Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, is a fictional character. He is one of the cosmic Outer Gods in the fictional Cthulhu Mythos based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth and others.
Nyarlathotep differs from the other beings in a number of ways. Most of them are exiled to stars, like Yog-Sothoth and Hastur, or sleeping and dreaming like Cthulhu; Nyarlathotep, on the other hand, is active and constantly walking the Earth in the guise of a human being, usually a tall, slim, joyous man. Most of them have their own cults serving them, while Nyarlathotep seems to serve them and take care of their affairs in their absence. Most of them use strange alien languages, while Nyarlathotep uses human languages and can be mistaken for a human being. Finally most of them are powerful, while Nyarlathotep seems to be using deception, manipulation and even propaganda to achieve his goals. At that he is probably the most human-like among them.
Nyarlathotep enacts the will of the Outer Gods, and is their messenger, heart and soul; he is also a servant of Azathoth, whose wishes he immediately fulfills. Unlike the other Outer Gods, causing madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep.
Nyarlathotep has many different forms (some literature refers to these forms as Masks, and says that he has a thousand of them), and is thus known by many different avatars:
- Ahtu: a huge mound of viscous material with several golden tentacles; this form is peculiar to the Congo.
- The Black Demon: a black-furred, winged and snouted monster. The creature is destroyed by light.
- The Dark Demon: a larger, more cunning version of the Black Demon.
- The Haunter of the Dark: A bloated, batlike creature with a single, burning, three-lobed eye that appears able to kill by fear alone. Like the Black Demon, it is destroyed by light.
- The Black Man: in legends about witchcraft, the Black Man was the being that sealed pacts between the Devil and witches; in the Cthulhu Mythos, it is Nyarlathotep who fills this role.
- Shugoran: a black humanoid figure playing some sort of horn, this form is worshiped by the Tcho-tcho people of Malaysia.
- The Dark Pharaoh: a hairless man with dead black skin and hooves for feet; this form is peculiar to Egypt. This form and the previous two appear to be slight variations on the same Mask.
- The Bloated Woman: a hugely obese woman with five mouths and many tentacles; this form is peculiar to China.
- The Faceless Sphinx
- The Father of Knives
- The Father of Locusts (Bringer of Pests): a horde of huge, spitting supernatural locusts.
- The God of the Bloody Tongue: A creature the size of a building, of vaguely humanoid stature but having three legs and immense, clawed arms. Its head is an immense blood-soaked tentacle in which a vast, gaping maw looms when the thing howls at the moon.
- The Messenger of the Old Ones (It is not known if this refers to a true form of Nyarlathotep or is merely a title)
- The Crawling Chaos
- The Small Crawler: a small human figure with four arms and three tentacles for legs.
- The Wailing Writher: a column of writhing black tentacles and screaming mouths.
- Xipe Totec (also called the Skinless One): a flayed, skinless corpse worshiped as a god by the Aztecs.