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Not to be confused with Mother Hydra

There are innumerable tales of multi-headed monsters, all springing from the actual entity of whose real existence a few have known through the ages. This creature did not originate on earth, but in the gulfs Outside. It was… a vampiric entity, living not on the blood of its victims but on their heads — their brains… Through the eons this being has ravened in the abyss beyond our dimension, sending out its call to claim victims where it could. For this entity, by absorbing the heads and brains of intelligent creatures both of this world and of other planets, emerges with its powers and vitality greatly augmented.
~ Kenneth Scott about the Hydra.

The Hydra is an antagonist in the Cthulhu Mythos (a literary universe of shared fiction started by the late H.P. Lovecraft), serving as the secondary antagonist of Henry Kuttner's short story "Hydra". It is one of the Outer Gods which resides in an alternate dimension and is the subject of the ritual described in the pamphlet On the Sending Out of the Soul, which allows people to perform astral projection, but at the cost of invoking the dread Hydra, who possess the person performing the ritual and forces them to do its bidding.

Overview[]

Description[]

The Hydra is described as a vampiric entity of a kind, although it feeds "not on the blood of its victims but on their heads — their brains...", increasing its power by devouring their brains, causing their faces to appear within the Hydra. It appears an enormous sea of black ooze with a multitude of heads sprouting from it, some human, some alien, a new one appearing once another victim's head is devoured by the Hydra. The heads appear to be "sobbing and grimacing, as if in great agony". They are kept alive by the Hydra and will eventually die if separated from it. A few of the heads are able to communicate with people on Earth psychically.

Following[]

The Hydra is worshipped by a human cult responsible for the creation of the On the Sending Out of the Soul astral projection pamphlet. Not much is known about the cult beyond the fact that they originated in 1783 and use the pamphlet to trick people into performing sacrifices for the Hydra. The Hydra was also worshipped in ancient Rome alongside the Magna Mater.

Ritual[]

In Henry Kuttner's short story Hydra, the Hydra's first and only appearance, the being is seen when Robert Ludwig and Paul Edmond use On the Sending Out of the Soul to astral project to their friend Kenneth Scott's house. The Hydra possesses their astral forms, as it has done thousands of times before, and uses them to murder and behead Scott, causing Scott to become part of the Hydra. Scott is able to communicate with Ludwig, begging to be freed from his eternal torment and returned to Earth. Ludwig manages to travel to the astral plane via a magic crystal and free Scott from the clutches of the Hydra, but is killed by Azathoth soon after. Scott attempts to return to Earth after this with Edmond's help, but Edmond refuses to help him as he is afraid of Azathoth. The story ends with Scott returning to Earth in an inhuman form and, in his final moments, killing Edmond.

Trivia[]

  • Some have speculated that the Hydra and Azathoth are one and the same being, as they appear to exist on the same plane.

External Links[]

  • Hydra at the H.P. Lovecraft Wiki.

Navigation[]

           Cthulhu Mythos Logo Villains

Outer Gods
Abhoth | Azathoth | Cxaxukluth | Daoloth | Ghroth | Hydra | Nyarlathotep | Shub-Niggurath | Tulzscha | Ubbo-Sathla | Yhoundeh | Yibb-Tstll | Yog-Sothoth

Great Old Ones
Adam Wan | Aphoom Zhah | Baoht Z'uqqa-mogg | Bokrug | Byatis | Crom Cruach | Cthugha | Cthulhu | Cthylla | Cyäegha | Dweller in the Gulf | Eihort | Father Dagon | Ghatanothoa | Gla'aki | Hastur | Mother Hydra | Ithaqua | M'nagalah | Rhan-Tegoth | Rlim Shaikorth | Shaurash-ho | Shudde M'ell | Tsathoggua | The Worm That Gnaws In The Night | Toad God | Y'golonac | Yig | Ysbaddaden | Ythogtha | Zhar and Lloigor | Zindarak | Zoth-Ommog | Zstylzhemghi | Zvilpogghua

Deep Ones
Mother Hydra | Father Dagon

Ghouls
Richard Upton Pickman

Hounds of Tindalos
Tind'Losi kutya'i | Mh'ithrha | Ry'lcanisubyth

Horsemen of Nyarlathotep
Sysyphyx | Gr'nuk of Volkunast | The Masked Mute | Gith

Many-Angled Ones
Lloigor | Kthl | Nyerlathortech | Shuma-Gorath | Yot-Soter | Quoggoth | Slorioth

Shoggoths
Albert Schiny | Shoggoth Lord

Tcho-Tcho
E-Poh

The Black Brotherhood
AZAG-THOTH | Chang Chien | Palo Mayombe | AZAG | Tahuti | Wilhelm Reich | Ninshubur

Brotherhood of the Beast
Nephren-Ka | Baron Hauptman | Lang Fu | Dr. Ambrose Cornwalls

Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh
Aubrey Penhew

Brotherhood of the Skin
Selim Makryat | Mehmet Makryat | Duc des Esseintes | Arturo Faccia | Count Drogo | Baba Yaga | Hound of Tindalos | Skin Beasts

Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign
Magnum Innominandum | Malcolm Quarrie | Thomas Villiers | Roberto Anzalone | Giussppe Colombo | Chemb | Colia Thalna | Druf | Khorbon | Dulius Decula | Milos | Milton Drac | Octavius | Claret | Harcourt | Livius Carbo | Resseka

Church of Starry Wisdom
Professor Enoch Bowen

Cthulhu Cult
Andrada | Castro | Joseph D. Galvez

Cult of the Bloody Tongue
M'Weru | Silas N'Kwane | Rlak-lzo the Unspeakable

De la Poer Family
Delapore | Gilbert De la Poer | Godfrey De la Poer | Lady Margaret De la Poer | Lady Mary de la Poer

Esoteric Order of Dagon
Ahab Marsh | Obed Marsh | Robert Marsh

Creatures
The Children | Colour Out of Space | Dunwich Horror | Elder Things | Flying Polyps | High Priest Not To Be Described | K'n-yanians | Master of the Monolith | Men of Leng | Mi-gos | Player from Beyond the Void | Shambler from the Stars | Shan | Terrible Old Man | Wilbur Whateley | Xothians | Zoogs

Others
Abdul Alhazred | Brown Jenkin | Carl Hill | Chesuncook Witch Coven | Chorazos Cult | Crawford Tillinghast | Dr. Edward Pretorius | Dr. Howard Ashcroft | Ephraim Waite | Ezechiel Pregzt | George Rogers | George Spencer | Gramma Bruckner | Herbert West | Joseph Curwen | Karl Heinrich | Keziah Mason | Lionel Phipps | Ludwig Prinn | Martense Family | Mirdath | Mordred Glendower | Old Whateley | The Koshide Family | The Slaves of the Flame Undying | Todd Farmer | Walakea

Alternate Continuities
Nyarlathotep
The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets | Dusk | The Shore | Sundered

Cthulhu
Dark Dungeons |Underwater

Y'golonac
Putryphemus

Shub-Niggurath
Stephen King | Quake

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