The Watcher Of Yaathagggu
is an H. P. Lovecraft-inspired webcomic by Robyn Seale. From the comic's description:
"Yaathagggu (pronounced yah-THAG-goo) is a city surrounded by eldritch horrors and absolute darkness."
Pieta Gaolwynne is a perimeter watcher, tasked with guarding the city by keeping her lighthouse running and survey the ocean, which stands as the greatest threat.
But things aren’t right with her tower or with the city, and one unlikely protagonist is thrust into a plot of mystery, intrigue and madness.
As of 2016, the comic has been taken off-line by its creator, to be (hopefully, eventually) revamped and reposted.
The Watcher Of Yaathagggu contains examples of:
- After the End: Flashbacks indicate that this story is set after "our" world has been taken over by Nyarlathotep, accounting for some of the Schizo Tech.
- Bifauxnen: Pieta. See
Viewer Gender Confusion. It doesn't help that it's only in chapter 2 that she's referred to using a gendered pronoun. Part of it's because the Watcher uniforms generally don't fit well, and later on Oona's mother refers to her as "neither male nor female"note Robin also clarifies that her design was deliberate:There’s a tendency to same-body females, and I wanted her to have a different standard of beauty. - But Not Too White / Humans Are White: Both averted. With no sun, nearly everyone has an unhealthy pallor, even characters with naturally darker skin. The citizens of Yaathagggu also exhibit a variety of cultural backgrounds.
- Butch Lesbian: Pieta, all but confirmed later when she accepts Oona's proposal, though it turns out that she was under a certain level of Mind Control at the time.
- Cats Are Mean
- Composite Character:
Word of God is that Nyarlathotep has some elements of Hastur, aka the Yellow King, mostly to make him visually distinctive and have a consistent color between his various forms. - Cosmic Horror Story
- Cult: Oona's family worships Shub-Niggurath, though she insists they're a reformed sect. They aren't above seemingly murdering Oona and then framing Pieta for it after Pieta fails their test.
- Deal with the Devil: Seer and Charisma made this sort of deal with Nyarlathotep for power and world peace, with Seer giving up her eyes and Charisma his firstborn child. They thought they got the better end of the deal since Seer was infertile, but then Charisma had to go and impregnate his mistress, and all hell broke loose.
- Death of a Child: A child dies on-screen, and Lydia's baby dies in a flashback.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The treatment of Lydia and her baby are based on Victorian sensibilities around unwed mothers.
- Driven to Suicide: Matthius in the beginning, through a combination of drugs and the stress of Watcher duties.
- Eldritch Abomination: Par for the course. But they shy away from light, it seems.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Used to show the passage of time for Pieta in Arkham.
- Expy: The lead investigator and Mr. Happur look a lot like Holmes and Watson.
- Girlish Pigtails: Lydia.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: One of the dangers of being a Watcher.
- Horned Humanoid: The various members of Oona's cult wear headdresses that give them this appearance, but it's not certain if they actually have horns. Later we see one with their hood down and see that while they don't have horns, they do have Pointy Ears.
- Les Yay: Pieta expresses interest in a beautiful woman. Pieta and Oona also seem to have this going, which later gets upgraded to text when Oona proposes to her.
- Lighthouse Point
- Looks Like Cesare: Watcher Thire.
- Nightmare Sequence
- The Ophelia: Lydia, who's been institutionalized for schizophrenia.
- Steampunk: There is a lot of Edwardian/Victoriana, including top hats and Art Nouveau-inspired designs.
- Teen Pregnancy: Lydia, given that she's only 17 when she's introduced and was even younger when she got pregnant. The baby's father ditched her as soon as he found out.
- Touched by Vorlons: Pieta was chosen by Nyarlathotep as a way to get at the city, which he'd been denied previously.
- Trauma Conga Line: The first chapter ends with one of the few people Pieta called a friend committing suicide, and that's just the start.
