Dealing with trauma in Good Omens: how the Fall affected Crowley
One of the most interesting aspects of the Good Omens series is the psychological characterisation of the leads.
Let us take a look at Crowley's development and how the traumas he has experienced have made him the demon he is today.
This post is about painful experiences and the different ways you can react to them.
This may affect you in particular and be difficult or stressful to deal with.
In order to illustrate the importance of the (little) physical contact between our two favourites, we first need to understand what is stirring inside them and preventing them from accepting the feelings they have for each other.
I want to talk about Crowley in particular.
We know his story: at the beginning of S2, we find him beaming and smiling, an angel about to launch the magnificent machine he helped design and is so proud of, a nebula, or as he calls it, "a star factory". Very different from the demon we came to know and love in S1, shadowy, lanky, perpetually worried and in a hurry.
In between, as we know, is his fall and 6000 years on Earth, with only the (occasional) company of Aziraphale and, more recently, his plants. Of the various unpleasant events that Crowley will experience, only a few can truly be called traumas, and they irreversibly change his personality and the way he reacts to his environment and the people around him (including our favourite angel). Let us therefore explain in detail what a trauma is, what types of trauma there are and what the consequences are for those who experience them.
In psychology, trauma is defined not as an event in itself, but as its consequence. The event that triggers it is called a traumatic event and has one characteristic above all others: it is strong, it is big, it is perceived as too big and too strong. Any event can potentially be a trauma. It is a stress of enormous severity, it surpasses all the experiences we go through in our daily lives, it makes us feel powerless, vulnerable, small, it often brings us suddenly into contact with death. The world is no longer the safe place it used to be.
Trauma is not necessarily caused by an event we experience first hand, quite the opposite. Traumas are classified according to our degree of participation in the event that triggers them:
_episodes experienced in first person;
_episodes experienced as a spectator at the time of the event;
_episodes experienced as a bystander, but at a time after they happened (e.g. rescuer);
_events that were not witnessed (e.g. we are told of the death of a loved one).
In response to a traumatic event, the mind tries to react and make sense of what has happened. This can lead to the experience of one or more symptoms, resulting in what is known as post-traumatic stress syndrome.
A person can relive the trauma, either mentally or physically, whenever an image, a memory, a smell can take them back there in their mind. These are called 'triggers' and can be completely unpredictable. This is why traumatised people sometimes abuse alcohol or other substances to numb themselves and escape these painful feelings.
People may not remember what really happened, or they may construct a different version of the facts. They experience many different feelings, including a sense of shame or responsibility, as if they are to blame for what has happened. Emotional dissociation and desensitisation may occur, where one feels nothing and feels empty, distant, cold, or on the contrary, outbursts of intense emotions such as anger may come out of nowhere, seemingly unjustified, but in fact due to the trauma still firmly rooted in the person. Panic attacks, violent and sudden, or a constant state of anxiety may occur during waking or sleeping hours, even leading to chronic insomnia.
Often those who have experienced trauma live in a state of constant vigilance and worry, trying to regain a minimum of control over their environment. In order to prevent the unpleasant events from happening again, many people do everything they can to distance themselves from people or situations that might trigger them or even bring the trauma back.
However, once one manages to overcome trauma and build a new identity, one can also experience profound benefits: many children and young people who suffer trauma can learn to see the world through different eyes, developing deep empathy and an ability to understand the emotions and needs of others. A personal growth that might not have been possible otherwise.
Let us therefore go into the details of our series. On the basis of what we are shown, three potentially traumatic events can be identified for Crowley, and of these we as viewers directly witness only one.
Crowley is constantly worried about something and always has Plan B at his disposal. In his attempt to maintain control over his reality, he always runs for cover as soon as something is about to ruin the ‘fragile existence’ he has built for himself on Earth. This constant fear is the driving force behind the events of both seasons: the fear of the Apocalypse will lead him to devise a plan to stop it; the fear that Gabriel will give him trouble will lead him to suggest dumping him as far away from Soho as possible; the fear that Aziraphale will be erased from the Book of Life will bring him back to the bookstore to him and, in addition to giving us the epic apology dance scene, will prompt him to perform together with Aziraphale a ‘small, infinitesimal half-miracle’ to hide Gabriel from Heaven and Hell.
In between, we are shown the habit of drinking inordinate amounts of alcohol in response to any unpleasant event. Crowley definitely drinks to forget.
When the series begins, Crowley has already fallen. We only know him as a demon, we only know his new name (which he later changes) and his non-anthropomorphic traits: he is the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the apple. In our eyes, Crowley is cynical, realistic, not very respectful of Aziraphale (he immediately begins to mock him because he no longer has with him the sword of fire that was given to him to protect the East Gate of the Garden of Eden), and very amused by his embarrassment. He also seems confident. But as soon as it starts to rain, the first rain ever to fall on Earth, Crowley immediately seeks shelter, finding it under Aziraphale's welcoming wing (note the very sweet parallel with S2E1, where it is he who shelters Aziraphale from the meteor shower).
When Crowley mentions the fall, he is always very vague about its causes: he mentions bad friendships, constant questions, a casual walk downstairs. Neil himself tells us that Crowley may not be the most reliable narrator when it comes to his fall. Crowley tries as hard as he can not to remember what happened, and every time the conversation turns to it, he deflects and changes the subject. At the beginning of S2 we learn of his discouragement at the ineffable grand plan and the fact that the nebula he was so proud of could be dismantled after only 6,000 years. The fall begins there, as doubt creeps into him and he begins to question everything he has always believed in. This is shown to us in the scene with the progressive greying of his wings (as confirmed by Neil himself). The fall, like many childhood traumas, is accompanied by a loss of innocence, and our dear Crowley goes from being a dreamy, enthusiastic creature with fluffy curls and sonorous squeaks to a gloomy, ragged, dirty creature with two big yellow eyes that he will always hide behind dark lenses. Accompanied by a straight dive into a pool of boiling sulphur.
Crowley does manage to come to terms with what he has been through: a thousand years after the Fall, we find him in a better state of mind, witness to the construction of Noah's Ark, indignant at the killing of innocent children and animals; a little while later, he is at the centre of a series of actions detrimental to Job, yet instead of simply carrying out all the orders he has been given (and with which he does not agree), he finds an excuse to avoid carrying them out. Crowley begins to react to what he has suffered and stops being a passive part of the situation: regaining a sense of control over events is the first step in building a new identity after the trauma.
Fast forward a few millennia and we are in 19th century Edinburgh. Crowley has just openly violated the demons' code of conduct by preventing a man from taking his own life. His pretence with laudanum is of no avail: suddenly the earth swallows him up and he disappears screaming. Aziraphale writes in his diary that he will not hear from him again for a while.
Again, we do not know what happens, but we can assume that our favourite demon suffers some harsh, presumably physical, punishment: torture.
All we know is that a few years later he meets Aziraphale and asks him to help him get 'a way out': some holy water. When the angel dismissively refuses, Crowley manages to get it himself, organising the theft in the church and thus coming into contact with a young Sergeant Shadwell, as we see in S2E3.
Again, our demon immediately tries to run for cover to avoid being found out in the open again. The rush to plan B is an expression of his constant fear, his feeling of being constantly under attack. Crowley can never let go, he can never let his guard down, because at the slightest misstep, punishment looms. He is unable to show himself for who he really is, a creature who, in spite of everything, is good and kind. The Fall has given him the opportunity to grow up and pay more attention to the world and those who live in it, in an attempt to take the focus off himself: Crowley knows exactly what Aziraphale likes and dislikes, and rushes to his aid when something is wrong. Crowley is able to put himself in the human's shoes and tries to spare them as much suffering and stress as possible. He is happy to help Maggie and Nina fall in love because, in his words, "she was crying and you needed saving". Out of his suffering has come a new personality, perhaps less cheerful, but certainly more empathetic and caring.
The third traumatic event involves Crowley as an indirect party: when in the finale of S1, in the guise of Aziraphale, he is threatened with burning in hellfire and sees Gabriel's cruelty, he is angry and upset, so much so that he lashes out at Gabriel/Jim in S2, even though the latter has no memory and is completely unaware of what has happened. The power of this event lies in the fact that Crowley knows full well that it should have been Aziraphale who was threatened and abused, and he is literally there as a bystander.
Crowley is incapable of being truly cruel and mean, especially to those he knows to be as innocent and pure of heart as his beloved angel. When the cruelty of Aziraphale's superiors, their inability to feel compassion or to distinguish between right and wrong, is thrown in his face, Crowley reacts as he has learned to do, detached from the situation, losing interest in what is happening to him: he does not react when he is thrown out of his apartment, he simply sleeps in his car with his beloved plants; he lets the events roll over him and tries to let time pass; he pretends nothing has happened and licks his wounds. As soon as a threat looms on the horizon, however, he is ready to react: Crowley is ever vigilant, and apathy was only apparent.
Psychological trauma - Wikipedia
Elevated empathy in adults following childhood trauma | PLOS ONE
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