Zvilpogghua, a.k.a. the Feaster from the Stars, is a fictional monster created by Clark Ashton Smith in his letters to R. H. Barlow. Smith identifies it as a child of Tsathoggua.
In the expanded Cthulhu Mythos, it is regarded as another name for Ossadagowah, a child of Tsathoggua featured in a story fragment by H. P. Lovecraft.
August Derleth, using Lovecraft's unfinished work, developed Ossadagowah in The Lurker at the Threshold.
History[]
Zvilpogghua is the son of Tsathoggua and Shathak, and is the father of Sfatlicllp. (CIRCLE: "The Family Tree of the Gods")
Zvilpogghua was conceived on the planet Yaksh, known to earthlings as Neptune. (EXP: "The Feaster from the Stars")
Zvilpogghua is known to the Native Americans as Ossadagowah and is mentioned under this name in the book Of Evill Sorceries Done in New England of Demons in No Humane Shape. He usually takes the form of an armless, winged, bipedal toad with a long, rubbery neck and a face completely covered in tentacles. He currently dwells on Yrautrom, a planet that orbits the star Algol, in the Perseus Constellation. Zvilpoggua is an alternative spelling.
“The Star Beast” is the avatar form of this god (sometimes called the minion of “the Great Old One”) and was sometimes summoned by Native Americans, although they rarely did this because it could only go back to the stars of its own free will.
Marvel Ultimate Universe[]
In Earth-1610, Zvilpogghua, the Feaster From the Stars, was one of the Great Old Ones. It was cast into "The Abyss" (or "N-Zone"), by the ancestors of Atlantis and their "Old Gods", and slumbered there for millions of years. It was mentioned by Lovecraft.[1]
It manifested in modern days when the Fantastic Four entered the N-Zone, possessing the Human Torch,[2] until it was removed using ancient magical texts from Atlantis, then trapped into Doom's body and carried into the Marvel Zombies Universe.[3]
Behind the Mythos[]
Ossadagowah and Zvilpogghua are confirmed to be different names for the same entity in "Strange Manuscript Found in the Vermont Woods", by Lin Carter, which also identifies the monster's current dwelling place as Yrautrom in the Algol system.
However, in "The Feaster from the Stars", Carter referred to Zvilpogghua's Algolian abode as either Ymar (in the Crypt of Cthulhu version) or Abbith (in the Book of Eibon version), the latter being Carter's name for the World of Seven Suns from which Nyarlathotep can be summoned to Earth as well.