Old One: Encyclopedia II - Old One - Cthulhu mythos

Old One - Cthulhu mythos

In H.P. Lovecraft's fiction, the term "Old Ones" is used in different contexts. In his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft used "Old Ones" to refer to Cthulhu's spawn[1]. Lovecraft also referenced the "Old Ones" in "The Dunwich Horror", naming them as mysterious entities associated with the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. In "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", the "Old Ones" (whoever they were) had the power to keep the Deep Ones in check. In Lovecraft's revision story "The Mound", the term "Old Ones" referred to the denizens of K'n-yan.

In Lovecraft's novella At the Mountains of Madness, "Old Ones" was another name for a fictional alien species, the Elder Things, which were described in vivid detail in the story. These aliens built cities beneath Antarctica during prehistory and created the Shoggoths, a slave race. (Shoggoths are featured in the Chaosium and Wizards of the Coast Call of Cthulhu role-playing games, and were recently made into plush figures.)

"Old Ones" can also refers to the Great Old Ones, alien beings of immense power. Along with the previous definition, these two usages of the term are the most popular among Cthulhu mythos authors.[2]

There is a filk entitled The Old Ones by Zander Nyrond that was inspired by Lovecraft's mythos.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cthulhu mythos", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki