#overanalysis theatre

[fury-brand]

I think ultimately my disappointment with Bloodborne comes from expecting there to be more to it than there was. It's a very thoughtfully designed game, but it's hard to feel that the narrative amounts to more than a puzzle box.

Digging around on the internet hasn't really led me to any analysis that puts the component parts of Bloodborne's story together in a way that feels cohesive, and most aren't even interested in doing that so much as they are assembling the puzzle of what actually happens in the story. If anybody out there has an interesting read/watch, definitely send it my way, but my search has yet to yield anything compelling.

I'm still chewing on it and coming up with my own meaning, but what I find isn't always very satisfying. I think the core of the whole story probably began with something like "pregnancy itself is kind of an eldritch horror," and like yeah, no doubt, that shit's terrifying... But at the same time they don't really do a lot with that. The perspective on pregnancy and childbirth is all very external and I don't feel like the game has anything particularly interesting or insightful to say about motherhood; in fact I think it has a tendency to treat mothers as synonymous with the eldritch and unknowable beasts that can't meaningfully share their perspectives.

It kind of makes me roll my eyes a bit. The ambitions, the diverse perspectives on the situation that create the consequential camps of the games - these all come from men, and academic ones. Pregnancy is such a pivotal concept for this game but myriad perspectives on it are not represented or reflected - the writing is much more comfortable sticking to the eldritch horror side of the metaphor and creating characters with perspectives on that, and it comes off to me as a little cowardly. Lady Maria's role in the story plays into this dynamic. Of the characters whose actions we feel the consequences of, Maria's the only woman, and stands out as being the only one who managed compassion. It's an interesting role but a very gendered one.

As for the other narrative elements, there's a common thread of mania, obsession, frenzy, xenophobia, overindulgence, that will all lead to an inevitably terrible end but there's not really a lot to that either. I guess you could say it's an inversion of the usual cosmic horror tropes - the madness isn't the horrific outcome, rather it's the inception of the horror - but like. They're not saying an awful lot with that, in the same way it doesn't feel like they're saying a lot with the rest of it.

I think I had this impression for a while and I kept looking for something which would supercede it but it kind of just is what it is and I'll have to accept it.

[shinyhappygoth]

From Good Omens (the novel):

People couldn’t become truly holy, [Aziraphale] said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked.

And:

Now, as Crowley would be the first to protest, most demons weren’t deep down evil. In the great cosmic game they felt they occupied the same position as tax inspectors—doing an unpopular job, maybe, but essential to the overall operation of the whole thing.

This seems to be coming from the same angle as the Devil in Bedazzled (1967):

“In order for people to be really good, they have to make a free choice between good and evil, and choose good. I'm a vital part of His plan. I provide the evil.”

(This is unsurprising, as the order of St. Beryl in Good Omens was named for the order of St. Beryl in Bedazzled.)

This doesn’t seem to be as much the case, or at least as widely understood/accepted, in the TV show, but it’s still a perspective that one might take. Maybe that perspective is how a demon who is (at heart, just a little bit) a good person still manages to enjoy his job tempting humans to sin. Or how an angel justifies to himself the occasional job-swap with said demon. Maybe they like giving humans the opportunity to resist.

(Or not. Or maybe that’s just what Aziraphale tells himself he believes. There are a number of interesting possibilities!)

[shinyhappygoth]

So you know Aziraphale’s line about “and I was technically on apple tree duty...”

A popular (and understandable) assumption is that he was meant to be guarding the Tree of Knowledge, failed in this duty, and was then set to guard the Eastern Gate.

But. But. There were two forbidden trees.

Genesis 2:9 says that “In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.“ Then, later:

3:22. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23. therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The emphasized bit, you will note, is the entire basis for Aziraphale as a character. (Not the bit about the cherubim! He is a separate entity, and a principality rather than a cherub, because it never says that the cherubim were the ones wielding the sword.)

I propose, therefore, that this is what the apple tree duty line actually refers to: He was guarding the Tree of Life by way of guarding the Eastern Gate, just as it says.

(It's also worth noting that since no one is actually mentioned wielding the flaming sword, it's just kind of implied that it was autonomous and spun around all by itself, some fans have suggested that this means Aziraphale is himself the embodiment of, or otherwise fundamentally linked with, the flaming sword, which is an intriguing premise!)

(Also, I've said this before, but the "whirling/flashing/turning every way" bit clearly suggests that Aziraphale can do some sick sword tricks.)

[shinyhappygoth]

Tentative layout for Crowley’s flat, based on a combination of rooms mentioned in the book; rooms, hallways, and doors seen in the show; and just what kinda makes sense for (a) Crowley and (b) a flat like that to have:

(Not to scale; rooms may not conform to normal spatial conventions anyway.)

The “abattoir” is, in my mind, just a room containing nothing but a wood chipper. Alternative name: the mulch room. It’s where we see him going with the unfortunate plant. (I am not committed to any headcanon regarding whether or not he actually does kill the plant, but he definitely has something to make that noise.)

At the start of the bucket sequence, we see him coming from the right of the eagle hallway end wearing the rubber apron. I assume that to be the bedroom, with inevitable walk-in closet.

The souvenir room would be where he keeps the less artistic stuff he’s collected over the years. Most of the things in it would only be meaningful to him and Aziraphale.

[shinyhappygoth]

Another (possible) reason why Aziraphale and Crowley make such good counterparts:

Crowley’s specialty is temptation, and (at least in the modern era) he prefers when possible to nudge lots of people toward sin (or otherwise use them to generate evil) en masse.

Aziraphale, meanwhile, is a Principality, and while we don’t actually see this in action so much, a Principality’s role is to protect and guide groups of people. (I happen to love the fanon going around that his protectorate is the queer community.)

Basically, they’ve got different approaches and opposite goals but approximately the same skill set. No wonder they’re able to occasionally fill each other’s roles without anyone catching on.

[shinyhappygoth]

Oh, now this is interesting. Crowley:

takes Agnes’ book from the burning bookshop as a “souvenir”

has the eagle statue from the bombed church in his apartment

keeps the Bentley’s emergency crank after it explodes

That’s a collection.

[shinyhappygoth]

As has been noted, when snapping up a miracle, Aziraphale opens with a downward gesture and Crowley with an upward gesture, suggesting that they are pulling power down from Heaven and up from Hell, respectively. Let’s take a look at the possibilities of this and the options they spell for the future:

These gestures are purely symbolic. Their power is inherent and will continue unchanged.

These gestures are literal. Their power is drawn from Heaven/Hell.

If 2 (because Tumblr messed up my nested lists):

Their ability to draw on this power is nevertheless inherent and will continue unchanged.

Their ability to draw on this power is something that is granted to them and could be cut off or restricted.

If 2:

The truce holds and their former sides will allow them to continue to miracle unrestricted.

One or both of their former sides will cut off or otherwise restrict their power.

Now, they don’t seem at all worried about this last option from what we’ve seen, but that doesn’t rule it out. There’s also an additional question that I don’t think follows directly from any of the others:

Their former sides automatically know about any miracles performed.

They were previously relying on their reports.

(I’m inclined toward option 1 here, because otherwise they could have, y’know, lied, but nothing’s completely off the table where fan speculation is concerned.)

I’ve read fanfics where they go on miracling as they please, and I’ve read fanfics where they’re trying to strictly limit their miracles, whether to keep their activities off their former sides’ radars or just to keep from upsetting them any more than they already have. Personally, I’d suggest that if they are concerned about the amount of miracles they perform, they might be best with a moderate amount: enough to demonstrate that they’re Not Afraid of You, but not so much as to drive Heaven or Hell to any kind of desperate action.

If they were to be cut off entirely, as I see it, that opens up a new set of options:

They are hereafter powerless, as presumably intended.

They find a new source of power.

The most symbolically obvious new power source would, of course, be the Earthly plane: the planet itself, or the people inhabiting it. They would need a new, shared gesture to go with this; I suggest a small horizontal circling motion leading into the snap. (You could take this as representative of the planet’s rotation, or as a gathering gesture. SYMBOLISM!)

[shinyhappygoth]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I have written a thing! Aziraphale/Crowley fluff (not smut, despite the title, although sex is discussed), ~2,200 words. Aziraphale doesn’t get hungry (except possibly by habit) but enjoys food, Crowley doesn’t get tired but enjoys sleep; logically this ought to extend to other drives that humans take for granted...