AtDDtA1: The Crack of Doom

[Dave Monroe]

"With a loud twang that might as well have been the Crack of Doom ..."
(AtD, Pt.I, Ch.2, p. 12)


Crack of Doom

The phrase at the crack of doom, meaning "at the striking of the
fateful hour", is derived from Macbeth by William Shakespeare and has
entered common usage. On the heath the Weird Sisters show Macbeth the
line of kings that will issue from Banquo:

    'Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
    What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
    Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:'

In the context of the play, "to the crack of doom" is thought by some
to mean "until the Day of Judgement", meaning that Banquo's line will
endure until the end of time; surely considerable flattery for King
James I, who claimed descent from Banquo and whom Macbeth is thought
by some to have been written for specifically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_of_doom

The crack of doom

Meaning

The sound that heralds the day of the Last Judgment, when God will
decree the fates of all men according to the good and evil of their
earthly lives.

Origin

>From Shakespeare's Macbeth:

    MACBETH: Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
    Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,
    Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
    A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
    Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
    What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?

The notion of having to account for one's earthly deeds is expressed
in many parts of the Bible. For example, in Matthew 12.36 (King James
Version):

    But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/103950.html

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth universe, Orodruin, or
Mount Doom, is a volcano in Mordor where the One Ring was forged by
the Dark Lord Sauron in the Crack(s) of Doom or Sammath Naur, a fiery
chasm within the mountain. Frodo Baggins' quest to destroy the Ring at
Orodruin occupies the bulk of The Lord of the Rings.

Orodruin is Sindarin for "Fire Mountain". The Sindarin equivalent of
Mount Doom is Amon Amarth, meaning "Mountain of Fate"....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Doom