this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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My hot take is that HP Lovecraft isn't that good. His one move was to go "This shit is so scary YOU CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE HOW SCARY IT IS".
You have a good point! But I think it misses, slightly.
Part of the terror of Cthulhu is that this entity is unfathomably OLD, unfathomably POWERFUL, and has unfathomable MOTIVATIONS. It isn't just a terrible creature: it's very existence occupies a plane that we can't possibly understand: it is inscrutable in every way.
And Lovecraft's contribution to horror was that this quality, specifically, possesses a unique element of terror all its own.
It's almost as if a lot of the people who are really into Lovecraft or are out to use Lovecraftian influences kind of miss the greater concept and just end up falling on, "Yeah. Squid monster. Also he drives you insane. Got some neat language to use on that latter bit."