{"id":65,"date":"2019-06-29T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T13:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/?p=65"},"modified":"2026-06-24T05:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:45:26","slug":"folks-let-me-talk-about-crowley-and-sunglasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-65 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/?attachment_id=66'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"130\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tumblr_ptfc48euih1utn3pqo1_540-150x130.gif\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theladyzephyr.tumblr.com\/post\/185737660952\/folks-let-me-talk-about-crowley-and-sunglasses\" class=\"tumblr_blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theladyzephyr<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Folks let me talk about Crowley and sunglasses, because I have a lot of emotions about when he wears them and when he doesn\u2019t, and Hiding versus Being Seen.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re introduced to the concept of Crowley wearing glasses even before we\u2019re introduced to Crowley, by Hastur: <b>\u201cIf you ask me he\u2019s been up here too long. Gone native. Enjoying himself too much. Wearing sunglasses even when he doesn\u2019t need them.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Honestly Crowley\u2019s whole introduction is a fantastic; we learn so much about his character in a tiny amount of time. The fact that he\u2019s late, the Queen playing as the Bentley approaches, the \u201cHi, guys\u201d in response to Hastur and Ligur\u2019s \u201cHail Satan\u201d. I like this intro much better than the one originally scripted with the rats at the phone company, but I digress.<\/p>\n<p>Crowley wears sunglasses when he doesn\u2019t need them. Specifically, he still wears them around the demons, and when he\u2019s in hell.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/5ce16f92401bd655595ea6e742e79c5c\/tumblr_inline_ptfbmwHgZU1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>You know where Crowley <i>doesn\u2019t<\/i> wear glasses? At home.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/b8fcee03c51633c5cc24cc745a27c6a6\/tumblr_inline_ptfbnicIVY1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>We never once see him wearing glasses in his flat, except for when he knows Hastur and Ligur are coming. That\u2019s an emotional kick to the gut for me. Here\u2019s one of the only places Crowley\u2019s comfortable enough to be sans glasses, and when he knows it\u2019s going to be invaded he prepares not just physically with the holy water, but by putting up that emotional barrier in a place where he wasn\u2019t supposed to need it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/39db2a0859b3215f2ff884fb7ffe4006\/tumblr_inline_ptfbozZPCb1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>An argument could be made that Crowley actually <i>never<\/i> needs glasses. We\u2019re shown that it\u2019s well within the angels\u2019 and demons\u2019 powers to pass unnoticed by humans. Crowley and Aziraphale waltz out of the manor in the middle of a police raid, and going unnoticed by the police takes so little effort that they can keep up a conversation while they stroll through. Even an unimaginative demon like Hastur apparently doesn\u2019t have trouble with the humans losing it over his demonic eyes. The humans in the scene at Megiddo are acting like \u201cthis guy is a little weird\u201d and not \u201choly shit his entire eyeballs are black jelly\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/5d97c09134122ea88a5c660603c0a025\/tumblr_inline_ptfbqnP1TD1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>That means that Crowley\u2019s glasses are a <i>choice<\/i>, just like Aziraphale\u2019s softness. Sure, he could arrange matters so that nobody ever noticed his eyes, but he doesn\u2019t <i>want<\/i> to. Crowley wants acceptance, and he wants to belong, and he\u2019s <i>never, ever had that.<\/i> He didn\u2019t fit in before the Fall in Heaven, he doesn\u2019t fit in with the demons in Hell. With the glasses, and with the Bentley and his plants and with the barely-bad-enough-to-be-evil nuisance temptations, he\u2019s choosing Earth. <i>This<\/i> is where he wants to fit in, perhaps not <i>with<\/i> the humans, but amongst them.<\/p>\n<p>Even after Crowley is at his absolute lowest, when he thinks Aziraphale\u2019s dead and he\u2019s on his way to drink until the world ends, he takes the time to put a new pair on when the old ones are damaged. He <i>needs<\/i> that emotional crutch right now, even with everything about to turn into a pile of puddling goo he\u2019s not ready for the world to see his eyes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/770b4473f5a10e5a2303a29a206772b9\/tumblr_inline_ptfbrdu7Tm1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Which is why I swore out loud when Hastur <i>forcibly<\/i> <i>takes them off.<\/i><\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/376101ae5344696fc2bff30ab9de70ad\/tumblr_inline_ptfbs9tIHd1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s about the worst thing that Hastur could have done. Rather than leading with a physical threat, his first act is to strip away Crowley\u2019s emotional defences. It\u2019s a great writing choice because <i>god<\/i> it made me hate Hastur, even more than all the physical violence we see him do.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also the moment that Crowley really truly gets his shit together, and focuses all of his considerable imagination on getting to Tadfield and Aziraphale to help save the world. He\u2019s wielding the terrifyingly unimaginable power of someone who\u2019s hit rock bottom and realised <i>it literally could not get any worse than this.<\/i> He doesn\u2019t put another pair of glasses on after discorporating Hastur, and he spends the majority of the airbase sequence without them.<\/p>\n<p>He puts them back on again, I think, at the moment that he really lets himself hope. When he thinks <b>\u2018shit, there may be a real chance that we get through this to a future that I don\u2019t want to lose\u2019<\/b>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/8655cc08ef301065d7babdd4f778a379\/tumblr_inline_ptfbxd9wdm1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The vulnerability is back, and he <i>needs<\/i> Adam to trust him. In Crowley\u2019s mind being accepted by a human means he needs to have his eyes hidden. Someone give the demon a hug, please.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, there\u2019s only one time in the whole series that we see Crowley willingly choose to take his glasses off around another person. Only one person he\u2019ll take down that barrier for, and even then he\u2019s drunk before he does it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/d3df2ab606057ff42591b33a4ba0f26b\/tumblr_inline_ptfbxyapIV1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"130\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Dear God\/Satan\/Someone that makes my heart ache. Crowley\u2019s chosen Earth, but he\u2019s also chosen <i>Aziraphale.<\/i> He\u2019s been looking for somewhere to belong his entire existence, and it\u2019s with the angel that he finally feels it.<\/p>\n<p>When the dust settles and the world is saved and they finally have space to be themselves unguarded, I like to imagine Crowley takes off the glasses when it\u2019s just the two of them; the idea of being known doesn\u2019t scare him quite so much anymore. \u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"200\" data-orig-width=\"540\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/f4244e9b3ec0cb79af0d677bb9b4bae0\/tumblr_inline_ptfbzs3yTZ1tscb84_540.gif\" data-orig-height=\"200\" data-orig-width=\"540\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a pretty amazing analysis <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>theladyzephyr: Folks let me talk about Crowley and sunglasses, because I have a lot of emotions about when he wears them and when he doesn\u2019t, and Hiding versus Being Seen. We\u2019re introduced to the concept of Crowley wearing glasses even before we\u2019re introduced to Crowley, by Hastur: \u201cIf you ask me he\u2019s been up here [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.grunk.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}