Editing Azathoth (section)

{{Short description|Fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos}}
{{about|a deity in fiction|the short story named after it|Azathoth (short story)}}
{{distinguish|Anathoth|Astaroth|Ashtoreth|Ataroth|Azeroth}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Azathoth
| series = [[Cthulhu Mythos]]
| image = Azathoth.jpg
| caption = Artist's depiction of Azathoth
| first = "[[Azathoth (short story)|Azathoth]]"
| last = 
| creator = [[H. P. Lovecraft]]
| portrayer = 
| voice = 
| lbl1 = 
| data1 = 
| lbl2 = 
| data2 = 
| nickname = 
| alias = 
| species = [[Cthulhu Mythos deities#Outer Gods|Outer God]]
| gender = 
| occupation = 
| title = Nuclear Chaos<br />Daemon Sultan<br />Blind Idiot God<br />Lord of All Things<br />Lord of Nighted Chaos
| family = 
| spouse = 
| significant_other = 
| children = [[Nyarlathotep]] (son)<br />[[Nameless Mist]] (offspring)<br />[[Cthulhu Mythos deities#Darkness|Darkness]] (offspring)
| relatives = [[Yog-Sothoth]] (grandson)<br />[[Shub-Niggurath]] (granddaughter)<br />[[Nug and Yeb|Nug]] (great-grandchild)<br />[[Nug and Yeb|Yeb]] (great-grandchild)<br />[[Wilbur Whateley]] (great-grandson)<br />[[Cthulhu]] (great-great-grandson)<br />[[Tsathoggua]] (great-great-grandson)<br /> [[Hastur]] (great-grandson)<br /> [[Ithaqua]] (great-great-grandson)<br />Zhar and Lloigor (great-grandchild) and The Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath (great-grandchild)
| religion = 
| nationality = 
}}

'''Azathoth''' is a deity in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] and [[Dream Cycle]] stories of writer [[H. P. Lovecraft]] and other authors. He is the supreme deity of the Cthulhu Mythos and the ruler of the [[Cthulhu Mythos deities#Outer Gods|Outer Gods]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agnew |first=Jeremy |title=The Age of Dimes and Pulps: A History of Sensationalist Literature, 1830-1960 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4766-6948-9 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=198 |language=en}}</ref> and may also be seen as a symbol for [[Chaos (cosmogony)|primordial chaos]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bilstad |first1=T. Allan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MevMCyh7hRUC&pg=PA53 |title=The Lovecraft Necronomicon Primer: A Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos |date=2009 |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |isbn=978-0738713793 |pages=53–55 |access-date=6 March 2020}}</ref> therefore being the most powerful entity in the entirety of the Cthulhu Mythos.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leiber Jr. |first=Fritz |author-link=Fritz Leiber |title=H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-8214-0577-2 |editor-last=Joshi |editor-first=S. T. |editor-link=S. T. Joshi |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Lovecraft's Monsters |publisher=[[Tachyon Publications]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61696-121-3 |editor-last=Datlow |editor-first=Ellen |editor-link=Ellen Datlow |location=San Francisco, CA |pages=363 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Enright |first=Lyle |title=Theology and H.P. Lovecraft |last2=Bennett |first2=Nick |publisher=Lexington Books/Fortress Academic |year=2022 |isbn=9781978711709 |editor-last=Freeman |editor-first=Austin M. |pages=132–133 |language=en |chapter=When God Goes Mad: Lovecraft, Von Balthasar, and the Split between Transcendence and Goodness}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Reece |date=2022-12-11 |title=Why Lovecraft's Most Powerful God Can't Be Adapted to Film |url=https://www.cbr.com/lovecraft-azathoth-adaptation-problem/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=CBR |language=en}}</ref>

Azathoth is referred to as the "daemon-sultan" and "Lord of All Things", whose throne is at the center of "Ultimate Chaos".<ref name=":0" /> In his genealogy chart from 1933 of his mythos, Lovecraft places Azathoth as the single being at the very top from which everything else descends.

The name "Azathoth" was first mentioned in a note from 1919 by Lovecraft, and Azathoth was first formally introduced in the novella ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'', which was finished in 1927, but not published until 1943, though the name was the title of an [[Azathoth (short story)|unfinished novel]] in 1922 by Lovecraft, which was not published until 1938.