Lovecraft: Through the Gates of the Silver Key

by H. P. Lovecraft & E. Hoffman Price

Free Online Text 

“And while there are those,” the mad Arab had written, “who have dared to seek glimpses beyond the Veil, and to accept HIM as a Guide, they would have been more prudent had they avoided commerce with HIM; for it is written in the Book of Thoth how terrific is the price of a single glimpse. Nor may those who pass ever return, for in the Vastnesses transcending our world are Shapes of darkness that seize and bind. The Affair that shambleth about in the night, the Evil that defieth the Elder Sign, the Herd that stand watch at the secret portal each tomb is known to have, and that thrive on that which groweth out of the tenants within—all these Blacknesses are lesser than HE Who guardeth the Gateway; HE Who will guide the rash one beyond all the worlds into the Abyss of unnamable Devourers. For HE is’UMR AT-TAWIL, the Most Ancient One, which the scribe rendereth as THE PROLONGED OF LIFE.”

Here was a story that Lovecraft's never wanted to write, had not conceived of in fact. It is the last of the Randolph Carter stories (the protagonist of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Silver Key), a protagonist which Lovecraft believed his tale to be ended. If you remember, the character’s mind had twisted back through time and inhabited his ten year old self.

Lovecraft was approached by his co-author, Price, and was convinced to continue the story of Carter past the time of his finding the Silver Key, which unlocked the doors to beyond, i.e. which leads to Yog Sothoth. From what is said, Lovecraft was not enthusiastic about the project. Lovecraft took the initial draft and altered it, though kept many of the concepts and added his own. Price was happy about the results, stating that Lovecraft "was right of course in discarding all but the basic outline. I could only marvel that he had made so much of my inadequate and bungling start”.


Issue of Weird Tales where the story was first published

I am glad the maestro of the macabre was persuaded to write this tale as it gives us a unique perspective into the Cthulhu Mythos. For past the Ultimate gate, unlocked by the Silver Key, Carter is greeted by a guide who is implied to be Yog Sothoth himself. As it was stated in The Dunwich Horror, “Yog Sothoth is the gate and the key”. The protagonist is informed that the Randolph Carter as he understands himself is a faucet of a greater whole, an aspect of an ubersoul (Not a term that Lovecraft uses, but it fits). Carter himself is a facet of a particular being, the Supreme Archetype, made up of the greatest thinkers of the universe. Considering Carter is the literary alter ego of Lovecraft this is a bit egotistical, but it is unknown if he or Price came up with this bit.  

This story further backs up my theory that Yog Sothoth has been misclassified as an Outer God. His encounter with Carter is something beyond those creatures. Yog Sothoth here is not a mindless massively powerful entity as we have seen in the rest of the Outer Gods from the Mythos. They are so alien that they needed to create Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, to be able to interact with humanity. If anything Yog Sothoth is a manifestation of one of these archetypes or unique entity formed from the reality of the Dreamscape- possibly a Great Old One.  

I think William Murray summed up this story best. He wrote, "As a Dunsanian fantasy, the Price/Lovecraft collaboration is a failure; as a Mythos story, it is rich with ideas, but curiously diluted." But as I love the Dreamscape stories, I feel that this is a wonderful story with a bizarre twist at the end to keep a reader coming back for more.

I couldn’t find any other media derived from this tale, so I’m simply going to include an audiobook version from Horror Babble. Enjoy and Caveat Emptor.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst. 

 For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.