Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman

935 Words2 Pages

Hastur, less an important character than one who is overlooked, joins the ranks of “Olympic-grade lurkers” (15) along with his coworker Ligur, though the other was admittedly the more accomplished of the two. Also a Duke of Hell, Hastur has a better understanding of human technology than most demons, but is still very traditional in his ways. Unlike Crowley, who believes that the growing population of the world requires a wider approach to tempting souls, he along with the rest of Hell surmise that the best way to secure souls is to whittle away at one at a time, slowly committing them to their future presence in the infernal regions. Though demons did not typically possess a deep-rooted evil, Crowley states that Hastur and Ligur “took such a dark delight in unpleasantness you might have even mistaken them for human” (253). He dislikes Crowley in many regards, stating that he has gone native after residing on earth since the first days, and calls him a ‘flash bastard’ because of his disapproval regarding his shift adapt to humanity. Despite this, Hastur is also aware that Crowley is highly favoured among the ranks of Hell, and is therefore uncertain that he is in reality not quite the useless field agent he appeared. He becomes paranoid when he is sent to collect Crowley, after his inability to inform his superiors about the mix-up of the Antichrist, that perhaps he is telling the truth when he says that Hell is testing him before he lead the Legions of the Damned in the upcoming war. This paranoia is in fact a very reasonable thing since he's grown up in Hell, where everyone really is out to get you. It actually turns out that yes, Crowley had been lying, and he was now stuck in his ansaphone machine. He spends a half hour trapp...

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...e idea stands, as even one with a pure heart and amiable intentions all their life may succumb to a less than pleasant thought or action towards someone they perhaps have a shoddy relationship with, or even someone they do not know. Aziraphale in this case, though he is ultimately an overall pleasant seeming individual, is found setting aflame the notebook of a traffic warden to avoid a ticket, and is not very bothered by the fact that he has suffocated the dove he had shoved up his sleeve by means of a magic trick, Crowley being the one to resurrect the bird and send it on it’s way. Therefore, good and evil are perceived through one’s deeds and intentions, not through their existence.

Works Cited

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/GoodOmens http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/3566-good-omens-and-pratchetts-themes.html http://goodomenslexicon.org/

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