Alastor

Alastor is not presented in classical sources as a single biographical being with a life-story but as a functional personification and epithet. In archaic and classical Greek usage the term denotes an avenging force or personified curse; it is used as an epithet of Zeus (e.g., Zeus Alastor) who avenges evil deeds—particularly familial bloodshed—and is described as allied with the Erinyes. Tragic writers used the name generically to designate any deity or daemon who avenges wrongs committed by men (illustrated in literary contexts such as Euripides' Electra). By the 4th century BC the word alastor had also degraded in ordinary speech to a pejorative meaning roughly 'scoundrel.' In later Christian demonological reception the figure/label was recast as a kind of possessing entity and likened to Nemesis, and the name was used more broadly for harmful spirits.

Classical sources do not supply a consistent, stable embodied form for Alastor; ancient attestations emphasize function and epithet rather than standardized iconography. The term appears variably as an epithet of a god (Zeus Alastor), as a personified curse or daemon allied to the Erinyes, and is applied by writers to different agents who enact vengeance. Consequently no single classical visual description is preserved in the provided material. Separately, modern fictional traditions (not ancient) have depicted an entity named Alastor with a vivid corporeal appearance (for example, a Greyhawk source describing a ghostly farm lad), but that portrayal belongs to a distinct fictional tradition and is not part of the classical attestations.

In classical material Alastor's operative 'abilities' are moral-retributive rather than technical powers: as an avenging spirit or personification of a curse it relentlessly pursues the guilty and enacts vengeance—specifically noted as punishing children for the sins of their fathers—and functions in the chthonic system of punishment alongside the Erinyes. As an epithet of Zeus the avenging aspect enforces retribution for evil deeds, especially familial bloodshed. Later Christian demonological readings attribute to Alastor characteristics of a possessing spirit and equate or liken it to Nemesis, using the name as a general label for a class of harmful spirits; these are interpretive receptions rather than uniform classical attributes.