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The Heroes
Titus Crow
The world's greatest Occult Detective and opponent of the Cthulhu Cycle Deities. He is the protagonist for the short stories and the first two books in the series.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: A Downplayed Trope example since he primarily works through books and antiques.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Eventually comes to live on Elysia where he stays with his wife Tianna.
- The Bus Came Back: With Elysia's destruction, is now wandering around the universe with Henri.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Is able to figure out the entirety of the Chthonians plot by analyzing newspapers and some Pulp fiction.
- Badass Bookworm: Very much so since he goes on time and space adventures rivaling Captain Kirk and the Doctor.
- Badass Longcoat: As displayed on the original The Compleat Crow collection.
- Battle Couple: Forms one of these with Tianna the Girl Goddess.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Compared to other Lovecraft protagonists as he reacts to the existence of the Mythos with fascination more than stunned terror.
- Crazy-Prepared: Titus Crow once regularly downed a magic potion, cast daily spells, and lived on a houseboat to avoid the Chthornians. This proved insufficient.
- Cyborg: Becomes one of these after an alien robot rebuild his body.
- Doctor Whomage: Crow has been compared to The Doctor due to travelling through time and space in the Bigger on the Inside De Marigny's Clock. Brian Lumley argued back that the clock was taken from the H. P. Lovecraft story, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" where an alien wizard uses a clock as a spaceship.
- Expy: He is one for Sherlock Holmes and later the First Doctor.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: A genius scholar of the occult as well as an English gentleman.
- Gentleman Wizard: Starts the book series as a combination of this and Occult Detective.
- Great Detective: Due to his status as an Expy of Sherlock Holmes. Especially notable in the short stories.
- Heroic Willpower: A quality which allows him to resist the CCD's influence better than most.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Has this sort of relationship with Henri.
- Hunter of Monsters: Is this for the Cthulhu Mythos. He focuses initially on the Chthonians then moves to the Great Old Ones themselves.
- Insufferable Genius: A Downplayed Trope example as he is very intelligent and slightly condesceding but tries not to.
- Interspecies Romance: With Tianna the Half-Human Hybrid child of Kthanid.
- Non-Idle Rich: Titus Crow has no visible means of income.
- Occult Detective: Was one of these before becoming a Science Hero.
- Pals with Jesus: His friendship with Kthanid is effectively this as he's the chief of the Elder Gods.
- Passing the Torch: Does this with Henri and becomes The Mentor rather than The Hero.
- Psychic Powers: Is one of the world's most formidable psychics at the time of The Burrowers Beneath. He only gets stronger from there.
- Science Hero: Albeit, his Psychic Powers and science strongly resemble magic.
- Serious Business: Titus Crow regularly leaves the safety of his houseboat in The Burrowers Beneath for brandy and is almost always interested in it.
Henri Laurent de Marigny
The son of Étienne-Laurent de Marigny, the New Orleans mystic and The Watson to Titus Crow until he Took a Level in Badass to become the series main protagonist.
- Badass Cape: Has one which grants him the power to fly.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Like Titus Crow himself, Henri is a devotee of the occult and antiques.
- In the Blood: His father was a notable mistake and sorcerer before him.
- Non-Idle Rich: Henri is rich enough to purchase antiques and adventure around the world even before he becomes a space explorer.
- The Lancer: To Titus Crow.
- Legacy Hero: Becomes one to Titus Crow, taking up the fight after he moves to Elysia.
- Love at First Sight: With Moreen.
- Psychic Powers: To a lesser extent than Titus Crow but still formidable.
- Supporting Protagonist: Only in The Burrowers Beneath as he becomes the primary one in The Clock of Dreams.
- Took a Level in Badass: Becomes a time and space wandering hero even the Great Old Ones are afraid of.
- The Watson: Serves this role in the beginning of the series, being little more than a sounding board for Titus Crow but gradually moves to become The Hero.
Hank Siberhutte
A Texan psychic who works for the Wilmarth Foundation. He is eventually stranded on the planet Borea where he decides to become leader of the local La Résistance.
- Ascended Extra: Was mentioned in The Burrowers Beneath as a important member of the Wilmarth Foundation.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Hank's rank among the Plateau peope is based on his ability to defeat Ithaqua's people.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Hank is significantly less bookish and more two-fisted than Henri and Titus.
- Expy: One for John Carter, Warlord of Mars. A Southerner who journeys to an alien planet where becomes leader.
- I Choose to Stay: He chooses to stay on Borea in order to be with Armandra.
- Psychic Powers: Which he uses to connect with the locals.
- Revenge: His motivation for going after Ithaqua. The Great Old One killed his cousin after driving him insane.
- Tsundere: Is actually a male example fo this with Armandra. He doesn't want to seem too eager or uninterested.
Elder Gods
Kthanid
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never entirely clear if Kthanid and Cthulhu are actually brothers or just the same person at different points in time.
- Benevolent Precursors: Bound the Cthulhu Mythos Deities in their prison and provided humanity with their protections against them.
- Big Good: Is the biggest in the Multiverse.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Well, with his brother.
- Eye Beam: Call of Cthulhu sorcebook Malleus Monstrorum claim it's his main attack.
- God Guise: Is worshiped across the universe despite being just a Sufficiently Advanced Alien.
- Good Twin: Kthanid is this to Cthulhu.
- It's Personal: Bears a special grudge against the Great Old Ones, since they killed his mate and offspring.
- Pacifist: The Elder Gods refuse to harm their brethen, even though they give other races methods to do so.
- Palette Swap: Except for the eyes, there's no physical difference between Kthanid or Cthulhu.
- Ugly Cute: See What Measure Is a Non-Cute?. Amusingly, because he resembles Cthulhu.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Is a member of this alongside the other Elder Gods.
- Thanatos Gambit: If you believe Cthulhu and he are the same being.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Despite looking exactly like his brother aside from his eyes, Titus finds him curiously adorable.
Cthulhu Cycle Deities
Ithaqua
See Cthulhu Mythos
Shudde M'ell
Debut: The Burrowers Beneath, Brian Lumley
Leader of the Chthonians: race of worm-like monsters with a squid-like head. Shudde M'ell appears like a larger form of a Chthonian, and possibly the progenitor of the species.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: While the Wilmarth Foundation managed to wipe out many Chthonians, they lost a lot of people and resources. Also occurred when they tried nuking Shudde M'ell himself, and failed.
- Eyeless Face: Chthonians in general have no eyes.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Shudde M'ell can take on a nuclear explosion and live, as well as able to bore through Earth's crust and survive in the planet's mantle.
- Made of Iron: Cthonians are able to resist great pressures and temperatures.
- Mama Bear / Papa Wolf: Generally, it’s a bad idea to mess around with Chthonian eggs.
- Mental Fusion: Groups of Cthonians can combine their psychic powers to overcome any protection.
- Psychic Link: All Chthonians are linked to each other, allowing to know exactly what other one knows.
- Sandworm: Chthonian physical appearance suggests this, but they're more like the Horta from Star Trek. They can easily burrow through rocks, and can resist high pressure and heat. Although, the Cthonians and Sandworms do share the same...
- Weaksauce Weakness: Chthonians don't take well to exposure to, of all things, water. Which helps explain why they usually tend to stay safely miles underground rather than visit Earth's mostly water-covered surface, of course.
- Telepathy: The worms can influence a person's thoughts and emotions, causing them to make mistakes or force them to stay in one location.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The G'harne Fragments, which tell of the history of the titular Cthonian city.
- Tunnel King: Chthonians excel at this.
