Azrael

The Being of whom all lesser Deaths are mere reflections, the Ultimate Reality
THE BEGINNING AND THE END
Name	Azrael
Race	the Great Old Ones
Age	immortal
Occupation	Death of the Universe Keeper of The Universal Clock
Physical appearance	known only to Death and the Auditors
Residence	effectively everywhere
Death	happens to other people
Parents	none
Relatives	other Olden Ones?
Children	no
Marital Status	none
Appearances
Books	Reaper Man
Cameos	Soul Music

Azrael, one of the Eight Old High Ones, is none other than the 'Death of Universes': an entity of unthinkably enormous scope and size — so vast that entire nebulae of galaxies are merely the glint in his eye and who speaks like

this.

While not a god, Azrael is an 'Old High One', existing nonetheless despite not being worshiped. Azrael is the Ultimate Reality. Just as the Death of Rats is an offshoot of Death (i.e.the anthropomorphic personification of Death) who has been permitted an existence independent of Death, both Death and the Death of Rats are themselves in reality just offshoots of Azrael himself. Azrael is the Being from whom all lesser Deaths are mere reflections or aspects.

His sheer size suggests that Azrael may, in fact, be the universe itself.

Like his 'servant', Death, Azrael does have a personality, evident by his act of mercy at the end of the events of Reaper Man, after Death's argument of "what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man ?"

Essentially trapped within his prison of a 'billion years', Azrael is bored. Just like Death he can even remember the future, ("premembering", as the current incarnation of Time calls it,) so there is nothing new for him. "I remember," he says at the end of Reaper Man, "when all this will be again" (which seems to support the Golems' belief that time is toroidal). He is also the keeper of The Universal Clock, the logical opposite of a clock, in that it tells Time what it is and not the other way around, and whose big hand only goes round once, ticking off the moments until the end of everything.

Annotation

• Azrael is named after Azrael, the Angel of Death of Islamic extrabiblical traditions and folklore.
• Azreal's position as the 'Keeper of The Universal Clock' could be a reference to Father Time and Cronus, (Kronos or Cronos,) who was the inspiration for both Father Time and the Grim Reaper.

Also See

• Great Attractor