#flawed protagonist aziraphale

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

"we want more protagonists making flawed decisions!!" no the fuck you don't you guys can't even handle aziraphale without convincing yourselves he was drugged

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: I'm Beginning to See the Light

There was Crowley - the paragon of cool, the overlord of apathy, breezing easily through each and every one of their exchanges and giving no fucks while doing so; then there was the anachronistic, cloying Aziraphale, trying and failing not to live life like a Thomas Hardy protagonist, and giving many fucks indeed. Or: Aziraphale has quite the pash on his colleague Crowley, who seems resolutely disinterested in him. As their annual Christmas party progresses, it appears that Crowley may not be as disinterested as Aziraphale first thought.

Length: 15,991 words

AO3 Rating: Explicit / Spice Level 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Best for: After Dark, Romance, Fluff, Human AU

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by ineffabildaddy

*Minor Spoilers* Oh hello, did you want some body worship and honestly the best trans sex I've ever read?

This fic, let's be real, is a PWP. Yeah it flirts with a plot and backstory for these two work colleagues, but it is just the backdrop for their gorgeous bedroom activities. Crowley straight up worships Aziraphale here. Every bit of Aziraphale's body that he's ever felt shame for is touched, and kissed, and loved. It's really emotional, the idea that your "flaws" will be seen as praiseworthy felt so safe and healing to me. Every scar, stretch mark, and ounce of fat is paid attention to and loved. Aziraphale being trans is everything and nothing. It's both just a body, and a body that was created and worthy of honor. Crowley is the ultimate service top here, and him freely using pet names made me weak. Like why you guys gotta write the dirtiest smut that makes me want to cry?? I didn't ask for all these feelings in my porn!

Very explicit after dark read, it's very tactile and visually rich. It's definitely one that you will feel. I really loved this. It's so healing and comforting. It shows us that trans sexuality is beautiful, desirable, and wanted. Something to be praised and cherished.

Read it here, fic by ineffabildaddy

P.S. Here's a pair of quotes that I can't stop thinking about

"Aziraphale said the word ‘never’ perhaps more than any other - most often to himself. The idea that certain things would never happen was both an icy blade in the gut and a snug compression bandage simultaneously."

and "His most precious and ached-for 'never' was to have this; this concrete knowledge that he was desired, that he was cared for, that he was seen. It was simply too good to be true that it was the man of his dreams who had finally promised to remove this file from his 'never' folder and tear it into infinitesimal pieces."

someone put me down already

[cygnusmori]

Good Omens S2 thoughts ahead, beware of spoilers

It's been already two days since I binge watched the season in one go, and I wanna share some thoughts. However, they aren't positive, if you're looking for praise you won't like this.

I won't talk about the big bad end or Aziraphale, I think there's already enough posts covering the issue and explaining Aziraphale, or theorizing about Metatron, or that Crowley wasn't in the right either.

I wanna talk about him.

For many, it seems like he was the only positive sweet thing about that ending, and that this was his redemption arc.

But I digrees.

See, I've always been fan of Gabriel, and I always thought he was a nuanced character, I don't think Gabriel is anywhere near of perfection. I like him with his flaws, I think he's funny, ignorant, mean at times, and has that alienating "non human" feeling. He did bad things, but I never saw him as an evil big bad force, I never thought he was a villain. He was on the opposing side of our protagonists, which is different.

But that's the S1, let's talk about S2 and why I'm disappointed.

Maybe just showing that he isn't all evil a didn't want to try to destroy the world is enough of a development for most. But not for me, because we didn't see this development.

I'm grateful that he wasn't shown as an evil edgelord compulsive serial abuser? Yeah. Thanks.

But for most of the season, we didn't see Gabriel, we saw Jim. This amnesiac, empty, thoughtless person. I loved him, we all love him, I know! He's sweet, cute, empathetic, dumb, and apologized for something he didn't know he did.

But he didn't have any actual meaningful "eye-opening" experiences with the ineffables. He didn't have like, let's say an attempt at bonding or friendship, or getting to know and discover earth. Everyone theorized and was eager to have Gabriel discovering the wonders of earth and humanity, realizing is worth saving.

And what did we go? ...A flashback in the last episode that lasted less than, what, 6 minutes? Where he just enjoys the same song that Beelzebub. Everything about their relationship is left as just guess work, there's not even a fraction of growth like the ineffables had.

But not just that, is that it was mostly told. Not shown.

We didn't see Gabriel having any actual feelings, or conflicts, or problems, or worries. Nothing.

We're shown he could sacrifice himself to save the humans and trying to avoid the problems he was causing, which is sweet and beautiful! I love him! But that's still Jim...Would Gabriel do it? I wanna say yes, I wanna believe that he would! But that's the problem. we don't really know because we just got about less than 10 minutes of the actual Gabriel.

He remained as this silly amnesiac character for the first 5 episodes. And then on the last 20 minutes he got his memories back, and what did he do, after being protected and cared by Aziraphale and Crowley?

Nothing. There wasn't an exchange of words, there wasn't a "They helped me". There was nothing, there wasn't any explanation for why he actually seeked Aziraphale, besides that little implication made by Metatron that maybe Gabriel thought Aziraphale should be the next leader (which, let me add, could be a lie).

I, even as a fan of Gabe, feel like he had barely anything to offer. No much more relevant bits of his personality than what we already knew. I still thought he was super funny and loveable as Jim, but yeah...not growth. Especially between Aziraphale and him, after all...they knew each other for ages, Aziraphale thought he was awful but also that he would protect him, and this amnesiac Gabriel was eager to apologize and help, where are the follow ups of that?

I get it, he's a side character.

But this season he's a Plot Device.

What about these "lucid moments" where he spoke with the voice of God? Or those "It hurts to remember!"? They meant nothing? They weren't clues, he was just so ready to drop everything?

And as an audience I have to accept he really changed that much, he really didn't care about falling or losing his over 6000 years job. That's so...empty.

I didn't see any eye-opening, or mind-changer experience for him. We saw he's capable of love and respect and selfless actions, I guess, but that's just the most bare minimum, and one that I already always believed, so there's not excitement for me at all.

I think maybe I feel like this because I always thought he wasn't evil, but all of the reasoning for him not being evil, barely got touched. I mean the responsability maniac, the workaholic tendencies, the extreme obedience, the stress, the emotional familiarity with other archangels, the fear of falling... he had none of these things, he apparently changed in four years. That's it. "He's changed, and doesn't care about being the leader! And now he's singing a love song and disappearing happily on the sunset!" is not the direction I expected.

They just left, without consequences besides stepping down of their ranks? Gabriel's memories loss wasn't even a punishment. He had no real consequences for anything and that hurts me, because those are needed for a character to learn and progress. He got rewarded for loving freely, but that love wasn't even actually shown (no, cheesy and super sappy pet names aren't a relationship development)

I'm just sad...or more like devastated about almost everything in this S2. I guess I can just enjoy the fact that him being just a random dude and not worse than the devil himself is my consolation prize. And even with that I was left feeling like I don't have any reason to be in the fandom.

That said, those are just my thoughts. You can disagree and think this season was wonderfully done on every aspect, that's what opinions are.

[applestorms]

GOOD OMENS.

CLENCH UP BITCHES WE'RE DOING THIS. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS READ WITH CAUTION my hands are still shaking from finishing season 2 approximately 13.420 minutes ago so everybody clam the fuigk up/down. we're getting IN to this one. 10 sections.

okay, before i get into anything specific, i just wanna say: this series has had some of the best writing i've seen in a tv show & it's really fucking gratifying to watch. this season in particular had some really clear, distinct themes that were evolved upon and executed pretty much perfectly imo, to the point that i almost feel like i can guess what a good deal of season 3 is probably gonna look like (see section 12). this is great!! it means the writers are really paying attention to what the story is doing & what the characters are feeling/going through at any given moment in the story, & it just makes the series that much stronger on a rewatch. this season in particular really hits that sweet spot for me of being overt & clear w/ its themes w/o treating its audiences like idiots, it just. works.

i'm not going to touch on season 1 as much here since it's not as fresh as s2 for me rn, but hopefully this post can help bring some additional analysis/reflection to the new season. not sure how much of this will be totally crazy wild & new, but perhaps some interesting points will come outta the process. hope you enjoy the read!! there's 13 sections so feel free to skip around.

1. aziraphale as the beautiful execution of a flawed protagonist (ft. crowley's pining)

one of the best parts of this season by far comes from the character writing, particularly for the main two & especially for aziraphale. aziraphale was my personal favorite to watch for this entire season actually, he & crowley are both such a fucking mess but aziraphale in particular hides it in such a fascinating way to me. it's not just like watching a car crash, it's like sitting on a park bench watching a man drive a bus into a stoplight, like full on crunch the vehicle in half squish, and then just get out & carry on walking like nothing is wrong & he isn't dripping blood & scraping broken bones across the concrete.

on a broader scale, there is something incredibly appealing about how aziraphale & crowley are presented, even at a very base level. even w/o the fantastic acting of michael sheen & david tennant specifically, it's a pretty common thing that fandom will default to shipping Narrative Foils, & these two are the epitome of that. a demon who can't stop being a nice guy & an angel who keeps cutely being an asshole- this is a great base to work off of, & again the execution thus far has been excellent.

what i like about aziraphale in particular is how complex his character ends up being while still fitting into a very particular role. while crowley to some degree fits into an already pretty popular & well-loved character model (that of the grumpy nice guy), aziraphale has to hit a couple of very important & precise traits, being both outwardly very likeable & endearing while simultaneously constantly fucking up & doing increasingly egregious shit. i really can't commend michael sheen enough for his acting in helping to get the balance right- it would be STUPIDLY easy to make aziraphale the most obnoxious character to ever grace the screen if performed or written incorrectly, the kind of outwardly-kind asshole that does horrific shit w/o reflecting since the show runners seem incapable of seeing the character for what they are & it all just ends up driving viewers up the wall (e.g. emily in paris).

what i think makes aziraphale work is the fact that he is just genuine enough in his actions that when he does something legitimately horrible, it's both so subtle you almost don't even pick up on it, too distracted by the emotions you feel in following his perspective, & just motivated enough that it's easy to write him off w/o thinking any deeper. as much as crowley calls aziraphale out for being a bad magician, i think it's spot on that the one thing he is quite skilled at is misdirection. you spend a lot of time in this show following very closely with either aziraphale or crowley's POV, but in s2 especially the contrast between those two views is quite overt. while crowley's perspective is often a lot quieter, more reflective & also overtly anxious as he throws himself into stressful situations purely for the sake of supporting az, aziraphale's POV is always very loud & chaotic as he runs around, finding pubs & fighting demons & doing whatever the fuck else he wants to at any given moment.

the main flaw of aziraphale in this season is, imo, selfishness, a direct contrast to crowley's continual self-sacrifice when it comes to aziraphale. in both cases though, this is (pushed to become) a flaw that i think ultimately leads to their inability to connect at the end of the season. but in order to understand that more, we're going to have to take a closer look into the circumstances that have thus far shaped both aziraphale & crowley's characters.

2. denial as a defense mechanism: heaven & hell as life threatening danger

if there's one thing s2 has not forgotten when it comes to a&c, it's the circumstances of s1 that led them to their current emotional/mental states.

slight tangent to lead back into this point: in my work as a librarian, i end up dealing w/ a very particular set of clientele when it comes to the kinds of people that regularly use a public library. parents w/ young children, older gentlemen & ladies looking to escape the more extreme weather, and (for my city, at least) lots and lots of people who no longer have stable housing. since an often forgotten about goal of a public library (well, to the general population) is social services, as a part of my training i've recently been working through a book on what is essentially trauma-informed customer service, which has led to a lot of insight.

one point in particular that i want to highlight here is the idea that traumatic instances are both common & intensely significant in how they can change a person's behavior. defense mechanisms that may make sense in the context of a traumatic event will often stick w/ people even as the context they're in changes & the instincts are no longer useful, instead making the individuals' life even more difficult.

if there is one trauma that defines a lot of the current problems that a&c are going through, it's the fear that originates from the constant surveillance and, in turn, threat of complete eradication that comes from both heaven & hell.

significantly, crowley & aziraphale both respond to this threat in distinctly different ways: where crowley clings to the idea of escape, of creating a place where it's him and aziraphale against the world (alpha centauri), in part idealizing aziraphale as both his only friend ("friend") & the only person he could ever truly trust (crowley also likely has some trauma from the fall but we'll get to that), aziraphale viciously denies that they even have a relationship, all the while simultaneously relying on crowley heavily to do a lot of his dirty work for him. (see this post for the endgame twist on that idea.) it's significant to me that a good chunk of aziraphale's earliest morally dubious actions involve lying- since he's been doing it for so long, it's probably one of the easiest things for him to write off as not that bad, so it's natural that he would default to it as a defense mechanism here too.

to clarify, crowley does engage in denial too, though it's obvious from the emotional climaxes of both season 1 & 2 that he is much less committed to it, likely doing it for the sake of easing aziraphale's mind and/or giving himself something to fall back on so he doesn't attract too much attention from the people that can really hurt them. overall though, these are both basically just fight/flight responses- crowley ultimately wants to run away from or fight everyone that can hurt them (& betrayed him by letting him down in the past) and aziraphale ultimately just wants to deny that the problem even exists.

if we see aziraphale's later stated goal of, "Let's change heaven for the better," as an evolution off of his earlier mindset, this is also basically what their final argument in ep6 comes down to: crowley wanting to run away and aziraphale wanting to go & fight for change. what's so aggravating about this conversation is that they also want the exact same thing: EACH OTHER. (idiots.) (maggie & nina were spot on, of course. it's not just nightingales missing in that silence.) this is not even to mention the fact that they are utilizing these defense mechanisms not just in an attempt to protect themselves, but ultimately to protect one another. think about that one late at night if you wanna get up the motivation to key mr. gaiman's car.

it's also interesting to note that in s1 crowley basically wins this argument, getting the chance to settle down (albeit, still under pretty questionable circumstances) as he & aziraphale (supposedly) create their own little corner of the world away from everyone else. it still doesn't work though as neither of their solutions really get at the core of the problem, which is 1. the horrific bureaucratic systems of heaven & hell that Don't Give a Shit about People at all, and 2. their own unspoken fears & feelings (romantic & otherwise).

3. good, evil, & narrative foils: crowley edition

since i extrapolated on aziraphale's character in section 1 and a&c's relationship in 2, i think it's only right that i look into crowley more for 3.

for all the pain & agony & tears that it brings, i really do think that ep6 is the best ep of s2. specifically, i think that ep6 is the one that shows the primary issues of a&c that have been plaguing them throughout the season (& even previously in s1) the most overtly, and this is especially true of crowley.

there are two things that aziraphale gets wrong about heaven in their final argument: 1st, the idea that heaven is necessarily better than hell, & 2nd the idea that crowley would ever want anything to do w/ it again.

i've seen some people talking about crowley like he's the voice of reason this season, but i don't necessarily agree, or at least not entirely. he's completely right when he says that heaven & hell is toxic in their final argument, yes, but i don't think his motivation in saying that is purely from observation either. remember that point i mentioned earlier, about crowley also having trauma from his initial fall? where aziraphale naturally trusts people to a fault (see: gabriel, but also picking up shax, the graveyard, etc.), crowley is plagued by a complete inability to trust anyone around him, & it's my opinion that a lot of this comes from the trauma of his initial fall.

the one exception to this is, of course, aziraphale, who we can see attempting to be a friend to crowley both before & long after his fall, but aside from him crowley Does Not trust anyone else around him & honestly for good reason. while we can write off hell as just being Like That, even if crowley didn't initially want to fall (as is heavily implied in a few flashback scenes), he certainly doesn't want to be dragged back into a supposedly great position that he knows he could lose again at any wrong comment. this is also (in part) why i think crowley reacts so strongly to aziraphale's "Nothing lasts forever," comment- after going through the horror of losing his divinity & all the stress of the last few seasons, the one thing crowley probably wants is stability, & he's been relying on aziraphale as the source of that. you're both doing the dance for this one, boys.

to reiterate: don't forget the graveyard scene when it comes to crowley doing absolutely anything for aziraphale to the point that it hurts him, both in terms of the supposed punishment he got from hell (that az skips over real fast in his narration) & how aziraphale continues to deny both the reality of their relationship & how much his denial hurts crowley.

4. beelz & gabe the weirdest couple imaginable. good for them. good for them. also: heaven & hell as two equally controlling/toxic sides of a bureaucracy

the Big Bads of the last few seasons took more of a backseat for this one which makes sense considering the focus on a&c and all of the parallel couples, but i do think the one point that was emphasized for them is very important, and that's the ways in which both heaven & hell parallel each other as shitty bureaucratic pyramids of power.

if we consider this meme to be true, i think crowley really is right when it comes to his analysis of heaven & hell, though we're probably just gonna have to wait until s3 to see the exact route the show decides to take.

a big running thread w/in either of these two groups is the fight for promotions, both in terms of people clawing their way up to get more power & in terms of people being replaceable. crowley & gabriel getting kicked out of their positions is just a vacancy of power to the companies that are Good Omens Heaven & Hell, and there is a very clear parallel between shax & michael & their desire for control. what's notable is how that parallel might also now extend to aziraphale what w/ his new promotion. all very fitting concepts to cover in a post-covid, writers-strike context, which i have seen our resident mr. gaiman posting about.

5. yuri on ice, hannibal, & the beauty of acknowledged romantic tension

if there is ONE thing i am disgustingly grateful for in this show it's the fact that we finally have some concrete follow-through on the romantic tension between a&c that permeated through s1. there's only so many times a man can call his best bud "Angel" completely unironically before it gets fucking stupid (cough cough dean winchester cough). but also, to put it in the words of another text post around here: I love how the kiss was awful.

even if there wasn't a kiss, the fact that this fucking entire season fucking revolved around love & featured all kinds of parallel couples should be enough to clue you in on the romantic tension between a&c, if you somehow were blind enough to miss it before. that being said, i'm really glad that the kiss was executed the way that it was, essentially summarizing all of the tension & anguish that had been built up over the last few seasons in an explosion. the state of aziraphale & crowley's relationship hurts more because they kissed, because the tension finally overflowed & it still wasn't enough to stop him from getting in the stupid elevator & running away again.

sorry had to take a break to aggressively listen to the better call saul theme song again. anyways, while i know there are some other shows that have set precedent for this in acknowledging the romantic development between their leads, i can't stop thinking about two in particular in comparison to good omens: yuri on ice, for the literal cinematic parallels between the kiss, and nbc hannibal, for the creator acknowledgement & slow lead up to the climax.

what i am desperately hoping & praying for w/ good omens is season 3, since it feels like all too often when we finally get a good, Gay:tm: show it's always this big, flashy thing right at the end that everyone freaks out about & adores (around these parts, at least) but is never evolved upon. i think gomens has a good chance since we've got more precedent now, the creators/actors/etc are more open about it, & the season is clearly unfinished w/ a ravenous fanbase, but something something supernatural trauma i'll trust it when i see it. can't always believe these corporate fuckers. at the very least though they probably wouldn't write this kind of ending if they didn't think they had a good case for another season, so.

ok, a couple shorter sections cause i'm undoubtedly gonna run out of space if i keep at this pace:

6. the resurrectionists was a really good arc that i enjoyed a lot

exactly what it says tbh, the writing for this arc in particular really stood out to me.

i mentioned earlier that s2 has some really good character writing & i think that's in part because it's necessary as a kind of transition season, reflecting on the chaos that happened w/ the first go at armageddon & setting up for the next apocalyptic event that is likely planned for s3. it's for this reason that i think the resurrectionists arc is really strong, establishing in particular all the flaws of aziraphale's character that i went over previously in a very interesting way that still manages to weave into the previously established, albeit quite sparse flashback timeline established in s1. the morally dubious nature of grave robbing for the sake of science & medicine is the perfect context to put characters like a&c in, and the more overt look into class w/ a character like elspeth works really well in helping to ground the more abstract social commentary associated w/ heaven & hell.

7. ramblings about sequels & whatnot

it can be really difficult to write a sequel, especially when the first go at the story cleaned up its plot so well by the end, but where s2 is strongest imo is in establishing the ways that crowley & aziraphale still need to grow.

i almost think that this season had to end horrifically tragic, in a similar way that i think book 2 of the simon snow series wayward son had to end on a pretty dour note. in order for 1 & 3 to have decently high notes, 2 just often has to be pretty miserable to balance it all out.

this is also why i think the maggie/nina storyline is so important overall. not only do those two establish the most overt romantic parallel to a&c, helping to transition the story from s1 & set up for ep6, but they also end on a distinctly hopeful note that's in direct contrast to the scene that comes immediately after they leave. the parallel plants at least the tiniest seed of hope that a&c can sort their shit out if given some time & communication, similar to maggie & nina. it also makes a lot more sense in establishing why crowley chooses that moment of all times to bother w/ a love confession- i genuinely don't think the kiss would work if m&n didn't have a little sit-down intervention w/ him beforehand.

8. SPECULATION: aziraphale vs. crowley apocalyptic fight, dissolving of the current organization of heaven & hell, affirmation of the beauty of humanity & morality?

a list of my speculation about what may or may not happen in s3:

apocalypse part 2 only this time aziraphale & crowley are actually gonna be fighting each other & it's going to be fucking agonizing to watch especially in direct contrast to s1

there's probably going to be some sort of attempt to get crowley into an equal/parallel position to aziraphale in hell. whether or not he actually decides to take this position is kinda up in the air, but either way he's going to fight it at first out of a hatred of both sides. if he does eventually agree it'll be under some sort of condition to save aziraphale, and/or a fake out trick that also is to save aziraphale.

i just don't think i can see a happy ending where heaven & hell stay in their same structure. w/ such big characters as gabriel & beelzebub just fucking gone into the middle of nowhere there's gotta be some kind of re-establishment of the two sides & their relations. the only way it might not change is if the Religion Lore gets in the way, but w/ the established politics of this show & mr. gaiman i can't see an ending that just allows the status quo to continue on exactly as horrible as it's been.

crowley back in his apartment? (plsplspls.) also something really heart-wrenching & emotional related to the car & the bookstore after a&c have been separated from them because of course. personally requesting additional exploration of the car as a symbol of crowley himself/able to be influenced by aziraphale e.g. scooting towards az, yellow is so pretty, etc. etc.

more flashbacks, maybe more from crowley's pov this time? like something to do w/ that period where he was supposedly being punished for helping aziraphale, more about his experiences w/ hell & the fall, etc.

something something affirmation of the beauty of humanity & the world, ft. a&c bonding over their mutual love of it again. they were each others only real friend for how many thousands of years, if they're gonna be fighting OR attempting a romantic bond that's going to be significant.

when the actual romantic reconciliation happens is kinda up in the air, but it depends on what the Big Bad ends up being, an external force of heaven & hell or a&c themselves. personally, i think that heaven & hell are just gonna keep getting weaker but w/ aziraphale in charge maybe that'll change (or maybe it'll be the catalyst lolol). if it's external they'll probably get together earlier in the season, if it's more internal probably not til the end, though there might be a momentary reconciliation for the sake of fighting something else.

i'm a bit more up in the air about this one, but maybe something more w/ satan & god as the top of the pyramid when it comes to heaven & hell? good omens is all about that kind of contrast so it might make sense. this also assumes that s3 is the presumed end of the series, which may or may not be the case.

if this does end up being the end of the series: i really, really, really, would not be surprised if crowley & aziraphale end up fully human. it's quite the obvious answer but it just makes so much sense for their characters, w/ their love of the world & whatnot. then again a lot of their relationship has also been related to immortality, but also then again there's a lot of stories out there about immortals hating their long lives & wanting to just settle down like normal people so. ehh. oh speaking of settling down,

9. they're NOT married, that's the PROBLEM: thirteen seconds.

thirteen. full. seconds. of the Most Awful Kiss. known to contemporary tv.

they're not married that's th eentire fuckigngggng proble m.,,..,,..,.

10. "I forgive you."

this is such a nonsensical line it makes me so absurdly angry. what the fuck are you doing aziraphale. well, presumably the exact same thing crowley was trying to do by kissing you, but i digress.

bonus edit, i thought of this literal seconds before falling asleep & now i can’t get it out of my mind: crowley needs aziraphale for stability, aziraphale needs stability to have crowley. mic drop

[orionsangel86]

I've written extensively about how the ending of Sandman has questionable implications, but damn, your response to that other post really made me think about the questionable implications of the start too. Like, it really does basically say "solitary confinement can be a good thing that leads to reform." Which. Yikes.

Then again, for a cosmic entity I guess there are very few other ways you could get through to them. And years of confinement for a billions of years old entity isn't the same as it is for a human because of the difference in timespan involved. But still... it's like when American TV shows started trying to make torture look good and heroic post 9-11.

It's EXTRA bad when taken in conjunction with the ending implications. Like, together it boils down to "solitary confinement is good thing because it made Morpheus reconsider his impact on the world, and thus he killed himself to make the universe better, which we should be happy about." Which is one HELL of a take to have!

It's really difficult to not find these interpretations when analysing the source material. There is some eyebrow raising stuff in the Sandman comics that I wonder exactly what Neil was trying to say with them.

I think a lot of these more controversial interpretations boil down to the concept that Morpheus is not meant to a relateable and human character. He is meant to be other, he is meant to be fundamentally flawed and unable to change who he is because he exists in such a way that human minds simply can not comprehend. The tragedy of the story however is that he DOES change, he DOES improve and he does so in such human ways that we as the readers easily slip into relateability and start viewing Morpheus as human when he fundamentally is not and can not be compared on our level.

I think its an issue the comics try to explore, and in some ways they do it well, whereas in others they fail because by encouraging people to care for Morpheus, to root for him as a protagonist, the comics ask us to see him as human - because we can only truly relate to characters on a human level. But the comics constantly go out of their way to remind us that he is not human, and therefore are stating that we should not care for him in human terms. It's a contradiction in my opinion that doesn't quite work the way its perhaps intended to.

It's not the first time that Neil Gaiman has struggled to get this concept across to his fans. Look at Good Omens. Every single ask Neil got about Good Omens for a long time after the show first aired was asking him to confirm things about Aziraphale and Crowley on a human level. I lost count how many times Neil would answer with a variation of "They are not human they are an angel and a demon".

The Sandman comics also get confusing because when they slip into Morpheus's own POV, we get his own thoughts on what he is. He is a personification of dreams. He is not "living" a "life" because he simply exists to serve the dreamers. He does not get his own "story" so he cannot relate to any characters in the stories over which he rules. We have to be careful when interpreting things from Morpheus's POV though, because most of the time its utter bullshit, but whilst we are in his POV it is portrayed as absolute fact. I fully believe the reason why so many people hate on Morpheus and easily dismiss him as a dreadful character who deserves all the shit he gets put through, is because they are taking what Morpheus believes about himself as truth.

The comics make it very clear that Morpheus' time imprisoned in the glass cage is good for him, that it triggered his change. That it gave him the chance to sit and think on the way he has behaved over the past centuries. It is basically putting him in one big time out. Go sit and think about your behaviour and perhaps you will learn to be a better person. On a human level this is indeed a horrible message.

Morpheus isn't human though, and it is clear that before his imprisonment he wasn't a very nice creature. The Men of Good Fortune comic is a good indicator of that. His behaviour in 1889 is appalling but in the comic this behaviour is clearly due to his seeing humans as lesser than him. He is insulted by Hob daring to suggest that he needs a friend, and I think it is also heavily implied that were he not imprisoned all those years, he simply would not have met Hob in 1989 once free on principle.

The show interestingly enough takes a completely different approach to this, but thats for a separate post.

My point is, I don't think Neil as Morpheus' creator views him in human terms, and I don't think he would have viewed Morpheus' imprisonment as some meta commentary on solitary confinement being an appropriate punishment that leads to reform. I think its much more nuanced than that. We can also interpret it as a commentary on how trauma can be a trigger for change. Morpheus is a victim of trauma for sure, and I certainly don't believe that the comics are advocating for people to suffer trauma in order to become better people, just that perhaps it can change your perspective.

It's a difficult topic and I am not sure I have explained my thoughts too well here so apologies for that. I think if its any consolation the show seems to be taking a different approach to the comic and I think the show also implies Morpheus began changing before his imprisonment. It helps as well that the show also seems to leaning heavily into the notion that we can and SHOULD view Morpheus in human terms, and relate to him and empathise with him. The show has already made him far more human in many ways, so I am curious to see how those changes will affect later comic stories.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

LWA: I'm procrastinating again from professional writing, so I'll take the opportunity of you being uncomfortable with "God Ships It" to do my rant. When I started attempting to read GO fanfic, I was startled by how...panicked?...it is about the source material. The panic is most obvious when it comes to dealing with any of Crowley's character flaws--this is a fandom that gets very sentimental about how cruel Crowley might be to his plants, but then does a Bentley-sized swerve when it comes to how cruel Crowley is to /Aziraphale/ when he /successfully/ manipulates him into trying to kill the Antichrist for him--but it also comes out in its treatment of religion.

The irony of post-S2 fanfic is that pre-S2 fanfic overwhelmingly endorses Aziraphale's attitude to Heaven (without realizing it). That is, it implicitly or explicitly assumes that Heaven has become warped in the absence of God, and that the presence of God Herself (or Himself, in the novel) would provide the "good" alternative. Heaven, that is, can be reformed if the real authority would just stand up. Moreover, there are multiple fics that really do assume that being an angel is better than being a demon because angelic grace means they are still in touch with the divine, and there are even fics that posit how great it would be if Crowley were reinstated to angelic status. "God ships it" rests on the assumption that the GO God is "good," that His/Her "shipping" is beneficent and rooted in care specifically for the protagonists (particularly if it proves to be part of the ineffable plan), and that His/Her imprimatur is desirable and necessary.

None of these assumptions are supported by the novel or series. (I keep wanting to write "Source for this claim?" in the margins.) Gaiman inadvertently sets the stage for "God ships it" by making God the narrator in S1, but "God reports it" is not the same as "God ships it." More to the point, both the novel and the series reject the terms of Pascal's Wager: if we cannot be assured of the existence of God or the nature of God's will, GO responds, then the correct course of action is to locate moral authority "on the ground," as it were, in human communities, and to proceed as if /God does not exist./ (Anathema burning the second book of prophecies is a case in point.) Moreover, in the series we are shown repeatedly that God's actions violate human (and angelic and demonic) moral norms, particularly in repeated sacrifices of children, and viewers are not invited to side with God! There is no evidence that the GO God is good, or loving, or even fundamentally decent in a way that can be articulated in terms of earthly morality. God's ways are incomprehensible, which is why, as I said before, attempts to do theology in GO-verse don't arrive at anything coherent. There is certainly no sign that God thinking you're a great person is going to do wonders for you (see: Job). And after seeing what God either causes to happen directly or allows to happen by withdrawing, there are no circumstances under which centering the protagonists' love lives makes God look any better. ("Isn't it amazing that all the horrors of the past several millennia had to happen just so Aziraphale and Crowley could be in love?") Finally, the "shipping" suggests that it is /desirable/ that the characters' love be divinely authorized or that they should be outright directed into a relationship by providential means, even though GO is all about the centrality of free will and the necessity of learning how to choose. So...no.

hey, look LWA; far be it for me to tell you how to spend your breaks in between work but i do have to question your decision that any part of that break is spent delivering Hot Tea to my inbox - but im never going to complain about it, rant away!!!✨ (also - hope the writing is going well, procrastination or no!!!)

it does make me uncomfortable for this one simple reason:

"god does not play dice with the universe. i play an ineffable game of my own devising."

so look - i know it's literally god speaking. she can do as she pleases, whatever. but to think that she tampers with her best and yet most ironic invention truly unnerves me - that she takes free will, and manipulates it to her design - and even more alarming is that that design is completely unknown and unknowable to anyone other than her. honestly, it's this kind of thought that makes me steer well clear of any religious leanings personally; people will make decisions and will mess them up and will succeed with them, but the thought that those occurrences were "god's will", or down to a higher power... well, it's not a good feeling, in my opinion. extrapolate that thought to any real life scenario as you will.

but in any case, to apply this to GO gives me the same sense of unease. i have still the thought that there is going to be a clear, definitive line between the great plan and the ineffable plan in the narrative. that seems to have been set up very firmly in s1, and arguably becomes way more understated yet elaborated on in s2 (job and resurrectionist minisodes) until the end when metatron mentions the second coming. id absolutely love for it to be a huge narrative point in s3 again; the ultimate long-con chekhovs gun metaphorically jamming, backfiring, and spraying shrapnel all over the place.

but which is worse? a great plan that at the very least almost everyone of influence in heaven, including aziraphale if you hypothesise based on his knowing of the plans for the humans/earth in the pre-fall scene, has seen or at least seen bits of, and now presumably will work to ensure will come to pass because they know better than to question something metaphorically written in stone? an awful concept at face value, fulfilling prophecy, but at least you'd know what you're getting - you're buying what's advertised. i got rather ensconced in looking up some biblical stuff the other night, thinking about something similar to this, and:

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6 - KJV)

that is terrifying, even if you take into account "the end is not yet", because that is ominous as all hell. but is it more terrifying that the ineffable plan, that is controlled and shaped and enacted by only one entity, cannot be questioned or challenged until it has already come to pass? that it is not of even questionable morality, but unknowable morality? god does not play dice, because that would be fairer - that would leave things up to chance... free will. instead she is playing by something only she knows, only she can control. so in that first quote, i interpret that she is either directly or indirectly telling the audience not to trust her and her actions. maybe god is self-aware, maybe not. she's ineffable.

so, even if the great plan is awful and inevitable, is it better to anticipate exactly what's coming? better the devil you know? either way, between the two, you're actually caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. that's the whole dilemma, the whole point, i know. but this is where i come to the "god ships it" trope: i originally thought that aziraphale and crowley being a part (and possibly inadvertently cocking up) the ineffable plan by way of their love story would be a great plot device - until i realised that, to be honest, that would a) feel like lazy writing with very little nuance to be had, and b) directly contradict my whole thought process on free will.

i do think they're involved in the ineffable plan, have a stake and place in it. i don't think, in some way, that there's any way they can't be. but it would have to be for god's benefit (ie whatever conclusion for the world she's currently got running on standby mode), and i don't think god, being what/who she is, would be able to understand love like that. she might foresee it, being omniscient and all, but what would she know about it? love is something to be felt, and that kind of love (unless GO is going to take a very weird turn) is not something she could ever experience. she sees it, sure, in her creations, but that's not knowing it.

so no, i don't think god has any place in the relationship between aziraphale and crowley. if anything, her mere existence is the ultimate barrier to it, through crowley's resentment, hurt, and anger, and in aziraphale's naivety, blind faith, and own brand of god complex. to give her seal of approval to any of it would be redundant anyway; it wouldn't change anything, it doesn't prove anything, and it immediately questions whether the characters choosing to have a relationship of any kind is of their own free will or was predetermined and inevitable. so, no, thank you.

i would like to think god is good - because if there is a higher power, you just have to hope that they don't have it out for you, right? - but logically she just... is. arguably, she is beyond morality, and arguably she is both good and bad. she makes bets with satan to test the faith in her most loyal faithful - which again, it might have been the great plan to make job suffer, but equally it might have been the ineffable plan for aziraphale and crowley to thwart it at great risk, sacrifice, and pain to their psyches... frankly, it's fucked either way you slice it.

(and it does make me wonder about why this appears to be the last that we actually see of god's 'physical' presence in heaven so far...)

furthermore, the issue in the resurrectionists; not even just aziraphale's alarming speech completely disregarding inequality as a means of arriving at a ridiculous point about morality, but - did god have a hand in having aziraphale and crowley come across elspeth and morag, leading to aziraphale starting to question what right and wrong is (rather unsuccessfully, he swings between redefining the two like a sodding metronome)? and equally have a hand in morag's death, that made aziraphale potentially retreat back to his usual standby of exalting in god's power and mercy? but leads to elspeth being able to live a better life? unknown, but this possibility does indicate that no, she isn't good, and she isn't bad, she's just playing a game that has an equal chance for the rest of us as being a good or bad move (insomuch that only she knows what game and rules she's playing - schrödingers chess move, really).

that's why aziraphale's decision at the end of s2 is so important to me. he spent the previous episode playing at being god, moving pieces around the board in a series of patterns as he pleased in order to reach the check, but having little regard for them in doing so - removing their free will and ability to think or feel or act independently, but equally whilst never at any intention of causing harm. does that make it okay? of course not - it's playing a game only he knows how to play.

so to then look at heaven as being something that he could change, should change - because he's being handed the opportunity - is meritable; he's not leaving it up to someone else, not following blind faith that "the almighty will fix it", he's choosing to be the change himself. and there's no confirmation at all that he's doing it to return it to what he considers to be god's original intention; as it stands, we have to assume that he's just going to fix/change/improve it for the wider benefit of everyone. but then again - is this fair? that at the top of heaven there will essentially only be aziraphale (not counting the metatron), and his vision, his decisions? perhaps that's why it was also so important to see that conference meeting in ep6 - it's not just the supreme archangel in charge; there is a precedent, however questionable the board of directors, of democracy in heaven.

lastly, just to touch on it: i think it would have been an interesting conundrum if crowley had accepted the restoration; whether it would have changed him, erased parts of him involuntarily, or if he would have remained as just crowley and used the opportunity to bring down the second coming and heaven's corruption from the inside. as it stands, we'll never know - but there never was any true characterisation reward to be had from making him an angel again, and it would have been a weird choice for him to make. the way it went down was exactly as their characters are and believe.

(putting this into a separate section because my mind just got a factory-reset by this point and my having a philosophy-realignment moment didn't really fit in any of the above very well):

it's really interesting to bring in pascal here, because i wouldn't have seen GO as rejecting it altogether on first glance (ie not contradicting you, just realigning my thought process). so... my initial thought is that GO eradicates at least half of the wager by confirmation that god exists, full stop (aaaand immediately going off on a long tangential thought of how different the story could be if we didn't have god as the narrator/no confirmation of god in the book other than in abstract, and therefore the pascal wager could theoretically apply - big yikes). removal of the dead-end outcomes leaves you with receiving either damnation, or eternal peace. but add in the element of ineffability, as you say, and the entire argument is rejected altogether... it makes sense to have GO reject such a binary argument, and the whole representation of agnes as being a stand-in personification (?) for god, in that respect, and anathema essentially rejecting her, carries so much more weight for me now... thats so cool to think about, thank you!!!✨

[jamgrlsblog]

DATUM (for the fanfic ask thing)

Hey Eli!! Thank you for the ask!!

D: What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

Probably my Good Omens ineffable wives university au, Peaches, Apples, and Other Forbidden Fruit. I wanted to write a flawed protagonist, so with Zira (my au name for Aziraphale) I really dug into some of the worst aspects of myself and unpacked them. It is not flattering 😂 and I was nervous to admit how much of her was about me because of how unflattering it was, but it was a good exercise in putting myself under a microscope.

Oddly, also, I think my recent Camilraeda fic, Three’s A Match, and the sequel I am working on, despite kind of being silly fun, are also very personal in that they are very much coming from my own need to cope with the challenges and high emotions of non-monogamy that I have been experiencing as my spouse and I take our own little dating journey. (The fic literally started as “what if dating apps were easy and everything just worked out” 😂.) I also get to write an unapologetically Latina protagonist, which is super fun.

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

I answered this question here ☺️

T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Oooh, divisive 😂. In general, I pretty much hate love at first sight. I did read a fic I really liked based on this trope, but I liked that fic despite the love at first sight aspect, if that makes sense. I always think of that scene/song in Hotel Transylvania about the goth vampire girl and that very average man “ping”ing and I get irrationally angry 😂. I am much more interested in people discovering each other and building a connection over time.

U: Is there a pairing you would like to write, but haven’t tried yet.

I answered this ask here ☺️.

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story?

Oh my gosh, I don’t know if this is exactly what this question means by weird, but, (trigger warning for discussion of IUDs), when I got my current IUD four years ago, while I was curled in pain in the week following (if you are unaware, it is common to experience abdominal pain, like severe menstrual cramps, for about a week after getting an IUD), my coping mechanism, apparently, was to write an Ineffable Wives (Good Omens) fic in which Crowley gets an IUD put in by cute OBGYN Aziraphale and then, being overly anxious and in pain, Crowley keeps calling Aziraphale to ask her questions (I had this specific scene of her drinking wine in a bubble bath while she calls her to freak out?) and somehow this was supposed to lead into them dating. They were supposed to run into each other in a coffee shop; I had a whole outline. I never published or finished this fic 😂, but I do have an entire funny scene of Crowley preparing for her obgyn appointment.

For the ask game ❤️

[feraltuxedo]

Point of View in Good Omens Fanfiction

Most Good Omens fanfic I read is written from a dual point of view. It makes sense, for stories based on a book in which the angel and the demon take up an equal part of the plot, playing off each all throughout the story.

The show translates that to the screen beautifully with double leads and a more focused narrative that manages to perfectly balance their roles. They are both played by well beloved and all around excellent actors, and the viewer never feels that one of them is of greater importance than the other.

So it's no surprise that the vast majority of fanfic I read is told through a dual POV, switching back and forth throughout the story. Most of the time, it works really well. It's particularly enjoyable when a writer really knows how to play with voice for each of them.

But I was interested to see what the overall preference is in those few stories that stick to a single point of view. So I had a little play around with the Ao3 tags.

These are the results when selecting the 'POV - Aziraphale (Good Omens)' tag and filtering out the 'POV - Crowley (Good Omens)' one:

And the other way around, looking at stories that are tagged POV Crowley, filtering out any that are also tagged POV Aziraphake, we get:

This methodology is far from perfect, because of course there are many single POV stories that are not tagged as such. And that's not taking into consideration the stories that are told from another character's point of view altogether. But taking this search as a rough indicator, we can assume that there are slightly more POV Crowley fics out there than POV Aziraphale.

Perhaps, for the majority of writers, Crowley is the more relatable of the two. Or perhaps Aziraphale makes for a more compelling love interest. Either way, it's interesting to see that, while there is a difference in search results, it really is comparatively small.

As a writer, I have a strong preference for single POV. 4 out of my 11 stories so far are written from Aziraphale's POV, 6 from Crowley's, and just one with it switching every chapter. But even though I've written slightly more stories from Crowley's POV, they tend to be much shorter, ranging from oneshots to 7 chapters at most, whereas my fics in which Aziraphale is the protagonist and POV character are a lot more wordy, the shortest one being 7 chapters long and the longest 21 chapters. Overall, going by word count rather than story count, I have written much more from Aziraphale's POV:

POV Crowley: 58901 words POV Aziraphale: 164998 words

I find it easier to write with Aziraphale as the protagonist. We are more alike in disposition and I enjoy exploring his personality, his flaws. Crowley, on the other hand, presents a fun challenge for me, but I would find it draining to be inside his head for the amount of time it takes to write a longer story. Who knows, perhaps one day.

As a reader, I have a very slight preference for single POV over dual, though I enjoy both Crowley and Aziraphale as the protagonist equally. It's fascinating to see what writers make of their characters when they explore them over the course of a whole story. When they take a deep dive into their head and really bring out their voice in the prose.

I love it when writers use POV to selectively reveal aspects of the characters or their backstory. It adds an air of mystery to even the fluffiest of romances or the smuttiest of porn, an extra layer that shrouds the plot in intrigue, no matter how simple it is underneath. And it's extra delicious when we as readers figure something out before the POV character does, as is the bread-and-butter of every good fic with the tag 'mutual pining.'

Whatever you go for as a writer, whether single or dual POV, it's interesting to think about the potential of each of these options. And it's also fun to have a little look at the stories you enjoy reading, see if there is a POV you're particularly drawn to as a reader, and figure out why.

[lyricwritesprose]

Good Omens does an unusual thing

In having a protagonist who comes across as—well, as Shadwell puts it, as a pansy.  Effete and non-masculine and soft.

Aziraphale’s flaws involve not questioning and following orders and lying to himself about whether he’s been involved in something bad.  The fact that Aziraphale is soft—that’s one of his virtues.  And while he eventually opposes the apocalypse because of all the people on Earth, the thing that starts him on that path is that he loves food and wine and music and all the things his senses can take in.  Thematically, you have the fact that he’s not very masculine-presenting, and he’s up against the toxic masculinity of war.

It all comes together to make his self-description to Shadwell a pretty triumphant moment, both in the story and in a larger media sense.  He is soft.  He is hedonistic.  He is non-masculine.  He is queer.  And he has become unequivocally heroic, not by losing those things, but by embracing the best parts of them.  He is THE Southern Pansy, Sargeant Shadwell, and he is going to try to save the world.

I love it.

[cctinsleybaxter]

could you explain the gomens centrist thing? if you don’t want to that’s fine! im just a bit confused

Sure! There’s one line early on from the perspective of the omniscient narrator, or ‘God’, that encapsulates it perfectly

“It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of human history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people” (p 26)

Here it’s used to explain the mix-up that misplaced the anti-christ, but it also establishes the thesis of the book. Adam almost destroys the world in trying to make it a better place, the protagonists that save it are lovably flawed children, and Aziraphale and Crowley’s victory is only ensured by their having a mixture of good and bad traits. They represent humanity through symbolism, as we’re shown that sometimes Heaven is in the wrong and Hell in the right, and the only correct choice is ‘somewhere between the two’ (Earth.)

[strangehunger]

What do you think are the biggest flaws of Good Omens, the book?

I think a lot of them were resolved in the show. Part of it is my opinions on the structure, and part of it is my opinion on the content. It’s certainly a bit satirical and Good Omens does kind of take aim at a LOT of different groups, but I’m glad that in the show they kinda removed some of Shadwell’s more problematic aspects, which were played more for laughs in the book, but like... I don’t think would have been comfortable for a viewing audience, like, at all. There were quite a few jokes like that, which “punched down” so to speak, that were removed. There were aspects of War and Famine’s intro that were both cut, and probably for the better. 

How do I put this... the book has always been popular, but it’s fairly niche, and it reads like satire in a lot of ways. The tv show is going to hit a much larger audience, and it’s harder to convey that same sense of irony in a visual medium, so I’m glad they changed some of the more iffy aspects. I also like that they diversified the casting a bit in terms of gender and race. 

I have conflicting opinions about the way the show handled episodes three and four and reuniting Crowley and Aziraphale. On the one hand, I do think that was a flaw of the book -- it’s fun, but for a lot of people, myself included, Aziraphale and Crowley are kinda the heart of the book and they feel like the main protagonists, even though it’s an ensemble cast. Reuniting them/adding the flashbacks I think kind of bridged that problem. I don’t even know if it’s necessarily a problem, but I think it’s more enjoyable this way. At the same time, though, it’s bittersweet, because I think we really lost some of the characterization, particularly for Crowley.... and we kinda lost some of the relevancy for the other characters/plotlines. 

I’m still not a fan of Anathema and Newt’s way of getting together, just bc, like. Idk, boring or unimaginative? 

I haven’t read the book in a little while, so I’m sure there are more, but those are the ones that stand out. 

[asiryn]

tagged by @primrose-path-of-dalliance (!!!!!! thanks!!! (lmao, it’s been so long since i’ve been tagged in anything XDD))

Rules: Name your top 10 favourite characters from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people!

i’m putting this behind a cut, bc i rambled on for quite a while XDD these won’t be in any particular order, and the fandoms will be chosen based off of what i’m currently most into/whichever ones i think of first XD

1. Maleficent [Disney]

okay, i lied a little.....she is clearly my #1 favorite character of all time, so of course she’s first (the rest of the list won’t be in any particular order :P). but....yeah, i love her forever and for all time and eternity, i love her class and elegance, my hunt for all merchandise of her that i can get my hands on is legendary and knows no bounds, she’s my forever girl, etc, etc. if you know only one fact about me, it’s probably that i love maleficent. there’s nothing i can say here that i haven’t probably already said a million times over, so i’ll move on XD

(moana has risen to be a pretty close second, tho)

2. Anthony J. Crowley [Good Omens]

i read the book from a library over a decade ago, and i liked it well enough, but it like....wasn’t an instant new fave that i had to immediately buy for myself (tho it is on a list of books that i wouldn’t mind owning...but maybe it’s finally time, who knows). i’m halfway through the show, and i’ve finally fallen in love with it (i think it finally being a #confirmed love story between our favorite ineffable idiots finally gave it the push it needed XD). it’s still a bit early for me to have a solid, definite fave, but lbr, if i know myself at all, it’s gonna be crowley XD i love this dumb demon (who’s rivaled in his idiocy only by his equally dumb angel husband), i love how he’s so soft even as he tries desperately to convince himself and everyone else that he isn’t, that he loves so many things and humanity and an angel even as he tries to say that he isn’t capable of it, that he never stopped questioning even after it had made him Fall. also, i am so thankful that the fandom has really embraced the potential for the shenanigans of crowley’s snake form.👍

(second place is probably aziraphale, but i also really love anathema too)

3. Namine [Kingdom Hearts]

another one that probably comes as no surprise, if you know me. i love this girl to the ends of the universe. i love the way she reclaimed her agency, her selflessness and determination, her empathy and kindness, how she went from a damsel in distress to pretty much saving everyone, over and over and over again. she deserves only happiness and the best things from now on. and please, for the love of god, give her some new clothes, nomura. >_>

(second fave is roxas, tho really, i love 98% of all the characters in this series ;;;)

4. Aerith Gainsborough [Final Fantasy VII]

my precious sunshine girl 💖 i prefer her in the original game, where she was sweet and optimistic, yes, but she was also sassy and fierce and took shit from no one. i love the girl that decided she wanted to wear a sexy red dress just for the hell of it, and threatened to rip off a mafia don’s balls. i love the girl that was confident and flirty with cloud, but never let any kind of bullshit ‘rivalry’ get in the way of being friends with tifa. i love that she always called cloud out on his bullshit, that she never let tragedy and oppressive shinra forces grind out her optimism, that she never stopped dreaming of a better future. i love that she was exposed to the worst of human nature, and yet still believed that they were worth saving. i love all versions of aerith, obvs, but they’ve definitely smoothed out her edges over the years, and i think that’s a shame. so here’s hoping that she’ll be more like her original self in the remake. 

also, can’t wait to see aerith die again :)))))))

(my second fave tends to flip between cloud and sephiroth)

5. Ling Yao / Greed [Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]

look. listen. i can’t choose between them, i just can’t. and hey....technically they sort of combine into one entity, so it’s totally fine to count them together, right?? XDD so yeah, it’s really fucking hard to pick a fave out of this cast, bc there’s only like....3 characters?? that i don’t love. but ultimately, it had to be these two. every single second they’re on screen, they totally steal the show, and they have a lot of the best scenes and moments in the series. i love ling, how he seems like a total goofball and comic relief at first, but fairly quickly you come to see just how fucking seriously he takes his duties and responsibilities, how selfless and devoted he is to his people, how he would walk through hellfire for the people he loves. he’s just....he just loves, so fiercely and intensely, that he moves even greed into loving him and the people he cares about without even trying. 

and then there’s greed, who even from the beginning, you can’t help but be charmed by, with his sarcastic slow claps and laidback attitude. but over time, you see that he’s just like ling, really, in that he can’t help but get attached to these humans, that he loves them just as fiercely and intensely, even as he desperately tries to play it off. i love the way his character serves as a means for the story to have a really thought-provoking rumination on the nature of sins and desires, and on humanity (as do all of the other homunculi). i could go on forever about these two, and about the show in general, bc it’s just so deep and incredibly layered and complex, so i’ll stop here. 

(next fave after them is winry)

6. Bucky Barnes [MCU]

it’s hard for me to talk about bucky without just dissolving into endless sobbing, but i’ll try my best. he’s just.....he’s someone who has ended up suffering so fucking much, who has every reason in the world to be angry and bitter and resentful and if this was the villain origin story, you’d probably find it hard to blame him. (also, i refuse to say that bucky was ever a villain, bc he never willingly chose to be with hydra, he’s a victim goddamn it--) and yet....he still chooses to be good. to be kind. he could have chosen to go on an endless revenge tour against hydra, but instead he focuses on his own recovery. and always, always, always, he puts other people first. he chooses to goddamn freeze himself, possibly forever, so that he doesn’t hurt people again. he’s truly an inspiration to me, because even after everything he’s been through, he still doesn’t give up. ......and if you’ll excuse me, i need to resume crying about bucky barnes for the rest of eternity 😭😭😭

(next faves are sam and steve. what can i say, i love my caps XP)

7. Keladry of Mindelan [Tortall]

speaking of inspirations, few (if any) characters inspire me more than kel does. unlike every other tortall protagonist, she has absolutely no magic at all, and she starts her story with more odds stacked against her than any of the others. the system and institution are against her, and most people actively, viciously hate her and want to see her fail, all for being a girl and daring to openly step outside of her gender roles. and yet, kel never gives up, and wins through pure will and determination. more than that, she never stops fighting any oppression that she sees, and is always looking out for the abused and marginalized of society. she is fair and just and righteous, and full of a quiet, immovable strength that i, frankly, envy. she’s a fucking mountain; you haven’t a hope of ever tearing her down. 

(other faves....george, raoul, and dom. it’s really fucking hard to choose between them, i can’t even)

8. Oree Shoth [Inheritance trilogy, by N. K. Jemison]

oree is pretty much single-handedly responsible for me loving this trilogy, and is the reason why The Broken Kingdoms (the second book, of which she is the protagonist) is in my top 3 favorite books of all time. she is....just so fucking radiant. she’s a blind artist, and is flung so far out of her depth in the story, and yet she holds her own. in this world of gods, she brings this incredibly human element, and is celebrated because of her humanity. she’s angry and flawed, but also full of love, compassion, kindness, and mercy. she teaches gods the meaning of forgiveness. she takes shit from no one. just....do yourself a favor, and read this series, even if it’s only so that you can read this book. 

(second fave....it’s probably shiny, lbr XD)

9. Sirius Black [Harry Potter]

ahhh, a classic fave. but yeah, i still love him, even after all these years. yes, he’s incredibly flawed, but at his core, he’s just so loyal, and he loves so fiercely, and he tries his absolute best to be there for harry, that i can’t help but love him. also, i have a Thing, for characters who suffer so tremendously, but who don’t give up, and still try their best to be good people anyway. also, wolfstar was the foundation of a very formative part of my life, and put me onto the road of accepting my queer identity, so i’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the characters who were a part of that. 🤷‍♀️

(other faves are luna and harry, always)

10. Gladion [Pokemon]

mostly his anime incarnation, tho i do like him in the games as well. i love this soft goth boy with all of my heart. he’s so gentle and kind and loving, and i can’t even with him. 

(other faves are lillie, n, zoey, and kukui)

if you guys want to do it, i’ll tag... @dabiden, @green-piggy, @seasbelow, @theroyalweekend, @toomanyfeelings5, @ashetrashe, @neddea.....i can’t think of anyone else, and i’m running out of steam, so if you want to do it, then consider yourself tagged! :)

[giant-squid-official]

REVIEW OF GOOD OMENS (SPOILERS)

Having feverishly consumed both the entire book and then the entire TV show in the last three or so days (for the first time!), here’s my thoughts.

 (Yeah, yeah, I know, the book’s been out for ages & I’m probably not the first person to say any of this. But I’m new to it, eh?)

I. AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY

Brilliant. Really fucking brilliant. Even more brilliant in the show than the book, I think, because their relationship really has room to spread its wings (so to speak). The cold open in episode three was possibly the best part of the entire show (and also a FUCKING POWER MOVE).

Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s acting and chemistry was incredible-- I have basically no complaints about the two of them. Although I do have a lot of gushing praise and also a lot of feelings. I loved the extra dialogue between them that was added in in the show, and the acting really did add something to the characters and relationship that already existed in the book.

Well, well done.

<3

II. HEAVEN AND HELL

Adding in Heaven and Hell was a cool touch! It was interesting to get to see them outside of the commentary we get from Aziraphale and Crowley about them.

Gabriel was fun, too, good addition.

The Voice of God was an interesting way to adapt Pratchett’s everpresent Voice of the Narrator, and was a touching nod (I thought) to the author’s style of writing.

III. THE THEM

I was a bit disappointed at finding the children not-very-compelling in the show. They’re just not very convincin characters, I dunno-- I didn’t fall in love with them. Also, I think there’s some narrative weakness in the book in terms of Things Sorting Themselves Out Too Quickly that 1) makes it feel like time is moving really fast and things aren’t getting the weight they deserve and 2) the resolutions of problems aren’t deserved, because they weren’t set up far enough in advance to be believable, and there wasn’t enough hard work to get to them. This problem persisted in the TV show.

IV. ANATHEMA AND NEWT

I actually quite liked Anathema and Newt in the show, although I wish they were developed a little more. Unlike the Them, I found them to be more compelling, well-developed characters... it just felt like we didn’t spend enough time with them.

V. SHADWELL AND MADAME TRACY

Shadwell and Madame Tracy are fun characters, but I found them a little tedious in the amount of time that both the show and the book takes up. I simply didn’t find them interesting enough to spend so much time with, and it was a little grating to continually see Shadwell being so disrespectful... just got annoying after a while. Same to Madame Tracy’s massive crush on him despite his numerous character flaws... as this article points out, it seemed odd that they’d end up together.

VI. BITS THAT WERE CUT OUT

I think I’ve already gone over most of the bits that were added (which I really liked, on the whole!). Here’s my opinions on some of the cut-out bits:

1. Minor Racist Elements

Good riddance! These made me super uncomfortable in the book, and include:

-Aziraphale’s body-hopping between various (mostly Indigenous) people performing religious ceremonies

-Shadwell’s minor racism (I’m pretty sure he calls his landlord a “darkie,” yikes)

-Madame Tracy’s made-up Native American “spirit guide”

2. The biker gang

I thought they were kind of funny, actually, although somewhat unneccessary. I’m not mad that they’re gone, but that bit is worth reading if you haven’t read the book

3. Various narrative explanations

There was some stuff happening in the TV show that wasn’t as well-explained as it was in the book; for example, the fact that every tape put into Crowley’s car eventually becomes a Queen tape, which isn’t mentioned at all and is quite hilarious. Having read the book, I still understood why various things were happening but I don’t know if any of it would’ve been more confusing if I had not.

4. Minor details

I’m pretty sure one of the aliens is supposed to look like a Dalek, and that’s just funny. Especially since BBC co-produced it, seems like copyright wouldn’t be an issue, but oh well.

5. Running jokes

I get that there isn’t that much time on a TV series, but there were so many running jokes in the book that barely appeared once in the actual show that I was a bit sad. (Another Pratchett-ism lost, I think). The sigil, Des Moines, the Queen tapes, ineffability... I think the only ones that were really kept in were Dick Turpin and the Great Southern Pansy line.

VII. ADDED DIVERSITY

I appreciated that the show added in more women and people of color (many of the characters are gender- or race- changed from their presentation in the books, including Pollution, Famine, Beelzebub, Pepper, Adam/Eve, Ligur, Michael, and God, though the latter two are more of a show-invention).

On the other hand, I don’t know if all the episodes passed the Bechdel test, so it still could’ve done better. I think there’s also been a post going around about POC characters that probably talks more in-depth about their general lack of protagonistness.

VIII. OTHER BITS

Overall, I really like the sort of chaotic fun and loving relationships of Good Omens. I think the problems that I had with it (both show and book) were related to the problems I’ve found when reading Pratchett’s material before (I must confess I haven’t read much of Gaiman’s stuff); i.e., while his tangents and asides are fun (and such things can be well-done! See: the Bartimaeus trilogy, which I think Crowley would get a kick out of), I get a bit annoyed when the author’s fancy creates dead ends. I like it when the “why” of magic is explained, and there never seem to be quite consistent rules in Pratchett’s universes. Additionally, the mass of characters makes for some good fun jumping around (I never ended up in an “oh no, we’re with the awful, boring characters now” moment, although sometimes I wished scenes would hurry up so we could get back to Crowley/Aziraphale scenes), there were almost too many to care about-- lots of the minor-er characters didn’t pop up often enough in the book for me to connect all the dots about their stories. The Horsemen, for example, I would’ve liked to have seen more details about in the show, especially.

And that’s it, for now! Thanks for reading :)

[sharkiegorath]

Salty asks: 4, 19, and 23. For any fandom of your choosing.

Thank you! :D

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

The O/A: The O/A/Homer. Because they’re a popular OTP. I like both characters and I passively ship it within the current story but I’m full of aimless salt. Maybe I’ve seen it called stuff like “the only pure het pairing” too often, idk, really, they’re cute together and they’re nice people but the main thing they have in common is being held in captivity and abused for 7 years and they were each other’s strongest options for romance-as-a-coping mechanism in a group of four.

The protagonists of Another Earth and The East choose to give up the guy at the end for selfless reasons and it’s presented as part of personal growth instead of tragic or a big sacrifice. I’m 80% sure that’s where The O/A is headed but I’m still meh at it. So it’s a NoTP purely because it’s treated as a plausible ending in the first place, and as a legitimately good ending if it’s plausible.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Ehhh I’m touchy about fanon species-worldbuilding in any fantasy/sci-fi setting. I feel like a lot of well-meaning fix-it is actually reductive and linked to real-life postcolonial issues. Usually, the problem with marginalized species is how clumsily the writers portray the flaws of their cultures, not the fact that they have flaws. Including big ones. Anyway, I don’t hate it when people make questionable decisions, I dislike the air of superiority I perceive. In particular the fanon for Twi’leks+Ryloth bothers me sometimes.

23. Unpopular character you love?

Go/od O/mens: Aziraphale is like an unpopular popular character in the sense that he’s often treated as an unimaginative second fiddle or the Straight Man to Crowley. Crowley has been one of my faves since 2010, but I recently realised how cool Aziraphale is. He gives the just-banished humans a big flaming sword then lies to God’s face (maybe figuratively) without Falling because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. He’s the one who comes up with the plan to find Adam after the first attempt fails, then he’s the one who figures it out by himself. (I mean, what was Crowley doing that entire time? Threatening his houseplants and watching TV?)

He’s sometimes pigeonholed as endearingly boring and old-fashioned, but his attitude is really as bizarre as Crowley’s, if not more: he’s behind the times yet ‘the times’ is probably a weird concept for a supernatural being who saw the start of mankind. In the book, the gap between the present and where his mind is stuck ranges from 40-100 years - from his perspective, it’s fairly recent. And he’s drawing from a history and culture that aren’t even ‘his’. I think there’s a vague fandom impression that Crowley understands humans better and he’s influenced Aziraphale more than the reverse, but I think they already had similar worldviews/habits then brought it out in each other, it’s just that Crowley is more open about it. (Which makes sense, since he’s a demon.) 

[rowaning]

I adore stories with interesting dichotomies. Good/evil is overdone and boring, give me something cooler. Order/chaos and creation/destruction are cool. Humanity/biblical structures of morality, as seen in Good Omens, is probably the coolest