#ghroth

Ghroth is an Outer God in the Cthulhu Mythos. Also known as The Harbinger, it is a colossal, planet-like being. Its surface is a rusty red colour, and it has a craterous, liquid eye.

Ghroth remains close to Azathoth, acting almost as a satellite to the Nuclear Chaos. Should Ghroth ever draw close to a planet, that planet will invariably be destroyed.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Inspired by WickedBinge. 

H. P. Lovecraft is considered one of the masters of horror being the one who introduced the world to the dreaded Great Dreamer of R'lyeh who would one day awaken and spell destruction for mankind. Lovecraft and his contemporaries crafted the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared collaborated effort. While the various gods of the Mythos are meant to be incomprehensible by human standards (and they don't fall under conventional morality), there are a few actively malicious gods that are fully aware of mankind and exert their powers over them. When ranking, it is best understood that there is a division between the gods such as the cosmic level Outer Gods, and the lower-class gods known as the Great Old Ones.

Most Evil of the gods would be the Defiler, Y'golonac. Created by Ramsey Campbell and appearing in his short story The Cold Print, Y'golonac is the god of depravity and carnal sins. He has complete knowledge over every perversion known to a sapient being and hunts out specifically those who indulge in closeted depravities by offering them forbidden literature. Oftentimes when Y'golonac's name is said aloud, it is enough to summon him. He manifests as a fat man with mouths on his hands and headless. If summoned, he would ask the summoner to be his priest; if they refuse, he eats them.

Silver medal of evil would go to the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep. The son of Azathoth, Nyarlathotep is the closest thing the Mythos has to the Devil. He travels the world sewing nightmares wherever he went, manipulating people into worshiping his thousand forms and oftentimes committing mass murder and other evils. First appearing in the 1920 poem of the same name, Nyarlathotep appears out of Egypt resembling one of the pharaohs of old. He entices several people with his supernatural charms but cast them out of their city to the country and beyond when he was being heckled. Nyarlathotep enjoys bringing suffering to humans and driving them mad his ultimate goal being to release the other gods. While he could destroy the world anytime, he staves it off to further indulge in mankind's suffering.

Bronze would go to Eihort. Once again a creation of Ramsey Campbell, Eihort is a large, oblong creature resembling a spider that lives in a world spanning labyrinth. If it were to capture a human, it would give them the option of either accepting its brood or being killed. If they accept his brood, they are killed once Eihort's brood hatch from their bodies.

Ghroth is next. An Outer God much like Nyarlathotep, Ghroth is a floating entity that resembled a one-eyed planet that much like Nyarlathotep, is not imprisoned like the other gods. Ghroth would travel from planet to planet and sings a song known as The Music of the Spheres. The intended purpose behind this is to awaken any gods living on the planet up, culminating them in destroying all life on the planet having once done so with Planet Shaggai. 

Ithaqua is where many people received the inspiration for the Wendigo of Algonquin mythology and the Yeti. It stalks the woods in the Arctic where if it catches a human, preferably a female, it whisks them away to its frozen world of Borea. He then uses them to bear him children that eclipse him in power so they could one day defeat the Elder Gods.

Hastur is another addition to the Cthulhu Mythos. He goes by many names, the most prominent being the King in Yellow. Much like his eldritch brethren, Hastur's motivations are uncertain, but it can be best assumed that he wants to spread his influence on the Earth. He does so through his Yellow Sign. The half-brother of Cthulhu, many speculate he wishes to wage war with Cthulhu and his followers. He makes deals with humans known as the Unspeakable Oath where he transforms human beings into bloated, scaly abominations that he also possesses. 

Old Whateley is an insane worshiper of the Old Gods who willfully gives his own daughter up to Yog-Sothoth resulting in the birth of the twin brothers Wilbur and the titular Dunwich Horror. There is never an explanation given as to why Old Whateley wants to free the gods, but it can be implicated that it would be bad.

Wilbur Whateley first appears in Lovecraft's story The Dunwich Horror being a hybrid conceived from Yog-Sothoth. He was indoctrinated by his grandpa to use the Necronomicon to open the gates to allow Yog-Sothoth and the other gods to enter the physical realm. 

Keziah Mason is an old hag of a witch who serves the Dark Man/Nyarlathotep and sacrifices children to him. 

Least Evil. As I have said, many of the eldritch gods do not fall under our conventional terms of morality as many Great Old Ones can easily wipe out civilizations without giving much thought to it. We are ants to them. They are potentially destructive, but they are also not overtly malicious either.

Azathoth is the supreme being of the Mythos known as the Blind Idiot God. Azathoth isn't much of a character as he is utterly mindless. He goes by many names like the Daemon Sultan or the Nuclear Chaos. It is called the Blind Idiot God because he is unaware of everything that goes on outside his mind as everything is his dream. Once he awakens, he would be clueless that there was ever something else because all of existence would end.

Yog-Sothoth would be next. He is considered the Keeper of the Gate and the All-in-One who is space-time itself. The second powerful being after Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth tends to be depicted as not being as "evil" as his brethren often taking affable forms when dealing with humans. But he is indirectly responsible for the events of the Dunwich Horror when he mated with Old Whateley's daughter.

Yig, oftentimes the Father of the Serpents, loves snakes and considers them his children. As such, if a human were to kill a snake, Yig would send his children to either kill the human or transform them into a snake-like person as an act of retribution. 

Glaaki is a slug-like monster from space created by Ramsey Campbell in his contributions to the mythos. Glaaki dwells in a lake and can transform people into his servants through spikes on his back. 

The Dunwich Horror was the offspring between Yog-Sothoth and Old Whateley's daughter. Like any of the Lovecraftian horrors, the Dunwich Horror is mindlessly hostile and breaks out of the Whateley residence towards the end and devours two families whole. 

Shub-Niggurath, or the Black Goat of the Woods, is next. She is also an incomprehensible entity who constantly births abominations dubbed her "Dark Young" whom she also eats. She is often worshiped as a fertility goddess by cults. 

Lastly is Cthulhu himself. The octopus-headed, winged humanoid of indescribable form who is introduced in the novel "The Call of Cthulhu" by Lovecraft. The ruler of the city of R'lyeh, Cthulhu used to rule the world until being locked away and his city sunk. If he were to awaken once the stars have aligned, Cthulhu would emerge from his city to bring ruin to the world. Should the great Cthulhu ever be truly destroyed, a contingency plan is that he would be reborn through his daughter Cthylla. 

If the Lovecraftian background to the story is consistent, than what is the Red Comet, that heralds the return of the dragons and magic in the world?

As I've mentioned before, there is an answer the Cthulhu Mythos: Ghroth, the Harbinger, a small red being resembling a comet. As Ghroth passes by planets, he awakes any of the Great Old Ones or Outer Gods that might be "sleeping" on that planet.

[A] nineteenth century British cult believed in [a] comet-god who sang to the stars and planets as it passed by them in its orbit. They said it destroyed those worlds it passed, by waking up demons or ancient gods ... who slept on each world. —Kevin A. Ross, "The Music of the Spheres"

If Ghroth has just passed by, his presence either increases the magic on an planet, or it awakens magical beings that grant magical powers.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, wars between the gods often end with gods being put under powerful sleep spells by other gods, like the Elder Gods of Earth. When they awaken, destruction to civilization can occur, and whole continents can be sunk, or like the Thousand Islands, land can be shattered by the power of these gods.

The creator of Ghroth is Ramsey Campbell, a horror writer with Lovecraft connections who is a friend and editor of George RR Martin. I even (halfheartedly) suspect that the Ramsay Bolton is named in honor of Campbell.

This always makes me think about what Lazy Leo Tyrell says in the beginning of A Feast for Crows as he sets the stage of Act Two of ASOIAF:

Dragons and darker things. The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers awaken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.[2] ” - Leo to Alleras

Ghroth, the comet god, has awaken the sleeping gods, and their powers, and now their human worshippers, those skilled in sorcery, are becoming stronger.