Black Gods of R'Lyeh (Earth-616)

Black Gods of R'Lyeh
Name	Black Gods of R'Lyeh
Affiliation and Identity
Identity	Secret
Origin and Status
Origin	Great or Lesser Old Ones
Reality	Earth-616
Base of Operations	R'Lyeh
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas
First	Savage Sword of Conan #16 (October, 1976) (Referenced)
First	Savage Sword of Conan #16 (October, 1976) (Referenced)

History

Origins

The Black Gods of R'Lyeh were either Great or Lesser Old Ones, presumably originating and/or dwelling in R'lyeh, one of the cities built in elder times by the Great Old Ones.

Hyborian Age

Circa 10,000 BC, to avenge himself from Captain Dalvalte who tortured him, left him for dead and stole his daughters, Reimos allegedly entered in contact with the Old Ones, the Black Gods of R'Lyeh, the Goat with a Thousand Young and the children of Great Cthulhu, who offered him his spider-infested castle.

200 A.D.

Circa 200 A.D., the Black Gods of R'Lyeh were sometimes invoked (though reluctantly) in Roman-invaded Pictland.

Notes

• The Black Gods of R'lyeh were created by Robert E. Howard in "Worms of the Earth" (Weird Tales; November, 1932), adapted in Marvel Comics in Savage Sword of Conan #16 (December, 1976) and 17 (February, 1977). R'lyeh was created by H.P. Lovecraft in "Call of Cthulhu" (Weird Tales; June, 1928).
  • It is possible that the Black Gods of R'lyeh, instead of being a subset of the Great or Lesser Old Ones, were originally meant simply as a synonyms for the Great Old Ones, but were considered a proper group by the Official Handbooks writer after being invoked alongside the Old Ones and other entities in "The Web Tightens" (Conan the Barbarian #141; December, 1982).
• Robert E. Howard also created the Black Gods in "The Curse of the Golden Skull" (1928). The relation between the two, if any, is unrevealed.
• It is unknown if the Thing from R'lyeh, an Old One, was part of the Black Gods of R'Lyeh, Old Ones (Lesser or Great) as well.

Trivia

• R'lyeh was originally wrote with a "l" minuscule letter. In comics, it is unknown how it is written (due to bubble texts being written exclusively in capital letters), but in the Demons' profile of Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities, it is written "R'Lyeh", with a capital "L".

See Also

• 1 mention(s) of Black Gods of R'Lyeh (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Black Gods of R'Lyeh (Earth-616)
• 1 invocation(s) of Black Gods of R'Lyeh (Earth-616)