| Hastur | |
|---|---|
| Cthulhu Mythos character | |
 Hastur the Unspeakable as he appears inAugust Derleth's short story "The Gable Window". Illustration byRobert M. Price published inCrypt of Cthulhu #6 "August Derleth Issue", St. John's Eve 1982. | |
| First appearance | "Haïta the Shepherd" |
| Created by | Ambrose Bierce |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Great Old One |
| Gender | Male |
Hastur (known by the epithetsThe Unspeakable One,The King in Yellow,Him Who Is Not to be Named,Assatur,Xastur,H'aaztre,Fenric, orKaiwan[1]) is an entity of theCthulhu Mythos.[2][3][4]
Hastur first appeared inAmbrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" (1891) as a benign god ofshepherds. SubsequentlyRobert W. Chambers used the name in his late 1800s stories to represent both a person and a place associated with several stars, includingAldebaran.[5]H. P. Lovecraft was inspired by Chambers's stories and briefly mentioned Hastur inThe Whisperer in Darkness (1930). Later writers have also adapted Hastur in a variety of tales.
In Chambers'The King in Yellow (1895), a collection ofhorror stories, Hastur is the name of a potentially supernatural character (in "The Demoiselle D'Ys"), a place (in "The Repairer of Reputations"), and mentioned without explanation in "The Yellow Sign". The latter two stories also mentionCarcosa, Hali,Aldebaran, and theHyades, along with a "Yellow Sign" and a play calledThe King in Yellow.
H. P. Lovecraft read Chambers' book in early 1927.[6] Lovecraft was so enchanted by the book that he added elements of it to his own creations.[7] There are two places in Lovecraft's own writings in which Hastur is mentioned:
I found myself faced by names and terms that I had heard elsewhere in the most hideous of connections—Yuggoth, GreatCthulhu,Tsathoggua,Yog-Sothoth,R'lyeh,Nyarlathotep,Azathoth, Hastur, Yian,Leng, theLake of Hali, Bethmoora, theYellow Sign, L’mur-Kathulos, Bran, and the Magnum Innominandum—and was drawn back through nameless aeons and inconceivable dimensions to worlds of elder, outer entity at which the crazed author of theNecronomicon had only guessed in the vaguest way.
- — H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"
Later in the same story, it is described that theMi-Go have been attacked by followers of Hastur, and Hastur is an enemy of theOuter Ones whom the Mi-Go serve:
Actually, they have never knowingly harmed men, but have often been cruelly wronged and spied upon by our species. There is a whole secret cult of evil men (a man of your mystical erudition will understand me when I link them with Hastur and the Yellow Sign) devoted to the purpose of tracking them down and injuring them on behalf of monstrous powers from other dimensions. It is against these aggressors—not against normal humanity—that the drastic precautions of theOuter Ones are directed.
- — H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"
Derleth also developed Hastur into aGreat Old One,[8] spawn ofYog-Sothoth, the half-brother ofCthulhu, and possibly the Magnum Innominandum. In this incarnation, Hastur has severalAvatars:
Anders Fager's "Collected Swedish Cults" features a Stockholm-based coterie known as "TheCarcosa Foundation" that worships Hastur.[10]
Hastur is amorphous, but he is described as a vast, vaguely octopoid being. In the mythos, Hastur is presented as having "a strange effect on artists and playwrights".[11]
Hastur appears asHASTUR THE UNSPEAKABLE (He Who Must Not Be Named) "Master of the Air" in the first through fifth printings of theAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons bookDeities & Demigods.[12] While the publisher legally had the rights to publish Hastur, the entire Cthulhu Mythos section has subsequently redacted starting with the 6th printing asLegends & Lore[13] to avoid any possible controversy. Additionally, theMelnibonéan Mythos section was also removed, all female topless illustrations were removed and the title of the book was changed for the same reason.
Can Such Things Be? public domain audiobook atLibriVoxThe King in Yellow public domain audiobook atLibriVox