American Gods: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

The chapter opener suggests that this entire book cannot be both mythology and truth, though Gaiman has been blending real locations with these supernatural elements. The narrator offers a way out of reconciling these things, telling the reader to stop expecting truth and think of the metaphorical shades of religion as its strength, rather than wondering if religions are literally true or not.

The Old Gods seem to following some unspoken rules when it comes to their plan of attack, reaching back into the old mythologies rather than creating a new strategy for this present moment.

Spending time in the place of “nothing” ensures that Shadow really did die, rather than just spending time in the underworld. Now he can be truly resurrected, with all of the knowledge that he learned while dead intact. Shadow now knows who both his parents are, but he still doesn’t fully know his heritage. There are still clues that Shadow has yet to discover his identity as the King of America, or his Native American ancestry.

Harry Bluejay represents another group that has difficulty adapting to the circumstances of modern American life, as many Native Americans succumb to health problems such as diabetes, which didn’t exist on American soil before the arrival of Europeans and the subsequent development of American consumerist culture. Whiskey Jack laments these changes, and tries to return to the land and live off it the same way he used to. It’s unclear whether Shadow is dreaming this experience or not, but given the “real” nature of his dreams, Whiskey Jack suggests that it doesn’t matter (especially since Shadow is technically still dead anyway).

Culture heroes help people learn important lessons about how to live with the land rather than demanding worship or sacrifice. Whiskey Jack explains that the land really is the most important thing in America, as it is both wiser and more helpful to humans than gods are. Shadow is finally able to put together all the clues, using what he knows about Odin gaining strength through sacrifice, Czernobog’s comments that blood is the sacrifice that lasts the longest, and Wednesday’s penchant for two-man cons. Wednesday is working with the other side somehow.

The Norns’ farm seems to shift through time at a different rate than the rest of the world, having completely disintegrated back into the land in the time it takes Easter to arrive at the world tree. The sun, focused by Horus and his control over the sky, has the ability to restore life to Shadow, explaining the life-giving powers of the gold coin that represented the sun.

Easter’s place as a fertility goddess of rebirth and resurrection gives her the power to bring Shadow back from the dead. He wakes, finally whole after having learned the truth about his identity and the many lies that Wednesday has told. Shadow must now remember these truths and share them with others, doing his part to end the war.

The Old Gods fight on, though it looks like the battle will be a massacre. Yet Mr. Town has not yet returned with the stick, meaning that there is still a chance for Shadow to stop the war. Laura uses seduction as a way to control Mr. Town, recalling the ways that gods like Bilquis put sex to work in giving them life. Mr. Town becomes a more complex character here, as Gaiman ensures that few characters are purely good or purely evil.

Laura again proves herself a formidable guardian for Shadow, fulfilling Czernobog’s curse that Mr. Town would be killed not in battle, but by a woman who has controlled him.

Shadow appears both newly reborn and a million years old, finally in touch with the wisdom from his past lives, yet filled with a conviction to live in the present. Armed with the truth, Shadow no longer needs his coins for distraction or misdirection. He finally touches the thunderbird, overcoming his failure to catch one in his dream. Now Shadow has fully matured and can ride the thunderbird into battle.

Mr. World refers to the stick as a spear, showing that he already thinks of the stick in terms of the weapon that it symbolizes. Mr. World also shows knowledge of the old Norse mythology, odd for a supposed member of the New Gods who professes to hate all the history that the Old Gods carry.

Mr. World echoes the Swedish Odin’s phrasing in Shadow’s dream—saying that Shadow was simply misdirection—thus tying Mr. World even closer to Wednesday. His reference to mistletoe makes it clear that Shadow really is Baldur, as legend says that Baldur can only be killed by mistletoe. This also hints that Mr. World has ties to Loki, the god traditionally blamed for killing Baldur. Mr. World also quotes Loki by saying that he wants to be on the “winning” side.

Like the Old Gods waiting for the right moment, Laura also understands that timing is key when deciding how to defeat Mr. World.

Now that Shadow is fully alive and has understood what it means to sacrifice himself, he learns the cost of bringing someone back from the dead—sacrificing the thunderbird’s life and giving nothing in return.

By dedicating this death to Shadow, Laura gives Shadow power as an entirely new god, rather than simply the reincarnation of Baldur. Laura’s belief in Shadow is the key factor in his success, and the sacrifice of her own body (but not her soul, as Laura is already dead and damage to her body doesn’t kill her) is the price that she has to pay to kill Mr. World. As when the stick pierced Shadow’s side while he was on the tree, Laura’s symbolic motions turn into real violence as the stick becomes the spear that it represents.

As Shadow still considers whether these myths have a place in realty, he concludes that a myth’s truth doesn’t matter as long as someone believes it. It seems as though Shadow is too late, having arrived after someone managed to dedicate the deaths to Odin anyway.

Wednesday claims Shadow as his son, then uses that power to attach more meaning to Shadow’s sacrifice, as Wednesday knew that Shadow was his son but chose to bind Shadow to his vigil anyway. Wednesday will go to any lengths to achieve his power, even causing the death of his own son. He then forces others to go along with his plots through trickery and deception, acting as if that is the only way to reach success.

Mr. World’s true identity is finally revealed, as Loki (true to his character as the Norse god of tricks and disguises) actually had two false identities throughout the plot. Shadow sees the con as another in Wednesday’s list of two-man cons, where Wednesday incited the Old Gods and Loki instigated the New Gods, all the while planning to betray them both.

A Judas goat is a specially trained goat used for sheep herding that leads the sheep to slaughter while its own life is spared. Similarly, Wednesday leads the Old Gods into battle while intending to take all the power for himself, though Wednesday also had to sacrifice himself in order to make the plan work. Odin and Loki would each draw power from this battle through the blood and chaos that it spreads, as those are traditionally their sources of sustenance in the old myths.

Wednesday and Loki tried to manipulate every aspect of Shadow’s life after prison, finally accepting the blame for killing Laura – adding dark significance to Wednesday’s lament “if it could have been but any other way” when he first met Shadow on the plane. Laura’s death was not in fact inevitable, but another cog in Wednesday machine. Yet Laura is able to redeem herself by becoming Shadow’s protector, as Shadow’s own power as a sun god flowed through her and allowed her to kill Loki. Shadow now sees that he can disrupt Wednesday’s plan just as Laura did, because Wednesday’s strict adherence to pattern makes him easier to predict once Shadow knows all his tricks (just like in his checkers game with Czernobog).

Now that Shadow knows his godly heritage, he can access Backstage at will and presumably exist there comfortably for a while. The frozen lightning suggests that time has been suspended and Shadow still has a chance of interrupting the battle before it starts. Shadow comes to the same epiphany that Atsula had, recognizing the huge role that human belief has in shaping the power of the gods and thus all of human history itself.

Shadow, through his experience in the underworld, now has the same knowledge that Odin earned through his vigil, and uses that knowledge to see the true natures of all the gods. The Buffalo Man, Shadow’s spiritual mentor, shows him that he is on the right path by stopping the battle.

Shadow uses the powerful force of the truth to cut through all the lies that Wednesday and Loki have told to the gods. Furthermore, he pushes the gods to see their true place in the human psyche, recognizing that all this turmoil came from Wednesday’s fear that he would be forgotten and die. Shadow frames this as a story, allowing the gods to see the universal themes at work in their experience.

Shadow shares with the gods the truth that they are fundamentally vulnerable, despite their great power and their perceived rule over human lives—because it’s actually humans who grant them existence. This acknowledgment convinces the gods to leave the battle, restarting time and ensuring that Wednesday and Loki will not return.

Shadow still cares deeply for Laura, expressing gratitude for her sacrifice in a way that the other gods usually don’t.

Laura has concluded on her own that it is better to accept death than continually steal power from others to stay alive. Shadow takes back the gold coin that granted Laura temporary life and gives her a chance at reaching peace at last. The storm that’s been foretold since the start of the novel has finally cleared.