Fear the Cosmos

Daniel lie, FMIPA, 2022

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyehwgah’naglfhtagn!”

Any avid fan of horror, fantasy, or simply fiction in general would be familiar with that phrase or at least have heard of it once or twice, sometimes in conjunction with lofty additions such as “the stars are right!” This phrase(meaning“inhishouseatR’lyehdead Chtulhu awaits dreaming”), often used by Cthulhu’s cultists (and also followers of Mother Hydra and Fa Dagon), is a glimmer worldofcosmichorror alsoknownasLovecra anhorrororweirdstor inthepast Thisarticle seekstounearthitster toexplainwhycosm horrorspooksusinge Inparticular,thisarticle bediscussingHoward PhillipsLovecraft’sw asheisperhapsthe mostinfluentialwriter ofthisgenre.

Most horror stories (be they writing or film or others)tendtohavesupernaturalelementsin them, except perhaps physcological horror Nevertheless, it is almost always humanity that is at the forefront Furthermore, the humans would often “win” or at least match their supernatural adversary; sometimes this is a priest or a cleric banishing demons through religious means or a band of plucky teenagers sealing a shapeshifter In other words, the (presumably) humanaudience is usedtoseehumanityasaspecialspecies,a specialexistence

This is utterly absent in cosmic horror. Humanity is insignificant in cosmic horror. Humanity is nothing Perhaps an easy example would be the Deep Ones, who appearsin“TheShadowoverInnsmouth”; ld never be destroyed, only barely checked by charms and magic made by “the Old Ones” (this pantheon would be expanded into the Elder Gods) Those charms are lost now.

The Deep Ones are not particularly scary when taken at face value bipedal fish seems benign compared to a screaming kuntilanak; but the knowledge that they are out there in their seas, millions of them, waiting to bring the tribute their gods craves without anywayforhumanitytostymiethem isterrifying

In “The Other Gods”, the priest Barzai is driventonearinsanityafterrealizingthatthe godsoftheearth,whomhispeopleworships, arefeeble,andguardedbythegodsofouter hells Similarly, the gods are not physically describedandhorrorisnotderivedfromtheir grotesque or unnatural shapes Here horror isderivedfromthefactthathumanityisweak andinsignificant;thatwearenotspecial;that we are but another uppity species. Against such powerful and ancient beings, man is a minuscule detail This is what cosmic horror is based upon; that human interests, laws, customs, emotions, and whatnot bear no significanceinthecosmos

An interesting aspect sprouting from this is that the entities in cosmic horror are almost always not evil Their morality has simply transcendedhumanmoralityandthisaddsto another layer of horror: these entities do not act against us consciously and they have no intention to harm us (except perhaps Nyarlathotep) Perhaps an analogy would be whenwesitonachairandunintentionallykill anantonthechair wedonotmeantoharm the ant, nor do we possess any malice towardstheant

Immortalfish-likepeoplearmedwithpowerful magic who worships Cthulhu, Father Dagon, and Mother Hydra Submarines torpedoed Y’ha-nthlei, one of their undersea cities, and couldonlydamageit,fortheDeepOnescou-

Another aspect of cosmic horror is the sheer unfathomability of the otherworldly beings We do not know these things They are unknowntous andthistapsintoourfearof the unknown. This is perhaps most exemplified in “The Colour out of Space” written by Lovecraft in 1927 The titular Colour is a wholly alien being brought by a meteorite. This being is so beyond descriptionthatitisonlydescribedas“some diseased, underlying primary tone” It siphons life through mysterious ways, perverting humans and animals into grotesque shapes, mutates plants into bloated vegetation that is inedible, and corrupts the ground and water into grey, brittlematter.ThestoryendswiththeColour indirectly driving away the inhabitants of the farmitinfects

There is a marked difference between the Colour and other, more mainstream supernatural or alien entitites Its shape, intents, motivations, and identity are all unknown.Itexistsonadifferentspectrumthat we cannot see. Contrast this to, say, the 2017 movie“Satan’sSlave”,wherethesupernatural elements are present in the form of zombies raised by demonic cultists, two very understandable and tangible entities in horror media.Weknowtheirintents,motivations,and identities, and their humanoid physical shape isfamiliartous.

Ingeneral,thephysicalformsoftheGreatOld Ones(thinkCthulhuandHastur)andtheOuter Gods (Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, and others), or even the more relatively benign Elder Gods (Nodens,Hypnosand others)aredescribedas, well,undescribable;and humanity’sperceptionsof them,betheypillarsof flameoramassof tentaclesorsome othergreatbeing, aremerelyfeeble attemptsbyour mindtocomprehendthem

Attemptstoglimpsetheirtrue formsleadto insanity

Theseabominationsarenotmadeoffleshand blood,andwhilsttheyhaveshape,theirshape is not made of matter A red string is drawn here: we do not know them, we cannot comprehendthem,andsowefearthem.

These entities are not the only thing contributingtothealienfeelingthatonefeels when enjoying cosmic horror The alien mood is also set by the environment in cosmic horror. Laws of time are bent and broken. The geometry of the space was abnormal and non-Euclidean and comprised offoreignspheresanddimensions

For a simple example of impossible geometry, look no further than one of Lovecraft’sclassics:“CallofCthulhu”.Acrew of seamen, after stumbling into Cthulhu, is consumed by “ an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it were obtuse” Such nonEuclidean geometry would have been somewhat familiar, perhaps, with mathematicians, but for non-mathematicians (who presumably comprise most people who enjoycosmichorror),thenotionofsuchanangleisextremelyconfusing,lendingtothe unfathomableatmosphere

Allofthisbringsustothecoresofcosmichorror:thathumanityisinsignificant inastrange,unfamiliarcosmosfullof indifferent,nonmoralentitiesthatcannot becomprehended Wefearit Wefearour irrelevantness,wefeartheunknownandunknownable andsuchhorrorisfoundin cosmichorror Fearthecosmos,fearthe horrorsthatlurk,anddespair!

Reference:

Anwar,J (Director) (2017) Satan’sSlaves RLJEFilms

Fredriksson,E (2010) Lovecraft,H (1927,September) TheColourOutofSpace AmazingStories [BachelorThesis] https://wwwdiva-portalorg/smash/get/diva2:1020823/FULLTEXT01pdf

Hull,T (2006) HP Lovecraft:aHorrorinHigherDimensions MathHorizons,13(3),10–12 h htps://remote-libuiacid:2065/stable/25678597

Lovecraft,H P (1927,September) TheColourOutofSpace AmazingStories

Lovecraft,H P (1936) TheShadowoverInnsmouth VisionaryPublishingCompany

Lovecraft,H P (2019) CallOfCthulhu DesignStudioPress

Mamatas,N,&Keene,B (2011) Thedamnedhighway:fearandloat-hinginArkham:asavage journeyintotheheartoftheAmericannightmare,andbackagain DarkHorse