Nightman wrote:
Hey, I'm replying to everyone at once!
David Hart Siegel wrote:
Two things (mostlyfor nightman, but there is a plea for the authors in
here as well): These look, to me, like Byakhee, from the physical
description through the method of summoning(Whistle with Aldebraan
visible), and the arrival from space
Byakee, I forgot about them! The bad whistling sounds familiar too ... but
that might be because it's also associated with Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. I
can't remember which stories they showed up in.
On the elder Gods/Great Old Ones concept: The idea of a human-friendly
force was added by thosewho came after HPL. IMHO, the uttersmallness of
man in the face of the Old Ones fits better with the EVA. Up to you,
authors, but if Third impact inovlves hoary Nodens smiting Deep Ones, I'll
be as disappointed as I was for the original End of EVA.
Then David Johnston countered:
That is not entirely true. Nodens, the relatively nonhostile Elder God, was
introduced by Lovecraft in a Dreamlands story as were the comparatively harmless
nightgaunts (who, being comparatively harmless and not having any mouths
obviously
weren't the creatures summoned from Aldebaran).
Right. Nodens is an HPL creation, not something cooked up by a contemporary
or successor. Later authors may have embellished his concept of a
mostly-distant and impersonal force that opposed the Old Ones, but the precept
was his. I think this rubbish got started by certain critics who had
prejudices against some of the later writers (for instance Sandy Peterson,
author of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, who practically ranted about the Mythos
being polluted by 'later creations' in the foreward of one of the editions). I
think these people have convinced themselves that all the additional material
came after HPL died, or was done with none of his imput. But the truth is
that Lovecraft had what amounted to a huge fanfic corps and he generally
approved of their additions and expansions; he certainly corresponded and
commented on them!
Then there was all the stuff he got from Clark Ashton Smith...who had a distinctly
different perspective on man's relation to the Big Guys.
Then there was his <shudder> round robin with Robert E. Howard and two really
forgettable people. What a fiasco that was. The character screamed, fainted
with horror, woke up, grabbed a broadsword...
Also, unless August Derleth lied though his teeth about it, HPL described to
him that his original concept for his mythos was that a group of beings reined
over the Earth long before man arose until they lost their foothold on our
reality by overreaching themselves and being smacked down. Cthulhu isnt' in
his city in suspended animation because of a meteor or a bad astrological
aspect ... he was SEALED in there. If someone didn't lock him up and all but
throw away the key, explain why he and his peers haven't just popped back out?
Sure some of them are loose (though limited) -- Nyarlathotep and Yog-sothoth
for instance. But even they are shown to need help. Sure Lovecraft's stories
imply a doom is descending but ... it's a doom we'll have to participate in
ourselves. Until we stop fighting against that mind-bending fate, it won't
happen. Cf., "Call of Cthulhu."
And, in the context of the story, there must be an opposed force to Cthlu.
The idea that humans in the next century can create a weapon capable of
killing a Great Old One, even a minor one like Atlach-Nacha, without
assistance is highly implausible. Therefore there is some greater than
human agency using SEELE as a tool to fight the escaping GOO. If the Deep
Ones are Cthlu's lockpick on it's cell door, the Evangelions and their pilots
are the equivalent of guard dogs set to catch the escapees.
Of course who they really need is Northwest Smith.
Onto Mr. Biles:
odd ... not sure what the point of the brooms was ... from cleaning up
inside maybe?
That would be telling. :)
Think about what happens later.
Oh dear, I hope that's not a deliberate cheap shot at my religion (wicca --
aka "witchcraft") -- I would be ever so offended.
You probably would be offended by Lovecraft's treatment of witchcraft. That's
life. He once described a character as being nauseated by the mere sight of
Asians. He wasn't real concerned with who he might offend sixty years after his
death.
Still, maybe the brooms are for the rat poop.