The shoggoth is a fictional creature invented by American writer H. P. Lovecraft in his novella "At the Mountains of Madness" (1931). A formless, gelatinous protoplasmic mass, it belongs to the Cthulhu Mythos and has no real historical or folkloric existence.
Shoggoth
Shoggoth
6 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Creature invented by H. P. Lovecraft in "At the Mountains of Madness", written in 1931 and published in 1936.
- Described as a formless protoplasmic mass, capable of temporarily forming organs and limbs.
- According to the fiction, shoggoths were created as slaves by the "Elder Things".
- Belongs to the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe used by several fantasy authors.
- Became a recurring figure in popular culture (role-playing games, video games, novels) since the 20th century.
Works & Achievements
Foundational work where the shoggoth appears; a cosmic horror novella set in Antarctica.
Another polar and cosmic tale by Lovecraft that extends and deepens the mythology of extraterrestrial races.
Short story that lays the groundwork for the “Cthulhu Mythos” to which the shoggoth belongs.
Antarctic novel from which Lovecraft borrows the cry “Tekeli-li” for his shoggoths.
Game adaptation that made the shoggoth a famous monster among generations of players.
Numerous graphic adaptations that fixed the visual image of the creature in popular culture.
Anecdotes
The shoggoth first appears in H. P. Lovecraft's novella *At the Mountains of Madness*, written in 1931 and serialized in the American pulp magazine *Astounding Stories* in 1936. It is one of the last major creatures the author added to his universe, the "Cthulhu Mythos".
In the story, shoggoths are not gods but slaves: Lovecraft imagined them as biological tools created by an alien race, the "Elder Things," before they rebelled against their masters. This is an allegory of the slave turning against the creator.
The cry attributed to shoggoths, "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!," is a direct borrowing from Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, *The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket* (1838), which Lovecraft admired. It is an acknowledged homage from one author to another.
Lovecraft died poor and almost unknown in 1937 at age 46. It was his friends who, by founding the publishing house Arkham House in 1939, saved his work from oblivion: without them, the shoggoth and Cthulhu would likely never have achieved their current worldwide success.
The word "shoggoth" has now entered popular culture: it appears in video games, role-playing games like *Call of Cthulhu*, songs, and even recently as a metaphor used by researchers to describe artificial intelligences, seen as formless and unpredictable creations.
Primary Sources
It was a terrible, indescribable thing, vaster than any subway train — a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, with myriads of temporary eyes forming and unforming as pustules of greenish light.
Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! — that cry rose from the depths, and we recognized the horrible call once described by the ill-fated Poe.
The gigantic birds of a livid white incessantly uttered their eternal cry of Tekeli-li! as they fled before us.
All my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.
Key Places
Lovecraft's birthplace and lifelong home; he conceived most of his universe here, including the shoggoth.
Setting of "At the Mountains of Madness": it is in a dead city beneath the ice that the expedition discovers the shoggoths.
Imaginary New England university that organizes the expedition; recurring location in the Cthulhu Mythos.
Frozen cyclopean metropolis in the Antarctic mountain range, where the shoggoths live and revolt.
Editorial office of the pulp magazine that initially rejected the story, delaying the shoggoth's public debut.
Typical Objects
The shoggoth is described as a black, viscous, gelatinous mass with no fixed shape, capable of taking any form. This is its defining trait.
Thousands of greenish eyes appear and disappear on the creature's surface like bubbles. They symbolize its monstrous and ever-changing nature.
In the story, engraved sculptures recount the history of the shoggoths, created as beasts of burden. They serve as a fictional archive of their origin.
An imaginary grimoire invented by Lovecraft, attributed to the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred; it briefly mentions the shoggoths and the associated myth.
Sleds, tents, drill cores, and lamps belonging to the explorers of Miskatonic University, through whose eyes the reader discovers the creature.
The narrative takes the form of a warning written by geologist Dyer to dissuade a future expedition. It is the story's narrative medium.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Tags
Daily Life
Morning
The shoggoth has no human daily life: it is a creature of fiction. In Lovecraft's story, it exists only as a biological tool, without rest or rhythm, awaiting the orders of its creators.
Afternoon
Imagined by the author as a beast of burden, it once performed construction and transport tasks for the **Elder Things**, shaping the cyclopean cities in their place.
Evening
Originally devoid of its own will, it gradually developed a rudimentary intelligence, eventually rebelling against its masters in a very distant cosmic past.
Food
Pure fiction: the creature is described as a mass capable of absorbing and dissolving whatever it encounters, without feeding in a real biological sense.
Clothing
The shoggoth has neither clothing nor stable form: it constantly changes its appearance, growing and retracting limbs, eyes, and organs as needed.
Housing
It is imagined lurking in the frozen ruins and underground tunnels of Antarctica, remnants of an extinct extraterrestrial civilization.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Visual Style
Un style d'horreur cosmique inspiré des pulps des années 1930 : une masse noire et luisante aux yeux verdâtres, écrasée par des ruines gelées sous une lumière froide et angoissante.
Sound Ambience
Une ambiance polaire glaçante : vent hurlant, grondements souterrains, clapotis visqueux d'une masse gigantesque et un cri strident et inhumain résonnant sous la glace.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
« Les Montagnes hallucinées » (At the Mountains of Madness)
écrit 1931, publié 1936
« Dans l'abîme du temps » (The Shadow Out of Time)
1936
« L'Appel de Cthulhu »
1928
« Les Aventures d'Arthur Gordon Pym » d'Edgar Allan Poe
1838
Jeu de rôle « L'Appel de Cthulhu » (Chaosium)
1981
« Mountains of Madness » illustrés et bandes dessinées
années 1980-2010
