You know, I don't know if it's because the whole reason I picked up Good Omens all those years ago was because I was so in love with Terry Pratchett's other works, but I think one of the reasons seeing all the animosity towards Newt/Anathema wrankles me so much is seeing how many people either forgot or just don't know that Terry Pratchett was one of the most brilliantly talented satirists of our time. Like people are really out here talking about how Anathema sleeping with Newt because of some prophesy, even though she's not at that time into him, is gross and like. They really think they've uncovered something major, as though the prophesy of Newt and Anathema sleeping together was ever supposed to be anything BUT uncomfortable.
Bc you guys, this is Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman poking fun at the whole trope of the star crossed lovers who are destined to be together, who fall in love and into bed as soon as they meet each other with nothing in common and no real basis for a relationship. Bc when does Newt and Anathema's relationship start to feel like something real, something good? When Anathema burns the book of prophesy and, for the first time in her life, chooses to take the plunge into the unknown. And we see that Newt is clearly smitten with her, but both of them are stepping off that precipice and taking the risk of getting to know each other, seeing just where their relationship could take them with no meddling or influence from an outside prophesy.
And, to me at least, this idea of love being a choice is really the central idea of the entire book. Not in the sense that people choose to feel love, but that people choose to act on that love, to accept love and give love. I mean, you've got Crowley and Aziraphale, who choose again and again and again to seek out each other's company, who choose to confide in each other and trust each other and to allow their feelings towards each other to grow and blossom into the incredible relationship we get to see. Newt and Anathema choose to explore a relationship, these two people--Anathema, who has always been a loner, and Newt, who has always been an outsider--choosing to embrace this connection with another person to see where, if anywhere, it may lead. You've got Adam, who averts the apocalypse by choosing to defy both Heaven and Hell, choosing to stand firm and fight for the Earth, and all the friends and family and humanity within it that he loves. Even with Madame Tracy and Shadwell, you've got Madame Tracy choosing to be kind to this crazy bastard across the hall and, at the end, Shadwell choosing to step just a bit outside of this completely neurotically isolated world he's built around himself to let her in.
And, I mean, I know not everyone is going to interpret themes and the like the same way, but I think there's something so beautiful about the idea of love that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman have gifted us with. This idea that while the feeling of love may not be something you can control, the ACT of loving someone is a choice you have to make. Idk, I guess I just really like the idea that loving people isn't easy, it's not something magical that's just going to fall right into place with no work or effort (not something that can be just prophesied into existence) but that it can be wonderful and amazing and it is worth putting in all the effort to make that choice and that, when people really choose to love, it can save the whole damn world.
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