Hastur

## External links

**Hastur** is one of the characters in Amazon series *Good Omens*. He is a Duke of Hell.

## Background

Little is known about Hastur pre-Fall but he is a high ranking demon in Hell. He is a very traditional demon and spends very little time on Earth and doesn’t know what a computer is. Crowley thinks he would have liked the 14th Century.

## Throughout the series

Eleven years before the end of the world, Hastur and Ligur rise to Earth with the newborn Antichrist, which they deliver to Hell’s representative on Earth, Crowley. After the Antichrist is switched with the baby from the Dowling family by the Chattering Nuns of St Beryl, Hastur declares the Order disbanded. He kills the nun who protests and burns down the Nunnery, thereby destroying all the birth records.

As Crowley influences Warlock, the purported Antichrist, Hastur questions how evil he is.

Later on, Hastur sends a Hellhound to the Antichrist for his 11th birthday and Crowley lies to him that it arrived on time and as scheduled. Hastur tells Crowley he doesn’t trust him and begins preparations for the End of the World. He arranges for the Dowling Family to arrive in the Middle East.

As one of the demons begins reading out the schedule for the Apocalypse whilst Hastur impatiently waits, he burns them.

Later Hastur poses as Archaeologist Professor Hastur Lavista when the Dowlings arrive where he discovers that Warlock is NOT the Antichrist and Crowley has betrayed Hell. Hastur contacts Crowley via a cartoon playing in the cinema and violently attacks the other figures - presumably the Dowlings and their security team.

Hastur and Ligur arrive at Crowley’s apartment to seize him but Crowley murders Ligur with Holy Water, horrifying Hastur. Crowley threatens Hastur with a plant mister he claims is filled with Holy Water, but Hastur calls his bluff and makes the bottle explode. He is briefly tricked by Crowley into believing this was all part of a test until Aziraphale calls and leaves a message that he has found the real Antichrist. Hastur chases Crowley through the phone network but is trapped inside his answering machine with Aziraphale's voicemail.

After a cold call by a call centre, Hastur is able to escape. He manifests himself from the call agent's headset as a torrent of maggots which fill the room and devour everyone in the office, leaving nothing but skeletons, before he reforms himself and makes his way to Crowley. He next appears in Crowley's car, which is stuck in a traffic jam due to the M25 turning into a ring of fire. Crowley then proceeds to drive the car into the fire, discorporating Hastur (note: Crowley and his Bentley are not affected, as Crowley *imagines* that him and the Bentley are fine, therefore they are. Hastur doesn't have this level of imagination, so he is discorporated).

In St James’ park, Hastur disguises himself as a woman in a high-vis vest and hits Crowley with a pipe before taking him back to Hell where he is tried for a variety of crimes including betraying Hell, misplacing the Antichrist, working with an angel and killing another demon. To make sure the Holy Water that Michael delivers is pure, Hastur drops a smaller demon into it, killing the demon instantly.

Hastur is stunned when the Holy Water doesn’t kill Crowley (Aziraphale and Crowley swapped appearances) and agrees to leave Crowley alone.

## Personality

A cruel, cold, despicable, well, demon, Hastur is malicious in a way unlike Crowley or Beelzebub. Hastur seems to take sadistic delight in killing ruthlessly. Despite his own disgust at Crowley's treachery, Hastur himself has killed and tortured many other demons in Hell, thus making him a hypocrite. Hastur is powerful enough to be ranked a Duke of Hell, showing just how cruel he is.

## Quotes

"Bugger this for a lark." - "In the Beginning"

"One big... avocado..." - "Saturday Morning Funtime"

"He said...I smelled like poo." - "Saturday Morning Funtime"

"What's a computer?" - "The Doomsday Option"

## Notes and trivia

* Hastur is based on the entity from Robert W. Chambers' *The King in Yellow,* in particular, the short story *The Yellow Sign*, in which Hastur appears as a pale, corpse-like man who resembles a coffin worm.