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Author Topic: Describe the Leviathan Monster  (Read 5161 times)
Fletcher
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« on: February 02, 2006, 03:05:00 AM »

What do you think the Leviathan monster really looked like?   

All I remember about that storyline (I don't have the MPI tapes, unfortunately) is that three or four people went into a room (over the course of several episodes), looked up (so, it musta been big) at some monster, and went all google-eyed and crazy.  So, the creature certainly was very horrific. 

My interpretation of the creature has always been based on the iconic reliefs on the Leviathan altar, box, and book.   I seem to recall a many-headed snake-like creature.  So as a kid, I assumed that Jeb was manifest into a being looking similar to those icons.   But, that doesn't seem particularly scarey or horrific.   So, I may be WAY off-base in my interpretation of the Leviathan.

I'd like to hear how others pictured the creature in their minds.    What do you think the creature really looked like, and what made it so frightening???
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petofi
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« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2006, 03:20:23 AM »

The snake-like creature on the box, and on Bruno's Ring was called a Naga. The word "Naga" has its roots in Sanskrit and means "serpent."  This was the symbolic sign of the Leviathans, not necessarily a representation of their "true form."  The leviathan creature itself, like Lovecraft's Cthulu, were supposed to be indescribably horrible in appearance, enough to "blow your mind" with fear.  I do remember that they were slimy, and sometimes left a trail.  I agree, fletcher, that the creature may have had something reptilian about it, but I always envisioned it to be like a big, almost shapeless pile of tentacles, perhaps with black eyes.  As a kid, my friends and I would imitate the "breathing" of the creature, just for kicks.

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PennyDreadful
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« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2006, 03:57:05 AM »

I agree that some aspect of the Naga must have been part of the Leviathan creature's appearance.  The many-headed serpent holds such an important place for the Leviathans, and is similar to the Cthulhu imagery found in the cult artifacts in Lovecraft's stories.  However, this was probably just one aspect of the Leviathan's appearance as a many -headed giant serpent, while scary to be sure, is not "mind blowingly" horrible.  Perhaps the nest of snakes is an outgrowth on the Leviathan's neck or coming out of its mouth or eyes..

We know this much.  The Leviathan being leaves footprints.  It can open doors.  It leaves a slimy residue.

 I think the thing has humanoid aspects combined with the multi-headed serpent- aspect, and also some deeply horrific and disturbing overall  Lovecraftian aspect to pull it all together - something so horribly demonic  and grotesque that the human mind cannot imagine or even fully perceive it without becoming unhinged.  The only way for the Leviathan cultists were able to represent it physically, was to focus on sepentine aspect of the creature.
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Mark Rainey
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« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2006, 05:10:40 AM »

A lot like this:


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Ian
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« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2006, 05:46:53 AM »

We know this much.  The Leviathan being leaves footprints.  It can open doors.  It leaves a slimy residue. 

 I think the thing has humanoid aspects combined with the multi-headed serpent- aspect, and also some deeply horrific and disturbing overall  Lovecraftian aspect to pull it all together - something so horribly demonic  and grotesque that the human mind cannot imagine or even fully perceive it without becoming unhinged.  The only way for the Leviathan cultists were able to represent it physically, was to focus on sepentine aspect of the creature.

Yeah, that would be Lovecraft's...If you want a clear picture, I might advise visiting Wikipedia and typing in "Cthulhu." It will take you to a picture that shows what we're describing. :)
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MsCriseyde
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« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2006, 07:29:09 AM »

I always figured it looked something like the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail;)
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« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2006, 02:21:30 PM »

     How about a humanoid looking slug.  You know, it leaves a trail, retracting eye stalks. Bleah. :P  We could throw salt at it.  What in the heck would the baby that Jeb and Caroline produced look like?  Whats the point of producing a race of repulsive looking beings?  Dateless Friday Nights. ::)
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« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2006, 02:49:56 PM »

Asthmatic snakes give me the willies.  Therefore, DC is a genius.   An auteur.
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« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2006, 12:54:22 AM »

because someone(barnabas?)describes the time that the leviathan's inhabited the earth as a time when there was only "energy" not pysical matter i pictured the monster to be some sort of amorphous blob.perhaps just energy,or gas,or light.not something tangible or identifiable
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Mark Rainey
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« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2006, 12:59:24 AM »

More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...

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Gerard
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« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2006, 01:08:35 AM »

More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...

OMG!  I knew that the Leviathan monster was definitely something reptilian in a true Lovecraftian sense!

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PennyDreadful
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« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2006, 01:15:56 AM »

Yeah, that would be Lovecraft's...If you want a clear picture, I might advise visiting Wikipedia and typing in "Cthulhu." It will take you to a picture that shows what we're describing. :)

 Oh I am familiar with Cthulhu.  Quite familiar actually.  Acording to the bio on my website, I dated him in High School. His tentacles tickled.  ;)

 I think there's definitely some snakelike aspect to the Leviathan as opposed to octopoidal though.  Otherwise, why the constant appearance of the Naga?  Maybe it looks like Cthulhu but the tentacles are a mass of writhing snakes instead of octopus tentacles?

 Has anyone ever asked Dan Curtis what the Leviathan being looks like?

AAH!   Mark, that picture is truly scary.  I'm about to go catatonic...
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petofi
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« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2006, 02:06:13 AM »

Hasselhoff - - - Naga - - Hmmm....  I understand Cthulu, like Hasselhoff, is way more popular in Europe.  Could it be . . . a coincidence?


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Misa
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« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2006, 02:08:11 AM »

More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...

There is something so funny about Davie Hasselhoff. Thinking that Jeb turned into him is just hilarious.

Misa
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PennyDreadful
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« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2006, 03:39:15 AM »


 Speaking of Hasselhoff, this video must be seen to be believed.  Yes, it truly is like looking into the room in the Todd's antique shop...

http://www.thesuperficial.com/archives/2006/01/26/david_hasselhoff_is_hooked_on.html

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