#hiding things is not just a crowley problem. aziraphale hid his encounter with shax and hid the location of the antichrist for 3 EPISODES

[lenaellsi]

I'm really not sure why people think that Crowley telling Aziraphale about 1) "shut your stupid mouth and die," 2) the Book of Life threat, or 3) the Second Coming would have changed anything about his decision. Those things are held up as like Crowley's Major Sins this season but genuinely. What would it have changed?

Aziraphale already knew Heaven was going to execute him in Hell fire. That was why they switched. Crowley says as much to him in the scene where they're fighting about Gabriel. And he knows probably better than Crowley does that the archangels are horrible and condescending; they've been saying things like that to him since at least Job. Why is the specific language so important? It would have just reinforced his view that the archangels as individuals are the problem, not Heaven itself.

Crowley doesn't tell him specifically about the BoL threat, but he's very clear that hiding Gabriel is putting both of them in incredible danger (a fear Aziraphale tells him is "silly.") And when he DOES try to warn Aziraphale of an active threat--the demons attacking the bookshop--Aziraphale brushes him off. ("I think you're overestimating how much trouble we're really in.") Plus, Aziraphale learns about the BoL threat later anyway, from Michael.

Theoretically there's more legitimacy to the argument for Gabriel's trial and Heaven's plans, but: I'd argue first that Crowley doesn't really have time to tell Aziraphale what he saw in Heaven in detail. The first moment alone they get, he's worrying about telling Aziraphale he loves him, and Aziraphale interrupts with the Metatron's offer. He could have brought it up during their fight, but...he kinda did?? "When Heaven ends life here on Earth it'll be just as a dead as if Hell ended it." And Aziraphale doesn't respond at all, not even to deny it. The one thing that MIGHT have swayed him was hearing that Gabriel was being punished specifically for opposing the Second Coming, but...I'm skeptical. Maybe he might have gone in a little more aware that he might be in danger, but he still would have thought that the problem was Gabriel, not Heaven. He would have thought he could reason with them. That's what he always thinks, when it comes to Heaven. And again, he should already know that Heaven would punish an angel for trying to stop the apocalypse—because they tried to execute him last time.

Other people have said this much more articulately but like. Aziraphale genuinely Was Not Listening to anything Crowley said in the final fifteen, and also the entire season. ("The angel you knew is not me." "Is it wicked? She needed the money!" "Are you sure you're sure?" "Look, there's something wrong, there's something really wrong!") The entire series, really. We saw this in S1, right? When Crowley tells Aziraphale that Heaven wants the war the same as Hell does, he tries to work with them anyway, and only decides to fully rebel when he's told by the Metatron himself that "The point is not to avoid the war. The point is to win it."

When this kind of information comes from Crowley, Aziraphale just doesn't hear it. He rationalizes, he makes excuses, he accuses Crowley of lying. Of course Crowley has given up on telling him things. Of course he's just started handling things himself. He could have told Aziraphale everything he’s seen and experienced down to the smallest detail since Armageddon and Aziraphale still would have left.

Anyway. Just me tapping the "this is more than a lack of communication, it's a conflict that's been going on since literally Before Time" sign.

#good omens #aziraphale #good omens meta #mandatory ‘this is not aziraphale hate. please just acknowledge that this is a decision he made under his own power' tag #hiding things is not just a crowley problem. aziraphale hid his encounter with shax and hid the location of the antichrist for 3 EPISODES #they both hide things from each other and aziraphale has a habit of not listening to things that make him uncomfortable. #sorry.