- 🔀 This article is about the Great Old Ones, for the species see Lloigor (species)
“ | Lloigor, Zhar and Ithaqua shall ride the spaces among the stars and shall ennoble those who are their followers, who are the Tcho-Tcho; Cthugha shall encompass his dominion from Fomalhaut; Tzathoggua shall come from N'kai..." | „ | |
~ H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth , The Lurker at the Threshold |
Zhar and Lloigor are twin Great Old Ones from the Cthulhu Mythos, who first appeared in the short story "The Lair of the Star-Spawn" by August Derleth and Mark Schorer.
Background[]
Zhar and Lloigor are connected by the star Antares, from where they probably originated (although Rigel and Betelgeuse are also mentioned as origin points). Their mountainous ropy bodies lie in vast lightless caverns beneath the "Lake of Dread" on the Plateau of Sung's Isle of Stars in Burma. Their enormous tentacles are entangled with each other's bodies, which lie in distant parts of the same cave. The two constantly emit strange humming sounds at each other as they have for millennia since being imprisoned there by the Elder Gods. The cavern appears to have been blown up and it is implied the bodies are killed, but as the caverns were also flooded by the lake, it's possible that their bodies might now be buried.
Zhar, "The Twin Obscenity" is the older and more powerful of the twins. The Tcho-Tcho of Sung worshipped it. Though his body is imprisoned on Earth, Zhar's mind is simultaneously said to live near Arcturus (although Rigel and Betelgeuse are also mentioned).
Lloigor, "The Star-Treader" is the possible progenitor of the lloigor species. His importance varies sometimes, he being seen as he "who walks the winds among the star-spaces," as a kind of cosmic Ithaqua, while at other times he is merely listed as a minor being subservient to his brother, Zhar. Nevertheless, he is worshipped by the Tcho-Tcho people in Tibet and Burma, and connected with Hastur (his father?) and Ithaqua (his elder brother?). He has the power to "draw the body [his body?] from the earth piecemeal" and his presence is signaled by sourceless winds. There is some suggestion that Lloigor's body was killed when Alaozar was destroyed, but if so then only the flesh substance was destroyed.
In Other Media[]
- Demonbane: Zhar and Lloigor appear in the OVA that was accompanied with the PS2 release of Kishin Houkou Demonbane. However, they are very different compared to the versions from Derleth's story, as the entities are depicted as being some missing fragments of Al Azif.
- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san: Zhar and Lloigor appear as antagonists in the second season of the TV series. Their combined form is known as "ZharLloigor" and the combination resembles ChouRyuuJin from the anime The King of Braves GaoGaiGar. They run a sketchy environmentalist group that receives their funds by creating new endangered species to protect, with their latest one being a giant monkey deity named Alaozaru. However, ZharLloigor forgot to give Alaozaru enough intelligence to follow their commands, causing them to get defeated by their own creation.