#ouroboros

[kimberleyjean]

Why are there Infinity Loops or Möbius Strips in Good Omens?

The infinity loop, it's the idea of something that is unlimited and endless, you know...

In this post, I'm going to explore some of the symbols in the show that I think relate to this concept of eternity. For example, have you noticed that the infinity loop shows up amongst the symbols at the start of Season 1? While God's narrates about her "ineffable game" of her own devising, here it is on screen:

Why do we see so many infinity symbols here? Where else can we see this same symbol?

Read on for the places I've spotted it in both S1, S2 and the book. I’m hoping you’ll let me know if I missed any, and what you think it all means!

Eternity in Good Omens

In the book, when Crowley is explaining the concept of eternity to Aziraphale, he uses the idea of a bird which flies every thousand years to the same mountain to sharpen it's beak. Here's the conversation, with Aziraphale's interruptions edited out (pg. 55 - 56 in my hardcopy):

“Just you think about it," said Crowley relentlessly. "You know what eternity is? You know what eternity is? I mean, d'you know what eternity is? There's this big mountain, see, a mile high, at the end of the universe, and once every thousand years there's this little bird—” “Okay. And every thousand years this bird flies—" "flies all the way to this mountain and sharpens its beak—” “Sharpen its beak on the mountain," said Crowley. "And then it flies back—” “And after a thousand years it goes and does it all again," said Crowley quickly.”

This story originally came from a folk tale called the Shepherd Boy. It's very short and you can read the Brother's Grimm version here.

If we take Crowley at his word, then eternity in Good Omens is represented by repeating the same thing over again, whether that's flying forever to the same mountain, or having to watch the Sound of Music "over and over and over and over and over and over and over" into infinity.

The Infinity Loop

The common symbol for infinity, ∞, was invented by the English mathematician John Wallis in 1655. Being an extremely popular symbol, it shows up in a lot of places, including the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Several other uses are detailed on the wikipedia page.

So, where does it appear in Good Omens? In addition to God's monologue, we also see it during the S1 baby swap sequence as part of the Satanic nun's costumes. Here it is on the upside-down watches they wear:

Here it is again on Newt's belt buckle in S1:

Here's another possible infinity symbol on Newt's computer screen, when he's working at United Holdings:

Outside of the show, it also appears on the merch released post-S2 (though a little bit disguised in the form of the snake wrapped around them). Included is the tagline of "The end was just the start".

There are also two references to infinity in the book. Here's the first very near the start (pg. 14 of my 2015 hardback edition):

“He [God] plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, [ie., everybody.] to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.”

And here's the other, closer to the end, at the airfield (pg. 363 of my edition):

“Adam glanced up. In one sense there was just clear air overhead. In another, stretching off to infinity, were the hosts of Heaven and Hell, wingtip to wingtip. If you looked really closely, and had been specially trained, you could tell the difference.”

So, Good Omens makes a few references to infinity, which I find interesting in itself. But wait, there's more!

The Ouroboros

There is another symbol which also appears in Good Omens and also suggests a form of repetition - the ouroboros. The ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail and depicts an eternal cycle of renewal - an end which comes back to the start again. I recommend taking a look at the whole wikipedia page, which is quite fascinating:

Now, this would be a rather abstract representation, but I think this appears on the wall of Nina's cafe. Unfortunately, in my image Terry's name has been cut off, but it does say Terry and Neil within those segments of the loop:

So we have the infinity symbol, the ouroboros... anything else? Well, yes, there is a third symbol for us to ponder over.

The Mobius Strip

Closely related to the idea of the infinity symbol is that of the mobius strip. To oversimplify things, the mobius strip is a object which is a continuous surface in a loop. At first glance, it appears to have two sides, but these are indeed all part of the same side (maybe we should call this "our side"?). As shown in the below gif, an object traversing the surface of the strip can repeat in a continuous loop.

Where does the mobius strip appear in Good Omens? Well, it appears in the book. Here it is being used to refer to Anathema's broken bike wheel (pg. 92 in my 2015 hardback edition):

“Behind the Bentley a bicycle lay in the road, its front wheel bent into a creditable Mobius shape, its back wheel clicking ominously to a standstill.”

And again, describing the discussions of the Them, while Adam is coming into his powers (pg. 229 in my hardback):

“Serve everyone right if all the nucular bombs went off and it all started again, only prop'ly organized," said Adam. "Sometimes I think that's what I'd like to happen. An' then we could sort everythin' out." The thunder growled again. Pepper shivered. This wasn't the normal Them mobius bickering, which passed many a slow hour. There was a look in Adam's eye that his friend couldn't quite fathom—not devilment, because that was more or less there all the time, but a sort of blank grayness that was far worse.”

Not only does the word "mobius" appear twice in the book, but Neil has continued to be interested in such ideas, releasing the song Mobius Strip in April 2023 (as brought to my attention by @embracing-the-ineffable). The song is a meditation on the nature of time, magic and how things tend to repeat. In the song, the grandfather shows the boy a trick to creating a mobius strip using paper, tape and some scissors. Here's how the song concludes:

"I'm... Somewhere on the strip We all are, walking the sign of infinity into the darkness And I'm looking for signs of a life, in a memory Reflected in the mirror I'm a mobius strip We all are We only ever see one face It's the twist that brings you back where you started"

If you're unfamiliar with the idea of creating a paper-based mobius strip, here's a video on how it works:

Is the loop Aziraphale and Crowley?

To form a mobius strip, you need to cut the paper first, flip it, and then join the ends back together.

To me, this reminds me a lot of the S2 opening sequence, when we see the bridge disconnect, separating Aziraphale and Crowley on either side, only to then reconnect at another place.

Does this mean the bridge, and perhaps the loop, represents our ineffable duo? This merch sure seems to suggest so...

That could be one interpretation of this sequence, though I'm sure there are others. What do you think? Does the loop say anything about Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship to one another?

Put it all together and...

In summary, we have at least three different symbols signifying some sort of repetition in Good Omens - the infinity loop, ouroboros and mobius strip. So, what might they mean? Why do you think it's been included, and so often? Even more importantly, have I missed any? There's endless details to be mined from this show, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.

I have a few theories, but nothing concrete yet, so I'm really interested in hearing everyone's ideas!

#good omens meta #ineffable mystery #good omens clues #good omens analysis #go meta #good omens s2 #good omens s1 #good omens season 2 #good omens season 1 #good omens #good omens details #infinity symbol #infinity loop #mobius strip #newton pulsifer #ineffable husbands #ouroboros #Youtube

[canonkiller]

but you can't keep holding on like this.

#you can put a disability metaphor in any legfndary draconic entity. many people dont know this #my art #comic #ouroboros #for tag filtering: #blood #its a blurry day forgive typos

[claypigeonpottery]

sold

#claypigeon #memes #meme #ouroboros #as a treat #pottery #ceramics #ceramic #ceramic art #carving #mishima pottery #sgraffito #glazeware

[mobius-m-mobius]

#obsessed with their priorities

#mobius #loki #lokius #mcuedit #lokiedit #marveledit #owen wilson #tom hiddleston #loki spoilers #it's got your shape to it... i'm sensing owen at work again 😂 #banter for DAYS they're so married it's unbelievable #am i distracting myself from pain and suffering by thinking how hilarious it is loki's vocabulary now includes phrases like 'hoof it'?? #maybe so maybe so :')))) #btw if anyone wants to theorize about the ep - #i'm going on record as assuming mobius getting hot cocoa on his own is the point where the timeline went wrong ;;;; #dianagifs #owenwilsonedit #marvel #loki s2 spoilers #ouroboros #o.b. #casey

[marvelgifs]

LOKI S02E02 Breaking Brad

#loki #lokiedit #marveledit #mcuedit #lokitvedit #ouroboros #casey #hunter b 15 #loki tv #loki series #tvedit #* #by polly #gifs #loki* #loki spoilers

[stevenrogered]

LOKI | 2x01 "Ouroboros"

#loki #lokiedit #marveledit #mcuedit #loki tv #tom hiddleston #loki laufeyson #thcrin #tuserkaz #loki series #loki spoilers #marvel #mcu #tom hiddelson #ke huy quan #will be the highlight #ouroboros #ob ouroboros #mystuff #1k #5k

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Ouroboros, sculpture by Ellen Jewett

#art #sculpture #dark art #fantasy #surreal #snake #ouroboros

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

Eating their own tails: vintage ouroboros imagery.

#ouroboros #uroboros #symbolism #vintage illustration #illustration

[softestmidnight]

I know I'm late and stuff but happy World Autism Awareness Day! I made both an Autism and Neurodivergent ouroboros for such occasion.

#world autism awareness day #autism #actually autistic #neurodivergent #original #ouroboros #art

[buckymilf]

everyone agrees that ob is already the best character addition on the show right?

#i love him mom!!! #oroboros #obi #loki #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #marvel spoilers #marvel #ouroboros #ob

[makkarisbelova]

I love loki as a show because OB just drops a line like “sorry it took me so long to build this extremely advanced piece of technology I’d never seen before, I lost my job and my wife left me lol” and we’re just like yeah. okay. this is usual. carry on.

and also sylvie is a literal norse goddess whose dream life is to work at a mcdonald’s and listen to records like every other mentally ill bisexual with a mullet, and loki is a literal god in love with Some Guy who’s a mustachioed gay jetski enthusiast and an ai clock is in love with the guy who made her and the way time works just makes NO sense but you’re too busy staring at tom hiddleston’s delectable jawline and puppy dog eyes deliver the best performance of his life to even care

#loki #loki s2 #loki series #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki of asgard #mobius #sylvie laufeydottir #ouroboros

[theavengers]

LOKI (2021 - ) 2.05: Science/Fiction dir. Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead

#marveledit #lokitvedit #tvedit #loki #marvel #ouroboros #o.b. #loki tv #loki spoilers

[shehzadi]

stupidly pleased with how many circular letters there are in ouroboros

#love looking at it it just looks like ooooooo to me #m #ouroboros #hall of fame

[julie-and-the-ghost-himbos]

Lots of people saying "don't worry, there are so many Loki variants and only one of them is in the tree so we'll see Loki again" but I've gotten attached to this Loki with this character arc and I want Mobius (and the others) to reunite with this Loki

#just to be clear i loved the finale #but please let them reunite at some point #Loki #loki spoilers #loki tv #mobius m mobius #lokius #hunter b15 #Sylvie #casey loki #ouroboros

[marvelgifs]

LOKI S02E01 Ouroboros

#loki #lokiedit #lokitvedit #marveledit #mcuedit #loki tv #loki series #mobius #ouroboros #mobius m mobius #owen wilson #ke huy quan #marvel #loki spoilers #* #by polly #gifs #loki*

[blazethecheeto]

do the loki writers know what they've done for fanfic writers.

they gave us CENTURIES of off screen bonding with loki and the gang. my brain is already going wild with the possibilities BECAUSE LITERALLY ANYTHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THOSE CENTURIES EXCUSE ME????

i need fics, now.

#loki #loki series #loki spoilers #marvel #ao3 #all the fics that take place during that time are automatically canon in my mind #mine #fandom rant #sylvie #lokius #IT COULD BE CANON WE JUST DONT KNOW IT #loki season 2 #mobius #ouroboros