Elder Thing
The
Elder Things (also known as the
Old Ones[The term "Old Ones" should not be confused with the Great Old Ones. This is a separate group and is described as being enemies of the Elder Things in At the Mountains of Madness.]) are fictional
aliens in the
Cthulhu Mythos. The beings first appeared in
H. P. Lovecraft's
novella At the Mountains of Madness (
1936). Additional references to the Elder Things appear in Lovecraft's
short stories "The Dreams in the Witch-House" (
1933) and "
The Shadow Out of Time" (1936).
Six feet end to end, three and five-tenths feet central diameter, tapering to one foot at each end. Like a barrel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. Lateral breakages, as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. In furrows between ridges are curious growths – combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans. . . which gives almost seven-foot wing spread. Arrangement reminds one of certain monsters of primal myth, especially fabled Elder Things in [the] Necronomicon.
—H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness
The Elder Things were the first alien species to come to the
Earth, colonizing the planet about
one billion years ago.
[Harms, "Appendix D: Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 384.] They stood roughly eight feet tall and had the appearance of a huge, oval-shaped barrel with
starfish-like appendage at both ends. The top appendage was a head adorned with five eyes, five eating tubes, and a set of
cilia for "seeing" without light. The bottom appendage was five-limbed and was used for walking and other forms of locomotion. The beings also had five
leathery, retractable wings and five sets of tentacles that sprouted from their torsos. Both their tentacles and the slits housing their folded wings were spaced at regular intervals about their bodies.
The Elder Things were vegetable-like in shape, having
radial symmetry instead of the
bilateral symmetry of
bipeds. They also differed in that they had a five-lobed
brain. In terms of nutrition and reproduction, the Elder Things exhibited
vegetal as well as
animal characteristics. Though they could make use of both organic and inorganic substances, the Elder Things were preferably carnivorous. They were also amphibious.
The bodies of the Elder Things were incredibly tough, capable of withstanding the
pressures of the deepest
ocean. Few died except by accident or violence. The beings were also capable of
hibernating for vast of time. Nonetheless, unlike other beings of the mythos, the Elder Things were made of normal, terrestrial matter.
The Elder Things built huge cities, both underwater and on dry land. They may be responsible for the appearance of the
first life-forms on Earth, including the entity known as
Ubbo-Sathla (although sources differ in this regard). They
bio-engineered the dreaded
shoggoths to be their all-purpose slave
race. Eventually, however, the shoggoths rebelled—an event that hastened the decadence and ultimate collapse of their civilization.
They are known to have warred against the
star-spawn of Cthulhu, the
Great Race of Yith, and the
Mi-go. Despite these conflicts, it was the gradual cooling of the planet during the last
ice age that spelled their doom. Retreating to their undersea cities deep in the ocean, they would thereafter have no further dealings with the outer world. Their last surface city, located on a high
plateau in the
Antarctic, remains frozen in ice. The ruins of this city were discovered in
1931 by two members of an Antarctic expedition from
Miskatonic University. (The
Call of Cthulhu role-playing game features a scenario in which the Elder Thing city is rediscovered and subsequently explored by expeditions sent to "
New Schwabia" by the
National Socialist government of
Germany during the late
1930s and
1940s.)
*
* Introduction by China Miéville.
*
Notes
*
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
