Ithaqua
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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"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.).
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.
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 Semetary by Stephen King, "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood, and the movie Wendigo, in which it is portrayed as a vengeful forest spirit.
Legend of the Wendigo
Wendigoes are the result of cannibalism in the forests of the north. It is a curse that causes the death of the person, and later they return as a huge beast with the desire to consume human flesh. Wendigoes are thin and seven to ten feet tall, their hearts are made of ice and their claws are often described as icicles. The majority are thin and lanky, perhaps a reflection of the hunger they are driven by. They are totally immune to the cold and have complete control over weather. Often they appear in the middle of a snowstorm's core and steal their victim when the weather is at its worst.
The Wendigo's hunger does not make its intellect go down at all; far from mindless it is evil and cunning: intelligent as a human with the strength and savagery of a monster. Wendigoes attack travellers; when there are none to be had they will make stocks of human flesh in the trees for the long winter. Some wendigoes are aggressive and will attack cabins and campers. One of their favorite games is to scare a victim so bad that he or she will run into the woods blindly, making for an easy kill.
Wendigoes know their environment: they know every cave and hill and tree, which makes them excellent trackers who can toy with their victims for hours without being seen. They are called wind walkers because it is as if they walk on the air, excelling at stealth and being very fast. Though a bane to humans, they are closely allied with the animals of the forest. The Wendigo shares its kills with the predators of the forest.
As Wendigoes age they grow more powerful. They gain the power to summon darkness, heal wounds instantly, travel great distances in seconds and even summon animals from the forest. One of the dreaded powers the Wendigo has is the fever. This fever causes the victim to have horrible nightmares. The victim will awaken and go mad and run into the forest, never to be seen again.
The Wendigo is not without its weaknesses. A group of Native Americans actively hunted the creature. One famous hunter was named Jack Fiddler, a Cree Indian who killed at least 14 Wendigoes in his lifetime. However, on October 7, 1907, he and his son Joseph were convicted of murder. They pleaded guilty, but defended themselves by saying the victim was transforming into a Wendigo and had to be destroyed.
Wendigoes are immune to almost all weapons but one. Any weapon made out of silver has great power over the monster. Usually the creatures are destroyed by a silver ax with a blow to their heart of ice. The heart must be cut out and the body dismembered, the heart buried in a box on holy ground and each body part in a lake or some other part where it will never be found.
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