The Moth

The Moth is an Hour of the Wood, worshipped by the ancestors of humanity, who took part in the overthrowing of the gods-from-Stone by hunting and stealing the skin of the Wheel. Moth, the aspect of chaos and yearning, is named after him. He yearns for the Glory, quite literally being a moth seeking out light.[2][3][4] His only aspect is Moth[5] and his hour is midnight, 00:00.

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Events

The Lithomachy: The Moth usurped the Wheel from within (snip snip snip).[3]

Matthias and the Amethyst Imago: The Imago was a Name of the Moth who, after returning to his service from a dalliance with the Witch-and-Sister, was sent by the Moth to lure Matthias, a Long hunting the Moth’s Names, into a slough of nightmares.[6][7]

The Timurid Invasion: The Moth was one of the Wood Hours that the Great Hooded Princes turned to to stop the invasion of a Timurid Army. While he initially refused, the Velvet helped the Princes blackmail the Wood Hours, and so the Moth destroyed a quarter of the army’s forces, who “[disrobed] themselves until nothing [remained]”.[8]

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Servants

• The Amethyst Imago (former): After the Imago and Matthias fell in love, the Imago had her wings cut off to remain with her beloved, and the two ultimately pledged themselves to the Forge to be transformed anew.[9]
• The Knotwingknot: A Name with a nest of black silk and white hair in the Wood, which can be explored in the Exile legacy as part of the quest to recruit Zulfiya the Barber. [10][11]
• The Motley: A Name of the Moth “confirmed” from a spoilered dev spreadsheet image.[11]
• Dapples: A category of minions in service to the Moth, from a spoilered dev spreadsheet image.[11]

Relationships

• The Wheel: The god-from-Stone which the Moth killed in the Lithomachy, and from which the Moth may have been born.[3][12]
• The Velvet: A fellow Hour of the Wood, who rejects the Glory, while the Moth seeks it out. She possesses some blackmail material on the Moth. Also speculated to be the "sibling" of the Moth, being born from the the Wheel too.[8][13]
• The Red Grail: The Red Grail and the Moth are both said to be the first god-from-Blood. Which claim is true? Why only one? Why only two?[14]

Other Notes

• The ancestors who worshipped the Moth and “cursed themselves with their own god” are almost certainly the Carapace Cross, the predecessors of humanity. The Moth path for the Change ascension in Cultist Simulator has the player transform themselves back into one of these beings.[2][15]
• The Alakapuline Shears almost certainly reference the slaying of the Wheel by the Moth, and were also used to cut the wings off the Amethyst Imago.[16]
• Scissors, hair, and fingers/hands are all symbols that appear in the Moth tarot card, and are frequently referenced in moth-related material and actions.
• The Moth also appears in the Ghoul Legacy, as part of an old memory of the Wood.[17]

Real World References

• The Moth takes the place of the Fool card in the Tarot of the Hours. The Fool can represent freedom, folly, and new beginnings. The Tarot as a whole can often be read as the “Fool’s Journey”, in which the Fool is the ever-present protagonist who’s journey through life and it’s many lessons is presented through the Major Arcana. The culmination of this journey with the World may reflect the Moth’s desire to seek the Glory.
• The Moth’s status as a “Vine-crowned moth-king hatched in the thigh of the thunder-king who’s dead” is a reference to the birth of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine who was born in the “thigh” of Zeus (In this case, the Wheel). Dionysus was also a god tied to madness and wild revelry.[12]
• Hindu myth associates hair with one’s past lives, and so shaving one’s hair signifies freedom from one’s past. The Moth is frequently tied to barbers, shaving, and the shedding of one’s “old” self.[13]

Theories and Questions

• As is the case with most of the older Hours, the exact origin of the Moth is not clear. He is said to be “born” from the Wheel, which he slew, and hunted in the Wood before it was dark. The sacrifice which birthed him might be the Wheel itself, or the sacrifice of the Carapace Cross when they passed within humanity, as shown through the Priest legacy during “the Vision of the Shearing". One enigmatic question seems tied to the birth of the Moth; “Who will remember the barber’s son?”[18][19]
• The usurpation of the Wheel by the Moth seems to be incomplete. Some remnant of the Wheel still turns in the House of the Moon, and both the Velvet and the Thunderskin appear to have inherited some element of the Wheel’s powers and duties as well.[13][20]

In-Game Sources

1. We call upon the Moth, who beats within the skull We call upon the Moth, who is dappled We call upon the Moth, who seeks among the trees of the Wood 2. 'The Moth' 3. Read 'In Memory of Gods' 4. Read De Horis, vol 1 5. Confirmed by the aspect name itself, several mentions in Moth lore, being called upon in CS with Moth followers, etc... 6. Read 'On Matthias and the Amethyst Imago: Pursuit' 7. Read 'On the Matthias and the Amethyst Imago: Loss' 8. Read 'The Fire-Circle Tantra' 9. Read 'On Matthias and Amethyst Imago: Transformation' 10. Knotwingknot Nest 11. Weather Factory dev spreadsheet image from Discord 12. Thigh-Born Thorax-Sweet 13. 'On the matter of the Origins of the Black-Flax' by Momo 14. Read 'The Origins of Hours' 15. THINGS WITH WINGS 16. Alakapurine Shears 17. The Colours That Are Not Black 18. The Vision of the Shearing 19. Holiest Hemolymp 20. IN THE HOUSE OF THE MOON

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