Talk:Clairvoyance and Nyarlathotep: Difference between pages
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'''Nyarlathotep''' (the '''Crawling Chaos''') is a [[fictional character]] in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]. He is the creation of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] and first appeared in his [[prose poetry|prose poem]] "[[Nyarlathotep (short story)|Nyarlathotep]]" (1920). The being is one of the cosmic [[Outer God]]s and appears in numerous stories by Lovecraft. Nyarlathotep is also featured in the works of other authors, as well as in [[role-playing game]]s based on the Cthulhu Mythos.
==
In a 1921 letter to Reinhardt 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 publick 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.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, letter to Reinhardt Kleiner, December 21, 1921; cited in Lin Carter, ''Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos'', pp. 18-19.</ref>
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.<ref>Will Murray, "Behind the Mask of Nyarlathotep", ''Lovecraft Studies'' No. 25 (Fall 1991); cited in Robert M. Price, ''The Nyarlathotep Cycle'', p. 9.</ref>
[[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".<ref>Price, p. vii, 1-5.</ref>
==Summary==
Nyarlathotep differs from the other beings in a number of ways. Most of them are exiled to stars, like [[Yog-Sothoth]] and [[Hastur]], or 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. Most of them have their own cults serving them, while Nyarlathotep seems to serve them and take care of their affairs in their absence. Most of them use strange alien languages, while Nyarlathotep uses human languages and can be mistaken for a human being. Finally, most of them are all powerful yet purposeless, 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 them.
Nyarlathotep enacts the will of the Outer Gods, and is their messenger, heart and soul; he is also a servant of [[Azathoth]], whose wishes he immediately fulfills. Unlike the other Outer Gods, causing madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep.<ref>Harms, "Nyarlathotep", ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'', pp. 218–9.</ref> In this sense, he strongly resembles the traditional role of the [[devil]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
In the recent [[D20 System|d20 revision]] of the ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' [[role-playing game]], Nyarlathotep's involvement in human affairs is expanded. According to the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', Nyarlathotep will play some part in the [[End times|End Times]]. It is stated that he will allow [[Great Old One compendium#Nyogtha|Nyogtha]] to wipe the Earth clean in preparation for the return of the [[Great Old One]]s, although it does not specify how Nyarlathotep will accomplish this. It also fails to mention when this will occur, but presumably it would be after the fall of [[Zothique]] some 5,000 years in the future.
==Table of forms==
Nyarlathotep has many forms (some literature refers to these forms as Masks and claims that he has a thousand of them) and is thus known by different avatars.
===Overview===
This table is organized as follows:
* ''Name''. This is the name of Nyarlathotep's form.
* ''Region''. This is the geographical ___location where Nyarlathotep's form is active.
* ''Description''. This entry describes Nyarlathotep's form.
* ''Notes''. This field contains additional information.
* ''References''. This field lists the sources that contain references to Nyarlathotep's form. If the source is a story, it is denoted by a two-letter code—the key to the codes is found [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography|here]]. Otherwise, the source is denoted as follows:
**''rpg'' means a [[role-playing game]] and includes a footnote to the source.
**''MofN'' means the ''Masks of Nyarlathotep'' web site.
:If an entry appears in '''bold''', this means that the reference introduces Nyarlathotep's form.
===Table-a (A–D)===
{|class="wikitable"
|+ '''Nyarlathotep's forms'''
|-
!Name
!Region
!Description
!Notes
![[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography|References]]
|-
| Ahtu || [[Congo]]
| Appears as a gelatinous mass extruding golden tentacles.
| Ahtu's cult in Africa is comprised of human worshipers of no hope, driven to insanity by being ill-treated and forced into encroachments by rulers and exploiters. Self-mutilation is a sign of the cult: all have amputations and terrible scars from near-fatal whippings and beatings. However, New World worship more resembles voodoo rituals. He can be called by a magical, golden bracelet, which is kept separated into two halves to prevent accidental summonings.
| rpg<ref>Detwiller ''et al'', ''Delta Green''; Herber, "Dead of Night".</ref>, '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#UD|UD]]'''
|-
| Black Man || [[England]]
| Appears as a hooved, hairless, [[wikt:swarthy|swarthy]] man.
| Nyarlathotep is worshipped by [[witch]] [[wikt:coven|coven]]s in this form.
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#DW|DW]]''', [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#FG|FG]]
|-
| Black Pharaoh || [[Egypt]]
| Appears as a haughty [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] pharaoh wearing a brightly colored robe.
| The [[Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh]] worships Nyarlathotep in this form.
| '''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath|DQ]]''', rpg<ref>DiTillio & Willis, ''Masks of Nyarlathotep''.</ref>
|-
| Black Wind || [[Kenya]]
| Manifests as a devastating storm.
| <center>—
| [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#IK|IK]], '''rpg<ref>Ibid.</ref>'''
|-
| Bloated Woman || [[China]]<br> ([[Shanghai]])
| Initially appears as a dainty maiden behind a fan, though the fan casts an illusion masking the true form of a large bloated tentacled humanoid who eats brains.
| The [[Order of the Bloated Woman]] worships Nyarlathotep in this form.
| rpg<ref>DiTillio & Willis, ''Masks of Nyarlathotep''.</ref>
|-
| Crawling Mist || [[Dreamlands]]
| Appears as a putrid, living fog.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#EL|EL]]'''
|-
| Dark Demon || <center>—
| Appears as a larger version of the Black Demon yet more treacherous.
| Those who study the black arts are sometimes contacted by this avatar. In return for entering their bodies, the Dark Demon promises them great rewards. Unfortunately, Nyarlathotep never makes good on this promise.
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#KD|KD]]'''
|-
| Dark One || [[California]],<br>[[Louisiana]]
| Appears as a pitch-black, eight-foot-tall, faceless man who can walk through any physical barrier.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#MK|MK]]
'''
|-
|Dweller in Darkness || Wood of N'gai
| This avatar wails as it forms and reabsorbs random appendages. It has no face, but can take any shape it pleases for short time periods.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#DD|DD]]''''
|-
| Howler in the Dark || Wood of N'gai (somewhere in northern [[United States|America]])
| Appears as a hideous, howling giant with a tentacle in place of a face. Occasionally referred to as the God of the Bloody Tongue, or the Bloody Tongue for short.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#DD|DD]]'''
|}
===Table-b (E–M)===
{|class="wikitable"
|+ '''Nyarlathotep's forms'''
|-
!Name
!Region
!Description
!Notes
![[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography|References]]
|-
| The Faceless God || [[Ancient Egypt]]
| Appears as a winged, faceless sphinx.
| This avatar has the ability to send its worshippers back through time.
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#FG|FG]]
'''
|-
| The Floating Horror<ref>Harms, ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'', "The Floating Horror", pp. 222. This name was created by Harms.</ref> || [[Haiti]]
| Appears as a bluish, red-veined jellyfish-like creature.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#AP|AP]]'''
|-
| The Haunter of the Dark || [[Australia]];<br>[[Providence, Rhode Island]];<br>[[Yuggoth]]
| A bloated, batlike creature with a single, burning, three-lobed eye which appears able to kill by fear alone. This avatar is destroyed by light.
| Its most important cult is the [[Church of Starry Wisdom]], based in Providence, which can summon the avatar using the [[Shining Trapezohedron]]. It is also worshipped by some modern [[Indigenous Australians|Aborigines]]. Its other epithets include Face Eater, Father of All Bats, Dark Wing, Sand Bat, and Fly-The-Light.
| [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#CD|CD]], '''[[The Haunter of the Dark|HD]]''', rpg<ref>DiTillio ''et al'', "City beneath the Sands"; Petersen ''et al'', ''The Complete Dreamlands''.</ref>, S5
|-
| L'rog'g<br>(also Lrogg),<br>Bat God of L'gy'hx || The [[planet]] [[L'gy'hx]] ([[Uranus (planet)|Uranus]])
| Appears as a two-headed bat (debatable).
| Avatar worshipped by the cuboid inhabitants of L'gy'hx and by a group of renegade [[Insect from Shaggai|Shan]].
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#IS|IS]]''', rpg<ref>Aniolowski, ''Ye Booke of Monstres''.</ref>
|-
| Messenger of the Old Ones ||<center>—
| Appears as an enormous black mass that seems to creep across the sky.
| This form is manifest only during occasions of cosmic importance, such as the awakening of [[Cthulhu]].
| rpg<ref>Ibid; Petersen, "The Rise of R'lyeh".</ref>, '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#WA|WA]]'''
|-
| Mr. Skin || [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]]
| Eight-foot-tall, pale silver, faceless imitation of a [[pimp]].
| This avatar, appearing in the [[Los Angeles]] area, is closely associated with certain worshippers of [[Shub-Niggurath]].
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#MK|MK]]'''
|}
===Table-c (N–W)===
{|class="wikitable"
|+ '''Nyarlathotep's forms'''
|-
!Name
!Region
!Description
!Notes
![[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography|References]]
|-
| Shugoran || [[Malaysia]]
| Appears as a black human-like creature playing a horn.
| This form is worshipped by the [[Tcho-tcho]]. They sometimes summon this avatar to punish offenders.
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#BH|BH]]''', rpg<ref>Ross, ''Escape from Innsmouth''.</ref>
|-
| The Thing in the Yellow Mask || Dreamlands
| A creature clothed in yellow [[silk]].
| This avatar is only known to manifest in the city of [['Ygiroth]] in the Dreamlands. Some claim that it is the lone occupant of the remote, unnamed [[monastery]] on the [[Plateau of Leng]] (see [[High Priest Not to Be Described]]).
| '''[[Celephaïs|CE]]''', [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#FY|FY]], [[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#YG|YG]]
|-
| The White Man || [[New England]]
| Appears as a blonde man in a shiny white robe.
| <center>—
| '''[[Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography#NS|NS]]'''
|}
==Quotations==
<blockquote>
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.
<br>—H.P. Lovecraft, "Nyarlathotep"
</blockquote>
<blockquote>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.
<br>—H.P. Lovecraft, ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]''
</blockquote>
<blockquote>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.
<br>—H.P. Lovecraft, ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''
</blockquote>
<blockquote>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''.
<br>—H.P. Lovecraft, ''[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]''
</blockquote>
<blockquote>There are references to a Haunter of the Dark awaked by gazing into the [[Shining Trapezohedron]], and insane conjectures about the black gulfs from which it was called. The being is spoken of as holding all knowledge, and demanding monstrous sacrifices.
<br>—H.P. Lovecraft, ''[[The Haunter of the Dark]]''
</blockquote>
==Popular culture==
===Literature===
Nyarlathotep sometimes appears or is referred to in literature outside the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror:
*In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]'' and his ''[[The Dark Tower (series)|Dark Tower]]'' series of books, the character [[Randall Flagg]] was known (among many other names) as Nyarlathotep. His short story "[[Crouch End (short story)|Crouch End]]" features the name spelled "Nyarlahotep".
*The children's horror writer [[Brad Strickland]] used Nyarlathotep as the main antagonist in his book ''The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost''.
* Nyarlathotep is a student in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s short story "The Genetics Lecture."
===Comics===
*Magic spells in the comic book ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' feature [[invocation]]s to "Nyarla Thotep".
*In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', [[Loki]] summons Nyarlathotep, "tearer of souls, ripper of flesh".
*Nyarlathotep (also called Priest of the Ether, Chaos Made Flesh, etc.) is a character in the webcomic [http://www.friendlyhostility.com Friendly Hostility].
*[[Ethan Kostabi]] in the ''[[Caballistics, Inc.]]'' series has been hinted to be Nyarlathotep.
*In [[The Unspeakable Vault (of Doom)]], Nyarlathotep regularly appears as what looks like a living tentacle with arms and legs.
* Is briefly featured, along with other Great Old Ones, in the dream world the lead characters visit in [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[A Night in the Lonesome October]]''.
===Music===
* [[Metallica]]'s 1986 song "[[The Thing That Should Not Be]]", although the title clearly refers to [[Henry_Kuttner_deities#Nyogtha|Nyogtha]], contains the lyric "'''crawling chaos''', underground / cult has summoned, twisted sound".
*German [[heavy metal]] band [[Rage_(band)|Rage]] has a song titled "The Crawling Chaos", a song seemingly about the destruction of the earth by Nyarlathotep, on their 1995 album ''Black in Mind''.
*Italian heavy metal band [[Bejelit]] has a song titled "Haunter in the Dark", based on the story of the same name, from their ''Bones and Evil'' EP.
===Games===
*Nyarlathotep appears in the ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona]]'' series of [[PlayStation]] games as a god symbolic of the destructive potential of [[Carl Jung]]'s [[collective unconsciousness]]; and as "Nylonathatep, the laddering horror" in the ''[[Discworld]]'' game ''[[Discworld Noir]]''; and as the ''Thing Outside Time and Space'' in the trading card game ''[[Hecatomb (card game)|Hecatomb]]''.
*Nyarlathotep is the main antagonist of the [[Demonbane]] series which spans games, comics, novels, and a TV series, in which it is trying to free its father [[Azathoth]] from the [[Shining Trapezohedron]]. It has taken on four named forms so far: Nya, an owner of a mysterious bookstore filled with dangerous grimoires, Nyarla, a maid to Augusta Derleth, Father Ny, the leader of the [[Church of Starry Wisdom]], and the Tick-Tock Man, technology incarnate. It has also taken on the forms of an unnamed black man "from Egypt", and a talking black rat, among others. Its "true" form is depicted as a great shadow filled with fangs and claws and tentacles with three flaming eyes.
==References==
* {{cite web | title=Nyarlathotep | url=http://mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid= | accessdate=February 21 | accessyear=2007 }}
* {{cite web | title=Masks of Nyarlathotep | url=http://www.psci.net/nyarla/Masks%20of%20Nyarlathotep.htm | accessdate=January 25 | accessyear=2006 }}
*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===
*{{cite book|last=Aniolowski|first=Scott D.|chapter=The Sundial of Amen-Tet|title=Lurking Fears|year=1990|___location=Lockport, NY|publisher=Triad Entertainments}}
*{{cite book|last=Aniolowski|first=Scott D.|title=Ye Booke of Monstres|year=1994|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-019-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Detwiller|first=Dennis|coauthors=Adam Scott Glancy and [[John Tynes]]|title=Delta Green: A Call of Cthulhu Sourcebook of Modern Horror and Conspiracy|year=1997|publisher=Tynes Cowan Corp|id=ISBN 1-887797-08-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Diaper|first=John|coauthors=''et al''|title=The Arkham Evil|year=1983|publisher=Theatre of the Mind|id=}}
*{{cite book|last=DiTillio|first=Larry|authorlink=Larry DiTillio|coauthors=[[Lynn Willis]]|chapter=City beneath the Sands|title=Terror Australis|year=1987|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 0-933635-40-0}}
*{{cite book|last=DiTillio|first=Larry|coauthors=Lynn Willis|title=Masks of Nyarlathotep|year=1996|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-069-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Gillian|first=Geoff|coauthors=|title=Tales of the Miskatonic Valley|chapter=Regiment of Dread|year=1991|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 0-933635-83-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Gillian|first=Geoff|coauthors=''et al''|title=Horror on the Orient Express|year=1991}}
*{{cite book|last=Hallet|first=David|coauthors=L.N. Isinwyll|title=Dark Designs|chapter=Eyes for the Blind|year=1991|___location=|publisher=|id=}}
*{{cite book|last=Hamblin|first=William|chapter=Thoth's Dagger|title=Different Worlds #27|year=1983}}
*{{cite book|last=Herber|first=Keith|chapter=Dead of Night|title=Arkham Unveiled|year=1990}}
*{{cite book|last=Herber|first=Keith|title=The Fungi from Yuggoth|year=1984}}
*{{cite book|last=Herber|first=Keith|title=Return to Dunwich|year=1991}}
*{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Sam|title=A Resection of Time|year=1997|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-095-X}}
*{{cite book|last=Lyons|first=Doug|coauthors=L.N. Isinwyll|chapter=One in Darkness|title=The Great Old Ones|year=1989|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium}}
*{{cite book|last=Petersen|first=Sandy|authorlink=Sandy Petersen|chapter=The Rise of R'lyeh|title=Shadows of Yog-Sothoth|year=1982}}
*{{cite book|last=Petersen|first=Sandy|coauthors=John B. Monroe|chapter=The Ten Commandments of Cthulhu Hunting|title=The Cthulhu Casebook|year=1990}}
*{{cite book|last=Ross|first=Kevin|title=Escape from Innsmouth|edition=2nd ed.|year=1997|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-115-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Chris|coauthors=Sandy Petersen|title=The Complete Dreamlands|edition=4th ed.|year=1997|___location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-086-0}}
===Notes===
<references />
== External links ==
*[http://mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid= "Nyarlathotep"], the original prose poem by H. P. Lovecraft
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos deities]]
[[Category:Fictional shapeshifters]]
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