Hastur's name was one of many invoked by Dharmi Shan, while intending to sacrifice Conan and Lylah to his dark gods, with the purpose of taking for himself the vitality Conan would have expended in the future, possibly to gain control of a demon from the Outer Dark.[1]
Notes
Hastur was created by Ambrose Bierce in his short story "Haïta the Shepherd" (1893), and was used by Robert W. Chambers in The King in Yellow (1895). Chambers' version of Hastur was integrated by H.P. Lovecraft into his "Yog-Sothothery" mythos, being briefly mentioned in "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931), and was later fully incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by August Derleth as Hastur the Unspeakable. It has been interpreted both as a place and a being.[2]
It is unknown if the "Hastur" of Marvel Comics is a location or a character. So far, that name has only been mentioned as part of an invocation (made of many Cthulhu Mythos-related names) in "Barbarians of the Border" (Savage Sword of Conan #200; August, 1992).
Some characters created by Marvel Comics have been or may have been inspired by Hastur:
Knull's title of "King in Black" is a reference to Hastur, the King in Yellow. Furthermore, Knull's spiral emblem is based on the Spiral of Carcosa from True Detective, which is a reference to Carcosa,[3] which is associated to Hastur.
The Asgardian God of Mischief Loki served as the inspiration for the character of the King in Yellow in the eponymous play (as well as being the initiator of its writing).[4]
