Mordiggian is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the Cthulhu Mythos

Cthulhu Mythos

The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...

. "He" is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...

 and appears in his short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 "The Charnel God" (1934

1934 in literature

The year 1934 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Flash Gordon comic strip is published.*Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky are among those present at the first Congress of the Soviet Union of Writers....

).

Mordiggian in the mythos

. . . [A] colossal shadow [appeared] that was not wrought by anything in the room. It filled the portals from side to side, it towered above the lintel – and then, swiftly, it became more than a shadow: it was a bulk of darkness, black and opaque, that somehow blinded the eyes with a strange dazzlement. It seemed to suck the flame from the red urns and fill the chamber with a chill of utter death and voidness. Its form was that of a worm-shapen column, huge as a dragon, its further coils still issuing from the gloom of the corridor; but it changed from moment to moment, swirling and spinning as if alive with the vortical energies of dark aeons. Briefly it took the semblance of some demoniac giant with eyeless head and limbless body; and then, leaping and spreading like smoky fire, it swept into the chamber.

—Clark Ashton Smith, "The Charnel God"

Mordiggian is a Great Old One and is worshipped by ghoul

Ghoul

A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...

s. When he appears, all fire and heat is sucked into his swirling, void-like body, instantly lowering the temperature by many degrees, and filling the area with a deathly cold and still air. All within the presence of the Great Ghoul are blinded by the weird changing and dazzling form of the necromantic god.

Mordiggian attacks by engulfing victims, sucking away their life force, and dissolving their bodies. Nothing remains of the Charnel God's prey, and they are never seen again in the waking world or in the Dreamlands. However, Mordiggian does not appear to be especially malevolent ("Mordiggian...was a benign deity in the eyes of the inhabitants of Zul-Bha-Sair"), and has been known to spare those who have not personally offended him or his followers (the ghouls); when a trio of Necromancers snuck into the temple, the wizards were torn apart by the Ghoul priests while Phariom and his newly revived wife were spared at Mordiggian's bidding. As one of the Necromancers said "Mordiggian's Wrath, though rarely loosed, is more terrible than any other deity. And it should not be thought by wise men to break into his sacred house." So while Mordiggian is attributed with immense powers of destruction, he is apparently a calm and benign deity.

Mordiggian's cult

Mordiggian's Priesthood consists exclusively of ghouls, though other races may offer up their dead to the Charnel God, but only as appeasement and not as actual worship, though some citizens of Zul-Bha-Sair, like the Taverner that Phariom and his wife were staying in believed fully in . The ghoul priests of Mordiggian cover themselves in long hooded robes of funeral-purple and silver skull-like masks. A tome known as The Ghoul's Manuscript deals with Mordiggian and his cult.

Although Mordiggian dwells within the Dreamlands, he is capable of entering the waking world, using the same grave-tunnels and tombs as his ghoul followers. It is likely that Mordiggian has some relationship with the waking lands. Proof of this is demonstrated by his worship in the city of Zul-Bha-Sair on the continent of Zothique

Zothique

Zothique is an imagined future continent featured in a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Zothique is also the title of the cycle of tales which take place there. In terms of number and extent, the Zothique cycle is the largest collection of stories written by Smith...

in the distant future. There he is the only god since "from years that are lost to man's memory", and all who die in the city are offered to him as provender.

External links

• "The Charnel God" by Clark Ashton Smith