Evening Harmony

Fragrantica: perfume enthusiast site that has a long list of scents. v helpful when you’re writing your guilty pleasure abo fics

Just One Cookbook: recipe site that centers on Japanese cuisine. Lots of different recipes to browse, plenty of inspiration so you’re not just “ramen and sushi” 

This comparing heights page: gives you a visual on height differences between characters

A page on the colors of bruises+healing stages: well just that. there you go. describe your bruises properly

McCormick Science Institute: yes this is a real thing. the site shows off research on spices and gives the history on them. be historically accurate or just indulge in mindless fascination. boost your restaurant au with it

Canine Body Language

Cocktail Flow: a site with a variety of cocktails that’s pretty easy to navigate and offers photos of the drinks. You can sort by themes, strengths, type and base. My only real annoyance with this site is that the drinks are sometimes sorted into ~masculine~ and ~feminine~ but ehhhh. It’s great otherwise.

Types of High Heels: A page describing twenty five different types of high heels. It gives a description and pictures. Shake it up from just “stilettos and kitten heels”

Random Job Generator: Exactly as it says. The site offer more generators like characters, plots, or town names.

Glossary of Hosiery Terms: Figure out what is what on a pair of stockings.

Men’s Dress Shoe Guide: A quick guide describing the eight most common types of men’s dress shoes. Pics included.

No FUCKING way ever would crowley decide the answer was to kill Aziraphale.

I never said this out loud after Season 2 because, at the time, I felt like it was just me taking book canon to the extreme (and also the fact that I agreed about the cuteness of it all) but after GO3, I put everything into perspective and realises I was not being irrational about this. So here goes:

1. The Flashbacks:

Apparently, since Season 2, there has been a tendency from the writers to take away little things that made Aziraphale special and give it to Crowley.

I personally did not like the angel Crowley scene (Before the Beginning). I will always stick to the canon of the book/Season 1. That being Aziraphale never met Crowley as an angel before.

The reason being: It shows Aziraphale treats everyone the same, regardless of affiliation. He firsr met a demon on the wall of Eden. Instead of immediately smiting or chasing him away like other angels would, he talked to Crawly. You could see some concerns in him, but since Crawly hadn't done anything bad, Aziraphale didn't harm him. He has no concrete clue that this demon was trustworthy, but he extended a wing to sheild Crawly from the rain.

Now, put the angel Crowley scene (and the War in Heaven from Go3, and "you were the best angel") into the mix, and what do you get? Oh, so Aziraphale wasn't just being kind to some demon he just met. He had been having a crush on angel Crowley all this time and recognised him in Eden. So... I guess he wasn't being brave and kind, then? Talked to Crawly cause that was his crush? Cool...

Oh, angel Crowley shielded him from space matter? So him shielding Crawly was just returning a favor? Alright...

Oh, Crowley also gave the sword back to Aziraphale in that scene at the Eternal Flame. Guess Crowley did that first too, then.

Do you see the pattern here? Aziraphale's actions turned out to have been done by Crowley already.

2. "You taught me to be brave" (not accurate quote. I don't want to rewatch.)

Aziraphale had always been brave. He gave the flaming sword away. He lied to God. He lied to Gabriel. In the book, Crowley was about to run away but he told Crowley to stay and face Satan because he didn't want to leave the humans in danger.

In Season 2, he helped Gabriel despite Crowley telling him it was dangerous. He bravely performed a deadly magic act. He also defended the bookshop....

Aziraphale never needed Crowley to teach him how to be brave. He was already courageous on his own.

But it was Crowley who showed him that, I guess. Apparently, Anthony Just-run-off-to-Alpha-Centauri-with-me Crowley was the brave one all along.

3. Problem Solving/Intelligence

Aziraphale had never been stupid or passive when it came to dealing with problems.

Season 1: Figured out where the Antichrist was, found a way to return to Earth after discoloration, almost shot a kid to stop Armageddon, the first to suggest the Metatron/Gabriel that the Great Plan wasn't the Ineffable Plan.

Season 2: Figured out Crowley's tricks with the goats, went on a mystery solving mission, tricked demons into the summoning circle...

What did we have in Go3?

After the crossword scene, the rest of the Finale Aziraphale was mostly passively waiting for Crowley to come up with the solution for something. Book of life? Crowley explained it. Michael threw the BoL in the fire? Let Crowley, the miracleless demon, say "take my hand" and transport them to the bookshop. Everything is gone? Let Crowley, the I-don't-read demon, figure out any book can be the BoL.

Oh, and the most important decision in their life? Let Crowley decide because he's the only real boy in the universe. Don't even discuss or argue his decision. Cause Crowley knows best.

Aziraphale became like a yes-man. Just following Crowley's leads instead of them teaming up and helping each other figure out a solution.

4. Pursuing Crowley

I have seen people saying that they love Asa/Anthony because Asa asked Anthony out first because Crowley/Anthony deserved to be pursued for once.

First of all,

I did not read their relationship like this from Season 1 and 2. It was never just Crowley chasing Aziraphale. The angel himself just did his pursuing differently from Crowley.

Crowley's love language in the show was gift giving and being a dashing hero. It was more blatant and easier to see. That's why many people only saw it from his side and thought Aziraphale never chased after Crowley.

Aziraphale's way of showing love was more subtle. He let Crowley into his comfort zone. He allowed Crowley to play his hero acts. He dressed like he wanted Crowley to mess him up in the French Revolution, btw. (The equivalent of a lady dropping her handkerchief). He gave Crowley the holy water at the risk of Crowley doing something stupid with it.

He showed Crowley he trusted him with his life during the magic act. He let Crowley lean onto him in Edinburgh despite how that could look if Upstairs saw it. He was suggesting a further relationship the whole S2 (the ball, "our car", "our bookshop"...)

Aziraphale literally hinted to Crowley that he would choose "Us" in their final moments. But guess what he got in return? He had to bite his tongue, put up a smile, and agreed to Crowley’s decision.

He was willing to frickin' DIE just because Crowley asked him to! No question asked.

The point is: Just because he was being subtle about it didn't mean he never tried to return Crowley's love. The two of them danced together, not just Crowley doing all the courtship ballet.

Second of all,

No shade to Asanthony's cuteness. Why can't it be Aziraphale himself who gets to do that after everything in the old world turned out okay?

Why can't we have Aziraphale initiating a second kiss? Or suggesting moving together into a cottage he bought years ago? That he had been waiting for this moment to tell Crowley?

Why can't Aziraphale have that after 6000 years? Why must the only way for him to be able to do this be his death? Erasing all the 6000 years trauma and himself was the only way??? He can't live with the trauma and still end up being the one to do what Asa did?

5. Aziraphale's EQ:

Another thing I noticed was that many fans and the show itself treated Crowley like a good boy. He did no wrong. He was nice and kind and-

NO!

In the Book, Crowley deliberately tried to harm animals. He loves causing minor miseries. He just cannot handle seeing actual torture. He loves doing his demonic job. He would not be a good angel!

Why did I mention this? Well, apparently, to make Crowley a good boy, the writers subtracted Aziraphale's empathy level to below 0. Suddenly we have:

Aziraphale being oblivious to Joshua's disorientation and sadness when he just got resurrected. Not even an offer of food or drink? Remember how he treated Gabriel/Jim?

Aziraphale not defending Muriel when people called them dim.

Aziraphale not contacting Crowley even once. Sure maybe he couldn't. But the Finale never showed it. So all we have is: Azi really wanted to be an Archangel and stayed up there for 4 years, leaving Crowley in depression. Poor snake. Azi is so cruel.

Aziraphale not staying to help Crowley up in the alley (like what the opening credit showed us. Do you feel scammed yet?)

Aziraphale not explaining himself the whole movie, not even a proper apology. Then demanded forgiveness in the bookshop at the end. Tried to do that stupid dance with a smile???

Speaking of smiling... Aziraphale wasn't crying or feeling distraught by the erasure of the whole universe right in front of him. Remember the angel who cried over a deformed baby in Edinburgh?

Aziraphale insisting Crowley was the best angel over and over again despite knowing Crowley hated Heaven and hated the idea of becoming an angel again.

And the things from Go3 also ruined otherwise cute interaction in S1 and 2.

The "our car" thing now reads like Aziraphale being demanding, controlling over Crowley's things.

Same with Azi making Crowley to the dangerous magic act with him. Ignoring that Crowley didn't want to do it.

The way Crowley had to do an apology dance to him despite not being wrong about the danger of keeping Gabriel now feels kinda like a red flag. But that's Crowley's own decision so this is just honorable mention.

There are probably more that I forgot...

Anyway, point is, Aziraphale was villainized by the writers so that Crowley would end up being the only real boy, the only one who cared. Note: what God and Satan said to berate Aziraphale is exactly how the writers and some people in the fandom sees him. I guess Aziraphale never cared for anyone or anything then? What a selfish angel, am I right?

------

And don't get me started on how Crowley and everyone treated him the whole Finale, the way Crowley was completely silent about the indirect love confession in the talk with God, because then we would be here all day.

Wow this has been long. If you made it here, thanks for reading. I needed to get all of this out for my sanity. There was no script so I am sorry if things aren't organized well.

Can we talk about the fact that God put the fate of the universe in the hands of two of the most emotionally compromised people on the planet?

Crowley is broken and depressed and Aziraphale has just been brutally roasted to death by God.

Yeah. They are not of sound mind.

These are also the beings who spent thousands of years doing everything possible to avoid doing their jobs because they’d rather get lunch. Aziraphale literally popped over to France during the Revolution because he wanted crêpes, for fuck’s sake.

And then they lost the Antichrist and spent eleven years raising the wrong child.

Trust them to make a decision beyond wine pairing? No thanks.

This isn’t really a bash on them. Quite the opposite.

They were never meant to be heroes. They were two immortals who loved books, music, tea, vintage cars, and getting mildly drunk while arguing about a bird in a spaceship sharpening its beak on a cosmic mountain at the edge of creation. They liked ducks. They liked Jane Austen. They liked Earth.

That’s what made them special.

It’s about Aziraphale hosting an entire ball for Crowley. Come on. That was never for Maggie and Nina, whether he wants to admit it or not.

And let’s not forget that the world was already saved once, not by angels, demons, or divine plans, but by a child.

Adam didn’t save the world because he was powerful. He saved it because he loved it. He loved his friends, his dog, his hometown, and the life he had built for himself. In the end, that mattered more than Heaven’s plans or Hell’s ambitions.

For me, the biggest mistake was pushing Aziraphale and Crowley into the role of heroic martyrs and cosmic sacrificial lambs. That archetype works beautifully in plenty of stories, but Good Omens was never really about noble self-sacrifice.

It was about ordinary love and ordinary choices winning over grand designs. About choosing the world because it’s worth living in.

It’s about two celestial idiots who kept trying to save the world almost by accident because they loved being part of it.

Maybe that’s why I keep thinking about this quote:

“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” Gandalf

That has always felt closer to the heart of Good Omens than any grand sacrifice.

The world was saved by Adam because he loved it.

And Crowley and Aziraphale spent six thousand years proving exactly why it was worth loving.

Crowley and Aziraphale becoming human: I don’t love, but you could argue that that was what he planned, and I would buy it. It does follow some of his themes.

But there is a knife’s edge that Pratchett balanced between fury and compassion. He absolutely loved humanity, but he also hated what humans did to each other out of malice, spite, or even laziness. Good Omens the novel was filled to bursting with that.

The end here lacked all of that somehow. God in S1 is unknowable, but God is S3 is just a capricious bitch who seems to have it out for Crowley specifically and through him Aziraphale. The viewer certainly gets angry at God, but the narrative seems to be that, while cold, she is doing the right thing and giving them their happy ending. And while Crowley expresses compassion for humanity, it falls on such deaf ears that the narrative doesn’t actually support that.

The closing sentiment seems to be that we can make their lives better by just erasing all their trauma and baggage. No. Sam Vimes did not pull himself out of the gutter and bodily hold himself out of it every day to be told that actually amnesia would be best. If you wanted to make them human: make them keep their memories. That would have been fine.

Terry would have Crowley and Aziraphale say “fuck you” to God and protect the earth as it was. The way they protected Job’s children. The way they did at Tadfield Airbase. Here they just throw in the towel and start a new universe. They accept their failure so quickly as to be farcical.

Against Expectations is the first human AU that I read (and the first Ao3 fanfic that I read), and it's so perfect. Arrange marriage, genderfluid Crowley, Anathema bestie of Crowley... I've read it 5 times (that I can count...)

Two Shall Be One Flesh: Aziraphale takes a brief detour from Constantinople in the 13th century to check in on his eternal adversary. Accidents happen. Mistakes are made.

They learn a thing or two about the dangers of attempting to cohabitate in a single corporation. (13th century, rated T)

it's the light (it's the obstacle that casts it): The Patron Saint of London's LGBT Community is real, and he lives in Soho. (WW2, rated T)

Love Poems: talking dirty was invented by angels, it is the language of love. (S1, rated M)

Better Than Chocolate: After trying out something new together for the first time, Crowley has concerns. Aziraphale doesn't necessarily make them better. (Post S1, rated G)