Xothic legend cycle
Encyclopedia
The Xothic legend cycle is a series of short stories
by Lin Carter
that are based on the Cthulhu Mythos
of H. P. Lovecraft
. The cycle is centered on a trinity of deities said to be the "sons" of Cthulhu
: Ghatanothoa
, Ythogtha, and Zoth-Ommog. The five stories that make up the cycle (in chronological order) are "The Dweller in the Tomb" (1971
), "Out of the Ages" (1975
), "The Horror in the Gallery" (1976
), "The Thing in the Pit" (1980
), and "The Winfield Heritance" (1981
).
The cycle introduces various mythos elements, such as the Zanthu Tablets, the Ponape Scripture, Father Ubb and the yuggs
, and two new Great Old Ones: Ythogtha and Zoth-Ommog. The cycle also features the (fictional) Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities—perhaps Lin Carter's answer to Lovecraft's Miskatonic University
. The lost continent of Mu also figures prominently in the cycle, as do the events that led to its sinking.
Xoth. They are the progeny of a mating between Cthulhu
and the quasi-female entity Idh-yaa.
-like ability which causes a viewer's skin to become hard and leathery but preserves the brain, leaving the victim to go slowly mad trapped within an immobile shell. Among the myriad of deities worshipped in Mu, Ghatanothoa was the most respected as well as the most feared. Prior to the destruction of Mu, Ghatanothoa's cult became the most powerful on the continent.
Some critics have suggested that Ghatanothoa, who first appeared in Lovecraft's story ghostwritten for Hazel Heald, "Out of the Eons", was intended by Lovecraft to be another name for Cthulhu.
, with only a single, huge eye in the center of his forehead like a cyclops
. A dense mane and a beard of writhing tentacles grows from his head. Although never fully described in Carter's own stories, Ythogtha is incredibly large; when the sorcerer-priest Zanthu attempts to free Ythogtha from his prison, he mistakes his god's clawed, slimy fingertips for mountainous heads.
The Elder Gods imprisoned Ythogtha in the Abyss of Yhe. He is served by the planarian-like yugg
s and their lord, Ubb, The Father of Worms. Ythogtha's legend is chronicled in the Zanthu Tablets.
, four broad, flat, starfish-like arms with suckers, and a head of tentacles. How he swims or walks on the ocean floor is unknown, but it is possible that he has a slug-like foot similar to that of the Great Race of Yith
.
Zoth-Ommog was imprisoned by the Elder Gods beneath the seabed near Ponape
and R'lyeh
. Like his older brother Ythogtha, Zoth-Ommog is served by Father Ubb and the yuggs. Zoth-Ommog's legend is chronicled in the R'lyeh Text and the Ponape Scripture.
(The Elder Gods as punishers of the Old Ones (a God and Satan theme) was not a Lovecraftian invention, but was introduced into the Mythos by August Derleth
and carried on by a multitude of other Mythos authors, most notably Brian Lumley
and Lin Carter
.)
research facility dedicated to the study of the cultures of the Pacific
. It is based in Santiago, California and was founded by the son of the late Calton Sanborne II, whose father was a magnate in the tuna-packing industry.
The entire Xothic Legend cycle (including a prologue) was collected in The Xothic Legend Cycle from Chaosium. A full synopsis of all these stories (readable as one whole story) is available on this site:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070819204407/http://geocities.com/vadyanclique/xothic.html (Geocities is gone, so found on web archive)
and curator of the Manuscripts Collection of the Sanbourne Institute. The story consists primarily of the journal entries of Professor Copeland and details the ill-fated Copeland-Ellington Expedition into Central Asia in 1913, of which Copeland was the only survivor.
.
In the story, Zoth-Ommog, like his father Cthulhu, can enter a person's dreams and cause the victim to go mad — but to do so, the subject must be near one of his statues. One such statue is recovered from the seafloor of Ponape and bought to Professor Harold Hadley Copeland, a brilliant but eccentric archaeologist who is researching the Xothic Legend Cycle.
After Professor Copeland dies in a psychiatric hospital, the statue is taken to the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities to be displayed. The press dubs it the "Ponape Figurine", though rumors claim it is cursed. However, unbeknownst to the museum's Curator of Manuscript Collections, Dr. Henry Stephenson Blaine, the statue is sentient (much like the One Ring
in The Lord of the Rings
) and soon drives him insane.
One night, a Deep One
, disguised as a sailor, breaks into the institute to steal the figurine. After killing the night watchman, the Deep One is about to take the statue when he is interrupted by Dr. Blaine's young aide, Arthur Wilcox Hodgkins. Hodgkins flings an Elder Sign
"star stone" at the statue, destroying it. The resulting explosion also kills the Deep One.
As fate would have it, Hodgkins is charged with the murder of the night watchman, because the body of the Deep One had dissolved into a pool of slime and had evaporated just a few hours later, leaving no trace except for some badly charred clothing. Hodgkins is judged incurably insane and is confined to the Dunhill Institute, where his mentor and close friend, Dr. Blaine, is also incarcerated. As a final twist, Hodgkins is dubbed the "last victim [of the] Curse of the Ponape Figurine".
of Ghatanothoa after his priests outlawed all other religions in Mu. The cult of Ghatanothoa was the dominant religion in Mu following the defeat of T'yog, high priest of Shub-Niggurath
, who had sought to vanquish the tyranny of Ghatanothoa forever.
Zanthu had hoped to oust Ghatanothoa's cult by freeing the god Ythogtha from the Abyss of Yhe, where the Elder Gods had imprisoned him. This act of blasphemy did not go unnoticed by the Elder Gods, who destroyed Mu and sank it beneath the sea. Zanthu himself abandoned the ritual and fled after discovering the true nature of the god.
Following the destruction of Mu, Zanthu and his followers fled to the Plateau of Tsang in Inner Mongolia
, where they later died. Before his death, Zanthu inscribed his story on the Zanthu Tablets, a series of ten or twelve black jade
slabs, which also included the sacred rituals and mysteries of Ythogtha.
s.
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
by Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
that are based on 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...
of 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....
. The cycle is centered on a trinity of deities said to be the "sons" 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...
: 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:...
, Ythogtha, and Zoth-Ommog. The five stories that make up the cycle (in chronological order) are "The Dweller in the Tomb" (1971
1971 in literature
The year 1971 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles wins the UK's first Whitbread Novel of the Year Award.-New books:*Hiroshi Aramata - Teito Monogatari...
), "Out of the Ages" (1975
1975 in literature
The year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
), "The Horror in the Gallery" (1976
1976 in literature
The year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
), "The Thing in the Pit" (1980
1980 in literature
The year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman to be elected to the Académie française....
), and "The Winfield Heritance" (1981
1981 in literature
The year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
).
The cycle introduces various mythos elements, such as the Zanthu Tablets, the Ponape Scripture, Father Ubb and the yuggs
Yugg
The Yuggs are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings were created by Lin Carter and first appeared in his short story "Out of the Ages".-Description:...
, and two new Great Old Ones: Ythogtha and Zoth-Ommog. The cycle also features the (fictional) Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities—perhaps Lin Carter's answer to Lovecraft's 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...
. The lost continent of Mu also figures prominently in the cycle, as do the events that led to its sinking.
The Demon Trinity
Carter's "Demon Trinity" (Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha, and Zoth-Ommog) were spawned on a planet near the double starBinary 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...
Xoth. They are the progeny of a mating between 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...
and the quasi-female entity Idh-yaa.
Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa is said to be the firstborn of Cthulhu. It is infamous for its horrid appearance and its fearsome medusaMedusa
In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...
-like ability which causes a viewer's skin to become hard and leathery but preserves the brain, leaving the victim to go slowly mad trapped within an immobile shell. Among the myriad of deities worshipped in Mu, Ghatanothoa was the most respected as well as the most feared. Prior to the destruction of Mu, Ghatanothoa's cult became the most powerful on the continent.
Some critics have suggested that Ghatanothoa, who first appeared in Lovecraft's story ghostwritten for Hazel Heald, "Out of the Eons", was intended by Lovecraft to be another name for Cthulhu.
Ythogtha
Ythogtha is the second son of Cthulhu and resembles a gigantic, humanoid frog, or Deep OneDeep 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"...
, with only a single, huge eye in the center of his forehead like a 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...
. A dense mane and a beard of writhing tentacles grows from his head. Although never fully described in Carter's own stories, Ythogtha is incredibly large; when the sorcerer-priest Zanthu attempts to free Ythogtha from his prison, he mistakes his god's clawed, slimy fingertips for mountainous heads.
The Elder Gods imprisoned Ythogtha in the Abyss of Yhe. He is served by the planarian-like yugg
Yugg
The Yuggs are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings were created by Lin Carter and first appeared in his short story "Out of the Ages".-Description:...
s and their lord, Ubb, The Father of Worms. Ythogtha's legend is chronicled in the Zanthu Tablets.
Zoth-Ommog
Zoth-Ommog is the third son of Cthulhu. He has a cone-shaped body, a razor-fanged reptilian head like that of a Tyrannosaurus rexTyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
, four broad, flat, starfish-like arms with suckers, and a head of tentacles. How he swims or walks on the ocean floor is unknown, but it is possible that he has a slug-like foot similar to that of the 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...
.
Zoth-Ommog was imprisoned by the Elder Gods beneath the seabed near 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...
and 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...
. Like his older brother Ythogtha, Zoth-Ommog is served by Father Ubb and the yuggs. Zoth-Ommog's legend is chronicled in the R'lyeh Text and the Ponape Scripture.
(The Elder Gods as punishers of the Old Ones (a God and Satan theme) was not a Lovecraftian invention, but was introduced into the Mythos 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...
and carried on by a multitude of other Mythos authors, most notably Brian Lumley
Brian Lumley
Brian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
and Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
.)
Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities
The Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities is featured in "The Dweller in the Tomb" (where it debuted), "Out of the Ages", and "The Horror in the Gallery". The institute is an anthropologicalAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
research facility dedicated to the study of the cultures of the Pacific
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...
. It is based in Santiago, California and was founded by the son of the late Calton Sanborne II, whose father was a magnate in the tuna-packing industry.
Stories
Each story is set in the early 20th century and is told from the point of view of a scholarly narrator. Each narrator in turn becomes the protagonist of the next story in the series.The entire Xothic Legend cycle (including a prologue) was collected in The Xothic Legend Cycle from Chaosium. A full synopsis of all these stories (readable as one whole story) is available on this site:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070819204407/http://geocities.com/vadyanclique/xothic.html (Geocities is gone, so found on web archive)
"The Dweller in the Tomb"
The first story in the cycle introduces Harold Hadley Copeland, a noted archaeologist in the study of Pacific culture. The story is narrated by Henry Stephenson Blaine, Ph.D.Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
and curator of the Manuscripts Collection of the Sanbourne Institute. The story consists primarily of the journal entries of Professor Copeland and details the ill-fated Copeland-Ellington Expedition into Central Asia in 1913, of which Copeland was the only survivor.
"Out of the Ages"
This story introduces the "Xothic Legend Cycle", a theory first proposed by Harold Hadley Copeland. The story also features the "Ponape Figurine", a sinister statuette depicting Zoth-Ommog, the Dweller in the Deeps."The Horror in the Gallery"
This story (originally titled "Zoth-Ommog") revolves around the Ponape Figurine and the efforts of the protagonist to dispose of it. The story features Lovecraft's Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic 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 the story, Zoth-Ommog, like his father Cthulhu, can enter a person's dreams and cause the victim to go mad — but to do so, the subject must be near one of his statues. One such statue is recovered from the seafloor of Ponape and bought to Professor Harold Hadley Copeland, a brilliant but eccentric archaeologist who is researching the Xothic Legend Cycle.
After Professor Copeland dies in a psychiatric hospital, the statue is taken to the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities to be displayed. The press dubs it the "Ponape Figurine", though rumors claim it is cursed. However, unbeknownst to the museum's Curator of Manuscript Collections, Dr. Henry Stephenson Blaine, the statue is sentient (much like the One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
) and soon drives him insane.
One night, a 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"...
, disguised as a sailor, breaks into the institute to steal the figurine. After killing the night watchman, the Deep One is about to take the statue when he is interrupted by Dr. Blaine's young aide, Arthur Wilcox Hodgkins. Hodgkins flings an Elder Sign
Elder Sign
The Elder Sign is an icon in the Cthulhu Mythos, first mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, written in 1926.-Description:...
"star stone" at the statue, destroying it. The resulting explosion also kills the Deep One.
As fate would have it, Hodgkins is charged with the murder of the night watchman, because the body of the Deep One had dissolved into a pool of slime and had evaporated just a few hours later, leaving no trace except for some badly charred clothing. Hodgkins is judged incurably insane and is confined to the Dunhill Institute, where his mentor and close friend, Dr. Blaine, is also incarcerated. As a final twist, Hodgkins is dubbed the "last victim [of the] Curse of the Ponape Figurine".
"The Thing in the Pit"
The fourth story in the cycle chronicles the events that led to the destruction of Mu. Zanthu, the high priest of Ythogtha, plots to depose the cultCult
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...
of Ghatanothoa after his priests outlawed all other religions in Mu. The cult of Ghatanothoa was the dominant religion in Mu following the defeat of T'yog, high priest of 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...
, who had sought to vanquish the tyranny of Ghatanothoa forever.
Zanthu had hoped to oust Ghatanothoa's cult by freeing the god Ythogtha from the Abyss of Yhe, where the Elder Gods had imprisoned him. This act of blasphemy did not go unnoticed by the Elder Gods, who destroyed Mu and sank it beneath the sea. Zanthu himself abandoned the ritual and fled after discovering the true nature of the god.
Following the destruction of Mu, Zanthu and his followers fled to the Plateau of Tsang in Inner Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, where they later died. Before his death, Zanthu inscribed his story on the Zanthu Tablets, a series of ten or twelve black jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
slabs, which also included the sacred rituals and mysteries of Ythogtha.
"The Winfield Heritance"
The final story in the cycle is only loosely tied to the other four. This story reveals the true nature of the yuggYugg
The Yuggs are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings were created by Lin Carter and first appeared in his short story "Out of the Ages".-Description:...
s.