Good Omens (TV Series 2019–) is a series created by Neil Gaiman, featuring Michael Sheen as Aziraphale, an angel residing on Earth. The show explores a heavenly mystery as Aziraphale and Jon Hamm as archangel Gabriel. In the second season, Hamm goes missing and returns to Aziraphale’s bookshop naked, with no idea who he is or Chris Raphael.
The show also features a fandom idea that Crowley was the Archangel Raphael before his fall. Crowley is not Raphael because he fell before Eden, meaning he was probably alongside Satan during his rebellion. However, Raphael is active after this period in the universe. Crowley could be revealed as either Raphael or Lucifer, especially now that Aziraphale is working as the Supreme Archangel in Heaven. Some fans believe Crowley is the demonic form of the Archangel Raphael, although this is not explicitly stated.
The show explores themes of love, friendship, and the consequences of falling into the wrong path. The show also explores the concept of good omens, with Crowley being a symbol of hope and redemption. The show’s cast and crew credits include actors, actresses, directors, writers, and more.
📹 Aziraphale & Crowley Are Both Raphael | A Good Omens Fan Theory
Aziraphale and Crowley are both Raphael and here’s why WELCOME FRIENDS YouTube | https://t.co/L3IFZKjYvx …
📹 Crowley Is Raphael? Fallen Archangel!!
Good Omens has been going through a fandom surge particular in ineffable husbands content/ thanks to Amazon Prime’s series …
Soooooo I just watched an interview with Gaiman, and before he even gave the idea to Pratchett, he originally only had the demon Crowley, but he was a nice guy who was kinda sweet, and it was Pratchett’s idea to make them two separate characters, taking out all the sweet, angelic properties to Aziraphale, and leaving Crowley with the demonic traits, so it is confirmed that that is what makes them so drawn to each other—they are two parts of the same character. Not necessarily within the cannon (I’m not rejecting the head cannon, just relating info; I actually love this head cannon and I think this backs it up) but from a writing standpoint because they really are two sides of the same coin. Gaiman was saying how he could write these two characters bickering about anything and then write the argument again with the characters switched sides because they are so perfectly matched and that really does make them such A Perfect Match and explains how they have spent so long on and off in each others company. I’d like to add, that the whole franchise is a dramatic telling of the piece of relationship advice I’ve heard a lot, which is “it’s not you against me, it’s us against the world.” The whole book/show is these two characters slowly learning that.
That sounds captivating! I don’t forllow the “Crowley is Raphael” headcanon, but I like the way you put it. After all, I have read a snippet where, if I remember correctly, Gaiman said thar he and Pratchett reworked their stoic angel into two – what we know today as Aziraphale and Crowley. So, at the very very beginning, they were a single soul. Your theory is not so far-fetched!
I love this idea of them being each other’s other half. It reminds me of one interpretation of Genesis where the part where it says “rib” is interpreted as half because of a mistranslation. So Adam was not a man at first. He was an androgynous earth critter and God didn’t want said critter to be alone so he made Eve by splitting Adam.
I have a slightly similar theory, but they’re not two sides of the same angel, but that together, they make up God. The reason God has been silent so long is that the Metatron and/or other powerful angels rebelled, and, because they couldn’t kill God, they somehow wounded Her, split Her, and made Her forget. Everything from the Fall (which was not really about some angels being “evil” but just Metatron et. al. casting out their rivals in Her name) onward has been just angels struggling with power. They enacted Her plan to create (always an act of love) Earth but, being power-mad, decided to destroy it when they got tired of it, to gain more power.
I read somewhere (but unfortunately, I can’t recall where right now) that Azi is a prefix meaning young. By switching the last two letters in Raphale, Aziraphale would mean young Raphael. Crawley, who becomes Crowley and Aziraphale, switch traits from their first meeting through the end of season two. The bright eyed angel who doesn’t divulge his name in the beginning when he called out to Aziraphale for assistance & cranked up the Nebula, was certain that someone, he himself, was needed to tell God about what wasn’t working, positive that that was a good thing. Aziraphale knew that that wasn’t a good idea. Season two it is bright-eyed Aziraphale, who twice declines Crowley’s pleas to reject heaven and hell to run off to be together, who is convinced that talking to the right person, God, would put things right. It is Crowley who knows that that is a very bad idea. I just love how this one can feast off of this show indefinitely, discovering more and more Easter Eggs and plot inspirations. Thank you for this clip!
I think it’s possible, but I don’t like it. I don’t want them to be a soul torn apart, but two souls that, despite Heaven, and Hell, and God, and Satan, and time, and prejudice, and wars, and fate, and prophecy, and humanity, kept finding their way to each other, because love is more important. Love for the world, with all it’s cruelty, love for the universe, despite all it’s coldness, love for humanity despite all it’s flaws, love for all the arts, even the ugliness, love for the parts of each other, and themselves, that they don’t particularly like. I don’t want to see them as incomplete entities, but damaged survivors, trying to be better than they are, knowing that they are better, stronger, happier, and finally free to be themselves, when they are together, without fear. It gives me a sliver of hope, that maybe, I can find that, too.
I like this theory because it resonates with my personal experience. Due to childhood trauma I have multiple personalities which have complicated relationships, including romantic (including gay). So I am a first hand witness of how parts of the same soul can fall in love with each other, how they can be constantly drawn together and torn apart, the endless love and conflict are the essence of their very existence, it’s beautiful and painful at the same time.
I found an interesting headcanon on AO3; the reason Aziraphale is ‘of Raphael’ is because God created him to be Raphael’s companion who was lonely creating the stars, but then Crowley fell and didn’t get to meet him. Therefore Aziraphale was literally made for Crowley and they’re perfect soulmates 😁
I encountered a counter-headcanon and I love both and UGH SO TORN anyway As the other headcanon goes, Crowley wasn’t Raphael because there was no Raphael for ANYONE to be. However, Crowley’s kindness caused him to be sometimes unable to resist the temptation to save people from harm. When they asked him what he should be called, he created the angelsona of Raphael, naming it after Aziraphale and I suppose he made it an Archangel because go big or go home I guess.
This headcanon is alright I guess, but a variation I’ve come across that I wholeheartedly embrace: Raphael is the name that Crowley made up to explain to humans who saw him doing miracles for Aziraphale why he looked like a demon, ultimately constructing elaborate lore for himself and basically named his superhero alter-ego after Aziraphale (probably because he couldn’t think of a better angel to be like uwu)
Fell in love with this headcanon when I first heard about it, since it’s just so galaxy brain it’s perfect!! And for me, it doesn’t matter if him being an archangel takes away him being special, because you look at the other archangels and angels and demons and they’re not really defined by their roles (although you do have some characters like Gabriel who takes glee in their authority). For me, Crowley isn’t special because he is Raphael; Raphael was/is just special.
I like the headcanon for certain fics, especially ones that involve Crowley losing his memory of being Raphael while Aziraphale remembers him and falls in love with Crowley not because he was Raphael but because he’s Crowley. (I’m not sure if that sentence makes sense but that’s the best way I can put it after re-writing it a few times) Mentioned this in another one of your Good Omens articles, but I have the headcanon that once Crowley learned of Aziraphale’s fondness for old books he began searching for them. Whenever he heard word of a first-edition somewhere he goes out of his way to get it just to bring it back to Aziraphale like, “So I found this while I was doing something demonic-ish and figured you wouldn’t approve of me just leaving it there. Here, take it, give it a good shelve.”
Omgomgomg… I love love love #IneffableHusbands Crowley … also had you noticed that when Aziraphale was calling out names he thought Crowley changed it to, one of them was the name was Asmodeus (the demon of lust)? I was squealing like a fangirl… there is NOT enough #GoodOmens food out there. Thank you for feeding us.
I remember being a book fan when the headcanon was that Raphael raised Aziraphale and was basically his dad. And so it was really weird for me at first when this headcanon happened. Now I like the Crowley-was-Raphael because it for the ways it lets people explore parts of Aziraphale’s personality in ways that otherwise wouldn’t come up. But I’m not particularly attached to it either way. I just wish I could find the old Raphael-is-Aziraphale’s-dad fics I used to read. There were some great ones where he dropped by unannounced in a “So when were you planning to introduce me to your new boyfriend?” sort of way.
Shippers guide i just wanted to tell you that you are my absolute favorite YouTuber on this social media. Whenever I watch your articles I feel so accepted and validated as a shipper. It’s so easy to feel detached from fandom and fan spaces when you don’t attend things in real life or everybody stays anonymous. But you took the chance to actually start a YouTube website and personally interact with us in such a tolerant and open-minded manner I just wanted to say that you are super duper appreciated and thank you for everything that you do.
I love your Ineffable husbands content, I watch them religiously and this article is a surprising new addition! Though, I may not headcanon Crowley to be Raphael, I always liked the idea that after he sauntered vaguely downwards, he was already friends with Aziraphale and has harboured deep love and connection to him, however, part of the fall was erasing his memories with other angels, thus Aziraphale might have forgotten about him, he, even as a demon doesn’t stop to be with Aziraphale. I like a very very long courtship between this two. 😍
This is probably one of my favorite headcanons for this fandom. It’s established pretty thoroughly in the series just how much Crowley loves the stars (wasn’t there even him mentioning he made some of them?) I also love the play on the angelic “ranking system”; some play it closer to canon, while there are some who use the Abrahamic classifications that put principalities above archangels and I am SO THERE for a BAMF!Aziraphale fic.
Really great article! 💖 Thanks for sharing it! I wondered – especially after seeing Season 2 of Good Omens – why we never hear Crowley’s name during the time “Before the Beginning” as shown in the opening sequence of the series. Recall that Aziraphale introduces himself but “Crowley” never says his name. I also recall that of the Archangels, we meet Gabriel, Michael and Uriel but never Raphael who for example is definitely a named entity in works like Haydn’s The Creation. So it is wonderfully intriguing and resonates that Crowley could in fact be Raphael as a fallen angel. The fact that he was so instrumental in the creation of light in the Season 2 opener – “Let there be light” – would demonstrate that he was incredibly powerful. Also in the scene where sneaks back into Heaven with Muriel, he is able to get into Gabriel’s file when the lower level records keeping angel was unable to. The only challenge to this theory – though it is a small quibble – is that if Crowley is in fact Raphael in Good Omens would it stand to reason that the other Archangels might recognize their fallen colleague? Again, a minor thing that I mention because I am thoroughly on board with the idea of Crowley as Raphael. Hopefully there will be a Season 3 and we will discover more !
For me personally, the Raphael headcanon is only fun if someone really dives deep into the Biblical Raphael and uses that to build on Crowley’s history and personality. Raphael is traditionally an angel associated very heavily with healing (like healing the wounds from Abraham’s circumcision), he’s known to have buried the fallen angel Azazel alive, and he was meant to be the angel blowing the trumpet to announce the end of the world. All these things could be interesting if integrated into Crowley’s existing history (like why was he named as Abraham’s healer when he’s a demon at the time). Unfortunately, a lot of fans seem to latch onto the Raphael headcanon as just giving Crowley a ‘name brand’ and an excuse to know the Archangels, and don’t seem to go much deeper into it.
Well, but Luzifer was God’s favourite angel (like Crowley working very closely with the creators of universe), he’s the fallen prince that turned into a snake and invaded Eden (like we see Crowley doing at the beginning of S1, wiley old snake). Not the popular theory, but would make much more sense. Raphael is oftentimes described as light-hearted, with the will to aid others, he’s a healer. That fits more to Aziraphale, he protected his former boss Gabriel and loves to do good for others (like he relinquished the rent from Maggie). And now, with the season 2 ending, it might make sense that he becomes “Archangel” Raphael. We’ll see.
The German translation changed the name Aziraphel (because non English speakers wouldn’t know how to pronounce that) to Erziraphael which sounds like the cutest nickname for Erzengel Raphael, which, you guessed it, means Archangel Raphael. So when I watched Good Omens I was absolutely positive that Aziraphel was Raphael.
I’m neutral in this one. I find it very interesting and I would never say no to a fic with this headcanon in it. On the other hand I’m one of those that believes that it diminishes Crowley’s characters and his relationship with Aziraphale. And, the best thing that has come out from this headcanon is By Any Other Name by rosenritter on AO3 (?)
After finally perusal Season 2 I still kinda enjoy this headcanon but it doesnt make much sense for me after EP1. I mean if he would have been Raphael 6000 years ago, why would Aziraphale have to explain him the Earth and that his creation will just be far far far away and especially about the plan for it being 6000 years only. Raphael would have known these stuff imo. Still enjoy reading the FFs ngl
Um. I recently discovered the Strange Joy that is Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington and wanted to know if you already had a article about that?? …or could make one? Please? 🍒There’s Fluff, there’s Angst, there’s Dark. I’ve even found a Wing Fic! What got me hooked was this Wish baby AU, where Steve finds himself mysteriously pregnant and doesn’t know who the other parent is. The child has blues eyes~
I jist thinknits obvious And people that cant see that are prpbaply homophobic in a way wehre they dont see that amymore for example If there two men holding hands they would think stuff like ” there close friends and one of them feel.unsure so the other graped hos hand what a good friend” Homophobic in way that makes you blind for it But its useless to tslk to such people you never onow how they react if they are pushed out of her comfort zone