- 🔀 This is an article about the character. For the story in which it first appeared, see "Nyarlathotep".
“ | And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare. | „ | |
~ H. P. Lovecraft about Nyarlathotep |
Nyarlathotep, known by his epithet The Crawling Chaos, is a fictional Outer God in the Cthulhu Mythos. Created by H. P. Lovecraft he made his first appearance in the prose poem "Nyarlathotep" (1920). He is the spawn of Azathoth, and acts as the Outer Gods' "soul and messenger".
Nyarlathotep appears in numerous subsequent stories by Lovecraft, and is also featured in the works of other authors, as well as in role-playing games and other media based on the Cthulhu Mythos.
Description
“ | -a tall, lean man of dead black colouration but without the slightest sign of negroid features: wholly devoid of either hair or beard, and wearing as his only garment a shapeless robe of some heavy black fabric. His feet were indistinguishable because of the table and bench, but he must have been shod, since there was a clicking whenever he changed position. The man did not speak, and bore no trace of expression on his small, regular features. He merely pointed to a book of prodigious size which lay open on the table.... | „ | |
~ HPL , "The Dreams in the Witch-House" |
Nyarlathotep differs from the other deities in the Mythos in a number of ways. Most of the Outer Gods are exiled to the stars, like Yog-Sothoth and Azathoth, and most of the Great Old Ones are sleeping and dreaming like Cthulhu; Nyarlathotep, however, is active and frequently walks the Earth in the guise of a human being, usually a tall, slim, joyous man. He has "a thousand" other forms and manifestations, many reputed to be quite horrific and sanity-blasting.
Most of the Outer Gods have their own cults serving them; Nyarlathotep seems to serve several cults and takes care of their affairs in the other Outer Gods' absence. Most Outer Gods use strange alien languages, while Nyarlathotep uses human languages and can easily pass for a human being if he chooses to do so. Finally, most of them are all-powerful yet evidently without clear purpose or agenda, yet Nyarlathotep seems to be deliberately deceptive and manipulative, and even uses propaganda to achieve his goals. In this regard, he is probably the most human-like among the Outer Gods.
Nyarlathotep enacts the will of the Outer Gods, and is their "messenger, heart and soul", "the immemorial figure of the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers" (HPL: "The Dreams in the Witch-House"). He has power over the Dreamlands and authority over the Gods of Earth, as well as the Moon-beasts and Shantaks, but seems to be opposed by Nodens (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath). He is also the servant of Azathoth, whose fitful, spastic wishes he immediately fulfills. Conversely, he seems to have a low opinion of Azathoth, as he once "struck his Master's head" in contempt, even while claiming to be his Messenger (HPL: Fungi from Yuggoth). He might be accompanied by amorphous flute-players (HPL: "The Rats in the Walls", AWD: "The Dweller in Darkness"), and is himself identified as "the Azathothian flute-player" (CIRCLE: "From the Parchments of Pnom"). Unlike the other Outer Gods, spreading madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep. It is suggested by some that he will someday destroy the human race and possibly the Earth as well. (HPL: "Nyarlathotep", EXP: The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana)
History
“ | The Pharaoh Nephren-Ka built around it a temple with a windowless crypt, and did that which caused his name to be stricken from all monuments and records. Then it slept in the ruins of that evil fane which the priests and the new Pharaoh destroyed, till the delver’s spade once more brought it forth to curse mankind. | „ | |
~ HPL , "The Haunter of the Dark" |
Nyarlathotep is unique among the Old Ones in that from the first time he appeared on Earth in the era of the first Pharaohs, before the destruction of Atlantis and the first Ice Age, he continues existing among them, influencing and destroying them. He first appeared in the far antiquity as a man with dark skin and somewhat distorted face, who promised the gift of immortality to all those who followed him. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God") He wandered around the Earth exhibiting strange and dark magic rituals, until eventually increasing his influence over the Egyptian priesthood and leading to the formation of a powerful cult. (CIRCLE: "The Shadow from the Steeple") This cult ultimately usurped the rightful ruling family and crowned their leader, Nephren-Ka as the Pharaoh. Under Nephren-Ka's rule, Egypt was turned into a "vast slaughterhouse",(HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark") as the ruling cult engaged in despicable acts of necromancy and necrophilia under Nyarlathotep's guidance in order to gain godly power. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God")
Ultimately, the people of Egypt turned to the forces of good, and rebelled against Nephren-Ka, (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God") their armies storming his temple and surrounding his forces. In a final act of defiance, 100 of the cultists followed the Pharaoh to a secret underground tomb, where they were buried alive alongside him. While a small number of cultists stayed on the surface to seal the crypt, Nephren-Ka murdered everyone inside, calling forth Nyarlathotep himself to demand payback for his service. The Dark God indeed appeared before him in material form, and granted him the gift of foresight, leading the crazed Pharaoh to carve the future he saw through his visions in the Walls of Truth, accurately predicting Egypt's future, from the arrival of the Crusaders to Napoleon's invasion. Eventually, Nephren-Ka starved to death, his fingers still clutching the quill he used to write his prophecy, and died peacefully inside his sarcophagus. (CIRCLE: "Fane of the Black Pharaoh")
Despite the Egyptians' efforts to erase the cult from history, by removing Nephren-Ka's name from the Bible of the Dead and forbidding every mention of its existence under pain of death, Nyarlathotep's cult survived for eons. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God") A single priest was tasked with keeping to Nephren-Ka's crypt and pulling the curtains covering the Walls of Truth's prophecies to reveal the next day, while the rest guarded the secret entrance in Kairo, assassinating anyone who accidentally came across it. (CIRCLE: "Fane of the Black Pharaoh") Statues of the Faceless God were erected in secret locations deep into the desert, where the cult performed sacrificial rituals. Abdul Alhazred came across their stories during his trips to ancient Irem and recorded the legends of Nyarlathotep's return in the Necronomicon, (CIRCLE: "The Shadow from the Steeple") later added by Howard Philips Lovecraft to his poem, Fungi from Yuggoth.
Those same legends were encountered by the Crusaders, who took them with them home in Europe, expanding Nyarlathotep's influence. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God") The witch covens in New England began worshiping him as "the Black Man" and continued as recently as of 1962, when Keziah Mason made a pact with him to ascend to a higher plane of existence. (HPL: "The Dreams in the Witch-House") Ludvig Prinn, who visited the Middle East during the Ottomans' rule, also recounted the stories he learned from Nyarlathotep's cult in De Vermis Mysteriis. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God") Following the collapse of the Empire, though, knowledge of the Dark One's worship began to decline and the only thing that remained were his statues, deep in the Saharan wilderness, and Nephren-Ka's crypt under Kairo.
The Old One himself however continued traveling around the world, forming different cults in many parts of the world, all worshiping and expecting his return to power to bring forth the Dark Ones' age. He exerted complete control over the Egyptian desert, which he haunted and used as a tool to kill those who violated his altars. At some point, when Doctor Stugatche, attaché to a German archaeological expedition, discovered a story about one of those and trespassed in the territory with a group of frightened locals, Nyarlathotep drove them away from him and proceeded to follow the man as he walked across the desert trying to return to civilization. Clouding the sky to prevent him from navigating using the stars, and haunting him with maddening visions, the God kept following him from a distance for two continuous days, terrifying Stugatche, who could see him approach but never escape him. Ultimately, the Faceless God led the man back to the altar, where he trapped him in a sand cave-in and scorched by the sun. In the brink of death, Stugatche began chanting Nyarlathotep's name, submitting to his power. At which point the God summoned a pack of vultures which devoured him while the archaeologist sang to the end. (CIRCLE: "The Faceless God")
At some point in time, the Mi-Go came in contact with Nyarlathotep, which led the aliens to refer to the God in a ritualistic manner. (HPL: The Whisperer in Darkness) To worship him, the Mi-Go of Yuggoth constructed the Shining Trapezohedron, a mystical artifact containing one of Nyarlathotep's many avatars -the Haunter of the Dark-. They later carried it to Earth, where it was possessed for a time by the Elder Things of Antarctica, and later by the Serpent People of Elder Valusia; the former placed the Trapezohedron on a ritualistic box to safely contain it. Eventually, humanity came upon the artifact, with the Atlantians first owning the box and then Nephren-Ka coming into possession of the item, probably gifted to him by the God himself. The latter built a windowless temple inside of which to keep it, as the Haunter avatar was severely weakened when exposed to any light. (HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark")
In 1844, years after the collapse of Nephren-Ka's worship, the temple was discovered in Egypt by Professor Enoch Bowen and carried back to Providence, Rhode Island. There, Bowen formed the Church of Starry Wisdom, whose members gazed upon the Trapezohedron, which caused them to watch visions of strange places and even glimpses of Azathoth's resting place in the center of the universe. The entity, however, demanded monstrous sacrifices, including that of Edwin Lillibridge, a reporter of the Providence Telegram who was investigating the cult and its origins. Following this disappearance, the latest in a string of mysterious murders connected to the cult, the people of Providence uproared against them and in 1877 the cult was publicly disbanded. 181 out of its 200 followers left Providence, with speculations that they were killed by the local community as revenge. Their church on Federal Hill was abandoned, with locals avoiding it at all costs.
In 1935, local student Robert Blake began being attracted by the tall tower of the church, which he could see from his window on the opposite hill. Ultimately, in July of the same year, he somewhat subconsciously trekked to the church, which he entered to investigate, discovering a grimoire, the De Vermis Mysteriis and the Liber Ivonis, which the church used in their worship. After climbing the abandoned tower, he discovered an opened box containing the Trapezohedron. Exposed to the light, the Haunter was left powerless; Blake, however, closed the box, freeing the spirit inside and connecting it to his psyche. For the next two weeks, Blake was tortured by the feeling of the God's calling to him; several times we awoke to find himself sleepwalking to Federal Hill, where the avatar was calling him to go in order to possess him. However, Blake managed to avoid this by tying himself to his bed with knots complex enough to awake him if he attempted to untie them. Eventually, in August 9th, a severe thunderstorm stroke the city, and Blake was struck by lightning summoned by the God, killing him instantly. (HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark")
Doctor Ambrose Dexter, Blake's physician, who had learned of his patient's first visit to the church in July and had put the pieces together, entered the church and retrieved the Trapezohedron, taking great care to keep the box open to weaken the spirit inside. He then rented a boat, and threw the artifact in the deepest part of Narragansett Bay. (HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark") However, his mistake was assuming that sunlight would reach the artifact at this depth; this miscalculation, caused in part by the God's influence, allowed the entity access to perpetual darkness, infinitely increasing its powers. Very soon, Nyarlathotep possessed Ambrose's body, having finally found a suitable earthly host.
Nyarlathotep, now in material form, approached the Manhattan Project and offered Einstein and Oppenheimer the secrets of the atomic bomb. As Ambrose Dexter he subtly influenced his fellow scientists, until eventually the first bomb was created and dropped in Hiroshima. Having successfully placed mankind on the course for self-destruction, fulfilling the ancient prophecy, he returned to Dexter's home in Providence, where he was confronted by Edmund Fiske, Blake's close friend who had suspected his true nature. In danger of being eradicated if attacked while inside of a human host, Nyarlathotep was forced to use his powers against Fiske, killing him instantly. (CIRCLE: "The Shadow from the Steeple")
Worshipers
Due to Nyarlathotep's activity throughout Earth's history, he is worshiped by countless cultures in many forms. Some include:
- Humankind: First came in contact with him in prehistoric Egypt. Was ultimately given the "gift" of atomic knowledge, steering themselves to a path to self-destruction.
- Nephren-Ka's cult, which ruled Egypt for a time before being overthrown. It was during this time that Nyarlathotep was at his most powerful, receiving daily sacrifices and massive rituals. Survived for centuries, guarding the Pharaoh's crypt and Nyarlathotep's desert altars.
- Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh, subsequent followers of Nephren-Ka's beliefs but not affiliated with his cult. Possess many artifacts of power and worship Nyarlathotep's name.
- Children of the Sphinx, another offspring of Nephren-Ka's cult led by subsequent Pharaoh Khephren that conduct human sacrifices to The Beast, one of Nyarlathotep's avatars below the pyramids of Giza.
- Cult of the Bloody Tongue, Kenyan worshipers of the God of the Bloody Tongue avatar that also perform human sacrifices in the Mountain of the Dark Wind.
- Witches of New England, worship Nyarlathotep's avatar, the Black Man, brought to Europe by the Crusaders from Egypt
- Church of Starry Wisdom, founded by professor Enoch Bowen in 1844 and worshiped Nyarlathotep's avatar, the Hunter of the Dark, contained within the Shining Trapezohedron.
- Mi-Go: Encountered Nyarlathotep at some point in ancient history and came to revere and worship him.
- Mi-Go of Yuggoth, constructed the Shining Trapezohedron to contain his avatar
- Mi-Go of Earth, brought the Trapezohedron to Earth for protection
- Elder Things: Acquired the Trapezohedron from the Mi-Go and constructed an alien box for it.
- Serpent People: Salvaged the Trapezohedron from the ruins of one of the Elder Things' cities and worshipped the Haunter in Elder Valusia
The Legend of Nyarlathotep
The Legend, worshiped and believed by Nyarlathotep's followers around the world, is summarized by H. P Lovecraft (his fictional counterpart) in his (real) poem Fungi from Yuggoth. Therein, he transcribed it as such:
“ | And at the last from inner Egypt came The strange dark One to whom the fellahs bowed. That wild beasts followed him and licked his hands. Soon from the sea a noxious birth began Forgotten lands with weedy spires of gold The ground was cleft, and mad auroras rolled Down on the quaking citadels of man. Then, crushing what he chanced to mould in play, The idiot Chaos blew Earth's dust away |
„ | |
~ HPL: Fungi from Yuggoth as quoted by Edmund Fiske in "The Shadow from the Steeple" |
According to Fiske, the story means that Nyarlathotep will eventually take form and influence humans to destroy themselves, which was somewhat realized by his possession of Dr. Ambrose Dexter and his steering humanity into the beginning of the nuclear age. Translated by Fiske, the legend reads:
- The strange dark One to whom the fellahs bowed - Nyarlathotep, worshiped by the fellahs of ancient Egypt
- That wild beasts followed him and licked his hands. - When Nyarlathotep returned to Providence in Ambrose Dexter's body, two panthers escaped the local zoo to keep him company
- [...]from the sea a noxious birth began - The Shining Trapezohedron released Nyarlathotep when it was thrown to the depths of Narrangasett bay by Dr. Dexter
- The ground was cleft, and mad auroras rolled down on the quaking citadels of man. - Reference to the nuclear blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, caused in part by Nyarlathotep's influence to the Manhattan Project
- The idiot Chaos blew Earth's dust away - The only part of the prophecy not yet realized, the nuclear Armageddon that will destroy Earth in the far future.
In the Mythos
Nyarlathotep's first appearance is in the eponymous short story by Lovecraft (1920), in which he is described as a "tall, swarthy man" who resembles an Egyptian Pharaoh. In this story he wanders the earth, gathering legions of followers through his demonstrations of strange and seemingly magical instruments, the narrator of the story among them. These followers lose awareness of the world around them, and through the narrator's increasingly unreliable accounts the reader gets a sense of the world's utter collapse. The story ends with the narrator as part of an army of servants for Nyarlathotep. (HPL: "Nyarlathotep")
Nyarlathotep, again manifested in the form of an Egyptian Pharaoh when he confronted Randolph Carter as an avatar of the Other Gods, executing their will on Earth and in the Dreamlands (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath).
The witch Keziah Mason (who has made a pact with the entity) introduces Walter Gilman to Nyarlathotep in the form of "the 'Black Man' of the witch-cult," a black-skinned avatar with the appearance of the Christian Devil (his footprints suggest cloven hooves instead of feet) associated with New England witchcraft lore (HPL: "The Dreams in the Witch-House").
The being of pure darkness dwelling, possessing a "three-lobed eye", in the steeple of the Starry Wisdom sect's church is identified as another manifestation of Nyarlathotep (HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark").
Nyarlathotep's name is spoken frequently by the fungi from Yuggoth in a reverential or ritual sense, indicating that they worship or honor the entity (HPL: The Whisperer in Darkness).
The dwelling place of Nyarlathotep is the "world of Seven Suns" (HPL: The Whisperer in Darkness, AWD: "The Dweller in Darkness"). In Lin Carter's Xothic Legend Cycle, this world is named Abbith (EXP: "The Horror in the Gallery"). A place named Cytharion of the Seven Suns is also mentioned in Lovecraft's "The Crawling Chaos", but in spite of its name, that story doesn't mention Nyarlathotep.
Nyarlathotep told Randolph Carter to "pray to all space that you may never meet me in my thousand other forms" (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath), implying that he has 1000 avatars, possibly more. In addition to these, Nyarlathotep has also demonstrated the ability to shapeshift and assume the form of a specific person (AWD: "The Dweller in Darkness"), as well as to possess human bodies (CIRCLE: "The Shadow from the Steeple"). His love of deception is alluded to by the Mi-Go in their rituals, as they claim that Nyarlathotep "shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides, and come down from the world of Seven Suns to mock" (HPL: The Whisperer in Darkness).
In the "family tree of Azathoth" drawn by Lovecraft, we learn that Nyarlathotep founded a lineage in the Roman Republic. He is the ancestor of Viburnia, and thus the maternal ancestor of Llunwy of Wales, Owen Gwynedd, and a certain H.P.L. (HPL: Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft).
In the stories of August Derleth, Nyarlathotep is classified as an earth elemental. (AWD: "The Watcher from the Sky", "The Dweller in Darkness", "The House in the Valley")
In The Burrowers Beneath, by Brian Lumley, it is claimed that when the Elder Gods imprisoned the Great Old Ones, Nyarlathotep alone was allowed to remain mobile and continue to fulfill his role as messenger. It is also speculated that Nyarlathotep might not even be an independent entity, but merely a manifestation of the Great Old Ones' collective telepathy.
In Cthulhu Armageddon, Nyarlathotep is said to be a manifestation of all races' conceptions of gods and adopts these masks as a form of guiding them to a twisted form of enlightenment (believed to be becoming a Great Old One). He is also prone to sadistic whimsy that can be benevolent or torturous depending on his mood at the moment.
Nyarlathotep is a central antagonist in the Fungi from Yuggoth and Masks of Nyarlathotep modules where his goal is to trigger the apocalypse through a variety of strange cults. He fulfills a similar role in the Arkham Horror board game.
Inspiration
In a 1921 letter to Rheinhart Kleiner, Lovecraft related the dream he had had — described as "the most realistic and horrible [nightmare] I have experienced since the age of ten" — that served as the basis for his prose poem "Nyarlathotep". In the dream, he received a letter from his friend Samuel Loveman that read:
“ | Don't fail to see Nyarlathotep if he comes to Providence. He is horrible — horrible beyond anything you can imagine — but wonderful. He haunts one for hours afterward. I am still shuddering at what he showed. | „ |
Lovecraft commented:
“ | I had never heard the name NYARLATHOTEP before, but seemed to understand the allusion. Nyarlathotep was a kind of itinerant showman or lecturer who held forth in public halls and aroused widespread fear and discussion with his exhibitions. These exhibitions consisted of two parts – first, a horrible – possibly prophetic – cinema reel; and later some extraordinary experiments with scientific and electrical apparatus. As I received the letter, I seemed to recall that Nyarlathotep was already in Providence.... I seemed to remember that persons had whispered to me in awe of his horrors, and warned me not to go near him. But Loveman's dream letter decided me.... As I left the house I saw throngs of men plodding through the night, all whispering affrightedly and bound in one direction. I fell in with them, afraid yet eager to see and hear the great, the obscure, the unutterable Nyarlathotep. | „ | |
~ HPL , Selected Letters 1.094 |
Will Murray suggests that this dream image of Nyarlathotep may have been inspired by the inventor Nikola Tesla, whose well-attended lectures did involve extraordinary experiments with electrical apparatus, and whom some saw as a sinister figure.[1]
Robert M. Price proposes that the name Nyarlathotep may have been subconsciously suggested to Lovecraft by two names from Lord Dunsany, an author he much admired: Alhireth-Hotep, a false prophet from Dunsany's The Gods of Pegana, and Mynarthitep, a god described as "angry" in his "The Sorrow of Search".[2]
Quotations
“ | "And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences – of electricity and psychology –and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare. | „ | |
~ HPL , "Nyarlathotep" |
“ | And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate gods — the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep. | „ | |
~ HPL , "Nyarlathotep" |
“ | It was the eldritch scurrying of those fiend-born rats, always questing for new horrors, and determined to lead me on even unto those grinning caverns of earth's centre where Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly to the piping of two amorphous idiot flute-players. | „ | |
~ HPL , "The Rats in the Walls" |
“ | What his fate would be, he did not know; but he felt that he was held for the coming of that frightful soul and messenger of infinity's Other Gods, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep. | „ | |
~ HPL , The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
“ | There was the immemorial figure of the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers – the "Black Man" of the witch cult, and the "Nyarlathotep" of the Necronomicon. | „ | |
~ HPL , "The Dreams in the Witch-House" |
“ | -. . . go out among men and find the ways thereof, that He in the Gulf may know. To Nyarlathotep, Mighty Messenger, must all things be told. And He shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides, and come down from the world of Seven Suns to mock. . . . . . . (Nyarl)athotep, Great Messenger, bringer of strange joy to Yuggoth through the void, Father of the Million Favoured Ones, Stalker among. . . . |
„ | |
~ HPL , The Whisperer in Darkness |
The Nyarlathotep Cycle
In 1996, Chaosium published The Nyarlathotep Cycle, a Cthulhu Mythos anthology focusing on works referring to or inspired by the entity Nyarlathotep. Edited by Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price, the book includes an introduction by Price tracing the roots and development of the God of a Thousand Forms.
In Other Media
Doctor Who
The Doctor identifies Nyarlathotep as one of the Great Old Ones. He claims that in all his travels he never encountered Nyarlathotep, and hopes he never will. (EXP: All-Consuming Fire)
Lovely Lovecraft
In Sara Bardi's webcomic Lovely Lovecraft, Nyarlathotep carries many masks, but usually appears as a tall human with handsome features, and hair styled like a pair of lightning bolts. Some time before the comic started, he and the other Outer Gods were trapped on earth in the forms of mortals. While Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath are content to wait for the stars to align, Nyarlathotep is more impatient, and tortures Albert Wilmarth for information on the Miscatonic University's copy of the Necronomicon. He gains access to the school under the guise of Mister Noyes, an English literature teacher in Wilmarth's absence. Before he can steal the Necronomicon, however, he discovers that it's been tore apart, and only the second half is in the University's possession. He considers going into the grave where the first half was lost, when foul magic stream from the book, giving him back a fraction of his power. Using it, he releases a captive shoggoth and sends it after the first half, held by 12-year old Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Before Nyarlathotep can use the complete Necronomicon, he is temporarily incapacitated by the Night Gaunt Phil'Gwanach, who pushes an amulet bearing the Elder Sign into his chest.
He makes a reference to having made a deal with the Mi-Go at one point, possibly for information on Prof. Wilmarth.
Years later, he lured the adult Howard to one of his gatherings of aspiring cultists. When Lovecraft fearfully asked him if the stars were right, he responds that they are, but not for him and his people; For Lovecraft. As a horde of creatures dressed like the King in Yellow appear around Lovecraft, Nyarlathotep gleefully exclaims "You're going to die, Howard."
In Popular Culture
- Main article: Nyarlathotep in Popular Culture
Gallery
- Main article: Nyarlathotep/Gallery
Behind the Mythos
- Though Nyarlathotep appears as a character in only four stories and one sonnet by Lovecraft (still more than any other Great Old One or Outer God), his name is mentioned frequently in numerous others.
- Despite similarities in theme and name, Nyarlathotep does not feature at all in Lovecraft's story "The Crawling Chaos," (1920/21) an apocalyptic narrative written in collaboration with Winifred V. Jackson.
- George Olshevsky named the nonconvex snub polyhedra after some other Great Old Ones, with the Inverted snub dodecadodecahedron as "Nyarlathotep".
External Links
- Nyarlathotep at the Doctor Who wiki
- Nyarlathotep at the Megami Tensei wiki
- Nyarlathotep at the Marvel Database wiki
- Nyarlathotep's incarnation at the Fate/Grand Order Wiki
References
- Harms, Daniel. "Nyarlathotep" in The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), pp. 218–222. Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
Role-playing game material
- Aniolowski, Scott D. (1990). "The Sundial of Amen-Tet". Lurking Fears. Lockport, NY: Triad Entertainments.
- Aniolowski, Scott D. (1994). Ye Booke of Monstres. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-56882-019-4].
- Conyers, David (2007). Secrets of Kenya. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-568821-88-3].
- Detwiller, Dennis; Adam Scott Glancy and John Tynes (1997). Delta Green: A Call of Cthulhu Sourcebook of Modern Horror and Conspiracy. Tynes Cowan Corp. [ISBN 1-887797-08-4].
- Diaper, John; et al (1983). The Arkham Evil. Theatre of the Mind.
- DiTillio, Larry; Lynn Willis (1987). "City beneath the Sands". Terror Australis. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 0-933635-40-0].
- DiTillio, Larry; Lynn Willis (1996). Masks of Nyarlathotep. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-56882-069-0].
- Gillian, Geoff (1991). "Regiment of Dread". Tales of the Miskatonic Valley. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 0-933635-83-4].
- Gillian, Geoff; et al (1991). Horror on the Orient Express.
- Hallet, David; L. N. Isinwyll (1991). "Eyes for the Blind". Dark Designs.
- Hamblin, William (1983). "Thoth's Dagger". Different Worlds #27.
- Herber, Keith (1990). "Dead of Night". Arkham Unveiled.
- Herber, Keith (1984). The Fungi from Yuggoth.
- Herber, Keith (1991). Return to Dunwich.
- Johnson, Sam (1997). A Resection of Time. Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-56882-095-X].
- Lyons, Doug; L. N. Isinwyll (1989). "One in Darkness". The Great Old Ones. Oakland, CA: Chaosium.
- Petersen, Sandy (1982). "The Rise of R'lyeh". Shadows of Yog-Sothoth.
- Petersen, Sandy; John B. Monroe (1990). "The Ten Commandments of Cthulhu Hunting". The Cthulhu Casebook.
- Ross, Kevin (1997). Escape from Innsmouth (2nd ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-56882-115-8].
- Williams, Chris; Sandy Petersen (1997). The Complete Dreamlands (4th ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. [ISBN 1-56882-086-0].
- D, Kay (2007). Nyarlathotep.