OORN

OORN

"Oorn, though a creature of extremely doubtful nature, was the virtual ruler of Zeth. It obviously belonged somewhere in the outer abyss, but had blundered into Zeth one night and suffered capture by the shamith priests. The coincidence of Its excessively bizarre aspect and Its innate gift of mimicry had impressed the sacred brothers as offering vast possibilities, hence in the end they had set It up as a god and an oracle, organising a new brotherhood to serve It—and incidentally to suggest the edicts it should utter and the replies It should give."

"For a moment—as the ritual prescribed—he stayed in this abased position, and when he arose the dais was no longer empty. Unconcernedly munching something the priests had given It was a large pudgy creature very hard to describe, and covered with short grey fur. Whence It had come in so brief a time only the priests might tell, but the suppliant knew that It was Oorn."

"Having tidily finished Its food, Oorn raised three small reddish eyes to Yalden and uttered certain words in a tone of vast decisiveness: “Gumay ere hfotuol leheht teg.” After this It vanished suddenly in a cloud of pink smoke which seemed to issue from behind the curtain where the acolytes were."

H.P. Lovecraft & R.H. Barlow, The Hoard Of the Wizard-Beast

Lovecraft collaborated with R.H.Barlow on a handful of stories but The Hoard Of the Wizard Beast and Collapsing Cosmoses are the ones full of monster, and the ones I'm concerned with. Oorn is one of the most obscure Great Old Ones or gods in the Lovecraft canon and I was excited to draw one with fur! There so many "rugous", "squamous", and slimy gods that I was excited for the change.

Another one where I liked the original design but redid the linework and some anatomy.

It's worth pointing out how strange Lovecraft's relationship with Barlow was. They began corresponding in the 30s and in 1934 Lovecraft took a train, all the way to Florida, to stay with him...not knowing he was only sixteen! HPL wound up staying with the boy and his mother for SEVEN weeks but the true nature of their relationship is unknown. Barlow was openly gay later in life and HPL was an open homophobe...not to mention the massive age gap. You can read more about it here.

And as far as I can tell, there are no other illustrations of Oorn or at least illustrations that follow the description in the story. But here's a great chapbook with an Allen Koszowski cover!