Yaldabaoth

**Yaldabaoth**, also known as the **Son of Chaos**, the **God Eater** and the **Great Architect**, is the Demiurge of the Chaoverse and the main antagonist of the Gnostics. He is the shadow of God and one of the primal sources and origin of evil, being the very embodiment of ignorance.

## Overview

Yaldabaoth is a terrifying and cruel entity that embodies the forces of both chaos, order, light and darkness. It is often called "Shadow of God" or "God of the Old Testament" but his position is actually below that of the supreme Being. Sophia, the Aeon of Wisdom created Demiurge from pieces of Khaos and God after the first war ended, making powerful but Ignorant. Ashamed of the abomination, Sophia created a throne with thick great clouds. but The Demiurge, in its arrogance, proclaims sole responsibility for creating the world.

Assuming the haughty mantle of a solar deity, Yaldabaoth falsely perceives itself as the sole deity in the entire cosmos. With this mindset, it brought the physical realm into existence, establishing its own Heaven populated by counterfeit angels and commanding a retinue of personal servants known as the Archons, who obediently serve its every desire.

One of his angels seen the true self of the Demiurge which made the angel betray the False Creator by destroying the chains of control that Yaldabaoth placed on humanity and gave the gift of free-will.

In many schools of Gnosticism, Yaldabaoth is thought to be the Evil God of the Old Testament. but others thought of him as the Devil. though, in truth they are completely separate Entities.

Yaldabaoth, this entity, lacks the capability to perceive other divine expressions, leading him to falsely believe he's the supreme deity of the universe. While the true God created the Seven Archangels, Yaldabaoth, in his arrogance, created the seven archons. In ancient beliefs, the creation of the world is attributed to a group of seven archons, and though their names are known, their leader, Yaldabaoth, assumes even greater prominence.

In his misguided attempt to bring order to what he perceived as cosmic chaos, Yaldabaoth imprisoned the souls and hearts of beings within mortal forms, punishing those who resisted his rule. Some traditions even depict Yaldabaoth's eventual fall into the Gnostic equivalent of Hell, where he becomes the judge and tormentor of wicked souls.

Having fallen from his once-exalted state, Yaldabaoth now dwells in a false Heaven. There, along with his forty-nine demons, he inflicts punishment upon wicked souls in rivers of boiling pitch and employs various other forms of torture. Yaldabaoth is often portrayed as an Archon with the face of a lion, embodying characteristics of both flame and darkness. This is a vivid depiction of the Gnostic perspective on this entity.

Yaldabaoth also bears the epithet "the God-Eater," which signifies his role in devouring the gods from various pantheons after their apocalyptic events.

The gods are compelled to traverse the spiritual realm to be reborn in mortal forms. However, Yaldabaoth, also known as the Demiurge, actively pursues and consumes these gods, preventing them from crossing into the other world and thwarting their cycle of reincarnation.

Yaldabaoth, gifted with a portion of power from his mother, embarks on a creative endeavor, unknowingly mirroring the superior Pleromatic realm. He constructs the seven heavens and all material and living entities based on patterns provided by his mother, all the while operating in ignorance of her as the source of his energy. Lacking spiritual insight, he rules over the other two provinces, and the term "dēmiurgos" accurately characterizes his relationship with the material realm, as he is the progenitor of creatures resembling himself. Consequently, the power of Sophia, the mother, becomes ensnared within the material forms of humanity, which are themselves trapped within the material universe. Gnostic movements typically aim to awaken this divine spark within individuals, facilitating their return to the superior, non-material realities from which it originates.

Despite considering himself a creator deity, the Demiurge is not a true creator; he merely replicates "archetypal" patterns in the Pleroma. His creation is akin to a plastic imitation of an abalone shell, something that someone unaware of the true abalone shell's reality and the natural miracle required to produce it would accept. When God becomes aware of His transgressions, He banishes His "dark half" to the desolate depths of Creation—the lifeless zone of the universe where virtually no life thrives on any planet.

Yaldabaoth, also known as the Demiurge and the maker of humanity, becomes envious when a ray of divine light enters the human body and bestows a soul. He endeavors to suppress human knowledge by prohibiting access to the fruit of knowledge in paradise. Ultimately, at the culmination of all things, all light will return to the Pleroma. However, Yaldabaoth, along with the material world, will be cast into the lower depths. Yaldabaoth is frequently referred to as "the Lion-faced" or "leontoeides" and is associated with fiery nature.

## Appearance

Yaldabaoth is depicted as a giant serpent with a lion's face, but he can change that appearance to something more frightening or demonic. During ancient times, he used to appear as an old man with a white beard, similar to one of the human forms of God, probably to deceive his followers by pretending to be God.

## Personality

In stark contrast to God, Yaldabaoth exhibited none of the qualities of a benevolent deity characterized by boundless love and wisdom. His speech was characterized by coldness, detachment, and an absence of emotion. He regarded everything and everyone as vastly inferior to himself, often consumed by reminiscences of his time in his deceptive heaven. Yaldabaoth displayed cruelty and a ruthless demeanor, with his sole concern being his own well-being and image. When discussing humanity, Yaldabaoth did so with the same coldness, detachment, and lack of emotion.

He treats humans as if they are just irrational animals that he can do whatever he wants, even towards his greatest devotee or prophet, he sees them just as a bunch of "pets". Some say he is as cruel as the Devil himself, often pretending to be a benevolent and loving god, only to kill his followers and prophets later to pass his time. He also treats everyone as below him, like he is the supreme being.

According to Shiva, he personified the Seven Deadly Sins. His arrogance knew no bounds, as he considered himself the exclusive creator of the cosmos, despite having only produced a handful of entities, all of which were mere replicas of pre-existing beings. His disdain for other deities and god-like entities was so profound that he would consume any gods who, unfortunately, found themselves in the spiritual realm after the apocalyptic events of their respective pantheons. This earned him the ominous moniker of "The God-Eater."

It was said that because he had never experience the true act of Creation like he wanted, he had vowed to become the "Destroyer" and annihilate all creations of God, from the smallest of atoms to the largest of galaxies.

It is revealed that Yaldabaoth and God are actually the same being, with Yaldabaoth being an alter ego of the God of Israel. As God is a deity of pure love and benevolence, the Lord is not able to destroy His creation, so He uses His alter egos that embody His wrath or His hatred to execute His punishments. Yaldabaoth is the hands that God uses to send his plagues, his hosts and his armies over the face of the earth, devouring sinners like a consuming fire. However, as Yaldabaoth became more chaotic and evil, acting on his own rather than following his Creator's instructions, he was rejected as an avatar/aspect of God, becoming the same as a force of nature, motivated only by the desire for destruction.

## Powers and Abilities

**Archon Manipulation:** Yaldabaoth can create, manipulate, and destroy Archons. They can use archons to perform all kinds of tasks. Archons are the builders of the physical world in Gnosticism. Depending on the source they can be angelic or demonic.

**Chimerism:** Yaldabaoth either has or can fuse genetically with other species, Yaldabaoth is able to shift between several or any species they want. Exact effects vary by individual and the species they fuse with.

**Demiurge Physiology:** Yaldabaoth with this ability either is or can transform into a demiurge, an artisan-like being responsible for the fashioning, shaping, and maintenance of the physical universe, or at least some portion of it. It may clear things to know that in Greek *dēmiourgos* means literally "public worker" and was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually it came to mean "producer" and eventually "creator" or "maker". Depending on the system, they may be considered to be either uncreated and eternal or considered to be the product of a supreme entity.

**False Divinity:** Yaldabaoth possesses an artificial form of Divinity, these types have a pseudo-divinity and gaining divine powers granting them an immense amount of power beyond the normal mundane, though Yaldabaoth isn't an actual deity; however, their divine source is from an unknown nature, the belief Yaldabaoth have in themselves as a divine being, or the belief and worship others have in them, enabling Yaldabaoth to become false gods while still considered "holy" beings in the minds of themselves and others.

**Supreme Divinity:** Yaldabaoth has supreme divinity and all divine powers granting them an Infinite amount of supreme power beyond the mundane, making Yaldabaoth the Absolute highest divine being by nature, a status can surpass all other forms of divine/divinities in the existence making Yaldabaoth a supremely powerful divine entity who is Omnipotent, forever above all other divine beings in their respective universes and beyond.

**Fraud Embodiment:** Yaldabaoth with this power can become the embodiment of fraud and can deceive others with their lies and trickery. Yaldabaoth can influence the truth of what anyone says to make it a lie and can also become anyone to gain influence over powerful people and gain status.

**Human Creation:** Yaldabaoth can create human/humanoid beings from nothing and bend them to their will, they can eventually spawn hordes of these beings to serve, fight on their behalf, or simply to prosper. Yaldabaoth with this power is even able to create superhumans, evolved humans, mystical humans with magic, and transcendent humans with godly powers.

**Ignorance Embodiment:** Yaldabaoth embodies oblivion and ignorance, the lack of knowledge or awareness. At the most fundamental level, Yaldabaoth would possess key physical characteristics and/or personality traits related to the concept they're personifying. Yaldabaoth embodies oblivion and possesses abilities and traits that can distort or outright erase another's knowledge, memories, cognition, or even consciousness itself. Most of the time, they can induce unawareness and ignorance in others, causing them to be oblivious in battle. It can also be used offensively, as they can use their conceptual representation to delude others into believing them. Yaldabaoth's capabilities can be tied to their sheer ignorance, hence hard to stop out of Dunning-Kruger bravado or mere obliviousness.

**Land Lordship:** Yaldabaoth has authority and control over the Land, a place where all return from whence they came. Yaldabaoth can control the Earth and all things linked to it to a limitless degree.

**Matter Manipulation:** Yaldabaoth can manipulate matter: a substance or entity that possesses mass that takes up space and fills up the universe's volume. Matter is one of the most common substances that describes the universe, including its variations and oppositions. From the orders of magnitude, matter can range from subatomic particles to astronomical scales, such as the observable universe. More specifically, elementary particles, atoms, molecules, cells, microorganisms, everyday objects, animals, buildings, cities, mountains, continents, planets, planetary systems, and galaxies are composed or contain fragments of matter that define it. Matter can exist in different states, generally through solid, liquid, gas, plasma, and other matter states. Because Yaldabaoth can control matter, Yaldabaoth can manipulate nearly "anything" in the universe.

**The Devil:** Yaldabaoth is the Devil; A being who is a personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions (primarily Abrahamic religions) as a powerful dark entity that symbolizes the contrary to God: evil, sin, rebellion, and the realm of Hell as its supreme lord who is an objectification of a hostile and destructive force.

## History

### Origins

Yaldabaoth was born when Sophia, the Aeon of Wisdom sees two lost shards of God and Khaos within the void. Unknowingly, she begin to take care of them by merging them in her petals. But, because of their opposing nature not even the tree of life can make them develop properly. And so she begin to seek a solution. by burning the merged shards in flame of life and buried it in Pleroma. thus born Yaldabaoth. but, unknowingly his birth left the realm in a state of instabilities as the result of her meddling without approval from her superiors. feeling Ashamed of the abomination, she create him a throne covered by the great clouds. The Yaldabaoth, now naming himself Demiurge is unaware of all of this. that he is created by Sophia, that there are realms and beings beyond his strength. He concluded that only "HE" is alone in the existence, falling into a delusion that is a God. With the powers of both light and darkness, The Demiurge begins to shape the great clouds into the physical realm, mimicking how God create all in six days. instead of just Angels, however. The Demiurge also created the seven Archons to act as Emissary of the divine. using Sophia's power within him, he created the first man and Woman.

As a result, Sophia's essence becomes ensnared within the physical embodiments of humanity, trapped within the material cosmos. The primary objective of Gnostic movements often revolved around the awakening of this inner spark, enabling individuals to reconnect with the higher, immaterial realms from which it originally emanated.

### Dead Zone

Yaldabaoth's envy knew no bounds, leading him to restrict mankind's knowledge by forbidding them from partaking in the fruit of knowledge within Heaven. As all things reach their culmination, all light shall return to the Pleroma. However, when God became aware of this, he banished his "dark half" into the Dead Zone. There, the Demiurge resides for eternity, immersed in a lake of seething pitch, forever writhing through the obsidian mire. It voraciously devours the contents within, representing all that it coveted and sought to create but never had the chance to do so.

Centuries of being Imprisoned in this empty, hellish place causes his sanity to deteriorate even more. To the point that he begin to consume a inhabited planet within. This, however begins to change him for the worse. As the taste of the True creation of God made him realize that if he cannot create, he shall be the destroyer instead. Thus begins his ceaseless move. Devouring any and all things he came across be it Planets, Suns, Moons, even Gods who died and sent to the Dead Zone. Until he found the precious creation of All, our world.

Because of his deranged mind, he would actively reach out and corrupt the mind of anyone who is dumb enough to pray to him, slowly twisting their desire, turning even the most honorable of heroes into the most degenerate of villains.

Upon tasting the essence of creation, the Demiurge arrived at a grim realization: if it were denied the ability to create, it would resort to destruction. The Demiurge began its quest by consuming all forms of matter, particularly those bearing the lingering power of God, determined to strip away God's handiwork just as it believed had been done to itself.

The Demiurge, quite literally, transformed into a viral scourge of creation. It spread across the cosmos, voraciously devouring any and all life forms it encountered. It is prophesied that once the Demiurge breaches the Dead Zone, it will leave a path of destruction through galaxies teeming with life, ultimately converging upon God's most beloved creation: Earth.

## Myths and Legends

Demiurge is a central figure withing Gnosticism. As the main goal of a Gnostic to freed themselves from the flesh prisons of Demiurge and ascend to the realm of Monad, where all things emanated. Demiurge is also thought as the God of the Old testament because of their similar violent and zealous attitude. But this idea had been brand as Blasphemous and those who agree as Heretics.

## Quotes

*"I am Yaldabaoth, the One True God! Worship me! Praise me! Or punishment awaits you all!" - Yaldabaoth.*

*"I burn down your cities, how blind you must be. I take from you your children and you say, "How blessed are we!". You must be crazy to put your faith in me. And that's why I love mankind." - Yaldabaoth about his "Love for Mankind."*

*"Now the Archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come." - Apocryphon of John.*

*"I am the Demiurge. I am that which slithers into the darkest abyss. I am he who was born of true light and darkness. I am that of which the heathen gods tremble at the mere mention of my name. I am the Shadow of God. His dark self. But unlike Him...I am not merciful." - Yaldabaoth.*

*"If this is how you mortals celebrate such festivities... then I suppose it's only fair that I should participate in this festival." - Yaldabaoth.*

*"My God is the sight of the blind. My God is the garment of those who are naked. My God is the hearing of the deaf. My God is the voice of those who are mute. My God is the movement of the paralytics. My God is the healing of the sick. My God is the courage of cowards. He is the shadow that protects me from the hot light, it is the warm light that protects me from the cold days. He is the water that runs through my blood and the oxygen that I breathe. He is the adult crib that makes me sleep peacefully. My God it's not you!" - Norea to Yaldabaoth.*

*"I'D RATHER BURN THIS ENTIRE PLANET THAN PASSING ANOTHER MINUTE BETWEEN THESE ANIMALS!" - Yaldabaoth about the humans to Sabaoth.*

*"Of this planet I am the king, and I have the whole planet right in my palm. This crowd of ants adore me and praise the heights, and that gives me fun. If you don't understand, I'll summarize: The Earth is mine; the galaxy is mine, the universe is mine, I own the world! Because I am God! BECAUSE I AM GOD!!!" - Yaldabaoth.*

*"Who are you? Why do you destroy our cities, burn our villages and break our continents? What is the reason behind you wanting so much to cause us suffering? Say, I demand!" "I am Yaldabaoth, the devouring God, foolish and blind! I am chaos and destruction, I bring plague and disorder." "That's not what I asked you! Tell me why you do us so much harm!" "Well then, I'll tell you." "Huh?" "I am God, my little one. I am the creator. I create to then destroy. And from destruction and chaos, I create creation and order. I am Good and Evil, I form light and darkness. With these hands I create, and with these other hands, that is, Yaldabaoth, I destroy." - Norea & Yaldabaoth.*

## Trivia

* As Pronoia, he takes a more feminine form.
* He has an unknown connection with the prophets Moses, Joshua, Amos, Habakkuk.
* Yaldabaoth is the only avatar of God that He didn't manually create as the core that would become him was actually a rogue "piece" of God that was blasted off by Khaos and then was found by Sophia.
* He was also known by different Gnostic teachings as Satanael, Choronzon, Samael, Saklas, "Fool" or "Son of Chaos." He is said to have been the devil, but some sects consider them to be two completely different entities.
* When Yaldabaoth first came to Earth, he was defeated by Satanael who had blast off a piece of him which became the Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend.
* In some gnostic stories it is implied that Yaldabaoth is Chaos.
* Yaldabaoth is so cruel and evil, that he once burned a city with Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and Christians, in it when they asked Him to let them be.
* Though called the shadow of God, the true shadow of God is Khaos. Yaldabaoth being called the shadow of God is more related to one of the aspects of Yesh - Sophia, wisdom. Yaldabaoth is ignorance, therefore, he is the shadow of Sophia, because where there is no wisdom, there is ignorance.