I reblogged this post this morning, and I’ve literally been thinking about it all day. (I mean what a good analysis @theladyzephyr!!)
In particular, I’ve been thinking about how this idea applies to the sunglasses in the Aziraphale as Crowley scenes. On one hand, maybe the rule of sunglasses as a way to create an emotional boundary doesn’t hold up in these scenes, because we’re dealing with Aziraphale.
Now, personally, I think Aziraphale knows Crowley well enough to knows when and why Crowley chooses to wear his sunglasses. Maybe he doesn’t get every individual reason as to why, but we never see Aziraphale push the boundary with the sunglasses. He doesn’t joke about them. He doesn’t force Crowley to take them off. He just accepts the sunglasses, because he understands and respects that they are important to Crowley.
So we then we have the swap, and Aziraphale!Crowley is brought to Hell.
During Crowley’s trial, Aziraphale chooses to keep the glasses on. This is very in line with Crowley’s character. He’s in Hell, surrounded by demons who want him dead, and he’s just watched the archangel Michael pour him a lovely bath of holy water. This is to say, in this situation Crowley would 100% be scared and need the security of the glasses.
And then we see Crowley in the bathtub.
No sunglasses. This is where we see Aziraphale breaking from Crowley’s character.
Why is this breaking character? Because Crowley, when handling holy water in ep5 to set up for Hastur and Lingur, has his glasses on. Yes, he’s in battle mode, but the directors could have decided that he put on his glasses after Home Alone-ing his apartment. They don’t. Instead, we have this scene with Crowley in his glasses pouring the holy water into a bucket, and I think that it’s partially because Crowley is aware that he could screw up here. He could end up in a puddle of goo before Hastur and Lingur turn up, and part of dealing with that potential reality is by hiding behind the sunglasses.
So back to the bathtub. If Crowley was about to face his extinction in front all of Hell, he sure as fuck wouldn’t take off his glasses.
But Aziraphale chooses to take the glasses off.
There are a couple reasons he might have done this. He might have wanted to keep the glasses free from holy water, like the coat, not wanting to risk potential harming Crowley when they switch back. This is a cute idea truly, but we also know that Crowley has back up glasses and, honestly, Aziraphale would have bought him new ones anyway (again, like the coat).
Aziraphale might have also removed the glasses, because maybe he doesn’t know when or why Crowley wears his glasses. This seems unlikely, because, I mean, this is Aziraphale we’re talking about. He knows Crowley better than anyone.
So that leaves us with the idea that this was a deliberate choice. Aziraphale decided that the sunglasses needed to be removed. And, in doing so, he creates a tremendous amount of power for Crowley. Taking off the sunglasses is a louder fuck you than any ask for a rubber duck or a towel could have been.
By removing the sunglasses, Aziraphale!Crowley has essentially said “I am not afraid of you. I am comfortable as myself. You cannot hurt me.” It’s powerful.
And then there’s one more detail.
Aziraphale!Crowley has also chosen to go full demon eyed, instead of the human/demon eye that Crowley uses throughout most of the series. And I think that this choice was to further reinforce this idea of Crowley taking his power back. The full demon eyes take away the humanness of Crowley (which we, as viewers, know is a good trait, but the demons of Hell see humanness more negatively), but it replaces that humanness with an incredible amount of self acceptance/ confidence. In other words, this is Aziraphale saying “Try me bitch,” while all the other poo their pants.
Aziraphale!Crowley survives, and our bois get back together.
And the sunglasses are back on. This was also Aziraphale’s decision, and, to me, this is Aziraphale acknowledging that Crowley still needs that emotional barrier. He’s back in character. Back to understanding and acting as Crowley, because he knows that his display would be enough to keep Crowley safe for the time being.
Anyway, if I don’t stop here, I’ll never stop talking about Crowley’s sunglasses. But here! Have a gif of Aziraphale walking like Crowley. My treat. Thanks for reading!
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