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Article milestones Date Process Result March 3, 2007 Featured article candidate Not promoted June 10, 2007 Peer review Reviewed
Current status: Former featured article candidate

Horror B‑class High‑importance

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the article is huge, and some people obviously put some time into it, but there's practically speaking NO INFORMATION on what cthuluhu actually DOES, or WILL do, or what the deal is. the ONLY specific piece of information is that he will be "ravenous" in "delight" or something like that. .....what is that supposed to entail? i assume lovecraft's source material gives more details than that. otherwise the whole idea of cthulhu is nothing but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. somebody please put in some details about what cthulhu will actually DO when he rises.

That's the thing, there's not much information on what he will actually do. Cthulhu is a horror creature of the oldschool, where things were implied but not spelled out... the idea, of course, being that the horrible images the reader would create in the mind are far worse than anything the writer can put to paper. 69.64.10.249 16:00, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, IMHO, there is enough information, the quote about "liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy" spells it pretty well --AlexeyTOD 14:20, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The think the request is relevant; finding sources that discuss the fact that Lovecraft wasn't very clear (and perhaps why) would not only be helpful to the reader, it would make the article more encyclopedic because it would focus less on the in-universe information overall.--otherlleft 12:26, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A note, on the removal from the article of the "kuh-loo-oo" pronunciation: As I recall, Cthulhu has been pronounced "kuh-loo-oo", and by no lesser person than Lovecraft himself. Nobody's quite sure how he got "kuh-loo-oo" from "Cthulhu" (or vice versa), though. --Paul A 01:25 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

Originally it uses the Welsh "ll" sound to express the slimy slitheriness of the beast, like a snake's mungent hiss... if you are familiar with Welsh pronunciations of the vowels and consonants "cllyllu" (a bit like "kuh hluh hlee"... but not really!) ...but kuh thoo loo is just as agreeable a pronunciation (even if it's wrong!). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.114.8.120 (talk) 22:23, 4 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding the quote, "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die," in the story The Nameless City by H.P. Lovecraft, the protagonist says that the verse refers to the alligator/seal beings that live in the eponymous nameless city in the middle of the desert. "It was of this place that Abdul Alhazred the mad poet dreamed of the night before he sang his unexplained couplet:" It might be worth mentioning this, in the section where it says the verse usually relates to Cthulhu. --67.188.65.218 18:55, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Its also worth mentioning that Cthulhu appeared in an episode of the new Justice League cartoon series that runs are Cartoon Network. They pronounced the name "Ich-thoo-loo". He wasn't very Lovecraftian insomuch as Superman punching him in the face did him significant harm, but that's DC for you.

Cthulhu isn't supposed to be very well known; his motives are intended to be obscure, as are his actions. We don't need to know that he 'does' anything. Quoting Shakespeare doesn't change this.

That's all well and good, but the article doesn't even go THAT far. The encyclopediac approach, by its nature, is supposed to explain things. If the full nature of Cthulhu is unexplained in the stories themselves, at least tell us THAT. Enwilson 06:26, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See above, there is sufficient information on his intentions. Not much, okay, but sufficient --AlexeyTOD 14:20, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I dont have the links off hand, and I'm not on my own PC, but as far as I'm aware, the main theme in Lovecraft's works (and reading them seems to support this) is the complete insignificance of mankind in the order of things, and that if we were to catch a glimpse of what 'lies beyond' we'd go mad. So we don't know what Cthulhu "does", we cant possibly know because he is a being totally beyond our knowledge, and as the stories are told from a human perspective, there is very ittle information on him.--81.151.163.142 23:33, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Returned the note on non-universality of Derleth's interpretation, and supplied it with printed source that has ISBN --User:AlexeyTOD 20:55 Jun 28, 2007 (UTC)

Cthulu has appeared in the recently released game Scribblenauts, for the Nintendo D.S. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.20.118 (talk) 20:33, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Although visually not based exactly on Lovecraft's description, the Old God C'thun in World of Warcraft is an obvious reference to Cthulhu. Kisdead (talk) 10:39, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

About as obvious as Azeroth is a reference to Astoreth (and no, it isn't, I am pulling that out of my ass by making a False Cognate). Unless there is something from the Blizzard saying "yes, we did intend it as a reference to Cthulhu despite having it look absolutely nothing like Cthulhu," we have to assume otherwise. Ian.thomson (talk) 14:12, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I came to this article as a novice to horror and Cthulu, and after reading it I have to agree with the flag at the top of the article which states it is very poorly written. It is almost like an academic article, or a Sunday newspaper abstract discussion of the topic. It is definitely not appropriate for an encyclopaedia entry. It does nothing to inform the reader about basic facts of the subject. Its just an esoteric discussion. Im not qualified to improve it at all, but I have to say (as constructively as possible) this is a very poor Wikipedia entry.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Fmjue (talk • contribs) 12:16, 13 November 2009

Which article are you talking about? The Cthulhu article seems like a fairly comprehensive study of the character's fictional background and appearances, and I can't see what "basic facts" have been overlooked. What do you feel is missing? Or (given that you mention a "flag" at the top of the article, which isn't present here), are you talking about a different Lovecraft article? --McGeddon (talk) 12:59, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Part of the problem is that almost any article could always use improvement, but there's also the issue that you admit to being a novice to Cthulhu. Cthulhu isn't so much a character as a background element in most of the accepted stories he's in (or rather, the stories he is mentioned in). "After its first appearance in "The Call of Cthulhu", Cthulhu makes a few minor appearances in other Lovecraft stories." Ian.thomson (talk) 13:10, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Could you clarify how something "almost like an academic article" is "not appropriate for an encyclopedia entry?" If you meant it the way you said it, could you explain what is appropriate on Wikipedia, if academic articles are not?--otherlleft 14:53, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There is a parody at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Grim_Adventures_of_Billy_&_Mandy_episodes

51 ""Prank Call of Cthulhu (Spelt "Cthulu" in the title card)"" October 21, 2005 (2005-10-21) Billy and Irwin make a prank call on the Phone of Cthulhu, resulting in the two become Cthulhu's official prank callers. However, their pranks calls only bring all of Endsville under Cthulhu's control. Mandy and Grim enter Cthulhu's realm to stop him.

68.110.169.4 (talk) 05:04, 2 December 2009 (UTC)hix1050[reply]

Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture is where the pop culture references go (and this one is already there). --McGeddon (talk) 09:19, 2 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This should not be mass deleted without discussion; thanks. I understand that Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture exists, but that is not the same topic; this article's section is scoped specifically to Cthulhu and does not have the dozens of references to other Mythos elements that article features. Also note that the IPC section in this article contains material, the Visual Arts section, that was elsewhere in this article prior to the IPC section being re-created, though clearly actually IPC content, and it in particular shouldn't be indiscriminately blown away because somebody gets angry about the section. We've also mostly managed to keep the section to prose rather than the laundry-list tables of Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture, which is valuable. Lastly, I re-created the section to try to make it so that there was a valid place in this article for the relentless re-additions of arguably valid content that people kept making, instead of petulantly hammering on this attempted banishment to the general Cthulhu Mythos article that clearly wasn't working. All these factors should be taken into account in dealing with the section. —chaos5023 (talk) 23:11, 29 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]