Azathoth: How long does it take?

[Syphon of Oor-Tael]

So, by a few accounts I have of Azathoth, he has to be kept asleep if we are to not die. Well, not just us but EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE.

What I'd like to know, and this is probably hard to find but I'm asking it anyway:

What would -exactly- happen if Azathoth awoke, and how long would it take him to destroy EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE?

 

[j d worthington]

I think you may be confusing Azathoth with Dunsany's Mana-Yood-Shushai:

Mana-Yood-Sushai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Azathoth is the "idiot Chaos", but I don't recall any mention in Lovecraft that he is sleeping; mindless, yes, but not asleep....

At any rate, to answer your question... given the hints in Lovecraft, the entire cosmos (as well as any other universes which may exist) are simply the result of the "chance combining" of the "aimless waves" of sound from the flute "clutched in a monstrous paw". Hence, if that playing ceases, everything ceases to exist instantaneously. It would simply no longer be, as its source (the music) would no longer be....

 

[Syphon of Oor-Tael]

I think you may be confusing Azathoth with Dunsany's Mana-Yood-Shushai:

Mana-Yood-Sushai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Azathoth is the "idiot Chaos", but I don't recall any mention in Lovecraft that he is sleeping; mindless, yes, but not asleep....

At any rate, to answer your question... given the hints in Lovecraft, the entire cosmos (as well as any other universes which may exist) are simply the result of the "chance combining" of the "aimless waves" of sound from the flute "clutched in a monstrous paw". Hence, if that playing ceases, everything ceases to exist instantaneously. It would simply no longer be, as its source (the music) would no longer be....

I see where you are coming from....Azathoth was inspired by Lord Dunsany, after all..but one specific line from Haunter of the Dark makes me think that Azathoth is asleep:

"the ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at whose center 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 demonic flute held in nameless paws"

Also, perhaps this conception of mine that Azathoth sleeps might have been brought on in part by the board game Arkham Horror, where all of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods are asleep by default.

 

[j d worthington]

I had forgotten that particular line, and I can see where it could very easily lead one to that view. However, in most other references, Azathoth is depicted as "gnawing hungrily" or "gnaws shapeless and ravenous", etc. (Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath). This may simply be an instance of a contradiction in one of the minor points of Lovecraftian lore, or it may be something which is a subtle difference but not that extreme... that is, Azathoth ("the monstrous nuclear chaos which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of infinity" -- "The Whisperer in Darkness") may be, for lack of a better phrase, kept quiescent through the playing of those drums and flutes which represent the laws of the cosmos; laws which are temporary and contingent on certain conditions existing only for a moment in the (truly) eternal flux which produces the universes which exist for a moment now and again, only to be extinguished and rearranged into a different -- and also temporary -- pattern.

Either way, as Azathoth is essentially the origin of the universe, and that from which everything springs, his/its "awakening" or taking action would mean the immediate evanishment of all that currently is. So everything would be snapped out of existence before even being aware of the situation....

 

[Syphon of Oor-Tael]

Ok, so the ambiguity of the phrase matters not. Whether he is asleep or merely distracted, fact is that when the music stops, he destroys EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE.
Would he eat EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE? I mean, you do say that he is "gnawing hungrily", so that would mean that he wishes to eat it. I can't explain it otherwise.
Sure, it's Cthulhu mythos so the easy cop-out would be "We can't understand", but still...

 

[Psitrekker]

I was just thinking about the nature of Azathoth being the ultimate creator/destroyer god in the Lovecraftian cosmos today, and then saw this chat area. My original thoughts on Azathoth was that he is, in some sense, the nucleus of every atom in the universe (HPL even describes him as being "nuclear" in nature), and the flautists that encircle him (perhaps to keep him slumbering) are the electrons of that atom. If they were to stop doing their job, it would mean that electromagnetism stopped working on a universal level, and all creation would be henceforth destroyed.
Recently, I have been envisioning him as a black hole--or more aptly, all black holes that exist in the universe. They exist as cosmic sinkholes in the center of every galaxy, (allowing his body to be made of the stars, and his face to be "black", while also preserving his central, nuclear role). This would also explain his need to constantly "gnaw" or consume, just as a black hole does. In physics, black holes are also sometimes seen as both objects of ultimate destruction AND creation, as what goes into them may end up being the seeds for other universes (allowing for the creation of other Big Bangs). That would give to Azathoth the powers of both creation and destruction that are attributed to him in HPL's and others works. In this scenario, I see the flautists and drummers as being the chaotic swarm of matter and energy that are being funneled into that black hole all the time--in a spiral formation as we see in galaxies. Were there not this slow, and consistent spiraling into maw of these great beasts, they would consume the universe much faster. Perhaps the role of these flautists & drummers is then to ensure that gravitational effects like centrifugal force are always functioning in order to slow the pace of Azathoth's consumption to a crawl. Our own black hole at the center of the Milky Way is a pretty slow siphon due to these forces, and only swallows an occasional planet-sized chunk of matter, and very rarely, stars.

 

[Psitrekker]

I just read The Throne of Achamoth (from the Azathoth Cycle compilation), and this depiction of Azathoth is very much in line with my idea that Azathoth is equivalent to the black hole at the center of every galaxy. This is a wonderful tale of mystical transcendence and the eternal battle between Truth (portrayed as Ahura-Mazda) and Falsity (being the demiurge, Azathoth). I would highly recommend reading this story to anyone interested in this material.

Psitrekker