Nodens (Cthulhu Mythos)

Nodens (Cthulhu Mythos)

Nodens (Lord of the Great Abyss or Nuada of the Silver Hand) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. Based on the Celtic deity, Nodens, is the creation of H. P. Lovecraft and first appeared in his short story "The Strange High House in the Mist" (1926).

Contents

Summary

And upon dolphins' backs was balanced a vast crenelate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss… Then hoary Nodens reached forth a wizened hand and helped Olney and his host into the vast shell.
—H. P. Lovecraft, "The Strange High House in the Mist"

Nodens is one of the Elder Gods and appears as an elderly, human male with white hair—gray-bearded and hoary yet still vital and strong. He often rides in a chariot formed from a huge seashell pulled by some great beasts of legend. Nodens is served by the Nightgaunts.

As a hunter, he will chase down evil creatures in the Dreamlands, such as the Shantaks. He prefers to hunt the servants of the Great Old Ones or Nyarlathotep because they are usually the most intelligent and offer the best sport, but not necessarily because he wants to help humans being attacked by them. He has, however, been known to deliberately help humans, such as when he offers advice to assist Randolph Carter against Nyarlathotep in The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath: "Out of the void S'ngac the violet gas had pointed the way, and archaic Nodens was bellowing his guidance from unhinted deeps," later followed by "And hoary Nodens raised a howl of triumph when Nyarlathotep, close on his quarry, stopped baffled by a glare that seared his formless hunting-horrors to grey dust."

Lovecraft may have based Nodens on Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan (1890) because Machen was one of Lovecraft's favorite authors.[1] In the novel, Machen describes a late Roman inscription hinting that Nodens is actually the titular god Pan.

On one side of the pillar was an inscription, of which I took a note. Some of the letters had been defaced, but I do not think there can be any doubt as to those which I supply. The inscription reads as follows:

DEVOMNODENTi
FLAvIVSSENILSPOSSVit
PROPTERNVPtias
quaSVIDITSVBVMBra
'To the great god Nodens (the god of the Great Deep or Abyss) Flavius Senilis has erected this pillar on account of the marriage which he saw beneath the shade.'
—Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan

Machen was probably inspired by the finding of an extensive temple complex dedicated to Nodens at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire.

Other appearances

  • Nodens is mentioned in "The Collect Call of Cthulhu," an episode from The Real Ghostbusters.
  • Nodens appears in the Boom! Studios series Fall of Cthulhu.
  • Nodens makes an appearance in the PlayStation game Persona 2: Eternal Punishment as a summoned creature.

References

Books

  • Harms, Daniel (1998). "Nodens". The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed. ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. pp. 213–14. ISBN 1-56882-119-0. 
  • Lovecraft, Howard P. (1985) [1926]. "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath". In S. T. Joshi (ed.). At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels (7th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-038-6.  Definitive version.
  • Lovecraft, Howard P. (1986) [1926]. "The Strange High House in the Mist". In S. T. Joshi (ed.). Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (9th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-039-4.  Definitive version.
  • Lovecraft, Howard P. (2005). "Supernatural Horror In Literature". At the Mountains of Madness: The Definitive Edition. Modern Library. ISBN 0-8129-7441-7. 
  • Machen, Arthur (1993) [1890]. The Great God Pan. London, UK: Creation Books. ISBN 1-871592-11-9. 

Web sites

Notes

  1. ^ In his essay "Supernatural Horror In Literature," Lovecraft writes: "Of living creators of cosmic fear raised to its most artistic pitch, few if any can hope to equal the versatile Arthur Machen, author of some dozen tales long and short, in which the elements of hidden horror and brooding fright attain an almost incomparable substance and realistic acuteness."

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cthulhu Mythos deities — Writer H.P. Lovecraft created a number of fictional beings throughout the course of his literary career, including the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods. The Elder Gods are a later creation of writer such as August Derleth, who is credited with… …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos — The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe created in the 1920s by 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… …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture — This article provides a list of cultural references to H. P. Lovecraft s Cthulhu Mythos. For works that are stylistically influenced by Lovecraft, see Lovecraftian horror. Contents 1 Film 2 Games 3 Music 4 …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature — Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in the Cthulhu Mythos. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoteric knowledge that is unknown to the general populace. However,… …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies — The following fictional celestial bodies figure prominently in the Cthulhu Mythos stories of H. P. Lovecraft and other writers. Many of these astronomical bodies have parallels in the real universe, but are often renamed in the mythos and given… …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos cults — A number of cults appear in the Cthulhu Mythos. Many of these cults serve the Outer God Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, a protean deity that appears in a myriad of guises. Other cults are dedicated to the cause of the Great Old Ones, a group of …   Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu-Mythos — Der Cthulhu Mythos umfasst die vom amerikanischen Schriftsteller H. P. Lovecraft und anderen Autoren der Horrorliteratur erdachten Personen, Orte, Wesenheiten und Geschichten. Bekanntester Bestandteil dieses Mythos ist das ebenfalls fiktive Buch… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography — The following Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography is for use with the tables included in the articles Cthulhu Mythos deities, Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature, Cthulhu Mythos biographies, Cthulhu Mythos …   Wikipedia

  • Elder God (Cthulhu Mythos) — An Elder God is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.ummaryIn post Lovecraft stories, the Elder Gods oppose the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Some consider them to be non Lovecraftian because they employ a good versus evil… …   Wikipedia

  • Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos — The following tables and lists feature elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, that are often shared between works within that fictional setting. The Cthulhu Mythos were originally created by writer H. P. Lovecraft in his horror short stories, although… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”