Y'golonac
Encyclopedia
Y'golonac is a fictional deity
in the Cthulhu Mythos
. He is the creation of Ramsey Campbell
and first appeared in his short story
"Cold Print" (1969
).
, but he is much more perverse and sadistic. Y'golonac can sometimes be summoned merely by reading his name in the Revelations of Glaaki.
Y'golonac is imprisoned behind a wall of bricks in unknown ruins. His true form is uncertain, but when he possesses a human host to manifest, he appears as a grotesquely obese man, lacking a head or neck, with a mouth in the palm of each hand.
Unlike Lovecraft's deities, Y'golonac is clearly capable of understanding humans, to the point of being able to conduct a conversation in English through his human host. Y'golonac seeks humans who read perverse and forbidden literature to become his servants. When Y'golonac is summoned, he offers to grant the summoner the dubious honor of becoming his priest, or simply kills him for food.
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 Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
and first appeared 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...
"Cold Print" (1969
1969 in literature
The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
).
Summary
Y'golonac is a Great Old One and is the god of perversion and depravity – not just "average" human perversions or depravities, but any that can be conceived of by a sapient being (sane or otherwise). His demeanor is much like that of NyarlathotepNyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe created by H. P. Lovecraft. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same name, he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers and in the tabletop...
, but he is much more perverse and sadistic. Y'golonac can sometimes be summoned merely by reading his name in the Revelations of Glaaki.
Y'golonac is imprisoned behind a wall of bricks in unknown ruins. His true form is uncertain, but when he possesses a human host to manifest, he appears as a grotesquely obese man, lacking a head or neck, with a mouth in the palm of each hand.
Unlike Lovecraft's deities, Y'golonac is clearly capable of understanding humans, to the point of being able to conduct a conversation in English through his human host. Y'golonac seeks humans who read perverse and forbidden literature to become his servants. When Y'golonac is summoned, he offers to grant the summoner the dubious honor of becoming his priest, or simply kills him for food.