← Bestiarium

Yog-Sothoth

great old one

Ianitor portarumThe gate, the key, and the guardian of the gate

Fig. 13

Plate wanting.Withdrawn from the folio, or never engraved.

Fig. 13 — Bestiarium

Yog-Sothoth is the cosmic Old One who is the gate, the key, and the guardian of the gate whereby the spheres meet, in whom past, present, and future are one; Old Whateley groomed his grandson Wilbur to open the gates to Yog-Sothoth, whose own offspring was unleashed upon Dunwich as Wilbur's monstrous twin.

The Necronomicon declares that Yog-Sothoth knows the gate, is the gate, and is the key and guardian of the gate, in whom past, present, and future are all one; it knows where the Old Ones broke through of old and where they shall break through again. Wilbur, as a child, once shrieked its dreadful name within a circle of stones with a great book open before him, and the hills shook.

On his deathbed, Old Whateley instructed his grandson to 'open up the gates to Yog-Sothoth' with a long chant to be found on page 751 of 'the complete edition,' and Wilbur later traveled to Arkham and Cambridge in search of exactly such a formula. When the horror born of this design was finally destroyed atop Sentinel Hill, its dying, croaking voice called out in agony, 'FATHER! FATHER! YOG-SOTHOTH!' — revealing Yog-Sothoth as the true, otherworldly father of both Wilbur and his monstrous twin.

Haunts

Sources

Every fact above traces back to the text.

  • 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.

    The Dunwich Horror (1929) — Chapter 5

  • Open up the gates to Yog-Sothoth with the long chant that ye'll find on page 751 of the complete edition, an' then put a match to the prison. Fire from airth can't burn it nohaow!

    The Dunwich Horror (1929) — Chapter 4

  • Eh-ya-ya-ya-yahaah ... e'yaya-yayaaaa ... ngh'aaaa ... ngh'aaaa ... h'yuh ... h'yuh ... HELP! HELP! ... ff—ff—ff—FATHER! FATHER! YOG-SOTHOTH!...

    The Dunwich Horror (1929) — Chapter 10

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