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I have been reading a lot of Lovecraft and surrounding mythos recently and I was wondering if the Shoggoth, the unnamed evil creatures in A Shadow Out of Time, and the unnamed creates who live in the innermost region of Earth in The Mound are the same species.

We know that the Shoggoth took some of the Elder Things' technology and symbolism for their own. In The Mountains of Madness, the humans discovering them suffer from a very strong storm during their slaughter and the escape of the Elder Things, and we see that 5 pointed stars and such things are heavily associated with the Elder Things.

In A Shadow Out of Time, we see that the unnamed creatures that live beneath the earth use wind for weapons, and are associated with what is described as a 5 pointed foot print. These creatures are described as having come from space, which would makes sense if they were Shoggoths who were brought to earth by the Elder Things. They are also described as mollusk-like, and only part material. Mollusk-like doesn't mean they are necessarily goo creatures, but it's pretty close, so also being immaterial could cause a goo like effect especially seeing as we know the Shoggoths evolved slightly after being made by the Elder Things.

There is also a connection between the Shoggoth and the previously mentioned creatures that lived beneath the earth in The Mound in that they live beneath the earth and are malevolent goo-based life. This is a bit weaker seeing as we don't know much about these.

To me it seems that these three creatures are probably related. Do you think this is true?

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  • I did my best to edit it for them, but I have no idea what "The Dark Obese" might be.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 24, 2016 at 17:12
  • @FuzzyBoots - Probably "The Dark Abyss." Though I can't seem to find a story by that title.
    – Adamant
    May 24, 2016 at 17:44
  • @Jonah: That makes a lot of sense. ^_^ Except... is there a book by that title?
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 24, 2016 at 17:46
  • Maybe the Dhole? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhole_(Cthulhu_Mythos)
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 24, 2016 at 17:55
  • @FuzzyBoots - Maybe it's "the dark abyss" as a noun rather than as a story title.
    – Adamant
    May 24, 2016 at 17:57

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No, though there are similarities. The creatures in The Shadow Out of Time (usually called 'Flying Polyps' in the various RPGs) could fly, and are described as having 'come down to earth' 'from immeasurably distant universes', and were 'only partly material—as we understand matter'.

By contrast, the shoggoths were bred on Earth by the creatures from At the Mountains of Madness. They and creatures who bred them are from our 'normal' cosmos, and composed of 'normal' matter.

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Shoggoths are formless, protoplasmic creatures created by the Elder Things to be their servants in "At the Mountains of Madness." They got out of control at one point & became a little too sentient. Oops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoggoth

The ancient race in "The Shadow out of Time," "the Great Race of Yith," are completely different, they are cone shaped with sense organs & manipulators coming out of the top of the cone. They created an advanced civilisation in prehistoric times & sent their minds into the future looking for somewhere to migrate. This ancient race do not leave star shaped footprints, they move about on a mollusc-like "snail-foot". They are trying to escape from another terrifying species which is described as "polypous," so they aren't Elder Things or shoggoths either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Out_of_Time

It seems to me that these two novellas are completely independent of one another & there is no evidence that they take place in a shared universe or timeline. Lovecraft himself might have playfully inserted references to them both side by side somewhere (I don't recall, I don't think so) but that is just him having a bit of fun.

IMHO it is a mistake to think the way that Derleth & many who have followed HPL did & assume that Lovecraft's ouvre is the expression of a single coherent mythos. The stories don't all have to have taken place in the same world & need not be seen as glimpses of a single history.

I don't get the "The Dark Abyss" reference. You mean a game with Spongebob in it?

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    I wasn't talking about to the great race of Yith in the Shadow out of time rather their enemies who dwell beneath the earth bellow them. Also i'm pretty sue it mentions the Necronomicon and cthulhu when talking about the creature that was controlling the protagonist's body while he was with the Yith. I know there isn't supposed to be a great over arching story in them but i'm pretty sure this goes more than just references. When I said the dark abyss I meant the third layer of hollow earth talked about in the mound. The mound may or may not be part of the universe but it isn't impossible.
    – cheapshots
    May 25, 2016 at 16:08
  • Also we know that the Elder things exist in the Shadow out of time universe because it says that the Yith fought them.
    – cheapshots
    May 25, 2016 at 16:17

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