#the whole thing goes along with the trend of singling Crowley out as Extra Special

[flameraven]

Yes. I feel like this headcanon mostly serves to make Crowley Secret Angel Royalty as a way to have him be Extra Super Special and Powerful and/or give him an extra angsty backstory. And y'know. Have fun with that if you want but I do think it ignores that one of the core themes of the story is that a bunch of unimportant nobodies manage to save the world because they tried, even when it seemed pointless. And of course, another major theme is that you choose your OWN destiny. You don't have to be who you are supposed to be. So why would he have some important Destiny?

As far as canon goes, I do think the line in S2 "for one Prince of Heaven to Fall makes a good story, two makes it seem like an institutional problem" pretty strongly implies Lucifer is the only Archangel that Fell, since the implied second would be Gabriel. I really think that Raphael in GO is just Sir Not Appearing In This Story and there's no big mystery to him not being one of the featured Archangels. Also... Raphael's whole deal is healing. I never did understand why people picked Raphael as Crowley's angel identity when angel!Crowley's seems to be in an entirely different department (starmaking).

Crowley's Rank

This one's gonna be controversial, isn't it. Actually, let me pre-empt my rant with (another rant): It's not that I mind if Crowley was an Archangel or Dominion or whatever before he Fell. I don't think it makes that much difference. It could perhaps serve some narrative purpose but I don't really see it. To me, it makes no real sense for the story though and I do see people using this idea so Crowley can be smarter, more powerful, more insightful, more aware and just you know, full of wisdom and knowledge that Aziraphale should have sat down and learned from a long time ago. This is my main gripe with this HC.

So. Here we go: I am baffled by how people assume and often even claim it is as good as canon that Crowley:

was an Archangel

or even more high up (which I don't think is possible in GO Universe)

knew all Heaven's dirty secrets (and that's why he knows SO MUCH more about Heaven than poor innocent Aziraphale*)

created the Universe

*who a) should have listened to Crowley when Crowley tried to tell him about it or b) Crowley didn't tell him about it because he didn't want to hurt poor Aziraphale with the truth about Heaven

When what we see in canon is (IMO) the opposite of all of that? Also, did Aziraphale somehow forgot that Crowley was high up?

We meet this adorable angel in Before the Beginning. He was sent to start up a Nebula in a remote corner of the Universe and he needs a helping hand.

The angel who meets him finds him adorable and enquires whether he designed the pretty *waves hands around* colours and stuff. And Angel!Crowley admits that...well he did not design it as such but... he did have an input! Angel!Crowley does not introduce himself which is definitely a deliberate move, however, it seems like he's simply too distracted and excited by his project for such proper niceties so he does not notice when his new friend looks a little put out by that.

So. Did Aziraphale know who Crowley was?* I like both yes and no answers. I think a crush at first sight is adorable; after all, Aziraphale's careful demeanour seems to suggest he does not meet carefree happy angels often. But perhaps he did come across him before and was hoping to make his acquaintance properly sometime and look, what luck he was nearby just now...

*Did Aziraphale know who Crowley was in Eden? Absolutely. They recognised each other (and I wonder what happened in the interim we did not see) and Aziraphale carefully waits for the demon to offer his new name.

Did Crowley create the Universe?

No, he started up a nebula, and he's clearly very excited about his job.

Angel!Crowley has not heard of the Earth, the humans, or what the whole project/universe is for or how long it is planned to last.

That tells me, given that Earth and humans and the 6000 year Plan is literally the goal of it all; that he did not sit high up on the Universe planning committee and if anyone told him about it before, he did not pay attention. Which, honestly, is on brand for ADHD Crowley.

How come Aziraphale knows that certain suggestions and ideas would be unwelcome, should the two of them be overheard?

We don't know. But clearly whatever circles Aziraphale moves in, have alerted him to the fact that suggesting to improve things, would be a bad idea. And he did pay attention to the whole - we are creating a vast Universe to host a tiny planet for a human project that will last 6000 years and then be destroyed.

He also breaks the news about the Plan to Crowley who is clearly heartbroken about it. Much like the angels designing dinosaurs must have been I expect, working on them just so their bones could be buried in the Earth for a joke.

Next up for the argument for powerful Crowley:

Our lovely husbands aim for a tiny miracle to hide the runaway Archangel and its power creates mayhem in Heaven (and I assume in Hell too).

So why did this happen? I've heard of three possible explanations:

The husbands made it powerful, because they are (or their love is) powerful together, they just did not realise it. And that's my favourite one.

Gabriel inadvertently helped cos he's the Supreme Archangel (unlikely since he can't deal with his angel self while he's a 'Jim' for the rest of the season).

Crowley is so powerful he did it himself. Even though he insisted on making it very small, (I guess he just could not help himself).

Now, when he quips, how do you know I didn't do it - to the suggestion only a powerful Archangel could do it... it's just that. A joke. And a way to confuse.

After all, the Archangels laugh at the mere suggestion Az could do it too, but then HE CLAIMS HE DID and they believe him. Kind of.

So I don't think miracles are as clear cut as all that.

And anyway, it's impossible Hell would have forgotten if Crowley has been an Archangel in Heaven and second of all, it was funny, and a typical Crowley retort. Obviously Hell suspected Gabriel did it (and so did Heaven).

Crowley himself seems to think it's THEIR COMBINED fault. (If that is not foreshadowing, especially the way he throws it out there....)

Crowley can stop time.

And that's pretty cool. Very impressive. I wonder who else can do that. But does he have this power/knowledge because of his past high rank or because he worked at building the Universe? (And clearly loved his job?)

And now for the main course:

And:

"They never change their passwords."

Ok so I mean... you don't exactly have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce triumphantly that Crowley was one of those.

Which, given Good Omens is anything but obvious and predictable, is exactly what Crowley is not (yes, that's my HC, obviously).

How did he get to know the passwords then? Oh so many delicious possibilities. And so much more interesting (I think) than - he was so high up he knows everything.

Did he get them cos he wanted to check something? Did he get them for Lucifer and/or 'the guys'? Did he get them for Aziraphale? Did he get them from Aziraphale? Did he find out by mistake cos the 'high ups' did not pay attention to a lowly angel around important documents? Did he simply believe he can open the files?

And one more little thing:

Apparently, God on angel time was very limited if they are both in awe of Job being able to speak to God.

I mean we have no idea if Metatron ever actually speaks to Her, or the Archangels, but this seems to imply these two were not especially important.

And. I like that.

I want them to be two middling nobodies who overthrow the system because they came to love one another. It's such a running theme in Terry Pratchett books too. It's not the ministers and generals who overthrow governments, is it. It's someone in the crowd asking questions, and another someone wanting a proper kiss and deciding they'd wage a war for it. That's how revolutions start.

If I sound in any way disparaging towards Crowley, please note - I am not. But I am disparaging to fanon Crowley who I believe Crowley would despise.