Aziraphale

Aziraphale
A.K.A.	A. Z. Fell
Character Information
Species	Angel (Principality)
Residence	His bookshop in Soho, London
Behind the Scenes
First seen in	PROSE: You've Been To Eden, I Perceive
Also seen in	PROSE: The Folly of Men (mentioned) PROSE: Birds and Snakes (mentioned) PROSE: Dog Days of Sumer
Copyright	Neil Gaiman; Terry Pratchett estate (?)

Aziraphale, formally Aziraphale of the Eastern Gate or by the human alias of A. Z. Fell, existed in at least one universe as an Angel, specifically a Principality, who ended up living on Earth as a London antique books seller.

Description

Physical appearance

Jenny Cornelius described “Mr Fell” as “handsome” and “well-dressed” to Captain Stewart. (PROSE: The Folly of Men)

Personality

Aziraphale was a quiet, fussy person, extremely fond of old books and protective of his collection thereof. He disliked having customers, treating his bookshop more like a private collection, though he did keep up the illusion of it being a shop so that a few visitors would wander in every month, so as to “keep eternity interesting”. He was committed to remaining proper and polite at all times. Somewhat out of touch with the modern world, he felt he remained bound to Victorian etiquette well into the 21st century. (PROSE: You've Been To Eden, I Perceive) Jenny Cornelius described Mr Fell as “very polite, (…) and gay as a tree full of monkeys”. (PROSE: The Folly of Men)

Powers & abilities

As an Angel, Aziraphale was immortal. He also had the ability to perform miracles; for example, he could have “miracled himself a legal identity” while living among humans, although he never actually bothered. (PROSE: You've Been To Eden, I Perceive)

Biography

The hot-cocoa incident

One universe's Aziraphale, formerly the guardian of the Eastern Gate of the Garden of Eden, had been living in his bookshop for over three hundred years when he became acquainted with a version of Jenny Everywhere. He had an official nemesis in the form of the demon Crowley, although the two were actually on friendly terms. On one of Jenny's visit to the bookshop, seemingly not her first, she accidentally spilled hot cocoa over Aziraphale's first-edition Arthur Conan Doyle books. Some time later, as an apology of sorts, she brought the Interdimensional Library's living, talking version of Sherlock Holmes to the bookshop. Though initially baffled by the appearance of Holmes in the shop, he was extremely grateful once Jenny explained what she had done to him, as well as why she had done it. (PROSE: You've Been To Eden, I Perceive)

In Jenny Cornelius's world

In one universe, Jenny Cornelius, who resided in 1960s London, was familiar with “a very special person in the book trade” whom she described as “very polite, handsome, well dressed, and gay as a tree full of monkeys”, going by the name of “Mr Fell”. His shop was located “on Greek Street just off Old Compton”. On one occasion, he gave Jenny an exceedingly rare book, Biggles Goes to Mars, in exchange for her locating a copy of the Plasmanomicon for his personal collection. (PROSE: The Folly of Men)

His demon acquaintance later tried to get a hold of him to try and get him to investigate the Tenth Lord Grell, but had to ask their mutual friend Jenny instead after he turned out not to be at home that day. (PROSE: Birds and Snakes)

Behind the scenes

Aziraphale on the original cover of the Good Omens novel.

Aziraphale is one of the major figures of the Good Omens novel and adaptations, with which You've Been To Eden, I Perceive was an unofficial crossover — although the continuity in which it takes place is not quite the setting of any of the official versions of the story, mixing and matching details from the book and the TV miniseries. The character was portrayed by Mark Heap in the 2014 radio drama adaption, and Michael Sheen in the 2019 live-action series.

External links

• Aziraphale on L-Space, the Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki
• Aziraphale on the Good Omens wiki

Concepts from Good Omens in Jenny Everywhere media
Individuals Adam Young • Aziraphale • Crowley Items Biggles Goes to Mars