Please Personally Tell Me What Lovecraftian Horror Is

[Griffolion]

Hello everyone!

So I had a weird idea. I saw someone on this very forum talk about Lovecraftian horror, and I realised I had no idea what it is. I know of Lovecraft and that he wrote some very highly esteemed horror novels, and he invented(?) Cthulu etc.

I was going to go read up on it, but in a fit of mad laziness, I resolved to ask the forum to personally tell me what the mythos is, the basic principles, some of the stories etc. I just feel that reading up on something can be so impersonal, and I find that someone telling me something personally lets me absorb it better. Would someone be so kind as to do this for me?

Also we can have a really passive aggressive contest on who knows the most.

Thanks!

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Lovecraftian horror, at its most basic, is the realization that the universe is so vast that humans are as insignificant as specks of dust. Add unimaginably ancient and powerful aliens to whom humans are little more than bacteria to the mix, and you've got it in a nutshell. If you want to check it out first hand, Project Gutenberg Australia has his complete works in a free (because it's in the public domain in Australia) e-book. It's a lot better than it sounds from my description.

 

[Quaxar]

Also we can have a really passive aggressive contest on who knows the most.

Clearly it's me. Who said otherwise? I'll beat him up!
... too active aggressive?

 

[Suicidejim]

There are generally some common elements to a lot of Lovecraftian horror. Feel free to look for:

- Terrible beings so grotesque and alien they can hardly be described

- A protagonist who finds himself gripped by madness by the story's end

- Talk of other worlds or dimensions, generally replete with monstrosities that could break through and annihilate humanity at any given time

- A strong emphasis on the fact that humanity in general is fleeting and pointless

I'm just throwing some themes from the top of my head here. You should look up some slightly more in-depth descriptions to get a better idea.

 

[Genocidicles]

Horribly vast, incredibly ancient (or ageless) monstrosities from beyond time and space that are so beyond your comprehension that merely gazing upon them is enough to turn you into a gibbering lunatic or kill you.

That the extent of what I know about Lovecraft.

 

[DugMachine]

Pretty much how insignificant humanity is as a whole. His god like beings are so monstrous and huge that they're beyond comprehension and whenever they wanted to they can just come down and annihilate every single one of us.

I haven't read too much Lovecraft but that's the theme at it's most basic level.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

In the vast ocean of time and space, all of humanity is but the smallest grain of sand. The universe is vast and uncaring, and we are not even noticed by the cosmic entities that dwell within it. We are but a tiny island amongst an infinite darkness, and our sanity is protected by our ignorance. For to pierce the veil lies the way of madness and death

 

[repeating integers]

You are not even a speck; you're not even nothing. Same goes for your human morals and values.

That's Lovecraftian horror in a nutshell. The word "vast" doesn't do the universe anything close to justice - we inhabit it alongside a far more numerous, varied collection of beings that are simply beyond our comprehension in all respects. And if you should ever chance to meet one - mayhaps an amorphous Shoggoth, dead god Cthulhu or even the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep himself - well, good luck with that whole "quick and painless death" thing you humans seem to value so much.

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/mountainsofmaddness.htm

^Have a go at that.

 

[Nibish]

I think the main point would be his use of cosmicism, his literary philosophy that humanity is completely and utterly insignificant in any kind of intergalactic scheme of things.
Wikipedia sums it up pretty good, but you should really take a peek at some of his work. I recommend The Call of Cthulhu, it's pretty short. Or, you can watch The Cabin in the Woods, not really Lovecraftian, but you can draw a few parallels.

 

[hermes]

The main thing that distinguishes Lovecraftian horror to other horror sub-genres is the scope of the "monster" and the smallness or the protagonist. While in other sub-genres the monsters are not human and damn near invincible, in Lovecraft novels (and those inspired by them) the monsters are uncanny in form, shape and/or size. They are so out of our league that just the idea of figuring out their intentions is completely alien to us and most characters are driven insane by being close to some of the side effects of its actions. Its like single bacteria trying to take on a human, or humans trying to take on a ancient god. Most of the times, the creatures are not even evil, they just are; and they don't realize (or don't care) how their mere existence endanger us.

 

[DoPo]

Well, you can mean two things by Lovecraftian horror. First (less commonly used, though), is just a synonym for eldritch/Lovecraftian abomination, as in some of the things that inhabit Lovecraft's stories. Aliens so incomprehensible and vast that humanity doesn't even look like ants next to them. Or sometimes they are just really, really strange. Oh, and humans are ill equipped to...experience them - sometimes even knowledge of these beings can turn a man mad, seeing them can do the same and worse. Second (more common), is just horror written by Lovecraft that usually features these creatures.

To illustrate both of these, just look at this picture

Spoiler

Pictured: Shub-Niggurath and her young. Also: humans - the little black specks next to what looks like pebbles. These aren't pebbles.

Also, this one

Spoiler

This is Azaathoth. Not pictured: humans - it is impossible to even capture both of them together on any sense of a meaningful scale.

 

[Griffolion]

Horribly vast, incredibly ancient (or ageless) monstrosities from beyond time and space that are so beyond your comprehension that merely gazing upon them is enough to turn you into a gibbering lunatic or kill you.

Ah I see, so a good real world example of this is Nicki Minaj? I'm seeing this now.

Thanks for the responses, it sounds like a barrel of laughs. Is it true that some people take it a little too seriously?

 

[DoPo]

Horribly vast, incredibly ancient (or ageless) monstrosities from beyond time and space that are so beyond your comprehension that merely gazing upon them is enough to turn you into a gibbering lunatic or kill you.

Ah I see, so a good real world example of this is Nicki Minaj? I'm seeing this now.

Thanks for the responses, it sounds like a barrel of laughs. Is it true that some people take it a little too seriously?

Define what you mean. There are always people everywhere that take everything a little too seriously. So chances are that - yes, there are people who do. Whatever you man by that.

 

[chaser5000]

Horribly vast, incredibly ancient (or ageless) monstrosities from beyond time and space that are so beyond your comprehension that merely gazing upon them is enough to turn you into a gibbering lunatic or kill you.

Ah I see, so a good real world example of this is Nicki Minaj? I'm seeing this now.

Thanks for the responses, it sounds like a barrel of laughs. Is it true that some people take it a little too seriously?

Yes, there are people who Think he was a prophet and treat his works like the Bible. You should really check his work out, as long as remember they're just stories they are really enjoyable.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Lovecraftian horror, at its most basic, is the realization that the universe is so vast that humans are as insignificant as specks of dust. Add unimaginably ancient and powerful aliens to whom humans are little more than bacteria to the mix, and you've got it in a nutshell.

That's the best way to sum it up. Also, as other people have touched on, the protagonist is severely out of their depth throughout the story. They are never capable of grasping the situations they are in, let alone dealing with it by the end. You'll get no happy endings here folks; the bad guys (if they are indeed "bad" or just merely indifferent) don't get their come-uppance.

H.P. Lovecraft also has a very specific writing style that's as dark and dismal as they get. Get used to seeing the words "cyclopean" and "non-euclid" thrown around a lot.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Generally, most horror written by Lovecraft dealt with fairly similar themes. One really big thing was how incomprehensible the monsters were. There's lots of mention of colours and angels which shouldn't exist in our universe, but somehow do, and looking at them makes you go mad. Also, things are ancient or big beyond human reckoning, and all of mankind's achievements are less than nothing by comparison.

Lovecraft was also very racist (living as he did in the early 20th century, it's not surprising. Yes, before you say it, I know he married a Jewish woman). Racial purity is a big thing in his books. There's lots of stuff about degenerate races, black people turned especially ugly or savage even for black people, half-breeds and how inherently terrible they are, corruption of us good pure folk, and monsters that are terrible because they commit the crime of existing.

...

Lovecraft has spawned many, many imitators, and they are almost always crap. Far too many people think that if they randomly stick the words "non-Euclidean" or "cyclopean" in, it makes them a genius.

IMHO, Lovecraftian horror isn't particularly scary because of anything inherent to it, it's scary because Lovecraft wrote it. He made everything scary.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

The point is, as many have pointed out, scale. ALso another MAIN point is the unknown. In some other stories the monsters remain unknown for powerful effect. Lovecraft made the creatures, by definition, unknowable. You simply cannot know what they are. Or understand them. By nature they are chaos incarnate. They represent the two main fears humans have. The fear of the unknown coupled with the fear of insignificance. A creature beyond your imagination that breaks reality so fundamentally your senses just cant behold it that dwarfs you to the point where its basically a god too lazy or pre occupied to bother destroying us. The point of lovecraft was that you dont fight the monster. You just hide from it. And embrace the ignorance of knowing nothing about it. Since trying to know about it is impossible and breaks you. Another user said it better:

In the vast ocean of time and space, all of humanity is but the smallest grain of sand. The universe is vast and uncaring, and we are not even noticed by the cosmic entities that dwell within it. We are but a tiny island amongst an infinite darkness, and our sanity is protected by our ignorance. For to pierce the veil lies the way of madness and death

Our only defense is ignorance and insignificance. Two things humans fundamentally tend to reject or fear. Its what makes lovecraftian horrors uncomfortable to imagine. Like REALLY imagine them.

Lovecraft is a funny case because:

Basically the premise sounds terrible at a first glance:

""hat if there was monster who was the most powerful thing ever plus one and was the biggest ever thing there ever was and could do anything all the time and you cant see him because his awesome blinds you and hes too cool for humans so he just doesnt care "

and many people fail miserably trying to copy lovecraft. But lovecraft is a master of description and pacing. It was scary because he made everything seem soul crushingly creepy. He took a 13 year olds doodle as to the "Coolest monster ever" and added the right tone, atmosphere and context to make it a legitimate terrifying monster. It was cleverly done in my opinion.

 

[Xpheyel]

Humanity's insignificance in the face of the unfathomable vastness of the universe represented by a man's powerlessness in the face of something with lots and LOTS of naughty tentacles. And usually intent on shoving the incomprehensibility of infinity up said man's butt sidewise.

That being said, having read a lot of them, the aliens are usually less incomprehensible than I'd hoped and more often just in it for the evulz. Which kind of strains the idea if you ask me. The Color from Space is a great one though for an alien that is apparently just too weird to understand or potentially understand us. Also the previously mentioned Mountains of Madness.

Spoiler

Nyarlathotep needing/wanting human sacrifices for power or taking a time out to personally be a dick to Randolph Carter.

Poster boy Cthulhu starts chasing and chowing down on dudes the minute he wakes up, and then gets his stupid tentacle-y face run over by a boat. That seems less like being so great and awesome that he accidentally steps on civilization and more like he's a big giant people-eating monster that makes you crazy because of non-euclidean cyclopean ramparts.

I guess that represents humanity's coping mechanism of banishing existential horror with nice cars and yachts and stuff? All aboard!

 

[Marik2]

Lovecraft can't compare to the monstrosities that Japan has done with his material

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

You seem to have the basics here already. You aren't even dust, in the grand scheme of things. You aren't even dust's dust, and you probably are even smaller than dust's dust's dust. There are things out there that the human mind can't comprehend. Geometries that'll drive onlookers insane. Gods that defy all logic. The stories can be a bit scary, but I happen to be more fond of his writing style than the stories themselves.

If you want something that'll make Lovecraft himself turn over in his grave, watch Haiyore! Nyarko-San (aka Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos). It takes the Cthulhu mythos and... makes it have pretty much nothing to do with the Cthulhu mythos. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty funny, but it tears the guts out of what Lovecraft wrote. All in the name of absurdist comedy, I guess.

EDIT: Goddamn ninjas.