| rdfs:comment | - The Great Old Ones are poorly understood beings who are said to dwell in the darkness between the stars, a place known as the Dark Tapestry or the Dominion of the Black. What is known is that they are truly ancient, and probably predate not only the world of Golarion but also its more human-like gods. They are thought to be of a vast, alien intelligence which mortals investigate at their own peril. Those who follow them and draw magical power from their worship are almost always insane, believing that these ancient beings will one day return to unmake the world.
- The Gods of Ragnarok were Great Old Ones. So was the Fendahl, according to the novelisation. The Virgin New Adventures novels later retconned a bunch of other monsters like the Great Intelligence, the Nestene, the Celestial Toymaker, and Adric into being Great Old Ones, and directly borrowed beings like Cthulhu and Azathoth from Lovecraft, and invented new Great Old Ones, in an attempt to overuse them so they'd no longer be scary and the fans could go to sleep without their nightlights.
- The Great Old Ones are to be distinguished from the more cosmically placed entities such as Azathoth, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth, and from races such as the Cthonians, the Deep Ones, the Elder Things and the Mi-go. Yet this distinction is unclear at times, in part because the terminology is not always consistent; for instance, Nyarlathotep, despite his marked interest in Earth and its culture, is generally considered to be an Outer God instead of a Great Old One. On the other hand, Hastur has several avatars and is generally based in outer space, but he is still considered a Great Old One. There are conflicting accounts on what the proper classification for Shub-Niggurath would be.
- An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a death-like sleep. they are fused by the stars and the nutrens melding them together like sinew
- Regardless of this fact, the Great Old Ones are completely invincible in comparison to humanity and their alien nature is so utterly bizarre that it inspires madness in all who gaze upon them. Cataclysmic but not necessarily malevolent, the Great Old Ones have the power to end the world on a whim but never actively seek the destruction of humanity, perhaps it is due to their vast power - to a Great Old One, humanity just is not worth the trouble of extermination.
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| abstract | - An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a death-like sleep. Lovecraft named several of these deities, being Azathoth, Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and Yig respectively. With the exception of Cthulhu, the remainder of this loose pantheon apparently dwelled in deep space. Worshipped by deranged human cults, these beings are currently imprisoned (beneath the sea, inside the Earth, and in distant planetary systems) and apparently eagerly await the time of their release. Although Lovecraft did establish this premise in his 1928 novella The Call of Cthulhu with reference to the eponymous creature, it was Derleth who applied the notion to all of the Great Old Ones. they are fused by the stars and the nutrens melding them together like sinew
- The Great Old Ones are poorly understood beings who are said to dwell in the darkness between the stars, a place known as the Dark Tapestry or the Dominion of the Black. What is known is that they are truly ancient, and probably predate not only the world of Golarion but also its more human-like gods. They are thought to be of a vast, alien intelligence which mortals investigate at their own peril. Those who follow them and draw magical power from their worship are almost always insane, believing that these ancient beings will one day return to unmake the world. The total number of Great Old Ones is unknown, but individual gods are known to include Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath,, Nyarlathotep, and Mhar.
- The Great Old Ones are to be distinguished from the more cosmically placed entities such as Azathoth, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth, and from races such as the Cthonians, the Deep Ones, the Elder Things and the Mi-go. Yet this distinction is unclear at times, in part because the terminology is not always consistent; for instance, Nyarlathotep, despite his marked interest in Earth and its culture, is generally considered to be an Outer God instead of a Great Old One. On the other hand, Hastur has several avatars and is generally based in outer space, but he is still considered a Great Old One. There are conflicting accounts on what the proper classification for Shub-Niggurath would be. Very few people dispute that Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth are Outer Gods instead of Great Old Ones, although some accounts make them ancestors of a few Great Old Ones.
- Regardless of this fact, the Great Old Ones are completely invincible in comparison to humanity and their alien nature is so utterly bizarre that it inspires madness in all who gaze upon them. Cataclysmic but not necessarily malevolent, the Great Old Ones have the power to end the world on a whim but never actively seek the destruction of humanity, perhaps it is due to their vast power - to a Great Old One, humanity just is not worth the trouble of extermination. Of course on the other hand, a Great Old One could simply choose to destroy entire civilizations for no other reason than it felt like it, a Great Old One has no care if its actions cause the deaths of thousands and if a Great Old One should become hungry or bored, it sees no wrong in randomly torturing or devouring innocents. According to Lovecraft himself, the Great Old Ones were meant to be amoral rather than malicious, in keeping with his belief that the universe itself was alien and uncaring - this by no means lessens their danger, arguably it only serves to increase it.
- The Gods of Ragnarok were Great Old Ones. So was the Fendahl, according to the novelisation. The Virgin New Adventures novels later retconned a bunch of other monsters like the Great Intelligence, the Nestene, the Celestial Toymaker, and Adric into being Great Old Ones, and directly borrowed beings like Cthulhu and Azathoth from Lovecraft, and invented new Great Old Ones, in an attempt to overuse them so they'd no longer be scary and the fans could go to sleep without their nightlights. The Great Old Ones are beings of immense power, unbound by the physical laws of this universe. They can do literally anything. Which is usually manifested by whispering nonsense in the ear of some human on the verge of insanity so he'll go over the edge and try to sacrifice one of the companions and over-enunciate DOK-TOR and claim that nothing can stop him now. In addition to being omnipotent, they're also omniscient. They can see into the past, the future, and even alternate possible futures, telling the Doctor that he will become the Valeyard if he continues on his current path, or revealing that he has a dark secret in his past that he won't admit even to himself, or showing the future of Gallifrey in ruins along every possible timeline. The reason they're always trying to take over the Matrix or the Doctor's brain or whatever to get the knowledge that they already have is so obvious that it needs no explanation here. The comics, being comics, were legally required to create The Grace, beings even greater and older than the Great Old Ones, who can do even more than literally anything (although of course the Beyonder is even greater and older than them, and can do more than just more than literally anything). The Grace are so powerful they can permanently turn The Mattress good, which lasted almost two issues.
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