Wilbur Whateley is the main antagonist of the horror novella The Dunwich Horror by the late H. P. Lovecraft. He is a half-human, half-Outer God hybrid motivated to release the Great Old Ones back onto the Earth to rule over it.
Biography[]
Wilbur and his twin brother were born on February 13th, 1913. It is later revealed that they were spawned by the Outer Deity Yog-Sothoth and delivered by Lavinia Whateley by means of an unholy ritual. While assuming the appearance of a normal, if unattractive human, Wilbur's fast development is widely remarked on by the locals. He takes his first steps at seven months, speaks at eleven months, reads and writes at three years old, and enters puberty the following year. His early years are spent taking long walks with his mother and being thoroughly educated in the dark and ancient arts by his grandfather. As he grows older, he also assists Old Whateley with remodeling their house to better accommodate its fourth resident.
Shortly after the death of his grandfather, Wilbur's real purpose comes to light. He is the product of a campaign to summon Yog-Sothoth to Earth in order to destroy all life and return the Great Old Ones to power. Opening the gate requires a certain incantation found only in the black magic tome, the Necronomicon. The Whateley family's copy being defective and thus missing the necessary page, Wilbur sets out to visit the Miskatonic University library, which has a complete edition in its archives.
When he arrives at the University grounds, librarian and conservator Dr. Henry Armitage is alarmed by his request and also his unusual appearance, and refuses to loan out the dreaded volume. After a series of refusals from other libraries and colleges, Wilbur returns to the Miskatonic at night to break in and steal it. Before he can get his hands on it, however, he is savagely attacked by a guard dog. His final action as he lays dying is chanting the spell to summon his father. This fails, leaving only one who can bring Old Whateley's design into fruition.
Character[]
Wilbur Whateley is every bit as unfeeling and cruel as his grandfather and regards humanity as little more than vermin. He is deeply hated and feared by most locals as well as animals, dogs in particular, and is implied to cause the disappearances of innocent bystanders who get in his way. Townsfolk also hold him responsible for the death of his mother, who was either sacrificed or murdered when she objected to his plans. Wilbur is highly educated in black magic and sets out to achieve his goals with an obsessive resolve. The only person with some authority over him is his late grandfather and teacher. While feeling some closeness with his twin brother, he also fears him. This fear, combined with determination, is his driving force.
Wilbur is described as "exceedingly ugly" with a look of evil on him that is off-putting to most people. At all times, every inch of him is carefully concealed within baggy clothing. He always exudes a horrific stench, a hallmark of his paternal family. He grows continually from birth until reaching a height of nine feet. When he breaks into the Miskatonic Library and has his clothes torn off by the attacking guard dog, the lower half of his body is found to be monstrous and dinosaur-like. Dr. Armitage describes markings on Wilbur's back, large eyes on both hips, and fanged tentacles arranged around his abdomen. From the waist down, he is covered in fur and has a large tail ending in a mouth, possibly to draw blood. Soon after his death, Wilbur's body corrodes, leaving only a whitish mass on the floorboards. His soul is then banished to his father's realm.
Other Appearances[]
Some Mythos authors have Wilbur return from the dead somehow. Robert M. Price's's "Wilbur Whateley Waiting" has him resurrected by a descendant of Ludwig Prinn in order to help awaken Rhan-Tegoth and destroy the world. Wilbur attempts to find a copy of the Necronomicon in order to obtain the relevant incantation, but various circumstances prevent him from doing so. Eventually he settles down in Dunwich and spends several years living as a hermit until he finds a cave covered in arcane symbols from his old grimoires and decides to begin again.
Glynn Owen Barrass's "The City at the Two Magnetic Poles" has Wilbur survive the dog attack in the original story, steal a copy of the Necronomicon from Miskatonic University and use it to summon Shub-Niggurath and Cthulhu and unleash the apocalypse upon the Earth. However, when humanity's resistance proves stronger than expected, he journeys to the city of the Elder Things in the Antarctic to summon Yog-Sothoth and end the world, assisted by a pack of Tcho-Tcho. Pursued by a group of humans who wipe out the Tcho-Tcho helping him, he nonetheless reaches the city and uses an incantation to take control of the shoggoths guarding the city. The story ends with Wilbur preparing to summon Yog-Sothoth, only for William Dyer (protagonist of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and the last surviving member of the human party) to unexpectedly snipe him with a specially-engraved bullet, killing him.
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 Villains
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Outer Gods Great Old Ones Deep Ones Hounds of Tindalos Horsemen of Nyarlathotep Many-Angled Ones Shoggoths Tcho-Tcho The Black Brotherhood Brotherhood of the Beast Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh Brotherhood of the Skin Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign Church of Starry Wisdom Cthulhu Cult Cult of the Bloody Tongue De la Poer Family Esoteric Order of Dagon Creatures Others Alternate Continuities | ||