What is Cthulhu?

1 min

pronounced "kuh thew loo" cthulhu is a "fictional" cosmic entity https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cosmicism created by writer h p lovecraft https //en wikipedia org/wiki/h p lovecraft it was first introduced in his short story https //en wikipedia org/wiki/short story " the call of cthulhu https //en wikipedia org/wiki/the call of cthulhu ", \[2] https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu#cite note 2 published by the american pulp magazine https //en wikipedia org/wiki/pulp magazine weird tales https //en wikipedia org/wiki/weird tales in 1928 considered a great old one https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu mythos deities#great old ones within the pantheon https //en wikipedia org/wiki/pantheon (religion) of lovecraftian cosmic entities, this creature has since been featured in numerous popular culture references lovecraft depicts it as a gigantic entity worshipped by cultists, in a shape like a green octopus https //en wikipedia org/wiki/octopus , dragon https //en wikipedia org/wiki/dragon , and a caricature https //en wikipedia org/wiki/caricature of human form its name was given to the lovecraft inspired universe, the cthulhu mythos https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu mythos , where it exists with its fellow entities more on cthulhu and the amazing mythos https //lovecraft fandom com/wiki/cthulhu https //lovecraft fandom com/wiki/cthulhu cthulhu in pop culture https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu mythos in popular culture https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu mythos in popular culture h p lovecraft howard phillips lovecraft (august 20, 1890 – march 15, 1937) was an american writer of weird https //en wikipedia org/wiki/weird fiction , science https //en wikipedia org/wiki/science fiction , fantasy https //en wikipedia org/wiki/fantasy , and horror fiction https //en wikipedia org/wiki/horror fiction lovecraft is best known for his creation of a body of work that became known as the cthulhu mythos https //en wikipedia org/wiki/cthulhu mythos today he is often referred to by his moniker "hp lovecraft" the central theme of lovecraft's corpus is cosmicism cosmicism is a literary philosophy that argues that humanity is an insignificant force in the universe despite appearing pessimistic, lovecraft thought of himself being as being a cosmic indifferentist, which is expressed in his fiction in it, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity he believed in a meaningless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings could never fully understand there is no allowance for beliefs that could not be supported scientifically \[165] https //en wikipedia org/wiki/h p lovecraft#cite note footnotetouponce201362%e2%80%9363matthews2018177 169 lovecraft first articulated this philosophy in 1921, but he did not fully incorporate it into his fiction until five years later " dagon https //en wikipedia org/wiki/dagon (short story) ", "beyond the wall of sleep", and " the temple https //en wikipedia org/wiki/the temple (lovecraft short story) " contain early depictions of this concept, but the majority of his early tales do not analyze the concept "nyarlathotep" interprets the collapse of human civilization as being a corollary to the collapse of the universe "the call of cthulhu" represents an intensification of this theme in it, lovecraft introduces the idea of alien influences on humanity, which would come to dominate all subsequent works \[166] https //en wikipedia org/wiki/h p lovecraft#cite note footnotejoshi2010b186%e2%80%93187 170 in these works, lovecraft expresses cosmicism through the usage of confirmation rather than revelation lovecraftian protagonists do not learn that they are insignificant instead, they already know it and have it confirmed to them through an eventas a writer he was brilliant but as a person many of his political and moral beliefs would be considered problematic by today's standards we recognize the issues here and welcome discussions regarding making distinctions between an artist and their art