SHOGGOTH

SHOGGOTH

"They were normally shapeless entities composed of a viscous jelly which looked like an agglutination of bubbles, and each averaged about fifteen feet in diameter when a sphere. They had, however, a constantly shifting shape and volume - throwing out temporary developments or forming apparent organs of sight, hearing, and speech in imitation of their masters, either spontaneously or according to suggestion."

"Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes - viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells - rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile - slaves of suggestion, builders of cities - more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use and carve such things?"

H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains Of Madness

The next 3 weeks will be redrawing of some of the most iconic Lovecraftian monsters I've ever tackled. Some may not look too different, others get a complete overhaul.

Since At The Mountains Of Madness is my favorite of HPLs stories I thought it was worth it to revisit one of his most enduring creatures from that story, and possibly his entire mythos. Shoggoths appear in The Thing On The Doorstep, At the Mountains Of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth & The Fungi From Yuggoth.

This is my third pass at a shoggoth but the only slightly different from the second. In my very first attempt, I was loose with my interpretation and gave the shoggoth lots of teeth; which a lot of other contemporary designs do this as well. In my second attempt I tried to stick more to the spirit of what I thought Lovecraft was going for: an ameoba. It's way more simplified. tendrils, non-distinct body and lots of eyes. HPL describes them as simple creatures able to mimic other organs "mock and reflect" not recreate perfectly. So my idea is that they're blobs of protoplasm that can shape said protoplasm into different shapes to mimic other organs, NOT create said organs out of whole cloth. I don't think they can create teeth or bone. I think they can mold their bodies to LOOK like an arm but it may be a bit soft and rubbery looking with no bones. I actually got rid of the mouths altogether in my second design which I rectified in this new one. HPL specifically mentions they can mimic organs for speech. I also imagine it doesn't "create" eyes, rather, it has a set number that extrude or protract at any given moment. But this is just my speculation. 

The shoggoth was originally depicted on the cover of Astounding Stories (February 1936) with the original publication of part 1 of ATMOM by Howard V. Brown. Brown's shoggoths are similar to what I imagine them to be; blobs of goo with eyes and shifting appendages. However, his have no mouths and are appear to be clear. Brown also supplied various interior illustrations over the next 2 months for parts 2 & 3.

Subsequent depictions include Tom Sullivan's illustration from Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters (another blobby, toothless version that rules) and the spot illustration from the 1e Call Of Cthulhu rulebook (mostly a blog with eyes but one big toothy mouth [also illustration attribution is hard with Call Of Cthulhu RPG because illustrators are listed in a block in the front with no individual credit as to which illustration was done by which artist]).

We also have Sheldon Jaffrey's illustration of a shoggoth for another edition of ATMOM. It looks way more like an amoeba and even looks to be mimicking an elder thing! Finally, I'd be remiss if it didn't mention Ian Miller's absolutely stellar version of both shoggoths and elder things for his cover of ATMOM. It appears he even repainted it later on! A tendency I can totally relate to!

While Cthulhu seems to be HPL's most enduring contribution to pop culture, I'd actually argue its the shoggoth but more indirectly. Shoggoths were clearly the inspiration for Joseph Payne Brennan's short story The Slime, which in turn was the inspiration for the film versions of The Blob! But I've covered all that in my illustration for The Slime that accompanies Scott Nicolay's essay on the story. 

Tomorrow will be an obscure but not too unheard of Lovecraft creature!