| “ | When God turned on the lights, a shadow was cast. The shadow hit the chaotic waters and Azathoth sprung from the darkness. He's God's shadow. In every sense of the word. The darkness to the light. The evil to the good. Everything that God is not. And being in the presence of things that is his opposite drove him mad with confusion, anger, and waged war against the Almighty. The Almighty won and Azathoth was chained while in a deep sleep. If those maniacs manage to wake him up then everything and everyone is screwed beyond the confines of rhyme or reason. | „ |
| ~ John Constantine |
Azathoth, also known as the Great Evil Beast, the Great Darkness, the Shadow of God, and the Ultimate Darkness, is a being that is outside of God's creation.
It is the soul of darkness itself, a complete absence of divine light. It is said to be the "Shadow of God", for when Light was first cast there was already Shadow. As a result, Azathoth is supposedly equal to the power of the Almighty, it is His opposite who existed before Creation.
Appearance
There can be no definite description of the amorphous entity known as Azathoth, its appearance so incomprehensible that the mere sight of the entity has been known to shatter minds. Some believe that the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A, may be a mentally projected manifestation of Azathoth.
According to some of his followers in the Brujería, his body is composed of all the bright stars of the visible universe, but his face is veiled in darkness. H.P. Lovecraft describes him as an amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity.
History
Genesis
It is believed Azathoth dwelled in the void of space long before Creation itself. When God said "Let There Be Light", the Light that illuminated from His hand cast a shadow upon the waters of Chaos, and from that interaction sprung God's dark half. Azathoth was bombarded with the light upon awakening and became extremely enraged as a result. Azathoth emerged from the dark primordial waters of Chaos and warred against the Almighty. Azathoth's emergence also gave birth to the concept of evil, whereas God represents goodness Azathoth is the absence of good. As such, the notion of evil itself can be traced back to Azathoth.
Azathoth and Yahweh engaged in a fierce conflict with neither one gaining much ground given that they are both two sides of the same coin. As it is the Shadow of God it would also use the dark waters of chaos to form its own twisted creations. Due to being in the intolerable presence of the Light, Azathoth violently thrashed in the waters of Chaos, and "spewed forth Black Flames from its mouths", the splashes of the darkness were caught in the flames that molded the the Ogdru Jahad, who battled the first five Archangels that were created in response by God and Asherah. Whilst the archangels were successful in destroying some of the Outer Gods, God was able to defeat Azathoth using the Nihilo Mask to seal away the manifestation of darkness, imprisoning it with unbreakable bonds linked to the very foundations of the universe. Trapped within the Nihilo Mask and lost in the endless void, Azathoth fell into a deep and seemingly endless slumber for eons.
Birth of the Old Ones
Azathoth's slumber, however, did not go without consequence. As the entity slept, the abominable beings that fought alongside their creator managed seep through the eye sockets of the Nihilo Mask, but only these few are described in ancient tomes like the Necronomicon. The Ogdru Jahad spawned beings that came to be known as the Ogdru Hem, ferocious creatures bent on spreading poison throughout the good work of the Almighty and finding ways to liberate their eldritch parents from their imprisonment in the Outerverse.
Although, despite having been created by the Great Evil Beast, they seemingly acknowledge the threat it poses upon their own existence as well as Azathoth is known to be so mindless it has no purpose, reason, or conscience, therefore, upon its awakening they would most likely be destroyed alongside all of creation. Moreover, seeing as how Azathoth birthed the concept of evil, elements of said concept festered through the chains and infected the brilliance of creation including its inhabitants.
In response to their inevitable destruction from Azathoth's awakening, the Old Ones created the Idiot Flute Players, eldritch deities who would hover over the chained Mask of Nihilo, playing a horrendous cacophony of flute music and drums to keep the Daemon Sultan asleep. The music would reverberate through the chains imprisoning Azathoth within the mask, keeping him at ease. These "chains" are tied to certain parts of existence itself, requiring the destruction of fundamental aspects of reality in order to be broken.
American Gothic
After the Apocalypse was prevented, along with the defeat and imprisonment of most of the Ogdru Hem, the weakened Firmament allowed Samyaza and the Grigori to escape their earthly prison after thousands of years thanks in part to the Brujería. Azathoth's awakening was prophesied as the "Rising Darkness" and his mere stirring could be felt by many supernatural beings and entities, creating many unnatural occurrences across the globe and for Heaven to be on high alert. John Constantine himself first took notice of this during his investigations especially after his encounter with an angel known as 'Ezekiel'. These series of events were labelled as the "American Gothic".
John's travels and investigations of these events led him to gathering other individuals well-versed in the supernatural, founding a loose alliance known as the Midnight Suns, with these individuals also being drawn in by the unnatural events that have been occurring due to the Brujería's activities. However, it was revealed that the angel 'Ezekiel' was in fact Samyaza who tricked Constantine and the Midnight Suns into giving the Brujería what they want. They unintentionally released the Grigori from their chains with the host of fallen angels making their way towards Heaven. Samyaza desired to rule over creation and remake it in his image and so he began seeking the fabled Nihilo Mask.
The Grigori invaded Heaven with Samyaza attempting to find the seals which held the Blind Idiot God at bay and kept him asleep. After a defeating some archangels and searched through the ancient divine tomes regarding the events and history of creation, including before said creation, in order to gather the information needed, Samyaza learned of the location of the mask and with the aid of the Brujería, succeeded in awakening Azathoth and donned the tenebrous mask, thereby becoming one with the Shadow of God.
Azathoth's Rampage
Immediately, Azathoth's awakening began causing existence itself to fall into chaos due to the dark power accumulated in it's eons of slumber. Azathoth rapidly assimilated Samyaza's consciousness and soon his whole being, consequently becoming their own sentient entity. Upon awakening, Azathoth was in a state of fury over everything during eons of imprisonment. It encountered a number of mystical or supernatural individuals (Gabriel, John Constantine, Spawn), who did not know of the entities' nature or origins, nor did it care. Gabriel even remarked that Azathoth's hatred towards creation is strangely similar to how the Scarlet King viewed creation and opted to end it all in the process.
In conversation with these astonished beings, it learned from Gabriel that darkness was evil, John Constantine told it that evil was despicable, and Spawn taught it the concept of revenge. However, it could not understand, for the sounds of creation and light were far too deafening to it, and their words were for naught but a ceaseless noise that only added on the pain. Infuriated, the being sought to assault Heaven to demand answers from God pertaining to its existence, trampling all that it crossed paths with. This power was so huge, it caused mythology's main three figures - Zeus, Odin, Ra - to gather for their greatest and most powerful forces and weapons with even the realm of Hell coming together in order to defend themselves should the Blind Idiot God decide that it wanted Hell as its realm.
Enlightenment of an Idiot God
However, before Azathoth could reach the gates of Heaven, it encountered none other than Lucifer and Michael. The two great archangels attempted to fight off the Daemon Sultan but where unsuccessful despite possessing the legendary weapons of Michael's lance and Uriel's blade. Seeing that Azathoth would not yield and that existence itself was at the precipice of being wiped out, Lucifer instead opted to try an alternate solution.
He took the Vril which dwelled within Uriel's blade, and through the mixture of his own Lightbringer powers, flashed a blinding light so intense it made Azathoth reel back in anger. The Daemon Sultan was now focused on Lucifer, who led Azathoth into the Void where the endless chaotic cacophony of sounds from light and creation cannot reach and therefore would ease Azathoth's mind and rage. The Great Evil Beast was at first bewildered by the sudden silence, only to notice Lucifer who it perceived as an invasive species. Before Azathoth could destroy the Morning Star, Lucifer instead opted to speak to the Daemon Sultan where none of God's operations or tools could agitate it.
For the first time, Azathoth spoke, at least in its own way, and asked Lucifer about the concept of evil and the like. He taught it the concept of good and evil, life and death, intertwined so that one could not survive without the other. Azathoth was silent and still for a long while and the revelation quelled its anger and confusion to the point where it returned to its dormant state in the center of the universe, the host body of Samyaza withering away as the mask returned to its inert state. It is implied that Azathoth understood Lucifer's words and thus became one with creation, the necessary opposite to balance out reality.
Final Cataclysm
In truth, the Daemon Sultan cared not for good or evil, life or creation. All Azathoth truly desired is for the end of all things, for everything to be nothing once again, as it was before Creation. Following the crisis, Azathoth returned to slumber once more. Even as it slumbered, Azathoth continued to exert its influence, having its messenger and acolyte Nyarlathotep continue to work behind the curtain.
Azathoth is prophesied to rise once again during the Final Cataclysm, and will wage one last war against God. The battle will take place at the "edge of creation", with God and Azathoth doing battle within a region that exists outside of the space of the observable universe. Moreover, it is said that Azathoth will take in Pralaya and Chaos into itself in order to become the true Great Darkness and to do battle with God for one final stand.
Personality
Being the shadow of God in every sense of the word, Azathoth is the complete and contrasting opposite of the Almighty. Serving as the counterweight of God, who is the supreme manifestation of love and creation, it is the ultimate personification of hatred, destruction, and every form of evil there is, making it the most maleficent entity in existence. It has enough knowledge and intelligence to communicate and perceive the universe and beings within it. While dubbed as the ultimate being of evil, the concept of good and evil or duality itself is completely foreign to it as it is outside the creation of God thus all concepts which resides in His metaphysical circle are unknown to it. Thus, it is neither malevolent or benevolent, but entropy incarnate. A mindless, indifferent force of pure chaos.
Furthermore, as the dark alter-ego of God, Azathoth is an entity without a mind of its own, being practically mindless and acts little more than a beast that possesses only terrible desires, destroying all so that it no longer finds itself be bombarded by the Light and creation. In spite of this purpose, the Great Evil Beast still harbors, what at least can be counted as, its own goals. Azathoth genuinely does hate and fear the Light and the mystery behind the purpose of Creation, and it's ultimate goal is to destroy everything in existence and to become the one remaining presence in it, leaving no stories and no life left to ever exist which it only sees as a terrible noise. This noise is the reason why Azathoth is unable to properly think straight and it cannot comprehend the concepts and beings which surround it, but only through the void where absolute silence reigns, allows Azathoth to freely understand what Lucifer proclaimed to it.
Powers and Abilities
Azathoth is a mind-shatteringly powerful entity and is regarded as being omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnimalevolent. As it is the Shadow of God, in every sense of the word, it is arguably as powerful as the Almighty Himself though this is often debated given that God was able to defeat Azathoth before the creation of all things. However, a testament to Azathoth's power was when God fought the Daemon Sultan during the "six day" creation process of all existence, requiring the aid of the archangels and the Primordial deities to also push back against Azathoth's own forces. Another was God literally chaining Azathoth with the chains spanning across the metaphysical streams of creation with Azathoth itself centered in the nuclear chaotic darkness between life and death.
As Azathoth is the Shadow of God, it cannot create but only destroy. However, even when it does create, it does so involuntarily and out of sheer anger and confusion. Example was when Azathoth violently thrashed within the chaotic abyssal waters upon being bombarded with the light of God and tumultuous waves of darkness led to the creation of the Ogdru Jahad. This accidental creation of the Outer Gods did not even register to Azathoth. Even when imprisoned, Azathoth's influence spread through the chains and seeped into creation from his dreams alone, which gave birth to the concept of "evil" and thus Azathoth is the true source of all evil in existence. Azathoth's mere dreams were said to have threatened the balance of creation itself, reducing it to a cacophony of discord and disorder. This had God and Asherah take measures in placing barriers around the walls of their Genesis Disks to prevent Azathoth's influence from tainting their work.
When Azathoth was released, its slow awakening was not only tearing all of creation at the seams but its mere "awareness" for lack of a better word was clashing with God's rules and thus dissolving existence. It quickly assimilated Samyaza who attempted to become the vessel for the Daemon Sultan in order to rule in God's absence, it forced all the polytheistic deities to unite, and even Hell armed itself for the impending arrival of the Great Darkness. When confronted by Michael and Lucifer, they both remarked that fighting Azathoth is akin to fighting their Father and its presence alone was suffocating even for them. Azathoth was able to shrug off blows from Lucifer using the Flaming Sword and Michael with his Lance.
