#elisto

[elistodragonwings]

Crowley could not have used the Book of Life or his high level angelic/demonic powers to bring the world back because those things are part of the unjust system he is trying to end. By being a supernatural being, even as a demon, Crowley is in a relatively privileged position over humans. Dismantling that damaging, oppressive supernatural system means also giving up that privilege. As part of the system, literally created to be a tool for manipulating creation, he had to change along with it.

Using that power would be like making himself into a god, even temporarily. Holding onto even a small piece of it for his own benefit, or for Aziraphale's, would undermine the dismantling of it. So he chose to bring the world back through evolutionary, natural, and thus self-driven means rather than magic.

Yes, he deserved a better outcome, and so did everyone else, that's the point of what he did. That better outcome only can exist in a more equal world.

As for the human-created problems on Earth, he can't fix them as a superior being. He has no right to use his power to decide how to help, who deserves help, who he should listen to, what side he should take. He knows right and wrong, but it's not his place to take authority and impose it. Humans have to solve human problems. It's like the difference between a billionaire using their money to help people, which requires that they choose who gets help and what outcome they're aiming for, and a billionaire taking apart the political and economic system that allowed them to accumulate power-via-money in the first place.

I don't usually like stories about a hero making a supposedly selfless sacrifice because it often feels like an artificially forced choice. But I think part of what's so upsetting about this ending is that there are no real alternatives, and that has difficult and scary implications for the real world. Fixing systems of oppression means trusting that giving up privilege will still leave a place for you in the new world. But you might have to radically reinvent yourself to find it.

Crowley's one misunderstanding was that he and Aziraphale, as supernatural beings, were not already a part of the world and thus wouldn't have a place in it anymore. Or at least, he was willing to accept that possibility. But they did come back because no matter how much they may have felt like outsiders, their existence as people was just as much a natural part of the world as the humans they wanted to be like. In the end, dismantling unjust power and giving up their privilege also freed them to feel a real, equal connection to the world, just as they always wanted.

It's sad and upsetting and also beautiful and hopeful.

[gojira007]

(Commision pic by @fini-mun, I can’t thank you enough for how wonderfully it came out; Happy Valentine’s Day, @elistodragonwings​ ((whose very post/story was a direct inspiration for this one)))  <3

Sonic could scarcely believe his eyes.  

Just a moment ago, he and Sally had been falling to what would surely have been their deaths, an attempt to escape from Robotnik with the Chaos Emerald he had attempted to steal that had gone terribly wrong.  But then…she had reached out to him.  Held him close.  He had returned her embrace.

Then there came a light.

It seemed to burst forth from the gem, pouring over Sally like a blossoming fire.  But rather than consume her, this flame…this power…had wrapped around her in an embrace of its own.  It had flared and flashed, and then it seemed as if time had stopped.

When it resumed? Sonic found himself safe in Sally’s arms.

And Sally was floating in the air, hovering well above the jagged and unforgiving stones they had nearly crashed into.  Even more striking, her eyes were now a burning red, while her fur and hair seemed to be standing on end, glowing the same shade of pure, radiant gold as the light which now pulsed all around her, an aura that seemed to crackle with a life of its own.  “Sal…” Sonic was just barely able to whisper out, staring at her with rapt attention.

“Are…are you…OK…?” the princess asked, ears flicking as she heard her own voice.  There was an echo to it now, as if she were speaking at once from right where she was and all around them at the same time.  

It took him a moment, but Sonic nodded, a bit more eagerly than he had perhaps intended.  “Are you?” he then asked.

Sally took a slow breath. “I…I think so…” she answered.  “I’m not in any pain, at least.”  She closed her eyes, letting out a low breath, though this too carried that strange echo.  “We…we should get moving.  The emerald’s been secured, and Robotnik’ll probably be after us before too long, so…!”

She went quiet as the hedgehog gently reached out to her, putting a hand to her cheek.  “Not that I miss the irony?” he said with a little chuckle. “But given the circumstances, I think you need t’slow down a bit here, Sal.”

She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that, pressing her head to his and letting Sonic bathe in the gentle warmth coming off her whole body.  He pressed back happily.  “…what does it feel like?” Sonic asked softly.

They looked at each other then, both smiling a little.  “I’m…not sure there are words for it…” Sally said; a little smirk formed on her face as she continued, “but since you’re taking a page out of my book, maybe I can take a page out of yours.”

The princess’ eyes slowly drifted upwards.  “Maybe I can show you.”

And then they began to rise.  Higher and higher, away from the cliff side they had fallen from…past the mountain tops and the setting sun.  A trail of glimmering little lights twinkling behind in Sally’s wake, and Sonic wrapped an arm around her, holding tight as he felt the familiar chill of the winds washing over him.  But as they flew more, he soon realized how different this was from his own speed…how much more free.  The lush purple sky began to open up to them as they rose through the air, Sally’s golden light guiding their way, fitting in perfectly amongst the many stars that began to reveal themselves as they pierced through the clouds.

But even with all these unique, gorgeous, incredible sights to see, Sonic found his eyes kept wandering to Sally.  And in truth, hers did the same for him.  They both smiled at each other, the light around them growing a bit brighter, the warmth a bit stronger.  

Together, they soared off toward the horizon.

(BONUS!  Alternate Color Pic under the cut)

[erictmason]

HO HO HO!  MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRY CHRISTMAS, @elistodragonwings!

Sonic and Sally have put together a little photo album of the wonderful Christmas Party they had, so that you can share their warm memories!  Like Lina having a laugh at the stoic Ginko being there at all, or Garnet and Anthy showing the world their lovely Love, or Lexington being fascinated at how Alphonse works.

They, and I, hope you have the happiest Holidays. <3

And just a reminder, I am taking Commissions right now: http://gojira007.tumblr.com/post/168682813032/yup-finally-diving-into-this-wide-wacky-world

[elistodragonwings]

Think the ending is very in line with the themes of the prior seasons, and I have a lot I can explain about why if anyone is interested, but the core of it is this: These aren't new people. They're there the same people, but in a world where an unequal and thus inherently oppressive system (the supernatural) has been removed from all of reality. So yes, the people are a little different because they've had different experiences, but their existence, the universe's entire existence, has now been entirely self directed.

I really do want to say a lot more about this, both in-story and philosophically about harm, free will, inequality, systemic issues, secular awe of the world, and identity, but it will have to wait until I have more time. Maybe this weekend.

[elistodragonwings]

I'm still so conflicted.

As someone who's a fan of Good Omens' religious commentary, I love that the creative team was brave enough to explicitly call this top-down, us vs. them, good vs. evil, religious control of the world (Christianity) unfixably dysfunctional and reject the supernatural outright. I love that the actual serpent from Eden, who was literally demonized for loving and wanting to understand the world and give knowledge to the people in it, was able to stand up in the end for the moral value and freedom and beauty of a purely natural world.

As someone who loves Crowley and Aziraphale and their relationship, I hate that the logical result of getting their better world is that they've now had to re-evolve ("reincarnate") into new lives and don't remember anything. I hate it.

[elistodragonwings]

Good Omens 3...

I have...a lot of feelings about how this turned out. But there was one unexpected positive, or at least interesting, thing I found in it – how it philosophically approached the conflict’s themes in a world in which a Christian-like god is both real and the source of the problem. Or at least, one way it can be interpreted that I think is OK and works for me.

Specifically, that even without a god to make them and influence them, Aziraphale, Crowley, and everyone else still ended up existing, and world itself still ended up largely the same. Their existence, everyone’s existence, was in fact an inevitable, natural part of the world, developing on their own, god and the supernatural not required. Sure, they’re not exactly the same people they were before, they don’t have the same memories, powers, and experiences that shaped them, but they still have the same personalities, interests, feelings, and connections, and more a part of the world itself than they were before, truly connected to everything like they always wanted. By starting everything over, whether they meant to or not, they proved Crowley's point that people and the world itself, for better or for worse, are self-driven, and beautify things, like two people finding each other, still happen. That a top-down religious-authoritarian system for guiding the world can't be fixed or made better, and its existence only made the people in it suffer, supernatural people included.

I don’t know if this atheistic, humanistic philosophical take was intentional. Possibly, given this show is British and not American, but I’m not sure. What I do know is that how it would thematically wrap up the religious commentary aspects of the overall story was the part I expected the most disappointment from. Somehow it was the part that surprised me the most.

My feelings about what it all means for the characters’ story arcs are different, but thematically, philosophically, theologically, I think this is an interpretation I can tentatively appreciate and accept.

[elistodragonwings]

There's something tragically funny about how the Final 15 mirrors the real world reaction to the story's end. Crowley/the story has spend the whole time trying to guide Aziraphale/the audience to a Humanistic understanding of the world, love, life itself, but before he/it can explain clearly what he's been trying to say, everything gets thrown off by some unexpected, shocking, and upsetting information. So he/the story rushes through a jumbled mess of ideas and feelings, repeating things already said before instead of getting to the how and why that Aziraphale/the fans really needed to hear, and overwhelming Aziraphale/the fans with strong emotions they're no longer primed to receive, and so they leave with the decision to fix things out of love but resulting in an eternal rift between them.

I love it, I hate it, a brilliant mess.

Even at its worst, this show is incredible. I love it so much.

[elistodragonwings]

The universe and the people in it are still basically the same as they were before because we're told multiple times through the seasons that the world the angels helped build was designed to look like it developed and evolved naturally:

The joke explaining the existence of dinosaur bones in S1.

Angel-Crowley's S2 description of the nebula and other features of space containing some parts coming pre-formed and other developing from there.

The fact that they know what the big bang is in S3.

The multiple comments by multiple characters over the seasons about the good and evil of human experiences largely being shaped entirely by humans themselves, not the supernatural.

And of course just the fact that we the audience can see that this world basically looks like the real world, with some supernatural elements hidden here and there.

The choice Crowley made at the end was really to decide what method to use to restore the world:

Magic, with them selecting which parts of the world to keep and which parts to remove to prevent the same destructive outcome, as Adam did.

Or the natural progress that was always there, allowed to develop without the inherent oppression that comes from the existence of supernatural powers.

By the end, they're essentially existing outside of time, both in the physics sense of time as a characteristic of the universe and in the supernatural sense of what Death said in S1 about Armageddon, "Time is over." That means they're not just looking at the last moment of time as the place to restart from, but at the entirely of the universe as one whole.

Plus, destroying the universe didn't just destroy the living humans in 2026 CE, it also destroyed the souls still in heaven and hell, which had still continued into the present, unseen by from Earth. Their deaths in an unjust system (and their ongoing suffering in the afterlife) were not less meaningful and tragic and worthy of being restored than the deaths of the ones who made it to the end in still living bodies. Restarting the world from it's last point would require a decision on what to do with them. A decision, as I've said in other analyses, Crowley and Aziraphale don't have a right to make as beings trying to be equal to humans. Destroying them along with the rest of the supernatural would be no different, from their celestial perspective, than killing the living people. Putting them back on Earth would require and Crowley and Aziraphale to take an even bigger god-like role to make that work. And nothing they do will undo or make better what's been done to those souls.

So looking at the universe as a whole from beginning to end, and considering that the souls of all who every existed also were around at the end, Crowley and Aziraphale didn't so much create a new world as they did create something like a loop in time, with the universe wrapping back around onto itself. Their experiences with the supernatural-infused world were essential to how they came to that outside-of-time decision, but no longer essential to creation.

As a result, the new world, and free will itself, would have had little impact on living humans, the Earth, and the natural universe. It mostly gave free will to the angels and demons themselves, and freedom to the humans and their souls, either by removing the entire concept of a supernatural soul (my preferred interpretation) or by allowing souls to be reincarnated (an equally-plausible interpretation).

The Earth would have to have developed somewhat differently to accommodate the increase in the number of now naturally-occurring people (re: angels, demons, reincarnated souls), but at least now, it does so under it's own "direction" (not that the universe itself in conscious, although I suppose you could take that interpretation too), freely and without external beings manipulating it.

So humans came back largely as they already were. The angels and demons came back close to their old selves because the always really were, in some form, part of the universe. They were never truly people meant to be "above" it like they were created to believe.

Because if the universe was meant to look like it developed naturally, then the people in it were just as naturally a part of it as the stars and planets and everything else.