Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl
fhtagn! The stars are right. Ancient doom stirs in the depths, plotting,
planning, preparing for his return. Unknowable and ancient, he desires, but one
thing. To make a video on cosmic horror and get that
sweet sweet YouTube ad revenue. Cosmic horror, or also commonly called Lovecraftian
Horror is a genre of horror popularized by the works of HP Lovecraft. As Halloween draws near it presents a prime
opportunity to explore this genre and to give thanks to the Great Old Ones for not devouring
mankind until my check clears and I’ve had some time to enjoy my YouTube success. So let us dive into the forbidden knowledge
of how to write Cosmic Horror and then go mad from the revelation. We should start at the top by constructing
our own pantheon of eldritch god like beings. Given the alien nature of many of members
of Lovecraft’s pantheon, this means that a writer can come up all manner of strange
and creative all powerful cosmic entities to populate their very own mythos. A universe of possibilities exists. What name shall I call my version of Lovercraft’s
Great Old Ones? I know. I call them the Great Old Ones. I’m sure a one to one copy won’t dilute
the horror too much. Not enough creativity to come up with new
eldritch gods? Too lazy to even copy Lovecraft’s pantheon? That’s 100% fine. Just leave the cast of ancient gods vaguely
defined and eternally in the background of the story. Oh they are there being dark and unknowable. I assure you because the characters refer
to them all the time as though they are a great threat. Will they ever show up? I mean, if the book sells enough for a sequel
maybe? Otherwise I’m not putting effort into that! Besides, the ancient gods can’t show up
because the world would end along with any series potential. Instead, we should now shift our focus to
the servitors of the ancient deities. That’s right. It’s my favorite part! Designing monsters! Unlike a lot of genres, Cosmic Horror writers
are free to dive deep into their imaginations and create truly twisted and alien creatures. Wow. This creature sure looks cool in my imagination,
but um… how do I describe it? Crap. That’s kind of hard and I’ve got a better
idea. You see, I don’t have give my monsters cool
descriptions because it is so alien that it is indescribable. The main characters can’t get a good look
at it because I don’t want to write descriptive prose... uh I mean it would drive them mad
to look upon it! If a writer does want to try their hand at
describing their very own ancient horror then just combine one or more tentacles, mouths,
and/or eyes. Make it semi formless too. Basically just make varying sizes of wannabe
Shoggoths. That’s the standard issue cosmic horror
monster or some of the things I found under the sink in my old apartment. But how do these monsters cross over onto
Earth? Minus the odd cosmic weak point in the veil
that separates our world from the beyond, one method is through a book of DOOM or as
I like to call them the Not Necronomicon. These books are usually authored by mad men
of one variety or another and contain terrible, ancient, and forbidden knowledge and I am
assuming they get poor reviews on Amazon as well. The Not Necronomicon frequently ends up in
the hands of dangerous and mysterious cults who use the rites and rituals within to summon
horrible horrific horrors to harry and hound helpless humans. You know, I always wondered what the cults
got out of this? I mean, most of these ancient entities are
planning to end the world and its not like the average eldritch god typically offers
a good retirement package or anything. I guess the cultists are just insane, but
not so insane that they can’t manage the logistics necessary for nightly human sacrifices
while maintaining a huge informant network and infiltrating the regional government so
their activities continued ignored. These cultists should be presented as faceless
drones so they can be used as cheap disposable bag guys for the main characters to fight. I mean, we wouldn’t want to dig into how
real life cults work because that crap is a 1000 times more terrifying than any story
I have ever read. Yikes. Let’s move on to something more pleasant
in our Lovecraft ripoff checklist. Let’s see what’s next? I better copy everything Lovecraft did in
his works and make no alterations to any aspect of his writing and… Yeah. Gonna sweep that one under the rug there. Maybe taking everything from Lovecraft wasn’t
such a good idea. That’s fine. The best thing about Cosmic Horror is that
it fits great into most science fiction or fantasy settings. Mostly. There is the small chance that suddenly adding
cosmic horror into a fairly pedestrian, upbeat fantasy or science fiction story without any
foreshadowing might completely ruin the light tone. I mean, watching your typical upbeat, plucky
fantasy party suddenly get ripped limb from limb by horrors from beyond time and space
at the plot’s halfway point with the only survivors being driven mad will certainly
leave an impression on the reader. Should I have a dark undercurrent run through
the first part of the story while laying clues for the reader to speculate at the universe’s
darker nature before eviscerating my main characters? Of course not. We want to maximize the impact of the cosmic
horror and probably the impact of our book as it is thrown across the room by our reader. Hmm. Why our book is leaving an impact, it’s
not exactly the impact I wanted. Perhaps I should consider the core elements
that make cosmic horror so effective? Is it the impossible architecture of the strange
and alien civilizations that inhabit the cosmos or their mysterious obelisks engraved with
ancient runic writing? It is strange and sinister, maybe even unsettling,
but doesn’t quite instill the horror that I am aiming for. Maybe the real horror of Cosmic Horror is
fear of the unknown, that the vast universe is full of that which can never be fully understood
without taking a terrible toll. Maybe it isn’t the visceral fear of dripping
fangs, but the misshapen otherness of the shuffling horrors in the dark whose alien
mind and intentions are truly unfathomable. That the universe is an empty void, uncaring
of our very existence and so vast that our eyes can only see faint the outlines of the
true horrors lurking in the dark. Nah. That can’t be it. All I know is that I am tired of this. No more hiding in the dark! I’m sick of being pushed around by ancient
cosmic entities! Grab a weapon and a torch. We are going to face those eldritch horrors! That’s right. This isn’t cosmic horror anymore. This is Lovecraft Light! The monsters in the dark can be beaten, they
can be pushed back! Maybe the universe is cold and pitiless, but
we will face it none the less because in this universe, we have something far stronger than
ancient unknowable alien gods on our side, authorial bias! That’s right. Just cherry pick the parts of cosmic horror
you like and ditch the rest. Finding a balance and reinterpreting the elements
of Lovecraftian horror can produce some amazing fiction, which is why you should keep chipping
away at it until all that is left is a couple of strange monsters for the heroes to fight. Just water down the horror until the only
fear left is that the ancient abomination won’t drop any good loot after its killed
by the main characters. Eh. I guess that wouldn’t really ever happen. Human beings are mere insects compared to
the eldritch gods much like how humans are to ants. By the way, did you know that 20 to 50 humans
a year are killed by ants. Isn’t that an interesting statistic, Cthulhu?
I love this channel! <3 I’m glad to see it here~
Isn't that an interesting statistic, Cthulhu?