Yuggoth
Encyclopedia
Yuggoth is a fictional planet
in the Cthulhu Mythos
. H. P. Lovecraft
himself said that Yuggoth is the then newly-discovered planet Pluto
. However, other writers claim that it is actually an enormous, trans-Neptunian world
that orbits perpendicular to the ecliptic
of the solar system
.
Yuggoth is the planet where the extraterrestrial
Mi-go
have established a colony. The Mi-go's city sits at the edge of a pit wherein dwells an ancient and horrifying entity feared by the Mi-Go. They periodically abandon the city on those occasions when it rises from the pit and can be seen directly.
The being Cxaxukluth, along with Tsathoggua
and his parents, migrated to Yuggoth from Xoth. A dysfunctional family
in their own right, Cxaxukluth's progeny abandoned their patriarch and sought refuge deep in the bowels of Yuggoth, owing to Cxaxukluth's cannibalistic tendencies. Soon thereafter they fled Yuggoth, though Cxaxukluth still dwells there to this day.
mine a strange metal known as tok'l. Tok'l-metal is used in the manufacture of the Mi-go's notorious "brain cylinders", but it also has other ritual uses as well.
In Richard A. Lupoff's short story
"The Discovery of the Ghooric Zone—March 15, 2337", Yuggoth is hinted to be the hypothetical Planet X
. Lupoff's Yuggoth is a colossal, crimson planet, twice as massive as Jupiter
. It is flattened at the poles and pulses eerily, no doubt because of its tremendous rotational speed—perhaps as fast as 80,000 kilometers per hour. It has numerous moons, including Nithon and Zaman, and the twin-moons Thog and Thok.
s splash".
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
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...
. H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
himself said that Yuggoth is the then newly-discovered planet Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
. However, other writers claim that it is actually an enormous, trans-Neptunian world
Trans-Neptunian object
A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune.The first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930...
that orbits perpendicular to the ecliptic
Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun. In more accurate terms, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is the geometric plane containing the mean orbit of the Earth around the Sun...
of the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
.
In the Cthulhu Mythos
Yuggoth... is a strange dark orb at the very rim of our solar system... There are mighty cities on Yuggoth—great tiers of terraced towers built of black stone... The sun shines there no brighter than a star, but the beings need no light. They have other subtler senses, and put no windows in their great houses and temples... The black rivers of pitch that flow under those mysterious cyclopean bridges—things built by some elder race extinct and forgotten before the beings came to Yuggoth from the ultimate voids—ought to be enough to make any man a DanteDANTEDelivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
or PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
if he can keep sane long enough to tell what he has seen...
—H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in DarknessThe Whisperer in Darkness"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
"
Yuggoth is the planet where the extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
Mi-go
Mi-go
The Mi-go are a race of extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft and others. The name was first applied to the creatures in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" , taking up a reference to 'What fungi sprout in Yuggoth' in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth...
have established a colony. The Mi-go's city sits at the edge of a pit wherein dwells an ancient and horrifying entity feared by the Mi-Go. They periodically abandon the city on those occasions when it rises from the pit and can be seen directly.
The being Cxaxukluth, along with Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua is a fictional supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle....
and his parents, migrated to Yuggoth from Xoth. A dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
in their own right, Cxaxukluth's progeny abandoned their patriarch and sought refuge deep in the bowels of Yuggoth, owing to Cxaxukluth's cannibalistic tendencies. Soon thereafter they fled Yuggoth, though Cxaxukluth still dwells there to this day.
tok'l-metal
On Yuggoth, the Mi-goMi-go
The Mi-go are a race of extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft and others. The name was first applied to the creatures in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" , taking up a reference to 'What fungi sprout in Yuggoth' in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth...
mine a strange metal known as tok'l. Tok'l-metal is used in the manufacture of the Mi-go's notorious "brain cylinders", but it also has other ritual uses as well.
In other fiction
Yuggoth itself hung directly overhead, obscenely bloated and oblate, its surface filling the heavens... and all the time pulsing, pulsing, pulsing like an atrocious heart, throbbing, throbbing.
—Richard A. LupoffRichard A. LupoffRichard Allen Lupoff is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice...
, "The Discovery of the Ghooric Zone—March 15, 2337"
In Richard A. Lupoff's 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 Discovery of the Ghooric Zone—March 15, 2337", Yuggoth is hinted to be the hypothetical Planet X
Planet X
Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century but culminated at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's quest for Planet X...
. Lupoff's Yuggoth is a colossal, crimson planet, twice as massive as Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
. It is flattened at the poles and pulses eerily, no doubt because of its tremendous rotational speed—perhaps as fast as 80,000 kilometers per hour. It has numerous moons, including Nithon and Zaman, and the twin-moons Thog and Thok.
Other references
- Yuggoth is briefly mentioned in John BellairsJohn BellairsJohn Anthony Bellairs was an American author, best known for his well-respected fantasy novel The Face in the Frost as well as many gothic mystery novels for young adults featuring Lewis Barnavelt, Anthony Monday, and Johnny Dixon.-Biography:After earning degrees at University of Notre Dame and...
's The Face in the FrostThe Face in the FrostThe Face in the Frost is a short 1969 fantasy novel by author John Bellairs. Unlike most of his later works, this book is meant for adult readers. It centers on two accomplished wizards, Prospero and Roger Bacon, tracking down the source of a great magical evil. The subject matter prompted Ursula K...
as part of a wizard's model of the cosmos. It is described as "the terrible black planet...which rolls aimlessly in the stupefying darkness." - A being or "living concept" which is dubbed a Yuggoth by the narrator possesses Allan QuatermainAllan QuatermainAllan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
's abandoned mortal shell in the illustrated story Allan and the Sundered VeilAllan and the Sundered VeilAllan and the Sundered Veil was a six-part story written in the style of a boy's periodical by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, included at the back of each issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I and collected at the back of that volume...
in the first graphic novel volumeThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume IThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One is a comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, published under the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. It is the first story in the larger League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series...
of The League of Extraordinary GentlemenThe League of Extraordinary GentlemenThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, publication of which began in 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series and a graphic novel from the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm/DC, and a third miniseries...
. The Yuggoth is described as being known as "a creature, a planet, and an idea" and is an abstract alter-dimensional entity which is entering through the hole in the fabric of time that the story revolves around. - An entity referred to as both NyarlathotepNyarlathotepNyarlathotep, 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...
and "Yuggoth's emissary" appears towards the end of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black DossierThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black DossierThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...
. The being is involved in diplomacy in the Blazing World. - Yuggoth is the name of a deletion program in Digimon: Tamers (3rd Season).
- Yuggoth is also a theme which is discussed in detail in Kenneth GrantKenneth GrantKenneth Grant was a British occultist, novelist, and poet, who with his partner, the artist Steffi Grant, headed the magical order previously known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis but which is now referred to as the Typhonian Order.-Occult background:Grant's occult experiences began in 1939...
's Typhonian Trilogy. - The H. P. Lovecraft story "The Whisperer in DarknessThe Whisperer in Darkness"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
" is the main focal point in the Electric WizardElectric WizardElectric Wizard are a stoner metal band from Dorset, England that formed in 1993. The band have since recorded seven albums, at least three of which are now considered to be landmarks of their genre: their self-title debut, Electric Wizard, Come My Fanatics..., and Dopethrone...
song "Weird Tales: Electric Frost/Golgatha/Altar of Melektaus." This can be seen in lyrics such as "From ancient Yuggoth, black rays emit, Evils narcotic cyclopean pits." - Jack Chalker's novel Horrors of the Dancing Gods references "Far Yuggoth" as the continent of the sub-Earth world of Husaquahr from which all evil things come. Far Yuggoth can only be reached by taking a ship called the Hovecraft.
- In Brian KeeneBrian KeeneBrian Keene is an American author, primarily of horror, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won two Bram Stoker Awards.- Background :Keene was born in 1967. He grew up in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and many of his books take place in these locales. After graduating high school, he...
's novel A Gathering of Crows, Levi traps the minions of Meeble by tricking them into the Labyrinth, a corridor between planes of reality. When his adversaries close in to seemingly finish him, he informs that they are powerless. As they are now on Yuggoth, which is the planet ruled by Behemoth, a more powerful member of the Thirteen...
Nithon
Nithon is a cloud-laden moon of Yuggoth. It is covered by fungi and has luminescent clouds that block all sunlight.Thog and Thok
Thog and Thok are twin moons of Yuggoth. Very little is known about these moons, though Thog is said to be a pitch-black world. On the surface of Thog is the fabled Ghooric Zone—a green-litten subterranean cavern containing a putrid lake where "puffed shoggothShoggoth
A shoggoth is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being was mentioned in passing in sonnet XX of H.P...
s splash".
Other references
- Harms, Daniel. The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), 1998. Chaosium, Inc. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
- Detwiller, Dennis. "Delta Green Eyes Only Volume One: Machinations of the Mi-Go," 1998. Pagan Publishing.
External links
- "The Family Tree of the Gods" by Clark Ashton Smith
- Night Terrors by Michael Fantina, a poem containing references to Yuggoth
- "The Discovery of the Ghooric Zone—March 15, 2337" by Richard Lupoff