What aspects of Eldritch Horror really horrify you?

[Curved_Sw0rd]

Lovecraftian and Eldritch Horror show up more than a little in media, enough times that something has to have hit the mark. Some horrible thing you read about, implied or shown full on, something must've cut right to the quick and made you squirm.

For me, body horror can get my heart racing, things like the Thing or the Flood freak me out, the transformation scenes especially. There's also something to be said about losing one's identity, memories or aspects of one's self that gets under my skin. When you combine the two, all I can think is "Kill it with fire!"

 

[CarlManvers2019]

It’s the sheer Time Abyss or simply put, knowing how so many ancient civilizations had their own ancient civilizations which had even their own and on and on and on

HP Lovecraft’s works share the same universe as that of Robert E. Howard’s.

The latter even in ancient forgotten even by ancient people’s time, called the Thurian Age, there were apparently long forgotten times when the human race fought off an ancient race of snake people or something that once ruled the world

It’s sheer insignificance of knowing how there are so many before and so many after that creeps me out, it’s like a fear of heights, even when you aren’t going to fall down you can see a great abyss that could keep going on and on and on.....when you think there’s a bottom, it turns out it was a floor and there’s an even greater abyss

 

[FriedCFour]

Its the tentacles, I think. Or the gaping maws. Not into vore personally.

 

[PsihoKekec]

The fact that many of these entities can't be defeated.

 

[Scottty]

It’s the sheer Time Abyss or simply put, knowing how so many ancient civilizations had their own ancient civilizations which had even their own and on and on and on

HP Lovecraft’s works share the same universe as that of Robert E. Howard’s.

The latter even in ancient forgotten even by ancient people’s time, called the Thurian Age, there were apparently long forgotten times when the human race fought off an ancient race of snake people or something that once ruled the world

But the humans won, right?
Right?

 

[CarlManvers2019]

But the humans won, right?
Right?

Yeah, and at one point, the humans or in the Picts' specific case, they eventually degraded physically, culturally, technologically and became very much like the Snake People, in other words mini-eldritch abominations

It had something to do once with the original Picts breeding with a different slightly more ape-like branch of humanity and generations of inbreeding and living far away from other humans

 

[Shipmaster Sane]

It’s the sheer Time Abyss or simply put, knowing how so many ancient civilizations had their own ancient civilizations which had even their own and on and on and on

HP Lovecraft’s works share the same universe as that of Robert E. Howard’s.

The latter even in ancient forgotten even by ancient people’s time, called the Thurian Age, there were apparently long forgotten times when the human race fought off an ancient race of snake people or something that once ruled the world

It’s sheer insignificance of knowing how there are so many before and so many after that creeps me out, it’s like a fear of heights, even when you aren’t going to fall down you can see a great abyss that could keep going on and on and on.....when you think there’s a bottom, it turns out it was a floor and there’s an even greater abyss

When you view Howard and Lovecraft's worlds, you come to a startling conclusion:

Apparently, the only meaningful way for humans to exist is as Swart ubermench rippling with muscles, engaging in various race mixing antics and who's only response to seeing a tentacled horror is to grunt in annoyance and throw progressively larger rocks at them until they stop being so gay.


People go on about Lovecraft's racism, but it's the burly tan barbarians that conquered the earth, and the pale big brained civilized folk that shit themselves and choke to death on their own spit when they see a sea anemone. The sort of primeval brutes that would have made lovecraft swoon are the only people that could exist in the world that he created. Maybe his sub-concious was telling him something, like when it forced him to admit his love of jewish women.

The fact that many of these entities can't be defeated.

I find the various creatures "hype" dissatisfactory most of the time. Most of the things said about the creatures of cosmic horror sound like they themselves wrote them, to sound scary.
Like, yeah, you're invincible and infinite? So is Ultimate Warrior according to his promos, but Undertaker still razzed him at wrestlemania.

Its the tentacles, I think.

*Vaad will remember this.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

@Shipmaster Sane
Their racism I sort of believe isn’t simply that non-Whites are “inferior” but they are different and that they have members who are scarily competent and dangerous, which is why their protagonists actually even have a hard time against them

They could also be friends with them, mostly when said friends are actually strong and surprisingly intelligent and empathetic or nice and honorable

Like that one Bronze/Flint(then became Iron)Age Barbarian who became friends with a Pict after having defeated and spared him in combat

 

[Scottty]

Also, for all his rough edges, Conan tends to come across as a lot more honorable than most of the people he ends up pitted against.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Also, for all his rough edges, Conan tends to come across as a lot more honorable than most of the people he ends up pitted against.

His social values which make being a mercenary/pirate/bandit and an acceptable practice are today kinda despicable, but you can rest assured the guy is actually consistent on his honour/vows and even becomes/stays a good leader because he vowed to do so and the previous Aquillonian Leadership for all their talk of long lineage were assholes

 

[ShadowsOfParadox]

Eldritch Horror tends to feel... "eh" to me.

Like, you REALLY think "infinity" is scary? Sure, maybe I can't REALLY grasp it but then you've got people quantifying HOW infinite something is.

Like, it's asking me to be scared of precisely the sort of things humans are REALLY good at breaking into manageable chunks and figuring out one piece at a time.

 

[Scottty]

Eldritch Horror tends to feel... "eh" to me.

Like, you REALLY think "infinity" is scary? Sure, maybe I can't REALLY grasp it but then you've got people quantifying HOW infinite something is.

Like, it's asking me to be scared of precisely the sort of things humans are REALLY good at breaking into manageable chunks and figuring out one piece at a time.

Now imagine a group of critters with tentacles on their faces sitting in a circle down at the bottom of the Pacific, shivering in terror while one of them is telling a really gripping horror story about... human beings!

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Now imagine a group of critters with tentacles on their faces sitting in a circle down at the bottom of the Pacific, shivering in terror while one of them is telling a really gripping horror story about... human beings!

Kinda funny, but as racist as both REH & HP Lovecraft were, they did look to or subconsciously make an effort to make other races or even alien beings(minus Eldritch Abominations)sorta like people with their own cultures and social mores, society, law and interaction, or well for some like the Elder Things and Great Race of Yith.

Nyarlathotep uses a form that's human, mayhems out there are races who look at humans in sheer disgust and horror

 

[Navarro]

More than all the scary monsters, I think the most terrifying thing Lovecraft portrays is the sheer meaninglessness of his vision of the cosmos.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

More than all the scary monsters, I think the most terrifying thing Lovecraft portrays is the sheer meaninglessness of his vision of the cosmos.

Where even that gibbering horror from being the star is naught but an ant, merely a bigger ant than you.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Where even that gibbering horror from being the star is naught but an ant, merely a bigger ant than you.

Unlike Berserk or Warhammer, there may not even BE a plot involving actively using humans for anything

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Unlike Berserk or Warhammer, there may not even BE a plot involving actively using humans for anything

Indeed. Unless it is Nyarly, who loves tormenting us for some reason, or the lower level ones. Even then they might be agnostic towards us, the Elder Things probably only attacked out of blind panic and in another situation might have been friendly. Maybe, even interested that their ancient pets evolved into a sapient and civilized species.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

The Elder Things though were as said by the narrator “Men” of a different sort, Alien=/=Eldritch Abomination. Way more advanced, physically powerful and perhaps longer lived, maybe different culture and differences in morality but still way closer to “human mindsets” than Eldritch Abominations.

Even the Great Race of Yith are “Men”, just ones in a way similar to a bunch of morr advanced peoples who don’t give much of a damn about the more primitive non-space&time travelling sorts like us, except as guys they can get info from

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

The Elder Things though were as said by the narrator “Men” of a different sort, Alien=/=Eldritch Abomination. Way more advanced, physically powerful and perhaps longer lived, maybe different culture and differences in morality but still way closer to “human mindsets” than Eldritch Abominations.

Even the Great Race of Yith are “Men”, just ones in a way similar to a bunch of morr advanced peoples who don’t give much of a damn about the more primitive non-space&time travelling sorts like us, except as guys they can get info from

Which is what I was thinking of. They aren't at all gribblies, just other normal lifeforms, except ones that are alien to us in form. Not so much in mind. There is also the Deep Ones, who aren't even aliens at all, but a radically different form of Earth life. Which is why they can bump uglies with us, and something something returning to the seas.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Which is what I was thinking of. They aren't at all gribblies, just other normal lifeforms, except ones that are alien to us in form. Not so much in mind. There is also the Deep Ones, who aren't even aliens at all, but a radically different form of Earth life. Which is why they can bump uglies with us, and something something returning to the seas.

In a way, I think its only really to the Narrator that so many things are so extremely horrific, when in-universe even when dangerous they’re not “too different” to be incapable of comprehension or empathy

I think even REH made non-whites who were “villains” a sort of Alternate Character Interpretation for their actions and were shown to be more competent and stronger and smarter than you’d think