Yaldabaoth, The Demiurge is a deity associated with Platonism and Gnosticism. According to some creeds of Platonic roots, at first matter did not exist and everything was spirit. However, Jaldabaoth, a proud and jealous god, tried to structure everything by recreating the spirit in a material world and confining everything on that plane. But he only succeeded in fabricating an imperfect world, a crude imitation of the original spirit. His alleged way of being prevented him from admitting his mistake.
Yaldabaoth, presumptuous and stupid, hates men because, unlike him, they have souls, which he lacks and which he wishes to obtain by any means, although it is impossible for him. Therefore, he mistreats, punishes and represses mortals to take revenge on them.
Name
The term "Yaldabaoth", the name by which it is usually known in the Lovecraftian universe, tends to be associated with the meaning son of chaos, although there is great controversy regarding this.
Demiurge comes from the Greek δημιουργός, which means "craftsman" or "creator".
Saklas is an Aramaic word that translates as "stupid".
Samael means "poison of God" in Hebrew. It can also be translated as "Severity of God" or "blind God".
Nebro means "rebel", which sometimes leads to associating him with Lucifer.
Ariel means "lion of God" or, perhaps, "divine lion". It should be noted that, iconographically, the lion is linked to excessive force, to the wild.
Satanael is a derivation of the name Samael.
Appearance
The Demiurge usually appears with the appearance of a snake whose head would be a blinding fireball or that of a typical male lion. Another iconographic typology would show him as a man with the head of a lion or leopard, which would resemble the god Mithras, who is often represented in this way, especially in late times and sometimes assimilated to Saturn.
Other times the Demiurge is simply shown as an old and dour man, also having saturnal implications and later assimilating the imagery of the God of the religions of Judaic origin. This is mainly due to the neo-Gnostic currents considering that the God of monotheism is just another identity that the demiurge adopts to attract followers.
Conceptual information and role
Despite not being a god created by the Circle of Lovecraft, its integration into the bestiaries of "The Mythos" is undoubtedly due to its cosmic character. It is not uncommon for Yaldabaoth to be assimilated to Azathoth or Yog-Sothoth, and it is also typical for him to be associated with Nyarlathotep, since Samael, a name associated with the Demiurge, is one of the many identities that he adopts.
Relates
Lovecraft works
The Horror at Red Hook
Here the name of Samael is cited, closely associated with the Demiurge.
Legacy
- In the SCP Foundation universe, this Yaldabaoth appears as a destructive entity that "feeding" deities and stars, and then "exhaling life".