The following characters appear in H. P. Lovecraft's story cycle — the Cthulhu Mythos.
Overview: Name. The name of the character appears first. Birth/Death. The date of the character's birth and death (if known) appears in parentheses below the character's name. Ambivalent dates are denoted by a question mark. Description. A brief description of the character follows next. __NOTOC__ Contents:A B C D E F G H I J K L M N P R S T U V W Y Z
A
Alhazred, Abdul (655?–738)
The infamous "mad Arab" credited as the author of Al-Azif (the Necronomicon). He is first mentioned in Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". See Abdul Alhazred.
Akeley, George Goodenough The son of Henry Wentworth Akeley. See "The Whisperer in Darkness".
Akeley, Henry Wentworth (–??)
Vermont folklorist and correspondent of Albert Wilmarth who becomes involved with the Fungi from Yuggoth. See "The Whisperer in Darkness".
Allen, Zadok (c. 1831–1926?)
One of the few completely human residents of Innsmouth. Despite very advanced age, he apparently does not die a natural death, but is dealt with in the uproar set off by the narrator. See "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".
Angell, George Gammell (1857–November 23, 1926)
A Professor Emeritus of Semitic languages at Brown University who researches the worldwide Cthulhu cult. See "The Call of Cthulhu".
Armitage, Dr. Henry (1855–1939/1946?)
Chief librarian at Miskatonic University who confronted the Dunwich Horror. See "The Dunwich Horror".
Ashley, Professor Ferdinand C. Professor of ancient history at Miskatonic University, mentioned in "The Shadow Out of Time".
Atal Resident of Ulthar in the Dreamlands. See "The Other Gods".
Atwood, Professor ( ?? – 1930–31)
Professor of physics at Miskatonic University who accompanied Professor William Dyer on the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica in 1930–31 chronicled in At the Mountains of Madness in which he dies with Professor Lake.
B
Barzai (the Wise) Barzai is high-priest of the Gods of Earth (the Great Ones) in Ulthar and one-time teacher of Atal. See "The Other Gods".
Billington, Alijah Alijah Billington is the heir to Richard Billington's estate in the early 19th century. See The Lurker at the Threshold.
Blake, Robert Harrison A fictional horror writer. See Robert Harrison Blake.
Blayne, Horvath (c. 1925–1948)
A character from August Derleth's 1952 story "The Black Island". Upon being given the Elder Sign by Shrewsbury, he feels an unpleasant sensation from it, and soon realizes that he has Deep One ancestry.
Bowen, Enoch
Bowen is a renowned occultist and archaeologist who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. See "The Haunter of the Dark".
Bran Mak Morn (?–c. 210)
In the fiction of Robert E. Howard, the last king of the Picts. See Bran Mak Morn.
C
Carter, Randolph (1873–1928?)
Boston author, occultist, and legendary "dreamer". See Randolph Carter.
Castaigne, Hildred A New York City resident who after a head injury becomes obsessed with the play The King in Yellow, even producing a translation. He is institutionalized at an asylum for the criminally insane after he tries to kill his brother's fiancée.
Castro
An aged sailor and Cthulhu cultist. See "The Call of Cthulhu".
Chalmers, Halpin (1891–July 3, 1928)
Mystic, esteemed writer of horror fiction, and the victim of a gruesome, unsolved murder. He was born in Partridgeville, New York and was a graduate of Miskatonic University, class of 1918. Later he became the Curator of Archaeology at the Manhattan Museum of Fine Arts in Brooklyn. After Chalmers' death, his fiction became hugely popular. His most famous work is The Secret Watcher (London's Charnel House Press). Posthumous publications about Chalmers include The Collected Letters of Halpin Chalmers and Halpin Chalmers: Voyager of Other and Many Dimensions, a biography by Fred Carstairs.
Chandraputra, Swami Sunand Disguise of Randolph Carter.
Clarendon, Dr. Alfred An American physician who had dreamed of conquering fever and ended up a murderous servant of inhuman powers.
Colum, Nayland A London writer who vanishes from a ship bringing him home from Arabia. See The Trail of Cthulhu.
Copeland, Harold Hadley (c. 1860–May 15, 1926)
A scholar who appears in the fiction of Lin Carter, starting with "The Dweller in the Tomb". See Xothic legend cycle.
Corsi, Bartolomeo A 12th century Florentine monk and body-swapped victim of the Great Race of Yith.
Crom-Ya (15,000 BC)
Cimmerian chief, worshipper of Tsathoggua, and body-swapped victim of the Great Race.
Crow, Titus (1916–1968?)
Crow is the protagonist of a series of Mythos stories written by Brian Lumley, first appearing in 1970's "Billy's Oak". He is a British occult researcher and psychic dedicated to combating the Cthulhu Cycle Deities. See Titus Crow.
Crucian, Robert (1972-????)
Introduced by writer Jason Bengston, a former military police officer, and part-time librarian. See Robert Crucian.
Curwen, Joseph (1663–1771)
In Lovecraft's novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Curwen is a necromancer who comes back to corporeal existence through his descendant Charles Dexter Ward.
D
Danforth
Graduate student at Miskatonic University who accompanies the ill-fated Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica. See At the Mountains of Madness.
Davenport, Eli Vermont folklorist who recounts the legend of a race of strange beings that dwelt beneath the Vermont hills. See "The Whisperer in Darkness".
Davies, Chandler (?–May ? 1962)
In the writings of Brian Lumley, a renowned British artist and friend of Titus Crow. His macabre paintings are legendary; foremost is his piece Stars and Faces. After his mistress burned his latest work, G'harne Landscape, he went mad with rage and was confined to Woodholme Sanitorium, where he died shortly thereafter.
De la Poer, Thomas (c. 1855–?)The last of the De la Poer family, who, after rebuilding the infamous Exham Priory (the hated seat of his ancestors), moving in and exploring its cellars, went mad and died in Hanwell Asylum. See The Rats in the Walls.
De Marigny, Étienne-Laurent New Orleans occultist.
De Marigny, Henri-Laurent (1923–)
Son of Étienne-Laurent de Marigny and New Orleans mystic. In the 1930s, his father sent him to England, where he became the inseparable colleague of Titus Crow.
Derby, Edward Pickman (1890–1933)
Poet and husband of Asenath Waite. See "The Thing on the Doorstep".
d'Erlette, Comte Title of a French aristocrat and the fictional author of Cultes des Goules, inspired by the ancestral form of Mythos author August Derleth's name. The fictional writer is first mentioned in Robert Bloch's 1935 story "The Suicide in the Study", which calls his book "ghastly". Lovecraft uses the name in two 1935 stories, "The Shadow Out of Time" and "Haunter of the Dark", the latter of which calls d'Erlette's work "infamous". Derleth himself refers to d'Erlette in "The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders" (1950) and "The Black Island" (1952).
Eddy C. Bertin's 1976 "Darkness, My Name Is", presenting the Comte's given name as Francois-Honore Balfour, describes Cultes des Goules as "rather disappointing because its author had possessed more fantasy than knowledge about the hideous things he was writing about."
Dewart, Ambrose
A reclusive descendant of Alijah Billington and scholar in Arkham. See The Lurker at the Threshold.
Dexter, (Doctor) Ambrose
Ambrose Dexter removed the Shining Trapezohedron and a group of dangerous grimoires from the Church of Starry Wisdom after the death of Robert Blake; when trying to get rid of the stone was possessed by the Haunter, and became a human puppet for Nyarlathotep to live within as a nuclear scientist. See "The Haunter of the Dark".
Du Nord, Gespard Wizard in 13th century Averoigne. He is believed to have translated the Greek version of the Book of Eibon into French c. 1240.
Dyer, William (c. 1875–?)
Professor of geology at Miskatonic University and leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica in 1930–31. In 1935, he accompanied an expedition to Australia's Great Sandy Desert to search for the ruins of a primordial civilization.
E
E-poh Wizened leader of the Tcho-Tcho people, possibly killed when Alaozar was destroyed by the Elder Gods. He was well over seven thousand years old and led the cult of Zhar and Lloigor.
Eibon Renowned wizard of Hyperborea, author of the Book of Eibon, and worshiper of Tsathoggua.
Eldin the Wanderer (?–1979)
Companion of David Hero on his adventures in the Dreamlands. In the waking world, he was Leonard Dingle, a professor of psychology and anthropology and dream researcher. After he died, he became a permanent resident of the Dreamlands and remains one of its most prominent figures. He now serves at the pleasure of King Kuranes of Celephaïs.
Elton, Basil (c. 1870–?)
Custodian of the North Point Lighthouse and traveler of the Dreamlands. He lost his dream-self during his quest for unknown Cathuria.
Exior K'Mool Third most powerful wizard of Theem'hdra, after his master Mylakhrion and Teh Atht. Like his former master, he tried to attain immortality by making a bargain with the Great Old Ones. However, his home and the ruined city of Humquass were destroyed when Nyarlathotep arrived to deal with him in person.
F
Feery, Joachim (?–1934)
Occultist and author of Notes on the Cthäat Aquadingen and Notes on the Necronomicon.
Also used as an alternate name by Robert M. Price.
Franklyn, Roland (?–1967)
In the writings of Ramsey Campbell, the leader of a cult in Brichester, England in the mid-1960s. In January 1964, he published his cult's dogma in We Pass From View (True Light Press). Among the claims made in the book is that the deceased must be cremated in order for the soul to be reincarnated. Otherwise, the "burrowers of the core may drag off his body from the grave with him still in it to the feast of Eihort."Ramsey Campbell, "The Franklyn Paragraphs", p. 71, Cthulhu's Heirs. The late Roland Franklyn himself, alas, was not cremated.
G
Geoffrey, Justin An English poet who died in a lunatic asylum. Some years before, his already frail psyche had been warped by looking for too long at the Black Stone of legend near the village of Stregoicavar. He never witnessed the annual, nocturnal rite of 24 June. The narrator in "The Black Stone" mentions that if he had, he would have become insane much earlier. His poetry is used as prelude in The Thing on the Roof and his backstory was explored in the unfinished story, The House. Here it was revealed that Geoffrey came from a family of merchants with no interest in art or poetry. The fragment suggests that Justin's insanity began when, as a child, he went to sleep one summer night beside a long-abandoned, sinister-looking farmhouse. Afterwards, he developed an increasingly violent temper (in contrast to his family's well known friendliness and sociability) as well as the habit of sneaking out of the house late at night to go exploring. Justin left home at the age of 17, after reluctantly completing high school. The Thing on the Doorstep reveals that Geoffrey was a correspondent of Edward Derby and gives the year of his death as 1926. See "The Black Stone"
Gilman, Walter (?–May 1, 1928)
See "The Dreams in the Witch House".
Gordon, Edgar Hengist In Robert Bloch's short story "The Dark Demon", Gordon is a failed writer of horror fiction who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. His morbid writings (such as "Gargoyle", "The Principle of Evil", Night-Gaunt, and The Soul of Chaos) were said to drive away readers and publishers alike.
Grimlan, John (March 10, 1630?–March 10, 1930)
Made a pact with Malik Tous, the Prince of Darkness, for 250 years of life.
Gustau, Thelred (?–1972) Published Legends of the Olden Runes, based on translated documents written by Teh Atht, preserved in a golden box cast up by the eruption of Surtsey. Disappeared in a mysterious "explosion."
H
Hero, David