Hastur: the Lovecraftian King of Madness

January 5, 2024

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Categories: Learnin'

Hastur is an absolutely horrifying entity that no one would (or should) ever want to encounter. He is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most influential creations and has an influence as powerful as Cthulu in some areas. However, he has unusual origins and several interpretations, so there’s a possibility you know him by another name.

Origins

This look for Hastur is one of the most popular. [Photo credit: Mike Capprotti via cardgamedb.com]

The first time Hastur is seen is in Ambrose Bierce’s “Haïta the Shepherd” (1893). However, he has a completely different form. Bierce depicts Hastur as a harmless shepherd god that, in comparison to our modern Hastur, wouldn’t hurt a fly. Haïta prays to Hastur, and he responds:

‘It is kind of thee, O Hastur,’ so he prayed, ‘to give me mountains so near to my dwelling and my fold that I and my sheep can escape the angry torrents; but the rest of the world thou must thyself deliver in some way that I know not of, or I will no longer worship thee.’

And Hastur, knowing that Haita was a youth who kept his word, spared the cities and turned the waters into the sea.

Lovecraft only took the word ‘Hastur’ as inspiration, and left the rest. So, in today’s depictions, you won’t see anything like the original idea behind him. The word Hastur itself comes from the name of a city in Robert W. Chambers’ “The Yellow Sign” from the 1895 collection of short stories “The King in Yellow”. The word itself is just as vague and ambiguous in its origin as Hastur is.

How would you react if this appeared in the real world?[Photo credit: Barguest via Pinterest]

His power is enough alone but he looks the part of a Lovecraftian horror too. Hastur is typically drawn as an octopus-like creature with long tentacles, occasionally less human and more of a rigid creature varying in appearance. More often than not he is seen as a humanoid figure in robes surrounded by a shroud of darkness. However, Lovecraft left the overall form of Hastur fairly ambiguous. It is unclear what Hastur is exactly, though many have concluded that he is some kind of god.

The Yellow King

The King in Yellow is a great read and can help understand the madness that contributes to Hastur. [Photo credit: Robert Chambers via Wikipedia]

“The King in Yellow” is goth fiction that follows a sinister force known as the King in Yellow and a two-act play by the same name among other characters through ten stories. It is assumed that he lives in the city of Carcosa. Reading the play is supposed to make you go insane and fall victim to the nature of the Yellow King who is known for possession of living and dead bodies for typically unclear reasons.

The Yellow King looks like a human dressed in long yellow robes wearing a pallid mask. Many may know him instead of Hastur, whom he has been associated with since Lovecraft’s early works. Over time Hastur and the King in Yellow have been used interchangeably or as one in the same between the two entities, with several depictions of Hastur having the same yellow robes with added tentacles.

Modern Influence

Hastur’s symbol is on the object in Hastur’s hand in this picture, which is oddly tentacle-like. [Photo credit: Tuan Publishing via pinterest]

Hastur has come to impact several forms of modern media, especially future literature and tabletop RPGs though more influence and appearances can also be seen in video games, tv shows, and other media. Over time his interpretation has changed and seems to constantly evolve into a slightly (or very) different creature with extremely dark powers.

Author August Dereleth took it a step further and gave some more context to the creature. He explained in his writing that Hastur is the child of Yog-Sothoth and is a half-brother to Cthulu. Dereleth also had a huge impact as to why he is seen as the Yellow King in literature since that’s his own depiction. He also described Hastur as a huge flying tentacle-having creature similar to Cthylla.

Dungeons and Dragons first picked up Hastur with his power so intense that even mentioning his name in-game is supposed to bring horror and chaos. Soon after Call of Cthulu, a tabletop RPG based on Lovecraft’s work, features Hastur as one of many enemies.

No matter the representation he follows the same theme of madness and Lovecraftian horror, or at least as an enemy of some kind in some more loosely related appearances in media. Stephen King fans may know that he even had an appearance in King’s short story Gramma where a young boy is left to watch over his Grandma (or Gramma) and Hastur happens to be Gramma’s “taken father”. Hastur even has an impact overseas as Hastur makes appearances in Asia in several animes and mangas as a dark god either designed similarly to the Western depiction or in a concealed form as a human.

Conclusion

Whether you knew him as the Yellow king or as Hastur, or maybe not at all, Hastur is a perfect part of the mythos to learn about. [Photo credit: unknown via Infinite Realm Wiki]

Hastur is an insanely cool Lovecraftian horror, as well as terrifying. Wherever he goes madness soon follows and based on the existing illustrations of him, anyone could understand why just by how he looks. Between his tentacles, malevolent intentions, and power of possession, he is something that shouldn’t be messed with. His madness has spread around the world with his influence showing in several forms of media over the years ever since his creation, and his legacy will surely live on.

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Grace Ainsworth

About the Author

Grace is a freelancer of many talents: writer, artist, designer, and photographer. Maybe also smart-aleck and gunslinger, we're not entirely sure. We'll know better after she's been with us a while!