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Satan Character Analysis

Satan is the Antichrist, Adam’s, father; he’s a fallen angel and is referred to in the novel’s list of characters as the “Adversary.” He directs the demon characters’ activities, though he never appears in person in the novel. His one attempt to appear on Earth is thwarted when Adam, in his capacity as the Antichrist, changes history so that his human father (Mr. Young) shows up instead of Satan.

Satan Quotes in Good Omens

The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by Satan or refer to Satan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).

Eleven Years Ago Quotes

“Don’t tell me from genetics. What’ve they got to do with it?” said Crowley. “Look at Satan. Created as an angel, grows up to be the Great Adversary. Hey, if you’re going to go on about genetics, you might as well say the kid will grow up to be an angel. After all, his father was really big in Heaven in the old days. Saying he’ll grow up to be a demon just because his dad became one is like saying a mouse with its tail cut off will give birth to tailless mice. No. Upbringing is everything. Take it from me.”

Related Characters: Crowley/Crawly (speaker), Satan, Aziraphale, Adam Young/The Antichrist
Page Number and Citation: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
In the hours after the Antichrist’s birth, Aziraphale and Crowley discuss whether or not he’s guaranteed to grow up evil, since he’s the son of Satan. Aziraphale seems to believe that because the Antichrist’s father is evil, it will be in his genetic code to be evil as well. Crowley, however, insists that genetics don’t matter nearly as much as the kind of life a person lives and the kind of influences they have. In other words, good and evil aren’t innate—they’re learned. Crowley’s viewpoint ends up being true for the Antichrist, Adam. Because Adam is switched at birth with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque e

Wednesday Quotes

They’d come up with some stomach-churning idea that no demon could have thought of in a thousand years, some dark and mindless unpleasantness that only a fully functioning human brain could conceive, then shout “The Devil Made Me Do It” and get the sympathy of the court when the whole point was that the devil hardly ever made anyone do anything. He didn’t have to. That was what some humans found hard to understand. Hell wasn’t a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley’s opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist, Satan, Aziraphale, Crowley/Crawly, Warlock
Page Number and Citation: 76-77
Explanation and Analysis:
When Crowley and Aziraphale discover that Warlock isn’t actually the Antichrist, Crowley explains to Aziraphale that there were Satanist nuns in charge of switching the infant Antichrist with a human baby. He then shares with the reader how embarrassing he finds Satanists, as they, in his opinion, don’t actually understand how good and evil work. Most important here is Crowley’s insistence that it’s silly to blame cruelty or otherwise bad behavior on the devil and Hell. As Crowley notes at various points throughout the book, Heaven and Hell are (within the world of the novel) just two opposing sides in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dict

Saturday Quotes

“I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin’ upset ‘cos they act like people,” said Adam severely. “Anyway, if you stopped tellin’ people it’s all sorted out after they’re dead, they might try sorting it all out while they’re alive.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Beelzebub, The Metatron, Satan, God
Page Number and Citation: 335
Explanation and Analysis:
In the pre-Armageddon standoff between Adam, Beelzebub (Satan’s messenger), and the Metatron (God’s messenger), Adam scolds the angel and the demon for creating a situation in which people are punished or disliked for acting like people. This is a to Adam and Eve, biblical figures who were given curiosity but whom God told to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In Adam’s understanding, Adam and Eve just acted like curious people—and it’s counterproductive, in his opinion, to get so upset that people behave as expected. Then, Adam moves on to critiquing the idea of a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaq

Everyone found their eyes turning toward Adam. He seemed to be thinking very carefully.

Then he said: “I don’t see why it matters what is written. Not when it’s about people. It can always be crossed out.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), The Metatron, Aziraphale, God, Satan, Beelzebub, Crowley/Crawly
Page Number and Citation: 337
Explanation and Analysis:
As Adam (the Antichrist), the Metatron (God’s messenger), and Beelzebub (Satan’s messenger) argue about whether Adam has a choice in whether or not to bring about Armageddon, Adam suggests something radical: that it doesn’t matter what he’s supposed to do. In his opinion, it doesn’t matter what’s been prophesied when what’s written about concerns humanity. In other words, this is the moment in which Adam fully accepts that he’s a person—and in doing so, denies his identity as the divine son of Satan. Adam also proposes that the meaning of prophecy and “what is written” is always up for debate. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Per

“I’d just like to say,” he said, “if we don’t get out of this, that...I’ll have known, deep down inside, that there was a spark of goodness in you.”

“That’s right,” said Crowley bitterly. “Make my day.”

Aziraphale held out his hand.

“Nice knowing you,” he said.

Crowley took it.

“Here’s to the next time,” he said. “And...Aziraphale?”

“Yes.”

“Just remember I’ll have known that, deep down inside, you were just enough of a bastard to be worth liking.”

Related Characters: Aziraphale (speaker), Crowley/Crawly (speaker), Adam Young/The Antichrist, Satan
Page Number and Citation: 342
Explanation and Analysis:
Everyone thinks that the moment Armageddon (the end of the world) is supposed to happen has passed—but Crowley and Aziraphale realize that Satan, upset with Adam’s unwillingness to bring about Armageddon, is going to burst through the ground as a volcano. They decide that since they have nothing to lose, they’re going to try to fight him to save everyone else. It’s telling that in what could be their final moments, Crowley and Aziraphale take the time to essentially reaffirm their friendship. They’ve been friends for millennia at this point, and after all this time, they’ve come to the conclusion Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore c
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Satan Character Timeline in Good Omens

The timeline below shows where the character Satan appears in Good Omens. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Eleven Years Ago
Good and Evil Theme Icon
Human Nature Theme Icon
Destiny vs. Free Will Theme Icon
Friendship  Theme Icon
...influences that are important. Aziraphale asks what will happen if the child doesn’t have a Satanic upbringing, and Crowley suggests that it won’t matter. When Aziraphale tries to argue that genetics... (full context)
Saturday
Destiny vs. Free Will Theme Icon
...It says that they’ve taken Warlock to the Fields of Megiddo, and he’s clearly not Satan’s son. The voice asks Crowley for an explanation. It says that Crowley is going to... (full context)