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In General
Some of the various Old Gods in their true mythological god forms. note
The Old Gods of the world, who came to America with their believers. For the most part, they are now forgotten and dying, although a few have found ways to thrive.
- Death of the Old Gods: They're a dying breed thanks to a general lack of faith, prayer, and sacrifice. They're still hanging on as long as people can remember them, but once they're forgotten completely...
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: A central tenant of the show, and the main problem facing the Old Gods in America. People still remember them, so they still exist, but no-one really believes in them so they are powerless.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: The ones who signed up with the New Gods are looked down on by the others as sell-outs at best, but from a human perspective there's no practical difference which group of Gods is in charge. Although Wednesday may argue differently.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: While a few of the Old Gods are still quite powerful (with Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel being the stand-outs still capable of filling their traditional roles, as humans never stop dying after all), all of them are shadows of their former selves.
- Human Sacrifice: The gods can be empowered by sacrifices made in their name, and since hardly anyone goes around making sacrifices these days, they're starving. A few of them, like Vulcan, manage to obtain 'technical' sacrifices through Loophole Abuse. Although Vulcan did have the New Gods' help setting that up.
- Jerkass Gods: They're fairly true to the myths, which means even the best of them are capable of being selfish, wrathful and destructive at the drop of a hat.
- Physical God: Of course. Allied with a few mythological creatures like Mad Sweeney and the Jinn.
- Public Domain Character: All of them are based on either real-world gods or mythological creatures.
- Riches to Rags: In their prime, they were adored and worshipped and all-powerful. With the times changing, they have been reduced to nothing more than living and working and surviving as though they were mortal immigrants, the only thing keep them from disappearing entirely being American culture holding vague memories of who they were.
- Time Abyss: They exist so long as enough people believe they exist, making them as old as their real world religions. Ostara in particular is noted to have been around for at least 12,000 years.
- Tulpa: Contrary to popular belief, the gods only exist because their worshippers believed that they exist, and shifts in that belief can cause them to change along with it.
Season One
Bilquis
Bilquis
Portrayed By: Yetide Badaki
"They forced our queen into the backseat."
— Anansi
The Queen of Sheba. An Old Goddess of love and sex, said to be half-demon, courtesy of her father.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the books she only appears in two chapters and is killed by the Technical Boy in the second. In the show her role is greatly expanded, as instead of getting killed, she's indebted to the Technical Boy.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the book she's a prostitute who preys on Jerkass clients, but in the adaptation she uses a dating app (a Fictional Counterpart for Tinder called "Sheba") to prey on a far more unsuspecting crowd. In addition, in the book, Bilquis never joined the New Gods.
- Anti-Villain: Wednesday and Nancy don't blame her for making a deal with the Technical Boy, as they would admittedly have done the same thing in circumstances as desperate as hers.
- Biblical Motifs: Bilquis is the legendary Queen of Sheba.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Bilquis is larger than other women on the show, but nevertheless beautiful, and as a Love Goddess she's got many worshippers. On the show she's the female character with the most sex scenes, which explicitly highlight her curves, and has many different lovers.
- Depraved Bisexual: Bilquis has sex with both men and women, which is not surprising since that way there's double the food for her.
- Foreshadowing: She uses a Tinder Fictional Counterpart to pick up unsuspecting sacrifices. It seems a humorous Setting Update at first... but ends up being an early sign that she's in debt to Technical Boy.
- Humiliation Conga: Bilquis' fall from grace was greater than most of the old gods... she didn't die like some of the others had, but she is the only god shown to have ended up living on the streets having forgotten who she was. She ends up in debt to Technical Boy out of necessity and a misplaced sense of honor as he's the one who found her and plucked her out of obscurity, but she's not happy about it in the least.
- Lady in Red: She is a Love Goddess who's a seductress and seems to favor shades of red.
- Literal Maneater: Bilquis is a friendlier version of this: she consumes her worshippers, but blesses them with her powers in return.
- Love Goddess: Bilquis is a darker version of this. She is the goddess of sexual love, lust and desire.
- Modernized God: Bilquis uses a dating app as one of her sources of worship. Justified since Bilquis is working with Technical Boy and the New Gods.
- Ms. Fanservice: Fittingly enough for a Love Goddess, Bilquis is portrayed by a very good-looking actress, is shown nude more than any other character, and also has the most explicit sex scenes. It veers into fan disservice though, since she eats her lovers at the end... with her vagina (though they survive in a happy pocket dimension).
- Neutrality Backlash: She sees herself above the conflict between the Old Gods and the New Gods and tries opting out when peace becomes less and less of an option. The Old Gods see her as a sellout and a traitor, while the New Gods grow tired of her refusing to toe the line and cooperate after they helped her back onto her feet.
- Ominous Obsidian Ooze: What the members of a certain orgy in Bilquis' temple were turned into, including a king who tried to overthrow her. The black liquid was also used to anoint her worshippers, so when they became the same ooze, they were all absorbed into Bilquis, to be together with her forever.
- Really Gets Around: As a Love Goddess, she's naturally very promiscuous.
- Riches to Rags: From a divine queen in ancient times to a homeless woman following the HIV epidemic. It is implied she may have resorted to sex work based on the herpes bumps beside her mouth. While the New Gods have helped her back on her feet and replenished some of her godly splendor, she's still a far-cry from the Queen she once was.
- Setting Update: A prostitute in the book, Tinder Fictional Counterpart user in the show.
- Sex Goddess: As the goddess of love and sex, she can reward her worshippers with everlasting, amazing sexual pleasure and joy.
- Spared by the Adaptation: As part of her Ascended Extra status, she no longer falls victim to Technical Boy early on in the story like she did in the book.
- Vagina Dentata: While it is unknown whether teeth are involved, Bilquis does use her genitals to devour worshippers. Judging by the incident we witness, it seems to be a fairly pleasant experience that drives her sacrifices into a Pocket Dimension which the Technical Boy dubs "the Vagina Nebula".
The Zoryas
Zorya Vechernyaya, Zorya Utrennyaya and Zorya Polunochnaya
Zorya Vechernyaya
Zorya Utrennyaya
Zorya Polunochnaya
"Odin's Wain, they call it. And the Great Bear. It is a thing. It's not a god. Like a god. It's a bad thing. Chained up in those stars. If it escapes, it will eat the whole of everything. So we watch the sky all day, all night, the three sisters. If he escapes, the thing in the stars, the world is over."
— Zorya Polunochnaya
Three sisters who are vaguely related to Czernobog, and live with him in Chicago. They are goddesses of the morning (Utrennyaya), evening (Vechernyaya), and midnight (Polunochnaya) stars.
- The Alcoholic: Wednesday brings Zorya Vechernyaya a bottle of vodka as a gift; she chugs half of it immediately and shows no sign of being affected.
- Ambiguous Situation: In "House on the Rock", Zorya Vechernyaya is the only Zorya of the three to go with Czernobog to the titular house to meet with the other old gods. When they have the meeting Backstage, Zorya's true form begins to show the faces of her two sisters, implying that they are not so much sisters as they are different aspects of the same being.
- Bad Liar: Despite what Zorya Vechernyaya claims, she shows no finesse with lying after reading Shadow's fortune. However, it's implied his future is so horrible that it caught her off guard.
- Barrier Maiden: Zorya Polunochnaya says that the three sisters are responsible for keeping watch over a great evil bear that is chained in the sky. If it escapes, it will devour the world.
- Bookworm: Zorya Utrennyaya seems to be one, since Wednesday brought her a stack of erotic romance novels as a gift.
- Canon Foreigner: Zorya Polunochnaya is not actually one of the Zoryas from Slavic myth, having been invented for the novel and the show. It can only be presumed that she was thought up in the world of American Gods but not in ours.
- Cool Old Lady: Zorya Vechernyaya is clearly quite old, even by the standards of the Old Gods. However, she's still quite friendly, managing to strike up a rapport with Shadow and enjoying Wednesday’s attempts to seduce her.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Zorya Vechernyaya is one of the many casualties of the Old Gods, and dies in Wednesday's arms after being shot through the chest. Czernobog declares vengeance on whoever killed her and curses them.
- Dirty Old Woman: Zorya Utrennyaya appears as a middle-aged woman, and Wednesday gives her a number of erotic novels as a gift.
- Fortune Teller: Both Zorya Utrennyaya and Zorya Vechernyaya do this to keep money coming in. Vechernyaya says she gets more money, because she can lie better, and tells people what they want to hear. Zorya Polunochnaya can also tell fortunes, but she likely doesn't do it for the general public, as they're asleep during the night when she's awake.
- Heavy Sleeper: Zorya Polunochnaya appears to be one, but that's only because she's only usually awake late at night when most are in bed.
- The Hecate Sisters: As in the book, the sisters appear to be different ages. Polunochnaya is the Maiden, the youngest and most inexperienced sister, who's a virgin and has never been kissed, Utrennyaya is the Mother, the one who looks after the others and tries to shush Czernobog when he starts yelling so he doesn't wake Polunochnaya, and Vechernyaya is the Crone, the oldest, most worldly and most cynical of the sisters.
- Impoverished Patrician: Not quite homeless, as they get by and have a large enough home for all of them. However, even compared to the other Old Gods the Zoryas have fallen pretty far, having once been the daughters of their head god and guardians of the morning, evening, and night respectively, worshipped and attended to by hundreds of willing followers. Wednesday manages to tempt Zorya Vechernyaya to his cause by reminding her of her glory days and offering to bring them back.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Zorya Polunochnaya doesn't seem to have much of one, as she follows up her decision to test out kissing on Shadow by bluntly saying "we do this now" and doing so, then clinically speaking about the experience as if that weren't at all bizarre.
- The Quiet One: Unlike her sisters, Zorya Utrennyaya never actually says anything throughout her appearance, communicating entirely with expressions and body language.
- Reading Tea Leaves: Vechernyaya and Utrennyaya read Shadow and Wednesday's fortunes by reading Turkish coffee grounds, their fortunes turning out to be bleak. It is never stated if this is how they make their living or if this was just something they do with guests.Shadow: Thought you were supposed to read tea-leaves.
Zorya Vechernyaya: Tea is disgusting. [Zorya Utrennyaya glimpses Shadow's fortune. Shows it to Vechernyaya.]
Shadow: So what does it say?
Zorya Vechernyaya: ...you will have long life and a happy one with many children.
Shadow: That bad, huh? Any good news?
Zorya Vechernyaya: Your mother die of cancer?
Shadow: Yeah.
Zorya Vechernyaya: You no die of cancer. - Sacred Hospitality: It's Zorya Vechernyaya's dinner invitation to Wednesday that keeps Czernobog from tossing Wednesday and Shadow out immediately when he gets home.
- Self-Deprecation: Zorya Vechernyaya openly admits she is not a good cook, as when she was young she had hundreds of servants who did it all for her, and now she’s simply too old and set in her ways to learn.
- Thicker Than Water: Zorya Vechernyaya doesn't especially like Czernobog, but she and her sisters stay with him because they're related and "family is who you survive with when you need to survive, even if you don't like them."
- Virgin Power: Zorya Polunochnaya says that her fortunetelling skills are the best among her sisters because she's a virgin.
- Vodka Drunkenski: Zorya Vechernyaya is more Slavic generally than Russian specifically, but the trope still applies, given that Wednesday's gift to her is a bottle of vodka, half of which she seems to finish off in a single gulp.
Czernobog
Czernobog
"So I got job on killing floor as a knocker. It was a good job. Yeah, skilled labor. A cow comes up the ramp. Boom, boom, boom. And you take a sledge hammer, and—Boop! You knock the cow dead. It takes strength."
Portrayed By: Peter Stormare
"So, at sunrise, I get to knock your brains out, and you will go down on your knees willingly. It's good. A shame. You're my only black friend."
The Slavic god of darkness and malevolence who suspects Mr. Wednesday's motives and is reluctant to lend his aid.
- Blood Knight: He absolutely delights in killing things.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: His weapon is a cattle-killing old iron hammer. When he wields it, it seems to literally bleed from its prior victims.
- Cain and Abel: Zigzagged. Czernobog's brother was considered the good one, solely because he had fair hair while Czernobog had dark hair. However, Czernobog is a colossal Jerkass who loves killing.
- Chess with Death: Shadow plays him in a game of checkers (due to it being more of a game of equals), with the condition that if Shadow wins, Czernobog joins Wednesday's cause, but if Shadow loses, Czernobog crushes his brains with his hammer. Shadow loses, but then starts another wager that he will give another swing for Czernobog if needed if he loses, but Czernobog will come with them if not. He wins this time, but still has to have his one swing later down the line.
- Composite Character: Czernobog is the God of Darkness, with the Christianization of Easter Europe equating him to the Devil. In the series, Wednesday refers to him as a God of Death, something Mr. Ibis repeats in the Season One recap
, a role kept by the god Veles/Volos in Slavic Mythology. - Dark Is Evil: Since Czernobog had dark hair, and his brother had light, people assumed Czernobog was the "bad" one, an assumption Czernobog eventually decided to conform to. Czernobog says that as they got older, both brothers are now "gray", noting with irony that you wouldn't be able to tell them apart now.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: He notes the irony of it to Shadow, as he was considered "black" in his time due to his dark hair which led to him being seen as evil compared to his fair-haired "white" brother, but now that the world's gotten bigger and terminology has changed, he's considered white compared to Shadow.
- The Grim Reaper: Is referred to as a "god of death" by Wednesday in "Lemon Scented You."
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: He hasn't been the fearsome Czernobog, God of Darkness, in a long time.Czernobog: I think in old country, you know, I'm forgotten. Here, I'm like a bad memory.
- Grandpa God: He's aged as his followers began to decline, since he was dark-haired and much fitter in his youth.
- Jerkass: Czernobog is extremely rude, more to Wednesday than Shadow, though he still bets Shadow's life against joining Wednesday's efforts. Though to be fair to him, Wednesday is clearly a conman and a cheat, as he himself admits, and it's implied he has previously screwed over Czernobog. It's no wonder Czernobog is so hostile to him.
- Must Have Nicotine: In every scene he is in he is seen smoking a cigarette. When he finishes a cigarette, he immediately lights up another one and continues with it. He is even offered a large box of cigarettes from Wednesday to bribe his hospitality.Shadow: Seriously, are you not worried about cancer?
Czernobog: I am cancer. Do you know why I like cigarettes? Because they remind me of offerings that was burnt in my honor. The smoke rising up to the sky as they begged for my approval. My favor. - Retired Badass: Czernobog was a very powerful god of darkness once upon a time, but his days are long past him.
- Sacred Hospitality: As much as Czernobog hates Wednesday, he won't kick him out of his house because Zorya Vechernyaya promised to make him dinner.
- Smoky Voice: Considering how often he is seen smoking, this is no surprise.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: The way he tells it, everyone assumed he was the "evil" brother because he was the dark one, so he decided to become the bad one.
Mr. Nancy
Mr. Nancy
"Angry gets shit done."
Portrayed By: Orlando Jones
"Once upon a time, a man got fucked. Now, how is that for a story? Because that's the story of black people in America."
Compe Anansi, spider and trickster hero of West-African folktales.
- Adaptational Job Change: In the book (and its spin-off), Mr. Nancy doesn't have a conventional job. Here, he's a tailor of fine suits.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Anansi in the book (and its spin-off) is an easy-going jokester with a love of tale-telling, music and raunchy humour. In the show, he uses his stories to rile people up and the lessons he imparts with his stories are much more carefully picked for the sake of whatever agenda he is going for at the time. He is also much more sarcastic, dismissive and is more likely to perceive slights to himself based on his race.
- Age Lift: In the books Nancy's preferred form is that of an old man, perhaps in his 70s or his 80s. Orlando Jones isn't exactly young, but he's certainly no geezer.
- Anachronism Stew: He appears to the slaves in 1692 in a Jazz Age suit and tie, talking in an old-fashioned New Orleans accent about the racism faced by black people for the next few centuries.Mr. Nancy: Shit, you all don't know you're black yet.
- Catchphrase:
- "Angry gets shit done."
- "Let me tell you a story."
- Character Tics: Whenever he gets especially serious, he switches from his modern American accent to his original African accent.
- Characterization Marches On: In Season 1, Mr. Nancy's speech about the horrors of slavery is implied to be somewhat disingenuous, not necessarily that he isn't angry about the injustice, but in that he's using it to motivate the slaves to sacrifice themselves to him to feed his power - see Hypocrite below. In Season 2, his anger at the continued persecution of minorities comes off as significantly more genuine in his speech to Bilquis & Mr. Ibis. Perhaps not coincidentally, this shift coincides with Orlando Jones taking an active role in writing for the character during the troubled production between seasons.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied in "House on the Rock", his ethereal form within Wednesday's mind sporting many scars on his back, implying Nancy himself was a victim of the slave trade. He claims he has been at war since the Portuguese invaded Ghana's Gold Coast in 1482.
- Ethnic God: Being a god from the cradle of civilization brought to the US through the belief of his enslaved worshippers, he behaves very much like an African-American citizen of the States, making various jokes and remarks at the expense of white people and getting offended when Mr. Wednesday brings him a bucket of fried chicken to eat.
- Exact Words: Nancy doesn't mince words when talking to the slaves. He's very clear on the realities of the situation. But he still leaves out a lot of information in order to provoke a specific reaction and get sacrifices for himself.
- Familiar: Not only does he transform into a spider, he also keeps a number of spiders that produce spider silk and aid him in his work.
- A God I Am Not: In "The Greatest Story Ever Told", Mr. Nancy explicitly says that he does not identify as a god, Anansi being seen more as a folk character than a force of nature like the rest of them. Really this is a case of Distinction Without a Difference, as he is treated as one by both the Old Gods and his worshippers.
- Specifically he says that he is not a god "in the sense that [he] can tolerate exploitation, oppression, and repression"; he's not denying his divinity so much as he is calling out Bilquis & Ibis for their detachment from the suffering of their worshipers.
- Hypocrite: Nancy is always griping about how black people are being treated as property and are treated to be used and throw away as such... and yet his Establishing Character Moment is him tricking his worshippers into killing themselves and their captors just so he could get a sacrifice to feed on.
- It's All About Me: Nancy convinces a cargo of slaves to burn themselves and their captors, an act of defiance which is in fact worship of him: burning a sacrifice is one of the oldest forms. By modern times, Mr. Nancy seems to have developed some level of empathy towards his worshippers' descendants.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While pretty much everything he says can be read as a veiled insult (especially to Shadow), his sermons about the evils of slavery and how America has it out against its Black population are very much on the nose.
- Large Ham: Generally used to complement his stories, but going with his overall personality Nancy has a flair for the dramatic, verbally and visually; even conjuring up a spotlight and music to add to the interest before starting one of his stories.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping:
- Deliberately in his speech to the slaves. He speaks in a very modern form of African-American Vernacular English (foreshadowing the future of black people in America), but when he directly gives orders to one of them, his accent becomes distinctly more African.
- Also an In-Universe version that is not deliberate. Slipping into an African accent continues into the present day by Season 2, as the primary way of seeing that he is losing his temper instead of just playing the Large Ham.
- Put on a Bus: He does not show up in Season 3. According to Orlando Jones, the new showrunner, Charles Eglee, considers Nancy's militant attitude to be sending the wrong message to black America.
- Sarcastic Devotee: While he is on-board with Wednesday's plans, he is the first to make a quip at his expense as well, especially when someone does something crazy (like parking his car on the tracks to crash the train Shadow was on) or just for fun (calling Shadow an idiot multiple times).
- Seen It All: In "The Greatest Story Ever Told", he explains that the reason why he does not join with the New Gods is that he knows a good-on-paper deal when he sees one, citing human trafficking, the prison industry and systematic racism that African Americans face as a comparison.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Nancy wears a colourful suit, which he notes is dyed with indigo that his followers farm.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Can barely utter a sentence without some hard swear words thrown in. Most of his lines qualify as Cluster F Bombs.
- Slave Liberation: His Establishing Character Moment is motivating a ship full of slaves to slaughter their captors by explaining what awaits them in America.
- Spider People: In his godly form, he has eight eyes on his head like a real spider.
- The Storyteller: Always has a story to tell.
- Trickster God: He's one of the original trickster gods, specifically one from West Africa, whose stories taught people what not to do (typically by doing it himself).
- Unlimited Wardrobe: He has a nice collection of very fine, very colorful suits.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Anansi appears in his spider form several times, once even to free Wednesday from handcuffs.
Mr. Jacquel
Mr. Jacquel
Portrayed By: Chris Obi
"I wish I were a mere thief, come to steal your valuables."
The Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis. He runs a funeral home with Mr. Ibis.
- Berserk Button: People have tried everything to get him not to reap their souls and it's the fasted method to get on his bad side.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Jacquel is shown to be kind and gentle to the souls he guides to the afterlife, although he can become hostile to those souls that try to bargain with him to reach a better afterlife.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first introduction in the show is him visiting a woman who had just died. Before guiding her into the afterlife, he samples the curry she was making, compliments her skill as a chef, and allows her to tidy up her body so that she will be later found by her in family in a more presentable condition.
- God of the Dead: One of the Trope Makers no less.
- Nice Guy: Jacquel is quite kind and gentle with the souls he shepherds, such as softly explaining to one woman she had died, allowing her to make her corpse more presentable for her family to find, and even complimenting her cooking before leaving. While he does get angrily with Laura’s disrespect and attempts to escape her fate, when they meet again he gently tends to her decaying body and encourages her to take better care as it won’t heal anymore.
- Psychopomp: His role in myth; he guides souls of the deceased into the afterlife to be judged. Whether he does it gently or not depends on how the souls reacts.
- Seen It All: Jacquel has very little patience for obstinate souls he shepherds. As he points out, he's dealt with kings and emperors, and has been bribed, threatened and pleaded with countless times: what can one soul offer that thousands haven't before? He even doubts that he will remember Laura the moment she has left his sight. This air notably gets deflated very quickly when Laura disappears.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can assume the form of a jackal, and also appears as a doberman pinscher.
Mr. Ibis
Mr. Ibis
Portrayed By: Demore Barnes
"Gods are great, but people are greater. For it is in their hearts that gods are born, and to their hearts that they return. Gods live and gods die."
The Egyptian god of wisdom, knowledge and writing, Thoth. He runs a funeral home with Mr. Jacquel. He is also the author of Coming to America, a collection of stories of how the Old Gods arrived at the New World.
- Ambiguously Evil: Played With. Being a god, he runs on the same Blue-and-Orange Morality as all of the other gods in the setting, and even then he's one of the least violent or reactionary among them. With this in mind, Mr. Nancy implies that he and Mr. Jacquel orchestrated the violent lynching of William "Froggie" James and the curse that haunts Cairo to this day in order to keep up death rates and stay in business. Ibis doesn't deny any of it, cheekily responding that all they do is tend to the bodies.
- Character Narrator: He narrates the openings for several episodes, which relate a story of how one of the Old Gods deals with the New World.
- Creepy Mortician: Not necessarily creepy, but his cheerful black humour when he and Mr. Jacquel tend to the newly undead Laura Moon is rather offbeat.Mr. Ibis: (to Laura) Don't move — you're still tacky!
- I'm a Humanitarian: Plucks bits of Laura's corpse to munch on as he's fixing her up in the second season. Apparently it's a burial tradition of his original worshipers.
- The Omniscient: Possibly. At least a few of his stories end with no survivors, and in the case of Nunyunnini, not even the god in question is around to tell it anymore, suggesting he has some form of this when it comes to his stories.
- Reality-Writing Book: The Book of Thoth is of the "Automatic Data Recorder" variety, with a twist: he has to write down everything in the book by hand. He often uses the book to write down historical events; writing in the book apparently allows him to literally gaze into and observe the historical events that he's writing about.
- The Storyteller: He often writes tales of how the Old Gods came to America with it appearing to be some ability to view the past with each story having some connection to the modern day storyline. "A Prayer for Mad Sweeney" implies that he has a need to write them.
Vulcan
Vulcan
"I was a story people forgot to remember to tell. And they gave me a gun. They put power back in my hand, and I gotta tell ya, it feels good."
Portrayed By: Corbin Bernsen
"The power of fire is firepower."
The ancient Roman god of fire and the forge, who's found a new niche in America as the god of guns.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original myths, Vulcan's essentially just a working man's god who does his job and has an unfaithful wife. Here, he's actively encouraging people to make war on each other and die for his name in a town that serves him like a cult.
- Affably Evil: He's a pretty big jerk, but he's very friendly with Wednesday, even making him a sword just because he asked.
- Appease the Volcano God: Updated for the modern age, as workers who periodically fall into the foundry in his town serve as sacrifices to Vulcan. His modern incarnation as the god of firearms is also considerably more bloodthirsty than his Roman counterpart, as he's gone from sacrifices of fish and small animals to the sacrifice of people killed or injured by the ammunition his factory manufactures.
- Author Tract: He's in there as a commentary on American gun culture.
- Based on a True Story: He was based on an experience Neil Gaiman had when visiting Birmingham, Alabama, a steel and iron-industry town where there's a very large cast iron statue of Vulcan. Birmingham had a factory where people often died on the job, and this kept happening because an actuarial did the numbers and realized that it was cheaper to pay out the damages to the families of the dead than to shut down the factory long enough to fix the causes of the accidents. It occurred to Gaiman that that is as modern a definition of sacrifice as you can get.
- Canon Foreigner: He's a new character created by Neil Gaiman for the show. Also counts as a God-Created Canon Foreigner.
- Face–Heel Turn: Vulcan has joined the New Gods.
- Gun Nut: After he reinvented himself as the patron god of guns, he seems to have acquired all the negative stereotypes of American gun ownership. He even discharges a gun in Wednesday and Shadow's presence simply because he enjoys it. It almost seem like the god has started to worship the gun.
- Hiding in Plain Sight: Vulcan founded a town called Vulcan, which is built around a gun manufacturing company called Vulcan, with "Vulcan" plastered on signs.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Wednesday decapitates Vulcan with the sword he forged for Wednesday, and then his body is pushed into a smelter to become part of the bullets his company manufactures, just like the countless workers he's used as blood sacrifice.
- Industrialized Evil: Sort of. He's essentially industrialized his worship ("franchised it", in his own words), as he's the mayor(?) of a factory town populated by armband-wearing militia fanatics, and fatal accidents at the refurbished factory serve as blood sacrifices to him.
- I Own This Town: Well, the town in question is named after him, so it's probably not surprising he's the undisputed top dog. Given that he took up the divine patronage of guns and his town is home to nothing but gun nuts, his authority is even more absolute.
- Jerkass Gods: As the first thriving Old God the audience sees, we can witness how self-serving and arrogant they are when it is possible. Vulcan relishes the deaths of his factory workers, and the smaller tributes caused by his guns (such as massacres).
- Modernized God: Once the god of fire, volcanoes and the forge, he's since rebranded himself as the god of firearms, capitalizing on America's obsession with guns as a source of worship and power. The vats of molten metal in his factory became his volcano, and so did the armaments he created with them.
- Off with His Head!: He gets beheaded with the very sword he forged for Wednesday.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He gladly shows Shadow, an African-American man (one that was almost hanged, no less), a noose hanging from a tree. He also refuses to serve him wine and pointedly asks him if he's ever 'seen a man hanged.' Of course, it could easily be Innocently Insensitive, as he's actually talking about Wednesday, who is actually Odin of America.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: His current weapon is a .44 magnum revolver loaded with his company's ammo, which basically means every time he fires it is a small prayer to himself.
- Too Dumb to Live: He chooses to reveal his actual allegiance to Wednesday while the latter is holding a sword capable of killing gods, the very one Vulcan just forged for him. No points for guessing what happens next.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Despite reinventing himself as a god of guns, it’s clear Vulcan has lost none of his skills as a smith, expertly crafting Wednesday a glorious Great Sword, encrusted with many runes and symbols capable of killing gods: the same one Wednesday kills him with.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in his first appearance.
Easter
Easter/Ēostre/Ostara
Portrayed By: Kristin Chenoweth
"Folks would paint eggs with dandelions and paprika, for her, to exchange as gifts at the first sign of spring, in her name. Ostara."
— Wednesday
Easter was an ancient European goddess of the spring and fertility, whose holiday was taken over by Christians as the day of Jesus's resurrection. In modern times, she still has following and worship, but only as leftovers from her holiday, which has become a Christian holiday. The fact she still has worship, and that she was pretty powerful to begin with, makes her one of the most powerful old gods left.
- Adaptational Curves: In the book Easter is emphasized as a fertility goddess, and thus is described as a voluptuous and curvy woman, "not fat" according to Shadow but "curvaceous" (Shadow even comments that he never thought he would use this word to describe someone). In the show, due to being played by Kristin Chenoweth, Easter is rather a thin goddess of spring with a strong Flower Motif.
- Animal Motifs: Rabbits, naturally. They're everywhere on her estate, both real and fake and she has bunnies who act as her messengers. She also mentions pricking her ears up when she and Wednesday discuss Shadow's notoriety, and compares Wednesday to a tricky rabbit.
- Artistic Licence – Religion: Given how little there is on the figure of Eostre/Ostara this was inevitable. Eostre is only mentioned once by the monk Bede, writing in the 600s, as an example of a Germanic pagan figure whose celebrations had long been usurped by Easter. Given the lack of any information about Eostre besides her name and an association with spring, some scholars are dubious of her existence; if she did exist, it is not likely that her worship was ever very widespread. The association with rabbits and eggs comes from speculation by early folklorists like Jakob Grimm and is disregarded by contemporary scholarship.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Easter is friendly to everyone, but at the end of "Come to Jesus", she declares war on the New Gods by destroying all plant life in America.
- Familiar: Rabbits do her bidding and act as her informants. She also keeps a flock of sheeps at her estate.
- Flower Motifs: It comes with being the goddess of spring and harvest. She has flowers all over her mansion, a floral-patterned dress, flowers in her hair, and when she takes away the spring and kills crops all over North America, red flowers grow around her, and on her skin and clothes, before spreading to the wind.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Mankind no longer worships the Coming of Spring but focuses in on this Jesus fellow? Fine. Let's see how they manage without Spring.
- Gaussian Girl: How Shadow sees her when they meet.
- Good Is Not Soft: Is presented as a generally good-natured woman (if a bit high-strung) to those she meets. She also has absolutely no issue with stripping all plant life in America when she gets pissed.
- Letting Her Hair Down: After she takes away spring, Easter's tight up-do tumbles down. She even gets a flower in her hair.
- Meaningful Rename: She was "rebranded" by Media as Easter, fusing her holiday with a day of Christian worship. Wednesday makes a point of referring to her as Ostara during his visit, and she re-embraces her role as Ostara of the Dawn when she rebels against the New Gods and takes away the Spring.
- Pals with Jesus: Despite her "day" having to be shared with the Jesuses, Easter gets along with them swimmingly and even comforts one when he feels terrible about 'stealing' her holiday. She even sees them as fellow gods, a sentiment that Wednesday and possibly other Old Gods may not share.
- Put on a Bus: She doesn't appear in Season 2, due to Real Life Writes the Plot, as Chenoweth left the show alongside Gillian Anderson due to the departure of showrunner Bryan Fuller.
- The Resenter: Ostara has a lot of pent-up rage about the redirection of her worship. Wednesday, of course, pushes this button. Despite her justified resentment, it's actually not aimed as Jesus himself since he's such a nice guy that she can't justify hating him (indeed viewing him as a sort of friend). She instead rages at humanity. Though afterwards, Mr. Nancy tells Wednesday that she refuses to attend the summit of the Old Gods, because Wednesday ran over her rabbits.
- Running Gag: Twice in her debut episode, whenever one of her bunnies relays a message to her, she responds with "Oh, shit."
- Ship Tease: With Shadow, who is instantly (and hilariously) smitten with her and can barely mumble out a greeting when Wednesday introduces them. On her part, she seems a bit sweet on him as well (and walks arm-in-arm with Shadow for most of the episode).Wednesday: Say hello to Ostara.
Shadow: (mumbles) ...hey, Ostara.
Ostara: Always a pleasure. (grins) Wednesday, you brought me a blusher! - Speaks Fluent Animal: Unsurprisingly, Easter can talk to rabbits.
- Stepford Smiler: She seems very content with her holiday being taken over, and celebrates it with all the Jesuses (and other gods), which she invites for her party, but when Wednesday confronts her about what people actually believe about her holiday, and how they no longer worship or even remember her, she can barely keep her hostess act and (once in private) starts threatening and screaming at him.
- Walking Wasteland: She has the power to give life and to take it on a potentially apocalyptic scale. When she sides with Wednesday at the end of the Season One finale, she lets all plant life in Kentucky and probably the whole US wither and die.
Season Two
Mama-ji
Mama-Ji / Kali
Portrayed By: Sakina Jaffrey
"You brought the fight to my doorstep. I have no choice but to resume the lopping of heads, drinking of blood and liberating of souls... that is if I can swap the weekend shift with Arjun."
— Mama-ji
Kali, Hindu Goddess of Time, Creation, Destruction and War.
- Death Is Cheap: When Zorya Vechernyaya perishes in Mr. World's attempted assassination, Mama-ji shows little tact in Wednesday and Czernobog's mourning.
- I Have Many Names: She introduces herself to Laura as Kali-Ma, the Nurturer. But she quickly reveals the other side of herself, Smashana Kali, the Destroyer.
- Martial Pacifist: While she has long-since lost her taste for battle, Mama-ji decides to join Wednesday's fight when Mr. World sends an assassin to kill them.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In her true godly form, she has multiple pairs of arms, each wielding a bloody sword.
- The Omnipresent: Because nearly every hotel and motel in America is run by or employs her followers, Mama-ji works at every Motel America simultaneously.
- Riches to Rags: She was once a great and terrible Blood Knight savior of the world and embodiment of forces that permeate the universe. With Hinduism being such a niche religion in the United States, she now spends her week-days scrubbing toilets and folding laundry for a motel-chain. Her incarnation back in India, where Hinduism is the major faith, is still doing well, of course.
- Seen It All: While bitter about her lack of power, she is fully aware of just how temporary the New Gods really are and is not interested in causing needless bloodshed amongst their kind.
- War God: Openly identifies as one, hoping to appeal to Wednesday's sense of camaraderie.
- Wreathed in Flames: When putting on her Game Face, Kali's entire body ignites.
Argus
Argus
Portrayed By: Christian Lloyd
"Entropy... leads logically to disorder. All systems evolve towards chaos. Even alliances with gods."
Argus Panoptes, formerly a many-eyed giant in service to the gods of Olympus, was reborn in America as the god of surveillance in service to the New Gods.
- Animal Motifs: Argus is sometimes shown as a peacock during Thoth's retelling, and Wednesday plucks a wooden object shaped like a feather from his past incarnation's corpse for later use. In the original myths, Hera honors Argus' death by placing his eyes onto a peacock, giving it the signature feather pattern.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The tattoo on his neck is his most vulnerable spot. Wednesday instructs Laura to target it specifically in order to kill him.
- Been There, Shaped History: He was there when the Library of Alexandria burned down. Or at least his lifeless corpse was.
- Blind Seer: His role as "all-seeing" is more metaphorical at this point, having been rendered near-blind by Zeus and his "rebranding" by the New Gods needing an update. With that said, it is implied that he is far more knowledgable than he appears, this being a reason why Wednesday has him killed.
- Canon Foreigner: Like the other Greco-Roman god before him, he was written specifically for the show.
- Death Is Cheap: He has taken many forms throughout the years, each of them dropping dead at some point. After Laura kills him, Wednesday is assured that he will come back in some new form.
- Early-Bird Cameo: His name is mentioned and his sigil appears in multiple episodes prior to his introduction. Also, it is implied that the cameras spying on Wednesday and Shadow during their bank robbery attempt was his doing.
- Eye Motifs: While looking humanish most of the time, eyes open and close across his body at random. His logo also has an eye as a prominent feature.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: This guy has dozens of large eyes everywhere on his body. They're invisible while closed, but when he gets agitated and opens them all, "creepy" doesn't even begin to cover it.
- Fantastic Arousal: When New Media touches the tips of his wiring, both become physically aroused, one of the cords slipping up her skirt so that they could "interface" properly.
- Government Conspiracy: Wednesday claims that Argus's facility is a site of many conspiracy theories, including the Deep State and the Illuminati.
- Modernized God: He was formerly a many-eyed giant of Greek mythology, tasked with guarding Io before he was slain by Hermes. He was eventually brought over to America and became the God of Surveillance.
- Naughty Tentacles: Argus' scopes and cables double as these, some of them wrapping around New Media and one of them even going up her skirt.
- Neutrality Backlash: His refusal to side with either the Old Gods or the New Gods causes his demise. Wednesday has Laura kill him for "playing both sides", and Technical Boy (who got to him first) just lets her do the deed because he's also fed up with his antics.
- Not So Omniscient After All: Despite his many eyes and his role as the God of Surveillance, the lack of real worship has left Argus mostly blind.
- The Nth Doctor: Ever since Zeus ordered his death for guarding his human-turned-cow lover, Argus has resurfaced numerous times throughout history either due to a curse placed upon him or because that is just how gods operate, his appearance differing with each incarnation.
- Prophet Eyes: The two eyes on his face that are always open appear all-white and bloodshot. His other eyes, scattered all over his body, aren't.
- Revenge by Proxy: When Hera has one of Zeus's mistresses turned into a cow to keep her away from him, Zeus takes his vitriol out on Argus, the being assigned to protect her.
- Sigil Spam: The Argus logo (an eye with two curves crossing it, somewhat forming the letter "A") is on his drones, and the walls of his headquarters. It also looks similar to the tattoo on his neck.
- Sinister Surveillance: Has become the god of such.
- Straw Nihilist: Argus is uncooperative with Technical Boy because he believes that no matter who wins the war, it will all eventually fall to chaos in the end.
- Surveillance Drone: He uses bird-shaped drones (presumably as either a nod to or a mockery of Wednesday's own) among many of his other tools of trade to spy on people. One of them is destroyed by a raven right as it picks up Shadow's whereabouts.
- Team Switzerland: Despite (or because of) being an Old God rebranded as a New God, Argus has no interest in helping either side. Wednesday claims that his habit of "playing both sides" is why Wednesday had him killed in the first place.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Was introduced and then unceremoniously killed off in the only episode he physically appears in.
- Wetware CPU: When he is introduced, Argus is seen wrapped in wires connected directly into his spinal cord.
Bast
Bast
Portrayed By: Sana Asad
Bast, Egyptian Goddess of Cats and Protection. She lives as a cat in Ibis and Jacquel's Funeral Parlor.
- Fanservice Extra: The one scene she has in human form consists solely of her having sex with Shadow.
- Intimate Healing: She probably could've done it without screwing Shadow in the process, but part of their tryst involves Bast licking his numerous wounds, which are almost completely healed when he wakes up the next morning.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her human form has golden cat eyes, providing some Foreshadowing as to her identity.
Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte
Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte
Baron Samedi
Maman Brigitte
Portrayed By: Mustafa Shakir (Baron Samedi) and Hani Furstenberg (Maman Brigitte)
The leaders of the Guédé family of Haitian loa, the Baron and Brigitte represent death and fertility. They run a popular bar in New Orleans and are thriving from the worship there.
- Ambiguous Situation: When Samedi and Brigitte have sex with Laura and Sweeney in separate rooms, Laura and Sweeney end up hallucinating that they are having sex with each other. Whether this is just a trick the loas are playing on them or if this means that Samedi and Brigette are just different aspects of a single overarching force, their copulation with the two connecting the two, is left ambiguous.
- Gender Flip: In the book, Samedi's vessel is a young woman strongly implied to be the human form of Death of the Endless. Here, he has a more traditional appearance as a middle-aged man.
- The Grim Reaper: Both qualify as death gods, thus making the two of them the perfect authority on Laura's condition. That is, on-paper anyway...
- Hollywood Voodoo: Being gods (in everything but name, anyway) that practitioners of voodoo worship, it should come as no surprise that they would know a spell or two, Brigitte managing to return some of Laura's dead senses and Samedi brews a potion that, sans a few essential ingredients, should bring Laura back to life.
- I Love the Dead: Samedi purposefully has sex with a still-zombified Laura. Considering he is a loa associated with zombies (or rather, the prevention thereof), it is probably not the first time.
- Polyamory: Samedi and Brigitte are married to one another and are clearly faithful where it counts. However, both end up seducing Laura and Sweeney, respectively, and have sex with them in separate rooms. Given how comfortable they are with each other, it is likely that this is just how their relationship operates.Baron Samedi: Brigitte knows that with every breath, every cell, I worship only her. The most beautiful, interesting, sexy and powerful woman I have ever come across. And when she's not around, I fuck a lot of other women.
- Team Switzerland: The moment Brigitte sees Sweeney, she assumes that Wednesday sent him and tells him to tell Wednesday that the Voodoo Loas are abstaining from his war on the New Gods, perfectly comfortable with all of the worship they are getting in New Orleans.
- Trickster God: They act cordial and welcoming, if amused by Sweeney and Laura's situation, but by the next day, they've seduced both and had sex with them (implying that they actually tricked them into having sex with each other) and have all but disappeared, the potion Samedi having brewed for Laura worthless in the state that they left them in.
Donar Odinson
Donar Odinson
Donar Odinson
Portrayed By: Derek Theler
Thor, Norse God of Thunder, Strength and protector of mankind, and son of Odin Allfather.
- Deader than Dead: While a god can return in a new form if they are killed, suicide is one of the ways to keep a god dead regardless of whether they are remembered or not. After Donar Ate His Gun, he's apparently not coming back.
- Foil: Wednesday cannot help but compare Shadow to him, no doubt due to their shared desire to respect those around him. Unlike Shadow though, Donar can actually interpret Nancy's lessons in the manner in which he intended.
- God of Thunder: The Trope Codifier, being the American incarnation of the Norse God of Thunder.
- Honor Before Reason: Unlike his pragmatist father, Donar is much more interested in the honor and glory that comes with his feats of strength. When Columbia wants the two of them to start a new life in California, Donar refuses because he feels that he owes Al Grimnir (Mr. Wednesday). When the Friends of New Germany come to recruit him as their champion, he agrees without hesitation. When the Friends of New Germany demand that he smear his honor by throwing a competition to make Germany look good (with threats directed at the troupe if he refuse), he is very clearly distraught about it. It takes Mr. Nancy advising him with a story to convince him not to waste his strength on those who do not deserve him and decide to leave with Columbia to California like she always wanted.
- Horny Vikings: He wears a stereotypical (and inaccurate) Viking outfit — including a horned helmet, a Roman chest-plate and gladiator skirt — during his performances, due to this being what Americans at the time associate with Vikings.
- Super-Strength: Being a warrior god, Donar is stronger than any mortal man, capable of lifting himself and various other things (including his hammer, which he is the only person who can lift it). Without any worshippers, he has grown to find what little faith he can entertaining crowds with his amazing feats of strength as The Strongman in his father's troupe, gaining new opportunities when an American Nazi group comes to recruit him as their weight-lifting champion.
- Wrecked Weapon: With all of the faith he had accumulated from his time as a Strongman, Donar was able to break Wednesday's spear Gungnir with a single blow from his hammer.
Columbia
Columbia
Portrayed By: Laura Bell Bundy
A member of Wednesday's burlesque troupe and Donar's girlfriend before his death. She's the embodiment of Manifest Destiny.
- Americans Are Cowboys: She is the only post-colonial god native to the States, and her act has her singing Country Music while shooting guns and wearing a sequined cowgirl outfit that she strips until she wears nothing but a two-piece swim-suit.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: She used to be the matron goddess (in a way) to America itself before Lady Liberty was erected and replaced her. She later reinvents herself as the face of the "We Can Do It!" posters of World War II.
Season 3
Tyr
Tyr/Dr. Tyrell
Portrayed By: Denis O'Hare
Tyr, a Norse god of war, now working as dentist.
- Artificial Limbs: His left hand is replaced by a prosthetic. In the Norse myths, he lost his hand to Fenrir.
- Ascended Extra: He's mentioned once in the novel, as having come into existence alongside Odin and Thor, following a human sacrifice by Viking explorers.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: His first appearance has him sticking his hand in a patient's mouth, which references how he lost his other hand in myth.
- Rival Turned Evil: While his honesty and his sense of honor kept him loyal to Odin and his pantheon, it is revealed that Tyr was a candidate for the title of King until Odin took it from him by mocking his injury. This defined their relationship for the entirety of them knowing each other, Tyr eventually betraying Wednesday when he sees how far out of hand the war has gotten.
Demeter
Demeter
Portrayed By: Blythe Danner
Greek goddess of the harvest, who shared a romantic past with Odin.
- Obfuscating Insanity: While the death of her daughter certainly left her in a fragile state, she is every bit the goddess she claims to be, but her behavior and belief that she is the Demeter led to her getting institutionalized.
Whiskey Jack
Wisakedjak
Portrayed By: Graham Greene
A disgruntled old Lakota trickster.
- Game Face: When Wednesday calls him a coward, Whiskey Jack's face turns reptilian, his eye sporting a glowing crescent moon as a snake's hiss can be heard.
- It's Personal: While pretty much everyone has beef with Wednesday, Jack in particular holds a grudge because Vikings slaughtered his worshippers when the Aesir first came.
- Magical Native American: Or, more specifically, a magical Spirit Advisor worshipped by various Native American cultures who takes the form of a visually normal Native American man.
- Spirit Advisor: When Shadow meets him, he instructs him to find the Orisha who can act as this properly for him.
