#Supreme Archangel Gabriel

[circusmantis]

No way guys Gabe and Bubs are getting married!!!

[smoosie]

Gabriel & Beelzebub

The happy lovebirds/flies~

[ineffableigh]

Thinking a lot about the status of Supreme Archangel in Season Two and beyond...

When I first watched S2 months ago, this line from episode 1 JUMPED the fuck out at me.

I immediately went, "Oh no, it's going to be Aziraphale."

In my mind, this made it sound like if something happened to the current Supreme Archangel, a successor would automatically be selected and promoted without anyone doing anything. In my mind, I expected it to be a Surprise later that it was Aziraphale all along, and I was KIND OF right.

But now, I wonder.

DOES this mean Aziraphale had gotten 'promoted' automatically at the start of S2, when Gabriel had his trial in Heaven, and that's why the Mega Miracle was so strong? Or...

Does this mean Gabriel was STILL the Supreme Archangel, lost memories or not, and Heaven doesn't actually have the authority to fire someone like that? It's kind of unprecedented, after all.

If the latter is true, is Gabriel STILL Supreme Archangel now, off in Alpha Centauri with Beez, and the Metatron really is just stringing Aziraphale along with the role?

We do, however, have some Clues™ that Muriel has had their memory wiped at some point. They mention being Scrivener 37th class, and when Gabriel is threatened with wipe/demotion, he was intended to be 38th. To me, this implies that every demotion creates a new Scrivener class AS PUNISHMENT, so it could very well be that Gabriel would have lost his job for realsies, and necessitate replacement as Supreme Archangel.

But then, Michael's line above comes back to the forefront - if there IS ALWAYS a Supreme Archangel, that implies there is NEVER a gap period without one. So Whomst Was It?

Food for thought while we're waiting for season 3 lol

[theonevoice]

Rumination n. 6 - It was all Jim's fault

Well, not all his fault. He walked right into a 6000yo situation of unspoken "do I... would you... could we...", but I think, since he fills the role of comic relief, we are not fully taking into account his impact on the whole ineffable miscommunication mess.

Because he is not just a plot device, he is a character that pushes Aziraphale and Crowley to act in unplanned ways and - most of all - brings some of their worldview biases and traumas out of their dark corners. And I am increasingly convinced that his presence plays a major role in the final breakup, acting as a catalyst for their millennia-long misalignment of hopes and fears.

Sure, he is there to make us smile and Jon Hamm is a joy to watch (I cannot get to his line in ep 1, when Aziraphale tells him that he can see that he's naked, and he goes "Oh! Well, what do you know? Ahahah!" without burst out laughing, even after countless rewatches), but that humor is mainly for us viewers to detect. From Aziraphale's and Crowley's point of view, he doesn't appear as funny as he does to us. For them, he is a source of worry and danger, and I would argue that he is also an incarnation of different desires. And that's the point.

Let's consider for a moment Aziraphale's perspective. He sees his former boss, "most holy archangel" Gabriel, pop up one day at the bookshop, reduced to the mental capacity of a smart dog, vaguely aware that someone was planning to do "something terrible" to him. It is a terrifying spectacle to behold. It's not just the mere danger of having one of the most powerful entities in the universe, possibly still in posess of all his powers, acting like a child. It's the terror of witnessing what Heaven can do to your identity and your mind: imagine Aziraphale - book-lover, diary-writer, Antichrist-locator Aziraphale with the capacity, as per the book, to solve math problems that only people with Nobel prizes could master - trying to process the idea that his former boss doesn't know the alphabet anymore. The idea that he could be reduced to that degree of utter ignorance and unawareness if Heaven decided that their truce is over.

At the same time, what Aziraphale sees is that, once stripped of all the layers of Heaven's legalism, Gabriel is legitimately a great guy. 

We all love Muriel to death, of course, but the more I watch s2 the more I believe that Jim is the most similar "angel" to Aziraphale out of all the ones we see. He is jovial (think at whatever that cheeck squishing thing is that he does during the ball), he is enthusiastic (think at his reaction at his first sip of hot chocolate, and also his genuine "hurray! Let the bookselling commence!"). He is affectionate and open about it ("You're funny, I love you"). He is caring (sure he was struggling to read the room during the demon attack, but still in that moment of danger he has the altruism of thinking to ask if anyone wants hot chocolate, and hot chocolate is the symbol of comfort for him, it's the first thing Aziraphale offers to him to make him feel at ease in the bookshop and the thing that Crowley brings him to soothe his angst after the memory conversation). He is helpful or at least he wants to be (rearranging the books in an order that, if you think about it, follows the criterion of medieval manuscripts illuminators, who usually embellished only the first letter of the first sentence on a page, which makes sense as a frame of reference for an angel whose only experience of books probably goes back to some old Bibles). He is generous and brave (giving himself up without a second thought when he realises that Shax is threatening Aziraphale and all the others because of him). 

As Jim, memory-wiped Gabriel is both Aziraphale's worst fear and his deepest hope: that after all Heaven is the side of good, that all the cruelty and the callousness and the total blindness to the value of life on Earth is just a mishap, that if you scrape off the absurd obsession with World Ending Great Plans you will find underneath a form of good that is pure and gentle. I think Jim, way more than the Metatron and his shitty offer-threat, is the main thing that brings Aziraphale back on the mission of fixing Heaven, "making a difference," not for the greater cosmic good, but to create a safe place for him and Crowley. So they can be safe together.

But something similar happens from Crowley's point of view. He also sees Gabriel as the concrete manifestation of both his worst fear and his deepest desire. The former Supreme Archangel renews the momentarily forgotten awareness of what Heaven and Hell can do to you if you cross them: destroy you either by throwing you into hellfire or holy water, or now by hanging the threat of the Book of Life above your head. Force you to live in a constant state of danger, pressing you against the possibility of your non-existence, making you feel like you have a loaded gun constantly placed against your skull and no magic trick to avoid the bullet.

At the same time, just as Aziraphale, what Crowley sees is that, if you are determined and lucky or maybe just inconsiderate, you can get away from Heaven and live your happy thoughtless life on Earth. Think of how bitter he is when he confronts Jim in ep5, calling him Gabriel and "Oh, yeah yeah, no no no. You're Jim now. Got everything just the way you want it?" I think here Crowley is projecting his desire to be "on the lam having a wonderful time and never be seen again." Sure, everyone is after him and they had to perform a joined miracle to hide him, but let's not forget that Crowley was not doing it to save Gabriel, he was doing it to keep Aziraphale safe. From his point of view, Gabriel did it: he run off, cut ties with Heaven, settled in his little neat new identity, cared and protected, not a thought in his head. And yes, Crowley is painfully aware of how awful it is to have your memory erased - I don't think he would consider it an acceptable price to pay for freedom. But still, Gabriel did what he would like to do. And it does not help that memory-wiped Gabriel presents specifically to Crowley some aspects of his personality in which he can recognize himself. He is curious and asks questions (think of the gravity conversation), and even more important he is ready to dispute the answers that are given to him ("but they don't stay where I put them"). He hears the plan about Nina and Maggie that Aziraphale didn't listen to, and afterwards asks Crowley how it went. He is insightful in his own instinctive way (when he tells Crowley "you're really nice" he's not just saying "you are nice a lot" but also "in reality you are nice", he's seeing through Crowley's rough mannerism even if just seconds before he was angrily shouting at him). He has lost his memory, which by now I think most of us agree it's what also happened to Crowley, at least partially ("I know, looking at where the furniture isn't"). And then, the final nail on the mirror-coffin: Gabriel run away from Heaven for his love. They run off together.

Having Jim right there, in front of his very eyes, I think it's the thing that pushes Crowley back to his old plan of running off together with Aziraphale: he is the living prove that it can be done, further confirmed by his final departure with Beelzebub. Of course, for a brief moment both sides of the metaphisical universe where hunting him down, which is not desirable. But Gabriel was the Supreme Archangel after all, it's only fair that they're looking for him. They are but a former bullied angel and a former already-replaced demon, maybe Heaven and Hell would not mobilised their hosts for them. They could be finally safe together.

So, when you put everything together, I think that what happened at the end of ep6 has more to do with Gabriel and how his presence affected them during the season, than it has to do with the Metatron, or even with the Nina-Maggie foil. It is Jim that pushed a wedge into the thin crack that had always been there, separating what each of them sees as the best way to be safe together.

[sixshotsinatumbllr]

I tried so hard. I really did. This is my second attempt at fanart, and it looks like it.

But Jimbriel in this coat is so fabulous I had to give it a try.

[unofficiallymikaela]

Beelzebub and their silly angel, Gabriel (Jim). 💚🪰

And their song.

[emaxou]

Jim is talented

I see two options ; one being Aziraphale and Crowley didn't make that much of a great job supervising Jim, the second being Gabriel and Beelzebub didn't go to Alpha Centauri :

[inbarfink]

Okay, so, an RGU Good Omens AU with Utenanthy = Ineffable Husbands is already a very solid idea that works very well. Like, it is pretty funny to think how totally contrasting these characters’ core aesthetics are (especially Aziraphale and Utena) but when you get deep down to these characters’ core issues and narrative roles there’s a lot of parallels you can use. Crowley and Anthy both suffer from self-loathing due to being labeled as Ontologically Evil while trying their best to relish in it, self-sacrificing to a fault while also harboring some deep-rooted resentments. Utena and Aziraphale are both incredibly well-meaning in a very endearing way but are also so blinded by their deeply-ingrained black-and-white conceptions of how the world should work that it makes them stupidly oblivious and harmful to the one they love. I can go into it even more deeply, but it works pretty damn well…

And now I am thinking, if there’s any interesting ways to slot in the rest of the cast (Shadow Play GIrls = Agnes Nutter???). More specifically right now I am considering if there’s anything interesting I can do with the whole Gabriel/Beezlebub thing.

Because, like, my initial plan was maybe everyone in the Student Council as Angels, everyone who was a Black Rose Duelist a Demon and anyone who’s in neither category is Human. And… the whole point of the Black Rose Duelist is that most of them are deeply emotionally connected to a member of the Student Council. But also…… Most of these relationships are not ones that I can see getting any sort of happily ever after up in the stars. Even by RGU standards. 

I mean… I think the closest option with this idea is Gabriel!Juri and Beelzebub!Shiroi which… I mean, it can work. That’s, arguably, RGU’s second-or-third biggest ‘ship’, and there’s plenty of thematic parallels you can make between Juri/Shiori and Utena/Anthy. My main reservation about this idea is just that… I just find it hard to imagine Juri/Shiori as the ‘B-Couple’ who sort-their-shit-out while the main couple is still deep in the Drama. Even when this main couple is Utena/Anthy, this is kind of a tough sell.

The other thing I was thinking about is that, like……. The best choice for a Gabriel in this AU should obviously be Touga, right?? Like, we’ve got this smarmy macho incredibly hateable guy who seems to just be a contrast to our Good Duelist/Angel to make them look better but… whoops! Turns out they’re actually Narrative Counterparts with a lot of things in common! And it’s kinda about giving this shitty guy redeeming qualities but also it’s mostly about deconstructing the flaws of our ‘good one’. In terms of both characterization and narrative roles, Touga is the best choice for the Archangel Fucking Gabriel.

And Touga’s Black Rose ‘counterpart’ is Keiko. Which like… okay, she can work as a Beezelbub. I mean, the closest thing for an animal motif/Demon Fursona we’ve got for her is the title of her focus episode (“Vermin” or more literally “Troublesome Insects”), so from this angle, this could work. 

But like… it’s Keiko. The whole point of her character is that she is a Forgettable Side Act that Touga doesn’t really care about and no other main character really pays attention to either. Making her Lord Beezlelbub feels like missing the point. 

On the other hand, we could just throw away this whole Student Council/Black Rose Heaven/Hell dichotomy idea and go with the character Touga is actually frequently paired with, Saionji. These two actually kinda work as ‘B-Couple who sort their shit out before the main couple does’. I mean… It's clear they’ve got a few issues to work on, but they do reach a reconciliation before the climax of the actual show. I think that does kinda work? 

Or maybe we should swap Demon/Angel roles on Touga/Saionji. I mean, I know I went over why Touga is the perfect Gabriel choice but… Saionji works decently well too. And mostly I just think it’ll be funny to play with the whole ‘Crowley fucking hates Gabriel’ thing with Anthy and Saionji lol

Or… if Saionji is Gabriel, then maybe ‘his’ Black Rose Duelist could be Beezelbub? Namely Wakaba? But that also clashes into a lot of the same thematic problems as Keiko above. I mean, not to the same level…. But still….

Or maybe, we can bring the whole Juri-Gabriel idea back, and go with the Juri/Wakaba angle that the Movie teased. You know, with the whole Juri is driving Wakaba thing?

I mean, both Gabriel/Beezlebub and Juri/Wakaba are relationships that developed almost entirely off-screen so that’s also maybe an angle of comparison worth considering?

Hmmm… I think I still need to think about this for a while. See if there’s other options I haven’t considered. Maybe slot other characters into other roles and see what comes out of that… But you know what might help me decide?

That’s right! A Poll!

[bird-slayer-brainrot]

Confession - Good Omens pre-fall angel!crowley angel!aziraphale

The truth of how Crowley fell, and the confessions of the Principality Aziraphale

"Look, a word to the wise." Aziraphale hesitated. The other angel wasn't even looking at him, but was instead looking morosely at his creation. The last thing Aziraphale wanted to do was upset the other angel, especially over something like this. "I'd hate to see you... getting into any trouble." The angel seemed to take this in for a moment. Turning to face Aziraphale, he smiled, and said "thanks for your help." He spoke with a subtle genuinely that Aziraphale was surprised to hear from him. He still seemed upset by this, but he was trying to mask this. In made Aziraphale feel weird. "And thanks for your advice. I wouldn't worry though." he paused in consideration. "How much trouble can I get into just for asking a few questions?" The other angel sighed. Aziraphale resolved to drop the subject all together,

A time later, the two angels said their goodbyes. Aziraphale hurried off, letting the other angel get back to work and to get to where he was meant to be. He was probably late already, and would likely get a talking to by whoever was in charge.

In truth, he felt strange after his conversation with the peculiar star-maker. He was certainly entertaining, and intriguing, far more so than any other angel Aziraphale had interacted with. He'd even wanted to talk to Aziraphale, properly. But Aziraphale had not expected the conversation to go how it did. The angel had seemed genuinely upset by what Aziraphale had said and the idea that the nebula - that's the word - would one day disappear. He had barely created it moments before, which was what Aziraphale found strange about it. He barely knew the creation. Moreso, he was more expressive and passionate than any other angel Aziraphale had come across.

He really had done an excellent job with the nebula. Aziraphale doubted he would see him again.

Aziraphale was late by the time he arrived at head office. He was technically not supposed to stop that day, but it was against his very nature as a servant of God to ignore a call for help.

Endless hallways of white stretched out as far as the eye could see. Heaven had gotten the idea that the clear, clean look would help boost productivity and creativity of the angels.

Aziraphale's mind returned to the angel from earlier. His vibrant, beautiful nebulas - that's what he called them - created from nothing by the stretch of a hand. All angels had this ability, but Aziraphale, despite the shortness of their interaction, knew that that angel was of a unique creativity. It was inspiring, as much as it was startling.

He seemed to have a genuine joy in what he was doing. Aziraphale supposed there'd be worse jobs than being a star-maker.

"Principality Aziraphale. Nice of you to join us." the Archangel Uriel had spotted him as he entered the room. There were about a dozen other angels, all of mixed rank, holding discussions with each other. Aziraphale felt his chest stutter in protest. Aziraphale nodded shortly in apology, and that seemed to be enough, for the archangel returned to what she was doing.

Some time later, the angels cleared out of the hall. Aziraphale, who couldn't get the idea out of his head about what that strange angel had said earlier.

It was one question, anyway. And it was a favour, too. He could find out, and then tell the other angel. Yes. And then Aziraphale would watch him make nebulas.

"If you don't mind my asking, but do we perhaps." Aziraphale hesiatated. His own warnings came back to him. Asking questions. But it was somebody elses question, anyway, and its not like Aziraphale could name names. The angel he had seen earlier had not given him one. It would be annonymous... well, not suggestion, and not question. Idea. That was it. "Have we got a suggestion box?"

Gabriel turned his head sharply, meeting Aziraphale's eyes with his own bright lavender ones. Aziraphale privately thought that the colour was uncanny. It was what separated high ranking angels from ones like Aziraphale, who just followed orders. The colour of the star-angel from earlier eye's were a mellow, honeyed gold.

"Suggestion box?" there was no humour to his tone. Aziraphale swallowed around nothing.

"Yes." he was far less confident in his reply. "I, well, yes. A suggestion box."

"What's a 'suggestion box'?" the Archangel Michael interrupted. Aziraphale watched as Muriel gave her a sharp look.

"Where did you hear about this suggestion box?" Gabriel was watching him, and so were Uriel and Michael. And Aziraphale told them.

Aziraphale would not find out what happened to that angel until much later. By then, the memories blurred with his time on Earth. But if he focused hard enough, Aziraphale could recall the arch of pure white feathers protecting him as stars crashed down from the infinite sky above.

[lavendarhearts]

Wtf how can I go back to my (Christian) school after good omens like everything I see this just related to aziraphale and Crowley and suddenly I’m on the floor crying bc my classmates name is Gabriel and I keep thinking of the amnesiac angel

[mitski-leaked]

aziraphale and crowley didn't even need the hiding miracle

nobody even recognised his stupid ass 😭!!!!!! all for naught

[circusmantis]

Save me ineffable bureaucracy

[im-not-a-joke]

spot the difference

[itskathstyle]

Es el día 2 de la Ineffable Bureaucracy week, así que dejaré mi fanfic de hoy

"Una semana después Michael ingresa a la clase cargando una pila enorme de papeles, Beelzebub no puede evitar ponerse nerviosa en cuanto lo ha visto, y solo se calma cuando siente la mano de Gabriel sobre su hombro".

Lord Bee y Gabe en la secu, y puedes leer en AO3 o Wattpad, solo elige el enlace que prefieras, y que disfrutes mucho.

@ineffablebureaucracyweek

[hjbirthdaywishes]

March 10, 2024

Happy 53 Birthday to Jon Hamm.

[ineffablebureaucracyweek]

Mañana iniciamos la Ineffable Bureaucracy Week, y todxs uds son bienvenidxs a entrar en este reto.

Si escribes para Ao3, entonces toma en cuenta nuestra colección (mira el enlace)

Eres libre de publicar en la plataforma que prefieras (Ao3, Wattpad, Twitter, etc), solo recuerda compartir tu trabajo con nosotros

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