Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath also known as
The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, is one of the
fictional deities of
H. P. Lovecraft's
Cthulhu Mythos; she is never actually described in any of Lovecraft's stories, but is frequently mentioned or called upon in incantations. Shub-Niggurath is a perverse fertility deity, said to be an enormous cloudy mass which extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths and short writhing goat legs. She is worshipped extensively by druidic and barbaric cults.
- "One squat, black temple of Tsathoggua was encountered, but it had been turned into a shrine of Shub-Niggurath, the All-Mother and wife of the Not-to-Be-Named-One. This deity was a kind of sophisticated Astarte, and her worship struck the pious Catholic as supremely obnoxious." -- H.P. Lovecraft, The Mound
- "Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!" -- H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness,, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Man of Stone
Shub-Niggurath also makes an appearance as the
final adversary of the
FPS computer game Quake.
Shub-Niggurath is also the name of a French Band.
Both Stephen King and Terry Pratchett have referenced Shub-Niggurath
in their works.