Limits of the Elder Gods' Power
[August Derleth's Cthulhu Mythos]

It took the Elder Gods (1) a long time to defeat the Great Old Ones (3):

For it was vain to hope, as Professor Shrewsbury did, that Cthulhu could have been vanquished so easily. The battle of the Elder Gods had been far greater, far more titanic than even that impressive bomb which had erased the Black Island from the face of the Pacific that memorable day. And that interstellar battle had lasted long before victory was won by the Elder Gods, who were all-powerful, who were great above all others and banished the Ancient Ones [Great Old Ones (3)] to outer darkness forever. [Island]

In the end, the Elder Gods were not able to destroy the Great Old Ones, but could only imprison them:

"ye evill of ye Great Olde Ones is too great for such as we are if e’en ye Elder Gods have not destroy’d them but only imprison’d them in these spaces and depths to which ye stones reach in ye time of ye Stars and ye Moon." [Lurker]

The Great Old Ones were able to steal knowledge from the Elder Gods:

“I was on Celaeno—in that great library of ancient monolithic stones with their books and hieroglyphs stolen from the Elder Gods.” [Curwen]

Celaeno, where they had resumed their studies in the library of monolithic stones with books and hieroglyphs stolen from the Elder Gods by the Great Old Ones at, and subsequent to, the time of the revolt from the benign authority of those Gods. [Sky]

Dr. Fo-Lan believed that the forces sent by the Elder Gods would be unable to attack Lloigor and Zhar unless the way were opened for them first:

"It will be successful only if I can convince E-poh to open the way for Lloigor and Zhar and their countless hordes tonight—now! The way must be open, otherwise even the Star-Warriors are helpless to penetrate Earth." [Lair]

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