An artist's deception of Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos is an Outer God from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Described as a very terrifying being and a cruel and dark deity, he is worshiped by many cults.
Often considered the "soul of the Outer Gods", Nyarlathotep is the only one that might be considered truly conscious and sapient. While the other Outer Gods have, for the most part, no interest in mortal beings (save when they are invoked or summoned by their cults), Nyarlathotep is aware of mortal life - and entirely malevolent towards it. As the soul of the Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep is the one who controls the rest. Whenever an Outer God takes an active hand in the lives of mortals, it is Nyarlathotep pulling the strings.
Personality[]
Nyarlathotep enjoys driving people insane and finds the act to be more enjoyable than simple death and destruction. He is an altogether more human-like evil than the other Outer Gods, frequently employing deception and manipulation, even propaganda, to achieve his goals and often mingling with humans in order to seal their doom. These traits, combined with his ability to walk freely amongst mortal life, may make him the most dangerous of all Lovecraftian monsters and it has been suggested by some that he might be the creature that will ultimately destroy the world. He is extremely loyal towards Azathoth and will fulfill his orders without question.
Appearance[]
Nyarlathotep is described as a master shape-shifter with over a thousand forms, many of which are seen as monstrous and capable of driving mortals insane - a trait common to Lovecraftian monsters. However, unlike many other Outer Gods he frequently takes on a human form. His most famous manifestation throughout the Cthulhu Mythos is The Black Pharaoh, an enigmatic male dressed in the attire of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh.
Relation to Slender Man[]
Even though his true form does not look like Slender Man at all, Nyarlathotep has the abillity to manifest as many different avatars, bringing him the title of the God of a Thousand Forms. Many of them share the lack of a face. The one closest to Slender Man is known by the title of "The Dark One", a tall man, pitch black and faceless, who has the ability to walk through any physical matter in his way.
The name Nyarlathotep also shares similarity to the name Gorr'Ryaehotep, which was given to Slender Man in DarkHarvest00.
Nyarlathotep's Forms[]
| Name | Region | Description | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahtu | Congo | Appears as a gelatinous mass extruding golden tentacles. | Ahtu 's cult is made of crippled and disfigured natives (though Europeans with similar deformities can join). He can be called by a magical, golden bracelet, which is kept separated into two halves to prevent accidental summonings. Also known as the Spiraling Worm. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The Beast | Worldwide | Manifests through the Sphinx. | In this form, Nyarlathotep is worshiped by the Brotherhood of the Beast. This manifestation can only appear in a specific location in Egypt. | |
| The Black Demon | Unknown | Appears as a black, furry, snouted creature which fears light but is not harmed by it. | Although special talismans can be used to control the Black Demon, there is still the risk that the summoner will be attacked. | |
| Black Man | England | Appears as a hooved, hairless, man with pitch black skin and Caucasian features. | Nyarlathotep is worshipped by witch covens in this form. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Black Pharaoh | Egypt | Appears as a haughty Egyptian pharaoh wearing a brightly colored robe. | The Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh worships Nyarlathotep in this form. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Black Wind | Kenya | Manifests as a devastating storm. | ||
| Bloated Woman | China
(Shanghai) |
Initially appears as a dainty maiden behind a fan, which casts an illusion masking the true form of a five-mouthed, morbidly obese woman with numerous tentacles. | The Order of the Bloated Woman worships Nyarlathotep in this form. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Bringer of Pests | Egypt | Appears as a swarm of preternatural locusts. | This avatar had a following in Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty. Today it is worshiped by the Knights of the Silver Twilight. | |
| Crawling Mist | Dreamlands | Appears as a putrid, living fog. | ||
| Dark Demon | Unknown | Appears as a larger version of the Black Demon yet more treacherous. | Those who study the black arts are sometimes contacted by this avatar. In return for entering their bodies, the Dark Demon promises them great rewards. Unfortunately, Nyarlathotep never makes good on this promise. | |
| Dark One | California, Louisiana, Tennessee | Appears as a pitch-black, eight-foot-tall, faceless man who can walk through any physical barrier. | ||
| Dweller in Darkness | Wood of N'gai | This avatar wails as it forms and reabsorbs random appendages. It has no face, but can take any shape it pleases for short periods of time. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
| |
| Effigy of Hate | Africa | A winged creature that manifests through a war totem. | ||
| The Faceless God | Egypt | Appears as a winged, faceless sphinx. | This avatar has the ability to send its worshipers back through time. | |
| The Floating Horror | Haiti | Appears as a bluish, red-veined jellyfish-like creature. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
| |
| Green Man | Celts | Appears as an animated, man-like effigy made of plant material. | ||
| The Haunter of the Dark | Australia; Providence, Rhode Island; Yuggoth | A bloated, batlike creature with a single three-lobed burning eye which appears able to kill by fear alone. This avatar is destroyed by light. | Its most important cult is the Church of Starry Wisdom, based in Providence, which can summon the avatar using a strange crystalline structure called the Shining Trapezohedron. It is also worshipped by some modern Aborigines. Its other epithets include Face Eater, Father of All Bats, Dark Wing, Sand Bat, and Fly-The-Light. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The Horned Man | Celts | Appears as a man with stag-like horns. | This avatar can only be viewed while under the influence of certain hallucinogenic drugs. | |
| Howler in the Dark | Wood of N'gai | Appears as a hideous, howling giant with a tentacle in place of a face. | Occasionally referred to as the God of the Bloody Tongue, or the Bloody Tongue for short. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| L'rog'g,
Bat God of L'gy'hx |
The planet L'gy'hx (Uranus) | Appears as a two-headed bat. | Avatar worshipped by the cuboid inhabitants of L'gy'hx and by a group of renegade Shan. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The Masked Messenger | Morocco Kenya | Human female aspect with acid skin. | Avatar worshipped by the Sisterhood of the Masked Messenger. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Messenger of the Old Ones | Unknown | Appears as an enormous black mass that seems to creep across the sky. | This form only manifests during occasions of cosmic importance, such as the awakening of Cthulhu. | |
| Mr. Skin | Los Angeles | Eight-foot-tall, pale silver, faceless imitation of a pimp. | This avatar is closely associated with certain worshippers of Shub-Niggurath | |
| Randall Flagg | Mid-World and United States | A shapeshifter with many aliases, Flagg usually appears as an enrobed sorcerer, or a pale man clothed in jeans, cowboy boots and a denim jacket. During the climax of The Stand, he briefly takes on a monstrous, slumped, hunched, almost shapeless form, with yellow, cat-like eyes. | A creation of American horror writer Stephen King. Flagg appears in at least nine of King's novels, including The Stand and the Dark Tower series. He wanders from one universe to another, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction in his wake. |  Artist: Michael Whelan
|
| The Royal Pant | North American Jazz clubs and crossroads | An African-American jazz saxophone player. | Appears to musicians who desire to sell their souls for musical skill and/or fame. | |
| Set | Egypt | A 20 foot tall, muscular man with the head of a Typhonian animal, a chimerical beast with a long curving snout, square upstanding ears and upright tufted tail. | This avatar is worshiped by the Majestic Order of the Great Dark One, a cult which may still be active in Egypt. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Shugoran | Malaysia | Appears as a black human-like creature playing a horn. | This form is worshiped by the Tcho-Tcho. They sometimes summon this avatar to punish offenders. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Skeletal Horror | Egypt | Manifests as a twelve-foot-tall living skeleton with enormous claws and the head of a human embryo. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
| |
| Skinless One | Middle East | Appears as a skinned corpse. | This avatar was worshiped by an abhorrent cult in Turkey and its environs. The Aztecs revered to this avatar as Xipe Totec. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The Small Crawler | India | A small human figure with four arms and three tentacles for legs. | This avatar is described in the Cthäat Aquadingen and has a small cult in India. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| Tezcatlipoca | Mexico | Dark-skinned man with a foot that looks like a smoking mirror. | This avatar was a prominent deity among the Aztecs. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The Thing in the Yellow Mask | Dreamlands | A creature clothed in yellow silk. | This avatar is only known to manifest in the city of 'Ygiroth in the Dreamlands. Some claim that it is the lone occupant of a remote, unnamed monastery on the Plateau of Leng. | |
| The Tick-Tock Man | Any technologically advanced civilization | An advanced piece of machinery for the time period. | This avatar is most commonly found in technologically advanced races, or at times when science begins to supersede religion. It can manifest itself from something as mundane as a complex carriage clock to an extremely advanced artificial intelligence. Sources claim it was Nyarlathotep that gave humanity the final keys to unlock the atomic age, unwittingly ushering in the time of their own destruction. | |
| The Wailing Writher | Unknown | A column of writhing black tentacles and screaming mouths. | This avatar has no known worshippers. |  Artist: Mike Bukowski
|
| The White Man | New England | Appears as a blonde man in a shining white robe. |
Trivia[]
- The name of this deity is noted for its Egyptian suffix -hotep, which gives its name an Egyptian tone.
Gallery[]
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