Hi! I run a website, http://www.frowl.org/gods/ , that lists all (well, most) of the gods from AG, and yesterday Neil (!) signed the guestbook and said "Nice Job - you've still got some few gods to go... And a whole Hinzelmann bit to find out about."

So um, do any of you know what he means about Hinzelmann? I'm pretty new to this board, so if it was discussed earlier, sorry for redundancy Knowing the rest of the book, I'd always assumed that Hinzelmann had some mythological significance, but I have no idea what. I'm not a big mythology expert by any means, so does anyone have any information? Thanks!

(Also, if you happen to visit the site and notice any gods I'm missing, please let me know as well.)

Hinzelmann=the forgotten god? anyone think of this? just me? it makes sense!

actually i read on a site somewhere (sorry cant remember where exctly) that hinzelmann was a kobold, originally from the black forest in germany. that's why he's no mr. hinzelmann. he does not have a first name, he's just hinzelmann. he was brought to lakeside by the german population. also, am i wrong in thinking the dream about the silent little boy who gets sacrificed is about him? he does say, in his speech to shadow after he saves him from the lake, stuff about taking a boy and for five years giving him the best food etc then put 2 swords through his body, his remains are worshipped then etc etc...

We Await Silent Trystero's Empire

Hi, I'm all new to this board (this bein' first post for me...), so I don't know whether this has come up yet, but Hinzelmann being a kobold etc. is a bit of a give-away on Neil's part if you know a bit of German, since in German folklore there exists a creature - a kobold, or goblin, if you will - called a "Heinzelmann", or (plural) "Heinzelmänner/Heinzelmännchen". The idea is that of a small, secretive creature of faintly man-like proportions which lives around the domiciles and cities of mankind, and thus often comes into contact with it. However, the "Heinzelmänner" are generally believed to be good-natured and helpful, like in the story "Die Heinzelmännchen von Köln ("The Heinzelmännchen/Kobolds of Cologne"), where a bunch of the little buggers breaks into a house at night and does odd jobs around the place like clean the dishes, take out the trash, etc.

BUT - and this is, I think, a big "but", albeit one I haven't found a lot of material on so far -:

I believe that this sweet little folk-tale, like so many others, has been perverted and twisted around over time to suit a more 'modern' sensibility. Because even in "Die Heinzelmännchen von Köln" there is a ring to it that the little kobolds are vengeful if crossed, and also (in some version) have to be appeased/kept happy by little gifts, etc. The original grain from which the Heinzelmänner have come is probably Germanic/Teutonic/Saxon (or a mish-mash of it all), and in its original form the Heinzelmänner were most likely nature spirits who weren't at all likely to drop by and clean up your long-house but more likely tore the chieftain a new rectal orifice if he didn't sacrifice one or two pretty virgins come Saturday, or whatever.

The point is - and I -do- so hope that I have a point, actually - that Hinzelmann is most likely a synthesis of the stories, a helpful Heinzelmann creature who does a lot more than odd jobs around the place (after all, he keeps the town prosperous and the community closely-knit...), yet at a much higher price than, say, the odd saucer of milk or piece of cake.

Just my thoughts on the matter, since I found the parallels and the nominal similarities between Hinzelmann and Heinzelmann so striking...

Cautionary Note: The following post exists almost exclusively in the realm of American Gods as a cool, imaginative, fun and self-contained story about gods, and has little to do with American Gods as allegory or anything especially deep or practically applicable.

This gets a little bit back to my curiosity about the 'evolution' of gods which I mused about, specifically in regards to Mad Sweeney, in a previous post.

Gods, clearly, change over time. And I still wonder whether this posed a problem to Neil in crafting his pantheon. But if his old gods can fade away, then certainly they can change.

I remain intrigued by the process, though, and their feelings about it. Might there not be another chapter to be written - a prequel, I suppose - of another war waged by the old gods against their Christianization? Might there have been a debate of the relative merits of surviving in altered form (even if it meant a reduction to things base, or silly, or nasty, or relatively sub-godly) versus fighting a war that might mean their end? Do Neil's gods have any real interest in their nature or their constitution at all?

I can't recall anything in the book that would argue decisively either way. American Gods' gods seem to be, essentially, the most recent prevailing conception of their namesakes that Americans kept in their hearts. A thought which, for me, makes the dubious absence of Christianity (with the exception of one mention) all the more intriguing and awkward, in equal measure.

Maybe it's because the gods in question are of decidedly pantheistic religions/societies that saw no value in denying the godhead of anyone elses god(ess)(s). YHWH/Yahweh/Allah seems to be the only god that spends a lot of time saying he's the only one. Pretty antisocial. Probably doesn't interact with the very beings he strives so mightily to deny.

Hinzelmann is a kobold/goblin/brownie. He was originally the child in the tent who was sacrificed. Shadow, as Mike Ainsel, dreams about this child on his first night in Lakeside -- not a coincidence.

Mike Ainsel is "My Ainsel" is "My Ownself", which is the false name the little boy Parcie gives to the Brownie in the classic tale here:
Parcie and the Brownie

It's probably Wednesday's wry joke to send his son to see the Brownie (Hinzelmann) under the false name "My Ainsel". I'm just surprised that Hinzelmann doesn't pick up on it!

The fireplace and the poker feature in the Parcie story too. So, Neil Gaiman, have we now picked up all the references in the Hinzelmann story?

Well, Gaiman said it was a god, a brownie is like a lesser thing, something like a woodsprite in Greek mythology if you will. So even if he may be a Brownie, he isn't a god, so the mystery continues... dun, dun, dun.

I'm inclined to agree with Frayed Ends, you made some really good guesses there..

Also found this site about a few different Kobold stories:

http://otherworld.celtic-twilight.com/fairy_mythology/germany4.htm

Notice how the really long one also mentions that Hinzelmann's real form (when asked) is the four-year-old child with the knives through his chest.

It had me wondering though: were all the Kobold stories rolled into one when NG created the character Hinzelmann, or are these stories all told about the same mythological creature, once a god, then a spirit, now a kobold (i.e. not really a lesser creature, just degraded in the same way as Mad Sweeney)....
and then... could the reference of the boy with the knives and the blood be a reflection on the way the kobold looked when he was still a god? the thought really makes me shudder, especially with that thought in the back of my head about putting a child in a tent for his entire life and then killing him to make a god out of him ;(

... I loved the character of Hinzelmann, more than any other character in the book... his story is so sad, he's never had anything in his life as a mortal and now he wants something for himself each year as a kobold... <snivel>