Why was Shadow important?

[Kev]

American Gods

There was one thing I don't understand - why did Wednesday go through all the trouble to get his son into his big con act? It seems to me Shadow wasn't needed at all in his plan. The novel might have explained this... and I might have understood it then, but now after actually finishing the book I can't seem to remember any such explanation. I kind of rushed through it in bits.

The tension between the old gods and the new golds was already brewing well before Shadow was in play, and even when he was in play he didn't add any new tension to it, apart from killing Wood and the other agent, but that was his dead wife's doing anyway. I just don't see how going through all the trouble to find Shadow and to bring him along and to find him protection in Lakeside would amount to anything in Wednesday's grand plan. He couldn't have known Shadow would hold his vigil too.

[Ash]

It's been several years since I read this book so I'm fuzzy on details. But I've always seen Shadow as the everyman/representation of humanity at large - so if he isn't important to the Gods and all their plans, humanity isn't either. If Wednesday is just pulling Shadow in for his own entertainment ... that's kind of just what Gods do in most mythology. I can dig it.

[Leticia]

Wednesday used Shadow for one of his cons. He mentioned it the con by name actually in a conversation with Shadow. Its been several months since I read it, but I think it's in the first half of the book. The con Wednesday was pulling needed a 3rd man. That 3rd man was Shadow.

[Jordan]

He couldn't have known Shadow would hold his vigil too.

Maybe he actually did know it, or strongly suspected it, and that's the reason that it HAD to be Shadow.

Shadow was a guy with nothing to lose, and Wednesday had Lyesmith vet him in prison to get a handle on whether or not Shadow would be the kind of guy they needed after all.

[[deleted user]]

I think that Shadow had to take the part or conduct Wednesday's funeral rites and Wednesday specifically stated that was part of the job for which Shadow was hired. Perhaps as a sacrifice also, which he later became, perhaps a distraction as mentioned above, perhaps for reasons not made clear. The sacrificial aspect seems the most likely. After all, what more potent a sacrifice than one's own son?

[Abdulaziz]

Craig wrote: "I think that Shadow had to take the part Wednesday's funeral rites and Wednesday specifically stated that was part of the job for which Shadow was hired. Perhaps as a sacrifice, perhaps as mention..."

was going to say the same thing

[Steve]

If I remember correctly, Shadow was implied to be the American version of Balder. That could be important? I guess?

[Becca]

Wednesday said something about the sacrifice of a son being powerful... I think that the power of that came from Shadow's vigil somehow helped Wednesday.

[Scout]

Steve wrote: "If I remember correctly, Shadow was implied to be the American version of Balder. That could be important? I guess?"

Exactly. Shadow is the reincarnation of Baldur, Odin's son. It was said that the death of him would start a chain of events that would lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarok which is what Wednesday intended. Shadow was never meant to survive the vigil because his death would have lead to the destruction of the gods and Wednesday (Odin) and Loki would have gotten what they wanted and fed off the chaos and carnage from the war.

[Tim]

Personally, I saw Wednesday and Shadow as stand-ins for "God" and "Jesus," except that their roles were sort of mixed. In THIS version, it was "god-the-father" who died but came back, and who was therefore sacrificed. God-the-son was meant to encourage the resulting wars & sacrifices that would enable god-the-father to go on with being worshiped. In that sense, perhaps the role reversal was not as complete as I might think.
I suppose I will have to think about it some more, but I probably won't.

[Letitia]

BunWat wrote: "I think Shadow was a distraction, a bit of misdirection to confuse the other gods and draw their focus away from what Wednesday is really up to."

I think Shadow is one of the most memorable characters in American fiction. He had to meet several challenges though out the novel, and he met them with calmness and the use of clear strategies.

[Cy]

It wouldn't shock me if part of it was his ego as well: the grand con, fooling everyone including his son.

I do agree with what others have said: he was used as a distraction.

[Jeremy]

I echo the distraction remark. There was a conversation in the book at one point (it's been a while, so I don't remember the exact passage) where Wednesday explains this. While all the "new" gods are fighting to gain control of Shadow (they presume him to be important somehow simply because Wednesday implies that he is important), Wednesday is pulling his con behind the scenes.

The remarks about Shadow being Baldur are correct as well. When Laura visits the Top of the World, Loki tells her upon learning of Shadow's death that he wants to drive a stick of mistletoe between Shadow's eyes, thus mirroring the death of Baldur.

[Trey]

I think that Shadow was also necessary in convincing the gods to buy into Wednesday's scheme. Wednesday wasn't capable of it himself. He needed someone likeable and, frankly, much more honest than himself to manage it.

The 3rd man he and Lyesmith needed was a straight man.

[Kiel]

The thing to remember as well is: Death for a God, is just another chance to be resurrected, or reincarnated. When one is killed, another very similar one suddenly appears.

[Andy]

Late to the party here, but two things: 1) Shadow was a distraction that prevented the other gods from noticing what Wednesday was really up to (he says as much to Shadow), but (2), he's kind of lying, because the other reason is the more important: the sacrifice of a son created the power necessary to pull off the plan (Odin says this too). That's why Odin and Loki spent years tracking down Shadow before they could put their plan into action. The nature of the power isn't really explained, but Odin needed the power generated by Shadow's death.

[Andy]

Kiel wrote: "The thing to remember as well is: Death for a God, is just another chance to be resurrected, or reincarnated. When one is killed, another very similar one suddenly appears."

I feel like resurrection and reincarnation are different things in this universe. The regenerated/resurrected gods know who they are (we think). Shadow is a reincarnation of Baldur in the popular real-world sense: he was Baldur in a past life, but he does not remember that life consciously (so he is not Baldur in the same sense that Wednesday is Odin).