Listen, I know that Neil Gaiman said it was because it was from a nursery rhyme from his childhood, but I couldn't give less of a shit what he says right now.
Crowley's name is Anthony because of Saint Anthony. It fits too perfectly for it to be coincidental.
You get context clues throughout the story. Crowley is constantly "tempting" Aziraphale to lunch or tempting humans. Then at one point he mentions the Spanish Inquisition and specifically Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch did a triptych called "The Temptations of Saint Anthony," during the Spanish Inquisition.
more under the cut, I went on a bit of a rant.
It fits extremely well with his surname "Crowley" too. Aleister Crowley and Saint Anthony have very similar stories. Both developed their philosophies in Egypt - Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Saint Anthony in the Eastern Desert. Both philosophies have to do with earthly desires - lust, gluttony, pride, etc. Both have conflicts with the divine: Aleister Crowley believed in his religion that a person's true free will was what made them divine, not some almighty God. Whereas Saint Anthony was terrified of the presence of God and wanted to reshape his laws to his own will.
The only real difference between Saint Anthony and Aleister Crowley is that what Saint Anthony called sin, Aleister Crowley called free will.
It fits with the demon Crowley as a character, as well. Saint Anthony was a hermit who was constantly harried by the forces of Hell, trying to tempt him away from his faith. In fact, at one point in Gustav Flaubert's "The Temptations of Saint Anthony," the Devil literally asks Anthony "Would the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?" That's LITERALLY the foundational tenet of Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law: "Do what Thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." But the purpose was to bait him into punishment.
The demon Crowley is a hermit on earth - his only real contact is Aziraphale, and he too is pursued by the forces of Hell at every turn. This is why his apartment is so perfectly unlived in. All of the things he has littered about are temptations into that philosophy of free will - he even mentions that he thinks his computer is "something a human like him" would like. He's desperate to interact with it but is hindered by his own fear.
In Good Omens, we see the forces of Hell constantly hound Crowley to the point he barely has a moment alone. And it's stated that he actively fears Hell's retribution.
If this is true, then that means that the demon Crowley is at odds with his own philosophy. The primary name he uses is the one that signifies his desire - free will. And his first name is what hinders him - shame. It makes way too much sense. Crowley is terrified of Hell all throughout the Good Omens book. Punishment is a very real threat. It makes sense that he would be afraid to embrace the concept of free will.
Also, Saint Anthony has two-fold aspects appear to him. One is desirable, one is terrifying. So if Hell is what's terrifying, then what would be desirable? My theory is that it's Aziraphale. We see that Aziraphale is a hedonist and a sinner - it would only make sense that he was Crowley's tempter.
This makes even more sense when you think of how Aleister Crowley's philosophy first came about. He claims it was dictated to him by his own personal guardian angel - an angel named Aiwass.
We see this happen in the plain text of Good Omens! Aziraphale is the first person to bring up the merits of free will to Crowley! He plants the idea into his head!! So if Aziraphale is the Aiwass to Crowley, I think it'd be fair to say that he is also the Tempter to Saint Anthony! It's too perfect to be coincidental.
Wir kommen aus dem Geburtstagsfeiern gar nicht heraus. Zum 50. von Colin Farrell vergnügen wir uns einmal mehr mit damit, wie das Drehbuch zum Film Seven Psychopaths entstand, der zufällig genau davon handelt. Die Frauenfiguren sind zwar völlig unmöglich, dafür kann Colin besonders schön vernautscht und verwirrt dreinschauen und wie immer schöne Sachen mit den Augenbrauen machen.
There's a Terry Pratchett interview where he proudly claims that fantasy is a very serious genre. The last paragraph is very interesting.
"Fantasy can carry quite a serious burden, and so can humor. So what you're saying is, if you strip away the trolls and the dwarves and the things and put everyone into modern dress, get them to agonize a bit, mention Virginia Woolf a few times, and there! Hey! I've got a serious novel. But you don't actually have to do that."
He argued that fantasy is an important genre that can say so much more than just "oh look it's two trolls fighting". Fantasy as a metaphor of the real world has always been one of his biggest themes and the thing I appreciate the most about his discworld saga.
That's why it strikes me as weird and unpratchetty to have the finale claim that turning a fantasy metaphor into the real world, with very serious people in very serious clothes, is such a perfect solution, the only one that makes sense, the best one possible.
You trying to tell me that the man that used fantasy as his main tool/theme/playground to talk about real life, would have wanted to strip one of his books of the fantasy element in order to make the end more serious and poignant? In all his discworld novels there's never been that kind of subtext, the use of fantasy is always loud and proud and very intentional with its meaning.
I don't know... Just my two cents.
Below is the full interview:
I’ve been crazy productive since I came up with those book versions so here’s the true reason Crowley carries an umbrella around when he has a secret meeting with Aziraphale
my stereotype for milkmen is very different from the norm, because where i grew up she was a woman and also had severe narcolepsy.
obviously, people with narcolepsy cannot drive cars, however a milk float is not a car and also only goes at like 20 mph maximum so she saw no reason why this inconvinient medical condition should stop her persuing what i can only assume was her dream job, given her refusal to switch to a career better fitted to her medical needs
it was extremely common to find the milk float upsidedown in a hedge with her covered in spilled milk and still somehow fast asleep.
they're light enough that if you're reasonably strong you could just flip it back onto its wheels yourself, otherwise you'd have to camp at the side of the road until someone else came by to help out, you wake her up, flip the vehical, help her put the unbroken milk bottles back into the float and sweep the broken glass into the ditch, and off she'd go to continue causing traffic disruption on an unprecedented level for a small rural village
(and yes, breaking the bottles did mean she was wildly unreliable for deliveries, in addition to being a danger to herself and others)
whether she was fucking anyone's wife i cannot confirm, but honestly if she was it was probably deeply disappointing, what with all the passing out and the faint smell of yoghurt.
#sorry to op for the mild post hijack#i just don't get a lot of chances to tell this story#and i think it's very funny#she somehow never severely injured herself#i think she might have broken some fingers once but that's about it#she was under strict orders to stop driving the milk float after the first couple of accidents#but we saw a policeman about once every 2 years#and no one in her family was willing or able to stop her#so she just went on driving into ditches#i wonder if she's still doing it?
Literally the definition of imperialism and classism. Doesn’t matter how many peasants you sacrifice as long as the most powerful piece is left standing
The other day I was surfing the internet and I found this specialized painting colour wheel, it shows how real paint colours relate to each other.
Outside: the purest/brightest colours.
Inside: naturally muted or earthy colors, like browns and ochres.
The Center: dark neutral tones used for mixing shadows.
The Lines: the lines connect colors that are opposites, if you mix them you neutralize the tone creating clean grays or browns instead of muddy puddles.
I want to share this with you because I think it is really illustrative!
Interpretations of the Good Omens book, particularly the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, as being an allegory for Cold War era tensions and not a book about romance and love are funny to me because. It's both. It's both. It's ALWAYS been both. That's the POINT.
The choices made by Sir Terry when writing about Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship are extremely deliberate. All of the symbolism and metaphors have double meanings. Because they're spies. They speak in coded language. Everything is shrouded in plausible deniability. It's extremely clever, and it's a very, very loving depiction of homosexuality in a time period that was desperately cruel to queer people.
Take the excerpt about the Gavotte, for example. Aziraphale learns it in a discreet gentleman's club, aka a gay club, in the 1880's. And this is important. People who've seen the show likely know the context of the gavotte as the "kissing dance" whereby people dance with a partner and then kiss at the end, or exchange flowers. That would be the pre-19th century Gavotte. The 19th century Gavotte was more like a military-style march, and it's described as a dance used in events revolving around martial prowess and national pride.
I thought it was extremely cute that the book, when describing whether or not Angels could dance, went out of its way to be like "HYPOTHETICALLY Aziraphale CAN dance on the head of a pin... Only the Gavotte. But he'd need a partner that could also HYPOTHETICALLY fit on the head of a pin. Have we mentioned that demons love to dance and can fit on the head of a pin?"
Again, Aziraphale and Crowley act in ways around each other that exude plausible deniability. It's showing that they got together for business reasons but have a deeper desire to be with each other romantically. But because of their jobs, they can't be open about this at all. In fact, they would quite literally be destroyed. This is a DIRECT commentary on how LGBTQ people were treated at the time. Thatcher-era laws against homosexuality made tons of people retreat to the closet, lest they lose their jobs, be outed to their families and cut off, or worse. Homosexuality was technically decriminalized at the time, but the social implications of being gay were so extreme that it might as well as have been illegal still.
I have shitloads more examples if anyone wants me to go on a spiral about it, but this was a big one that I felt was easiest to pinpoint my thoughts about.
Here is part 1 of my spiral into madness! There will be many more parts to come, but it might take a little while so I figured I'd lay the groundwork for some of my other arguments.
I didn't expect to find nearly as much as I did, but I can't say I'm not happy with the progress.
CW: Mentions of sex. Like a lot. Like all throughout.
My main point is that Aziraphale and Crowley's storyline in Good Omens was intentionally romantic from the start. It's just cleverly hidden in double-meanings, innuendos, and symbolism. It's both profoundly vulgar and vulgarly profound. In other words: it's perfect.
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