Azathoth

This article alludes to the outside god, for the tale see Azathoth.

Azathoth is an Outer God devised by Howard Phillips Lovecraft who appears in his cycle of stories called the Cthulhu Mythos.

Description

According to accounts of horror and science fiction literature, Azathoth is "the prime mover of chaos, the antithesis of creation, the foolish sultan of demons; the one who gnaws, moans and drools in the center of the final void" or rather as "the center of the universe".

This cosmic entity is described as a colossal, chaotic and shapeless mass; even the universe itself is part of its essence, and the simple fact of staring at it would mean a death of horror and extreme madness.

A curse has made him a blind, lobotomized god, who spends the eternity of his imprisonment endlessly moving to the beat of flutes, drums, and other cursed musical instruments.

Sometimes when Nyarlathotep visits Earth, his presence is momentarily accompanied by the faint sound of a flute. This means that at that time he came to visit Azathoth in his confinement.

He is the creative and infinite chaos of the universe and the supreme Exterior god. He is the "one above all" and the "alpha and omega" of the myths. Around him the rest of the outer gods dance eternally to mad melodies, among them the most powerful, such as Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth, along with the other lesser gods.

Even though he is blind and stupid, he represents omnipotence in its purest form. Even the name "Azathoth" itself is actually not his real name: they call him that because it's how the Necronomicon pronounces it, but no one, at least no human, knows his real name..

In popular culture

The Marvel Comics character Shuma-Gorath alludes to Azathoth in reference to his form and provenance, as the character hails from the "dimension of Chaos" Likewise, Shuma-Gorath is also God in his Dimension, although his name can refer to Shub-Niggurath or Shub-Nigarath.