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2.1. What are the "Great Old Ones", "Old Ones", and so forth? How do you tell them apart?
To begin with, Lovecraft himself did not use the terminology outlined below. He referred to the "Old Ones" (or "Great Old Ones", "Elder Ones", "Ancient Ones", and so forth) as applying to different beings in different stories. For example, Lovecraft used the term "Great Old Ones" in only two stories: in "The Call of Cthulhu" it referred to Cthulhu's spawn, and in "At the Mountains of Madness" it was the title of the starfish-like beings who lived in Antarctica and warred with the Cthulhu-spawn! The list below covers the standardizations which have come into use after Lovecraft's death:
Great Old Ones: Vastly powerful creatures which are the most famous creations of the Cthulhu Mythos. Although most of these beings differ widely in appearance from each other, some are actually 'leaders' or high priests of one species (i.e. Cthulhu is a "Great Old One" but he is of a race called, for lack of a better name, the "Spawn of Cthulhu"). The individual Great Old Ones, however, do not necessarily belong to the same species. Various authors have tried to come up with elaborate family trees of the Great Old Ones, but for the most part these are unconvincing and need not concern anyone but diehard Mythos fans.
One trait of most Great Old Ones is a limitation on their influence. Cthulhu is imprisoned beneath the Pacific Ocean in the city of R'lyeh, Ithaqua the Wind-Walker is confined to the far north of our planet, and so forth. Even those Great Old Ones less able to act may reach out and talk in their dreams to humans, who learn to revere these beings. The Great Old Ones are often worshipped on Earth by insane human cultists and other species; Cthulhu himself is served by humans, the amphibious deep ones, and his own spawn.
Outer Gods: The distinction between Outer Gods and Great Old Ones is not recognized by all authors, but deserves attention nonetheless. Generally, the Outer Gods are thought to be unrestricted in their range and powers, and more likely to embody cosmic principles.
(I should note that the term "Outer Gods" is almost exclusively used in the Call of Cthulhu game, even though many other Mythos writers note the difference between the two classifications.)
2.1.1. Who are the major Great Old Ones?
Aside from Cthulhu, these are some of the most popular Great Old Ones:
2.1.1.1. Is it okay to say "Hastur"?
Sure. Say it a few times right now. Feel better?
Actually, there is no risk to saying "Hastur", unless you happen to be a character in a role-playing game, and sometimes not even then. The whole thing started when Lovecraft used the phrase "Him Who is not to be Named" in "The Whisperer in Darkness". (This probably came from Lovecraft's training in the classics. When the Greeks called a god or being "unnameable", it meant that it should not be summoned magically as it was doing something important like guarding the underworld.) In the same story, Lovecraft mentioned Hastur, but there was no connection between the two phrases.
Later, Derleth brought together Hastur and "Him Who is not to be Named" as a single entity. I'm not sure whether Derleth was aware of the name's classical connotations, but characters in his stories are constantly saying "Hastur" without anything bad happening to them (at least, not until much later -- these are horror stories, after all). It wasn't until the Dungeons and Dragons game put out its Gods, Demigods and Heroes book that the consequences of saying "Hastur" were spelled out -- you might be eaten by a byakhee, or even attract the god's notice. This has become role-playing lore in many different games. You can tell your gamemaster that I said it didn't count, but don't blame me if you character gets eaten.
2.1.2. Who are the major Other Gods?
The Other Gods include the following beings (all of which were Lovecraft's creation):
2.1.3. What about "elementals"?
In the early days of Arkham House, Derleth saw a piece describing the Cthulhu Mythos from a young fan named Francis T. Laney (published in his fan magazine The Acolyte). He reprinted it with a few of his own changes. Derleth decided to group the Great Old Ones under the four traditional elements: fire, air, earth, and water. He assigned Cthulhu and Dagon with water and Tsathoggua and the "Other Gods" with earth, but he had trouble finding fire or air entities. Most people would say this was proof that the system didn't work, but Derleth decided Hastur was an air-elemental, and brought in Ithaqua as an air-elemental and Cthugha as a fire-being.
Anyone who's read Mythos fiction can see some of the holes in the system (How can a water-being like Cthulhu have his telepathy blocked by water? And why is Nyarlathotep an "earth-being"?), and his reasons for doing this are anyone's guess. Most authors have chosen not to use this system. Derleth does use it a great deal in his stories, though, so it's important to know.
2.2. What are some of the major books of the Mythos?
Lovecraft and his fellow authors filled their stories with a library of tomes of uncanny lore. Some of these were real, but most of them were not. Detailing all of their creations would be a monstrous task, but here are ten of the more popular ones:
2.2.1. Where can I get a copy of the Necronomicon?
"The" Necronomicon, i.e. the book written about by Lovecraft, cannot be found anywhere because it was never written. Anyone who disagrees with this statement is invited to produce a copy -- or even any mention whatsoever -- that pre-dates 1922, the year in which Lovecraft first wrote of it in his story "The Hound". Several commercial Necronomicons have been published.
If you want to find any of these, try my hints for finding books. There may be a few other Necronomicons which may be out there, but most of these are only fan efforts and can be easily dated after Lovecraft's time.
There are many known library references to the Necronomicon by Abdul Alhazred, Michael Tice's entry at UCLA being perhaps the most notorious; these are pranks engineered by students or librarians.
The newsgroup alt.necronomicon is suggested for those who wish to discuss the historical authenticity, translations and publications of this tome. The best source for Necronomicon info is my book The Necronomicon Files. Two other documents on this subject (both archived at Dan Clore's page) may also be encountered at various places on the Web. The Necronomicon FAQ (most recent version is 2.0) was assembled by Kevin Kendrick Chua; most of the information is good, if a trifle dated. The Necronomicon Anti-FAQ, assembled by Colin Low, claims that the Necronomicon was a real document that Lovecraft learned about from his wife, who had (supposedly) dated the occultist Aleister Crowley. Low's document is an admitted hoax and should not be read for anything more than its entertainment value.
2.2.2. What is the etymology of the word "Necronomicon"?
Lovecraft himself provides us a translation in a letter to Harry O. Fischer dated late February, 1937: "The name Necronomicon (necros, corpse; nomos, law; eikon, image = An Image [or Picture] of the Law of the Dead) occurred to me in the course of a dream, although the etymology is perfectly sound."
Some will argue that this etymology is not perfectly sound, but since Lovecraft invented the book, I feel his etymology is the correct one. People have debated the etymology of "Necronomicon" for years, coming up with all manner of bizarre interpretations. For those interested in what one informed alt.horror.cthulhu poster thinks, the following was provided by S.A.T. Haldane
Nekros/nekr-o- (noun) 'dead (person)'hence nekr-o- + nom-o- + -ikos > nekronomikos (adjective) concerning the customs of the dead'. Functioning as a noun in the neutral gender, to Nekronomikon '(The Thing) Concerning the Customs of the Dead'.
2.2.3. What is the etymology and meaning of Unaussprechlichen Kulten?
Many people have said that the German title of this book is incorrect, while others have said it's fine the way it is. For the answer to this, I turn to Steven Harris, former keeper of the now-defunct Unaussprechlichen Kulten Web Page:The old a.h.c. FAQ gave a long title of the book in English, and then argued that "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" was an abbreviation of this longer title. I have omitted it here because I've never seen the longer title anywhere other than that FAQ.
2.3. What are some of the major non-human species in the Mythos universe?
Mythos tales refer not only to the Old Ones and their ilk, but also to less powerful creatures which often have their own agendas. Here are some of the more common ones:
2.4. What are some of Lovecraft's most famous locations?
Let's break that question down:
2.4.1. What are some of Lovecraft's most famous towns?
Lovecraft created quite a number of locations in Massachusetts as settings for his stories. Four major towns and suggested real-life equivalents are:
It is probably wrong to take these equivalents too literally. Lovecraft scholars and fans have discovered that Lovecraft often blended different locations to create his fictional towns. Thus, some have suggested that Dunwich might have been inspired by Plasitow or Dunstable. As time passes and landmarks change, however, it becomes more difficult to determine which towns inspired Lovecraft's creations.
R'lyeh is the pre-human city (or the continent on which is was built) which sank beneath the Pacific millions of years ago. In his story "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft places R'lyeh at 47 degrees 9 minutes south, 126 degrees 43 minutes west. Other authors (such as Derleth) have placed it off the isle of Ponape, near the Massachusetts coast, or just about anywhere else they wanted to.
2.4.3. Where is the Plateau of Leng?
Lovecraft moved around the Plateau of Leng a great deal in his tales. In the earlier ones, he stated that Leng lay in Central Asia, but in "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", he placed it in his Dreamlands. Even later, in "At the Mountains of Madness", the Plateau was re-located in Antarctica. Later authors have suggested that the three locations could be related through some quirk of space-time.
Some people have come up with their own interpretations. According to Tierney's "House of the Toad", the Plateau may be found in China's Xinjiang (perhaps Xizang) Province. (This is notable, because there was an article in Discovery magazine a while back about some Caucasian mummies bearing items like those found in the Ukraine found here.) According to Jack Chalker's River of the Dancing Gods, the Plateau of Leng is in the upper Northwest of the world of the Dancing Gods.
Lovecraft mentions an "Irem, City of Pillars" in some of his stories, such as "The Nameless City" and "The Call of Cthulhu". It originated in folklore, and may actually be a real place.
According to Islamic myth, there were once two brothers, Shaddid and Shaddad, who ruled a city somewhere in Arabia. Shaddid died, and Shaddad became arrogant and cruel. He decided that he would build a garden on Earth imitating the celestial paradise. When the garden was completed, Shaddad and all his retainers rode out in a procession to visit it. Before they could reach it, however, a great "noise from heaven" destroyed all of them, and the location of Iram has never been discovered. The same tale was told in the Arabian Nights.
"The Koran describes how the earth swallowed up a sumptuous but decadent `city of towers' called Iram ... diggers can already see that the city center collapsed -- as told in the Koran -- because it was built over a limestone cavern used to store water." Identified with Ubar, frankincense-trading city in the Arabian Nights. (Jeanne Gordon & Fiona Gleizes, "The `Atlantis of the Sands'," Newsweek, 119:7, Feb. 17, 1992, p. 38.) - Donald Davis
Also, an article in the October 1995 issue of Reader's Digest ("Search for the Lost City") describes how documentary film-maker Nick Clapp organized several expeditions to Oman to look for the lost city of Ubar. Ubar is believed by some to be "Irem, the many-towered city" mentioned in the Koran. Ubar, like the Biblical towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, was a town of great wickedness that Allah destroyed. Under the sands at the oasis of Shis'r, the researchers not only found pottery and glass artifacts, but the ruins of "eight towers, each perhaps 30 feet high ... a lofty citadel ... an octagonal fort..a wide court with a well in the center ..."
2.4.5. What are the Dreamlands?
The Dreamlands is a place created by Lovecraft and based on the works of Lord Dunsany, who often set his tales in a "dream-world" at the edge of our own lands. Lovecraft's Dreamlands are filled with beautiful cities, kind people, grotesque monsters, and magic. Only dedicated dreamers can make their way to the Dreamlands, and many of them slip away as they grow older and more cynical. The Dreamlands does intersect with our world at certain places, but such journeys always involve danger. Lovecraft wrote a number of stories set in the Dreamlands, the longest (and last) of which is "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath". Later authors, including Brian Lumley and Gary Myers, have written stories with their own slant on the Dreamlands.
According to Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness", Yuggoth was the name given in ancient texts to the planet Pluto. Other authors have said that it is actually Planet X or a different planet, but most accept Lovecraft's designation.