Cthulhu Mythos is the label coined by the writer August Derleth for the shared world based upon the themes, characters, and story elements found in the works of H. P. Lovecraft, as well as his protegés and later writers influenced by him. Lovecraft's followers include writers such as Derleth, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Algernon Blackwood, Frank Belknap Long, and others.
Central to the mythos are the Great Old Ones, a fearsome assortment of deities led by the dreaded Cthulhu (though there are more powerful and monstrous beings in the Mythos than even he is), who lies in a state of hibernation in the lost and sunken city of R'lyeh. "When the stars are right," Cthulhu will awaken and wreak havoc upon the earth.
The Great Old Ones are vastly powerful and ancient creatures who are often worshiped as gods by insane human cultists; many of them are made of unearthly substances which is not like normal matter. They have limits to their influence, even if those "limits" include an entire planet. Those Great Old Ones who are based in other solar systems can only extend their influence to Earth when the star of the solar system is in the night sky, along with the help of cultists performing various rituals.
The so-called "gods" of the Dreamlands, they are not nearly as powerful as the Great Old Ones, and not even as intelligent as humans. However, they are under the protection of the Outer Gods, especially Nyarlathotep.
A group of beings who oppose the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones. Many people consider them to be un-Lovecraftian, since they bring a good/evil dichotomy to the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction. However, these beings are no more concerned with such human notions as "good" and "evil" than the things they oppose, and consider humans to be less than fleas.
These beings have no limits to their influence, unlike the Great Old Ones, and are likely to embody cosmic principles. The Outer Gods are also known as the Other Gods.
Great Old Ones
Great Ones
Elder Gods
Outer Gods
Other supernatural beings
Some of these may in fact be Great Old Ones, Great Ones, Elder Gods, Outer Gods or Avatars; if so, please move them to the appropriate category.Fictitious books in the Mythos
Non-human species of the Mythos
Locations
Cults
External links