History Literature / AtTheMountainsOfMadness

* HarmlessFreezing: The Elder Things were frozen for a long period of time. When they're thawed out they go on a murderous rampage (understandably since several of them had been autopsied by the humans, possibly while still alive but not thawed enough to move.) The freezing and surviving is justified in that they are described as being extremely tough in comparison with humans.

* MirroringFactions: This is especially exceptional for Lovecraft's stories, where most things that are "different" are usually "wrong". The Elder Things are the most "human" and benign of the Mythos species. Aside from their strange biology and amazing toughness, they are made of mundane elements (compare with the Mi-go, or the partly-spectral flying polyps), they formed family units, and had an art-producing culture and an economy. Perhaps most importantly, they only lashed out at the human party in horror and vengeance for the ''humans'' mutilating ''them'' first, rather than out of sheer carelessness or malice, before burying their six fallen ones under star-shaped snow mounds. Dyer even says near the end, when they're more worried about escaping from the shoggoth, that he has some vain hope that if they run into the thawed out Elder Things first he might even be able to reason with them if he demonstrates he isn't a threat.

* OffWithHisHead: The Shoggoths' main method of disposing of their hated masters is by crudely tearing off their heads through sheer force of suction. [[spoiler: When the humans find one of the thawed out Elder Things left killed in this manner, they are paralyzed with fear due to the instant realization this means an active shoggoth is nearby.]]

* StarfishAliens: The Elder Things are radially symmetric and built around pentagon and five-pointed star shapes. Shoggoths are just {{Blob Monster}}s.

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Originally mindless workers, the Shoggoths somehow evolved intelligence once the Elder Things relocated to Earth. It's hinted that it was a side effect of the Elder Things modifying them for their new world. A war was apparently fought to resubjugate the Shoggoths and keep them from wiping out their masters, and it seemingly worked... temporarily. After the Elder Things relocated to a giant, underground sea, it's implied that the Shoggoths once again rose up, and this time, they won. Dyer hypothesizes that this was inevitable: the Shoggoths are flexibility incarnate, able to take the form needed for any task. Being so variable in nature makes keeping them in a state of static subjugation impossible.

** Danforth's listing off subway stations while running from the Shoggoth, just to try to stay focused.

A film adaptation, directed by Creator/GuillermoDelToro and produced by Creator/JamesCameron, [[http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/28/guillermo-del-toro-to-direct-at-the-mountains-of-madness-with-james-cameron-producing/ was in the works,]] but [[http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/10032011/5/studio-axes-tom-cruise-film-0.htmlv was cancelled after the failure of the Wolfman reboot.]] However, it seems Del Toro [[https://www.fangoria.com/original/guillermo-del-toro-isnt-done-with-at-the-mountains-of-madness/ has restarted his efforts to make the film]]. Author Madara Usi also wrote TTRPG scenario derived from this story titled ''Summit of Deities'' that is to be made into an animated movie of the same name with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-YsjhfEgEY a pilot currently released]].

A film adaptation, directed by Creator/GuillermoDelToro and produced by Creator/JamesCameron, [[http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/28/guillermo-del-toro-to-direct-at-the-mountains-of-madness-with-james-cameron-producing/ was in the works,]] but [[http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/10032011/5/studio-axes-tom-cruise-film-0.htmlv was cancelled after the failure of the Wolfman reboot.]] However, it seems Del Toro [[https://www.fangoria.com/original/guillermo-del-toro-isnt-done-with-at-the-mountains-of-madness/ has restarted his efforts to make the film]].

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Subverted. How do six-feet-tall, blind, absolutely white penguins sound? Regular penguins are also described as ugly abominations.

** Danforth's words at the end of the stro

* UltimateEvil: There's something even worse that the Elder Things or the Shoggoths at the mountains, never seen or even speculated of. It's implied to be what Danforth sees at the end of the story, driving him completely mad.
* UnreliableExpositor: Dyer considers the possibility that the Elder Things' histories may be colored somewhat. He wonders if the “exotic matter” of the Star-spawn and Mi-go is a mythological construct, and notes that there is no mention of the Great Race of Yith.

* AncientAstronauts: The Elder Things and their slave servants, the Shoggoths. Notable in that [[UnbuiltTrope unlike most ancient astronaut stories]], the aliens are decidedly ''not'' humanoid, and have no interest whatever in humanity.

* AlienAutopsy: Performed by Professor Lake's group on the thawed Elder Things, [[spoiler: which turn out to be actually alive and perform autopsies on Lake and his men after killing them in self-defense.]]

A film adaptation, directed by Creator/GuillermoDelToro and produced by Creator/JamesCameron, [[http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/28/guillermo-del-toro-to-direct-at-the-mountains-of-madness-with-james-cameron-producing/ was in the works,]] but [[http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/10032011/5/studio-axes-tom-cruise-film-0.htmlv was cancelled after the failure of the Wolfman reboot.]]

%%* AcquittedTooLate: Gedney.
%%* AIIsACrapshoot: The example provided by the Shoggoth almost fits this trope to a T, though the Elder Things didn't intend for them to be intelligent ''or'' adapt to live on land where they would be almost impossible to control.

* AlienBlood: The Elder Things have a dark green blood.

%%* ArcWords
%%** "Mountains of Madness"
%%** "...decadent sculptures..."
%%** "...a sort of musical piping, over a wide range."
%%** "''Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!''"

%%* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: The word "aperture" appears 13 times.

%%* IndyEscape

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: Flying through space with wings is apparently fine and dandy if you're an Elder Thing. They were supposedly flapping the luminiferous Ether, but science has marched on.

* AncientAstronauts: The Elder Things and their slave servants, the Shoggoths. Notable in that unlike most ancient astronaut stories, the aliens are decidedly ''not'' humanoid, and have no interest whatever in humanity.

** The narrator also refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich Nicholas Roerich's]] [[https://media.wsimag.com/attachments/b5d731bb03eb40428df8aa28d1de40b8ed36d39f/store/fill/930/698/8a7a7e31370e87e664cdf7b054ec5c05ed673e44deb5eb22276941698c54/Nikolaj-Kostantinovich-Roerich-Himalayas.jpg paintings of Himalayan landscapes]] when describing the mountains of the Antarctic.

** The narrator also refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich Nicholas Roerich's]] [[http://www.roerich.ee/galnew/gallery.php?l=eng&g=NR paintings of Himalayan landscapes]] when describing the mountains of the Antarctic.

* Foreshadowing: The sudden "degenerate" Elder Things artwork [[spoiler: is indicative of shoggoth imitation]].

* NotSoDifferent: This is especially exceptional for Lovecraft's stories, where most things that are "different" are usually "wrong". The Elder Things are the most "human" and benign of the Mythos species. Aside from their strange biology and amazing toughness, they are made of mundane elements (compare with the Mi-go, or the partly-spectral flying polyps), they formed family units, and had an art-producing culture and an economy. Perhaps most importantly, they only lashed out at the human party in horror and vengeance for the ''humans'' mutilating ''them'' first, rather than out of sheer carelessness or malice, before burying their six fallen ones under star-shaped snow mounds. Dyer even says near the end, when they're more worried about escaping from the shoggoth, that he has some vain hope that if they run into the thawed out Elder Things first he might even be able to reason with them if he demonstrates he isn't a threat.
--> ''"Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star-spawn - whatever they had been, they were men!"''

A film adaptation, directed by Creator/GuillermoDelToro and produced by Creator/JamesCameron, [[http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/28/guillermo-del-toro-to-direct-at-the-mountains-of-madness-with-james-cameron-producing/ was in the works,]] but [[http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/10032011/5/studio-axes-tom-cruise-film-0.htmlv was cancelled after the failure of the Wolfman reboot.]] However there has recently been talk about revisiting the project.

** One of the most awe-inspiring, mind-blowing things about the alien city to the human characters exploring it isn't anything actively threatening, but its sheer age and longevity. This place was settled when life on Earth was just primordial ooze...and continued all the way through the dinosaurs to the Ice Age. The murals they observe cover ''millions'' of years of history, vast sweeps of the alien civilization across entire epochs. In its way, this is another aspect of CosmicHorror: human civilization has barely been around for 5,000 years or so, an insignificant speck compared to the true depths of time even on this planet.

* TimeAbyss: The Shoggoths and Elder Things are ''millions'' of years old.

** The terrible vision that only Danforth saw, just before he and Dyer flee back to their plane, which pushed him over the edge into madness.

* OffWithHisHead: The Shoggoths' main method of disposing of their hated masters is by crudely tearing off their heads through sheer force of suction. [[spoiler: When the humans find one of the thawed out Elder Things left killed in this manner, they are paralyzed with fear due to the instant realization this means an active shoggoth is nearby.[/spoiler]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:Danforth]] sees... ''[[NothingIsScarier something]]'' past the far mountains. Although never outright stated, from various gibberings, it's likely that he got a good look at the history of many, ''many'' [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]], including the Shoggoths, the Great Old Ones, and even Outer Gods like ''Yog-Sothoth''. Dyer debates at some length that there's only so much Danforth could have seen in the brief instant that he looked back over the mountains - but Danforth has studied many arcane writings such as the Necronomicon, so it's possible he recognized (or ''thought'' he recognized) something from those legends.