Who's the scariest cartoon eldritch abomination in your opinion? Also, if you have any ideas about what weird trope in cartoons I should explore next, let me know! SUBSCRIBE for more! ► bit.ly/2XkZKjl JOIN the Discord server ► discord.gg/MtKrd6qgqQ Donate and support this channel! ► ko-fi.com/scrawls
Eldritch horror is, weirdly enough, perfect for children's media in terms of dodging censors, because it's just such an unknowable nonsensical concept that will always sound silly on paper to a corporate executive, but then is made and leaves people and children astonished
I mean makes sense. Imagine describing the Lich. “So he’s an evil talking skeleton that wants to eliminate all live on earth”. You’d think that you’d have a skeletor type of villain. ESPECIALLY in a show where everything LOOKS adorable
Except for the lovecraftian ones. I think that’s the big different between cartoon eldritch horror and the real thing. Lovecraftian horror is truly hopeless. There is no lesson. You’ve already lost. We are all just blissfully ignorant until we aren’t
@@derekmaverick5986 Lovecraftian monsters aren't from fairy tales, though. They're the work of one man, creating essentially modern stories. They aren't folk-tales and aren't truly based on them, either. Lovecraft created them for a purpose, and that purpose wasn't to grapple with the idea of the unknown and instill determination in humanity. I would honestly call his work as fitting into the "would that be fucked up, or what?" school of storytelling (although he took himself pretty seriously).
@@derekmaverick5986 Lovecraft was a fun writer but I would consider him to be an extremely weak person. He was afraid of the unknown. I personally love the unknown. I have never read a Lovecraft story that I consider to be "scary". The lesson in Lovecraft stories is "don't be xenophobic", although it is an unintentional lesson and he would be horrified to know that some people learned that lesson from his writing. The thing that terrified Lovecraft the most was inter racial couples. Taking him seriously is a big mistake in my opinion. As to us all having already lost, that's demonstrably not true or there wouldn't be a story in the first place. Humanity is not nor has it ever been the center of the universe, Lovecraft never learned to let go of that, or to fight to the death for what he believed in even if it is hopeless. Like I said, he was weak.
That would be *“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”* - G.K. Chesterton
Man, I remember when Adventure Time being post-apocalyptic was still just a theory based on a few throwaway lines and some background images. What a wild ride that show was!
Growing up with the french, they actually translated that line to the "mushrooms war", basically making sound like it was a war between mushrooms, which would fit with adventure time's original silly and weird tone (stand we literally saw mushroom people so as a I d it made sense). It was probably a misunderstanding from the people in charge of the dub. And you can't blame since who would expected a nuclear apocalypse in adventure time initially? @@Todd-h3l
Man, I love these eldritch cartoon villains! I really like it when animated shows treats it's target audience like mature. It really gives away challenging themes and development. These sinister and demonic baddies really stands out for their respective shows! And it's so inspiring for how they're all portrayed.
spicy take but eldritch horror also allows you to keep stories simple they allow you to create a VERY clear distinction of good and evil you can sprinkle in moral complexity episodically if you want to but you always have the potential for a main plot with a villain who is completely inhuman and evil, you don't have to deal with grey or complex morality any more than the writer feels like moment to moment
Huh, I'd say the opposite. If you can call something evil it isn't eldritch horror. 'Eldritch' comes from 'elfin,' after all, and both meanings of the word imply something with truly alien morals.
@@MySerpentine depends a bit on how you define evil a true eldritch being may not be evil i nteh snese of understanding human moraltiy and deciding to go against it but it may be evil in the sense of harmful, not worth arguing with and always justified ot fight against you never have to worry if its actually just the hero of its own story and somehow justified in its actions
@@JulianDanzerHAL9001 But it almost certainly *is* the hero of its own story and somehow justified in its actions. That's the whole problem. We can't understand its story, much less its justifications, but then an ant can't understand ours either. We still have them.
@@MySerpentine humans have motivatiosn ants can't understnad but humans aren't actually just the other ant colony just trying to survive jsut liek your ant colony
I think Belos is the most unique eldritch one in this video essay, because he was once a human who became a demonic being somewhere along the way and lost his humanity as a result.
Well, Belos is my favourite villain. I wouldnt clasify him as eldritch being tho, he is more like a wendigo/skinwalker type of evil creature since in mythology skinwalkers start out as humans but their continuous practive of evil canibalistic dark magics prolongs their life and slowly turns them into a grotesque spirit capable of shapeshifting and possession. Belos doesnt directly eats witches flesh but he consumes palismans which contain living essence and were once a part of the witches that made them. Similar thing basically. He is actually scary precisely because he torments heroes psychologically and not so much with brute force, but boy does can he dish out brute force when he wants it..
I never took belos to be Eldritch. I took him as a very human supremacist now cosplaying as a force of nature. He is a bigot who refuses to be outlived by anything he see as less than him. Clinging on to control until he can get back to where everything matches the natural order he believes he comes from. If he came face to face with a real ancient natural power, it would crush him. He is brittle
I genuinely love when these videos go into more philosophical and cosmic questioning, it shows so much magic and creativity and the reasoning behind that makes me love this life
You can't talk about cosmic horror in animation without mentioning Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This was the show that completely perverts the Magical Girl genre and messes with the Cute Animal Companion trope. Not only are most of the "witches" that the girls fight surreal, but the final reveal is also terrifying.
Oh yoo, that's so exciting, I'm looking forward to seeing it! You genuinely have such a skill in monster design and creating a whimsical yet horrifying environment. Can't wait to see what you make in the future :)
Just submitted a 17, 000 word Masters' thesis on this exact topic. Great video!.. just wish you could have uploaded it 3 months earlier so I could have drawn inspiration from it 😅😅
The beast is the most unique in my opinion. Even now, we don't know who or what he is since the show didn't give us any information about him and it's one of the reasons why i love him so much, and unlike the others, the beast isn't really a power villain who you can only defeat with super powers. He manipulated people in order to stay alive and at the end, he was defeated by his own lie. The most popular theory is that he is a creature between life and death that represents purgatory, but I guess we will never know for sure
Another factor: inspiration! A lot of these shows share inspirations; Gravity Falls and Mystery Incorporated both draw inspiration from Twin Peaks, which would have been sick to mention too!
I watched Over the garden wall when I was 16 and had nightmares about the beast because I was too curious and paused when the light flashes on him. I'm 22 and I'm still anxious to look out my windows at night 💀
side note but looking at bills "true form" whatever that means (in the new book i believe he describes it as "without his exoskeleton" or something) does actually drive people insane juist by looking at, its actually pretty relevant in the show
The Eldritch fall to mankind because, just as they are unknowable to us, we are also so insignificant to them they we're also unknown to them. We have the element of surprise and the ability to adapt and grow, while the Eldritch are stagnant.
To paraphrase the final line of *To Be A Ghost...* by Jeff Rosenstock: "... They want you to be a ghost But we've got power 'cause they can't stop the Things that they refuse to see"
i remember watching scooby doo: mystery incorporated as a kid and being so freaked out and fascinated by the evil entity at the same time. such cool storytelling for a kids' show, now that i think about it.
5:19 Bill Ciphers yellow triangle bod is actually just an exoskeleton. It's theorized that when McGucket went through the portal he saw Bills true form and thats what caused him to go insane.
Another great example of eldritch/cosmic horror is Scavengers Reign. The alien planet the main characters are stranded on can never be completely understood, and it's some of the most horrifying animation I've seen in a while.
A suprising amount of the vilians listed were defeated by mostly unnamed characters from their past who, bu defeating them, in sone sense killed their most loved one.
I didn't get around to season 2 of Owl House... When you explained "The Collector" it reminded me of the short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, where an omnipotent 3yo has everyone scared of complaining about anything for fear Anthony might "fix it" in a child's mind way. Also no upsetting Anthony or thinking anything other than GOOD thoughts around Anthony. Knowing that story might make "The Collector" even scarier.
I think that the overlord from Lego Ninjago would also be a great example of eldtrich horror, since he is the embodiment of evil and has been present since the creation of Ninjago, a being opposing God and he is the one that shifted the balance between light and shadow, and also Lloyd is forced by destiny to face him, because God didn't defeat the overlord and only delayed the inevitable
Hush now, hide, all you little ones Rush now, into the middle of nowhere Singing and laughter will die Dreamless sleep, follows the Nowhere King When his kingdom comes, darkness is nigh Quiet, crawl to the in-between Silent, secretive feeling Of fearsome hatred that reaches the skies You will bring joy to the Nowhere King When he sees the light leaving your eyes
Bill cipher can also fit under lovecraftian horror because when fiddle does was sucked into the portal, what he saw made him go insane and caused him to create a memory erasing gun
Great video! For me, who spent my childhood watching some of these cartoons (especially Gravity Falls), this was very nostalgic. All you said about the eldritch horrors being used as metaphors for all the weirdness that comes with growing up just felt so right to me!
I have to wonder if anime and video games had a hand in giving more modern cartoons eldritch abominations to fight. Stuff like DBZ and Sonic the Hedgehog have featured pitting the main cast of colorful characters against cosmological horrors that threaten existence for little over a decade before we started seeing it in cartoons.
@@dane1382 Well, some of them did get kinda existential. Especially Kid Buu when, after destroying all life on Earth and other planets by blowing them up, transported himself into the afterlife and started attacking all the deceased souls residing there. Not even the veil of death could prevent his ravenous drive for utter destruction and chaos.
Don't forget Final Fantasy, especially with the final bosses ascending into being eldritch abominations (like with 6 and 7) or just appearing out of nowhere (like with 4 and 9).
I need to correct you on one thing: Tom and Jerry isn't for kids, it was meant originally for adults and it played - like Looney Tunes - before movies for adults and kids in the 1920's through 1950's. That was common back then. It's only now that we see it as a "kid's thing". However, the thing you said about all this is why when I run Call of Cthulhu, I make the abominations... strangely relatable. They too are victims of an uncaring vast universe. They too have struggles and problems and just wanna live life. Sometimes the Ghouls just are a symptom of a horrible human's murders and burial of bodies in the backyard, sometimes the Mi-go is doing horrible experiments on a human being because they're trying to cure a terrible cancer-like disease only Mi-go can get. Sometimes Nyarlathotep's idea of chaos isn't world-shattering but just silly and petty and just so happens you and your party are perfect for his revenge on someone else - so he's on your side this time. But that's all scary, because it's so frighteningly human and relatable, and because it turns Lovecraft's xenophobia on its head, asking you to confront the unknown and try to *empathize* with it instead of fear it. And isn't comprehending the unknown just another way to go mad in Cosmic Horror? Isn't it scarier to look into the abyss, and realize humans can be ten times worse? The real horror isn't the slimy rotting thing on the doorstep, it's the thing inside the house. You. Very human, pathetic, fallible, fragile, and corruptible you. Yes, the unknowable is scary and dangerous, and often will cause horrible results when humans cross them, but these aren't mindless monsters, they have motives and do things for reasons. Humans just aren't worth the effort for these things to be bothered by, any more than an ant is a problem for us unless it's right on our sandwich or something... It just so happens that sometimes, the small world of humans will cross over with the vast unknowable, and when that happens - for whatever reason - chaos and madness can result. It doesn't matter if they're the ones who find us... or we're the ones who find and try to exploit them for power or whatever.
Honestly I think eldritch horrors just have the right mix of straight forward, goofy to look at/easy to customize, and yet also potentially engaging for returning/older watchers that they just fit Like, consider how many og story tales have strange fae entities as antagonists or characters, with shape shifting, strange habits and even stranger curses/plights for the protagonist It’s merely an evolution of the art
This video is amazing and explains it all so eloquently. Will definitely be keeping my eye out for future vids of urs. Never even heard of eldritch before but have always gravitated towards that style so is nice to know what it actually is!
I am really happy to see how many more people are getting into this genre of horror, I loved it since I was a young kid and it's crazy how much Lovecraft actually had an influence in media especially in fantasy worlds , cartoons, comics, and manga , world of warcraft, Skyrim, DnD, Warhammer 40k, fear and hunger, adventure time, DC comics, from software, the works junji ito, magic the gathering, adventure time, gravity falls, etc. I love the hopelessness mixed with horrifyingly beauty of growth and change, it's a hard sub genre of horror which is best in the media of books, due to that fact that most of the creatures are incomprehensible best way to describe creatures like that is by describing what it is while simultaneously describing what it isnt its difficult but amazing when done well
TVtropes uses the term "Lovecraft Lite" for stories that use concepts inspired by cosmic horror but in a context wherein the eldritch beings can be defeated
As someone who grew up with these kinds of cartoons and i LOVED IT, i say i like spooky cartoons and ppl are like "you mean like scooby doo" like tes i love Scooby doo, but i was sitting there TRANSFIXED on the tv with the "RETURN THE SLAB" and my older sisters shakeing lmao
The Stranger Things VR Game especially encapsulates the Lovecraftian cosmic horror of the upside down with the Mind Flayer representing the embodiment of the other dimension’s alien intelligence hammering home the concept that the entire alternate universe is an endless superorganism that wants to escape to invade and consume endless worlds. And it’s basically a horror version of Galactus with it taking Henry Creel/Vecna under its wing like a herald and both have a symbiotic relationship both sharing power over the dimension and it’s inhabitants and whatnot.
one of the only threats that made me say "yeah that's an eldritch/Lovecraftian horror" was surprisingly the wither storm from Minecraft story mode. (It even has the tentacles that Lovecraft hated so much) it goes sucking up parts of blocks from the world to turn into its own body. making it grow more and more. and the main characters had to stop it with a nuke (The Formidi-bomb). but that didn't even work. it just split off like a virus and continued to grow! and all because it just started as a wither with a command block in-between its ribcage. The wither storm also has a mod for it now (Or even multiple) that showcases how DEVASTATING it is. just completely tearing up your world. and also, it gives you stage 4 cancer (Wither sickness). It's one of my all-time favorite forces of nature villain. even if the game itself is iffy at times.
You can’t gaze into the abyss forever. At some point you have to leave. But you get to choose whether you come back to pave it over, or come back with a ladder.
As a writer I love horror, it's such a fun way to stretch creativity and see how disturbing you can make something without depending on gore or violence, the scene in Playground with the monster who spins it's head around is my favorite for that reason. Showing kids, heck showing anybody, that the things you fear can be stopped or laughed at makes it fun.
Theres no difference between these 3 "genres", its just inspiration taken by lovecraft and his co writers' stories. Yes in some cases the story uses only the aesthetic without fully delving into the existential dread that comes with it but its not a different genre for that Also, no, looking at the gods of the lovecraftian mythos dont make you insane by looking at them, its your own mind being unable to comprehend what its looking at
@@olleselin even if it did its not important here, we are talking about modern writing and it just so happens that lovecraft and his buds are extremely influential on modern horror writing
The least I can say is that not many people agree with the separation and division you've established between "Lovecraftian", "Eldritch", and "Cosmic" horror categories. Actually, I cannot find a single source that would back up your take.
Back off man!! Dude is doing _original work_ (tbh, I have quibbles too ... but it _is_ a pretty broad field, & could arguably use a little subcategorization)
@@donweatherwax9318 Backing off because I point the obvious? Cosmic horror is not that broad, especially compared to other horrors subgenres. Sorry for trying to keep the debate healthy, before everyone and their mothers start categorizing this kind of subgenres with their own take. Words matter, especially when you're trying to categorize things, and definitions are lacking in most places.
@@P4r4d0x1c4lYou eediot, I was clearly being sarcastic after the first sentence On the other hand, I'm bored, so maybe we could fight to the death. (you go first)
The first time I ever heard of Cthulhu was in the Real Ghostbusters episode where they fight and defeat him with science and innovation applied to ancient methods. This has been going on in animation for a very, very long time, although the young protagonist angle is definitely something that arose in the last 20 years, for the reasons you cite.
I’ve always loved horror where the being you are fighting is so unfathomably huge, and unbeatable, and the mc is just some people who are a tad bit traumatized. At first, it just looks like some small stories that are confined to the episodes but all of it is really intertwined. Idk man I like gravity falls and tma
The lich is like one of the only villains in cartoons that felt genuinely imposing. In a show where the main characters are almost seen as invulnerable and heroes by everybody around them, its actually intimdating to see them get broken down the way that they do. Some episodes actually have genuinely"out-there" ideas that almost make me feel like if refined just a bit more adventure time could be a full on adult show. As much as the show is appreciated i still feel like its underappreciated simply because it actually had interesting, sometimes thought provoking concepts in episodes, and it wasnt afraid to show elements of real life (yes its a fantasy show but u know what i mean) i think raising a kid on shows like this, bares incredibly different results than how modern kids that are raised on cocomelon will be. Kids arent stupid and i think modern media is constantly reinforcing the idea that they cannot watch anything that is deeper than jingling keys and bright colors.
Adventure Time would have given me so many nightmares if I saw it as a child. It's got to be the most bizarre cartoon I've ever seen. More than Gravity Falls, more than Over the Garden Wall, more than The Owl House, more than even anything made by Don Bluth, Adventure Time is just... so full of absolute horrors... and because of its cute art style gets away with far more of it. And yet, it's hopeful.
Patrick :" hes scared of minorities" Lovecraft :" I AM NOT!" patrick :" oooooh, person whos different to you" Spongebob : " STOP IT PATRICK YOU'RE SCARING HIM!"
I love this niche of villains so much! But i do wonder why so many of them have horns and skull motives going on, like were they somehow inspired by some sort of pagan deity or something?
I feel like the vast from tma is a good representation of insignificance. it is the fear of huge things, but it also highlights how small you are, and how insignificant we all are. Is it even worth distinguishing an individual when we are so so small. Anyways I love mike crew BYEEEEE
THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT PLAYGROUND 7:38 I generally love the short so much and wish every day that it does end up turning into something more and by people like you talking about it. It helps make that little step more towards that ❤❤❤
@Alhow-y6l it is actually only a concept trailer, sadly. But there's a slither of hope to where if more people talk about it and show interest, it could become a real show/moive(?) Like with some there show Pilots where og here on UA-cam
I grew up with this stuff. And it’s certainly influenced my own writing as an adult. The story I’ve been making itself is very adult, but I’m still ending it with having to deal with a creature who travels the multiverse and eats lovecraftian creatures in order to live
I just watched all of chnl “dead sound” videos thanks to this video! ❤ I’m going through all the links to watch all the ones I don’t already know. New subscriber! Thank you so much!
Simar to Moon Channel's video about why you always kill gods in jrpgs. I think, especially for American made cartoons, our world around us has been changing so much, so quickly, and without stopping, and may appear incomprehensible, and having a metaphor to look to while growing up in said world may be especially relatable. The employee must best the boss in the jrpg, and the kid has to learn that the world can be defeated, or at least understood.
the lich from adventure time has always been such a freaky character. I mean its the literal embodiment of nuclear war and annihilation. It's horrifying
Damn nice video and now it gave me few recommendations as well. But here we are talking about Eldrich horror in animation and you did not mention Final Space? Man! it is almost criminal not mentioning it.
I feel like you could argue in adventure time, if it was told from the perspective of Simon as the main character, it has more of a lovecraftian story, where he eventually is driven into insanity with the power of the crown within the apocalyptic world of Ooo when he first discovered it
Me @ Canaletto from underrated Animated sci fi series Oban Star Racers: Don't worry buddy, someday your time will come. In all seriousness Oban Star Racers is one of my favorite shows, and it's villain is a fantastic example of eldritch horror.
Immediately after the Intro, I theorized that the reason Eldritch Horror and Entities are so prevalent in children's media is that it's an allegory for the ancient, terrifying, and inevitable approach of Adulthood. My partner thinks it's shorthand for a child's struggle with grasping/understanding big concepts like life and death, loss and grief, and ignorance of a vast, mysterious reality that is yet undiscovered.
I personally find The Lich to be the scariest. Something about the contrast in his lines from the rest of the show paired with his chaotic indifference to humanity....just scary.. like his delivery on the "before there was nothing there were monsters" is so vastly different from KOO and Toronto's tone in that episode
![Prey: How an ending no one picked contextualizes eldritch horror [Fixed Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/StjI5nKqdsY/mqdefault.jpg)
Who's the scariest cartoon eldritch abomination in your opinion? Also, if you have any ideas about what weird trope in cartoons I should explore next, let me know!
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I'd say it's a tie between The Lich and Emperor Belos! They're both so dark and chilling to the bone......
Cyn from murder drones.
I mean, I've never watched centaurworld, but DAMN that is a TERRIFYING thing!
The Lich & Bill Cipher are the creepiest in my opinion. If they ever met . . .
@@-Spartanoblivion1515 lmao
Eldritch horror is, weirdly enough, perfect for children's media in terms of dodging censors, because it's just such an unknowable nonsensical concept that will always sound silly on paper to a corporate executive, but then is made and leaves people and children astonished
IKR! Children deserves to be baffled!
I mean makes sense. Imagine describing the Lich. “So he’s an evil talking skeleton that wants to eliminate all live on earth”. You’d think that you’d have a skeletor type of villain. ESPECIALLY in a show where everything LOOKS adorable
"People and children" makes it sound like children arent people
They are also built for the black and white morality of cartoons, under modern aesthetics people are hesitant to make humans into absolute evils.
@@llvidlohave you met a child? Terrifying thing, barely even human
As someone once said, "Fairy tales don't tell us that monsters exist. We know that monsters exist. They tell us that the monsters can be defeated."
Except for the lovecraftian ones. I think that’s the big different between cartoon eldritch horror and the real thing. Lovecraftian horror is truly hopeless. There is no lesson. You’ve already lost. We are all just blissfully ignorant until we aren’t
@@derekmaverick5986 Lovecraftian monsters aren't from fairy tales, though. They're the work of one man, creating essentially modern stories. They aren't folk-tales and aren't truly based on them, either. Lovecraft created them for a purpose, and that purpose wasn't to grapple with the idea of the unknown and instill determination in humanity. I would honestly call his work as fitting into the "would that be fucked up, or what?" school of storytelling (although he took himself pretty seriously).
@@derekmaverick5986 Lovecraft was a fun writer but I would consider him to be an extremely weak person. He was afraid of the unknown. I personally love the unknown. I have never read a Lovecraft story that I consider to be "scary". The lesson in Lovecraft stories is "don't be xenophobic", although it is an unintentional lesson and he would be horrified to know that some people learned that lesson from his writing. The thing that terrified Lovecraft the most was inter racial couples. Taking him seriously is a big mistake in my opinion. As to us all having already lost, that's demonstrably not true or there wouldn't be a story in the first place. Humanity is not nor has it ever been the center of the universe, Lovecraft never learned to let go of that, or to fight to the death for what he believed in even if it is hopeless. Like I said, he was weak.
Love this take!@@johnathanmartin1504
That would be *“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”* - G.K. Chesterton
Man, I remember when Adventure Time being post-apocalyptic was still just a theory based on a few throwaway lines and some background images. What a wild ride that show was!
Still is
@@sarahgreen238 "the mushroom war" is a fairly important plot point in the show tho
@@sarahgreen238 hope you mean still is a wild ride- the show gets explicitly nuclear at many points
@@hold_onto_anything hahaha yes, I meant it still is a wild ride😊
Growing up with the french, they actually translated that line to the "mushrooms war", basically making sound like it was a war between mushrooms, which would fit with adventure time's original silly and weird tone (stand we literally saw mushroom people so as a I d it made sense).
It was probably a misunderstanding from the people in charge of the dub. And you can't blame since who would expected a nuclear apocalypse in adventure time initially? @@Todd-h3l
Man, I love these eldritch cartoon villains! I really like it when animated shows treats it's target audience like mature. It really gives away challenging themes and development. These sinister and demonic baddies really stands out for their respective shows! And it's so inspiring for how they're all portrayed.
Yeah, I agree. They ride that fine line of simple cartoon villan and disgusting un-redeemable trash bag.
spicy take but eldritch horror also allows you to keep stories simple
they allow you to create a VERY clear distinction of good and evil
you can sprinkle in moral complexity episodically if you want to but you always have the potential for a main plot with a villain who is completely inhuman and evil, you don't have to deal with grey or complex morality any more than the writer feels like moment to moment
Huh, I'd say the opposite. If you can call something evil it isn't eldritch horror. 'Eldritch' comes from 'elfin,' after all, and both meanings of the word imply something with truly alien morals.
@@MySerpentine depends a bit on how you define evil
a true eldritch being may not be evil i nteh snese of understanding human moraltiy and deciding to go against it
but it may be evil in the sense of harmful, not worth arguing with and always justified ot fight against
you never have to worry if its actually just the hero of its own story and somehow justified in its actions
@@JulianDanzerHAL9001 But it almost certainly *is* the hero of its own story and somehow justified in its actions. That's the whole problem. We can't understand its story, much less its justifications, but then an ant can't understand ours either. We still have them.
@@MySerpentine most of them don't really seem to have a concpet of motivation or good or bad the way we do
otherwise we could understand them
@@MySerpentine humans have motivatiosn ants can't understnad but humans aren't actually just the other ant colony just trying to survive jsut liek your ant colony
The children yearn for the horrors beyond our comprehension
I think Belos is the most unique eldritch one in this video essay, because he was once a human who became a demonic being somewhere along the way and lost his humanity as a result.
Soulsborne storytelling type beat
one could argue he jsut proved he was allways inhuman and his transformation jsut made him look like how he was deep inside
Well, Belos is my favourite villain. I wouldnt clasify him as eldritch being tho, he is more like a wendigo/skinwalker type of evil creature since in mythology skinwalkers start out as humans but their continuous practive of evil canibalistic dark magics prolongs their life and slowly turns them into a grotesque spirit capable of shapeshifting and possession. Belos doesnt directly eats witches flesh but he consumes palismans which contain living essence and were once a part of the witches that made them. Similar thing basically. He is actually scary precisely because he torments heroes psychologically and not so much with brute force, but boy does can he dish out brute force when he wants it..
Exact same thing with the nowhere king
I never took belos to be Eldritch. I took him as a very human supremacist now cosplaying as a force of nature. He is a bigot who refuses to be outlived by anything he see as less than him. Clinging on to control until he can get back to where everything matches the natural order he believes he comes from. If he came face to face with a real ancient natural power, it would crush him. He is brittle
I genuinely love when these videos go into more philosophical and cosmic questioning, it shows so much magic and creativity and the reasoning behind that makes me love this life
deer from that one adventure time episode.
S tier creepy
!!!!!
so scary
BRO THAT DEERS HANDS WERE NIGHTMARE FUEL
"Deer with Hands" is true horror
You can't talk about cosmic horror in animation without mentioning Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This was the show that completely perverts the Magical Girl genre and messes with the Cute Animal Companion trope. Not only are most of the "witches" that the girls fight surreal, but the final reveal is also terrifying.
It's also marketed to teenagers and adults other kids. It's rated for blood and violence.
Made in Abyss would be better as it's even though it and Madoka aren't aimed at kids, it's more of a coming of age story.
@@VaughanRoderick made in abyss is a cesspool
@@VaughanRoderickmade in abyss could have been good if it didn’t have a creep writer
It was supposed to be a normal magical girl anime, until the folks behind Fate: Zero got a hold of it. The rest is majesty.
Thank you for showcasing my work!!! Really liked your video!
Omg, thank you!! Really loved the style and vision of your animation, it's truly incredible!
@@scrawls Thank you!! I'm now working on making it a longer version!
Oh yoo, that's so exciting, I'm looking forward to seeing it! You genuinely have such a skill in monster design and creating a whimsical yet horrifying environment. Can't wait to see what you make in the future :)
Just submitted a 17, 000 word Masters' thesis on this exact topic. Great video!.. just wish you could have uploaded it 3 months earlier so I could have drawn inspiration from it 😅😅
Wow that sounds incredible! I would love to read it
@@scrawls can't rid of the theses being just send them back where they came from
The beast is the most unique in my opinion. Even now, we don't know who or what he is since the show didn't give us any information about him and it's one of the reasons why i love him so much, and unlike the others, the beast isn't really a power villain who you can only defeat with super powers. He manipulated people in order to stay alive and at the end, he was defeated by his own lie. The most popular theory is that he is a creature between life and death that represents purgatory, but I guess we will never know for sure
Another factor: inspiration! A lot of these shows share inspirations; Gravity Falls and Mystery Incorporated both draw inspiration from Twin Peaks, which would have been sick to mention too!
I just finished the video. I have to say this Video Covers the topic almost perfectly. Also, I LOVE Eldritch Horror in Cartoons.
I watched Over the garden wall when I was 16 and had nightmares about the beast because I was too curious and paused when the light flashes on him. I'm 22 and I'm still anxious to look out my windows at night 💀
It's like every JRPG ending with you killing god.
the allegory of killing god in every jrpg is refering to the young people killing the greedy corporate and inhuman lifestyle of Japan culture
Do you remember when you first realised that the world existed for millions of years before you existed, and will just carry on when you die?
side note but looking at bills "true form" whatever that means (in the new book i believe he describes it as "without his exoskeleton" or something) does actually drive people insane juist by looking at, its actually pretty relevant in the show
100%, just look at what happened to fiddleford
Giygas (Earthbound) is an interesting example of such a thing, but video game. Quite possibly the scariest antagonist in any media meant for children.
I wish you went further with the Beast, because it plays a very important role in the theme, that isn’t just growing up.
The Eldritch fall to mankind because, just as they are unknowable to us, we are also so insignificant to them they we're also unknown to them. We have the element of surprise and the ability to adapt and grow, while the Eldritch are stagnant.
To paraphrase the final line of *To Be A Ghost...* by Jeff Rosenstock:
"... They want you to be a ghost
But we've got power
'cause they can't stop the
Things that they refuse to see"
Literally bill cipher if I see him in a alleyway I'd run so fast that I don't think people can see me
Pennywise: Look at you. You've all grown up.
i remember watching scooby doo: mystery incorporated as a kid and being so freaked out and fascinated by the evil entity at the same time. such cool storytelling for a kids' show, now that i think about it.
im surprised you didn't cover Aku from Samurai Jack, he is the og Eldridge horror trickster of 2000's to me
5:19 Bill Ciphers yellow triangle bod is actually just an exoskeleton. It's theorized that when McGucket went through the portal he saw Bills true form and thats what caused him to go insane.
Another great example of eldritch/cosmic horror is Scavengers Reign. The alien planet the main characters are stranded on can never be completely understood, and it's some of the most horrifying animation I've seen in a while.
A suprising amount of the vilians listed were defeated by mostly unnamed characters from their past who, bu defeating them, in sone sense killed their most loved one.
I didn't get around to season 2 of Owl House... When you explained "The Collector" it reminded me of the short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, where an omnipotent 3yo has everyone scared of complaining about anything for fear Anthony might "fix it" in a child's mind way. Also no upsetting Anthony or thinking anything other than GOOD thoughts around Anthony. Knowing that story might make "The Collector" even scarier.
Like that episode of The Twilight zone
21:59 tbh Prismo from Adventure Time scared me the most. But out of that list? Probably Lich
PRISMO? The god of wishes and hot tubs?
I think that the overlord from Lego Ninjago would also be a great example of eldtrich horror, since he is the embodiment of evil and has been present since the creation of Ninjago, a being opposing God and he is the one that shifted the balance between light and shadow, and also Lloyd is forced by destiny to face him, because God didn't defeat the overlord and only delayed the inevitable
based.
Hush now, hide, all you little ones
Rush now, into the middle of nowhere
Singing and laughter will die
Dreamless sleep, follows the Nowhere King
When his kingdom comes, darkness is nigh
Quiet, crawl to the in-between
Silent, secretive feeling
Of fearsome hatred that reaches the skies
You will bring joy to the Nowhere King
When he sees the light leaving your eyes
Nowhere king is my favorite of the “eldritch entities for kids”, such a cool villain
Yes omfg centaurworld was so fucking good and the nowhere king song was so freaky!!!
NOWHERE KING NOWHERE KING YIPPPPEEEEEE I LOVE YIPPEEEE
@@stinky-smelly I I unironically have it on all my playlists usually at the end
Bill cipher can also fit under lovecraftian horror because when fiddle does was sucked into the portal, what he saw made him go insane and caused him to create a memory erasing gun
I meant fiddleford by the way auto correct
@@MaggotsTasteFunny you could just like, edit the comment? *like this
Great video! For me, who spent my childhood watching some of these cartoons (especially Gravity Falls), this was very nostalgic. All you said about the eldritch horrors being used as metaphors for all the weirdness that comes with growing up just felt so right to me!
I have to wonder if anime and video games had a hand in giving more modern cartoons eldritch abominations to fight. Stuff like DBZ and Sonic the Hedgehog have featured pitting the main cast of colorful characters against cosmological horrors that threaten existence for little over a decade before we started seeing it in cartoons.
idk about DBZ having any "cosmological horrors"
@@dane1382 Well, some of them did get kinda existential. Especially Kid Buu when, after destroying all life on Earth and other planets by blowing them up, transported himself into the afterlife and started attacking all the deceased souls residing there. Not even the veil of death could prevent his ravenous drive for utter destruction and chaos.
Don't forget Final Fantasy, especially with the final bosses ascending into being eldritch abominations (like with 6 and 7) or just appearing out of nowhere (like with 4 and 9).
Yeah even pokemon was super into cosmic horror in gen 7 and gen 8
I need to correct you on one thing: Tom and Jerry isn't for kids, it was meant originally for adults and it played - like Looney Tunes - before movies for adults and kids in the 1920's through 1950's. That was common back then. It's only now that we see it as a "kid's thing".
However, the thing you said about all this is why when I run Call of Cthulhu, I make the abominations... strangely relatable. They too are victims of an uncaring vast universe. They too have struggles and problems and just wanna live life. Sometimes the Ghouls just are a symptom of a horrible human's murders and burial of bodies in the backyard, sometimes the Mi-go is doing horrible experiments on a human being because they're trying to cure a terrible cancer-like disease only Mi-go can get. Sometimes Nyarlathotep's idea of chaos isn't world-shattering but just silly and petty and just so happens you and your party are perfect for his revenge on someone else - so he's on your side this time. But that's all scary, because it's so frighteningly human and relatable, and because it turns Lovecraft's xenophobia on its head, asking you to confront the unknown and try to *empathize* with it instead of fear it. And isn't comprehending the unknown just another way to go mad in Cosmic Horror? Isn't it scarier to look into the abyss, and realize humans can be ten times worse? The real horror isn't the slimy rotting thing on the doorstep, it's the thing inside the house. You. Very human, pathetic, fallible, fragile, and corruptible you.
Yes, the unknowable is scary and dangerous, and often will cause horrible results when humans cross them, but these aren't mindless monsters, they have motives and do things for reasons. Humans just aren't worth the effort for these things to be bothered by, any more than an ant is a problem for us unless it's right on our sandwich or something... It just so happens that sometimes, the small world of humans will cross over with the vast unknowable, and when that happens - for whatever reason - chaos and madness can result. It doesn't matter if they're the ones who find us... or we're the ones who find and try to exploit them for power or whatever.
You take something I hate from some DMs and take it further beyond, i am sure I would love your campaigns.
I always liked how Lovecraft made the ghouls so incredibly relatable in _The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath._ Hey, it's all of us against the Gugs man
This channels giving me Curious Archive vibes and I love it
He's a big inspiration for sure, love his content!
I literally came here from one of archives videos
Honestly I think eldritch horrors just have the right mix of straight forward, goofy to look at/easy to customize, and yet also potentially engaging for returning/older watchers that they just fit
Like, consider how many og story tales have strange fae entities as antagonists or characters, with shape shifting, strange habits and even stranger curses/plights for the protagonist
It’s merely an evolution of the art
This video is amazing and explains it all so eloquently. Will definitely be keeping my eye out for future vids of urs. Never even heard of eldritch before but have always gravitated towards that style so is nice to know what it actually is!
Thanks, I hope you return to watch the next ones!
categorising Lovecraft as simply "racist" is such a massive oversimplification
I am really happy to see how many more people are getting into this genre of horror, I loved it since I was a young kid and it's crazy how much Lovecraft actually had an influence in media especially in fantasy worlds , cartoons, comics, and manga , world of warcraft, Skyrim, DnD, Warhammer 40k, fear and hunger, adventure time, DC comics, from software, the works junji ito, magic the gathering, adventure time, gravity falls, etc. I love the hopelessness mixed with horrifyingly beauty of growth and change, it's a hard sub genre of horror which is best in the media of books, due to that fact that most of the creatures are incomprehensible best way to describe creatures like that is by describing what it is while simultaneously describing what it isnt its difficult but amazing when done well
I very much enjoyed this essay and hope you continue making great content like this
Wow "Elder Tubbies" woke me the fuck up. Thats a sentence I never thought I would hear.
TVtropes uses the term "Lovecraft Lite" for stories that use concepts inspired by cosmic horror but in a context wherein the eldritch beings can be defeated
As someone who grew up with these kinds of cartoons and i LOVED IT, i say i like spooky cartoons and ppl are like "you mean like scooby doo" like tes i love Scooby doo, but i was sitting there TRANSFIXED on the tv with the "RETURN THE SLAB" and my older sisters shakeing lmao
My first D&D campaign we fought a mysterious villain who I was able to sue out to be a lych thanks to Adventure Time
The Stranger Things VR Game especially encapsulates the Lovecraftian cosmic horror of the upside down with the Mind Flayer representing the embodiment of the other dimension’s alien intelligence hammering home the concept that the entire alternate universe is an endless superorganism that wants to escape to invade and consume endless worlds. And it’s basically a horror version of Galactus with it taking Henry Creel/Vecna under its wing like a herald and both have a symbiotic relationship both sharing power over the dimension and it’s inhabitants and whatnot.
Belos is like a beholder, a lovecraftian monster with the personality of the actual hp lovecraft!
one of the only threats that made me say "yeah that's an eldritch/Lovecraftian horror" was surprisingly the wither storm from Minecraft story mode. (It even has the tentacles that Lovecraft hated so much) it goes sucking up parts of blocks from the world to turn into its own body. making it grow more and more. and the main characters had to stop it with a nuke (The Formidi-bomb). but that didn't even work. it just split off like a virus and continued to grow! and all because it just started as a wither with a command block in-between its ribcage. The wither storm also has a mod for it now (Or even multiple) that showcases how DEVASTATING it is. just completely tearing up your world. and also, it gives you stage 4 cancer (Wither sickness). It's one of my all-time favorite forces of nature villain. even if the game itself is iffy at times.
You also forgot to mention it ALWAYS tracks players down. Mainly the main cast due to it being programmed to follow the amulet.
the wither storm was SUCH a cool thing to have as the main 'villain' of the story in story mode, very underrated
yeah, the wither storm was definitely an awesome villain.
BEN 10: ALIEN FORCE is my favorite
8:59 I'm glad you included the Nowhere King, he's been in my mind since you started. Nyoce dude
You can’t gaze into the abyss forever. At some point you have to leave. But you get to choose whether you come back to pave it over, or come back with a ladder.
this is a good fucking line
As a writer I love horror, it's such a fun way to stretch creativity and see how disturbing you can make something without depending on gore or violence, the scene in Playground with the monster who spins it's head around is my favorite for that reason. Showing kids, heck showing anybody, that the things you fear can be stopped or laughed at makes it fun.
Who I wouldn't want to see at the end of an alley? Cyn, of course. That would be absolutely terrifying.
Stories do not teach children that dragons are real
Children know dragons are real
Stories teach them that dragons can be beaten
Great quote :)
This is the first video I’ve seen of yours and I’m instantly following
Over the garden wall almost had me done with the pumpkin ppl ngl
I aint tangoing with the nowhere king!
He's so gooey too
This video deserves at least 1mill. Dude unreal work here.
Centaur worlds nowhere king is so out of nowhere and so well done
Theres no difference between these 3 "genres", its just inspiration taken by lovecraft and his co writers' stories. Yes in some cases the story uses only the aesthetic without fully delving into the existential dread that comes with it but its not a different genre for that
Also, no, looking at the gods of the lovecraftian mythos dont make you insane by looking at them, its your own mind being unable to comprehend what its looking at
@@olleselin 3:00
@@olleselin even if it did its not important here, we are talking about modern writing and it just so happens that lovecraft and his buds are extremely influential on modern horror writing
The least I can say is that not many people agree with the separation and division you've established between "Lovecraftian", "Eldritch", and "Cosmic" horror categories. Actually, I cannot find a single source that would back up your take.
Back off man!! Dude is doing _original work_ (tbh, I have quibbles too ... but it _is_ a pretty broad field, & could arguably use a little subcategorization)
@@donweatherwax9318 Backing off because I point the obvious? Cosmic horror is not that broad, especially compared to other horrors subgenres.
Sorry for trying to keep the debate healthy, before everyone and their mothers start categorizing this kind of subgenres with their own take.
Words matter, especially when you're trying to categorize things, and definitions are lacking in most places.
@@P4r4d0x1c4lYou eediot, I was clearly being sarcastic after the first sentence
On the other hand, I'm bored, so maybe we could fight to the death. (you go first)
The first time I ever heard of Cthulhu was in the Real Ghostbusters episode where they fight and defeat him with science and innovation applied to ancient methods. This has been going on in animation for a very, very long time, although the young protagonist angle is definitely something that arose in the last 20 years, for the reasons you cite.
Never seen over the garden wall but the beast has to be the scariest shit ever
just discovered ur channel, what a BANGER. Loved the video!!!!
Thank you!! :D
Excellent video, I truly could not have put these thoughts into better words.
I’ve always loved horror where the being you are fighting is so unfathomably huge, and unbeatable, and the mc is just some people who are a tad bit traumatized. At first, it just looks like some small stories that are confined to the episodes but all of it is really intertwined. Idk man I like gravity falls and tma
The lich is like one of the only villains in cartoons that felt genuinely imposing. In a show where the main characters are almost seen as invulnerable and heroes by everybody around them, its actually intimdating to see them get broken down the way that they do. Some episodes actually have genuinely"out-there" ideas that almost make me feel like if refined just a bit more adventure time could be a full on adult show. As much as the show is appreciated i still feel like its underappreciated simply because it actually had interesting, sometimes thought provoking concepts in episodes, and it wasnt afraid to show elements of real life (yes its a fantasy show but u know what i mean) i think raising a kid on shows like this, bares incredibly different results than how modern kids that are raised on cocomelon will be. Kids arent stupid and i think modern media is constantly reinforcing the idea that they cannot watch anything that is deeper than jingling keys and bright colors.
Adventure Time would have given me so many nightmares if I saw it as a child. It's got to be the most bizarre cartoon I've ever seen. More than Gravity Falls, more than Over the Garden Wall, more than The Owl House, more than even anything made by Don Bluth, Adventure Time is just... so full of absolute horrors... and because of its cute art style gets away with far more of it.
And yet, it's hopeful.
Patrick :" hes scared of minorities"
Lovecraft :" I AM NOT!"
patrick :" oooooh, person whos different to you"
Spongebob : " STOP IT PATRICK YOU'RE SCARING HIM!"
This is gay
@@Harrisdrew625this is not homosexual in the slightest you dolt
I love this niche of villains so much! But i do wonder why so many of them have horns and skull motives going on, like were they somehow inspired by some sort of pagan deity or something?
Brooo you are sevearly underateddd, love the vidddd
I feel like the vast from tma is a good representation of insignificance. it is the fear of huge things, but it also highlights how small you are, and how insignificant we all are. Is it even worth distinguishing an individual when we are so so small. Anyways I love mike crew BYEEEEE
man you have got it for youtube. you’re gonna be huge
THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT PLAYGROUND 7:38 I generally love the short so much and wish every day that it does end up turning into something more and by people like you talking about it. It helps make that little step more towards that ❤❤❤
Where do you watch playground it looks really cool and I can only find the trailer
@Alhow-y6l it is actually only a concept trailer, sadly. But there's a slither of hope to where if more people talk about it and show interest, it could become a real show/moive(?) Like with some there show Pilots where og here on UA-cam
Interesting how one of the mentioned limitations on how eldritch horrors can be bested by kids was an arc in Stephen King's IT
I grew up with this stuff. And it’s certainly influenced my own writing as an adult. The story I’ve been making itself is very adult, but I’m still ending it with having to deal with a creature who travels the multiverse and eats lovecraftian creatures in order to live
I just watched all of chnl “dead sound” videos thanks to this video! ❤ I’m going through all the links to watch all the ones I don’t already know.
New subscriber!
Thank you so much!
I thought the Amazing Digital Circus was supposed to be adult animation until I saw Pomni costumes for kids and toddlers in Spirit Halloween tbh
Great Video, Maybe I'm getting ahead myself, but I love how you have already your own style in yours videos...
Sorry My Pathetic English...
The children yearn for the eldritch horrors
0:36 THE CLUSTER ISNT THE MAIN VILLIAN OF STEVEN UNIVERSE!!!
(Don't) take a shot every time he says "eldritch"
Simar to Moon Channel's video about why you always kill gods in jrpgs. I think, especially for American made cartoons, our world around us has been changing so much, so quickly, and without stopping, and may appear incomprehensible, and having a metaphor to look to while growing up in said world may be especially relatable. The employee must best the boss in the jrpg, and the kid has to learn that the world can be defeated, or at least understood.
THE WAY I SQUEEKED WHEN YOU MENTIONED PLAYGROUND OH MY GOD YES YES YES
the lich from adventure time has always been such a freaky character. I mean its the literal embodiment of nuclear war and annihilation. It's horrifying
It's a very nice video thank for the explanation !
For me the scariest looking for me is the nowhere king
Just why is it in such a colourful show
These cartoons were written by guys my age who grew up reading Lovecraft, Smith, Howard, King, lumley etc. This is why they exist.
Damn nice video and now it gave me few recommendations as well. But here we are talking about Eldrich horror in animation and you did not mention Final Space? Man! it is almost criminal not mentioning it.
14:31 too soon man, too soon...
Too soon for what?
@@fisherninjajk7261 I wasn't ready to remember what happened with the show that he showed in this moment.
Love how you included Containment, highly recommend looking into the SCP Foundation!
I feel like you could argue in adventure time, if it was told from the perspective of Simon as the main character, it has more of a lovecraftian story, where he eventually is driven into insanity with the power of the crown within the apocalyptic world of Ooo when he first discovered it
Me @ Canaletto from underrated Animated sci fi series Oban Star Racers: Don't worry buddy, someday your time will come.
In all seriousness Oban Star Racers is one of my favorite shows, and it's villain is a fantastic example of eldritch horror.
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THE NOWHERE KING HES SO UNDERRATED
Immediately after the Intro, I theorized that the reason Eldritch Horror and Entities are so prevalent in children's media is that it's an allegory for the ancient, terrifying, and inevitable approach of Adulthood. My partner thinks it's shorthand for a child's struggle with grasping/understanding big concepts like life and death, loss and grief, and ignorance of a vast, mysterious reality that is yet undiscovered.
This video is criminally underrated.
I personally find The Lich to be the scariest. Something about the contrast in his lines from the rest of the show paired with his chaotic indifference to humanity....just scary.. like his delivery on the "before there was nothing there were monsters" is so vastly different from KOO and Toronto's tone in that episode
I still remember the first time I saw the lych as a kid, that type of existential horror stuck with me