One thing about disco elysium that really intrigues me is how it doesn't exactly break the fourth wall, it bends it. It doesn't have anything explicit where either the narrator or Harry acknowledge that "hey we know we're in a video game", but Harry's video-game-y-ness is still acknowledged and either explained by Harry's character or acknowledged that this is a weird thing that Harry does and not how Normal people act. Real life people don't constantly zip from one "interactable" object or "container" to the other, but Harry does because that's just the preferred method of officers in his precinct. Real life people can't/don't run everywhere they go, but Harry does/can. Because he used to be a gym teacher. On the other side of the "weird", it's a total mystery to everyone else how Harry can get people to just reveal anything he wants to know. That's just how Harry is. It's weird, and people acknowledge how weird it is. He literally has a reputation as the "human can-opener". Real life people don't speak in "lists" or "trees" of questions, and Harry can even acknowledge that he only has a limited number of "options", to which everyone replies "What the hell are you talking about." Many people can even remark how much Harry loves questions, which Harry usually just chalks up to being a cop, but that's never the full answer. So Harry is either the weirdest person in the world because Normal people don't act like video game protagonists, or he's the only normal one because he's the only one who's actually acting like he's in a video game (which he is).
It’s the discarded sword, forgotten because there’s no longer any fight.
It’s the wound, dark and fatal, clearly visible on Arthur’s side.
It’s Merlin’s leg, pressing tightly against Arthur’s.
It’s his left hand, clinging to him desperately.
It’s his right arm wrapped protectively around him, his right hand cupping his head tenderly, his fingers tangled in his hair.
It’s the way Merlin is holding Arthur, as if trying to merge with him and become one.
Or maybe it’s just the way this image alone tells a story, or at least the end of it. The way you can tell it was a good one, epic and tragic and filled with love and loss and all those things that make a story worth telling.
Yeah, that must be it...
Love and devastation and everything in between, all condensed into this very moment and captured forever in a single frame of a TV show.
To everyone who is upset at Aziraphale for acting the way he did when Crowley kissed him, for forgiving him, I say to you:
Do you think he did that because he wanted to?
Listen to Aziraphale say “I need you!” and tell me this angel isn’t hopelessly and desperately in love with this demon. Look at Aziraphale’s hands during the kiss. He wanted nothing more than to take Crowley in his arms and kiss him back. But that would have gotten them both in a lot of trouble.
Crowley is already risking serious trouble, but there’s something Aziraphale can do to prevent that, even if it breaks his heart.
He has to acknowledge that what Crowley did was Not Allowed.
So by “I forgive you,” Aziraphale was saying “I forgive you, because according to both of our sides, you did something wrong, and I don’t want you to get in trouble because I love you.”
And by “Don’t bother,” Crowley was saying “Do not forgive me because I have done nothing wrong, I am not sorry and I would do it again because I love you.”