H.P. Lovecraft - Nyarlathotep (1920) [Short Story]

"Nyarlathotep" is a prose poem/short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in 1920, and first published in the November 1920 issue of The United Amateur. It is the first mention in fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos entity Nyarlathotep.

Short story by H.P. Lovecraft

Synopsis

The story is written in first person and begins by describing Nyarlathotep's arrival in the narrator's city. A "man" of the race of the Pharaohs, who claims to have been dormant for the past twenty-seven centuries, and travels from city to city demonstrating his supernatural powers. Wherever Nyarlathotep went, the inhabitants' sleep would be plagued by vivid nightmares.

Art of Jens Heimdahl

The narrator's attende at one of Nyarlathotep's demonstrations, in which he defiantly dismisses Nyarlathotep's displays of power as mere tricks.

Illustration de Katharsisdrill

The party of observers is driven out of the hall by Nyarlathotep, and hysterically insists to one another that they are not afraid, and that the city around them is unchanged and alive, even as the electric street lights begin to fail.

The party wanders off into at least three columnal groups: One disappears around a corner, from which is then heard a moaning sound; another disappears into a subway station with the sound of mad laughter; and the third group, which contains the narrator, travels outward from the city toward the country.

The story ends by describing a series of horrific, surreal vistas experienced by the narrator, in which chaos and insanity pervade an ancient, dying universe ruled by mindless, inhuman gods, whose messenger and "soul" is Nyarlathotep.

Extra

Nyarlathotep appears in numerous subsequent stories by Lovecraft, and is also featured in the works of other authors.

Nyarlathotep, again manifested in the form of an Egyptian Pharaoh when he confronted Randolph Carter as an avatar of the Other Gods, executing their will on Earth and in the Dreamlands (HPL: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath).

The witch Keziah Mason (who has made a pact with the entity) introduces Walter Gilman to Nyarlathotep in the form of "the 'Black Man' of the witch-cult," a black-skinned avatar with the appearance of the Christian Devil (his footprints suggest cloven hooves instead of feet) associated with New England witchcraft lore (HPL: "The Dreams in the Witch-House").

The being of pure darkness dwelling, possessing a "three-lobed eye", in the steeple of the Starry Wisdom sect's church is identified as another manifestation of Nyarlathotep (HPL: "The Haunter of the Dark").

Nyarlathotep's name is spoken frequently by the fungi from Yuggoth in a reverential or ritual sense, indicating that they worship or honor the entity (HPL: "The Whisperer in Darkness").

Nyarlathotep - The H. P. Lovecraft Wiki

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