Ithaqua

Ithaqua, also known as the Wind-Walker or the Wendigo, is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The titular creature debuted in August Derleth's short story "The Thing That Walked on the Wind", which was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's 1910 tale The Wendigo.Derleth was inspired by Blackwood's tale (who himself based the Wendigo on a creature from Native American Indian legend), but gave the creature a Lovecraftian name (Robert M. Price, "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Who Has Seen the Wind?", The Ithaqua Cycle, pg. xi.)
==Background==
Ithaqua is one of the Great Old Ones and appears as a horrifying giant with a roughly human shape and glowing red eyes. He has been reported from as far north as the Arctic to the Sub-Arctic, where Native Americans first encountered him. He is believed to prowl the Arctic waste, hunting down unwary travelers and slaying them in a gruesome fashion. He is believed to have inspired the Native American legend of the Wendigo and possibly the Yeti.
Ithaqua's cult is small, but he is greatly feared in the far north. Fearful denizens of Siberia, Canada and Alaska often leave sacrifices for Ithaqua; not as worship but as appeasement.
Those who join his cult are granted immunity to extremely cold temperatures.
He often uses Shantaks, a colossal avian "lesser race", as servitors.
Derleth classified Ithaqua as an elemental of air, alongside Hastur, Zhar and Lloigor. However, in at least one of the many conflicts among the Great Old Ones, Ithaqua seems to have sided with Cthulhu against Hastur and Cthugha. (: "The Black Island")
Friedrich von Junzt's Unaussprechlichen Kulten claims that Ithaqua, Zhar, and Lloigor are the children of Hastur and Shub-Niggurath. (: "The Horror in the Gallery")
Ithaqua might be the same entity as Avaloth, and possibly Aphoom-Zhah (: "Wrath of the Wind-Walker"), although the latter is generally regarded as a child of Cthugha (: "The Acolyte of the Flame").
Ithaqua figures prominently in Brian Lumley's Titus Crow Mythos series, ruling the ice-world of Borea. In Lumley's works, Ithaqua periodically treads the winds of space between Earth and Borea, bringing helpless victims back to Borea to worship him among its snowy wastes.
He frequently attempts to reproduce with humanoid females, hoping to create offspring which can surpass his own limitations, imposed by the Elder Gods, and so help free the rest of the Great Old Ones. It is suggested that Ithaqua has the ulterior motive of desiring offspring to assuage his bitter loneliness, as he is the only one of his kind. None of his surviving offspring to date has accommodated him, all turning against him at some point.
==Followers==
* The Secret Order of the Wind-Walker: a Toronto, Canada based cult dedicated to Ithaqua. Little is known of the group (: Cold Warning, Call of Cthulhu supplement).
==In Other Media==
*Ithaqua makes an appearance in the role-playing video game Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku.
*The video game Identity V features a character based on and named after Ithaqua.
*In the Demonbane visual novels and anime, Ithaqua appears as a Great Old One connected to the Necronomicon, along with Cthugha.
*In the light novel series Ultimate Antihero, Ithaqua is one of the Evil Gods that Homura Kamishiro has the ability to summon. 
*In the animated series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the Windigos appear to be at least partially inspired by Ithaqua.
==Gallery==
==Further Reading==
*Blackwood, Algernon (1910). The Wendigo. In Robert M. Price ed. (1998), The Ithaqua Cycle (1st ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium.
*Derleth, August (1941). "Ithaqua". In Robert M. Price ed. (1998), The Ithaqua Cycle (1st ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium.
*Lumley, Brian (1993) [1975]. "Born of the Winds". Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi. Tor.
*Lumley, Brian (1991) [1975]. The Transition of Titus Crow. Grafton.
*Price, Robert M. (1998). "Introduction: Ghost Riders in the Sky". In Robert M. Price ed., The Ithaqua Cycle (1st ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium.
*Petersen, Sandy (1989) Call of Cthulhu (5th ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium.
==References==
es:
Category:Great Old Ones
Category:Characters Incorporated From Folklore, Myth & Religion
Category:Characters Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works