From what I've read, at the end of the Book Shadow has undergone the ritual into godhood, and displays various powers. My question is, what God does he become? I mean, we gods of television, cars and technology and gods of war, weather, birds and nature.

I'd like to think that Shadow becomes a God of Truth, given how he ends the war by exposing Odin and Loki's con, as well as Hinzelmann's dark secret, but I wonder if that's too simplistic and doesn't really match some of the other things he does at the end of the novel...

Anyone else give some thoughts on this?

Various hints through the book tell us his real name is Baldur Moon (ex: Laura's last name is revealed as Moon), the son of Odin. My mythology is weak, but if you browse around some of the older threads here, you'll see the arguments for and against it

I'm not asking who he *is*, when the novel opens and progresses, it's clear he's supposed to represent Baldur, but the question is what does he BECOME? Who, or what, exactly is Baldur supposed to represent? And what is an Americanized Baldur supposed to do as our God?

My knowledge of Norse mythos is shaky: it tells me Baldur's fate, but not much on his job description, was he, well, God of the Coin Tricks? Because God of Thunder was kinda already taken, from my understanding...

i think perhaps he became more of a hero legend. afterall, he was odins vigil champion and led the other gods through the truth. But i also like GMzoe's theory.

I don't think he becomes any specific God outside of himself. Gods are formed by belief and worship, and that is not how Shadow 'ascends'; instead he is reborn into the power of his Godhood via his tribulation at the tree.

I think Shadow finally becomes the god of himself at the end of "American Gods". Throughout the book he is doing whatever people want him to do, never really BEING Shadow. He just goes through the motions doing what's expected of him. Eventually he stops doing that, even if it means losing his father.

I don't see any reason to think Shadow is/became a god at all. Of course, being that his father is a god, he had some power (think about snow.)

When Odin hanged himself on the Tree, he didn't become a god. He already was a god. He did gain knowledge/power.

Is there anything I missed that means Shadow is a God?

i thought that shadow was supposd to be baldur, a god of light and a messanic figure, thats why in his dream he climbs a pile of his old skulls ( loki was responsible for baldurs death )
and easter tells him that she thought he might have made a difference this time hence the messiah thing.
i'd have to find out more about baldur to be sure tho...

I also didn't think he was supposed to be a god.
He was definitely supposed to be some kind of savior. The christ figure imagery was about as subtle as a sledge hammer. But, I still didn't think he was supposed to be a god.

Alias, check out some of the other threads in this forum about Christ imagery. Most posters agree that the hanging from the tree and resurrection of Shadow are not meant to refer to Christ

One can have a Christ figure in a book, without it referring to Christ Himself.

Also, he was resurrected after three days by Easter.

And one of the posters in the Christ figure thread say precisely that, but your 'subtle as a sledge hammer' comment made it sound more like the author's intent was... etc. You get the idea. I'm tired.

I'd also like to point out that Christ, as a concept, does not imply Jesus.

@aliasmoi: Actually he was resurrected after 6 days if it was following the Odin mythology, if it wasn't it's been a while since I've read the book and I apologise.

There's a little on the Wikipedia article about Odin that talks about Odin's links to Christ if that has any relevence. Can't be bothered typing out the gyst.

There is a line late in the book when Loki says something about killing Shadow with a sprig of mistletoe. This is a reference a Norse legend in which Freya (Baldur's mother) makes him invulnerable to all things in an effort to protect him. She considers mistetoe the most incuous of things so she doesn't bother with it. When all of the gods are pelting Baldur celebrating his perfection, blah blah blah, Loki makes an arrow of mistletoe and kills him with it.

Along the same lines...

He may not have represented the Christ figure himself, but there are certainly parallels. My take is that Shadow was compared to Chirst-- As Jesus was a god, and human at the same time. I think Shadow is like that. AND Christ is not the "god of" anything. He is just "God." Again, I think Shadow is like that. He is a god, and mortal, and not the "god of" anything.

Yeah I noticed that bit where Loki says to Laura he plans to put a sprig of mistletoe through Shadow's eye.
I think what happened in the saga was they were having fun throwing stuff and Balder and Loki tricked someone into throwing mistletoe.
So it looks as though he a reincarnation of Balder, or the American Balder, although that wouldn't exactly fit with any of the ideas the book set up.

When I read it though, I never thought Shadow was a god or became one. For me, he was just Shadow. He was special anyway.

I just posted this in another thread, so sorry for the double post, but I was always under the impression that he was a reincarnation of Odin. Am I the only one that came to this conclussion? I haven't seen anyone else suggest this.