#ineffable trauma

[ineffable-suffering]

Trauma-Dumping on your plants: The Anthony J. Crowley Chronicles

This has been living in my silly head rent free for so long, I finally decided to slap it on here in hopes of thinking about it a little less (than three times a day. It's been years. I need to get over it.)

Also, I'm absolutely certain I'm not even remotely the first person to realize or post about this, since it's not the hardest of parallels to figure out. Alas, I still shall, because out of mind, out of sight and all that. So:

Let's talk about how Crowley is using his houseplants to work through his own Trauma of the Fall. Or, well, maybe not work through it per se, but more so roleplay it to give it somewhat of an an outlet because he never got over it. Lol.

It's not rocket science to figure it out and God Herself actually gives us a pretty spot-on explanation of it in her own narration.

Crowley's plants are perfect. They're, as God Herself tells us, the most luxurious and beautiful in all of London. He takes great care of them, waters them, mists them. Does any and everything to give them the perfect conditions so they won't have a worry in the world.

And yet, we're immediately shown that despite the seemingly perfect conditions they're living in, Crowley's plants still get *gasps quietly* spots. And we all know how Crowley feels about that:

It seems like such an unnecessary tiny thing to get upset about, right? Like, plants get spots all the time. They're not perfect, they're part of nature and nothing is ever perfect in nature. Crowley would know that by now. Imperfection is the whole point of nature. If everything had stayed exactly the way it always was, nothing would have ever changed or evolved.

Besides, Crowley is a demon. If it were merely about aesthetics to him, he could easily miracle away any spot with a blink of his serpent eyes. But he gets so angry about it, it's almost comical. At first we think it's just to show us, the audience, that, in contrast to Aziraphale, who cares very dearly and lovingly for his books, Crowley is a mean, mean demon who, instead of being outwardly nice to the things he loves (like Aziraphale does), yells at his plants because he's a mean meanie.

But! If you look at the whole scene and what God says, it's pretty obvious what he's actually doing is something else entirely: "What Crowley does is he puts the fear of God in them. Or, the fear of Crowley. The plants are the most luxurious and beautiful in London. Also the most scared."

Folks, this man dude serpent is literally roleplaying the concept of God/Heaven threatening angels with their Fall in order to keep them obedient ... with his houseplants.

Have I mentioned yet that I am absolutely obsessed with him and also desperately wanna get him a therapy voucher?

Because what does he do once he sees a plant disobeying his rules of perfection and acting out? The same thing God did to her questioning, equally disobedient angels (including Crowley): Parade it in front of the very scared rest, making an example of it ...

... only to then, well ...

... quite literally chuck it out.

To anyone else, this seems like a completely ridiculous thing to do over a tiny, minuscule spot. There would have been a bunch of other ways to go about fixing that spot.

Figuring out what it was the plant needed that might not have been given to it yet.

Taking care of it in a different, individual way so it would have been able to thrive again.

Listening to the plant and letting it tell you why its spot appeared in the first place.

Telling the plant, that loves and relies on you entirely, you love it too, despite it not being without fault, despite of it not fully living up to your unreachable standards of perfection.

Caring for the plant not because you want it to be perfect, but because you're okay with it being imperfect.

(We're no longer talking about plants here, as you are probably aware.)

Alas, this isn't what Crowley does. Because it wasn't what God did, either. We still know very little about Crowley's actual Fall and the Fall of Lucifer and the rest. But we do know that Crowley was never like or even with them.

All he did was ask some questions. A tiny spot. A seemingly insignificant blemish in the luxurious, beautiful flora of Heaven.

And yet, before he knew it, he did a "million lightyear freestyle dive into a boiling pool of sulfur". Cast out, chucked away, just like his little spotty plant. And for what? Well ...

... to keep the others angels plants check, for the rest of time.

***

(Addendum from the comments: If we go by what the book tells us, Crowley doesn’t actually end up violently throwing out the ‚bad‘ plants. He just finds a different place for them and makes sure they‘re looked after. So much to him being a big, bad, meanie-mean demon.)

#botany over therapy #harvest the garden of your emotional trauma #its ok crowley just take my hand ill take you to a nice doctor #crowley #good omens #good omens season 1 #crowley's fall #he's not even close to ever being over it #which is understandable #ineffable trauma #the plants are a metaphore #my own meta

[tartanbowtie]

I just want to draw your attention to this incredibly insightful analysis by Sendarya.

Blurb from the video:

Crowley is an incredibly complex character. This video discusses why he thinks it’s always too late, and how that relates to his innate desire to question everything, and his past trauma.

#good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens #good omens2 #crowley #anthony j crowley #it's always too late #aziraphale #trauma survivor #ineffable trauma #i only ever asked questions #Youtube #sendarya

[sebbys-mama]

The Good Omens fandom after watching the traumatic season 2 finale:

The Good Omens fandom creating content after watching the traumatic season 2 finale:

#ineffable husbands #ineffable fandom #good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable trauma

[mintybagels]

Days seem sometimes as if they’ll never end

#processing this trauma now #i apologize for nothing #good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 #good omens fanart #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziracrow #aziraphale #neil gaiman

[ennas-aesthetic]

If we DO ever get a Good Omens season 3 (and fingers crossed we will) then using the Second Coming as the narrative device to facilitate the final culmination of Good Omens' ideology and message is brilliant, actually.

Because the Second Coming IS NOT another Adam situation. And, contrary to the misconceptions I've seen, It IS NOT about Jesus being born again as a baby, etc, etc.

THE SECOND COMING. QUITE LITERALLY refers to THE LAST JUDGMENT.

As in. The SAME Last Judgment Michelangelo painted on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. As in - THE JUDGMENT of the Living and the Dead. THE LAST, FINAL, ETERNAL JUDGMENT.

It's the WHOLE thing Armageddon was leading towards. Book of Revelation speedrun: the world ends, everyone dies, and then they get resurrected again to be judged by JESUS himself. He will flick through the Book of Life (WINK WINK WINK DO YOU SEE HOW LOUDLY I'M WINKING AT YOU???), and if your name is there he will go "oh nice you deserve eternal paradise! :D" and if your name is ERASED from the Book of Life he will go "oh no, sorry, you go to the lake of fire for eternity now D:" (except apparently in Good Omens lore it'd just DOOM YOU TO NON-EXISTENCE FOREVER???)

And if you THINK about it, The Last Judgment is the ultimate manifestation of moral absolutism. No shades of gray, no chances. Just BLACK, and WHITE. Never mind that you're like Wee Morag and Elspeth, who are forced to do "bad" things because of circumstances. It's either you pass Judgment Day, or you burn (or disappear forever.) And the way THINGS are going in the Good Omens universe? I don't think there's ANYONE "good" enough to be "saved." Not Crowley, not Aziraphale. Hell, not even the Archangels themselves.

So it provides a PERFECT opportunity for Aziraphale and Crowley to UPEND that SYSTEM entirely.

I think that's what Crowley and Aziraphale would do in s3: establish a new kind of system in which angels and demons have free will to determine the right (or wrong) choice.

Giving them the APPLE, so to speak.

And then they'll go off to retire in a cottage, together at last.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #im sorry but i choke everytime someone refers to a baby jesus for the second coming #like i love yall and parent trapping aziraphale and crowley by the infant son of god would be amusing as heck #but also i rlly think this is about the Last Judgment guys KSLDSKDKLDS #thank you good omens yes this IS in fact how i use my collection of niche trivia on christian eschatology #putting my religious trauma into good use iktr

[edscuntyeyeshadow]

the way the other angels treat aziraphale reminds me of how people at church would treat obviously queer kids who didn’t know they were queer yet. especially in the flashback scenes and in s1. they all see he’s different and treat him like shit but in that really vague passive aggressive christian way y’know

#does this make any sense #good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #religious trauma #exvangelical #muriel #gomens #gomens 2 #ex evangelical #aziracrow #queer #growing up religious #ineffable husbands #metatron #my posts

[catabasis]

He sees you, and he likes what he sees.

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach by Nnm

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #goodomensedit #dailyineffablehusbands #demonology and the tri-phasic model of trauma: an integrative approach #mygifs #mygifs:goodomens #my favourite piece of fanfiction of all time #it means so much to me and i wanted to make a little something for it #special mention to aubrey thyme whom i adore and my eternal gratitude to the writer of this fanfiction #mygifs:aziraphale #mygifs:crowley #mygifs:aziracrow

[sentientsky]

hmmmmgrhhf thinking bout crowley and childhood trauma and abandonment and rage again

#me (a traumatized queer with mommy issues): wow this show is so fucking relatable. why isn’t it getting more attention in the media?? #sorry for the pixelly quality it is one in the morning and I cannot find better resolution images #good omens #crowley #ineffable husbands #good omens 2 #aziraphale #aziracrow #go2 #ineffable lovers #ineffable wives #good omens season 2 #on childhood trauma #gomens #gomens 2 #tw: mention of trauma #david tennant #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #on rage #angel!crowley #anthony j crowley

[bitspices]

The thing is Aziraphale is convinced Crowley falling was a mistake in the system. Crowley is good and he's kind and Heaven is supposed to be the good side so it shouldn't have cast him out, that's why he wants to reinstate him as an angel, because what else would he be?

Whereas Crowley understands perfectly that him falling was the system working as intended, Heaven doesn't care about angels being good and kind, it cares about them being obedient and loyal.

And as long as Aziraphale doesn't see that he won't be free from them, because it's inconceivable to him that someone good wouldn't want to be on the good side.

#give me Aziraphale working through his religious trauma in S3 or give me death #good omens meta #I guess #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #Aziraphale #Crowley #aziraphale/crowley #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #otp: we could have been us #queue continuum

[brainwormcity]

We gotta talk about Rome, y'all.

So, the flashback in Rome is pretty much exclusively the only time Crowley is actively short with Aziraphale and it has always sort of itched my brain as to why. When I finally got my hands on the script book it started to make sense:

For the uninitiated, Caligula was a Roman Emperor so despicable that there's literally a wiki dedicated to his atrocities.

Some of the deplorable things he was said to have done include, but aren't limited to:

Ordering criminals to be fed to the wild animals used for Gladitorial entertainment, after having cut their tongues out

Decapitating and butchering several people

Beating a priest to death with a mallet

Crucifying, burning, and suffocating multiple people

Literally having a Senator he disliked ripped apart by a mob

With this in mind, we know that Crowley, despite his indifferent attitude toward his demonic assignments, actively works against hurting people and animals, and even though his dialogue implies that he never tempted Caligula, we don't actually know what he might have witnessed. Still, it's not at all out of the realm of possibility that he saw things that could have straight up left him scarred psychologically.

Though the filmed scene leaves this portion of the conversation out, including his failed rebuff of Aziraphale's company, it's clear that he's in some emotional distress. With this in mind, Aziraphale's appearance may have occurred at just the right time. If he saw even just a hint of the monstrosity and madness of Caligula, he'd have needed some sort of comfort, so Aziraphale's stupid question and temptation for oysters may have been the best thing that could have happened under the circumstance.

Plus, given Aziraphale's ignorance about Caligula (he was there for Nero,) he'd have no idea how badly Crowley was messed up. He never reacted to Crowley's irritation or boorish attitude with anything other than continued enthusiasm for his presence. Demonhood has likely been incredibly tragic and traumatizing for Crowley at times, and, in this scene, Aziraphale was a balm for that pain without ever knowing.

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #good omens 2 #aziracrow #aziraphale x crowley #crowley good omens #good omens rome #good omens 41 #crowley trauma #caligula #roman history #crowley rome #good omens meta #abel talks meta #good omens theory

[bartzabell]

I decided that i hate the "coffee theory" so much, let my angel have religious trauma, let him make mistakes, let him understand how much he hurt his demon, let him beg forgiveness...

#Not saying he's the only one wrong here but #i really hate the idea of 'he did this because he was mind controlled' #LET HIM DO MISTAKES #HE GOT TRAUMA AS WELL #good omens #don't mind me #aziraphale #ineffable husbands

[princessbutler1316]

#that happened #gos2 spoilers #trauma #ineffable husbands #neil gaiman #good omens #gos #good omens 2 #aziraphale #Crowley

[katcsy]

Did I love too much again?

#good omens #good omens fanart #crowley #good omens crowley #crowley fall #good omens angst #good omens art #good omens fandom #demon crowley #ineffable fandom #ineffable fanart #tragic gay men #religious trauma #crowley fanart

[ennas-aesthetic]

What the fuck is Jesus up to in Good Omens season 3?

This is a question I've been thinking long and hard these past couple of days and I have some THOUGHTS SO. Buckle up.

Aziraphale and Crowley watching the Crucifixion (Good Omens, 2019)

First off. The answer to the question posited is relatively simple. What is Jesus up to in GO3? With s2's ending in mind and with the hints we've gotten for 668: Neighbor of the Beast over the years, we know he's descending to Earth to initiate the Second Coming. And that Aziraphale would probably make that happen - or do everything that he can as Supreme Archangel to sabotage it.

But I wanted to examine on how Jesus might fit into Good Omens' overall narratives and established themes - about morality and humanism and free will, and. I'm just saying, there are A LOT of fascinating routes they could do for his character.

(Disclaimer as usual: this is a theory that I obsessed over when I was stuck at the cemetery during All Souls' Day and must be treated as such. In no way am I insisting this should be how canon events must happen. I am just doing this for the funsies.)

The THING about Jesus if you situate him in the world of Good Omens (with the assumption that most of the pop culture Christology mythos associated with him remain intact) is that in this context he very quickly becomes: 1. Adam Young's narrative foil; and 2. an Aziraphale parallel.

Now, the first one is obvious. Of COURSE he is Adam Young's foil, duh. Adam isn't called the ANTICHRIST for nothing. Brought into the world just for the sole purpose of ending it. However, when the time comes for him to fulfill the Will of his Satanic Father, Adam flat out REFUSES.

Both the book and the show attribute this to Adam's human upbringing. He was raised as a human, and because of that he has the trait that the book uses to DEFINE human beings: free will. At the end, Adam had the AGENCY to reject the destiny planned out for him.

'Adam stood smiling at the two of them, a small figure perfectly poised exactly between Heaven and Hell.

Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's arm. "You know what happened?" he hissed excitedly. "He was left alone! He grew up human! He's not Evil Incarnate or Good Incarnate, he's just… a human incarnate—"'

- (Good Omens, 1990)

That is NOT what happened to Jesus.

Adam Bond as Jesus in Good Omens (2019)

Like Adam, he was raised as a human -- being a human incarnate was his WHOLE DEAL in Christology. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us... yada yada yada.

UNLIKE, Adam, though, Jesus wasn't able to REJECT his Destiny of Dying Really Horribly and Painfully on the Cross. Narratives in the Bible also made it clear that the Crucifixion was NOT his Will, but that of God's. Like... him begging to be spared from torment but ultimately following God's Will is such an important event entire devotional practices are made out of it.

"39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

- (Matthew 26: 39, KJV)

We get a glimpse of that in s1ep3 of Good Omens, too:

"JESUS

(muttering through the pain)

Father, please . . . you have to forgive them . . . they don’t know what they are doing . . .

Crowley, in black, comes up next to Aziraphale.

CROWLEY

You’ve come to smirk at the poor bugger, have you?

AZIRAPHALE

Smirk? Me?

CROWLEY

Well, your lot put him on there.

AZIRAPHALE

I am not consulted on policy decisions, Crawley."

- (The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, 2018)

SO. Here we have the character of the Christ whose free will and agency had been STRIPPED from him in the guise of a "noble sacrifice." He comes back again on this Earth to fulfill another "inescapable destiny."

Aziraphale and Crowley need to stop him. The solution the Good Omens narrative offers to "inescapable destinies and systems" (both in s1 and s2) is for the character to realize they have the freedom to choose their own fates. It happened with Adam, and it happened with Gabriel, and perhaps it will happen to Jesus.

(At this point my sister frowned and said: "Are you telling me you think Aziraphale and Crowley are going to help Jesus realize he has agency and that him Dying on the Cross for the 'Great Plan' was kinda fucked up actually?" which sounds crazy when you put it like that BUT NEVER SAY NEVER BABIE.)

Because that brings me to my second point: if this all happens, Jesus becomes an AZIRAPHALE parallel.

In the same way Anathema is an Aziraphale parallel and Sergeant Shadwell is an Aziraphale parallel. Here is a character stuck in a suffocating status quo. To save the world, he needs to know he can escape that status quo and decide for himself. In the same way Anathema has to learn how to stop being a descendant or Shadwell to stop being a Witchfinder, or Gabriel to stop being an Archangel, and Adam to stop being an Antichrist, perhaps Jesus has to learn he can stop being... Well, the Christ, as well.

And this, of course, supplements Aziraphale's journey of letting go of the idea of being an idealized vessel of God, so he could finally enjoy the freedom of personhood and choice on Earth, with Crowley.

Or they could turn Jesus into a cackling villain who Aziraphale and Crowley need to kill in season 3, and I'd probably eat that up, too.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 #good omens season 2 #good omens spoilers #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #this was such an insane meta post to make but i had to do it #putting my religious trauma to good use iktr #enna rambles

[edscuntyeyeshadow]

I saw a comment somewhere that basically said aziraphale and crowley are like two different reactions you can have to religious trauma.

so crowley is the self proclaimed “sinner”, has accepted that he’s “going to hell”, and hates the church/cult he left. for him going back means going back to that box of repression.

but aziraphale’s trauma seems to be much harder for people to understand, he’s the person who was slowly cast out because of the cracks showing in their facade, they want to be loved by the church/cult still. they crave belonging and want to be welcomed back.

I’m definitely more of a crowley but I like to talk more about aziraphale because I also relate to him in certain ways, plus people misunderstand him a lot.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #religious trauma #good omens 2 #ex evangelical #ex cult #ex religious #gomens #aziracrow #crowley

[badaziraphaletakes]

#good omens #goodomens #aziraphale #good omens 2 #badaziraphaletakes #goodomens2 #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #ineffablehusbands #cw: religious trauma #cw: hell