How do miracles work in Good Omens?
So, let me say from the outset that there are a number of ways that miracles could work in Good Omens, but in order to write my fanfic Great Omens āa sequel to Good Omens set thirty years in the future covering the time of The Big One (read it on A03 here)āI had to make some decisions about how I thought miracles worked. So, this is an account of how I think they work, and hence a bit of a mixture of more solid meta and head canon. Iāll reference both the book and the show as my preference is to consider them together.
So, how do miracles work?
1. Miracles are an angelic/demonic thing. The only beings we see performing miracles in Good Omens are angels, demons and, of course, Adam Young, a very special demon/human hybrid. Further, thereās no reason to believe it isnāt the case that all angels and demons can perform miracles. It seems to be a core characteristic of their species.
So, from our human non-miracling perspective understanding miracles is probably a bit like us trying to understand sonar, seeing light beyond the visual spectrum or flying. It can seem like magic. But maybe for angels and demons themselves it isnāt?
Note: one possible exception to this is witchcraft though witches are clearly not human-normal. Exactly how you think witchcraft fits in depends on what you think it going on with witchcraft. We know that Agnes Nutter truly had a remarkable prophetic gift. We also know that Newt Pulsifier has a strange affect on technology. But are these phenomena witchcraft? And does witchcraft work the same way as miracles or is it something altogether different? If it works the same then it could be the case that witches have some angelic/demonic blood in their heritage. Iāll do a meta on witchcraft later on in a future post.
2. Miracles can be performed consciously or unconsciously. It is clear from both the book and the show that Aziraphale and Crowley perform miracles without conscious effort. In fact, they arenāt even always aware that they are doing it. In the book Crowleyās speakers work even though he forgot to plug them in and in the show Aziraphaleās phone is so old it shouldnāt work (except he expects it to and so it does). Expectation can be sufficient for a miracle. At the same time, it clearly doesnāt simply work all the time either. When Crowley calls Aziraphale to tell him about Armageddon in the first episode, his call doesnāt go through even though in that moment he expects it to. Is it because he does know, on some level, that the London Mobile Network is down? Perhaps. If so, this suggests that unconscious expectations can only have miraculous effects if there is no ambiguity about it whatsoever, if the unconscious fully and completely expects the result and contains no knowledge at all that might contradict that. So letās hope a customer doesnāt explain to Aziraphale that his phone isnāt actually connected anymore.
3. Miracles require a power source. This is based on the hand motions, with Aziraphale flicking downwards from Heaven to Earth and Crowley upwards from Hell to Earth, like they are drawing on the energy of Heaven and Hell respectively. This, of course, leads to the question: are Heaven and Hell the only potential power sources?
4. Miracles require imagination. Oh, this is the big one. I think we all agree on this to some extent, huh? I mean it is pretty clear from canon that this is true. We are explicitly told that the reason Crowley could drive his flaming Bentley all the way to Tadfield (and Aziraphale...) but Hastur couldnāt remain in the Bentley as it drove through the wall of flame was that Crowley has an imagination. So, a demon/angel needs to have to be able to clearly imagine the miracle and hold onto that. This kinda relates to the expectation thing, huh? It also explains why they sometimes use particular phrases (ālet there be lightā) or movements (Crowley blowing the paint off Aziraphaleās jacket). They are imagination aids.
Personally, I believe in this one big time and I think it explains a lot. For example, I think this is why (apart from flirtation) Aziraphale would prefer for Crowley to miracle the paint off his jacket. That is, Aziraphaleās anxiety about the jacket makes it hard for him to fully imagine the miracle and hold it in mind, an unconscious āknowing the paint is thereā might get in the way. Well, in this particular case I suspect that isnāt fully true. But it is the plausible story Aziraphale is going with to make the plausibly deniable flirtation work and this is why it is plausible.
Now, it is all very well to say that imagination is important but what the Heaven/Hell does that actually mean? The metaphor I have come to latch onto is that it is like the creative arts are for us. It is all very well to be able to paint. But to paint a tiger you need to have seen a tiger and you need to be able to hold a visual of a tiger in your mind. You may be able to write, but to write Sci Fi well you need a clear sense of Sci Fi tropes, an ability to envision a Sci Fi world etc. All of which means, as any artist or writer could tell you, there are things that are easier to do and things that are much, much harder, it would be affected by psychological state and the whole thing can at times fall over for no particular reason the angel/demon can fathom.
All of this leads neatly onto the next point, but first, a little thought: to what extent are angels/demons influenced by us? Like, do they get ideas for miracles from the imagination, stories and technology of humans? We know that Hell piggy-backs on human technology like radio and television to communicate nowadays. But, is it possible that some of the old-fashioned miracles originally came from the imagination of humans too? Oh wow- humans seem to think gods should be able to control lightning? Brilliant idea. Letās do it! And, hereās a thought: is that part of why Crowley is so damn imaginative and powerful?
5. There are individual differences in the kinds of miracles angels/demons can perform. We know that Crowley could drive his flaming Bentley all the way to Tadfield but Hastur couldnāt even remain in the car. So, there certainly are individual differences. Thatās canon. And if imagination is important, and it is like the creative arts for humans this makes a lot of sense. Knowing that one particular angel/demon could perform a specific miracle under specific conditions doesnāt necessarily mean they all could do it or even that that particular angel/demon could always perform that miracle. Itād be like saying āHey, you wrote a Good Omens fanfic so you can write. Well, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, so write Hamlet.ā Or āyou wrote an award winning poem last month. Hereās pen and paper, write another in the next five minutes.ā To me, this smooths out a lot of potential inconsistencies such as why Crowley didnāt teleport himself to Tadfield. If he didnāt do it, we just have to trust that he couldnāt do it.
If angels/demons have strengths and weaknesses, just like human artists do, then it makes sense for them to play to their strengths. So, maybe when Aziraphale asks Crowley to check that no one is watching them before they swap back to the correct bodies, that is simply because he knows that that miracle is one of Crowleyās strengths. It is just like in any joint artistic endeavour, artists will play to their own strengths.
6. Specific miracles may be learned and practised. It is possible then that specific miracles may be learned, that they may become smoother and easier over time with practice. Who knows? Maybe they actually spend time deliberately practising certain tricky miracles to get them right. Maybe Crowleyās time stop miracle is the result of dedicated and deliberate practice over many years. Perhaps Aziraphale canāt stop time at all because it is an especially tricky miracle and heās never practised it. Particularly under stress, the most practiced miracles may be much easier for them to perform. And hence, under stress, those old favourites are the miracles that they turn to.
Okay- those are my thoughts. What do you think?
This is such a good analysis and has given me so much to think about. Thank you! šš»šš»šš»
I do wonder about the power source of miracles. Adam seems to have some powers even after heās rejected his demonic origins. Could Adamās supernatural connection to the earth be a source of power? And in that same vein, will being on their own side affect Aziraphale and Crowleyās access to Heavenās and Hellās powers, respectively? (Perhaps you address this in your fic; Iāll have to read and find out.)
I love the idea of imagination aids! It makes so much sense that, for your average angel and demon, they use particular phrases and symbols to enact most miracles. Because they lack imagination, it seems likely there is a limited set of miracles they need to regularly use.
However, I agree that Aziraphale and Crowley have been learning from humans and this has absolutely helped them develop their imaginations. Sometimes they use miracles to approximate human technology when they donāt fully understand it (like communication through phone/radio/TV). And sometimes they use miracles to make their lives easier. This is likely what led Heaven to reprimand Aziraphale for his excessive use of āfrivolousā miracles. In their books, any miracles not related to blessing and protecting humans are probably considered unnecessary.
Itās not just that Crowley couldnāt teleport himself to Tadfield.Ā None of the supernatural beings on Earth could do it.Ā The Horsepeople had to ride, and Aziraphale used Madame Tracyās scooter.Ā (Granted, we donāt know that the Horsepeopleās power is similar to the angels and demons.Ā But it seems likely.)
Possibility one: teleportation is difficult in general.Ā But we do have some evidence of supernatural beings teleporting.Ā Aziraphale appeared and then vanished from the Bentley when giving Crowley the holy water, Adam stepped out from behind a tree when he had been clearly shown to be at Jasmine Cottage, and Crowley appeared in the Bastille.Ā However, two of those were on the supernatural beingsā home turf, and the Bastille might have been a very short-range teleport.Ā So Iād like to propose possibility two: teleporting requires a very clear visualization of the place youāre going.Ā That can be from looking at it, for short-range teleports, or from knowing the place like the back of your hand.Ā None of the supernatural beings could teleport to Tadfield because Tadfield was largely unfamiliar to them.Ā Aziraphale had only been there once, Crowley had only been there twice, and the Horsepeople (except Death) had probably never been there at all.
On a slightly different subject, however, I think itās worth noting that angels and demons probably donāt have a monopoly on believing things into existence.Ā I think humans can do it tooāif enough of them believe at once.Ā Becauseāwhat are War, Famine, Pollution, Death (and Pestilence)?Ā Adam describes them as ānightmares,ā and I think thatās fundamentally correct: theyāre humanityās nightmares.Ā Whatās more, theyāre extremely susceptible to human belief in general.Ā Pestilence āretiredā because of vaccines.Ā Why?Ā Vaccines didnāt wipe out all disease.Ā Thereās still plenty of nasty things out there.Ā I propose it was because of a fundamental shift in humanityās thinking: a shift from āthis is a natural disaster and I am helpless to prevent itā to āif only the doctors can figure out the right needle to stick me with, everything will be okay.āĀ The Horsepeople are constructs of the human imagination.Ā And that implies that thereās some amount of miracle power in ordinary humans.
(Perhaps the difference between witches (and Newt) and ordinary humans is that theyāre hooked into some sort of power source?Ā Either by accident or on purpose?)
