Ryoko Forever Fan Club
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Ryoko Nihon wgah'nagl fhtagn!

[Image: Cthulhu emerging from the vault in R'lyeh (cover art from Arkham House's 'The Dunwich Horror and Others')] Great Cthulhu rises from his cyclopean mausoleum in R'lyeh to devour hapless sailors
That misquote has been part of my email signature for a long time, and has baffled many an anime otaku, while it has raised a smile among the more knowledgeable. Perhaps a little explanation of the expression and its significance are in order. Pull up a chair, stoke the fire, dim the lantern, and prepare to hear a tale of horror beyond the ken of mortal man.

In 1926 Howard Phillips Lovecraft, an obscure American author, penned a now-famous story called The Call of Cthulhu. In this tale, "sensitive individuals" around the world are afflicted by horrid nightmares. Forbidden lore tells that the nightmares are the telepathically transmitted dreams of Great Cthulhu, an extra-dimensional creature who "cannot live" because "the stars are not right". Driven insane, they perform despicable, unholy rites and chant Cthulhu Fhtagn - "Cthulhu Dreams!"

Far underwater, in the lost city of R'lyeh, Cthulhu lies "dead but dreaming":

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
"In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu lies dreaming"

In the Pacific, an earthquake causes a new island to rise above the surface. A group of sailors investigate and find a great city of huge, impossible, seaweed-covered buildings. At the center is a massive vault. They succeed in opening the door of the vault, and out marches the enormous form of Great Cthulhu, looking for an early-morning snack. The surviving sailors flee in terror, a few managing to make it back to civilisation where they try to forget about the unbelievable horror they encountered that day.

This was typical of Lovecraft's stories, which centered around the principle "let sleeping monsters lie" - don't inquire, don't ask questions, don't try to find out, because the truth will destroy you. His main characters, never heroes, were lucky to escape with their lives and even luckier to retain their sanity. Many tales ended with the protagonist waiting in terror for the monstrosity that he had awakened to come and get him.

[Image: Ryoko posing at the cave entrance, arm around nervous Tenchi] Great Ryoko rises from her mausoleum in Okayama Prefecture to devour hapless Tenchi
The connection with Ryoko isn't obvious at first, but think about the first episode of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. Tenchi, a hapless, innocent young man is driven by his curiosity to investigate a mysterious, forbidden cave. Ignoring the tales of demons - or rather, inspired by them - he enters the cave only to find that the stories of the legendary demon are true. The demon awakens, and in a classic display of true Lovecraftian heroism, Tenchi screams and runs away.

He does his best to forget, but the demon isn't going to let him. A terrifying and highly destructive nighttime chase through Tenchi's school ensues, and the story ends in fine Lovecraftian style with our hero praying for his own life as the monster finally turns up in his bedroom.

Of course, in Lovecraft's stories the monsters weren't drop-dead gorgeous, but let's not nitpick...

She is not dead who can eternal lie,
And with strange episodes even death may die.

Later in the serious we discover that, when he was very young, Tenchi was a "sensitive individual" who could see Ryoko's astral form watching him from the cave entrance. Ryoko's physical body, not quite dead but decayed beyond recognition, was buried underwater deep inside the cave. Ryoko was truly "dead but dreaming".

[H. P. Lovecraft Archive] For more information about H. P. Lovecraft and his writings, visit the H. P. Lovecraft Archive.
[Image: Mummified Ryoko in her underwater prison]
Ryoko Fhtagn!
"Ryoko Dreams!"
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