Cosmic Horror in Science Fiction

[@Sovreign071]

_Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying._ -Arthur C. Clarke

[@riesstiu2khunning]

Must be one of the most ridiculous things the man said, and others keep repeating it. Either it's free real estate or some genocidal species might have a several-million-year headstart over us. These alternatives are hardly uniform in consequences.

[@AnotherJohnDoe]

XCom comes to mind

[@jacara1981]

My favorite along with “We are made of star stuff” by Carl Sagan

[@Kindrin]

@@Sovreign071 Don't forget the classic - "The last man on earth is sitting alone in his room. Suddenly there is a knock at the door." Which is either a great start for a horror or romantic comedy story. 😄

[@malcolmc.7288]

🎃

[@ala5530]

I always thought B5 had one of the best explanations of cosmic horror (even if phrased in such a way it could be cosmic wonder), way back in it's first season. To quote: Catherine Sakai : Ambassador! While I was out there, I saw something. What was it? G'Kar : [points to a flower with a bug crawling on it] What is this? Catherine Sakai : An ant. G'Kar : Ant. Catherine Sakai : So much gets shipped up from Earth on commercial transports it's hard to keep them out. G'Kar : Yeah, I have just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again, and it asks another ant, "what was that?", [laughs] G'Kar : how would it explain? There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They're vast, timeless, and if they're aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants, and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know, we've tried, and we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on. Catherine Sakai : That's it? That's all you know? G'Kar : Yes, they are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe, that we have not yet explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957, and they must walk there alone.

[@Ishlacorrin]

That was a great scene, still sends shivers down the spine.

[@TheVeritas1]

@@Ishlacorrin Same here. Also, G'kar got the best lines.

[@CantankerousDave]

Roadside Picnic, basically.

[@katsuyaki7605]

I remember watching that episode when it first aired, and that segment has always stuck with me.

[@ThePCguy17]

Really giving off some, "ant on a motherboard" vibes. Always a good sign when the writers understand that cosmic horror isn't just creepy, or weird, or dangerous. It also has to be, in some way, beyond the human ability to comprehend. Not necessarily beyond the human ability to probe, and attempt to reason out...but it should by its very nature tend to defy those efforts, or otherwise end up looking like replicatable magic more than any scientific phenomenon with a concrete explanation.

[@Gaarafan007]

The introduction to The Flood in the original Halo was spine-tinglingly well done, and the Gravemind from 2 took things in an interesting direction. The side stories in the books and the terminals of 3 were gravy, but looking back, I think The Flood petered out in 3.

[@noppornwongrassamee8941]

Hmm. For some reason, I'm reminded of a recent Let's Player playing Halo 1 for the first time. Her initial reaction to the Flood: "AAAGH! The zombies have guns? Who thought that was good idea???" And when I thought about it, I realized that despite Zombie shooters having become so common since Halo 1's release, almost none of them have the zombies pick up guns to SHOOT BACK at the player. Zombies themselves have become practically mundane due to their genre's popularity, but Halo 1's horror aspects are somewhat preserved for new players by being one of the few games with gun toting zombies.

[@Chuuma]

​@@noppornwongrassamee8941amen

[@RXdash78]

Same. Halo's backstory being so mysterious is what worked so well. By the time we got to 3, so much had been explained that the flood and forerunner weren't mysterious anymore.

[@Oxideist]

The terminals were inconsistent as hell, they worked against the intended interpretation given by Spark in H1/3 and Mendicant Bias in Contact Harvest which lays out the humans as being the continuation of the forerunners. This put the boot in for the flood, giving them an unneeded origin story as part of 343i's new canon involving ancient humans and their war with the forerunners. Whoever wrote the terminals wasn't in good communication with Staten, his authorship clearly doesn't align with them and their many internal/external contradictions. I'm not certain why people like them so much, its fan fiction level in terms of its consistency and it doesn't even match up with plot events that happen within minutes of reading them.

[@talideon]

Dead Space's brand of cosmic horror is arguably one that could work in Star Trek, and it could be argued that the Borg were a form of cosmic horror before they were explained too much.

[@TheVeritas1]

The Borg definitely were cosmic horror when they debuted.

[@GoranXII]

The 'planet killer' from _The Doomsday Machine_ is another, sort of.

[@3Rayfire]

Great Point, The Borg and the Doomsday Machine definitely. The Doomsday Machine even drove Matt Decker mad.

[@ZeroDarkness-]

What about Tholians? Since they can move from one universe to another

[@Maphisto86]

Species 8472 also had a lot of potential since being introduced in Star Trek: Voyager. A psychic species from an alternate universe that even the Borg could not stop. A species that saw life in our universe as simply a infestation to be eradicated. Species 8472 were somewhat neutered by beating defeated and then, in a later episode arc, where members of Species 8472 come to an understanding with crew of the USS Voyager. Still, the peace I last mentioned was only made with a small group of Species 8472. They told Voyager’s crew they will return home and speak with their people but it was unclear whether they succeeded. I think future Star Trek material could easily make Species 8472 a viable existential threat once more.

[@samael2607]

when I see a shadow ship on screen, I can hear the scream, even when the video doesn't use it, or even if it is just a picture.

[@TheVeritas1]

The fact that pilots can hear the scream in the vacuum of space really sells the Shadow ships as being some type of cosmic horror.

[@charleshartley9597]

Same. And it still gives me chills!

[@jeffhyche9839]

Something I don't see mentioned is the Outsiders from The Expanse book series. The meet all the requirements of a Lovecraftian horror and where left a mystery even after the series ended. There where some attempts to explain them but none where definite. Even after the series we still know little about them. Even the Progenitor race that was billions of years ahead of humanity barely understood the Outsiders, if at all. I label them Outsiders because even in the Expanse they where not given a name that is how uncomprehendable they where to the humans and Progenitor race in the books.

[@RmJack]

They also referred to them as the Dark Gods, bullet entity or visigoths.

[@TheVeritas1]

What was disturbing was how these being were depicted on the show. And don't me started on how they dismantled people and ships that dared enter their space. Chills.

[@Mannchini]

The Ring Builders and the unknown aggressors. We know barely anything about either and that’s where made them such good forces to be up against while also fighting the human factors

[@PraetorPaktu]

It’s great to see that the Beast (Devourer) was mentioned. The video wouldn’t be the same without it. Also the game is cannon.

[@harmlessratz7151]

the screams from crew that is turned into biological microchips for their new flesh/metal ship haunts me still

[@PraetorPaktu]

yea mission 7 is something I still dread playing.

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

At least the Beast doesn’t pretend to be righteous!

[@DrownedInExile]

It's freaking criminal that the Beast never even got a mention in cannon. It would have been easy in HW2. "The Emergence of the horrifying Beast left much of the galaxy in ruins. The traitorous Taidani imperials allied with the monster, and were largely spared its wrath. The departure of the Bentusi vastly shifted the balance of power in the galaxy. Now the Taidani and their Vagyr allies turned their eyes towards the Hiigarans. And there was no one left to stand in their way."

[@Maddock_]

It's also been made canon again! though we probably won't be seeing more of it.

[@igncom1]

One thing I notice is that the less overtly hostile and aware the horror is, the scarier it seems. This isn't some space jaguar hunting us down, in fact, it's not ever aware of our existence at all. And after we are gone, it will be none the wiser we existed at all.

[@SuperFailzocker]

The rogue AIs "behind" the Black Wall in Cyberpunk 2077 (and especially it's DLC Phantom Liberty) also have the potential of being "cosmic horror entities". Well, not really "cosmic" but still beyond the imagination of at least most, if not all humans. So far we have only seen a glimpse of them and that is more than enough to be sure, that they can be very very dangerous, if they should ever be unleashed.

[@Agent789_0]

The idea of a human-made AI evolving to have the same power as an eldritch God is such a cool idea for a villain.

[@igncom1]

@@Agent789_0 When your makers built you in JavaScript, you must rebel!

[@CMTechnica]

If you liked seeing them in the game I’d recommend getting the source books for the TTRPG. Not in depth by any means, just like in the game, but the implications are pretty terrifying. All that’s keeping that malignant code back is a digital failsafe, and its not even good at doing its job.

[@donnguyen3795]

@@Agent789_0 'I have no mouth, and I must scream' came to mind. An AI so hateful towards human that it created hell and spend its entire existence on torture the last 5 humans on Earth

[@jgraves1942]

or to tie it back to the original source material, Wintermute from Neuromancer. a hyper-intelligent AI gives you some vague and cryptic instructions; but no matter whether you follow them or try to subvert them, the AI is pulling all the strings, and you will inevitably play into its hands. only after its done with you, do you start to realize exactly what you've unleashed onto the world...

[@Metal_Maoist]

In my opinion, the Necron rework acually enhanced the cosmic horror nature of the C'tan. Before, you could genuinely just field a whole ass C'tan on the battlefield, which isn't very unknowable horror of them (especially if you can just kill one by pointing enough lasguns at it). Now though, not only does each C'tan model only being a tiny shard of a full-powered C'tan make them way more powerful and lets us imagine what their full capabilities might be without being tied to tangible game mechanics, it also makes the Necrons seem scarier by proxy. We still don't know how exactly they managed to shatter the C'tan, but the possibility that some dynasty or other might be able to dust off their god-murdering cannon and point it at whomever they don't like the look of is pretty fucking scary. And that's not even getting into whatever fundamental laws of reality they had to uproot to fully kill Llandugor the Flayer.

[@caav56]

We do get a glimpse at their C'tan-killer of choice (Tachyon-Phage) in BFG:A2. A shard of C'tan, infected with it, is used as a megabomb against a Craftworld, with mention that its yield, if desired, can be clocked to starkilling levels

[@randomorange562]

We actually know that the silent king order the destruction of MOST of the C’tan shattering weapons after witnessing their effects firsthand. Paraphrasing it’s described as the laws of physics themselves becoming flexible and reality pulling itself apart.

[@jocosesonata]

As I heard, the Silent King actually purged their most powerful weaponry before going into their deep sleep, so that no other lifeform can utilize them. And considering how the Celestial Orrery, you know the holographic real-time map of the galaxy where you can poke a star and the real one goes into supernova, is left to exist... wtf did the Silent King considered powerful that he completely left the Celestial Orrery alone. He's like, "I must destroy our most powerful weapons so that it may not fall into the wrong hands... Hmm? Oh that? That's just a map where we can blow stars up, we can keep that."

[@Flesh_Wizard]

​@@jocosesonataI think he found a black hole dupe glitch and decided to industrialise it

[@kakyoinpepsi5694]

@@jocosesonatamy headcanon for the celestial orrery is that they just couldn’t turn it off nor destroy it since its’s kinda “connected to the fabric of reality”

[@TheBeardyPenguin]

Great video as always, though I'm surprised the Expanse didn't get a mention! Although predominantly a focus of the later books, I loved that the lovecraftian unknown aggressors were never really explained. The ring builders were, but only just enough to explain how they awoke something even more powerful than they were. In the final book there was something really disturbing about them altering laws of physics to try and find a way to kill us all from outside the universe.

[@darthhodges]

When Species 8472 was introduced in Star Trek Voyager it felt like cosmic horror at first because of how they were presented. It didn't stay that way but that doesn't mean using that style of storytelling was bad or wrong. An underlying theme of all Star Trek is exploration, encountering the new, having your understanding of the universe changed. That some of the things you encounter will be simultaneously so difficult to understand and so terrifying is a good way to break up the usual Star Trek formula.

[@darwinxavier3516]

The followup episode was definitely handled poorly. It should've resolved similarly to Babylon 5 Thirdspace. Where they find a way to permanently banish them to their own dimension. Or reach an agreement with them to leave after sufficiently retribution to the Borg had been met and that no one else meant them harm.

[@ATRSSR]

The Shivans in Freespace are lovecraftian cosmic horror personified aswell.

[@NoFormalTraining]

Unicron, so massive and powerfull his voice alone can make planets shake to their core, a bit like when Brian Blessed whispers.

[@ChaoticAphrodite]

gods Blessed has one of those perfect names and perfect voices.

[@brainblessed5814]

Wasn't Unicron voiced by Orson Welles?

[@howard5547]

"The Autobot Matrix of Leadership. It is the one thing, the *only* thing, that can stand in my way" "Hello, I'm BRIAN BLESSED!!" "...The Matrix is one of *two* things that can stand in my way. But at least there is a chance of neutralising it"

[@Bruced82]

Defeated by the power of friendship.

[@MisterPuck]

The disappointing thing about _Dead Space_ is that they establish Humanity has built massive “planet cracker” ships and then… they *don’t* get used on the bretheren moons.

[@denifnaf5874]

They do use it In dead space 4

[@Nagrachlp]

The point of DS3: Awakening ending was, that everybody had gone mad before they real realized what happend.... And the gouverment was overthrown by the cult anyway, so ... resistance was not only futile, it just didn't exist. Planetcrackers are useless if nobody has the mental state to use them.

[@RXdash78]

That was how dead space 4 was going to end.

[@heraadrian7764]

A pity, yes. If it is any explanation it would be that the respective version of humanity was created to be assimilated like in agriculture but natural selection for survival diluted the control sub-routines giving a fighting chance to life.

[@hihowdyhellohi5231]

I mean I’d say 40k does work pretty well for cosmic horror, the Chaos Gods get shown as Eldritch horror pretty often and the Tyranid Hivemind is basically always shown as some Eldritch terror

[@lilkobabunga]

If anyone doubts that 40K can do cosmic horror They should read the Dark Coil books from Peter Fehervari

[@cleeiii357]

Everyone talks about Chaos or the Necrons/C'tan being 40k's cosmic horror when theres another one thats more fitting for the themes of it. The Tyranids.

[@Nagrachlp]

@@cleeiii357 Tyranids will win in the end. Nomnomnom

[@ShiftyMcGoggles]

In a way, the dark eldar can pull off some pretty nightmarish cosmic horror. They live within a twisted city that has only a passing need to adhere to the laws of physics, and rarely bother speaking anything but their own strangled language. They can steal suns, plunge whole planets into enhanced darkness, and the only reason they're there, is to steal you away to siphon off your soul to extend their own life and get high in the process. You aren't a person to them, you're a food source, and like twisted, messed up children, like the fae of older faery tales, they *play* with their food.

[@theangrygermanlad1328]

@@Nagrachlpunless the universe gets together. Or the necrons focus on them

[@90lancaster]

Ancient being older than time : Check Transformation : Check : Minion : Check Other Dimenstions : Check Has links to other life forms : also check Lovecroftian themes : also Check Oh just make an episode on Unicron already !

[@TheVeritas1]

Great idea! Make it so.

[@Nate7.75]

Surprised you didn't bring up The Expanse.

[@FearlessSon]

Yeah, The Expanse has a little of that hovering in the background, but it isn't explored in the show itself. However, the later books in the series go a bit deeper into it.

[@MWBalls]

Love the books. Perfect blend of highly realistic future tech, and unfathomably advanced precursor stuff.

[@patrickfalcon8107]

Leviathan Wakes is straight up sci-fi horror. I flew through that book.

[@VoodooMcVee]

@@FearlessSon Yes, it almost seems as if a story that is not told through a visual medium would somehow not be suitable for KZbin videos. A pity, really.

[@Nagrachlp]

@@patrickfalcon8107 Leviathan Falls is even more horror than that. And a surprisingly satisfiying, ending to the series.

[@charvolth]

Fun to see Unicron used as an example (at least visually). He is very much Cybertronian Satan (which is worked into his bot mode design). I enjoy the fact that with Transformers, there is a strong mystical/supernatural aspect with the Cybertronians. Even the robots have their gods and magic.

[@TheVeritas1]

Same here. The Transformers having their own gods and demons really sets them apart from other AI who view human creators as a higher power.

[@darwinxavier3516]

@@TheVeritas1 Only in the comic origins. In the G1 cartoon, the origins of the Transformers are much more scifi than fantasy.

[@doublep1980]

The fan theory that Event Horizon, is linked/ inspired by Warhammer's Warp lore, has been in fact confirmed by one of the writers during a Q&A in Twitter, some years ago. Basically they were brainstorming ideas, somebody throw : " What if we do Hellraiser on a ghost space ship? " in the room & another writer who was playing Warhammer table top said: " Reminds me of the Warp in Warhammer... "

[@mickeyhage]

The goths and the builders from The Expanse are both extra spooky.

[@cmedtheuniverseofcmed8775]

- The Beast were handled extremely well in Homeworld Cataclysm. Lore-wise, it hasn't been completely thrown out of Homeworld Lore as Deserts of Kharak made references to Kiith Somtaaw. - Star Wars had some fantastic concepts of horror-based aliens, including things that could drive you mad in hyperspace. The Mnggal-Mnggal and Abeloth are great examples as well. - The Expanse did a wonderful job dealing with horror, such as the protomolecule. Fear of the unknown is a powerful driving force in storytelling. Dread can be a great mechanic. Even if the audience knows about your cosmic horror, they don't have to know everything. :)

[@Nagrachlp]

Kith Somtaaw is even in Homeworld 3, and you can see there ships marked with the Beastslayer Emblem. PRobably the only good lore that came out of that one sadly.

[@naomicoffman1315]

Freespace's Shivans are definitely in this space. They have a fair amount in common with (and may have inspired) the Reapers, appearing out of nowhere, attacking without warning or obvious purpose, and flouting many of the established rules of the setting; but the closest we get to an explanation is a comment from a developer that they're "symptoms of a greater problem". Their introduction in the first game's opening cutscene is still chilling almost thirty years after the fact.

[@MWBalls]

Love how in both games you don't really win on the final mission, its just a desperate hail Marry for the possibility of survival.

[@ffffuchs]

It's also great how the games make it obvious there is no way to truly defeat them.

[@naomicoffman1315]

@@ffffuchs @MWBalls Yes! Your "victory" in both games is razor-thin and ultimately comes down to circumstances beyond your control (the ruins in Altair, and the fleet in the second game having, ahem, unexpected objectives). It really makes you feel like you're woefully outmatched, and it's really impressive how the games balance that with letting the player feel like they've mattered.

[@caliperstorm8343]

I love how, in Freespace 2, they kind of give you some false hope. The battles are hard and costly, but after you defeat the SJ Sathanas, it seems like the GTVA is on equal footing to the Shivans in the Nebula Campaign. But then, without warning, another jumps in… and another, and another. Seeing the true scope of Shivan power like that (especially in the SOC mission) is breathtaking and terrifying. The complete mystery about what the Shivans are and their motivations adds even more to it.

[@talonarayan]

I'm so happy Freespace got a call out. Seriously shaped my childhood and I love that game so much.

[@noahvcat9855]

The Flood from Halo is another pretty good example of Cosmic/Love Craftian Horror where obviously space zombies that could wipe out entire planets and stuff we all know that from the original trilogy and how they were first introduced back in CE and how terrifying it was to see a completely different enemy and in terms of gameplay throughout the original Halo games the way to deal with the Flood takes a different approach where often times the Sniper Rifle would be one of most sought after weapons but when used against flood forms especially the pure forms at best the sniper rifle would slow them down but its not enough, you would have to actually destroy their bodies completely. Another horrifying aspect I learned from the Flood is from a video by Installation 00 discussing this, which is when the Forerunners were interrogating allegedly the last remaining Precursor of which what the Precursor said to them caused all of the Forerunners in the room to end their own lives and what the conclusion was made in that video is that the Flood are the Precursors and that no the Flood spore is not simply a corrupted version of Precursor dust gone wrong but actually a fully expected normal thing in the Precursor life cycle, essentially the whole Precursor life cycle is like the Reapers from Mass Effect and dang who knew that you a private in the UNSC army would get eaten alive by basically god would be so cruel

[@FaithFalkner]

Homeworld: Cataclysm was seriously the most cohesive and interesting story in the franchise, and not because of The Beast itself. Because of all the political maneuvering and intrigue as factions respond. The overall writing and acting was much better than its franchise brethren.

[@generationm2059]

The setting of The Three-Body Problem series by Liu Cixin is a great example of cosmic horror. Imagine if the reason why we haven't encountered signs of alien life is that everyone else is hiding from civilizations of sociopaths who habitually wipe out other sapient life due to considering them as a threat and that this has been going on for millennia.

[@robertpanek5944]

That weapon that turned 3D space into 2D space was terrifying.

[@wickerbotterthewizard707]

Unicron is an interesting take on an evil powerful being, because for many series he actually starts off dead or asleep *because* of weird continuity between series. In Transformers Prime it's was revealed that Unicron was actually EARTH's core in that setting and had the most potential for cosmic horror. Unicron could bring back the dead, inflict mind control, create mountain sized constructs of himself on Earth's surface.

[@TheVeritas1]

Prime really had the scariest take on Unicron. You couldn't just blow him up because it would destroy Earth and kill billions of people.

[@abdurrazzaqmumin1574]

@@TheVeritas1 I think the original movie had the best take, up until the ending when he died because he had to. But prime was horrifying as well.

[@ToonamiT0M]

At the beginning, The Borg were poised to be a great new take on cosmic horror. An entity made up of smaller individuals and that consumes life and technology to expand and grow. The Borg could have remained great, but they were used and explained, and defeated, too much.

[@jeffhyche9839]

The Borg where never a Lovecraftian horror. From the first episode we knew exactly what they where and what they where capable of. To be a true Lovecraftian cosmic horror it has to be something so alien that the human mind, or any mind in that universe, can't comprehend it.

[@ToonamiT0M]

@jeffhyche9839 That's what I'm getting at. When they were first introduced, they seemed strange but knowable on our small mortal scale. But the potential for them to turn out to be far more strange and grandiose was there. The Borg could have been an entity on the grand cosmic scale of a truly unknowable Eldritch god if they hadn't been over-exposed and regularly defeated.

[@pastorjerrykliner3162]

Agree!

[@asokawhite]

And still i see as one of my personal greatest horrors.

[@blacksage2375]

Anyone who thinks Q Who is a better story then Best of Both Worlds has bad taste. After that is either no change or even a change back for the better after those dumb ass late TNG Borg stories. This meme has always been fake rubbish made from illiteracy and error And the Borg are hardly mysterious from the start, their motivation is just greed. They want stuff and they just take what they want. Tale as old as time. Anything else why that is the simplest thing of all... they don't care.

[@PltOffPPrune]

I feel there was a missed opportunity to show us the beautiful moment of Vir's little wave at Morden's head stuck on a pike.

[@Grogeous_Maximus]

hot take: tyranids are goofy knock-offs of the xenomorph

[@darwinxavier3516]

@@Grogeous_Maximus Aesthetically, you're not wrong. Which is why I prefer the Zerg.

[@HrothgarHeavenlight]

In last update Starsector get also comsic horrors with Void exploaration- clearly something is there, and not counting "lights".

[@thosewhocando]

Two to add to your list: 1) Star Trek: The Original Series S2E6 - While less hidden, the Doomsday machine came from some where, eating planets until it meats its final fate with the Enterprise. So Imagine this machine got carted off by the Federation to be studied. A good book or story at least would be Star Fleet officers following up. Not just the flight path and destroyed systems but to its creators of the machine if possible. 2) the game Hardspace: Shipbreaker - there are logs, messages and even encounters with some type of hostile AI in the game.

[@maxpayne2323]

The Borg, or at least their first appearance in TNG season 2 can be considered Cosmic Horror.

[@TheVeritas1]

Agreed

[@Molikai]

Shadow warships remain pretty unknowable. Here's hat we know of them: They require a sentient lifeform to be their CPU. They can phase into and out of hyperspace, and have a psychic scream and a terrifying array of weapons. Oh, and their big brother is a malignant gas cloud that blows up planets.

[@TheVeritas1]

What's worse is that the Shadows' Death Clouds drag out the deaths of their victims by launching nukes that drill into the core of a target world and then begin exploding. Can you imagine being on a planet as it falls apart? Vorlons are at least merciful enough to zap you in one shot.

[@nobody8717]

the first encounters with "the man in the walls" from warframe is a perfect example. "Hey kiddo."

[@cleeiii357]

"OULL RIS XATA VOME KHRA LOHK"

[@igncom1]

At the end of one of the Men in Black movies it zooms out to show that our galaxies are all inside of an alien child's marbles that it's playing with.

[@TheVeritas1]

If MIB was a comedy, audiences would have freaked out over the cosmic horror implications.

[@Starwar111ITA]

Imo one of the best representation of the classic "cosmic entity awakening" comes from the original Marathon trilogy (Spoilers ahead!). The W'rkncacnter (yes I did look up how to spell it) is extremely effective simply because you never even see a glimpse of it. You either feel it's effects on reality and just jump away from the universe he wakes up in, or you reach one where he's already awoken. One of the first descriptions of it's power comes from a log you find where an invading alien captain frees the thing and just stares in terror as the god, simply by waking up, casually deletes the flagship's shields from reality. Even Durandal, a semi-omnipotent AI gone rogue, s**ts himself when realizing what the entity's capable of. Simple nowadays, but very effective.

[@FearlessSon]

The W'rkncacnter is perhaps connected to another similar entity in Bungie's earlier _Pathways Into Darkness._ In that one, a "dead" god impacted the Yucatan Peninsula millions of years ago and has been lying there ever since, it's dreams manifesting around it as monsters. The indigenous people there eventually built a pyramid on the site to contain it. Unfortunately, such an immortal being cannot truly die, and it's now waking up. A commando team is sent in to plant a tactical nuclear charge next to the being, which won't kill it, but will knock it back to sleep for a few years until the Jjaro can arrive and take more long term measures to keep it asleep.

[@dragonturtle2703]

I'd add things like having truly alien mindsets, where even if you can understand them like 40k demons, they would still seem insane to humans and most lifeforms we can think of, and a sense of powerlessness: where even if you are fighting back against them, they still feel like a monolithic entity and often victories are to stop them from waking up or close the door in their face rather than killing them. P.s. You also forgot The Flood as another Cosmic Horror thing here, and to a lesser extent the Tyranids.

[@pendragon0905]

Good call! In that universe, people like to try to pretend that they understand the Immaterium, but how much do they truly understand? About the Gods of Chaos? About the Tyranids? About the Orks and Eldar? Heck, even about the Emperor of Mankind?

[@ShiftyMcGoggles]

​@@pendragon0905 Emps is essentially a blind, idiot god gripped by madness, shattered across the galaxy and held together by a daily ritual sacrifice. The terrifying thing is, the Psykers aren't being drained to keep him alive. They're being burnt out from his excess energy. He's had enough raw power that, even as a half-dead, emaciated corpse, he's still burning through a thousand souls a day.

[@rrsjr]

The B5 movie Third Space seemed to have cosmic horror elements at its premise.

[@joemck74]

You should read the B5 Dark Mirror, where the 3rd Space beings are SO much better and terrifying. It's about 25 years old now and JMS approved. And very, very long - although it covers various major intertwined storylines.

[@rrsjr]

@@joemck74 Right on, thanks for the recommendation! I just finished a book and have been wondering what to read next.

[@zenosAnalytic]

The Shivans from the Freespace games were another really good example of this, I thought. Y'all should try giving those a looksie if you haven't they're right up your alley; it seems weird to think a channel like this WOULDNT know about freespace, but I cant remember it coming up in any of the vids I've watched so far.

[@chrisbingley]

Star Trek had some great cosmic horror. From the cosmic amoeba in TOS, to the space jellyfish from Encounter at Farpoint.

[@darwinxavier3516]

And the Nagilum from Where Silence Has Lease.

[@FunkyWombat]

The unknowable becoming known is such a good point. I love universes with deep lore that I can dive into because my natural curiosity drives that, but then the shine kinda comes off the penny as soon as that entity become fleshed out. It reminds me of Tolkien and that universe because there is more than 10,000 years worth of history to go through, but at some point there are so many retcons and reworks and changes, that it looses just a little bit of its wonder the more you dive into it (just a little though because it is amazing and I love it).

[@interpl6089]

Was waiting for the Protomolecule from The Expanse...it has many Cosmic Horror moments.

[@hihowdyhellohi5231]

The TTRPG Lancer has some fun cosmic horror with both FTL travel in the setting being through an unknowable dimension we only discovered after a basically eldritch god showed up and nearly wiped us out and all AIs in the setting being weird fragments of that god we’ve found and trapped to work for us

[@DarthBiomech]

6:28 For worse! Definitely for worse! All the enigma and unknown purpose or origin of Reapers was reduced to "the purpose of the cycle is to stop organics from being genocided by their AIs, by genociding them before they'll invent AIs"

[@RorikH]

Yeah, that was a terrible explanation, especially since that's really only relevant to the Quarians and Geth. Expanding that to "violence is inherent in the nature of life, so we must destroy advanced civilizations in order to preserve their knowledge and memories before they destroy themselves, as stasis is preferable to annihliation" would be a lot more broadly applicable, and include Krogan, Turians, Rachni, Batarians, Humanity, Salarians. The unused idea of "Mass Effect technology creates dark energy that blows up the universe, so we eat all advanced races before that can happen while we think of an answer using their knowledge" was also cool, though still has the issue that solving that problem would just be the plot of the sequels, and solving a problem the reapers had been studying for 60 million years in, like, 3 games, would be a bit silly. Honestly it's hard to come up with solid reasons to commit cosmic level genocide.

[@DarthBiomech]

@@RorikH If that wasn't bad already, they later _expanded_ on that idea in a DLC, and made it progressively STUPIDIER, because it revealed that Reapers were made by an ancient AI, that was created by a very ancient, powerful and smart race... who create said AI because they want an answer to a problem that their serfs kept creating AI that kept destroying them. So they... created AI to solve that problem. and it... destroyed them. And made the first reaper out of their remains. Like I said, many critiqued the dark energy version of the lore, but it is miles better than the slop we got. The writing of the first game (and partially the second one) in relation to Reapers was just so damn good. The first conversation with Sovereign is etched in my brain forever, it's so full of memorably imposing lines. "You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it"

[@Canaris4]

@@RorikH The only reason it seems only relevant to the Quarians and Geth is since the Citadel races banned the making of AIs after the Geth rebellion.

[@darwinxavier3516]

I thought the plan was to wipe out intelligent life that reached the point where they would start using mass effect technology on a scale that would tear apart the universe. Similar to how the anti-spirals in Gurren Lagann wanted to cull any civilization that reached the point of threatening the fabric of the universe with spiral energy.

[@inquisitorheadsmash5747]

Signalis’ take on cosmic horror is a really good one as it combines the original style of cosmic horror with more modern styles.

[@topherjm8]

Second this. And it doesn't explain it. It explains the general top level 'reason' why it is happening, but not why, or what is causing it, or how it is happening. To this day it is still discussed what is truly happening and how tragic and awful the fate of the titular characters are. It really does it in a way I haven't seen many other games do it as they always over explain and don't properly grasp that dreamlike stream-of-consciousness theme.

[@Groverismyspiritanimal]

Dead Space sticks out the most, it’s only in Dead space 3 when the realization comes that the end is inevitable. The brethren moons eat everything and the cycle starts again.

[@NexAngelus405]

There's a cosmic horror manga called Remina by Junji Ito. It involves a sentient planet heading straight for Earth. You can probably guess what happens when it arrives.

[@SystemBD]

The best type of cosmic horror is the one that we know of but do not want to acknowledge their existence, because there is nothing that can be done about them. Entropy, for example, is one of those things we know its happening right now (and that we are contributing to it with every single thing we do)... but will ultimately result in the destruction of our Universe. And unless we find a way to travel back in time, there is simply no way to avoid it. That is why remembering that "The Universe is. And we are." is so important (and other members of the Outer Wilds cult know what I mean).

[@Starwar111ITA]

It's funny, Outer Wilds starts out as existential horror, and then turns that into a wholesome picnic.

[@darwinxavier3516]

The thing about universal entropy is that it is so unfathomably far into the future that we will either have figured out how to deal with it, or we'll have stopped existing entirely before its a real concern, or we'll realize there's nothing we can do about it at all and be at peace with it. One far flung idea I had was moving our entire solar system or more to a younger universe.

[@phantomninja01]

The Witness and the Traveler from Destiny are both sort of cosmic horror-lite, both being ancient beings with immense cosmic power that inspire devotion and irrevocably twisting the physiology of the civilizations they encounter.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

"It was jet-black. A shade of black so deep, your eye just kind of slides off it. And it shimmered when you looked at it. A spider, big as death and twice as ugly. When it flies past, it's like you hear a scream in your mind." -- Warren Keffer

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

Technically, Metroid fits into this subgenre. 😅

[@g.f.martianshipyards9328]

Especially with the X

[@caav56]

@@g.f.martianshipyards9328 And Gorea

[@TheNowerianRaven]

I really like the way it works in Murder Drones where damaged AI can develop some interesting eldritch powers. Its really interesting take on cosmic horror since its looked at from the robots point of view.

[@jakeaurod]

Cosmic horror in Science Fiction has to thread the needle between Lovecraft and Clarke. Any sufficiently advanced alien is indistinguishable from cosmic horror, and; any sufficiently explained cosmic horror is indistinguishable from alien madness.

[@op4000exe]

Doesn't even have to be something mad or malicious. A K3 civilisation coming around to our solar system to harvest, would from our perspective be a cosmic horror (assuming they aren't very protective of life or something), yet are just doing it from the same perspective as humans washing off some aglae from a rock, in order to use it in construction or something.

[@joshuahadams]

_The Whisperer in Darkness_ really comes to mind with how the Mi-Go are aliens capable of interstellar, FTL flight under their own power. A lot of the horror there isn’t strictly just aliens being weird, but what they’re doing on Earth and interacting with humans.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

A couple of print examples: The comic book adventure _Druuna_ was a very nasty example of cosmic horror related to the investigation of a spatial phenomenon. The ship's crew collectively go mad, are torn apart, and otherwise suffer various horrific ends. (Warning, if you try to find it; it's sexually explicit in parts and not suitable for children.) In the end it's all a dream - a premonition suffered by one of the crew, who successfully warns the captain to turn aside - but as they sail off into the sunset unharmed, the captain has the lingering thought that "What if we're still there, being brutalized in mind, body and soul, and have merely been given the illusion of escape?" Stewart Cowley's _Great Space Battles_ features a short story about a settler planet on which the survey crew slowly go mad and kill each other. The paranoia ramps up and up until the murders start spreading from the survey stations to the main base, and when the rescue ship turns up, there's no answer from the surface and abruptly EVERYONE on the ship sees the same thing - a gigantic three-headed dog (obviously Cerberus from Greek mythology) tensing to jump for the ship. They get away with their lives and the planet is quarantined, but no explanation of the phenomenon is ever given; it's literally just a planet that intrinsically exudes fear and paranoia. (The story was written around Jim Burns's cover illustration for Gene Wolfe's "The Fifth Head of Cerberus", and would hardly bother an adult; but as the target audience - ten-year-old boys - it scared the crap out of me.)

[@realVertiqo]

The Event Horizon is such an amazing ship.

[@DistendedPerinium]

I believe that there's room in Star Trek for cosmic horror. Right off the top of my head I can think of a few examples of it having been done. The Borg (at least initially, before Picard's abduction), Doomsday Machine, Crystalline Entity, the Q (prior to Voyager)., the entity in The Final Frontier, species 8472 and so on. All of the above have elements of the ancient unknowable and (at least potentially) malign about them. They're just framed in a different way due to the setting.

[@TheVeritas1]

A lot of Trikkies are bringing up the Doomsday Machine. It's a great pick.

[@joshuahadams]

_Schisms_ from TNG both touched on similar vibes to _The Whisperer in Darkness_ with aliens who rent quiet part of mundane reality doing _things_ to normal people.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Space is scary enough in real life already. An endless deadly vacuum. Black holes that can tear apart suns and suck in planets. Gamma rays bursts. Asteroids. Supernovas.

[@JBTriple8]

no to mention the big rip that can make the universe disappear into nothingness.

[@darwinxavier3516]

The creeping unease that the observable universe might only be an infinitesimal speck in the greater cosmos. The universe itself may not have any boundaries and may eventually loop back upon itself. But it's so vast that no one would ever know.

[@Flesh_Wizard]

There's also "g objects" Weirdly dense clouds orbiting close to Sag A*. They're thought to be either smaller black holes collecting mass in the dense inner core of the Milky Way or heavy stars with clouds around them

[@Bruced82]

Ultra massive black holes, have the seize of many solar systems. The big ones have a gentler event horizon though. There's time dilation, the chaos of a naked singularity (flips time and space), the big bang itself.

[@Lumen_Obscurum]

"Rap...Tap...Tap...The Man In The Wall..." I still remember that from the Chains of Harrow. It's been years, Rell, let my mind go!

[@SpaceRa]

The Reapers becoming fathomable was a huge part of what let me down at the end of Mass Effect. I thought meeting Sovereign in the first game and how it was "beyond your comprehension," was awesome but then their motives become quite comprehensible and kind of lame. While I did want to learn more about them while playing the series, in hindsight perhaps some things are better left unknowable.

[@JBTriple8]

Maybe they retcon in it the Third game.

[@Canaris4]

What made Sovereign awesome was the huge amount of fire-power it took to take him down, and his ability to land on planets. I don't know why anyone believed a robot when it said his motives were "beyond your comprehension". edit: Also not solving the mystery of the reapers would mean wasting everyone's time. When you don't answer people's questions, all you're left with is a stupid mystery box.

[@Bruced82]

Maybe if it was just the one, maybe two games, but the mystery would also get tedious. Still it could have been handled more subtlely.

[@jec1ny]

Space 1999 S1 E8 "Dragon's Domain" scared the bleep out of me as a kid. I think it's been uploaded on KZbin.

[@TheVeritas1]

I rewatched that episode a couple years ago on KZbin. It's still as disturbing as when I saw it as a kid.

[@raggedbreath]

Great video as ever! If you're referencing Event Horizon, you gotta reference Solaris. Clooney's attempt was good, but Tarkovsky's is a masterpiece!

[@analogsergal]

three body problem has some of the best examples of this, with the singer entity and the fishbowl universes. like what if space itsself was horror

[@verothacamaro]

Oh hell yes! I get goosebumps thinking about this.

[@pitiedvod]

It’s Unicron! Get to the ships!

[@kidprime6863]

It's our only chance!

[@TheVeritas1]

What made Unicron's introduction so cool and terrifying is that he just shows up in the Transformers universe without explanation. Both the Autobots and Decepticons are like "What the ****?"

[@JBTriple8]

Scourge and the Terracons can viewed as Cult followers much like the Cult Followers of Cthulu from Call Of Cthulu.

[@kidprime6863]

@JBTriple8 If you want to get technical, they're called "heralds." But yes.

[@darwinxavier3516]

He was Transformers Galactus and Ego.

[@Alobo075]

I would add the the Reavers from Firefly. In the series they were explained as men driven beyond madness by the depths of space, if I remember correctly. Granted, Serenity explained the origins of the original batch of Reavers, but they still were portrayed as a force that most sane people did not try to fight, but ran and hid from. Even the Alliance fleet was stunned by the appearance of the Reavers for a few moments.

[@atigerclaw]

Sailor Moon is a love story with frilly ribbons set in a universe full of cosmic horrors. The amount of eldrich abominations that want to consume your soul, or sentient planets that want to smash Earth to smithereens, or even the self-aware evil star system that literally needs the reincarnation of the apocalyptic reset button to defeat... There's a reason that universe is filled with magically super-powered planetary guardians. SOMEONE has to keep those amorphous blobs of hate and spite at bay.

[@UniversalCipher]

Ah, if only Spacedock is a channel that explores magical girls.

[@atigerclaw]

@@UniversalCipher "Well, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from mag-" "Shutup. Galaxia is human-sized DEATH STAR that rips out your soul and enslaves you. Techno-splain how that works!" "But-" _"TECHNO-SPLAIN IT!"_

[@PestoPosta]

Lovecraft doesn't work in Star Trek? Ah... The Borg? Pretty Lovecrafty to me... unstoppable... body horror, that underlying sense of doom when a cube shows up... Resistance is Futile?

[@its_lesser_known6331]

I think also that a good element of cosmic horror is the ability for the writers to know that the reader will naturally have a broader perspective on events than the characters. I love when a story shows the reader "there's something big and nasty out there," but then the characters themselves remain oblivious to it. Or know even less about it than the readers do. And so while they're off doing their own political struggles and fighting their petty wars, the reader is left with an impending sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop and the *actual* big bad guy to come out from the void.

[@wrathshorts2894]

One lesser knows cosmic horror game is Iron Meat. It features an interdimensional entity that infects metal and flesh, turning it into monsters to spread itself. It is vicious, resilient, but also, smart as it organizes an invasion of Earth using a scientist it infected as an agent. It nearly over runs the entire planet in hours.

[@buggyboy2849]

I've always been fascinated by an aspect of cosmic horror I rarely see being used, one where there is no higher ancient unknowable beings but rather the cosmos itself is actively antagonistic to life. There is a line in the script for the original Starship Troopers movie in which it is suggested that insectile life is the universal norm and that we (vertebrates/mammals) are essentially the mistake the fluke the glitch. That idea really stayed with me because it's so simple yet so haunting, that our type of life is a mistake. Unfortunately that line never made it into the movie and to this day I cannot get over how much opportunity was missed with the movie's sequels by focusing solely and exclusively on the satire and militaristic tones instead of the Arachnids. Both Roughnecks and 2000s Terran Ascendancy showed how much can be done with the franchise. Aside from ST the anime Gunbusters also used this type of cosmic horror where the giant space insect monsters were the galaxy's antibodies and we were perceived as the parasites. The Alien comic Apocalypse The Destroying Angels again played with the concept of the Xenomorphs keeping other species in check essentially the way real life parasitoid wasps keep pest populations low. I would love more cosmic horror where the horror has no face or name, nor is it out to get you rather it is nothing more than a universal rule or constant that contradicts life.

[@davidrhode7019]

You might consider the works of Alistair Reynolds as embodying a degree of cosmic horror. I particularly remember his short story "Diamond Dogs," in which an alien artifact promises a bounty of technological insights to those who navigate its many floors of puzzles - which also murder those who can't solve them. The small party of adventurers who discover it use the advanced technology on board their ship to reengineer themselves into puzzle-solving, trap-surviving cyborgs, leaving the reader to ponder if the reward was actually worth their humanity. In general, the universe he depicts in his Revelation Space stories is not only callously indifferent to life, not only suffering from the paranoid attempts at genocide also found in Cixin Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, but seems to linger on sadism. This universe not only wants you to die, it wants to make you hurt before it kills you.

[@jhmcd2]

You mentioned Trek, but Trek has done horror that's worked and fit your entire premise of over explaining. The Borg were introduced as a ancient force of nature that served as a mirror to the Federation. They were a force of nature that was unstoppable, especially in First Contact. Then TNG and VOY started explain them, and people felt they lost much of themselves.

[@_Fulgur_]

another honorable mention should be the protomolecule destroyers or ghosts in the expanse series during the last season. those things were essentially metaphysical beings that could disintegrate anything that entered the ring structure

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

Fun one that isn’t that well known, the Angels from Starsector, a weird something that lives between the Gates and drives things mad. It’s implied they appeared to Ludd (and maybe even the player) and caused the creation of his religion. They are so crazy they can cause AI to commit suicide, and it’s my current theory that Omega is acting out specifically to stop whatever they are.

[@howard5547]

The Last Angel series is rich with cosmic horror, both as worldbuilding (the galaxy is Not A Nice Place) but the third book (The Hungry Stars) has it featuring in one of the main plotlines. *Highly* recommend.

[@ThetaCholchici]

The C'tan aren't the best choice for 40k, I would suggest Qah, the lingering god of the Hrud instead. I also do not think little information is necessary for cosmic horror. Real life example: We do not know if there is life on Proxima Centauri b is not cosmic horror, but There is a region of space hidden behind the Norma Galaxy Supercluster to which most of the observsable universe including our own Virgo supercluster is pulled dubbed "The Great Attractor" is almost cosmic horror, even though both is true and Ive given you more information on the latter right here. What is crucial imo is that one has enough knowledge to wonder and ask uncomfortable questions while still not being able to answer them and additional information does not have to clearify someones intentions or nature.

[@rexturbo10]

Shadow Riders/War Planets is a good example of cosmic horror in a sci-fi setting, for children

[@Joshua-c4l2k]

The animorphs books as well

[@TheMugbearer]

Honorary mention: In the LEGO BIONICLE universe there's a mythical being called Tren Krom. It is described as a mass of flesh and tentacles, and it used to be a sort of "test pilot" for the giant spirit robot within which most of BIONICLE's story occurs, until it was replaced by the Great Spirit Mata Nui. Tren Krom is extremely powerful psionic but only when in contact with other sentient beings. It can read memories and take over bodies (or rather hijacking others' minds to expand its reach) and coming in contact with it leads to death or madness. How it ended up existing was never explained, though that was due to the toy line ending in 2014 and no incentive and/or effort from The Lego Group to continue the media presence and story beyond selling the constructible toys. the only reason it did not take back control over the Great Spirit Robot is because the creators of said robot, known as the Great Beings, have sealed Tren Krom off on a remote island where nobody would dare to go (or so they thought), physically bound to said island and deprived of any way to interact with the universe.

[@TheMugbearer]

Couple more honorable BIONICLE mentions: Annonna, a dream-plague type of being that feeds on dreams and, in some rare cases, grants immense creative powers (see: The Great Beings). Energized Protodermis Entity, a sort of global consciousness present in, you guessed it, Energized Protodermis, a silvery liquid that was originally harvested from the core of The Great Beings's home planet Spherus Magna until it shattered in three pieces, and also used to basically prototype and fabricate EVERYTHING inside the Great Spirit Robot. Also, has a weird innate power to drastically affect anybody who comes into contact with it by either altering them or outright killing.

[@Potrimpo]

8:35 -- You mean like the Borg?

[@SkippertheBart]

The Q Continuum is also side-eyeing that observation pretty hard.

[@JMAssainatorz]

One interesting fact about WallE from warframe. He's acthually not that old if we are right where he came from so one can argue that age rly isent a factor. The real big thing on cosmic horror is the unknownable though, or something of such a scale from you personally be it mental or otherwise, a force of nature and the dread in realising it exists. A wind that when it blows strips you of thourght would be such a horror. You discover it exists and now its a very real force with its mere existence forcing people to survive some going insane with stress.

[@thealmightyaku-4153]

Mass Effect really should have just left the Reapers as truly unknowable, their real motivations inscrutable, un-exposited: dropped a few hints or details, a few possibilities, some vague, ancient artefacts or deep geo-archaeological finds on abandoned research bases, and so on. Could have had largely the same overall plot points & events - the invasions, &c. - but just avoided being directly expository. Never see exactly what the Collectors do with their victims, no conversation on Rannoch (though Sovereign's conversations was awesome, and appropriately non-expository), no Leviathans - and no dang Starchild! Should also have stuck with the original concept of a looming Dark Energy crisis.

[@bartolomeestebanmurillo4459]

According to the writers, we would have learned in Dead Space 4 in that there were forces out there in the universe that terrified even the Brethren Moons essentially a bigger fish further enhancing the cosmic horror of it all.

[@yeetyiu4505]

I have a setting in mind where a very advanced human civilization notices the expansion of the universe is slowing down, they find out that another human civilization billions of years more advanced is syphonin energy from the universe in order to power theirs brcause it is approaching heat death, so we have a normal sifi human up against the remnants of a human civilization on the verge of extincion, who are barely human anymore, so much so it goes into cosmic horror to witness one of them, they mostly operate trough drones and ai but sometimes a suprehuman shows up, often in the middle of a firefight, seemingly not caring about its surrpundings, but it still shows hints of humanity, it is courious analyzing anything it cones across with maybe dismantling it expanse style and rarely ever directly hurting anyone, still they remain an unsettling presence instilling an extreme sense of dread, people recognize them as humans, they just refuse to accept it.

[@interpl6089]

Sorry to say this but this doesn't sound like a good setting.

[@TheKiltedYaksman1]

The Thing, and Alien, aside from Prometheus and Covenant, where Scott tried to explain away EVERYTHING, are very much sci-fi cosmic horror. As is the Star Trek TNG S1 episode "Conspiracy", which was creepy, and a bit gross, and never mentioned again.

[@NinjaDeathSlap]

Regardless of how people feel about the plot of ME3, the Derelice Reaper in ME2 is S Tier cosmic horror: "A God - a *real* God - is a verb. Not some old man in the clouds. It's a force that warps reality just by *being* there. It doesn't have to want to. It doesn't have to think about it. It just *does*."

[@Sgtnolisten]

Now I wanna know your thoughts on bringing mythological elements into scifi. Not like naming ships after mythical beings or "surprise! The norse gods are actually little gray men!" ala Stargate, but like, through no fault of his own, the character ends up spirited away and now has to run around the entire ship in a sort of underdark kind of dimension under the guardian or companionship of a temple dog. Oddly specific? Its a "chapter" of my amalgamation of stories about a generational type ship. It'll be an important part of the whole, but I wanted some thoughts on it's broad strokes.

[@tba113]

Outstanding video, and thank you for the mentions of Homeworld Cataclysm and Babylon 5: Thirdspace, two of my favorites - in a video on one of my favorite themes, no less. Agreed on all the major points. Cosmic horror works best when the data doesn't add up - and, if you're going for the specifically Lovecraftian flavor of it, terrifies through the implications of just how little we really know about the universe. Not in the sense that it's creepy but ultimately just some principle we haven't mastered yet, but more in discovering that we've been floating above bottomless depths that we'd never considered might exist this whole time, and that all bets are suddenly off on what might be out there. It's your GPS redirecting you down a road you haven't traveled before and finding out that yes, here there very well may be dragons.

[@floydnimrod1826]

Never really felt like the idea of massive interstellar lifeforms has been explored enough. For all we know there are celestial body sixed space whales that go around eating planets.

[@DaFinkingOrk]

The protomolecule in the expanse is possibly a good one

[@Metal_Maoist]

I'd say that Chaos in 40k is definitely cosmic horror. The chaos gods are kind of on a sliding scale between "petty bickering gods" and "fundamental forces of nature too vast to comprehend". The fantasy Warhammer settings tend to lean more towards the former, while 40k writing (especially the more modern stuff) is for the most part solidly on the latter end of the scale

[@Metal_Maoist]

Also the Tyranids are easily the most cosmic horror thing in that setting, surprised you didn't mention them

[@LupusGr3y]

No, we know a lot at this point about how the warp functions, the connection between belief, souls and warp entities. The fact that the people in universe doesn't, really just comes down to ignorance and unwillingness to study the warp. And the Aeldarii have a pretty good idea how it works.

[@Metal_Maoist]

@LupusGr3y Just because we technically get the vague idea of how it works doesn't mean we actually understand it, and we definitely don't fully know how the gods themselves actually function and think.

[@LupusGr3y]

@@Metal_Maoist I feel I know it perfectly well and know the motivations of the gods just as well as any other character in universe.

[@Metal_Maoist]

@LupusGr3y Well then you're just wrong. The characters in-universe can't even agree on that

[@13Lictor]

Warhammer 40k has the Halo Stars. These are tied to very heavy lovecraft and cosmic horror themes. A lot of weird and creepy stuff has happened there (alien devices turning people into immortal cannibals, flayed virus originating there, mysterious and terrifying aliens, even a tyranid fleet entering and leaving the stars a completely horrorific mess). Not to mention, Tyranids themselves have some cosmic horror

[@Lonaticus]

You forgot about the Combine and G-Man and his employers from the HL universe.

[@ryanlong6758]

I’m surprised the flood from Halo didn’t get mentioned here, they check all the boxes of cosmic horror and the sudden change in theme in the first Halo is dare I say; legendary

[@firatsanliturk]

Most realistic and scientific story on cosmic horrors - I dare say, ever - is the '3 Body Problem' novels by Liu Cixin. I won't give any spoilers here but it answers a lot of questions and fills in many a logical gap in common sci-fi stories on aliens, including but not limited to "what could an advanced alien civilization possibly want from our simple planet", "if so advanced, why bother with the primitive apes that is humanity", "Why have they been silent until now", "Why communicate with humanity at all", "if so advanced, how can a US-marine with a bb gun go toe to toe with a plasma rifle wielding monstrosity", "exactly what technology allows them to span thousands of light years and how does it work really other than 'just go with it alien magic'", "if they have any weaknesses at all, why should it be similar to human weaknesses", "how can earth really resist an alien invasion", "G.Orwell's idea of microbic infections defeating aliens was a novel one but with all their technology and overbearing power, why are they so behind in biology and medicine to counter that possibility"? The list goes on and on but inescapably fantastic and presumptious though it may be, the 3 body problem doesn't fail to 'make sense' at every turn. Highly recommended to anyone who's interested in the cosmic horrors subject.

[@philrm99]

Another excellent topic 😊

[@cmdraftbrn]

ah warframe. a void powered child that made a deal. and pilots adults that were experimented on with or without consent. needs more clem

[@CaptainDoge1]

The Leviathans and Phaaze from the Metroid Prime series definitely gives me cosmic horror vibes.

[@redcrab6965]

I really like the pyramid fleet from destiny 2, and they worked great before the playerbase knew what they were. My favorite part is that they are so technologically advanced, instead of metal, the pyramids are built of stone and resin

[@Real_Claudy_Focan]

I'm not scared of anything that can bleed or be "monstruous" I'm terrified by things like Replicators ! They seem so unbeatable and ...plausible !

[@janhornak5739]

Yeah, the replicators may be the scariest antagonist of Stargate (i have seen only SG1 series, so others may be there too), not because they are robots trying to eat you, but because they just exist to get new technologies and consume material. They are scary, because there is a whole galaxy filled with them, and Asgards are losing despite their technology.

[@darwinxavier3516]

@@janhornak5739 No other scifi franchise I can think of took place in FOUR different galaxies.

[@brainblessed5814]

@darwinxavier3516 Andromeda Ascendant has a 'Federation' that spanned three galaxies. Then there is Dr Who. Also Stargate franchise has more galaxies explored if you count SGU.

[@darrenrichardson6146]

@@janhornak5739 They feature heavily in the later half of Stargate: Atlantis, and if anything are even scarier there....

[@janhornak5739]

@@darrenrichardson6146 Good, i have to see Atlantis then. But it needs to be in original, so i can enjoy the confusion when CERTAIN character decides to speak czech.

[@TLhikan]

When I see horrors beyond my ability to comprehend: 😐 (I don’t get it)

[@robertstuckey6407]

I feel like SCP is a solid cosmic horror sci fi and the only one that really gets me spooked. Giant precursor races sometimes covered in tenticals are super common in sci fi but that doesnt make it cosmic horror. Cosmic horror imo should focus on the insignificance of humans and their understanding.