Good Omens: Difference between revisions

[[File:goodomenscover2.jpg|frame]]

 

 

A novel about the apocalypse, in which [[The Antichrist]] is accidentally [[Switched At Birth]] and given to a normal family, where he grows up free from any influence of Heaven and Hell and becomes a completely normal and average child. Well, normal aside from the fact that he's subconsciously using his powers to make sure his small, quaint hometown ''stays'' small and quaint...

** "Many phenomena - wars, plagues, sudden audits - have been advanced as evidence for the hidden hand of Satan in the affairs of Man..."

* [[Aura Vision]]: An offshoot of Anathema Device's psychic powers. It causes slight troubles when she can't see a certain person's aura.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Hastur and Ligur, Dukes of Hell... and then there's Lucifer.

* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: Anathema Device.

* [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Biker of the Apocalypse]]

* [[Blood Lust]]: Scarlett/Carmine Zuigiber/{{spoiler|War}}.

** Considering what [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|her job is]], not that surprising...

* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: Subverted with {{spoiler|Adam}}, though the hair probably comes from [[Satan|his dad's side of the family.]]

* [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette]]: Anathema. She is a witch.

* [[Elvis Lives]]: A [[Running Gag]]. (For the record, he unwittingly works for Famine at a burger joint.)

* [[Embarrassing First Name]]/[[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Pepper's real name is [[The Lord of the Rings|Pippin Galadriel]] [[The Neverending Story (novel)|Moonchild]]. It's also her [[Berserk Button]].

* [[The Empath]]: Aziraphale when they're trying to find [[The Antichrist]] is puzzled when he doesn't [[Detect Evil|detect any evil]] in the area, but rather [[The Power of Love|love.]]

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]

* [[Flaming Sword]]: The angels have these. Except for Aziraphale, who "misplaced" his.

* [[Flock of Wolves]]:

* [[Foil]]: Crowley and Aziraphale, Shadwell and Tracey, Newton and Anathema, etc. See [[Geodesic Cast]], below.

* [[Footnote Fever]]: For backstory, digressions, gags, set-ups for [[Brick Joke|Brick Jokes]]...

* [[Gaia's Vengeance]]: The sickly potted trees in a South American shopping mall have a sudden rush of energy and tear the place to bits.

* [[Gambit Roulette]]: {{spoiler|At the end of the book, Aziraphale notes that the near-miss Armageddon may have been exactly what the God intended. The two sides actually go home to consult higher management when he brings it up to them. Everything may be to plan, but is the ''ineffable'' plan after all...}}

* [[Geodesic Cast]]: See [[Foil]], above. Also, each of {{spoiler|the Them}} corresponds to one of the {{spoiler|the Horsepersons of the Apocalypse.}}

** {{spoiler|Adam is Death, Pepper is War, Brian is Pollution, and Wensleydale is Famine.}}

** And what happens when {{spoiler|the Them}} face off against the Four Horsemen.

* [[Insult Backfire]]:

'''Pollution:''' "Oh, that would be lovely!" }}

* [[Inventor of the Mundane]]: ''Good Omens'' has a list of people who invented things that, once they were invented, became so ubiquitous no one remembered they ever needed inventing.

** Both 'Nutter' and 'Device' are names of real families who were persecuted under the early 17th century witch hunts (though their situation seems rather different to the one described in the book). The case of the [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14490790 Device family] is particularly tragic and disturbing (though Anathema's existence suggests that little Jennet must have had children of her own in this 'verse...) ''Alice'' Nutter, a yeoman's daughter caught up in the same place, was probably guilty simply of being a Catholic; their story is told in a book called "The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in Lancashire".

* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: The book Adam wrote and illustrated:

* [[Noble Bigot]]: Shadwell.

* [[Noble Demon]]: Crowley, although he's fairly conscious of his benevolence. (To the point of being embarrassed. It was a major failing in a demon, after all.)

* [[Nonverbal Miscommunication]]: During the baby swap sequence.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: For Adam, anyway.

"That doesn't count," said Adam."They got told off just as much as us." }}

* [[Not So Different]]: This is ''very explicitly'' spelled out as the relationship between Heaven and Hell.

* [[Parody Names]]: Burger Lord.

* [[Perplexing Plurals]]: Shadwell's instructions to Newt are to search for:

2. Unexplainable Phenomenons. Phenomenatrices. Phenomenice. Things, ye ken well what I mean. }}

* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: The Antichrist.

* [[Screw Destiny]]: The entire book is about breaking away from destiny and people's expectations of you, and finding your own path. At the end, {{spoiler|Newton Pulsifer even convinces Anathema Device not to live her life trying to interpret prophecies left to her by a distant ancestor}}. Also, {{spoiler|the Anti-Christ averts Armageddon.}} However, {{spoiler|Agnes may have seen it all coming.}}

** Hilarious that the plot to [[Screw Destiny]] is actually orchestrated by God, and everything might just as His [[Magic Franchise Word|ineffable]] plan intended; even the angels and devils really have no idea.

* [[Short Title Long Elaborate Subtitle]]

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many, many of them, ranging from [[Edgar Allan Poe]] to [[Dirty Harry]].

** Anathema's spelling is mentioned as being 300 years too late, because she learned to read and write from The Book.

* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: Subverted and played straight at the same time, as spoilered in [[Gambit Roulette]]. It reaches the point where one can open up Agnes' book completely at random and find exactly the prophecy needed for the moment.

'''Crowley:''' ''Twice''. }}

* [[You Were Trying Too Hard]]: Anathema [[Genre Savvy|tries]] and [[Wrong Genre Savvy|fails]] to invoke this trope.

** Turns out to be literal as well. They compare lists of organizations they consider on their side, and a slight majority are on both lists.

* [[Yum Yum]]: War in the bar when "on holiday."

 

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