Azathoth, Meet Agrippa

In The Woman in Blue, Azathoth devised a mystery that revolved around a coded message in Latin, antique astronomical instruments, and the Renaissance astronomer Galileo. The Arkham Round Table created what they hope is an intriguing response to his challenge—a mystery woven around another giant of the Renaissance, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.

Warning for minor spoilers for the Arkham Files series

Like Galileo, Agrippa excelled in several different sciences. He lived roughly a hundred years earlier and worked as a mercenary, physician, lawyer, philosopher, and theologian throughout Europe. Of particular significance to the Round Table is that Agrippa also wrote about the occult. His Three Books of Occult Philosophy, discussing the power of magic and its relation to religion, are considered even today as authoritative references to the occult.

To my knowledge Lovecraft never referenced Agrippa, but it seems natural that a writer who invented several fictional works on the occult, including the Necronomicon, Book of Azathoth, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, would have derived inspiration from Agrippa. During the Renaissance, magic was in vogue. Many among the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie found exotic sources in Arabic, Egyptian, and Latin to be fascinating subjects of speculation. Shakespeare's The Tempest is an example of this enlightened attitude.

The Arkham Round Table has incorporated elements from Azathoth's use of Galileo into their own mystery. In their world, Azathoth replaced a letter written by Galileo with a forgery. In Arkham Files, Agrippa wrote a letter describing an armillary sphere he owned. The symbol of Azathoth had been inscribed onto one of its rings. Agrippa's dream takes place in an underwater chamber. This is a nod to the underwater city of R'lyeh where the Lovecraft deity Cthulhu is reported to be imprisoned. Azathoth had sent Peter a playing card in The Dreamer that had an image of Neal's corpse on one side and Cthulhu in R'lyeh on the other.

When Mozzie quotes from Agrippa's text in Latin, he is referencing the Galileo manuscript. Will a coded message be discovered? Given that Mozzie is the co-author of the Agrippa mystery, I'd say the odds are high.

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