The King In Yellow Hastur Symbol
In the latter day cthulhu mythos developed by august derleth and other lovecraft imitators the yellow sign is the sign of hastur and is used by members of his cult to identify one another.
The king in yellow hastur symbol. Listed with alar alongside aldebaran and the hyades as if they were stars in the mask. Gramma bruckner the main antagonist of stephen king s story gramma is also implied to be one of his worshippers. Hastur the unspeakable one the king in yellow him who is not to be named assatur xastur h aaztre or kaiwan is an entity of the cthulhu mythos. This eerie icon which is said to possess sinister magical powers such as mind control and possession is the symbolic emblem of the namesake fanatical cult known as the brotherhood of the yellow sign.
In robert chambers the king in yellow 1895 the main source of the name s prominence in the yellow mythos hastur crops up in four separate stories seemingly in irreconcilably different contexts. Hastur first appeared in ambrose bierce s short story haïta the shepherd as a benign god of shepherds. In addition according to many of these works one of hastur s avatars is known as the king in yellow. The yellow sign is a fictional symbol or glyph first described in robert chambers book of horror short stories the king in yellow 1895.
Chambers short stories the yellow sign and the repairer of reputations which appeared in his short story collection the king in yellow. Hastur is the name of a city in the robert w. The book the king in yellow which contains the short story the yellow sign is a set of loosely connected stories about sensitive individuals discovering an obscure play the king in yellow then becoming obsessed with the horrific otherworldliness. Lovecraft cthulhumythos mythologyexplained if you.
Originally it was the creation of ambrose bierce whose short story haïta the shepherd describes hastur as a god of shepherds. It notably shows up in the mysterious macabre play known as the king in yellow. Hastur s true form hastur is a name figuring in several stories and accounts. A play in book form entitled the king in yellow a mysterious and malevolent supernatural and gothic entity known as the king in yellow an eerie symbol called the yellow sign these stories are macabre in tone centering in keeping with the other tales on characters who are often artists or decadents inhabitants of the demi monde.
Today we take another look at the cthulhu mythos the half brother of cthulhu hastur the king in yellow. The most notable are presumably the brotherhood of the yellow sign and the dragon like byakhee.