Hastur

The Supposed Unspeakable One (Art by Robert W. Chambers)

### Aliases

King in Yellow, Feaster From Afar, Deity of Wind, Old Entity Hastorr, Kaiwan, Fenric, Kthanid

### Affiliation

Elder Gods, Cult of Hastur, Council of Godheads, Great Old Ones (formerly)

## Physical Description

### Spirit of

Shepherds, Admiration, Color, Morality, Optimism, Wind

## Relatives

### Offspring

Ithaqua

**Hastur** is the founder and leader of the Elder Gods as well as arch-rival to his half brother, Cthulhu. Despite being an Old One, Hastur shows a deep admiration for humanity and wishes to see it protected.

## Overview

While he is the half brother of Cthulhu, he has very little in common with him or even the rest of his species, as he shows no affection towards other members of his species while being incredibly antagonistic towards Cthulhu himself. Strangely enough this correlates with their spiritual domains, Hastur being an old one of wind while Cthulhu is an old one of water. Hastur was even the one to help seal the Great Old Ones away, using the Yellow Sign as a protection symbol against them.

It is from his good intentions that he garnered the positive attention of other deities and even the angels, gaining a high level of respect from both parties. It is from this respect that he was asked to join the Council of Godheads. That being said, it is from this that the Great Old Ones decided to ruin his image, the propagandized that he was just as bad as them in the hopes that infamy would stop him from helping humanity.

Even despite his infamy he still tries his best to keep his eldritch brethren from harming humanity.

## Appearance

Hastur originally appeared physically identical to Cthulhu - a massive humanoid figure with bat wings and an octopus-like head - but with a single difference: his eyes were colored a deep gold. He eventually abandoned this form when he tried to distance himself from the Great Old Ones.

Hastur from then on attempted to take on a more humanoid form in order to appeal to humans. He completely shrouded his entire body with a royal yellow cloak with a hood and mask that covers his mouth. His hood has three pointed ends with bells attached to each one, resembling a jesters hat. His cloak has long draping sleeves that have a curvy pattern cut into them. From his time with the angels, he gained two black dove wings on his back, in addition to that - depending on the time - either the moon or sun will always appear to be behind his head, giving the illusion of a halo.

Under his cloak he is a lot less angelic and holy, despite his resolve he is still and Old One and will therefore appear monstrous. He appears as a somewhat humanoid in shape octopus with black skin and a piercing orange eye.

## Personality

It is said that Hastur is as good as his brother is evil, though this is a misnomer as neither true good nor evil exist. Cthulhu is a mad entity, the entities who he believes are worth his attention are the Great Old Ones and the Outer God, Hastur is the exact opposite. Hastur is incredibly composed, which makes him seem weird among the other descendants of madness. This composition is what has allowed him to do good, he understands the situation he's in at all times and knows what to do to find the best solution. Hastur himself seems to radiate an air of benevolence that comforts those around him, making it hard for any further conflict to develop.

Despite his immense power and strength, Hastur chooses to solve disputes amicably by using his immense intellect. His intellect is so great that no matter the planet or realm he visits he will be able to understand the local language. He tends to try and avoid violence when necessary, usually choosing to merely imprison any aggregators like he did with the Great Old Ones.

## Powers and Abilities

Due to being an Elder God, Hastur's powers are incomprehensible to the average mortal eyes. His strength is on par with other old ones like Cthulhu, being able to take them on in a fight.

* **Great Thought**: Using an ability he calls "Great Thought" he can project his consciousness anywhere within the Megaverse that he wishes. This ability doesn't limit his abilities, as he is able to communicate and interact with individuals whenever he wants.
* **Prescience**: Hastur has a crystalline viewing monitor that he can use to predict how an action can affect the future, allowing him to plan meticulously.
* **Banishing Blast**: An ability he used to banish the Great Old Ones from physical reality. It is a direct stream of energy that he can use against spiritual entities.
* **Gamma-ray Bursts**: Hastur can shoot gamma-ray bursts from his hands that can destroy planets as well as injure Old Ones.
* **Primordial Switch**: He can summon a gigantic amount of energy and release a huge explosion around him that is powerful enough to destroy an ancient gods.
* **Cosmic Telekinesis**: Just by putting his hands in front of him or by clenching his fist he can crush and defeat primordials.
* **Nova Manipulation**: He can infuse a nova in both of his hands and create blades that can cut a planets in half.

## History

### Origin and Early life

Hastur was birthed from Yog-Sothoth before he and the rest of the Outer Gods were trapped within the Outerverse. He alongside his half brother Cthulhu were assigned to Earth and were given the task of releasing the Outer Gods from their prison at any costs.

For the longest time Hastur was content in following these orders for the longest time, after all they were his family, and his family would never tell him to do something wrong. And for the longest time this stuck, nothing that was required of him involved him hurting anything. That was until Hastur learned about Cthulhu's plan to take over the planet and make it the abode for the Great Old Ones, enslaving the human race. Hastur had gained empathy towards the human race and didn't want to see them in pain, so he immediately rebelled against the Great Old Ones. He put on a golden cloak and gathered together a group of Old Ones with similar interests to banish the Great Old Ones to the Earth. Hastur used the Yellow Sign to bind them and established the Elder Gods.

Hastur himself was most focused on Cthulhu, his supposed brother. The two had a battle that shook planets before Hastur overpowered him, though with help from the angel Sariel. Hastur used all of his power to seal Cthulhu and other Great Old Ones within the Earth to hopefully never return, though it was obvious that they would.

### Council of Godheads

After the battle against the Great Old Ones, Hastur and the Elder Gods had gotten the attention of the angels and the Council of Godheads. Sariel himself was only there to help Hastur because he along with other angels were assigned to help destroy any old ones that were missed by the aforementioned council. It was obvious that Hastur wasn't on the side of Cthulhu or his ancestors, and it was from his efforts to protect Earth and his will to overthrow his own family that he was offered a seat in the Council of Godheads.

Hastur accepted this offer but under a one request, that any and all future major old one appearances that aren't Azathoth were to be handled by him and the Elder Gods. The deities, though their efforts were appreciated, were incredibly sloppy in their execution, and Hastur felt as though an old one threat would be better handled by old ones. The Council agreed and Hastur joined them.

### Tiamat

Hastur had noticed the primordial goddess Tiamat injured after she lost in a war against her children. Feeling pity for her, he healed her wounds and in return she gifted him power over the elements.

## Myths and Legends

Hastur is a fictional character from the short story *Haïta the Shepherd* by Ambrose Bierce. The character was eventually used by Robert W. Chambers which inspired H.P. Lovecraft to mention his name in *The Whisperer in Darkness*. At this point Hastur is a mysterious character though he was depicted as benevolent in *Haïta the Shepherd*. It wouldn't be until the writings of August Derleth that Hastur would be depicted as malevolent.

On the *Gods and Demons wiki*, Hastur is depicted as benevolent to more closely align with his earliest incarnation. Furthermore he was combined with the character Kthanid from Brian Lumley's *The Transition of Titus Crow* when it was decided that copyrighted characters wouldn't be on the wiki.

## Trivia

* Hastur wishes to bring Chululas to the side of the Elder Gods so that they can finally end Cthulhu without him being brought back.
* It is unknown if Hastur has any connection to Cthulhu's spawn, the Cthulhi.