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transchrishartley:

Unpopular Opinion: Good Omens fans are way too overly sensitive about the Newt/Anathema plotline to the point they don’t even understand it’s point and place in the narrative. It’s funny and sweet and to be frank I think y'all just don’t get it.

The entire point of the relationship is that Newton (the person who destroys systems) gives Anathema (the person whose every thought, action and decision since childhood has been dictated by the cult-like structure of her family) the confidence to break free and make her own choices.

In the book, Anathema’s inner thoughts show that she doesn’t even find him remotely attractive when they meet for the first time, but she just literally shrugs it off and fucks him anyway because that’s what the prophecies say and so that’s what she must do. It never even occurs to her not to do it, because her entire life has been shaped by the prophecies.

If the prophecies say she has to do something, she does it. If the prophecies do not say anything, she focuses all her attention on studying them anyway just in case. She is utterly and completely dependant on them.

And then she finds Newt. A guy who, in the book, is described as not opposed to believing in God, per se, but unwilling to commit before first having a chat with Him. The guy whose entire existence is the embodiment of the cog in the machine.

She starts growing fond of him for real when he shows himself to be supportive, encouraging, and 100% has her back even when it could fuck him over. In the epilogue, he has fallen hard for Anathema, and she is going to marry him because she thinks the prophecies want her to. But, knowing full well it could sink the relationship (the only one he has ever had), he asks her the question nobody else has ever asked her in her entire life. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Newton was the very first choice Anathema made for herself in her entire life. In that moment, in that place, for the first time ever, she trusted herself with the unknown and took a chance.

I understand the distaste for the “boy and girl fall in love at first sight” trope, as it so often goes hand-in-hand with compulsory heterosexuality. Two people of the same sex have fantastic chemistry and shared backstory, but then they end up married to some person of the opposite sex they made eye contact with once.

But in the case of Newton and Anathema, the whole point of their relationship is “break the system and take a chance.” It’s no coincidence that Neil Gaiman, who fully supports the queer community and has made a career out of breaking harmful expectations, thinks it’s a very sweet relationship.

All of the relationships in the books are about defying expectations, falling for the “ennemy” and realizing they’re not at all different from yourself, finding comfort in the people who are there for you even tho that’s not what’s expected… 

Anathema and Newt are both descendants of people who literally killed eachother, and Newton was very concerned about Anathema’s blind following of the prophecies and ended up helping her make the decision to break free from her pre-defined role. Meanwhile, she is the absolute unbreakable strenght that this spineless guy has always needed to FIND his own role.

Madam Tracy and Shadwell? She’s everything he’s defined his life around, even though not in the way he thought it would turn out. But she’s always been probably the only person who could stand him, and while he’s been going through the words and the movements of “go away sworn ennemy” for years, he did always eat her meals and also was ride or die to protect her when he thought there was a dude in her appartment. I mean, he’s a creep and my less favourite character, but the intention of the “ennemies who end up being the only person for eachother” thing comes out loud and clear through them too.

Yes, the serie spends a lot more time around Aziraphale and Crowley (the OG slowburn), but the very same themes of their romance can be found resonating through the entire show and all the characters. 

The entire point of the book and show, and not just the relationships but everything the story is about, is about breaking free of expectations, finding yourself, and finding the people that form “your side”. 

Originally posted by imthehuman

#happily i don’t think liking shadwell is particularly necessary #he’s not meant to be a likeable character #and yet #even unsympathetic people find love sometimes #or even just comfort #in other people (via @jackironsides) 

…I just liked these tags.

But yeah this puts into perspective exactly why i was always so uncomfortable with the level of vitriolic hatred and “ugh she can do so much better” leveled towards Newt/Anathema and Newt in general.

Like, maybe she can do better, but she happened to fall in love with the guy she blindly slept with due to the prophecies that have run her life since she was born.  The guy who was the first person in her life to really say “is this what you want? what is the choice YOU want to make?”, which is a BIG DEAL.  

He may be a disaster but honestly I don’t understand the hatred, he’s a bit of a dope and a disaster but this poor guy wants nothing more than to be a computer programmer or engineer or whatever, but he can’t, because he BREAKS it.  he knows SO MUCH THEORY you know he’s read every book, you know he’s written codes for programs BY HAND just to avoid breaking anything when he wants to practice a coding language or something.  Like, he joins shadwell’s witch hunters but it’s just a lark.  He’ll get paid for hunting witches, which he clearly doesn’t believe in?  Sure, okay old dude, whatever you say, it can’t be worse than being unemployed again.

Like.  He’s not sexist.  He’s not aggressive or gross about Anathema even after the sex.  He’s just… a slightly awkward guy who’s had a shit time his whole life because god made him the antimatter of technology in order to stop the end of the world one day.

He doesn’t have to be your favorite character - hes certainly not mine - but he’s not this awful character who is somehow manipulating or “ruining” Anathema, and he’s not “dragging her down” and she’s not LOWERING herself somehow to decide she wants to be with him.  Will they work out long term? Who knows.  But what I do know is that he encouraged and supported her in starting to live her own life on her own terms, not on Anges Nutter’s.  Even if they don’t last romantically, he supported her in becoming her own person, and she will grow and learn a lot from that, and it very much seems like he’ll be happy to help support her through that learning process, probably even if she ended up not wanting to be with him after all.

And that’s a good guy right there.