Real World Origin:
Literature, The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
In-Universe Description:
In the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu is an ancient and powerful cosmic entity and the subject of a worldwide cult. It is part of the "Great Old Ones"; enormous alien beings from beyond our space-time continuum.
Although Cthulhu cannot be fully described, it is said to be "a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind." Despite appearing to have a physical form, the being is composed of a type of matter unknown to man.
Cthulhu is worshiped in isolated places throughout the world, although the cult is primarily located in Arabia. The phrase Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming") appears frequently in the cultists' worship.
Some writers believe that Lovecraft may have based some aspects of Cthulhu on Tennyson's poem The Kraken.
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