The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have faced a number of terrifying villains throughout their careers, but nothing even compares to the all-time scariest villain they have ever faced–one that is quite literally a Lovecraftian monster.
‘Lovecraftian Horror’ is a subgenre of cosmic horror made famous by writer H.P. Lovecraft (hence the name). When something is considered ‘Lovecraftian’, it is in reference to its unknowable or incomprehensible nature–though most creatures in fiction that have been referred to as ‘Lovecraftian’ usually share one key aspect: tentacles. One of the most famous ‘Old Ones’ created by H.P. Lovecraft is Cthulhu, which has been depicted as a giant, tentacled beast. So, when some cosmic entity of untold power and incomprehensible nature shows up in a piece of fiction, and it has tentacles, it absolutely fits the bill as being considered ‘Lovecraftian’–and a being like that is exactly what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are facing in this issue.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #71 by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Dave Wachter, a family of cosmic gods are gathering together at the house of one of their brothers as they have done every one hundred years since the dawn of time. This family of gods, known as the Immortal Pantheon, consists of a few gods who the TMNT are familiar with, such as Aka, Kitsune, Toad Baron, and the Rat King–and then there are a few who they meet for the first time, including Jagwar, Manmoth, and–last but not least–Gothano. By the end of this issue, it is revealed that the TMNT snuck into this meeting of the gods and were discovered by the immortal entities themselves–which obviously included Gothano.
TMNT’s Gothano is a Perfect Representation of Lovecraftian Horror
Gothano is a mysterious-hooded figure who normally resides in the coldest depths of the ocean who has a great number of tentacles that creep and crawl from under their cloak. Little is known about Gothano at this point in the series, but the information that is readily available is their appearance and the feeling of dread they invoke even in other ageless beings. All the Toad Baron’s subjects–who exist outside mortal time within the realm of the god’s Den of Delights–become petrified when they’re in Gothano’s presence, a reaction that they don’t experience even when around the sinister Rat King.
When they are introduced in TMNT, the parallels between Gothano and H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous creation, Cthulhu, is immediately obvious. Like Cthulhu, Gothano lives in the ocean, is a cosmic elder, and has tentacles. As if the knowledge of Gothano’s existence isn’t scary enough, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles find themselves face-to-face with this creature after sneaking into the house of a god–making them intruders and, by extension, enemies of the gods present at that meeting (minus Aka who aligned herself with the Turtles earlier in the series). Based on this situation, it seems as though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made a new enemy in this issue–a villain who is literally a Lovecraftian monster.
