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anangelcanonlygosofar · 2 days

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Aziraphale And His Relationship With God

I've been thinking about something that I haven't heard/see anyone in this fandom ever really talk about. That could be because I don't keep up with everything, haven't come across a post talking about it, or the fandom has not discussed it yet. So I shall start a conversation about it here on this blog and many other things I have been thinking about and noticing with every rewatch of Good Omens Season 1 &2.

Let's start with a simple question...

What is the relationship between God and Aziraphale like?

To start, we must consider that God rarely talks to their angels, including Airazphale. They simply give orders that are most likely handed down to Metatron, who acts like a middleman and gives the angels "God's" orders. So it's safe to say that Aziraphale, hearing and learning he would be guarding the Eastern gate of Eden thought, or at last hoped, that God would check in on him every once in a while to see his progress.

However, in reality, God only checked in on him ONCE and asked about the whereabouts of the flaming sword in a short, curt matter, listening to Aziraphale give a dumbfounded remark of it "lying around somewhere" before just peacing out. It's also important to note that they chose to ask Aziraphale about the sword and not about Adam and Eve no longer being in the Garden Of Eden or the fact that Aziraphale had very clearly just finished filling in the hole in the wall to the garden.

After this interaction, it's safe to assume that God, for whatever reason, never directly spoke to Aziraphale themselves for the last 6,000 years or so. Leading me to wonder how Aziriphale felt about his mother, father, and creator talking to certain "special" humans but not to him. How hurt was Aziraphale when he realized that God never seemed interested or concerned about him on Earth or even his well-being?

How many times did Aziraphale try to talk to God directly only to get either the Metatron or no response at all? Did Aziraphale ever give up trying to talk to God? If so, for how long? How did Aziraphale deal with the feelings of jealousy he felt, but probably didn't understand when he witnessed time and time again God CHOOSING to talk to HUMANS but not their faithful Principality?

For example, in Good Omens Season 2 Episode 2, we get to see a minisode about Job and the bet that God and Satan made. Throughout the episode, you get to see how out of the loop Aziraphale is, especially when you learn that he wasn't even told about the bet because neither the Angels overseeing the bet nor God themself gave him a heads-up. Then, later on, and toward the end of the minisode, there is a moment when Aziraphale sees Job talking to God, who's just saying seemingly a lot of random things in no particular order. The camera pans to Aziraphale's face and you can see a mix of joy and sadness on his sweet angelic face. He is joyful to see (well hear) God, but at the same time, he is hurt that God simply didn't talk to him at least once (either before or after The Job Bet).

As time went on, how many times did he angrily rant in his numerous volumes of journals about how upset he was that God decided only to come to Earth to talk to a human of their choosing but not to talk to him? How many times did he cry in Crowley's arms about his feelings of jealousy that God would choose to talk to a human but not him?

Aziraphale must have felt so alone and forsaken. The only places he could turn for comfort were his journals, his books, music, food, and Crowley. For over 6,000 years Aziraphale busied himself with surrounding himself with comforting things and found ways to hang out with Crowley because that was ALL he had on Earth. He spent 6,000 years hanging out with Crowley, reading and collecting books, listening to music, traveling the world, eating his feelings, and writing every experience and emotional sensation he had in his 600+ volumes of journals to keep from going crazy and dwelling on the fact that God never once talked to him directly, even if was to just let him know they still care for him.

Aziraphale must have felt abandoned by God and kept unbreakable faith in them in the perpetual hope that they'd speak directly to him. So every time Crowley said some snide question or remark about God, Aziraphale would get hurt and retort that "it's ineffable" as a coping mechanism and as a way to change the subject because he didn't want to think about God and their perpetual silence toward him.

It must be so painful and insulting that God would talk to select humans but not talk to their own Angel who is watching over said humans. This would lead Aziraphale to grow silently resentful of his God yet he would also come up with an explanation to talk himself out of being resentful and to bury his hurt feelings so deep that he became in denial of said feelings.

Aziraphale probably told himself that God was too busy to keep in contact with all their Angels and only had fleeting moments of free time to talk to selected humans. This reasoning probably only made him somewhat content with God not talking to him. However, Aziraphale still desires to speak to God directly. So, when 6,000 years pass and he has the chance to talk to God directly in hopes of reasoning with them about not letting Armageddon happen, he goes for it. However, instead of God coming to talk to him, it's the damn Metatron, speaking on behalf of God.

At that moment, Aziraphale realized that God not directly talking to him was intentional. You can see in his face that he is hurt, that even in a moment of crisis, God still refused to speak directly to him. Yet Aziraphale still kept his FAITH in God in the suffocating hope that one day he could talk directly to God after 6,000 YEARS of waiting for any sign that God still cares for him in some way.

This is why I believe he truly decided to sacrifice EVERYTHING including Crowley so he could return to heaven and finally find a way to talk to God directly to STOP the 2nd Coming and any other Armageddons that may be in the pipeline. Maybe now that he's the Supreme Archangel God will finally talk to him directly.

He just wants to talk to God, fix heaven, and forever save the Earth from Heaven AND Hell. He believes that if he can talk to God maybe, just maybe, he can fix Heaven, save the Earth, and stop the 2nd Coming, as well as, permanently prevent and stop future Armageddons in the process.

Essentially his returning to Heaven is to "do good", and fix Heaven, but it's also to mend his 6,000 years of abandonment issues he developed because of God's 6,000 years of silence they gave to Aziraphale who only had Crowley to talk to and hang out with. Crowley was there when neither God nor other angels were. The only Angels that Aziraphale conversed with were probably Michael and Gabriel and they probably just yelled at him, bullied him, and stifled his questioning nature so that he wouldn't turn out like a former blued-eyed and blonde-haired angel who fell and became satan.

Apologies for the essay. I tend to write essays to express my ideas somewhat clearly.

Well, tada for now!

#good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #good omens thoughts #good omens theories #god #michael sheen #neil gaiman #fantasy #crowley #ineffablehusbands #good omens tv

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books-and-omens · 9 months

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Oh. Oh WAIT.

The Crow Road. You know, that book where the protagonist is searching for an answer to a conspicuous thing that happened. An answer that finally comes together through notes and omissions and bits of narrative and off-hand remarks.

And we were thinking that the book might be a clue for Muriel, or something to do with Aziraphale’s journals, or setup for the third season, or…

But the thing is. The thing is.

What we are doing right now. What we are all doing right now.

We are the protagonist of The Crow Road.

The Crow Road was given to us.

#good omens season 2 #good omens #good omens season 2 spoilers #I—#the crow road #was anyone going to tell me #so many threads led to the Final Fifteen #and with Crowley and Aziraphale never talking about things #to interpret why the Final Fifteen happened as it did #to interpret the kiss #one needs to go back #and back #and watch the story that happens underneath the story

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some-siren · 9 months

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Alright it’s time for some headcanons cause this trans is ready to throw hands

In order of how much i like them (the headcanons, not the characters)

Aziraphale

— Trans man, not because he’s inherently transitioning from one state to another (FtM or XtM or something like that) but because he deeply identifies with the human concept of « Male »

— Grey-ace, he still feels sexual attraction under some circumstances, which are left to be determined and may or may not involve kinks (because why not?) but most definitely involve Crowley

— Gay, for Crowley specifically. Doesn’t matter their gender, at the end of the day he’s gay for it.

— Autistic, he just vibing somewhere on the spectrum

Crowley

— Both genderfluid and genderless. Fluid in the genderlessness if you will. Pronouns? Sure, have fun with those

— Aroace, not one ounce of allosexuality and very much on that aro spectrum. They’re not sure what kind of love they feel for their angel but they do know it’s limitless and all-powerful

— Gay, gay gay homosexual gay. He’s gayer than the fucking moon*. He’s so gay he’s a lesbian.

Muriel

— Genderless, they haven’t even learnt what it is yet, give them a break and a raise

— Ace, because again, sexual attraction? What’s that?

— Neurodivergent, I’m not enough of an expert to say how exactly but they’re not 100% neurotypical for sure

Beelzebub

— Non binary, it’s canon, what more can I say?

— Pansexual, really they’ll take anyone who gets them

Gabriel

— Genderless, sure he’s aware of the concept of gender, but it’s too low for him to partake in it

— Don’t know, don’t care. Beelzebub.

Nina

— Woman, as far as she’s concerned it doesn’t matter much though

— Bisexual, she’s just got that energy you know?

Maggie

— Woman, cause she can be gay for women

— Gay, cause she can be a woman for women

Elspeth and wee Morag

— They were friends in a historical way right?

Btw these are all based on vibes

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pockykierra · 6 months

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I know there is a lot of evidence to the contrary, but I feel like SOMETHING happened between Aziraphale and Crowley in the bookshop in 1941, after the bullet catch scene.

Not even something big, but the atmosphere was just so quiet and romantic that it feels impossible for something not to have happened. Maybe feelings were hinted at. Maybe they sat close together on the couch, their legs pressed together. Maybe there was a brief moment where they stared into each others eyes and briefly leaned closer, before Aziraphale quickly pulled away. And they never talk about it.

SOMETHING HAPPENED I know it, I feel it in my bones

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens season 2 #like the confession scene kinda rules out a lot of things happening #but the atmosphere was just too romantic for something not to have happened like c'mon #and they never acknowledge it or talk about it but it HAPPENED #crowley #aziraphale

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bonemarsh · 9 months

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i think my favourite thing about Aziraphale this season is that his portrayal here shows so much of his stubbornness and refusal to stop BELIEVING. Like believing in the complete, irrefutable goodness of god and heaven and believing that being on the side of good will keep them safe, even though he CAN'T and he DOESN'T. Not only in the scenes with Job's children or his diary entry, its honestly best done in THE kiss scene. His running theme is that he's so desperately fighting to BELIEVE, even when everything is pointing to him not being able to. He wants to believe Job's trials are going to end up good, but at the mention of literally killing the children its so obvious he CAN'T. And like, he wants Crowley to be an angel, to not have to be on a side where they're lonely or god forbid be on opposite sides again, but he CAN'T. The running theme is that the only thing in the world Aziraphale wants is to BELIEVE in something again. Be it in good or in true safety for him, Crowley and, humanity. To believe in the goodness of heaven and to believe that if he and Crowley were on the side of Good, everything would work out.

#like yeah omg me too thanks #i think thats also really well described in the light grey dark grey scene #in the first season crowley is fighting to believe by trying his damnest to hear god and her ineffable plans #and in this season its aziraphales super internalized super repressed morality #also on that note i think aziraphale is so tired of losing crowley over centuries and even when he fell #like yeah hes never been over the fact that they are so obviously in danger constantly so if theyre on the side that wont harm them he wont #have to keep losing crowley #good omens #gos2 #spoiler #good omens 2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #i cant stop talking about them theyre the only thing i can think about #also my flight got delayed oops

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seylaaurora · 9 months

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I was initially feeling a little miffed about them abandoning the premise of Crowley and Aziraphale being 'just some guy' in heaven and hell's hierarchies to imply that Crowley used to be a high-ranking angel before his fall, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's for them to still be equals in season 3

Aziraphale will be the supreme archangel and Crowley will be ... whatever powerful being he is

#i am excited about it #i'm not a fan of the crowley is lucifer theory bc it would take the just some guy thing away from season 1 #but i think he can still have been just some guy of the higher ranking angels before the fall and become just some guy in the demon #hierarchy as he never really cared about falling and only vaguely sauntered downwards and only asked questions and hung out with the wrong #people so he wasn't really ever a demon with his full heart so: just some guy #but he used to be a pretty powerful angel and aziraphale will be the supreme archangel so that should be interesting #definitely should make for an interesting dynamic especially with all the heartbreak #good omens #good omens spoilers #go2spoilers #good omens season 2 #go2 spoilers #go2 #go #good omens 2 #did i miss any tags?#seyla talks #fandoms

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itsdefinitely · 9 months

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FUCK HOLY SHIT. (good omens season 2 spoilers)

the kiss wasnt to show that they loved each other. they knew that. they were practically married at that point, and had been for a while. the kiss was the show aziraphale what he'd be leaving behind. it was to show azirphale that crowley wasnt coming to his rescue. crowley wasnt going with him. it was goodbye. it was all the things they never got to do, and that they'd never get to do. all the unspoken "i love you"s and the promises and the agreement. it was one last desperate attempt to get aziraphale to not leave, to get aziraphale to stay with crowley in their carefully carved out existence. to tempt aziraphale into declining. and it didn't work.

the tempation didn't work, therefore "i forgive you."

#definite's ted talks #go2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #ineffable husbands #aziraphale x crowley #this was. probably obvious but. i am socially inept #look neil gaiman answered an ask and it just clicked in my head #sobbing about this #i will never be normal #if this is worded weirdly its because i am sooooooooooooooooo not normal about this show #and expressing my actual not-watered-down emotions is physically impossible #plus i dont really feel. confident in saying things like this?#like i wasnt there for season one. what gives me the right to scream my interpretation about season two #thats not meant in a venty way i swear #i almost didnt post this #good omens

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curiouskaden · 9 months

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Warning, Good Omens 2 Spoilers ahead!! I just really need to ramble about this because the last ten minutes of the new season really got me freaking out

.

So. EVERY was not at all what I expected and Aziraphale's reaction really got me thinking. Like I had to watch the show three times in full before I knew how to interpret it so here I am, giving you my perspective even though you didn't ask.

First of all, it threw me off how Aziraphale almost looked disgusted afterwards? I don't like using that word but it's just the only way I know how to describe the look on his face. I think we all know for a fact that Aziraphale should NOT be disgusted with kissing Crowley-- their love for each other is very much requited (I think we mostly all agree on that). PLUS there was that solid, full second where Aziraphale almost looked like he was about to hold Crowley back, and he never pulled away or pushed him away, so why did he have that look on his face? And why did he say he "forgave" Crowley after?

Basically how I see it is Aziraphale looked so put off and hesitant during and after the kiss because of how it happened. Despite Crowley's confession, Aziraphale saw that kiss as Crowley's goodbye, and even a last effort to get him to change his mind about heaven. And keep in mind this kiss was right after Crowley calls Zira an "idiot" and says "we could've been us".

So Aziraphale says he forgives him. He has a look of hurt as he hesitates and says "I..." and TRAILS OFF, before he settles on "I forgive you". He forgives Crowley for calling him an idiot, which is just like back in s1e5 when Crowley had said "you're so clever, how can somebody as clever as you be so stupid". Zira says he forgives him just like back then, and he forgives Crowley for the name calling, and he forgives Crowley for having their first-- and what Aziraphale might think to be their only ever-- kiss happen like that.

Of course it's also worth noting to me how Aziraphale looks after Crowley, tears in his eyes as he touches his lips afterwards, like he's still astounded it even happened. I don't think he was unaware of Crowley's love for him-- I think he's known for decades now at the very least-- but he didn't expect Crowley to tell him and to kiss him, and then to leave. He can't believe it happened and he can't believe he didn't kiss back.

Anyways, that's kind of how I see the whole EVERY scene. I just felt so conflicted when I saw it because it felt so forced and I feel like there's so much more to it. Anyways PLEASE let me know what you guys thought!

He can't believe things for them are going to end like this.

#good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #aziraphale x crowley #good omens #ineffable husbands #this is just how I saw things #im so devastated by the finale tbh #but it was so well written #like it goes to show how human both of them are #it hurt so much and i will never recover but #stream good omens 2 so we get that third season y'all #i can't stop thinking about how different things could've been #like what if Maggie and Nina talked to Zira and Crowley #what if Crowley talked first #UGH IM A MESS

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spiderwing-nightman · 9 months

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good omens season 2 spoilers

I've seen the coffee theory and I've seen a bunch of people explain why they don't like it and I mostly agree with them (I do believe that Aziraphale is being heavily manipulated and what we saw of the coffee shop scene isn't the whole story), and one of the main reasons I don't enjoy the coffee theory is because of the agency it takes away from Aziraphale, but also things this season were off and odd. I've been rewatching and I keep pointing out moments that should have had more payoff or just don't add up, especially if you watch interviews with David Tennant and Michael Sheen because they say things that just Didn't happen. I think the coffee theory doesn't fit tonally with the season, and it wouldn't give us the proper pay off for all the questions we're left with and all the oddities of the season. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of Strange things about this show in general but this season went beyond them straight into something is off territory. From the first episode I knew something was wrong, possibly with every character, and rewatching I'm only noticing more moments (of course some of those things, like how I thought something was up with Beelzebub, get resolved, but for the most part). It speaks of something bigger happening all throughout the season, rather than just right at the end. Gabriel tells us something big is coming from the beginning and I think his arrival wasn't the start of the something big coming. I don't know I just see too many things that don't add up for it to be just that last scene, I think Heaven has been actively manipulating Aziraphale for a long time (and it has something to do with the minisodes) and that end was the first step to their end goal.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 spoilers #idk to me at least aziraphale was acting strange for a lot of the season #it wasn't a lot mostly just some weird things he said or did #he was close enough to in character that at first I brushed it off as hes still finding his purpose #but after that finale im not sure #and Crowley was also not perfectly in character either #I noticed it the most towards the end when he literally talked over aziraphale something he would have never done before #I think crowley's also being manipulated by heaven #not to the same extent as aziraphale but definitely manipulated #(I kind of enjoy the theory that heaven is trying to get Crowley back through aziraphale) (I didn't used to love Crowley is a high ranking #angel theories but that seems to be the direction we're going os im gong with it)#also Maggie creeps me out #there's something not right with her #at all #not the way she acts or speaks or responds to things #I could probably write a whole essay about all the weird things about her and still be missing things

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tar-frogs · 9 months

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thinking about how crowley could have just told aziraphale he can't reform heaven no matter how high his rank but he didn't bc he wanted to see if aziraphale would simply trust him and choose them over heaven for himself

"you said to trust you"

"and you did."

#crowley always trusted aziraphale and would choose him over heaven and hell every single time #like aziraphale doesn't yet understand how selfish and corrupt heaven is because crowley hasn't told him ANYTHING #he doesn't know about why crowley fell or what they did to him at the end of s1 #so aziraphale fully trusts that he will be able to change things even though gabriel couldn't #aziraphale wants to change heaven for crowley but crowley never wanted that #the only thing crowley has wanted was aziraphale #this is also crowleys fault for simply not talking to aziraphale about important stuff #im so normal about this show #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers

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fea-the-grinch · 9 months

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I'm not sure some people understand that, if Aziraphale chose Heaven, it was for himself AND for Crowley. That's how the Metatron got him to agree, he is the one who brought Crowley up in their conversation, because he already understood that Azi wouldn't take the offer otherwise. Aziraphale truly believed this was the safest option for the both of them. He himself could rebuild Heaven to be a better place, Crowley could be as happy as he was before he was sent to Hell and became a demon (because, for Azi, that's what made him 'lose faith' in the divine institutions that are Heaven and Hell), and, more importantly, they could be together, without it being a problem since they would both be angels.

That's why he was so upset when Crowley said no to his proposition, and why he didn't back down, even after their kiss.

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joycrispy · 8 months

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I wanna talk about The Angel Who Would Be Crowley.

Because I had a certain set of expectations, which got thoroughly trashed in the first five minutes of S2, and my genuine response is, "Oh, fuck, yup. You're right. That's WAY better."

Looking around at GO fandom, I'm not alone in this. So let's talk about it.

Basically, a lot of people (myself included) believed that he was a high-ranking angel, and therefore as chilly and remote as every other powerful angel we'd seen at that point. We pictured Crowley-To-Be as long-haired, regal and imposing --and the fanart at the time reflected this. I'd link some if Tumblr didn't hate links.

Something like this:

We were collectively drawing on a few things --mostly, Crawly's appearance and general bearing in the Biblical scenes of S1--

--But also scattered hints of his importance, backed up by conspicuous absences in Heaven and a few profound displays of power. That's all better covered elsewhere, so I won't reiterate the arguments here. All I'm saying is: I think our headcanons were justified.

But it turns out he was this:

!!!

With his curly little--!!

And his neat white--!!

IT TURNS OUT, he was an angel who squeaked and squealed when he was happy; who flailed his arms around and made explosion noises with his mouth to explain nebulas; who preened when told his stars were pretty. Furfur, who knew him before the Fall, says:

"You used to jump on me back, little monkey in a waistcoat..."

(The use of a diminutive there, 'little'...oh, that fascinates me.)

In a pretty huge subversion of expectations, we're given these glimpses of an angel who was sweet, and joyful, and heart-meltingly silly.

In sum...an innocent.

(Perhaps innocent to a troubling degree.

We see how he troubles Aziraphale, during their first conversation. He starts looking around and behind them, checking to make sure that no one can HEAR the blithe and reckless things coming out of this angel's mouth. This angel who talks like he's never been reprimanded in his life; like it's never occurred to him that anyone would want to hurt him.

Before the Beginning, Aziraphale understood Heaven better than he did. The danger is plainly occurring to Aziraphale.)

So now, we the viewers are in on a cruel joke that Aziraphale has known all along, which is that this --THIS-- is the angel who--

*checks notes*

--did a million lightyear freestyle dive into a boiling pool of sulphur. For asking questions.

...Imagine you are Aziraphale, and everything inside you wants to believe Heaven are the Good Guys, and God is Good and Everything She does is capital-R Right...and now try to reconcile that. Keep trying. I don't think he ever totally managed it in 6000 years.

All this gets further complicated when we learn that, despite all of the above, we were still right. That sweet excitable babby up there?

He WAS a powerful and high-ranking angel.

That much is explicitly confirmed, with significant evidence that he could have been among the mightiest of archangels...

...Who apparently accosted his fellow angels for piggyback rides. And was remembered millennia later by those (now fallen) angels as something 'little.'

What does that tell us about who he was? Is?

Hell, Aziraphale has known to be wary of the archangels (and the judgements of Heaven in general) since before the Fall even happened. He chooses to believe they are Good; he can't fool himself into thinking they are Safe.

Yet he's absolutely certain that Crowley won't hurt Job's children. Enough to stand in a burning building and say to them, "I can't save you, but don't be afraid. I won't need to."

And what reason does he give?

("I know you."

"You do not know me."

"I know the angel you were.")

What does that tell us about who he was? Is?

("The angel you knew is not me."

But how is Aziraphale supposed to believe that, when he can see him all the time?)

tl;dr --yes, this is better. I love the tragedy of it.

'Innocence died screaming' and all that.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #Crowley #Aziraphale #good omens 2 #good omens meta

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randomriddlee · 9 months

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list of my favourite things in good omens 2 that not many people talk about

„the masks will be provided for every demon that can’t blend in” (sth like that) and they were COVID MASKS?????

ty tennant aka david’s son played cunty twink that hit on aziraphale????

long haired gabriel jumpscare

after crowley’s apology dance aziraphale gave him a look resembling bedroom eyes i will die on this hill

saraqael miracling a ramp in the bookshop <33

good old fashioned lover boy playing in the bentley, thank you neil for your (fan)service we love u

nonbinary spouse my beloved

also crowley and shax using they/them pronouns for beelzebub so effortlessly <3

the fact that words like kink, grindr and twitter (rip) were mentioned???

the way david’s regular eyes looked absolutely stunning on prefall!crowley

crowley teaching aziraphale how to appreciate human things

aziraphale choosing humans over his loyalty to heaven <3 again <3

crowley. wouldn’t. let. aziraphale. fall.

the fact that Gabriel is still a self-absorbed mf (statue scene with beelzebub) and this same person chose his love over his status

aziraphale asking what gabriel and beelzebub want and then never asking crowley the same thing?????

aziraphale and crowley choosing each other but not in the way the other wants at all? but you know, they have very different exactlies

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #aziracrow #good omens 2 spoilers #ineffable husbands #ineffable bureaucracy

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books-and-omens · 9 months

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Heyyyyyy I’d really like to talk more about the ball, who’s with me.

Because for all its glitter, the ball is dark. No, seriously, it’s dark. It’s eerie, it’s disturbing, and the narrative doesn’t shy away from showing us just how much.

As in a classic fairytale, mortals are being spirited away into another realm to dance through the night. Here, however, we see exactly who is orchestrating the dance, and why.

And we empathize with him, but watching Aziraphale has never been so painful or so unsettling.

Nina arrives distraught and is immediately hit with the realization that she doesn’t feel distraught, even though she knows she should be feeling it. She confronts Aziraphale and he just tells her: oh yes! :) no long faces tonight! And she is disturbed throughout the ball, thinks she is losing her mind, questions and fights the enchantment… but from time to time, the enchantment still takes hold.

And just—

Aziraphale. Aziraphale, you do know that manipulating people is wrong, don’t you? You… do know that? And yes, of course, neither Crowley’s nor Aziraphale’s approach to morality is human. They are eldritch, they are otherworldly. It was Crowley who changed the paintball guns into real guns in S1, though of course, the humans still had choice in using them.

But the ball is still different.

We’ve never seen Aziraphale do anything quite so disturbing before, or go so obviously deep into his own delusion. There are moments during these scenes when even Crowley, permanently frustrated, is very nearly disturbed. (“Angel! What are you doing?” or “Making it rain is one thing, but a BALL?”)

I fully think that by that point in the story, Aziraphale is not all right. He is in an anxiety spiral, denying reality fiercely, obstinately, disastrously, not listening to any of Crowley’s hissed warnings. Yes, yes, he is giddy, he is in love. It’s so very important for him that everything go RIGHT this night, the night he gets to dance with Crowley. Is he even aware of everything he is conjuring up, of the enchantment he has woven? The humans who step through the doors of the bookshop change: their clothing, their mood, their speech patterns… By this point, is Aziraphale doing this consciously at all? Or is reality conforming to his expectations, forcing everyone into a replica of the nineteenth century while Aziraphale himself, distracted and smitten, works himself up to inviting Crowley to dance?

In the first few episodes, as fear and danger grow, as Aziraphale is faced with the danger specifically to Crowley (I don’t see why he would risk his existence for you, Shax tells him in the car), Aziraphale only denies reality all the more fiercely, only holds on to his plans tighter, only puts more force into them and exerts more control (really, rather like the archangels with their Great Plan).

And the ball, beautiful and otherworldly and eerie as it is, is also a dire warning.

In the morning, it will be Crowley, not Aziraphale, who will get told off for manipulating Nina and Maggie. Aziraphale won’t reflect on this. He won’t be forced to reflect, and Metatron will manipulate him in turn.

There is a plan to follow. The show must go on.

GOD the ball is so dark.

#good omens 2 #good omens

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inhonoredglory · 9 months

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Aziraphale’s Choice, the Job Connection, and Michael Sheen’s Morality

Update: Michael Sheen liked this post on Twitter, so I'm fairly certain there is a lot of validity to it.

I’ve had time to process Aziraphale’s choice at the end of Season 2. And I think only blaming the religious trauma misses something important in Aziraphale’s character. I think what happened was also Aziraphale’s own conscious choice––as a growth from his trauma, in fact. Hear me out.

Since November 2022 I’ve been haunted by something Michael Sheen said at the MCM London Comic Con. At the Q&A, someone asked him about which fantasy creature he enjoyed playing most and Michael (bless him, truly) veered on a tangent about angels and goodness and how, specifically,

We as a society tend to sort of undervalue goodness. It’s sort of seen as sort of somehow weak and a bit nimby and “oh it’s nice.” And I think to be good takes enormous reserves of courage and stamina. I mean, you have to look the dark in the face to be truly good and to be truly of the light…. The idea that goodness is somehow lesser and less interesting and not as kind of muscular and as passionate and as fierce as evil somehow and darkness, I think is nonsense. The idea of being able to portray an angel, a being of love. I love seeing the things people have put online about angels being ferocious creatures, and I love that. I think that’s a really good representation of what goodness can be, what it should be, I suppose.

I was looking forward to BAMF!Aziraphale all season long, and I think that’s what we got in the end. Remember Neil said that the Job minisode was important for Aziraphale’s story. Remember how Aziraphale sat on that rock and reconciled to himself that he MUST go to Hell, because he lied and thwarted the will of God. He believed that––truly, honestly, with the faith of a child, but the bravery of a soldier.

Aziraphale, a being of love with more goodness than all of Heaven combined, believed he needed to walk through the Gates of Hell because it was the Right Thing to do. (Like Job, he didn’t understand his sin but believed he needed to sacrifice his happiness to do the Right Thing.)

That’s why we saw Aziraphale as a soldier this season: the bookshop battle, the halo. But yes, the ending as well.

Because Aziraphale never wanted to go to Heaven, and he never wanted to go there without Crowley.

But it was Crowley who taught him that he could, even SHOULD, act when his moral heart told him something was wrong. While Crowley was willing to run away and let the world burn, it was Aziraphale (in that bandstand at the end of the world) who stood his ground and said No. We can make a difference. We can save everyone.

And Aziraphale knew he could not give up the ace up his sleeve (his position as an angel) to talk to God and make them see the truth in his heart.

I was messed up by Ineffable Bureaucracy (Boxfly) getting their happy ending when our Ineffable Husbands didn’t, but I see now that them running away served to prove something to Aziraphale. (And I am fully convinced that Gabriel and Beelzebub saw the example of the Ineffables at the Not-pocalypse and took inspiration from them for choosing to ditch their respective sides)

But my point is that Aziraphale saw them, and in some ways, they looked like him and Crowley. And he saw how Gabriel, the biggest bully in Heaven, was also like him in a way (a being capable of love) and also just a child when he wasn’t influenced by the poison of Heaven. Muriel, too, wasn’t a bad person. The Metatron also seemed to have grown more flexible with his morality (from Aziraphale's perspective). Like Earth, Heaven was shades of (light?) gray.

Aziraphale is too good an angel not to believe in hope. Or forgiveness (something he’s very good at it).

Aziraphale has been scarred by Heaven all his life. But with the cracks in Heaven’s armor (cracks he and Crowley helped create), Aziraphale is seeing something else. A chance to change them. They did terrible things to him, but he is better than them, and because of Crowley, he feels ready to face them.

(Will it work? Can Heaven change, institutionally? Probably not, but I can't blame Aziraphale for trying.)

At the cafe, the Metatron said something big was coming in the Great Plan. Aziraphale knows how trapped he had felt when he didn’t have God’s ear the first time something huge happened in the Big Plan. He can’t take a chance again to risk the world by not having a foot in the door of Heaven. That’s why we saw individual human deaths (or the threat of death) so much more this season: Elspeth, Wee Morag, Job’s children, the 1940s magician. Aziraphale almost killed a child when he couldn’t get through to God, and he’s not going through that again.

“We could make a difference.” We could save everyone.

Remember what Michael Sheen said about courage and doing good––and having to “look the dark in the face to be truly good.” That’s what happened when Aziraphale was willing to go to Hell for his actions. That’s what happened when he decided he had to go to Heaven, where he had been abused and belittled and made to feel small. He decided to willingly go into the Lion’s Den, to face his abusers and his anxiety, to make them better so that they would not try to destroy the world again.

Him, just one angel. He needed Crowley to be there with him, to help him be brave, to ask the questions that Heaven needed to hear, to tell them God was wrong. Crowley is the inspiration that drives Aziraphale’s change, Crowley is the engine that fuels Aziraphale’s courage.

But then Crowley tells him that going to Heaven is stupid. That they don’t need Heaven. And he’s right. Aziraphale knows he’s right.

Aziraphale doesn’t need Heaven; Heaven needs him. They just don’t know how much they need him, or how much humanity needs him there, too. (If everyone who ran for office was corrupt, how can the system change?)

Terry Pratchett (in the Discworld book, Small Gods) is scathing of God, organized religion, and the corrupt people religion empowers, but he is sympathetic to the individual who has real, pure faith and a good heart. In fact, the everyman protagonist of Small Gods is a better person than the god he serves, and in the end, he ends up changing the church to be better, more open-minded, and more humanist than god could ever do alone.

Aziraphale is willing to go to the darkest places to do the Right Thing, and Heaven is no exception. When Crowley says that Heaven is toxic, that’s exactly why Aziraphale knows he needs to go there. “You’re exactly is different from my exactly.”

____

In the aftermath of Trump's election in the US, Brexit happened in 2018. Michael Sheen felt compelled to figure out what was going on in his country after this shock. But he was living in Los Angeles with Sarah Silverman at the time, and she also wanted to become more politically active in the US.

Sheen: “I felt a responsibility to do something, but it [meant] coming back [to Britain] – which was difficult for us, because we were very important to each other. But we both acknowledge that each of us had to do what we needed to do.” In the end, they split up and Michael moved back to the UK.

Sometimes doing the Right Thing means sacrificing your own happiness. Sometimes it means going to Hell. Sometimes it means going to Heaven. Sometimes it means losing a relationship.

And that’s why what happened in the end was so difficult for Aziraphale. Because he loves Crowley desperately. He wants to be together. He wanted that kiss for thousands of years. He knows that taking command of Heaven means they would never again have to bow to the demands of a God they couldn’t understand, or run from a Hell who still came after them. They could change the rules of the game.

And he’s still going to do that. But it hurts him that he has to do that alone.

#good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #it's kinda like capt america: civil war #with Azi as Tony Stark: traumatized and trying to do the right thing #and Crowley being Steve Rogers: fuck the establishment let's go rogue #gos2spoilers #good omens meta #good omens 2 meta #go s2 #michael sheen #go s2 meta #go meta #*mine #*mymeta #ineffables husbands #ineffable soulmates #*mybest

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brokendoor16 · 3 months

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Okay. Okay. I get that we all love Crowley calling Aziraphale 'angel' (bcz WHO FUCKING DOESN'T?? I MEAN, "Blasphemy? That's not not like you, angel." KILLS ME EVERY TIME) and obviously everyone wants Azi to have some cute little pet name for him (**ahem** 'dear' **ahem**) BUT JUST HEAR ME OUT.

BUT WHAT IF. The cute little pet name is literally just?? His name?? Like, I can't be the only one noticing how many times Aziraphale starts his sentences with 'Crowley,' even in the middle of a conversation with no one else around he could be talking to??

ANDANDAND he's the only angel who calls Crowley by his name as opposed to 'demon' (Yes, I'm talking about the fucking metratron rn) or 'the demon Crowley', 'the enemy', etc.

BUT THE THING IS, Crowley never TOLD Aziraphale his name the first time they met- we don't even know what his name WAS back when he was an angel- we know he's changed it before, and the original 'Crawley' doesn't seem particularly suited to an Angel ("well, you were a snake") so we don't even fucking KNOW the name heaven called him back when he was the starmaker.

Even hell barely call him Crowley, with the first scene of Ligur (literally one of the demons Crowley interacts with the MOST after Beezlebub and probably Hastur) featuring him asking "what's he calling himself these days?" (probably just another representation of how little hell actually cares about him, but moving on)

OVERALL, the only person (angel? being? idfk) to CONSTANTLY refer to him by name- whilst talking TO him, not ABOUT him- is Aziraphale. Personally, I think that constitutes a 'cute little pet name' 😇😇

#good omens #good omens 2 #anthony j crowley #ineffable husbands #this show is insane #But slightly painful #Seriously this is so personal to me #aziraphale

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