The Finale of ‘Good Omens’ and Fanfiction Tropes: Why the Ending Worked
The road to the final season of Prime Video’s Good Omens has not been without its potholes. In fact, it’s a miracle that we got a third installment at all. After Neil Gaiman’s allegations, it would have been understandable for Prime to drop the planned third season. Luckily, it was eventually greenlit, though as a ninety-minute finale rather than a normal episodic season.
Being able to fit a story meant for six episodes into one film is a near-impossible task. Things must be sacrificed. With the finale at times it was apparent that plot lines had to be shortened or combined for the sake of time. The pacing of the story did make up for all of that, but it wasn’t perfect, and it was never going to be. It was destined to be a fast-track of what we could have gotten. Jesus deserved more screen time to become a real character, and Michael deserved to have more on-screen motivation behind their actions.
One thing the finale did do perfectly, in my opinion, was its ending. Though divisive among fans, it is to me precisely what Aziraphale and Crowley stood for this entire time. The good of humanity prevails over all else, and love conquers all. That’s always been the message. All they ever wanted for humanity was happiness and free will, and that was always bigger than both of them.
Good Omens is about more than just sacrifice
In order for God to create another universe, this time without Heaven and Hell and all that come with it, Aziraphale and Crowley choose to sacrifice themselves. Though their souls as an angel and a demon ceased to exist, it did not mean that they were gone completely. In fact, the final message of the show being about a sort of ineffability of love is, according to director Rachel Talalay, directly from Terry Pratchett himself.
At one point during the finale Aziraphale says, “Why give me Crowley? Why make me complete and then take it away?” It is here that the idea of them as soulmates, the reality that they need each other to be complete, is confirmed. It is a major part of what makes their ending so poignant. They are each other’s halves, much like the ancient Greek mythology of soulmates from Plato’s dialogue The Symposium.
Popular among online fanfiction is the trope “soulmates in every universe.” In shows like Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death, where the characters are either immortal or exist in the distant past, it has proven especially popular. And for the story of these two souls in particular it is especially fitting.
Soulmates + Reincarnation + Meet-Cute = A perfect fic
13.8 billion years after the creation of the universe (AKA modern day), Crowley runs into Aziraphale at the bookshop he works at–just like he’s always meant to. In fact, in every lifetime they have probably run into each other in one way or another. They got rid of the idea of ineffability from powers bigger than them, but in doing so ensured that their fates remained the one true ineffable thing in the universe.
Aziraphale–now just Asa Fell, another fanfiction staple for AUs (alternate universes)–runs after Anthony Crowley in order to get his number. It’s a scene we’ve all read hundreds of times before while quietly squealing behind our hands. Asa gets more than a number: He gets a date. He gets the beginning of the rest of his life.
Fanfiction has always been an easy punching bag for people who aren’t involved with it. So for a show like Good Omens to take these tropes fans know and love and bring them into canon, and to treat them with, dare I say, reverence? It was never something any of us expected. This is the kind of story that is written by fans, not for fans.
Sometimes what fans want is just a happy ending
Aziraphale and Crowley get their relationship. They get to the South Downs cottage. They get married and make a life together, one that is truly and finally free. No Heaven, no Hell, no archangels watching them and no imminent armageddon to deal with. The Good Omens finale is something that could feasibly exist on a fanfiction website, but it also feels like so much more.
We exist today somewhere between fanfiction being a reasonable starting point for some published authors and the aforementioned fanfiction tropes being popularized in printed literature. Soulmates. Coffeeshop and bookshop meet-cutes. While some don’t translate well to original characters, any kind of normalization is important.
I’ve been in the fanfiction sphere for the better part of my life now–probably going on twenty years, if I’m being honest. I’ve been there when you were mocked for liking it, and I have also seen the gradual evolution into where it is now. Stories inspire creativity: That is how humanity works, and it is one of the most beautiful parts of being alive.
In a way, what fans create online in their own stories is precisely what Aziraphale and Crowley sacrificed themselves for. It’s what Terry Pratchett would have wanted. And it’s why we should always create, no matter what, because being inspired is the best way to keep the stories alive.
As a user on X said, “It was his story, his ending, his vision. His love letter to humanity.”
(Featured image: Prime Video)
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