Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Harms, Daniel

  THALARION. City with high grey walls, enormous spires, and a carved stone gate called Akariel. Thalarion is the City of a Thousand Wonders, but all who dwell inside are either madmen or demons. The city’s founder was a King Thal, whose armies were unstoppable due to the magic he found at Thalarion’s site, but who came to a grisly end nonetheless. The eidolon Lathi, who some describe as a woman with the lower body of a termite and others as being even more horrible, rules the city. The bones of those who have gazed upon Lathi lie unburied on the streets of Thalarion. Nonetheless, seekers after the truth often camp outside its walls, hoping for a glimpse of its beauty.

  See Great Trees, Sansu. (“Thalarion: City of a Thousand Wonders”, Bock; “The White Ship”, Lovecraft (O); Hero of Dreams, Lumley.)

  THALE. 1) Character in the play The King in Yellow; 2) According to Hali, the second king to blazon the Yellow Sign upon his cloak.

  See King in Yellow. (“The Repairer of Reputations”, Chambers (O); “Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?”, Ross; House of the Toad, Tierney.)

  THASAIDON (possibly also TISAIDA and THAZAIDON). God who represents the principle of evil. He was worshiped in Mu, though his worship will reach its height in Zothique. Taking the form of a mace-wielding warrior in full armor, he attempts to seduce mortals to his cause. The power and prestige of his victims does not matter to Thasaidon, but all of them will regret their decision in the end.

  An incantation called the “Skull of Thazaidon” causes all that view a spectral demonic visage to stare uncontrollably at it.

  Thasaidon might be another form of Nyarlathotep; though no explicit link exists, their portfolios and modus operandi seem similar.

  (“Star-Spawn of Hyperborea”, Fultz; “The Dark Eidolon”, Smith; “The Infernal Star”, Smith; “The Tomb-Spawn”, Smith (O); “Xeethra”, Smith.)

  THAT IS NOT DEAD WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE, AND WITH STRANGE AEONS EVEN DEATH MAY DIE. Couplet that appears in the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred, but that some scholars attribute to Klarkash-Ton. Many take it to refer to the Nameless City, but others have suggested a double meaning with reference to the Great Old Ones.

  See Alhazred, Abdul; Great Old Ones; Necronomicon (appendix). (“The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft; “The Nameless City”, Lovecraft (O); “The Sussex Manuscript”, Pelton.)

  THAT WHICH RELENTLESSLY WAITS OUTSIDE. See Yomagn’tho.

  THAUMATURGICAL PRODIGIES IN THE NEW-ENGLISH CANAAN (also PRODIGIES IN THE NEW ENGLAND CANAAN or THAUMATURGICAL PRODIGIES IN THE NEW ENGLAND CANAAN). Book by Reverend Ward Phillips of the Second Church in Arkham, Massachusetts. Two editions were published: the first in 1794, and a second expurgated publication in Boston in 1801.

  Several years after the second edition was printed, Reverend Phillips became involved in a dispute with Alijah Billington, who lived just outside Arkham. This feud seemed to center upon accusations made in Prodigies against Alijah’s ancestor Richard Billington. Shortly thereafter the Reverend tried to buy up all the copies of his book and burn them.

  This book deals with the strange happenings and supposed wizards of New England, but with especial focus upon the Arkham and Salem areas. One chapter deals with the myths of the Abenaki Native Americans. What separates this from other works such as Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World is that Phillips’ tales have an air of authenticity the other volumes lack.

  [Lovecraft was actually the creator of Thaumaturgical Prodigies, though it never showed up in his work. Derleth found his notes and used them, changing the date of publication from 1697 to 1801. As far as I can tell, the substitution of “New England” for “New-English” comes from Sandy Petersen.]

  See Billington, Alijah; Phillips, Ward. (“The Winfield Heritance”, Carter; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); “Das entsetzlich einsam gelegene Haus im Wald”, Heller; Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “The Auction”, McCall; Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, 5th ed., Petersen and Willis.)

  THEEM’HDRA. Continent that existed before the age of dinosaurs. In its time, it was home to many powerful wizards, including Mylakhrion, Exior K’mool, and Teh Atht. Tarra Khash was one of its most famous heroes.

  See Broken Columns of Geph; Exior K’mool; Gleeth; Khrissa; Legends of the Olden Runes; Mnomquah; Mylakhrion; Sathlattae; Tarra Khash; Teh Atht; Yibb-Tstll. (“The House of Cthulhu”, Lumley (O); “Name and Number”, Lumley.)

  THEMYSTOS’ ISLAND. Island in the Miskatonic River in Arkham, closest to the Garrison Street Bridge. It is deserted, featuring only tall grass and rows of monoliths of unknown origin. The place has a dark reputation, often being associated with legends of Keziah Mason and tales of a stone altar where the devil held his sabbats. In more recent times, it has seen the activities of various cults. Its name is known only to a few, who claim Themystos is a worm-like being seen on the island on occasion.

  (“The Colour out of Space”, Lovecraft (O); “The Dreams in the Witch-House”, Lovecraft; Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh.)

  THERON MARKS SOCIETY. Society founded in Arkham by a mysterious man named Theron Marks in 1920. The Society was a part-time group dedicated to destroying evidence of the Mythos. Despite its high rate of mortality and insanity, the Society survived well into the 1930s.

  (“Theron Marks Manual”, Stalin (O).)

  THING IN THE YELLOW MASK. See Nyarlathotep (Thing in the Yellow Mask).

  THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE. See Nyogtha.

  THOG AND THOK. Twin moons of the planet Yuggoth. Thog has been described as a dark world, but Thok’s appearance is unknown.

  [In his poetry, Lovecraft used Thok as a variant spelling of Throk. Lupoff took the word and used it in his own fiction as a moon of Yuggoth.]

  See Ghooric Zone. (“The Color from Beyond”, Cabos; “The Pigeon-Flyers”, Lovecraft (O–Thog); “To a Dreamer”, Lovecraft (O–Thok); “Discovery of the Ghooric Zone”, Lupoff.)

  THOK, PEAKS OF (also THROK). Mountains in the underworld of Earth’s Dreamlands. These mountains are made of granite and are completely devoid of life. Few dreamers who see them return to tell the tale.

  [Though Throk is more commonly used, “Thok” is the name given in Lovecraft’s poetry and the corrected versions of his stories.]

  See Thog and Thok. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “To a Dreamer”, Lovecraft (O).)

  THOTH, BOOK OF. See Book of Thoth.

  THOTH-AMON (also THOTH-AMMON). Stygian high priest of Set and sorcerer of great power who was feared throughout the Hyborian lands during Conan’s time.

  Thoth began his career as a street thief in the capital of Stygia. Slaying his friend Amon who had been granted a post at the temple of the god Ibis, Thoth quickly worked his way up through the ranks, slaughtering both priests and nobles until he could bring the country to the worship of Set. King Ctesphon gave him great honor and elevated him to the highest post in the land. Though not fully accepted by his peers, Thoth-Amon nonetheless managed to hold on to power ruthlessly through his magic and his mastery of the Serpent-Ring of Set.

  Only a few tales of Thoth-Amon have come down to us. It is rumored that at one point in his career Thoth-Amon lost the Ring of Set and became the slave of a northern outlaw. At another time, he came close to ruling the kingdom of Zingara, but Conan himself stopped him. For all of his power and reputation, nothing else is known of his feats, or even of his death.

  In modern times, scholars remember Thoth-Amon as the reputed author of the Book (or Scrolls) of Thoth and the Scrolls of Set.

  See Book of Thoth; Cobra Crown; Serpent Ring of Set. (“The Snakefarm”, Ambuehl; Conan: Book of Thoth, Busiek and Wein; Conan the Buccaneer, Carter and de Camp; “The Hour of the Dragon”, Howard; “The Phoenix on the Sword”, Howard (O); “The Ring of Set”, Tierney.)

  THOUSAND YOUNG. Offspring of Shub-Niggurath. Some consider these to be the same as the dark young, though other encounters describe everything from small goat-like familiars to ebon giants.

  (“Tommy’s Goat”, Cartwrig
ht; “The Epiphany of Dissolution”, Davey; “The Whisperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft (O); Call of Cthulhu, Petersen and Willis.)

  THRAN. City of the Dreamlands on the Oukranos river. It is known best for its golden spires, alabaster walls, and marble wharves. To enter, a dreamer must tell the red-robed guard at the gate three dreams beyond belief.

  See Oukranos. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Silver Key”, Lovecraft (O).)

  THROK, PEAKS OF. See Peaks of Thok.

  THUGGON. Seemingly uninhabited world where the insects from Shaggai dwelt for a short time. Their slaves steadily disappeared, however, and when they searched for them, the shan found a black tower within a marsh, with the mutilated bodies of their servants nearby. The shan did not remain on Thuggon long thereafter.

  See shan. (“The Insects from Shaggai”, Campbell (O).)

  THUUM’HA (or THUNN-HA). Amphibian creatures that came from outer space to build the cities of Ib and Lh-Yib. They were mostly human in shape, but had flabby lips, bulging eyes, and a slimy hide, and they could not speak. These qualities did not endear them to the men of Sarnath, who finally destroyed them. Some Thuum’ha may still survive in Ib’s sister city Lh-Yib.

  [Lovecraft first described these beings, and Lumley created the term for them.]

  See Bokrug; Ib; Lh-yib; Mnomquah. (“Something in the Moonlight”, Carter; “The Doom that Came to Sarnath”, Lovecraft (O); Beneath the Moors, Lumley.)

  THURSTON, FRANCIS WAYLAND. Boston anthropologist and grandnephew of George Angell. Thurston followed up on Angell’s work on the Cthulhu cult in hopes of enhancing his professional reputation. He died soon afterward near the docks of Providence, though some maintain that he will live until the return of the Old Ones.

  See Angell, George; Johansen Narrative. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “The Blasphemous Enlightenment of Prof. Francis Wayland Thurston of Boston, Providence, and the Human Race”, Ligotti; “The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O).)

  THYOPH. Planet that, according to the G’harne Fragments, a “Nuclear Chaos” (most likely a seed of Azathoth) broke apart to create the asteroid belt.

  (Spawn of Azathoth, Herber; “In the Vaults Beneath”, Lumley (O).)

  TIANIA. Woman born of a Muvian scientist and a woman of Thenopia who bore the blood of the Elder Gods. Her parents came to Elysia when Mu was destroyed, and left Tiania there under the care of Kthanid. She later married Titus Crow when he arrived in Elysia.

  (The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley (O).)

  TIKKOUN ELIXIR. Another name for holy water. This substance is said to be proof against the Great Old One Nyogtha. It provides limited protection from the cthonians and possibly other earth elementals.

  [“Tikkun” is actually a word in Jewish mysticism that refers to magical processes designed to restore the shattered and imperfect Creation to its proper form. It is likely that Kuttner found it spelled as “Tikkoun” in Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine.]

  See Cthonians; Nyogtha. (“The Salem Horror”, Kuttner (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley.)

  TILLINGHAST RESONATOR (also THE ULTRAVIOLET). Invention of Crawford Tillinghast, a scientist from Providence, Rhode Island. According to Tillinghast, the Resonator activated vestigial sense organs in the human mind, opening them to visions of higher dimensions and their inhabitants. In 1920, Tillinghast invited his friend Franklin Rathke to a demonstration of the Resonator in his house on Benevolent Street. When completed, Tillinghast was dead of apoplexy, and a bullet from Rathke’s gun brought the experiment to a halt. The police questioned Rathke but released him when no link between him and Tillinghast’s death could be found.

  Rathke took up Tillinghast’s experiments, sometimes advertising in order to obtain backing for his venture. This was unsuccessful, and Rathke vanished in 1943 from his Boston apartment. The U. S. Navy had picked up on his technology, and attempted to use it to make a ship, the USS Eldredge, invisible. The test was only performed once, due to the odd and terrifying results of this experiment. Rumor has it that the Nazis attempted to use similar technology, but were unable to control it. In more recent years, miniaturized versions of the Tillinghast resonator, designed to show an individual beings from other realms, might have been perfected for certain government agencies.

  (“Night and Water”, Detwiller; Project Rainbow, Detwiller; “From Beyond”, Lovecraft (O); “The Jennifer Morgue”, Stross.)

  TIME-CLOCK. Alien artifact resembling an ornately carved, coffin-shaped grandfather clock with four hands which move around its dial in seemingly random patterns. The clock operated without any outside power source whatsoever. Only rumors relate what those who opened the clock found within. It is believed that this is merely one device out of many, but this is the only one of its kind encountered on Earth.

  The Yogi Hiamaldi supposedly brought back the time-clock (as it was later called) from the alien city of Yian-Ho. He presented the clock as a gift to Etienne-Laurent de Marigny, the famous French mystic, who kept the object at his New Orleans retreat. It was here that the clock played an important role in the disappearance of Swami Chandraputra, an elderly Indian who had come to provide evidence that Randolph Carter survived. After de Marigny’s death, a wealthy Frenchman purchased the clock and vanished soon thereafter. Titus Crow later bought it at an English antique auction. The clock remained in Crow’s possession for years, until it vanished along with him and his friend Henri-Laurent de Marigny during a freak windstorm in 1969.

  According to notes discovered in Crow’s demolished manor, the clock operated as a gateway and a vehicle to other places, times, and dimensions. The user would open the clock, step inside, and immediately be able to utilize the device’s powers of transportation. The clock was supposedly a tool of the Elder Gods, however, and the time-clock’s powers could be dangerous if misused.

  (“Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; The Clock of Dreams, Lumley; “De Marigny’s Clock”, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  TINDALOS. World which may exist on earth far in the past, on a faraway world near a black hole, or even floating throughout time, contemporaneous with all space yet unable to intrude upon it. Its towers shaped like corkscrews are the homes of the hounds of Tindalos. It is whispered that an awful deed done here aeons ago caused the hounds to be created.

  [In Melanesia, the word “tindalo” refers to a spirit of the dead who possesses magical power. What this has to do with the hounds is unknown, and it could be simply a coincidence.]

  See hounds of Tindalos. (“The Book of the Gates”, Carter; “The Hounds of Tindalos”, Long (O); “The Statement of One John Gibson”, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; “The Sound of a Door Opening”, Webb.)

  TIND’LOSI HOUNDS. See hounds of Tindalos.

  TOK’L. Metal used on Tond and Yuggoth as part of a process that bestows immortality. Every thirty-five years, the creature’s brain must be transferred from one body to another. During this process, the brain must be kept in a container made of tok’l-metal during the transition between bodies. It has been suggested that the metal may also be used for other ritual purposes. The nearest source of this mineral is the planet Yuggoth.

  See Ghooric Zone; Yuggoth. (“The Mine on Yuggoth”, Campbell (O); “The Return”, Smith.)

  TOMB-HERD. Beings mentioned in the Necronomicon that feed upon the occupants of tombs. They come from another dimension, possessing the bodies of other creatures to enter our own space-time continuum and feast upon the dead.

  The tomb-herd has the limited ability to warp space; for example, a chosen victim might be unable to escape from an area where the tomb-herd waits, as every road circles back on itself and returns to the dwellings of the herd. Outside assistance may be of some help in eluding the tomb-herd, but they often catch their victims in the end despite all precautions.

  The tomb-herd may be allied to the Great Old One Glaaki, and they are said to serve Yog-Sothoth. Some cults focuss
ing around the tomb-herd exist; the worshipers allow the herd to possess them, in return for certain benefits.

  These beings are probably not connected with ghouls, who are not allied with Yog-Sothoth, and who have material bodies in this dimension.

  (“The Church in High Street”, Campbell; “The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell; “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O).)

  TOND. Planet which some say circles our sun, but which, according to most authorities, revolves the dark star Baalbo and the green star Yifne. Tond is mentioned in works such as the Necronomicon and the Revelations of Glaaki. On this planet live the yarkdao, who have built curious cities of black stone and bluish metal. One of these cities is Derd, beneath which lies an avatar of Azathoth.

  It has been said that Glaaki spent some time upon this world on his way to Earth. The only way a human can behold Tond is through the use of the Crystallizer of Dreams.

  [Ramsey Campbell’s Far Away and Never includes more tales set on Tond, though that world seems quite different than the one described in his Mythos tales.]

  See Crystallizer of Dreams; Daoloth; Glaaki; tok’l. (“The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell (O); “A Madness from the Vaults”, Campbell; “Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”, Carter.)

  TOWER OF KOTH. See Koth, Tower of.

  TREADER OF THE DUST. See Quachil Uttaus.

  TREGARDIS CRYSTAL. See Eye of Ubbo-Sathla.

  TRONE TABLES. Set of highly abstruse mathematical equations connected with the Great White Space. They are presented in some sources as a book unto themseles, and in others as a section of The Ethics of Ygor.

  (The Great White Space, Copper (O); “The Dreaming City”, Johnson.)

  TRUE MAGIK (or TRUE MAGICK). Book written by a sorcerer named Theophilus Wenn (most likely a pseudonym). The book is often dated to the 17th century, though research indicates that it might have turned up at the University of Salamanca in medieval times. One copy, published in 1872 by Oakley Press, may be found at the Miskatonic University Library, and other manuscript copies have also been circulated.