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“ | The Thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order. A mountain walked or stumbled. If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful. |
„ |
~ H. P. Lovecraft's description of Cthulhu. |
“ | It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train—a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter. | „ |
~ A description of a Shoggoth. |
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. 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 or Lovecraftian 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 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, Evolt, It, Heart of Ender, The Lich, The Darkness (Skylanders) and most versions of Nyarlathotep).
All items (1416)
- The Entity (ECKVA)
- The Entity (It Follows)
- The Entity (Mr. Hopp's Playhouse)
- The Entity (The Entity)
- The Entity (Wes Craven's New Nightmare)
- The Eroder
- The Evil (Unicorn: Warriors Eternal)
- The Expressionless
- The Eyes of the Universe
- The Filth
- The First Evil
- The Firstborn
- The Float
- The Flood (Halo)
- The Forgotten
- The Gaiaphage
- The Giants (Trevor Henderson)
- The Glitch
- The Goat with a Thousand Young
- The Great Intelligence
- The Greedy
- The Grool
- The Hive (MIB)
- The Hive Mind (Dead Space)
- The Hole (Feed Me Billy)
- The Horned Serpent
- The Ice Entity
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- The Infestation
- The Invisible Man (Erma)
- The Iris
- The Jabberwocky (Christina Henry's Alice)
- The Keeper (The Evil Within)
- The Keromet
- The Krasue
- The Lich (Extinct World)
- The Lich (Farmworld)
- The Lich (Prime World)
- The Locust
- The Machine (Madness Combat)
- The Man in the Fields
- The Man in the Wall
- The Man with the Upside-Down Face
- The Mangler
- The Manipulators
- The Martian Serpent
- The Master of the Valley
- The Master With No Name
- The Matron
- The Mirror (CaughtNotSleeping)
- The Mist
- The Monster of Warsaw
- The Mother (Dragon Age)
- The Murray Residence Alternate
- The Muse (Conspiracy Carl)
- The Nervous Houseguest
- The Nothing (Fortnite)
- The One Reborn
- The Operator
- The Overlord
- The Overseer (Kingdom Rush)
- The Parasite (Scorn)
- The Preacher
- The Preeminent
- The Presence (Song of Horror)
- The Presence (Year Zero)
- The Princess (Slay the Princess)
- The Protagonist (Artix Entertainment)
- The Rake (2018)
- The Rake (Creepypasta)
- The Rake (Slenderverse)
- The Rat Queen
- The Raven (Princess Tutu)
- The Red Queen (VAMPYR)
- The Ringleader
- The Rotten
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- The Shadow (Amnesia: The Dark Descent)
- The Shadow (Inkheart)
- The Shadow (Rat-Man)
- The Shadow (Supernatural)
- The Sheep
- The Signer
- The Simulacra
- The Sisters of the Ever-Sharpening Blade
- The Six-Legged Centaur
- The Slaves of the Flame Undying
- The Sleeper
- The Sleeper (Darkest Dungeon)
- The Smile Entity
- The Smile Room
- The SOUL
- The Spiral
- The Taker of Souls
- The Thing
- The Thing (Hello Neighbor)
- The Toy Box Demon
- The Traveler
- The Trickster (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
- The Trinity
- The Unholy
- The Unknown (Dead by Daylight)
- The Vengeful One
- The Void (Final Fantasy)
- The White Worm
- The Will of Honkai
- The Will of Honkai (Houkai Gakuen 2)
- The Worm That Gnaws In The Night
- The Thing Upstairs
- Thirdspace Aliens
- Thriller
- Thunderbird (Disney)
- Tiamat (Fate/Grand Order)
- Tiamat (Ghostbusters)
- Tierra
- Time Eater
- Titan Watchers
- Titans (Final Space)
- Titans (LittleBigPlanet)
- Toad God
- Tomie Kawakami
- Tommyknockers
- Tooth Fairy (original)
- Tornedron
- Tot Musica
- Transcendent One
- Tren Krom
- Trigger Teddies
- Truckenstein
- Truth (Fullmetal Alchemist)
- Tsathoggua
- Tsukasa Yugi
- Tulzscha
- Tuurngait
- Twilight (Buffyverse)
- Twin Masters
- Tybaulk
- Typhon (mythology)
- Tyrannon the Conqueror
- Tyreen Calypso
- Tzeentch
- Tzitzimimeh
- U-Olga Marie
- Ubbo-Sathla
- Ultimate Being
- Ultimate Evil (Splatterhouse)
- Ultimecia
- Ulyaoth
- Umar
- Umibōzu (folklore)
- Unclean
- Unfriendly Neighbors
- Ungoliant
- Unicron (Dreamwave Armada comic)
- Unicron (Transformers Film Series)
- Unicron (Transformers Reboot Films)
- Unicron (Transformers)
- Unity (DC Animated Universe)
- Unknown (Apollo)
- Unnamed Entity
- Upside Down Man
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- Urgo-Hem
- Urizen (Spawn)
- Ursine
- Uto and Pia
- Uwasa
- V'Ger
- V/H/S Entity
- Vaatu
- Vajra (Macross)
- Vampire Intelligence
- Varus
- Vel'Koz
- Venom (Spider-Man: Web of Shadows)
- Venus Lovelace
- Vertex (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)
- Verzeus the Evil
- Vile King
- Vilemaw
- Vilgax (Ben 10)
- Vincent (Deadstorm Pirates)
- Violengiguar
- Virage Embryo
- Vita Carnis
- Vitellius d'Estera
- Void (Berserk)
- Void (The Amazing World of Gumball)
- Void Lords
- Void Termina
- Voidborn
- Vorlons
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- Vulgyre