Bothon

"Bothon" is a short story by Henry S. Whitehead written in 1930 but first published in the August 1946 issue of Amazing Stories, as well as the Arkham House collection West India Lights.
Some sources regard this story as a collaboration between Whitehead and H. P. Lovecraft"Bothon" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database., although it is unknown whether and to what extent the latter was involved in its writing.
The title character, Bothon, previously appeared in a minor role in Whitehead's story "Scar-Tissue", which is part of the Gerald Canevin series.
==Authorship==
According to S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft and Whitehead collaborated on devising the plot of the story, originally titled "The Bruise", for which Lovecraft wrote a synopsis. The authorship of the final version is unclear, although Joshi's analysis of the text concludes that it was not written by Lovecraft.An H. P. Lovecraft EncyclopediaA Dreamer and a Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time
Lin Carter, while agreeing with Joshi's judgment, points out that the names of the Muvian provinces in "Bothon" bear more than a passing resemblance to names mentioned in "Out of the Aeons", a story ghostwritten by Lovecraft for Hazel Heald which also features the continent of Mu.The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter
==Synopsis==
After bruising his head, Powers Meredith, a man from the time when the story was written (1930), starts hearing sounds of cataclysm and chaos that nobody else can hear, and is captivated by ever more vivid dream states in which he is Bothon, a general from Atlantis serving in his home province of Ludekta.
Called upon to act as Atlantean ambassador to Aglad-Dho, in the continent of Mu, Bothon travels to the Muvian imperial capital of Alu, where he falls deeply in love with Lady Ledda, the Emperor's niece. Despite his prestige as a general, the Atlantean remains a commoner, unfit to marry Ledda in the eyes of the royals, and thus is sent back to Atlantis to prevent a scandal.
Following a rebellion staged by the ape-like creatures known as the Gyaa-Hua, Bothon leads an extraordinarily successful counter-strike that earns him the acclaim of his people, and organises a fleet to invade Alu and capture Ledda so the two can elope together. Although the siege of Alu is successful, he loses three-quarters of his army when cataclysmic earthquakes strike the city for the first time. His army defeated, Bothon ends up a prisoner in the deepest dungeon of the capital.
Meredith discovers that other people of his own waking world have had similar experiences and used words from the Naacal language spoken in his dream, which seem to be the effect of ancestral memories awakening, if not part of a shared dream or hallucination of ancient times.
Returning to Atlantis in dream state, Meredith, as Bothon, escapes from the dungeon amidst the surrounding chaos and rescues his beloved Ledda. Together, they flee to the high mountains of A-Wah-Ii and watch as the continent of Mu is annihilated under an enormous lethal green tidal wave, ending the civilisation.
==Connections==
*One of the words that Powers Meredith hears as part of his experience with "ancestral memory" is R'lyeh. (: "The Call of Cthulhu")
*The people of Mu speak the Naacal language. (: "Out of the Aeons")
*Other nations known to Bothon, besides Atlantis and Mu, include Lemuria and "tropical Antillea". The latter is from Whitehead's Gerald Canevin series. (: "The People of Pan")
==Behind the Mythos==
Henry S. Whitehead was the man who was primarily responsible for introducing the popular culture conceptualization of voodoo, and its accompanying zombie lore, to the English-speaking world. He was also greatly admired by members of the Lovecraft Circle, including Lovecraft himself. "Bothon" is, as with many Whitehead stories, a very early anticipation of a Caribbean trope that would eventually be made commonplace--in this instance, the idea of a Caribbean location for the lost city (and world empire) of Atlantis.
==Gallery==
Bothon.jpg
Bothon-AmazingStories.jpg|Illustration by James B. Settles (Amazing Stories)
==References==
Category:Henry S. Whitehead works
Category:H. P. Lovecraft works
Category:Lovecraft Circle Works