Carcosa, Aldebaran, the Hyades, Hastur, and Other Terms from Chamber's The King In Yellow

Aldebaran (orange star, top left) amongst the Hyades and the Pleiades (blue cluster, right)

The first time I learned of Robert W. Chambers was while reading Lovecraft's essay Supernatural Horror in Literature about three years ago. I then learned that Chambers was one of Lovecraft's inspirations, but I did not really pay Chambers much attention until — like so many others, I imagine — I watched HBO's True Detective Season One, which makes a number of references to Chambers' iconic book, The King in Yellow: e.g. use of terms like Carcosa, the Yellow King, the sign, and saying things like, "Take off your mask."

Now, there is no real need to get into how True Detective uses these terms, names, and phrases in connection with The King in Yellow, as there are plenty of other blogs and forums that have tackled this fairly well. I, however, am concerned and wish to discuss what all those strange, vague, and ambiguous terms and names are in The King in Yellow — e.g. the King in Yellow, the Pallid Mask, the Yellow Sign, Carcosa, Hastur, the Lake of Hali, the Hyades, and Aldebaran — and attempt to define and describe them within the vague usage of those terms in the book. There definitions and meanings are strictly my own, and given with the utmost in-depthness and detail so far as I have been able to determine their meaning.

But firstly, a brief description of the book is in order. The King in Yellow is a series of ten short stories, the first four of which revolve around a fictitious play called The King in Yellow; the fifth story is a romantic supernatural tale (romantic in the sense of an amorous tale, and not in the same sense as Romantic fiction, though Chambers certainly is a preeminent Romantic writer); the sixth chapter is a set of eight whimsical and bizarre short prose writings; the last four stories are not like the standard Romantic horror fiction common of Chamber's early career or like the first four stories of The King in Yellow, but rather amorous Romantic writings that became common in Chamber's later career. But those strange terms that are iconic to The King in Yellow — and would later become a gold mine to other horror writers like H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, Stephen King, Donald Wandrei, et cetera who would use those terms — are only featured in the first four stories, with the exception of the name Hastur that is used in the fifth tale. So now to address those bizarre and vague terms and names, their usage, and probable definitions.

The King in Yellow refers to both a fictional play that drives its readers mad when they read it and a terrifying king in the play. The first story (The Repairer of Reputations) of Chamber's book is the one with the most information on the play: when the mad writer, whose name is not given, published the play it "spread like an infectious disease, from city to city, from continent to continent"; numerous governments and countries banned and confiscated copies of it, and was denounced by a number of media presses and "pulpits" (Repairer, I). Later it is rumored that the author killed himself, but at the same time it is said that he is still alive (Repairer, III). It is also regarded as book of great and monstrous truth: "I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth..." (Repairer, I); "...words understood by the ignorant and wise alike, words which are more precious than jewels, more soothing than music, more awful than death!" (The Yellow Sign, III). The play, which is composed of two acts, is written is such a way that the first act leaves the reader uneasy and disturbed; once the reader begins the second act he or she cannot put the book down, and is driven insane (Repairer, I; The Mask, III; The Yellow Sign, III). The King in Yellow himself is described as powerful ("He is a king whom emperors have served," Repairer, II), possibly cruel ("...that bitter cry of Cassilda, 'Not upon us, oh King, not upon us!'" Mask, III), wears tattered clothes ("Where flap the tatters of the King" Cassilda's Song, preface poem; "...wrapped in the fantastic colours of his tattered mantle... ...like the scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow." The Mask, III; "...for  I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now." The Yellow Sign, III), and blasphemous ("...I heard the King in Yellow whispering to my soul: 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!'" In the Court of the Dragon). It is possible that the King in Yellow is not the rightful and lawful king of Carcosa, but we will return this possibility in the section on Hastur.

The Pallid Mask is a sickly, pale-white mask mentioned several times, and is worn by King in Yellow: Hildred Castaigne, the insane protagonist of The Repairer of Reputations, believes he is the successor to the throne — presumably of the throne of the King in Yellow — and claims "The city, the state, the whole land, were ready to rise and tremble before the Pallid Mask" (Repairer, III). Again in The Mask: "...I thought of the King in Yellow and the Pallid Mask" (Mask, III); and again in The Yellow Sign: "...but still we murmured to each other of the King and the Pallid Mask..." (Yellow Sign, III).

The Yellow Sign is the mark of the King in Yellow, and is probably worn on his tattered robes — Mr. Castaigne in The Repairer or Reputations puts on articles of clothing that he believes are royal articles, but in fact are rubbish, one of which is a "white silk robe, embroidered with the Yellow Sign" (Repairer, III). It seems anyone who receives the Yellow Sign is maddened and enslaved to the King in Yellow: "...every man whose name was there [in a ledger] had received the Yellow Sign which no living human being dared disregard (Repairer, III). It also appears to be a mark or symbol that is not of any known language: "... a clasp of black onyx, on which was inlaid a curious symbol or letter in gold. It was neither Arabic nor Chinese, nor, as I found afterwards, did it belong to any human script" (The Yellow Sign, II). It appears to be a symbol that is both valued and greatly feared by all who gaze upon it: in The Repairer of Reputations Castaigne hands a beggar a piece of paper with the Yellow sign on it, and the beggar "folded it with what seemed to me exaggerated care and placed it in his bosom" (Repairer, III), but remember Castaigne is mad; in The Yellow Sign Mr. Scott and Tessie argue over discarding the Yellow Sign on the onyx piece, but Mr. Scott cannot bring himself to do so, and a man that has been terrifying the two — in their dreams and waking life — is coming for the Yellow Sign. But at the same time it seems the Yellow sign is meaningless to some — presumable those who have no read The King in Yellow — such as Castaigne's cousin, Louis, who "flung the paper marked with the Yellow Sign to the ground" (Repairer, III).

Carcosa is a city that is ruled by the King in Yellow, and resides along the shores of a lake called the Lake of Hali. Descriptions of the city are few and vague, but those given paint the city as being surreal and dark: "The twin suns sink behind the lake, / The shadows lengthen / In Carcosa. / Strange is the night where black stars rise, / And strange moons circle through the skies, / But stranger still is / Lost Carcosa. / ... Dim Carcosa" (Cassilda's Song, preface poem); "Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the Lake of Hali" (Repairer, I: — essentially a dark city where shadows lengthen in the afternoon, as opposed to shorten); "...the dim streets of Carcosa" (Repairer, III); "...the black stars which hang in the sky over Carcosa..." (Repairer, III); "...I saw the towers of Carcosa behind the moon" (Mask, III — essentially the surreal city has towers that are so tall they are seen behind the moon or moons); "...the towers of Carcosa rose behind the moon" (Court of the Dragon). Chambers actually borrows the name Carcosa from a short story written by Ambrose Bierce entitled The Inhabitant of Carcosa. Bierce probably derived the name Carcosa from a medieval city in southern France called Carcassone (or Carsac by the town's ancient Celtic inhabitants, and later Carcaso in Latin when the Romans turned it into a trading post). There is essentially no connection between Chambers' use of Carcosa and Bierce's, other than that Chambers probably just liked the name.

Hastur appears to be either a person or a city in the vague context of the play The King in Yellow, though the name Hastur is used as the name of a person in another one of the short stories, The Demoiselle D'Ys (part I), in book The King in Yellow that is actually completely irrelevant to the first four stories that center around that insane play. My opinion is divided as to whether Hastur is a person or a place, as the references to Hastur are extraordinarily vague. Chambers borrows the name Hastur from another short story by Bierce, Haita the Shepherd; Hastur being a benevolent deity of shepherds. In The Yellow Sign Hastur is mentioned with another person: "We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda..." (Yellow Sign, III). In The Mask Hastur is simply mentioned among a list of places and objects: "Aldebaran, the Hyades, Alar [unknown what exactly Alar is], Hastur..." (Mask, III). It is in The Repairer of Reputations that much can be gathered to speculate on what Hastur is. It is my opinion that Hastur is some sort of rival to the King in Yellow, who may not be the rightful king of Carcosa. Hildred Castaigne, the insane protagonist, identifies with Hastur in his madness: "...I thought of Hastur and of my own rightful ambition..." (Repairer, III). Mr. Castaigne often parades in private wearing a crown he believes is made of gold and inlaid with jewels, but his cousin, Louis, tells him it is only made of brass, along with a silken robe embroidered with the Yellow Sign (Repaier, III). He also comes to believe his cousin to be a king — presumably the King in Yellow — and demands Louis renounce the crown to him (Repairer, III). Castaigne also has an unhealthy obsession with a book called The Imperial Dynasty of America, written by an equally insane friend of his, Mr. Wilde, who is the repairer of reputations (Repairer, II). If Hastur is some sort of rival to the King in Yellow, and if the King in Yellow does not rightfully rule Carcosa, then Hastur might also be a descendant of one of Carcosa's ancient dynasties or imperial families: "He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in Carcosa... the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever... the Imperial family, to Uoht and Thale, from Naotalba and Phantom of Truth, to Aldones, and then... he began the wonderful story of the Last King" (Repairer, III). He will later refer to himself as "the son of Hastur" and then call himself "Hildred-Rex (Repairer, III). When he reaches the pinnacle of his madness, Mr. Castaigne says: "At last I was King, King by my right in Hastur, King because I knew the mystery of the Hyades" (Repairer, III). It is this last example in which Hastur might be viewed as a city (given the use of the preposition in), possibly a rival city that opposes the King in Yellow. Though doubtful, I have speculated to myself that Hastur could be the name of the planet that Carcosa resides upon: "...the lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of the Hyades" (Repairer, III) — Aldebaran being a star, the Hyades being a star cluster, and the "lakes" being the space between those stars, perhaps Hastur is a planet orbiting two of these stars (remember there are "twin suns" which sink into the Lake of Hali). Hastur could also very easily be the name of a person, a city, and planet simultaneous (I'm certain there is at least one person named Charles lives in Charleston; or the fact there exists simultaneously the goddess Athena, Athens in Greece, and Athens in Georgia). All of this is my own conjecture and interpretation; certainly Hastur is one of the more vague names given in The King in Yellow.

The Lake of Hali is simply a lake which Carcosa resides next to. There is not much more to it than that. It appears from previous descriptions cited in the portion on Carcosa that the twin suns that set over the Lake of Hali are seen from the shores next to Carcosa. I imagine the Lake of Hali experiences typical whether patterns we experience on Earth, as it is mentioned as being still and calm in part III of The Mask ("...I saw the Lake of Hali, thin and blank, without a ripple or wind to stir it..."), and as windy in The Court of the Dragon ("...the wet winds from the Lake of Hali chilled my face."), and a bit more dramatic in part III of The Yellow Sign ("...the cloud waves roll and break on the shores of Hali." — similar to the preface poem). It's pretty straight forward. The name Hali is another name borrowed from Bierce's An Inhabitant of Carcosa; Hali being a fictitious author, an excerpt of whose work is given in the preface, and whom the protagonist comes to contemplate.

The Hyades are cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus. They are the nearest cluster of stars to Earth, as are they one of the most easiest cluster of stars to view with the naked eye. There is another nearby cluster of stars called the Pleiades, which are mythologically related to the Hyades. In Greek mythology the Hyades are sisters whose number varies; they are rain nymphs, and are the children of Atlas and Pleione (or Aethra). Atlas had seven daughters (also nymphs) with Pleione; they are represented as the other nearby star cluster, the Pleiades. Chambers makes several mentions of the Hyades in The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, and The Yellow Sign. It seems that the planet Carcosa resides upon orbits a set of binary suns either in the Hyades or in close proximity to them. It is possible that the Hyades are the "dark stars" regularly mentioned hanging over Carcosa. There are two mentions of what is called the mystery of the Hyades in part III of The Repairer of Reputations and part III of The Yellow Sign; exactly what is the mystery of the Hyades is rather vague and mysterious in its own right. Exactly why Chambers uses the Hyades in The King in Yellow is a bit of mystery: perhaps he liked the star cluster as I like the Pleiades (they are my favorite constellation); perhaps he liked the name. There could be an astrological significance — when the sun rises in the constellation of Taurus (April) it is spring time, a time of renewal and birth, but this esoteric association would be irrelevant to one lives on a planet that resides amongst the Hyades themselves — but this too is extraordinarily speculative.

Aldebaran is a red giant star in the constellation of Taurus, and appears to be amongst the Hyades, but is actually not apart of that star cluster. The name Aldebaran comes from the Arabic, Al-Dabarān, meaning "the follower" (i.e. follower of the Pleiades — perhaps because it appears to follow the Pleiades across the night sky as the Earth revolves). Chambers makes several mentions of Aldebaran in The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, and The Yellow Sign. It is possible the planet Carcosa resides upon orbits Aldebaran, but this is doubtful given that the planet has twin suns, and Aldebaran does not have another star in its orbit. Exactly why Chambers uses Aldebaran is as mysterious as his use of the Hyades; if the planet is in the Hyades, then Aldebaran would not hold a prominent position in the sky, as it would be significantly dimmer than it is to us on Earth (Aldebaran is about 65 light years from earth and about 90 light years from the Hyades; and as to whether or not Chambers knew this, or even cared for that matter, is unknown). It is possible that, like the Hyades, he might have just liked that star and its name.

There are, of course, other names and terms Chambers uses in The King in Yellow that are vague and mysterious; so much so that it is difficult to know what to make of them. There are two female characters in the play The King in Yellow, Cassilda and Camilla, but very little is known about them: Cassilda has a song, which is given in the preface poem; Camilla screams in the streets of Carcosa (Repairer, III); Cassilda pleads with the King in Yellow (Mask, III)... that's about it for those two. Part III of The Repairer of Reputations gives a number of names that appear to be imperial families (e.g. Uoht, Thale, Naotalba, Aldones), as well as a few others that are too vague to comment in any depth: Demhe, which appears to be some sort abyss or lake ("...sounded the cloudy depths of Demhe..." — compare to "...sounded the depths of the Lake of Hali."); Yhtill, which is possibly a place of exile or banishment ("...the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever..."; the Phantom of Truth, which is mentioned with the imperial families, but who or what it is is too vague. Then there is Alar, which is mentioned in part III of The Mask with Aldebaran, the Hyades, and Hastur, but as to what is Alar is indecipherable.

In short, the King in Yellow, who wears the Pallid Mask and bears the Yellow Sign, rules in a city called Carcosa, which is on the shores of the Lake of Hali. The King in Yellow has an enemy named Hastur, who is either a person or a city or both. Carcosa and and the Lake of Hali reside on a planet that orbits a binary star system in the star cluster in the Hyades, or possibly, though less likely, the red giant Aldebaran.

That about sums up the mysterious names and terms in The King in Yellow.

Further Reading:

Bierce, Ambrose. Can Such Things Be? 1886.

Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow. 1895.