Ghatanothoa

Ghatanothoa is said to be the firstborn of Cthulhu. It is infamous for its horrid appearance and its fearsome medusa-like ability which causes a viewer's skin to become hard and leathery but preserves the brain, leaving the victim to go slowly mad trapped within an immobile shell. Among the myriad of deities worshipped in Mu, Ghatanothoa was the most respected as well as the most feared. Prior to the destruction of Mu, Ghatanothoa's cult became the most powerful on the continent.

Some critics have suggested that Ghatanothoa, who first appeared in Lovecraft's story ghostwritten for Hazel Heald, "Out of the Eons", was intended by Lovecraft to be another name for Cthulhu.