Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Today we’ll be continuing our journey through the Cthulhu mythos, and talking about possibly
the most powerful of all Lovecraft’s deities: Yog-Sothoth.
This omniscient and all-powerful Outer God has been summoned a number of times in works
of fiction, but what if it was actually real?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What If Yog-Sothoth Was Real?
First, it should be stressed just how powerful Yog-Sothoth would be.
Yog-Sothoth is one of the Outer Gods, who are essentially the Gods of the Old Gods.
In a way, the Outer Gods are to Cthulhu as Cthulhu is to a human.
However, it gets even worse, because Yog-Sothoth is one of the most powerful of the Outer Gods.
So you do NOT want to get on its bad side.
The name of Yog-Sothoth was first found in Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".
It is an all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful being, said to exist at all points in time
simultaneously.
It’s the embodiment of all of time and space across the multiverse.
Yog-Sothoth is the grandfather of Cthulhu, and grandSON of Azathoth, although Yog-Sothoth
is deemed by many to be even more powerful than its grandfather.
For more on Azathoth, check out our video entitled "What if Azathoth was Real".
These names are getting confusing.
Too many Thoths.
I’ll be using the name of Yog-Sothoth quite a bit for the rest of the video, so to save
my sanity and yours, I’ll use nicknames from now on.
As with many works of Lovecraft, physical descriptions of Yoggers are kept rather vague.
This is largely because humans wouldn’t even be able to perceive it properly, a common
trait among Lovecraft’s monsters.
This inconceivable appearance causes it to be described rather differently by various
people, but there are some similarities.
For example, it's generally seen as a large number of glowing spheres, constantly merging
and breaking apart.
Sometimes tendrils are involved, as is common in these disturbing tales.
As with other Lovecraftian gods, it’s believed that viewing Yoggy-baby would cause a person
to go insane.
However, in this case, it’s said that even learning too much about it can lead one to
insanity.
And I can personally vouch that; after having researched and written several Lovecraft videos
thus far, I’m starting to feel a little insane myself.
Despite its incredible power, the Yogmeister has been summoned by humans several times
in fiction, in order to complete a variety of tasks.
It’s used similarly to genies and demons in folklore.
Interestingly, The Yog Man is sometimes seen as benevolent, choosing to help those who
request it, which is a departure from other creatures from the Cthulhu mythos that tend
to either want to take over humanity, or just don’t give a damn.
For example, in The Dunwich Horror, a 1928 short story by Lovecraft, Yog-Sothoth was
summoned by a crazy man in order to impregnate his mortal daughter to create monstrous offspring.
In Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark, it was summoned by protagonist Robert Blake to
save him from the entity he had inadvertently released.
Furthermore, it was implied in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward that he can be called
to revive the dead, since incantations for raising the dead included the name of Yog-Sothoth.
The Outer God was even in the Doctor Who episode The Snowmen, known in this case as The Great
Intelligence.
It helped the young Walter Simeon to gain power, forming something of a symbiotic relationship.
All this is to say that it has been called upon to perform a wide variety of things,
and could likely be used for even more, if it was in the mood.
Given the incredible things you could do with an all-powerful God at your side, if it was
real, it’s likely that people would continue to attempt to summon the beast, in hopes of
using it to their own ends.
This could either go very well for them, or very badly.
If it worked, and Yog the Bounty Hunter was as benevolent as some stories told, then rituals
for summoning the being would be incredibly valuable.
If you have an omnipotent god help you to reach your goals, there isn’t a whole lot
you can’t do.
Societies would spring up, that worshipped The Yogster, and attempted to use its power
to their advantage.
It’s unclear how Yog-Dawg would decide who to help.
It could be that it would help anyone who asked.
It could be that it would be more likely to help those who were more in need, as in the
case of Robert Blake.
It could also be that the ritual itself would impact its decision of whether or not to help
its summoner, depending on the proper words or a valuable sacrifice.
Regardless, if it did begin to help those who called it, we might see some incredible
supernatural events occurring.
If you managed to successfully summon the Yog Machine, it would be like finding Aladdin’s
lamp.
If you were on its good side, you could have just about anything you wanted.
Money?
Easy.
Fame?
Everyone loves you.
Want to fly?
No problem.
Want good looks?
Well, I mean, there ARE limits.
If a religion sprung up that made promises of supernatural gifts and incredible success,
and was actually able to deliver on these claims, it could be that many people, both
religious and irreligious, would move over to this new religion.
However, that’s not to say that it would always go well.
Given Clifford the Big Red Yog’s propensity to turn onlookers insane, it could be that
you would unintentionally go insane just from trying to summon it.
Furthermore, if he found your wish or your ritual to be lacking, you could well face
some serious punishment.
And we’re not talking about a slap on the wrist, punishment from Yoggy-boy could mean
an eternity of torture.
So while you could definitely benefit from summoning the beast, the risks would be rather
significant.
And now we return to our question: What If Yog-Sothoth Was Real?
Well, this would depend largely on whether or not it was inclined to help.
If it was, it could be that we would start to see people around the world suddenly come
into great wealth and power, or show incredible abilities.
Whatever one might wish for, we would possibly begin to see more often.
However, if it was not inclined to help people, either due to its personality or insufficient
need or sacrifice, we might not see much of a change in the world, other than the odd
disappearance when a ritual went wrong.
The question is: would the risk be worth it?
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know if YOU would risk summoning Yog-Sothoth, and
if so, what you would ask it for.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.
Of course, this would largely depend on how involved Yog-Sothoth would be willing to be.
If it was happy to remain and lend a hand whenever possible, it would essentially hand
the world to its worshippers.
The summoning of demons and spirits has been seen across a variety of cultures over the
millenia, and the mythology behind Yoggy seems to be loosely based on such stories