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KingsOfEvilArt β€” Lovecraft - Elder Thing

Published: 2012-05-07 19:46:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 33045; Favourites: 663; Downloads: 827
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Description Likely the most detailed description of Lovecraft's creature, left little to add here.

"Objects are eight feet long all over. Six-foot five-ridged barrel torso 3.5 feet central diameter, 1 foot end diameters. Dark grey, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membraneous wings of same colour, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framework tubular or glandular, of lighter grey, with orifices at wing tips. Spread wings have serrated edge. Around equator, one at central apex of each of the five vertical, stave-like ridges, are five systems of light grey flexible arms or tentacles found tightly folded to torso but expansible to maximum length of over 3 feet. Like arms of primitive crinoid. Single stalks 3 inches diameter branch after 6 inches into five sub-stalks, each of which branches after 8 inches into five small, tapering tentacles or tendrils, giving each stalk a total of 25 tentacles.

β€œAt top of torso blunt bulbous neck of lighter grey with gill-like suggestions holds yellowish five-pointed starfish-shaped apparent head covered with three-inch wiry cilia of various prismatic colours. Head thick and puffy, about 2 feet point to point, with three-inch flexible yellowish tubes projecting from each point. Slit in exact centre of top probably breathing aperture. At end of each tube is spherical expansion where yellowish membrane rolls back on handling to reveal glassy, red-irised globe, evidently an eye. Five slightly longer reddish tubes start from inner angles of starfish-shaped head and end in sac-like swellings of same colour which upon pressure open to bell-shaped orifices 2 inches maximum diameter and lined with sharp white tooth-like projections. Probable mouths. All these tubes, cilia, and points of starfish-head found folded tightly down; tubes and points clinging to bulbous neck and torso. Flexibility surprising despite vast toughness."

β€œAt bottom of torso rough but dissimilarly functioning counterparts of head arrangements exist. Bulbous light-grey pseudo-neck, without gill suggestions, holds greenish five-pointed starfish-arrangement. Tough, muscular arms 4 feet long and tapering from 7 inches diameter at base to about 2.5 at point. To each point is attached small end of a greenish five-veined membraneous triangle 8 inches long and 6 wide at farther end. This is the paddle, fin, or pseudo-foot which has made prints in rocks from a thousand million to fifty or sixty million years old. From inner angles of starfish-arrangement project two-foot reddish tubes tapering from 3 inches diameter at base to 1 at tip. Orifices at tips. All these parts infinitely tough and leathery, but extremely flexible. Four-foot arms with paddles undoubtedly used for locomotion of some sort, marine or otherwise. When moved, display suggestions of exaggerated muscularity. As found, all these projections tightly folded over pseudo-neck and end of torso, corresponding to projections at other end."

H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"
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Comments: 127

Cerberus-Chaos [2023-10-07 21:06:18 +0000 UTC]

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Cerberus-Chaos [2023-10-10 20:40:31 +0000 UTC]

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Cerberus-Chaos In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2023-10-10 23:10:45 +0000 UTC]

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firerockbird [2023-06-12 12:12:11 +0000 UTC]

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to firerockbird [2023-06-17 17:41:00 +0000 UTC]

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EdieMammon [2020-12-22 19:57:59 +0000 UTC]

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to EdieMammon [2020-12-23 17:55:42 +0000 UTC]

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federicodd [2020-10-26 19:56:54 +0000 UTC]

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to federicodd [2020-10-26 20:24:20 +0000 UTC]

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EmmetEarwax [2020-05-22 21:01:53 +0000 UTC]

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The-Aries-Knight [2019-08-21 01:07:29 +0000 UTC]

Pretty much how I imagined they'd look like, these Elder Things.

Good job on this, dude!Β Β 

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to The-Aries-Knight [2019-08-22 08:01:02 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! This was one of my first Cthulhu Mythos drawings...

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The-Aries-Knight In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2019-08-22 09:01:38 +0000 UTC]

Really? One of your very first drawings for creatures from The Cthulhu Mythos? Must've been pretty tough getting the design down at first, huh?

And you're very welcome!Β Β 

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to The-Aries-Knight [2019-08-22 13:24:29 +0000 UTC]

Not at all... it came very naturally

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The-Aries-Knight In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2019-08-22 22:31:04 +0000 UTC]

Well, you're pretty good if that 'just came naturally'. Again, great work!

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PsionicsKnight [2019-08-04 06:43:58 +0000 UTC]

This is, without a doubt, one of the best renditions of the Elder Things I've ever seen.

Incredible job! You should be proud of yourself!

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to PsionicsKnight [2019-08-04 07:41:30 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! it's been 8 years since I have made it yet this is still a work I consider very good and never felt the urge to redo him. Even though I have improved greatly with my overall skill since then, those first Lovecraftian drawings I made, seem like I made them several years after then I actually did. Β 

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PsionicsKnight In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2019-08-08 02:06:23 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome.

Really, 8 years? Well, while I do see some differences, I think you're being a little hard on yourself; I think your work here started off fantastic! Still, it is good to hear you have improved in general; it's always a nice thing to know.

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SheTheTDE [2018-09-03 10:59:15 +0000 UTC]

It's amazingly sad that humans cant recognise the sentience of a non-humanoid even when it's clearly aeons ahead of their own civilisation.

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to SheTheTDE [2018-09-03 18:21:36 +0000 UTC]

yeah, victorian stereotypes still alive.Β 

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SheTheTDE In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2018-09-04 01:33:19 +0000 UTC]

Always will be for as long as people keep using themselves as the model for comparing against

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arfgard [2018-02-23 20:15:24 +0000 UTC]

I immediately recognized this in the 'thumbnail' ; I know an old one when I see it ..... GREAT work !!Β  Β Β  Β  Β 

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to arfgard [2018-02-24 10:36:30 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much

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KennyWondershit911 [2018-01-16 13:43:27 +0000 UTC]

Holy shit that crap looks like it's from a alien planet

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EmmetEarwax In reply to KennyWondershit911 [2020-03-20 17:33:17 +0000 UTC]

At least.

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to KennyWondershit911 [2018-01-16 16:50:09 +0000 UTC]

It is.

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whipscorpion [2017-07-01 03:52:23 +0000 UTC]

Β  I heard from a friend H.P. Lovecraft was pretty descriptive, but geez almighty!Β  He left little to no gaps to fill for the imagination.Β 

Β  Gorgeous work as always with the illustration.Β  Especially with the head region and wings.Β 

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WintersMalice In reply to whipscorpion [2017-07-14 02:46:22 +0000 UTC]

Hes descriptive but hardly ever of creatures and the like. Atmosphere and mood for sure get the descriptions

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to whipscorpion [2017-07-01 07:21:38 +0000 UTC]

On the contrary. Yithian and Elder thing were the only cases where he gave this much detail, on other accounts his descriptions were rather vague and the narrators either could not or chose not to give much details about what they saw.

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EmmetEarwax In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2020-03-20 17:36:42 +0000 UTC]

He went into deoth about the social, economic, political , technological and other aspects. If they had computers, well, these were after Lovecraft's time and only a deep visionary could have conjured up something like that in the 30's.Β 

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Xhodocto385 [2017-03-24 05:57:10 +0000 UTC]

in deviantart i still haven't seen any art of the Elder Things with all five wings spread, i wonder if you will redraw the Elder Things like you did with many other lovecraftian aliens?

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Xhodocto385 [2017-03-24 07:37:46 +0000 UTC]

I redraw the ones I am not satisfied with and this isn't the case here

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Angle-RAD [2017-02-20 19:33:47 +0000 UTC]

It would be good to see something like this in a movie.Β 

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Angle-RAD [2017-02-20 20:27:17 +0000 UTC]

I would love that too.

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Xhodocto385 [2016-01-14 01:09:18 +0000 UTC]

great elder thing and those crinoid-like tentacles, i guess many varieties of tentacles would be the universal manipulatory organs for countless alien races and creatures.

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Xhodocto385 [2016-01-16 08:36:43 +0000 UTC]

That's true, it's quite strange though, as lovecraft is largely associated with tentacly monstrosities while onli in somewhat 3 or so stories of his these appear

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Imdraproc [2015-12-27 12:28:37 +0000 UTC]

A really good picture that brings out a kind of "classical illustration of a strange being"-look!

The funny thing with the Elder Things is that,Β other thanΒ their extreme toughness and appropriately strange appearance, they are by far the most normal of Lovecraft's creatures. They are carbon-based organisms, can't breathe in space, prefer technology to magic, and stand out as practically the only nonhuman creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos portrayed with a least some sympathy from a human character.

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alam033 In reply to Imdraproc [2016-12-02 21:11:07 +0000 UTC]

Also, in ATMOM they are not even the main antagonist. Sure, they slaughter most of the camp. But they where kind of pissed of because that whole autopsy thing

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Imdraproc [2015-12-27 22:52:43 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. That's a very interesting observation!

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kdogprime [2015-08-28 10:18:41 +0000 UTC]

All I know is that these things are a bitch to kill in the Arkham Horror board game.

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ionoid In reply to kdogprime [2015-10-09 00:07:24 +0000 UTC]

It makes sense, considering that they were frozen alive and survived being thawed out.

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BassoeG In reply to ionoid [2017-08-21 15:57:57 +0000 UTC]

Their biotechnology skills were sufficient to create the shoggoths. Presumably if they'd devoted effort towards self-improvement of their species by the time of their extinction they'd be as far from their pretechnological precursors as the immortal transhumanity of Robert Reed's Great Ship series would be from us.

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to kdogprime [2015-08-28 10:36:25 +0000 UTC]

Well.. In the stories they weren't really the worst what could get you

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Octex8 [2015-07-21 01:06:59 +0000 UTC]

Gosh, its as if it flew right out of page and imagination of lovecraft just to eat our faces! This is one of the best, most accurate renditions I've seen.

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Octex8 [2015-07-21 20:00:45 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot! This surely means much. One of my old drawings but very good anyway.

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plainred [2015-05-22 00:36:40 +0000 UTC]

My friend says, "It looks like something that's rooted to the ground and filter feeds on land. It tests the wind with a wing. Then those trunk things release spores. And the roots things...catch pollen. And its eyes twist around."

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to plainred [2015-05-22 09:58:10 +0000 UTC]

Interesting interpretation. Not what I really intended when drawing it but I'm glad that my work has variety of intepretations.

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Brian-OConnell [2015-02-23 12:22:06 +0000 UTC]

Sent this to the prop-maker. He can do it, but he'd like to see a few more angles first. No rush! No rush!

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KingsOfEvilArt In reply to Brian-OConnell [2015-02-23 20:01:47 +0000 UTC]

Okay. What angles ? I think thisΒ 2.bp.blogspot.com/-vlMyJbKVlS4… is usual scheme for doing a 3D model but.. in case of radial-symmetry Elder Thing it would make no sense. xD

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Brian-OConnell In reply to KingsOfEvilArt [2015-02-23 20:36:06 +0000 UTC]

That's very true...

Β BTW did you get my note?

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