Crowley and Mara: a slightly nutty side-by-side comparison.

Crowley and Mara: a side-by-side comparison. This page unfortunately does not linearize well and may not work in text browsers such as Lynx.

Hello and welcome to a tiny little page jointly shared by the websites Temptation and Working Girl. The purpose of this page is to, just for kicks, try to draw out some parallels (and some contrasts) between the characters Crowley and Mara, who are both somewhat un-demonic demons from two very different (although both humorous) works of fantasy literature. Granted, when you get right down to it, these two characters actually aren't that similar at all. Crowley is slick and cool, and good at his job; Mara is more of nutcase, really. But nevertheless, there are still some interesting parallels to be drawn between the two. At least I think so... and I hope this page can convince all of you, too.

A demon from the novel Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

A demon from the Japanese manga series Aa, Megami-sama! (translated into English as Oh My Goddess!) by Kosuke Fujishima.

"...Most demons weren't deep down evil. In the great cosmic game they felt they occupied the same position as tax inspectors - doing an unpopular job, maybe, but essential to the overall operation of the whole thing" (pg 229). Being a demon is just a job. It's really not all that wonderful, but hey, better this than working for Above.

Being a demon is just a job, but it sure is a helluva lot of fun.

Himself. (What, he's supposed to take on a different job at night? Demons do it better in the dark anyway.)

A mad scientist.

Unknown, but older than the Earth at least, which according to the novel makes him over 6000 years old. Presumed to appear to be in his late twenties.

Mid- to late-twenties.

Sunglasses.

Open-fingered gloves. Tight-fitting leather, in general.

London, England.

Nekomi, Japan.

Driving, horticulture, sleeping.

Video games. And, uh, more video games.

Aziraphale

Urd

Aziraphale

Urd

Aziraphale, by pre-agreed arrangement.

A certain Norn named Belldandy.

Hastur

Hild

"It was the way they talked to you. As if you were a houseplant that had started shedding leaves on the carpet" (pg 255). Crowley is generally threatened and harassed by his bosses down Below, or, if he's lucky, just maliciously teased. Although he's generally good at escaping dangerous situations, so it hasn't yet gotten to the point where they've done him bodily harm. Though not for lack of trying.

Two words: "Show me." Hild to Mara, volume 22, chapter 139. There's also constant teasing and verbal abuse, and once Hild even strikes Mara with a lightning bolt, apparently just for the hell of it. Hild likes to play jokes on Mara, but most of her pranks are quite sadistic.

Although it is strongly implied that he would prefer otherwise, Crowley seems cursed to always be listening to Queen while he's driving.

Has a highly unpleasant, adverse allergic reaction if she hears rock music. ^^

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