The Dark Mythos that inspired Lovecraft and True Detective
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Lovecraft had seen the Mary Pickford film Sparrows about a farm in the swamp south of New Orleans where unwanted babies are dropped off. He was so obsessed that he came to New Orleans and stayed in a third rate hotel on St Charles. Here he set the beginning of Cthulu. True Detective also takes place in the swamp south of New Orleans and has missing children
very, very interesting, big thanks
These children likely were used for nefarious purposes by the evil NJMZA illuminists, Scholars of the Horrors
Also, the swamps 'below' N'Awlins are the setting of the Inspector Legrasse chapter of Lovecraft's story, "The Call of Cthulhu." The "degenerates" carry on their 'abominable' worship practices deep in those swamps. Just like at the end of "True Detective." Having lived in South Louisiana for years, I loved the attention to detail about the region in the television program.
A quibble if I may. A lot of the action in "True Detective" really takes place in West Louisiana, and Acadiana. Today, a lot of the swamp lands 'south' of N'Awlins is open waters connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Land subsidence, sea level rise, and the pernicious effects of the oil and gas canal dredging along the Gulf Coast have put paid to a lot of formerly viable wetlands.
Stay safe.
@@leebronock887 I appreciate your insight!
@@leebronock887 Thats what I was thinking, the swamps south of the city are mostly gone
Just a fun historical note: In the 1890s, when the King in Yellow was published, there was a popular conception of scandalous 'yellow books' being secretly disseminated between decadent artistic types and leading to the further corruption of society.
'Yellow books' being French novels with supposedly scandalous content which were bound in yellow paper. Dorian's mind is corrupted by one of those yellow books in The Picture of Dorian Gray. And also in part, The Yellow Book, a literary/art magazine focusing on the romantic/gothic/macabre, which took its name from the same phenomenon. The newspapers reported that Oscar Wilde was carrying a copy of The Yellow Book when he was arrested for 'gross indecency' and a mob stormed the publisher's office.
Like the Giallo Movies from Italy. The name is derived from “Yellow Books”. (Pulp Books.)
One of those decadent French books is my favorite novel: "Against Nature" by Huysmans.
It's so weird and so good.
Yes, it is all built on and references older texts and ideas.
@@napoleonfeanor Isn't that the general thrust (pun unintended) of the Lovecraft Mythos?
super interesting!!!
The coolest thing about the show for me was that you weren't 100% sure there wasn't a supernatural aspect to it right up to the end.
Yes, I think it's important, or at least a better story telling technique, to keep the "truth" ambiguous.
Even then it was left up in the air. "Was it the Things that Rust saw and did in the line of Duty that caused him his derangement or was it his Derangement that permitted him to bear witness to such things which others of a more balanced mind had blinded themselves to instinctively to preserve thier own sanity and quaint notions of reality.
Yes, I agree. The same was done v with the last ,although not done well, story with Jodie foster.
I think, that's one of the most important parts of it. That, to me, is why it captured the King in Yellow mythos better than some other Lovecraft followers...
@@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical I think it was the perspective provided to him by his pain and mind that made him the right man for the job
Errol Childress suffered unspeakable things at the hands of cult members who themselves may have taken Chambers' work too seriously. In the True Detective world, it's not the book that drives people insane, it's the knowledge of how dark humanity gets. Look at what the Marie Fontenot tape did to Marty. It's the equivalent of reading the Yellow King play. The audience only gets a tiny peek at the video or else we too would descend into madness and rage. Carcosa isn't just a realm or state of mind, it's also literally that abandoned Spanish fort. There's an effigy of the Yellow King made from bones, antlers, tattered rags, children's shoes; it's a physical representation of all the vile acts that have gone on under everyone's noses, the kind of thing that once you're aware of...drives you mad.
WOW
For a more contemporary example, check out the girls who tried to murder their friend for slender man
@accelerationquanta5816ok edgelord
Thanks I'm not sure if I should even still watch the video but I'll give it a chance since it seems you appreciated it
That's how abusers are made.
I was so taken with the mythos of True Detective that I immediately researched it, and ordered two copies of The King in Yellow; one for myself, and one for my homie who I watched it with. Its a strange thing to have a television show lead to such an interesting rabbit hole.
When I watched True Detective when it first came out that scene were we first see Carcossa daubed on the wall. I remember literally screaming at the TV and gesticulating wildly to my confused husband. It was the most unexpected piece of writing i have ever come across and lifted the whole thing (which was alreafy superb) into the horror stratosphere.
I had the same reaction (sub husband for dog) but ended up irritated by how superficial the connection was. I feel like the writer was like “hey, here’s this cool thing nobody knows, I’m going to reference it and not use like any of the mythos”..
Amazing comment!
@@CrypticCocktails It's because Hastur doesn't work as a literal antagonist in a story like this. The genius of True Detective is the fact that the story makes perfect sense if you see Hastur as an unseen antagonist. His interference is only ever implied and never directly confronted. Why? Because demystifying an eldritch horror in any way brings it down and might destroy the horror atmosphere entirely. As Lovecraft said, "the strongest emotion is fear, and the strongest fear is the fear of the unknown." (paraphrased)
Horror stories like this work way better in books as your imagination is what truly drives the cosmic horror experience. By never giving the possible Eldritch entities any spotlight, the ambiguity of their existence by itself is already terror inducing.
nice❤ same here :D
True Detective season 1 was the most perfect piece of media I’ve ever seen released, it’ll probably be decades before its relevance is fully recognized. And it’s subtle lovecraftian elements are approached in such a grounded gritty world that it kinda even elevate lovecraft imo
I love your final observation, it's such a subtle yet simple logical deduction - that given we know these characters are smart, that they are distinctly suited for solving the mystery they've been presented, it follows that if Chambers' story existed in their universe, they would've inevitably matched it to the killers' MO. But they don't, because his story can't exist in their universe if the King in Yellow is real.
Exactly, and although I have met a little bit of resistance I think it's interesting and "fun" to apply your own canon to whatever your reading or watching
The fact that you called True Detective Season 1 “The Greatest TV Show of the 21st Century” = subscribe. Absolutely.
I read the King in Yellow back in the 90's, thanks to Lovecraft and also being a member of the Gothic Society, now sadly gone.
When I saw True Detective it blew my mind, not only because of its brilliance, but also the mention of Carcosa....it opened up my memories of the Yellow King and Lovecraft, and wrapped Rust's nihilistic speeches around it all.
I re-read the King in Yellow, Lovecraft's Nyarlhathotep (which had become synonymous in my mind with the King, thanks to Nyarl's Mask) and watched True Detective at the same time.
What a glorious mixture.
Great video. Glad that all these connections have been noticed and enjoyed by lots of people.
Pretty sure the game Ready or Not was inspired by this as well. The devs (Void Interactive) are running an ARG called "Carcosa" and the locations hinted at in it line up with particular real world locations used in the filming of S1 episode 8 Form and Void. They even use the same font and color scheme as the show.
@@pickelsvx Makes me wish I had the money for the gaming equipment 😄
There must be a lot of Lovecraft based games out there.
Ever since the age 12 or 13 I have fell in love with The Mythos and all things Eldritch, Freaky and Cosmic Horror. I grew up on traditional horror / classic monsters. Lovecraft was it's own thing and I think that was it's power for me. The unsolvable mystery of it all and the unfathomable dread.
@@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical Great stuff! I discovered Lovecraft around the age of 12, thanks to the story 'The Shadow over Innsmouth'. It was in a collected stories of Horror book, I think. Then I read 'Call of Cthulhu' and I was hooked for life. I even fell into the trap of thinking the Necronomicon was real (this was back in the 80's, when it was virtually impossible to find out the truth). I've got all his stories now, and even all the episodes of the H.P Lovecraft literary Podcast, which is well worth checking out, even though they ran out of Lovecraft Stories and moved on to Horror stories in general.
@jeffreybarton1297 my big brother was a huge RPGer back when we were kids. I was more all about the concepts and not that engaged in the playing of it. It was The Call of Cthulu bestiary source book and the themes of everyday people going against something they could not ascertain that hooked me. Later there was the Beyond The Supernatural and Delta Green ( which added tin-foil har Geo-Conspiracy slant to The Mythos very SCPish. The likes of Trevor Henderson and leovincible really reawakened that buzz I had been missing. Currently ( very early days) putting something of my own together as a Public Safety Infomercial for The Reality Estate. Maintaining Safety , Sanity and Security in Our Reality. Contact your local Anomlous Awareness Officer if you sight any E.H.H.s ( as in Ehh? Wtf is that?) Entities Hostile to Humanity.
Brilliant, true topnotch old-school yt content. 5 years of revealing magic and still less than 40k subs, what a tragic world we live in.
Finally. I have been waiting for something like this since the show ended. I wish this was a 2h video explaining in detail the mythos and background of the show so I can share it with people and they can fully understand and enjoy it as a masterpiece that it is. But in any case, thank you very much.
Look up the old books by love craft. They’re incredible. Horror Babble on TH-cam does an incredible job of narrating love craft and tons of other guys like Robert W chambers who wrote the king in yellow.
@@anduril7401 Thanks for the advice i did all of that )) I just wish other people i know who didn't to have one video connecting it all to get them into cosmic horror. Appreciate the advice thou.
@@anduril7401Horror Babble is wonderful. I fall asleep to it many nights.
Read Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsanny, William Hope Hodgson, William Beckford (Vathek)
@@6Haunted-Days I ment 1st season my bad i was not clear. After that its mediocre to straith up bad. I share you disgust 🙂. Thx for pointing it out. I stand corrected.
Great video.
Just wanted to throw this out, from 1996 to 1999 Chris Carter, the creator of the X-Files, produced another TV show, Millennium that lasted only 3 seasons.
It was my favorite TV show ever & is similar to the awesome True Detective season 1.
Millennium's main character, Frank Black, played to perfection by the talented Lance Henriksen, was a retired FBI criminal profiler who specialized in the worst of serial killers who was hired by a private security firm, the Millennium Group after suffering a mental breakdown from diving too deep into the minds of violent murderers.
Set in the late 90s leading into the new millennium Frank is confronted with the apocalyptic belief system of his new employers while hunting down the most dangerous killers in the country.
I assume that most fans of True Detective season 1 would like Millennium as well. Just check out the first episode which is simply, the Pilot episode with no title.
I remember that series and was disappointed at how it lost momentum and abruptly ended. Henricksen's character was tragically great and some episodes were awesome. It left me with a sense of unfulfillment, a lot was promissed but not delivered. I think it would not strike as thrilling nowadays, but at the end of the 90s with the pre-millenium tension it was really a great show to see at that precise moment.
That ended even more disappointingly than x-files
@@bernardocoto8519 in case you missed it, They hid the last episode of Millenium in X-Files kind of how they put the Batman Beyond series finale in Justice League.
We don't get to keep anything good. I guess not a large enough audience out here on the fringe.
Really great show.
The king in yellow is wild. It starts as a heavy supernatural mythological lovecraft thing then becomes a cute perisian romance fan fic.
I love that True Detective is canon, and not just homage.
Yeah, it also brings the "what is canon and who cares?" debate into the mix
As soon as I finished S01 of True Detective (and the sole season I´ve ever watched!) I googled or was told that the king in yellow was an actual literary work, so I searched for it and devour it!! Now I need to reread it! Great video Moid!
Thank you
Thank you so much for not spoiling True Detective in this, 100% need to watch it now.
I have to watch it again. I didn't see the connection to Chambers and the mythos the first time around, but this clarifies some things.
Hastur's the representation of entropy and decay, of languishing opulence and a sense of traditions... He stands opposite of Nyarlothotep, who represents change and progress, and of weird sciences.
Nyarlot'hotep represents man's hubris. The Crawling Chaos gives mankind just enough rope to hang itself over and over.
Only, that He was never ment to BE that . . . .the King in yellow used to BE His own things before He became consumed and linked to the later, technically unrelated cthulu Mythos. The original won and lost a Lot through that . . . I found IT so astoundung how different they King in yellow read to anything Lovecraft, yeah, one can absolutely See the inspiration, but in a way, the King in yellow IS . . .lighter, more nuanced and less grimmdark then Lovecraft that IS pure despair. IT has a Sense Wonder along Side the Horror, nostalgia and at Times a few positive notes in a DARK Arrangement. IT has a beauty to IT . . . .so yeah, I kinda find it regretabley that IT got relegatet to a Lovecraft Spin of, despite being ITS own thing
@@SingingSealRianawhile this is written like you are already a hundred levels deep in the circle tripping on God knows what, I can see what you are saying, however that's kind of the point of the video. Through being collectively added in to the Lovecraft mythos through decades of reinterpretitation we end at True Detective, hell arguably we end at Disco Elysium as the most modern interpretation. Iteration kind of is what the king in yellow is all about, a reccuring entropic entity that serves whatever the story needs him to be.
Why would one assume there is a dualism between the two? Entropy and decay go hand-in-hand with change and progress. Each side contains the other more than itself.
Aw mate this came at just the right time for me. Needed this inspirational boost. Thanks. Have a brew on me.
Thank you so much
Have you come across *Carcosa Press* ? It was a publishing house set up by Karl Edward Wagner when it looked like Derleth's *Arkham House* might shut down, and it had some great collections of weird fiction published. Wagner even wrote a few stories set in the Carcosa Mythos specifically, separate from Lovecraft's take. Check out his short story *_The River of Night's Dreaming_* for example, or *_Sticks_* which seems to have influenced aspects of both *_The Blair Witch Project_* and *_True Detectives: Season One_* . If you are interested both of these are present in the collection of his work called *_In a Lonely Place_* - well worth checking out.
There is a novel the Yellow Prince (1963, about the Holodomor) by Vasyl Barka. In that novel the title was a reference to Revelation 6:8
The original name is «Жовтий Князь», even though the google translated it as “prince”, Князь (Knyaz’) in ukrainian language means “head of state”, just like King. Respect to you my brother for bringing it up, folks are ought to know about Holodomor
Thanks for the recommendation, will add it now to my to read list. 👍
One of your best, Moid! Definitely worth multiple viewings. Excellent presentation by you and well researched. More like this please. Thank you for your hard work.
Thanks Jeff
There's a connection between Elden ring, Lord of the frenzied flame and the king in yellow. Knowing and embracing them leads to madness, yellow, being impossible to truly gaze upon, it's there if you look and i love it.
I think you hit the nail on the head with 'Folklore'. That to me explains the whole thing. This is modern folklore. All these different contributions, all the fake authenticity, citation of other works slowly building an enigma. Also, PLEASE read Thomas Ligotti. True detective took a LOT from his work.
Thanks!
Thank you, glad you liked it
I had read the king in yellow already when True Detectives came out and when Carcossa was mentioned I found it amusing back then. From the stories in the book The Mask is the best one for me. That last sentence is brilliant! As a reader it gives me you so much space to imagine what happens after that last sentence is spoken….. the shear horror , the erratic fear that must rise instantly in that room … the presence of the ultimate evil ….. And all that with a few words .
The horror movie The Ring from 2002. Plays with the same idea as the yellow king story : you see a video and horrible things happen to you, you read the play and horrible things happen to you and still no one is trying to stop the circle . As for Time being a flat circle ….
I found the similarities tooo
True Detective was one of the best series I've ever seen. Thank you for this. This is a great video! It's inclusive of creators and detailed. The series truly followed The Yellow King and Carcosa as it never explained it. I was hoping the 2nd season would. The fact that all of these creators kept a literal lid covering details is so very cool.
I like the black and white photography and the art work you included in this video.
Thank you, there was a hell of lot of great artwork to "borrow"
Mister Lovecraft had a farm, iä, iä, oh
And Cthulhu there, Nyarlathotep there
Iä, iä, oh s**t!
🤣😂😛
Dude, you just keep making absolute banger videos. I picked up the illuminated Voyage to Arcturus the other day, but this video sold me on Yellow King too, and now I have another something new to look forward to on my Kindle, haha. Thanks as usual for the recommendations. Cheers! Keep up the great work!
You know Carcosa? Him who eats time.
REJOICE. Death is not the end.
@@raggamuffinjim15 well that's vague but sounds pretty cool
*puts on ethereal astronaut suit*
Carcosa is the realm of the King in Yellow, in TD at least
REJOICE!!!
@@raggamuffinjim15 Now I'm just imagining a variation of the Local 58 episode Skywatching, but instead of the moon, it's Carcosa heading its way to Earth.
The atmosphere for this overview is great, I can’t help but feel the eyes of Joe Pulver watching on from the shores of Carcosa.
Especially love the detail of adding a hound of Tindalos at 7:45 that the main protagonist doesn’t notice.
In the warhammer universe that borrows a lot from lovecraft there is a mysterious king in yellow, in the novels he’s mentioned a few times nobody knows whom he is
"Borrows" yeah lol
But the audience sure knows who he is, and hooo boy is it a doozy.
I have like nine or ten editions of that book. But the true master and absolute influence in Lovecraft is William Hope Hodgson, read House in borderland and The Night Land. Truly bizarre. I discovered all these authors in my teen years and read them all. William Beckford’s Vathek is also a weird place before Lovecraft.
Currently working on that video
Cool. Can’t wait. Great vid by the way.
Thank you
The Night Land is fantastic!
Watched the series back then when it came out, but missed most of it. Now I just rewatched it and it is magnificent. The Lovecraftian references in the series give it an otherworldly feeling...
The parallels between the show's setting (grinding poverty and despair), and Hastur being an entity of cosmic entropy were well on display.
Oh yeah, the first season of True Detective is easily one of the live action works with cosmic horror themes I have seen precisely as they are so sublimely subtle.
Perfect timing! I just rewatched season 1 after finishing season 4. I had no idea there was more to the yellow king and carcosa than what was presented in the show. Fascinating stuff
This was very well done. He talks about subjects which all too often lead people into saying a big pile of nonsense, but he avoids that trap and ever so deftly makes his thoughts understandable. Not ineffable.
I watched this vid for two minutes, asked "what the hell did I just click on?", then started all the way back to the beginning and watched all the way through, now am starting all over again with a pen and notebook in hand.
You know, I thoroughly enjoyed that. I had no idea about all of that. It makes me want to watch True Detective. This was well thought out and very enjoyable to listen to. Gonna' hit that subscribe button!
And this is why to this day I still tell my friends to watch True Detective and I also liked the latest season that just finished and it's direct connection with season 1❤❤
Ok now I’m gonna have to check out the new season
@@bryankelly3647 😎😉
After viewing season four, check out the article in Vanity Fair
Yep definitely
New season was dog shit. 3 is the only season worth watching besides 1.
Love this analysis. Especially the opening point about a figure clouded in mystery where the focus then falls on the tormented humans that come into contact with them. Great insight.
love this story. I've read it 2 or 3 times and seem to forget it... but everytime I hear "Carcosa," I'm torn back to cthonic thoughts.
Ooh! Cool video! I'll subscribe for more of this! Old (literally) weird fiction fan here - I read Dunsany, Bierce et al back in the 70's - but I'm not so up on the more recent manifestations, like True Detective. Thanks for letting me know about it!
Dude- you got me here.
Not into evil. Just dig new deep old deep. The only way to fall asleep is by letting go. But where/what is that? Cuz that is when I’m not really there. And that enigma compels.
Thx tubes 4 links
Subscribed!!!
I really dig your style, insight, and breadth of knowledge. Great taste as well - subbed. Nice work bro
I would've never put the King in Yellow together with a modern TV show. It's interesting. I'm going to have to watch the show now.
damn dude, you totally sold me on this one. gonna go buy the books as soon as i can. i love Lovecraft, i love True Detective season 1. so, thank you very much!
Interesting, never thought about the simple fact that they should have been able to connect the fictional stories to their case in the show.. Always thought that the show walked a superb line between is it real or is it not real, and i even thought that the ending was not saying "no he's just a mad man" that Rust was just having more hallucinations, but that it in fact left it open that perhaps the "bad guy" was about to ascend, that the portal was indeed opening to receive him into Carcosa.
Perhaps Hastur is trying to wake humanity up from its infancy. Like a harsh parent who pushes their child into a pool to teach it how to swim.
I think it is interesting that the "backrooms" have also brought the color yellow into a dimensional liminal space.
Love Robert w chambers, ambrose and Lovecraft.
If you haven't read the king in yellow yet, do your self a favor, read it.
It also kinda foresees the WW2 and mixes this with weird scifi:)
Great video btw, take care,
Solo-sweden
Ironically, Robert W. Chambers was a popular writer of romance novels. King in Yellow was a one-off. I can imagine its' effect on his loyal female readers.
Yes, as you read through the short stories in The King In Yellow they revert back to romance, I enjoyed the trip
Imagine my surprise after purchasing a collection of Chambers' short stories expecting Poe-like depths of melancholy and madness from cover to cover, and halfway through it switches to slice of life stories about university students falling in love in Paris. I loved it.
Brilliant. Long time aficionado of weird fiction and mythology and other strange texts. Wonderful summary and analysis. Thanks. Subscribed!
How have I never seen this show?!? 😮
THANK you for bringing it to my attention!
This gratefully resonates with this emerging author…myself. My first novel is set at the turn of the century and deals with similar elements. Knowing the info you are sharing will only help in my submission process. Thank you and God Bless You!
Once again, a great reading recommendation. And after i can rewatch True Detective.
To me Carcosa is the place where people who never feel they fit in it this reality are from , it’s a symbol of hope for all us lost souls , outcasts who long to return home .
Love this interpretation
@@camelliaharpdarkthrope6462Thank you
The way Errol Childress calls Rust “little priest” still makes my spine chill to the core.
I never really understood why he calls him "priest". Can you explain?
@@menschenfreund3436this is my personal theory but I believe it is because of the cult’s belief that there is something greater after death. So Childress sees rust as the man who will be blessing him with ascension.
I found out about the King in Yellow from S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire series, an alternate history series that would be too weird to explain. I ended up reading The King In Yellow because I hadn't expected to be so drawn in by such a nebulous but utterly terrifying entity. The Repairer of Reputations is honestly one of the greatest short stories ever written and I'm not generally someone who enjoys horror or suspense. It's kind of like you keep reading for your own soul's redemption because you're reading the degradation of a human being and you want to look away but can't.
Love these ideas and connections. Good job, nice video. Really fired my imagination
Fascinating. 🤔 I enjoyed true detective and the way you put together this connection is really interesting and a great piece of work. Now I'm going to say my prayers and flush my mind out. God bless 🙏☦️
was not expecting such an awesome documentary style video when I clicked on here. Love it!
I don't think it's actually the king in yellow or supernatural in the show but I really appreciate how open to interpretation it is and the way the show essentially leaves it up to you and never makes the mistake of giving us all the answers. Peak show.
Must rewatch True Detective, seems I missed out on a lot.
Thanks for the video: another great production
Your experience with True Detective and The King in Yellow is just like mine. after learning and reading The King in Yellow, going back and watching True Detective S1 was impossibly better. But when you realize that He is really Constantin Valdor...what a mindfuck
Lmao
Really well-done, thoughtful piece. Thank you!
Freaking poetry Moid..bravo!
Thank you
Yeah, I really appreciated this video. Thanks so much for all of your insight.
Can't believe I've only just now found this channel. Thank you for your excellent work, very much. Hail to thee from Central California. IA! IA!
Excellent! It's great to hear your opinion on this topic. I'm so happy!
(Maybe that's because I have seen The King In Yellow too many times...)
Speaking seriously: this is a very engaging video. Well-written with great filming and editing!
Thank You
Great video. I love that you brought Bierce into this, who influenced the people who influenced modern day fiction. Interesting though, that you only seem to reference Season 1 of True Detective. I think the second and third seasons leaned even more heavily into the imagery and iconography, even if they left of the name of Carcosa.
Thanks
love the new video man truly a gem of a channel
Thank you
I had read the references of The King In Yellow in Lovecraft's stories and role-playing games, and figured it was a reference Lovecraft made-up, like The Necronomicon.
I didn't know it was a real book not written by Lovecraft, until True Detective. 😮
This is absolutely brilliant, but you should do a follow-up or expanded version. Why? Because as you beautifully trace the lineage from Bierce, Poe, Chambers, and Lovecraft all the way to Pizzolatto and True Detective, and as you trace your own sequence of discovery, it becomes clear you have missed one other key figure in this conceptual epic. Thomas Ligotti. That American writer, along with the equally brilliant Ramsey Campbell of Liverpool, are the two greatest heirs of Lovecraft, and Ligotti is as much an influence on True Detective as The King in Yellow. So much of the nihilistic, existential philosophy and dread of Rust Cole is straight out of Ligotti; so much so that there was talk of Ligotti potentially suing for plagiarism. I woulnd't call it plagiarism, although Pizzolatto sometimes skates quite close to that edge. You need to read Ligotti, and then do another wonderful King in Yellow documentary for us. Please. I am a very happy new subcriber, and I look forward to inspecting the rest of your channel.
It’s funny because I first learned about The King in Yellow because of True Detective and then went on to read the book and really enjoy Chambers’ short stories now because of it. Some great authors in the Lovecraft circle / weird fiction I wouldn’t have discovered without the show!
Ya done blew my mind with that last bit there. It’s 4 am here and I need some coffee to cope with what I’ve just heard.
Damn nice. It never dawned on me to think that true detective was part of the king in yellow story. I like that idea.
EXCELLENT video. I caught the King in Yellow connection the first time through, but I apparently missed some of the earlier signs. I will rewatch True Detective. All the seasons are good. But, season 1 is the best stand alone story ever made for TV.
I got into Lovecraft about 40 years ago now and, soon after, discovered the King in Yellow. In many ways I was more captivated by The Tattered King than by the great priest Cthulhu. Cthulhu invades the dreams of mortals but The King? He gets to you via your creative urges, the human propensity for making art. You read The Yellow King and he has you and like an infection he spreads into your creative process. It will all have the Yellow Sign. Have you seen it, by the way? Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
Nic Pizzolatto has obviously seen it. When I watched True Detective Season One, the best so far, and someone mentioned The Yellow King I thought it was just a coincidence, that someone had accidentally hit upon the name. Surely not, I thought. But those references just kept on a-coming. That's when I realised that Rust's synesthesia was probably something more than just a "condition" and his visions may have had a greater basis in reality than the show would have you think. For me that was the genius of the show, as you said, it works perfectly well even if you know nothing of Chambers, Bierce or Lovecraft but, if you do, the show rewards you for your knowledge. It also references a lot of Thomas Ligotti's work, I strongly recommend you read some, especially The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, it is the source of Rust Cohle's dark and pessimistic world view. It was so influential in Pizzolatto's writing that he was accused of plagerism. Thomas Ligotti is another horror author with a unique vision of man's place in the cosmos and has written many, frankly, astonishing stories.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. This is a subject I love and can talk all day about.
Thank you, great comment
@@MediaDeathCult And thank you for a great video.
Despite being a huge True Detective fan, I didn't know most of this lore! Thank you so much for your insights. I'm going to rewatch True Detective with a whole new eye.
Bloody excellent! Gotta read some cosmic horror books. Now have to watch True Detective. Some good ideas forming for my D&D game. Excellent. Great presentation!
Thank you, hope you enjoy True Detective
As far as I'm concerned, Lovecraft had no business annexing Chambers' work and slotting it into his Cthulhu mythos. And Derleth had even less. Now either of them had the right to do so, but not to claim that their versions are authentic. They are nothing more than tangents and detours from the original material. The same thing could be said for Chambers' use of Carcosa, Hali and Hastur. Bierce's stories stand on their own and reflect Bierce's own vision. Chambers' own treatment of these same things reaches an incredibly powerful and expanded vision over Bierce. In my own view, Lovecraft's take on the material reduces it (while at the same time seeming to maximize it) into just another addition to his cosmic tentacle gods. That's fine, but when you come across the King in Yellow and just read Chambers' material you get the impression that Lovecraft falls far short and doesn't truly understand what Chambers was getting at.
Hastur is not the King in Yellow. Neither is The Mask a reference to The Masque of the Red Death. The play, the King in Yellow, does have a number of similarities to Poe's tale. In Masque, the Red Death shows up at the masquerade; in King, the Stranger also shows up at the end of the masked ball, and Cassilda shrieks, "Not upon us, O King! Not upon us!"
The power of The King in Yellow comes about because of its suggestions, rather than anything that is spelled out. Its power increases by what it DOESN'T tell you, rather than what it does. Lovecraft's stories are great, but no way am I ever going to take them seriously, or think that there is any ultimate reality to them. But with the King in Yellow, I wonder, just a little, I wonder.
Also, the image of the Yellow Sign you use is most definitely not the authentic Yellow Sign. It has been popularized as genuine, and accepted as long as we're considering Chambers' work as part of the Mythos. But it is nothing more than somebody's take on it.
One last thing--another bit of Chambers' work I would much rather have seen in the King in Yellow book, was his The Maker of Moons. That contains far more true occultic raw material.
The King in Yellow is like the hand that pushes you into the point of no return, you never really see him, people aren't sure he exists, other than those driven mad by his influence. Carcosa is like a corrupted take on Avalon, where instead of being only visible to the righteous or enchanted, it is only visible to the corrupted. I didnt watch True Detective yet but i have seen bits, and it does hold true to the theme of the influence of Hastur under the rotting foundations of society.
Well Done! I hope You will do more Lovecratian, and Weird Fiction Videos!
Already planning the next one
My housemates are really into True Detective and I'm really into Lovecraft so this gives me something to talk about and show them. Thank you!
Amazing!
"Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, He Who Must Not Be Named, oops."
I hadn’t made the connection between the 1st and the most recent series of True Detective set in Alaska. Apparently the same spiral symbol is in both.
Vanity Fair’s article on the series points out some other connections.
The opening quote to the series titles is mistaken though - God is the living, self-sustaining who is never even drowsy, sleepy or tired.
Curtis Mayfield and Bob Marley famously commented “there is no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne.”
what lovely coincidence, i remember that in my adolescence i used to dream about an empty city where its alwas in a rainy and sunny afternoon, too cloudy to see the sky above and bathed in a yellow gloomy and dim light. i even started a tale written by me and a friend, descrbing a journey without aim of a man throught this dire landscape.
I recently pieced together that yellow is symbolic of sulfur, and sulfur is named after Lucifer.
I believe Sulfuric Acidxwas known to the alchemists as VITROL.
He should start a podcast I could listen to this guy talk about Lovecraft all day
Very well done and really interesting ! Thank you.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it
Too many people give too much focus on the Repairer of Reputations. The entire book is The King in Yellow. The Repairer of Reputations is the intro, and everything becomes more obscure, alegorical and symbolic. Read the book 10 ten times, highlight, translate the title subtext, find the connections in those boring love stories to the easy ones at the beginning of the book.
This is perfection.
Thank you
7:50 dog spotted: virtual pats and pets launched.
Thanks for this. Stumbled upon your content. You now have a new subscriber.
Just checked - it's included free in audible membership. As is much of Ambrose Bierce. The Devil's dictionary was a holy grail book on my book buying hunts for many years, until I found a mint collector's edition in my then jobs charity jumble sale in the early 2000's...
I must admit I find myself checking the horror section as well as Science Fiction nowadays, love that old stuff
@@MediaDeathCult it's great that I can hear about a book, like this, or Voyage to Arcturus, and pick it up and experience for myself, but it does feel like cheating not to spend 7 or 8 years going to hundreds of charity shops and book fairs.
Very cool video. I also watched and loved TD when it came out but only learned about tKiY years later. Then last year I decided to rewatch the epic season 1 of TD and was blown away. It’s still the high water mark for detective shows as far as I am concerned.
Author Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote a series of swords-and-sorcery novels where the King in Yellow is a major factor in the story. Loved them as a teen, and they're still enjoyable now that I'm in my 50s.
I'll have to look for some Watt-Evans. I remember really liking his Garth the over-man books.