A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

HADES - (Greek) The Greek god of the dead. The son of Cronos by Rhea, he is the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, and Hestia. He kidnapped and forcefully married Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, causing his relationship with his sister to become hostile. He had a helm of invisibility that he occasionally lent to heroes.

HANAKO-SAN - (Japanese) A ghost of a young girl that's supposed to haunt school bathrooms, opening and closing doors and in general scaring anyone who enters the bathroom, knocks on her stall, and calls her name.

HANNYA - (Japanese) The spirit of a woman whose jealous made her demonic.

HANUMAN - (Hindu) A monkey god in Hindu myth. He is the son of Vayu, the wind god. Legend has it he helped Rama, an avatar of Vishnu the Preserver of humanity, in a battle against the demon king Ravana.

HAOKAH - (Sioux) The horned hunting and storm god of the Sioux Indians. He cries when he's happy and laughs when he's sad; the cold makes him sweat and the heat makes him shiver. He uses the winds to beat upon his drum to cause thunder.

HARPY - (Greek) Associated with storms, these creatures are half woman, half bird hybrids from Greek mythology. They are supposed to be foul and pollute everything they touch, and are known in some stories as the Hounds of Zeus.

HASTUR - (Lovecraft) "There is a whole secret cult of evil men (a man of your mystical erudition will understand me when I link them with Hastur and the Yellow Sign).." (Lovecraft, The Whisperer in the Darkness). An olden god of some sort in the Lovecraftian mythology, but Hastur was borrowed from Robert W. Chambers and Ambrose Bierce. In the Chambers story The Yellow Sign, two people are driven to madness and death after reading a book (presumably about Hastur) entitled The King in Yellow. Explains Hastur's Material Card in Batsu, huh?

HATHOR - (Egyptian) The Egyptian sky goddess, in addition to being the goddess of love, joy, dance and song. She also looked after mothers and their children. She is often portrayed as a human woman with the head of a cow.

HEIMDALL - (Norse) The watchman of the Aesir. He stands watch over the Bifrost bridge, which links Asgard and Midgard (Heaven and Earth), and will be the first to alert the Aesir of the onset of Ragnarok. Heimdall is a fair god who is supposedly the father of all races of men.

HEINIR - (Norse) (also known as Hoenir, Honir, or Vili) One of the first three Aesir gods, along with Odin and Lodur. He gave reason to humankind when they were formed out of trees. He was sent as a hostage along with the god Mimir to the Vanir gods, but when they discovered that he was handsome but not very bright, they killed Mimir and sent his head back to the Aesir. Heinir is one of the few gods that will survive Ragnarok.

HEKATONKHEIRES - (Greek) The fifty-headed, hundred-armed giant sons of Uranus and Gaia. They were imprisoned by Uranus in the hell Tartarus, but Zeus released them so they could fight on his side in the great Titanomachy.

HELIOS - (Greek) The personification of the sun in Greek myth. He was the son of the Titan Hyperion.

HEL - (Norse) The daughter of Loki, Hel was the ruler of the underworld in Norse myth, where she rules over those who died of sickness and old age. Half of her body is human, and the other half is a rotting corpse.

HERMES - (Greek) The messenger of the Olympians, Hermes was the son of Zeus by the Titan Maia. He also served as a guide to the underworld for the departed. While his initial relationship with his brother, the sun god Apollo, was one of hostility, the two eventually became quite close. He wore winged sandals called "Taralia."

HERMOD - (Norse) A deity in the Norse pantheon, Hermod played a role similar to that of Hermes, as he was a divine messenger for the Aesir.

HI-NO-ENMA - (Japanese) A Buddhist deity that punishes priests for violating their vows of chastity by drinking every drop of their blood.

HOKUTOSEIKUN - (Chinese) The god of the Big Dipper, who judges people's deeds after their death and determines their placement in heaven or hell. He is paired with Nantoseikun (the South Dipper? Oh well, you get the idea).

HOTEI - (Buddhist) Hotei was originally a Chinese monk named Pu-tai, but he became an immortal when he crossed the sea to Japan. Known as the laughing Buddha, he has a huge stomach and is usually carrying, or sitting beside, a huge sack of treasure. It is believed that rubbing his stomach will bring good luck. His name means 'cloth bag' or 'glutton' and he is the god of contentment and happiness.

HOURI - (Islamic) The beautiful heavenly maidens who serve the faithful in heaven. The name supposedly comes from a word describing how dark their eyes are in comparison to the whites of their eyes.

HRESVELGR - (Norse) A frost giant that lived in the far north and caused storms by the flapping of his wings.

100-KILO BABAA - (original) A rumor demon of an old woman on rollerskates, who races around in a manner unfitting for her apparent age.

HUMBABA - (Mesopotamian) A god of the cedar forests that was slain by the demigod Gilgamesh and his little sidekick Enkidu.

HUNAB KU - (Mayan) The supreme god of the Maya, an invisible and untouchable existence that rebuilt the world after the three floods.

HUN-HAU - (Mayan) Another name for the Mayan god of death, Ah Puch. Took the form of a human with an owl's head. Accompanied by a companion, a dog that carried lightning in its paws.

HURAKAN - (Mayan) The god of wind and storms. He brings the displeasure of the gods to humans in the form of winds, storms and floods. His name means "wild, difficult to control." (I guess where we get the word "hurricane.")

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