Misquamacus

Misquamacus, also known as Quamis, is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth in the novel The Lurker at the Threshold. While most "posthumous collaborations" credited to Lovecraft and Derleth were entirely written by Derleth, Misquamacus--a Native American leader with great supernatural powers--appeared in a fragment written by Lovecraft and incorporated into a larger narrative by Derleth. The character has since gone on to appear in works by other creators, notably a series of horror novels by the writer Graham Masterton. 
== The Lurker at the Threshold ==
One of the few fragments Lovecraft wrote that he never worked into a finished story was a simulated excerpt from a fictional Colonial-era book called Of Evill Sorceries Done in New-England of Daemons in No Humane Shape. It introduces Misquamacus, who is variously described as an "antient Wonder-Worker," an "antient Wizard," a "Wampanaug wise Man," and "head man" of "a Band of Wampanaug Savages." (The Wampanoag are a real-world Indigenous nation that lived somewhat to the south of Lovecraft Country, from what is now the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, through Cape Cod and to the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.)Plimoth Patuxet Museums, "Who Are the Wampanoag?" by Nancy Eldredge. Misquamacus lived "when Mr. Bradford was governor"--meaning William Bradford, who was governor of Plymouth Colony off and on from 1621 until his death in 1657.Wikipedia, "William Bradford (governor)." 
In the fragment, Misquamacus is the teacher from whom the colonial wizard Richard Billington "had learnt some of his Sorceries." Later Misquamacus tells Governor Bradford that "Billington had done worse Evill than cou'd be well repair'd, and he was no doubt ear up by what he had call'd out of ye Sky." This is Ossadagowah, a spawn of Tsathoggua, Though unable to dispel Ossadagowah, Misquamacus had managed to imprison it in a ring of standing stones near New Dunnich, i.e. Dunwich. 
In the novel that Derleth expanded from this and a couple of other short fragments, Misquamacus reappears under the name Quamis or Quamas, who is identified as a member of the Narragansett nation. (This is even further afield than the Wampanoag, as the Narragansett are the Indigenous people of Rhode Island.)The Narrangansett Indian Tribe official website. As Quamis, the character plays a more subservient role--presumably because he was raised from the dead by Billington's descendant Alijah Billington, and the ritual of resurrection sometimes gives the necromancer some power over those they raise. (See The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.) 
In scenes that take place in the late 18th or early 19th century, Quamis acts as a servant to Alijah and a guardian of Alijah's son Laban. In a diary, Laban notes that when he and Quamis visit Arkham, the two are "treated with great respect and marked fear," and Quamis is "not troubled as the Indians sometimes are in the streets of towns."
Quamis is overhead by Laban praying to "Narlato, or Narlotep"--clearly references to Nyarlathotep. When Alijah is suspected of sorcery by the County Magistrates (Essex County, presumably, as the court is in Arkham), he "wou'd not permit the Indian, Quamis, his servant, to be call'd up for testimony." When Alijah and Laban depart in great haste for England, Laban is told "that Quamis had 'gone away' and would not be back." A week after the Billingtons' departure, the High-Sherif seeks Quamis for questioning, but cannot find him. The Indian community still living in the vicinity of Dunwich "knew nothing of Quamis and wished to know nothing, and some "deny'd that such a Person as Quamis either came from among their number or existed at all."
More than a century later, when Ambrose Dewart is seeking information about his ancestors, a Mrs. Bishop asks him, "Are yew looking' fer Quamis, then?" She assures him that "yew needn't tew look fer Quamis because he never cum back, and he ain't never comin' back."
Yet when Dewart falls under the influence of his ancestor Richard Billington, Quamis does return, thinking he had been gone for two years or perhaps ten. He offers his service to Dewart, telling him he has been "to Mnar, and Carcosa." 
At the story's climax, Quamis (along with Dewart) is shot by Seneca Lapham with a silver bullet. While Dewart dies normally, Quamis turns into a "fine, age-old dust," because he has been dead "more than two centuries" and "walked only at Richard Billington's command."
== The Manitou ==
Misquamacus is the main villain in The Manitou, a 1976 novel by Graham Masterton, and its several sequels. Masterton recalled the first book's genesis:In those days I was writing solely for US publishers, and I needed the story to appeal primarily to the US market. So instead of relying on supernatural threats from the Old World, I turned to America, which (as far as I know) had never been done before. I remembered an article I had read about Native American spirits--'manitous'--in The Buffalo Bill Annual, 1955. And I also remembered the mysterious Indian character Quamus [sic] that H. P. Lovecraft had created.Graham Masterton: The Official Site, "The Missing Manitou."Misquamacus is also featured in a 1978 film adaptation, also called The Manitou. Another character says of him: "It's Misquamacus. The greatest medicine man of all. He turned rivers, made storms. Mountains rose at his command. No spirit ignored him. No demon denied him."
== References ==
Category:Characters Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Magic Users