Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep is known as the Crawling Chaos [HPL Nyarlathotep (online text), Test (online text), Kadath (online text)]. He is a horror with infinite shapes. He is the soul and messenger of the Other Gods. Since the Other Gods are protectors of the Great Ones, Nyarlathotep often comes to the aid of the Great Ones at the crucial moment . Yet the nature of this "protection" seems far from benevolent; thus, when it suits him, Nyarlathotep abruptly snatches the Great Ones back from their revels in the sunset city, and taunts them insolently. [Kadath (online text)]

The violet gas S'ngac told Kuranes terrible things of the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep [Kadath (online text)].

Nyarlathotep was an offspring of Azathoth. He was also the founding member of the Viburnia gens in ancient Rome. [HPL Family (online text)]

Egyptian Connections

Robert Blake wrote that Nyarlathotep took the form of man in antique and shadowy Khem (that is, Egypt) [Haunter (online text)]. And Khephnes, an Egyptian of the 14th Dynasty, told Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee the hideous secret of Nyarlathotep [Time (online text)].

The name "Nyarlathotep" may be partly Egyptian in origin. The suffix "-hotep" was used in some Ancient Egyptian names and meant "is satisfied," as in "Amenhotep," meaning "Amen is satisfied." If "Nyarlathotep" follows a similar pattern, then perhaps "Nyarlat" is the name of some deity of whom Nyarlathotep was taken to be an avatar. I have found no references to Egyptian deities with names like "Nyarlat"; it may be of non-human origin, or perhaps its shocking implications led later dynasties to efface the name from all Egyptian records and monuments.

Black Man of the Witch Cult

After one of his dreams of Brown Jenkin, Walter Gilman remembers that it had mentioned the name Nyarlathotep [WitchHouse (online text)]. Walter Gilman and Frank Elwood compare the Black Man of the witch cult with the Nyarlathotep of the Necronomicon, as each signifies the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers [WitchHouse (online text)].

Haunter of the Dark

Robert Blake identifies the Haunter of the Dark as an avatar of Nyarlathotep [Haunter (online text)]. See: Haunter of the Dark.

Devotees

Nyarlathotep is one of the deities revered by the Outer Ones. Thus, during a May-Eve rite in a Vermont cave, an Outer One and a human recite a liturgy with references to Nyarlathotep, who is referred to as the Mighty Messenger, Great Messenger, Father of the Million Favored Ones, and fragmentarily as "Stalker among..." [Whisperer (online text)]. The complete phrase is given elsewhere as Stalker Among the Stars [RB Faceless]. Nyarlathotep is referred to as "bringer of strange joy to Yuggoth through the void," a phrase which confirms the alliance between Nyarlathotep and the Outer Ones, who had colonized Yuggoth. An Outer One, masquerading as Henry Akeley, speaks of Nyarlathotep and other primal deities . The Outer Ones refer briefly to Nyarlathotep again while discussing plans in Akeley's house. [HPL Whisperer (online text)]

Capt. George Lawton mentions Nyarlathotep in his ravings after visiting K'n-yan [Mound (online text)]. This seems to imply that the Old Ones (3) of K'n-yan are devotees of Nyarlathotep.

The gugs make strange sacrifices to the Other Gods and the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep [Kadath (online text)].

The high priest not to be described prays to the Other Gods and Nyarlathotep [Kadath (online text)].

It is Nyarlathotep that the fungous moon-beasts serve [Kadath (online text)].

Nemesis of Randolph Carter

Nyarlathotep arranges for Randolph Carter's capture and transport to the moon's dark side; and following Carter's rescue by the cats, fruitlessly waits in a black cave on a far unhallowed summit of the moon-mountains. Later, Carter is kidnapped again and taken to the monastery of the high priest not to be described in Leng, for the purpose of some dread rendezvous with monstrous Nyarlathotep. When Carter reaches Kadath, he feels that his visit had been expected, and wonders how close a watch had all along been kept upon him by the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep.

Nyarlathotep tells Carter that it is not lawful for men to see the Great Ones. He says that the Great Ones had left Kadath to live in the fabulous sunset-city of Carter's dreams. Nyarlathotep asks Carter to go to the sunset city and persuade the Great Ones to return. But this is all a ruse, for the shantak provided by Nyarlathotep takes Carter instead toward infinity's center where dwells the mindless daemon-sultan Azathoth. In this incident, Nyarlathotep appears as a suave, flattering and devious trickster. Strangely, he also provides Randolph Carter with a nugget of true insight, by revealing that Carter's dream city is the sum of New England scenes that Carter had seen and loved in his youth. [Kadath (online text)]

Rivals and Dissenters

The night-gaunts own not Nyarlathotep but hoary Nodens as their lord, and the ghouls have no masters. Yet the Other Gods can control the ghouls and night-gaunts when they must. [Kadath (online text)]

Nodens himself may be beyond the power of Nyarlathotep. After Nyarlathotep tries to send Carter to his doom in the chaos of Azathoth, Nodens bellows guidance to Carter, and raises a howl of triumph when Carter escapes. [Kadath (online text)]

Prophecies

The liturgy overheard by Akeley in Vermont includes a prophecy that Nyarlathotep will come down to our world and put on "the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides" [Whisperer (online text)].

The sonnet "Nyarlathotep" and the prose poem Nyarlathotep (online text) both read like a prophecies or visions of Nyarlathotep's future coming to Earth.

The sonnet "Nyarlathotep" begins "And at last from inner Egypt came / The strange dark One to whom the fellahs bowed" [Fungi (online text) XXI]. In this context, fellahs appears to be a reference to the native population of Egypt (as opposed to the later Islamic Arab conquerors). The phrase "inner Egypt" is probably also a racial reference rather than a geographic one. Similarly, the prose poem Nyarlathotep (online text) says "And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh" [Nyarlathotep (online text)].

Similarly, in Randolph Carter's dream-quest, Nyarlathotep appeared in form of a tall, slim figure with dark skin and the youthful face of an antique Pharaoh. He sports colorful garb; the sonnet has him "wrapped in fabrics red as sunset flame" while to Carter he appears "gay with prismatic robes and crown with a golden pshent that glowed with inherent light".The pshent was the double crown that symbolized the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt in ancient times. [Kadath (online text)]

After establishing Nyarlathotep's Egyptian origin, the sonnet and prose poem diverge somewhat, though they could be referring to different portions of the same sequence of events. In the prose poem, Nyarlathotep gives science lectures and electrical displays which send the spectators away speechless. Thereafter, the people are haunted by nightmares. Audience members feel compelled to march in columns to various underground destinations, and the narrator is overwhelmed by the sound of drumming and flutes that accompany the ultimate gods—"the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep" [Nyarlathotep (online text)].

In the sonnet, Nyarlathotep also becomes famous and develops a cult-like following: "Throngs pressed around, frantic for his commands, / But leaving, could not tell what they had heard." There is no reference to the science demonstrations or the nightmares. Nyarlathotep's advent is soon followed by the uplifting of lost cities from the sea (perhaps R'lyeh?) and "mad auroras" that destroy mankind's cities. At last, Earth itself is destroyed: "Then, crushing what he chanced to mould in play, The idiot Chaos blew Earth's dust away" [Fungi (online text) XXI]. Note that the phrase "idiot Chaos" is probably not a reference to Nyarlathotep; for, although known as the Crawling Chaos, he is never portrayed as an idiot. Rather, the phrase is likely a reference to the mindless daemon-sultan, Azathoth, and the mindless Other Gods of whom Nyarlathotep is the soul and messenger.

Location

According to the liturgy overheard by Akeley, Nyarlathotep will come from the world of Seven Suns [Whisperer (online text)].

Delapore refers to "those grinning caverns of the earth's centre where Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly in the darkness to the piping of two amorphous idiot flute players" [Rats (online text)]. This is an odd passage, which seems to assign Nyarlathotep the qualities otherwise attributed to Azathoth, but locates him at the earth's core rather than the center of Ultimate Chaos where Azathoth dwells. The prose poem Nyarlathotep (online text) also associates him with subterranean places, for one of the columns of hypnotized people files into a subway entrance, and another descends into a gulf in a snowy landscape where the narrator has his epiphany of Nyarlathotep.

It is possible that underground places are significant only because they are dark, since Nyarlathotep's avatar the Haunter of the Dark could manifest only in darkness.

In Leng's northward reaches are certain white hemispherical buildings on curious knolls, which folklore associates with the Other Gods and Nyarlathotep [Kadath (online text)].

Nyarlathotep in Derleth Stories

Nyarlathotep is one of the Great Old Ones (3) aka Ancient Ones (2) or Old Ones (4) who rebelled against the Elder Gods (1) [AWD Sky, Space, Survivor (online text), Valley (online text)].

Nyarlathotep is the Mighty Messenger of the Great Old Ones (3) [Gable (online text), Hastur, Island, Keeper, Lamp (online text), Lurker, Space].

Nyarlathotep is associated with the Earth element [Sky]. Since the banishment of the Great Old Ones (3), Nyarlathotep abides in darkness [Gorge], in hidden places within the earth. [Curwen]

His form is changeable: Abdul Alhazred describes Nyarlathotep as faceless, whereas Ludvig Prinn describes him as the all-seeing eye, and Von Junzt says that he is adorned with tentacles. [Lurker] In the Wood of N'gai, Nyarlathotep appeared as a changeable protoplasmic mass with a blank face. [Dweller] He walks the star-spaces in the semblance of man [Hastur] and can convincingly impersonate humans [Dweller].

He is often accompanied by two lesser, amorphous beings who produced music with flute-like instruments [Dweller, Lurker].

There are amorphous spawn who serve the mad, faceless Nyarlathotep, and who dwell with him in hidden places within the earth. [Curwen]

When the Great Old Ones (3) rebel and cause a holocaust, Nyarlathotep shall howl forever in the darkness where he abideth. [Curwen, Keeper, Lurker, Sky, Space]. When the Great Old Ones (3) return, Nyarlathotep shall "carry the word" to all of them and their minions [Lurker].

In the area of New Dunnich/Dunwich, the Indian Quamis prayed to Narlato or Narlotep. Jonathan Bishop was troubled by winged creatures that he thought might be servants of Nyarlathotep. Ambrose Dewart called out to Nyarlathotep. [Lurker]

Nyarlathotep repeatedly manifested as the Dweller in Darkness at a stone slab in the Wood of N'gai, near Rick's Lake in north central Wisconsin. Either the slab or something else in the woods made it possible for Nyarlathotep to come to earth out of interstellar space. He abducted Father Piregard and apparently kept him alive for three centuries. He was seen in the lake by pilot Joseph X. Castleton, and at the slab by the half-breed Old Peter. Around 1940 he carried off Prof. Upton Gardner, and briefly impersonated Gardner in an attempt to fool his colleagues Laird Dorgan and Jack. Nyarlathotep was apparently banished, and his earth-haven permanently destroyed, when Dorgan summoned the fire-being Cthugha, who is said to be the only entity that Nyarlathotep fears. [Dweller]

Amos Tuttle's papers mentioned Nyarlathotep [Hastur].

Dan Harrop imagined he heard the name of Nyarlathotep being chanted [Whippoorwills].

H. P. Lovecraft's fiction revealed information about the Nyarlathotep cult. Laban Shrewsbury mentioned Nyarlathotep and his cult. [Curwen]

Nyarlathotep in Bloch Stories

Nyarlathotep was the oldest god of all Egypt. He originally came out of the parched wastelands and was thereby known as Lord of the Desert. He was the God of Resurrection, and the Black Messenger of Karneter, the Master of Evil, the Mighty Messenger, the Stalker among the Stars. He was the original ruler of the Underworld and the patron of sorcery and the black arts. [RB Faceless]

He was pictured as a dark, faceless man in black, with a staff of serpents. In another form, he was a sphinx with hyena body and vulture wings, an anthropomorphic head with no face, and a triple crown with eldritch designs. [Faceless]

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh Nephren-Ka instituted the worship of Nyarlathotep. His cult involved human sacrifice, anthropomancy (divination using the entrails of a sacrificed person), and necrophilia. [Fane] According to Ludvig Prinn, a never-mentioned abomination caused the symbol and story of Nyarlathotep to be forgotten. [Sebek]

Following a revolt, all signs of the cult of Nyarlathotep were erased [Fane]. His temples were demolished, his statues destroyed, and his priesthood crucified. All references to the cult were banned, and its records destroyed. His name was deleted from the Book of the Dead and all other sacred manuscripts. His attributes were reassigned to milder deities such as Thoth, Set, Bubastis and Sebek. [Faceless]

But a secret priesthood continued to exist up to modern times. [Fane] In desert places, his followers set up idols and continued their naked worship and sacrifices. These spots are avoided by caravans. [Faceless]

Nyarlathotep's followers still wait for the day of his return, when the pyramids will shatter into dust, and temples crumble to ruin. Sunken cities of the sea will rise, and there will be famine and pestilence throughout the land. The stars will change so that the Great Ones can return from the outer gulf. Wild beasts will speak, and prophesy that man shall perish. Nyarlathotep will reappear and lay waste to humanity until none but true believers remain. And he shall bring the olden dead to life. [Faceless]

In modern times, Simon Maglore asked old people near Bridgetown if they had ever heard of Nyarlathotep [Mannikin]. Edgar Gordon dreamed of Nyarlathotep before ever learning of the ancient legends about him. Gordon also dreamed of a being called the Dark One, who is apparently a form of Nyarlathotep. [Demon]

Sometime between 1935 and 1950, the Haunter of the Dark (Nyarlathotep) appeared as Ambrose Dexter to teach humanity to create new atomic weapons that will lead to our doom. [Steeple (online text)]

In the late 20th century, an incarnation of Nyarlathotep called Reverend Nye preached at the Starry Wisdom Temple in Los Angeles, and later brought about the return of Cthulhu. [Strange]

Other Sources

The genealogist Pnom hinted that Nyarlathotep mated with Yhoundeh. [CAS Pnom ]

Peter Mace called on Nyarlathotep as part of a prayer to bring a statue to life. Mace apparently associated Nyarlathotep with the lake of Hali, saying "Hear me, while I walk by the black lake of Hali, O Nyarlathotep." [HC Isle (online text)].

Elaine Ingram and Peter Ingram invoked Nyarlathotep to bring dead people back to life. Nyarlathotep is Lord of Lords; walks in the farthest shadows by the black lakes of Hali; rules midnight forests by the shores of Hali; is ruler of the darkest dwelling places of the far departed. [HC Death (online text)]

A dark-complexioned visitor (possibly Nyarlathotep) from a Middle Eastern country persuaded Howard Lindsay, owner of the Lindsay Paint Company in Innsmouth, to produce something toxic that caused people to become monstrously deformed and violent. [HC Coming]

The tiny man said that the Book includes secrets of "N'hyarlothatep" [HH Guardian].

Boys in the late Elmer Harrod's house heard the name Nyarlathotep chanted from underground. [JVS Dead]

Aka: Black Man; Black Messenger of Karneter; Black One; Blind Ape of Truth; Blind, Faceless One; Dark God; Dark One; Dark Demon; Demon Messenger; Dexter, Ambrose; Dweller in Darkness; Earth Creature; Elder One; Faceless God; Faceless One; God of Resurrection; God of the Desert; Great Messenger; Haunter of the Dark; Howler in the Night; Lord of the Desert; Master of Evil; Mighty Messenger; Nye, Reverend; Old God; Prince of Darkest Dark; Secret One; Stalker Among the Stars.

Return to Cthulhu Universalis Contents Page

Return to CthulhuFiles.com Home Page

Send comments to jfm.baharna@gmail.com.