Ithaqua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ithaqua (the Wind-Walker or the Wendigo) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The titular creature debuted in August Derleth's short story "Ithaqua", which was based on Algernon Blackwood's tale "The Wendigo"[1].
Contents |
[edit] Ithaqua in the mythos
Ithaqua is one of the Great Old Ones and appears as a horrifying giant with a roughly human shape and glowing red eyes. He has been reported from as far north as the Arctic to the Sub-Arctic, where Native Americans first encountered him. He is believed to prowl the Arctic waste, hunting down unwary travelers and slaying them gruesomely.
Ithaqua's cult is small, but he is greatly feared in the far north. Fearful denizens of Siberia and Alaska often leave sacrifices for Ithaqua—not as worship but as appeasement.
Ithaqua figures prominently in Brian Lumley's Lovecraft-based Titus Crow series, ruling the ice-world of Borea. In Lumley's works, Ithaqua periodically treads the winds of space between Earth and Borea, bringing helpless victims back to Borea to worship him among its snowy wastes. He frequently attempts to reproduce with humanoid females, hoping to create offspring which can surpass his own limitations, imposed by the elder gods, and so help free the rest of the great old ones. It is suggested that Ithaqua has the ulterior motive of desiring offspring to assuage his bitter loneliness, as he is the only one of his kind. None of his surviving offspring to date has accommodated him, all turning against him at some point.
[edit] The Wendigo
The Wendigo is an actual Native American legend; though the North American tribes that believed in the myth ranged considerably further south than the Arctic wastes that Ithaqua is said to roam. The Wendigo appears in many works of fiction, including Pet Sematary by Stephen King, "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood, and the movie Wendigo, in which it is portrayed as a vengeful forest spirit.
[edit] References
- Blackwood, Algernon [1910] (1998). ""The Wendigo"", in Robert M. Price (ed.): The Ithaqua Cycle, 1st ed., Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-124-7.
- Derleth, August [1941] (1998). "Ithaqua", in Robert M. Price (ed.): The Ithaqua Cycle, 1st ed., Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-124-7.
- Lumley, Brian [1975] (1993). "Born of the Winds", Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi. Tor. ISBN 0-14-017302-1.
- Lumley, Brian [1975] (1991). The Transition of Titus Crow. Grafton. ISBN 0-586-20838-0.
- Price, Robert M. (1998). "Introduction: Ghost Riders in the Sky", in Robert M. Price (ed.): The Ithaqua Cycle: The Wind-Walker of the Icy Wastes, 1st ed., Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-124-7.
- Petersen, Sandy (1989). Call of Cthulhu, 5th ed., Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-148-4.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Derleth was inspired by Blackwood's tale (who himself based the Wendigo on a creature from Native American Indian legend), but gave the creature a Lovecraftian name. (Price, "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Who Has Seen the Wind?", The Ithaqua Cycle, pg. xi.)
