Dagon

Overview

The earliest sources for Dagon are Babylonian, dating from around 2500 B.C. Dagon was a powerful regional god in what is now Syria. Thousands of years later, worship of Dagon would continue with the Philistines of the BIble, though for them Dagon had become a deity of fish and fertility-harvest. In some sources he is seen as the father of the god Baal Hadad. This Dagon also appears in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.

In Lovecraft

While Lovecraft's version of Dagon is not a god, he is actually a Deep One grown to massive proportions. Nonetheless, Dagon is worshipped as a god by his few followers. Lovecraft describes him as such:

"Vast, Polyphemous-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms." -H.P. Lovecraft, 'Dagon'

Dagon is an immensely huge sea creature, about 20 meters tall. Dagon first appeared in H.P. Lovecraft's short story named Dagon, later becoming a more major antagonist in the story Shadow Over Innsmouth.

In games

The Semitic god Dagon appears rarely in the Shin Megami Tensei series, while the Lovecraft derivation appears in Cthulhu-mythos-inspired games. One such is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, where another Deep One, known as Mother Hydra, has achieved massive growth. Dagon supposedly rules the Deep Ones under Devil's Reef and attacks Jack Walters' ship as he travels there. Dagon also appears in The Witcher as an underwater god worshiped by the vodyanoi.