#where gabriel is the principal

[dyketennant]

now that i got my sad stuff out of my system i’m going to write a human au where crowley is a puppeteer and aziraphale is an elementary school teacher/librarian

[beastsovrevelation]

If it isn't my beloved celestial harpy, most holy Michael the Archangel herself (meaning, I turned this into proper line-art). ⚔ Good Omens has insulted her, but she will always be Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Host in my mind, and in my fics. I can only try to do her justice.

What do you think, should I colour it? It almost looks like a colouring page, I'm tempted to print it, and colour it with pencils or markers. ✏

[slashingdisneypasta]

Principal Kingston is sitting at one of the long tables, flipping through a copy of Sports Illustrated. He looks up as the doors close behind me.

"Our little roach girl! Come in, come in. Mr Gabriel's finishing up in the back. Have a seat!" He indicates the chair across from him.

I sit and look at him warily.

"I have to say, I was surprised when Mr. Gabriel told me about your offer," he says, leaning forward over his magazine. "But I think it's fantastic that you're able to see the big picture here. Thinking outside the box and all that. And even if your reasons are a little misguided, I am happy to be doing business with you. People so rarely consider alliances with their enemies to reach the greater goal these days. It's a shame, really." He shakes his head, apparently at the shame of it all. "So! How are your classes going?"

- Evil Librarian, Michelle Knudsen

[forineffablereasons]

Oh, Crowley. Nothing lasts forever.

I think the entirely of Crowley and Aziraphale's interactions in the Final Fifteen™️can be summed up by the idea that they are talking past one another, failing to fully understand each other, but I want to talk about this line in particular. This isn't a full analysis of the scene - just this isolated bit.

Crowley: ...If Gabriel and Beelzebub can do it, go off together, then we can. We don't need Heaven, we don't need Hell, they're toxic. We need to get away from them, just be an us. You and me, what do you say? Aziraphale: Come with me. To Heaven. I'll run it, you can be my second-in-command. We can make a difference. Crowley: You can't leave this bookshop. Aziraphale: Oh, Crowley. Nothing lasts forever. Crowley: No. No, don't suppose it does.

As methods of occult/ethereal communications go, the metaphor is quite versatile.

Crowley is saying: stay here with me. We have this enclave. We can be together properly now - stay here with me. Never mind that they have not actually made any progress on this in the last four-ish years since the end of the world. Never mind that Crowley is so stagnant that four years after the end of the world he's still living in his car.

Keep in mind that Aziraphale didn't have the benefit of Nina and Maggie's intervention - Aziraphale doesn't see this as a confession under Crowley's own initiative, he sees it as a response to what Aziraphale is saying. Aziraphale says, let's go make a difference, and Crowley is sort of forced into taking this position as an alternative offer - to Aziraphale, it looks almost like a temptation. Nothing changed in the last four years, but now that Heaven needs you (and we must give Aziraphale the benefit of his belief that Heaven truly does need him, even though this is clearly a manipulation), I'm ready to move forward, don't you want to stay, don't you want to deny Heaven and exist with our heads in the sand?

"Oh, Crowley," Aziraphale says. "Nothing lasts forever."

To Crowley, who is offering himself and this enclave, this bit of existence that can just be theirs - nothing lasts forever is an obvious smackdown: not even us.

That's not what Aziraphale is saying, though. What Aziraphale is saying is, we can't live like this forever. If we want to protect it, we have to change. Nothing lasts forever isn't a betrayal or a resignation - it's a sacrifice. Aziraphale cares so much about Earth, about fixing Heaven, and about Crowley himself that he's willing to give up the bookshop and their enclave on Earth in order to save it.

They cannot just maintain the status quo. It's been four years since Armageddon and nothing has changed, and keeping on ignoring Heaven and Hell didn't work! It didn't work! They were on their own and here's Heaven and Hell again, in their business, dragging Crowley back to Hell, dragging Aziraphale back into Heaven's politics. Four years was all they got. Four years, and they were under threat, risking each other, risking their very existences. They can't sit in their enclave and pretend it won't happen again because it absolutely will.

Aziraphale spends a lot of this series burying his head in the sand. If he can just hide Gabriel, everything will be fine! (It won't - he'll still have Gabriel.) If he can just make Maggie and Nina fall in love, everything will be fine! (It won't - he'll still have Heaven and Hell waiting in the wings for the next suspicious event.) If he can just get everyone at the Jane Austen Ball, if he can just keep the demons out, if he can just ignore it, it will go away! If he can make the participants know the steps to the dance and if he can control the lingo, he can create a new fantasy world for them all to live in and everything will be fine!

It won't. Aziraphale isn't in control. Aziraphale can't stop this. Aziraphale can't protect himself, and he can't protect Crowley to the point where he has to let Crowley leave him and work a plan on his own. He's a principality, and he can't protect the things and the people he loves.

Then the Metatron walks in, makes a point of validating all the things Aziraphale loves - coffee (food/drink), Crowley (your demon can recognize me even when these angels can't), the shop (do you need to take anything with you? I've made sure the shop will be safe), separates Crowley from Aziraphale - Crowley, Aziraphale's guiding light in all those minisodes, Crowley, the one being Aziraphale trusts - and then.

And the Metatron offers Aziraphale the control he's been missing all season.

Nothing lasts forever. We can't survive in this enclave forever. If we stay here, it will all end. If we stay here, I can't protect you, or humanity, or any of it. I have to try, we have to try, because no one else will, and I'm willing to give up my freedom and my bookshop if it means I can save everything. I want to save it with you, I want you to be with me, I need you, I need us, but--

If I can save you, even if it costs me us, at least you'll have survived.

If that's the price, well. Nothing lasts forever.

[neil-gaiman]

Hi Mr. Gaiman! I hope you're doing well! :)

I've tried to find an answer for this, but I couldn't find anything. In the scene where Aziraphale reads Agnes Nutter's book in season one, this scene specifically:

She calls him "foolish principalitee." If I'm not mistaken, principalities are stronger than archangels, correct?

Unless I have the information wrong—wouldn't that make Aziraphale stronger than say, Gabriel or Michael?

Hi, this is in the FAQs.

[sherokutakari]

Okay okay okay but like

Everyone out here talking about Crowley's hinted at memory problems. How he remembers Heaven and making the stars, but not working with Saraqael. How he remembers going into battle, but not with Furfur. How he doesn't seem to remember Aziraphale in Eden, even though it turns out they met at the Pillars of Creation. How he knows what it's like, looking where the furniture isn't. Memory fussing. Clearly something Heaven Does.

But no one is talking about that Heaven's memory wiping was only mentioned once directly. And only in reference to Gabriel, who was explicitly not being cast down to Hell, but demoted.

Like some Cherub-turned-Principality, which could be either a promotion or demotion, depending on what Angelic Hierarchy you subscribe to?¹

What if the reason Crowley and Aziraphale's meeting in Eden seemed so first-meeting-ish not just because only Crowley's memory was messed with?

What if Aziraphale's memories had been also?

Neil said that these two had known each other for a LONG time between the s2 meet cute and the beginning of actual time/their meeting in Eden.² Surely Crowley would have given his name at SOME point if that were the case. And we know Aziraphale had a hard time switching from Crawly to Crowley, so even if he assumed his newly Fallen friend had intended to choose a new name, there's almost no way he *wouldn't* have just called him by whatever name he already knew him as. Why does he wait for Crawly to introduce himself, instead of just referring to him as Raphael, or Baraqiel, or Kokabiel, or Jophiel or whatever your favorite Proto-Crowley Angel Name is? And why does it seem like they don't even know each other, even a little bit?

What if they knew each other super well in Heaven, and after the Battle, both had their memories mucked about in, and both got Demoted??

What if in Eden they were meeting for the first time again, and they still ended up choosing each other over Heaven and Hell????

What if nothing the powers of Heaven and Hell can do can keep these two Inefffable Idiots apart????

Please help I'm .__o.>-<

[suspiciouscharacter1895]

I have something that has been banging around in my head related to Crowley’s apparent loss of memory. This is probably not original but I haven’t seen it articulated quite this way so I’m just going to write it out. Crowley has a few interactions with Gabriel where he is trying to remember things that Heaven “erased”. On one occasion Gabriel says - “I can’t” and Crowley says “Yes you can” with certainty. Another time, Gabriel says “It hurts” and Crowley says, “I know, do it anyway.” I have THINGS TO SAY about this below the cut.

I think we can take it as given that Crowley has had his memory erased by Heaven, as evidenced by him not remembering Furfur or Saraqael or why they decided to have gravity. If it was one thing, I would buy it as a throwaway but the lack of memory is so specifically and repeatedly called out that I don’t think we can take it as a coincidence.

It’s equally clear to me that he hasn’t forgotten EVERYTHING about his time as an angel. He remembers that he worked on a specific nebula in S1, he remembers going into battle, he knows that if he gets into Heaven he’ll be able to access top secret files. And you cannot convince me that he doesn’t remember Aziraphale in Eden. Aziraphale doesn’t know his *demon* name, so Crowley introduces himself, but Aziraphale never does the same because Crowley already knows who he is.

SO I have made the mental leap to conclude the following - Crowley had his memory wiped by Heaven when he fell, he remembered nothing just like Gabriel, and he FORCED himself to remember some parts of his time in Heaven. Meaning, he tried hard to remember, it *hurt* and he *did it anyway*. I like to imagine that he did so because he wanted to know who he was (which of course is reason enough) but also because he wanted very much to remember a friendship with a certain Principality.

When Gabriel had his memory wiped, he still knew he needed to get to Beelzebub. I believe that when Crowley had his memory wiped, he still knew he needed to get to Aziraphale. So he went through a lot of pain to claw back some of his memory. He didn’t get everything back, but he got something. We know Heaven didn’t wipe the memories of all the Fallen, so Crowley’s memory was probably erased (or I would argue ‘suppressed’ is more accurate because the memory is still there, he just can’t access it readily) because he was high ranking, but also because he *knew or saw something specific and significant*.

Upshot is, I now desperately need a fic that features Crowley fighting to remember himself. Does this exist?? Do I need to write it?? Anybody else have this train of thought?

[queenofthearchipelago]

My favorite theory coming out of good omens this season is that Aziraphale MADE the humans in much the same way that Crowley made the stars.

The evidence I've gathered so far is this:

In the creation scene, Aziraphale gets excited about the "peo-ple" he says "WE'RE currently designing." The word choice is important because in other sentences he talks about Heaven in a "they" sort of way. "They're talking about ending this all in 6,000 years." "When they roll out that section, that's where Earth will be." But designing humans? That's a WE thing. Like, he's doing it too.

His artistic ability to draw Gabriel. To design people, I imagine he would have spent a lot of time drawing people, and his portrait of Gabriel was incredibly good and he drew it so casually. Like it was second nature to him.

This would all explain why Aziraphale has this deep need to protect people. It feels exactly the same as angel Crowley's deep need to protect the universe and his nebula. It also explains Aziraphale's compassion towards humans even though no other angel had such interest in them. Aziraphale loves human life and Crowley gives him the permission he needs to actually enjoy it.

Humans, even in the bible, are made of dust. What if it was Aziraphale that took stardust and did the miracle that made Adam?

God gave Aziraphale the flaming sword to protect Eden. Assuming that Adam was created by Aziraphale, it makes sense that the Almighty wanted Aziraphale to protect the new creation.

There's probably more. I would love to hear people's thoughts on this! I just think it would make sense in a Mother Earth and Father Time kind of way, Crowley created the universe and Aziraphale created humanity within it. Two creations that need each other to make sense and have a purpose.

Also, I already anticipate that someone will reply saying that Aziraphale isn't an archangel Before the Beginning and wouldn't have the power. I raise you that being a Principality is no small role for an angel in the good omens universe. It's the level right under archangel, as Neil has said before here on tumblr.

[dreams-shape-the-world]

There has been some debate out there regarding what type of angel Crowley was before the fall. Some have speculated that he was a minor angel, that knew a bit of this and that, which is what landed him in the spot that he is in right now.

After a bit of research, I have come to the conclusion that Crowley was a Virtue. Everything that I have read points to him being, at one point, in the Third Tier in angel hierarchy, with Powers and Dominions. This actually puts him above Aziraphale, in which he is a Principality.

Let's delve into what a Virtue does in the grand scheme of things. One of their primary goals is, well, to run the universe, control the elements, seasons and command storms. But also, they assist in making miracles for HER, a bit on that part later.

When see Crowley, he is sent to start the universe, this is his role as Virtue. But he not only starts the engine, he oversees the entirety of it, the planets, stars, everything. That is why he so upset when he was told that it all has to be destroyed, he was the one, or at least part, that helped create it and supposed to maintain it.

We see him here, manipulating rain to make Maggie and Nina get together, the "dawn of a new awing" , as he said. He hasn't controlled the weather in a long time, but it comes back to him naturally. This is because that is part of who he is and what he does.

Finally, the miracle to hide Gabriel. Aziraphale suggests, half a miracle from each would be fine, so Crowley goes along with it. I think the mistake was that I don't think Crowley is capable of doing just half a miracle. Yes, we have seen him do minor things, but what they are attempting is out of the ordinary. Aziraphale is able to do his half miracle, but I don't think Crowley is wired to do that. I thought for the longest time it went wrong because there were under the symbol that Aziraphale uses to contact the Metraton, but now, looking over this, I think it was because Crowley was a Virtue Angel. Part of their role is to help create miracles for HER, a direct mandate from HER to do this, so yea, SHE isn't doing any half miracles for humankind.

I also think that it puts into perspective how close to HER he was, since we know how much his "sauntered" from grace affected him. He was part of the engine, and was supposed to be its caretaker, if I am correct in his being a Virtue, I am truly saddened because they took away one of things that he cared for, the universe. For all I know I am way off base with this, but it has been fun seeing where this lead me and adding to the other theories out there.

[aloeverified]

au where marinette's parents own a small, struggling, but community-loved bakery outside of paris. she works after school and on weekends since her parents can't currently afford to hire any other employees, but she enjoys getting to know everyone in her neighborhood and uses her tip money to fund her sewing projects.

as the end of her junior high days approach, marinette is encouraged by her parents to apply to her dream high school, françoise dupont lycée of the arts, as a fashion student. she doesn't expect to actually get accepted, but knows her parents are right when they say there's no hurt in trying. after submitting her online store portfolio, where she does commissions and launches small projects like accessories, she receives feedback that the school board was beyond impressed with her work and would like to offer her a full-ride scholarship.

although it's hard for her to part from her parents for the first time in her life, they refuse to let her turn down the opportunity and practically pack her bags for her. after a very long and painful goodbye with lots of promises to call every single day, marinette leaves for paris.

she meets alya, her roommate and first friend at her new school. she's the daughter of a successful chef and is a promising journalist and creative writing student, she and marinette share many of their core subjects not relating to their majors.

marinette also meets chloé, the daughter of the mayor of france and alya's life-long enemy. the two go way back, with alya's mother being an old friend of chloe's father and having worked at his hotel restaurant before. the hate each other, and by association, chloé hates marinette — especially after finding out marinette is a fellow fashion major whose work scored much higher than her own.

then she meets adrien. adrien is a fellow fashion and modeling student who was eagerly accepted into the school despite his very late application. however, the principal was thrilled at the idea of having such a beloved model joining the student body, and didn't want to deal with chloé's threats of action if adrien was denied, so he was accepted with open arms.

adrien didn't exactly choose his majors, but rather just went along with what was expected of him. he already had a successful modeling career, so he took the classes despite there being little he didn't already know and have mastered. he was encouraged to join fashion classes as well, both by adults who assumed he was going to take after his father and by his best friend who wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

adrien is easily impressed with just about every design marinette crafts and marinette admits it's a bit endearing the way adrien struggles to figure out where the sewing machine's on switch is. his father is equally impressed, if not even more so, and marinette is asked to become a paid intern upon winning a contest judged by gabriel agreste.

not to mention the kind old man she befriends, an older chinese man who owns a tea shop in petite asie. marinette admits to feeling a bit alienated without her mother, worried her classmates will look at her funny for cooking guangxi rice in the dorm kitchen or having late night gossip sessions on the phone in mandarin. he tells marinette she will always have a friend while in paris and that she's more connected to the city than she thinks.

eventually, marinette even finds herself befriending almost all of her classmates, and even one of her classmate's brothers. juleka couffaine is a modeling major and a fellow scholarship student, something she and marinette bond over. luka is just as sweet as his sister, and almost as quiet if you ignore his constant humming and guitar strumming.

he also applied to be a music major at françoise dupont, but was rejected. after a year of struggling and being bullied in public school, he dropped out to focus on working and supporting his family — taking some of the burden away from his single mother and making sure juleka never has to go without. throughout the course of their relationship, marinette is eventually able to discover the ridiculous reasons why luka wasn't accepted and encourages him to go back to school, as well as accept that he can't support his family if he doesn't let them support him as well (a lesson she also had to learn).

[mcheang]

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

[wrengrif]

Okay, but, like.

What if Aziraphale doesn't fail, in Heaven?

I mean the Archangels are pretty much all dicks, but how many more angels are like Muriel?

How many of them are like Aziraphale? Passed over, abused, ignored as just a cog of a war machine. Maybe the angel who was in charge of coloring buttercups wants to see how they turned out, but they're stuck in detailing flaming swords. Maybe the scrivener who is in charge of detailing this one tiny war in Russia really wants to get into the history of Harriet Tubman instead? Archangels, thrones, cherubim, virtues, seraphim - they're the management of Heaven but they're all obsessed 1) beating Hell and 2) who is in charge when they beat Hell.

The principalities, the scriveners, the lower-level angels ... maybe all they want is to check out this Earth that they've all heard of and maybe visited once or twice, but not recently. But no, they can't, they gotta gear up for the Second Coming but wait, they don't because Gabriel said no. Then Gabriel got banished - er - escaped? No one's sure. THEN they find out they're getting a new Supreme Archangel and it's ... Aziraphale. Principality of the Eastern Gate, holder of a Flaming Sword and Traitor and they're all like - okay? Guess you can disobey orders and still get promoted, cool cool. Muriel's down on Earth now so hey! Maybe we can go! And they meet Aziraphale! And Aziraphale is So Nice! And no one knows why the Archangels are such assholes but Aziraphale is awesome and wants them to take regular breaks and tea-times and of course everyone should have a chance to see Earth, it's lovely. So why have a Second Coming when you can have crepes instead? Or tea. Delightful tea. Now, the lower level angels probably outnumber the higher level angels three-to-one. So are they going to be following the arsehole middle management angels who are trying to get them all killed at the end of a demon's claws, OR are they going to follow this Supreme Archangel who told them all about Shakespeare and Bentleys and the Ritz and yellow flowers and how much the demon Crowley has been misunderstood, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, God wants something different. Then there's Aziraphale leading the New Revolution in Heaven?? And this is where he needs Crowley because frankly he's got Aziraphale's Army of Misfit Angels, and he has got no idea what to do with it. And Crowley is confronted with Aziraphale and like a few thousand baby angels outside his flat and he's like, 'Well okay I guess I should have figured things were going to go pear-shaped but not like this?' and Muriel is overjoyed because their not-so-divorced parents brought all their siblings to visit.

Then Crowley and Aziraphale are forced to talk about angel-care and who is going to teach them about music and 'Hey, I think we should talk, really talk' and no apology dances but just sincere apologies and thanks and maybe kissing? I'd be down.

And that's how Aziraphale wins. By taking lower Heaven on an extended sabbatical to Earth and asking Crowley to co-parent.

[st4rry-sp1d3r]

I would like to say something about heaven's hierarchy in helluva boss and hazbin hotel. Like,I've made some research (I'm going by the Christian hierarchy from the Chatolic Christian bible) and like.

God on top,clearly

Then Lucifer,the most glorious angel god ever made

Then we have our Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael,Uriel,Raguel,Remiel and Sariel guardian angels of nations

Seraphim,the burning ones,with the task of taking care of god's throne and worshipping him 24/7

Cherubim, they guard the way to the tree of life and God's throne and there was a huge misunderstanding with Putti,those chubby babies usually associated with cupid,while cherubims have four feet,a lion body with oxen feet and four faces (man,ox,lion or eagle)

Thrones. Those wheel things with wings and eyes, they carry god's throne

Domions/lordship. They look like humans and keep lower angels in line

Virtues/strongholds they carry out miracles and heavenly signs

Powers/authorities just like their name,these angels have enough power to be warriors and carry out wars against angels

Principalities. They deliver heavens blessings

archangels. The use of the capital letter is important here because archangels and angels are the lowest choir of angels,but these gud have higher status in comparison to angels

Finally angels are the lowest rank of all heaven and are those in most contact with living beings on earth and are meant to serve humanity

I have so many pet peeves with this hierarchy in front of my eyes because first if all,it should have been imps vs angels in that episode with the rich bastard who wanted to die in helluva boss,second of all,where did god go? Where did the archangels go? Where are they? Also the plural of cherub is cherubim but of course Viv wouldn't think about that because otherwhise it wouldn't rhyme with that stupid song. I guess it's all for now then.

If there's something you'd like to add I'm more than happy to hear it <3

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

The episode where they expose Lila is so wrong for all the worst reasons. I'll explain why.

... Let's begin with the fact that Marinette somehow was allowed to block a perfectly functional bathroom of her school, and build another one without an actual need, that alone should have costed the school a considerable amount of money that could have been used for something better than to spy on 3 little girls.

... Which is another problem entirely, because are you telling me that the school's principal, a grown ADULT, actually aproved to build a bathroom with a fake mirror and microphones, in order to SPY on MINORS?

If any parent found out about something like THAT, they would go FERAL on that principal for good reasons.

I am sorry, but I don't see "Marinette finally exposed the lying Lila and finally got the justice she deserved. Hooray!" here, all I see is an ensured national scandal of sexual harrasment at best.

And considering the fact that Adrien Agreste, world-wide celebrity, who can't go around without being chased by a mob of fans, attends this same school... Let me ask, what would stop Gabriel from thinking this could be happening in the boy's bathroom too? He would turn that bullshit into an international shitshow. (And actually have a good reason to remove Adrien from that school while he is at it!)

And that's only Gabriel, which wouldn't be necessary, because André or Audrey should have done that, becuase the mayor's daughter, THEIR DAUGHTER was literally in that bathroom being recorded!

Perhaps I am overthinking this, but I am amazed by how Thomas keeps repeating the "It's a kid's show!" excuse for his writing, but doesn't see how not only this is the most unrealistic, dumbest, shittiest way possible to expose Lila, but also has very serious implications, that would make ANY parent raise eyerbow. On what world is this okay for a kid's show?!

The writers could have had Marinette spy on Lila and Chloe literally anywhere that isn't the bathroom, but consider this: This was part of their final draft, which implies that there were other ideas that were either better or worse than what we got.

Of all the episodes that I want to see the rejected scripts for, "Confrontation" is near the top of the list, just so I can learn what the thought process was there.

[vidavalor]

Hey Vida, I have some milk chocolate sea salt caramels to share. *Passes the canister*

Have you written about this moment yet? I'm guessing it has come up but I can't recall specifics.

The time loop hypothesis that includes the idea that Crowley figures out what is happening and starts actively trying to influence things helps me understand why Crowley would say this - that he would despair after having been unsuccessful in every attempt he'd made to change the final outcome, to save Aziraphale's life. I know Crowley has some timey-wimey stuff going on generally, like his knowing the future and making all sorts of references to things that don't exist yet... I am very curious to know what you think Crowley's deal is and what is happening for him here.

...

Also, do you think Aziraphale knows from the beginning of S2 that he has fallen? I mean, the other angels refer to Aziraphale as a former angel and principality right to his face, don't they? I remember wondering about this the first time I watched the second series. I kept waiting for the show to clarify just what exactly Aziraphale's status was...

Well, this is a more oddly worded question than I remembered. One cannot simply be "a bit of" a fallen angel wtf game are you guys (gn) playing at? Leave that perfectly frosted cinnamon roll alone!

...

Also, I am still full of so much anticipation wondering what I asked you last time! I am positive it had to do with innuendo lol

Hello to you, my fave @iammyownproblematicfave! 💕I am SO sorry about the other Ask-- I determined you asked about the innuendo in the "very nice" scene & I'm going to whip you up a batch of etymology around the insanely complicated history of the word "nice." It got lost in my Drafts folder for a little while there and I overlooked it-- will remedy that shortly! Here's thoughts on these questions and thanks for asking.

On Crowley, time & "too late" and Aziraphale, fallen angels & heavenly rank under the cut.

First, time loop idea and Crowley's "too late" comments... So, anything is possible, right? That said, I don't think it's a time loop because I think there are scenes that explain why Crowley says "too late" at the end of that episode. I wrote about how it ties to unicorns & Wee Morag a bit in another post and I'll link it at the bottom of this one.

Basically, Crowley's anxious in that scene where he threatens Gabriel and then says that "it's always too late." Crowley's memory is iffy-- he admits as much to Gabriel later in S2-- and even if he was lying to Saraqael and/or Furfur about not remembering them, we know he struggles to recall all of his memories from when he was an angel. One memory that he felt confident about was the one he told Beez earlier in the season-- that The Book of Life is bunk that he and Beez made up to tease some of the more innocent angels. It is likely that this memory of Crowley's is correct. I say that because Beez seemed to think it possible when they heard it-- but then Beez felt like a fool at the thought that they'd been threatened by Heaven with something that didn't exist and that they themselves and Crowley made up. They doubled-down and insisted to Crowley that The Book of Life was real.

Crowley suddenly thought that Beez might be right because, hey, they'd run Hell for so long, they'd know more than he would, right? He starts to doubt his own recollection and he rushes back to the bookshop to help protect Gabriel as a way of protecting Aziraphale because he now is terrified that Aziraphale could be erased from existence if he is caught helping Gabriel. He doesn't want to tell Aziraphale that Beez reached out to him because he knows Aziraphale is sensitive about the fact that none of the angels have talked to Aziraphale in years and that their only source of intel is a demon with a thing for Crowley (Shax) so Crowley doesn't ever tell Aziraphale how scared he is about The Book of Life. Meanwhile, even though Gabriel is basically on their side now, Crowley can't exactly ask him if it's real or not because dude only knows Buddy Holly songs for basically the whole season lol.

So, in addition to worrying that Aziraphale is spiraling (because he is) and that helping Gabriel could mean that Aziraphale is risking his mental health and a fall, Crowley is also now terrified that Aziraphale could be made to have never existed. It's on his mind so much that he growls at Gabriel in that episode-ending scene that Aziraphale could be "risking his existence" for Gabriel and then muses about how it might be "too late-- it's always too late..." I don't think this is a time loop indication. I think it's a reference to other times Crowley has said "too late" in the past, like the unicorns and when Wee Morag died. It's about how it might be too late for him and Aziraphale and they might be running out of time and be on a collision course with death while not knowing it-- like how Elspeth never saw the fact that it was her last night with Wee Morag coming. It's Crowley's anxiety talking. Crowley thinks it's too late to turn back now because they're already helping Gabriel and Shax is sniffing around and they might be nearly out of time.

Crowley does have some time-related stuff happening in his story and the ability to control it but it seems to me more likely that Crowley's ability to remember that he has control of it has been taken from him in the present in S2 than it is that he's in a time loop. In the disaster kiss scene with Aziraphale, Aziraphale is really obviously signaling to Crowley a request that he freeze time. (It's obvious to us, I mean-- Aziraphale hid it from The Metatron by curving his hand.) He was trying to get Crowley to do what he did on the tarmac in S1 when he stopped everything and took them and Adam to a little time out cloud to help Adam figure out how to deal with Satan.

Crowley, though, just kind of stares at Aziraphale, even though this is literally one of the most recognizable hand signals on the planet. He also didn't just do it himself at the start of the conversation. If I were the villains, I'd be damn sure that Crowley didn't remember that he could freeze time after S1 and Crowley was gone all night before this scene (which he also doesn't seem to totally realize, no matter how many people around him keep commenting on how it's now morning.) The story, to me, seems to be suggesting that the Crowley & time stuff in S2 is that he doesn't recall that he can control it.

re: Aziraphale and what his angelic status/rank is in S1-- the cherub/principality/"you've been a bit of a fallen angel" bit...

When Michael and the other angels corner Aziraphale in S1 and Michael says that they've been learning some "disturbing things" about Aziraphale and that he's "been a bit of a fallen angel", the disturbing things are, imo, the photos of Aziraphale and Crowley that Michael has dug up. (Hypocritical much on Michael's part? Their phone chats with Ligur? That Gabriel knows about and lets them get away with but Michael wants to go after Aziraphale for having a relationship with Crowley? Yeah. Gross.) Michael and Uriel are threatening Aziraphale with a fall in the scene when they corner him. Uriel says "and don't think your boyfriend in the dark sunglasses will get you special treatment in Hell." They're using their power to threaten to cast him out as a way of trying to intimidate Aziraphale, which is another way of showing how political falling is and how it's all kind of b.s..

A demon is a fallen angel, by definition. That's the definition of a demon. Heaven has socialized angels to believe that the demons are all evil-- that they're devout followers of Satan and horrible people and to associate with them is to sully yourself with their satanicness and all that lol. In reality, there are some evil demons-- Satan is evil, Ligur was pretty bad-- but there are also some evil as fuck angels... The Metatron at the top of that list. In reality, the demons are the angels who put notes in the metaphorical suggestion box. They stood up and spoke out and questioned things. They're the curious, free-thinking "troublemakers" whose questioning of authority threatened to crumble The Metatron's power so he reacted by ostracizing them. He made a sense of the demons being "other" and evil. He invented Hell and banished them all to it-- lumping curious rebels like Crowley in with evil like Lucifer/Satan and using them as examples of what happens to those who dare to question. There really is no such thing as "a demon"-- there are just angels who have been told they're no good and that they've been cast out and are part of the collective owned by and working for Satan.

In S2, we get another bit of info about a fall when Gabriel falls. The Metatron can't send Gabriel to Hell like he would other angels because he did that once with Lucifer/Satan-- the last one to have Gabriel's job before Gabriel-- and once is "a good story" (meaning, once is a cautionary tale that keeps angels in line) but twice would suggest "an institutional problem"... twice would cause a rebellion. Twice would show that the problem is really Heaven. But, The Metatron has to do something with Gabriel, so he's going to erase Gabriel's memories (he tries to before Gabriel enacts Operation Fly and saves his memories thanks to Beez) and cast him down to a new rank of angel that they've just added to the bottom of the pile-- just for Gabriel lol. It's all political, which is how Crowley and Beez fell back in the day as well. They were caught up with Lucifer and held up as examples of evil when it seems that they really were just looking for others who were questioning things, too.

Does Aziraphale realize he's falling in S2? I think there's some language in the kiss disaster scene that indicates he suspects he might be and that he doesn't fully trust in what The Metatron is offering him-- or that that's really The Metatron. I don't think he realized he was falling until that point. It's a question, though, of what a fall really is. There are many ways to fall. You can literally fall from a great height. You can fall in rank. Both of these things happen during a fall from Heaven, in Good Omens, from what we've been told, but there are other types of fall. You can also fall in love. You can fall into despair. These ones? Aziraphale knew about. He fell in love with Crowley a long time ago and despair is always something he's working at keeping at bay, sometimes more successfully than others. In the end, his fall from Heaven is tied to both of those other kinds of falls.

But is Aziraphale already something of a fallen angel, like you asked? What of the fact that he was a cherub at one point and is a principality? Which is higher rank? We are told in the book that people "make jokes" about the fact that Aziraphale has both of those ranks. The word 'joke' comes from the Latin jocus, which literally means 'wordplay' and I think maybe looking at the different kinds of rank in Heaven through that angle might be worth a look. (Me? Taking a wordplay angle? Who would've ever thought? lol)

Who outranks who can be shown to us by how the characters behave in the scenes but the ranks of angels are more about what the words mean than about exactly which level that rank is, I think. For instance, there is some evidence that a throne and a dominion are the same level of rank-- that an angel can be both at once... which makes more sense when you consider the power aspects of those words and that here's our throne/dominion leaving his chair to dominate his plants in S1:

People are complex and need more words than one title might allow.

Aziraphale can be a cherub and a principality because once you start to get into the meanings of all of these words, you can see that which ones are given to Crowley and Aziraphale are done because of how they support who the characters are-- and how they overlap. I have a meta that I've been playing with from time to time about the different meanings of principality/dominion/throne and how Crowley and Aziraphale are both really all of them. I'll try to finish that one up soon. If you look at wordplay around the word "rank" itself, though...

...a rank is a placement or a position in military order, yeah, but it's also a bad smell. Something that is rank is something that is foul and offensive. One of the themes of the show to me seems to be that, whether you're an angel or a demon or a human, you possess your own power and no one can take that away from you unless you let them. Empowerment and freedom is the realization of that. We're all equal beings. The characters who are the least interested with power systems-- the ones who have freed themselves from concern about it and live as independently as they are able-- are the ones who view others as autonomous beings and do not support oppression of others. They are the least rank because they are dismissive of the idea of rank itself.

So, while we're having fun with words here... those who are the least rank are also probably not rank in the scent sense of the word, too lol. This would be why we have a multiple scenes devoted to how everyone is in a faint over how great Crowley smells. He's the least rank of them all-- in every way possible. 😉

The other "too late"-related meta:

[elentary]

This may be weird but I have noticed in the new good omen 2 trailer something about chairs and seats.

At first, everything feels normal: just Aziraphale in his red chair.

But later we can see Crowley on a bench. But he is on the "wrong side". He is sitting where usually Aziraphale would sit.

He's leaving Shax in his place (like he doesn't want to let something sit at his right).

Later on we have Muriel.

Aziraphale has a nice sofa but Muriel is sitting on the library chair (or step ladder chair or whatever is called) with a nice cushion.

Ditto with Gabriel.

Our principality is sitting on the library chair Gabriel is on the desk chair.

Is Aziraphale leaving the sofa just for Crowley?

Don't Crowley and Aziraphale like when somebody takes their partner's place?

A little bonus: Beelzebub has a more comfortable place to sit if we compare with Crowley's trial.

(but everything else feels worse).