Great Ones
Of dreamlands. Also known as Earth's gods, the Elder Ones (3), and the gods of Earth. Of old, they played on many mountain peaks, but to avoid being spied upon by men, they withdrew to only the highest peaks, and finally to Kadath in the cold waste. Now they have grown stern, having no higher peak whereto flee [HPL Other (online text)].
When homesick, they sometimes still travel in cloud-ships to visit the peaks where they were wont to play [Other]. On such peaks they dance reminiscently when the moon is above and the clouds beneath [Kadath (online text)]. Men have mistaken their tears for rain, and their sighs for the wind [Other]. On Hatheg-Kla, Barzai the Wise heard Earth's gods sing in revelry, and expected to shortly see them dancing and howling in the moonlight [Kadath].
Earth's gods are actively worshipped in dreamland, such as in Ulthar at the Temple of the Elder Ones, where Atal is priest; at Celephaïs, where Nath-Horthath is chiefly worshipped, but all the Great Ones are mentioned in diurnal prayers; and at the Temple of the Elder Ones in Inganok. The priests and people of Inganok were faithful in keeping the rhythms of the Great Ones using bells, horns, viols, voices, and carefully timed bursts of flame. Carter prayed to them for aid in visiting his sunset city. When he was trapped in the dark, Carter prayed to the Great Ones for such help as they might afford. [Kadath]
Atal said that Earth's gods rule feebly only our own dreamland, having no power or habitation elsewhere; that is, not in the dreamlands around other planets, and perhaps not in the waking world even on Earth. This is suggested also by their being called the "gods of dream." Yet within Earth's dreamland, the Great Ones have real power, for they did not allow Randolph Carter to enter the sunset city in his dreams, and later prevented him from dreaming of it any further. Earth's gods banished the gugs to caverns after learning of some abomination they had committed. No gug dares lift the stone door to the forest because of the Great Ones' curse, nor can they ever emerge though that portal. [Kadath]
Atal said that although they might heed a man's prayer if in good humor, one most not think of climbing to their stronghold. It is much better to let all gods alone except in tactful prayers. The high-priest in Celephaïs said that Earth's gods are testy and capricious. Nyarlathotep said they are selfish. [Kadath]
Yet Earth's gods are also said to be mild, and Carter knew that Earth's gods are not beyond a mortal's power to cope with [Kadath].
Perhaps they seem so by contrast with the Other Gods who protect them [Other, Kadath]. Nyarlathotep said it is unlawful for men to see the Great Ones . A lava- filled valley near Ngranek marks where the Other Gods punished men who had angered the Great Ones. Kuranes said the Great Ones were very dangerous creatures to seek out, and that the Other Gods had strange ways of protecting them from impertinent curiousity. [Kadath]
The Great Ones fear the night-gaunts, apparently because the latter own not Nyarlathotep as their lord, but only Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. [Kadath]
The only sign left by Earth's Gods is a carven image on Mt. Ngranek [Other], where the gods once danced [Kadath]. Atal said it is a likeness of the features of Earth's gods; the features of that image are very strange, so that one might easily recognize them. The haughty and majestic image has long narrow eyes, long-lobed ears, thin nose and pointed chin. These features recur among the human population near areas frequented by Earth's gods, for the younger among them often espouse the daughters of men. Carter had seen sailors with such features in the seaport of Celephaïs, whence they sailed from the north; Carter concluded that they came from a land near the onyx castle of the Great Ones. These were the strange-faced sailors and onyx-traders of Inganok, who had in them the blood of the Great Ones. Beyond the Gate of Caravans outside Inganok, Carter met a cotter who seemed to be one of the Great Ones living in disguise among men, or else someone with full nine-tenths of their blood. Carter met onyx-quarry men whose knowledge of olden days and the habits of the gods seemed to be latent memories from their sires the Great Ones. [Kadath]
The Great Ones live in an onyx castle in unknown Kadath in the cold waste with a great throne room. Their onyx castle has horrible domed towers in incalculable tiers and clusters beyond any dreamable workmanship of man; the size of the steps implies beings many times larger than human. [Kadath]
Carter meant to find unknown Kadath and say a prayer before the faces of the Great Ones in their onyx castle. But when Carter arrived there, he found the throne room empty of the Great Ones. Nyarlathotep said that the Great Ones had gone to the sunset city of Carters' dreams, because it is a city more lovely than all the phantoms that have gone before. Nyarlathotep said that it is not well that earth's gods leave their thrones for the spider to spin on, and their realm for Others to sway in the dark manner of Others. It is not clear why the Other Gods would care about the "Others" taking over dreamland, or even what manner of being the Others are. For that matter, Nyarlathotep's speech turns out to be a trap, so it is hard to tell how much credence to give to any of it. After failing to ensnare Carter in Azathoth's ultimate abyss, Nyarlathotep abruptly snatches Earth's gods back to Kadath from their revels in the marvellous sunset city. In general, it seems clear that Earth's gods are inferior in power to their supposed protectors, the Other Gods, but the full nature of the relationship between these groups of beings is never really explained. [Kadath]
During a later adventure, Randolph Carter learned that the "gods of men" are part of an infinitesimal phase of an infinitesimal level of being [Gates (online text)]; these "gods of men" might be the same as the Great Ones.
Include: Nath-Horthath
Synonyms: Elder Ones (3)
Compare with: Other Gods
The term "Great Ones" is also used to refer to other beings.
Dan Harrop dreamed of serving the Great Ones [AWD Whippoorwills]. In this context, "Great Ones" seems to be a reference to the evil gods, the Great Old Ones (3).
When Nyarlathotep comes out of the desert, the Great Ones will come pulsing from the outer gulf [RB Faceless]. In this context, "Great Ones" seems likely to be a reference to the Other Gods, since Nyarlathotep is the soul and messenger of the Other Gods, and they live in the awful voids outside the ordered universe.
Kenneth Scott used the term "Great Ones" to refer to aliens who have come down to us in folklore as gods or demons. The Hydra (1) is one example. [HK Hydra (online text)]
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