Gnoph-keh

Gnoph-keh
Sociocultural Characteristics
Also known as	Bear Monsters, Nanruki, Ohto, Oon-T'keph, White Horns
Origin	Hyperborea, modern Greenland
Extinction	Likely end of the Hyperborean Age
Physical Characteristics
Distinctions	A polar bear monstrosity, with six-limbs and covered in shaggy white hair. From its forehead rise a single horn, while its great mouth was filled with wicked and sharp teeth. It may walk upright on two legs or bear-like on four, but other times it uses all its six limbs
Real World Information
First appearance	HPL "The Horror in the Museum"
Created by	Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Hazel Heald

🔀 For the human Hyperborea species, see Gnophkeh.

Gnoph-keh, also known as Gnoph-Hek are sharp-horned, coarse-haired beings with six long-limbs, found in Greenland and the Arctic Circle. Empowered with blizzard summoning and reducing temperatures. Connected with Rhan-Tegoth (whom they seem to worship) and possibly Ithaqua, Zhar and Lloigor (god). In early texts (such as the Book of Eibon) it is a race of vicious cannibals who were driven from Lomar by mankind and the Voormis, but in later texts it appears as a lone creature, sometimes called "the Hairy Thing" and is confused with Rhan-Tegoth. Some texts call them "reptilian" although hairy reptiles are far from common. It is now on the brink of extinction and only encountered in ones. The Gnophkeh are either creatures of air or water.

Overview

The Gnoph-keh are a race of beings who appear to inhabit cold places, notably Greenland, northern Canada, and other isolated wintry wildernesses. Legend purports that the Gnoph-keh are the remnants of a lost tribe who turned from earthly gods to serve the Great Wind-Walker, Ithaqua, and in doing so became something other than human.

Other tales speak of the creatures as earthly extensions of alien powers, always at the periphery, waiting and watching in the vast wilderness to pounce on those who would forsake the safety of civilization. Some tomes recall the attack of the gnoph-keh upon doomed Lomar. Whatever their true origin, gnoph-keh are territorial, individualistic, and rarely encountered. Seemingly, their solitary existence is broken only occasionally, when two or more gather to form a pack for unknown reasons—perhaps when they sense the arrival of Ithaqua or some other manifestation of the Great Old One. Especially harsh winters may bring them down into lowland regions and closer to humanity.

Feared by those who are aware of their existence, there are a few isolated communities who have turned their fear into a form of worship, venerating the gnoph-keh as harbingers of icy fate and, in doing so, some have been touched by the mind of Ithaqua and turned their devotions to the Great Wind-Walker. Such communities soon turn to the terrible delights of cannibalism and consort with the gnoph-keh in blasphemous ceremonies.

Beyond the Mythos

The Gnoph-keh appear in H. P. Lovecraft's early Dunsanian tales. Lin Carter incorporated then into the Mythos and they were eventually developed further by Laurence J. Cornford and John Glasby.

Gallery

Ryuga Boumera's interpretation of a Gnoph-keh.

Artwork for Lindwurm's Elder Sign.

MrMeowser's drawing of a Gnoph-keh