The Temple of Dagon

I've read the story several times, but it just won't fit together into a coherent whole for me. I know that at the end (along with, as far as I can tell, every other Lovecraft story) the narrator realizes something really awful that's been there the whole time. There's the bones under the altar. And the phantom rats. And that weird recurring dream. And Norrys dying. And the narrator's speaking style going back in time. And . . .

And what the hell's going on? What's the horrible secret that he's unveiling here? What, exactly, is the deal with Exham Priory, and where does any of this stuff fit into it? Maybe I'm just dumb, but I just . . . don't get the story. And while mystery is a big theme of Lovecraft's, I think the horrible-realization part is at least supposed to be recognizable.

So, yeah. What the hell's going on at the end?

The rats were real. It's just that the narrator's ancestors worpshipped ancient evil there and the blood ties started to affect him and the spirits finally engulfed him, he went bonkers and there you go. All very simple.

It was my understanding Delapore was possessed by Nyarlathotep because he suddenly knows the name of the The Mad Faceless God whom nobody has ever heard before at least in general terms or he was possessed of his ancestors because his speech becomes an older english dialect and as he continues to "think" or "speak", it becomes an altogether ancient alien/supernatural tongue.

Furthermore, I believe Delapore may have killed and cannibalized Norrys himself because he was possessed and because he is being attacked by his cat Nigger-Man (suggesting - the phantom rats are possessing Delapore) or both cat and man went mad. Those are my thoughts but it is also an ambigous ending because HPL never ends that story on a straight note, with neither a straight answer or straight explanation because HPL only offers Delapore's confused mind and muddled thoughts. So take it whichever way you like. Madness or possession, it could be either or in honest terms actually both.

Well, actually, the really horrible bit is that the family that lived in the castle, (and all the other people that have controlled the site for centuries), have been breeding a race of degenerate humans in the caves for use in ritual sacrifices.

Along with the sub-humans, there were millions of rats that were living in the caves, eating their waste and scraps.

When the last of the family was murdered, the degenerate humans and the rats both began to starve. The horde of rats then attacked the degenerate humans and devoured them. When the rats ate the last of them, the rats then swarmed out into the town.

I don't think that the rat sounds in the walls were caused by real rats, I think they were phantoms left over from the terrible event in which all the semi-humans were devoured.

I don't remember for sure, but I think that there were hints that maybe the family had been capturing humans and forcing them to breed with the semi-humans to keep the race from degenerating to the point where it would die out. I could be wrong about that though.

Fair explanation but Delapore was undeniably possessed by spirits or maybe even Nyarlathotep, or maybe the God's name was only mentioned because he was worshipped by his ancient ancestry.

I just picked one of my Penguin Classics editions off the bookshelf, the volume containing Rats in the Walls, and the explanatory notes in back appendix says:

The succession of languages - archaic English ("'Sblood, thou stinkard..."), Middle English ("wolde ye swynke..."), Latin ("Magna Mater!"...), Gaelic ("Dia ad aghaidh..."), and the primitive grunts - is intended to convey the narrator's sudden descent upon the evolutionary scale. © S.T. Joshi, 1999

Interesting thoughts, combined with the fact Norrys' body was -HALF- eaten. Culprit - the rats or Delapore? I say the latter.

Ew, ain't HPL a twisted gruesome literary genuis.

One of my favorite HPL stories. No doubt in my mind De La Poer killed and was eating Norrys.

Something you might care to know is that what was commnoly thought of as a temple to Artemis at Epheseus has since been thought to instead be dedicated to Cybele, the deity mentioned in 'Rats in the Walls'.
Also of note is that the Irish used in the degeneration of language at the end is entirelly correct (I studied Irish at school). However, don't pat H.P. on the back just yet, for the lines he used were lifted straight from a book in his possession, the name of which I can't quite recall.

murgan wrote:Fair explanation but Delapore was undeniably possessed by spirits or maybe even Nyarlathotep, or maybe the God's name was only mentioned because he was worshipped by his ancient ancestry.

Sorry, just noticed this after I had posted. Nope, the family was clearly worshipping the goddess Cybele.
Cybele was originally one of the main deities in the ancient (we're talking trading with Sarnath and Ib here) kingdom of Phrygia. (Way off topic, but when Pythagoras was creating the Major scale modes [music theory] he named one after Phrygia). Cybele's worship was later introduced to ancient Greece, then Rome. The suggestion in the story is that worshippers of the debauched goddess carried the religion across to ROman occupied areas of England.

You are a wealth of information - and I mean that seriously

Aleister wrote:You are a wealth of information - and I mean that seriously

Why thank you.

The fact that nobody else other than Delapore and the cats could see or hear the rats makes it very clear to me that they are not living rats but phantoms. The fact that the cats and Delapore ceased to hear them upon discovery of the secret passage indicates to me that the rats were "sent" to lure him there. The fact that no living rats were seen by anybody throughout the story (other than in time long past) indicates to me that there were no living rats in the house any more than there were living degenerate humans. To me this makes it quite clear that Delapore must have been the one to have eaten Norrys.
This is probably my very favorite Lovecraft story.

Maybe not 'phantoms', in the undead term of the word, but possibly some sort of summoned horde under the sway of Cybele?

Yes, I think they were "phantoms" in the sense that they didn't physically exist as typical rats. I don't think that they were the ghosts of dead rats as such, but perhaps other-dimensional echoes of the rats which once played a part in the disturbing events of the house (by "house" I mean both the physical structure as well as the family that belonged to it).

Hmm, I still like the holy(?) retribution thing, Cybele unleashing a horde of the buggers to smite the foes of the devout.