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~ H.P. Lovecraft about Azathoth and his "Hideous Name".
Azathoth, also known as The Blind Idiot God, The Daemon Sultan, and The Nuclear Chaos, is the overarching antagonist of the Cthulhu Mythos, created by the late horror-fantasy writer H. P. Lovecraft. It is a cosmic and boundless deity of colossal proportion and the great and all-powerful ruler of the Outer Gods and presumed creator of all of existence.
As well as its innumerable drummers, Azathoth is tended upon by horrendous dancers and is said to float in the very center of absolute infinity in the center of chaos itself (and hence "nuclear" may actually refer to its dwelling at the nucleus of the universe). No mortal has yet entered this realm and survived, and judging by the visions spoken of by H.P. Lovecraft and later writers, it is doubtful that any who did would wish to continue living, as Azathoth held the same insanity-inducing aura as the other Lovecraftian horrors, despite it being deep in slumber. According to Henry Kuttner's "Hydra", to look upon Azathoth is fatal.
Appearance[]
Azathoth's precise appearance is only hinted at throughout the Mythos, and indeed may be unknowable by mortal beings. It is described as occupying a position outside of the universe, where it is attended by a cohort of alien servants who continually bathe it with the sounds of pipes and drums. Though it is the ruler and creator of all existence, it is described as "a blind idiot god", oblivious to the universe and the beings within it.
Personality[]
Little to nothing is known as to who Azathoth is. Its true motives, and by extension its very purpose, are an enigma - if not completely non-existent. Outside of supposedly communicating unknowable commands to Nyarlathotep (who in and of himself is a mysterious harbinger of chaos with his own personal goals and aspirations) and 'sleeping', understanding Azathoth's character is to humans the equivalent of amoebas trying to understand the petri dish they're trapped in.
Powers and Abilities[]
Azathoth is technically "God", and additionally the "Blind Idiot God" who is absolutely mindless and unconscious but is omnipotent and the most powerful being of all in the setting (Yog-Sothoth, being the setting, is stronger). It cannot be destroyed as the concept of destruction is far below him, and he exists beyond the concepts of spatio-temporal dimensions, duality, time, biology, physics, mathematics, gender, durability, speed, strength, mortals, and the Outer Gods, as they are all merely part of its dream. Despite being mindless, Azathoth does have a will of its own and commands its messenger and avatar, Nyarlathotep.
Azathoth's Family Tree (not actually Canon, it was a joke by Lovecraft)[]
Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.
„
~ H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
“
I started with loathing when told of the monstrous nuclear chaos beyond angled space which the Necronomicon had mercifully cloaked under the name of Azathoth.
„
~ H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness.
“
Eventually there had been a hint of vast, leaping shadows, of a monstrous, half-acoustic pulsing, and of the thin, monotonous piping of an unseen flute — but that was all. Gilman decided he had picked up that last conception from what he had read in the Necronomicon about the mindless entity Azathoth, which rules all time and space from a curiously environed black throne at the centre of Chaos.
„
~ H. P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House.
“
The passage through the vague abysses would be frightful, for the Walpurgis-rhythm would be vibrating, and at last he would have to hear that hitherto veiled cosmic pulsing which he so mortally dreaded. Even now he could detect a low, monstrous shaking whose tempo he suspected all too well. At Sabbat-time it always mounted and reached through to the worlds to summon the initiate to nameless rites. Half the chants of the Sabbat were patterned on this faintly overheard pulsing which no earthly ear could endure in its unveiled spatial fullness. Gilman wondered, too, whether he could trust his instinct to take him back to the right part of space. How could he be sure he would not land on that green-litten hillside of a far planet, on the tessellated terrace above the city of tentacled monsters somewhere beyond the galaxy, or in the spiral black vortices of that ultimate void of Chaos wherein reigns the mindless daemon-sultan Azathoth?
„
~ H. P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House.
“
Before his eyes a kaleidoscopic range of phantasmal images played, all of them dissolving at intervals into the picture of a vast, unplumbed abyss of night wherein whirled suns and worlds of an even profounder blackness. He thought of the ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at whose centre sprawls the blind idiot god Azathoth, Lord of All Things, encircled by his flopping horde of mindless and amorphous dancers, and lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a daemoniac flute held in nameless paws.
„
~ H. P. Lovecraft, The Haunter of the Dark.
“
Out in the mindless void the daemon bore me, Past the bright clusters of dimensioned space, Till neither time nor matter stretched before me, But only Chaos, without form or place. Here the vast Lord of All in darkness muttered Things he had dreamed but could not understand, While near him shapeless bat-things flopped and fluttered In idiot vortices that ray-streams fanned. They danced insanely to the high, thin whining Of a cracked flute clutched in a monstrous paw, Whence flow the aimless waves whose chance combining Gives each frail cosmos its eternal law. "I am His Messenger," the daemon said, As in contempt he struck his Master’s head.
„
~ XXII. Fungi From Yuggoth.
“
…Tributes to Him in the Gulf, Azathoth, He of whom Thou have taught us marvels… on the wings of night out beyond space, out beyond th… to that whereof Yuggoth is the youngest child, rolling alone in that black aether at the rim… go out into the world and find ways whereof, that He in the Gulf may know.
Azathoth is the Greatest God, who rules all infinity from his throne at the center of chaos. His body is composed of all the bright stars of the visible universe, but his face is veiled in darkness.
„
~ The Necronomicon about Azathoth.
Gallery[]
Azathoth in its current state with the other Outer Gods.
Azathoth
Azathoth
Azathoth being played music by its fellow Outer Gods.
Azathoth as the Blind Idiot God.
Azathoth as the Nuclear Chaos.
Trivia[]
Because of H.P. Lovecraft's lack of explanation, there are several theories on who or what Azathoth really is.
Azathoth is merely a pawn of an even more terrible creature.
Azathoth was involved in a Cosmic War, in which it lost its sanity.
Azathoth is not even the God's true name.
This was confirmed in Ramsey Campbell's short story "The Mine on Yuggoth", in which the protagonist Edward Taylor discovers Azathoth's true name which, if spoken, will drive away any being. The name is not revealed, although it is known to start with the letter N.
Azathoth was only referred to in the short story Azathoth in the title.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is the true first story to mention Azathoth.
Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth are often debated as to who is more powerful. Yog is the logical candidate, Azathoth was NEVER called omnipotent by lovecraft, Yog-Sothoth was called omnipotent by lovecraft, and he is made of light, bright enough to kill Azathoth
Azathoth is titled the Nuclear Chaos, not in terms of Nuclear Power, but in terms of a Nucleus as it is the master and center of existence.
Azathoth has cults on Earth, who wish to summon Azathoth into the mortal world.
"Thoth", part of Azathoth's name, is the Egyptian god of wisdom.
Considering it created the entire universe, and will eventually void it, it could be considered that Azathoth is the main antagonist of the Cthulhu Mythos. However, Nyarlathotep is the actual main antagonist as he is used more often and serves as the villain of more stories.
However, Azathoth is far more powerful than Nyarlathotep, who created the latter (amongst all things) which makes Azathoth the overarching antagonist of the mythos.
Due to the note, he wrote to himself on Azathoth's "hideous" name, it is possible that Lovecraft himself imagined Azathoth to be horrific.
Azathoth appears to have been inspired by Mana-Yood-Sushai from Lord Dunsany's The Gods of Pegana, as both are gods greater than all the rest who are kept asleep by the music of lesser beings and will destroy the universe when they awake. Azathoth's creator, H.P. Lovecraft, admitted being inspired by The Gods of Pegana (in which Mana-Yood-Sushai appeared).
In the Arkham Horror tabletop game, Azathoth is so powerful that he is the only Ancient One who immediately ends the game in a loss for the players if he awakens, while each other Ancient One at least affords the players a Last Battle.
Azathoth was intended to appear in the 1922 unfinished short story Azathoth, and went on to be mentioned and appear in multiple other Lovecraft stories, most notably The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.