Cthulu? Wtf..?

[Alhazred]

You can also find references to the Mythos in Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, the classic, must read 'Swords Against..." series.

One question, though. I'm playing Bethesda's 'Call of Cthulu' game right now, and there's an Arkham Asylum in the game. Now I know Arkham is from Lovecraft, but I don't remember running across the Asylum before. And if there was, was there any mention of a white skinned, green haired lunatic?

There is an Arkham Sanitorium and the Larkin Institute, at least according to Chaosium's Arkham sourcebook. As for the green-haired lunatic, well, I've don't recall reading of one. Likely he's a GM-approved NPC designed to hasten the investigators' descent into madness

 

[SWBaxter]

One question, though. I'm playing Bethesda's 'Call of Cthulu' game right now, and there's an Arkham Asylum in the game. Now I know Arkham is from Lovecraft, but I don't remember running across the Asylum before. And if there was, was there any mention of a white skinned, green haired lunatic?

That'd be an in-joke/cross reference. Arkham Asylum is (or possibly was, it may have been destroyed at some point) where Gotham City sends their criminally insane.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

And the name is originally from the Arkham Asylum in Arkham, from Lovecraft's stories

 

[jdrakeh]

That'd be an in-joke/cross reference. Arkham Asylum is (or possibly was, it may have been destroyed at some point) where Gotham City sends their criminally insane.

Yes, contrary to popular belief 'Arkham Asylum' was not actually mentioned by Lovercraft in any of his stories (although the asylum at nearby Sefton was). The 'Arkham Hospital' of DC Comics fame was, however, named in honor of Lovecraft's Arkham and, in fact was originally located there when it first appeared in 1974 (it was later re-named 'Arkham Asylum' and relocated to Gotham as the result of a series of retcons beginning in 1979).

 

[jdrakeh]

And the name is originally from the Arkham Asylum in Arkham, from Lovecraft's stories

See my post above. In Lovecraft's stories, there is no Arkham Asylum - but there is an asylum in nearby Sefton (this asylum most notably appears in the short story Herbert West: Reanimator). Don't worry, it's a very common misconception.

"Sefton Asylum. Insane asylum located in Sefton, Massachusetts. From August, 1905 until 1921, the reanimated corpse of Dr. Allan Halsey was interred in a padded cell on the grounds of the asylum. In 1921, a group of silent men, led by a menacing military figure with a waxen face and glass eyes, aided in Dr. Halsey's escape." - from the Cthulhu Lexicon

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

FYI, Lovecraft himself never intended to write a coherent Mythos; he wrote individual stories, some of which possessed common references (Cthulhu, the Necronomicon, the town of Arkham, Mass., etc) which lent a degree verisimilitude to his world. The stories themselves were not connected in any meaningful way (ie, no plot connections/continuations, no character crossovers). I believe that it was August Derleth who coined the term 'Cthulhu Mythos'.

Yes, Derleth did coin the phrase Cthulhu Mythos. He also attempted to fit everything that HPL wrote into a seemless mythology and world, which was never HPLs intent. Whatever good Derleth did by making HPLs works known and available to the general public, he did more harm by watering things down and giving his own order and heirarchy to something that was not supposed to have order.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

That'd be an in-joke/cross reference. Arkham Asylum is (or possibly was, it may have been destroyed at some point) where Gotham City sends their criminally insane.

And now you can probably guess who the white skinned, green haired guy is supposed to be...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I love you, Henry. You should know that. I'm not, however, allowing you near my pets in the foreseeable future.



Gone? HARDLY!

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=8495

I really didn't believe the thread could have survived all the board updates, server changes, but I obviously underestimated the greatness of the ENWorld Administration. I bow to your incredible skills and work.

 

[Nebulous]

Unless you're playing X-COM: Terror from the Deep, in which case, you get to blow him up.

Really? Was that the big bad guy at the end? I never got far enough in the game to beat it.