look, I remember when I first heard of the Good Omens fandom, and naturally, Aziraphale’s name, I was struck frozen like, “Wait, I know that name. Israfil, that’s a first. Which is what reluctantly pulled me in
(I’m a Muslim)
See, growing up, we have this nursery rhyme for the 10 most important angels that you have to know, and Israfil’s name was right up there (if you want to know, the other nine are Jibril, Mikail, Mungkar, Nakir, Raqib, Atid,Ridhwan, Malik andIzrail)Christians to mention some of them in movies, I mean, you guys have versions of them too, right? So I’ve naturally heard the mentions of Jibril (Gabriel), Mikail (Michael) and Izrail (Azrael), but I was kind of stuck at the mention of Israfil of all angels, so throughout all 6 episodes I kept trying to remember what his main purpose was, in the nursery rhyme (you know that thing that you can’t think of something purely due to the reason because you’re looking for it?). As the story progressed I began to recall that he was a pretty big deal for starting Doomsday, but it wasn’t until this scene happened;
this is fascinating. i just spent a long-ass time Googling. I’m amazed that fanon hasn’t partied with this fact more.
as an aside, this Edgar Allen Poe poem (”Israfel”) had serious Crowley-upset-in-the-early-1000s vibes (”you have to give everyone the same opportunities, angel”):
If I could dwell
Where Israfel
Hath dwelt, and he where I,
He might not sing so wildly well
A mortal melody,
While a bolder note than this might swell
From my lyre within the sky.
I still don’t know anything about this, really, but @tinsnip, have you seen this?
