It is all in place, just to END for the season..GRRRrrrrr

It helps that I know something about Norse mythology so I knew who Wednesday was from the beginning. So that helped me follow a lot more easily than if it had been the Greek myths.

This is the passage from Neil Gaiman's novel where Mr. Wednesday reveals himself to Shadow Moon (who is to be his believer and paladin) as Odin, god of the Vikings. The god that Lief Ericsson brought to America. In the TV adaptation, we do see the Viking discovery of America. This is their god. Like the many versions of Jesus, there is another Odin as god of the Norsemen, and there was a Wotan as god of the Nibelung.

Mr Wednesday speaks:

"Do you know me, Shadow?" said Wednesday. He rode his wolf with his head high. His right eye glittered and flashed, his left eye was dull. He wore a cloak, with a deep, monk-like cowl, and his face stared out from the shadows.

"I told you I would tell you my names. This is what they call me. I am called Glad-of-War, Grim, Raider, and Third. I am One-eyed. I am Called Highest, and True-Guesser. I am Grimnir, and I am the Hooded One. I am All-Father, and I am Gondlir Wand-bearer. I have as many names as there are winds, as many titles as there are ways to die. My ravens are Thought and Memory; my wolves are Freki and Geri; my horse is the gallows."

Two ghostly-gray ravens, like transparent skins of birds, landed on Wednesday's shoulders, pushed their beaks into the side of Wednesday's head as if tasting his mind, and flapped out into the world once more.

And that scene is repeated in the eight episode of the TV adaptation with a few changes and lots of visual effects.

Common everyday things are named after the Old Gods ...

The Sun and the Moon are celebrated as Sunday and Monday. It is mentioned that Shadow Moon was given the Sun and the Moon.

Wednesday is Wodin's Day, the Norse god. He is god of storms. He crucified himself on Yggdrasil -- the Norse World Ash, the giant mythological Tree that holds together the Nine Worlds or realms of existence -- to gain wisdom and knowledge. He sacrificed his left eye to see into the future.

Thursday is the day of Thor in the Norse tradition. The ancient Romans called it Dies-Jovis or Jupiter's Day. In German, it is Donnerstag or Donner's Day. Donner was a son of Wotan and we see him in Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Friday is named for the goddess Frigg. In Old High German frigedag ... The Romans called it Dies Veneris after the goddess Venus.

Saturday is named for Saturn, the planet and the ancient Romans. In Anglo-Saxon it was sater-daeg.

Ostara the goddess of the Spring. Ēostre in Anglo-Saxon. Worship of her was coordinated with the Vernal Equinox. Spring is rebirth, the world turns green from the death of winter.

Bilquis, the Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Bible, the Quran, and in history. She was Queen of Saba, of southern Arabia which is now Yemen. She is also the legendary Queen of Ethiopia and appears in the Kebra Nagast. ISIS or DAESCH (the modern terrorists) destroyed the Temple of Bel at Palmyra and the novel American Gods associates Bilquis

Anansi (who is Mister Nancy in American Gods) is from the West African and Caribbean folklore. He often takes the shape of a spider. His tales originated in what is now Ghana. He addresses slaves on a slave ship coming from Africa in the TV adaptation of American Gods.

Anubis appears in American Gods. Anubis is the Jackal-headed god of the ancient Egyptians. He is the undertaker and is associated with Egyptian funeral customs. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart," in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead.

That's enough mythology for tonight.

Thanks Dave, this will be good reference for season two!

the american gods series was decent, but i enjoyed the book more than the series. niel gaiman wrote one of my favorite doctor who episodes from the matt smith era, the doctor's wife.

Last night's episode 6 of season 2 prompted me to bump this thread into active again:

The latest episode of STARZ’s adaptation of American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Season 2 episode 6 - DONAR THE GREAT) does flashbacks to tell the story of how Gungnir the Spear of Power was broken and how Mr Wednesday lost his son Donar.

In the dream, Wednesday is Al Grimnir who runs a cheap and cheesy nightclub called Regius. The show opens with Al Grimnir singing the ever popular “Take Ten Terrific Girls and Only Nine Costumes…”

However, through out the episode, the dream is as much reality as the real modern world. When Mr Wednesday, Shadow Moon, take the broken Gungnir to the Mall of America to be repaired, the real world (As odd as reality is in American Gods) doesn’t appear to be much different from Wednesday’s dreams of the nightclub Regius and the story of Odinsson Donar and the death of a god.

Thus the flashback is made of Mr Wednesday’s dreams and appears as real and consequential as the real world that he and Shadow Moon travel. According to Mr Wednesday, dreams and memories are the ghosts of the past. And like the beginning of the episode, the end is a song in an empty theater filled with ghosts. Mr Wednesday sings: “Once I built a railroad, made it run, made it race against time, Once I built a railroad, now it’s done, brother can you spare a dime?”

Season 2, Episode 7 - Treasure Of The Sun

Is the backstory of Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber) and Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane) who Sweeney keeps calling Grimnir

A complex and rather "mad" story