American Gods: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

Wednesday previously quoted Canada Bill in Las Vegas, the first hint that he had somehow rigged the fight between the gods. In the Underworld, Shadow will find out exactly how. The rocky landscape is reminiscent of both Shadow’s dreamscapes and the Backstage experience, making it clear that the underworld is part of that mythical place “behind” reality. Zorya Polunochnaya appears to warn Shadow of the double-edged sword of wisdom – it gives power, but also involves sacrificing one’s innocence.

As Zorya Polunochnaya turns the Liberty coin into the moon, it becomes clear that the coin really was the moon in some sense, watching over Shadow at night and protecting him from harm—and now it lights his way in the underworld. After all the lies that Shadow has endured in his time with the gods, he is now ready to face the truth, no matter how difficult this may be. Zorya Polunochnaya does not reveal Shadow’s true name, but the evidence suggests that it is Baldur from the Norse legends.

The House on the Rock included strange dioramas of life, as Shadow now looks at these scenes from his own life as if they were simply stories that happened to someone else. But the distance from these scenes does not make them any less painful for Shadow to watch. Unanswered questions about how Shadow got arrested are finally answered (at least in part) as it becomes clear that Laura somehow arranged for Shadow to be part of a robbery that broke down when his partners betrayed him and Shadow took out his rage through violence. Additionally, clues to Shadow’s heritage are given, as the prevalence of sickle-cell illnesses in African American communities makes it more likely (but not certain) that Shadow’s mother was African American. Shadow sees his former passivity and now completely rejects that way of drifting through life.

Shadow finally finds out that he is the son of an American woman and Wednesday, the Norse god Odin. This makes Shadow a demi-god, part mortal and part man, as well as a hybrid between the Old Gods conceived in other countries and the New Gods created here. His status as a bridge between these supposed “opposites” makes him uniquely able to understand the position of gods in America.

Though Shadow has already sacrificed his body on the tree, and his name and innocence to Zorya Polunochnaya, he has to make one more sacrifice in the underworld. This third sacrifice is the costliest, three being a significant number in Norse mythology. Bast takes Shadow’s heart, the center of Egyptian intelligence and emotion, essentially stealing Shadow’s soul so that it can be weighed later. Assuming that Bast names the paths in the order they appear, the middle path is most likely the path that will make Shadow whole. Shadow gets one last piece of wisdom, finally understanding that the gods are created by humans, but that humans need the gods just as badly to give meaning to their otherwise chaotic lives.

Bast may have chosen for Shadow, but Shadow ensures that he himself wants to go down the path she suggested before taking it. It is likely that the first path is the path that would make him wise, sharing all the wisdom of the forgotten gods, and the third path would kill him, as a deceptive fun house would most likely be full of dangers in this book where appearances are always deceiving.

Mr. Ibis takes the role of guiding Shadow to judgement, as he did as Thoth to the ancient Egyptians. Thoth had a close association with the sun god Ra, partially explaining why Mr. Ibis likes Shadow so much (another sun god), but Thoth also has a deep appreciation for balance, which Shadow provides by being both light and dark, sun and shadow. Mr. Ibis continues this balance in his description of the relationship between life and death, recalling the gold coin that both gave life to Laura and indirectly brought death to Mad Sweeney.

As Anubis, Mr. Jacquel is the final arbiter who judges the dead. Shadow must again face difficult truths about himself and what he has done in his life, as Gaiman shows that most people lie out of a sense of self-preservation so that they do not have to consider all these faults. Yet Shadow makes it through the examination, proving that he can handle the truth and actually use it to his benefit. Again Shadow hopes for balance, as that would mean that he has enough light in him to keep his darkness from overwhelming him. Ammet (or Ammit) was the “devourer” in Egyptian mythology, a crocodile-headed goddess who consumed the souls of the damned.

Bast’s comment about endings recalls the fact that myths continue to be retold and changed even after they are “finished,” meaning that no mythological character can ever truly end his or her story. Bast’s reference to “another skull for the pile” recalls Shadow’s dream, in which he had to climb a pile of his own skulls from past lives to reach the thunderbirds. Shadow has apparently been reincarnated many times, and will most likely be reincarnated again after this experience. Yet Shadow chooses rest for himself, feeling the joy of making his own decisions even as it means that he no longer gets to live.