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| Book cover art by: Robert E. McGinnis |
American Gods, the new series on Starz based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, is the best thing on TV. A bold statement but it is 100% true. Reading the book, there were times that my visual perception of the beautiful open roads of the Midwest made me feel sad and empty, yet cozy and engulfed in the fantastical mysteries that were unfolding before me. The show maintains that integrity with neon signs, roadside bars, strange shops, and dirty hotel rooms but they added a bit more blood and gore for the gratuitous among us. I absolutely love it. Go watch it and if you don't love it, you already think I'm a freak for enjoying it, and I can live with that.
The gist of the plot: A man named Shadow Moon is released after serving 3 years in prison. Upon his return to the free world, he learns that life as he once knew it and the best-laid plans lined up when he got out, had been irrevocably changed when he learns his wife, Laura, had died in a car accident prior to his release. Shadow had a job lined up with his best friend Robbie, but learns he died in the same accident with Laura. He now had a sudden need for a job and a new start...again.
He meets an enigmatic man named Mr. Wednesday who provides a solution to these new holes in Shadow's life by offering him a job. Shadow accepts, drinks Wednesday's mead and thus begins the spiral into a new and surreal world...a world on the brink of an existential war between the old gods and the new gods. The old gods powers are waning as less people remember, worship, and fear them. The new gods of technology are gaining traction and are looking to eradicate the old gods from memory by making society more dependent on the technical age. A bit prophetic on the part of Gaiman since the novel was written in 1991 and presently almost everyone has a phone/computer glued to their person at all times.
The show follows a three part format similar to the book:
Coming to America-The gods of the world came to America on Viking ships and slave boats. They came with the stories and the cultures of people from hundreds of places, over thousands of years. The gods were powerful then because they were worshiped and their people still prayed and sacrificed to them. In short, the gods were not only remembered and revered, they were feared and spoke of often.
Somewhere in America-Depicts the fate of the gods in modern times when they lose their relevance as a result of society finding more solace in technology than in dogma. Instead of being offered worship, gifts, and sacrifice, the forgotten gods are now found in seedy motel rooms, drunken brawls, and dead in ditches.
Present Day-A war is brewing between the old gods and the new gods. It follows Shadow's perception of the unbelievable turn his life has taken since getting our of prison and meeting Mr. Wednesday. Shadow, ever likable and mostly trustworthy, is important to the recruitment of old gods as he and Wednesday make their way through America pleading the case for war, the struggle to remain relevant, and the right for the gods to exist.
So who are these old gods we have seen so far in episodes 1 & 2?
Odin: Mr. Wednesday didn't just choose this name because that was the day of week it happened to be when Shadow asked him. Wednesday comes from Wodensday, which was so named in Odin's honor. He is the All-father of the gods in Nordic mythology (like Zeus in Greek myth) and famously gave one of his eyes to drink the water of all wisdom. He is of the Aesir of Asgard which is located in the Tree of Life or Yggdrasil.He is a god of war first but also of magic, wisdom, and poetry. He has been known to be fickle in deciding outcomes for battles and often requires great human sacrifices in order to win his favor. He has two ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) that scout the world over to bring information to Odin. He is the father of famous Nordic gods such as Thor, Baldur, and Hod. He is said to have sacrificed himself to himself in the Tree of Life or Yggdrasil, the ultimate sacrifice of a god to a god which only made him more gifted as a result.
Bilquis: aka Queen of Sheba (of Ethiopia), Makeda was a biblical figure and rumored to be half human and half demon. It is the demon inside of her that was said to have a ravenous vagina. There are a lot of conflicting stories about her origins and life that vary from culture to culture. All agree, she was considered a powerful woman equal to any man. She was wise, entrancing, and magnetic. She may or may not have been a consort to King Solomon, which resulted in a son. Bilquis in the book found her *worshippers* via prostitution. Bilquis on the show was empowered, sexual, and beautiful. A Goddess worthy of worship...men and women both were only too happy to be eaten by her vagina.
Loki: A Norse trickster who is both a friend and thorn to the Nordic gods. It is debated whether he is of the Aesir (like Odin, Thor, etc) or the Giants but I don't subscribe to the notion he is a god. God-like, perhaps but definitively a trickster in my humble opinion. Many of his tricks backfired and it always seemed one god or another was looking to blame or kill him for something. He seems to *right* his wrongs by causing more conflict and bargaining his life. He always narrowly escapes death with trickery or shape-shifting skills but eventually his deeds seal his terrible fate and start the beginning of the end of days known as Ragnarok. The book and the show refer to Loki as Low-Key Lyesmith. He was a friend of Shadow's while they were both in prison.
Anansi: A west African trickster. He is a spider and like many mythical tricksters, he is also a shape-shifter. He isn't a god but is a liaison to the sky god. He can be deceptive and tricky but is also wise, quick tempered, and a smooth talker similar to Loki of Nordic myth. According to my 8 year old son, Anansi doesn't like to share and likes to eat be invited to feasts so he can eat lots of food. He is invited to a feast by a turtle who tricks Anansi by bringing all the tasty food beneath the water where Anansi the spider can't get it. The book and the show will refer to Anansi as Mr. Nancy.
Mad Sweeney: Depending on the source, Mad Sweeney was a leprechaun that guarded an ancient rock in Ireland for thousands of years and his madness gave him power. In other stories, he is based on the legend of Buile Suibhne, or the Frenzy of Suibhne/Sweeney. Suibhne, is the son of the king of Dal Riada (a kingdom in northern Ireland) and is driven mad by a curse. In the book and show, despite the usual depiction of leprechauns as small creatures, Mad Sweeney is very tall. He is a drunk with a bad temper and is tethered to a gold coin that he accidentally gave Shadow after a bar fight. Shadow tosses it in his wife Laura's grave and the plot thickens as Mad Sweeney realizes getting the coin back will be no easy feat.
Zorya Sisters: The 3 Slavic goddesses charged with watching the chained dog in the stars that is always trying to escape and devour the constellation, Ursa Minor (the Bear). If this should happen, it will be the end of the world and the universe itself. The Zorya sisters are Utrennyaya, the morning star, Vechernyaya, the evening star, and Polunochnaya, the midnight star. In the book/show the sisters live with Czernobog in Chicago and in between their shifts, they earn money telling fortunes.
Czernobog: A Slavic god of death and darkness. Violence and chaos surround him. His name is Russian for *black god*. He is related to Bielebog the god of light and life who is opposite to Czernobog in every way. Sometimes they are considered two aspects of one person but this varies from story to story. In the book and show he lives in Chicago with the Zorya sisters and kills cattle with a sledge hammer for a living.
Spoilers-I want to revisit this in more detail at a later time but wanted to touch on it on a surface level but it may lead to some connections (i.e. parentage, etc.) that you might not want to make yet.
Shadow: I didn't actually know that Gaiman confirmed he had based Shadow on the Norse god, Baldur. A friend of mine read the novella, 'Monarch of the Glen, a short sequel to 'American Gods' and she said it was confirmed in that story (which was published in a short story anthology by Neil Gaiman called 'Fragile Things'. While I have read several of the stories published in the anthology, that one surprisingly escaped me. So I was actually a little proud of myself that I made the *Shadow=Baldur* deduction on my own even if it wasn't generally a new idea. Granted, the idea came to me while reading Neil's version of 'Norse Mythology' and not from the more classic Nordic tales I have read, but I digress. While I was reading 'Norse Mythology' I thought of Shadow whenever I read a Baldur tale, though I wasn't sure why. When I started to think about it, it made perfect sense. But I will revisit those ideas in a future post since this one is long enough already.
More guides to the gods and thoughts on the show/book to come as season one progresses (and I have the time to post about them). Feel free to expand past my brief descriptions too...there are so many wonderful stories, myths, and legends to explore.
Also, if you haven't already read Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods', you should.
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