#i genuinely love you all and i know we’re feeling a little delulu rn

[ashirisu]

All my love to fans of the coffee theory, but I will never be able to get behind it. It will always be better and more interesting to me to assume that Aziraphale is actually just a complex character who makes mistakes as a result of his trauma.

He’s a sweetheart and of course we don’t want to think less of him, but it’s a disservice to the story to act like warm, soft, and loving characters are incapable of making poor (if well-intentioned) decisions through the lens of their negative biases. A sneaky miracle brainwashing in the final fifteen robs him of the agency he’s spent the last six thousand years painstakingly developing—not only does it take away his ability to make his own decision in the moment, it also completely ignores the impact that millennia of indoctrination has had on his psyche.

The indoctrination (and Aziraphale’s learning to question it) is the core theme of the minisodes. In each scenario, he’s forced to question the moral code of heaven and accept that life on earth is complex, and even then, he still struggles to see the point completely. Crowley is still the only demon he doesn’t distrust on sight, and he only openly admits to there being “very light” shades of grey. He’s working on it, but he’s still got at least six more episodes of self-reflection to go.

In every conceivable way, this decision is actually a step in the right direction in terms of his personal character arc. Aziraphale doesn’t have all the information we’re working with as an audience, so we can’t expect him to see the extent to which he’s being manipulated and the full scope of Crowley’s feelings for him. From his perspective, he’s only recently come to terms with how fundamentally flawed the system is and is being given the opportunity to implement real change from the top—to let the entirety of heaven see the shades of grey he’s discovered and end the practice of eternally punishing anyone who asks questions.

Why would someone who’s finally allowed to openly love his best friend, who has just watched another angel and demon successfully find love by following his example, see that as anything but an absolute win?

Of course it hurts and of course it’s devastating, because we as the audience see the truth of what’s happening, but I promise it’ll ultimately be more rewarding to let this be part of his character development instead of a divinely-contrived backslide that leaves no more room for personal growth. Aziraphale realizing he was wrong and working to amend it (which he will, given his characterization up to this point) will make for a better story than him realizing he was magically forced to act contrary to his beliefs.

Our angel can be flawed and messily three-dimensional and we can still love him, it’s okay. I don’t think we should diminish him for the sake of an almond syrup MacGuffin.

#i genuinely love you all and i know we’re feeling a little delulu rn #but narratively i’m telling you it’s better if the coffee theory is nonsense #don’t take away his development two-thirds of the way through the story #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #coffee theory #aziraphale #ley rambles