[3] In the Mythos canon, the Elder Things are the first extraterrestrial species to come to the Earth, colonizing the planet about one billion years ago.

[4] They stand roughly eight feet tall and have the appearance of a huge, oval-shaped barrel with starfish-like appendages at both ends.

The Old Ones, but for their abnormal toughness and peculiar vital properties, were strictly material, and must have their absolute origin within the known space-time continuum.

Although they initially colonized the entirety of Earth, successive wars over millions of years with the Great Race of Yith, the Star-spawn of Cthulhu, the Mi-go, and a rebellion of the Shoggoths weakened them.

The final fate of the Elder Things is explicitly unclear, and the human scientists in the story openly speculate that hidden undersea cities may still survive in some places.

In "The Dreams in the Witch-House", the central character is sent through a dimensional portal to a planet in a triple star system located "between Hydra and Argo Navis", which is populated by Elder Things.