Randolph Carter

One of the greatest dreamers ever known on Earth, second only to King Kuranes in his achievements within the Dreamlands. Carter traveled far in the lands of dream as a young man, and even found the location of hidden Kadath in the Cold Waste. At the age of thirty he became too firmly rooted in the Waking World and lost the ability to enter the Dreamlands by dreaming. He spend the rest of his life scouring the earth looking for a way to return there.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Randolph is the descendant of the Elizabethan magician Sir Randolph Carter, as well as another ancestor who fought in the crusades, and was captured by Muslims and learned their magical secrets. At the age of ten, he underwent a mysterious experience at his great-uncle Christopher's farm and thereafter exhibited a gift of prophecy.
Randolph Carter graduated from Miskatonic University.
Like Lovecraft, he is an under-appreciated horror writer and published the story "The Attic Window" in the January 1922 issue of the fictional magazine Whispers.

Early Encounters with the Unknown

See: The Statement of Randolph Carter
His first appearance was in the short story "The Statement of Randolph Carter," in which he and his friend, Harley Warren, attempt to locate the door between the human world and a hell dimension. Though Carter survives Warren was killed by an unseen evil.

Quest for Kadath

See: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
Revelation and Transformation See: Through the Gates of the Silver Key After obtaining the Silver Key, Carter performed the ritual of the Key in the hills behind Arkham, in the cave known as the Snake-Den. The ritual opened a gateway into a strange realm, which offered up visions of Earth's distant past before resolving into an unknown area of strange stone architecture. There Carter encountered'Umr At-Tawil, The Most Ancient One, whom Carter knew from the writings of Abdul Alhazred in his Necronomicon. 'Umr-At-Tawil addressed Carter telepathically, telling him that he had unlocked the First Gate, and giving him the choice of proceeding to the Ultimate Gate or turning back the way he had come.