Bokrug is the great water-lizard worshipped by the strange beings of Ib in H. P. Lovecraft's early story "The Doom That Came to Sarnath". Written in 1919 and first published in June 1920 in The Scot, an amateur journal, the story is a tale of pride and revenge told in the style of the fantasist Lord Dunsany.
The story
In the land of Mnar stood the grey stone city of Ib, home to silent, green, goggle-eyed beings who worshipped a sea-green stone idol of Bokrug. Men came to the land, founded the city of Sarnath, destroyed the people of Ib and carried off the idol as a trophy. Sarnath grew rich and magnificent. Then, on the thousandth anniversary of Ib's destruction, during a great feast, doom fell upon the city, and afterwards only water-lizards were seen where Sarnath had stood.
A god of retribution
Bokrug never appears in person. He is felt through the idol, the lake and the doom itself, a god of patient vengeance for a destroyed people.
Bokrug in the wider Mythos
Bokrug belongs to Lovecraft's early "Dreamlands" writing rather than to the later Cthulhu stories, and he appears only briefly elsewhere. Lovecraft gave him no symbol; designs inspired by him draw on the story's imagery of lizards, water and the sea-green idol. See our guide to Lovecraft symbols.
Bokrug in jewellery
A Bokrug design is a homage to one of Lovecraft's most atmospheric early tales. You can see the AURYN Bokrug charm.
