Cthulhu

The name Cthulhu was invented by H. P. Lovecraft in 1926 and the character was introduced in the 1928 short story "The Call of Cthulhu" (Weird Tales). In Lovecraft's fiction Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones—ancient, prehuman intelligences whose existence predates human history. August Derleth later reinterpreted and systematized Lovecraft's material, grouping Cthulhu among water‑associated beings and positing elemental oppositions (e.g., Hastur as an air‑associated counterforce), a framing that is Derleth's interpretive addition rather than Lovecraft's original scheme.

Lovecraft's text describes Cthulhu as "a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind." Other passages portray it as a pulpy, tentacled head atop a grotesque, scaly body with rudimentary wings; some sources suggest vast scale (passages characterize it as mountainous or hundreds of meters tall). The fiction also stresses indescribability—several lines emphasize that human language and perception are inadequate to fully render the Thing.

Within the canonical story Cthulhu is said to be imprisoned or hibernating in the submerged city R'lyeh but nonetheless acts as a source of "constant subconscious anxiety" for humanity and as an object of cult worship. The being is described as immensely ancient (descriptions suggest ages of extreme antiquity) and as having cast spells preserving the Great Old Ones until their reawakening. Other mythos creatures (e.g., Deep Ones, Mi‑Go, and the "star‑spawn of Cthulhu") are associated with or worship Cthulhu; the narrative asserts an eventual threat of return when Cthulhu will reawaken. Contemporary summaries often describe the character as malevolent, though Lovecraft's original emphasis includes cosmic indifference and incomprehensibility as central traits.