Cthulhu

1928fictional characterclassic

Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic monster invented by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, first appearing in his 1928 short story 'The Call of Cthulhu.' The tentacle-faced sea entity became a go-to internet reference for cosmic horror, spawning Dr. Seuss-style parodies, a cryptocurrency called Offerings, and years of fan art across Tumblr, deviantArt, and Reddit.

cthulhu mythos memeshorror memescryptid memespre digital memesfan art memes

Overview

Cthulhu is a fictional monster invented by American pulp horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, usually drawn as a huge cephalopod-like being with a tentacled face, clawed hands, long narrow wings folded behind a bloated corpulent body, and slick scaly skin1. The name is supposed to be unpronounceable by human tongues, and Lovecraft never settled on a canonical pronunciation, though fans commonly use 'KAH-THOO-LOO' or 'CHA-THOO-LAH' in casual conversation6.

In the fictional mythology, Cthulhu is a hybrid of 'an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature,' locked in a death-like sleep inside R'lyeh, a sunken city with non-Euclidean architecture generally placed near Valparaiso in the Pacific Ocean6. His status of 'dead but dreaming' is one of the most-quoted bits of the mythos, along with the ritual chant 'ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn,' translated as 'in his house at R'lyeh sleeping Cthulhu waits dreaming'5. Cthulhu ended up as the recognizable face of internet cosmic horror despite being a fairly minor character in Lovecraft's own writing, where he mostly worked as a vague plot device.

How It Spread

Cthulhu stayed niche until after Lovecraft's death in 1937, when a group of writers known as 'The Lovecraft Circle,' including August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith, kept publishing new stories about Lovecraft's alien entities1. Derleth, Lovecraft's first publisher and personal friend, reorganized the loose mythology into a formal cosmology with a war between 'Elder Gods' and 'Outer Gods,' and locked Cthulhu beneath the ocean after losing a battle to a group of 'good' gods, a framing many fans found controversial since Lovecraft treated the mythos as a shifting, kaleidoscopic setting rather than a fixed system1.

Internet fandom picked up in the 2000s and 2010s. The image blog Lolthulhu regularly posted LOLcat-style Cthulhu image macros, and Tumblr accounts like Fuck Yeah Cthulhu and Oh No Cthulhu collected fan art under the #cthulhu tag5. On September 29, 2011, deviantArt user DrFaustusAU uploaded a short illustrated adaptation of 'The Call of Cthulhu' drawn in the exact color palette and rhyme scheme of Dr. Seuss, which got reposted across i09, Laughing Squid, Ology, and Geeks Are Sexy3.

By September 2011, the Cthulhu Facebook fan page had over 170,000 likes, a fan Twitter account had roughly 2,580 followers, and the /r/Cthulhu subreddit had 646 readers5. In 2016, Ultraculture published a large hierarchical map of Cthulhu Mythos beings ranked from Outer Gods down to Great Old Ones, Lesser and Greater Servitor Races, and Independent Races, a poster-style visual that spread widely across fandom and chaos-magick circles4.

How to Use This Meme

Cthulhu is generally used as a shorthand for cosmic dread, inhuman scale, or things too weird to describe. Fans typically draw Cthulhu in his classic tentacle-face silhouette, drop the phrase 'ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' as an ominous flourish, or splice the character into unrelated formats like LOLcat macros, Dr. Seuss picture books, cryptocurrency branding, and reaction images about impending doom5. The visual is common enough that even a rough silhouette of a tentacled head with wings is enough to signal 'Lovecraftian.'

Frequently Asked Questions

Cthulhu

1928fictional characterclassic

Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic monster invented by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, first appearing in his 1928 short story 'The Call of Cthulhu.' The tentacle-faced sea entity became a go-to internet reference for cosmic horror, spawning Dr. Seuss-style parodies, a cryptocurrency called Offerings, and years of fan art across Tumblr, deviantArt, and Reddit.

cthulhu mythos memes horror memes cryptid memes pre digital memes fan art memes

Overview

Cthulhu is a fictional monster invented by American pulp horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, usually drawn as a huge cephalopod-like being with a tentacled face, clawed hands, long narrow wings folded behind a bloated corpulent body, and slick scaly skin1. The name is supposed to be unpronounceable by human tongues, and Lovecraft never settled on a canonical pronunciation, though fans commonly use 'KAH-THOO-LOO' or 'CHA-THOO-LAH' in casual conversation6.

In the fictional mythology, Cthulhu is a hybrid of 'an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature,' locked in a death-like sleep inside R'lyeh, a sunken city with non-Euclidean architecture generally placed near Valparaiso in the Pacific Ocean6. His status of 'dead but dreaming' is one of the most-quoted bits of the mythos, along with the ritual chant 'ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn,' translated as 'in his house at R'lyeh sleeping Cthulhu waits dreaming'5. Cthulhu ended up as the recognizable face of internet cosmic horror despite being a fairly minor character in Lovecraft's own writing, where he mostly worked as a vague plot device.

How It Spread

Cthulhu stayed niche until after Lovecraft's death in 1937, when a group of writers known as 'The Lovecraft Circle,' including August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith, kept publishing new stories about Lovecraft's alien entities1. Derleth, Lovecraft's first publisher and personal friend, reorganized the loose mythology into a formal cosmology with a war between 'Elder Gods' and 'Outer Gods,' and locked Cthulhu beneath the ocean after losing a battle to a group of 'good' gods, a framing many fans found controversial since Lovecraft treated the mythos as a shifting, kaleidoscopic setting rather than a fixed system1.

Internet fandom picked up in the 2000s and 2010s. The image blog Lolthulhu regularly posted LOLcat-style Cthulhu image macros, and Tumblr accounts like Fuck Yeah Cthulhu and Oh No Cthulhu collected fan art under the #cthulhu tag5. On September 29, 2011, deviantArt user DrFaustusAU uploaded a short illustrated adaptation of 'The Call of Cthulhu' drawn in the exact color palette and rhyme scheme of Dr. Seuss, which got reposted across i09, Laughing Squid, Ology, and Geeks Are Sexy3.

By September 2011, the Cthulhu Facebook fan page had over 170,000 likes, a fan Twitter account had roughly 2,580 followers, and the /r/Cthulhu subreddit had 646 readers5. In 2016, Ultraculture published a large hierarchical map of Cthulhu Mythos beings ranked from Outer Gods down to Great Old Ones, Lesser and Greater Servitor Races, and Independent Races, a poster-style visual that spread widely across fandom and chaos-magick circles4.

How to Use This Meme

Cthulhu is generally used as a shorthand for cosmic dread, inhuman scale, or things too weird to describe. Fans typically draw Cthulhu in his classic tentacle-face silhouette, drop the phrase 'ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' as an ominous flourish, or splice the character into unrelated formats like LOLcat macros, Dr. Seuss picture books, cryptocurrency branding, and reaction images about impending doom5. The visual is common enough that even a rough silhouette of a tentacled head with wings is enough to signal 'Lovecraftian.'

Frequently Asked Questions