As it is known in the Mythos, the Outer Gods are ruled by
Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God,” who holds court at the center of infinity. A group of Outer Gods dance rhythmically around Azathoth, in cadence to the piping of a
demonic flute. The Outer Gods present at Azathoth's court are the entities called "Ultimate Gods" in
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (called "Lesser Outer Gods" in the
Call of Cthulhu RPG). The most famous of the Outer Gods are
Shub-Niggurath, the "Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young" and
Ubbo-Sathla, the "Unbegotten Source".
Yog-Sothoth, the "All-in-One and One-in-All", co-rules with Azathoth and exists as the incarnation of spacetime in the cosmos, yet is somehow locked outside the mundane universe.
Nyarlathotep, the "Crawling Chaos", is the
avatar of the Outer Gods, existing as the incarnation of space and functions as an intermediary between the deities of the pantheon and their cults. The only Outer God to have a true personality, Nyarlathotep possesses a malign intellect and reveals a mocking contempt for his masters. Lovecraft himself never made reference to them as the Outer Gods, instead calling them the Other Gods or the gods of the outer hells, as noted in his short story "
The Other Gods". Authors such as
August Derleth and
Lin Carter included the deities now known as the “Outer Gods” among the Great Old Ones and made no distinction between the two. is a mysterious Lesser Outer God, who has his abode in a forgotten temple located somewhere in
Bhutan. He appears as a formless black void, with seven pulsing orb-like eyes, and is mainly worshiped by
ghouls, which tribute him in a defiled cult described in the mysterious
Cambuluc Scrolls of the wizard Lang-Fu, dating back 1295 AD. Peering through the eyes of this god, after a hideous and devastating ritual, allows one to see straight into
Azathoth's court. It is rumoured that the powers of Mongolian warlord
Temujin (Genghis Khan) was a favour of Aiueb Gnshal.
Aletheia Aletheia (
The End of the Darkness) is a god-like entity symbolizing or incarnating the
truth. Named after the
Greek goddess of truth, it manifests as a vast spiral of manifold titanic hands with a single cycloptic eye in each palm (as in
Hamsa amulets), and kilometric wire-like protrusions able to ensnare living beings, replacing their spinal bone in puppet-like fashion. Introduced in
Dylan Dog issue 374, In the plot, the entity has clear features of an
Outer God rather than a
Great Old One as well as an appearance vaguely resembling that of
Yog-Sothoth, and is invoked by a deranged prophet with words in Naacal or R'lyehan language almost coinciding with those featured in Cthulhu's invocation, with R'lyeh replaced with ''Z'lyeh''.
Azathoth Azathoth, sometimes referred to as the "Blind Idiot God", is a monster who rules the Outer Gods, created them (along with many other worlds) and thus effectively serves as the
supreme deity of the Cthulhu Mythos. His title of blind idiot god is in reference to his detachment from the affairs of humans, and as being incomprehensible to the human mind.
Azhorra-Tha Azhorra-Tha is an Outer God imprisoned on the planet
Mars, as it fled from Earth after the imprisonment of the Great Old Ones. Its appearance is that of an insectoid to toad-like squid, but its shape continuously changes, emitting an awful buzz. The
Mi-Go discovered the prison of Azhorra-Tha in the following millennia, and made everything to not reveal its location to any human being.
B'ar-Zok B'ar-Zok (
Ancient Evil,
Son of None) is a god who was born from nothing long before the dawn of time. Although he devoured the universe during the Great Old Ones' immature era, as countless Great Old Ones matured and began devouring the universe themselves, he created his own domain and took up residence there. B'ar-Zok appears in A. P. Sessler's “The Ancient Evil.”
The Blackness from the Stars The
Blackness from the Stars is a Lesser Outer God, whoimmobile blob of living, sentient darkness, torn from the primal fabric of the cosmos at the center of the universe. It is distinguishable in darkness only as vaguely shimmering oily pitch. Although intelligent, it speaks no known language and ignores attempts to communicate.
The Cloud-Thing A man-eating cloudy mass, it is an unnamed Lesser Outer God at the court of
Azathoth.
C'thalpa C'thalpa (
The Internal One) is a huge mass of living sentient magma, located in the Earth's
mantle. She is mother of the Great Old One
Shterot, and five other unnamed hideous children. She is also served by a race of mole-like humanoid burrowers known as the
Talpeurs.
Cxaxukluth Cxaxukluth (
Androgynous Offspring of Azathoth) is one of the
Seed-Spawn of
Azathoth, grown to adulthood and monstrous proportions. In appearance, Cxaxukluth resembles something of a cross between Azathoth and
Ubbo-Sathla: an amorphous, writhing mass of bubbling, nuclear, protoplasmic-gel. He normally dwells alone within an unnamed dimension beyond time and space, unless disturbed or summoned away.
Daoloth Daoloth dwells in dimensions beyond the three we know, and his astrologer-priests are said to see the past and future and even how objects extend to and travel between different dimensions. :"Not shapeless, but so complex that the eye could recognize no describable shape. There were hemispheres and shining metal, coupled by long plastic rods. The rods were of a flat gray color, so that he could not make out which were nearer; they merged into a flat mass from which protruded individual cylinders. As he looked at it, he had a curious feeling that eyes gleamed from between these rods; but wherever he glanced at the construction, he saw only the spaces between them." —
Ramsey Campbell,
The Render of the Veils Not particularly evil, Daoloth still causes harm among humans. His undescribable shape causes men to go mad at the sight of him—thus, he must be summoned in pitch black. If not held in some sort of magic containment he continues to expand. If one found themself enveloped by this god, they are transported to utterly bizarre and remote worlds where said person usually meets their fate. Daoloth worship is rather rare on Earth.
Darkness Darkness (
Magnum Tenebrosum,
The Unnamed Darkness) is a mysterious entity spawned by
Azathoth, and is the progenitor of
Shub-Niggurath.
D'endrrah ''D'endrrah'' Usually The Hydra is treated as a Great Old One.
Ialdagorth Ialdagorth (
The Dark Devourer) is both the cousin and servant of
Azathoth, appearing as a black, shapeless, malevolent mist. The sight of such a fiend is unsettling if not traumatizing.
Kaajh'Kaalbh Kaajh'Kaalbh is a lesser Outer God, servitor of
Azathoth, but secluded in a parallel chaotic-dimension where everything is unstable. The god itself is constantly formed or disrupted and has no true form at all. Whoever attempts summoning this entity needs the aid of a
dimensional shambler, and the deity may manifest in a variety of forms, often as an immense
lava lake or a vast pool of solidified
quicksilver.
Kaalut Kaalut (
The Ultimate Abomination or
The Dream-Death) is likely a gigantic larva-like horror, dwelling in the nebulous realm of K'gil'mnon, along with the Gharoides, its parasitic insectoid servants.
Lu-Kthu Lu-Kthu (
Birth-womb of the Great Old Ones or
Lew-Kthew) is a titanic, planet-sized mass of entrails and internal organs. On closer examination it appears a wet, warty globe, covered with countless ovoid pustules and spider-webbed with a network of long, narrow tunnels. Each pustule bears the larva of a Great Old One.
Mh'ithrha An invisible wolf-like fiend similar to
Fenrir of Norse mythology (if not coincident). Mh'ithrha (
Arch-Lord of Tindalos) is the lord of the
Hounds of Tindalos, and the most powerful. Although not an actual
Outer God as such, its form and astounding powers defy standard classification. Mh'ithra's eternal battle with
Yog-Sothoth is said to be legendary.
Mlandoth and Mril Thorion Mlandoth is a primal entity or force, not dissimilar to the Nameless Mist or Darkness, although it is uncertain if it is a place, conscious being, or an inconceivable maelstrom of unknown forces and properties outside the perceptible cosmos. It is mentioned in Uralte Schrecken as a kind of prime archetype from which all mythical god-heads are derived. According to the cycle surrounding these beings, they are a sort of cosmic
yin and yang, whose meeting resulted in the creation of all things (although Azathoth is usually attributed to this). Their joinings routinely create and destroy matter and entities. One of the beings created in this way was the inimical Outer God Ngyr-Korath. Mril Thorion is an Outer God who, along with Mlandoth, serve as Yin and Yang. Mlandoth and Mril Thorion were created by Walter C. DeBill Jr., but were suggested years earlier by Clark Ashton Smith. Walter C. DeBill Jr. is an author of horror and science fiction short stories and a contributor to the Cthulhu Mythos. He created the parallel Mlandoth Cycle.
Mother of Pus A Lesser Outer God composed of slime, tentacles, eyes, and mouths. The Mother of Pus was spawned through an obscene mating between a human and
Shub-Niggurath. When summoned to Earth, the Mother of Pus seeks refuge in pools of stagnant, foul water.
Mynoghra A succubus-like demon with alien traits and tentacles in place of hair. She is also known as "She-Daemon of the Shadows". She is mentioned as a cousin of the Outer God Nyarlathotep in the O’Khymer Revelations. She has not been imprisoned, but unlike her cousin, she does not serve as a messenger. Hell-Hounds, which were born of Mynoghra and Shub-Niggurath, are believed to be an ancestor of the Hounds of Tindalos. They serve Mynoghra. Like her cousin, she makes contracts with people and seeks to bring them down. To her, human life is a delicious repast.
The Nameless Mist The Nameless Mist (
Magnum Innominandum, ''Nyog' Sothep'') is a "misty, shapeless thing" spawned by
Azathoth, and is the progenitor of
Yog-Sothoth.
Ngyr-Korath Ngyr-Korath (
The Ultimate Abomination or
The Dream-Death) is a dark blue-green mist that causes a sense of terror as it approaches. Once close, an eye of flame forms within. He spawned by fission the Great Old One (or the avatar of) 'Ymnar, and his nemesis is the Elder God
Paighon. He coincides with the entity known as the
Magnum Tenebrosum.
Nyarlathotep First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop role-playing games making use of the Cthulhu Mythos. Later writers describe him as one of the Outer Gods. He is a shape-shifter with a thousand forms, most of them maddeningly horrific to humans.
Nyctelios Once an Elder God, Nyctelios has been punished by his peers—especially
Nodens—for having created a race of foul servitors. He has been permanently banished from the Elder Gods' Olympus and imprisoned beneath the eastern
Mediterranean Sea, near
Greece, in a dark, basalt-built citadel named
Atheron. However the exiled deity is not dead but just sleeping, and one day he will rise again from his abyss manifesting himself as a blue, six-meter-tall,
cyclops-like monstrosity, with the bulk of his body covered entirely in crawling worms.
Ny-Rakath A goat-like fiendish horror with bat wings and multiple horns, mentioned as the brother of
Shub-Niggurath.
Olkoth Olkoth (
God of the Celestial Arcs) appears as a demoniacal god-like entity able to reincarnate in human bodies if the stars are right (sort of a "Cthulhian"
Antichrist). Olkoth may emerge in our dimension through an eyeless, grotesque statue of the
Virgin Mary.
Shabbith-Ka Shabbith-Ka appears as a shapeless, roughly man-sized purplish aura, spitting and crackling with powerful electrical arcs. A sense of power, malignancy, and intelligence accompanies it and persons able to gaze at its form long enough can see a rudimentary face or faces within the glowing mass.
Shub-Niggurath Star Mother The Star Mother, also called "The Great Mother Of All", appears as a chunk of yellow-green stone about the size of an infant. Its shape suggests a plump, huge-breasted, faceless female figure. From it extend dozens of pencil-thin root-like strands. It is one of the
Larvae of the Other Gods and has no cult, although served by
zombie slaves.
Suc'Naath Suc'Naath is one of the mindless Lesser Outer God which twist and dance in the court of
Azathoth. It appears as a formless spinning
hurricane-like thing with strings of violet and golden colors across its shape, constantly emitting sickening smacking and screeching noises while showing pain-stricken faces across its body. Suc'Naath's essence is currently divided into three parts, one in a comet called
Aiin, the other in some sort of statue located somewhere in the world, while the third has been genetically passed on for eons through prehuman, and now human races of Earth, mostly in the Middle East. The carriers of the Outer God's powers are said to have done great acts of magic and/or to have been insane. If these three parts are ever to be combined, Suc'Naath will be freed. This entity is served by a small Middle-Eastern cult known as the ''Golden Hands of Suc'Naath'', who collect deranged intellectuals and trained assassins who wish to set Suc'Naath free (they may have connections to the old
Hashashin cult as well).
Tru'nembra Tru'nembra (
The Angel of Music) is the name given in the
Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in
H. P. Lovecraft's novel "
The Music of Erich Zann". It has no shape but manifests as haunting music.
Tulzscha Tulzscha (
The Green Flame) is the name given in the
Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in H. P. Lovecraft's story "
The Festival". Tulzscha appears as a blazing green ball of flame, dancing with its Lesser Outer Gods at the court of
Azathoth. Called to our world, it assumes a gaseous form, penetrates the planet to the core, then erupts from below as a pillar of flame. It cannot move from where it emerges.
Ubbo-Sathla Uvhash Uvhash (
The Blood-Mad god of the Void) appears as a colossal, vampiric, red mass of both tentacles and eyes. It dwells within the realm of
Rhylkos, which matches with the red planet
Mars, and whoever summons Uvhash witnesses an atrocious death. He has affinities with the
star vampires, and is rumored to have been one of mad emperor
Caligula's eldritch sponsors as well. There is enmity with both the Elder God
Nodens and the Great Old One or Outer God Gi-Hoveg.
Xa'ligha Xa'ligha (
Master of the Twisted Sound or
Demon of Dissonance) is an entity made of maddening sound, somehow similar to ''Tru'Nembra''. There is some affinity with the Great Old One
Hastur.
Xathagorra Xathagorra (
The Avenger,
The Spawn of Chaos) is the son of Azathoth. He has a purple body, leathery wings, webbed hands, and countless tentacles. He serves the Outer Gods and assists them in their avenging. In fact, in “The Fleece of Yaggar,” he carries out Shub-Niggurath’s vengeance.
Xexanoth Xexanoth is a fictional character from
Clark Ashton Smith's
Cthulhu Mythos work. It appears only once in "The Chain of Aforgomon", where it is summoned by the main character. Apparently, Xexanoth is the bane and mortal enemy of the time god
Aforgomon and, because of Aforgomon likely being an
avatar of the Outer God
Yog-Sothoth, is probably an Elder or Outer God.
Ycnàgnnisssz Ycnàgnnisssz is a black, festering, amorphous mass that constantly blasts and erupts violently, spewing out bits of churning lava-like material. She spawned the Great Old One
Zstylzhemgni.
Yhoundeh Yibb-Tstll A gigantic, bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes, wearing a green robe, this horrible deity sees all time and space as it slowly rotates in the centre of its clearing within the
Jungle of Kled in Earth's
Dreamlands. Beneath its billowing cloak are a multitude of
nightgaunts, suckling and clutching at its breasts. Having a close connection to the Great Old One Bugg-Shash, so should Yibb-Tstll be regarded as a Great Old One—specifically in the
Drowners group introduced by
Brian Lumley, parasitic alien entities which thrive by vampirizing the
Great Old Ones themselves—though in RPG materials she is classed as an "Outer God".
Yidhra Yidhra (
The Dream Witch or
Yee-Tho-Rah) usually appears as a youthful, attractive, earthly female, though her shape may vary. Yidhra has been on Earth since the first microorganisms appeared and is immortal. To survive in a changing environment, she gained the ability to take on the characteristics of any creature that she devoured. Over time, Yidhra split herself into different aspects, though each part shares her consciousness. Yidhra is served by devoted cults found in such widely separated places as
Myanmar,
Chad,
Laos,
Sumer,
New Mexico, and
Texas. Members of Yidhra's cult can gain immortality by merging with her, though they become somewhat like Yidhra as a consequence. Those who serve her are also promised plentiful harvests and healthy livestock. She usually conceals her true form behind a powerful illusion, appearing as a comely young woman; only favored members of her cult can see her as she actually is.
Yiggrath Yiggrath (
the Unborn and Undying,
the Hyper-Relativistic Nightmare) is a deity feared by the Phyterians, an amphibian-like race that flourished on Gamma Eridani4 over 60,000 years ago. He is believed to be an entity from an anti-universe that exists parallel to the known universe, and his body is composed of a strange substance—akin to dark electromagnetism—that lies between the known universe and the anti-universe. He appears when a long night lasting several days descends upon the location where a 15- to 20-foot-tall, goat-like skull artifact made of dark electromagnetism exists, and carries out a mass slaughter known as the “time of the skinturning.” Any creature that touches the skull is subjected to visions of the countless massacres Yiggrath has committed in the past, and is subsequently summoned back to the skull through dreams. Furthermore, the mere presence of the skull invites plague. A gigantic gargoyle with skin as black as glossy obsidian—in short, the quintessential image of a Western demon. It stands 3 miles tall and possesses massive wings that stretch from one horizon to the other. Yiggrath appears in Tim Curran's short story “When Yiggrath Comes.”
Yog-Sothoth suggested Lovecraft's description of Yog-Sothoth as a conglomeration of "malignant globes" may have been inspired by the
qlippoth. The
cosmic entity Yog-Sothoth was first mentioned in
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (written
1927, first published
1941). The being is said to take the form of a conglomeration of glowing
spheres. It is an
all-knowing deity, which means it knows the past, present, and future, and its nature is different from any other class of Cthulhu Mythos deities. Yog-Sothoth is
coterminous with all time and space, yet is supposedly locked outside of the universe we inhabit. Its cosmic nature is hinted at in this passage from "
Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (
1934) by Lovecraft and
E. Hoffmann Price: It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self—not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence's whole unbounded sweep—the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of earth have whispered of as Yog-Sothoth, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of
Yuggoth worship as the Beyond-One, and which the vaporous brains of the
spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable Sign… Yog-Sothoth sees all and knows all. To "please" this deity could bring knowledge of many things. However, like most beings in the mythos, to see it or learn too much about it is to court disaster. Some authors state that the favor of the god requires a human sacrifice or eternal servitude. According to the genealogy H. P. Lovecraft devised for his characters (later published as "Letter 617" in
Selected Letters), Yog-Sothoth is the offspring of the
Nameless Mists, which were born of the deity
Azathoth. Yog-Sothoth mated with
Shub-Niggurath to produce the twin deities
Nug and Yeb, while Nug sired
Cthulhu through
parthenogenesis. In Lovecraft's short story "
The Dunwich Horror", Yog-Sothoth impregnates a mortal woman,
Lavinia Whateley, who then gives birth to twin sons: the humanoid
Wilbur Whateley and his more monstrous unnamed brother. In
Anders Fager's short story "Grandmother's Journey", a tribe of dog or wolf-like humans (analog to the "ghouls" of the Lovecraftian mythos) is said to have sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth to become "different". In Fager's "Herr Goering's Artifact", Yog-Sothoth is invoked to protect a couple of witches from Father
Dagon. Yog-Sothoth has some connection to the mysterious
Old Ones mentioned in "The Dunwich Horror" (
1929), but their nature, their number, and their connection to Yog-Sothoth are unknown. Nonetheless, they are probably allied to him in some way, since Wilbur Whateley, the half-human son of Yog-Sothoth, tried to summon them so that they could control Wilbur's more tainted twin and make it reproduce. At the end of Lovecraft's last story, "
The Haunter of the Dark", the protagonist Robert Blake calls on Yog-Sothoth to save him from the eponymous malign entity that he has let loose.
Yomagn'tho Yomagn'tho (
The Feaster from the Stars,
That Which Relentlessly Waits Outside) is a malevolent being who wishes nothing more than the destruction of humanity for unknown reasons. He waits in his home dimension in
Pherkard, until he is summoned to Earth. When first summoned, Yomagn'tho appears as a small ball of fire that quickly expands to a large circle of fire with three flaming inner petals. The reptilian burrowing folk, the
Rhygntu, are known to worship this malignant deity. ==Elder Gods==