| Shoggoth | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Shoggoth, Shaggoth |
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First Appearance |
Astounding Stories (February–April 1936) |
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Original Publisher |
Street & Smith |
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Created by |
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Origin[]
A shoggoth is a sentient blob of self-shaping, gelatinous flesh, something like a giant amoeba. A shoggoth is some 15 feet in diameter if it shaped itself into a sphere, but larger and smaller versions exist. A shoggoth is capable of shaping itself into whatever organs or shapes it finds necessary at the moment; however, in its usual state it tends to sport a roiling profusion of eyes, mouths, and pseudopodia. When encountered at the South Pole, it moved at incredible speed. It was described as like watching a train closing in on someone standing on the tracks.
At the Mountains of Madness also includes a detailed account of the circumstances of the shoggoths' creation by the extraterrestrial Elder Things. Shoggoths were initially used to build the cities of their masters. Though able to "understand" the Elder Things' language, shoggoths had no real consciousness and were controlled through hypnotic suggestion. Over millions of years of existence, some shoggoths mutated, developed independent minds, and rebelled. The Elder Things succeeded in quelling the insurrection, but exterminating the shoggoths was not an option as the Elder Things were dependent on them for labor and had long lost their capacity to create new life. Shoggoths also developed the ability to survive on land, while the Elder Things retreated to the oceans. Shoggoths that remained alive in the abandoned Elder Thing city in Antarctica would later poorly imitate their masters' art and voices, endlessly repeating "Tekeli-li" or "Takkeli", a cry that their old masters used.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- At the Mountains of Madness (Serialized in Astounding Stories February–April 1936)
- The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936)
- The Thing on the Doorstep (1937)