Zhar is a fictional deity in the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify ...

. The being first appeared in the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

"The Lair of the Star-Spawn" ( 1932) by

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

and Mark Schorer. Zhar and its companion Lloigor are together known as ''the Twin Obscenities''.

Zhar in the mythos

Zhar is a

Great Old One American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans who can barely begin to ...

and appears as a colossal mass of tentacles. The being came from the

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...

Arcturus , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" , Note (category: variability): , , H and K emission vary. Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Boötes. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05, it is the third-brightest of ...

, but now dwells beneath the buried city of Alaozar on the Plateau of Sung. It is served by a cult known as the Tcho-Tcho's "Brotherhood of the Star Treader." When called upon by the proper

incantation An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during cerem ...

s, Zhar can project itself astrally in the form of the ''Tulku''. It can also

telepathically Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

transmit its urges to its worshippers. Zhar is believed to be physically connected to its "twin", Lloigor, perhaps by a long extension of tentacles. In Derleth's classification system, both Zhar and Lloigor are ''air elementals''.

Lloigor

Lloigor is another gargantuan monster that dwells beneath Alaozar with Zhar. Together, they are known as the ''Twin Obscenities''. Lloigor appears as a titanic, winged mound of undulating tentacles and is also served by a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...

known as the ''Tcho-Tcho's Brotherhood of the Star Treader''. It has the power to control great winds, which it can use to snare and capture any unfortunates who chance upon it. Like Zhar, Lloigor can project its image whenever Arcturus (the star from whence it came) is in the sky. A race of energy beings known as the Lloigor shares the same name with the eponymous Great Old One; however, there appears to be no connection between the two.

Alaozar

Alaozar is a fabled, buried city on the mysterious Plateau of Sung in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Sung is also believed to be an extension of the

Plateau of Leng ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Begun probably in the autumn of 1926, the draft was completed on January 22, 1927 and it remained unrevised and unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the l ...

). The city is said to be located on the "Isle of Stars" within the "Lake of Dread". It is here where legends claim that beings from the stars arrived several

millennia A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

ago. Though the actual site has never been discovered, it is nonetheless venerated as a holy place by the Tcho-Tcho people because it is home to Zhar and Lloigor.

References

* * * * * * * Mayer, Frederick J.(originals 2008-2009). The "A Tcho 'Brotherhood of the Star Treader' Narrative" series, THE ELDRITCH DARK, "The Sanctum of Clark Ashton Smith" website. {{refend Cthulhu Mythos deities Fictional characters introduced in 1932