Elder God (Cthulhu Mythos)

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An Elder God is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft.

Contents

1 Summary
2 List

2.1
2.2
2.3 Kthanid
2.4
2.5 N'tse-Kaambl
2.6 Ulthar
2.7 Vorvadoss
2.8 Yad-Thaddag

3 Other appearances
4 External links

Summary

The Elder Gods oppose the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Some consider them to be non-Lovecraftian because they employ a good versus evil dichotomy which is contrary to the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction. However, these deities are no more concerned for human notions of "good" and "evil" than the beings they oppose and consider humans to be less than fleas although they can be sympathetic to humanity on occasion and their interests usually coincide with our own.

The main "Elder God" used by Lovecraft is Nodens, who acts as deus ex machina for the protagonists in both The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926) and "The Strange High House in the Mist" (1931). In this regard, he functions like Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep, although Nodens is obviously less malicious. Another entity mentioned as an Elder God is Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. He appears in the story fragment "Hypnos" which is about a mediocre poet who is suddenly granted the power to usher in a new Golden Age. It is also speculated that Bast, the Egyptian goddess of cats, qualifies as an Elder God due to Lovecraft's obsession and because of hints given in Lovecraft's "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920).

List

This list is organized as follows:

Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the Elder God. A disputed entry is marked by an asterisk (*) to indicate that it may instead be an Outer God.
Description. This entry briefly summarizes the Elder God.
References. These are the sources in which the Elder God makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. A simple two-letter code is used—the key to the codes is found here. If a code appears in bold, this means that the reference introduces the Elder God.

Bast (Goddess of Cats or Pasht) appears as a female human with a cat's head.
Ref BR, MA, SU

Ref	BR, MA, SU

Hypnos (Lord of Sleep) is an enigmatic being of unknown form.
Ref HP

Ref	HP

Kthanid

Kthanid* is the creation of Brian Lumley and is said to be the "brother" of Cthulhu. He looks like his sibling but has golden eyes. He resides in a crystal cave on Elysia.

It is said that he is as good as his brother is evil; however, this is debatable given the stance of non-dualism in the mythos. He might be regarded as good given that he is an enemy of Cthulhu who is more hostile to humanity.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Ref TC, CD

Ref	TC, CD

Nodens (Lord of the Great Abyss) appears as an elderly, bearded, human male riding a huge seashell pulled by legendary beasts.
Ref DQ, GM, HW , NE, PN, HH

Ref	DQ, GM, HW , NE, PN, HH

N'tse-Kaambl

N'tse-Kaambl* (Whose Splendor Hath Shattered Worlds) is the creation of Gary Myers and appears in his short story collection The House of the Worm. She appears as a beautiful, robed, human female bearing a shield and spear. She is a minor, feminine deity, sometimes depicted as Minerva, and dwells in the Dreamlands. Her name appears to be a homonym for "Nancy Campbell", whose identity is unknown to all but Myers.
Ref HW, XI

Ref	HW, XI

Ulthar

Ulthar (or Uldar) is a deity sent to Earth to hold vigil over the Great Old Ones.

Ref	GC, SX

Vorvadoss

Vorvadoss* (The Flaming One, Lord of the Universal Spaces, The Troubler of the Sands, Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark) appears as a cloaked, hooded being, enveloped in green flames, with fiery eyes. He may otherwise appear as a misty, silvery being not unlike Tawil-at-U'mr with an inhuman face.

Ref	EA, IN, AE, WH

Yad-Thaddag

Yad-Thaddag, created by Brian Lumley, is possibly the Elder God equivalent of the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. This being has the same appearance as Yog-Sothoth, except its spheres are of a different colour and its nature is purely benevolent.

Ref	EL

Other appearances

A group of entities called Elder Gods are part of the Mortal Kombat mythos.

The predecessors of the current generation of gods in the Marvel Universe were also known as Elder Gods and were likely inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos.

External links

[The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List], listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more

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