Basically I'm grieving SO hard that didn't know it was possible for fictional characters
Yes I'm fucking GRIEVING but it's not normal to feel the sharp feeling of loneliness, injustice, betrayal, to feel as if a dagger was thrusted into your heart to rip it apart in small little pieces with the force of a nuclear bomb. It's not normal about a fictional character I mean.
Don't get me wrong, we know what we are buying if we are going to see a greek tragedy, a thriller, or a tragic sad love story. We know we will experience catharsis, fear and adrenaline, we will cry over a lost love.
So why am I grieving over GO3?
Because it was not expected! I was expecting a comedy not a tragedy, not a gloomy one of Shakespeare! I was expecting it to be a silly, fun comedy where my two silliest not-at-all-heroes finally get to have their happy ending. I sought HOPE and JOY.
And don't go down on the road where "characters don't get what they want but they get what they need"!
Don't tell me Crowley's story arc is going from "look at you! You're beautiful!" "Not the children, you can't kill children" "you'll go along with Heaven as long a you can" to "we can't change anything" "the game is rigged","there is no free will" (WTF???) "ok let's start fresh new". Is that the right arc? Is this even the same story?
And don't tell me that Aziraphael's arc was from "I wonder if I did the right thing" "they quite like the old children" "there is hope in human kind" "it's ineffable" to "nope, I agree world is rigged" "ineffable not an option anymore because God is a bitch" "we were just characters on her book" (WTF are you talking about? You're pratically denying your 6k+ thousand years of inner grow) "I only want Crowley" (yes we do know you always wanted Crowley, but that's not the point, the point is you both gave up HOPE for your universe and for you two together!)
And again you look me in the eyes and you tell me that he was really meaning what he was saying in the last 15 about Heaven "is the place of light, of good" basically throwing out of the window all the journey he spiritually had from the very beginning.
They were defeated from the very first frame on the screen. They were tired, depressed, incapable of thinking straight.
As if something inside them both broke with that quarrel and that kiss. The kiss was suppose to fuel their love, a promise of an US, it was not meant to break their very core!
This story was GLOOMY and guess who is a gloomy author? Our Sandman man. The-one-we-shall-not-name: NG!
I read Sandman; it's a poetic, epic, gothic, noir, angsty, wonderful, meaninful graphic story. And I absolutely love it (I can't blame the children for the father's sin, can I?).
I came to realize that GO3 is Sandman all over again!
Parallels between GO3 and Sandman from now on, so if you don't wanna read spoilers about Sandman skip it to the VIOLET toward the end.
Morpheus (Sandman) asked for Death (her sister) to take him because he couldn't bear the reality he was living in, he couldn't bear the thing that he did.
He had to do something forbidden in that reality and the Kindly Ones asked him to pay the price.
Who are the Kindly Ones? They are sisters goddess and they persecuted oath-breakers, patricides, matricides, and other violators of divine law.
Beside the obvious different story, are you starting to see a path here?
* Asking for Death
* Breaking the divine law (= act of rebellion, pride or disobedience against the order commanded by God)
* Doing something forbidden
I'll move forward:
The Kindly ones are the Furies. Their attack on Sandman was so severe, that Morpheus was left with only one option in order to save his realm: his own destruction.
And the moment he died another Sandman, Daniel, took his place because the Land of Dreamings cannot disappear without consequences for the entire universe.
And you will think, yes but the Land of Dreamings was still there. Nope. It was reshaped too by the new Sandman. The old world disappeared with Morpheus. Only the archetypes came to life again.
Again, are you seeing a path?
* God asks a price
* Forced choice for the character
* Erasing of the old world
* Creation of a new world
* Archetypes stays (Remember the graffiti walls behind Asa and Anthony?... Yup)
* Character still there but he's a new person
Am I delusional?
The story shifted from a TP universe to a NG universe.
GO3 feels to me a NG's work.
What is now bringing me peace is that I consider GO3 as a fanfic written by a famous guy who got the luck to win the lottery and have it on screen. But it's as valid as any other one of the amazing writers in ao3 because nobody really knows what TP would have written! That book will never exist! We have only one book (and S1, and possibly some bits of S2) that is Canon!
And as bonus point
Whales! Dolphins! Where are my silly babies in this finale? There is no -let's try this thing-but it's a stupid thing-but we'll try it anyway-and that didn't really work out but -whoa! did we accidentally buy enough time for others to make the trick and -yahyyyy-what happened-we won really???-well actually they won-I'm famished let's go eat something- crepes- maybe in a picnic, yes?-you know I love you right?- and ducks need peas... you what?- I love you mostly in the entire universe...and books
It would have been so easy to get a proper "sacrifice-themed" finale. Instead of asking for a new universe, they ask for the old one back, but with a little tweak: no more heaven, hell, god, ineffable plan. A proper secular universe, with billions of years left to go. And retroactively-real dinosaurs fossils. Since the 6000 years Great Plan went down the drain, a second chance for humanity is only due.
God is intrigued, and asks if they know what it'd mean: they could no longer exist in this universe. They know. And they make the sacrifice.
Fade to black.
The world is back. Nothing has really changed, except that free will is now completely free, and humanity is free from the system.
And by some slip of the hand, or of the pen, the universe was tweaked a little more than was strictly necessary. Now, a very human Aziraphale and a very human Crowley are still alive, at the perfect age for a human retirement arc. They couldn't exist as an angel and a demon, but no one said anything about their human corporations, the home they've been inhabiting for millennia.
This would have been a humanist ending. This could easily have been a little trick that a certain author would have loved to insert into one of his books, as an ode to his characters and his love for humanity.
If your loved one had suffered trauma that has changed them forever and they were unable to move on from, and you were given the opportunity to erase that trauma (not just the memory of it, but actually transforming reality so it had never happened), wouldn't you? Even if it meant they would be a different person, maybe no longer the one you love, or one who loves you?
We know Crowley doesn't embrace being a demon and isn't proud to have fallen. And we know he has abandonment and self-esteem issues, is convinced that he "just couldn't cut it" and "was a terrible angel". I'm starting to think this is the real nature of Aziraphale's sacrifice. To erase Crowley's trauma (and it is Crowley who makes the call!) even at the expense of their love. The thing is, Aziraphale doesn't love Crowley because of his trauma. He loves him despite it, and he loves him both with and without it - that's why Asa falls in love with Anthony. That's also the reason Anthony is starmaker-coded. He is what Crowley would've been if he hadn't lived in a universe sentenced to pointless destruction.
I only wish we had received some clearer signals that Aziraphale loves Crowley as he is, not just the memory of the Starmaker, and that Crowley knows he is loved the way he is. It was much needed in face of everything. And it's sorely missing.
I’m still having thoughts about the Book of Life and the Bookshop at the End of the World.
(As a disclaimer, I don’t view this post as being either pro- or anti-GO3’s ending. It’s more about why I think I was less anti- the ending than others were from the get-go, because I think the bifurcation point for a “good” vs “bad” ending was a bit earlier for me than for others.)
(That said, I think anyone who argues that if you have to justify an ending in order to like it doesn’t understand what it means when we went from 6 eps to a movie, so we have to dig a bit harder to understand what the ending means. And there are some of us who need to think about things before we decide how much little we like something, especially an ending. Blame the neurodivergence).
(This post gets dark before it gets brighter)
Disclaimer complete. Now.
This post is about the Book of Life, who is in the bookshop at the end of the world, what that means about the world that came before, what that means about the two options presented to Crowley, and why I think he chose the option he did. It ends with my thoughts on whether I like the ending.
The Bookshop at the End of the World was rescued from the Book of Life before it went into the flames, yet the pages containing Crowley and Aziraphale were not. Even so, our favorite angel and demon were at the Bookshop. That means one of two things: 1. Aziraphale and Crowley are not, nor have they ever been, alive, or 2. It’s not the Book of Life, but something else.
The first option is silly, and I think we can agree that it’s probably not accurate. The second option is a bit more compelling, and I think the answer as to what the book actually is is provided in the script itself.
First, Michael says that she would see the Metatron going in and changing things, which shows that it’s not just who is alive but also what they do.This implies that the book controls the events of life, not life itself, and therefore anyone that’s in the Book of Life does not have free will. Regardless of what they ‘choose’ to do (and that’s not going into the implications of demons and angels influencing humans has on free will), the Metatron can rewrite their actions, possibly even before those actions even happen.
The second is a little more opaque: when God answers Aziraphale’s questions, she says it was the silliest, messiest, most predictable thing in the universe. I would argue that someone can necessarily only predict things they can’t control, and that other things (like angels generally going along with God’s plan, the rebellion, even Michael’s breakdown) might actually be more predictable, but only if prediction was necessary . That God was doing any prediction at all implies that she didn’t actually have direct control over what Aziraphale and Crowley did.
Combined, I think that Aziraphale and Crowley are the only beings from the previous universe who had free will, other than God and possibly Satan (based on “God is actually playing solitaire” statement, which is directly from the Good Omens book).
This is a dark thing to realize: it means that nobody in the previous universe had free will, not even Adam. Everyone in the prior universe with free will is in that Bookshop.
This is when we get to personal philosophy. My gut reaction at this point was that everyone else in the prior universe is gone. They have been snapped shredded from existence. They’re dead. They’re not turned into newts or crows or anything: they don’t exist (and again this is very dark).
God says “I can put everything back as it was, just say the word.” To me, that’s the same thing as Job’s children only with the entire universe. It’s worse, actually, because God’s bringing them back presumably based on her Book of Life backup, calling these new people the EXACT SAME as the prior ones, when actually it’s God’s copy of the original universe without free will. Michael took apart the universe like a gleeful child or and enraged angel, and if God puts it back together, it won’t be the same. “Is it close enough” is a valid question, and I think that the answer depends on your personal philosophy.
So I argue that Crowley does not decide to kill everyone (since they’re already dead). He literally can’t decide to save everyone (since they’re already dead). His decision is instead on how to restart the universe: does he want a 1. Book of Life that prohibits everyone from having free will, angels and demons with their fingers in everything, a meddling smiling god who doesn’t answer anyone’s questions, and all the supernatural beings chomping at the bit to fight either each other or the humans orrrr 2. Not that.
I think that Crowley is doing a lot of processing very very quickly in this instant. I think he goes with his gut but more importantly his knowledge of astrophysics. After all, he saw all the dust people became, he knows how gravity works (clinging to whatever’s biggest around it aka the Bookshop), and he knows astrophysics. He wrote a 3,000,602 page document outlining how nebulas becomes proto-stars and proto-planets, and I would gamble that he had his finger is nearly every process related to making a universe that there was.
So he knows what he’s asking for when he asks for a universe without heaven, hell, angels, demons, satan, or God. He’s knows asking for it to take 13.8 billion years (give or take a billion, let she honest) from that moment for them approach a similar earth. He’s very cool with things that will take a very long time to get rewards. That’s the point! 6,000 years isn’t a long time at all on the universe scale.
Brief aside but LOOK AT THEM. They love an engine that’ll take a very long time to warm up!
Anyway! I would gamble that Crowley is playing the long long LONG game (I made a post about this before, but I’m trying to expand here). I think Crowley chooses to trust his knowledge, but also to trust his love of Aziraphale. I think he knows that when the new universe is made, it’ll be made out of the stuff of the old universe. The Big Bang will be centered on his love of life and Aziraphale and the universe. His stuff will spread across the vast universe, and I think it’ll look for his other stuff (like goes to like) and Aziraphale’s stuff (because how could it not?).
I think Crowley gambled that in one way or another, he’ll exist in the next universe, maybe not as himself and maybe without his memories, but he’ll make up the marrow of it. And he knows himself well enough to know that where he is, he will be searching for Aziraphale. And he trusts Aziraphale’s love enough that he’ll be looking for him too.
So I guess the question is, do I like the ending?
I like the very end. I like the idea of Crowley and Aziraphale falling in love with each other across the whole universe, time after time, again and again. I like that we do see everyone again, that everyone’s stuff tracks itself down and reforms with at least the essence of the individual, if not the memories (tbf even if the memories were to survive 13.8 billion years, there’d probably be some degradation). I like that everyone has free will, and that there are no angels or demons trying to destroy everything. I like that people are people and life is life. I don’t think Crowley and Aziraphale are made lesser by being made human, and I think they would agree with me.
I don’t like that the universe was destroyed in the first place. I don’t think them recreating the Book of Life is all it’s chalked up to be (but I get why people would think that) or not do I them them agreeing with God’s other offer, to reset everything as it was, is a good option either (but again I get why people would think that). I don’t like that there was maybe never any free will. Can I like the ending if I don’t like a major part of the middle?
That’s maybe a more important question. Terry didn’t write season 2 or 3 at all, and they were both lacking his signature attitude. I’ve been trying to remember if any of his books get this dire, and I came up empty, but it’s been a few years. If anyone knows of one, please drop it in the comments~
It’s hard to say if I like the ending, because I just wish Terry was here. I wish NG wasn’t a piece of shit, yes, but is it bad that I wish Terry was here more?
Terry taught me to be hopeful. To look for silver linings. To search for meaning in struggle. To try to understand that the world is not black and white, but shades of gray.
Hi hello I have also watched GO3 and feel strongly about it.... I can't stop thinking about the narrative incompleteness of this notion of games, specifically three-card monte. As I see it, there are two options for what that game can symbolize: "don't trust the person who says they're running the game" (i.e. the game is a LIE), or "don't believe everything you see" (i.e. the game is honest, but will surprise you).
It's the game we're meant to believe lost Crowley the Bentley, and maybe in the gangster's hands there *was* trickery. No doubt there's some of that motif throughout the story about how the game is rigged, the house always wins, etc. But it's also the game Jesus learns to reorient himself to human life and its rules. And crucially, Jesus learns how to deal the cards! Because everything else in the story tells us he's a good and honest person (the MOST good and honest person), we have to assume the skill he learned isn't trickery, but misdirection. You wouldn't think Jesus would happily learn a card game where the only way to play is to cheat, would you? So we know that in this story, three-card monte can symbolize either deceit OR honest misdirection.
Those two narrative beats feel important, and a good portion of the show is devoted to that specific game and its imagery. So I was stunned when the ending DIDN'T somehow invoke three-card monte for a third and final definitive narrative moment, wherein we see that Az and Crowley have dealt the cards and pulled off a secret victory. Surely, the final "trick" should show us that, despite initial appearances to the contrary, their own universe still exists, and they live happily in it together?
I could talk even more about the themes of games throughout the finale, Aziraphale winning the Bentley back (and winning *Crowley* back) by outsmarting the gangster in a "game" of what is essentially riddle-solving -- and then that climactic scene with God and all its classical riddle-y allusions ("you can ask one question," "I will grant you one wish," etc) -- it just feels like SO much groundwork was laid to suggest that games, misdirection and riddle-solving will be IMPORTANT to how the story ends, and the happily ever after would have the "marks" call the shots for once.
I'm glad we got to see our boys one more time, but I can't help feeling that the ending... well, missed a trick.
Alternative Proposal to God for Choice of Next Universe in a Multiverse
"Very well. I'll let you choose. This decision, this one decision, can be yours. What do you want? Do you want me to put everything back the way it was?"
So this is really a question of consent - any Binary Choice made in the bookshop, however well intentioned, would highly impact those not present without their input. Whether that is:
Stop existing in their old lives (new universe) -OR-
Live in a world where Free Will is under question (old universe)
Both run into the same problem: Just as the fandom is divided, in-universe characters would also be divided on what they want. To address this issue, a third option would be needed.
Firstly, how about two (or more) universes running simultaneously, including the
Big Bang Universe
Original Universe (everyone lives!) with some modifications (more details below)
And here's the crucial part:
Every single time you reincarnate the character Death gives you a moment of Clarity about
Your past lives
Basic details on how each universe works
***And you get to *choose* your next universe to be reincarnated into every single time!***
Freedom of choice about your own free will!
Like let's say you die in the original universe -- you could choose to be reincarnated in the big bang universe (or vice versa)!
More details below, including:
Moral reasoning & justification for this instead of just one universe
Modifications for the original universe
More details how Reincarnation Choice works
Multiple different "levels of free will" (the reincarnation & soulmate problems)
Why Death not God handling the between-life choice?
Pitching/selling this idea to God
How the choice of next universe might be impacted by past life experience, world events, and attributes of each universe
How a "remember past lives" universe would work
I'm working on a whole essay about this possible "Third Option Proposal/Pitch" to God. When I finish it I'll post the link here. "Reincarnation Choice" will be one of the AO3 tags.
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Why Death not God handling the between-life choice?
This between-life choice is administered by Death (not God) cause he's more trustworthy to be impartial.
On that note, how do we know we can trust God to keep her promise long-term? To make a Godless universe and keep Her grubby hands off it?
Multiple universes could help keep her engaged and interested (and not tempted to mess about inappropriately). Her offer to "put everything back" might have been in bad faith but if you can interest Her. Give Her something to sink her teeth into elsewhere -- then that might just help keep Her paws off the Big Bang Universe 🤔
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The moral reasoning and justification for this proposal instead of just one universe (Big Bang or original-with-modifications)?
Why not have only the new Big Bang Universe (canon)? Or only the original universe (with some modifications)? What is the argument for this being necessary?
You could argue that when Crowley & Aziraphale give their decision to God, the souls of the old universe presently don't exist and never did. So it isn't a "continuing" but a "bringing back" -- it isn't an "ending" but a "choosing not to restore" -- which changes the moral balance.
And is it not a moral violation to choose to take someone (who at this moment does not exist) and bring them back without their consent -- knowing that they will be going through major changes or tumult?
That said, is an unknown better or safer? There is no guarantee that this new universe will be kinder or gentler -- it could just as easily be harsher and crueler -- there is no way to know in advance. Is it better to choose the devil you know or the devil you do not know?
But no matter what, decisions have still been made about a soul's final disposition without their consultation. Whether to exist is arguably one of the most deeply personal and individual decisions -- and making that choice *in any direction* for others without consent is arguably a moral violation.
If even one single being from the old universe would disagree with Crowley's choice -- would say "I want my current life back even if my level of free will is in question". Can we morally make this choice for that person? And too, if someone agrees with Crowley, can we make the opposite choice for that person?
Just as the fandom is divided, in-universe characters would also be divided on whether they want the old universe or the new universe. So making this choice *in any direction* would be making it for someone who disagrees. It's a fascinating cunundrum really.
The souls of the old universe did not consent to:
Living in a world where the existence of Free Will is questionable (Crowley's argument)
No longer existing as they were. Losing their memories/current lives and selves.
For angels and demons, being forcibly changed fundamentally (made human: depowered; mortal) -- especially with their memories intact, which could be quite traumatic
Being brought back changed with 0 memory of who they were before
No matter what option you choose, you are making radical decisions for others without their consent. The only solution to that dilemma is to give others the opportunity to choose.
To quote The Good Place:
"Fork this! If we're going to lose, let's lose on our own terms. Let's come up with a completely new idea that actually makes the universe better. At least then we can hold our heads high."
(And so they break out the chalkboard/legal pad, come up with a better option, and manage to get it passed & into effect. I highly encourage you to watch The Good Place if you haven't already. It's perfect, no notes.)
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More about how Reincarnation Choice works
Of course while you can choose the universe -- you can't control the circumstances in which you are born in a given universe.
Everyone can always choose to reincarnate in the Big Bang universe.
In the majority of universes, inside your current life, you have 0 outside knowledge. (So while inside the big bang universe -- its the exact same as in Crowley's proposal)
But perhaps there could be a universe (you would willingly choose) where you get to remember all your past lives simultaneously? (more on that later)
You can have multiple populated planets in the same universe if the base mechanics will be the same -- this will help reduce the total universe count to be managed
Everyone is equally powered (so either no one has abilities or everyone does)
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On Modifications for the Original Universe:
Bring the old universe back to the present day with everyone alive and everything erased is restored. This means everyone in Heaven will remember what Michael did (poor Michael but also you brought it on yourself)
We know this is possible because Adam does it -- the delivery man Lesley is no longer dead and people wonder where Atlantis went.
Moving forward it will be reincarnation; no Heaven/Hell; Angels/Demons are made human & given min 70 years of natural life (car accidents can still happen) with memories intact before their first reincarnation cycle.
Now this is a traumatic change to force on angels/demons with no say or consent in the matter. Is this better or worse than 1.) ending an existence without consent or 2.) erasing memory without consent?
Again no matter what option you choose, there will be a moral violation in that you are making radical decisions for others without their consent. The only solution to that dilemma is to give others the opportunity to choose.
So here's the crucial bit, before everyone rejoins the restored old universe they get that between-life moment of clarity where they get to choose whether they want:
70 years with their old memories before their first Reincarnation cycle
Skip right to reincarnating as a human baby
They could choose to be frozen in stasis until the Big Bang Universe is ready to support intelligent life
Either way it is clear to them that they will still exist and reincarnate -- the question is just about their own personal memory and experience in the short term (70 years). That is an upsetting choice to have to make -- but whatever you decide you are still getting to choose.
Some might take the option to just reincarnate right away (rather than have to go through that radical change). The people who make this choice might find this brief tangent upsetting -- maybe even wish they hadn't been asked at all! -- but then as requested they would be reborn asap as babies with no memories.
But some are going to choose to take the 70 years with memories intact. Meaning they choose to undergo this change process knowing what they once were and what they are going to be now.
Of course, for many the preferred option would be to stay an immortal who serves heaven/hell -- but if that option's not available on the buffet line then they are getting to choose this much at least.
Psychologically, being allowed to make a choice -- even between two not-great options -- can also help a person reconcile themselves to a not-great situation and increase their buy-in. Even among any angels and demons who want to keep their memories so that they can spend those 70 years trying to eff up the Earth out of spite -- they still made that conscious choice to do this instead of skipping straight to a memory reset. There was still a level of buy-in to this less bad option and that changes things about how a person generally interacts with their new reality.
(It is also worth noting that angels and demons are famously not actually that effective at impacting Earth even with the use of miracles -- and depowered (& needing food/bathrooms), well, that will significantly impact what they can accomplish in 70 years. These are the beings who forget to put petrol in their cars or plug in their stereos.)
The thing is I don't believe in:
Ending lives prematurely -OR-
Memory tampering (outside of death)
So from my perspective the option to take those 70 years is ethically important:
Even if they cause problems for humans
Even if they squander the opportunity
Even if it is traumatic to be depowered and made mortal
It isn't reasonable to expect any resolution to resolve every single problem in the world -- it is not possible to have Free Will but end all wars, hunger, genocide, global warming, poverty, etc. Utopias are wonderful ideas but there is a reason why they have not and will not ever actually exist. I never expected GO3 to fix everything perfectly because that's not possible. I expected heaven and hell to fall and rebuilding to start -- and that rebuilding is going to be messy because all rebuildings are. Nothing will ever be simple or clean because that cannot exist alongside Free Will.
Mr Incredible:
"No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for...for ten minutes!"
No, because that isn't how free will works!
And keep in mind if my "Reincarnation Choice" scheme described above is now in effect --
That hopefully takes some pressure off of fixing every single little damn thing perfectly in the original universe (or any universe)
Seeing as how that actually isn't even possible -- cause Free Will is gonna Free Will.
Because even if your last life was kinda rough: you can always choose any universe -- including Godless universes' -- for your next go around.
Freedom of Choice for your Free Will!
Jason Mendoza from The Good Place: "You know what they say in Florida: "If you don't like this funeral, juuust wait a minute!""
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If there is a "remember all your past lives" universe, it would:
**Be a completely optional place where people could choose to remember their past lives and selves.***
1.) Only becomes an option after you go through at least one iteration as a human in a world where you don't remember your past lives.
So any former angels and demons who hang out there will now *also* have memories as a human (to hopefully help them chill the eff out a bit.)
2.) You can only stay for a normal human lifetime (<100 years) before you have to get reincarnated again in a world where you don't remember your past lives.
This will help keep people being chill/normal and avoid too much stasis
3.) I imagine people who like to hang out here would end up coordinating/synching up with loved ones on the timing of reincarnation cycles
This is particularly lovely because you are unlikely to meet past loved ones during reincarnation cycles -- since you might be reincarnated in Peru and they are reincarnated in China in the 1300s (before Columbus) and therefore you will never meet! But you can choose to alternate cycles between the traditional universes and the "remember everything" universe.
4.) While originally intended as a place where people could choose to 1/heal and process from past lives (if they want!) & 2/reunite with past loved ones -- this also could become a very interesting and messy place.
If everyone remembers the combination of multiple life experiences--including what others did. Multiple different marriages. Murder. Old grudges and emotional ties.
5.) Of course, since this "remember everything" universe is completely optional. A person could choose to never spend any time here at all if they prefer! -- opting instead to always reincarnate in a universe without memory
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Universes with different "levels of free will" (the Reincarnation & soulmate problem)
One issue is arguably the main goal is true free will for humans but what is asked for is godless. And arguably predestining that an Earth will form and one day have humans is not godless. And Reincarnation is in itself not purely godless.
There are gradations then of "lack of Godly involvement":
Intelligent life is not guaranteed (truly godless) or if it does happen if night not be humans that evolve
God nudges intelligent life to happen but it is offerwise godless (no reincarnation)
God nudges intelligent life to happen and there's reincarnation but it's otherwise godless.
Let's say any intelligent being who dies in a world without reincarnation will actually get the choice to move to a different universe. This can be the universe that generates only new souls, which then feeds into all the other universes.
Similarly the idea that you might meet with old loved ones repeatedly; that you are "fated" -- may not be a purely godless concept.
Would there be some divine intervention happening here? Nudging you to at least be reborn in the same country (if not city) so there is a decent probability of finding each other (especially in pre-aviation societies).
Or is this happening because the souls are genuinely finding each other again -- they have a kind of unconscious memory that helps them seek each other out? And would this then help them manage to not have one person be born in Peru and the other in China in the 1300s?
I'm sure people would love to have the choice to reincarnate in close proximity with loved ones thereby increasing the likelihood of meeting. If this is dually chosen by both parties at their Reincarnation Choice then that is arguably Free Will instead of Divine Intervention. Being born nearby is mutually chosen by the people involved.
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If God scoffs that it's too big an Ask well:
(plus how the choice might be impacted by past life experience, world events, and attributes of each universe)
But God wouldn't this be interesting to observe for you the Viewer?
Yes you're no longer allowed to directly impact universes*** (once they've been set in motion) but
Just think won't it be psychologically fascinating, oh Lord, to watch how people's past life experience(s) impact their choice of next universe
And sociology fascinating, oh Lord, to watch how major events in & attributes of a universe might impact people's choice
For example, the aftermath of a war
The presence of penicillin or electricity
Past fantasies of being a pirate or a knight (which of course you won't remember once you are inside your new life)
We have cards/options available to concede
We can always backtrack to first "just the two universes with reincarnation choice
Falling that, just the two universes now without reincarnation choice
Failing that also, we're back to picking just one universe
Never start a negotiation conceding everything
Possible Hail Mary:
"Too big an Ask? Well you said you'd let me make this one decision -- and seeing as your God it must be in your power to create this, amiright?".
Definitely a Hail Mary move -- and the exact phrasing might need some workshopping by the demon Crowley
***Does She still need more convincing? Let's (semi-)concede a card. Perhaps, oh Lord, some universes can be a little more lax then others about Godly influence providing the below points remain sacred:
0 godly influence in the Big Bang World(s)
There must be sufficient godless options for anyone who wants that
***The choice of universe at Reincarnation***
Meaning everyone always has the option to reincarnate next time in a "godless universe".
(Also getting God to agree is technically a Watsonian (in-universe) issue! Doylistically (out-of-universe), if the Writer wants a particular outcome, I am sure they can set things up to make that outcome happen (make it real).)
Guys I just realized something really interesting! You know the day Go 3 was released may 13 is also equal to 25 Dhu l-Qa'da and in Islamic calendar, that day is the day that THE EARTH WAS SPREAD OUT!
Makes sense if it was intentional! Cause in Good Omens universe that is also the day that the earth was born anew!
7 Classica Planets (celestial bodies able to be seen from space with the naked eye (Sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars,jupiter,saturn)
7 days of Creation
7 Seals to be opened before the Second Coming (see:Revelations)
The opposite sides of a dice adds up to 7, and we all know She likes playing games
Wanna know what else is interesting about the number 7?
There's a Prince song (or, TAFKAP) called "7". Go and look at the lyrics. Definitely fitting for our two love angels/ angels in love.
The whole song is religion-coded.
But I also like the fact that Prince's Love Symbol #2 also reminds me of the Good Omens logo.
Wanna know one last thing?
There's also a psychology paper about memory titled The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information (link to the wiki page)
So yeah. If they don't use this song in S3 I will throw a fit
