History Main / TomeOfEldritchLore

*** The power of the Elder Scrolls is so great, their truths so irrefutable, that not even the machinations of a [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] can overcome them; that's how [[spoiler:the curse on the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is broken]] in the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' ThievesGuild questline. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you get to read one yourself to [[spoiler:gain knowledge of a [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um shout]] lost to time; it turns out you don't read the scroll, you see events happen as if the scroll was a window to another (possibly alternate) time]]. Trying to read the scroll outside of the [[RealityIsOutToLunch Time-Wound]] temporarily robs you of vision -- and the reason you only suffer that much is because you have the soul of a being that exists partially outside of time, not unlike the Elder Scroll itself. Even the [[DragonsAreDivine dragons]] like Paarthurnax and [[BigBad Alduin]] himself fear the Elder Scrolls' power. Turns out that they don't just reveal events, they can [[RealityWarper alter reality]] as well; with no recourse left, the ancient Nordic heroes who faced Alduin invoked the power of an Elder Scroll to "cast Alduin out of time", postponing his reckoning until the age where ''Skyrim'' (the game, not the province) takes place. The residue from that event created the Time-Wound, mentioned above.

* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' also brings us the Sith holocrons: essentially audio/video/Force recordings of a [[TheCorrupter Sith Lord's teachings]] and accumulated dark wisdom. They're almost always hidden someplace unpleasant, and if you can find one and disarm all the booby traps, you ''might'' get [[SarcasmMode lucky]] enough to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity learn something]]. Sith holocrons also contain an imprint of the personality of whichever Sith Lord created them. If the Holocron finds you worthy it will try to corrupt you into a successor to the dead Lord, while if not it might well try to manipulate you into getting yourself killed. Have fun!

* ''Fanfic/TheFreeportVenture'': The Black Codex is an infamous grimoire written by a cabal of warlocks and lunar cultists during the Lunar Rebellion and containing information on every form of BlackMagic in existence, including things like {{necromancy}}, MindControl and demonology. Most people don't believe it's anything more than a myth, a belief the Equestrian government encourages to cut down on the number of would-be warlocks trying to get their hooves on it. In ''Freeport Venture: Auction Night'', a copy surfaces... at an auction house in the local WretchedHive. Sunset spends the rest of the story trying to get before a known warlock facilitator does.

* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' revolves around the stories of TheChosenMany of [[EldritchAbomination Mantorok]], as written in the eponymous Tome of Eternal Darkness; to unlock new chapters, [[PlayerCharacter Alexandra]] has to find missing pages. The book itself is larger than a dictionary, bound in human hide and detailed with shrunken bones, and remains hidden in an [[EldritchLocation extradimensional room full of statues and with a floor of screaming faces, held inside a huge skeletal hand]]. Anyone who gains access to the Tome can read it regardless of language[[note]]and from how a very young Cambodian slave can read it, regardless of literacy as well[[/note]] and possession of it allows for use of [[InstantRunes rune-based magicks]]. The Tome also works as a LoreCodex, and in a nice bit of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, it [[DiegeticInterface serves as the menu system]].

* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': Season 2 Episode 9 features the Ikiwikinomicon, a blatant parody of the Necronomicon which when active is capable of transforming people into mindless monsters.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror'', Toshiaki Wakamatsu has a unique item: the Necronomicon, an ancient book that the cultists in his school's club were using to summon the Old Gods, which he stole in the hopes of preventing the end of the world. It starts off with one spell, with up to five more acquired as he levels up: "Aura of Azal-Hoth" (reduces DOOM by 10% when completing a mystery), Krootky's Kill (defeats enemies instantly while increasing DOOM by 15%), F'Thoth Flash (reduces DOOM by 3% in exchange for 15 EXP), Shebbe's Surge (increases all stats while increasing DOOM by 5%), Rage of Ragh-Zull (increases damage inflict on enemies by 1 while increasing DOOM by 6%), and Cure of Cthur-Izto (restores 3 Stamina and Reason while increasing DOOM by 7%).

** A recurring parody of the ''Necronomicon'' is the ''Necrotelicomnicon'', translated as "On Communing with the Deceased" or the "Phonebook of the Dead". It was written by "Achmed the Mad", who prefers to be known as "Achmed the [[InsistentTerminology Sometimes I Just Get These Headaches]]" — his AboutTheAuthor page [[IncendiaryExponent spontaneously combusted]], leaving only the "Other Books by the Same Author" page (which has only one entry, ''Achmed the I Just Get These Headaches's Book of Humorous Cat Stories''). Reading it will drive a man insane, and ''Literature/EqualRites'' recounts the unfortunate case of a mage who tried to read it and was not only never seen again, but whose compatriots noticed that the book became several pages thicker. It's kept at the Unseen University library by the Librarian, who deals with the book containing [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow things man was not meant to know]] by being [[ForcedTransformation an orangutan]] and thus [[LoopholeAbuse not technically a "man"]] — but he does get a headache and a nasty rash. The ''Necrotelicomnicon'' also appears in Pratchett's collaboration with Creator/NeilGaiman, ''Literature/GoodOmens'', and from there to Gaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' (under its alternate title ''Liber Paginarum Fulvarum'', which is [[CanisLatinicus Dog Latin]] for "The Book of the Yellow Pages").

* Creator/ArthurMachen's story ''The White People'' predates the TropeNamer: during a discussion on the nature of sin, an ascetic gives his friend a "green pocket-book" with a "morocco binding", used by a young girl as a "book of secrets" (she says she has many others) to record her engagements with TheFairFolk, who in this story are definitely more on the "[[EldritchAbomination eldritch]]" side of elvish. Hilariously, said book appears to have a sequel, T. Kingfisher's "The Twisted Ones," that [[{{Sequelitis}} leaves a lot to be desired]].

* The ''Necronomicon'' of Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'' is the TropeCodifier and quasi-TropeNamer (the term "Eldritch", meaning "otherworldly", being pretty much only used by Lovecraft or writers trying to sound like him). It's the definitive book of black magic, created by Lovecraft as a sendup of the real-life "black books" — but since Lovecraft found them kind of underwhelming, he upped the scariness factor by creating his own. Unlike many later versions, in Lovecraft's stories the book is just a mundane, rather rare medieval text — it's what it reveals about our place in the universe that [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow drives the reader mad]], not some inherent magical quality of the book itself.

* Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'':
** In ''Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn'' the title witch did not mind when the magician who raised her drove her off:

* "Fragments of the Book of Abdul" and "De Vermis Mysteriis" in the original ''Videogame/AloneInTheDark1992''. The first one hurts Carnby, the latter is instant death, unless [[spoiler:you stand in the pentagram to read it]].

* ''Gray's Sports Almanac'' from the ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' movies. Technically an ordinary sports almanac purchased in a conventional book store in the then-future year of 2015, this book truly matches the trope when [[TimelineAlteringMacGuffin brought 50 years into the past]], as it contains information on the outcome of sports events from 1960 to 2000. Biff Tannen is able to use the knowledge to amass a fortune from gambling, eventually creating a BadFuture where he rules. Much like the typical cursed tome, burning it at the end of the second movie is required to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.

** The game has the Nine Books Of Nagash the Necromancer. The originals were destroyed but there are some copies still lying around.
** Games Workshop also released a book called ''Liber Chaotica'' (the Book of Chaos), a guide to all things Chaotic in the the Warhammer world, with occasional referances to ''Warhammer 40k''. As a different take on this trope, the writer was not trying to support Chaos, but was ordered by the [[ChurchMilitant Cult of Sigmar]] to compile it to help fight Chaos. Naturally the study of such subjects [[GoMadFromTheRevelation has a less than stellar effect on his mental health.]]
** The Black Book of Ibn Naggazar in Storm of Magic games is such a powerful repository of dark magic that its bearer will become the most talented Death and Shadow mage on the field, capable of turning two power dice into an apocalyptic display...but at the same time, it eats ''a lot'' of the people around him and will eat him too if he doesn't keep it fed. [[WeHaveReserves It's very popular with Necromancers, Skaven mages and goblins.]]

* Robert W. Chambers' ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' stories feature the eponymous ''play'' which simultaneously enlightens and drives mad anyone who reads it all. (Presumably a production would be impossible to stage.) Only a few brief excerpts, not enough to clearly indicate the plot or subject matter, are ever given. Likewise, the Yellow Sign is never actually described. Chambers' stories predated Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos stories and Lovecraft cited them as an inspiration.

* ''Franchise/EvilDead'' featured a book called Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, which, when read, resurrected a bunch of evil Kandarian spirits. In [[Film/TheEvilDead1981 the first movie]] and the beginning of [[Film/EvilDead2 the second]], it was called the ''Naturyan Demonta''. By the time of ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', it was just called the ''Necronomicon''.

** And again in ''Series/WandaVision'', used by [[spoiler:Agatha Harkness]]. And then by [[spoiler:Wanda]] herself in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''.

** The book comes back in ''Series/{{Runaways}}'', used by [[EvilSorcerer Morgan Le Fay]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', you can get two Grimoires, titled Togail and Aidhed, from certain creatures you kill. Their descriptions say that they contain spells respectively capable of [[ApocalypseHow destroying Ivalice]] and snuffing out all life.