Ghatanothoa

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Ghatanothoa is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being first appeared in the short story "Out Of The Aeons" (1935) by H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald.

Contents

1 Summary

1.1 Other connections to the mythos

2 References

2.1 Primary sources
2.2 Secondary sources
2.3 Notes

3 External link

Summary

Ghatanothoa is a Great Old One and is so hideous that anyone who gazes upon it (or even a perfect replica) is petrified into a living mummy. The victim is permanently immobilized—the body taking on the consistency of leather and the internal organs and brain preserved indefinitely—yet remains fully aware. Only the destruction of the subject's brain can free it from its hellish prison, though the unfortunate is likely to be incurably insane long before the welcomed release.Lovecraft & Heald, "Out of the Aeons", The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions, p. 272.

Ghatanothoa is currently trapped underneath Mount Yaddith-Gho in sunken Mu. He was brought to Earth from the planet Yuggoth (Pluto in Lovecraft's fiction) by an ancient, alien race, possibly the Mi-go

Although the aliens in question are presumed to be the Mi-go, or Fungi from Yuggoth (Harms, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana p. 115), S. T. Joshi does not hold this view. In his essay "Lovecraft's Other Planets", Joshi argues that these beings are an older and perhaps indigenous race of Yuggoth. Citing Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931), Joshi notes that the structures on Yuggoth were "built by some elder race extinct and forgotten" before the Mi-go arrived. Thus, Joshi concludes that these ancient beings—and not the Mi-Go— are "the alien spawn of the dark planet Yuggoth" (as quoted from "Out of the Aeons") that brought Ghatanothoa to Earth. (Joshi, "Lovecraft's Other Planets", Selected Papers on Lovecraft, p. 39.)

, who built a colossal fortress atop Yaddith-Gho and sealed Ghatanothoa inside the mountain beneath a large trapdoor. Ghatanothoa was worshipped by the ancient Muvians, who both feared and respected him because of his ability to turn any humans that beheld him into living, thinking mummies.

Many attempted in vain to defeat Ghatanothoa; most notably T'yog, the High Priest of Shub-Niggurath, whose story is recounted in Friedrich von Junzt's grimoire Unaussprechlichen Kulten or Nameless Cults (Robert E. Howard's answer to Lovecraft's Necronomicon). T'yog created a scroll that was supposed to protect him from the petrifying effect of gazing upon Ghatanothoa. But T'yog was defeated after Ghatanothoa's priests stole the scroll and replaced it with a fake one. This occurred in the Year of the Red Moon, which is 173,148 B.C. according to von Juntz.Lovecraft & Heald, "Out of the Aeons".

Other connections to the mythos

In Lin Carter's Xothic legend cycle, Ghatanothoa is said to be the first born of Cthulhu; his siblings, in order of birth, are Ythogtha, Zoth-Ommog, and CthyllaCarter, "The Thing in the Pit", The Xothic Legend Cycle.. Colin Wilson connected Ghatanothoa to the alien, reptilian race of energy beings—the Lloigor—as the deity's servantsWilson, "The Return of the Lloigor", Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.. Even though Ghatanothoa is widely regarded as a water elemental because he is called Cthulhu's son, he nonetheless holds distinction as the Lord of the Volcanoes^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

References

Primary sources

Definitive version.

Secondary sources

Notes

External link

["Out of the Aeons" by H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald.]

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