[momentoftop]

I'm the opposite. One of the things I love about Lovecraft is how oblique the mythology is in his writings. I don't know much about Azathoth, save that he's somehow "Lord of all Things", while being a "Blind Idiot God." That seeming contradiction is tantalising and the last thing I want is to see it fleshed out.

It's fear of the unknown, after all, not fear of the things that have detailed wiki pages.

[ndsipa_pomu]

I find the extra detail adds to the horror, though I'd generally agree. The scariest horror films are the ones that hint rather than depicting everything.

With Azathoth, I find it more disturbing to consider that our entire universe is just a fragment of a dream by Azathoth, and the pipers play a tune to keep him asleep, as what happens to a dream when the dreamer awakes?

[nextaccountic]

What I find most disturbing is that it makes more sense than most creation myths, at least from my modern point of view; and it paints humanity hanging by a thread, like 20th century fears of being hit by a supernova, or a meteor, etc (of course we had apocalyptic themes through all of history though)

Or rather, anyone that had a dream with a person that said "don't wake up, or I will die" can relate

[nextaccountic]

Also this specific tidbit explains how he can be lord of all things (he created the universe anyway) but still be a blind idiot fool (he apparently doesn't even realizes what's happening)

[hotnfresh]

Agree. In Lovecraft’s hands, I regard it as maybe the most-honest and -accurate depiction of cosmic reality—of that horror-adjacent feeling one may experience trying to actually imagine the universe—in fiction, but the effect falls apart if you start filling in the gaps. Most of the broader “mythos” stuff since Lovecraft can still be fun in about the same way that Catholic mythology’s fertile ground for horror, but it’s not the same thing and it’s not as interesting.