- 🔀 This article details the fictionalised version of H. P. Lovecraft. For the real-world person, see H. P. Lovecraft
| “ | Really, Lovecraft had an extremely powerful imagination and sometimes it got out of hand. No, Miskatonic had never tried to suppress the stories or take legal action, for fear of even less desirable publicity—and because the project members thought the stories might be a good preparation for the world if some of their more frightening hypotheses were verified. Really, Lovecraft was a very charming and well-intentioned person, but sometimes he went too far. | „ | |
| ~ Fritz Leiber, "The Terror from the Depths" |
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The fictional version of Howard Phillips Lovecraft has appeared in various conflicting accounts, usually having a small role but he has been the protagonist in several. The earliest appearance of him in fiction was in 1948 in August Derleth's poem "Providence: Two Gentlemen Meet at Midnight", which tells of a fictional meeting between Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. In 1979, Lovecraft appeared as a character in the Heavy Metal Magazine.
While innumerable pastiches have put Lovecraft in the role of adventurer or even action hero, more commonly he is portrayed in the role of sage or scholar. Post-modern pastiches have begun to accentuate his racialist outlook and in those works he has become a simplistic caricature.
Appearances[]
In his own works, Lovecraft appeared as the thinly-veiled Randolph Carter (HPL: "The Statement of Randolph Carter", "The Unnamable", "The Silver Key", "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "Through the Gates of the Silver Key", "Out of the Aeons"), Ward Phillips (HPL: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key"), and Horse Power Hateart (HPL: "The Battle that Ended the Century").
Also, in the "Family Tree of Azathoth" Lovecraft names himself as a distant descendant of the Great Old Ones.
Other authors have referenced H. P. Lovecraft as a real person within the fictional universe of the Cthulhu Mythos. For example, in "The Children of the Night", by Robert E. Howard, he is mentioned as the author of "The Call of Cthulhu", even though Cthulhu himself is also mentioned as an actual deity in-universe.
In "The Hunters from Beyond", by Clark Ashton Smith, the sculptor Cyprian Sincaul claims that he wanted to achieve in sculpture what Poe, Lovecraft and Baudelaire achieved in literature.
In The Trail of Cthulhu series by August Derleth, H. P. Lovecraft is mentioned as one of the men who met an untimely death as a result of meddling in the affairs of the Cthulhu Cult, since he wrote about real events by disguising them as fiction. Lovecraft is also mentioned by name in several other Mythos stories by Derleth, including "The Thing That Walked on the Wind", "The Return of Hastur", "Beyond the Threshold", and "The Dweller in Darkness".
Robert Bloch's "The Shadow from the Steeple" mentions H. P. Lovecraft as a posthumous character who was a friend of Robert Blake and helped him in his research into occultism. Similar to Derleth's The Trail of Cthulhu, Bloch's novel Strange Eons revolves around the idea that Lovecraft wrote about real events while disguising them as fiction. While Lovecraft himself doesn't appear in the novel, the protagonists find clues in his stories that help them to understand the entities of the Mythos.
In "The Terror from the Depths", by Fritz Leiber, Lovecraft is mentioned as an acquaintance of Albert Wilmarth. The latter learns about Lovecraft's death midway through the story.
The character Howard in Frank Belknap Long's "The Space-Eaters" is an author of weird fiction named after Lovecraft, and a friend of the narrator, Frank (named after Long himself, who was a friend of Lovecraft in real life).
Other characters inspired by Lovecraft include Kenneth Scott (CIRCLE: "Hydra") and Lancaster (CIRCLE: "Music of the Stars").
Comic Books[]
- Lovely Lovecraft: Lovecraft is the protagonist in this fantasy series.
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Lovecraft is shown to have taken inspiration for his short story of the same name from the activities of vigilante hero The Shadow.
- The Strange Adventures of H. P. Lovecraft: a curse forces Lovecraft to battle the creations of his own mind.
- Wonderland: Lovecraft is involved in the narrative.
- Infestation 2: Lovecraft used the call of Elder Gods to influence his works. He was assassinated but his works spread enough where the Elder Gods broke free of their prison.
- Necronauts: H. P. Lovecraft is one of the four heroes, teaming up with Harry Houdini, Charles Fort, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained: set in New York in the year 1900, a ten-year-old Lovecraft appears, helping Charles Fort investigate a mystery involving an extraterrestrial creature.
- The Three Stooges vs. Cthulhu: the Three Stooges enlist the help of Lovecraft after being attacked by Cthulhu.
Literature[]
- Black Noon: an unfinished novella by C. M. Eddy, Jr. which features Lovecraft under the pseudonym Robert Otis Mather.
- Lovecraft's Book: Richard A. Lupoff novel which features Lovecraft as the protagonist.
- Our Lady of Darkness: Fritz Leiber novella in which Lovecraft is named as the ghost writer for deceased black magician Thibault de Castries.
- "The Shambler from the Stars": Lovecraft is incorporated in Robert Bloch's short story as the nameless mystic who is killed off horribly.
- Simon Necronomicon: Lovecraft's mind met with Master Magician Aleister Crowley's in Sumeria, both being prophets and forerunners of a new aeon of man's history.
- White Darkness: a Doctor Who novel by David A. McIntee, features a character named Dr. Howard Phillips, a physician working in Haiti in 1915, who is named and modeled after Lovecraft. Phillips helps the Doctor to investigate the strange occurrences linked with the return of the Great Old Ones.
- "To Mars and Providence": a crossover with H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds featuring an eight-year old Lovecraft as the protagonist.
- "The Fillmore Shoggoth": the story is set in an alternative timeline in which Lovecraft became a sort of ambassador to the Elder Things.
Film & Television[]
- Cast a Deadly Spell: a fantasy noir film set in the 1940s in an alternative world in which magic is commonplace. In this world, H. P. Lovecraft, played by Fred Ward, is a private detective hired to recover a stolen Necronomicon, and is one of the few people who refuse to use magic. He also appears in the film's sequel, Witch Hunt, now played by Dennis Hopper.
- Love, Death & Robots: the episode "The Tall Grass" of the animated anthology series features a protagonist whose character design is clearly inspired by Lovecraft.
- Necronomicon: Book of the Dead: Lovecraft is the wraparound character in the film, where he is depicted reading the tales in that anthology and his adventures serve as the linking sequences between each of the stories. He is played by Jeffrey Combs.
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: the episode "The Shrieking Madness" features a character named H. P. Hatecraft who is a clear parody of Lovecraft, also voiced by Jeffrey Combs.
- "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture": in this comedy sketch, all the students are named after Mythos authors. The one who asks about the Necronomicon, appropriately enough, is named Mr. Lovecraft
Video Games[]
- Fate/Grand Order: appears as a time traveler who fights against the Outer Gods, under the name Randolph Carter.
- Shadow Hearts: From the New World: features a visit to the fictional Arkham University, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Lovecraft appears as a professor at the university, conjuring up demons for the heroes to fight at their request.
Gallery[]
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