#brrrrrrr

[joycrispy]

I'm seeing some confusion out and about over the title A Companion to Owls (generally along the lines of 'what have owls got to do with it???'), so I'd like to offer my interpretation (with a general disclaimer that the Bible and particularly the Old Testament are damn complicated and I'm not able to address every nuance in a fandom tumblr post, okay? Okay):

It's a phrase taken from the Book of Job. Here's the quote in full (King James version):

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. --(Job 30:29)

Job is describing the depths of his grief, but also, with that last line, his position in the web of providence.

Throughout the Old Testament, owls are a recurring symbol of spiritual devastation. Deuteronomy 4:17 - Isaiah 34:11 - Psalm 102: 3 - Jeremiah 50: 39...just to name a few (there's more). The general shape of the metaphor is this: owls are solitary, night-stalking creatures, that let out either mournful cries or terrible shrieks, that inhabit the desolate places of the world...and (this is important) they are unclean.

They represent a despair that is to be shunned, not pitied, because their condition is self-inflicted. You defied God (so the owl signifies), and your punishment is...separation. From God, from others, from the world itself. To call and call and never, ever receive an answer.

Your punishment is terrible, tormenting loneliness.

(and that exact phrase, "tormenting loneliness," doesn't come from me...I'm pulling it from actual debate/academia on this exact topic. The owls, and what they are an omen for. Oof.)

To call yourself a 'companion to owls,' then, is to count yourself alongside perhaps the most tragic of the damned --not the ones who defy God out of wickedness or ignorance, and in exile take up diabolical ends readily enough...but the ones who know enough to mourn what they have lost.

So, that's how the title relates to Job: directly. Of course, all that is just context. The titular "companion to owls," in this case, isn't Job at all.

Because this story is about Aziraphale.

The thing is that Job never actually defied God at all, but Aziraphale does, and he does so fully believing that he will fall.

He does so fully believing that he's giving in to a temptation.

He's wrong about that, but still...he's realized something terrifying. Which is that doing God's will and doing what's right are sometimes mutually exclusive. Even more terrifying: it turns out that, given the choice between the two...he chooses what's right.

And he's seemingly the only angel who does. He's seemingly the only angel who can even see what's wrong.

Fallen or not, that's the kind of knowledge that...separates you.

(Whoooo-eeeeee, tormenting loneliness!!!)

Aziraphale is the companion.

...I don't think I need to wax poetic about Aziraphale's loneliness and grappling with devotion --I think we all, like, get it, and other people have likely said it better anyway. So, one last thing before I stop rambling:

Check out Crowley's glasses.

(screenshots from @seedsofwinter)

Crowley is the owl.

Crowley is the goddamn owl.

[blobee]

I don't understand him

Howww

Why is it much easier to draw KC

[desertangels70s]

[lesbianneopolitan]

she's signing at Cinder, don't mind her 🤟

anyway, it's the day of mimicking artstyles apparently, so have a Neo in Helltaker's style

[halfassedtea]

G.U.Y.exe actuallized

[cybervom1t]

high and braindead thinking about cock <333

[spacedoutman]

This is one of the cutest pictures of Paul I’ve ever seen I swear to god. This man is adorable 💕🥹

Now time to send it to my family group chat without context

[swan2swan]

It's very frightening that most deserts are just seas that you missed.

[pup-pee]

hello goofballs guess what?

I GOT THE SHIPPING PACKAGES SO NOW I CAN ACTUALLY PACKAGE THINGS!!

so everything is back on my etsy rahrahrah

i added options on the gummies 2 make it easier since there was confusion next time

[iszapizza]

Doodles from the plane sjsjdkj

[st1nk3yy]

”We’re all we have left now-“

*train sounds*

STOP WHAT THATS CRAZY

[rosariesandrazors]

emo lesbians in their 20s how are we feeling tonight????

[dirtysenner]

Hey uh @annabannnananana and @itsynat would you maybe wanna play Roblox together??? Idk if that’d be anything you’d wanna do but yeah maybe hop into a discord call???

[birb-boyo]

I don’t know if anybody wants it but here

There’s a ten picture limit so this is pt.1

Linked Universe(but not really) Hunger Games

[iobartach]

since temps have been consistently dipping above and below zero degrees celsius for the past fortnight here, i gotta put down some frost/cold themed stuff for the wishlist ! ;

scenario where frost affects miguel's climbing ability -- makes sense, but perhaps doubly so in his case, compared to other spiders. can't climb worth a damn if you can't feel your own hands / claws 🙃

scenario w/ foggy conditions -- been thinking of this for a while! what good is accelerated sight if visibility is zilch!!! maybe could be used as a way to train his reflexes?

scenario w/ snow -- don't have anything for this, just let him have a snow day experience!

[v-i-r-i-d-i-a-n]

I imagine Mike Wheelers inner monologue is the kind of chaotic that’s the voices of the song “voices in my heads” from Be More Chill