Let's take a long serious look at the idea of Nyarlathotep as Trickster. A cursory glance at anthropology titles shows that the Trickster pops up in every human culture. It's, like, *universal*. That alone calls out for a Mythos interpretation or explanation.

Have you noticed how often the Trickster figure is given the role of messenger of the gods, or opener of the way? That it is usually a shapeshifter? So, among the pantheon of Lovecraftian "deities," which one has the most pseudonyms and forms? Which one has the role of messenger for the Big Idiot Unknowable At The Center Of Everything?

The universal Trickster myth could be a memory of the interactions with Nyarly that have been happening ever since mankind became smart enough to be interesting. I think interaction with Nyarlathotep comes along with sentience.

Now, follow this carefully. Ahem. Our ideas of good and bad, right and wrong, malignant and benign are ANT definitions. They are not a description of GOO actions or motivations, they are a description of how we feel about it. That's all. Nyarlathotep is not evil. Nyarlathotep is not good. Nyarlathotep is Nyarlathotep, and any labels you use to describe what happened due to interacting with Nyarlathotep are just descriptions of how y'all felt about the results - as if that mattered.

That being said, I think we have to address why Nyarly puts on all of those masks.

I say that the nature of any transaction with Nyarlathotep is dependent on the expectations and character of the human (or non-human sentient) that is doing the interacting, whether they are aware of them or not. THIS is why they usually turn out so bad. We know that Nyarly has appeared as Frederick the Great and a transcendant Hitler, but we are a bit hazy about why. We usually do some hand-waving about a loooong range plan for getting the Karotechia to help bring the Endtimes about or some damn thing, but again, that's ant thinking. In my cosmology, Nyarlathotep appeared in those forms because that's what was expected or subconsciously desired. Why would Nyarlathotep need to manipulate events that are predestined? The stars are gonna come right and things will turn to shit and there is nothing we can do about it. Somewhere in there coleopterans replace people as the residents of Earth.

I'll up the ante for a Lovecraftian secular humanist universe. Nyarlathotep has also appeared as a burning bush (in my timeline), and look how swell *that* eventually worked out for all concerned. Hehe. What's the road to Hell paved with again? Of course, in true Trickster fashion it's hard to tell if that trick resulted in good or evil. I mean, on one hand you've got Inquisitions and Crusades, but on the other you've got universities and monasteries and hospitals. Torquemada *and* Saint Francis. Medici popes *and* Mother Teresa. And that's only talking about Catholicism.

Does the idea of a (potentially) benign Nyarly turn you off? Well, try again. Benign and malignant are ant distinctions. Nyarly is Nyarly, and it is *our* fault that just about every interaction with that much potential power ends up generating evil. Nyarly is like a Monkey's Paw without a curse - without a *need* for a curse to bring about terror and pain and remorse. All you need is a monkey to do the wishing; just as all Whole Earth Enterprises needs is a staff of greedy monkeys to promote evil.

I think that this POV helps answer the paradox of Nyarlathotep. If we are mere microbes beneath the notice of something as vast and powerful as Nyarlathotep, then how come he dresses up like Hitler and holds court in a NY nightclub? Why would he bother? Getting cute and comparing him to a kid with a magnifying glass torturing an ant colony just doesn't cut it. Sorry, but using human metaphors to describe the motivations of something that might be the personification of a force of nature says more about us than it does about Nyarlathotep.

Again and again we keep slamming into this, so this is *my* handwaving.

Nyarlathotep is just simply beyond our comprehension. That's OK, because Nyarlathotep is paying like ZERO attention to what we do. That is, the real Nyarlathotep that hangs around the center of everything (and in all probability doesn't "think" of itself as being named Nyarlathotep) and might be the personification of a concept or force of nature isn't paying any attention. Something loosely analogous to (let's say) the immune system of Nyarlathotep *does* respond to all those Summon\Bind spells, but Nyarly per se does not.

In my model, every one of those manifestations of Nyarly in all of those stories and scenarios were avatars, shed from the incomprehensible unimaginably powerful stuff of Nyarly like dandruff. Dandruff that can warp reality and topple kingdoms, but still nothing much compared to the being that shed it. Now let me torture that metaphor a bit more and point out that even dandruff has DNA in it. There is something analogous in the relationship between Nyarlathotep and all those avatars. All those avatars have the potential power of Nyarlathotep, though it generally doesn't get tapped.Why? Because *Nyarlathotep* didn't bud off an avatar and send it off to do his bidding. Dandruff, remember? The shape and power of the avatar was determined (somehow, and subconsciously) by the Summoner.

Now, as to all those masks. You might be wondering just what sort of subconscious expectations conjured up a tripod with a tongue waving around up top. Well, we aren't the only sentients in the universe, and we aren't the only sentients that are inadvertently generating these avatars. And those suckers are immensely powerful and essentially immortal. In my model, those non-human looking avatars are avatars that were created long ago by non-human sentients. The universe is an old place, and when a race becomes extinct they might have some avatars left over. I think that some were attracted to this neighborhood by the [crunchiness] of Summon spells and [picked up the phone] rather than having a new avatar [shed].

So sometimes an avatar of Nyarlathotep is a black man with a horn or some other compelling humanoid, and at other times the avatar is a bunch of tentacles and shit. It all depends on the circumstances of it's creation.


Credits: Mark McFadden