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Nyarlathotep - The Black Pharaoh - Cthulhu Mythos

Of all the entities in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, none is as unsettling; or as human, as Nyarlathotep. Unlike the sleeping, unknowable Cthulhu or the alien Great Old Ones, Nyarlathotep walks among us. He speaks. He smiles. He has a thousand masks, and one of the most enduring is the Black Pharaoh; a tall, dark-skinned man in Egyptian dress who appears in times of chaos, whispering promises that unravel civilizations from within.

First named in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem of the same title, Nyarlathotep is often called the "Crawling Chaos" and the "Soul and Messenger" of the Outer Gods. Where other cosmic horrors are defined by distance and incomprehensibility, Nyarlathotep is defined by proximity; he wants to be seen, worshipped, and obeyed. That makes him arguably the most dangerous figure in the entire Mythos.

Want to go deeper into the myth, his many forms, and why the Black Pharaoh still haunts modern horror fiction? Check out the attached video for the full breakdown.

The audio and images below are the ones featured in the video.

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