“The Transition of Juan Romero” by H.P. Lovecraft
Huītzilōpōchtli was the hardest word I've had to read in a story by Howard Philips Lovecraft so far. I listened to pronunciation sources online at least a dozen times to make sure to get it right! Huītzilōpōchtli is an Aztec god associated with war and sacrifice. I will say — given the narrator describes his own Spanish as lacking, I’m surprised the narrator would’ve realized ‘Huītzilōpōchtli’ was what was being said. If I’d written it, I would’ve had the narrator think that that there was the sound of something about wheat, a chill, a pot, and a lea. Then, the narrator, when recounting that to an audience, would be asked if he meant “Huītzilōpōchtli” and the importance of that name would’ve been explained. However, given the narrator was interested in the occult, it makes sense that perhaps he would know that name. Who am I to question the direction of Lovecraft?
Once again, we have Lovecraft's fascination with caves/tunnels and gold. The rhythmical subterranean thumping sound in “Transition” mirrors what we’re going to hear about in “The Nameless City.” I recorded “The Nameless City” early for an embarrassing reason.* (see footnote) We have so many Lovecraft games nowadays. I want one about “The Transition of Juan Romero” that features mining and dynamite and chants and gold.
Once again, we have the blurring between the dream world and reality that takes place at night. Did our narrator really go into the abyss that night, or was it all a dream? Was the narrator’s ring really of key importance that night?
It’s rather interesting that the location of the story, which some set in the American Southwest, is not the ‘home’ of Huītzilōpōchtli nor of any Hindu deities. It makes the story all rather international, highlighting the idea that cosmic beings would operate on a scale that transcends mere national, cultural, and religious borders, and may be more compatible in a syncretic fashion than one might think. It reminds me of the international spectrum, oddly, of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” — note the usage of an American gun and the Nepali kukri by a group including Englishmen and the Dutch Van Helsing in the slaying of the Romanian Dracula on Romanian soil.
I’m surprised this isn’t one of Lovecraft’s more popular works. I think it doesn’t come off as stereotypically Lovecraftian because:
It isn’t set in New England
It doesn’t feature tentacle monsters
It doesn’t feature the ocean
It doesn’t feature cosmic entities
But, as we’ve already seen from our cursory exploration of Lovecraft, Lovecraft is more than “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and “The Festival.” The association between weird fiction and pulp fiction, between cosmic horror and adventure and detective fiction, isn’t always obvious. However, half the scenery we’ve seen Lovecraft create wouldn’t be out of place in Indiana Jones, Ducktales, or Scooby Doo, which all draw from that same pulp/adventure heritage.
A side note about Scooby Doo: if you haven’t checked out “Mysteries Incorporated,” it’s a must-see. I am not a Scooby Doo fanatic myself, but the series was wonderful. There’s only two seasons to watch. It’s “the Lovecraft Scooby Doo series.” I will avoid spoiling too much of it, but we do get cameos from Harlan Ellison (as himself,) H.P. Hatecraft (wonder who that could be a reference to?,) Twin Peaks, and it’s a great way to introduce children (maybe around age 10?) to the works of our Prince of Providence.
Video-wise, I wanted to do something fun and cave themed, but I couldn’t figure out a way to make myself look good, so I just slapped a Gameboy filter on everything using Shoost, a tool with VTS integration. VTS -> Spout -> Shoost -> Spout -> OBS. That’s the workflow.
*As you know by now, I’m releasing my Lovecraft readings in chronological order according to the order set by Donovan K. Loucks on his website Lovecraft's Fiction - Chronological Order. I’ve recorded “Transition” and “The White Ship.” So what comes next? “The Doom that Came to Sarnath.” I though “The Doom that Came to Sarnath” was set in a desert. I started the reading and realized it was not…but I already had flown to the desert so I didn’t want to waste my trip. I quickly Googled which stories were set in the desert. Obviously, “Beneath the Pyramids” is in that number. “The Nameless City” came up, so I recorded that. I still need to find a nice lake at which to film “Sarnath.”
