Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 8038321" data-attributes="member: 6993955">As far as saving 'purity' goes, that isn't really how I read the trope, or why I think it resonates with people so well, or least that's not the only reason. The gradual fall to madness in Mythos stories is about the loss of control and the loss of agency. I think it's just as profitable, if not more so, to read the Mythos in terms of infection, rather than simply good and evil. The horror of madness and death works in these stories almost as well when the character in question isn't particularly good. Even the gradual descent of villain into madness, as his mind is slowly consumed by contact with cosmic horror, works to convey the sense of fear and hopelessness that makes the Mythos so effective. In this way it's much like a lot of the tropes found in Zombie stories - you can't fight against the encroaching dark without stepping into that same dark, but stepping into the dark almost guarantees your eventual death. Good guy, bad guy, everyone gets eaten in the end.To pursue this reading a little further, everything that's human, both good and evil, stands in the light, and the darkness from the void represents the loss of that humanity, which for Lovecraft is the loss of reason and of choice. 'Evil' characters in Mythos stories tend to approach the darkness as a means to power, and they choose to immerse themselves in it to pursue that power. Interestingly, the result is usually death or madness, not power at all. I find that interesting from an Existentialist perspective, where the thing that's important, that's being risked, is free will. I'm not suggesting that Lovecraft was working any kind of overt Existentialist program, but I think it does provide a very interesting way to read his stuff that also happens to obviate some of the other issues in play.</blockquote>

Verification