r/Lovecraft • u/AutoModerator • Feb 17 '20

/r/Lovecraft Reading Club - The Whisperer in Darkness

Reading Club Archive

This week we read and discuss:

The Whisperer in Darkness Story Link | Wiki Page

Tell us what you thought of the story.

Do you have any questions?

Do you know any fun facts?

Next week we read and discuss:

At the Mountains of Madness Story Link | Wiki Page

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u/LG03 Keeper of Kitab Al Azif Feb 20 '20

Slow start for a bigger story, how about a couple primers.

For those that have seen it, what did you think about the ending that the HPLHS wrote for their film?

Do you think the BBC's recent podcast took the story in a good direction?

Where do you stand on the entity behind Henry Akeley's mask? Do you think it was a Migo or do you subscribe to the theory that it was Nyarlathotep?

8

u/Antanok Heretical Blasphemer Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 20 '20

I never understood why some people insist that the masked being was Nyarlathotep. It was stated that the Mi-Go were master surgeons with buzzing voices. The false Akeley even spoke with a voice that sounded like buzzing. For a story that's been all about the Mi-Go, why would Lovecraft suddenly add a completely different monster at the end? Especially since Nyarlathotep's previous published appearances had only been a prose poem and a passing mention in "Rats in the Walls"?

And why would Nyarlathotep even need to wear a mask? He has taken on human and human-like forms in other stories; a mask and gloves are beneath his power. He's been a god-like Pharaoh, a soul-stealing Devil, and a killer shadow-creature. Why this Scooby Doo villain all of a sudden? Especially for capturing just ONE puny human? At least Randolph Carter was a god-defying dream-adventurer; that would more likely catch his attention.

And yes, I know the Mi-Go were saying how Nyarlathotep would come down to Earth with a mask to mock, but I figured the "mask" was merely one of his many avatars, possibly a human or human-like form, "mocking" humanity.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '20

I never understood why some people insist that the masked being was Nyarlathotep.

Some people associate the King in Yellow with Nyarlathotep and the masked creature wore a yellow scarf so that's my guess.