any ideas as to who the god was that was never named and everytime Shadow asked he forgot the answer?

I just don't know. I sure wish I did though. There is something naggingly familiar.....
If I only knew what pantheon, or culture, or country he was from.

Checked the book, Shadow was only left with an impression of wealth.... (paraphrase)
Only wealth I can think of is Croesus, and I'm pretty sure that isn't right.

Well, I could be way off base here, but I think it's Hades. There really isn't any recorded name for the god, even Hades was an epithat. Pluto, his Roman counterpart was a god of wealth (hence being in Vegas). And if your a Greek, you can't name the dead - plus many cultures have a fear of naming death, because it might bring death to them. (Sort of like the expression, "speak of the devil" ...)

Well, in fact, Hades itself is an epithet (although I forget the etymology). The true name of that god has been lost.

The Greeks had a true taboo on naming the guy.

Hmmm. That's a good answer. The part about Shadow not even being able to remember his being there or anything he said is still odd though. I can't connect that with anything satisfactorily.

And one thing that god keeps reminding me of:
In the book Hero & the Crown, by Robin McKinley, there's one part where the main character is speculating on the many gods of her culture, one of which is the god of shadows at noon, also known as the god who is not there. Not a god in any non-literary mythology that I know of, but that's what I keep thinking of.

Found something else (I am way too interested in this)
Amun, Egyptian, known as "the Hidden One", a sky god, said to be "hidden of aspect, mysterious of form"
Thanks to www3.sympatico.ca/untangle

I know his name! ...wait, what was I talking about?

I've posted a couple of theories about this guy at

http://www.americangods.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000005.html

I probably should have posted here but I'm not that quick on the uptake sometimes...

quote:

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Originally posted by ViciousKitty:
Found something else (I am way too interested in this)
Amun, Egyptian, known as "the Hidden One", a sky god, said to be "hidden of aspect, mysterious of form"
Thanks to www3.sympatico.ca/untangle

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Oooh..that works... good call

Or maybe it's the unknowable god refered to in the Bible (acts 17:23). Paul is walking through Athens and finds an altar to "the unknown god".

Hmm, that's a good possibility. However, I had always believed, and it was discussed in my religion classes, that the altar was actually not to AN unknown god, but rather the Athenians built it to pacify any gods they left out, since they already had altars to all the other gods they could think of, they didn't want anyone to get pissed at being left out. I checked back at that verse, and it doesn't say either way, except that Paul explains to them that the unknown god is actually God. Its all in the interpretation, I guess.

I thought I knew,but then i forgot the....

His name is... 'Doh

This god is new. Somewhere in AG, Neil refers some of the new gods and refers to them as intangibles. That is what I picked up from the casino scenes - greed, money all in the atmosphere but nobody can grasp it.

I like the Hades idea, but here is another thought I had: could he be either Hypnos or Morpheus, both minor Greek deities, both of whom have to do with the realms of sleep and the unconscious? You know, how when you wake up you can't recall the details of what it's like to be asleep, and you can never remeber the moment you actually fell asleep? Just a thought that passed through my head when reading that part of the book--and not just because of Sandman--honestly!

I kind of like the Hades idea too. I don't think he's new, or why help Wednesday? None of the other new gods did. On starting my re-reading, I particularly noticed the casino scene, and there is more going on than just being forgotten. There is also an affinity for wealth, which is an old, old idea. There is also the idea of fate, or fortune as related to, well, fortune, when he helps the waitress. I think he is definetly from a hot land, because for some reason I can't think of any wealth gods in a cold land, such as Irish, or Norse mythology. However, I think most cultures around the Mediterannean did. Hmmm. I'm sure somebody knows why, unless I'm completely mistaken.

I'm not sure about the mysterious nameless guy being Hades - at the reading I went to, someone asked if there were any Greek gods in the book, and the reply was that Medusa appears at the end, but no other Greek gods are in AG.

BTW - I didn't spot Medusa - did anyone else?

BTW - I didn't spot Medusa - did anyone else?

She made a very brief cameo towards the end. I can't recall the specifics but a Gorgon (is that the right term?) was described.

[This message has been edited by Guardrail Avenger (edited 06-28-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Guardrail Avenger (edited 06-28-2001).]