rosiebear5-blog

[rosiebear5-blog]

Awhile ago @ouidamforeman made this post:

This shot through my brain like a chain of firecrackers, so, without derailing the original post, I have some THOUGHTS to add about why this concept is not only hilarious (because it is), but also...

It. It kind of fucks. Severely.

And in a delightfully Pratchett-y way, I'd dare to suggest.

I'll explain:

As inferred above, both Crowley AND Aziraphale have canonical Biblical counterparts. Not by name, no, but by function.

Crowley, of course, is the serpent of Eden.

(note on the serpent of Eden: In Genesis 3:1-15, at least, the serpent is not identified as anything other than a serpent, albeit one that can talk. Later, it will be variously interpreted as a traitorous agent of Hell, as a demon, as a guise of Satan himself, etc. In Good Omens --as a slinky ginger who walks funny)

Lesser known, at least so far as I can tell, is the flaming sword. It, too, appears in Genesis 3, in the very last line:

"So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." --Genesis 3:24, KJV

Thanks to translation ambiguity, there is some debate concerning the nature of the flaming sword --is it a divine weapon given unto one of the Cherubim (if so, why only one)? Or is it an independent entity, which takes the form of a sword (as other angelic beings take the form of wheels and such)? For our purposes, I don't think the distinction matters. The guard at the gate of Eden, whether an angel wielding the sword or an angel who IS the sword, is Aziraphale.

(note on the flaming sword: in some traditions --Eastern Orthodox, for example-- it is held that upon Christ's death and resurrection, the flaming sword gave up it's post and vanished from Eden for good. By these sensibilities, the removal of the sword signifies the redemption and salvation of man.

...Put a pin in that. We're coming back to it.)

So, we have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword, introduced at the beginning and the end (ha) of the very same chapter of Genesis.

But here's the important bit, the bit that's not immediately obvious, the bit that nonetheless encapsulates one of the central themes, if not THE central theme, of Good Omens:

The Sword was never intended to guard Eden while Adam and Eve were still in it.

Do you understand?

The Sword's function was never to protect them. It doesn't even appear until after they've already fallen. No... it was to usher Adam and Eve from the garden, and then keep them out. It was a threat. It was a punishment.

The flaming sword was given to be used against them.

So. Again. We have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword: the inception and the consequence of original sin, personified. They are the one-two punch that launches mankind from paradise, after Hell lures it to destruction and Heaven condemns it for being destroyed. Which is to say that despite being, supposedly, hereditary enemies on two different sides of a celestial cold war, they are actually unified by one purpose, one pivotal role to play in the Divine Plan: completely fucking humanity over.

That's how it's supposed to go. It is written.

...But, in Good Omens, they're not just the Serpent and the Sword.

They're Crowley and Aziraphale.

(author begins to go insane from emotion under the cut)

In Good Omens, humanity is handed it's salvation (pin!) scarcely half an hour after losing it. Instead of looming over God's empty garden, the sword protects a very sad, very scared and very pregnant girl. And no, not because a blameless martyr suffered and died for the privilege, either.

It was just that she'd had such a bad day. And there were vicious animals out there. And Aziraphale worried she would be cold.

...I need to impress upon you how much this is NOT just a matter of being careless with company property. With this one act of kindness, Aziraphale is undermining the whole entire POINT of the expulsion from Eden. God Herself confronts him about it, and he lies. To God.

And the Serpent--

(Crowley, that is, who wonders what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway; who thinks that maybe he did a GOOD thing when he tempted Eve with the apple; who objects that God is over-reacting to a first offense; who knows what it is to fall but not what it is to be comforted after the fact...)

--just goes ahead and falls in love with him about it.

As for Crowley --I barely need to explain him, right? People have been making the 'didn't the serpent actually do us a solid?' argument for centuries. But if I'm going to quote one of them, it may as well be the one Neil Gaiman wrote ficlet about:

"If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization." --Robert G. Ingersoll

The first to ask questions.

Even beyond flattering literary interpretation, we know that Crowley is, so often, discreetly running damage control on the machinations of Heaven and Hell. When he can get away with it. Occasionally, when he can't (1827).

And Aziraphale loves him for it, too. Loves him back.

And so this romance plays out over millennia, where they fall in love with each other but also the world, because of each other and because of the world. But it begins in Eden. Where, instead of acting as the first Earthly example of Divine/Diabolical collusion and callousness--

(other examples --the flood; the bet with Satan; the back channels; the exchange of Holy Water and Hellfire; and on and on...)

--they refuse. Without even necessarily knowing they're doing it, they just refuse. Refuse to trivialize human life, and refuse to hate each other.

To write a story about the Serpent and the Sword falling in love is to write a story about transgression.

Not just in the sense that they are a demon and an angel, and it's ~forbidden. That's part of it, yeah, but the greater part of it is that they are THIS demon and angel, in particular. From The Real Bible's Book of Genesis, in the chapter where man falls.

It's the sort of thing you write and laugh. And then you look at it. And you think. And then you frown, and you sit up a little straighter. And you think.

And then you keep writing.

And what emerges hits you like a goddamn truck.

(...A lot of Pratchett reads that way. I believe Gaiman when he says Pratchett would have been happy with the romance, by the way. I really really do).

It's a story about transgression, about love as transgression. They break the rules by loving each other, by loving creation, and by rejecting the hatred and hypocrisy that would have triangulated them as a unified blow against humanity, before humanity had even really got started. And yeah, hell, it's a queer romance too, just to really drive the point home (oh, that!!! THAT!!!)

...I could spend a long time wildly gesturing at this and never be satisfied. Instead of watching me do that (I'll spare you), please look at this gif:

I love this shot so much.

Look at Eve and Crowley moving, at the same time in the same direction, towards their respective wielders of the flaming sword. Adam reaches out and takes her hand; Aziraphale reaches out and covers him with a wing.

You know what a shot like that establishes? Likeness. Commonality. Kinship.

"Our side" was never just Crowley and Aziraphale. Crowley says as much at the end of season 1 ("--all of us against all of them."). From the beginning, "our side" was Crowley, Aziraphale, and every single human being. Lately that's around 8 billion, but once upon a time it was just two other people. Another couple. The primeval mother and father.

But Adam and Eve die, eventually. Humanity grows without them. It's Crowley and Aziraphale who remain, and who protect it. Who...oversee it's upbringing.

Godfathers. Sort of.

[rosiebear5-blog]

Parallels - Good Omens Seasons One & Two - Part One

[rosiebear5-blog]

You just know someone just asked her to “show me a smile.”

Nesta Archeron - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Artist: @/mabon_art / @mabonart

#she proceeds to rain silver hellfire on them #pro nesta #nesta archeron

[rosiebear5-blog]

📚📚

#eau de new book

[rosiebear5-blog]

I was just thinking about the scene in Ted Lasso when Rebecca falls in the canal in Amsterdam. Can you imagine being Sassy?

She gets a bad feeling which usually means something is wrong with Stinky.

Gives her a call.

And is told everything is fine and then hears a scream. A splash. And then NOTHING. 😳

I’m surprised she didn’t call the authorities.

#ted lasso #sassy and stinky #rebecca welton #amsterdam #where is stinky #flo collins

[rosiebear5-blog]

So much love for this show.

Ted Lasso Finale + parallels

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #all the feels

[rosiebear5-blog]

I asked ChatGPT to make me a haiku and it asked me to select the fire extinguisher tiles to prove I wasn’t a robot.

So that’s how I learned that AI doesn’t understand irony or how to make a haiku.

Haikus are a joy

AI will never value

Robots aren’t clever

#chatgpt #openai #ai is stupid

[rosiebear5-blog]

🥹🥹

Ted Lasso Finale + parallels

[rosiebear5-blog]

Is there a special name for the type of disappointment that happens when you get to the end of a WIP and realize it hasn’t been updated in 6+ months and you might have to live on the edge of this cliffhanger forever?

#fanfic #fanfic wips #reading wips #missing a wip update #fic wip

[rosiebear5-blog]

You cannot convince me that Dr Sharon is not a key reason for Jamie Tartt’s character development.

#ted lasso #jamie tartt #go to therapy #men need therapy

[rosiebear5-blog]

“So Lorcan did.” 🥵

Hear me out. I don't remember if Lorcan scars like a human or like a fae, I genuinely don't. But regardless of the text - that doesn't even mention his skin tone, mind you - I always imagined him with scars. Now keeping that in mind, Lorcan took that lashing for Rowan, right...?

I don't know, the scars just add to his character for me. And at this point I don't even care if it's accurate 💅

Alternative smutty version on Patre0n. 🔗 in bio

Characters inspired by Elide and Lorcan from Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

‼️ DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION!

#elide x lorcan #lord lorcan lochan #elide lochan #throne of glass

[rosiebear5-blog]

The heart glasses really got me.

“They streaked across the desert, meteoric. Draco wished for a shooting star, so that they might race it. Since Granger was doing so well, he gave the broom her head, and she spiritedly jetted forth even faster, and now the dunes were a silver radiance below, and the stars were a dazzling whirl. He held Granger tightly, partially to keep her safe, partially because he wanted to, because the feel of it was enjoyable – the holding of this slightly mad, brilliant witch, who passed her weekends skylarking about crypts, and who provoked him at every turn. She was warm between his arms, and she smelled like travel dust and adventure and exhilaration. The whole thing was mad – the holding of Granger as though he wanted to, the flying over these unsettled wilds, the having no actual clue where on Earth they were, the illegal and unfinished Portus, the talking skull, the whole of it. Absolutely mental. He had loved every minute.” - Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love, Chapter 15: Noli Me Tangere, by isthisselfcare

[IG @runningquill_art]

#dmatmoobil #draco malfoy and the mortifying ordeal of being in love #dramione #fanart

[rosiebear5-blog]

Just caught up on “Let the Dark In,” a Dramione wip by the immensely talented @senlinyu

I cannot wait for the next chapter but in the meantime, I have been obsessing about how well “Control” by Halsey represents this angsty, powerful, and morally grey Hermione.

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me" / I can't help this awful energy / God damn right, you should be scared of me / Who is in control?

#dramione fics #senlinyu #let the dark in #dramione #halsey #Spotify

[rosiebear5-blog]

Me: this is my last dramione fic. I need to get back to my TBR.

Also me: ohhh, this gorgeous fanart is based on a fic, I better read it so this makes more sense.

#dramione #dramione fics #dramione fanart #dramione fandom #dramione angst #give me more angsty malfoy #sorry tbr

[rosiebear5-blog]

I finished “Draco Malloy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love” yesterday. It is so cute - total romcom vibes, excellent banter, good use of magic, amazing settings, and Tonks and Lupin are alive. I also really enjoyed the blend of muggle science with magic and both characters trying (failing) at ignoring their feelings. This song perfectly summarizes this too cute fanfic.

#dmatmoobil #dramione fics #zz ward #dramione #Spotify

[rosiebear5-blog]

penguins vs giant petrel

#short king #feisty penguin in the world #happy feet

[rosiebear5-blog]

Finally read this and I am not okay. 🥹 This is going to stick with me for a looooooong time.

#happy tears #best ship