Whence Cthulhu?

And what of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu? Where did Lovecraft draw his inspirations for the High Priest of the Old Ones?

Cthulhu by NathanRosario: nathanrosario. deviantart. com

Eminent Lovecraft Researcher – Dr. Robert M. Price – believes one source HPL used among the many can be found in a poem entitled “The Kraken” by Alfred Lord Tennyson (18).

I have reproduced the poem here so you can draw your own conclusions.

The Kraken

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1830).

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber’d and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

Wherein lies the common thread that may have inspired both Lovecraft’s Cthulhu and Tolkien’s the Watcher?

Alfred Lord Tennyson scholars state that his 1830 poem was influenced by the same myths that inspired Tolkien’s Watcher:

“The poem draws its images from the Norse legend of a gigantic sea-monster that supposedly preyed upon shipping off the coast of Norway (and was probably founded on the observation of an enormous cuttle-fish or squid), first described by Bishop Pontoppidan in A History of Norway (1752)” (19).

Interestingly, Lovecraft paints a Nordic figure – Gustaf Johansen, a Norwegian of some intelligence – as the only survivor to confront Lovecraft’s cosmic “Kraken, ” Lord Cthulhu.

Again, Cthulhu is a multi-layered character referenced in more than one of Lovecraft’s tales. That why I cite that the Lord Tennyson poem, as only one source of many that inspired Lovecraft’s High Priest of the Great Old Ones.

Our Sources Shall Remain Nameless:

Beyond the common source – Norse mythology surrounding the Kraken – we just surveyed, let us return to our discussion of the Nameless Things.

Did Tolkien read Lovecraft? And did that subsequently influence the Cosmicistic themes that occasionally crop up in The Lord of the Rings and related works?

First, was Weird Tales, the magazine where the majority of Lovecraft Tales found publication, available in England during the period (between 1937 and 1949) when Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings?

In general, I would say largely not. To begin, only a small run of Weird Tales was available during the years that Tolkien wrote his Magnus Opus of Middle-earth:

“…[Weird Tales] Reprints…[were available]…in the UK [United Kingdom], where there were four different series. The first consisted of only three unnumbered and undated issues published in early 1942 by the infamous Gerald G. Swan, corresponding to abridged versions of the US issues September and November 1940, and January 1941. The second series was even briefer, with only a single issue (still unnumbered and undated) in late 1946 containing a mere three stories from the US October 1937 issue…” (20).

Next, based on the foregoing information, only one Lovecraft story may have been available to UK readers in those offerings:

“…No Lovecraft published in Weird Tales – October 1937.
No Lovecraft published in Weird Tales – September 1940.
The Mound [heavily abridged by Derleth] in Weird Tales – November 1940.
No Lovecraft published in Weird Tales – January 1941…” (21).

Notice that I say, “May have been available. ”

For one, the UK November 1940 edition of Weird Tales itself was abridged. And two, the tale that was available – ghostwritten with Zealia Bishop entitled “The Mound, ” – had been radically abridged by August Derleth (22). The full, original text of that story was not available to the public until 1989, well after Tolkien’s death in 1973.

So, while some Lovecraft tales – a lessor, abridged product at best – may have been in circulation in the UK during the time Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, it is highly unlikely that Tolkien read it, nor found inspiration therein.

Second, Tolkien made no mention of Lovecraft’s body of work among the writers that he read. For example, Tolkien did browse Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) and responded to literary gossip that he borrowed from Burroughs in assembling his Middle-earth Sagas – particularly surrounding the monstrous spider Shelob:

“…Source hunting is a great entertainment but I do not myself think it is particularly useful. I did read many of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ earlier works, but I developed a dislike for his Tarzan even greater than my distaste for spiders. Spiders I had met long before Burroughs began to write, and I do not think he is in any way responsible for Shelob. At any rate I retain no memory of the Siths or the Apts…” (23).

But nowhere does Tolkien mention Lovecraft, in the same way he referenced Burroughs. Were Lovecraft’s fiction more popular during the later years of Tolkien’s life, he may have forwarded a similar refutation of source hunting in regards to HPL’s influence on Middle-earth.

There is evidence that Tolkien may have read an anthology that contained a Lovecraftian tale after he wrote The Lord of the Rings. In July 1964, L. Sprague De Camp sent Tolkien a copy of his anthology Swords & Sorcery (24), which includes Lovecraft’s “The Doom that Came to Sarnath. ” However, while Tolkien commented on several contributions to the anthology, he left Lovecraft’s piece without comment (25).

Perhaps Lovecraft and Tolkien’s Nameless Things theme was derived from a common literary thread.

Lovecraft thought well of Lord Dunsany (1878 to 1957). For instance, HPL characterized several of his early stories – including The White Ship – as his “Dunsanian pieces. ” And Tolkien read Dunsany’s works extensively. He did so to judge the efficacy of his efforts to generate the effect/illusion of “reality” behind his Middle-earth Mythologies (26).

Now consider a passage of Dunsany’s that both Lovecraft and Tolkien may have read. In one of Dunsany’s works – The Latest Thing – published as part of the Fifty-one Tales (1915), there appears a remarkable selection:

“I saw an unclean-feeder by the banks of the river of Time. He crouched by orchards numerous with apples in a happy land of flowers; colossal barns stood near which the ancients had stored with grain, and the sun was golden on serene far hills behind the level lands. But his back was to all these things. He crouched and watched the river. And whatever the river chanced to send him down the unclean-feeder clutched at greedily with his arms, wading out into the water. Now there came in those days, and indeed still are, certain uncleanly cities on the river of Time; and from them fearfully nameless things came floating shapelessly by. And whenever the odor of these came down the river before them the unclean-feeder plunged into the dirty water and stood far out, expectant. And if he opened his mouth one saw these things on his lips…” (27).

Was this the tale that influenced Lovecraft and Tolkien’s Nameless Things? The timeframe is correct – it was written in 1915, well before Lovecraft and Tolkien’s use of the term. Dunsany’s Nameless Things are water-borne, timeless, and unwholesome in cast.

Ultimately, its influence on Lovecraft and Tolkien is at best circumstantial. Only the imaginations of Lovecraft and Tolkien could weave a small idea – whatever its source – into such a grand cosmic, menacing theme, either at the bottom of the sea, in the bowels of an early earth, or from the timeless expanse of outer space.

Conclusion:

Lovecraft and Tolkien have immeasurably impacted the literary, cinematic, and entertainment landscapes. Beyond those segments of culture, the figments of their imaginations have become our own. And their nightmares, ours.

Characters from their mythologies, such as Cthulhu and Sauron, have become cultural icons across the globe.

Inevitably, questions and comparisons arise when the creative efforts of such giants parallel one another. Among the many seeming conjunctures in Lovecraft and Tolkien’s literary constellations, we briefly examined two: 1) their like use of the term Nameless Things and 2) similarities in Cthulhu and the Watcher in the Water.

Rather than there being an issue of cross-pollination, where Tolkien took his horror inspirations from Lovecraft, it appears that both men drew their creative insights in the instances we surveyed from common literary and mythic sources.

As with other virtuosos, even if we could deduce each ingredient added to the literary cauldron that became The Lord of the Rings, or The Call of Cthulhu, there is a synergy to Lovecraft and Tolkien’s creative efforts – the sum of the parts is greater than its individual elements. And therein lies the mystery that surrounds each man’s larger than life genius.

—–

End Notes:

(1) J. R. R. Tolkien’s Letter to Sir Patrick Browne, 23 May 1972.

(2) J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes, goodreads. com.

(3) “The Defence Remains Open! ” An Essay by H. P. Lovecraft, April 1921.

(4) “Tolkienesque, ” oxforddictionaries. com.

(5) “Please Personally Tell Me What Lovecraftian Horror Is? ” escapistmagazine. com, November 19, 2012.

(6) “Lovecraft, Tolkien, and the nightmare as ‘a necessary drug for the mass consciousness’” by Matt Cardin, teemingbrain. com, 10 Jul 2013.

(7) The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937-1949.

(8) Dagon, by H. P. Lovecraft, November 1919.

(9) The Whisperer in Darkness, by H. P. Lovecraft, September 1930.

(10) The Silmarillion, Chapter 3, by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien, 1978.

(11) The Call of Cthulhu, by H. P. Lovecraft, 1926.

(12) Ibid, 1926.

(13) Ibid, 1926.

(14). At the Mountains of Madness, by H. P. Lovecraft, 1931.

(15) “Rings, dwarves, elves, and dragons: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Old Norse influences, ” University of the Highland and Island, Centre for Nordic Studies, uhi. ac. uk/en/research-enterprise/cultural/centre-for-nordic-studies.

(16) The Legendary Kraken, ancient-origins. net, 26 March 2013.

(17) The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter, 1981, p. 375-376.

(18) “Whence R’lyeh? -Part Two, ” by Terence E. Hanley, tellersofweirdtales. blogspot. com, 23 April 2014.

(19) “’The Kraken’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1830): Commentary and Notes, ” The Victorian Web, Literature, History, and Culture in the Age of Victoria, victorianweb. org.

(20) Weird Tales Checklists, Galactic Central, philsp. com/mags/weirdtales.

(21) Lovecraft’s Fiction, Publication Order, hplovecraft. com.

(22) “Publication, ” The Mound (Short Story), Wikipedia.

(23) J. R. R. Tolkien Letter to Richard Lupoff, (date unknown).

(24) cf. J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology, p. 622.

(25) Tolkien and Lovecraft, tolkienguide. com.

(26) J. R. R. Tolkien’s Letter to Stanley Unwin, 16 December 1937.

(27) “The Latest Thing, ” Fifty-one Tales by Lord Dunsany, 1915.

John A. DeLaughter M. Div., M. S., is a Data Security Analyst, Lovecraft essayist, horror, and fantasy author. His work has appeared in The Lovecraft eZine, Samsara: The Magazine of Suffering, Tigershark eZine, Turn To Ash, The Eldritch Literary Review Journal, and The Chamber. Follow John and all things Lovecraft on Twitter @HPL_JDeLaughter. The first book, Night of the Kwatee, in John’s epic fantasy trilogy, will be published by Night Horse Publishing House (upcoming). JohnlivesinruralPennsylvaniawithhiswifeHeidi.

Tags: cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, John A. DeLaughter, Middle-Earth, Nameless Things, The Lord of the Rings

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