"Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread."
This is a portrayal of the great god Yog-Sothoth, in the novel "The Dunwich Horror", written by HP Lovecraft. Yog-Sothoth is described as a powerful god, who knows all and sees all, as for the Lovecraftian mythology, which is also identified as the Cthulhu Mythos. The god knows the past, the present, and the future, which means there is no secret hidden, or could be hidden from the god. Yog-Sothoth coexists with all time and space, and so connects with the multiverse. Some say that the god is the embodiment of all of time and space itself. As for these beliefs, the god is the multiverse. But interestingly, the god is said to be locked outside of the universe we inhabit, along with a majority of deities in the Lovecraftian pantheon. Lovecraft does not give a specific explanation as to why these gods are locked away. Many are inclined to believe that it's not that Yog-Sothoth can’t enter the human realm, but he won’t. The god does know how the future unfolds and has the power to manipulate it as he desires. Hence the god waits until the right time to enter the realm, maybe with the other gods who have been trapped with him outside this realm. Others say that Yog-Sothoth is just not so interested in this universe, or that is already knows everything in this universe, so the god does not enter it. Regardless, by being the multiverse itself, Yog-Sothoth is the ultimate gateway to every multiverse and dimension.
Yog-Sothoth is said to be born from the Nameless mist, which is a misty shapeless thing, produced by the great god Azathoth. Just as other deities in the Lovecraftian mythology, the true appearance of Yog-Sothoth is unknown, since it is incomprehensible to the human mind, and the most, one could make out is an approximation. Lovecraft himself portrays the deity differently in different stories. The popular description of the deity among those many is that Yog-Sothoth appears as a mass of glowing orbs that continuously merge, regrow and break apart. Some versions also describe that eyes and tendrils regrow and divide along with these orbs. Another derivation of the story suggests, that each of these globes represents a universe. Each of the orbs in Yog-Sothoth contains one or more eyes and with tham, the god sees everything that happens in that universe. Through these aspects it is explained that the multiverse always expands with one or more eyes of Yog-Sothoth looking over it.
The god is mostly known for his intelligence. Because he has entire knowledge in the multiverse, Yog-Sothoth is mostly considered to second only to Azathoth, who is the creator god. With knowledge, the god has almost every power one could ever imagine. If one manages to please the god, he will feed him the knowledge. But pleasing Yog-Sothoth is not easy, since it requires a human sacrifice or eternal enslavement. Although you do perform all the rituals and serve faithfully to the god, that does not mean Yog-Sothoth would bless you with knowledge. Even if one manages to please the god, the person will go insane after receiving the knowledge. It is because such knowledge is incomprehensible to human mind. If the god is angered by someone, Yog-Sothoth would surely break the mind and the person would suffer greater consequences than death. Yog-Sothoth is also the guardian of the gate which keeps away majority of the elder gods away from the human realm. The god also has the power to resurrect the dead. The ritual involves using essential salts of the deceased individual, and chanting in the name of Yog-Sothoth.
Shub-Niggurath is often referred to as the consort of the god. Yog-Sothoth mated with Shub-Niggurath to produce the twin deities Nug and Yeb. Nug then gave birth to the great Cthulhu. It is mentioned in the short story The Dunwich Horror, written by Lovecraft, that Yog-Sothoth impregnated an albino woman named Lavinia. Lavinia was the daughter of the wizard Old Whateley. She is described as an unattractive and uneducated woman. Whatever she has learned, is from her father's books, related to dark magic and powerful deities. Lavinia gets pregnant with the children of Yog-Sothoth when she summoned the god Using her father's incomplete copy of the Necronomicon. She gives birth to twin sons, Wilbur Whateley and his more monstrous unnamed brother. Wilbur Whateley too is described as an unattractive human with an unusual growth rate and knowledge. He almost managed to open a portal to Yog-Sothoth. He is also accused of killing or offering his mother Lavinia as a sacrifice most probably to Yog-Sothoth. Abdul Alhazred who is the author of Necronomicon, which is a book filled with the knowledge of the universe and magic, was believed to be a follower of Yog-Sothoth. Since the book contains knowledge the human mind cannot comprehend, it is said that it was Yog-Sothoth who blessed him with such knowledge.
One of the most powerful and important aspects of Lovecraftian mythos is that these deities acknowledge the power of sanity, which comes with the power of the human mind. That is why Yog-Sothoth holds a prominent place in the pantheon since the god rules over knowledge, which is the strongest asset of a powerful mind. It is hard to classify Yog-Sothoth as good or evil, since it is more as the deity is interested in pleasing himself.
Comments
Post a Comment