Stupid Lovecraft characters

[Miskatonic Philologus]

I always thought the unnamed narrator of 'Herbert West' was a ripe slice of dumb.  I mean, his insane friend keeps making progressively more dangerous monsters and yet, does the guy call the cops?  Get Herbert committed to the Arkham laughing academy?  No!  The guy keeps helping him!   How many times do you have to be nearly killed by the un-dead horrors your friend creates before you say: "Herbert, I want my record albums back."  Sheesh!

Not to get off the track here, and I don't even really care to mention this, admittedly minor, point, but I've always kind of had the feeling that the unnamed narrator and HW had a "latent homosexual" attachment - at least on the side of the narrator, and this is why he stuck with HW and never turned him in.

[MediaGhost]

Not to get off the track here, and I don't even really care to mention this, admittedly minor, point, but I've always kind of had the feeling that the unnamed narrator and HW had a "latent homosexual" attachment - at least on the side of the narrator, and this is why he stuck with HW and never turned him in.

I think it's a legitimate point, though maybe it deserves it's own thread.  But, yeah, I got the same kind of vibe from the story, too.  Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but it seemed to me that the narrator was either loyal to the point of idiocy and/or had some unrequited crush on Herbert.

[Bob Lovecraft]

Well, also keep in mind that when you are in a situation like that, the easiest time to escape it is at the beginning of the thing. Once you start going down the road of dubious moral ambiguity, you begin to lose sight of the right choices since you are basing your judgment, at least partially, on those morally dubious decisions you have already made. And don't forget the fear involved. At a certain point, I believe our narrator truly believes that there is no way out, regardless of what his friend has become. Years of pent up fear of prosecution would have grown out of all proportion and the fear of his friend would have just played right into that. By the time the story ends, I firmly believe the guy was almost entirely crushed by his own fears and could only use the "only following orders" justification in his own mind in order to hold on to even the barest shred of self-respect.

Now, all of that having been said, I think they guy should have bolted as soon as the black guy showed up eating the kid. And I think he should have burned down the lad when he left and run directly to the cops, not passing Go, not collecting $200.00.

Bob

[Miskatonic Philologus]

Yeah, Bob Lovecraft, I think you have the fear-analysis correct. This was a definite part of the narrator's mindset in the latter stages.

Just off the top of my head, I'd say he progressed something like 1) impressed by West on both physical and intellectual levels, 2) somewhat in awe of West, and pleased with himself for being in on this "cutting edge" research with such a "cool" guy, and finally, 3) too damn afraid to get out of the thing.

When all is said and done, however, none of the above exonerates the narrator - what it does do is something in the way of explaining how a certain personality-type slowly rolls down the road to perdition... 

[Genus Unknown]

Yeah, none of this is to say that he isn't a moron for going along with West, just that his series of bad decisions is a little more understandable than, say, Barzai the "Wise."

[Tcho-Tcho Gourmand]

West's sidekick is a complete moron, no doubt about it, but compared with Wilmarth, he is a genius. But all these guys are amateurs compared with the one and only Wilbur Whately, who has the most stupid death ever when a miserable dog kills him without breaking a sweat. Let's see... that guy is nearly three metres tall, is a powerful warlock, and is Yog-Sothot's son, for god's sake!!!! You were supposed to bring Apocalypse to Earth, man. How could you get killed by a dog?

[Bob Lovecraft]

Dude, I completely agree with you. That was the most ill-conceived character death of all. The thing i want to know is this: what happened to the dog? After all, the dog did bite off a chunk of quasi-outer void material when it ripped Whilbor's throat out. Was the dog mutated, poisoned, driven mad?

Bob

[Genus Unknown]

Hmmm... there's a story in that, I'll wager...

[Tcho-Tcho Gourmand]

Mmmm... I'll have to investigate; perhaps in one of the Chaosium "Cycle" books the mutt appear again.

[Bob Lovecraft]

Mmmm... I'll have to investigate; perhaps in one of the Chaosium "Cycle" books the mutt appear again.

LOL, you know, I wouldn't doubt it a bit if it did.

Bob

[Bassik]

Hmmm... there's a story in that, I'll wager...

It's called Old Yeller.

[Boneworm]

I'm pretty sure the guard dog from the Miskatonic Library got recruited for the raid on Innsmouth, the Starkweather-Moore expedition, etc...

[MediaGhost]

I'm pretty sure the guard dog from the Miskatonic Library got recruited for the raid on Innsmouth, the Starkweather-Moore expedition, etc...

I heard it got sold to a family in Maine and they renamed it "Cujo."

[Bob Lovecraft]

I'm pretty sure the guard dog from the Miskatonic Library got recruited for the raid on Innsmouth, the Starkweather-Moore expedition, etc...

LOL, nice. That dog went on to great and terrible things. He now runs Delta Green.

Bob

[Boneworm]

I'm pretty sure the guard dog from the Miskatonic Library got recruited for the raid on Innsmouth, the Starkweather-Moore expedition, etc...

I heard it got sold to a family in Maine and they renamed it "Cujo."

Aw, there's no way Woof-Woof Akeley would have missed his shots.