Great video on one of my absolute favorite creatures from horror, and the mythos. I highly highly recommend checking out Brian McNaughton's, The Throne of Bones. It is a fantastic and gruesome work, chronicling and expounding Ghouls. Absolutely drawing from Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith's works. It presents ghouls incredibly, and is probably one of the greatest works of horror I've ever read. Hugely underrated and relatively unknown from everything I can tell. McNaughton's worldbuilding is captivating, haunting, and whimsical in a gothic, gruesome way.
i second Scipio's rec for anyone still on the fence: Throne of Bones is insane and, if youll forgive the cleverness, absolutely ghoulish. really fantastic stuff and should be found for a reasonable price these days!
@@SGingo Eyy, glad to see someone else has read it and enjoyed it! I also highly recommend the audiobook, as it is fantastically performed, and narrated by Wayne June, who's narrated multiple Lovecraft audiobooks, and is the Ancestor in Darkest Dungeon. So, absolutely perfect for the book.
The 666th Edition My work to be published so as to apply to any & all games, puzzles or each. Pen, Paper, A single six sided dice as well as story is all you need. Unless your karma, luck & sanity each are at 100/100 a contest roll by the story teller is done at their whim concerning your initiatives & endeavors. In dire straits it is applied by default. Your statistics determine what feat you are capable of just as the combining of your skills will. No divine, arcana or nature based magic is present. Only ceremony & ritual can tether it at all. This requiring your knowing of your zodiac. The whole zodiac system specifically. Knowing that of those involved in any casting as well. Tarot acting as the gauge concerning any amount of magic use or involvement for that matter. 🌉
I would just like to mention that our view of wolves has been twisted by the way they were kept: members of random packs stuck together in a cage. Basically, we were observing prisoners fighting for dominance. Wolves in the wild are a family, with the breeding pair being the parents of everyone else.
Though the ideology of alpha and beta were found to not be true (non the less by the very person who coined it) but they do have a structure, and specifically an Alpha (or leader), of which is usually the oldest be it The Oldest or The Breeding Pair. Generally speaking: wolves are all just puppies and they follow their parents.
@@krinkrin5982 do you actually know anything about wild wolf's because that's wrong because it sounds like your talking about domesticated wolf's witch at that point is just more aggressive dog a wild wolf completely different and will mess you up a wolf pack is worse and an the leader of the pack isn't always it strongest/Smarter one of the pack
I feel like Conan Ghouls are like more advanced versions of the ones in Arabian folklore and mythology. They have a lot of aspects of the original ghouls, but they have the ability to travel across dimensions (earth to dreamlands, and back). They also appear more intelligent than their mythological counterparts. Conan just scratches all the boxes doesn't it? Fantasy, (weird) history, mythology, culture, magic and monsters.
Actually there's no one version of ghouls in the Arabic folklore and most of them are said to be as intelligent as most humans if not more, this is a case in which the ancient books about the subject weren't translated and most of the common knowledge about them is from only one source.
Yeah I go by the 1980s movies *Barbarian and Destory* , the big bad are some kinda Mythology Monster or Conspiracy lizard people , didn't expect so many Folklore/ Mythology creatures in the Conan Universe , It definitely a good thing, reminds me a little bit of Tolkien Middle Earth just more rugged and jacked up on Testosterone lol
As an Arab I love how Lovecraft implemented ghouls without copying or remaking the idea he stayed faithful to the original but added fun twists, and I would say he have the best implementation of arabic and north african mythology to this day
From my understanding the ghoul became known in the west thanks to the Arabian nights collection, also known as the 1001 nights. It’s a collection of folktales in Arabia translated into French sometime in the 1700s.
must be pretty close how finns and scandinavians see tolkien. A lot of tolkien's writings are more or less anglicanized versions of viking poetic eddas, and elven language is kind of fantasy-finnish.
If I remember right, Lovecraft also made ghouls have dog-like features because he didn't much care for dogs. I may be wrong so please correct me if I am.
Ooh this is good, being honest I’m trying to make my own Sword & Sorcery passion project and I find it really hard to write the feeling Conan just captures so perfectly.
@@mfbobyle6771 Yeah it’s something I’ve been working on since the start of the year but could never just focus on what I want it to be about. I’ve been calling it Blood and Fortune it’s about my character Bruton the Bull a former gladiator who buys his freedom and travels the harsh world of Adham the continent where the story mainly takes place.
@@paulcashion8049 “If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don't let some idiot talk you out of it. Whatever you do, give it your best shot and you'll be glad you did.” - Stan Lee I’ve been motivating myself with this quote for a while
Hey I'm really new to Conan stories and lore and this channel has been very helpful and enjoyable. Expansive and Informative but I think the "have fun your way too" attitude is my favorite part. You don't try and box people in with rigid lore and that's refreshing.
Ghouls have always been a favorite critter in the RPGs I've run. I was impressed with how the old Delta Green rules book treated them as they relate to Cthuluh Mythos. I'm just sinking my teeth into the Conan lore (and soon enough RPG) and your videos have been an enormous help and resource.
For anybody interested in reading an excellent book of stories revolving around very Lovecraftian ghouls (though written in a style more evocative of Clark Ashton Smith), I would highly suggest The Throne of Bones by Brian McNaughton. Frankly it's one of the best books I've ever read, and probably my favorite book of all time. For an extra special treat, the audiobook version is narrated by Wayne June (most widely known as the narrator/Ancestor in the Darkest Dungeon games, and as an audiobook narrator for many of Lovecraft's stories).
I kinda read Mordigian as being a pretty chill entity. "Don't take my dinner and I won't mess with you" mentality. So it's always awesome hearing about Mordigian
Interesting intriguing and impressive! You really showed me a completely unique, unusual and different spotlight on these unique scavengers from beyond the grave! I really loved how you brought up the historical cultural references, their bestial context and how they were introduced to the universe of cosmic horror!
I would disagree with the idea that Mordiggian is potentially an aspect of Nyarlathotep, since in "The Charnel God" Mordiggian is shown to be fairly just and non violent to those humans that have not offended him. Mordiggian as a whole seems fairly benevolent and more likely to adhere to strict religious rules than what we would call the Crawling Chaos.
Aside for the excellent 'Throne of Bones' by Brian McNaughton that has already been mentioned by another user, there's also Caitlin R. Kiernan's 'Low Red Moon' and 'Daughter of Hounds' that feature ghouls prominently.
That's very fascinating about ghouls they have much lord about them Different varieties of the dreamland and Earth's Ghouls thanks for making this video keep up the good work my good man
This is a very interesting video. Full confession though, ghouls scare me in a way most other monsters, even true undead, don’t. So the fact that I finished this video, is a testament to your skill at narration and lore gathering.
I truly enjoy these videos. Didn't know anything about the Conan universe before I stumbled across this channel, but I'm starting to see that I have been missing out. You're doing an awesome job at opening a gateway to this awesome world.
You've got me so into conan grim dark. I'm playing conan exiles a lot and before bed if I'm not listening to a conan story by Robert e Howard I'm listening to one of your videos about the universe. So glad I found your channel and can't believe I looked over conan for so many years.
My god, same here. I believe that Mr Howard's work will become a clear influence in my writing, going forward. My very first fantasy novel was the first book from the RUNESWORD series, which was pretty much sword & sorcery par excellance. I love Tolkien style high fantasy, but I BREATHE sword and sorcery.
Just discovered your channel, for once the algorithm smiled on me. I clocked the Conan easter egg in Stranger Things and went down a bit of a nostalgic rabbit hole about the franchise which led me to your channel. What surprised me even more was how closely knit Conan is to lovecraft, mind absolutely blown!
I just started playing Conan Exiles again and I was attacked, at night, by some monster, that looked a lot like these depictions, right outside my base. I've always built my base in this same spot near Noob River and never encountered that monster before, it was awesome! It kinda looked like a werewolf.
If you want another reference to Ghouls and a more solid link between the Clark Ashton Smith's works and the Hyborian Age, I'd reccomend looking at the adventure "Vultures of Shem" packaged in the 2d20 Conan Tabletop Rpg by Modiphius. It places the abandoned ruins of Zuhal Shar somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Shem and contains creatures called Gidim who very much resemble Ghouls and worship Mordiggian.
One of my absolute favourite depictions of Ghouls are the Flesh-Eater Courts from Age of Sigmar (AoS). The Flesh-Eater Courts are the courts of madness that serve and are bound to the vampires known as the Abhorrant Ghoul Kings. Most of them are Mordants, former mortals starved by famine and desolation that trapped themselves within a horrific delusion. They are convinced they are nobles, peasants and soldiers in the service of a beneficent master, rather than the monstrous cannibals under the service of a bestial vampire. This is to the point where, if for some reason the Abhorrent's delusion somehow slips, they’re so utterly horrified by what they have become that their mind shatters and they slip right back in as they can never accept what they truly are. A Court begins with desperate people. The realms of AoS are not great, with disasters such as famine, monster attacks, droughts, magical phenomena, raiders, or Chaos invasions being not uncommon in the slightest. These kinds of things often leave entire communities with nothing except for dead bodies. Desperate for someone to save them, the survivors become vulnerable to an Abhorrent Vampire. To these vulnerable people, this vampire's aura of madness (where the deluded vampire truly sees itself as a noble king rather than the bat-like bestial vampire that it actually is) takes hold almost instantly. To them, the vampire comes as a kind and noble king, clad in gold and with a holy aura, offering to give them protection and food so long as they follow him, and to prove his generosity to his future subjects, he gives them a feast of the finest wines, breads, cheeses, fowl, pork, sweetmeats, etc, enough to fill all of their bellies. Needless to say, these people take no time in willingly joining the Abhorrent and consuming the feast. However, this is a dark feast, which when seen without the Abhorrent's infectious delusion, is a pile of the dead bodies created by the disaster. This unwitting cannibalistic feast mixed with the Abhorrent’s blood while under his delusion damns the people to mutate into Mordants (Ghouls), now fully locked under the Abhorrent’s delusion, creating a new Flesh-Eater Court. Eventually, some may rise through the ranks at the cost of the rest of their sanity and the possibility of ever escaping. Going from "Peasant", to "Soldier", to "Courtier", to "Nobility", and eventually they may be inducted into the Abhorrent's "Royal Family" be being turned into a full Abhorrent Vampire themselves, who may eventually go off to found their own Courts, repeating the horrific cycle over and over again. This makes them rather sad as at nearly all of the FEC are honesty innocents who have no idea what they’re even truly doing. Innocents locked behind a near unbreakable madness forcing them to be cannibalistic nightmares. > Lord Pergrin drove his sword up to its hilt into the monster's stomach. The horrific thing hissed and spat at him, lashing out with filth-encrusted claws that sparked off Pergrin's armour. > 'You are a curse upon creation!' growled Pergrin, feeling nothing but disgust for these craven creatures. With a boot, he heaved the dying beast off his blade, causing an arc of gore to spray out like a red fountain. On all sides, the sounds of combat filled the air. Pergrin's men-at-arms battled with cannibal beasts, his soldiers' brightly coloured tabards spattered with rancid blood as they stove in skulls and opened bellies with their axes and blades. > 'Show no mercy, men!" he screamed, charging once more. Somehow he had lost his blade, but it mattered not, and he seized another creature. This close, he could see the naked terror in the thing's eyes. Leaning in, Pergrin wrapped armoured fingers around its neck. > 'Please... it gasped, but he was hardly listening. Not even the glimpsed reflection of red eyes and fangs in his victim's gaze was enough to stop what came next. - Battletome: Flesh-Eater Courts (2016). Pg 6
Placeholder comment deleted. THIS WAS EXCELLENT! I love the observations regarding the general confidence and self-satisfaction of the ghoul. Their depiction in “The Graveyard Book,” by Neil Gaiman really played that aspect up. Ghouls are *such* fun, and so is The Dreamlands setting. Killer cats for the win.
LOVE your videos. Hey before you retreat for academic career purposes, could you do a video on the White Hand and Hyperborea? You do such a great work combinign the different sources and since Howard said little on that, maybe you can enlighten us a little?
A great video, can't believe I didn't post a comment yet (whoops guess I forgot but thought I had posted), never gave ghouls much thought before, and yet this was fascinating. Can't wait for the 13 extra human cultures you'll be examining X)
Quick sidebar on Anubis - I read somewhere that jackals weren't native to Egypt during that era. Anubis was more likely fashioned after the now extinct Golden Wolf that was indigenous to the area. Haven't looked into it so can't say with much confidence but just a fun little point.
Hi man, great vid as always, best of luck for your Uni course. In time, could you maybe point me to the direction where you got the cthulhu-like appearance for the "idiot Great Ones" (I know you're a scholar enough that this isn't accidential lol)?
This was an artistic decision based on the facts that no one has outlined what great ones look like and the gods associated with the realm. The image itself is someone trying to represent Nyarlethotep, but since it possessed design elements from all associated dream land gods I went with it!
It took me a second to figure out what the title meant. I get a bunch of Conan O'Brien clips suggested. I thought this was going to be something very different.
Dog headed men in the Shanameh might be worth looking into. Mentioned during Rostam's journey to defeat the White Demon. Can't cite off hand but hope this is useful to y'all
Sidebar: Associating Ishtar and Shub-Niggurath feels like crowbarring in Lovecraft Deities where they don't belong. Ishtar is the chief goddess of many Shemite states, Koth, its filibusters, and her cult is present in Ophir, Argos, Stygia, and probably Zingarra and Zamora and, outside of Stygia and witch queens coming out of the East, these places aren't over run with insane serial killing sex cults.
Ghouls are very interesting horror monsters that probably should've been up there with vampires, werewolves, and zombies when it comes to representation.
"You're going to hear the word 'ghoul' much more often than I would like in this script, but there you are." As an editor, I feel that. Maybe take some solace in the idea that English might be unique in its distaste for repetitive words, and languages with smaller vocabularies would likely have no such taste for synonyms.
That first depiction is my favorite representation of ghouls . As a ghoul myself I find it very offensive when ghouls are shown as zombies or subterranean monstrosities .
There was actually a pretty great game that just came out regarding the Dreamlands and it's ghoul inhabitants. It's called Dream Cycle, it's based on the works of H.P. and I'd love to see your view on this game
Dreamlands is my favorite as well. In ttrpg terms, it's soon much better than that "undetdark" dreck. It has underworld elements but gives a stronger sense of the infinite.
I'm late to the party, but I'll throw in my two cents. This is an excellent video. I love Lovecraft's Ghouls, they're fantastic. I had a question, and a couple of recommendations. Question: You mention Ghouls and the city of Midian. This is in reference to Clive Barker's Cabal and Nightbreed, right? The Nightbreed are very Ghoulish (in the Lovecraftian sense, though they're in many ways much weirder), but are they actually related to the Mythos canon? Where did you get this? It's a fantastic addition to the lore, I'd like to find the source. Recommendations: Sandy Peterson's Cthulhu Mythos adds in rules to play as a Ghoul for DnD 5e. Very good stuff. Sadly that book doesn't cover Mordiggian. Also, check out Yogash the Ghoul on bluworm's channel. It's a fantastic video and bluworm is a fantastic channel.
The RPG talk has me wondering. I know of multiple Conan or Conan-esque and sword and sorcery RPGs, and Call of Cthulhu has a Dreamlands sourcebook, but is there a tabletop RPG that actually does Howard sword and sorcery along with or in Lovecraft Dreamlands?
The Outsider was a ghoul? The way he described the thing in the archway(his reflection) was as a rotting dead thing with tattered and mildewed clothes. Which I guess COULD be an ancient ghoul with diseased flesh and wearing clothes? To me he seemed to be an undead.
It's a shame what Lovecraft had to endure. It's very enlightening, though; many legends are born from unfortunate events. If not for our past, we wouldn't be who we are, or as wise as we are today.
They venerating Nyarlatotep seems to be a contradiction of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath when they specifically do not worship him instead serve Noddens, is this a mistake or is just the Conan Universe taking priority? I am really curious since I do not know very much about the Conan universe.
In the extended lore of Pathfinder and few other games Ghoulishness isn't limited to humans either. As well Mythos Ghouls come into conflict with traditional DnD style Ghouls quite often and despise the flavor of their Undead brethren.
TSR: Dargon magazine back in the 1990's had a short story on " The City of Ghouls." Then WotC 3rdE came up with in on of their Dragon magazines Undead character templates to PC ghouls and ghasts. But even when 3rdE first came out despite the ghouls having a low int/wis they had a high enough charisma to have a few levels of sorcerer so you could up their Will saves and give them a few one shot spell like abilities to add flavor to each different ghoul in the pack. On one hand you had those AD&D2ndE gatekeepers that moved into WotC D&D3rdE that lack imagination or murdered hobos that just hated the concept of humanoids having character class levels. I am in the camp of whatever it took to raised the Xp value of a given creature and what made a good story. Undead .. Shadows .. are more or less a one trick pony with a gimmick weakness to easily defend yourself against or to kill. Their strength drain in mob attacks would wipe out low level parties quickly, but to only have one or a few Shadows slowly stalk a party sipping away their strength and having the DM/storyteller having the PC roll saves base on .. stress/tension to explain strength lost. Adds gothic horror Ravenloft flare theme. D&D ghouls on the other hand, AD&D2ndE were nearly as dreadful and hated as Wights/Vampire energy drains and without and elf to save the day, your low/mid level party will end up dead. With 3rdE they were still a bit scary and set up to have character class levels. 4e turn ghouls into video game cannon fodder. 5e .. not even a threat anymore. Some old Arab myths ghouls were more like desert sirens that temp people/men in desolated places through a lusty voice then eat their victim, along with invading .. dreams like eastern European hags are known for. 2.) Home brew WotC D&D3e ghouls as 8hd outsiders which can be summon/called through 4th-level spell Lesser Planar Binding/Call Planar Ally. Treated an 8th-level sorcerer of 8d4 hd as a 4d8 hd, then drop the 5th-level Dream/Nightmare spell to 4th-level to line up with Phantasmal Killer which is more lethal than Nightmare. Ghouls are self-aware and can gain Xp which they trade in Gp value for full Xp in creating magic items. So they have a set of self-made items which they social favor trade with other ghouls. So each one is a different nightmare to deal with on a case-by-case bases. They use spells such as Chill Touch to drain strength or inflict temporary wisdom/int dmg to feed off of psychic energy causing temporary insanity/madness. Once their victims are mental crushed then they drag them away, chew on a few times to spread the ghoul virus leaving them to die from the virus or dehydration. If the new ghoul doesn't raise, then the ghouls feed on the corpus. In Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD): Werewolf or Mage, d10 system more than a few spirit monsters/demons share that trait, gh'ul is just one of many sub sect spirit tribes/courts that feed off of humans. Vampires just want your blood, these walking zombie like spirit ridden corpus want your psychic energies and your flesh, they want to eat you half alive and to join them. b.) Other gaming shop house rules with 3rdE, any player running a PC spellcaster reaching 11th-level, instead of becoming a lich, they could become a ghoul/ghast. Or a 3d12hd baby dragon. A ghost in the Catholic faith that show up and helping for a century are called Saints. If we are running a game that happens into a TPK, then we just carry on the story as ghost or take the PC into the Planescape setting. Since my last game shop did a lot of mix setting playing with Star Wars and WoD, PCing vampires or ghost is normal for us. Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Mage the Awakening d10 system which is around 15 years old is a better system in dealing with powering up and feeding away on Baator devils and the Abys demons with everything between. Crossing the WoD spell into D&D and back is not that difficult. Demons are too insane to be bothered by Lovecraft monsters, but Baator devils just hate the chaotic unlawful nature of the Great Old Ones. Wonderful plot devices for the Blood Wars campaigns. As for WoD: Changeling the Lost, creating a PC drag into the dreamlands of the Fae and coming back as a Lovecraft ghoul is just part of the setting and completely doable without bending any rules.
It seem that we here have Lovecraft's lore appended to Howard's lore. Are there any offical connection there like the two actually knowing and corresponding with each other?
Yes both authors wrote to each other and R.E Howard also wrote some stories that featured some of the lovecraft mythos. They where both pen pals you could say and they also sold their stories to the same pulp magazines. Lovecraft didn’t mind other authors using his mythos and Howard did use it I can’t remember if it was in Conan but I do remember one of his story about the Roman’s in Britain having some lovecraft stuff in it. it’s called “ worms of the earth”
So this is the path my characters in Conan Exiles (95% starting with Yog religion) might end up following? Could be worse. It will go nicely with that "noble savage" playstyle I follow (yes, my characters eat creatures, including people, but only those that started or provoked the fight. Flesh of the innocents or those meaning no harm is taboo in their interpretation of Yoggite path). Plus, I like doggos xD Thank you for the informative video, as usual, pleasure to watch and learn from you
One of the most common misconceptions about azothoth is that if he wakes, then the universe ends. Thats actually incorrect. The actual fact is that if he wakes up, he will destroy everything literally, like going on a rampage. He wakes up and chooses violence. In fact Yog is actually the all powerful one in lovecraft. He is called the all in one.
I know I'm late on asking this can you do something on the god or alien from the tower of the elephant plz and if you have it's worth revisit where and what,the "being" comes frome and how strong, the _"god"_ is that shows the dark magic.....thank you so much for your channel.....yours truthy Jimmie rose ][
Great video on one of my absolute favorite creatures from horror, and the mythos. I highly highly recommend checking out Brian McNaughton's, The Throne of Bones. It is a fantastic and gruesome work, chronicling and expounding Ghouls. Absolutely drawing from Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith's works. It presents ghouls incredibly, and is probably one of the greatest works of horror I've ever read. Hugely underrated and relatively unknown from everything I can tell. McNaughton's worldbuilding is captivating, haunting, and whimsical in a gothic, gruesome way.
I just looked it up as soon as you mentioned it and am pinning this comment as a recommendation for others!
I'll have to check this out. Thanks for the recommendation Scipio. Thank you Grim Dark for pinning it so others will see it.
i second Scipio's rec for anyone still on the fence: Throne of Bones is insane and, if youll forgive the cleverness, absolutely ghoulish. really fantastic stuff and should be found for a reasonable price these days!
@@SGingo Eyy, glad to see someone else has read it and enjoyed it! I also highly recommend the audiobook, as it is fantastically performed, and narrated by Wayne June, who's narrated multiple Lovecraft audiobooks, and is the Ancestor in Darkest Dungeon. So, absolutely perfect for the book.
The 666th Edition
My work to be published so as to apply to any & all games, puzzles or each. Pen, Paper, A single six sided dice as well as story is all you need.
Unless your karma, luck & sanity each are at 100/100 a contest roll by the story teller is done at their whim concerning your initiatives & endeavors.
In dire straits it is applied by default. Your statistics determine what feat you are capable of just as the combining of your skills will.
No divine, arcana or nature based magic is present. Only ceremony & ritual can tether it at all. This requiring your knowing of your zodiac. The whole zodiac system specifically. Knowing that of those involved in any casting as well. Tarot acting as the gauge concerning any amount of magic use or involvement for that matter.
🌉
I would just like to mention that our view of wolves has been twisted by the way they were kept: members of random packs stuck together in a cage. Basically, we were observing prisoners fighting for dominance. Wolves in the wild are a family, with the breeding pair being the parents of everyone else.
I haven't finished the video yet are you talking in reference to that or real life?
@@mrwhat5094 There is a line in the video that says (paraphrased) [certain ghouls] act more like a wolfpack, with alphas, betas, and so on.
Though the ideology of alpha and beta were found to not be true (non the less by the very person who coined it) but they do have a structure, and specifically an Alpha (or leader), of which is usually the oldest be it The Oldest or The Breeding Pair. Generally speaking: wolves are all just puppies and they follow their parents.
Oh the feelz. *snif
@@krinkrin5982 do you actually know anything about wild wolf's because that's wrong because it sounds like your talking about domesticated wolf's witch at that point is just more aggressive dog a wild wolf completely different and will mess you up a wolf pack is worse and an the leader of the pack isn't always it strongest/Smarter one of the pack
I feel like Conan Ghouls are like more advanced versions of the ones in Arabian folklore and mythology. They have a lot of aspects of the original ghouls, but they have the ability to travel across dimensions (earth to dreamlands, and back). They also appear more intelligent than their mythological counterparts.
Conan just scratches all the boxes doesn't it? Fantasy, (weird) history, mythology, culture, magic and monsters.
Actually there's no one version of ghouls in the Arabic folklore and most of them are said to be as intelligent as most humans if not more, this is a case in which the ancient books about the subject weren't translated and most of the common knowledge about them is from only one source.
@@dr0plague interesting. I didn't know, thank you.
Yeah I go by the 1980s movies *Barbarian and Destory* , the big bad are some kinda Mythology Monster or Conspiracy lizard people , didn't expect so many Folklore/ Mythology creatures in the Conan Universe , It definitely a good thing, reminds me a little bit of Tolkien Middle Earth just more rugged and jacked up on Testosterone lol
As an Arab I love how Lovecraft implemented ghouls without copying or remaking the idea he stayed faithful to the original but added fun twists, and I would say he have the best implementation of arabic and north african mythology to this day
I can't even count how many times he mentioned the mad Arabs Necronomicon
Quite the accomplishment for Arab culture. The ghoul in western books.
From my understanding the ghoul became known in the west thanks to the Arabian nights collection, also known as the 1001 nights. It’s a collection of folktales in Arabia translated into French sometime in the 1700s.
must be pretty close how finns and scandinavians see tolkien. A lot of tolkien's writings are more or less anglicanized versions of viking poetic eddas, and elven language is kind of fantasy-finnish.
It’s so freaking cool seeing new fans come to the Conan and Cthulhu.
If I remember right, Lovecraft also made ghouls have dog-like features because he didn't much care for dogs. I may be wrong so please correct me if I am.
I remember hearing this too, so I'm equally interested.
Very true! Mentioned in the Sandy Peterson video!
The Ghouls look more hyenas like some people say
Ooh this is good, being honest I’m trying to make my own Sword & Sorcery passion project and I find it really hard to write the feeling Conan just captures so perfectly.
Trying to write a book?
@@mfbobyle6771 Yeah it’s something I’ve been working on since the start of the year but could never just focus on what I want it to be about.
I’ve been calling it Blood and Fortune it’s about my character Bruton the Bull a former gladiator who buys his freedom and travels the harsh world of Adham the continent where the story mainly takes place.
@@KGdorah1964 the premise sounds cool. Love a good adventure. Hope the writing comes easy and you find success in it.
@@KGdorah1964 that sounds interesting. Just gotta keep writing.
@@paulcashion8049 “If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don't let some idiot talk you out of it. Whatever you do, give it your best shot and you'll be glad you did.” - Stan Lee
I’ve been motivating myself with this quote for a while
Hey I'm really new to Conan stories and lore and this channel has been very helpful and enjoyable. Expansive and Informative but I think the "have fun your way too" attitude is my favorite part. You don't try and box people in with rigid lore and that's refreshing.
Thanks brother!
Ghouls have always been a favorite critter in the RPGs I've run. I was impressed with how the old Delta Green rules book treated them as they relate to Cthuluh Mythos.
I'm just sinking my teeth into the Conan lore (and soon enough RPG) and your videos have been an enormous help and resource.
For anybody interested in reading an excellent book of stories revolving around very Lovecraftian ghouls (though written in a style more evocative of Clark Ashton Smith), I would highly suggest The Throne of Bones by Brian McNaughton. Frankly it's one of the best books I've ever read, and probably my favorite book of all time. For an extra special treat, the audiobook version is narrated by Wayne June (most widely known as the narrator/Ancestor in the Darkest Dungeon games, and as an audiobook narrator for many of Lovecraft's stories).
Pickman's model is such a good story my second favorite Lovecraft story
I kinda read Mordigian as being a pretty chill entity. "Don't take my dinner and I won't mess with you" mentality. So it's always awesome hearing about Mordigian
Magnificent,thank you, I was caught off guard playing with my Orc figurines when this popped off my phone, I'm glad you finished it.
WAAAAGH indeed good sir!
Literally put everything on hold the second i saw this video pop up.
I appreciate me having that effect!
Interesting intriguing and impressive! You really showed me a completely unique, unusual and different spotlight on these unique scavengers from beyond the grave! I really loved how you brought up the historical cultural references, their bestial context and how they were introduced to the universe of cosmic horror!
Oh hell yes right when I'm getting off work too talk about good timing!
Hey found your Channel pretty good stuff Conan will always be awesome
I would disagree with the idea that Mordiggian is potentially an aspect of Nyarlathotep, since in "The Charnel God" Mordiggian is shown to be fairly just and non violent to those humans that have not offended him. Mordiggian as a whole seems fairly benevolent and more likely to adhere to strict religious rules than what we would call the Crawling Chaos.
A good point!
Nyarlathotep might be capable of roleplaying as a benevolent god for his escapades just to have a laugh
Aside for the excellent 'Throne of Bones' by Brian McNaughton that has already been mentioned by another user, there's also Caitlin R. Kiernan's 'Low Red Moon' and 'Daughter of Hounds' that feature ghouls prominently.
Very good to hear!
Aaw yaaa. The perfect video to watch before bed!
That's very fascinating about ghouls they have much lord about them Different varieties of the dreamland and Earth's Ghouls thanks for making this video keep up the good work my good man
SETH! Great to see the cross channel hat tip!!!!! VERY COOL!!!!
He’s the best!
You're quickly becoming one of my favorite channels
Why thank you!
It feels like I've overdosed on the word "ghoul" for months through this video, hah.
Great video mate!
Yeah, it’s not my best work. Thanks for the compliment!
This is a very interesting video. Full confession though, ghouls scare me in a way most other monsters, even true undead, don’t. So the fact that I finished this video, is a testament to your skill at narration and lore gathering.
I truly enjoy these videos. Didn't know anything about the Conan universe before I stumbled across this channel, but I'm starting to see that I have been missing out.
You're doing an awesome job at opening a gateway to this awesome world.
You've got me so into conan grim dark. I'm playing conan exiles a lot and before bed if I'm not listening to a conan story by Robert e Howard I'm listening to one of your videos about the universe. So glad I found your channel and can't believe I looked over conan for so many years.
My god, same here. I believe that Mr Howard's work will become a clear influence in my writing, going forward. My very first fantasy novel was the first book from the RUNESWORD series, which was pretty much sword & sorcery par excellance.
I love Tolkien style high fantasy, but I BREATHE sword and sorcery.
Thank you both for the enthusiasm! When I write it’s more of my own hallucinatory fever dreams mixed with tears of training in jungian psychology!
I have never read the comics or books but I really enjoy these videos of yours!
These were much more in depth than I knew or had thought. I'm definitely going to steal and retool parts of them and the dreamlands.
Glad I could help!
Just discovered your channel, for once the algorithm smiled on me. I clocked the Conan easter egg in Stranger Things and went down a bit of a nostalgic rabbit hole about the franchise which led me to your channel.
What surprised me even more was how closely knit Conan is to lovecraft, mind absolutely blown!
Oh! Another banger. Great work Grim Dark. I really enjoy your lore videos. It's like you almost know too much... 😍
If only Hannibal had gotten the seven seasons they wanted.
I just started playing Conan Exiles again and I was attacked, at night, by some monster, that looked a lot like these depictions, right outside my base. I've always built my base in this same spot near Noob River and never encountered that monster before, it was awesome! It kinda looked like a werewolf.
Excellent video. Freak'n spooky intro. Thanks!
Great video, thanks for sharing. 🙂👍
I never really got into Tokyo ghoul. But this video is made me think that perhaps there was more influential thought put into then I assumed.
If you want another reference to Ghouls and a more solid link between the Clark Ashton Smith's works and the Hyborian Age, I'd reccomend looking at the adventure "Vultures of Shem" packaged in the 2d20 Conan Tabletop Rpg by Modiphius.
It places the abandoned ruins of Zuhal Shar somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Shem and contains creatures called Gidim who very much resemble Ghouls and worship Mordiggian.
your best dinner guest
I listen to music while lifting in the gym but post lift cardio I listen to Conan stories :)
I do the same, but in reverse with other videos! Glad I could help!
@@GrimDarkHalfOff Awesome! Love your vids man great stuff
Anything Conan is an instant click and you have the perfect voice for this kinda stuff great vid and hell of a job mate
That one picture reminded me of that dude that played Hannibal…. Oddly appropriate
Very cool concept and makes a simple ghoul much deeper and more backstoried with a darker and sinister theme
Great video & Sourceinformation on the subject, well done!
Great Video. This was fun indeed.
As detailed and as enjoyable as expected
You gonna join us at Howard Days next year? Last year was my first time and it was a hell of an experience.
I’d love to
One of my absolute favourite depictions of Ghouls are the Flesh-Eater Courts from Age of Sigmar (AoS).
The Flesh-Eater Courts are the courts of madness that serve and are bound to the vampires known as the Abhorrant Ghoul Kings. Most of them are Mordants, former mortals starved by famine and desolation that trapped themselves within a horrific delusion. They are convinced they are nobles, peasants and soldiers in the service of a beneficent master, rather than the monstrous cannibals under the service of a bestial vampire. This is to the point where, if for some reason the Abhorrent's delusion somehow slips, they’re so utterly horrified by what they have become that their mind shatters and they slip right back in as they can never accept what they truly are.
A Court begins with desperate people. The realms of AoS are not great, with disasters such as famine, monster attacks, droughts, magical phenomena, raiders, or Chaos invasions being not uncommon in the slightest. These kinds of things often leave entire communities with nothing except for dead bodies. Desperate for someone to save them, the survivors become vulnerable to an Abhorrent Vampire.
To these vulnerable people, this vampire's aura of madness (where the deluded vampire truly sees itself as a noble king rather than the bat-like bestial vampire that it actually is) takes hold almost instantly. To them, the vampire comes as a kind and noble king, clad in gold and with a holy aura, offering to give them protection and food so long as they follow him, and to prove his generosity to his future subjects, he gives them a feast of the finest wines, breads, cheeses, fowl, pork, sweetmeats, etc, enough to fill all of their bellies. Needless to say, these people take no time in willingly joining the Abhorrent and consuming the feast.
However, this is a dark feast, which when seen without the Abhorrent's infectious delusion, is a pile of the dead bodies created by the disaster. This unwitting cannibalistic feast mixed with the Abhorrent’s blood while under his delusion damns the people to mutate into Mordants (Ghouls), now fully locked under the Abhorrent’s delusion, creating a new Flesh-Eater Court.
Eventually, some may rise through the ranks at the cost of the rest of their sanity and the possibility of ever escaping. Going from "Peasant", to "Soldier", to "Courtier", to "Nobility", and eventually they may be inducted into the Abhorrent's "Royal Family" be being turned into a full Abhorrent Vampire themselves, who may eventually go off to found their own Courts, repeating the horrific cycle over and over again.
This makes them rather sad as at nearly all of the FEC are honesty innocents who have no idea what they’re even truly doing. Innocents locked behind a near unbreakable madness forcing them to be cannibalistic nightmares.
> Lord Pergrin drove his sword up to its hilt into the monster's stomach. The horrific thing hissed and spat at him, lashing out with filth-encrusted claws that sparked off Pergrin's armour.
> 'You are a curse upon creation!' growled Pergrin, feeling nothing but disgust for these craven creatures. With a boot, he heaved the dying beast off his blade, causing an arc of gore to spray out like a red fountain. On all sides, the sounds of combat filled the air. Pergrin's men-at-arms battled with cannibal beasts, his soldiers' brightly coloured tabards spattered with rancid blood as they stove in skulls and opened bellies with their axes and blades.
> 'Show no mercy, men!" he screamed, charging once more. Somehow he had lost his blade, but it mattered not, and he seized another creature. This close, he could see the naked terror in the thing's eyes. Leaning in, Pergrin wrapped armoured fingers around its neck.
> 'Please... it gasped, but he was hardly listening. Not even the glimpsed reflection of red eyes and fangs in his victim's gaze was enough to stop what came next.
- Battletome: Flesh-Eater Courts (2016). Pg 6
*Subscribed.* What a fantastic channel to stumble into!
Thanks friend
Top tier video , love your stuff!
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THIS WAS EXCELLENT! I love the observations regarding the general confidence and self-satisfaction of the ghoul. Their depiction in “The Graveyard Book,” by Neil Gaiman really played that aspect up. Ghouls are *such* fun, and so is The Dreamlands setting. Killer cats for the win.
Based!
LOVE your videos. Hey before you retreat for academic career purposes, could you do a video on the White Hand and Hyperborea? You do such a great work combinign the different sources and since Howard said little on that, maybe you can enlighten us a little?
A great video, can't believe I didn't post a comment yet (whoops guess I forgot but thought I had posted), never gave ghouls much thought before, and yet this was fascinating. Can't wait for the 13 extra human cultures you'll be examining X)
Quick sidebar on Anubis - I read somewhere that jackals weren't native to Egypt during that era. Anubis was more likely fashioned after the now extinct Golden Wolf that was indigenous to the area.
Haven't looked into it so can't say with much confidence but just a fun little point.
Sweet, thanks for the info!
Hell yeah!
I love these lore videos!
Maybe next, you could do a deep-dive about Thoth-amon? :)
Charlie Kelly's favorite video
Yes! Dreamlands deep dive leggo!!!
Hi man, great vid as always, best of luck for your Uni course. In time, could you maybe point me to the direction where you got the cthulhu-like appearance for the "idiot Great Ones" (I know you're a scholar enough that this isn't accidential lol)?
This was an artistic decision based on the facts that no one has outlined what great ones look like and the gods associated with the realm. The image itself is someone trying to represent Nyarlethotep, but since it possessed design elements from all associated dream land gods I went with it!
It took me a second to figure out what the title meant. I get a bunch of Conan O'Brien clips suggested. I thought this was going to be something very different.
Dog headed men in the Shanameh might be worth looking into. Mentioned during Rostam's journey to defeat the White Demon. Can't cite off hand but hope this is useful to y'all
This video got me thinking about the Night King in GOT. Yes he was killed but he could respawn in the far north…
Sidebar: Associating Ishtar and Shub-Niggurath feels like crowbarring in Lovecraft Deities where they don't belong. Ishtar is the chief goddess of many Shemite states, Koth, its filibusters, and her cult is present in Ophir, Argos, Stygia, and probably Zingarra and Zamora and, outside of Stygia and witch queens coming out of the East, these places aren't over run with insane serial killing sex cults.
22:31 check out "The Ancient Right of Passage that Changed the World by Dan Davis History" I wonder if it's possibly the origin of Cynocephali? 🤔
The Rake also comes to mind with Ghouls.
What you said: as a grave digger
What I heard: as a gold digger
Me: I didn’t realize ghouls were into that…
Some things are sadly universal
@@GrimDarkHalfOff too true… Ig I was naive in thinking that they would be better 😞
I still don't know where the idea of Azathoth dreaming up all reality came from.
Ghouls are very interesting horror monsters that probably should've been up there with vampires, werewolves, and zombies when it comes to representation.
I just want proper ghoul representation in media
"You're going to hear the word 'ghoul' much more often than I would like in this script, but there you are." As an editor, I feel that. Maybe take some solace in the idea that English might be unique in its distaste for repetitive words, and languages with smaller vocabularies would likely have no such taste for synonyms.
That first depiction is my favorite representation of ghouls . As a ghoul myself I find it very offensive when ghouls are shown as zombies or subterranean monstrosities .
Very nice.
And first on everything.
11:27 "The thing that Separates Nyarlethotep from Every Other Lovecraftian Deity is.." that It was Not Created by Lovecraft Himself.
There was actually a pretty great game that just came out regarding the Dreamlands and it's ghoul inhabitants. It's called Dream Cycle, it's based on the works of H.P. and I'd love to see your view on this game
Dreamlands is my favorite as well. In ttrpg terms, it's soon much better than that "undetdark" dreck. It has underworld elements but gives a stronger sense of the infinite.
I recommend "Yogash the ghoul" by bluworm
Yes that came out after my video and I already left a message of support. Great creator great stop motion.
i go ghoul when my relatives visit
I'm late to the party, but I'll throw in my two cents. This is an excellent video. I love Lovecraft's Ghouls, they're fantastic. I had a question, and a couple of recommendations.
Question: You mention Ghouls and the city of Midian. This is in reference to Clive Barker's Cabal and Nightbreed, right? The Nightbreed are very Ghoulish (in the Lovecraftian sense, though they're in many ways much weirder), but are they actually related to the Mythos canon? Where did you get this? It's a fantastic addition to the lore, I'd like to find the source.
Recommendations: Sandy Peterson's Cthulhu Mythos adds in rules to play as a Ghoul for DnD 5e. Very good stuff. Sadly that book doesn't cover Mordiggian. Also, check out Yogash the Ghoul on bluworm's channel. It's a fantastic video and bluworm is a fantastic channel.
Cultes des ghoules is a pretty cool band
The RPG talk has me wondering. I know of multiple Conan or Conan-esque and sword and sorcery RPGs, and Call of Cthulhu has a Dreamlands sourcebook, but is there a tabletop RPG that actually does Howard sword and sorcery along with or in Lovecraft Dreamlands?
The Outsider was a ghoul? The way he described the thing in the archway(his reflection) was as a rotting dead thing with tattered and mildewed clothes. Which I guess COULD be an ancient ghoul with diseased flesh and wearing clothes? To me he seemed to be an undead.
Little Green Ghouls!
i call them Rauls ,meow
they are very annoying to deal in the Acheronian ruins at lvl 8 when you start Unchained
It's a shame what Lovecraft had to endure. It's very enlightening, though; many legends are born from unfortunate events. If not for our past, we wouldn't be who we are, or as wise as we are today.
They venerating Nyarlatotep seems to be a contradiction of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath when they specifically do not worship him instead serve Noddens, is this a mistake or is just the Conan Universe taking priority? I am really curious since I do not know very much about the Conan universe.
In the extended lore of Pathfinder and few other games Ghoulishness isn't limited to humans either. As well Mythos Ghouls come into conflict with traditional DnD style Ghouls quite often and despise the flavor of their Undead brethren.
Very good! I’ve always wanted to try out the games!
TSR: Dargon magazine back in the 1990's had a short story on " The City of Ghouls."
Then WotC 3rdE came up with in on of their Dragon magazines Undead character templates to PC ghouls and ghasts.
But even when 3rdE first came out despite the ghouls having a low int/wis they had a high enough charisma to have a few levels of sorcerer so you could up their Will saves and give them a few one shot spell like abilities to add flavor to each different ghoul in the pack.
On one hand you had those AD&D2ndE gatekeepers that moved into WotC D&D3rdE that lack imagination or murdered hobos that just hated the concept of humanoids having character class levels.
I am in the camp of whatever it took to raised the Xp value of a given creature and what made a good story. Undead .. Shadows .. are more or less a one trick pony with a gimmick weakness to easily defend yourself against or to kill. Their strength drain in mob attacks would wipe out low level parties quickly, but to only have one or a few Shadows slowly stalk a party sipping away their strength and having the DM/storyteller having the PC roll saves base on .. stress/tension to explain strength lost. Adds gothic horror Ravenloft flare theme.
D&D ghouls on the other hand, AD&D2ndE were nearly as dreadful and hated as Wights/Vampire energy drains and without and elf to save the day, your low/mid level party will end up dead. With 3rdE they were still a bit scary and set up to have character class levels. 4e turn ghouls into video game cannon fodder. 5e .. not even a threat anymore.
Some old Arab myths ghouls were more like desert sirens that temp people/men in desolated places through a lusty voice then eat their victim, along with invading .. dreams like eastern European hags are known for.
2.) Home brew WotC D&D3e ghouls as 8hd outsiders which can be summon/called through 4th-level spell Lesser Planar Binding/Call Planar Ally.
Treated an 8th-level sorcerer of 8d4 hd as a 4d8 hd, then drop the 5th-level Dream/Nightmare spell to 4th-level to line up with Phantasmal Killer which is more lethal than Nightmare.
Ghouls are self-aware and can gain Xp which they trade in Gp value for full Xp in creating magic items. So they have a set of self-made items which they social favor trade with other ghouls. So each one is a different nightmare to deal with on a case-by-case bases.
They use spells such as Chill Touch to drain strength or inflict temporary wisdom/int dmg to feed off of psychic energy causing temporary insanity/madness. Once their victims are mental crushed then they drag them away, chew on a few times to spread the ghoul virus leaving them to die from the virus or dehydration. If the new ghoul doesn't raise, then the ghouls feed on the corpus.
In Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD): Werewolf or Mage, d10 system more than a few spirit monsters/demons share that trait, gh'ul is just one of many sub sect spirit tribes/courts that feed off of humans.
Vampires just want your blood, these walking zombie like spirit ridden corpus want your psychic energies and your flesh, they want to eat you half alive and to join them.
b.) Other gaming shop house rules with 3rdE, any player running a PC spellcaster reaching 11th-level, instead of becoming a lich, they could become a ghoul/ghast. Or a 3d12hd baby dragon. A ghost in the Catholic faith that show up and helping for a century are called Saints.
If we are running a game that happens into a TPK, then we just carry on the story as ghost or take the PC into the Planescape setting.
Since my last game shop did a lot of mix setting playing with Star Wars and WoD, PCing vampires or ghost is normal for us.
Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Mage the Awakening d10 system which is around 15 years old is a better system in dealing with powering up and feeding away on Baator devils and the Abys demons with everything between. Crossing the WoD spell into D&D and back is not that difficult. Demons are too insane to be bothered by Lovecraft monsters, but Baator devils just hate the chaotic unlawful nature of the Great Old Ones. Wonderful plot devices for the Blood Wars campaigns.
As for WoD: Changeling the Lost, creating a PC drag into the dreamlands of the Fae and coming back as a Lovecraft ghoul is just part of the setting and completely doable without bending any rules.
🔥🔥🔥
15:24 *Midian = Clive Barker's Nightbreed?*
Nightbreed is a classic
Mentioned later in the video!
@@GrimDarkHalfOff 🤣 that's what I get for commenting as I watch along. 😉
-
Edit:
I like the Hannibal tie-in, that was well done. 🤘🧐
I remember watching that movie when I was about 11 or 12. The only part of that movie that scared me was the psychiatrist's mask.
It seem that we here have Lovecraft's lore appended to Howard's lore. Are there any offical connection there like the two actually knowing and corresponding with each other?
Yes both authors wrote to each other and R.E Howard also wrote some stories that featured some of the lovecraft mythos. They where both pen pals you could say and they also sold their stories to the same pulp magazines. Lovecraft didn’t mind other authors using his mythos and Howard did use it I can’t remember if it was in Conan but I do remember one of his story about the Roman’s in Britain having some lovecraft stuff in it. it’s called “ worms of the earth”
@@Kieray That is official enough for me.
Yay
Question: do you think that Promal is in the Conan Universe?
So this is the path my characters in Conan Exiles (95% starting with Yog religion) might end up following? Could be worse. It will go nicely with that "noble savage" playstyle I follow (yes, my characters eat creatures, including people, but only those that started or provoked the fight. Flesh of the innocents or those meaning no harm is taboo in their interpretation of Yoggite path). Plus, I like doggos xD Thank you for the informative video, as usual, pleasure to watch and learn from you
As much as love, the video. I was expecting a more Korgoth colorful grim episode..... I just seeded an idea. Palmon, half-off!☠️
Yeah, but what about gabagools?
I wonder what lovecraft would have done had he not died of cancer
I wonder if any Ghouls worship Derketo?
One of the most common misconceptions about azothoth is that if he wakes, then the universe ends. Thats actually incorrect. The actual fact is that if he wakes up, he will destroy everything literally, like going on a rampage. He wakes up and chooses violence. In fact Yog is actually the all powerful one in lovecraft. He is called the all in one.
Thank you for the clarification
Have you watched Primal on Adult Swim/HBO Max? It's an animated show heavily inspired by Conan, I bet you would like it a lot.
Yes many people ask about this, good show
Out of curiosity what is the most accurate ghoul art to HP Lovecraft?
I know I'm late on asking this can you do something on the god or alien from the tower of the elephant plz and if you have it's worth revisit where and what,the "being" comes frome and how strong, the _"god"_ is that shows the dark magic.....thank you so much for your channel.....yours truthy Jimmie rose ][
Be cool if you do pellucidar lore
Idk what that is, but sure!
@@GrimDarkHalfOff it's an underground prehistoric world connected to Egdar rice Burroughs tarzan
Sorry if I wasn't clear or didn't respond