Doomed By The Narrative?

Doomed by the narrative?

(aka, how will our hero survive?)

I know, it might seem like I chose violence today, but before you start to yell at me, know that I don't even have a proper theory here. It's basically me seeing foreshadowings of Crowley’s (almost?) death in every single frame and needing some sort of reassurance that this is a comedy and that it should end happily.

Right?

The tragedy of the Starmaker.

I think there is no need to remind how Crowley's character is steeped in tragedy since before the beginning. The Starmaker was a happy angel, full of imagination, who literally bursts with joy for the creation. Innocent. Naïve. And then this precious being was grabbed and thrown down into a pool of sulfur. His innocence was stripped away from him, his nature was changed by force. Did he feel his wings burning? Did he feel like he was on fire, his skin burning and sizzling, while he was immersed in that pool of sulfur?

We don't even know the Starmaker's real name – we know literally nothing about him, other than his love for creation, we don’t know his place among the angels – but we already know that he's fallen. In the opening sequence we already know that his joy is destined to disappear. This means being “doomed by the narrative”.

I know that, for some reason, this is controversial in the fandom, but I believe that the memory of the Fall still haunts Crowley, that the trauma left him with scars that still haven't healed.

And all this could happen again.

Danse Macabre, the Book of Life.

The classical music that stays classical music that Aziraphale listens in the Bentley is the Danse Macabre. It tells of a personification of the death, who animates and evokes corpses, so that they can all dance around the graves. It’s an allegory, a memento mori, to remind people of the fragility of life. But, taken literally, it’s about the dead being resurrected. Remember this quote from Jimbriel?

“There will come a tempest, then darkness, and great storms. And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more. And there will be great lamentations. Every day it’s getting closer.”

I believe this is a reference to Revelation 20, the twentieth chapter of the Book of Revelation: it talks about how the dead are resurrected after Jesus’ second coming, and how they are subjected to judgment.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

The Book of Life contains information about everyone: those who are judged properly good by Heaven's standards will be fine. Everyone else ends up in a lake of fire. Whoever does not appear in the Book of Life still ends up in the lake of fire. And the demons? They get “thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”.

Heaven really likes to throw beings into this pool of sulfur, huh? Now imagine Crowley forced to go through the ordeal that made him a demon, again.

Pierced to the heart, not just metaphorically.

I’ve already talked here about this theory. In the paintball scene, Aziraphale is shot in the back (backstabbed?) and Crowley is shot in the heart.

And here, once again, three swords appear to stab Aziraphale in the back but, if Aziraphale moves, they hit Crowley and two of them hit him straight in the heart. If this is foreshadowing, someone might betray Aziraphale and try to backstab him, but it will be Crowley who gets hit. Or Crowley could step in to try to save Aziraphale somehow and get hurt. It wouldn’t be unlikely.

Heroic self sacrifice.

I really try not to see any foreshadowing here. It's not as if Crowley had identified with Nina other times...

Oh wait, he did. Crowley is brave. Crowley calls himself a hero (he is). Crowley cares about the Earth and the humanity, he led a group of humans out of the bookshop among the demons. Could he decide, under tragic circumstances, to stay behind to save lives? Even if he is not able to perform miracles, because someone is using some device like the miracle blocker? Come on, we know he could.

And, consequently…

I won’t leave you on your own.

Famous last words. It always ends well when a character says that, right?

This is the worst possible outcome. This would mean that every single action Aziraphale might have taken during season 3 to protect Crowley still wouldn't have been enough. Their future together was dead before the story even began. I can't even imagine a situation where Aziraphale realizes that he is all alone, that he will never have Crowley by his side again. That he will no longer have the chance to tell him that he loves him, because by now it is too late.

Aziraphale’s arc.

Speaking of Aziraphale. If a life-or-death situation were to arise, it’s likely to happen towards the end of the series. And, in this case, I'm sure Aziraphale will already snapped against Heaven. On the other hand, I can't imagine anything that would unleash Aziraphale's combative and fiercely protective side to its fullest potential like seeing the love of his eternal life in danger. I like the potential angst of the scenario… but only as long as we get a happy ending.

So, feel free to tell me that everything will be fine.