#shadwell

joan-daardvark:

It occurred to me that while I am taking for granted the fact that the three main couples in Good Omens are mirroring each other, a lot of people actually don’t know about it. So I decided to make a post gathering all the details on the matter that I could find in the show. 

This meta was partly inspired by this postby@nitocrisss​ (I had this idea and couldn’t motivate myself to actually write it but your post helped a lot. Wahoo! :))

So, the theory is that Aziraphale-Anathema-Sergeant Shadwell on the one hand and, respectively, Crowley-Newt-Madame Tracy on the other are the characters that serve as each other’s mirrors in terms of their narrative arcs and, as we’ll see, even some aesthetics.

The first group of characters that I’m going to talk about are Aziraphale, Anathema and Sergeant Shadwell. How are they similar?

First of all, all of their lives are somehow connected to the Book and, in Aziraphale’s and Anathema’s case, to a woman speaking through it. For Aziraphale it’s the Bible and God; for Anathema, it’s the Nice and Accurate Prophecies and Agnes Nutter; for Shadwell, well, it’s not as straightforward, but he says that a witchfinder should have a book (the Bible, I assume) with him at all times, right? Anyway, their lives are driven by a very strict set of rules and The Higher Purpose, which they can’t disobey. Aziraphale can’t fail God’s plan:

Anathema can’t fail Agnes and is destined to stop the Apocalypse:

Anathema’s life is connected to prophecies and, as we know, collecting book of prophecy is Aziraphale’s greatest passion. Just like Aziraphale tries to contact God at a certain point, Anathema is talking about Agnes as if the latter one is alive and is still “consulting” her. Also, when she looses the book, she’s calling her mother via Skype.

Meanwhile Shadwell is fighting non-existent witches and, quite importantly:

Keep reading

Select additional comments:

@ouidamforeman​reply: In the book Crowley/Aziraphale and Newt/Anathema also have these little scenes:

And these:

Which I noticed on my reread and thought were very cute

@moveslikebucky​comment: Just to add to your book connection - in the novel Shadwell has a dream where Agnes yells at him.  I don’t remember the full details and I’m at work so can’t look them up but if you’d like I’ll find that bit when I get home ^_^

@joan-daardvark​reply: I checked the book and found an addition suggested by @moveslikebucky (thank you!) It’s an excerpt from Shadwell’s dream where he witnesses the execution of Agnes Nutter. As we see, she also communicated with him:

A witch, thinks Shadwell. They’re burning a witch. It gives him a warm feeling. That was the right and proper way of things. That’s how things were meant to be. Only … She looks directly up at him now, and says “That goes for yowe as welle, yowe daft old foole.” Only she is going to die. She is going to burn to death. And, Shadwell realizes in his dream, it is a horrible way to die. The flames lick higher. And the woman looks up. She is staring straight at him, invisible though he is. And she is smiling. And then it all goes boom.

Also, the book that Shadwell gave Newt for his mission in Tadfield was Prayers for Little Hands.

ooneironaut-deactivated20210310:

This is for all those people who don’t believe in the ineffable husbands.

I want you to analyze something with me.

Now, we have Aziraphale and Crowley.

We have the “good one”, that works against the evil forces, or what he believes is evil.

And the “bad one”, who works for Hell, for the dark forces; or at least he should. ‘Cause he’s not truly evil. He’s just a Demon that does what he has to do to survive.

They supposed to hate each other, and Aziraphale, the one that supposed to be incorruptible, tries hard not to fall into temptation, even if Crowley insists.

In the apocalyptic scenario they’re forced to work together in order to save the world.

In the end, they simply surrender to the fact that even being so different, they can coexist.

Their story ends with the two of them, sitting together, dining and toasting romantically. No kisses or confessions involved.

Just a bromance? Ok.

Now let’s analyze this.

We have Shadwell and Madame Tracy.

One of them works for the “light” and against the evil forces. He works for what he considers to be good, in this case he’s a witchfinder.

The other one uses dark magic, even if she truly is just a fake psychic, and she sins with absolutely no shame.

They supposed to hate each other, and Shadwell, the one that supposed to be incorruptible, tries hard not to fall into temptation, even if Madame Tracy insists.

In the apocalyptic scenario they’re forced to work together in order to save the world.

In the end, they simply surrender to the fact that even being so different, they can coexist.

Their story ends with the two of them sitting together, dining and toasting romantically. No kisses or confessions involved.

Now, this is my question:

Why does nobody AT ALL suggest that the one between Madame Tracy and Shadwell is just a bromance? Why are we all so sure that the straight one is in fact a romantic relationship, but we’re not sure about the one between two men? Even if we watched so many more romantic moments between Aziraphale and Crowley than between Tracy and Shadwell?

This is heteronormativity, guys.

You can be certain that there’s something romantic between a man and a woman even if they have literally four scenes together, but you doubt that Aziraphale and Crowley, that know each other since SIX THOUSAND YEARS, that spent their lives basically saving each other, that say sentences like “I know what you smell like”, “we are on our own side”, “we can go away together” can be involved in something romantic.

We don’t really need them to kiss or say “I love you” to know they’re a couple, just as we don’t need Tracy and Shadwell to do those things to know they’re a couple.

They simply are.

Ok but these paintings literally represent Adam Young (more like fem!Adam Young) with his hellhound.