Azrael
| The Being of whom all lesser Deaths are mere reflections, the Ultimate Reality | |
 | |
| 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
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.