What did Adam change? (Part 1)

To follow up on my recent reblog about the baby swap, I'm going to take a closer look at Adam where we leave him at the end of S1. Because, by the end of S1, Adam had changed quite a few things... and I'm going to use both the TV show and the book to provide evidence.

To become the Young's real son, I don't think Adam really needed to change all that much. He just says the words to Satan, Satan disappears, and that should be it, right? But no, because Adam goes much further, and I think he does it because he can.

Because Adam has opinions, you see. Opinions on how the world should be and what he wants to happen. Except, unlike Agnes, who needs to write a prophecy and then wait 300 years for her descendant to enact it, Adam can just make it so.

The Other Two Babies

I originally thought about putting all the things Adam changes into a single post, but instead I'm going to make this a short series of posts, because he changes a fair bit. Let's start with where we left off with the baby swap, crack open a copy of the book and discuss the changes for Warlock and Greasy first.

Warlock

Here's some excerpts of Warlock flying home from Megiddo to America (my bolds for emphasis):

...

...

So it's Adam who has sent Warlock back to America, despite Warlock wanting (even, expecting) to be on his way to England. And he's controlling the fate of all mankind.

Greasy

Likewise, he has changes for Greasy Johnson too (the discarded baby who grows up to win prizes for his tropical fish).

Adam is deciding here how to alter Warlock and Greasy's paths. Warlock wants to be back in the UK, but Adam thinks America is better, while Greasy's magazine is changed to American football, which I guess is implying he's going to become an American footballer.

Now, not everyone may be aware, but these parts weren't in the first release of the novel. It only came about later, in the American edition. Apparently the changes were in response to prompting from the American editor, but they got "carried away" making those changes (source).

Season 3 (warning: speculation)

So, do you think this could be relevant for S3? For me personally, the fact that these bits were added later makes me wonder if this was helping to set up for a potential sequel. It's certainly poetic - just like the baby swap that originally involved all three, we are now implying a potential adolescent swap of Greasy, who is interested in American football, and Warlock, who is interested to return to the U.K.

If you've read at all about the hypothetical plot of the proposed written sequel, you'll know that it involved a trip to America, ostensibly to look for a lost Jesus. So, if the next book was originally meant to be about going and finding someone (Jesus?) in America, then Greasy or Warlock could make sense. It would be a switcheroo all over again if Warlock had left for the UK and Greasy for America.

Another alternative is that all three could end up converging in America, since Warlock already lives there and both Adam and Greasy have interests in going there. But if that's the intention, why mention that Warlock wants to be back "home" in the U.K.?

So, those are my possible takes on how this passage can be interpreted. I know there are some theories that either Greasy or Warlock may be the Second Coming. I've also seen a theory now that Adam himself could be a contender (both spawn of Satan and spawn of God - it'd certainly be interesting!). I'm not placing bets on any of these outcomes just yet.

In addition to this passage in the book, we also see some interesting changes made by Adam which are featured more prominently in the show - one's that have implications for the ineffable husbands.

Part 2 coming soon!

Thanks as always to everyone at the @ineffable-detective-agency (including @noneorother, @embracing-the-ineffable, @lookingatacupoftea, @251-dmr, @somehow-a-human, @maufungi, @havemyheartaziraphale, @theastrophysicistnextdoor, @dunkthebiscuit, @komorezuki, & @ghstptats).

Good Omens, Adam Young the Antichrist and Dog, Hellhound.

go

Did adam choosing to not be satan's son, and changing reality to make himself mr +mrs young's son end up converting greasy johnson (who originally would have biologically belonged to human parents (young or Dowlings, though i'd err on Dowlings) to the "spare" unearthly child and therefore making him actual jesus as a side effect, so THAT was the actual start of the second coming.

Oh. Aziraphale and crowley strike again.

It is implied in the book that Greasy is Harriet's kid and Warlock is Diedre's kid, yes

The Three Baby Question

What a great question to ask! I had to go back to Season 1 to check what we see in the show.

Excuse the hastily taken screenshots, but it does happen the same way.

For this we need to know the following: Harriet Dowling's original baby is wrapped in white and the Young's original child is wrapped in blue.

The red baby (Adam, spawn of Satan) is brought into the Young's room and left there. They end up raising Adam.

Their blue baby is taken out and given to the Dowling's. The Dowling's raise the Young's child as Warlock.

Finally, the Dowling's original child is taken away and adopted out. In the book, this child is referred to as Greasy Johnson.

So riffing off of what @naniiebimworks said - did Adam replace Warlock? Is Warlock no longer the Young's child? Or are they brothers now (and Warlock just hasn't found out yet)? And will any of that matter for S3?

Bonus image - the cards

Here are the playing cards associated with each child in the baby swap:

Jack of Clubs in white for Greasy (Dowling's>Adopted out). King of Hearts for Adam, red (Satan>Young's). Ace of Spades in blue for Warlock (Young's>Dowling's).

oh hey it’s august 20 happy birthday to adam young, warlock dowling, and greasy johnson!

wait lmao that means it’s antichristmas

Merry Antichristmas everyone !

Good Omens AU where Crowley and Aziraphale aren't entirely sure that Warlock isn't the antichrist (maybe the hellhound is just lost or chasing squirrels)

So they have to take Warlock with them while they try and stop the end of the world

Warlock ends up being the one to talk to Adam and convince him to save humanity.

Because after all that time being raised by Aziraphale and Crowley, he has a better grasp on good and evil than most adult humans ever would

(sidenote: Warlock would probably be convinced that they were actually married all along, which makes for a very flustered and awkward car journey)

OMG IDEA OF HOW WARLOCK CONVINCES ADAM

Warlock: I know a thing or two about bad fathers. But family?” *camera cuts to Aziraphale and Crowley* “Family is who you choose.”

AND THATS HOW ADAM REALIZES WHAT HE HAS TO DO AND AHHHHHH FOUND FAMILY

Fanatic Intervention Part 21!!

AKA Newt and Adam Part II

Rushing to get this up before I need to leave for work, so no edit, no beta. We fall like...like something that falls.

Not ducks.

Okay, let's do this.

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**************************************

Adam had been typing for a while.

He had a laptop set up on Aziraphale’s desk, and was alternating between typing and clicking with the usb mouse he’d brought along. Their first step had taken a day or two – setting up wireless internet in the bookshop. Honestly, Newt wasn’t entirely sure what Aziraphale would think of that when he returned, but Adam had insisted it would make things a lot easier, so Newt had done his part to help (arrange the line to be put in, and stay out of the way while the technician did his work). While Adam sat at the laptop, configuring settings and researching VPN services, Newt had been doing everything he could. He’d paced, started reading a few books, taken a walk, taken a second walk, explored Maggie’s shop, bought treats from Nina’s (Adam had been most appreciative of that), and made countless cups of tea, then popped out to the local co-op to replenish the tea bag supply.

All in all, it had been a long day of helping and Newt was beginning to find himself very tired by the effort.

It wasn’t until late that night when Adam finally set the laptop aside, and asked if they could get something exotic for takeaway. After a bit of debate and a game of paper-rock-scissors, they ended up ordering curry, which was about the most exotic thing that Newt’s British stomach was willing to handle after all the stress of the day. As Newt tidied the dishes afterward, he finally asked what had been on his mind all day.

“So do you think this will actually work?”

Adam shrugged from behind his phone screen. “’Bout as well as anything’s likely to, I reckon.”

Newt wasn’t thrilled with that answer. “Okay, but what do we do if it doesn’t?”

Adam set his phone down and raised an eyebrow at Newt, then sighed thoughtfully and let his eyes wander to the ceiling. “Well,” he began, “Then I just suppose we try something else.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno,” Adam said to the ceiling. He crossed his arms and frowned in consideration. Then he shrugged and sat back up. “I expect we’ll figure that out when we get to it.” He watched Newt’s frown deepen. “If we get to it,” Adam corrected.

“Right,” Newt said doubtfully, “So are we going to try it tonight then?”

“Nah,” Adam replied with a shake of his head, “Gotta let the script finish first.”

“Script? Are you telling me you wrote code? To hack into Heaven?”

“Well yeah,” Adam said, as if it was obvious, “We learn how to code in schools these days you know. I just...used it creatively.”

The sound Newt made conveyed how impressed he was better than any words could. “You,” he said after a moment, “Would be a menace to national security if you ever wanted to be.”

“Tried it already,” Adam said with a smirk, “Wasn’t my thing in the end.”

Newt couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, and thank goodness for that.” He shook his head and put away the last of the dishes before sitting back down at the table. “So are you doing your A Levels in Computer Science then?” He asked.

Adam shrugged. “Well, yeah sort of. Mum and Dad want me to go to Uni for it, but I have other ideas.”

“Like what?” Newt pressed.

“I want to be an author,” Adam said, a small blush crossing his cheeks, “I want to write stories. Lotta good a story can do in the world. An’ I figure that maybe I can inspire people to be better. Save the whales an’ all that.”

Newt smiled. Well if that wasn’t just the most charming thing he’d heard in a while. “I reckon you’d be rather good at that,” he said. Adam looked at him and smiled appreciatively in return.

“Yeah,” he said, “I hope so. Figure it’s worth tryin’ at least.”

And isn’t that just the truth for anything worthwhile in this world.

************************************

The next day they both got up late, but that didn’t stop Adam from rushing to the laptop to check on things while Newt went across the street to grab some sweet buns from Nina. When Newt returned, Adam looked up from the laptop with a satisfied smile.

“It’s ready,” he said. Newt sighed in relief. He’d been half worried that the script would have failed and Adam would have had to have another go at it, but he supposed that Adam probably worried a lot less about that sort of thing than most people.

He set down the box of sticky buns, and went to stand close – but not too close – to Adam. To his surprise, Adam got up from the chair and beckoned Newt to sit down. It took a moment for Newt to register what was happening, before he started stuttering and waving his hands in refusal.

“Oh, oh no Adam, no that’s not a good idea. I really shouldn’t...” Newt trailed off into a strand of mumbled syllables that were all nervousness and no sense.

“It’s okay,” Adam said, “I told it to behave itself.”

The teenage ex-antichrist ushered a very nervous Newt into the chair, and directed him to open the VPN. Newt took a deep breath, put his hand on the mouse, and slowly clicked the icon.

The application opened. Nothing shut down, the power didn’t go out, there were no sparks, there was no fire. It just...opened. It just...worked. Newton Pulsifer, life-long lover of computers who had utterly destroyed every piece of technology he ever touched, had just opened an application on a laptop. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he wiped at them with his sleeve. He couldn’t wait to tell Anathema.

“Sorry,” he sniffed, “It’s just...ah...nevermind, what’s next?” He pushed back against the emotion, he could deal with that later. They had work to do and he had a friend to find. Adam patted his shoulder, and Newt looked over to see Adam was smiling at him kindly.

“It’s alright,” he said, before turning his and Newt’s attention back towards the laptop screen. They spent the next 20 minutes or so going over how to open and use this very special VPN program that Adam had modified to hack past Heaven’s firewalls….or rather, Newt supposed, holy-water-walls? Was that a thing? He supposed it could be. Oh, who cares, he was using a computer successfully for the first time in his life! The world was his oyster, and Heaven too, apparently.

**********************

Muriel heard ringing. They weren’t entirely sure where it was coming from, but they could hear it clear as anything. The scrivener looked up from their work to see that an angel phone had manifested itself on the desk in front of them. Oh, well that hadn’t been there before.

Carefully, Muriel picked up the heavenly device, crystalline and perfect. This kind of device was usually exclusively for use by the archangels, not them, but it was in fact ringing and Muriel had the very specific feeling that it was for them. The angel only hesitated another moment before tapping the screen. The phone came to life, showing Newt and a young boy. Her friend Newt heaved a relieved sigh and smiled.

“Muriel!” he exclaimed, the relief evident in his voice as well, “It’s actually you! It worked!”

“Of course it did,” said the boy next to him, “You do know who you called, right?” Newt laughed in response. Muriel didn’t understand any of it, but they found themselves laughing too and, to their surprise, crying small tears.

“Hello Newt,” Muriel said into the phone, blinking away the tears, “How’ve you been? I’ve missed you all.”

“Muriel,” Newt began again, “Where are you?”

Well, that was odd. Muriel stammered a bit in surprise. “Well, I’m in Heaven of course! I thought Metatron told you!”

“The Metatron?!” replied Newt, “I knew it. Damn. Muriel, I am so sorry. I never should have insisted we leave the bookshop. This is all my fault.”

Muriel shook their head. “No, no it’s alright. Apparently I left Heaven in a proper state! I’ve been buried in paperwork ever since I got back.” They turned the phone around so that Newt could see the large stacks of files that never seemed to get any smaller.

“Um, hullo, Muriel is it?” came the voice of the boy, “My name is Adam, and honestly, I think the Metatron’s been lying to you.”

“What?” Muriel turned the phone screen back so the boy – Adam – could see the confusion on their face. “But...why would he do that? I mean, he’s an angel, I don’t think he can lie.”

“Oh, angels can lie,” Adam replied, “You can trust me on that one.”

“But...I don’t even know who you are,” Muriel said, squinting into the phone. They boy smirked mischievously.

“Honestly, I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” he hesitated before adding, “Or that you’d want to know for that matter. You’re rather the good sort.”

Muriel wasn’t sure what to think about that, but they did know that they were getting frustrated with all of these cryptic messages, the lying, the half-truths, everyone tip-toeing around them as if they were stupid. So, the Angel Muriel, Scrivener 37th Order, Inspector Constable of Earth, steeled their gaze and looked as straight at the boy as the phone would let them.

“Try me.”

****************************************

Getting Muriel to believe that the Metatron had lied was not all that difficult in the end. Newt had told them how worried everyone was. It was harder for them to understand that the ex-antichrist was helpful and kind. In the end, they decided that, now that Muriel was able to communicate, they would stay in Heaven and see if they could feed information to Newt through the VPN. That way, they would hopefully know what the Metatron was up to. But Newt made Muriel Pinky Promise that they would contact him if they were ever in actual danger. When Newt eventually ended the call and disconnected from the VPN, he felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

That is, until an idea struck him. One that sent a bolt of anxiety shooting through his body.

“Oh! Adam!” he said, turning to the teenager, “What do I do when you leave? I mean, you need to take your laptop with you.”

Adam shook his head. “Nah, see this is my old one. It’s yours now, you can keep it.” The boy glanced at the laptop on the desk. “And if it ever gives you any trouble, you just let me know.”

With the last of his worries answered, Newt felt tears in his eyes again, and this time he let them fall.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 🖤

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not sure how i am four days late to this but yay!

Anthony being naturally good with kids is so soft, help.

Set of doodles from Patreon prompt list :D

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The Hierophant.

Part V of my Good Omens inspired Tarot series.

Sorry about the break between posting!! for some reason i decided to do this around the time of my first ever uni exams, and also i just couldn’t motivate myself to do this card (the next one though is a different story..)

@goodomensafterdark

Of Sherbet Lemons and Figgins: communication tools of two writers during apocalyptic times.

In which God? Someone? shows their presence

I feel like your tomato and my tomato might mean different things.

This scene bugs me. Gabriel does his naked walk down Whickber Street from the garden.

And as he struts his strut on over to you the tomatoes roll from the stand across the street.

Gabriel's Arrival upset the apple cart, the tomato cart, the what?

Come with me as I explore ripe fruit, grammar and divine influence.

Maybe a wild off-base theory but what if the GO God didn't exist? That could be some beautiful commentary.

I just thought of how Aziraphale has referred to God as she/her (in the show anyway) and how Crowley has referred to God as they/them, and how that would actually align to my personal HC that God appears differently to everyone based on their perception of her/them/him/the world at large.

Then I thought of my own perspective on the actual character of God in our society, as someone who is atheistic/agnostic, and how this figure was created and how religion in general means such different things to different people and how this drives people's behaviors despite maybe not even being true. And then I thought about how the Metatron is like, supposedly the voice of God, but then supposedly so are certain humans like alleged prophets and also people who own private jets and shit while other human beings starve on the streets. Like, what if the Voice of God we hear in S1 was just an imagined personality (by Adam, who in the books quickly knows everything about Crowley and Aziraphale?) narrating the general POV?

Like that would just speak a lot to the characters acting completely of their own motivation, but disguising it through a character that doesn't even exist, and using that to collectively justify whatever awful actions they already wanted to take. Which (from my perspective) just mirrors humans so beautifully (beautifully as in "beautiful and terrible as the morning and night").

HOWEVER -- we do see literal Satan appear in GOS1. And we appear to see God speak to Job in GOS2. And I don't think there's really enough time to make "God isn't real" a meaningful plot in GOS3, so that's probably not a thing.

But I have always thought and still think that whatever Heaven is doing has a strong possibility of being divorced from whatever God actually wanted. Or maybe She just put all the pieces into place and let them go at it to see what would happen. Or maybe God really did command most of the death and destruction and mayhem against the human race and is supposed to be an awful character, IDK. 🤷‍♀️

But that was a fun thought experiment in free will and self-determination.

maybe adam removed god from existence. he believed in self determination and maybe he didn’t like the whole ‘it is written bit’ so decided Nah fuck that and removed god from their role as omnipotent watcher and decider. would explain the lack of narrator in s.2. also appointing a new supreme arch angel seems like a pretty big task, you’d think god would want the honours but the metatron just went ahead and said Yeah i’ll do all that cause he realised there was a power vacuum and took the opportunity to control and rule

that is a very interesting idea! after all, adam decided to stop exercising his own power once he saw how far it could go, and didn't like what it did to his friends. it was one thing to unconsciously create perfect weather in tadfield, quite another to start consciously controlling his friends.

i wonder if (good omens)god came to a similar realization after the job story, or to a different one, or hasn't got there yet.

Maybe a wild off-base theory but what if the GO God didn't exist? That could be some beautiful commentary.

I just thought of how Aziraphale has referred to God as she/her (in the show anyway) and how Crowley has referred to God as they/them, and how that would actually align to my personal HC that God appears differently to everyone based on their perception of her/them/him/the world at large.

Then I thought of my own perspective on the actual character of God in our society, as someone who is atheistic/agnostic, and how this figure was created and how religion in general means such different things to different people and how this drives people's behaviors despite maybe not even being true. And then I thought about how the Metatron is like, supposedly the voice of God, but then supposedly so are certain humans like alleged prophets and also people who own private jets and shit while other human beings starve on the streets. Like, what if the Voice of God we hear in S1 was just an imagined personality (by Adam, who in the books quickly knows everything about Crowley and Aziraphale?) narrating the general POV?

Like that would just speak a lot to the characters acting completely of their own motivation, but disguising it through a character that doesn't even exist, and using that to collectively justify whatever awful actions they already wanted to take. Which (from my perspective) just mirrors humans so beautifully (beautifully as in "beautiful and terrible as the morning and night").

HOWEVER -- we do see literal Satan appear in GOS1. And we appear to see God speak to Job in GOS2. And I don't think there's really enough time to make "God isn't real" a meaningful plot in GOS3, so that's probably not a thing.

But I have always thought and still think that whatever Heaven is doing has a strong possibility of being divorced from whatever God actually wanted. Or maybe She just put all the pieces into place and let them go at it to see what would happen. Or maybe God really did command most of the death and destruction and mayhem against the human race and is supposed to be an awful character, IDK. 🤷‍♀️

But that was a fun thought experiment in free will and self-determination.

Given Neil's overall take on these things, having read Sandman and American Gods on repeat for years; and also Terry's take, having read Discworld many times, I think there is probably a message in here about not taking what God wants literally or at face value or listening to people who say they know what that is.

I'm certain that if God is a real character in Good Omens, the reason She's not talking is because She wants them all to figure it out themselves. A God who set things in motion and then stepped back to see how it all went seems likely.

interesting discussion, and more in the notes.

so many levels/avenues. sometimes we want a benevolent god (who ships aziraphale and crowley) to intervene and "sort everything out". but that doesn't really happen in life, and what would the story really mean, if it happened in the story? it might be temporarily satisfying in a fic, but then there's nowhere else to go with it. what even would be "sorted out"?

if god is simply absent, and the characters in the story figure that out, then it gets interesting. then there is opportunity for the story to mean something to us, here, now.

i always liked what adam said in s1, that people have to learn that if they kill whales, then they have dead whales. there's no real gain if he uses his extraordinary powers to bring them back to life. he had powers he was using unconsciously during his childhood to have things the way he wanted (in tadfield), but once he realized that's what was going on, and tested them, he decided to stop.

On the list of things NO ONE had asked Neil Gaiman:

I put the script together with the scene! You can hear the phrases very well if you know what they’re saying. Since Neil posted this I have been unable not to listen to the TV conversation.

Scenes that left me pondering for a while in Good Omens:

The parallel here of just standing in front of a figure that’s supposed to represent you, to mirror you, but it couldn’t be farther away from the real being looking back at it. It’s not a reflection of them in an image, it’s a deeper reflection of the soul. They both look at it with a set of understanding, but coming from other foreign eyes who have never lived or embodied these figures; that have been molded by stories and hearsay.

It’s got a taint of truth in it, but it’s never an accurate representation. And I love that.

For other people, it’s as if unicorns had always been there, just another type of horse, hanging around through all of History. But Crowley knows. And he’d missed them. 

–

@seaskystone wrote this heartbreaking ficlet and it hurt so good, but I like happy endings and I will abuse the powers of the antichrist to give Crowley a baby unicorn to hold. 

I don't know if anyone has talked about this yet, probably someone did, because it's technically from season 1, but... here I go

Adam's Powers, reality and Crowley