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in: Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu Mythos characters, Characters,
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Nyarlathotep (Lovecraft)

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Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep, also known by many other names, most notably the Crawling Chaos, is the main antagonist of the Cthulhu Mythos, the work of the late famous cosmic horror writer and author H. P. Lovecraft.

He first appeared as the titular main antagonist of the 1920 short story of the same name, ​and he continued to serve as the main antagonist of the 1943 fantasy novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath​, and as the eponymous main antagonist of the 1936 short story The Haunter of the Dark. He has appeared in numerous other stories written by H.P. Lovecraft (more than any other deity) and is unquestionably the cruelest and vilest entity in the entire mythos.

He is an evil Outer God who is seen as a shapeshifting agent of madness, chaos and ruin who serves the other Outer Gods, specifically his father, Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God, to whom he is subservient, fulfilling his wishes without question as his messenger and emissary, though he sometimes enjoys manipulating his master.

He often visits Earth and enjoys bringing madness and suffering to inferior beings (humans are among them). He spends his time manipulating and deceiving humans, or driving them insane, for his own sadistic pleasure. It is said that he will be the god who brings destruction to Earth.

Personality[]

Unlike the other Outer Gods, who are amoral and emotionless gods, Nyarlathotep has a very different and "human" character, that of an extremely cruel and evil monster.

He enjoys driving humans insane and finds the act to be more enjoyable than simple death and destruction and is, as stated before, a more human-like evil than the other Outer Gods.

Nyarlathotep frequently employs deception and manipulation, even propaganda, to achieve his goals and often mingles 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 unpleasant and terrible of all Lovecraftian monsters, as he averts their unknowable and amoral nature, and it has been suggested by some that Nyarlathotep may be the creature that will ultimately destroy the world.

Counterparts[]

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