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Hastur is a demon and a Duke of Hell. In Crowley’s opinion, Hastur and his associate, Ligur, are evil almost beyond belief—the only beings as evil as these two, Crowley suggests, are human. Hastur also has what Crowley refers to as a “fourteenth-century mind,” in that he hasn’t adapted to the realities of the modern world. He concentrates his efforts on tempting individual people, rather than using modern technology to corrupt the masses. Hastur is the demon who hands over the Antichrist to Crowley, and later, he joins Ligur in collecting Crowley before Armageddon (the end of the world). Crowley manages to trap Hastur in his answering machine—but Hastur escapes when telemarketers call Crowley. Hastur leaps through the phone line, turns into a million maggots, and devours the office of telemarketers in seconds. After this, he disappears from the story.
Hastur Quotes in Good Omens
The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by Hastur or refer to Hastur. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Eleven Years Ago Quotes
“I tied up every portable telephone system in Central London for forty-five minutes at lunchtime,” he said.
There was silence, except for the distant swishing of cars.
[...]
What could he tell them? That twenty thousand people got bloody furious? That you could hear the arteries clanging shut all across the city? And that then they went back and took it out on their secretaries or traffic wardens or whatever, and they took it out on other people? In all kinds of vindictive little ways which, and here was the good bit, they thought up themselves.
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When Crowley meets up with demons Hastur and Ligur, the Dukes of Hell, the three of them recount their recent evil deeds. While Hastur and Ligur stuck to tempting clergy and corrupting politicians, Crowley took the subtler approach of sabotaging London’s phone system. He clearly takes a very different view on evil deeds—one that doesn’t resonate with his colleagues. Crowley’s evil deed reflects his love of and familiarity with the modern world (the novel takes place in the late 1980s). In his opinion, it’s not enough to target and tempt individuals—the modern world is too big for that. And fortunately Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas sus
Saturday Quotes
Now, as Crowley would be the first to protest, most demons weren’t deep down evil. In the great cosmic game they felt they occupied the same position as tax inspectors—doing an unpopular job, maybe, but essential to the overall operations of the whole thing. If it came to that, some angels weren’t paragons of virtue; Crowley had met one or two who, when it came to righteously smiting the ungodly, smote a good deal harder than was strictly necessary. On the whole, everyone had a job to do, and just did it.
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In the moments before demons Hastur and Ligur arrive to collect Crowley before Armageddon (the end of the world), the narrator explains how Crowley thinks of his own role as a demon. In his mind, he’s just doing his job when he tempts people or makes their lives just a little bit worse. It might be an “unpopular job”—but in order to keep the world functioning with its balance of both good and evil, it’s essential that Crowley do his job and do it well. However, Crowley notes that not all angels are as good as one might expect them Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Volup
But, to look on the bright side, all this only went to prove that evil contains the seeds of its own destruction. Right now, across the country, people who would otherwise have been made just that little bit more tense and angry by being summoned from a nice bath, or having their names mispronounced at them, were instead feeling quite untroubled and at peace with the world. As a result of Hastur’s action a wave of low-grade goodness started to spread exponentially through the population, and millions of people who ultimately would have suffered minor bruises of the soul did not in fact do so. So that was all right.
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Hastur, who had been trapped in Crowley’s answering machine, has just broken out of his prison in a room full of telemarketers, turned into maggots, and devoured the telemarketers. The narrator, however, suggests that there’s a good side to all of this—seemingly implying that, although Hastur’s methods were cruel, sparing people the annoyance of telemarketing is a virtuous thing to do. With this, the novel suggests that it’s impossible to neatly categorize things, people, or occurrences into either good or evil categories. What Hastur did was disgusting and evil—but the consequences of his action aren’t as evil as one might Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum.
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Hastur Character Timeline in Good Omens
The timeline below shows where the character Hastur appears in Good Omens. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Eleven Years Ago
The two demons in the graveyard, Hastur and Ligur, see lights coming. Hastur tries to explain to Ligur what a car is...
(full context)
Hastur reaches behind a tombstone for a basket, which contains the demons’ reason for meeting. Crowley...
(full context)
Wednesday
...destroyed in a fire that occurred just after the incident. Crowley groans—the fire was probably Hastur’s doing. Suddenly, Aziraphale hears sirens outside, and he insists that Crowley hurry up, refusing to...
(full context)
Saturday
...Crowley can see a car-shaped thing coming down the street. Most demons aren’t strictly evil—but Hastur and Ligur are evil enough to pass for human.
(full context)
...office door and then sits at his desk, plant mister in hand. When he hears Hastur and Ligur enter, he calls that he’s in the office.
(full context)
...the door open. The bucket falls neatly on his head, and Ligur screams and dissolves. Hastur snarls that Crowley had no reason to use holy water on Ligur, since Ligur hadn’t...
(full context)
Crowley moves quickly down a phone line, Hastur a few inches behind him. Crowley listens for three rings and then stops suddenly. Hastur...
(full context)
...consume the telemarketers. After spending 30 minutes trapped in Crowley’s ansaphone listening to Aziraphale’s message, Hastur is in a foul mood. When the smoke clears, there are only skeletons left. On...
(full context)
