i'm sorry i'm a bit slow when it comes to reading comprehension...i thought crowley saves the goats because he doesn't want to kill them, not because they're associated with demons? or did i get that wrong? 🙈
Angelic Sheep and Demonic (Scape)Goats
[Just for reference, the question above was prompted by another meta: Goats, Crows and The Flood]
Thank you for the question. This gives me a chance to write up a sheep and goat meta at length - but I hope you're not going to regret asking it, because its not a simple answer. While I am always saying "it never is in the GOmens AU" I have to admit this one took off with a life of its own (the metas do that sometimes) and has ended up much longer than I thought it would and went to places I didn't expect it to go, but sometimes that is the joy of writing these.
Crowley doesn't want to kill them because he thinks they are innocent and blameless, just like the children of Job - and by extension, we are meant to see he thinks he was unfairly blamed and condemned to be a demon as well. That's it at its most simple level, but by understanding why there is an association between demons and goats will give you a much deeper insight into Crowley's story and why he would act this way. S2 of GOmens is like an onion, you need to peel that thin dry skin off and then slice through several more juicy layers to get the full depth of flavor into the complex meal that has been created for us. Its worth the tears that the chopping of the onion releases in the end. Are you brave enough to find out?
Take the conversation above, between Sitis and Bildad/Crawley. Sitis is a parallel-character to Aziraphale here, wearing the angel's signature teal green, and she questions the demon about the children being threatened with destruction. Then let us put these two parallel scenes side-by side: Sitis vs Bildad and Aziraphale vs Heaven
AZIRAPHALE: Oh. So just his worldly goods.
MURIEL: Exactly. Oh, nothing important, no. Just his farm, his camels, his goat, his oxen, his children, his geese…
AZIRAPHALE: His WHAT?!
MURIEL: His geese. You know, big cross ducks.[flaps arms]
AZIRAPHALE: His children?
So we have Sitis looking in horror at a demon at the potential death of her children, and then we have Aziraphale looking in horror at Heaven acting demon-like, not caring if children are destroyed in pursuit of victory over Satan. "Trust in God's plan, Aziraphale. Always," admonishes the shoulder-demon Gabriel (he is so often a shoulder demon - I have words to say about this! - in another meta) In other words, be a good sheep, Aziraphale, and have faith in the Almighty. Don't worry about the goats, or kids. They aren't important.
If you listen carefully during the Job minisode, A Companion to Owls, you'll notice Gabriel prefers to emphasize the number of sheep that will be returned to Job in the end. The Christian church is very big on the sheep imagery! Sheep are considered to be modest, humble, obedient (because they follow one another - you need to be a good follower!) and patient. They follow their shepherd's voice and goes where he directs. (Uh huh...) Followers are described as being part of a flock.
Goats, on the other hand (ah, yes, we'll talk about that in a moment) are considered to be a bit on the nose. Literally. A rutting billy goat is described as having a 'fetid' smell, they can be promiscuous, capricious, devious (wily?) and contrary. Their strong-mindedness, singleness of purpose and leadership qualities (!*) make them the opposite of sheep. While going your own independent way is frowned upon by Heaven, this leading quality of the goat is sometimes used to lead the sheep.
"There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king with his army around him." Proverbs 30: 29-31
Did you get a good whiff of that sinister archangel, Shax?
(oh boy, some of the stuff I found researching this for more detail...such as "going your own way creates disunity...this leads others astray..." wtf! Looking at this in context with the show makes it kind of, well, some things make more sense to me now? I guess that's a big reflection on the kind of culture I personally grew up in, because I know there are cultures where unity and togetherness is looked upon as happiness and harmony.)
In the tv show, we know the scene blocking - where the characters stand - has great importance. Standing on the right-hand shoulder of another character makes them a shoulder-angel (the dexter side), standing on the left a shoulder-demon (the sinister side.) By watching who stands where usually tells us what moral stance they are taking in that scene.
If we take the example from the Job minisode below, we can see quite an interesting dynamic from the scene blocking. On the left, we have Sitis and Job, who is crouching down. They are an Aziraphale-Crowley parallel-pair, and they are even colour-coded with their colours! Sitis, in Aziraphale's teal on the angelic right of yellow tunic-wearing Job, who's modelling Crowley's suffering for sin but without understanding why. Job has crouched down to highlight Crowley's entrance. On the right the glowing angels are arrayed - Michael on the angelic right shoulder, Gabriel in the middle (more often than not he stands on the demonic left) but this time Aziraphale is taking the far left demonic position, and we know why - he's about to lie like a demon! But even on a grander scale, Sitis, Job and Crowley all stand on the angelic RHS of the visiting angels, making the archangels and Aziraphale all collectively LHS demons in this scene. And Gabriel thought they'd won the bet...*snort*
You should all take a moment to appreciate this piece of Art. Go on. Do it.
Sheep and goats had this right- and left-handedness meted out to them long ago in the bible. The sheep belong to the morally righteous right-hand side, of course, the side of angels, and the goats to the demonic left.
But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Matthew 25:31-33
This passage and the following lines from Matthew describes how Jesus will judge the righteous from the sinners, and those who have been deemed good will be saved, but those who are deemed unworthy will be treated like goats: "Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the the devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41
So we've established the link between goats being demons, and the left-hand side, so they have an affinity with Crowley. We can do a bit of humorous visual and word play between kids and children.
Children.
ah.
oh. OH. Hang on a minute...
Lets just take a step back to the beginning of the minisode, where Crawley delivers his short monologue to the assembled goats.
CRAWLEY: You should know why you're about to die. God has abandoned you. The God who claims to love you, who demands your praise, has given you up to be destroyed.
They're rather small goats, aren't they. The kind of size that makes you wonder if they are goat children or grown goats... you know, it doesn't matter - they are little, cute and innocent. You are meant to associate them with kids, now, and in the past. (Like, in the way, way back past. Like not just the Flood, but the Before the Beginning past.) What matters is Crawley's speech to them, because it sounds very much like him repeating his own experience about his Fall from Heaven. We already know from S1 there is a conflict around Crowley's Fall involving wanting to ask God questions. We get to explore this further several times in S2.
Then later, after emerging from Job's cellar, they witness God talking to Job.
AZIRAPHALE: I don't suppose he's getting any answers.
CRAWLEY: No. But just to be able to ask the question.
We don't hear all the lines God speaks to Job, but we hear enough to them to understand that they come from the Book of Job 38 and 39. The context behind these two verses is...interesting. I was going to delve into them a little more but I think that will get us off track on this meta, so perhaps I should come back and revisit it separately, but we can note that several ops have pointed out that the lines we do hear God speak clearly to Job can be connected to Crowley. There are no coincidental accidents in S2.
But just look at Job in that last image - the light of God shining brightly down through a hole in the clouds, darkness all around...
Hmm. Remind you of anything. Like maybe... another Voice from above?
Who we've seen has shown a particular dislike for a certain demon, even though most certainly remembers what his name is.
METATRON: Ah, well, always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions, too.
Well, doesn't that sound just like a demon goat.
That withering look the Metatron gave Crowley in S2E6, the comment about asking "damn fool questions," - just about the only conclusion you can come to is that the Metatron had something to do with Crowley's Fall. What and how exactly is still unclear, but there are some clues in Gabriel's story, as Gabriel is acting as both a parallel and foil to Crowley in S2. At this point we should also talk about the scapegoat ritual that was widely practiced around the near Middle East regions for quite some time.
The scapegoat ritual involved two young goats being chosen for sacrifice, but one of them had the sins of the community spoken over them then set free to wander into the desert wilderness to die, while the other was sacrificed as a Burnt offering to God. This was a symbolic way of removing sins from the community.
It is also applied to the Passion of Jesus. When the gathered crowds are offered the choice between letting Jesus or Barabbas go free, they choose Barabbas. I've written at length how I see this applied to S2 in this meta here: The Passion of Jimbriel: Resurrection and while Gabriel and Crowley share the role of Jesus fairly equally throughout the Passion story line, there is one point it can be split and Gabriel becomes the Barabbas and the goat that was released into the wilderness and Crowley becomes Jesus on the cross - but he turns into the sacrificial lamb! Perhaps that needs to be changed to the burnt offering...
I know there are quite a few meta ops that are aware of the scapegoat ritual, and more often than not I see Aziraphale being suggested as the current scapegoat. But the way I see the ritual being used in GO is not so much in the present story but in the past, and Crowley was the unwilling scapegoat for the rebelling angels that fell.
OK, I think I've run out spoons on this meta, but seeing how its managed to be at least twice the size I initially envisioned it to be, and its since generated two more meta ideas in the writing of it on top of the ones I'm already trying to do, that isn't too bad.
I'll wrap it up by saying no matter who the scapegoat is, Aziraphale needs to let his inner lion out so he can be The GOAT in S3. I'm sure the original nanny-goat will applaud that.
*talking about that topic...I should have a meta out soon centered around Crowley and Gabriel that will cover this. I will probably come back and edit a link in to it.
Official Christmas shoulder angels post coming, but here's something in the meantime to hold us over--just like the renewal announcement, and reminders that some iterations of them, at least, are already happily-ever-after-ing :)
Synopsis:It would figure that Sherlock Holmes’ shoulder angel carried a gun and his shoulder devil didn’t wear his wings as they clashed with his Westwood suits.
The day Sherlock Holmes was born, Shoulder Entities agencies in both Heaven and Hell had been completely overturned in panic. Mere seconds after Sherlock had cried out his first breath, a note on his file showed up in heaven.
Jim Moriarty was his shoulder devil.
The Director was said to have slammed his head down on the considerably big file of the youngest Holmes. It was a stack of blank papers and documents about five inches long. Except for his Birth Certificate, they were all blank; as many papers would be filled along the course of his human life. It later would baffle many angels and demons that noticed, oddly enough a death certificate would be in the middle of the file with no explanation.
This was all pretty routine, a human was born, and they would either have volunteers already lined up for a soul as soon as they were conceived, or they would be assigned one their first day on earth.
No one wanted to work with Jim Moriarty, and several angels who were considered threatened to hand in their resignation.
Even Irene had declined because of her first dibs on a new soul that would desperately need her. And she wasn’t sure that she could keep both her charge and herself alive with Moriarty there.
No one blamed her.
The last angel to partner with Jim was still in therapy. He’d been given permission to handle pens just last decade.
“Oh! Thank goodness you’re here!”
John smiled awkwardly at that and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the frazzled looking secretary. She tried to make herself seem less desperate and forced herself to not clutch at his lapels. During this the man he came to see came out of a nearby office.
“John! Good to see you, and just the angel I was looking for.” Mike Stamford smiled and exchanged looks with the secretary who slumped back in her chair and gave off the relieved of someone whose washed their hands of a very messy problem.
John was beginning to question his decision to meet his old friend again. Especially suspicious that he asked him to meet in the Reassignment office in what amounted to neutral territory.
“There was a bit of an uproar in Up There and Down Here, have you heard?”
John was tempted to ask if gossip was all Mike called him out for but refrained. There was an air of someone leading to something and to humor them.
“I noticed something was up, but I never got too many details. Something about a human…?”
“Yep,” Mike beamed,“There’s this one human born, and his future is so ambivalent that there’s a perfect 50/50 chance to go either way. Not to mention they feel this one’s gonna send waves out in the human world. Heard his file was 5 inches thick too.”
John whistled, his own file was 3 inches thick, and he was a good bit older than even Mike, who remembered the old days when Lucifer was still sporting a pair of pearly white wings.
Out on a tangent Mike asked about his latest charge. John grimaced and rubbed at his shoulder, feeling an answering twinge in his leg.
“He’s getting settled pretty well Up There, went to have a drink with him once or twice this past month.”
Mike seemed to realize he’d hit a still sore spot because all he said was a “That’s good news at least.” before nodding at his shoulder and wing.
“Still bothering you then? That wound.”
“Yep. You’d think after a century or so it would begin to heal properly but no—"He cut himself off, the last word spitted out with old bitterness, hand shaking where once he would have been steadier than a rock. He took a calming breath and was suddenly so glad that he wasn’t conversing with someone from home. They would have frowned at his showing of negative emotions and checked that his wings were still feathery and glowing with angelic power.
Demons, on the other hand didn’t put up too much fuss when confronted with an angel getting snippy, as long as any and all holy weapons were kept sheathed. Mike held true and didn’t remark or seem to notice anything out of character, at least outwardly.
On his bad days, John sometimes wondered what it said about him that he felt more at ease conversing with demons that most other angels.
Especially since most of his demonic acquaintances were those he had fought fiercely during the Great War against. And hadn’t killed.
Mike brought him back from his reverie, whip-like tail waving through the air in a decidedly languid fashion. "So, do you have another charge for Guardianship?”
Another twinge, but this one was almost easily ignored. “Not really, I don’t think I can go through that so soon,” His wings settled in a tight manner close to him. Bill Murray was the first human under his new job as a Guardian Angel, after a couple of years after being honorably discharged from Warrior Angel status by a lucky shot through his shoulder and wing both during a skirmish between demons that the Angelic Forces decided to crash. His hands weren’t steady anymore, and his healing was iffy.
He could see why he was discharged, an angel who couldn’t confidently heal others or aim correctly wasn’t any use in a war. He was more a liability.
It didn’t stop the feelings of uselessness.
So as soon as the full body spasms stopped completely and his healer confirmed that the malicious energy in his wound had finally been purged away, he had registered himself for Guardianship. And had been given Bill Murray, a chance to actually see the human world for the first time, and his sense of duty back.
In protecting little Billy from dangers, scrapes and trying to do life damage control; John lost his limp, and his hand was ever steady, his Angelic Will never faltering. He had never felt so alive and useful and such a deep abiding Love for a human. Ever since he had glimpsed his soul as the first thing to see coming down to earth, he had been given the Guardian Angel’s defining characteristic to so purely love their human charges.
He had taken years to study human medicine and had endeared himself to a strange succubus who went by different monikers every year or so on one of his trips to Hell, sword at ready, to visit Mike and ask a favor for human healing practice. Mike had actually gone up to the human world and earned a degree in medicine, and so had been a great help.
Anthea, however, had merely tagged along and steered him clear of less tolerant demons with an easy air. She never failed to show up every time he came before Hell’s gate. It was strange, but John didn’t mind, it was nice to have someone to chat with and eventually he noticed the burning curiosity of the human world that she had.
It took some serious sneaking around and some indecent flirting with a demon who guarded a little used gate, but he eventually had permission to bring Anthea (who was now called Athena, but John had been introduced to her as Anthea and so Anthea she had stayed to him) with him.
They attended Bill’s college courses, with John sneaking glances at another student’s medical text, and with Anthea taking everything in with the wide curious eyes that endeared her to him. He guided her through his knowledge of the human world that he had painstakingly learned in his years of Guardianship.
Last he had seen her was when she had shown up at Heaven’s gate, almost started an altercation with a guard and had hugged him tightly, cracking his ribs as he tried to explain that,no, she wasn’t here to cause trouble and yes, they were friends.
Anthea had applied for a human of her own to tempt as a shoulder devil. He had patted her shoulders proudly and felt the disbelieving stares of other angels as he exclaimed that he knew she would do a damned good job.
Hanging around with Bill and his army mates had done wonders for his swearing capacities.
She had only sent missives for the past years, and John amused her and her charge by sending scrolls of gold and silver in a show of pompous angelic grace use.
And then Bill had gone to Afghanistan. Most of the other Guardian Angels in his squad were relatively new to this human war, he ran himself ragged and stopped distinguishing his charge and theirs. Every human was their charge, and sometimes another angel covered for him while he recharged his “batteries” impatiently in Heaven as keeping bullets off their mark took more energy out of his Presence than merely keeping his form on Earth would.
It worked out great, for the most part, after the new angels began to fall in line like true warriors. And then everything was gone, in a single skirmish, most of their human charges were dead and their Guardians subsequently whisked off to Heaven. Bill had seen him, and closed his eyes and not opened them again. He flew back to Heaven with tears in his eyes and Bill’s soul cradled protectively in his hands.
No. He didn’t think he could do that again.
A paper was thrust in his face, and he momentarily went cross-eyed trying to focus out the words at the top.
Oh no. No, no, no, nope. No way. He slapped it back down.
“C'mon John!” Mike, that old tempter, wheedled,” No other angel is stepping up to plate because of Jim; would you really leave someone to a Moriarty’s mercy?” That gave him pause, he frowned at Mike.
“Moriarty?”
“The grandson of his, yeah. Goes by Jim. Got his last charges sent here early. Put other angels in intensive therapy.” Mike grinned the smuggest grin not seen since a snake got Eve to eat an apple.
John’s face didn’t move but his hand slowly steadied, his eyes scanned the waiting room they’d been sitting in. “Get real Mike. Look at me.” Spreading his arms, his left lower as to not irritate his wound. His sword clanged lightly from his hip, his ever present armor gleamed almost ominously in the cool lighting.“Who’d want me for a conscience?”
He was a Warrior first and foremost, and a small part of him wanted to sign up if only to see how he fared pitted against the latest Moriarty. A human didn’t need that kind of violence residing in the angel giving out good advice.
“I got word from a contact of mine.” No names were mentioned of course, Mike was nothing if not discreet, “There’s a death certificate smack dab in the middle of his file.” It would be a terribly powerful clairvoyant to see the words in the blank page of a human’s life.
John’s sword gave a gentle humming sound, and John cursed internally as Mike took out a pen and waved it in his face.
“No matter what you say about getting old,” John grumbled as he jotted down his info, “You still manage the temptations of man pretty well from where I’m standing.”
Mike grinned even wider the snakey bastard.
They got a confirmation not ten seconds after it was sent. Along with a sad little sticky with the words, “BLESS YOU.” in thick, underlined block letters.
John didn’t think it was very angelic, but he couldn’t deny the satisfaction he felt in flipping Mike off before unfurling his wings and taking off.
