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HacKING
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14 Mar 2021, 8:58 pm

So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.



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15 Mar 2021, 2:24 am

HacKING wrote:
So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.


I like HP Lovecraft too and am familiar with Nyarly. He sounds like a sadistic god, not anyone I'd want to think much about.

I'm not sure whether you mean who among us - us here on WP - or us, as in the world?

I don't think that the Old Ones can be compared to any humans living or dead. We're all pretty disposable in their view of things. I like Lovecraft's stories but there is not much I want to do with his mythology.


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HacKING
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15 Mar 2021, 2:49 am

Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.


I like HP Lovecraft too and am familiar with Nyarly. He sounds like a sadistic god, not anyone I'd want to think much about.

I'm not sure whether you mean who among us - us here on WP - or us, as in the world?

I don't think that the Old Ones can be compared to any humans living or dead. We're all pretty disposable in their view of things. I like Lovecraft's stories but there is not much I want to do with his mythology.


Why would anybody spend any amount of time thinking of any horror figure? It's entertaining. By who among us I mean the entire world, past and present. This isn't an original idea of mine. Some people have made theories that other myths like Slenderman are actually Nyarlathotep in another form. Some have postulated that Tesla could have been him, or Hitler... In the scenario where the Cthulhu mythos was true.



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15 Mar 2021, 11:16 am

HacKING wrote:
Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.


I like HP Lovecraft too and am familiar with Nyarly. He sounds like a sadistic god, not anyone I'd want to think much about.

I'm not sure whether you mean who among us - us here on WP - or us, as in the world?

I don't think that the Old Ones can be compared to any humans living or dead. We're all pretty disposable in their view of things. I like Lovecraft's stories but there is not much I want to do with his mythology.


Why would anybody spend any amount of time thinking of any horror figure? It's entertaining. By who among us I mean the entire world, past and present. This isn't an original idea of mine. Some people have made theories that other myths like Slenderman are actually Nyarlathotep in another form. Some have postulated that Tesla could have been him, or Hitler... In the scenario where the Cthulhu mythos was true.


Well, that is like saying, which human is most like Zeus, Venus, Apollo? Or Heaven forbid, Yahweh?

It is hubris and does seem improper comparing man to gods. In poor taste. And inviting divine displeasure.

That may be why your post has had few replies other than from a fellow Lovecraft fan like myself.

Even the many disbelievers have residual, instinctual fears and reservations that they do not fully acknowledge...


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HacKING
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15 Mar 2021, 2:10 pm

Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.


I like HP Lovecraft too and am familiar with Nyarly. He sounds like a sadistic god, not anyone I'd want to think much about.

I'm not sure whether you mean who among us - us here on WP - or us, as in the world?

I don't think that the Old Ones can be compared to any humans living or dead. We're all pretty disposable in their view of things. I like Lovecraft's stories but there is not much I want to do with his mythology.


Why would anybody spend any amount of time thinking of any horror figure? It's entertaining. By who among us I mean the entire world, past and present. This isn't an original idea of mine. Some people have made theories that other myths like Slenderman are actually Nyarlathotep in another form. Some have postulated that Tesla could have been him, or Hitler... In the scenario where the Cthulhu mythos was true.


Well, that is like saying, which human is most like Zeus, Venus, Apollo? Or Heaven forbid, Yahweh?

It is hubris and does seem improper comparing man to gods. In poor taste. And inviting divine displeasure.

That may be why your post has had few replies other than from a fellow Lovecraft fan like myself.

Even the many disbelievers have residual, instinctual fears and reservations that they do not fully acknowledge...


I don't have such reservations, particularly about products of science fiction. The only issue I see with the post is the fact I didn't post it in the literature forum, which in retrospect may have been more fitting.

As for the few replies it's probably because this isn't really an open ended topic and not something someone can just jump into, as they'd have to have some kind of familiarity with the mythos. I often make posts knowing they probably won't get replies. I'd just rather stay true to myself than talk about topics I do not have an interest in at the moment of posting.



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15 Mar 2021, 2:24 pm

Image
Nyarlathotep

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.

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 Dreamland (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath).

Nyarlathotep meets Walter Gilman and witch Keziah Mason (who has made a pact with the entity) 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 form, or 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").

According to certain sources he is currently living or imprisoned on the planet Abbith (EXP: The Horror in the Gallery).

Source:  "Nyarlathotep" 


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15 Mar 2021, 2:55 pm

I don't know who he would be/is but if he was real he'd love the state of the world! Personal sandbox, indeed!


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15 Mar 2021, 5:37 pm

Think he'd have a blue checkmark over on Twitter.


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15 Mar 2021, 6:53 pm

Fnord wrote:
Image
Nyarlathotep

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.

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 Dreamland (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath).

Nyarlathotep meets Walter Gilman and witch Keziah Mason (who has made a pact with the entity) 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 form, or 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").

According to certain sources he is currently living or imprisoned on the planet Abbith (EXP: The Horror in the Gallery).

Source:  "Nyarlathotep" 


Fnord, do you have a real interest in Lovecraft or are you serving up a warm side of copypasta?

If I were to guess - yes, you are a Lovecraft fan. Based on your former profile pic, which reminded me of...something Lovecraftian at any rate.


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15 Mar 2021, 6:55 pm

HacKING wrote:
Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
Gentleman Argentum wrote:
HacKING wrote:
So, I have been getting into HP Lovecraft lately. His cosmic horror is an interesting concept all-around, but one entity in particular piques my interest. This is Nyarlathotep aka the faceless god aka the crawling chaos. The gist is that he's a malignant god capable of destroying the world, but doesn't destroy it. Why? Because he'd rather shapeshift and screw with people, manipulating them and driving them to madness. It's fun to him and he sees this world as his personal sandbox. In his initial story, he appears as a pharaoh and marches through the land playing mysterious instruments that cause people to fall before him and obey his every word like a pied Piper of sorts. He has them walk into the desert where they are plagued with horrific visions and driven mad.

So I had a funny thought. Let's say theoretically, he's real. In this thought experiment, who could he be? Who among is is actually him hiding and causing chaos? Why do you think they could be him? Discuss.


I like HP Lovecraft too and am familiar with Nyarly. He sounds like a sadistic god, not anyone I'd want to think much about.

I'm not sure whether you mean who among us - us here on WP - or us, as in the world?

I don't think that the Old Ones can be compared to any humans living or dead. We're all pretty disposable in their view of things. I like Lovecraft's stories but there is not much I want to do with his mythology.


Why would anybody spend any amount of time thinking of any horror figure? It's entertaining. By who among us I mean the entire world, past and present. This isn't an original idea of mine. Some people have made theories that other myths like Slenderman are actually Nyarlathotep in another form. Some have postulated that Tesla could have been him, or Hitler... In the scenario where the Cthulhu mythos was true.


Well, that is like saying, which human is most like Zeus, Venus, Apollo? Or Heaven forbid, Yahweh?

It is hubris and does seem improper comparing man to gods. In poor taste. And inviting divine displeasure.

That may be why your post has had few replies other than from a fellow Lovecraft fan like myself.

Even the many disbelievers have residual, instinctual fears and reservations that they do not fully acknowledge...


I don't have such reservations, particularly about products of science fiction. The only issue I see with the post is the fact I didn't post it in the literature forum, which in retrospect may have been more fitting.

As for the few replies it's probably because this isn't really an open ended topic and not something someone can just jump into, as they'd have to have some kind of familiarity with the mythos. I often make posts knowing they probably won't get replies. I'd just rather stay true to myself than talk about topics I do not have an interest in at the moment of posting.


I'm actually quite pleased just to see Lovecraft brought up. I was doing my part to keep your thread going. I often look for posts with 0 replies to see whether they truly merited oblivion, whether I should attempt CPR.


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