Timestamps, an ongoing channel challenge, and Possible Spoilers Below! 0:10 Well summoning Obyrith is definitely one way to start a video. 0:37 Intro and Pazuzu in Earth-Mythology. 2:38 Appearance in older editions 3:23 Description 4:29 Obyrith Lord 5:40 Lord of Abyssal Skies and semi-enemies 6:21 Feeding On Innocence and purity, answering prayers 8:43 Very Devil-Like Demon, The Long Game 10:00 Pazunia, First Layer of the Abyss 14:22 Pazuzu in Pazunia 14:47 Meeting, Interacting, and Ill advised Fighting Pazuzu 17:35 Stats 22:07 Speaking the Name, and Torremor 24:46 Onstrakker's Nest 26:36 Lord's Rock 27:46 Corrupting through aiding 29:38 Cults of Pazuzu 32:53 Juicy bit of 4e lore on Asmodeus and the Ruby Rod I would be a poor timestamper for the channel if i didn't recommend a few videos after this. The Lords of Ruin are always great videos and here are a few to check out if you have not already. Each has fantastic flavor to add to your game. Demogorgon: th-cam.com/video/vARMeprw8PI/w-d-xo.html The Obyrith: th-cam.com/video/p6gVcUzchIQ/w-d-xo.html Orcus: th-cam.com/video/3XfqjHSy9V8/w-d-xo.html Graz'zt: th-cam.com/video/kbq8qXuBz5U/w-d-xo.html Fraz-Urb'luu: th-cam.com/video/5teN6N_0Rt0/w-d-xo.html Also a shout-out to a challenge we have going on for the channel: Part 2 of the Netheril Empire videos, we have to get part 1 to 14,000 views by the end of the year. We have gotten another 200 views in the last week so we are on a good start! Link below if you are interested. History of the Netheril Empire: th-cam.com/video/vARMeprw8PI/w-d-xo.html
I know Im randomly asking but does anybody know a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I was dumb forgot the password. I love any help you can offer me
@Dallas Mayson i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
He wants to turn things evil, but is the only one I know of in the D&D multiverse that understands that means spending time in evil places is pointless for this goal.
I once played a Halfling cleric of Pazuzu! Escaped from a lamashite-dominated town where children were plagued by nightmares. I protected children and taught Evil as individual freedom, an antidote to Good - which is a ruse by Lamashtu and Asmodeus who want you to suffer quietly. We governed a kingdom that had kobolds as police, to which I correctly told that Pazuzu could turn them into dragons. Also all but the followers of Abadar (it was Pathfinder) recited the name three times in a row at every meeting. All Hail The Locust Host!
Pazuzu: “I can summon a handful of rocks.” Other Demons “Well that doesn’t seem so useful...oww! Wtf?” Pazuzu, 300 ft in the air throwing down handfuls of rocks: “Those rocks still not seem useful?”
Pazuzu has pretty much no enemies. Pazuzu has his own layer of the Abyss. Pazuzu controls the skies of pretty much all layers of the Abyss. Pazuzu doesn't care about the Blood War. dude, Pazuzu won the game! he's the true master of evil!
Finally! A Demon-Lord with a brain and a motivation other than KILL THE THINGS AND STAY ALIVE. I mean, there's Grazzt too, but he's just the god of college frat-boys.
My favorite Demon Lord. I put a hint for his presence in almost every campaign I DM. My players haven't figured it out thus far but they know that if they see a bunch of dumb looking pigeons staring at them something is terribly wrong... especially if they are in the abyss...
I can EASILY picture Pazuzu choosing NOT to reveal his nature to living petitioners for his rewards, but instead guiding them to the Abyss by favors he asks in return, this is a role I can see done by Servitors capable of taking a mortal form. Every time offering along with the dark deed a justification for it as to WHY it isn't really all that bad, a few goods slipped through customs here, or a small act of perjury there to keep some wheels greased. The thing that he knows is one favor leads to another, & once one moral boundary is crossed he next is easier to cross as well. The road to the Lower Planes is paved with good intentions. He could also support those who are acting in a Evil manner but convinced they are acting out of a sense of Righteous GOOD. The Elvin Paladin who slaughters the entire Orc tribe including the old, women, & children, as well as the warriors because "Orcs are EVIL," could find aid from Pazuzu in disguise, this would be a very fertile ground for souls begging for his brand of corrupting favors as both sides of a war fueled by fanatics doing evil things in the name of Good gods. I can also see an alternate form for Pazuzu as a swarm of birds or flying insects making him harder to hit in combat & intimidating to mortals on the Prime Material plane. A few million locusts blackening the sky & creating a voice with the buzzing of their wings would be a KILLER visual for the players.
Pazuzu:"ha ha ha! I'm Pazuzu, king of plagues and locusts, I'll kill all these mesopotamian losers!" Lamashtu:"k, I'm gonna murder some children." Pazuzu:"WHAT? You can't be THAT evil!" Lamashtu:"why not? You kill people with plagues, it's not like you are any be..." Pazuzu:"SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" A battle to the death ensues
Pazuzu hates Lamashtu. He prevents her from grabbing children to fuck with her and not out of the kindness of his heart. Mothers are just using the old "the enemy of my enemy" bit.
I feel like that favor Pazuzu is owed is going to be called in if Grazzt ever gets the upper hand on him. Use Asmodeus to defeat or even kill Grazzt. This is right up Pazuzu alley since according to some sources, Grazzt is Asmodeus’ son, making it even more evil than the normal Archdevil-Demon Lord fight.
@ChosenKyng forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Graz%27zt Please note the end of the second paragraph of the History section, where it clearly states that one of the theories about Graz'zt's origin is that he is the offspring of Pale Night and Asmodeus.
Pazuzu sounds like a great excuse for a character having a warlock pact. Eerily helpful and plotting your demise, sure, but at least you likely won't have to deal with him in the short-term. Most campaigns begin and end at a relatively low level anyways.
Great video, would have loved that for the last adventure my heroes went on. It's stated that Pazuzu spends time guarding certain places in Thanatos for Orcus, so I had the demon's vrock minions notice that the good heroes were sneaking into the plane. However instead of attacking them, the vrocks explained that their lord, the Prince of the Air, was bored and they would gain favor if they would entertain him with a fight. This fight was clearly stated to have no lasting injuries and curry great favor, so the players eventually agreed. The vrocks summoned an aspect of Pazuzu who dueled them. It would have been nice to here your ideas on his stats and wargear. The heroes won the fight just barely, and so Pazuzu gave them the blade he had been using, and encouraged them to call upon his aid in the future, since he was quite bored after all. That future wasn't too far off, and they soon requested his aid in removing a Godzilla sized monster that was clogging the Styx.
Pazuzu's been all over the multiverse. One of the mightiest Shen Gong Wu has bears his namesake. The Pazuzu Atom has been the center of many Xiaolin Showdowns.
I've had the pleasure of seeing Pazuzu as the big bad of a long-running Planescape campaign. The Lady of Pain stopped appearing in Sigil and nobody knows why, but he was quick to seed and command cults within the hive, as well as ripping open rifts in the skies above both the Outlands and many Primes. An epic campaign of interplanar war on the grandest of scales, with a great DM.
Psi-mech-necro tech from the cult of Thoon! Man, I really want to make a video about Thoon, it is so crazy weird and fits perfectly with both Psionics and Artificers. So topical.
The arm position thing you mentioned at the start of the video is a gesture associated with some of the more martial and/or malevolent entities in ancient middle-eastern mythology. To the Mesopotamians of that time, it variously represented power, menace, and the destruction of one's enemies, and was meant to be imposing. It later came to be associated with the phrase "as above, so below" (a hermetic axiom) but that's a fairly recent thing by comparison.
The hand thing is a reference to "Everything above corresponds with everything below and everything below corresponds with everything above" or "as above, so below" in Alchemy, I believe.
The goat-headed satan is portrayed this way, too. ‘Solvet et Coagula’ is a latin expression that translated means ‘dissolve and coagulate’. In other words this pagan expression has a very broad meaning, but can be translated as ‘Something has to be completely destroyed to be created’. Purposely, Jack in The Shining has his hands positioned like this in the photograph near the end of the film.
@@jacobfreeman5444 this was the same Corruption that tainted Lucifer, think about that for a moment, What IF Pazuzu was the reason for Lucifer's "fall"...
He’s closer in nature to Santa than Beatlejuice. Try leaving out Blue Cheese and Dark Beer, and you might be lucky enough to gain audience with the Sage.
Then there’s the wise Paladin “thanks for helping me destroy demons and leave the abyss I hope to never see you again because just because your nice doesn’t mean you aren’t evil.”
Well, that was ducking crazy. Good though. I think I am making a module about him or partially anyway. Yeesh. AJ brought the lore and it was indeed disturbing.
A young child offers a good hero aid in his quest. "Our lord wishes only to see evil vanquished," the child says as the silhouette of wings frame the child's shadow. "Clearly this is an angelic force on our side," the adventurer says. >;)
Throw a curveball then: make a little girl who's not overtly threatening, just suspicious enough to rouse the players' vigilance towards her, and completely innocent. While the player characters interrogate the hapless little girl, the real danger approaches...
I can see a vengeful aerie of Aarakocra who tribe has been decimated by hobgoblins or some such, asking for Pazuzu's help in their darkest hour of need. Perhaps the high priest of the tribe reached out alone to Pazuzu in order to enact revenge of the most extreme degree against the tribes enemies, thus corrupting the entire tribe over time to do unspeakable acts on any and all ground-dwellers who happen through their territory. Before you know it you've got Vrocks mixed in with the flock who are there to make sure their lord's will is done.
Yoooooo I was just thinking about this 6:10 although was planning for her to be bound on the Material Plane. In particular, I was planning on having the Nagpa be servants of Pazuzu and they somehow use Lamashtu’s abilities to corrupt and pervert others- even create monsters. In my setting they may have been the ones who twisted the fomorians as they did (perhaps without the giants’ knowledge) and entered into an uneasy pact with them in the Feydark.
I think I’ll have it so the majority of the Nagpa (of the 13 or so) have her guarded in a land that is always spawning some new monstrosity that kingdoms must contend with. Maybe they are always draining her ‘essence’ as a fertility/life goddess to prolong their lifespans as they’d still be mortal followers of Pazuzu, and also siphon her divine/demonic powers into magic items to corrupt other beings. I could have them be responsible for first granting Balor, king of the Fomorians, his cursed evil eye that decimates anything he sees, and have them responsible for beings like the Xvarts and possibly the derro (NagTek having them as his minions is appropriate lol)
Well, the Obyrith originally came to this world to escape their own dying reality. So I suspect why he seems to have adapted so well to this world is because he has what he wants. A new reality to conquer and shape to his desires. He has no use to remake this world to fit the shape of what he left behind. The corruption of what is before him is more than enough. This may be why he and Pale Night do not get along. He is content with what he has. She is not.
ah yes, asmodeus, tharizdun and now finally pazuzu. At long last the unholy trinity is complete, bless you aj for fighting through the heebie jeebies ol bird-lejuice gives you.
That's my favorite Demon of them all. Probably because of the Exorcist movies. Swarms of locusts engender such awe and destruction to crops, it is no wonder that it was personified as a demon,
Thank you so much AJ!!! I was the one who asked you on FB to make this vid! I appreciate all your videos, they are infinitely amazing. Pazuzzu is the BBEG in my Campaign and has been keeping an eye on the PC's for sometime. Thanks again!
Funny thing, I was browsing asmr videos and TH-cam recommended me this soothing video on Pazuzu. Looks like I’m once again falling asleep to lower planes lore :)
I know it's a lot to ask, but if you continued to do more and more of the lords of ruin, that would be excellent. They are some of my favorite videos. Also, the next time you do a demon video, could you explain why an individual demon may want to collect souls?
Demons don't generally care much about the souls other than that they have a value in the lower planes (currency), with which they can buy things that cause even more destruction and mayhem.
He reminds me of Tash from The Chronicles of Narnia. A while ago I was reminiscing on just how strange those books were. One legged people, talking mice, a horse keeping a boy as a slave.
M'lord, some villain calling himself Steven King called at the postern gate asking for the return of his Fog. I informed him that you were not in possession of his Fog and set him upon his way.
when you think about it, Pazuzu could very well be the god of drug dealers. Even if you know perfectly well the dangers of summoning him, the allure is _just that strong_ . "I know I shouldn't summon him, but _grrrr, I want a vorpal sword!_"
Lol like those rocks you find at gas stations that have bible verses on it, but instead they have things written on them like "Burn them all" or "kill yourself"
The right hand is raised and the left-hand was lowered just like the Baphomet. This is to show the ancient axiom "As Above So Below." The hermetic laws concerning duality.
The hand placement might be related to ma'at. In ma'at one hand is open and one hand is closed. It represents the ability to use power and receive/ give it, so two closed hands would just be using power. It's meant to be a balance of power, with the fist being the "evil" side. Anyway, ma'at was an Egyptian concept, so odds are there are few connections (if any.) Btw Ma'at was still used throughout history when artists made portraits of kings in Europe. Christian kings usually had a scepter in one hand (the fist/ the power to rule,) and an orb, or another Christian symbol, in the other (the open hand/ the given divine right to rule.) Sometimes the scepter would lay to the side of the king and in its place they would have an open hand. This was a sign of a king that didn't abuse power and gave freely to their subjects. Kings who renounced the church usually ended up with a scepter in one hand and a sword or closed fist in the other.
The concept that each hand be depicted in a specific Fashion different from the other isn’t originally Egyptian. As you can tell from Mesopotamia predating Egypt but the symbolism is unexplained until its appearance in Egyptian and Hindu culture. Which also has symbolic meaning to if a hand is pointed up or down, relaxed a fist, or flat, or just two fingers.
I prefer the depiction of Pazuzu as a Lawful Evil and Chaotic Neutral bounty hunter, killing demons and taking their power in order to become the greatest warrior in existence
I'll second that, i've never really heard anything of them other than a- one of them got stronger the further they traveled from the beginning of time, and b- they apparently don't actually look anything like slaads?
Seeing as how chaos is the slaad shtik, the fact like they mostly progress in a orderly fashion through their evolution is an obvious error in their d&d presentation. The fact the slaad lords break the convention is too little too late. Any true creature of chaos who change from frog to something completely unrelated upon evolving. Furthermore their bodies should be more gibbering mouther, less amphibian.
@@AnonymousAlcoholic772 That's what they were like, but they were transformed by "powers" into what they are now. It's a convoluted tale, conflicted by different editions, in one tale, Primus was responsible for their current state of being.
AJ Pickett theres that name again. Someone should do some sort of explanatory presentation, perhaps in a video format, for our amusement and edification. Hm....
Question: If some of my Players Characters Die through Monsters that your Videos Told me About, They then start DMing there own Adventures to get revenge on me, and inevitably end up at your TH-cam Channel for Inspiration... Would this please you oh Mighty One? Well I hope i did not reveal enough of your Great Plan to get Nothiced... Last Words written Sane: Thx for another Awesome Video :D
Pazuzu probably avoids the material plane of Earth after finding thousands who know his name just wanting to talk about a Horror film from the 1970's. He curses Nybbas (in In Nomine the Demon Prince of Media) as his name was used for the demon that possessed Regan in The Exorcist, so there are way too many who know his name who don't need favors or expect any sort of supernatural occurrence. I can imagine a Demon spreading a rival's name far & wide in a way that wouldn't be MEANT as an invocation as a way to keep them from concentrating so if you wanted to have a Demon spread Nybbas's name as a name for a new fruit spread or something so that he's constantly hearing his name but not actually being called I can see that as a plot in a D&D story. It would be a good read herring too, have Pazuzu be who the party be who they THINK they are after but it's actually another infernal power such as Beelzebub (per the priest who part of the exorcism of Roland Doe the case that the book The Exorcist was based on,) be the one who is behind things. In the setting of In Nomine Nybbas uses his influence to make mortals more selfish & sedentary, having stolen the section of Hell known as Perdition he works WIDE not intense, better to keep 1000 souls from achieving Heaven with the work of a day, than spend years to damn a single soul. If you wanted a Demon or Devil like that in D&D I can see him as a dark patron of Bards, who help weave tales to get neighbors to trust each other less, & fear each other more.
Hey random question completely unrelated to this video. You know how there is a weave and a shadow weave what would happen if a god made a 3rd weave like thing?
Two questions. 1: Is Pazuzu more powerful than Demogorgon? Cause there seem to be a rising number of powers in the Abyss that are greater than its supposed prince. 2: Is the story of the trial of Asmodeus a complete lie? Primus didn’t give Asmodeus his Ruby Rod?
First off Thank you for all the wonderful lore based videos. First time dmer but also first time really getting into more of a table top setting game. I have really been using your demon and devil lore videos to make my home brew story more seamless, and now all i need to do is learn how to dm. Now I really want to put that one on hold and make a pazuzu influenced campaign.
I came here to say this exact same thing. He mentions it but doesn't know why... I immediately said as above so below. I thought this was common knowledge, especially if you know anything about the occult, esoteric, tarot, mysticism, etc.
the raised and lowered hands are to signify that their influence is upon the Earth, or Prime Material Plane, as well as the Spirit Realm This posturing is often seen repeated in religious paintings and ancient (as well as modern) statuary....
A thought. It wasn't that pestilence and fierce winds were not that bad but he was placatable. His former lover could not be. So while he was an malicious entity he was also one you could bribe to leave you alone.
I love these videos. I used to read about the lower plains in my d&d books so often I still have large swaths of them memorized. I used to eagerly await new issues of Dragon in hopes of another Demonomicon of Iggwilv article.
AJ, I've rewatched this video more than any other TH-cam video in my life. It gives me goosebumps and the sense of authority and intensity you lend this topic is A+ grade
As Father Damien (the Exorcist) found out: "The power of Christ compels you..." ...except when your a sneaky ancient Demon of the East Wind, that can find ways to circumvent that.
You don't get to be powerful without embracing the path of the rules lawyer. Nit picking meaning and intent allows one to circumvent those sloppy but well meaning obstacles.
Timestamps, an ongoing channel challenge, and Possible Spoilers Below!
0:10 Well summoning Obyrith is definitely one way to start a video.
0:37 Intro and Pazuzu in Earth-Mythology.
2:38 Appearance in older editions
3:23 Description
4:29 Obyrith Lord
5:40 Lord of Abyssal Skies and semi-enemies
6:21 Feeding On Innocence and purity, answering prayers
8:43 Very Devil-Like Demon, The Long Game
10:00 Pazunia, First Layer of the Abyss
14:22 Pazuzu in Pazunia
14:47 Meeting, Interacting, and Ill advised Fighting Pazuzu
17:35 Stats
22:07 Speaking the Name, and Torremor
24:46 Onstrakker's Nest
26:36 Lord's Rock
27:46 Corrupting through aiding
29:38 Cults of Pazuzu
32:53 Juicy bit of 4e lore on Asmodeus and the Ruby Rod
I would be a poor timestamper for the channel if i didn't recommend a few videos after this. The Lords of Ruin are always great videos and here are a few to check out if you have not already. Each has fantastic flavor to add to your game.
Demogorgon: th-cam.com/video/vARMeprw8PI/w-d-xo.html
The Obyrith: th-cam.com/video/p6gVcUzchIQ/w-d-xo.html
Orcus: th-cam.com/video/3XfqjHSy9V8/w-d-xo.html
Graz'zt: th-cam.com/video/kbq8qXuBz5U/w-d-xo.html
Fraz-Urb'luu: th-cam.com/video/5teN6N_0Rt0/w-d-xo.html
Also a shout-out to a challenge we have going on for the channel: Part 2 of the Netheril Empire videos, we have to get part 1 to 14,000 views by the end of the year. We have gotten another 200 views in the last week so we are on a good start! Link below if you are interested.
History of the Netheril Empire: th-cam.com/video/vARMeprw8PI/w-d-xo.html
@NurturingTalents oh sorry bout that! Good catch.
I know Im randomly asking but does anybody know a tool to get back into an instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the password. I love any help you can offer me
@Mathias Travis Instablaster :)
@Dallas Mayson i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Dallas Mayson It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thanks so much, you really help me out !
He wants to turn things evil, but is the only one I know of in the D&D multiverse that understands that means spending time in evil places is pointless for this goal.
Spending his malice and cruelty in places deigned as good is more conductive for his dark works.
I once played a Halfling cleric of Pazuzu! Escaped from a lamashite-dominated town where children were plagued by nightmares. I protected children and taught Evil as individual freedom, an antidote to Good - which is a ruse by Lamashtu and Asmodeus who want you to suffer quietly. We governed a kingdom that had kobolds as police, to which I correctly told that Pazuzu could turn them into dragons. Also all but the followers of Abadar (it was Pathfinder) recited the name three times in a row at every meeting.
All Hail The Locust Host!
Pazuzu: “I can summon a handful of rocks.”
Other Demons “Well that doesn’t seem so useful...oww! Wtf?”
Pazuzu, 300 ft in the air throwing down handfuls of rocks: “Those rocks still not seem useful?”
Pazuzu has pretty much no enemies.
Pazuzu has his own layer of the Abyss.
Pazuzu controls the skies of pretty much all layers of the Abyss.
Pazuzu doesn't care about the Blood War.
dude, Pazuzu won the game! he's the true master of evil!
Not to mention his allies... he is the quiet prince of demons.
I was looking for a Pazuzu lore video... i typed his name in 3 times and this video appeared.
Story checks out.
Finally! A Demon-Lord with a brain and a motivation other than KILL THE THINGS AND STAY ALIVE. I mean, there's Grazzt too, but he's just the god of college frat-boys.
Pazuzu is lord of the low aerial frat-boys
I absolutely enjoy the Lords of ruin series. Always get ideas for them in Games thanks AJ
You are most welcome :)
My favorite Demon Lord. I put a hint for his presence in almost every campaign I DM. My players haven't figured it out thus far but they know that if they see a bunch of dumb looking pigeons staring at them something is terribly wrong... especially if they are in the abyss...
I can EASILY picture Pazuzu choosing NOT to reveal his nature to living petitioners for his rewards, but instead guiding them to the Abyss by favors he asks in return, this is a role I can see done by Servitors capable of taking a mortal form. Every time offering along with the dark deed a justification for it as to WHY it isn't really all that bad, a few goods slipped through customs here, or a small act of perjury there to keep some wheels greased. The thing that he knows is one favor leads to another, & once one moral boundary is crossed he next is easier to cross as well. The road to the Lower Planes is paved with good intentions. He could also support those who are acting in a Evil manner but convinced they are acting out of a sense of Righteous GOOD. The Elvin Paladin who slaughters the entire Orc tribe including the old, women, & children, as well as the warriors because "Orcs are EVIL," could find aid from Pazuzu in disguise, this would be a very fertile ground for souls begging for his brand of corrupting favors as both sides of a war fueled by fanatics doing evil things in the name of Good gods.
I can also see an alternate form for Pazuzu as a swarm of birds or flying insects making him harder to hit in combat & intimidating to mortals on the Prime Material plane. A few million locusts blackening the sky & creating a voice with the buzzing of their wings would be a KILLER visual for the players.
Pretty sure the elven pantheon would support the slaughter of Gruumsh's children considering most orcs are chaotic evil slavers.
Yes, I’m taking notes.
“Note to self: Do *not* call on Puzuzu...for *any* reason!”
Got it! 📝
Pazuzu:"ha ha ha! I'm Pazuzu, king of plagues and locusts, I'll kill all these mesopotamian losers!"
Lamashtu:"k, I'm gonna murder some children."
Pazuzu:"WHAT? You can't be THAT evil!"
Lamashtu:"why not? You kill people with plagues, it's not like you are any be..."
Pazuzu:"SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"
A battle to the death ensues
He wants to corrupt them to evil and chaos. Which is impossible if they are eaten and their souls destroyed...
Pazuzu hates Lamashtu. He prevents her from grabbing children to fuck with her and not out of the kindness of his heart. Mothers are just using the old "the enemy of my enemy" bit.
I feel like that favor Pazuzu is owed is going to be called in if Grazzt ever gets the upper hand on him. Use Asmodeus to defeat or even kill Grazzt. This is right up Pazuzu alley since according to some sources, Grazzt is Asmodeus’ son, making it even more evil than the normal Archdevil-Demon Lord fight.
@ChosenKyng forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Graz%27zt
Please note the end of the second paragraph of the History section, where it clearly states that one of the theories about Graz'zt's origin is that he is the offspring of Pale Night and Asmodeus.
I thought Grazzt was the spawn of Pale Night? And father to Iuz?
“And that little one is how papa earn his freedom.”
-Pazuzu
Pazuzu sounds like a great excuse for a character having a warlock pact. Eerily helpful and plotting your demise, sure, but at least you likely won't have to deal with him in the short-term. Most campaigns begin and end at a relatively low level anyways.
Great video, would have loved that for the last adventure my heroes went on.
It's stated that Pazuzu spends time guarding certain places in Thanatos for Orcus, so I had the demon's vrock minions notice that the good heroes were sneaking into the plane. However instead of attacking them, the vrocks explained that their lord, the Prince of the Air, was bored and they would gain favor if they would entertain him with a fight. This fight was clearly stated to have no lasting injuries and curry great favor, so the players eventually agreed. The vrocks summoned an aspect of Pazuzu who dueled them. It would have been nice to here your ideas on his stats and wargear.
The heroes won the fight just barely, and so Pazuzu gave them the blade he had been using, and encouraged them to call upon his aid in the future, since he was quite bored after all.
That future wasn't too far off, and they soon requested his aid in removing a Godzilla sized monster that was clogging the Styx.
Very nicely done!
Pazuzu, Sovereign of the Skies, Tempter of the Just, &
A friend to Clerics & little girls everywhere!
Don't forget Dark Angel Of The Four Winds.
Pazuzu's been all over the multiverse. One of the mightiest Shen Gong Wu has bears his namesake. The Pazuzu Atom has been the center of many Xiaolin Showdowns.
I've had the pleasure of seeing Pazuzu as the big bad of a long-running Planescape campaign. The Lady of Pain stopped appearing in Sigil and nobody knows why, but he was quick to seed and command cults within the hive, as well as ripping open rifts in the skies above both the Outlands and many Primes. An epic campaign of interplanar war on the grandest of scales, with a great DM.
A truly sinister force of evil! I like to think he'd have spells and magical artifacts from The Far Realm that are older than time itself!
Psi-mech-necro tech from the cult of Thoon! Man, I really want to make a video about Thoon, it is so crazy weird and fits perfectly with both Psionics and Artificers. So topical.
AJ Pickett I want that video!
@@alanschaub147 Same here.
No strings attached hmmm >:3 That was a delicious line I could almost feel like someone who Spoke AJs name 3 times hehe .
The arm position thing you mentioned at the start of the video is a gesture associated with some of the more martial and/or malevolent entities in ancient middle-eastern mythology.
To the Mesopotamians of that time, it variously represented power, menace, and the destruction of one's enemies, and was meant to be imposing.
It later came to be associated with the phrase "as above, so below" (a hermetic axiom) but that's a fairly recent thing by comparison.
Ah! Thanks Escaton III, so it was basically the ancient T pose. Very good lore.
lol yeah basically. no problem. thanks for the vid. the obyrith are my favorite d&d race.
"Pazuzu you ungrateful gargoyle! I put you through College and this is the thanks I get‽"
Pazuzu, you ungrateful gargoyle! I put you through college, and this is how you repay me?!
Hey I said that first
But it’s still funny when you say it
@@thetophatnerd2664 Apologies, I didn't know. Glad you still found it funny.
The hand thing is a reference to "Everything above corresponds with everything below and everything below corresponds with everything above" or "as above, so below" in Alchemy, I believe.
Oh, that makes sense.
The goat-headed satan is portrayed this way, too.
‘Solvet et Coagula’ is a latin expression that translated means ‘dissolve and coagulate’. In other words this pagan expression has a very broad meaning, but can be translated as ‘Something has to be completely destroyed to be created’.
Purposely, Jack in The Shining has his hands positioned like this in the photograph near the end of the film.
The way you described Pazuzu’s style of corruption sounds like a metaphor for addiction. Please don’t tell me I’m not the only one thinking as such.
More like temptation, a vaster idea which does cover addiction but not limited to it.
@@jacobfreeman5444 this was the same Corruption that tainted Lucifer, think about that for a moment, What IF Pazuzu was the reason for Lucifer's "fall"...
@@tappingninja I thought it was pride.
AJ Pickett... AJ Pickett... AJ Pickett... *locks around* (f*ck me and my false hope) ;)
You really need to clean your refrigerator.
He’s closer in nature to Santa than Beatlejuice. Try leaving out Blue Cheese and Dark Beer, and you might be lucky enough to gain audience with the Sage.
Then there’s the wise Paladin “thanks for helping me destroy demons and leave the abyss I hope to never see you again because just because your nice doesn’t mean you aren’t evil.”
Just because you leave the Abyss, doesn't mean you're safe little paladin....
Well, that was ducking crazy. Good though. I think I am making a module about him or partially anyway. Yeesh. AJ brought the lore and it was indeed disturbing.
Pazuzu is the demon portrayed in the exorcist movies as well....makes perfect sense he would want to possess and corrupt a young girl
A young child offers a good hero aid in his quest. "Our lord wishes only to see evil vanquished," the child says as the silhouette of wings frame the child's shadow. "Clearly this is an angelic force on our side," the adventurer says. >;)
I see you have played in one of my friend Iain's campaigns. When any little girl shows up, every player at the table is ready to roll initiative.
@@AJPickett lol. Innocent sounding NPCs. Either they are pure evil or they are going to die soon.
Throw a curveball then: make a little girl who's not overtly threatening, just suspicious enough to rouse the players' vigilance towards her, and completely innocent. While the player characters interrogate the hapless little girl, the real danger approaches...
I can see a vengeful aerie of Aarakocra who tribe has been decimated by hobgoblins or some such, asking for Pazuzu's help in their darkest hour of need. Perhaps the high priest of the tribe reached out alone to Pazuzu in order to enact revenge of the most extreme degree against the tribes enemies, thus corrupting the entire tribe over time to do unspeakable acts on any and all ground-dwellers who happen through their territory. Before you know it you've got Vrocks mixed in with the flock who are there to make sure their lord's will is done.
You want Kenku? This is how you get Kenku
@@AJPickett Archer, is that you? ;)
Yoooooo I was just thinking about this 6:10 although was planning for her to be bound on the Material Plane.
In particular, I was planning on having the Nagpa be servants of Pazuzu and they somehow use Lamashtu’s abilities to corrupt and pervert others- even create monsters. In my setting they may have been the ones who twisted the fomorians as they did (perhaps without the giants’ knowledge) and entered into an uneasy pact with them in the Feydark.
I think I’ll have it so the majority of the Nagpa (of the 13 or so) have her guarded in a land that is always spawning some new monstrosity that kingdoms must contend with. Maybe they are always draining her ‘essence’ as a fertility/life goddess to prolong their lifespans as they’d still be mortal followers of Pazuzu, and also siphon her divine/demonic powers into magic items to corrupt other beings.
I could have them be responsible for first granting Balor, king of the Fomorians, his cursed evil eye that decimates anything he sees, and have them responsible for beings like the Xvarts and possibly the derro (NagTek having them as his minions is appropriate lol)
Well, the Obyrith originally came to this world to escape their own dying reality. So I suspect why he seems to have adapted so well to this world is because he has what he wants. A new reality to conquer and shape to his desires. He has no use to remake this world to fit the shape of what he left behind. The corruption of what is before him is more than enough. This may be why he and Pale Night do not get along. He is content with what he has. She is not.
No mention of pazuzu sitting on the chained oblivions shoulder convincing him to create the abyss.
ah yes, asmodeus, tharizdun and now finally pazuzu. At long last the unholy trinity is complete, bless you aj for fighting through the heebie jeebies ol bird-lejuice gives you.
That's my favorite Demon of them all. Probably because of the Exorcist movies. Swarms of locusts engender such awe and destruction to crops, it is no wonder that it was personified as a demon,
Thank you so much AJ!!! I was the one who asked you on FB to make this vid! I appreciate all your videos, they are infinitely amazing. Pazuzzu is the BBEG in my Campaign and has been keeping an eye on the PC's for sometime. Thanks again!
You are most welcome, thanks for your patience.
Known to a favorite few as "Captain Howdy".
Funny thing, I was browsing asmr videos and TH-cam recommended me this soothing video on Pazuzu. Looks like I’m once again falling asleep to lower planes lore :)
Pazuzu isnt that bad, he was a loving father and saved the professor from being aged to death
damn, beat me to it :3
I love these poem starts to these videos. This one and the Dagon one gave me chills.
“You have one wish left professor”
I know it's a lot to ask, but if you continued to do more and more of the lords of ruin, that would be excellent. They are some of my favorite videos. Also, the next time you do a demon video, could you explain why an individual demon may want to collect souls?
I always assumed it was like baseball cards.
Demons don't generally care much about the souls other than that they have a value in the lower planes (currency), with which they can buy things that cause even more destruction and mayhem.
He reminds me of Tash from The Chronicles of Narnia.
A while ago I was reminiscing on just how strange those books were.
One legged people, talking mice, a horse keeping a boy as a slave.
Maybe he was given charns Sumerian aesthetic
M'lord, some villain calling himself Steven King called at the postern gate asking for the return of his Fog. I informed him that you were not in possession of his Fog and set him upon his way.
Pazuzu is the ultimate vicemonger. And like all such merchants, he's all too happy to give out the first taste for free.
Make sure your will is iron clad so you can resist anything past the first taste
I have played D&D since I was 10 and still the first thing I think of is Pro. Farnsworth
Wow this was really good thanks AJ. Also, Pazuzu is a great name for a demon.
You think by now someone would have been able to pull one over on Parrot-Face with the One Free Wish deal.
Edit: Fallen! A fellow fan I see.
*Relevant and Supportive Comment*
This is the perfect patron for any good warlock or good necromancer.
I really like the style of this Prince. He is a refreshing change to the "destroy existence" mentally of most of his peers.
Pazuzu is the demon featured in The Exorcist movies and novels. The Exorcist is the scariest movie I ever saw. Freaked me out.
Everytime I hear the name "Pazuzu", I immediatly think of Futurama.
i miss them...
Pazuzu was the professors gargoyle! Love that episode!
@@adamwelch4336 "OH PAZUZU"
Fun Fact: Pazuzu was the demon who possessed a young girl in the classic movie, "The Exorcist".
Filmmakers had no clue that the thrift shop score the used in that scene had actual mesopotamian demonic roots according to the HRE.
I appreciate your channel. I love Folklore both conventional and D&D Lore. Thank you for your videos!
Thanks Joseph!
You're gonna summon something if you keep starting your vids like that
Maybe that is the plan.
😂
when you think about it, Pazuzu could very well be the god of drug dealers. Even if you know perfectly well the dangers of summoning him, the allure is _just that strong_ . "I know I shouldn't summon him, but _grrrr, I want a vorpal sword!_"
exactly.
"fiendish rocks" I can just imagine an angry rock
You know when you stub your little toe on the corner of a bit of furniture in the dark? ..... just like that.
To be honest isn't that just an earth elemental?
It is a fiendish roc.
Basically rocks with the Ta'anari template, ; )
Lol like those rocks you find at gas stations that have bible verses on it, but instead they have things written on them like "Burn them all" or "kill yourself"
Sorry if you have done it and I missed it but have you done the Cat Lord. I can't find much info about him.
Oooo, taking us back to the original Fiend Folio! I shall add him to the list. Thanks for the suggestion Laura.
Send in an old Priest and a young Priest. If Hollywood is to be believed, they can handle him!
The right hand is raised and the left-hand was lowered just like the Baphomet. This is to show the ancient axiom "As Above So Below." The hermetic laws concerning duality.
Well, I had no idea that Pazuzu was the demon in The Exorcist until reading these comments and looking up who the heck Captain Howdy is.
Hey! Welcome back Thorn, good to see you, its been a while.
@@AJPickett Thanks! Yeah. Been putting in a lot of work with D&D lately. Committed. Your channel is the very best man. Happy to be here.
4:50 is how I think demons should look....more chaotic and awful, less chubby ape and furry
That ending was great! Not only are you a great researcher, but you're a great storyteller as well.
The hand placement might be related to ma'at. In ma'at one hand is open and one hand is closed. It represents the ability to use power and receive/ give it, so two closed hands would just be using power. It's meant to be a balance of power, with the fist being the "evil" side. Anyway, ma'at was an Egyptian concept, so odds are there are few connections (if any.) Btw Ma'at was still used throughout history when artists made portraits of kings in Europe. Christian kings usually had a scepter in one hand (the fist/ the power to rule,) and an orb, or another Christian symbol, in the other (the open hand/ the given divine right to rule.) Sometimes the scepter would lay to the side of the king and in its place they would have an open hand. This was a sign of a king that didn't abuse power and gave freely to their subjects. Kings who renounced the church usually ended up with a scepter in one hand and a sword or closed fist in the other.
The concept that each hand be depicted in a specific Fashion different from the other isn’t originally Egyptian. As you can tell from Mesopotamia predating Egypt but the symbolism is unexplained until its appearance in Egyptian and Hindu culture. Which also has symbolic meaning to if a hand is pointed up or down, relaxed a fist, or flat, or just two fingers.
I prefer the depiction of Pazuzu as a Lawful Evil and Chaotic Neutral bounty hunter, killing demons and taking their power in order to become the greatest warrior in existence
That's kind of Demogorgons MO. He could be like Jet Li and travel to parallel dimensions to kill other versions of himself, gaining power as he does.
@@AJPickett what was that move called agian?
@@burningbronze7555 The One
All of his stats are 30 and his strength is 27 ?????? That is even stronger than the demon prince himself!!
Next one needs to be on the slaad lords. The insanity and entropy ones.
I'll second that, i've never really heard anything of them other than a- one of them got stronger the further they traveled from the beginning of time, and b- they apparently don't actually look anything like slaads?
Seeing as how chaos is the slaad shtik, the fact like they mostly progress in a orderly fashion through their evolution is an obvious error in their d&d presentation. The fact the slaad lords break the convention is too little too late. Any true creature of chaos who change from frog to something completely unrelated upon evolving. Furthermore their bodies should be more gibbering mouther, less amphibian.
@@AnonymousAlcoholic772 That's what they were like, but they were transformed by "powers" into what they are now. It's a convoluted tale, conflicted by different editions, in one tale, Primus was responsible for their current state of being.
AJ Pickett theres that name again. Someone should do some sort of explanatory presentation, perhaps in a video format, for our amusement and edification. Hm....
@@AnonymousAlcoholic772 Probably time I update the Slaad video anyway.
I wish they had more lore on oberith like pale night.
Did you see my video on her already?
@@AJPickett yes. I just find her an enigma for the oberith since her end goals unlike pans and the queen o' chaos are enigmatic.
Question: If some of my Players Characters Die through Monsters that your Videos Told me About,
They then start DMing there own Adventures to get revenge on me, and inevitably end up at your TH-cam Channel for Inspiration...
Would this please you oh Mighty One?
Well I hope i did not reveal enough of your Great Plan to get Nothiced...
Last Words written Sane:
Thx for another Awesome Video :D
This would please me mightily.
I have been waiting for this video since palenight. Imagine my surprise at work when i saw this on my que!
The reason his right hand is raised and his left hand is pointing down is to symbolize the ancient, occult idea of As Above, So Below.
Pazuzu probably avoids the material plane of Earth after finding thousands who know his name just wanting to talk about a Horror film from the 1970's. He curses Nybbas (in In Nomine the Demon Prince of Media) as his name was used for the demon that possessed Regan in The Exorcist, so there are way too many who know his name who don't need favors or expect any sort of supernatural occurrence. I can imagine a Demon spreading a rival's name far & wide in a way that wouldn't be MEANT as an invocation as a way to keep them from concentrating so if you wanted to have a Demon spread Nybbas's name as a name for a new fruit spread or something so that he's constantly hearing his name but not actually being called I can see that as a plot in a D&D story. It would be a good read herring too, have Pazuzu be who the party be who they THINK they are after but it's actually another infernal power such as Beelzebub (per the priest who part of the exorcism of Roland Doe the case that the book The Exorcist was based on,) be the one who is behind things.
In the setting of In Nomine Nybbas uses his influence to make mortals more selfish & sedentary, having stolen the section of Hell known as Perdition he works WIDE not intense, better to keep 1000 souls from achieving Heaven with the work of a day, than spend years to damn a single soul. If you wanted a Demon or Devil like that in D&D I can see him as a dark patron of Bards, who help weave tales to get neighbors to trust each other less, & fear each other more.
My fav Abyssal lord. Also like Yeenoghu. Theres something about a Gnoll. Gotta back the underdogs lol.
Hey random question completely unrelated to this video. You know how there is a weave and a shadow weave what would happen if a god made a 3rd weave like thing?
Honestly, I have never used the shadow weave in any game I have run, so, I'm really in no position to comment on that subject.
@@AJPickett that's ok I was just wondering
Great video, as always! If I might reiterate a suggestion in the Lords of Ruin series, Obox-Ob, Ghaunadaur or Levistus would be really great.
Hey another topic that I don’t believe you might have touched on are the various slimes jellies and pudding’s of the DND world
There's always room for Oozes.
He made a custume ooze pink slime!
Good show! Best one in a while. Good production.
Two questions.
1: Is Pazuzu more powerful than Demogorgon? Cause there seem to be a rising number of powers in the Abyss that are greater than its supposed prince.
2: Is the story of the trial of Asmodeus a complete lie? Primus didn’t give Asmodeus his Ruby Rod?
I would say no, but that may only because he does not care to contest Demogorgon. No profit in it.
I still have that copy of dragon magazine. It was actually my first introduction to the D&D version of the demon princes. Great video as always AJ. 🍻
First off Thank you for all the wonderful lore based videos. First time dmer but also first time really getting into more of a table top setting game. I have really been using your demon and devil lore videos to make my home brew story more seamless, and now all i need to do is learn how to dm. Now I really want to put that one on hold and make a pazuzu influenced campaign.
The hands point up and down to heaven and earth like the god baphomet. As above so below.
Right hand raised left hand lowered means "As above, so below.". or "What is in the heavens so to on the earth."
Honestly, that saying would sound a lot more profound if it was "What is in the heavens so to in hell."
Foxcheetah
What is the Earth, except a hell made material?
I came here to say this exact same thing. He mentions it but doesn't know why... I immediately said as above so below. I thought this was common knowledge, especially if you know anything about the occult, esoteric, tarot, mysticism, etc.
Thelema
Keep your idiotic primitive religion in your flat earth lobby where that B.S. belongs.
Last seen in the company of one cubert j farnsworth.
Stellar work as always sir.
the raised and lowered hands are to signify that their influence is upon the Earth, or Prime Material Plane, as well as the Spirit Realm This posturing is often seen repeated in religious paintings and ancient (as well as modern) statuary....
“Pazuzu you ungrateful gargoyle, I put you through college and this is how you repay me?”
*poops*
I see what you did there Sir well done.
A thought. It wasn't that pestilence and fierce winds were not that bad but he was placatable. His former lover could not be. So while he was an malicious entity he was also one you could bribe to leave you alone.
4:28
I always get more coffee before your videos, AJ ☕☕☕
I love these videos. I used to read about the lower plains in my d&d books so often I still have large swaths of them memorized. I used to eagerly await new issues of Dragon in hopes of another Demonomicon of Iggwilv article.
Pazuzu, you ungrateful gargoyle. I put him through college and this is how he repays me?
At least he was a laugh at those parties...
Awesome video ... I can tell you enjoyed making this one!
when you asked me if i was taking notes, i actually started noting it down in a notepad
I might start doing that more often, have a "here's the stats" warning
Aj back it again with the spicy videos. This time I'll be listening on my way to work.
AJ, I've rewatched this video more than any other TH-cam video in my life. It gives me goosebumps and the sense of authority and intensity you lend this topic is A+ grade
Pazuzu is the type of boss you start praying for your DM to roll nat one's every turn he's running him.
As Father Damien (the Exorcist) found out:
"The power of Christ compels you..."
...except when your a sneaky ancient Demon of the East Wind, that can find ways to circumvent that.
You don't get to be powerful without embracing the path of the rules lawyer. Nit picking meaning and intent allows one to circumvent those sloppy but well meaning obstacles.
I can imagine other demon lords, even ones more powerful than Pazuzu himself, would be afraid of him due to his Obirith origins.