Dagon (short story)
Encyclopedia
"Dagon" is a short story
by H. P. Lovecraft
, written in July 1917
, one of the first stories he wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919
edition of The Vagrant (issue #11).
" and "Dagon".
The story was inspired in part by a dream he had. "I dreamed that whole hideous crawl, and can yet feel the ooze sucking me down!" he later wrote.
Critic William Fulwiler indicates that Lovecraft may have been influenced by Irvin S. Cobb
's "Fishhead", a story about a strange fish-like human. Fulwiler has also suggested that Lovecraft took the story's theme of "an ancient prehuman race that will someday rise to conquer humanity" from Edgar Rice Burroughs
' At the Earth's Core
(1914).
The story mentions Piltdown Man
, which had not been exposed by the scientific community as a fraud and hoax at the time of writing.
-addicted man who plans to commit suicide over an incident that occurred early on in World War I
when he was a merchant marine officer.
In the unnamed narrator's account, his cargo ship is captured by a German sea-raider in "one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific
". He escapes on a lifeboat and drifts aimlessly across the sea "somewhat south of the equator
" until he eventually finds himself inexplicably stranded on "a slimy expanse of hell
ish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see.... The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain." He theorizes that this area was formerly "a portion of the ocean
floor... thrown to the surface" by a volcanic upheaval, "exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths."
After waiting three days for the seafloor to dry out sufficiently to walk on, he strikes out on foot to find the sea and possible rescue. After two days of walking, he reaches his goal, a "hummock" that turns out to be a mound on the edge of an "immeasurable pit or canyon". Descending the slope, he sees a gigantic white stone object that he soon perceives to be a "well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures."
The monolith, situated next to a channel of water in the bottom of the chasm, is covered in unfamiliar hieroglyphs
"consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopuses, crustaceans, molluscs, whales and the like." There are also "crude sculptures" depicting:
As the narrator looks on the monolith, a creature emerges from the water:
Insane with fear, the mariner flees back to his stranded boat, and vaguely recalls a "great storm". His next memory is of a San Francisco hospital, where he was taken after being rescued in mid-ocean by a U.S. ship. There are no reports of any Pacific upheavals, and he does not expect anyone to believe his incredible story. He mentions one abortive attempt to gain understanding of his experience:
Haunted by visions of the creature, "especially when the moon is gibbous and waning", he describes his fears for the future of humanity:
With the drug that has given him "transient surcease" running out, he declares himself ready to do himself in; the narrative is revealed to be a suicide
note. The story ends with the narrator rushing to the window as he hears "a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it."
The creature that appears in the story is often identified with the deity Dagon, but the creature is not identified by that name in the story "Dagon", and seems to be depicted as a typical member of his species, a worshipper rather than an object of worship. Nor is it likely that Lovecraft intends "Dagon" to be the name used by the deity's nonhuman worshippers; as Robert M. Price points out, "When Lovecraft wanted to convey something like the indigenous name of one of the Old Ones, he coined some unpronounceable jumble".
Price suggests that readers of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth
" may be mistaken as to the identity of the "Dagon" worshipped by that story's Deep Ones: in contrast to the Old Ones' alien-sounding names, "the name 'Dagon' is a direct borrowing from familiar sources, and implies that[ Obed] Marsh and his confederates had chosen the closest biblical analogy to the real object of worship of the deep ones, namely Great Cthulhu."
Lin Carter, who thought "Dagon" an "excellent" story, remarked that it was "an interesting prefiguring of themes later to emerge in [Lovecraft's] Cthulhu stories. The volcanic upheaval that temporarily exposes long-drowned horrors above the waves, for example, reappears in "The Call of Cthulhu
" (1926)". Other parallels between the two stories include a horrifying tale told by a sailor rescued at sea; a gigantic, sea-dwelling monster (compared to Polyphemus
in each tale); an apocalyptic vision of humanity's destruction at the hands of ancient nonhuman intelligences; and a narrator who fears he is doomed to die because of the knowledge he has gained. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz call the latter story "manifestly an exhaustive reworking of 'Dagon'".
In "The Call of Cthulhu", one of the newspaper clipping collected by the late Professor Angell mentions a suicide from a window that may correspond to the death of the narrator of "Dagon".
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, written in July 1917
1917 in literature
The year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
, one of the first stories he wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919
1919 in literature
The year 1919 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain return to Somerville College, Oxford, to complete their education following war service.*Two paintings by E. E...
edition of The Vagrant (issue #11).
Inspiration
After reading Lovecraft's juvenilia in 1917, W. Paul Cook, editor of the amateur press journal The Vagrant, encouraged Lovecraft to resume writing fiction. That summer, Lovecraft wrote two stories: "The TombThe Tomb (short story)
"The Tomb" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in June 1917 and first published in the March 1922 issue of The Vagrant. It is the first work of fiction that Lovecraft wrote as an adult.-Plot summary:...
" and "Dagon".
The story was inspired in part by a dream he had. "I dreamed that whole hideous crawl, and can yet feel the ooze sucking me down!" he later wrote.
Critic William Fulwiler indicates that Lovecraft may have been influenced by Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.-Biography:...
's "Fishhead", a story about a strange fish-like human. Fulwiler has also suggested that Lovecraft took the story's theme of "an ancient prehuman race that will someday rise to conquer humanity" from Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
' At the Earth's Core
At the Earth's Core (novel)
At the Earth's Core is a 1914 science fiction novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in his series about the fictional "hollow earth" land of Pellucidar. It first appeared as a four-part serial in All-Story Weekly from April 4–25, 1914. It was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C...
(1914).
The story mentions Piltdown Man
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
, which had not been exposed by the scientific community as a fraud and hoax at the time of writing.
Synopsis
The story is the testament of a tortured, morphineMorphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
-addicted man who plans to commit suicide over an incident that occurred early on in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
when he was a merchant marine officer.
In the unnamed narrator's account, his cargo ship is captured by a German sea-raider in "one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
". He escapes on a lifeboat and drifts aimlessly across the sea "somewhat south of the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
" until he eventually finds himself inexplicably stranded on "a slimy expanse of hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
ish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see.... The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain." He theorizes that this area was formerly "a portion of the ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
floor... thrown to the surface" by a volcanic upheaval, "exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths."
After waiting three days for the seafloor to dry out sufficiently to walk on, he strikes out on foot to find the sea and possible rescue. After two days of walking, he reaches his goal, a "hummock" that turns out to be a mound on the edge of an "immeasurable pit or canyon". Descending the slope, he sees a gigantic white stone object that he soon perceives to be a "well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures."
The monolith, situated next to a channel of water in the bottom of the chasm, is covered in unfamiliar hieroglyphs
Logogram
A logogram, or logograph, is a grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme . This stands in contrast to phonograms, which represent phonemes or combinations of phonemes, and determinatives, which mark semantic categories.Logograms are often commonly known also as "ideograms"...
"consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopuses, crustaceans, molluscs, whales and the like." There are also "crude sculptures" depicting:
As the narrator looks on the monolith, a creature emerges from the water:
Insane with fear, the mariner flees back to his stranded boat, and vaguely recalls a "great storm". His next memory is of a San Francisco hospital, where he was taken after being rescued in mid-ocean by a U.S. ship. There are no reports of any Pacific upheavals, and he does not expect anyone to believe his incredible story. He mentions one abortive attempt to gain understanding of his experience:
Haunted by visions of the creature, "especially when the moon is gibbous and waning", he describes his fears for the future of humanity:
With the drug that has given him "transient surcease" running out, he declares himself ready to do himself in; the narrative is revealed to be a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
note. The story ends with the narrator rushing to the window as he hears "a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it."
Cthulhu Mythos
"Dagon" is often not counted as one of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos stories, but it is the first of Lovecraft's stories to introduce a Cthulhu Mythos element — the sea deity Dagon itself.The creature that appears in the story is often identified with the deity Dagon, but the creature is not identified by that name in the story "Dagon", and seems to be depicted as a typical member of his species, a worshipper rather than an object of worship. Nor is it likely that Lovecraft intends "Dagon" to be the name used by the deity's nonhuman worshippers; as Robert M. Price points out, "When Lovecraft wanted to convey something like the indigenous name of one of the Old Ones, he coined some unpronounceable jumble".
Price suggests that readers of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
" may be mistaken as to the identity of the "Dagon" worshipped by that story's Deep Ones: in contrast to the Old Ones' alien-sounding names, "the name 'Dagon' is a direct borrowing from familiar sources, and implies that
Lin Carter, who thought "Dagon" an "excellent" story, remarked that it was "an interesting prefiguring of themes later to emerge in [Lovecraft's] Cthulhu stories. The volcanic upheaval that temporarily exposes long-drowned horrors above the waves, for example, reappears in "The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, in February 1928.-Inspiration:...
" (1926)". Other parallels between the two stories include a horrifying tale told by a sailor rescued at sea; a gigantic, sea-dwelling monster (compared to Polyphemus
Polyphemus
Polyphemus is the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes. His name means "much spoken of" or "famous". Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey.-In Homer's Odyssey:...
in each tale); an apocalyptic vision of humanity's destruction at the hands of ancient nonhuman intelligences; and a narrator who fears he is doomed to die because of the knowledge he has gained. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz call the latter story "manifestly an exhaustive reworking of 'Dagon'".
In "The Call of Cthulhu", one of the newspaper clipping collected by the late Professor Angell mentions a suicide from a window that may correspond to the death of the narrator of "Dagon".
Adaptations
- Director Stuart GordonStuart GordonAfter the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
and screenwriter Dennis Paoli, who worked together on Re-AnimatorRe-AnimatorRe-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The film has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs and H. P...
, made a movie called Dagon in 2001. Though the film credits both Lovecraft's "Dagon" and his "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," much more of the plot is (loosely) adapted from the latter story.
Other appearances
- A reference to Dagon appears again in Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over InnsmouthThe Shadow Over InnsmouthThe Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
" (1936), one of Lovecraft's best-known stories. The tale concerns a town in Massachusetts that has been taken over by the Deep Ones, a race of water-breathing humanoids. A center of the Deep Ones' power in Innsmouth is the Esoteric Order of Dagon, ostensibly a Masonic-style fraternal order. Other Cthulhu Mythos stories refer to the creature as Father Dagon, depicting him as having a similar being, Mother Hydra, as a mate.
- Fred ChappellFred ChappellFred Davis Chappell is an author and poet. He retired after 40 years as an English professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 1997-2002...
, considered a literary writer, wrote a novel called Dagon, which attempted to tell a Cthulhu Mythos story as a psychologically realistic SouthernSouthern literatureSouthern literature is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region...
Gothic novel. The novel was awarded the Best Foreign Novel Prize by the French Academy in 1972.
- In Mahou Sentai MagirangerMahou Sentai Magiranger, is Toei Company's twenty-ninth production of the Super Sentai television series. The action footage was used in Power Rangers Mystic Force and both shows had scenes simultaneously shot in New Zealand...
, the leader of the The Infershia PantheonThe Infershia PantheonThe are the final set of villains in Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the Infershia Pantheon is composed of the ten gods of Hades itself, giants who are N Ma's most loyal servants. When their master was killed, the Hades Gods were revived to punish the infidels who defeated him as well as all of humanity...
Gods is named Dagon, who is based on the Lovecraft character and the Creature from the Black LagoonCreature from the Black LagoonCreature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 monster horror film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. The eponymous creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and Ricou Browning in underwater scenes...
.
- In the roleplaying game Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
, DagonDagon (Dungeons & Dragons)In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Dagon is a obyrith demon lord, also called Prince of the Depths. His realm is the 89th layer of the Abyss, and is known as Shadowsea...
is the name shared by both a demon princeDemon lord (Dungeons & Dragons)In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demon lords are demons who have gained great power and established a position of preeminence among demonkind. Each demon lord has a unique appearance and set of abilities. Most control at least one layer of the Abyss...
of the Abyss and an outcast devilDevil (Dungeons & Dragons)In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, devils are a powerful group of monsters used as a high-level challenge for players of the game. Devils are Lawful Evil in alignment and originate from the Nine Hells of Baator. True to their Lawful Evil alignment, devils are locked in a strict and brutal...
. The former maintains a similar flavor to the Lovecraftian version.
- A song by symphonic metal band TherionTherion (band)Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...
, "Call of Dagon", is probably based on Lovecraft's stories, as far as chorus includes the strings: "Call of Dagon!/The Deep One is calling you".
- In Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's humorous sci-fi novel The Dark Side of the SunThe Dark Side of the SunThe Dark Side of the Sun is a science fiction novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1976. It is similar to the work of Isaac Asimov. According to Don D'Ammassa, both this and Pratchett's 1981 sci-fi novel Strata are spoofing parts of Larry Niven's Ringworld...
, the Dagon are large, aquatic bivalve-like creatures which are the focus of a rural fishing industry.
- Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's DiscworldDiscworldDiscworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
series have recurring references to an unexplained and disturbing incident that took place at Mr. Hong's fish shop on Dagon Street. This is particularly linked to 'Dagon' in the novel JingoJingo (novel)Jingo is the 21st novel by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld series. It was published in 1997. The rising of a previously submerged island and the subconstituent sovereignty dispute were inspired by the real-life island of Ferdinandea.-Plot:...
which concerns the sudden resurfacing of the long-sunken and Cyclopean ruins of alien Leshp.
- The experimental industrial group Dead Man's HillDead man's hillDead Man's Hill is an electronic, death industrial, martial, neo-classical and post-industrial band founded in 1998 by Bart Piette, originally with the name "The Klinik And The Mortuary"...
released a CDr in 2005 entitled "Esoterica Orde De Dagon"
- In 2008, Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
revived its former horror series Haunt of Horror in comic book format, this time focusing on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The first issue presented an illustrated version of Dagon, as well as a reproduction of the original text. The adaptation was written and illustrated by Richard Corben.
- Karl SandersKarl SandersKarl Sanders is an American musician, most widely known as the founding member of the American Egyptian-themed death metal band Nile. He was born in California, and lives in Greenville, South Carolina. Karl is endorsed by Dean Guitars, and has two signature models by KxK Guitars...
of the death metal band NileNile (band)Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
released a solo album entitled Saurian MeditationSaurian MeditationSaurian Meditation is the first solo album by Karl Sanders, the vocalist/guitarist of the death metal band Nile. It was released on 26 October 2004 through Relapse Records. The music is a full length exploration of the atmospheric interludes heard on Nile's previous albums, and still draws on...
which uses a quote from the fictional Unaussprechlichen KultenUnaussprechlichen KultenUnaussprechlichen Kulten is a fictional work of arcane literature in the Cthulhu Mythos. The book first appeared in Robert E. Howard's short stories "The Children of the Night" and "The Black Stone" as Nameless Cults. Like the Necronomicon, it was later mentioned in several stories by H. P...
on the back cover which is a reworking of the final sentences of Dagon.
- Death metal giants NileNile (band)Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
have mentioned Dagon in their album Those Whom the Gods DetestThose Whom the Gods Detest-Charts:-Nile:* Karl Sanders − guitars, vocals* Dallas Toler-Wade − guitars, bass, vocals* George Kollias − drums, percussion-Additional personnel:*Mike Breazale, Chief Spires, David Merideth, Jon Vesano, Pete Hammoura: additional vocals-Production:...
, with the title track entitled, "4th Arra of Dagon."
- In Castlevania: Portrait of RuinCastlevania: Portrait of RuinCastlevania: Portrait of Ruin, known in Japan as , is an action video game developed and published by Konami. The game was released on November 16, 2006 in Japan, and in the US on December 5, 2006 for the Nintendo DS handheld game console...
Dagon is a salamander-like creature which, although bearing no resemblance to the Dagon described by H.P. Lovecraft, still has some connection to the water.
- In The Illuminatus! TrilogyThe Illuminatus! TrilogyThe Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magick-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both...
, Lovecraft (as character in the novel) says that he wrote the story after doing research on Dagon at the Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...
library. The publishing of the story leads to him being drawn to the attention of the IlluminatiIlluminatiThe Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
.
- The main antagonist of The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a single-player action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games...
is the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, a god of Demonic appearance with four arms and horned face. He is worshipped by the secret society Mythic Dawn that seeks to end the world as it is.
- The 32nd issue of The Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
is heavily based on the works of Lovecraft, and features a scene where a shipwrecked sailor finds refuge upon a black mire similar to the one depicted in Dagon.
- In the videogame Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the EarthCall of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the EarthCall of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a Lovecraftian horror first-person action-adventure game developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks in 2005, in conjunction with 2K Games. The game was released for the PC and Xbox systems; the Xbox version is officially...
Dagon appears from the depth of the sea while the main protagonist, Jack Walters, is travelling with the coast guard on USS Urania. The ship is wrecked by Dagon and as it sinks, Jack Walters is washed ashore on a reef close by (referred to in-game as the Devil's Reef). A tunnel rests near this reef, leading down to the underwater city Y'ha-nthlei, where Walters also stumbles upon the Temple of Dagon itself. The overall story of the game seems heavily influenced by the original Dagon short story, as well as The Shadow Over InnsmouthThe Shadow Over InnsmouthThe Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
and The Call of CthulhuThe Call of CthulhuThe Call of Cthulhu is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, in February 1928.-Inspiration:...
.
External links
- "H. P. Lovecraft's 'Dagon'", The H. P. Lovecraft Archive; publication history.
- "Dagon" at the Marvel Database Project, Marvel Comics adaptation