Lovecraft's Young Genius Theme Theory

I have a theory. I've noticed this recurring theme in Lovecraft's work about these kids with enhanced intelligence. Strange things happen to people who are too intelligent for their own good in Lovecraft's universe. Those that poke their nose in the secrets of the universe do not come out unscathed. Ignorance is always the preferable path yet none of Lovecraft's characters seem to be able to stop their own curiosity. I recently watched a mini documentary about the links in Stephen King's works and the Shining. It seems that many of the important characters whether protagonists or side characters, have a connection to the Shining. Not the book but the actual power that is connects people to fate or "Ka" as Roland from the Dark Tower calls it. Whether Carrie psychic abilities or Chalie's firestarter powers or even the eclipse that oversees Dolores Clairborne's murder of her husband, everyone seems to be called or tied to this pull of fate whether they want to or not or whether they know it or not. Stephen King introduces himself in the seventh Dark Tower book and tells his characters that's he but a conduit for this power.

So, I looked into Lovecraft's universe to see if there was a similar link. The only theme I found connecting the stories, the Cthulhu ones, was the unimportance of mankind in the grand sceme of the universe. But, for the characters that Lovecraft has chosen, there are dark tidings for those that are "called" by this curiosity. It's not fate but the same seeking of knowledge that Lovecraft had when he was a child. I can't answer on the level of Lovecraft's intelligence but he seems to have this arrogance around him or perhaps it is this racial pride that he holds over people he considers inferior. In any case, I've seen a theme of intelligent characters in his books, but two or three come to mind that illustrate this theory of mine. The first is "The Thing on the Doorstep," which is written in the aftermath of the narrator killing his best friend. Daniel Upton recounts how he met precocious Edward Derby and how they became friends. Derby is quickly seduced by Asenath Waite who pours her father's soul into Derby not long after he marries her. Derby is described as a quick wit that surpassed his years. Some readers believe this is a self-insertion from Lovecraft which has been debated since he was self-deprecating (This seems to be my case as well). The loss of Derby's mother seems to fling him toward Asenath for comfort which in turn causes him to lose his body to Aseniah's father's soul. The problem with my theory is that it seems that grief, not intelligence, sent poor Derby to his doom. The same can't be said for my next character, Wilbur Whateley from "The Dunwich Horror." On the opposite side of the theory, Whateley dies from poor judegment when he breaks into a college and is killed by the guard dog after pursuing the Necronomicon. While only a boy he has the seven foot height of an adult and the mind of a scholar. He's able to speak before his first year and grows at an abnormal rate. Whateley's desperate desire to do something unspeakable with the Necronomicon and his invisible brother seems to show a type of foolishnish on his part. Whatever his dark plans were they died with him and left his unsecured brother to terrorize the town of Dunwich. Similar dark fates await the protagonists of "The Dreams in the Witch House" or "The Haunter in the Dark" but the last one I wanted to look at was "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Ward, like Derby, is replaced but this time by his ancestor after some abominable rites were performed resurrecting the dead man. Ward is killed and their resemblance allows the man named Jospeh Curwen to take his place. Our narrator, Dr. Willet is able to stop Curwen's plans but this is another example of someone intelligent being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ward brings it on himself for investigating his ancestor's death but Derby's death was done in by his own wife. 

It was just a theory I had but looking back it seems there wasn't a thread connecting the stories besides intelligent characters. Listening to the audiobook of "The Dunwich Horror," the Whateley character sounds inbred and retarded. One of the country folk Lovecraft loved to disparge in his stories.