Vorvadoss

Vorvadoss
Origin	The Flaming One Lord of the Universal Spaces The Troubler of the Sands Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark
Current location	perhaps Betelgeuse or Bel Yarnak
Relatives	EXP: Nodens (possible father) Lythalia (possible mother) Yaggdytha (twin)
Affiliations	EXP: Great Old Ones Elder Gods
First appearance	CIRCLE: "The Eater of Souls"
Appearances	CIRCLE: "The Invaders"
Created by	Henry Kuttner

Vorvadoss (also known as The Flaming One) is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos. The character was originally created by Henry Kuttner for his short story "The Eater of Souls".

Description

Cloaked in a silvery mist of darkness, only inklings of the face of the entity have ever been visible, described as utterly inhuman and only half-visible features arranged in non-human patterns following alien geometries. Its eyes are clear and black, with tiny green flickering flames seen within them. If inclined to help, despite its passionless alien expression, it can induce reassurance in one who beholds it. (CIRCLE: "The Invaders," Henry Kuttner)

Worshippers

The only known worshippers dwell on Bel Yarnak, the inhabitants of which are only known to be non-anthropoid and utterly unlike mankind in countenance. Vorvadoss has forbidden its own worship to any but the Sindara, the rulers of Bel Yarnak, whom can call upon the deity for advice. Vorvadoss seems to respond in - perhaps manipulative - riddles, as suits its purposes. (CIRCLE: "The Eater of Souls," Henry Kuttner)

Behind the Mythos

In Kuttner's works, Vorvadoss is an enigmatic and potentially dangerous god with no clear classification. Lin Carter would then place the entity amongst Yig, Shub-Niggurath, Nug and Yeb, a group of gods "known" as gods friendly to man (HPL: "Out of the Aeons", EXP: "Out of the Ages"), and the lesser gods of Mu, a group that includes Yig, Nug, Yeb, Iod, Dagon and Mother Hydra (EXP: "The Thing in the Pit"). The intent seems to have been to group it into the Great Old Ones.

However, Scott David Aniolowski would give it a clear classification as an Elder God in his work for Chaosium (EXP: Ye Booke of Monstres).

Playing off of this circumstance, James Ambuehl would classify Vorvadoss as "the only entity neither wholly Great Old One nor wholly Elder God", as well as making it the twin brother of Yaggdytha and the son of Nodens (named "The Lord of the Abyss" in another callback to "The Eater of Souls") (EXP: "The Star-Seed").

Gallery

Vorvadoss (Tower of Saviors)