Hoar

Mikhail Stepanov • linktr.ee/Hoar

[hoarart]

The Impossible Dream

.

“Because, underneath it all, Crowley was an optimist."

[thedeepmiracleperfection]

To everyone saying "they don't need to kiss to prove they're in love"

Do you understand the implications, especially in today's political climate, of a show that revolves heavily around a queer/queer-coded couple where the only onscreen kiss between said couple is their breakup? Especially one that explores themes of sin, forbidden love, religion, dogma, and high control groups? One where the character associated with hell is the one forcing the kiss and the character associated with Christian heaven (even if heaven in this case is bad) is the one who is not receptive to that affection? A show where the heaven associated character tells the one who kissed him "I forgive you"? One where the main characters have had to hide their relationship for fear of their lives in a storyline that is heavily analogous to the persecution of queer people? Where even in a scene that showed explicitly they were married, the show still would not deign to display physical intimacy between two men? Y'know, some of the most highly stigmatized kind of affection there is?

If they had never kissed at all, I wouldn't mind. But by kissing in season 2 when they broke up, they showed that they were willing to cross that line. They stopped being ambiguous in that moment. They're whole "we're not humans and don't show love like humans" went out the window when the show decided they would in fact engage in an overtly queer act. But the only time there is unambiguous queer affection is when it's used to separate the characters.

If they had never had a full on sex scene between two hetero characters who had just met in season 1, I wouldn't mind. But the show was more comfortable with displaying physical intimacy between a man and a woman that we never saw after season 1 than they were between the two main characters of the show.

If they hadn't had an ending that literally showed their wedding rings, showing that they clearly can and will display a queer couple and also conform to heteronormative standards by having them married at all, then I wouldn't mind. But they went as far as having the characters who famously had a relationship that was open to interpretation and put them in the husband/romantic partner box, but wouldn't dare go as far as physical intimacy?

I know that many people who are not amanormative or allonormative are frustrated that a relationship that was previously ambiguous/up for interpretation was boxed into a romantic label. But now that they have, it says something that they chose to display queer relationships, and they chose to display physical affection, but not both at the same time. It says something even if they didn't intend to. It's just too awfully convenient that the couples who are always subjected to "well you don't need to be physical to be in love" are the queer couples. In a political climate that promotes homophobia and violence against our community, increasingly sex negative and pro-censorship legislation regarding online spaces, and legislation that aims to categorize participating in anything remotely queer in public as a sex crime, I think anyone who looks at a story of romantic love between two masculine presenting people and says it's not necessary to have overt physical acts of affection has lost the plot.

It's a cop out, plain and simple. And queer fans deserved better.

[discoonthegrass]

Honestly I never really liked the idea of Aziraphale and Crowley's first meeting being before the beginning when it was introduced in S2, and the scene in S3 just cemented it.

Like yeah. It's cute. "Look at you, you're gorgeous" is funny. Angel!Crowley being a silly cutie compared to Aziraphale's innocent sweetness is very nice.

But at the same time, I think it's so much more poignant that Aziraphale shielded a complete stranger on the Wall of Eden. He didn't do it because he knew who the angel Crowley was, but because... Aziraphale is fundamentally a good, trusting person. He didn't smite Crowley since he doesn't *want* to smite anyone -- he doesn't actually hate demons even though he should. And Crowley, simultaneously, reassured Aziraphale not because he was remembering the sweet worrier of an angel he met before the Beginning, but because *Crowley* is also a good person.

I like the idea that these two strangers who have no reason to trust each other, who have nothing in common on the face of it, just decide to trust each other anyway, because they can, because they see a kindred goodness and love for humanity in each other right from the start. And I somehow feel like this notion that Aziraphale loved Crowley before he was a demon, or that Crowley knew how notorious Aziraphale was as a hunter during the war, really cheapens that.

[snogfairy]

they were just some guys. the whole point was that they were just some guys. they met in Eden. Aziraphale didn't like Crowley because he met him as an angel and saw the good in him. he met him as a demon on a random day that was the most important day in the beginning of the world because they both made it that way. they met and they quite simply hit it off. they kept meeting again and again because they sought each other out, not because some red string of fate twirled by god forced them together. two like-minded emissaries on earth. they liked each other from the start and neither felt bad about it at all. they both recognized that angels and demons were the same. they were equals. they challenged each other and grew together but also they were lazy bastards who didn't care about humans all that much. they cared about their earthly pleasures, like driving irresponsibly fast and hoarding treasures. they wanted to save the earth mostly for egoistical reasons, though humanity as a whole and as a concept had also grown dear to them. they were never more important than anyone else. they were not god's best or specialest little angels or grim-dark generals or leaders of armies or people called upon to make decisions on behalf of anyone. they weren't even good at what they were supposed to do, often consciously so. one was not better or smarter or more right than the other. they were some guys and they didn't give a fuck and they gave all the fucks and cared so much and they were truly, absolutely bastards worth knowing. their friendship and love story was so grand because it was not grand. they were supposed to be just some guys.

[kandelyabr55]

[emptypatrycja]

Why I think the ending made sense, but I cannot convince myself to like it.

This comes from reading many posts by both people who enjoyed Season 3 and people who cannot stand it. What follows is both my interpretation of the series and an explanation of how it makes me feel. I will keep this extremely condensed, since many other people have already elaborated on these points, so there is no need for me to repeat everything.

How I understand the ending:

Already in Season 1, the focus shifts from humanity and free will toward the relationship between the angel and the demon. They become the central characters in Seasons 2 and 3, and their story is the one that truly is being told.

Season 1 shows us that the universe is Gods game. However, we are left believing that the game can be beaten. In the end, the angel and the demon choose each other. They dine at the Ritz and seem happy.

Season 2 shows us that nothing really changed. They did not truly win the game. They still cannot really be together. Both of them understand this near the end of the season. Aziraphale chooses to rebuild the system, not only for humanity, but for them as well. Crowley believes that the system cannot be changed. You cannot win the game, but maybe you can choose not to play at all.

The kiss. The kiss serves to show Aziraphale that he does not simply love Crowley. Crowley is his soulmate, the one who completes him. That is why, in Season 3, he asks the question that he asks.

Season 3. Ah. Fast forward to the apple tree. Crowley believes that they can never truly be happy together within the game. The same applies to humanity, but I genuinely think the story is ultimately about them. There is no happy ending for them inside the game. But they have an opportunity to destroy the game. To toss it out the window.

The God summoned by Aziraphale is the God that Aziraphale believes in. Cruel and hurtful, yes, but also the God who made Crowley and Aziraphale for each other. A God who enjoys their little love story. And this God does not want to throw that story away. The God already knows what their decision will be, of course. But decides to repeat Hells trick from Jobs bet. Do not kill the Ineffables. Just pretend to.

Why I cannot convince myself to like it (but is ok if you do!):

I am omitting many small things, like dialogue choices. I am only focusing on three points that are major for me.

I know there is a message that their love, incredibly human and not divine in its form, enables the dismantling of an oppressive system. But. BUT. This is not what most of us can do. So I still feel that the unintentional message is that impossible love is, well, impossible. You need to destroy the system and create circumstances in which your love is possible in order to make it, well, possible. That is not a happy conclusion for me.

Crowley is shown as more and more helpless and depressed with each season. In the end, he successfully annihilates himself and his love. Again, that is not a happy ending for me.

I do not like how Anthony is portrayed. Crowley was a rebel, and even in a godless universe there are surely things we can rebel against. This version feels too angelic for me. I think this is the main reason why it feels like we got new ones, while we quite liked the old ones.

[mwagneto]

this was so charged and for What

[rocksandboulders]

I really thought that Aziraphale and Crowley were going to rewrite the Book of Life.

I really thought they were going to become the Illustrator and Author.

I really thought that's why all the books in the shop were made blank.

I really thought God wasn't going to actually exist in a true form, and instead be a kind of omnipresent power of creation.

I really thought that they were going to have their forced-proximity-making-up-with-each-other as they were required to work together to write the new Book of Life.

I really thought that they were going to choose *their* humanity and not a new one.

I really thought they would still be themselves at the end.

I really thought the moral of the story was that the humanity they had was worth protecting, and that life itself (whether mortal or otherwise) was beautiful and inherently important.

I really thought this story was about a love that transcends.

I understand the path they took. However. I do think it missed the mark on what the show was really trying to say.

[samwwise]

“you’re just mad that they didn’t kiss again” yeah you know what i fucking i am. what do you mean they shared the worst first kiss in history fuelled by grief and despair and then vanished from existence without ever knowing what it’s like to kiss someone out of love and joy

[ineffably-poetic]

yeah i do wish they had more of a confession scene that was happy :(

[thef4gnusarchives]

The whole point was angels and demons are more nuanced than the system they lock themselves in, that humans really do have free will, and by actually caring about them and being like them Aziraphale and Crowley do too.

Their love for earth made them stronger, as angels and demons. It is actually so important that angels don't dance but Aziraphale does. Demons don't have an imagination but Crowley does. They're immortal and damned and divine and also beings of earth. That's the fucking point. That humanity, that people make them better.

I want there to be an angel that lies to god, because sometimes that's the right thing to do. And I want a demon who saves someone's life, regardless of the consequences it'll reign down on him.

And I want them to get a happy ending. To be together for eternity, on earth, in their little corner of the world they've carved out for themselves. In the place they've chosen and made for themselves.

Season two was them loving each other loudly on accident. That's why it was able to fall apart, because they weren't doing it on purpose. Season three was meant to be them doing it on purpose. Not.. erasing the universe that Crowley built. That they fell in love in. In season one the Bentley and the bookshop burned up and were fine, because Adam brought the world back to as it should be, and all is right with the world when Crowley has his Bentley and his plants and Aziraphale has his books and his cocoa and when they have each other.

Fuck me man. I get why we got what we got. But god we deserved so much more.

[bleucalire]

Ooold Aziraphale animations compilation! I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it someday so I’m just posting it as it is for now!

(I got asked many times if it was AI when I posted it on insta, it is not! Everything was hand drawn in Clip Studio Paint)

[eklmrlos]

Hi!! Thank you very much for your drawings, they are always brings me the most gentle comfort, much needed.

Maybe you would like to draw Crowley hugging Aziraphale from behind? Passionately or softly to your taste

morning hugs (and even a kiss) for you!

[hoarart]

the.. them.. ughhh 🥹❤️‍🩹 I... .

[hoarart]

son

[hoarart]

we'll be ok

[hoarart]

Old Serpent’s Pray [edit: I am now taking pre-orders for prints! all information can be found here]

[cobragardens]

I love those forward-facing eyes! It’s been a thing in Western for…well, forever to take liberties with the anatomy of animals for thematic or symbolic purposes, and I love the way that choice here makes the snake!Crowley look aware, uncanny, and off-putting. I also love how @hoarart positions Crowley’s face in the bottom middle of the piece and makes the eyes the uncontested focal point, so that the viewer’s eye is drawn to them first and then looks up and sees what’s happening in the rest of the painting–which is a delicious surprise

I also like the way the eyelights make Crowley look like he’s got burning torches reflecting in his eyes. I don’t know if that’s deliberate or not but the impression is pretty strong. And are Aziraphale’s wings darkening, or are they just in shadow? Impossible to say, and I love the ambiguity. The combination of the snake’s uncanny face, the ring of thorns, and the lift of Aziraphale’s left foot all together suggest this is the moment Serious Trouble begins.

This piece is in keeping with my personal experience that chubby English guys often have fucking fantastic legs.

[hoarart]

OH MY GOD EVERYTHING you described was indeed intentional and I'm JUST GOING CRAZY from such a detailed review THANK YOU SO MUCH, it's unbelievably nice to know that someone notices this 😭😭😭

chubby English guys with fantastic legs yessss

[hoarart]

seeking or hiding?

[hoarart]

and here it is!

the 70s Crowley keychain 🥺

info about pre-orders for this silly demon is here!