Newton Pulsifer

## External links

**Newton Pulsifer** is one of the main characters in Amazon series *Good Omens*. In his heart, he is a computer engineer. The only problem is that he's completely unable to make anything electronic do what he wants. So he's now a reluctant Witchfinder — mainly because it gets him out of the house.

## Background

Newton is the descendant of Witchfinder General Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer who burned Anathema Device's ancestor Agnes Nutter at the stake. When he was young, he tried to fix the family computer but accidentally put out the power for whole town. As an adult, Newton got a job but was immediately fired after he caused the computers to break whilst trying to access his wage website.

## Significance in series

Outside the Houses of Parliament, Newton saw Shadwell shouting about witches and becomes a Witchfinder Private in the Witchfinder army because it gets him out of the house. Shadwell sends Newton to Tadfield to find Adam Young - the Antichrist - a town where Newton noticed it had perfect weather for the time of year.

On the way there in his bright blue Robin Reliant car called 'Dick Turpin', Newton sees a flying saucer land next to him with aliens who come bearing a message of universal peace. Newton is too shocked to say anything else. Later on Tibetan Tunnelers cause his car to crash and overturn and a concussed Newton is brought to the house of Anathema Device who reveals that she is a witch and the world is ending in four hours.

Newton reveals that Adam Young is the antichrist and the two rush outside to see a tornado outside. Newton protests that you don't get tornadoes in England whilst Anathema uses a prophecy by Agnes so they have enough time to run back inside. The tornado returns and smashes the windows in Anathema's bedroom so they hide under the bed.

Another prophecy is grabbed by Anathema telling them to cling close, Newton reveals a lot of personal details to Anathema including the fact he has never kissed a girl and the two kiss, then decide to have sex under the bed whilst the tornado rages on. Afterwards, they go to the Airfield to find the world's nuclear warheads are ready to be launched. Newton's ability to break every computer he tries to fix breaks the computers and stops the launch. They rush outside to see the Horsemen whom Newton mistakes for terrorists and watch as Adam and the Them destroy them. Anathema declares that Newton is her boyfriend much to his surprise and delight and they watch as Adam destroys Satan.

After the Apocalypse is averted, the two move in together and receive a package with a copy of Further Nice and Accurate Prophecies by Agnes Nutter, though she addresses the package to a Mr. and Mrs. Pulsifer. This strongly implies that not only did she predict the two's union, but that she approves of it. However, Newton convinces Anathema to burn it, as they both agreed that they didn't want to just be descendants anymore.

## Personality

Newton is a big computer nerd, having studied and read book after book on computer engineering. Unfortunately, he was born with something similar to a curse in which he breaks whatever computer he tries to use, making his countless hours of studying computers useless. Whether his "curse" lifts when Adam rewrites history, is never shown. However, despite his "curse", Newton is shown to be a very intelligent. He is able to decipher Anges's prediction with little effort and match them up with the modern world. He is also the only person to rightly point out that solely relying on the predictions and instructions of a 300-year-old witch is neither smart nor healthy. Unlike his ancestor, he is also shown to be very kind and open minded. He doesn't care that Anathema is a witch and is ready to help others in any way he can. He is also shown to be disgusted with his ancestor's actions, and actually apologizes to Anathema for the wrongs his family did to hers.
## Quotes

"Oh, I'm not called Dick Turpin-it's my car's name. You can ask why if you like?" "The Book"
"You just have to pick a card. Any card."

## Notes and trivia

* Newt's car is named "Dick Turpin" as a reference to an 18th century British highway man. The joke being, "Everywhere I go, I hold up traffic."