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So Aziraphale is canonically good at drawing, is he? 😏

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That's hilarious 😂😂😂

(DW joke :D <3)

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Bullet Theory

Thesis: Crowley passed Aziraphale a bullet during the Final Fifteen kiss. This bullet contains his memories. He tucked it under his tongue, then began to access the memories during the ride up the elevator.

Proof:

Glint in the mouth

Inspo credit to this post by @somehow-a-human

Yeah so we were already paying way too much attention to that very special four-letter word we thought Aziraphale was going to say, but it so happens that during that cut-off phoneme is the only time you can see this shiny object in his mouth. (catching this on the right frame was emotionally painful and I’m sending Gavin Finney my therapy bills (actually no I’m not I love you very much sir)).

So that’s the basis of this theory. Crowley passed Aziraphale a bullet that he then tucks under his tongue.

Add’l Evidence Post-Kiss

Aziraphale works his jaw after raising his fingers to his lips: [gif]

Then when the Metatron comes in, he turns his back on the Metatron and raises his hand. I originally thought he was wiping his eyes. Now I think he’s raising his hand to his mouth, maybe to spit out the bullet, maybe to make sure it’s secured under his tongue.

Credits Scene

Aziraphale has the craziest fucking look on his face through the credits, we can all agree. But towards the end, his eyes flicker back and forth, as if he is watching or reading something. Then he smiles. I hypothesize that he is still accessing his memories during this time, and getting the information he needs to [redacted].

Thematic Justification: The Bullet Catch

Aziraphale having a bullet in his mouth as part of a two-man act of deception is not a fresh concept by the time we get to The Final Fifteen.

Additionally, the use of surreptitious modes of communication, where messages are passed from person to person inaudabily, is introduced in this same magic trick. 

NB1: I wish I could credit the person who I first saw point this out (relatively recently). It wasn’t even tagged as meta, I don’t think. But the gist was there’s some parallelism between “aim for my mouth but shoot past my ear” and the “pin the lips on the lips” move that Crowley pulls in the Final Fifteen. If I find it I will properly cite.

NB2: One hypothesis that has circulated around, I think creditable to @sendarya, is that Aziraphale mouths “trust me” to Crowley just before he gets on the elevator. This isn’t necessary to the Bullet Theory but it would be thematically consistent.

Small objects carry memories

Why a bullet? Well, it’s a small object that has meaningful significance between the pair of people involved, much like:

Beelzebub introduces us to the idea that a small object like a fly can be used as a storage container for memories. We also see that the object entering the body of the person is a viable way for the memories to be delivered.

(btw Jon Hamm if you’re reading this, you have very pretty eyes)

“I keep a derringer in a hollowed out book”

K, so it’s not like Crowley is just carrying a bullet loaded with Aziraphale’s memories around with him at all times, is it? (I mean, it could be, but probably not. I’ll just point you to this meta for my theories on why, if Crowley had anything that needed to be kept safe, he would keep it in the bookshop.)

We learn in S2E4 that Aziraphale keeps a gun in a hollowed out book somewhere in the shop. A gun wouldn’t be any good without bullets, right? This may not be the reason the derringer was left as a Chekhov’s Gun for S3, but it’s a possibility. If Crowley wasn’t already in possession of a bullet, he knew that he could find one in the shop. Even more likely, the exact bullet used in the 1941 magic trick is a precious keepsake being kept somewhere in the bookshop, and Crowley chose to use that exact bullet because of the memories already directly attached to the object.

Why Aziraphale even has memories to be returned to him

We know that Aziraphale could have had his mind wiped because Heaven has done it before. Certainly once. Probably twice. We know this because when Metatron is announcing that Gabriel, alongside having his memories erased, is being demoted to 38th class, Muriel pipes up and reminds us that they are 37th class:

So this wasn’t a “just Gabriel” thing. Mind-wiping is a routine form of personnel management in Heaven. There is NO reason for us to believe that it didn’t happen to Aziraphale. But in case you need a reason to believe it, here goes:

We know from our interactions with Jim that the person whose memories are missing (1) doesn’t necessarily know and (2) isn’t necessarily distressed by that fact, even if they do. Muriel also fits this “cheerful empty shell” archetype. You know who else does? Ding ding ding. The one and only A. Z. “wiggles with delight” Fell.

I can already hear your very valid counter-argument. This guy is actually terrified out of his mind on any given day that his romance with a demon will be discovered. Yes. Because he’s involved in a romance with a demon. The other two angels we’ve met don’t have this issue. Beyond that, though, these three characters share more in common with each other disposition-wise than any of them do with the other angels we’ve met (Uriel, Michael, Sandolphon, etc.).

We also know that Aziraphale has been [demoted] at some point from Cherub to Principality. This is book canon: 

"Technically Aziraphale was a Principality, but people made jokes about that these days."

This has also been confirmed (insofar as Neil Gaiman ever confirms anything) by Word of God:

(marketing video screengrab clipped for brevity)

We don’t know for sure it was a demotion, but I think we have enough evidence to infer that with a high degree of confidence.

Anyways.

Summary: Aziraphale is a cheerful angel who was demoted and has a name that is not biblical canon. This evidence indicates that was probably mind-wiped. This is not the first time I’m proposing this. It won’t be the last.

How Crowley Did It

My meta on Continuity Errors gives the complete proof for why I believe that Crowley is able to stop time without Aziraphale knowing, and I propose in that meta that the kiss was a cover-up for the exertion of effort necessary to pull that off. I further proposed that during the pause, he retrieved something from the bookshop. At the time of writing, I didn’t know what. Now, I have an inkling that it was a bullet.

If you need a refresher on Clock Theory, here’s one. The idea is that the clock behind Aziraphale shifts by fifteen minutes from before the kiss to after the kiss. This is consistent with a theory that Crowley paused time (but the clock kept running) in order to retrieve the bullet, dump Aziraphale’s memories into it if he hadn’t already, and then return to transfer the bullet to Aziraphale.

Why Crowley Kept the Secret So Long

As with Continuity Errors, I am ending this meta with a very unsatisfactory “I don’t know.” The motivation for Crowley to keep Aziraphale’s memories from him until the very moment he’s about to leave must have been a strong one. I think it has something to do with why Crowley was so insistent on trying to get Aziraphale to run away with him, instead of dealing with whatever’s coming. But as with Continuity Errors, I suspect that the good omens meta hivemind (and the vast collection of people who are posting clues, you have no idea how important you are) will assemble yet more breadcrumbs that we can follow to some sort of hypothesis.

Until then,

iv

(here's my meta index if you would like to read more stuff like this)

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Another Sir Terry Pratchett interview on the details of writing Good Omens with Neil Gaiman. (More about this process x).

Question about how he goes about collaborating with someone else (Neil Gaiman).

Terry: “You make them do what you want”.

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Once upon a time, I was falling in love

But now I'm only falling apart

There's nothing I can do

A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time, there was light in my life

But now there's only love in the dark

Nothing I can say

A total eclipse of the heart

how was the eclipse : (

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Good Omens by sandara

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ineffable husbands + walking together

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Good Omens lines that I can't believe are canon

🔫 Aim for my mouth but shoot past my ear

💖 While we dance~~

🥂 To the world

🥺 And I would like to spend-

🕊 It's late. Comes with putting it up your sleeve

🤍 He's far too pure of heart to be anyone's bit on the side! He's just an angel I know

🔥 I am having a moment here!

🚗 You can't do ninety miles per hour in Central London! Why not?

💕 I just found something that mattered more to me than choosing sides

⚔️ Nobody’s at war. You idiots send an idiot to lead a gang of idiots to attack a bookshop

😉 I’m going to get into so much trouble! You think so? Well, then, let’s make it worthwhile

🥰 Crowley will be back in a moment. He will have a plan. Why don’t you stand up for yourself? Make your own plan. Oh, I am. But rescuing me makes him so happy

👍 Staying behind to die bravely? Good on you

💙 I knew you’d come through for me. You always do. Well, you said, ‘trust me.’ And you did.

😈 You’re in trouble. Obviously. Former demon, hated by Heaven, loathed by Hell. How will our hero cope?

💞 This was your ‘something’s wrong’ voice

🍷 Just imagine how awful it might've been if we'd been at all competent. Point taken

🚲 Oh Lord, heal this bike

😭 Stuff happened. I lost my best friend

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An early preproduction concept art of S2 by Louis Ralph before rewrites - in all likelihood the historical flashback Arabian Nights :)

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A dramatic entrance) (Yeah, the reference is from old Dune)

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Instagram / Patreon / kofi

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Angel Dust

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Father and daughter)

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In a knight and maiden situation, Would Aziraphale be the maiden and Crowley be the knight,or would Aziraphale be the knight and Crowley be the maiden??🤔

Both, on alternate days. And sometimes they're both maidens. And one time, they actually were both knights so that one's a particular favorite.

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There is something very sweet about how Gabriel not only remembers every word to "Everyday"-- which means he must have listened to it a trillion times after Beez said they liked it-- but also that while he can't even remember his own name, he consistently uses adjectives from the era of the song-- "books are keen!", "neat blanket", "neato fan"-- which suggests that Gabriel basically became obsessed with early rock 'n roll and 1950s American pop culture as a result of "Everyday." He was up there missing Beez and rabbit holing on the Heavenly Google everything he didn't know.

The Ineffable Bureaucracy wedding is a sock hop catered by Johnny Rockets with a hot chocolate fountain, isn't it?