Occupation

Occupations are a key characteristic of characters in stories by H. P. Lovecraft and other Cthulhu Mythos writers. Often the heroes of such stories have a profession or other calling that provides a ready-made motivation for seeking the knowledge that leads to horrific revelations.
== Academics ==
=== Professor ===
Perhaps the archetypal Lovecraftian hero is the professor, whose academic role requires a continual quest for knowledge. The professor's drive to analyze and explain leads to the dreaded correlation of the mind's contents that Professor Francis Wayland Thurston warned against. 
*George Gammell Angell (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*Ferdinand Ashley (: The Shadow Out of Time)
*George Campbell (: "The Challenge from Beyond")
*Alexander Chaupin (: "The Grinning Ghoul")
*William Dyer (: At the Mountains of Madness)
*Upton Gardner (: "The Dweller in Darkness")
*Arnold Hird (: "The Plain of Sound")
*John Kirowan (: "The Children of the Night")
*Lake (: At the Mountains of Madness)
*Paul Lang (: "The Return of the Lloigor")
*Seneca Lapham (: The Lurker at the Threshold)
*R. Layamon (: "The Freshman")
*Francis Morgan (: The Dunwich Horror)
*Thomas Olney (: "The Strange High House in the Mist")
*Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee (: The Shadow Out of Time)
*Wingate Peaslee (: The Shadow Out of Time)
*Warren Rice (: The Dunwich Horror)
*Laban Shrewsbury (: "The House on Curwen Street")
*Francis Wayland Thurston (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*William Channing Webb (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*Gordon Whitney (: "The Warder of Knowledge")
*Albert Wilmarth (: "The Whisperer in Darkness")
*Atwood (: At the Mountains of Madness)
=== Student ===
Students, like professors, are engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, only on an amateur rather than professional level, and so if anything even more liable to run into trouble. 
*Danforth (: At the Mountains of Madness)
*Walter Gilman (: "Dreams in the Witch-House")
*Wendell Trepan (: "The Freshman")
=== Librarian ===
Closely related to professors, the profession of librarian involves the collection of texts, which in Lovecraftian situations often conceal dangerous knowledge. 
*Tony Alwyn (: "Beyond the Threshold")
*Henry Armitage (: The Dunwich Horror)
*Philip Chesterton (: "The Horror from the Bridge")
*Armitage Harper (: The Lurker at the Threshold)
*Cyrus Llanfer (: "The Return of Hastur")
=== Curator ===
As libraries are repositories for forbidden books, museums are storehouses for eldritch artefacts, and so their keepers are susceptible to their malign influence.
*Henry Stephenson Blaine (: "Out of the Ages")
*George Rogers (: "The Horror in the Museum")
*Algernon Harris (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Richard H. Johnson (: "Out of the Aeons")
=== Anthropologist ===
Subtypes of professor, anthropologists and ethnologists dedicate their lives to studying other cultures. In the Mythos, comparing and analysing the folklore of widely separated cultures can sometimes lead one to uncover the truth behind the legends.
*Vibberto Andros (: "The Gorge Beyond Salapunco")
*Claiborne Boyd (: "The Gorge Beyond Salapunco")
*Tyler M. Freeborn (: The Shadow Out of Time)
*William Gregg (: "The Novel of the Black Seal")
*Henry C. Imbert (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Sir Robert Jermyn (: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
*Trask (: "The Rats in the Walls")
=== Archaeologist ===
While arguably a type of professor, the profession's imperative to seek out ancient sites and uncover long hidden artefacts makes practitioners especially suitable as Mythos characters.
*Sir Ronald Barton (: "The Opener of the Way")
*Enoch Bowen (: "The Haunter of the Dark")
*Sir William Brinton (: "The Rats in the Walls")
*Captain Carteret (: "Fane of the Black Pharaoh")
*Harold Hadley Copeland (: "The Dweller in the Tomb")
*Hiram Henley (: "The Fairground Horror")
*Robert Krug (: "The Sister City")
*Benjamin Sorlson (:"The Viking's Stone")
*Clark Ulman (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Gordon Walmsley (: "In the Vaults Beneath")
*Weildan (: "The Secret of Sebek")
*Sir Amery Wendy-Smith (: "Cement Surroundings")
*Horvath Blayne (: "The Black Island")
=== Oceanographer ===
In the Mythos, the ocean seems to be an endless source of monsters, sunken cities and unexplained phenomena that can easily baffle those who study its mysteries.
*Richard Haggopian (: "Haggopian")
*Horatio Lear (: "The Aquarium")
=== Scientist ===
Scientists seek to expand mankind's knowledge, and can put themselves in danger when facing the unknown. Alternatively, some might endanger others by performing reckless and unethical experiments.
*Dr. Fo-Lan (: "The Lair of the Star-Spawn")
*Henry Moore (: "Winged Death")
*Gustav Norby (: "The Fire Vampires")
*Thomas Slauenwite (: "Winged Death")
=== Inventor ===
Closely related to Scientists, these characters use their creativity and skill to produce completely new devices, sometimes with unforeseen consequences.
*Arthur Feldon (: "The Electric Executioner")
*Frank H. Pabodie (: At the Mountains of Madness)
*Crawford Tillinghast (: "From Beyond")
*Arthur Van Allister (: "Ashes")
== Creators ==
=== Author ===
Authors, particularly authors of weird fiction, are apt to find that the things they write about as fiction are all too real. Poets are another subtype of author who often find themselves versifying about esoteric topics.
*H. Kenneth Allard (: "Sticks")
*Biron Ambler (: "Ambler's Inspiration")
*Robert Blake (: "The Haunter of the Dark")
*Gerald Canevin (: "The Projection of Armand Dubois")
*Randolph Carter (: "The Unnamable")
*Edward Pickman Derby (: "The Thing on the Doorstep")
*Amadeus Carson (: "The Salem Horror")
*Halpin Chalmers (: "The Hounds of Tindalos")
*Nayland Colum (: "The Keeper of the Key")
*Roderick Desmond (: "The Freshman")
*Paul Edmond (: "Hydra")
*Georg Reuter Fischer (: "The Terror from the Depths")
*Justin Geoffrey (: "The Black Stone")
*Edgar Henquist Gordon (: "The Dark Demon")
*Philip Hastane (: "The Hunters from Beyond")
*Phillip Haughtree (: "Rising with Surtsey")
*Julian Haughtree (: "Rising with Surtsey")
*Michael Hayward (: "The Invaders")
*Robert Ludwig (: "Hydra")
*Ariel Prescott (: "Dreams in the House of Weir")
*Kenneth Scott (: "Hydra")
*Ronald Shea (: "The Insects from Shaggai")
*Errol Undercliffe (: "The Franklyn Paragraphs")
*Paul Wendy-Smith (: "Cement Surroundings")
=== Artist ===
Artists, like authors, can follow the quest for aesthetic sensations to the point where they transgress the laws of normal reality.
*Richard Upton Pickman (: "Pickman's Model")
*Arthur Wheeler (: "The Man of Stone")
*Henry Anthony Wilcox (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*Thomas Cartwright (: "The Inhabitant of the Lake")
*Jeffrey Corey (: "Innsmouth Clay")
*Chandler Davies (: "An Item of Supporting Evidence")
*Graham Dean (: "The Black Kiss")
*Norman Hartley (: "The Frog")
*Colin Leverett (: "Sticks")
*David Niles (: "The Sorcerer's Jewel")
*Blaise Reynard (: "The Maker of Gargoyles")
*Emily Rhodes (: "The Aquarium")
*Scott (: "The Yellow Sign")
*Cyprian Sincaul (: "The Hunters from Beyond")
*Boris Yvain (: "The Mask")
=== Musician ===
As with authors and artists, musicians can find themselves in touch with the frequencies of other dimensions.
*Johnny Kendrick (: "The Whisperers")
*Olivia Oldham (: "The Whisperers")
*Tommy Tester (: The Ballad of Black Tom)
*Erich Zann (: "The Music of Erich Zann")
=== Circus performer ===
Characters who entertain others by performing amazing or amusing acts. Since the circus, especially in the past, was a place where the unusual was commonplace, these characters can sometimes get involved in abnormal events.
*Alonzo Corbot (: "Death Is an Elephant")
*Jim Dolan (: "Death Is an Elephant")
*Sir Alfred Jermyn (: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
*Captain Zaroff (: "Fangs of Vengeance")
=== Model ===
It's not just the ghouls who get to pose for photographs and paintings. Some artists prefer to hire professional models.
*Marta Fitzgerald (: "The Hunters from Beyond")
*Kay Keith (: Strange Eons)
*Cleanthis Leonides (: "Haggopian")
*Tessie Reardon (: "The Yellow Sign")
== Government ==
=== Politician ===
Characters who have a seat in government are more commonly found in minor roles, although some might get personally involved in the plot.
*Governor James Dalton (: "The Last Test")
*Governor Stephen Hopkins (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*President Winthrop (: "The Repairer of Reputations")
=== Law Enforcement ===
Law enforcement often gets involved in Lovecraftian stories, albeit usually too late to save anyone. They are still needed to clean up the mess and write reports that will typically be classified as "unsolved".
*Constable Ian De Witt (: "Winged Death")
*Sergeant Douglas (: "The Hounds of Tindalos")
*Constable James French (: "Ithaqua")
*John Raymond Legrasse (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*Thomas Malone (: "The Horror at Red Hook")
*Constable Robert Norris (: "The Thing That Walked on the Wind")
=== Military officer ===
Uniformed servicemen, especially high-ranking ones, can be a valuable asset to handling the threats of the Mythos, although in some cases they might be just as clueless as everyone else about how to deal with them.
*General Bothon (: "Bothon")
*Louis Castaigne (: "The Repairer of Reputations")
*Lt. Commander Karl Heinrich (: "The Temple")
*Brigadier-General Holberg (: "The Black Island")
*Lt. Klenze (: "The Temple")
*Jan Martense (: "The Lurking Fear")
*Captain Edward Norrys (: "The Rats in the Walls")
*Lieutenant Larry O'Keefe (: The Moon Pool)
=== Secret agent ===
When intelligence agencies get involved in the Mythos, it's a sure sign that things are serious.
*Ellery (: "The Scourge of B'Moth")
*John Gordon (: Skull-Face)
*Mike Miller (: Strange Eons)
=== Coroner ===
Coroners are experts who determine (or, in the Mythos, often fail to determine) someone's cause of death.
*Johannes Bogaert (: "Winged Death")
*Henry Weigal (: The Horror from the Hills)
== Professions ==
=== Doctor ===
Doctors are obligated to find explanations for physical and mental maladies, and in Lovecraftian contexts the answers can often be related to Mythos horrors. One kind of doctor that shows up frequently is the psychiatrist, as their work environment is commonly featured in the Mythos.
*Jean-Francois Charriere (: "The Survivor")
*Alfred Schuyler Clarendon (: "The Last Test")
*Ambrose Dexter (: "The Haunter of the Dark")
*James Jamieson (: "The Taint")
*Muñoz (: "Cool Air")
*Ambrose Perry (: "The Ancestor")
*Herbert West (: "Herbert West--Reanimator")
*Elihu Whipple (: "The Shunned House")
*Marinus Bicknell Willett (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*John Archer (: "The Repairer of Reputations")
*James Arkwright (: "Spawn of the Green Abyss")
*Barnard (: "Beyond the Wall of Sleep")
*Major Sir Eric Moreland Clapham-Lee (: "Herbert West--Reanimator")
*Fenton (: "Beyond the Wall of Sleep")
*Allan Halsey (: "Herbert West--Reanimator")
*Hartwell (: "The Dunwich Horror")
*Jamison (: "The Thing that Walked on the Wind")
*McNeill (: "The Curse of Yig")
*Pelletier (: "Passing of a God")
*Prendergast (: "The Scourge of B'Moth")
*Randall (: "The Scourge of B'Moth")
*Ephraim Sprague (: "The Return of Hastur")
*Cornelius Van Keulen (: "Winged Death")
=== Lawyer ===
Attorneys, judges or magistrates who are often needed to handle contracts, inheritances, trials, and many other situations.
*Ernest B. Aspinwall (: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key")
*Haddon (: "The Return of Hastur")
*Ralibar Vooz (: "The Seven Geases")
*Judge Wilton (: "The Return of Hastur")
=== Cleric ===
Priests, ministers and other religious leaders who dedicate their lives to their faith, no matter which god or gods they believe in.
*Father Andrada (: "The Gorge Beyond Salapunco")
*Atal (: "The Other Gods")
*Chung Ga (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Gothan (: "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth")
*Rev. Abijah Hoadley (: "The Dunwich Horror")
*Imash-Mo (: "Out of the Aeons")
*Father Jason (: "The Isle of Dark Magic")
*Klarkash-Ton (: The Whisperer in Darkness)
*Morghi (: "The Door to Saturn")
*Leela (: "Death Is an Elephant")
*Father Peytral (: "Tarbis of the Lake")
*Taran-Ish (: "The Doom That Came to Sarnath")
*T'yog (: "Out of the Aeons")
=== Reporter ===
Reporters have a job that involves uncovering facts, a dangerous task when one is assigned to the Mythos beat.
*Jeremy Belton (: "Haggopian")
*Gerald Dawson (: "Billy's Oak")
*Edwin Lillibridge (: "The Haunter of the Dark")
*Arthur Munroe (: "The Lurking Fear")
*Stuart Reynolds (: "Out of the Aeons")
=== Detective ===
Employed as private eyes, the job of a detective involves digging up secrets, usually connected to criminality or other malice, and exploring the boundary between law and crime. For detectives employed by police departments, see Law Enforcement. 
*Andrew Paynter (: "Synchronicity or Something")
*Ogden Purvis (: "The Shadow from the Steeple")
*Jim Slater (: "Synchronicity or Something")
== Supernatural ==
=== Occultist ===
Occultists are directly engaged in the search for hidden knowledge, so when they uncover it, it's no surprise. They differ from wizards in that their Mythos knowledge involves only limited ability to control eldritch forces. Heroic occultists have a long tradition in weird fiction, with notable examples including Algernon Blackwood's John Silence and William Hope Hodgson's Thomas Carnacki. Additionally, occultists tend to be the authors of many of the Mythos' grimoires.
*Swami Chandraputra (: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key")
*Etienne-Laurent de Marigny (: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key")
*Henri-Laurent de Marigny (: "The Mirror of Nitocris")
*Friedrich von Junzt (: "The Black Stone")
*Thomas Carnacki (: "The Gateway of the Monster")
*Julian Carstairs (: "Lord of the Worms")
*Halpin Chalmers (: "The Hounds of Tindalos")
*Titus Crow (: "Billy's Oak")
*Roland Franklyn (: "The Franklyn Paragraphs") 
*Edward Barnes Halpin (: "Out of the Jar")
*Baron Ernst Kant (: "Aunt Hester")
*Michael Leigh (: "The Salem Horror")
*Roger Little (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Simon Maglore (: "The Mannikin")
*Thomas Millwright (: "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash")
*Thornton (: "The Rats in the Walls")
*Henricus Vanning (: "The Secret of Sebek")
*Makoto Yamada (: "The Black Kiss")
*Rudolf Yergler (: "Music of the Stars")
*Anton Zarnak (: "Dead of Night")
=== Wizard ===
Wizards have taken their involvement with dark cosmic forces beyond mere investigation and into manipulation and collaboration, so this is a role usually reserved for villains in the works of Lovecraft. Other writers, such as Clark Ashton Smith, sometimes gave them heroic or neutral roles.
*James Allington (: "The Suicide in the Study")
*Aphlar (: "The Sorcery of Aphlar")
*Will Benson (: "The Hunt")
*Septimus Bishop (: "The Horror from the Middle Span")
*Helman Carnby (: "The Return of the Sorcerer")
*John Carnby (: "The Return of the Sorcerer")
*Charles le Sorcier (: "The Alchemist")
*Luc le Chaudronnier (: "The Beast of Averoigne")
*Joseph Curwen (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*Dositheus (: "The Sword of Spartacus")
*Eibon (: "The Door to Saturn")
*Ezdagor (: "The Seven Geases")
*Uriah Garrison (: "The Shadow in the Attic")
*James Gedney (: "The Caller of the Black")
*Gilles Grenier (: "The Mandrakes")
*Axel Holm (: "The Trap")
*Edward Hutchinson (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*Malygris (: "The Last Incantation")
*Zon Mezzamalech (: "Ubbo-Sathla")
*Misquamacus (: The Lurker at the Threshold)
*Sir Gilbert Morley (: "The Room in the Castle")
*Om Oris (: "The Sealed Casket")
*Simon Orne (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*Asaph Peabody (: "The Peabody Heritage")
*Simon of Gitta (: "The Ring of Set")
*Ludvig Prinn (: "The Shambler from the Stars")
*Jeremy Strange (: "The Secret in the Tomb")
*Ephraim Waite (: "The Thing on the Doorstep")
*Old Whateley (: The Dunwich Horror)
*Zanthu (: "The Dweller in the Tomb")
*John Grimlan (: "Dig Me No Grave")
=== Dilettante ===
Often Lovecraft characters have no particular profession, but are drawn to eldritch knowledge through intellectual curiosity or aesthetic inclination 
*Henry Wentworth Akeley (: "The Whisperer in Darkness")
*Jervas Dudley (: "The Tomb")
*Robert Olmstead (: The Shadow over Innsmouth)
*St. John (: "The Hound")
*Robert Suydam (: "The Horror at Red Hook")
*Charles Dexter Ward (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
== Travellers ==
=== Explorer ===
Characters who boldly venture into uncharted territories, whether in search of knowledge, riches, or adventure. Sometimes they find more than they were looking for.
*Pánfilo de Zamacona y Nuñez (: The Mound)
*Juan Gonzales (: "The Thing on the Roof")
*Walter T. Goodwin (: The Moon Pool)
*Sir Wade Jermyn (: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
*Eric Marsh (: "The Lair of the Star-Spawn")
*Samuel Seaton (: "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
=== Sailor ===
Sailors travel to the far corners of the earth and so are liable to encounter the secret horrors hidden there.
*Gustaf Johansen (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*Obed Marsh (: The Shadow Over Innsmouth)
*Captain Bruk (: "The Isle of Dark Magic")
*Lazarus Heath (: "Spawn of the Green Abyss")
*Olaf Huldricksson (: The Moon Pool)
*James P. Orne (: "The Horror at Martin's Beach")
*Charles Weatherbee (: "Out of the Aeons")
== Upper Class ==
=== Aristocrat ===
A hereditary title gives one a potentially sinister ancestry, a secret-filled ancestral estate, and often enough time on one's hands to get too deeply into the Mythos.
*Sir Arthur Jermyn (: "Facts Containing the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family")
*Baron Kralitz (: "The Secret of Kralitz")
=== Businessperson ===
Characters who own a shop, or any kind of enterprise that provides goods or services, ranging from honest to shady. The honest ones rarely seek out the supernatural, but may still find themselves in the middle of it.
*Delapore (: "The Rats in the Walls")
*Hsieh Ho (: The Horror from the Hills)
*Masitte (: "The Thing That Walked on the Wind")
*McComb (: "The Electric Executioner")
*Yun Shatu (: Skull-Face)
*Mr. Wilde (: "The Repairer of Reputations")
*George C. Titteridge (: "Winged Death")
==Others==
Just like the real world, the Cthulhu Mythos is populated by all types of people, which represent numerous occupations.
*Actor, e.g. Janice Marsh (: "The Big Fish")
*Architect, e.g. Daniel Upton (: "The Thing on the Doorstep")
*Armourer, e.g. Hawberk (: "The Repairer of Reputations")
*Art critic, e.g. Jason Wecter (: "Something in Wood")
*Blacksmith, e.g. Daniel Green (: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)
*Dockworker, e.g. Nayland Massie (: "The House on Curwen Street")
*Executioner, e.g. Athammaus (: "The Testament of Athammaus")
*Lighthouse keeper, e.g. Basil Elton (: "The White Ship")
*Linguist, e.g. Paul Tuttle (: "The Return of Hastur")
*Meteorologist, e.g. David Lawton (: "Born of the Winds")
*School principal, e.g. Joel Manton (: "The Unnamable")
*Secretary, e.g. Andrew Phelan (: "The House on Curwen Street")
*Taxidermist, e.g. Wentworth Moore (: "Out of the Aeons")
*Theologist, e.g. Abel Keane (: "The Watcher from the Sky")
Category:Fictional