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dark-precipice β Ephraim Waite
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Published: 2012-10-29 15:49:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 1725; Favourites: 13; Downloads: 9
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Presenting the wizard Ephraim Waite, known to some as Kamog, and his three known vessels. It's implied that Kamog may be the name of an entity that had possessed Ephraim, as it did to numerous others before him. I however prefer the version that it was Ephraim all along, Kamog being his secret cultist name, for three reasons - one, Kamog wasn't mentioned in any other works of Lovecraft; two, no self-respecting abomination or demon or what-have-you would depend on a living vessel for it's continued existence; and three, come on, a human being basically doing what the Great Race of Yith considers their crown party trick, that's just so cool!I drew each of them with the same amulet, though it isn't mentioned in Lovecraft's text. It's just something I like the idea of existing, an eldritch 'family' heirloom if you'd like.
From left to right:
Ephraim Waite - an old and notorious practitioner of magic, he married a Deep One a sired one daughter, Asenath. I imagine he would have gone the extra mile to stand out among the common crowd, with a long robe and a fancy ribbon for his amulet.
Asenath Waite - while he feels uncomfortable being the wrong gender and species, he succeeds in using the woman's beauty to ensnare his next host. I imagine that he would feel uncomfortable showing a lot of skin, and would try to bathe with his eyes closed - I mean, it's still his daughter's body. All in all, the whole story is full of Squick if you really think about the implications...
Edward Derby - at first he was slightly plump and sporting a ridiculous goatee, but he was still boyishly good-looking. Ephraim's influence caused him to lose some weight, along with the beard and the youthfulness.
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Comments: 17
Taking a secret name has RL occult roots IIRC and I think it's also part of the Book of Azathoth initiation in HPL's works.
Kamog might be older than Ephraim, but yes, he still seems human.
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Yeah, I know. This is one of of my favorite parallels between Lovecraft's stories, between Nahab/Keziah and Kamog/Ephraim. I've even wondered if they belonged to the same cult, though my per theory is that Kamog is something like a name for the essence of Ephraim's soul, while the human names he has are merely the names of his vessels, almost like pseudonyms, at least compared to Kamog.
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Erm, I somehow cannot imagine the old evil wizard Ephraim, who has no qualms about murdering people, havingΒ bourgeois moral hang-ups. :-p
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You surely realize people are more complicated than that, right? :V
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I doubt Kamog would bathe with his eyes closed. The kind of hang up I see Kamog as having is thinking that any loss of magical power in Asenath's body is from her being a woman rather than her being only partly human.
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I think he most likely hated his female body he essentially transgendered himself (scroll down a bit here for the full WMG) as someone on TvTropes put it. So yeah, he'd definitely feel uncomfortable.
Besides, his goal in the story seems to be achieving a sort-of immortality - and he could've easily become effectively immortal, since Asenath was probably gonna mutate into a Deep One after some years.... unless he found a way to suppress the process or if she was a 'squib', or if his marriage with a Deep One requires that he give any children he might sire to the Deep Ones.Β
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I thought Kamog was the deep one Ephraim married that switched bodies with him and then switched with Asenath and then Edward. Basicall the same plot as the film "the Key" with Drew Barrymore .
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'amog' is outright stated to be Ephraim's 'secret name'.
The shape rose up from the altar, and there were 500 that howled. . . . The Hooded Thing bleated βKamog! Kamog!ββthat was old Ephraimβs secret name in the coven.
Also, Ephraim marries a Deep One and she gives birth to Asenath; then Ephraim switches bodies with Asenath, then with Edward.
What boggles me is why the Deep Ones didn't have anything to say about Ephraim basically wasting Asenath when she might have transformed into a Deep Ones when she grew older. Was he really that powerful and well-respected, or is there something else?
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In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, it seems like the true Deep Ones don't have that great an attachment to the Hybrids. But that depends on what actually happens to the Narrator after the planned family reunion.
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I have this theory that the Deep Ones, being immortal and existing for millions of years on Earth, are on the verge of in-breeding - basically everyone is related to everyone, and they need fresh blood. They figure out they can breed with humans, so they start hooking up with remote fishing villages/communities, offering gold in exchange for... well, breeding services. I imagine they got enough new Deep Ones out of Innsmouth, enough not to worry about losing the tracks of a single strain - the Narrator's grandmother or something, she was essentially a Deep One 'squib' that never turned into a full Deep One but still had Deep One genes to pass down her family line. And this particular strain was pretty hard to trace back to Innsmouth. The Narrator himself only made the connection because he had a whole lotta dirt on Innsmouth, which prompted him to look into his family history.
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Ephraim puts the 'fun' back in 'dysfunctional'.
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The whole story is very yucky and left a bad taste in my mouth when I finished reading it, and Asenath's fate is as tragic as Lavinia Whateley's. 
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Respect- yes, but like- not.
Makes me want to draw Asenath though...
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I remember reading this story. The poor daughter never got a say in any of this did she?
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