Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror, but Without the Horror

[Reality Glitch]

I keep hearing mentions and references to Lovecraft's work and out-of-context they sound like great ideas to use, but I don't like being scared, nor do I want anything approaching grimdark. Is there any media that uses such ideas in a distinctly non-horror way without being parody or comedy? How would go about creating such a work if they wanted to add to what's out there or start such a trend?

[Lord Raziere]

Well first we have to do something about that whole "drives you insane if you look at the knowledge directly" thing. thats like, the the real problem here. The idea that the knowledge necessary to interact with all this is too terrible and great for you to fully comprehend. Quite simply, its information overload, its too complex, too much.

Therefore you have to come up with some way of getting that information into a comprehensible format for our teeny tiny little minds to understand and manipulate. Computers, are known to process information that is far greater than we could ever hope to do ourselves. Therefore we could possibly start by somehow finding away for a super-computer to look at the information and somehow distill it into smaller parts that we can individually understand and use. Then we could actually do something about it, which I think we already do given the vast amounts of information we pump out every single day. Just get the Necronomicon, somehow get make some way for a super computer to scan the information within, process it into formats we are used to dealing with, then piece the pciture together from thousands of scientists all working on the little pieces.

Of course this might eventually lead to us making a godlike AI just to study all this eldritch abomination stuff directly with their super-god mind, but that has its own dangers of well, basically being a robotic eldritch horror itself! Something so powerful and vast we cannot fully understand its thought processes or fight against it. But we're trying to cut out the horror part, so the super AI might just be good or the lesser of two eldritch abominations vaster than we could ever comprehend given that we somehow program it to successfully make sure it doesn't harm us. Somehow, its harder than it seems.

Or we can go the self-enhancement route and start cybernetically enhancing our own minds to be able to deal with the information of all these eldritch whatsits. Of course we'll probably be becoming cyborgs or outright transhumans in the process, and if we succeed in figuring out all this eldritch stuff, well.....we'll probably start becoming POST-Human. and once that happens well.....we probably won't look much different from the betentacled aliens around us through our eldritch enhancements. We would become the new Deep Ones, we'd be in so deep that we' be more whatever cthulhu race than human. and thats unfortunately a kind of horror all by itself- that we actually succeed in understanding all this stuff to the point that we become something else that isn't human at all, that by actually understanding these beings- we become them.

So lets dial it back, keep it at transhuman. So that our brains don't go insane from looking at the various eldritch things around us, but lets leave what happens when we actually start figuring out how they make all their weirdness work up in the air so that we can interact and explore the Mythos safely, but not to the point where we go too deep and become the alien. Enough to be exploratory like Star Trek, but not to the point where we lose ourselves. seems good to me.

[An Enemy Spy]

There's a Tv Tropes page about this subject called Lovecraft Lite (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LovecraftLite).

[Eldan]

That sounds like you'd just end up at space opera or urban fantasy.

[Spacewolf]

To be honest very few of Lovecrafts works are actually horror, and their reputation mostly comes from people who havn't read the stories.

Personally I'd say try The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It's one of his longer stories and is basically a children story. It's quite a good read as well, although not as good as some of his better ones like the Color out of Space but that does fit the horror genre more.

[Eldan]

The Dreamland stories are absolutely not what people think of when they hear Lovecraft though, as a word of warning. Now, I like them a lot, but they are mostly pretty straight High Fantasy.

[Spacewolf]

Indeed, although since I don't know what Glitches tolerances are for that sort of stuff it does make it difficult to suggest some of his works, although I would say you should probably stay with Lovecraft if you want to experience his brand of horror. The doom that came to Sarnath might fit better as an inspiration for ideas.

[Kitten Champion]

Doctor Who uses a lot of Lovecraftian inspiration in my - admittedly shallow - experience with it, but doesn't veer into parody.

[Reality Glitch]

[snip]While the in-lore circumvention of the issue is one possible route, it defeates the purpose of my question as they either are, just another flavor of horror like you suggested, or, trivializes them to the point where I'm not sure it's worth calling it Lovecraftian anymore.
Indeed, although since I don't know what Glitches tolerances are for that sort of stuff it does make it difficult to suggest some of his works, although I would say you should probably stay with Lovecraft if you want to experience his brand of horror. The doom that came to Sarnath might fit better as an inspiration for ideas.I'd rather not experience his brand of horror, that's counterproductive (and I don't like being scared). I'll check out the suggestion everyone is giving, but it seems like people think it's skipping over the core of what makes the mythos (or a mythos inspired equivalent, like the Eldrazi) special. I believe it's possible to make the incomprehensibly unknowable "human-friendly", for lack of a better term.

[thethird]

You might enjoy the laundry files (tvtropes link (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheLaundryFiles)).

It merges cosmic horror with spy genre and while it does not do parody it keeps a tongue in check tone at most places. While there are some "horror" moments most are not worse that what you could find in a slightly supernatural spy book.

[Eldan]

Doctor Who uses a lot of Lovecraftian inspiration in my - admittedly shallow - experience with it, but doesn't veer into parody.

Not just inspiration. Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath are explicitely called by name.

[GloatingSwine]

Lovecraft's stories aren't horror in the classic sense of "there is a threatening thing, this is a tense situation" (books, after all, cannot really do jump scares...), but more about "all that mankind has wrought is as nothing to an uncaring universe". (Or occasionally "Eeeek! Miscegenation!!!!1!1", he was a weirdo).

[Reality Glitch]

Lovecraft's stories aren't horror in the classic sense of "there is a threatening thing, this is a tense situation" (books, after all, cannot really do jump scares...), but more about "all that mankind has wrought is as nothing to an uncaring universe". (Or occasionally "Eeeek! Miscegenation!!!!1!1", he was a weirdo).Still, I'm looking for how I could spin elements from the lore into something more optimistic (or even on humanity's side against the more traditional interpretations of itself).

[Starbuck_II]

Remember, some of his horror doesn't translate anymore: like racism and interbreeding. We aren't horrified by that anymore.

[The Glyphstone]

Still, I'm looking for how I could spin elements from the lore into something more optimistic (or even on humanity's side against the more traditional interpretations of itself).

Put a Humanity F Yeah spin on it? We discover the unthinkable, learn the unknowable, and proceed to beat it up/harness it for our own purposes because humanity is just that innately awesome?

Could even tie that itself into the way perception of 'horror' has changed over time in a semi-meta fashion. Harry Turtledove's Worldwar alt-history series is founded on an alien invasion of Earth that launches when we are in the knights-and-castles era and arrives expecting the same tech level but instead finds WW2 in progress; the things that scared/baffled humanity in the 1930's are categorically not scary or baffling to modern-day humans and our advanced sciences, and we have far more powerful tools at our disposal for actually unraveling their secrets and reverse-engineering them to benefit us. Transitively, a premise based on invading/manifesting timeless Lovecraftian entities expecting humans to be easily cowed, converted, killed, or driven mad based on the last time they bothered to pay attention could backfire horribly on them.

[ArlEammon]

Go look up Angel's Egg. A great movie that seems to be Lovecraftian Lite.

[Reality Glitch]

Put a Humanity F Yeah spin on it? We discover the unthinkable, learn the unknowable, and proceed to beat it up/harness it for our own purposes because humanity is just that innately awesome?I wasn't trying to put emphasis on human superiority. It is a way to go, but I feel like that's an easy way out. "Take something scary and either laugh at it or kill it." Though, I did have this idea of "What if humanity as we know it is just another elder spawn? Meaing that there's an elder god of humans/nature/life as we know it."

That would explain our lack of understanding in biology/sociology.
Could even tie that itself into the way perception of 'horror' has changed over time in a semi-meta fashion.Sounds reasonable, but why are fright, laughter, and aggression the onky responses I seem to get?

[Spacewolf]

The backstory that comes with Fallen London, Sunless Sea and whatever the flying game is called might be interesting to you then. Not sure if there's somewhere you can read through all the stuff easily though.

What are these ideas being put towards anyway?



That would explain our lack of understanding in biology/sociology.Sounds reasonable, but why are fright, laughter, and aggression the onky responses I seem to get?

Because that covers most human emotions.

[Lord Raziere]

That would explain our lack of understanding in biology/sociology.Sounds reasonable, but why are fright, laughter, and aggression the onky responses I seem to get?

I wasn't fearful, laughing at you or aggressive and I do not see how my post could be understood that way, I was just being logical as I can given the premise. I'm sorry if I came across that way. Personally, my take on such Cthulhu-esque things is that we are in fact, just as alien to them as they are to us. the unknowable foreign divide between humanity and these aliens could be just seen as a metaphor for how two cultures who have long developed without each other will suddenly meet and experience culture shock at observing each other. After all: Lovecraft was a cultural racist and his horror can be seen as his hate and fear of foreign culture projected upon the universe in his stories on a massive scale.

In that light, the unknowable cthulhu-esque "monstrosities" are just a foreign culture we don't understand that we get culture shock from seeing. Not all that mysterious and horrific when you think of it from that point of view.

[KillingAScarab]

I keep hearing mentions and references to Lovecraft's work and out-of-context they sound like great ideas to use, but I don't like being scared, nor do I want anything approaching grimdark. Is there any media that uses such ideas in a distinctly non-horror way without being parody or comedy? How would go about creating such a work if they wanted to add to what's out there or start such a trend?Chrono Trigger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Trigger). There's a thing inside the planet which will one day be the cause of the death of nearly everything on it. It rules over a dark future which three teenagers stumble upon while time traveling. They then decide to stop it with friends they make all over time.

How do you add to that? First, don't make Chrono Cross. Killing everyone's favorite characters for arbitrary reasons is seldom looked upon well.

[S@tanicoaldo]

Arrival is kind of like that; just pretend the aliens are from another dimension rather than another planet.

[Reality Glitch]

I wasn't fearful, laughing at you or aggressive and I do not see how my post could be understood that way,You misunderstand. I meant why is it that that the only examples I can find/am getting are horror (fright), comedy (laughter) or action (agression/"kill Cthulhu")
Personally, my take on such Cthulhu-esque things is that we are in fact, just as alien to them as they are to us.Not what I was getting at, but your idea is also valid.
In that light, the unknowable cthulhu-esque "monstrosities" are just a foreign culture we don't understand that we get culture shock from seeing. Not all that mysterious and horrific when you think of it from that point of view.True, but I was thinking in a less relatve sense.

[Lord Raziere]

You misunderstand. I meant why is it that that the only examples I can find/am getting are horror (fright), comedy (laughter) or action (agression/"kill Cthulhu")

Because Fight or Flight response to the first and third, and because learning to laugh at what we once feared is a part of our psychological/cultural healing process by making us consider things from a different point of view we can find absurd in a way we can find joy in and therefore accept what we once feared and hated.

Through, I once saw an anthology book on amazon called Cthulhurotica (https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhurotica-Carrie-Cuinn/dp/0983137307), so technically there IS a fourth emotion of sexual desire there as well. which technically is not any of the above and while probably disturbing to some, is not inherently more or less valid a reaction.

[Reality Glitch]

Interesting suggestion. Though, I think what I'm looking for is having the elder eldritch entities in, not necessarily have them be the reason the story is horror/comedy/action/romance. There is Welcome to Nightvale's reaction of "Eh, just another Tuesday." which I liked (though they try for "creepy-comedy"; don't know why it feels different, though). And Rick and Morty's "don't think about it" attitude seems like the way to go for younger audiences in the sense that a child wouldn't think about it.

[Eldan]

For another recommendation, the Mass Effect games, most notably the first one, are quite Lovecraftian.

[Eldan]

Lovecraft's stories aren't horror in the classic sense of "there is a threatening thing, this is a tense situation" (books, after all, cannot really do jump scares...), but more about "all that mankind has wrought is as nothing to an uncaring universe". (Or occasionally "Eeeek! Miscegenation!!!!1!1", he was a weirdo).

He absolutely wrote stories that are about someone basically finding a threatening thing and then running away from it or dying trying. Ghosts, zombies, ghouls, demons... he wrote some quite classical horror, too.

[Kitten Champion]

It occurred to me that Dungeons & Dragons, Warcraft, and to a certain extent Diablo mined Lovecraft for quite a few ideas while maintaining their whole Heroic Fantasy underpinning.

[Legato Endless]

You misunderstand. I meant why is it that that the only examples I can find/am getting are horror (fright), comedy (laughter) or action (agression/"kill Cthulhu")Not what I was getting at, but your idea is also valid.True, but I was thinking in a less relatve sense.

A 'pure' inversion of Lovecraft removing the horror would be apathy. A humanity fundamentally unconcerned about the Universe's indifference to us. We glance up and see Azathoth dumbly drooling to the drumbeat in the center of the cosmos shrug our shoulders and keep walking. We study the dark tapestry, and while we don't get it yet we're maybe making progress, but it's just not a big deal. A few people have breakdowns even so often, but there's excellent counseling and they're back to their sanity in a jiff. Everyone is pretty well adjusted.

Except nyarlathotep. For him, this reality is hell.

I'd imagine there's a lovecraft lite work or three somewhere that takes a droll stiff upper lip approach. If not there should be.

[Lord Raziere]

A 'pure' inversion of Lovecraft removing the horror would be apathy. A humanity fundamentally unconcerned about the Universe's indifference to us. We glance up and see Azathoth dumbly drooling to the drumbeat in the center of the cosmos shrug our shoulders and keep walking. We study the dark tapestry, and while we don't get it yet we're maybe making progress, but it's just not a big deal. A few people have breakdowns even so often, but there's excellent counseling and they're back to their sanity in a jiff. Everyone is pretty well adjusted.

Except nyarlathotep. For him, this reality is hell.

I'd imagine there's a lovecraft lite work or three somewhere that takes a droll stiff upper lip approach. If not there should be.

Sounds like a comedy. An understated british comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. Nyalothotep would be the straight man going among the masses and trying to scare them desperately trying to provoke a reaction, and all of humanity would just treat him as just another guy on the street. All his efforts would only eventually result in girl trying to seduce him because he has a fun personality and not even caring about any of his power or whatnot.

[Reality Glitch]

A 'pure' inversion of Lovecraft removing the horror would be apathy. A humanity fundamentally unconcerned about the Universe's indifference to us. We glance up and see Azathoth dumbly drooling to the drumbeat in the center of the cosmos shrug our shoulders and keep walking. We study the dark tapestry, and while we don't get it yet we're maybe making progress, but it's just not a big deal. A few people have breakdowns even so often, but there's excellent counseling and they're back to their sanity in a jiff. Everyone is pretty well adjusted.

Except nyarlathotep. For him, this reality is hell.

I'd imagine there's a lovecraft lite work or three somewhere that takes a droll stiff upper lip approach. If not there should be.This actually seems most like what I'm looking for. I'm quite excited. Though, after discovering the existance of Nyarko-san, I'll never think of him/her/them quite the same way again.
Sounds like a comedy. An understated british comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. Nyalothotep would be the straight man going among the masses and trying to scare them desperately trying to provoke a reaction, and all of humanity would just treat him as just another guy on the street. All his efforts would only eventually result in girl trying to seduce him because he has a fun personality and not even caring about any of his power or whatnot.Tyat's definitely one way to take it. I initially saw it more as people in-lore saying "yeah, it's a thing; like swiss cheese or oak trees, like biology or sociology".

[Strigon]

When I hear "Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror", I think "Vastly superior entities we have no business trifling with, that we can only ever have a positive interaction with on their terms". Victory against such entities is often very shallow; it's escaping, besting an avatar, shutting the door before they get through, et cetera. Because of this, fundamentally, it is horror. Unknowable, overwhelmingly powerful, alien entities are going to be scary.
So my first suggestion would be to give it a try. It's not horror in the same way that it's viewed in pop culture today. It's no Alien, it's no Poltergeist or Paranormal Activity. It is fundamentally different, and - for me - a much more enjoyable way of doing horror. I don't really care for the cosmic horror, specifically, but the way it's done resonates with me more.

However, if we remove the horror bit, then we are left with beings we are always at the mercy of, and there are a few of those in pop culture. Anything with Q, in Star Trek, would fit the bill. The Marvel universe has a few of these types of beings, too; it has a lot of cosmic entities, and I'm not just talking about "Gods" like the Asgardians - The Beyonders are the best choice for this, but the less picky you get, the more options there are.

As you can see, these are a far cry from anything Lovecraft wrote, but they're what you get when you try to sanitize the horror out of cosmic horror.