Shadow lets Odin pull him up onto the horse, choosing Mr. Before he begins his vigil for Odin, Shadow has a dream in which the cotton field slaves from "The Unseen" call to him from one side, and Odin extends a hand to him from the other. Through the Orishas, American Gods sets up a conflict between the two halves of Shadow Moon's heritage: his Norse father, and his African-American mother. Related: American Gods Season 3 Fixes The Biggest Problem With The Book
Later in the season it's revealed that Bilquis was originally one of the Orishas as well, but forgot her original identity when she was transformed into the Queen of Sheba by the belief and worship of her people. The Orishas are first seen at the start of American Gods season 3, episode 4, "The Unseen." In this Coming To America story, a slave working in a cotton field calls out to the Orishas for help and four of them appear: Chango, a spirit of power and war Oshun, a spirit of love and purity Yemoja, the spirit of water and Aye, a spirit who represents the earth itself. Though American Gods has been broadly faithful to Gaiman's novel, there are a number of significant changes - including an expanded role for Bilquis. Her story in season 3 is entwined with the introduction of the Orishas, a pantheon of spirits from the religion of the Yoruba people, who brought their gods with them when they were trafficked to America as slaves. Wednesday has become the all-powerful All-Father once again, the Old Gods and the New Gods are now on more even footing, the war between them is back on, and the resulting chaos could tear America apart. Ibis counters that it could be " something much worse." If Mr. When Czernobog wonders if Odin's death is the death of the Old Gods, Mr. Wednesday's body disappears and an ominous storm roils on the horizon. However, when Shadow's love for him was not particularly forthcoming, Wednesday changed tactics and focused on hooking Shadow in with the idea that he could become a god himself.īack on Earth, as Shadow dies and is consumed by the tree, Mr. Wednesday's original plan was to get close to Shadow, reveal that he was his father, and make Shadow sacrifice himself out of love. Wednesday plotted to have a half-mortal son who would one day hang himself on Yggdrasil in a sacrifice human dedicated to Odin: a single act of worship powerful enough to restore Wednesday to his former glory. By the 20th century there were almost no true believers in the Norse gods left in America the New Gods were on the rise, and the powers of the Old Gods had dwindled. Wednesday reveals that he began planning his son's sacrifice before Shadow was even born. Shadow Moon might know a thing or two about con artistry, but his father has been in the game a lot longer. It's an ordeal that would kill a mortal, but which Shadow believes it could be the key to unlocking his own potential as a god. Wednesday dead, Shadow decides to fulfil the promise he made to his father and hold a vigil for him by hanging from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days. Wednesday, and cut a deal with the New Gods in order to kill him with his own weapon, Gungnir. Meanwhile, Shadow's late wife Laura Moon returned from the dead more determined than ever to get her revenge on Mr. If American Gods season 4 does happen, there's considerably more story from Neil Gaiman's original novel left to tell.Īfter the New Gods made Shadow a wanted man at the end of American Gods season 2, he spent much of season 3 lying low in the small town of Lakeside. Wednesday, but is this really the end of the line for Shadow? The future of American Gods is now uncertain after Starz opted to cancel the series, but the producers remaining optimistic that it will continue elsewhere.
American Gods season 3's cliffhanger ending sees Shadow Moon make the ultimate sacrifice for Mr.