The
underworld is a fictional location in the
Dream CycleThe Dream Cycle is one of the three major categories of the fictional works of H. P. Lovecraft...
of
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
. It is described in detail in Lovecraft's
novellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
(
1926The year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....
).
The underworld lies beneath the whole of the
DreamlandsThe Dreamlands is a fictional location in the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is also the setting for a number of pastiches written by other authors....
and has a few entrances to it in various places. It is dimly lit by a mysterious phosphorescence known as the "death-fire". The underworld is inhabited by a variety of horrors, the most common being the
ghoulA ghoul is a mythological monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: الغول al-ghūl, which literally means "demon"...
s.
After a moment something about the size of a small horse hopped out into the grey twilight, and Carter turned sick at the aspect of that scabrous and unwholesome beast, whose face is so curiously human despite the absence of a nose, a forehead, and other important particulars.
—H.
The
underworld is a fictional location in the
Dream CycleThe Dream Cycle is one of the three major categories of the fictional works of H. P. Lovecraft...
of
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
. It is described in detail in Lovecraft's
novellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
(
1926The year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....
).
The underworld lies beneath the whole of the
DreamlandsThe Dreamlands is a fictional location in the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is also the setting for a number of pastiches written by other authors....
and has a few entrances to it in various places. It is dimly lit by a mysterious phosphorescence known as the "death-fire". The underworld is inhabited by a variety of horrors, the most common being the
ghoulA ghoul is a mythological monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: الغول al-ghūl, which literally means "demon"...
s.
Ghasts
After a moment something about the size of a small horse hopped out into the grey twilight, and Carter turned sick at the aspect of that scabrous and unwholesome beast, whose face is so curiously human despite the absence of a nose, a forehead, and other important particulars.
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The ghasts are a race of fearsome humanoids. They are much larger than a man and have a vaguely human face, albeit missing a nose. Their skin is rough and knotty. Their senses are unusually acute; they can see in the dark and have a strong sense of smell. They hop about on a pair of hooved,
kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo...
-like legs, and are swift, strong, and agile. Ghasts prefer to dwell in complete darkness and have no tolerance for natural light — sunlight will kill them instantly. Otherwise, the dim, pale glow of the underworld seems to cause them little harm.
The ghasts are aggressive
carnivoreA carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is an animal that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of vertebrate and/or invertebrate animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
s and often hunt in packs, though they are quick to turn cannibalistic when no game is readily available. They prey mostly on the gugs, but have no qualms about eating other denizens of the underworld. Their method of attack is particularly savage and gruesome, rending and tearing apart their victims with their muzzles, paws, and hoofed feet.
Gugs
It was a paw, fully two feet and a half across, and equipped with formidable talons. After it came another paw, and after that a great black-furred arm to which both of the paws were attached by short forearms. Then two pink eyes shone, and the head of the awakened gug sentry, large as a barrel, wabbled into view. The eyes jutted two inches from each side, shaded by bony protuberances overgrown with coarse hairs. But the head was chiefly terrible because of the mouth. That mouth had great yellow fangs and ran from the top to the bottom of the head, opening vertically instead of horizontally.
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
Gugs are a race of horrifying
giantsThe mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology.In various Indo-European mythologies,...
. They are speechless, communicating only by facial expressions.
The gugs were banished to the underworld by the earth’s gods, the Great Ones, for an unnamed blasphemy. Now they reside in a terrifying, underground city, dwelling in lofty, round, cyclopean towers. Nearby, colossal
monolithA monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
s mark the
cemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
of the gugs.
In the midst of the gug city, the Tower of Koth contains a stairway that leads to the
Enchanted WoodThe Enchanted Wood is a fictional place in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle and is located in the Dreamlands. Its main inhabitants are the zoogs. A unique, haunted tree grows in this forest whose seed originally came from the moon. This tree's sap can be fermented to create a potent drink...
in the upper Dreamlands. There it is sealed by a huge stone trapdoor with a large iron ring. Because of a curse of the gods, no gug may open that door, though no such restriction prevents a gug from climbing to the very top of the tower.
Gugs prey on the ghasts that live in the Vaults of Zin (though prior to their banishment, they had been known to devour wayward dreamers). When in sufficient numbers, ghasts may likewise prey on the gugs. Though gugs would seem to have the advantage, they nonetheless superstitiously fear ghouls. The gugs often indulge in great feasts and, once engorged, retire to their great towers to sleep.
City of the Gugs
The City of the Gugs is a colossal, horrifying cityscape of soaring, cyclopean towers. It is the dwelling place of the gugs, banished to the underworld by a
covenantA covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action.A covenant is a type of contract in which the covenantor makes a promise to a covenantee to do or not do some action. In real property law, the term real covenants is used for conditions tied...
of the gods. Its most prominent landmark is the Tower of Koth, which contains a legendary stairway that leads to the surface.
Close by the city is the cemetery of the gugs, its graves marked by huge stone monoliths. Ghouls often dine here; a deceased gug feeds them for almost a year.
Crag of the Ghouls
The Crag of the Ghouls is a rugged cliff in the Peaks of Thok from which the
ghoulA ghoul is a mythological monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: الغول al-ghūl, which literally means "demon"...
s of deeper dreamland pitch the leftover bones of their sepulchral feasts. Uncounted miles below the crag is the bone-filled vale of Pnath.
Great Abyss
The Great Abyss is a realm that lies below the ruins of
SarkomandSarkomand is a fictional ruined city on the northern shore of the Cerenerian Sea, first mentioned in Howard Phillips LovecraftsThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath...
and is possibly a massive cavern that joins with all parts of the underworld. It connects with the upper Dreamlands by a stairway in Sarkomand.
The Abyss is ruled by the god
NodensNodens is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. Based on the Celtic deity, Nodens is the creation of H. P...
, who is served by the
night-gauntsNightgaunts are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos and is also part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. The creatures appear in the poem "Night-Gaunts" and the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, both by Lovecraft...
. Nodens' influence seems very languid in the underworld and does not appear to extend much beyond the Abyss itself; except perhaps to Ngranek on the isle of Oriab, whose upper slopes are guarded by his night-gaunts.
Peaks of Thok
The Peaks of Thok (or Throk) is a frightening range of towering
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink to dark gray or even black, depending on their...
mountains in the underworld.
Vale of Pnath
The vale of Pnath (or Pnoth) is a vast pit in the underworld. It is flanked by the Peaks of Thok and is mostly lightless. The vale is filled with a mountain-sized heap of bones and is "the spot into which all the
ghoulA ghoul is a mythological monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: الغول al-ghūl, which literally means "demon"...
s of the waking world cast the refuse of their feastings" (
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft). Enormous worm-like creatures, known as dholes, burrow through the vale.
Night-gauntsNightgaunts are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos and is also part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. The creatures appear in the poem "Night-Gaunts" and the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, both by Lovecraft...
often carry helpless victims to the vale, where they are left to die.
Vaults of Zin
The Vaults of Zin is a huge cavern in the underworld. It lies near the cemetery of the gugs and opens onto a large cave that "is the mouth of vaults of Zin, and the vindictive ghasts are always on watch there for those denizens of the upper abyss" (
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft). The ghasts who dwell in the Vaults of Zin prey on ghouls and gugs, and sometimes even one another.
It is possible that a well in the
monasteryMonastery , a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer Monastery (plural: monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios...
of the
High Priest Not to Be DescribedThe High Priest Not to Be Described is a fictional character in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. He first appeared in the Lovecraft short story "Celephaïs" .-Summary:...
in ancient
SarkomandSarkomand is a fictional ruined city on the northern shore of the Cerenerian Sea, first mentioned in Howard Phillips LovecraftsThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath...
connects with the Vaults of Zin.