Cthulhu: A Closer Look

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Cthulhu: A Closer Look

By: TitanAjax | 2020/5/26

WHO IS CTHULHU?

Cthulhu is the Great Dreamer and the High Priest of the Great Old Ones. He is the gateway to a set of cosmic entities with unfathomable power. They have existed for aeons, likely coming into being before our currently known universe.

Even as Cthulhu sleeps in the underwater prison of R’lyeh, his power seeps into every shred of life on Earth, causing discomfort and despair. He will soon awaken, and the gods of SMITE will be tested like never before.

OUR VISION

We want SMITE’s Cthulhu to stay true to his literary depiction, while making him a fierce and intimidating monster that has become an iconic part of his modern interpretations.

CTHULHU

Theme – Madness – Cthulhu’s visual appearance and powers are designed to inspire psychological horror in his opponents.
Visuals – Monstrous – The recognizable octopus head sets up a clear template for Cthulhu as a terrifying beast from the darkest depths of the ocean.
Personality – Nihilistic. Cthulhu holds no respect for human life, nor the gods of SMITE. He sees them as insignificant beings who are utterly worthless within the universe.
Perspective – Fear. The gods know nothing of Cthulhu, which scares them. Once they see him and begin to know what he is capable of, they fear him even more.

We understand the community is mixed about the potential inclusion of Cthulhu in SMITE. Some of you have been very vocal in favor of the eldritch gods. Others have voiced concerns that Cthulhu represents a step too far, opening a door to some other fantastical, non-God characters.

We think Cthulhu fits SMITE in ways these other potential “Gods” do not. Cthulhu is, in his lore, a supernatural being of immense power. He is the high priest of a pantheon of cosmic deities whose presence alone is enough to render a human completely insane — the sort of character at home on the Battleground of the Gods, and arguably the best-known godly figure who is not currently in SMITE.

Yes, Cthulhu originates from a piece of popular fiction, but from one nearly 100 years old. Baba Yaga is about 250 years old, by comparison. And the Arthurian legends as we know them today were, truly, the product of 12th century popular fiction.

SMITE’s lore is simple: If people believe in a God, if they talk about it, they make it real. That’s what the concept of worshippers is all about. Cthulhu has achieved a near mythical status in today’s world, represented in the thousands of books, comics, games, and movies that pay homage to him — and the people who enjoy them. We think there are enough people who believe in Cthulhu as a godly figure that he’s a valid candidate for SMITE.

Let us be clear: We have no intent to go farther than Cthulhu. We’ve heard people joke about Cthulhu being a slippery slope to Dumbledore’s inclusion in SMITE. Dumbledore has no place in SMITE. Even Robin Hood has been debated and soundly rejected by the Titan Forge Games team. Also, Cthulhu will remain the only playable character from this pantheon for the foreseeable future.

One final note: Just as we reject the ancient Mayan tradition of ritual human sacrifice, we reject the racist and homophobic ideas espoused by H.P. Lovecraft. We believe that Cthulhu has grown beyond its creator over the past 100 years. We welcome Cthulhu to SMITE, not Lovecraft; racism and homophobia have no place in SMITE, period.

Within the SMITE universe, Cthulhu will serve as a symbol of consequences for the gods. Gods are immortal and powerful, and thus they rarely consider the repercussions of their actions. Persephone’s lust for her own goals, which were justifiable, has brought a terrible fate upon the world. The gods have triumphed over strength and power before, but can they triumph over the darkness hidden within their own minds?

CTHULHU'S VISUALS

Our top priority on Cthulhu’s visual design was to ensure he was immediately recognizable as Cthulhu, while still adding a SMITE twist to him. We wanted to make our own Cthulhu, while not taking anything away from his historical depiction.

Cthulhu has a strong description in the original works that we constantly kept in high regard during his iterations. Additionally, his popularity for modern adaption added many more expectations for the character that we needed to meet.

At first we experimented with this god, trying to push the boundaries of his animalistic elements, especially in his body and posture. Ultimately we felt that these were too much of a deviation from his roots.

We honed back in on his most infamous characteristics while augmenting his humanoid body with more crustacean carapaced elements. We also developed an element of asymmetry in his forearm to push him even further into monster territory and add more visual interest.

After a few color passes we had our final Cthulhu! The entire team is thrilled with his visual design, and he looks undeniably impressive in game.

The glowing orange tentacles behind him were originally designed to be visible only during his ultimate, but were cut due to concerns about camera visibility and deviating from his thematic descriptions.

Cthulhu is large and magical by nature, so he fit into the Guardian Class for SMITE. His evil themes led to abilities that were rather aggressive. Cthulhu will likely excel in the Solo lane and possibly the Duo lane. He is capable of mitigating a huge amount of damage, and can lock down many enemies while dealing out decent damage.

Unique Gameplay Features:

Just as in the stories, Cthulhu whittles away at the fragile minds of those around him, driving even the gods insane with his combat actions.
Cthulhu will be able to drive enemy gods insane, causing them to experience a wide array of effects.
Insanity brings a whole new set of audio/visual confusion elements that persist for a long duration or until the Insanity itself is “Broken” by Cthulhu.
He then feeds on their madness. Cthulhu can hit insane gods with a specific ability to “Break” them. He becomes permanently tankier each time he successfully Breaks a god.
A unique scale. Cthulhu is in a distinctly unique size range that is larger than all the usual gods, but not as tall as Jormungandr. It should be noted that Cthulhu will move, attack, and be attacked within the usual SMITE play space.
This scale concept is pushed to the limits during his ultimate ability, where he becomes the largest god in SMITE history to remain within the traditional play space while scaled up.
This ultimate also changes his visual appearance in an interesting way, and grants him 3 new abilities.
One of which is an ability to damage himself and transfer that health to allies.
A new minion kill animation unique to Cthulhu: Mindblown

One of the most mysterious Gods in SMITE history is finally revealed! Cthulhu brings a recognition factor in name and visuals that rivals the most prominent gods in all mythology. Terror will be widespread within the SMITE universe as long as he reigns!

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”

Cthulhu

The Great Dreamer

First of the Great Old Ones Pantheon

Has awakened