Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest
Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey. The world can be a pretty scary place. While science continues to help us understand
more and more about the universe, there are still many great mysteries out there. One such mystery is that of Cthulhu, the great
power first described in Lovecraft’s short story “The Call of Cthulhu”. But what if this ancient being was not bound
to the pages of books, but did in fact exist? How might the world change if this creature
made itself known? Let’s explore. If you want more What If videos, check out
our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the channel. Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question:
What if Cthulhu was Real? Since Cthulhu isn’t exactly well-known by
the everyman, I’ll start off with a brief description of the mythos surrounding the
creature. It should be noted that Lovecraft originally
intended the name to be pronounced closer to klhul-hoo, because it originates in an
alien language that can’t be properly spoken by humans. However, the easier form, Cthulhu, is more
prevalent, so that’s what I’ll be using in this video. Which is great, because I haven’t spoken
alien since high school, so I’m a bit rusty. Cthulhu is believed to have been born on the
planet Vhoorl in the 23rd nebula from Nug and Yeb, before traveling to Earth with his
family and shapeshifting worshippers called the star spawn. Here, great wars were held between his group
and other mythical races, eventually giving way to peace as they decided to share the
earth. Cthulhu later began hibernating in the sunken
city of R’lyeh, where, according to legend, he remains to this day. However, legend speaks of cults that continue
to worship the Old God even while he lies dormant. Physically, Cthulhu was described by Lovecraft
as, quote: “A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose
face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet,
and long, narrow wings behind.” It has been described as a hideous combination
of a man, an octopus, and a dragon. Generally depicted as being hundreds of metres
tall, Cthulhu was seemingly created with the intent of striking fear and disgust into the
hearts of men. This proved to be highly relevant in the myths,
as it’s claimed that merely gazing upon Cthulhu would cause the viewer to go insane. The myths say that Cthulhu will eventually
awaken from its slumber, and will rise to once again take over the world. So, let’s imagine a world where this beast
existed. How might it differ from the world we know? Well, if Cthulhu remained asleep, nothing
much would change. Those who found the creature deep in the ocean
would go insane and likely die before even telling others about the find. Even if they made it back to land, their stories
wouldn’t be believed, due both to the extraordinary claims, and more importantly, their lack of
sanity. However, even a dormant Cthulhu certainly
isn’t impotent; according to legend, Cthulhu continues to influence the world in a few
ways. For one, its telepathic abilities allow it
to enter the minds of people around the world. Not only that, the followers of Cthulhu are
believed to be constantly working to bring about the god’s return, often engaging in
human sacrifice. However, if Cthulu were to be awoken, it would
be a very different story altogether. If Cthulu awoke, and began roaming the Earth,
madness would sweep the globe. All who saw the beast would go insane, with
the world quickly falling apart. Cthulhu would likely surface in the South
Pacific, either traveling East towards Chile or west towards New Zealand. When word spread of the mass insanity due
to a giant elder god, countries around the world would do whatever possible to take it
out, regardless of the collateral damage. Nuking New Zealand, as horrific as it would
be, would be far better than allowing the world to fall into madness. Unfortunately, humanity’s attacks would
likely be ineffective. In most depictions of Cthulhu, it’s claimed
that it would simply reform after destruction if hit with a nuclear bomb, much like it did
in one story after being cut it in half. Furthermore, it could be that the Earth would
become overrun by the Spawn of Cthulhu. It’s believed by some that this alien race
known for worshipping the Great One was created by Cthulhu himself, and upon awakening, he
would once again bring them to life, to act as his footsoldiers and to lead the human
slaves. As if the hulking behemoth wasn’t enough
to deal with, now we’d have terrifying shapeshifting creatures in the mix. This would make it essentially impossible
for humanity to come out on top, or even find a place to hide, since it would quickly spread
Cthulhu’s influence across the globe. All this means that humanity would be more
or less powerless to stop Cthulhu, who would take over the Earth, once again reclaiming
it for itself and its worshippers. Those humans who survived might be allowed
to keep their sanity in return for subservience, but the Earth and humanity as we know it would
likely be gone forever. And now we return to our question: What if
Cthulhu was Real? Well, if it stayed asleep at the bottom of
the ocean, the world would be much the same, aside from the odd sacrifice and confusing
dream. However, if it was awoken, there’s a good
chance that humanity would be done for. With little chance of harming the Great One,
we would most likely either be destroyed, driven mad, or enslaved. So let’s all cross our fingers and hope
that this is, in fact, just a myth. Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions,
I hope this was interesting and informative, and maybe even inspired you to look into it
further on your own. If you liked this video, please thumbs up
and subscribe to the channel down below. While you’re down there, let me know what
other mythical beings you’d like examined in future videos. Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey
with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you the best of luck, on your quest for answers.
