Timeline for How to Write an Eldritch Abomination?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
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| Mar 26, 2019 at 21:08 | history | edited | Secespitus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added simple image description for people using a screenreader
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| Aug 18, 2018 at 12:11 | comment | added | Matthieu M. | @Therac: I would word it differently; what the characters think was Fenrisuflr's plans failed. As long as the author avoids giving the reader insight into its mind, all the reader has is its actions, and the speculations of the characters. It would be interesting to see such speculations getting questioned more and more; trampling the characters' assumptions, over and over again, until they simply realize they have no clue as to the motives... or ever if there are motives. | |
| Aug 18, 2018 at 11:04 | comment | added | Malady | Too many of the "good" examples would make the reader / characters think that the Abomination is "good", and any deviation from that as "Out-of-character"... But, such a misunderstanding of Fen, could be an integral part of a story... | |
| Aug 18, 2018 at 9:29 | comment | added | Liquid | @Malandy Well, the morality of those actions would be perceived by the human characters, not by the eldritch being, of course. About ants, I presume they have simple "motivations" dictated by their biology, but I can't comprehend what the "ant experience" is like :) | |
| S Aug 18, 2018 at 9:21 | history | suggested | Malady | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 17, 2018 at 23:12 | comment | added | Therac | @NicHartley I was thinking even more foreign. Imagine a being that exists simultaneously throughout time and perceives the entire range of quantum outcomes at once. It could not plan, for plans presume a linear passage of time and a lack of foreknowledge. Everything it does could simultaneously succeed and fail, in different universes. But it could act to shift the majority of timelines, or ones that matter to it, towards its ends. Now imagine sharing a small fraction of its perception. And that's just scratching the surface - loosely based on science known to us - not yet the unknown... | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 22:54 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Aug 17, 2018 at 22:54 | comment | added | forest | The sheer power of an Eldritch horror could result in what manifests itself as a tempting devil, so there is no reason for Fenrisúlfr itself to be stooping as low as to interact with humans (unless he goes the way of Nyarlathotep). It's very possible that his mere existence could be responsible for any number of apparitions with chaotic quasi-goals that the beast itself may not even be aware of. | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 22:53 | comment | added | Malady | Problem: All your examples of "good" actions seem to hint at a plan, or goals or some sort of morality. ... "giving power to a good, untainted character, or partake in the defeat of a human villain, or destroying a dictator in the midst of a killing spree..." ... Maybe add some requirement for mixing things up, so it doesn't seem pure good? ... ... ... ... Also, we "can" comprehend ants' motivations... Not the best example? | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 18:13 | comment | added | anon | to be briefer: Eldritch horrors are not scary because they're powerful. They're scary because they're so foreign that no human could ever experience something similar without actually encountering them. That makes them hard to write, yes, but extremely rewarding when pulled off. | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 18:12 | comment | added | anon | I agree with Therac -- who says it has to have any plans? Humans tend to make plans because we seek control over what is fundamentally uncontrollable. Plus, it'd be a refreshing change to see, instead of an evil villain with a plan that accounts for everything, an evil villain who reacts, but is so incredibly good at twisting things to its advantage that everything might as well be according to some master plan. Or maybe it does plan, but it experiences all of our time at the same subjective time, so it can reliably know what our chemically deterministic minds will do centuries in advance. | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 15:32 | comment | added | Liquid | @Therac you're absolutely right. Of the three assumptions, the first one seems to me the less questionable; I have no excuses for the other two, though. | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 15:23 | comment | added | Therac | I can't help but point out one flaw in your excellent answer - the statement that "sometimes, Fenrisúlfr's plans fail". To say that, you need to make three questionable assumptions: (1) that Fenrisúlfr has plans, a human-specific concept as far as we know; (2) that the binary concept of success/failure applies to them; (3) that its relationship with time allows for a concept of sometimes to be meaningful. | |
| Aug 17, 2018 at 12:12 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Aug 17, 2018 at 12:11 | history | edited | Liquid | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| Aug 17, 2018 at 9:21 | history | edited | Liquid | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 1 character in body
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| Aug 17, 2018 at 8:59 | history | answered | Liquid | CC BY-SA 4.0 |