU, OW, SG,
Servants of Glaaki
Glaaki
Glaaki is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. Glaaki first appeared in "The Inhabitant of the Lake" , an early story by Ramsey Campbell.-Glaaki in the mythos:...

Undead zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

s that serve the being Glaaki.
IL
Servitors of the Outer Gods Beings of varied form that dance mindlessly about Azathoth's throne at the center of the universe. AZ
S'glhuo, Denizens of Tall, bluish humanoids with blank eyes and boneless fingers; actually entities made of living sound. PL
The Shan
Insect from Shaggai
An Insect from Shaggai is a member of a fictional alien race in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being was created by British author Ramsey Campbell, who was inspired by a similar creature in H. P. Lovecraft's commonplace book...


(Insects from Shaggai)
Resemble large insects. IS, QU
Shantak
Shantak
A shantak is a fictional creature in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. It is also part of the Cthulhu Mythos. The creature first appeared in Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath .-Description:...

s
Elephantine, reptilian birds of the Dreamlands. DQ, FO, RY
Shoggoth
Shoggoth
A shoggoth is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being was mentioned in passing in sonnet XX of H.P...

s
Resemble gigantic amoebae with numerous floating eyes. AM
At the Mountains of Madness
At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories...

, GC, NE, PG, SI
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....

, TC, TN
The Space-Eaters ? PE
The Spawn of the Green Abyss The Spawn of the Green Abyss appear as a bluish slime with various and shifting features: Shoggoth
Shoggoth
A shoggoth is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being was mentioned in passing in sonnet XX of H.P...

-like entities, but highly evolved and intelligent. They inhabit the seas and oceans of the Earth, dwell in aquatic societies ruled by a queen called Zoth Syra.
GR
Spiders of Leng Giant purple spiders that inhabit the Plateau of Leng
Leng
Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. The Plateau of Tsang, referenced by H. P...

.
DL
Star-spawn of Cthulhu
(Cthulhi)
Resemble smaller versions of Cthulhu himself. AM
At the Mountains of Madness
At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories...

, PW, TC
Star vampire
Star vampire
A star vampire is a monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being first appeared in Robert Bloch's short story "The Shambler from the Stars", which was originally published in the September 1935 issue of Weird Tales.-Summary:...


(Shambler from the Stars)
Invisible, levitating, vampiric horror with a myriad of suckers and two huge claws. SF
Tcho-Tcho
Tcho-Tcho
The Tcho-Tcho, or Tcho-Tcho people, are a fictional human-like race in the Cthulhu Mythos.-Appearances:The Tcho-Tcho are first mentioned in August Derleth's 1933 short story "The Thing That Walked on the Wind", in which a character refers in passing to "the forbidden and accursed designs of the...

 people
Mutated humanoids descended from the Miri-Nigri. BK, EH, LS, BH
Thuum'ha
(Beings of Ib)
Green, toad-like humanoids with gelatinous bodies and emerald eyes BM, DC, NL
Voonith Huge lizards of the Dreamlands. DL
Voormi
Voormis
The Voormis are a fictional race of cave-dwelling humanoids who worship Tsathoggua.-Description:The Voormis are the primary focus of a "posthumous collaboration" short story by Lin Carter after Clark Ashton Smith's death, The Scroll of Morloc...

Yeti-like bipeds that inhabit Mount Voormithadreth in Hyperborea. AF, SG, SM, TM
Xo Tl'mi-go Pale, eyeless, leech-mouthed, and sterile hominid
Hominidae
The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....

s.
CK
Yaddith, Natives of Humanoid inhabitants of the planet Yaddith that resemble a cross between mammals and reptiles. DR, HG, TG, VI
Yekubians Technologically-advanced, centipede-like beings that inhabit the planet Yekub. CF
Y'lagh A race of aquatic humanoids endowed with flippers and tentacles, servitors of Cthulhu. SY2
Yuggya 1. (Yuggs or Yuggya) Beings that resemble white, planarian-like flatworms. OA, WI
2. (Yuggya) The offspring of a mating between a Yugg and a Deep One hybrid. PI, WF
Zoogs Creatures of the Dreamlands that resemble small, elf
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...

in rodents.
DQ, HE

Cults

Cults
Name References
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Black Brotherhood  SE
Brotherhood of the Beast  n/a
Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh  n/a
Brothers of the Yellow Sign
(Cult of the Yellow Sign)
IU, WD
Chesuncook Witch Coven
(Cult of the Skull)
DK, TN
Chorazos Cult  UT, RN
Church of Starry Wisdom  GA, HD, HI, SD, SE, DE
Cult of Cthulhu
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...

 
CC
Cult of Bubastis
Cult of the Bloody Tongue  n/a
Esoteric Order of Dagon
Esoteric Order of Dagon
The Esoteric Order of Dagon is a fictional cult in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.-Esoteric Order of Dagon in the mythos:Esoteric Order of Dagon was the primary religion in Innsmouth after Captain Obed Marsh returned from the South Seas with the dark religion circa 1838...

 
SI

Arcane literature and other media

Arcane media
Name Ref.
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

*
Book of Azathoth DW
Book of Dzyan
Book of Dzyan
The Book of Dzyan is a reputedly ancient text of Tibetan origin. The Stanzas formed the basis for The Secret Doctrine, one of the foundational works of the theosophical movement, by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875.-Madame Blavatsky's claims regarding the Book of Dzyan:Madame Blavatsky claimed...


(the Stanzas of Dzyan)
S4
Book of Eibon
(Liber Ivonis, Livre d'Eibon)
UB
The Book of Iod BH
Celaeno Fragments HC
Cthäat Aquadingen
(possibly Things of the Water)
YE
Cultes des Goules
(Cults of the Ghouls)
SU
De Vermis Mysteriis
(Mysteries of the Worm)
SF
Dwellers in the Depths AQ
Eltdown Shards EC
The Ford Translation of the Voynich Manuscript
Voynich manuscript
The Voynich manuscript, described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript", is a work which dates to the early 15th century, possibly from northern Italy. It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912....

RL (?)
G'harne Fragments CS
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...

YS
Name Ref.
Massa Di Requiem per Shuggay
("Requiem for Shaggai")
n/a
The Necronomicon
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...


("[The Book of]Things Concerning the Dead")
HO
Kitab Al-Azif
(Original Arabic title of the Necronomicon)
LA
Pnakotic Manuscripts
Pnakotic Manuscripts
The Pnakotic Manuscripts is a fictional manuscript in the Cthulhu Mythos. The tome was created by H. P. Lovecraft and first appeared in his short story "Polaris"...


(Pnakotic Fragments)
PO
Ponape Scripture OA
Revelations of Glaaki IL
The R'lyeh Text RH
Saracenic Rituals
(infamous chapter from De Vermis Mysteriis)
SF
The Testament of Carnamagos XE
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Unaussprechlichen Kulten is a fictional work of arcane literature in the Cthulhu Mythos. The book first appeared in Robert E. Howard's short stories "The Children of the Night" and "The Black Stone" as Nameless Cults. Like the Necronomicon, it was later mentioned in several stories by H. P...


(interpreted as "Unspeakable Cults",
also: Black Book, Nameless Cults)
CN
Zanthu Tablets DT
  • Reference to first appearance.

Fictional locations

Locations
Name What or where Ref.*
Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography
The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies.-Index table 1:-Index table...

Arkham
Arkham
Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers....

A city in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.
PH
Brichester A town in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.
UH
Carcosa
Carcosa
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" . In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight by a character who once lived there....

On the shores of Lake Hali, on a planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 in the Hyades
Hyades (star cluster)
The Hyades is the nearest open cluster to the Solar System and one of the best-studied of all star clusters. The Hipparcos satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance to the cluster's center of ~153 ly...

.
IH
Celephaïs
Celephaïs
"Celephaïs" is a fantasy story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early November 1920 and first published in the May 1922 issue of the Rainbow.The title refers to a fictional city that later appears in H. P...

A city in the Dreamlands. CE
Commoriom The capital of Hyperborea. TS
The Court of Azathoth At the center of the universe. AZ
Cykranosh
Cykranosh
Cykranosh is the fictional name for the planet Saturn in the Cthulhu Mythos. Cykranosh is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle...

The planet Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...

.
DS
The Dreamlands In another dimension
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...

.
CE
The mountain Dunkelhügel
Cyäegha
Cyäegha is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and first appeared in Eddy C. Bertin's short story "Darkness, My name Is" .-Summary:...

Near Freihausgarten
Cyäegha
Cyäegha is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and first appeared in Eddy C. Bertin's short story "Darkness, My name Is" .-Summary:...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
DM
Dunwich
Dunwich (Lovecraft)
Dunwich is a fictional town that appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Dunwich Horror" . Dunwich is found in the fictional Miskatonic River Valley of Massachusetts, part of the imaginary region sometimes called Lovecraft Country...

A village in Massachusetts. DH
Elysia
Elysia
Elysia may signify:*Elysia , a deathcore band*Elysia , a genus of gastropods*Elysium, a section of the underworld containing the Elysian Fields*Elysia, pure heart.*Elysia, a gas giant in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption....

The homeland of the Elder Gods. TC
G'harne A primeval city in Africa. CS
Glyu-Uho The star Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis , is the eighth brightest star in the night sky and second brightest star in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel only rarely...

.
S4
Hyperborea A now-vanished kingdom in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

.
TS
Ib
Ib
Ib is a train station in India with the distinction of having the shortest name of all stations on the Indian Railways system. It is on the Howrah-Nagpur segment of South East Central Railway...

A pre-human settlement in Mnar. DC
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
"The Doom that Came to Sarnath" is an early short story by H. P. Lovecraft. It is written in a mythic/fairy tale style and is associated with his Dream Cycle...

Innsmouth
Innsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...

A coastal town in Massachusetts. SI
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....

Kadath The home of the Great Ones. OG
Kingsport
Kingsport (Lovecraft)
Kingsport is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. The town first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Terrible Old Man"...

A coastal town in Massachusetts. FE
The Festival (short story)
"The Festival" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in October 1923 and published in the January 1925 issue of Weird Tales. It is considered to be one of the first of his Cthulhu Mythos stories.-Inspiration:...

K'n-yan
K'n-yan
K'n-yan is a fictional, subterranean land in the Cthulhu Mythos. The underground realm was first described in detail in H. P. Lovecraft's revision of Zealia Bishop's "The Mound" , in which it is discovered by the 16th century Spanish Conquistador Zamacona...

 or Xinaián
Blue-litten realm beneath Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

.
MO
Ktynga A large comet near Arcturus. FV
Kythanil A double planet. TG
The Plateau of Leng
Leng
Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. The Plateau of Tsang, referenced by H. P...

A cold, arid plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

.
HO
Lomar
Lomar
Lomar is a fictional land in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, first mentioned in his short story "Polaris" .- Location :In "The Mound", one of H. P. Lovecraft's revisions, the land of Lomar is said to be "near the earth's north pole."...

An ancient region. PO
L'gy'hx The planet Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...

.
IS
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...

In Arkham, Massachusetts. WR
Mnar Probably in the Dreamlands. DC
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
"The Doom that Came to Sarnath" is an early short story by H. P. Lovecraft. It is written in a mythic/fairy tale style and is associated with his Dream Cycle...

Mu A sunken continent. OE
The Nameless City A buried city. NC
N'kai A lightless cavern beneath Yoth
(or possibly underneath Mt. Voormithadreth).
MO
Olathoë A city in Lomar. PO
Pnakotus A primeval city in the Great Sandy Desert
Great Sandy Desert
The Great Sandy Desert is a desert located in the North West of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of...

 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.
ST
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...

Name What or where Ref.
Vale of Pnath In the Underworld
Underworld (Dreamlands)
The underworld is a fictional location in the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is described in detail in Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath ....

.
EM
R'lyeh
R'lyeh
R'lyeh is a fictional lost city that first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in Weird Tales in 1928. According to Lovecraft's short story, R'lyeh is a sunken city in the South Pacific and the prison of the malevolent entity called Cthulhu.R'lyeh is...

The sunken island/city where Cthulhu is entombed. CC
The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, in February 1928.-Inspiration:...

Sarnath
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
"The Doom that Came to Sarnath" is an early short story by H. P. Lovecraft. It is written in a mythic/fairy tale style and is associated with his Dream Cycle...

A destroyed city in Mnar. DC
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
"The Doom that Came to Sarnath" is an early short story by H. P. Lovecraft. It is written in a mythic/fairy tale style and is associated with his Dream Cycle...

Shaggai A planet orbiting twin emerald suns. HD
S'glhuo, Gulf of An alternate dimension. PL
The Plateau of Sung
(or "Tsang"?)
Possibly a region of Leng. HF
Thuggon A planet. IS
Thyoph A planet. IS
Ulthar
Ulthar
Ulthar is both a fictional town and a fictional deity. The town of Ulthar is part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, appearing in such stories as The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath , "The Cats of Ulthar" and "The Other Gods" .-Town:...

A cat-laden town in the Dreamlands. CU
The Cats of Ulthar
"The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who...

Uzuldaroum A city in Hyperborea. TS
Valley of Do-Hna In Xinaián (K'n-yan). MO
Valusia The ancient land of the Serpent people. HK
Mount Voormithadreth Four-coned extinct volcano in Hyperborea; contains the Cavern of Archetypes and the Web of Atlach-Nacha. SG
Xiccarph
Xiccarph
Xiccarph is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the forty-first volume of its celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in February 1972. It was the third themed collection of Smith's works...

? MZ?
Xiclotl The sister planet to Shaggai. IS
Xoth A binary star
Binary star
A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The brighter star is called the primary and the other is its companion star, comes, or secondary...

.
FT
Yaanek / Yarak Legendary mountain/volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 at the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

.
UL
Ulalume
"Ulalume" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1847. Much like a few of Poe's other poems , "Ulalume" focuses on the narrator's loss of a beautiful woman due to her death. Poe originally wrote the poem as an elocution piece and, as such, the poem is known for its focus on sound...

Yaddith A planet. TG
Mount Yaddith-Gho Dwelling place of Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being first appeared in the short story "Out Of The Aeons" by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. It is a large, amorphous, exceptionally hideous being comparable to Medusa.-Summary:...

 in Mu.
OE
Yaksh The planet Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...

.
FT
Yekub A planet in a distant galaxy
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...

.
CF
'Ygiroth
Leng
Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. The Plateau of Tsang, referenced by H. P...

In the Dreamlands. YG
Y'ha-nthlei An undersea city. SI
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....

Abyss of Yhe In a Muvian province. HC?
Yian-Ho, or Yian A deserted city. TG
Ylidiomph The planet Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

.
UA
Yoth Red-litten cavern beneath K'n-yan. MO
Y'quaa
Hyperborean cycle
The Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea . Various elements in Smith's cycle have been borrowed by H. P. Lovecraft, most notably the "toad-god" Tsathoggua...

A gray-litten cavern, the dwelling place of Abhoth. HG
Yuggoth
Yuggoth
Yuggoth is a fictional planet in the Cthulhu Mythos. H. P. Lovecraft himself said that Yuggoth is the then newly-discovered planet Pluto. However, other writers claim that it is actually an enormous, trans-Neptunian world that orbits perpendicular to the ecliptic of the solar system.-In the...

The planet Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...

.
FY
Vaults of Zin In N'kai. EM
Zothique
Zothique
Zothique is an imagined future continent featured in a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Zothique is also the title of the cycle of tales which take place there. In terms of number and extent, the Zothique cycle is the largest collection of stories written by Smith...

A continent in the distant future. EN
  • Reference to first appearance.

Non-fictional elements

The Cthulhu Mythos incorporates many historical, astronomical, and mythological elements from the real world.
  • Aldebaran
    Aldebaran
    Aldebaran is a red giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky...

    , a star
  • Bast
    Bast (goddess)
    Bastet is the name commonly used by scholars today to refer to a feline goddess of ancient Egyptian religion who was worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty...

    , cat goddess of ancient Egypt
    Egypt
    Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

  • Book of Dzyan
    Book of Dzyan
    The Book of Dzyan is a reputedly ancient text of Tibetan origin. The Stanzas formed the basis for The Secret Doctrine, one of the foundational works of the theosophical movement, by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875.-Madame Blavatsky's claims regarding the Book of Dzyan:Madame Blavatsky claimed...

  • Celaeno
    Celaeno
    In Greek mythology, Celaeno referred to several different figures.*Celaeno, one of the Harpies, whom Aeneas encountered at Strophades. She gave him prophecies of his coming journeys.*Celaeno, one of the Pleiades...

    , a star in the Pleiades
    Pleiades (star cluster)
    In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters , is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky...

  • Dagon
    Dagon
    Dagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and fish and/or fishing...

    , the Mesopotamia
    Mesopotamia
    Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

    n fish god of vegetation and fertility
  • John Dee
    John Dee (mathematician)
    John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....

    , a historical person
  • Fomalhaut
    Fomalhaut
    Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus and one of the brightest stars in the sky. Fomalhaut can be seen low in the southern sky in the northern hemisphere in fall and early winter evenings. Near latitude 50˚N, it sets around the time Sirius rises, and does not...

    , a star
  • Giant Penguin
    Giant Penguin
    The giant penguin is a cryptid, allegedly seen in Florida during the 1940s. The legend has no scientific merit and is at least partly documented to have been a hoax.-History:...

    , although these ones are evolved albino versions
  • H. P. Lovecraft
    H. P. Lovecraft
    Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

    , as himself
  • Hypnos
    Hypnos
    In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thánatos ; their mother was the primordial goddess Nyx . His palace was a dark cave where the sun never shines. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnogogic plants...

    , the god of sleep in Greek mythology
    Greek mythology
    Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

  • Irem
    Iram of the Pillars
    Iram of the Pillars , also called Aram, Iram, Irum, Irem, Erum, Wabar, Ubar, or the City of a Thousand Pillars, is a lost city on the Arabian Peninsula.-Introduction:Ubar, a name of a region or a name of a people, was mentioned in ancient records, and was spoken of in folk...

    , City of Pillars, a legendary buried city from Islamic mythology
    Islamic mythology
    Islamic mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Islam from a mythographical perspective. Many Muslims believe that these narratives are historical and sacred and contain profound truths...

     (possibly the lost city of Ubar)
  • Lemuria
    Lemuria (continent)
    Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical "lost land" variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept's 19th century origins lie in attempts to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics...

    , a fabled land bridge, but a lost continent in the mythos
  • Nodens
    Nodens
    Nodents is a Celtic deity associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs. He was worshipped in ancient Britain, most notably in a temple complex at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire, and possibly also in Gaul...

    , the Hunter, a Celtic
    Celtic mythology
    Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...

     deity worshipped in ancient Britain
  • Olaus Wormius, Danish antiquary cited as translator of the Necronomicon
  • Pluto
    Pluto
    Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...

    , identified by Lovecraft as Yuggoth
  • Ponape
    Pohnpei
    Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...

    , an island
  • The Severn Valley
    Severn Valley
    Severn Valley could be*The Severn Valley in Shropshire, English Midlands *The Severn Valley Country Park in Shropshire, English Midlands *The fictional Severn Valley...

    , in England
  • Tunguska
    Tunguska event
    The Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m...

    , in Siberia
    Siberia
    Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

  • The Voynich Manuscript
    Voynich manuscript
    The Voynich manuscript, described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript", is a work which dates to the early 15th century, possibly from northern Italy. It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912....

  • Wendigo
    Wendigo
    The Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans...

    , borrowed from Native American mythology
    Native American mythology
    Native American mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Native American religion from a mythographical perspective. Native American belief systems include many sacred narratives. Such spiritual stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with the symbolism of seasons,...

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