Talk:The Doom That Came to Sarnath

Corrected plot summary

I've made a few corrections to the plot summary because the existing one got some things wrong.

• It wasn't inhabitants who fled, it was the visitors.
• The story never actually says that the king and his retinue were transformed into Beings from Ib, only that those who looked into the windows saw those beings - they could have replaced or killed the king and his retinue.
• There weren't ruins left afterwards, but empty marsh.

88.97.79.130 (talk) 21:27, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

Untitled

Transfered the information on Lin Carter and the name Thuum'ha from Synopsis to Connections as it is another author's later extrapolation and not part of the original story.

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 13:49, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

POVish

I have to question the tone here: "The hatred of the people of Ib by those of Sarnath eventually drove them to madness and genocide, horribly slaughtering the helpless beings and stealing their idol as a trophy."

Nowhere in Lovecraft's story do I get the implication that the Ib-thingies (they're certainly not "people", and Lovecraft never uses that word; "inhabitants" might be better) are seen as innocent victims. It's true they don't actually do anything to the Sarnath people, but one of Lovecraft's big themes was that monsters, etc. could be destructive to people simply by existing (that's why everything in his stories is "blasphemous", "foetid", "nefandous", etc.) Lovecraft often portrays destroying monsters (or evidence of them, as in The Unnamable - "It would be blasphemous to leave such bones in the world") as a laudable or necessary act. This story is certainly more ambiguous, but Lovecraft does seem to consider Ib something horrific - it is included in a list of "whispered prehuman blasphemies" in At the Mountains of Madness along with the more overtly hostile R'lyeh, Valusia, and The Nameless City. Vultur (talk) 21:59, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I changed the passage to "The people of Sarnath killed the creatures inhabiting Ib and took their idol as a trophy", since hatred had been mentioned in the previous sentence. Vultur (talk) 02:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Similarities to ancient references to Babylon

In 2014, I added the following information to this article. It was later deleted due to lack of citations--rightfully so, since it is my own research:

The message of doom written on the altar and the destruction of Sarnath during an impious feast are related to the story of Belshazzar's feast in Daniel, Chapter 5. Indeed, the description of Sarnath echoes many accounts of the glory and fate of ancient Babylon, particularly in the Bible.

The Doom that Came to Sarnath	Ancient reference to Babylon
"... and the precious metals from the earth were exchanged for other metals and rare cloths and jewels and books and tools for artificers and all things of luxury..."	"The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen...", etc. Revelation 18:12-13
"Of polished desert-quarried marble were its walls, in height three hundred cubits and in breadth seventy-five, so that chariots might pass each other as men drove them along the top."	"The wall is 385 stadia in circumference, and 32 feet in thickness... The roadway upon the walls will allow chariots with four horses when they meet to pass each other with ease." Strabo, Geography XVI, 1, 5
"Within his banquet-hall reclined Nargis-Hei, the king, drunken with ancient wine from the vaults of conquered Pnoth, and surrounded by feasting nobles and hurrying slaves."	"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." Daniel 5:1-2
"... and caravans sought that accursed city and its precious metals no more. It was long ere any travelers went thither..."	"The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing", "... and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee." Revelation 18:15, 22

KingKane (talk) 01:29, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 10 August 2020

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Page moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Warm Regards, ZI Jony ^(Talk) 13:14, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

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The Doom that Came to Sarnath → The Doom That Came to Sarnath – "That" should be capitalised. ―Susmuffin ^Talk 04:16, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

• Support proper title per most sources. Also apply this result to The Doom that Came to Sarnath and Other Stories→The Doom That Came to Sarnath and Other Stories. -- Netoholic @ 12:20, 10 August 2020 (UTC)
• Support per MOS:CT. Darkday (talk) 15:51, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.