History Main / CosmicHorrorStory

* Is the attitude of the antagonist towards humanity disregard, simple pragmatism, or incidental hatred? (A godlike antagonist that actively hates humanity and its works is more in line with RageAgainstTheHeavens or GodIsEvil.) ''Can'' [[BlueAndOrangeMorality their attitude be discerned?]]

* The indie SurvivalHorror/AdventureGame ''{{Pathologic}}'' achieves this in a very minimalistic, PsychologicalHorror fashion (no darkness or monsters, just a surreal tale set in a town hit by a mysterious [[ThePlague plague]]).

* The indie SurvivalHorror/AdventureGame ''{{Pathologic}}'' achieves this in a very minimalitic, PsychologicalHorror fashion (no darkness or monsters, just a surreal tale set in a town hit by a mysterious [[ThePlague plague]]).

* ''{{Pathologic}}'' achieves this in a very minimalitic, PsychologicalHorror fashion (no darkness or monsters, just a surreal tale set in a town hit by a mysterious [[ThePlague plague]]).

* There's also that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(star) evil red star]] we can't QUITE prove or disprove to be flinging extinction event comets at us every few million years...

Imagine a world where the NietzscheWannabe is overly optimistic, and the crazy guy yelling about the apocalypse on the street corner is actually the only one with half a clue. A world where Humanity is surrounded by nameless horrors, and all our hopes are a cruel illusion; a world which was once ruled by unspeakable terrors that seeped down from the cold stars long ago.

** The "aliens" in question do not appear to be hideous, abnormal, or alien. In fact, they appear to be nice, toga-clad humans living in a paradisical country -- heaven on earth, pretty much. This really just makes it ''worse''.

* Go Nagai's ''{{Devilman}}''. It tells the story of Akira, who discoverers the Earth is being invaded by demons. His friend Ryo convinces him that the only way to stop the demons is to have him merge with one of them. Their plan succeeds, and Akira gains the ability to transform into a demon. But since HumansAreBastards the demons use the own paranoia and fear of humanity to drive the chaos and make every human lose control of the situation. The result? [[spoiler:The same humans that Akira was trying to protect, [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel start to kill devilmen like him and mutilate his girlfriend and her family.]] He challenges ''{{Satan}}'' (who was actually his friend Ryo) to a final duel which [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt dooms the the entire world.]] The final scene shows Satan and a mysterious army of angels in a [[SceneryGorn destroyed]] [[HellOnEarth Earth]] [[TheBadGuyWins next to Akira's dead body]].]]

* Go Nagai's ''{{Devilman}}''. It tells the story of Akira, who discoverers the Earth is being invaded by demons. His friend Ryo convinces him that the only way to stop the demons is to have him merge with one of them. Their plan succeeds, and Akira gains the ability to transform into a demon. But since HumansAreBastards the demons use the own paranoia and fear of humanity to drive the chaos and make every human to lose the control of the situation. The result? [[spoiler:The same humans that Akira was trying to protect, [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel start to kill devilmen like him and mutilate his girlfriend and her family.]] He chalanges ''{{Satan}}'' (who was actually his friend Ryo) to a final duel wich [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt doomed the the entire world.]] The final scene shows Satan and a misterious army of angels in [[SceneryGorn a destroyed Earth]] next to Akira's dead body.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[-Simply reading this play is said to drive one mad. A book by this name really exists. The play itself does not. As far as anyone knows...-] ]]

* Go Nagai's ''{{Devilman}}''. It tells the story of Akira, who discoverers the Earth is being invaded by demons. His friend Ryo convinces him that the only way to stop the demons is to have him merge with one of them. Their plan succeeds, and Akira gains the ability to transform into a demon. But since HumansAreBastards the demons use the own paranoia and fear of humanity to drive the chaos and make every human to lose the control of the situation. The result? [[spoiler:The same humans that Akira was trying to protect, [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel start to kill devilmen like him and mutilate his girlfriend and her family.]] He chalanges Satan(who was actually his friend Ryo) to a final duel wich [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt doomed the the entire world.]] The final scene shows Satan and a misterious army of angels in [[SceneryGorn a destroyed Earth]]next to Akira's dead body.]]

* And then there are, of course, H. P. "Grandpa Cthulhu" Lovecraft and his Weird Tales colleagues - Clark Ashton "Klarkash-ton" Smith, Robert E. "Two-Gun Bob" Howard, etc. - who started the whole ''Cthulhu Mythos'' thing (although it wasn't actually named, nor any kind of cohesive whole, until August Derleth laid hands on it) as a collective attempt to lend their works an air of authenticity, by sharing common elements and references as if the stories were actually based on Real Life sources. And ''it worked'' - there are now people who genuinely believe the Necronomicon is a real existing book and that Cthulhu was worshiped by ancient Sumerians.

* There was (and probably still is) a graphic novel series called ''Flinch''. In one story, a massive fan of Lovecraft eventually grows up with the realization ''"We don't deserve monsters"'' and loses all wonder of [[EldritchAbominations creatures]] out there.

* The setting of ''DragonAge'' is a CrapsackWorld even without factoring in the Darkspawn. It goes into Cosmic Horror territory if the Chantry's version of the Darkspawn's origin is true. That is to say there is an entire race of AxCrazy plague-bearing monsters that embody God's anger at the world. At least said monsters only make a serious effort to kill everyone when they find and corrupt an [[EldritchAbomination Old God]] into becoming their insane leader. Oh wait, that's not really any better at all. [[ItGotWorse Even worse]], if the events of ''Awakening'' are any indication, killing the last Old God might drive the Darkspawn ''even crazier''.

* ''{{Bokurano}}'': ''Something'' is making you fight in its super robot against other super robots, to decide the fate of universes.. Why? ''Why not''?

Humanity is a mote of dust, its accomplishments fleeting and meaningless. Our victories are hollow and our doom is certain, for we struggle not against monsters, but gods. It's possible that they don't care about us, or even notice our existence; they're simply so vast and alien that their mere passing obliterates worlds, and we happen to be the world in question. A CosmicHorrorStory doesn't scare you with big, ugly monsters--though it can certainly have them--it scares you with your own abject insignificance.
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Imagine a world where the NietzscheWannabe is overly optimistic, and the crazy guy yelling about the apocalypse on the street corner is actually the only one with half a clue. A world where Humanity is surrounded by nameless horrors, and all our hopes are a cruel illusion; a world which was once ruled by unspeakable terrors that seeped down from the cold stars long ago.

Nor are those terrors dead; they merely sleep, and soon they shall wake. Then they shall return to rule this world, and all humanity's labours shall have been in vain. For all our blind hubris we are but mice in the wainscotting, making merry while the cat's away--but even today, the world is more dangerous than we may know. Take one step from the comforts of home, and you will find terror and madness on every side -- dark cults, hideous monstrosities, truths so terrible than none may comprehend them and remain sane. Ghouls gibber in the sewers beneath your feet. Ghosts hover unseen in the air around you. The vile spawn of an Elder God lurks in the recesses of your own family tree, a genetic time bomb just ''waiting'' to go off...

Scared yet?

Such was the vision of HPLovecraft, pioneer of the CosmicHorrorStory. Humanity is a mote of dust, its accomplishments fleeting and meaningless. Our victories are hollow and our doom is certain, for we struggle not against monsters, but gods. It's possible that they don't care about us, or even notice our existence; they're simply so vast and alien that their mere passing obliterates worlds, and we happen to be the world in question. A CosmicHorrorStory doesn't scare you with big, ugly monsters--though it can certainly have them--it scares you with your own abject insignificance.

*There was (and probably still is) a graphic novel series called "Flinch". In one story, a massive fan of Lovecraft eventually grows up with the realization ''"We don't deserve monsters"'' and loses all wonder of [[EldritchAbominations creatures]] out there.

* ''[[http://forum.blpublishing.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10343 The Shape of the Nightmare to Come]]'' takes regular Warhammer 40k and cranks up the Cosmic Horror elements to max. The Ophilim Kiasoz, an Eldritch Abomination, destroys entire star systems simply by passing through them, and no one knows just what it is. The Nex, of which virtually nothing is known, drives people mad by just mentioning it. Heck, the whole first segment reads like it was written by Lovecraft himself.

** Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Horla" is another influence on Lovecraft, with its motifs of a cosmos harbouring unknown terrors and, closer to home, a malevolent, intangible organism capable not only of possessing humans but of one day replacing them as a species. Unless, that is, it's just the [[UnreliableNarrator narrator]] [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness gradually going mad]].
* And then there are, of course, H. P. "Grandpa Cthulhu" Lovecraft and his Weird Tales colleagues - Clark Ashton "Klarkash-ton" Smith, Robert E. "Two-Gun Bob" Howard, etc. - who started the whole "Cthulhu Mythos" thing (although it wasn't actually named, nor any kind of cohesive whole, until August Derleth laid hands on it) as a collective attempt to lend their works an air of authenticity, by sharing common elements and references as if the stories were actually based on Real Life sources. And ''it worked'' - there are now people who genuinely believe the Necronomicon is a real existing book and that Cthulhu was worshiped by ancient Sumerians.

* Sarah Monette's Kyle Murchison Booth stories (collected in ''The Bone Key'') take place in a CosmicHorror universe -- unsurprisingly, as she openly acknowledges Lovecraft as a major influence.

* The fantasy of MichaelMoorcock is full of Cosmic Horror. {{The Elric Saga}}'s world especially has many, many ancient evils that used to rule the world and now lie around decaying and waiting to destroy any traveler they meet. Elric himself rules over [[DeadlyDecadentCourt the remnants of one of these evil empires]], and his patron god is an EldritchAbomination. The final book involves the world being completely remade by the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and even the "good" ending to the story accepts this as inevitable. The Corum series is an example too; he fights against Elric's Lords of Chaos in the first series, and in the second series against a group of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s who are based on the elemental forces of cold and death.

*Dark King of the Goths NeilGaiman gets in on this with a short story in his book MIsForMagic. Two kids end up at the wrong party and one of them is almost consumed by hearing [[TheVirus the song]] of a disembodied race from ... somewhere that is fundamentally at a right angle to our existence. The other one tries to make out with a different type. Things don't go so good for either of them.

** Warhammer40000, with its [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism cynical]] [[CrapsackWorld living conditions]] and [[GrimDark GRIMDARKNESS]].

* The events of {{Persona 3}} ultimately leads to the TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, complete with a doomsday cult and brain-dead people uttering prophetic warnings. This is all due to the subtle influence of the reawakened Nyx, a vast and ancient being[[spoiler: and who apparently ''is the moon'',]] being called down to the earth. Her presence causes people to explode into puddles of black ooze and random organs. In all likelihood, she doesn't care in the slightest. Oh and she's mainly summoned by the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the malice and despair in the hearts of humanity.

* Whether or not [[ChronoTrigger Lavos]] qualifies is up to the player's imagination, but as of ChronoCross...

** And then Mass Effect 2 pushes this to even more horrifying levels. The point of the cycle of extinction [[spoiler: is to turn the all conquered species into the raw materials that go into constructing new Reapers.]]

* The ShadowHearts series takes place in a universe where nearly every monster is a CosmicHorror, especially in the first game.

* A pretty good example comes from the ChzoMythos. Well, it just so happens that there's another world next door, a world ruled by [[{{EldritchAbomination}}the VERY EMBODIMENT of PAIN]], and he can't wait to get his hands on our world. Don't worry that he has an intricate web of followers that are helping him to succeed, but thanks to his non linear view of time, [[spoiler:he already has]].

* In the world of the SCPFoundation, the only thing standing between humanity and a legion of sanity-shattering artifacts or implacably destructive monsters is a shadowy organization of {{MIB}}s... whose ruthlessness makes them only slightly less dangerous than the monsters they're protecting humanity from.

* ''TheMatrix'' fits most aspects of this trope, though on a smaller scale. More like a Global Horror Story.