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Howard Phillips Lovecraft, or H. P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American horror writer who influenced the genre greatly. Instead of traditional villains, he created "horrors": indescribable, indefinable and inconceivable beings whose existence contradicts the laws of physics and whose aspect alone is beyond human logic; as such, they can induce madness by their mere presence.

Although malevolent by human standards, most of Lovecraft's "horrors" are beings that are either insane or too alien for humans to understand. Furthermore, none of them are good or evil in the conventional sense and are more akin to natural beings. Very few of them are desirable to be around, however and thus are similar to villains in the sense of being harmful and generally a threat to the world at large.

The term "Cosmic Horror", also known as Eldritch Abominations, Lovecraftian Horrors or Eldritch Horrors applies to otherworldly entities beyond rationalization, too alien from "normal" flesh-and-blood beings to be described properly, and most often madness-inducing. Alternatively, beings whose aspect is clearly stated to be an approximation of what they really are, something that humans can process while their real form is inconceivable.

They can have been mortals or former humans who were transformed into atrocious, unfathomable beings way beyond the usual demonic "True Form" of a Final Boss, willingly or not. They might be slightly lower scale, closer to what can be conceived in appearance, but still unfathomable. However, they will always be way beyond normal existence and understanding. At the very least, they must be as close as possible to such beings.

No matter how nightmarish they are, villains who are merely gigantic and hideous, an amalgamation of creatures and/or are cataclysmic aliens do NOT fit in this category. However, some Aliens can still be Lovecraftian horrors (e.g. Galactus, and Evolt). Cosmic Entities and Energy Beings can (and frequently do) overlap with Lovecraftian Horrors, in fact Deities can overlap in some cases but are distinct types of villains. The difference with them is their true form can not be known, unlike the two others.

Also, Lovecraftian Horrors are rarely Pure Evil as they may not have a sense of right and wrong for their mindset, however, it's nonetheless possible for them to qualify if they have morals and/or meet the criteria (e.g. Scarlet King, Cursa, The End, The Overlord, Evolt, It, Heart of Ender, The Lich, The Darkness (Skylanders) and most versions of Nyarlathotep).