yvesribastudio - Tumblr blog

[yvesribastudio]

[yvesribastudio]

What’s your favourite line from good omens?

The invisible and unbreakable one that joins Crowley and Aziraphale.

[yvesribastudio]

hey

hey friend

dont kill yourself tonight ok

you have a really pretty smile and i know its not always easy to manage one but itd be a bummer if we never had the chance to see it ever again

youre really important and you matter a lot so stay safe and try and have a nice sleep

[yvesribastudio]

[yvesribastudio]

Brilliant!

I think it would be better for everyone if I were to be left alone in the future. Don't you?

[yvesribastudio]

Awhile ago @ouidamforeman made this post:

This shot through my brain like a chain of firecrackers, so, without derailing the original post, I have some THOUGHTS to add about why this concept is not only hilarious (because it is), but also...

It. It kind of fucks. Severely.

And in a delightfully Pratchett-y way, I'd dare to suggest.

I'll explain:

As inferred above, both Crowley AND Aziraphale have canonical Biblical counterparts. Not by name, no, but by function.

Crowley, of course, is the serpent of Eden.

(note on the serpent of Eden: In Genesis 3:1-15, at least, the serpent is not identified as anything other than a serpent, albeit one that can talk. Later, it will be variously interpreted as a traitorous agent of Hell, as a demon, as a guise of Satan himself, etc. In Good Omens --as a slinky ginger who walks funny)

Lesser known, at least so far as I can tell, is the flaming sword. It, too, appears in Genesis 3, in the very last line:

"So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." --Genesis 3:24, KJV

Thanks to translation ambiguity, there is some debate concerning the nature of the flaming sword --is it a divine weapon given unto one of the Cherubim (if so, why only one)? Or is it an independent entity, which takes the form of a sword (as other angelic beings take the form of wheels and such)? For our purposes, I don't think the distinction matters. The guard at the gate of Eden, whether an angel wielding the sword or an angel who IS the sword, is Aziraphale.

(note on the flaming sword: in some traditions --Eastern Orthodox, for example-- it is held that upon Christ's death and resurrection, the flaming sword gave up it's post and vanished from Eden for good. By these sensibilities, the removal of the sword signifies the redemption and salvation of man.

...Put a pin in that. We're coming back to it.)

So, we have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword, introduced at the beginning and the end (ha) of the very same chapter of Genesis.

But here's the important bit, the bit that's not immediately obvious, the bit that nonetheless encapsulates one of the central themes, if not THE central theme, of Good Omens:

The Sword was never intended to guard Eden while Adam and Eve were still in it.

Do you understand?

The Sword's function was never to protect them. It doesn't even appear until after they've already fallen. No... it was to usher Adam and Eve from the garden, and then keep them out. It was a threat. It was a punishment.

The flaming sword was given to be used against them.

So. Again. We have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword: the inception and the consequence of original sin, personified. They are the one-two punch that launches mankind from paradise, after Hell lures it to destruction and Heaven condemns it for being destroyed. Which is to say that despite being, supposedly, hereditary enemies on two different sides of a celestial cold war, they are actually unified by one purpose, one pivotal role to play in the Divine Plan: completely fucking humanity over.

That's how it's supposed to go. It is written.

...But, in Good Omens, they're not just the Serpent and the Sword.

They're Crowley and Aziraphale.

(author begins to go insane from emotion under the cut)

In Good Omens, humanity is handed it's salvation (pin!) scarcely half an hour after losing it. Instead of looming over God's empty garden, the sword protects a very sad, very scared and very pregnant girl. And no, not because a blameless martyr suffered and died for the privilege, either.

It was just that she'd had such a bad day. And there were vicious animals out there. And Aziraphale worried she would be cold.

...I need to impress upon you how much this is NOT just a matter of being careless with company property. With this one act of kindness, Aziraphale is undermining the whole entire POINT of the expulsion from Eden. God Herself confronts him about it, and he lies. To God.

And the Serpent--

(Crowley, that is, who wonders what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway; who thinks that maybe he did a GOOD thing when he tempted Eve with the apple; who objects that God is over-reacting to a first offense; who knows what it is to fall but not what it is to be comforted after the fact...)

--just goes ahead and falls in love with him about it.

As for Crowley --I barely need to explain him, right? People have been making the 'didn't the serpent actually do us a solid?' argument for centuries. But if I'm going to quote one of them, it may as well be the one Neil Gaiman wrote ficlet about:

"If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization." --Robert G. Ingersoll

The first to ask questions.

Even beyond flattering literary interpretation, we know that Crowley is, so often, discreetly running damage control on the machinations of Heaven and Hell. When he can get away with it. Occasionally, when he can't (1827).

And Aziraphale loves him for it, too. Loves him back.

And so this romance plays out over millennia, where they fall in love with each other but also the world, because of each other and because of the world. But it begins in Eden. Where, instead of acting as the first Earthly example of Divine/Diabolical collusion and callousness--

(other examples --the flood; the bet with Satan; the back channels; the exchange of Holy Water and Hellfire; and on and on...)

--they refuse. Without even necessarily knowing they're doing it, they just refuse. Refuse to trivialize human life, and refuse to hate each other.

To write a story about the Serpent and the Sword falling in love is to write a story about transgression.

Not just in the sense that they are a demon and an angel, and it's ~forbidden. That's part of it, yeah, but the greater part of it is that they are THIS demon and angel, in particular. From The Real Bible's Book of Genesis, in the chapter where man falls.

It's the sort of thing you write and laugh. And then you look at it. And you think. And then you frown, and you sit up a little straighter. And you think.

And then you keep writing.

And what emerges hits you like a goddamn truck.

(...A lot of Pratchett reads that way. I believe Gaiman when he says Pratchett would have been happy with the romance, by the way. I really really do).

It's a story about transgression, about love as transgression. They break the rules by loving each other, by loving creation, and by rejecting the hatred and hypocrisy that would have triangulated them as a unified blow against humanity, before humanity had even really got started. And yeah, hell, it's a queer romance too, just to really drive the point home (oh, that!!! THAT!!!)

...I could spend a long time wildly gesturing at this and never be satisfied. Instead of watching me do that (I'll spare you), please look at this gif:

I love this shot so much.

Look at Eve and Crowley moving, at the same time in the same direction, towards their respective wielders of the flaming sword. Adam reaches out and takes her hand; Aziraphale reaches out and covers him with a wing.

You know what a shot like that establishes? Likeness. Commonality. Kinship.

"Our side" was never just Crowley and Aziraphale. Crowley says as much at the end of season 1 ("--all of us against all of them."). From the beginning, "our side" was Crowley, Aziraphale, and every single human being. Lately that's around 8 billion, but once upon a time it was just two other people. Another couple. The primeval mother and father.

But Adam and Eve die, eventually. Humanity grows without them. It's Crowley and Aziraphale who remain, and who protect it. Who...oversee it's upbringing.

Godfathers. Sort of.

[yvesribastudio]

SAME PHOTO

[yvesribastudio]

We’ve booped each other a long time. We’ve been on this site for a long time. I mean, you and me. I could always boop on you. You could always boop on me. We’re a team, a group. Boop of the two of us. And we’ve spent our existence pretending that we aren’t booping. I mean, the last few years, not really. And I would like to boop… I mean if Gabriel and Beelzeboop can do it, boop off together, then we can. Just the two of us. We don’t need Heaven, we don’t need Hell, they’re toxic. We need to boop away from them, just boop us. You and me, what do you say?

[yvesribastudio]

ThatFiendd said: We can joke or cry about their communication skills all day

But Crowley understood this immediately

[yvesribastudio]

Been reading the Sandman comics again and had to do my own version of Dream waiting for his sister Death. Hopefully will be continuing this and will draw Death to go with her moody brother because I adore her 💀

[yvesribastudio]

Oh my heart!

An Ode to Aziraphale

Aziraphale, Yes, I adore you because you are an angel. A literal angel from Heaven and yet you are not perfect.

I love that you try and do the right thing even when you know your superiors will not like it, even when your plans go awry.

I adore your sassy ass.

I think you are odd and brave and entirely too wrapped in your own head sometimes.

I love the joy you find in Earthly, human things you don't need.

You are adorable when you get annoyed.

It's very, ahh, affecting.

Your silliness makes me giggle and persuades me to be more open and free and unashamed in my own rl.

Your huge heart and openness to learn and to consider others' experience and point of view are themselves a miracle.

Angel or not, you care for the humans you don't entirely understand.

I adore that you fell in love with a demon not because he's handsome, but because he's kind and considerate, and because he cares.

I adore how much you rankle each other and yet you are each others' worlds.

I love that you pay attention. To things that may seem as ephemeral as an actor's enjoyment in playing a role, or the playwright's success with it.

I adore you for trying to cheer up a friend who you knew was very likely doing things you should be wanting to punish him for.

I love that after 6000 years with humans, watching them murder each other in increasingly innovative ways you still melt at signs of love between them.

I adore that you are happy to do things imperfectly even though you could miracle everything to be impeccable every time.

This goes for your worn, loved clothes as well.

I adore that you implicitly trust a demon.

And that you taught him to trust more as well.

I adore that you pay attention to what others do and not what they say.

I adore you for not giving up.

I adore you for making the hardest decision to have a shot at the best possible future.

You deserve to be happy angel. And adored.

[yvesribastudio]

Hi Mr Gaiman!! On this Trans Day of Visibility, (at least where I am) Do you have anything you’d like to say to your trans and queer fans and fellow writers?

As a trans person who recently got super into good omens, the portrayal of the divine beings as inherently gender nonconformist and often gender neutral has been extremely refreshing given all the hate going around these past few years. So i, personally, want to thank you for that :}

I see you. Trans friends, trans family, I see you.

[yvesribastudio]

Totally agree

I am slowly losing my mind over the shift towards video as the default media format.

I do not find this to be an efficient way to absorb information. I am bored and distracted by the time the largely unnecessary introduction is over. I can't use ctrl+f to find the specific information I'm looking for. If there are instructions to follow, I don't want to have to constantly pause and back up to the part I need.

At least give me a fucking transcript.

[yvesribastudio]

wa-fucking-hoo! :))

[yvesribastudio]

Where to get your Girl Scout Cookies:

Just a reminder that if you are someone who wants to eat Girl Scout Cookies, and you don't have local Girl Scouts to buy them from, and you are realising you can just go online and get them from the Internet, Troop 6000 is...

"...a first-of-its-kind program designed to serve families living in temporary housing in the New York City shelter system.

"Each week, Girl Scouts meet in shelters across the city to take part in activities that help them make new friends, earn badges, and learn to see themselves as leaders. All fees, uniforms, trips, and program materials are provided at no cost.

"As a permanent fixture of the program, we also established the Troop 6000 Transition Initiative, which supports Girl Scouts and their families as they transition to permanent housing. The average stay for a family in a city shelter is 18 months. Remaining connected to the community and opportunities introduced to them through Troop 6000 can help facilitate a successful transition for girls and young people, and it is essential they continue to receive the financial support that allows them to do so."

Click on the link to learn about it and order cookies.

[yvesribastudio]

Hello Mr Gaiman!

What do you personally think Aziraphale and Crowley would think of the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) regarding the film's humourous, satirical take on organised religion?

I think they both loved it. Crowley because it felt familiar, Aziraphale because it felt naughty.

[yvesribastudio]

THIS.