Tsathoggua (aka Zhothaqquah)

"God Tsathoggua has bushy hair
A little bit plump... needs dieting?"

appears in "The Door to Saturn" (1932) & "The Seven Geases" (1934), both by C. A. Smith

Just before the ice age, there were three continents in which human civilization evolved: the pacific continent Mu, which contained the Kingdom of K'naa: the island of Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean: and Hyperborea, the northern land, from which came the famous Conan the Barbarian. It was in Hyperborea that Tsathoggua that was the most

Tsathoggua, who came flying from Outer Space via Cykranosh (Saturn) in time immemorial, is one of the Great Old Ones, as are Cthulhu and several other deities.

One point which definitively differentiates Tsathoggua from the other deities is, while most of them are merely destructive gods with no apparent purpose, he (she) is a more commonplace "god" that was daily worshipped, and takes interest in humanity. Namely, to devoted adherents, Tsathoggua actively gives blessings: sometimes magical power, sometimes mystic artifacts, sometimes ultimate wisdom. Tsathoggua is a rare deity who makes contracts with mankind.

When in Hyperborea, he/she used to live in an deep subterranean cave that opens to the mount Voormithadreth, the highest peak in the continent and stayed in contact with many human beings including the sorcerer Eibon, both communicating with and protecting..

Being, however, basically a lazy deity, one can't be confident of always having kindly treatment from this capricious deity. Somehow this also gives us an impression of ordinariness about this "god".

Hyperborea had once been worshipping the Elk-goddess Yhoundeh as its state religion, and at that time the cult of Tsathoggua was banned as heathenism. Yet after the affair concerning Eibon, Yhoundeh lost her influence, and tacitly, it is said, the admiration for Tsathoggua began to be spead over the continent.

Although there's no eyewitness report of this deity ever since the fall of Hyperborea, it appears that the worship of Tsathoggua continues up to the present. One theory holds that he (she) lives in the underworld of black N'kai. Zhothaqquah is another name of Tsathoggua, which seems to have been in more frequent usage in Hyperborea.

The detailed depiction of Tsathoggua's appearance rank with that of HPL's own Cthulhu, for its elaborateness. This due primarily to Eibon, who proactively established contact with Tsathoggua and put record the event.

Tsathoggua has a head like a bat, its languid torso like that of a sloth, and seen as the flabbily corpulent whole, it resembles an enormous toad.
Covered all over with slimy hair, this indolent god always seems to be drowsy.

Granting that most of the known worshippers are human beings, Tsathoggua also has a so-called servitor race, i.e. monster under the immediate control: A black and mucous ooze, known as the Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua.

This entity will later be treated in another chapter; the matter to be mentioned at present is that, knowing it solely from literal descriptions, one shall be careful lest he should confuse it with Shoggoth.

One of the diversities is that the Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua walks with limbs it forms, while Shoggoth moves around mainly by means of rolling or crawling. Regarding the act of worship it shows toward idols of Tsathoggua, it too can be observed that it has intelligence more clearly than Shoggoth.

Also their habitats disagree: the Formless Spawn only lives in and around N'kai or other places of Tsathoggua worship, but Shoggoth lives mainly underwater. That said, it must be affirmed that some theorise that the Spawn and Shoggoth are identical. Since no record concludes that the Spawn is concretely created by Tsathoggua, there always is a possibility.

Besides, it is ascertained that there also are some kin --- or rather something like a family --- to Tsathoggua in Cykranosh.
Neither is there any news about them.

Tsathoggua is a creation by Clark Ashton Smith, who was a friend of HPL and is considered one of the three Greatest Authors of Cthulhu mythos, as which name are designated R. A. Howard as well. Being also a poet, Smith has his forte in fantasy fictions with light and witty touch. Tsathoggua is worshipped by most of the sorcerers who appear in Smith's tales, exactly as is Cthulhu in HPL. Hyperborea on ancient Earth, the medieval French kingdom Averoigne, and Zothique, the last continent on the globe in the far future... People and gods of his world of fantasy fictions have presences in no way inferior than those possessed by the characters in HPL's mythos. Harsh yet somewhat funny, miserable yet full of wit with an air of irony, I strongly recommend trying stories by Smith once. In Japan, besides the volumes of the anthology "Cthulhu", sketchbook "The Colossus of Ylourgne" is among the works of CAS in print.

The picture above is based on Yomi, taking into account the key words "plump" and "hairy." Yomi must be hairy, for she's naughty.

It is certain that Yomi is naughty.

Japanese Original

[Translation by: Ken Senda]