not_elipk

occasionally draws things (he/him)

[not-elipk]

new meet the artist!!

My art is tagged Eli’s Art !!

I'm pretty inactive on tumblr right now

more recent stuff not on here: Good Omens season 3 ... ough. i am not well. also dispatch but a bit less now !!

I'd love to take art requests from any of my fandoms!! PLEASE send art requests :33

[red-skyz]

Good Omens book designs!

[hoshioyoo]

super old art in light of the finale! i drew these for my gomens zine but never posted them.

[awesomebutunpractical]

"He wouldn't say that" has a beautiful cousin, and her name is "That's Not What This Story is About".

[enabuns]

This is now my new favorite best friend duo

[crowley-anthony]

[red-skyz]

Alrighty. Last night I watched the Good Omens finale and I have Thoughts on it that I’m going to try to put down here. Now I'm not too good at the whole writing concisely thing so be warned it's kind of long.

And yeah spoilers under the cut.

To preface my own opinion on the finale, before S3 came out I wasn’t opposed to an ending with them as humans, which I think put me in the minority. And after watching I’m still very conflicted about the finale as a whole and especially the ending, but I think overall I liked it more than I didn’t like it. And I’m still so glad it came out instead of nothing. There is still always post season 1 and post season 2 fanfiction after all.

That all being said I do have a bunch of criticisms of the way some of the most important themes in the show, especially around free will, were handled in S3.

So my first point is, dolphins. No actually not dolphins sorry, free will.

Starting with Crowley’s decision to create the whole new universe without him and Aziraphale. Now, I think it’s 100% in character that if Aziraphale and Crowley did have to make a choice between their own happiness and having their own side, and being able to exist and stay together, versus humanity being able to have free will, they would choose humanity. Absolutely from the beginning of the story Aziraphale and Crowley’s attempts to prevent Armageddon are partly selfish because they sure do like living on Earth with all the art and music and food it has to offer, in fact they can be very selfish at times. They’re people after all. But the reason they love the Earth and want to keep it in the first place is because they love humanity and the things they create. So that’s not at all where my criticism of Crowley’s decision comes from.

The thing is I really don’t see how creating the new universe ‘solves’ the issue of humans not having free will. First of all, especially in the book and S1 of the show, one of the most important themes from the get go has been that humans have free will despite Heaven and Hell’s attempts to decide for them what they should and shouldn’t do. Sure Crowley and Aziraphale have been stationed on Earth to tamper with their affairs, but it is literally stated again and again that all their little attempts to stir humanity to be evil or good are literally pointless in the grand scheme of what humanity is capable of doing on its own. It’s literally a recurring joke. Even with the original Apocalypse that Heaven and Hell desperately want, Adam’s humanity ultimately stops it from happening because again FREE WILL.

Also Jesus is literally an example of God and Heaven tampering with human affairs and that’s literally portrayed as a good thing in the show. So the messaging doesn’t even make sense.

The humans literally don’t need this gesture, they just need the Earth to not be destroyed after 6000 years so they can continue exercising free will as they always have been (which Crowley and Aziraphale could make happen without completely remaking everything). I mean the arguably most important part of the whole Good Omens story is how people constantly exercise free will even if their entire circumstances set them up to not do that. With Adam deciding not to destroy the world, with Anathema deciding to live without Agnes’s second set of prophecies, with Aziraphale and Crowley being Aziraphale and Crowley. Literally the core of the story. It’s insane that despite Crowley and Aziraphale’s whole ‘purpose for existence’ being to serve the interests of Heaven and Hell it doesn’t stop them from using their own free will to do what they think is right and what makes them happy, that is so cool of them. I mean I wasn’t opposed to the human ending before watching the show. Because for one it would allow them to be completely independent from Heaven and Hell in a way that they haven’t been before. (That doesn’t mean they didn’t have free will before, it just meant they were having to live in constant terror as the cost of it.) And additionally they’ve spent so much time on Earth among people, so coming to terms with mortality like everyone else after all their time spent being immortal would be really interesting to see. Although whenever I thought about a human ending before it was in the context of them as they were before, 6000-year-old beings, becoming human, with all their memories, and I’m not actually sure how I feel about the fact that it’s not how it happened here, I’m actually not sure at all.

Now, what I would understand, is if the show focused less on the idea that “Heaven and Hell’s unsuccessful tampering with human affairs somehow contradicts with them having free will” and instead focused more on the idea that if humans are punished in the afterlife based on on some ineffable criteria nobody understands, then they are not truly free to make decisions, as long as those actions are being weighed on some arbitrary scale that decides what the rest of eternity is like for them. That makes more sense to me as a legitimate reason why Crowley would want to get rid of Heaven and Hell, but it’s pretty clear from the show that that’s not how it was intended, given that in this particular narrative the concept that people who are undeserving sometimes go to hell, and vice versa with heaven, isn’t really ever discussed. So either way I can’t really see why free will and Heaven and Hell are so incompatible to the point where it’s supposed to be the final grand reason Crowley and Aziraphale as we know them die(?). Anyway I assume Christianity still exists as it always has in this new universe considering it isn’t staggeringly different from ours so I assume people would be controlling one another with religion anyway.

Anyway all that being said the people who most of all need Heaven and Hell to stop bothering them to be able to freely use their own free will are the angels and demons themselves, i.e. Aziraphale and Crowley.

Ok I understand it might sound a bit ridiculous that after I complained about how stupid the reasoning for the human ending is for however many words I complained about it, that I still liked the finale. And frankly the more I think about it the more critical I get, I think I liked it more before I started actually writing this down, but anyway. See, before watching it I actually kind of liked the idea of them being human and growing old together, even if it means then dying together. Maybe even the version of the human ending that happens where they never were their original selves. I mean obviously I feel like shit about the 6000 years of seeing each other throughout history and being friends and carving out a space for themselves, their own side, a nation of two. The historical minisodes might be my favourite part of the show really, I love the Companion to Owls minisode so so much. I would go on a really long rant about that scene where they’re looking out at the water right here right now, it is very hard to refrain. All I’m trying to say is I am so attached to Aziraphale and Crowley as they were. That being said, maybe it’s just because I’m a bit of a masochist but point is despite that I have always sort of liked the human ending as a poetic end to their story and as a way for them to be independent from Heaven and Hell. Not because of the implication that they don’t have ‘real’ free will if Heaven and Hell exist (it’s so important that Aziraphale and Crowley manage to have free will despite not being created for it), but simply for the fact that they can live on their own unbothered. So overall I like the human ending even if I can’t fully articulate why. And I do have some complaints with the way it’s done (probably will go over those in another thing) but also a lot of the scenes with them as humans made me cry in a good way and not a bad way, and I genuinely liked it. I like the human ending (I think?), I just hate the way they GOT to the human ending in that on the surface it seems perfectly in character with everything Crowley and Aziraphale care about but if you go beyond that it just doesn’t make sense and contradicts the most important themes of Good Omens.

[not-elipk]

well. you already know my thoughts on this but heres your reblog because I AGREE SO MUCH...

yes i share much of the same sentiment, I do really like the human thing and I think that thats so sweet, and YES on a surface level, in these conditions, I do believe that for the most part this is what Aziraphale and Crowley would choose to do- the issue is, WHAT ARE THESE CONDITIONS

It's framed as if it's all about free will when that hasn't really been an issue for the humans at all as you said, and also Why does God suddenly care??? Thematically ALso as you mentioned this doesn't align with all the stuff that's been shown in the past two seasons about how humanity and them but okay okay yes youve mentioned all that IM GOING INSANE RED..... FFFGGGRHRHHHHH ....

A large part of why I liked the human ending is cause yeah, I don't think the systems of heaven and hell can be fixed cause it's really clear that they are VERY flawed, but wHAT ??? I feel like a lot what makes the finale rough to me is God and how She acts, cause it feels completely just to push this particular plot without considering the themes and content shown before.

Anyhow that being said, i like them becoming human. I just wish it was actually them, with their experiences, making the choice to grow old together, having that special appreciation of aging and all these human experiences after what they've been through. [My personal alternate S3 in my head is one where God doesn't show up or intervene and they do some writing in the blank book they use to summon her to essentially do an uno reverse and THEN do the whole human thing]

okay id be going in circles and just parroting you if i went on any longer but agh. ngk.

[soloorganaas]

GOOD OMENS | 2019 - 2026

[friendly-neighbourhood-demonz]

FOLKS. I CHECKED THE NAME.

-----

I have many things to say about the finale, but no matter how you see it they could not have chosen a better name.

It's gender neutral

It means "god" - without capital g, as in "one of the gods" (can back that up, I'm Norwegian)

It has a Hebrew origin

It means wing in Portoguese (at least Wikipedia says so)

It means Hope

It means Healer

I love it.

Asa Fell.

(God Fell)

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Sandalphon + Aziraphale ?

I think it's really interesting that Sandalphon has a pattern on his clothes that's reminiscent of Aziraphale's classic tartan, AND he's matching Aziraphale's usual colors:

His vest coordinates with Azi'a bowtie. His jacket matches Azi's vest. His ribbon tie echoes Azi's jacket color.

I suppose it either symbolizes an alignment between them, or an opposition 😅 Or maybe there's a metaphor in here about playing rock-paper-scissors.

You're welcome, I'm glad we had this talk and narrowed the choices 😂

What do YOU think it means?

[masnadies]

Colours as symbolism are so interesting to me. I have seen them mentioned as "earth colours" to contrast with the grey, but I'm not going to go there right now, I'm going to focus on the definite similarity of the colours. So, I definitely see this as opposition, just as Crowley and Aziraphale tend to wear opposing colours but we'd agree in essence they are complementary, here we have the same colours but there is no harmony at all in the essence of the characters.

So, as Crowley and Aziraphale are as shades of grey, they work well together and while definitely having their parts of opposition, morally they are both oriented towards life and humanity and questioning and doing kindness and rebellion, whether quiet or overt, so appearances are different and reality is much closer, the opposite happens with Sandalphon. They look similar in many ways but in essence are opposites.

Whereas Sandalphon is unquestioning, he would never warn another angel to be careful of Heaven, he is the thing to be careful of! He doesn't rebel at all, he toadies (opposite), and he is known not for working for kindness, but for smiting humans at Sodom and Gommorah andk smiting Aziraphale (for which I'll never ever forgive him)= for working toward cruelty.

True opposition as opposed to complementary "opposition"

Different kinds of opposition being explored?

I know that I should want to see Sandalphon seeing the light (figuratively) and being redeemed, and I'm sure Aziraphale would want that as well, but a large portion of my psyche really just wants him to crash and burn.

[ineffablelunatics]

The way that they’re wearing the same or similar colors, but they’re in the opposite places. Anywhere that Sandalphon wears a darker color, Aziraphale wears a lighter color. His outfit is almost the same as S1

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Their coat shapes are even similar! Long and loose, especially in contrast to the other 3 angels in this shot 👀

[not-elipk]

oh my god i LOVE the colour symbolism in good omens.. I too was wondering about why sandalphon was so saturated compared to the others in heaven. S3 spoilers ahead by the way

I think that from S3's ending with Anthony and Asa it's pretty clear that the saturation has a LOT to do with being human, that the light yellows and tans like aziraphale and muriel are more aligned with like trying to do good, which is especially in contrast with most of heavens grey to show y'know, moral greyness. Pardon me because this isn't really about Sandalphon's colours in contrast to Aziraphale's ,, but it's relevant enough cause I need an excuse to talk about his colours ...

Sandalphon's kind of interesting but my guess for why he's in the colours he is is because rather than being invested in the goals of heaven or hell, he seems more like he just wants to do things for.. fun? Maybe I'm totally off here, honestly I haven't taken a proper second look at the episode, but in the segment of him contesting Aziraphale about the second coming, he does seem enthusiastic about the smiting and whatnot. Also as a way better example of this, when he tries to help Muriel to investigate, it's to get his position back.

This contrasts with the actions of Michael or Aziraphale for example, because they both are trying to do things with the goal of fixing heaven, not prioritizing what they want. So what I'm getting at is that he shows a distinctive human-ness compared to the other angels in the sense that he acts not for heaven or hell necessarily, but for himself.

Anyhow that's my two cents!! I'd love to hear more because this is a very surface-level look at things from S3, but yes the colours are so good. With the lineup of angels we see in S3 there's a super clear contrast with them and their colours, Michael in particular seemed jarring to me even early on because they lacked any of the tan where the other main angels of s3 had at least a little.. Also the more saturated colours on Asa and Anthony... aughhh my heart.....

[almostunadulteratedmiracle]

Guess who stared at the burning pages of the Book of Life until stuff became readable around the fire and Crowley's hand? This idiot :D

And here's what it says on the page for the rubber duck (and all the other pages I've managed to glare at long enough, save for Uriel's, who gets her own text*)... The layout is a bit strange and there are helpful repetitions of the phrases, so this how I think it's supposed to go:

"Through the loving command of God in Her infinite wisdom and delight in creation, Alpha Centauri, one of the most magnificent constellations in the heavens was brought into being. She entrusted its formation to one of Her most beloved angels, a servant of radiant skill and devotion. The angel was charged with weaving light and harmony into a masterpiece that would forever testify to the majesty of the divine."

I was not prepared to feel many of the feelings of the finale, but I was also most certainly not prepared to read praises of Crowley like this when I just wanted to peek at how you define a rubber duck 😭

*edit for completeness: the Whickber Street page gets its own text, too. It's just more difficult for me to make it out because a) the page itself is burning and b) it's full of shop names that I only half-remember. The shopkeepers' association would not be happy with me 😅

[not-elipk]

ghhghjhhhh it sucks going from like writing paragraphs and paragraphs about something and then in a month or so having it mostly completely leave your brain, or just become a casual indulgence

[shadowen]

This is an anti-despair checkpoint! You must share something you're looking forward to before scrolling on.

[ooppo]

The 11th emoji in your history is now your cutie mark 👁️

[olympusaflame]

[not-elipk]

I am working on a sona and it’s so much fun :D

YAY awesome!!!! we should draw our sonas together,,,

[not-elipk]

no hyperfixtation currently augfhsghj

[not-elipk]

in a weird art funk again please art requests?