Video Discription |
First United Church of Cthulhu ~ join online at http://www.fucc.it
Lovecraft's Hierarchy of Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos /Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, Tsathoggua, Shub-Niggurath, Nug, Yeb, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, James F. Morton, cult, occult, horror, goth
Many of you may have already seen this image of Lovecraft's hierarchy of gods in the Cthulhu Mythos. I have grown tired of all the neighsayers, saying that Lovecraft never wrote that or that he was simply joking. So I bought the source book that these chart comes from, Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft, volume 4. That way I can read the whole letter, as well as the ones before and after it.
The letter is to James F Morton, a friend, fellow author, and member of the Kalem Club, the close circle of friends around Lovecraft in New York City in the mid-1920s. We unfortunately don't have Morton's letters to Lovecraft, only Lovecraft's responses.
At some point, Morton and Lovecraft must have been discussing their family lines, because in the letter before this one, Lovecraft lists 23 ancestral names of his bloodline.
Then, in this letter, as can be seen before the chart, Lovecraft states, “I have only demons behind me – my heritage from the Black Crawling Chaos being as follows:
Now, there is nothing in any of Lovecraft's letter to imply that he is joking. But in reading the rest of the letters to the other authors in his social circle, one can conclude that this is an official part of the Cthulhu Mythos. He and his friends would correspond as characters in that universe, as well as discussing other works of weird fiction and the progress in their own works and collaborations, including places, beings, and passages that seemed pulled directly from their printed work as opposed to an informal letter. Many were from Lovecraft's works, often referencing the Great Old Ones and the Necronomicon, and used them in normal conversations, much like we ourselves do today. But there were lots of other references that I couldn't identify from Google searches and probably only exist within theses private letters.
And if you read more of his personal letters, it becomes obvious when he is angered, or upset, or depressed, or joking. Its almost exaggerated like when a stage performer over-projects their emotions to insure that the audience understands the nature of the scene.
Even though it was never in print, this chart comes from Lovecraft himself and there is no reason to doubt the validity of it. This is canon.
So be sure to subscribe for more horror, occult, and Lovecraft madness.
Until next time, Cthulhu fhtagn. [XjPre2jsx0E] |