[ SECRET POST #2389 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2389 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Avenged Sevenfold]


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[Professor Layton]


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[Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors)]









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 015 secrets from Secret Submission Post #341.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

...I'm pretty certain that anon is referring to his father.

[(Anonymous)]

But what's to say that [spoiler] couldn't appear as a black guy? (Other than centuries of mythological tradition, of course.)

[(Anonymous)]

OP of this subthread

Yes! Thank you! I am reasonably certain that sure gods, fictional or otherwise, can appear as whatever they want. People. Animals. Etcetera. Skin colour is the least relevant thing, because gods don't have any.

/let me tell you how much I hate white religious icons, F!S

[(Anonymous)]

Well, Wednesday appeared as white the entire time the narrative was in the present, and Shadow recognized him in the flashback without noting he had changed race or anything. So while he absolutely could choose to appear as black or native or something else, I don't think he did.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

...because you think gods are white...

Why don't you try thinking about that again. I'll wait. :-) (Tongue is in cheek here, in case you were wondering.)

I may be misremembering, but I don't recall it being stated point-blank in the book that Odin was Shadow's father...at least not in a biological sense. Allegorical, maybe? It's been about ten years since I read the book however, and my memory is not what it used to be.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Well, this particular god...

And yes, it's heavily implied that he slept with Shadow's mother.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Hmmm. Maybe. But I always had the distinct impression Shadow was dark-skinned like his mother. Since, as I state above, gods don't have a skin colour per se. That being the point of being a divine being.

I do admit that I could very well be completely alone and thoroughly insane in holding this theory however.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Odin may be a divine being, but he still appears as a physical being. And in American Gods, the gods are generally implied to appear as their believers see them. Like, Loki has red hair, Anansi is black, and so on.

You can imagine the character any way you like, obviously, but I don't much like your argument because, as another anon pointed out, you could easily use to argue that the main character from Anansi Boys doesn't have to be black. (Plus, Shadow could be mixed race and still have dark skin.)

[(Anonymous)]

I addressed the issue of Anansi Boys in my response below. Also, please be reassured that I would not use that/my argument to justify whitewashing any characters...I think the characters should be cast as they are described, in Fat Charlie's case, he is NOT described as white (neither is Shadow), therefore should not be played by a white actor.

[(Anonymous)]

Shadow outright acknowledges Odin as his Father in that final speech, so less implied and more certain.

[(Anonymous)]

Gods are usually envisioned in the image of the culture that creates them. The ENTIRE point of American Gods is that gods are dependent in the people who believe in them-- part of which would be how they envision them to be. If not, then that's some shoddy-ass worldbuilding.

Also, you're giving people here carte-blanche to argue Anansis' sons can be white, if your logic is "well gods can look however ethnicity they want!"

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Here's the thing: I also don't think you can say gods have ethnicities, either. You are right, in-universe, for the book, that makes sense, and yes, people draw/create images that they call gods, and some religions worship those images, which are of course drawn similarly (somewhat) to the people creating the images. (With maybe a few extra limbs or five, but w/e.)

Meh, maybe I'm just nuts, and need to put the soapbox away now.....

[(Anonymous)]

i think that's really interesting as a religious hypothesis but i don't know whether it can be narrowly applied to the discussion of this book

But it's a cool idea!

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Thanks, I think? :-) You're right, maybe I am stretching a bit too far, where the universe of the book is concerned.