#and aziraphale thinks crowley is running away and rejecting /him/ and their chance to be together

[loverboybrightsideghost]

bro literally they have different exactlys....

when aziraphale says "come with me, to heaven!" he's not dismissing crowley's confession at all, he's directly responding to it. at that point aziraphale knows it's over, it's too late, and he's so desperate. they are so close to everything they want! the way he shakes his head, his pleading expression; he's not rejecting or ignoring crowley at all, he's telling him "no, don't you see? this is exactly how we get what we want, this is how we can finally be together!"

crowley is saying "we can be together", and aziraphale is saying "exactly! we can be together!" they just each think the other wants something else. those bullets sure are shooting past some ears.

[books-and-omens]

oh BY the WAY

This scene proves, doesn’t it, that living in the car is Crowley’s choice. When Aziraphale comes back from Scotland, Crowley shoves the box at him before he gets to the threshold. He gives Aziraphale no option to even say, “won’t it be easier to leave the plants here” let alone to propose anything else. Was Crowley, by any chance, actively avoiding a conversation about him living in his car this whole time?

Crowley is absolutely not okay, we know, we know. He is frustrated, he is struggling; he is asking what the point of it all is. Yes, he is fiercely protective of his independence when he says “my car”, “the precious, peaceful, fragile existence I have carved out for myself”—and the same time, he is still not willing to talk. He probably does not even see a way to have important conversations safely; the fear of rejection might still be too much. His instinct remains to run away from trouble. With something as terrifying as vulnerability and openness, he needs Nina and Maggie to tip the scales.

He has the swagger. He acts like he knows what’s happening, like he has things figured out.

I think we’re just starting to see how much that has not been true.

[im-this-kind-of-girl]

Aziraphale and Crowley's unhinged character analyzis (pt2. Crowley)

Controversial opinion:

Aziraphale and Crowley at the end of Season2 managed to accomplish the main goal they each had since the beginning of time. Only to realize that what they wanted no longer made them happy.

Disclaimer: I have no idea about what is going to happen in Good Omens. This analysis could clearly be considered a theory since I'm not Neil Gaiman, but as someone who knows about narrative and character structure, I'm going to elaborate. Also, English is not my first language, so sorry in advance.

I've already talked about Aziraphale's possible transformation arc in the Good Omens story. In here I've also written important definitions such as what's a transformation arc. I highly recommend it to read it first.

Now it's time to talk about Crowley.

Crowley, the co-protagonist and love interest.

In our role as audience, Crowley is the character with whom one tends to empathize the quickest. By the end of the second season, most would be tempted to think Crowley was right. However, this is a lie. Not only is Crowley not right, but he rejected Aziraphale just the same, choosing his principles over love.

Now, why in the first instance do we not see it that way? Well, because we have Aziraphale's point of view. We always get the angel's reaction first, we always see the way Crowley shows up again and again and again to rescue him unconditionally.

Very rarely do we have a moment where Crowley is alone in crisis because his beliefs are challenged. No, everything he does is in function of Aziraphale and we see the story from his perspective, that is, from the perspective of someone who is in love with Crowley. Because of this, Crowley is equally liked and attractive to everyone equally: we are inside Aziraphale's in love POV.

By the time Crowley proposes Aziraphale to run away together, we as the audience are seeing a proposal that is incredibly tempting to us: we want Aziraphale to accept it because it's what Aziraphale really wants. That's why the fight hurts so much, because we know internally that the two of them had the chance to be together but didn't because they're not ready yet.

Crowley's Objective

Crowley, unlike Aziraphale, was happy in Season 2 with his current situation. Having cut ties with both Heaven and Hell pleased him, because Crowley always sought only one goal throughout his entire life: freedom.

The one thing Crowley has always desired is to be himself with no excuses and no strings attached.

Since before the beginning of time, Crowley came to the conclusion that he didn't fit in Heaven. He thought he would fit in Hell, but soon realized that it was like a deteriorated version of Heaven, so he didn't fit in there either. On Earth he doesn't quite fit in either. Sure, he likes humans, has a certain admiration and curiosity for them, but he still considers them a species far different from his own. He is not human and never will be, so he can't really identify with them at all. He enjoys the advantages of humanity, but he is not one of them.

The Job episode is an indicator of this, he himself says so "I am a demon who goes along with Hell as far as I can".

In this same episode, however, the major problem he has with this is also expressed. Azira tells him "that sounds lonely". The counterpart of freedom is loneliness. To be truly free, you need to have nothing and nothing to bind you. That's why Crowley is someone who is unsympathetic and even disinterested in dealing with third parties. He does not remember faces or names, he does not get significantly close to anyone because that would compromise his desire for genuine independence.

This characteristic is the only one that is present in absolutely all versions of Crowley: the book, radio drama and even in the cursed script of the movie that never was. That's why whenever he sees danger, his first reaction is to run away.

Being free he has nothing to lose… or does he?

Crowley's dilemma

Well, Crowley never fit in by being different and so he always felt somewhat an outcast. However, it wasn't long before he noticed that Aziraphale was also different.

Clearly the angel was not like the other angels in Heaven: he enjoyed Earth, he fell into temptations, he lied to other angels. Also, it is obvious that he would not fit in Hell, and while he is more empathetic to humans, he is still innocently aloof. Aziraphale has a pure goodness that Crowley admires, the goodness that made him be kind to the demon in the first place.

Moreover, no matter the time, no matter how little they knew each other, Aziraphale could always see through Crowley's evil masquerade. The demon could burn goats and murder people, and yet Aziraphale has always held a blind faith towards him. Crowley, the Serpent of Eden, who had been his entire existence told that he's doomed to be a crawling tempter, finds in the angel an unexpected possible friend who's never been afraid or bothered by him.

Crowley eventually feels they are both the same: two supernatural entities left on Earth who learned to enjoy life on their own terms. Crowley sees in Aziraphale the companionship he never thought he'd find, the friend he thought at the moment he fell he'd never have. And that feeling of companionship and admiration slowly morphed into something more until it became love.

The season finale isn't the first time Crowley has considered leaving Earth. Probably not even his fight in Season 1 was the first time he considered it. Yet he never did. He never could because, without Aziraphale, running away would doom him to a life of solitude. Free, sure, but completely alone since no one except his angelic friend could understand him.

However, I think Crowley is not aware of what he feels. Or at least, he hasn't been for a long time. I'm sure his moment of introspection about his feelings was when Nina confronted him about it. Up to this point, Crowley considered Aziraphale his best and only friend, obviously. Crowley is loyal to a fault and always thought his relationship with Aziraphale was perfect just the way it was, but suddenly someone put it into words and he realized that yes, that's what he really wants with Aziraphale.

Crowley's decision

Crowley wants his freedom. That's why he never asked Aziraphale for explanations (because at the end of the day they were just friends), that's why he never told him that he was living in his car (because he would end up depending on him), that's why he never talked about his fall (because that would be opening up too much).

The most ironic thing about the whole ending, is that just like Crowley did with Aziraphale… Aziraphale proposed to Crowley the one thing he wants more than anything: to be together, for good, but sacrificing his freedom.

Crowley is capable of doing anything for his angel, even without acknowledging that what they had was love. He's capable of driving on fire, capable of killing Gabriel, capable of walking inside a church. Of everything except one thing.

It's the one step Crowley didn't dare take. He is not a martyr like the angel, no, he is not willing to sacrifice himself to be together. So, the obvious happened: Crowley chose his freedom over Aziraphale just as Aziraphale chose Heaven over Crowley.

The end of his arc and Aziraphale.

As I said before, I don't think Crowley will have a significant change comparable to Aziraphale's. His personality and beliefs will not be changed in a momentous way, as Crowley no longer has ties to Heaven or Hell by pulling the tab on both sides.

His side is already picked: Humanity.

His biggest change is likely to be one of purpose. Crowley is no longer going to be satisfied with his freedom. And the latter is a fact: Crowley is officially free. Without Aziraphale in the equation, he no longer has anything or anyone tying him to do anything or be any other than who he truly is. Crowley can go to Alpha Centauri and never come back; he can sleep for 3,000 years; he can go around the world in the Bentley. He can do whatever he wants. This might seem ideal to the Crowley of 300 years ago, but today's Crowley is completely consumed by loneliness.

Crowley never cared about building a home or having material things because he never wanted to be tied to anything earthly for the sake of doubt. He was always aware of the destruction of the Earth.

Love is not something that can be prevented though, and in the absence of having a home, he found it in Aziraphale.

Aziraphale: trustworthy, sweet, warm, funny, a bit of bastard but always irrevocably good. Everything Crowley lost when he fell he almost automatically found back.

To this day I wonder what Crowley is going to do now that his angel is gone and the possibility of him fleeing to the stars is becoming more and more possible. It's going to depend a lot on how much time passes between seasons, but I don't think it will be much. For not only he was his anchor, no, without Aziraphale, he doesn't have someone to cause him to want to do better, he doesn't have someone to be vulnerable with, he doesn't have a goal anymore, nobody else to impress.

He isn't evil. He isn't good. And now, he is alone.

First Crowley lost the love of God and now the love of Aziraphale. And it is then that Crowley will realize that what he really wants is not to be free, but to be loved. And this desire can only be fulfilled by the love of his life, Aziraphale.

The thing is... Crowley has always wondered why.

Why falling? Why becoming the cursed Serpent? Why could he never be truly free?

At the end of his arc, he must come to the conclusion that the answer was always in front of him:

Love is the only answer he needs.

[chaoticace2005]

Okay so with all this talk about how our idiotic angel and demon still can’t communicate- I figured I’d try my hand at breaking down some dialogue from their “divorce.” The biggest issue is the fact that both are saying things to try and be together, but the other is misinterpreting everything they’re saying. They essentially just threw what the other person was saying through google translate a dozen times and only heard what it spat out.

This is my interpretation of what the characters seemed to have been trying to say vs what the other heard. Feel free to comment if you have any differing ideas of interpretation! I’m running on like 3 hours of sleep.

A: Come with me, to heaven. I’ll run it, you can be my second in command. We can make a difference. (We can work together and then can create a world where we can be happy together.) (We can fix heaven, I can fix you.)

C: You can’t leave this bookshop. (You can’t leave me) (What about earth? What about all the earthly things you love here?)

A: Oh Crowley, nothing lasts forever. (It’s okay, it doesn’t matter as long as we can be together.) (We weren’t meant to last forever.) (this is from Crowley’s POV where he officially gets rejected)

C: No. No I suppose it doesn’t. Good luck. (I understand, you don’t want us to be together.)

(Crowley starts to leave) (it’s only at this point Aziraphale seems to realize that Crowley is turning him down)

A: “Good luck?” Crowley? Crowley come back! …to heaven. Work with me. We can be together. Angels! Doing good! I- I need you! I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you. (Where are you going?! Don’t go! We can save the world and be happy together.) (Come to heaven. We can be angels. You can become good. Once you’ve changed we can be together!)

C: I understand. I think I understand a whole lot better than you do. (You can’t change anything. Not the corrupt system and not me. They’re toying with you and you should be smarter than this. You shouldn’t WANT this.) (I don’t want to be with you. It’s too much work. I hate heaven too much to be with you.) (this is from Aziraphale’s POV where he officially gets rejected)

A: Well, then there’s nothing more to say. (I understand, you don’t want us to be together.) (Okay then, you can go. We’re done.)

C: Listen. Hear that?

A: I don’t hear anything.

C: That’s the point. No nightingales. You idiot. We could have been us. (Why am I not enough you? Why can’t you stay?) (You’re not enough for me. I won’t go.)

(Crowley kisses Aziraphale) (Please stay- at least understand I love you. If you’re going away this is my only chance.) (Goodbye, I’m not going with you so this is my only chance.)

A: I forgive you. (I forgive you for not wanting to come with me, you don’t want us to be together, I understand. Goodbye) (I still have to go. I forgive you for kissing me though, and for not wanting to go to heaven with me. You just aren’t enough for me.)

C: Don’t bother. (I’m not sorry for kissing you and I don’t want you to go. I’m never going to be an angel and that’s not going to change.) (No, I don’t forgive you. You aren’t enough for me. Goodbye.)

[actual-changeling]

my brain is still stuck on my last meta post so uhhhh have a fix it ficlet???? this is very soft and angsty and i am abusing italics as usual but honestly i really needed it.

-

"Crowley," the whisper escapes him without intention, an exhale shaped into a plea by a mouth that has been betraying both of them.

Aziraphale does not know what about it makes both of them freeze, but they do, Crowley's hands still and his glasses close enough to his face, they would catch his tears if they fell now. He does know him, though. God, does he know him, and it is more than just that, always has been.

Even with the sunlight warm on his cheek, it feels wrong for him to be putting his shades back on, a disturbance of the balance they have created on a primal level, a claw tearing at the space they have carved out for themselves. All emotions were about to leave his eyes, despite the tears, golden irises dimming and losing their sparkle, and the person he loves disappearing behind a wall he somehow senses he would not be able to break through—maybe not ever.

That thought more than anything is what scares him, what caused his name to spill from his lips. Heaven is a hand around his throat, pulling him back in, away from earth, with the most tantalising offer they have ever made him—an offer Crowley rejected—but everything pales compared to losing him.

His hands are shaking, fine tremors running through Crowley's fingers and causing the faintest noise of rattling metal, but his eyes remain downcast. It is, Aziraphale realises, a chance he does not deserve but was nevertheless granted.

"Crowley," he repeats, incapable of saying anything except his name, and it echoes in his mind as fear sits heavy in his chest.

Crowley Crowley Crowley Crowley

"Please."

He doesn't know what he is asking for, but his fingertips have gone ice cold, and his breathing grows more and more shallow with every inhale. A myriad of confessions he wants to make, should have made long ago, and several lifetimes worth of utter devotion to the one being he wants to spend eternity with, angels or not. Above all, he needs Crowley to be safe and happy, and he thought—still thinks, in the part of his brain that isn't paralysed—that being able to return to heaven, to his stars, would give him that happiness.

In the background, the clock ticks and ticks, time passing impossibly slowly and too fast, and Aziraphale cannot feel his breath anymore, his pulse a white-crowned river in his ears.

Crowley's hands are trembling harder than before, tears clinging to his waterline like raindrops on storm clouds, and with an odd sense of relief and electricity prickling in his veins, he allows his body to take the reins. Before he can change his mind or panic any further, before Crowley can change his mind, he is tipping forward until their foreheads touch and gently, oh so gently, sliding his palms along the outside of his wrists.

His skin seems to be the same temperature as his, cold and clammy with fear, his fingers wrap loosely around his hands to absorb their tremors, and Aziraphale feels his breath ghost across his face when all the air leaves Crowley's body. Tears do fall then, both of their cheeks growing wet, but they stay connected with fluttering lashes and tension gradually draining from their bodies.

When Crowley speaks, he feels it more than he hears it—vibrations and puffs of air against his skin.

"Stay, angel, please," soft and desperate and real and Crowley.

His Crowley.

Even with heaven digging invisible nails into the line of his throat and the Metatron's voice painfully bright in his ears, Aziraphale leans towards Crowley, into their touch, and swallows the taste of disobedience like a dying man finding water in the desert.

"Okay. I'll stay." For you, he doesn't add, cannot add just yet, but it is there all the same.

Aziraphale has no idea how he is going to break the news or escape heaven's grasp, he has no clue how to fix any of this, but what he does know is that he loves Crowley, and Crowley loves him—and whatever happens, they will survive it together.

[samsucksatstuffsposts]

Good omens theory/headcanon?

Okay so I've never really written anything like this so excuse me if I have poor wording with this but I was thinking back on how aziraphale always refused to run off with crowley and I think this is for a couple of reasons but my main one is that aziraphale has more to lose than crowley for example his bookshop which he holds very dear ,His friendships which is shown during the shopkeepers association meeting and lastly his position in heaven

I think that his position in heaven is one thing that's extremely important as he makes it a big part of his identity and the idea of losing it would ruin the identity he built up for himself but not only being kicked out of heaven but possibly being sent to hell,At the time he had rejected crowley there was a very big chance he could've been sent to hell if they had found out so there wasn't really a way for him to run off without someone finding out and him being brought back and because he wasn't a High ranking angel at the time they would have to problem throwing him down to hell.

Crowley on the other hand has already lost everything ,he lost his position in heaven like 6000 years ago isn't really part of hell and doesn't really talk to anyone in the show(atleast as far as I can see) so obviously he'd be like "run away with me pls " because he has nothing to lose except for aziraphale while aziraphale has so much more to lose.

If anyone sees this I'd appreciate any thoughts on this I apologise if this is written badly it's like 3am and all I can think of is these tragic little gay men so😔

[coyotejone-s]

i literally have so many thoughts on The Scene in s2.

can we PLEASE all agree that there's absolutely no way aziraphale's "i forgive you" meant "i forgive you for kissing me"? please? because there's NO FUCKING WAY.

he was fucking shaken by the kiss. he had no idea how to react, he was visibly torn between the right choice (by heaven's standards) of pushing crowley away and the right choice (by literally everyone else's standards) of reciprocating. aziraphale has been struggling with seeing the world in black and white for 6000 years. it's so deeply ingrained in his mind that, when presented with a choice that he perceives as something akin to life or death, he doesn't know what to do.

but we've seen the looks. we've seen the actions. we've seen how deeply and mutually he has fallen in love with crowley. he's wanted this just as much as crowley has, but either he doesn't know it or he's deliberately ignoring it because it's "wrong" for him to love a demon.

and by the time gabriel gets his memory back, he's already being driven out of heaven for rejecting armageddon 2, and now doubly so for choosing to be with beelzebub. that's scary! aziraphale likes being an angel, he likes helping people! it's not that he doesn't like heaven, it's that he doesn't like how it's being run. and now he has the chance to change that, and the chance to be with crowley. a win-win!

except... crowley doesn't like heaven point blank. he recognizes that it's a systemic issue, and one that will probably have a chokehold on aziraphale before long. but again. the angel sees in black and white, even after all these years. and this time there's nothing crowley can do to get him out of it.

so by the time aziraphale has regained the ability to think, crowley is already halfway out the door. he has only a short window to say what he wants. so he says three words. he's been meaning to say them since crowley rejected his idea, but there just wasn't time. so they either come out at the wrong time, or he never gets to say them.

aziraphale didn't say "i forgive you for kissing me". he said "i forgive you for turning down the better (or what he perceives as better) future i have offered you."

unfortunately, he only said three words. and crowley will probably be thinking about what he meant until they reunite.

[knaccblog]

If you really think about it, both Crowley and Aziraphale are basically confessing their love and asking the other to spend forever with them in that final scene but in such entirely different ways that they both ended up feeling rejected by that offer instead. It's kinda masterful to be able to write that tbh.

Crowley's offer is relatively open in it's romance even though he doesn't quite get all the way there. The intended message is somewhere along the lines of "We're an us and I would like to be that us forever" and "We can be just like that other Demon and Angel couple who were clearly in love, if you'd like."

I feel like before Aziraphale started talking about rejoining Heaven, his confession didn't necessarily involve running away even. After all, he'd wanted to go to an alcoholic breakfast at the Ritz just moments ago, he loves his plants and his car. He definitely loves Earth, he just loves Aziraphale more and he wants to keep him safe. And the thing he wants to keep him safest from is Heaven, who tried to destroy him and treated him poorly for years. Crowley knows with everything that he is that Heaven is cold and cruel and heartless but no matter how hard he tries to explain that to Aziraphale, he never understands. He'll never give up on them. So they literally have to leave behind everything else they both love to be together and safe but Crowley will do that without a second thought because he loves Aziraphale the most and he wants to spend forever with him.

And while it's possible? I personally feel like Aziraphale didn't entirely miss the romance of Crowley's proposal, but considering what Crowley is also rejecting with it (his own redemption, the goodness of Heaven, a chance to make the world a better place, the safety of not being outsiders, and trusting Aziraphale to make a good choice for the two of them), Aziraphale literally feels burned by it. How can Crowley not want these things? How can he not believe in these things? It breaks Aziraphale's heart.

Aziraphale's proposal, on the other hand, is more subtle in it's romance but it's definitely there. He frontloads it with what he's the most excited about which is Crowley being reinstated as an Angel. I wrote a whole thing about this here but basically, not only does Crowley being an Angel again really make everything about Aziraphale's worldview a lot cleaner, but he also feels like it's something Crowley desperately deserves. Aziraphale's true offer, once he gets the whole thing out, involves them together and safe as Angels in Heaven, doing Good, keeping the Earth safe and protected, forever. If you really pay attention, the longer Aziraphale talks about his "job offer" and tries to sell it to Crowley, the less he is being shy about what he's really, really asking for. It becomes all, "Come with me" and "*We* can make a difference" and "I need you." It's all trust and love and forever.

But unfortunately for Aziraphale, there is basically no way Crowley can hear this offer and not experience it as confirmation of his worst fears: That he's not good enough for Aziraphale. That Aziraphale can't love him how he is currently. That Aziraphale just needs his help, rather than cares about or wants him. That Aziraphale still doesn't, after all this time and evidence, understand how horrible Heaven is. That this whole time, they've just been an arrangement after all. It breaks Crowley's heart.

[ineffablyruined]

In Defense of an Angel

I know this has probably been done before, but I'm working on a fic at the moment and found myself needing to puzzle out where I think Aziraphale is coming from in that last 15 minutes. He's catching a lot of heat in the fandom right now, even from me initially I admit, but I think I understand more after trying to put myself in his head. It got a bit long, so I've put most of it under a Read More.

We all generally agree that there was zero chance that the Crowley we all know and love was going to be allowed back into Heaven, right? At the very least, he would have been memory wiped and reset as the innocent angel we saw Before the Beginning, and at the very worst, Metatron would have permanently destroyed him before actually welcoming him back. I mean, this face isn't the face of someone who is going to just let Crowley come back to the fold, no matter what lies he's about to tell Aziraphale.

But, sweet summer's child Aziraphale, religious trauma and all, has no idea that the Metatron has exactly zero intention of letting Crowley accompany him to Heaven.

So when he says, "The Metatron said I could appoint you to be an angel," he means it. You. Not the angel you were. Not some innocent carbon copy from millennia ago.

He fully, completely believes Crowley will just be Crowley, but as an angel. He doesn't believe Crowley will have to change at all. And why should he?

Because Aziraphale is keenly aware that you don't have to be good to be an angel. Look at him. (Thanks to @saryasy for all the perfect gifs)

He's spent most of his existence being a terrible angel, just like Crowley has been an absolute disaster of a demon. They are cut from the same cloth.

And if the Metatron is going to make the angel who lies over and over again to God, to archangels, to himself, into the Supreme Archangel, then surely there's room for a demon who regularly engages in truly good acts as well, right?

And it's the solution to all of their problems. They will be on the same side, not just in their eyes, but in Heaven's eyes, and in God's eyes. They won't have to hide anymore, won't have to be so careful about admitting they are even friends, can be something more. Because now it won't be Romeo & Juliet.

They can be together. Properly together. Doing good the way they've always done, together. Importantly, without the risks! Crowley won't have to worry about retribution from Hell. There won't be any from Heaven because Aziraphale will be the Supreme Archangel and no one can tell him no.

And that's why he's so confused that Crowley's saying no. And he tries.

Because Crowley can't possibly understand or he wouldn't be saying no.

But then he does. He says he understands, that he understands better than Aziraphale does, and the answer is still no. He says no. And what can Aziraphale do with that?

He's been rejected. And there's nothing else to say.

Then it gets worse. Crowley points out, "No nightingales." And we can see that they both know exactly what that means. For Crowley to point that out and to kiss him after rejecting him feels, at best, manipulative and, at worst, downright cruel. Aziraphale just offered a safe way for them to be together, and Crowley wants no part of it if it isn't the way he wants it - just the two of them going off together - even when he knows and has been explicitly told over and over again that Aziraphale doesn't do running away.

And if Crowley is going to be cruel with his words and actions, then so can Aziraphale.

And he knows - HE KNOWS - what those words are. How they call back to the other times they've gone their separate ways. And he says them anyway. Because Crowley hurt him and he's going to hurt him back.

He's spent lifetimes reading books, collecting them, coveting them. Of course he can wield words as deftly as any weapon.

(Sorry for the emphasis there, but I'm particularly proud of that turn of phrase. I wrote it for a fic I'm working on and it's what made me do this whole thought exercise in the first place.)

FWIW, he then immediately regrets it when Crowley leaves. See this post highlighting all the times Aziraphale just keeps looking for him in the fallout.

[morningstarbee]

does the divorce feel familiar to anyone else?

The whole misunderstanding in E6 definitely reflects the argument they had at the start of the season over Gabriel/Jim.

"What I need is for him to be nowhere near me, and the precious, peaceful, fragile existence that I have carved out for myself here." "I thought we carved it out for ourselves." "So did I!"

Crowley has long since rejected Heaven and Hell. He wants nothing to do with them. He doesn't want anything jeopardizing his life with Aziraphale, on Earth. He doesn't want to go back to getting mixed up in Heaven and Hell's messes. He wants to spend the minimum amount of effort on anything Heaven/Hell want him to do while making sure no humans or his angel get hurt. He thought Aziraphale wanted the same thing. He sees them as a unit, and Aziraphale as endangering their chances of being able to stay together.

"Very well. If you refuse to help me then of course...you're at liberty to go." "To go? Oh, really? This is how you wanna do it?" "No! I would love you to help me! I'm asking you to help me take care of him.... But if you won't, you won't." "Yeah, I won't. You're on your own with this one."

Aziraphale doesn't see it like that. He sees himself as doing the noble thing by helping his enemy when they are down, and Crowley has always backed him up on everything else. He could always count on him. He doesn't understand why he is suddenly refusing. He sees it as Crowley refusing to help him and not Crowley refusing to help Gabriel.

Of course, Crowley comes back and apologizes for leaving him to do it on his own. Not for wanting to abandon Gabriel/Jim though, I don't think. He was right, in that it came back to bite them in the ass and put them right back in Heaven/Hell's crosshairs, which is exactly what he wanted to avoid.

This is EXACTLY the miscommunication they have again in episode 6.

"He said I could appoint you to be an angel. You could come back to Heaven and- and everything! Like the old times, only even nicer!"

Aziraphale wants to go back to Heaven to fix it, and make it actually good for once, like it was supposed to be. Not only for the humans, but for Crowley too.

"Right. And you told him just where he could stick it, then?" "Not at all..." "Oh, we're better than that. You're better than that, angel! You don't need them. I certainly don't need them! Look, they asked me back to Hell, I said no. I'm not rejoining their team, neither should you! "Well, obviously you said no to Hell - you're the bad guys! But Heaven...well, it's the side of truth. Of light. Of good." "When Heaven ends life here on Earth it will be just as dead as if Hell ended it. Tell me you said no."

"You can't leave this book shop." "Oh Crowley, nothings lasts forever." "No, I don't suppose it does. Good luck."

Crowley views it as Aziraphale running right back to the people who mistreated both of them, who has spent millennia keeping them apart, who has made attempts to kill both of them. He sees it as Aziraphale throwing away the "precious, peaceful, fragile existence" they have carved out for themselves. Abandoning their side to go right back to Heaven. In his eyes, Aziraphale is abandoning their thousands of years of friendship, of what that meant to him, for Heaven. Especially in light of what we saw in the Job flashback, that Crowley was lonely on his own, abandoned by Heaven and never fitting in in Hell. When neither of them wanted him, Aziraphale did, and now he's leaving too, to the one place he won't follow.

"Good luck? Crowley! Crowley, come back! To heaven! Work with me! We can be together! Angels! Doing good! ...I- I need you!"

Aziraphale sees Crowley's rejection, again, as a refusal to help him and not as a refusal to go back to Heaven. He doesn't think of it as rejoining Heaven's side necessarily, but that him and Crowley can bring Heaven over to their side. I think THIS is at least partially what Aziraphale is forgiving him for at the end; not only refusing to help him but trying to convince him not to help at all.

This is not to mention Crowley confessing in the middle of this, and the kiss, muddying the waters even further.

I don't think Crowley will be the one apologizing in S3 though...

[huang-er-jiejie]

i have so many theories and just observations in general about good omens 2 i physically cannot keep them in my head so here they are

also these are very unorganized because i got them straight out of my notes app😭😭😭

crowley putting his sunglasses back on inside the bookshop for the first time in the season when he's about to leave after aziraphale asks him to go to heaven with him. that being him hiding his eyes so prevent aziraphale from seeing him cry but also symbolizing him putting a barrier back up between them for the first time in millennia

aziraphale saying "i'm big on forgiveness" foreshadowing the "i forgive you." after the kiss.

the "i forgive you line" also being a parallel to the same line in season one when crowley offers to run off to alpha centauri

the "dont bother." after aziraphale says i forgive you makes it feel so final, like he knows and accepts that he is beyond saving and there is no need for forgiveness. also her line in season 1 where he says "unforgivable, thats what i am."

nina and maggie are just a complete mirror of crowley and aziraphale, nina not being able to date maggie right away given shes just broken up with her abusive ex lindsay. and aziraphale not being able to be with crowley because hes healing from the trauma from heaven and he believes he can still fix heaven when you cant, you really cant. heaven is like a toxic ex she stays with because she thinks she can make it work and crowley is the obviously better and sound and caring option hes not ready for.

crowley having a nightingale sang in berkeley square ready to play in the bentley because he planned to play it while he and aziraphale were on the way to the ritz :(((

the way aziraphales face changes in the end credits you can literally see her rationalizing her decision; he starts smiling then going back to frowning, shes thinking of all the potential good she could do but at the same time it hurts her so much to leave.

beelzebub probably just wanted to find gabriel before heaven does so they can take care of him and run away with him maybe in peace without heaven's intervention 😭

crowley standing outside his car, waiting and hoping to see if aziraphale would come back or at least try to chase after him.

aziraphale seems like he looks out the window probably to where crowley is stood after the metatron asks if theres anything else he needs to bring. because he wanted to bring him, she wanted them to be together. but i also feel like for even at least a second when he looks outside, he wants to say no and stay.

this seems obvious but s1 is the creation, 2 the resurrection, and 3 is the second coming/ the judgement of the living and the dead

crowley isnt gonna make the first move again in s3 like,,, aziraphales gonna have to make the moves this time around and theres a chance that a part of crowley might not even think shes being genuine. shes bound to have doubts after what just happened. after being rejected all those times theres at least a part of him that thinks aziraphale doesnt love him, at least not in the way she loves him,,

i love the coffee theory because something is absolutely not right about aziraphale in the following scenes, and somethings not right with the metatron. him changing the phrasing of the amount of almond syrup in the coffee. the fact aziraphale NEVER drinks coffee, only ever tea and wine. cyanide being known to taste like almonds, and seeing what laudanum could do who know what different poisons could. the faint miracle sound effect when the metatron hands it over. and aziraphale being hesitant to take it but the metatron insisting. the smile he makes in the elevator is not at all like any smiles she's done before, it doesn't look like the smile he does when he fakes it, and doesn't look genuine or uncomfortable. it just looks so forced.

the coffee theory is kind of reductive though? like saying that the coffee was the sole reason aziraphale chose heaven, when it isn't. the coffee must have some sort of involvement because of the amount of focus put on a regular cup of coffee, but. i don't think a full on brainwashing thing. just sort of a push in the direction the metatron wants. but the rest? that was all aziraphale and his deep rooted religious trauma.

thats all i got for now so thanks for reading!!

[issela-santina]

my horrible sentiment over “The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde took root around 2010 but dear fuck the way it flares up every time I think of the “no nightingales” ending of Good Omens season two

Good Omens especially built it up so much more intricately as at the end of season one I was so convinced that Aziraphale loves Crowley and in season two the pining between them shows it all

however,

one more season of this show isn't going to be enough to even begin to patch up what he did

I get that Aziraphale doesn't want to just run away like Crowley always does,

but if Aziraphale has seen Michael in Hell and told Crowley about it on the park bench then what the heck stopped the angel from thinking the inverse can occur i.e. demons can access Heaven without the need to disguise as angels?

why keep prodding Crowley about his fallen status instead of maybe letting him make peace? it's like you want to keep a wound open long enough to fester just because you don't like seeing it heal without your intervention

like after all these millennia of being a nuisance to humans just so Hell doesn't kill him, Crowley is finally free to be passionate and kind, and it's not enough for Aziraphale who seems to be enamored with the stelliferous redhead whose spirit he devastated, on their very first meeting, upon revealing that all of creation would be shut down before they even get a chance to enjoy it?

like that nightingale who impaled itself on a thorn just to produce a red rose only to be rejected in favor of jewelry just because the one who wanted to offer the girl that red rose she asked for wasn't rich?

no fucking nightingales indeed

[dreams-shape-the-world]

Pride and Prejudice - Good Omens

The Confessions

I need to write about two of the most important scenes in both Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Good Omens S2 E6, their prospective confession scenes. I will try my best to compare these scenes and how much, to me, they are so related.

Firstly, I am using the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice since it stands to me as the most relatable. Both McFadden and Knightley breathe life into the characters of Mr. Darcy and Lizzy in the confession scene. Plus, I think most people have seen this version, rather than the BBC version with Firth and Ehle (which I adore).

 Here Mr. Darcy professes his love for Lizzy, she has bewitched him, body and soul. Even though her station in life is beneath him, he cannot help himself. He proposes to her, even though they are not equal. Yes, there is more to the conversation, but I want to mainly focus on the part of not equals, or to be plain, not good enough as she is. This is a troubling statement for Lizzy to hear, she is insulted by this, how can she not be good enough as she is. She feels slighted by him, she is smart, witty and able to stand up to what is right in her mind. This confession throws Lizzy off balance, she feels something for him, sees him differently, but she unable to act upon it because she insulted. His pride prevented him from truly accepting her for who she is, after she tells him off, he then decides to fix things so that they can be together. To me, the key issue is fixing things for the better. It’s a very simple way of looking at it, because he did make snap judgements that prevented his and Lizzy from getting together in this scene.

 Let us now examine Aziraphale and Crowley, as in what we now call, the infamous scene. The roles are reversed here some, I see Crowley as mixture of Mr. Darcy and Lizzy in that he is opening himself up and shocked to hear himself doing this. He is so vulnerable, sincere and having difficulty with his confession because this is the most human he has ever been. But Aziraphale shatters Crowleys confession before he can even start, tells him of Metraton’s offer and that he is going to take it. Even as Crowley tells him he is foolish, that both sides are toxic, deep down I know that he only hears one thing, he is not good enough, he has been thrown away. Aziraphale wants to go back, making Crowley his second in command, not his equal. Crowley now is able to confess that he wants them to be together, a group of two, on equal footing in their relationship. But because Aziraphale is unable to come to grips that he is indeed in love with a demon he makes that snap decision in taken the offer from Metraton. Aziraphale needs to make things better and part of that is making Crowley the angel he used to be. The saddest part of the scene is that Aziraphale assumes that Crowley will say yes, but we all knew he wouldn’t. All because Crowley heard, “am not good enough and like God, you too won’t take me as I am.”

Now, there are other nuances/layers that I will get into in the future, but I just want to show some similarities that these scenes have with one another. Mostly because in Good Omens, Jane Austen, was a running theme throughout this latest season.  You can also argue that the running theme in this scene is not being good enough for their partners, whether it is status or being a demon. Lizzy does the upper hand because she has self-worth, is able to stand up to Darcy and present her case to him. But Crowley, he has a bigger hill to climb, his feeling of not being good enough stems back to the days of his fallen (sauntered) from heaven. This is of course now complicated by Aziraphale feeling the same way, but he has been "given" a chance to go back. He wants Crowley to come with him, but as an angel, as he once was. Crowley only hears, "you are not good enough as you are", again, rejection on who you are. We have had this happen before to us at one time or another in life, this is why these scenes have always resonated with me. They are good enough, it's just the person that they loved hasn't seen them for who they are.

[beforetheflowers]

Good Omens 2 meta - spoilers ahead

I think a key difference between Aziraphale and Crowley - one of the reasons why they keep having the same argument, namely run away together or stay and fight - is where they think good comes from. Their values and basic morality is more or less the same. Peace, beauty, good wine, beneficence (maybe more of a general nonmaleficence, in Crowley's case), freedom. As much as Crowley objects to the word, both he and Aziraphale are shown to value goodness, but the problem is that they're approaching the concept from opposite angles.

Aziraphale, along with every other angel, was brainwashed into thinking that Good stems from Heaven and Heaven alone, the collective efforts of a cohort of angels carrying out God's ineffable plan. The flashback episodes in both seasons show the beginnings of Aziraphale's deprogramming, where he witnesses "God's will" causing direct harm to people. If my memory is correct, the Job minisode is the earliest example of Aziraphale choosing to stand in opposition to Heaven, acting on his own sense of rightness and justice rather than regurgitate the company line. But even up to the present day, Aziraphale still clings to the belief that Heaven is ultimately good, despite all evidence to the contrary. Why? Partly because that's just how deep six thousand years of brainwashing goes, but also because for Aziraphale, goodness is a community project.

Aziraphale's approach to morality is that good comes from collective works, from and within a community. Heaven is (supposed to be) the perfect community of perfectly like-minded people working towards a common goal, and I don't think Aziraphale is wrong for wanting this, he just refuses to admit to himself that Heaven's goal is draconian and its work is obedience. We see him building a community on Earth, with the shopkeepers' association and the friends he's made through his bookshop - these aren't necessarily deep connections, but they are people he shows up to help and who show up to help him. This is what community is: people doing good for each other in small ways, offering to help when someone is in need, and asking for help in your turn. It's what Aziraphale thinks Heaven is.

On the other hand, Crowley's approach to morality is extremely individualistic, and for good reason. He was cast out of Heaven and (presumably) tortured by Hell for disobedience, for following his own morality instead of the letter of the law. He has no faith in other people, understandably, and thinks that good can only happen when no one else is watching because both Heaven and Hell have punished him for doing good. Hence, Crowley's vehement rejection whenever Az calls him good or nice, etc.

This difference in perspective is why they keep fighting, even when they clearly love each other and have the same values at heart. For Aziraphale, good stems from community, but he fails to grasp that goodness is still an individual choice, not an institutional one. For Crowley, good comes from the individual, often at their own expense, but he doesn't see the power in collective action (he's never had the chance).

So, when Crowley asks Aziraphale to run away with him, he has no context for understanding what's keeping him anchored. Aziraphale wants to stay at the bookshop and protect his friends, neighbors, and most importantly, Crowley. I think this is a big part of what informs Az's decision at the end of season two - he's not power-hungry, and he's not so completely naive that he believes he can swoop in and fix everything wrong with Heaven (although, his programmed belief in the essential goodness of Heaven is doing a lot of work here too). He accepts the Metatron's offer because it is a strategic move to protect his community. He thinks he can play the Metatron the same way he and Crowley have been playing the archangels for millennia. But I think the Metatron is an entirely different level of opponent, one that I have no doubt will be central to the conflict of season three.

BUT at the same time, Aziraphale just absolutely fails to understand the irrevocable harm Heaven has done to Crowley, he's not acknowledging Crowley's agency as a demon who makes his own choices, and he hasn't let go of that last bit of loyalty to Heaven. It's such a slap in the face to Crowley, after everything they've done together, for Az to turn back to Heaven at the last moment ("we could have been us"). From Crowley's perspective, Aziraphale is running back to the cult that abused them both and rejecting Crowley as a demon. From Az's perspective, Crowley is giving up on the community they've built together on Earth and abandoning a strategic position of power. As Nina and Maggie point out, they don't know how to openly talk to each other (because of the millennia of having to sneak around, probably), so they both end the season feeling misunderstood and rejected, even though they want the same thing in the end.

Also, their respective retirements from Hell and Heaven are incredibly recent, considering the span of their lives and how much time they each spent punching their timecards. They haven't developed their own identities yet. Like Nina's speech at the end - "I'd just be a rebound mess." They're not ready yet, but they will be.

[armageddidnt]

I think that what’s still got me so wrecked about the Finale is that Aziraphale’s unconditional faith in heaven is stronger than his love for Crowley and it absolutely breaks my heart.

Let me explain.

Throughout all the time that Crowley has known Aziraphale, he’s been trying to get the Angel to question heaven, to question the Great Ineffable plan, to question God, to stop and think for once and see how none of this really makes any sense and heaven isn’t actually good. And on the wall at the garden of Eden, we thought that was the first time Crowley realized he was in love with Aziraphale but I think he didn’t realize that till much later, not until Nina asked him if he’d been with his “partner” long and Crowley actually stopped to think about all the years he’s know Aziraphale and question if love is actually what he’s been feeling all along. But anyway, on the wall, I think that was the first time that Crowley got even the barest hint that Aziraphale might actually be an Angel capable of free will. That there was some tiny sliver of hope in Aziraphale turning away from Heaven and Hell and joining Crowley on his Own Side. Because Crowley has confirmed how lonely his Own Side is and I think even the slightest chance of Aziraphale joining him there was enough for Crowley to latch onto and never let go.

Then Crowley spent millennia trying to show Aziraphale the complexities of morality and the futility of Heaven and Hell’s efforts and the blatant immorality of Heaven and the fact that he doesn’t always have to do what he’s told and free will doesn’t have to be a thing that’s just for humanity. And after all that time, trying to show Aziraphale over and over again, saving him from harm over and over again, protecting him, trusting him, being there for him, pleading with Aziraphale to just see what he sees and forget about Heaven and do what he actually wants to do … Aziraphale rejects him over and over and when he’s given the choice to return to Heaven, he takes it and leaves Crowley behind. Because Aziraphale cannot give up Heaven and God and the idea of being on the Right Side, the Side of Good, because he hasn’t learned how to have free will and he hasn’t learned how to disentangle his morality from the unquestionable and unrelenting word of God.

And that’s all Crowley has been trying to get Aziraphale to see for thousands of years and now that they’ve finally realized their love for each other, now that they’ve realized what they had all along and could have had beyond that, it’s still not enough and Aziraphale can’t let go of Heaven. Aziraphale knows that Crowley loves him and just wants to run away together and Crowley knows that Aziraphale needs him, but it’s not enough. Their love is not enough, 6,000+ years of trying to show Aziraphale the truth is not enough, “it’s always too late,” and Crowley knows he’s lost yet again. That every time he’s lost and he just wants to protect his Angel but now he’s lost Aziraphale to the one place he cannot go, the one place he cannot protect Aziraphale from. Crowley has given literally everything he has to Aziraphale, his entire life, heart, soul, and it’s not enough.

Their love is not enough and it breaks my heart.

[piratewinzer]

Wait wait no, I have a better you’re-taking-too-long-to-answer (but not really please take as long as you need I just want to spam you with asks) punishment ask:

Which scenario do you think would hurt more but also be better: Crowley getting his memory wiped, or Aziraphale getting his memory wiped?

Important information: they somehow cross paths during the mind wipe and the one who didn’t get his memory wiped is heartbroken over being forgotten, because he thought that while the friendship is gone the memories will remain. But clearly even those are gone.

Now I have well and truly waited to long (I promise I loved these and was just savoring them in my inbox, like saving the best bite for last)

I have been staring at this question because it hit me like a city bus

It was a tough decision. Both scenarios make my heart weep like crazy. But I'm going to go with Crowley, and here's my angst about it:

Crowley put everything on the line. Nina and Maggie backhanded his eyes open and he finally got up the courage - even after Aziraphale invited him to heaven (in Crowley's eyes, rejecting him outright) - to say his feelings. Express that love physically, to kiss like real people do. It was out there and open and Aziraphale felt it too but could not show that level of reciprocation right then. He could not run away with his demon to Alpha Centauri. He felt obligation to try to fix heaven (and then, perhaps later, save humanity). Oh, he wants to. He wants to give in and he wants to confess too - his hand shaking as he tries to preserve Crowley's kiss on his lips, the eight separate glances back to Crowley before getting in that heavenly elevator. But he can't.

And then, picture this: Events unfold. Time passes. It's finally time for Aziraphale to return those affections, boldly and in the open. The day is saved and it's his turn to go after his demon, to wrap him in 6,000 years of unspoken love, to shower him with affection that is no longer denied or clandestine. They meet. Their eyes lock. Aziraphale smiles in a desperate way, finally ready, and -

"I'm sorry, who are you?" "Crowley, it's me. It's Azriaphale." "Azirafalala? Funny old name, that. Well, better be getting on." (Crowley leaves, not even the faintest expression of recognition for his dearest friend and best love. Aziraphale never even got the chance to tell him, clear and defined, how much he loved him. And now he is all alone with the memory of Crowley's confession, and the rejection. He's the only one left to remember - he has to carry the pain alone for the next stretch of eternity. He never gets to kiss back.)

How loud do you think the sound of an angel's heart breaking is?