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Mu is a fictional continent in the Cthulhu Mythos. H.P. Lovecraft featured the lost continent in his revision of Hazel Heald's short story "Out of the Aeons" (1935). Mu appears in numerous mythos stories, including many written by Lin Carter.
Summary
Mu is a sunken continent in the Pacific Ocean. Before it sank, Mu is believed to be the place where humans first appeared.
The ancient Muvians worshipped countless gods, but the most important ones were the three "sons" of Cthulhu: Zoth-Ommog, Ghatanothoa, and Ythogtha. Their reverence for this triad of brothers may have hastened Mu's downfall.
There is much speculation about what caused Mu to sink into the ocean. According to the Zanthu Tablets, the high priest Zanthu angered the Elder Gods when he attempted to summon Ythogtha to challenge the power of Ghatanothoa. In retaliation, the Elder Gods destroyed Mu and sank it beneath the waves.
Mount Yaddith-Gho
Mount Yaddith-Gho is a towering basalt mountain on the continent of Mu. Its peak is topped with a colossal, ancient stone fortress, which legends claim was built eons ago by a race of beings from the planet Yuggoth. Inside the fortress is a huge trapdoor that seals an entryway to the interior of the mountain.
More than 200,000 years ago, Mount Yaddith-Gho was situated in the kingdom of Kn'aa. The mountain was sacred because it was the dwelling place of the god Ghatanothoa. Priests of Ghatanothoa built a temple at the mountain's base and offered regular sacrifies to the god, lest Ghatanothoa emerge from the bowels of Mount Yaddith-Gho, crawl down its slopes, and bring doom to humanity.
See also
References
- Harms, Daniel. "Mu" in The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), pp. 200-202. Chaosium, Inc., 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
- Lovecraft, Howard P. and Hazel Heald. "Out of the Aeons" (1935) in The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions, S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
"Mu (Cthulhu Mythos)"