Charlie Malevolent - Tumblr Posts

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how an artist draws Detective Noel Finley/Charlie Dowd, he’s sexy.

Period.

[DISCLAIMER: I am not Jewish and therefore cannot speak with any sort of authority on this manner. I am simply a Catholic Religious Studies major that finds learning about other religions as a way to build up my own and understand the world and the people within it better] With that out of the way-

I REALLY like this actually! And it does fit. It is very possible that Noel's parents came to the US during the large wave of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in 1880-1924. A large chunk of these immigrants settled in New England which places Noel where we need him to be. According to the wiki, Noel was raised in Harper's Hill which is a town in Massachusetts. Perfect. We are golden. Additionally, many of these Jewish immigrants were from the Russian Empire which held a great deal of Poland, aiding in the co-headcanon of Noel being of Polish decent. Noel also would have been able to find a LOT of comradery when he moved to become a detective in New York. Due to this placement in history and where he likely came from, it's the most probable for Noel and his family to have been Reform Jews which stepped more into blending Judaism with the current culture around them. Additionally, there is more of a focus on ethical laws rather than ritual laws. They began a new life in the areas that they immigrated to, finding their local worship as a part of the divine plan and shifting away from hoping for a Jewish homeland (at least in the present). I think this fits Noel quite well. We don't see these high levels of piety with his character which I see associated with Orthodox Judaism. Rather there is very much a theme of justice and forgiveness with him which goes hand in hand with this headcanon. Additionally, if Noel had lost faith in God during his time in the Dreamlands, much of these focuses would still come out of his identity as a Jewish person apart from the religion. Anyway! This is my little deep dive into this! I hope you all enjoy it! Please feel free to message me with any corrections or thoughts!

*sees the headcanon of Jewish Detective Noel* *sighs* *cracks open the modern religions textbook again*