"The Temple" is a
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
written by
H. P. Lovecraft in 1920, and first published in the
pulp magazine ''
Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...
'' #24 in September 1925.
Plot
The story is narrated as a "found manuscript" penned by Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, a
lieutenant-commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
in the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...
during the days of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Altberg begins by declaring that he has decided to document the events leading up to his untimely end in order to "set certain facts" before the public, aware that he will not survive to do so himself.
In the
North Atlantic, after sinking a British
freighter and its occupied lifeboats, the cruel and arrogant Altberg commands his
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
to submerge, surfacing later to find the dead body of a seaman who died clinging to the exterior railing of the sub. A search of the body reveals a strange piece of carved
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...
. Because of its apparent great age and value, one of Altberg's officers keeps the object, and shortly thereafter, strange phenomena begin to occur – such as the dead man apparently swimming away rather than sinking.
An uncharted oceanic current pulls the sub southward, and several members of the crew suffer the sudden onset of severe
fatigue and disturbing nightmares. One even claims to have seen the dead seamen from the freighter staring at him through the portholes. Altberg has him brutally whipped, rejecting the pleas from some of his men to discard the ivory charm. He eventually resorts to executing a couple of them when it is clear that they have gone insane from fright, ostensibly to maintain discipline. A mysterious explosion irreparably damages the U-boat's engines, leaving them without the ability to navigate. They encounter an American warship, and Altberg kills several more crewmen who urge him to surrender. Later, when the U-boat faces ominous waves from a violent storm, Altberg orders the sub to submerge. Afterward, it is unable to surface when its ballast tanks fail to repressurize, leaving it being pulled southward without resistance while slowly sinking deeper into the ocean; they never see the light of day again.
With the U-boat's batteries running low, and their chance of rescue non-existent, the six remaining, delirious crewmen attempt a
mutiny, successfully disabling the U-boat by destroying several key instruments and gauges, even as they rave on about the curse of the ivory talisman. All are murdered by the venomous Altberg. His lone companion, Lieutenant Klenze, grows increasingly unstable and paranoid. Certain of their fate, the two pass the time in their drifting vessel by sweeping the sub's powerful searchlight through the dark abyss, noting that
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s follow them at depths and for lengths previously unheard-of. Soon after, Klenze goes completely mad, claiming that ''"He is calling! He is calling!"'' Unable to soothe his insane companion, and unwilling to join him in
suicide, Altberg agrees to operate the airlock, grateful to send Klenze to an assured death in the airless, crushing pressure of the deep.
![The Temple - Lovecraftian Concept Art by Mihail Bila](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/The_Temple_-_Lovecraftian_Concept_Art_by_Mihail_Bila.jpg)
Altberg, alone at last, drifts for a couple more days before his U-boat finally lands on the ocean floor, where he is amazed to see the sunken remains of an ancient and elaborate city. Deciding that it is the ruins of
Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
and overcome with excitement, Altberg dons a deep-sea
diving suit
A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply (such as for a standard diving dress or atmospheric diving suit). but in most cases the te ...
, exploring the breathtaking, indescribable beauty of the ruined city and discovering a mysterious rock-hewn temple, amazed to find the image of the ivory carving within. He spends the next couple of days in darkness as the sub's last reserves of battery power and air are expended. In the end, he acknowledges that even with his mighty "German will", he is no longer able to resist the powerful visions and
auditory hallucination
An auditory hallucination, or paracusia, is a form of hallucination that involves perceiving sounds without auditory stimulus. While experiencing an auditory hallucination, the affected person would hear a sound or sounds which did not come from ...
s, nor his madness-inspired impulse to depart his U-boat and enter the temple, now impossibly illuminated by what seems to be a flickering altar flame. Slipping on his diving suit, he releases his sealed manuscript in a bottle (which is later found on the coast of
Yucatan), and goes willingly to his death.
Connections
Like ''
Dagon
Dagon ( he, דָּגוֹן, ''Dāgōn'') or Dagan ( sux, 2= dda-gan, ; phn, 𐤃𐤂𐤍, Dāgān) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attes ...
'', ''The Temple'' is a nautical story with a World War I background. The theme of submerged cities with non-human worshipers recurs in Lovecraft's later works, most notably ''
The Call of Cthulhu
"The Call of Cthulhu" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in February 1928.
Inspiration
The first seed of the story's first chapter '' ...
'' and ''
The Shadow over Innsmouth
''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using
its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared e ...
''.
A sort of sequel can be found in the form of a role-playing game ''The City in the Sea'', where up to four characters must journey by submersible to the temple of the Mythos god Gloon (the malign force behind the events in "The Temple" whose human disguise is depicted by the ivory carving in that story) and end his threat to the human race. This game and its play mechanics may be found in ''
Cthulhu Now
''Cthulhu Now'' is a supplement published by Chaosium in 1987 for the horror role-playing game '' Call of Cthulhu''.
Description
''Cthulhu Now'' is a 154-page softcover book with two foldouts and 24 pages of perforated removable player handouts ...
'', published in 1987 by
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...
. The Lovecraftian adventure video game ''
Prisoner of Ice'' (1995) also takes place in a submarine, but during World War II.
Reception
''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' judges "The Temple" to be "marred by crude satire on the protagonist's militarist and chauvinist sentiments", and by "an excess of supernaturalism, with many bizarre occurrences that do not seem to unify into a coherent whole."
References
Sources
*
* David E. Schultz, « Exploring "The Temple" », ''Crypt of Cthulhu'', no 38, 1986, p. 26–31
External links
*
*
*
* Radio Adaptation of "The Temple" by Macabre Fantasy Radio Theater, performed live at The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, San Pedro, September 2013 https://macabrefantasy.com/2014/02/20/episode-2-the-temple/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, The
1925 short stories
Atlantis in fiction
Fantasy short stories
Short stories by H. P. Lovecraft
Works originally published in Weird Tales
U-boat fiction