What Lovecraft's Entities Really Were

Lovecraft was a troubled man. A life of repeated tragedy left him scarred and afraid. The way he coped with this existential dread was his creative outlet. But what emerged in these stories isn't mere fiction. Rather, Lovecraft was writing about things which he really did witness. Join me as we explore the hidden meaning of H. P. Lovecraft's works and learn about the thing that was haunting him
AI art made with OpenArt
Outro made with Suno

[@ManFromThePits]

I noticed this as well. It occurred to me that as a horror writer, Lovecraft would have written about what scared him, and as an atheist, he would have feared religion. An interesting element I noticed is that in Lovecraft's works, though the protagonist might temporarily defeat the cosmic antagonist, doing so will only delay the antagonist's inevitable victory, because that antagonist is something incomprehensible to the human mind, timeless and unfathomable. So I would argue that out of all atheist writers, Lovecraft actually has the strongest understanding of what a god really is - not an anthropoid figure that is worshipped and can be fought or killed, but something cosmic and incomprehensible to the human mind. You can't understand it, much less fight it.

[@petrichorontherocks]

Couldn't agree more. In some sense, Lovecraft is a better theist than most theists. At least any theist who doesn't feel very real fear of the Lord.

[@ManFromThePits]

@ Exactly! Ironically, Lovecraft did more to help me on my journey of faith than most Christian writers! And wouldn't that just drive him crazy?

[@shooey-mcmoss]

so that was just Lovecraft being religious in secret for everyone? Damn, should've accepted it then

[@randallbesch2424]

@@petrichorontherocks the average Atheist is said to be more knowledgible than Christians.

[@ahobimo732]

I really appreciate how you kept a (mostly) neutral perspective through this video. I find that when KZbinrs discuss Christianity, they usually either glorify or denounce it, depending on their personal relationship to it. You avoided these partisan extremes in this video and, for the most part, took a legitimately neutral stance. It was a very pleasant and refreshing surprise. You also made s very good case overall. I was somewhat skeptical at first (because again, in my experience, the majority of "fan theories" on KZbin are highly dubious and unconvincing), but by the end, I was sold. Your theory is novel and actually sheds new light on the meaning of Lovecraft's fiction. All in all, this was an extremely well done essay. Great job! And thank you for sharing it. ✌🏻

[@CrypticArc23]

This video was actually pretty well made it rly helps you look at lovecraft and his work through his perspective and gives you a lot of insight on the duality of everything

[@sb3791]

I’m researching Lovecraftian themes for a novella I’m working on. This video was interesting and made connections I have not seen anywhere else. Well made and easy to listen to!!

[@xxJETSETxx]

Clicked on what looked like it would be an interesting video, and immediately clicking out. AI is a canary in the coal mine for quality.

[@petrichorontherocks]

Once ChatGPT finishes writing my response, it's over for you, bub. But no, I do sympathize. AI is just a tool. I enjoy seeing what I can do with it so far. Hopefully I can prove that it has its place.

[@monolalia]

If you only listen to it, it’s fine. I think what rubs me the wrong way about AI art is that its glossy veneer of imitation professionality (even with the broken symmetries and MC Escher topgraphies and confused fingers and lines that should but don’t connect) is prefered over amateurish DIY work that’s at least been made by people who understood what it was they were doing and why even if it’s not of “sellable” quality.

[@aliahxpiano]

@@petrichorontherocks ai art in my opinion makes videos like this seem much less genuine and more like a cash grab.

[@petrichorontherocks]

@@aliahxpiano Are you telling me there is cash I could have been grabbing this whole time!?

[@aliahxpiano]

@@petrichorontherocks i just mean it looks like theres less effort being put in often happens when people are pumping out content for money.

[@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical]

He was an Existentialist without identifying himself as such. It was an articulation and metaphor of it.

[@user-mp9hs3jf9g]

100th subscriber has arrived 🎉

[@petrichorontherocks]

Oh, how I have waited for you without even knowing your name. In your honor, I will name my first-born son mp9hs3jf9g. L for short. His life will not be an easy one.

[@nalydgamo2165]

Ive been waiting for someone to make these connections. You are gifted in sight 😇

[@daruekeller]

Plague. right? oh, you mean the Ruin of Man. hmm, ok, maybe, interesting 🤔 so Cthulhu might in a way be the son of Yog-Sothoth ? There might be something to this line of thought, hard to be sure if these resonances were intentional, subconscious, or accidental. No doubt there's plenty of correspondences that can be found... seek and thou shalt find

[@randallbesch2424]

No since these are not gods they are monstrous super beings.

[@andrewfornes5320]

As a fellow Lovecraft reader & someone who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at age 27, I wonder if he had a mild form of undiagnosed schizophrenia with only auditory hallucinations. I mean, there isn't any record of it..but honestly, who would tell someone back then knowing how bad asylums were? You wouldn't, you would push it under the rug & try and avoid it & maybe that caused his phobias which he had many of. I mean, his parent had a mental breakdown.. could be possible. This is the first vid I've watched of yours. Subscribed. One more thing, now that you pointed out the biblical coorelations.. The way the characters cannot comprehend what they see when looking at the Old Ones is very similar to one part of the old testament I remember from childhood when Moses tries to see god. (I may be wrong but I believe it was Moses.) God's full image cannot be seen because man could not comprehend it. Off Topic but you should look into Doubting Thomas was Jesus' human twin theory. Kind of interesting points are made, may be a cool deep dive.

[@caucasoidape8838]

Even in Greek mythology, the true form of the Gods was said to be like standing next to the sun.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@caucasoidape8838 also Hindu as well.

[@heatheryllanes6925]

I really hope you continue making content i love esoteric topics but everytime i find truly great content it never lasts long. I get how discouraging it would be to put an enormous amount of research time and effort into something only seen a few hundred people but i would make the argument making an impact on the lives and way of thinking of 50 people is more powerful then some meaningless bubble gum bs seen by 50 million

[@Hsereal]

You raise some intriguing parallels between Lovecraft and Christian theology here, but I believe you make one major error; you're treating those parallels as though they're specific to Christianity. In fact, I think the dynamics and patterns you've identified exist in most religions, both past and present. Virtually every human society has had beliefs and practices about the otherworldly (or "spiritual", or "metaphysical", or whatever term you prefer). And many of those beliefs and practices seem bizarre or even sinister to outsiders -- at times, they even seem sinister to their own practitioners. That tension is largely what Lovecraft's writings tap into, which is one reason they resonate with so many people. Example: The idea of unity/dissolution as both fear and goal (18:00) is a major element of Buddhist thought as well. Indeed, I would say the parallel is even more fitting for Buddhism: In Christian theology, people maintain their individuality even after achieving salvation (hence the concept of the "immortal soul"). The Buddhist quest for nirvana, by contrast, involves complete dissolution of the self and oneness with everything (by many accounts, anyway). This idea certainly strikes many people as disturbing, even as others find it existentially transcendent. Side-note to 36:30 -- I would argue that Lovecraft _did_ fulfill his purpose, to a large extent. His works are read and enjoyed by millions, and they give them an outlet to manage the same existential dread that he suffered. They also help them to connect with others going through the same troubles. That seems like a worthwhile legacy.

[@anubis243-x5h]

I agree. That’s my biggest problem with the video. A lot of the parallels mentioned exist across several religions.

[@petrichorontherocks]

You're certainly right that a lot of these concepts are not specific to Christianity. But Lovecraft grew up and lived in a Christian society and my reading of his life and works is that he was most heavily influenced by Christianity. But clearly other influences exist in there as well. For instance, Azathoth was also called "the Demon Sultan" which is a distinctly Islamic term.

[@Hsereal]

@@petrichorontherocks Fair point. If we're focusing on Lovecraft's inspirations, I suspect that the mythos was less a horrified response to Christianity _per se,_ and more a response to Christianity's failure to explain the world (at least, as Lovecraft experienced it). It's not so much saying "This belief system is horrifying". It's more saying "This belief system doesn't make sense, given the nature of the world -- and any system that _did_ make sense would be horrifying. Watch, I'll show you." Indeed, you can read the Cthulhu Mythos as Lovecraft's attempt to alter Christian theology so that it better matches our universe -- and then realizing that the resulting worldview is utterly horrific. And then Lovecraft figuring out how to deal with that troubling realization. This wasn't specific to Lovecraft, either. Lots of people were dealing with the fact that traditional belief systems like Christianity didn't seem to make sense, given what we were learning about the universe. Again, I suspect that's why his stories resonated with so many people in his time (and still do, for that matter). That said, I do think his work offers a strange sort of hope, in that there _is_ an underlying logic to his universe. It's just one that humans can't understand (or don't currently understand, at any rate).

[@SomeoneExchangeable]

Well, the "fish men" is a direct reference to "Ichthys" (the "Jesus Fish", the symbol of Christianity). It could hardly be any more specific to Christianity than that.

[@Hsereal]

@@SomeoneExchangeable Many religions have used iconography related to the sea or sea-life. That isn't specific to Christianity, either.

[@ImperialAquila]

*Mind Blown!* I see certain people and their views in a whole new 'light...'

[@tombuilder1475]

Awesome essay!

[@ougaouga1]

Fascinating !

[@seanbrazell7095]

I shall shortly unify with the pizza summond the night before this day.

[@CommissarLORDBernn]

Fantastic analysis

[@randallbesch2424]

Lovecraft called his work "Yog-Sothothery" much later Cthulhu was put in its place. CTHULHU will change the world or leave it. CHULA VARUNA his real name has thousands of celestial eyes that follow us and judge us good or evil. Only its owner can activate the boon or smite function. Imagine if that happens should Varuna rise from the Pacific to take a Mach 13 flight around its planet judging as it goes before assimilating starts again. That is what it was doing when 3 other entities came along and shut it and CTHULHU down and put him in fetters in R'leyh for a long time. Those entities later left leaving us vulnerable.

[@randallbesch2424]

I wish you had used one or both Cthulhu drawings made by Lovecraft. 2 sets of 3 eyes. The creatures are alien not religious they are beyond good and evil. Many religions have the death and resurrection to a new age. Look at it from a secular view point not religious that is just the way most humans not atheist or secular. The most advanced aliens are immortal. "At the Mountains of Madness" gives the history of Earth sans any religious dressing. When two neutron stars collide create 100 Earth masses of gold, 500 Earth masses of platinum...Which the Kùtúllû use. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah-nagl fhtagn X+1 leads us to X+2 -- destruction of the entire universe, for example due to the collapse of the vacuum into a "true vacuum" at a lower energy level, or some other phase change in the nature of space itself. Or, if our universe is a "brane" embedded in a higher-dimensional space, the collision of our brane with another (if that would even do anything... I'm not up on brane cosmology). Can we even imagine X+3 -- say, the destruction of the higher-dimensional space in which all the branes are embedded? If you are a Christian you are all for it. "Wgha'nagl here while I inquire." *The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3* *Lovecraft decided to leave that judgement power out of it. I put it back in. Besides the 6-eyes on its head are the thousands that are generally invisible but sometimes show as glowing spheres at times watching and judging us good or evil however only Cthulhu can instigate the smite or boons. YOG-SOTHOTH is in the time stream always watching. Was put there millions of years ago by an alien race. The KUTÙLLÛ created it to control time and Nyarlathotep to govern it. Over the centuries Nyarlathotep got bored so it left the immense creature and went roaming. It found humans to be ideal for his tricks. KÚTÙLLÛ infiltration: A bit more Eldritch than most examples, but the Apocalyptic Log speculates that the mutations the KUTÙLLÛ causes to the environment (mutating and/or amalgamating all terrestrial life that comes into contact with its influence, and seemingly turning the main setting into an Eldritch Location) are the KÚTÙLLÛ attempting to reshape the environment into something which the Eldritch Abomination can better understand creating a full web all linked between each other and the KUTÙLLÛ Empire by the "Black Static" that carries huge amounts of information between worlds. The "Expansion of Empire" combines this with Assimilation Plot. KÚTÙLLÛ planted seeds on various worlds across the universe that would expand and convert those worlds into extensions of itself. The process would assimilate or kill every compatible living thing on those worlds, connecting everyone to the KUTÙLLÛ. Total conquest on every layer of creation in a complete cooption. Fortunately for whatever reason Varuna/Cthulhu failed with Earth. Now I am not the worlds greatest cartographer; however, as near as I can tell, both ships crossed the same location. This spot is not too far from 47 degrees 9 minutes South, 126 degrees 43 minutes West coordinates given by Lovecraft for R'leyh. (DH, 151) The intervention of 3 other beings each equal to Varuna halted that assimilation process dead in its tracks and trapped Chula Varuna in the Pacific depths to R'leyh to wait till the star configuration can free it again. The 3 are; Foremost Holy Triad of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, the creator, sustainer, and destroyer of worlds (in that order). So does Varuna trapped in the ocean depths like Cthulhu. His other eyes can see all the good and evil. Only he can make them carry out a judgment of a smite or a boon. The first deity to rule our Earth before 3 others came along and stole his freedom thousands if not millions of years ago. He and his minions wait for their final freedom.

[@Khahrahk_dark]

Holy fuck

[@Khahrahk_dark]

Could you explain in a more simple Way?

[@randallbesch2424]

@@Khahrahk_dark anything specific or what? Any words you don't understand look them up as I had to do since 1970. I am a simple man figure it out. You will be smarter for it.

[@haydenbob5974]

Ngl, it seems like Narlathotep can also be seen as something vaguely similar to the devil, in that it’s definitely a level or two below Azathoth, but also seems to have a level of independent will that Azathoth dosent necessarily seem to have had that of a reason to give it.

[@randallbesch2424]

Trickster he has been called.

[@charleswolfe8896]

Great video, though I must say about the King in Yellow I agree with what tail Foundry says about it.

[@petrichorontherocks]

Oh? What does Tail Foundry say about it?

[@charleswolfe8896]

@petrichorontherocks I can't recall exactly, but I think in the second video they said that the King in Yellow represents the death of God or something like that. Just watch the video, hopefully you will get what I mean.

[@Tredbull]

To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

[@petrichorontherocks]

That's something a nail would say! Get'em, boys!

[@worldbigfootcentral3933]

Brilliant

[@randallbesch2424]

How can Atheists deny what doesn't exist?

[@caucasoidape8838]

"leads to altruism" ....not necessarily, at least not in practice, and definitely not in the political sphere.

[@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical]

Monsters From The Id. I do the same thing. Don't over think it , go into a flow state your best stuff comes out sometimes.

[@Steven-mm7wb]

One in the same in place and position type style. Madness Verus Order. Order wins, Madness can't. Idk why. Probably something to do with chaos.

[@fkuquinn]

this is great subbed

[@randallbesch2424]

Nyarlathotep governed YOG-SOTHOTH in the zone of time but tired of it and went his way. Humans he has found fun to play with. AZATHOTH is just mindless nuclear consumption.

[@tarrellkurtz502]

It's not so much like you get a piece of the Holy Spirit it's more like the Holy Spirit Himself enters into you and exist in all other Christian individually and simultaneously.

[@randallbesch2424]

So many gods so little effects.

[@randallbesch2424]

I so disdain those not getting real names for some of these aliens like the Umhullu a name of a Sumerian wind demon to fit the flying polyps which is a lousy name for them.

[@Kannakin-x3p]

I love when I find a new creator. I hate the AI art though, so I will be asking YT to not recommend you anymore. Where's the line? You won't even be able to do these types of videos once the AI gets good enough to do it itself if we don't draw a line somewhere.

[@cthonos.]

the video is pretty much entirely made by ai, script and all. i think the voice might not be but everything else is

[@petrichorontherocks]

It's just another to the great filters of our reality. AI is a tool. It gives us more power in one way but blinds us in another. People dislike it because it's doing more harm than good at the moment, but given time that will flip and cause the opposite of that problem. I plan to make a video on that very topic soon, so stay tuned!

[@petrichorontherocks]

@@cthonos. Just to give you a metric to detect future AI stuff, the script and voice are both mine. About half of the pictures are AI and the other half I have seen pre-AI, so I know they aren't.

[@cthonos.]

@@petrichorontherocks so what's the metric to detect future ai that you've given me?

[@levischorpioen]

@@cthonos. Why should that be their job? They haven't given you anything but an informative video. You're the one crying about AI, just like everyone else who feels like they're owed man-made art.

[@adinocc2042]

Not bad

[@Anti-ImperialistNPC]

Try to watch intro and not think about lovecrafts cat

[@randallbesch2424]

Why a beautiful black cat. His dad named him.

[@CountBeetle]

Nowhere even close, how did you come to this?

[@korundgen]

Nope

[@jimjohhnston9992]

what a joke

[@joshsmith9572]

A manifestation of his disgusting intense bigotry I think

[@randallbesch2424]

Xenophobia is what you were looking for.

[@joshsmith9572]

@randallbesch2424 fair. I'd still say both

[@randallbesch2424]

@@joshsmith9572 he wasn't some lone person on this and even so his bigotry extended to the Welsh !!! Why xenophobia better fits him than racist.

[@joshsmith9572]

@randallbesch2424 fair i guess. Still probably deeply racist as well as being hatefully xenophobic. You can be two things.

[@caucasoidape8838]

but Bram Stoker is totally okay right? no mention of his faults when his work is brought up.

[@DakotaCoughlin]

Lovecraftian mythos is the best religious beliefs

[@randallbesch2424]

Where the "Gods" don't care about you is best?

[@DakotaCoughlin]

@randallbesch2424 because god dont care about us

[@randallbesch2424]

@@DakotaCoughlin there are no gods to care anyway just us.

[@Sigma10-c1k]

No sorry no not at all. Look at the dunwich horror where lovecraft actually based the creature on jesus as a in joke among his friends.

[@randallbesch2424]

Where do you get that interpretation of Dunwich Horror?