KAZALO

1.

UVOD............................................................................................................................ 1

2.

TRICKSTER ................................................................................................................. 3

3.

2.1

Trickster in Mythology ........................................................................................... 3

2.2

Native American Mythology .................................................................................. 7

2.3

Greek Mythology .................................................................................................. 10

2.4

Norse Mythology .................................................................................................. 13

2.5

African Mythology ............................................................................................... 17

2.6

Tricksters Apetite ................................................................................................ 20

2.7

Sex and Gender ..................................................................................................... 22

2.8

On the Road .......................................................................................................... 26

2.9

Making and Crossing the Boundaries ................................................................... 28

2.10

Culture Hero ...................................................................................................... 32

2.11

Prince Of Thieves .............................................................................................. 35

2.12

Trickster in Real Life ........................................................................................ 37

Varljivec in Neil Gaiman............................................................................................. 39

3.1

Med svetovi........................................................................................................... 39

3.2

Neil Gaiman .......................................................................................................... 42

3.3

Ameriki bogovi ................................................................................................... 45

3.3.1

Shadow .......................................................................................................... 47

3.3.2

Loki................................................................................................................ 51

3.3.3

Gospod Nancy ............................................................................................... 54

3.3.4

Whiskey Jack ................................................................................................. 57

3.3.5

Odin ............................................................................................................... 60

3.3.6

Neimenovani bog........................................................................................... 70

3.4

Anansi Boys .......................................................................................................... 78

3.4.1

Gospod Nancy ............................................................................................... 80

3.4.2

Mitoloka dvojka ......................................................................................... 83

3.5

Sandman................................................................................................................ 87

3.6

Sreanje varljivcev ................................................................................................ 90

4.

Ostalo ........................................................................................................................... 93

5.

Zakljuek ..................................................................................................................... 96

6.

Bibliografija ................................................................................................................. 98

7.

6.1

Internetni viri ...................................................................................................... 103

6.2

Obravnavana dela Neil Gaiman .......................................................................... 104

Priloga............................................................................................................................ 1

1. UVOD
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Now, one of the great advantages of being brought
up a Roman Catholic is that you're taught to take myth seriously and to let it operate on
your life and to live in terms of these mythic motifs (Campbell 1991: 12). I have always
been interested in mythology and fascinated by all the different stories and legends that the
primal peoples fabricated around different notions of nature and the world around them.
All the different gods and their characteristics of the classic ages, all the spirits and their
various notions of the Native Americans, the anthropomorphised suns and moons from all
over the world they have all captivated my imagination since my childhood. So it comes
as no surprise that ever since I read my first Tolkien novel, the fantasy fiction genre held a
certain appeal for me. Sooner or later I was bound to come across an author who
concentrated on bringing the myths of old to life in the modern age. After I read my first
novels by Neil Gaiman I knew that my thesis will concentrate on his works.
I started out with the idea to define the different subgenres that his books might fall into,
but soon realized that I could not write a good paper about Neil Gaiman while neglecting
the aspects of mythology in his work. After I came to the conclusion that I have to discover
some mythological motifs in Gaiman's works, the decision for trickster was an obvious
one.
I intend to divide my thesis into two major parts each of which would in turn be
fragmented according to the theme it will encompass. In the first part I will try to define
the different aspects of the trickster as it is seen in various mythologies. The trickster as a
character is at least to some extent present in most mythologies known to man and in
almost all of them plays an identical role. For an easier definition of his characteristics I
primarily intend to introduce some characters from different mythologies, such as Hermes
from the classical Greek mythology, Coyote and Wadjunkaga from the Native American
mythology, Loki from the Norse mythology and a few more.
In the second part of my thesis I intend to focus on Neil Gaiman and his works. After an
overview of his works and life achievements I will concentrate on a few of his novels,
short stories and comic books and show how the characteristics of the mythological
trickster are presented in the different characters of these books. Besides the more typical
trickster characters like Loki, Anansi and Puck, I intend to show the role of Odin as the

main trickster in American Gods. I will also try to give a definition of the unnamed god in
American Gods, since he is the character that beleaguered most readers.
I also intend to include an appendix, where I will collect different stories about tricksters
from various mythologies these stories are mostly crucial if we want to understand this
complex mythical character. For all the readers who have not yet had the chance to read
the major works that I intend to examine in the second part of my thesis and are
nonetheless interested in the role of trickster in them, I have also added to the appendix my
own synopsis of the latter.

2. TRICKSTER
2.1

Trickster in Mythology

In the introduction to mythology we looked at some cosmogonies, where the deities of

order overpowered the forces of chaos. For the most part, the victorious gods try to protect
their cosmic order of things so vehemently, that nothing can ever disrupt or change it.
Various mythologies attest to this fact by the great god eating his children, whereas Odin's
wife Frigg elicits a promise from every single being on earth not to harm her beloved son
Baldr, the symbol of prosperity and order. But if this were ever to happen, the cosmos
would undoubtedly slip into a sterile stasis and consequentially die in the proses. If there is
no friction, no opposition in the absolute, if someone controls something in such a way that
nothing can ever change it can we still call it living? In his Brave New World Aldous
Huxley wrote: civilization is sterilization (Huxley 2006). Is life without risk life at all or
is it just stagnation? Oxford (Splet 16) defines stagnation as: a failure to develop,
progress, or advance, whereas the medical dictionary says: The retardation or cessation
of the flow of blood in the blood vessels, as in passive congestion (Splet 1).
Consequentially, if any system becomes too rigid, it will eventually cease to exist
altogether. The absolute cannot exist in order alone; it needs a bit of chaos. The
cosmological order needs disorder. But whereas all mythological deities try to maintain
this order with all their might, order cannot function properly without its opposite. In his
commentary to Radin's book, Kernyi pointed out that: Nothing demonstrates the
meaning of the all-controlling social order more impressively than the religious recognition
of that which evades this order. [...] Disorder belongs to the totality of life, and the spirit of
this disorder is the trickster (Radin 1988: 185).
A trickster is a god, a spirit or an anthropomorphic being that is ubiquitous in several
different mythologies, but always an extremely enigmatic figure. Let me start with a
definition of trickster figure done by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortis:
Of all the characters in myths and legends told around the world through the
centuries... it's the Trickster who provides the real spark in the action always
hungry for another meal swiped from someone else's kitchen, always ready to lure
some else's wife into bed, always trying to get something for nothing, shifting shapes
(and even sex), getting caught in the act, ever scheming, never remorseful. (Erdoes,
Ortiz 1999: xiii)
3

This is a fairly good definition of trickster in general, although it does not explain the
depths of this character. If we look only at the scheming and the vicious side of the
trickster, we could say that he has the same characteristics as a psychopath: he lies, cheats,
steals, commits forgery, adultery, fraud, he is antisocial, foolish, but at the same time smart
and finally he lacks remorse for anything he does. Trickster is nowadays presented as a
malicious character, responsible for all the foul deeds, death or the end of the world. He is
usually associated with the Christian Devil or some other demon from various mythologies
and religions. But trickster is much more than that. There can be no doubt that most of the
features typical for a psychopath are common for trickster as well, but we cannot say the
same for the other way around. Trickster possesses many other traits that we could never
ascribe to a psychopath or the devil. He is a walking paradox, the symbol of dualism and
contradiction, the epitome of ambiguity and ambivalence. He is the creative idiot, the
wise fool, the gray-haired baby, the cross-dresser, the speaker of sacred profanities (Hyde
2010: 7). He is often tripped up by his own schemes; he is humiliated, hurt and sometimes
even killed, but never for long. He is made the idiot or a clown of his own stories. A
trickster can change shapes and sometimes even sex, is almost always male, usually wise
to the point when he can outthink any god or creature, but is always in danger of
overreaching himself and winding up in disgrace probably due to his gluttony and lack of
self-control. And yet he is also a culture hero, who participates in the creation of the
cosmos or at least helps to arrange it. He brings water to the world, steals the sun from the
gods, introduces crops and other food to people, kills monsters, regulates the course of the
sun etc. However, he also introduces death or disease into the world and sometimes makes
life harder for humans.
Trickster does not act out of pure evil when he does something harmful, but neither does
he create culture for people out of altruistic impulses. For him there is no distinction
between right or wrong, moral or immoral. He is not the agent of evil like Satan, but
neither is he the ultimate benefactor like God; he is the creator and destroyer at the same
time Brahma and Shiva in one person. He does most of what he does from mere
impulses, over which he has very little control. Paul Radin, who in his book The Trickster:
a Study in American Indian Mythology, gathered different trickster tales of the Winnebago
tribe and weaved them into a story, or rather a cycle of tales, has this to say about the
trickster:

He wills nothing consciously. At all times he is constrained to behave as he does

from impulses over which he has no control. He knows neither good nor evil yet he
is responsible for both. He possesses no values, moral or social...yet through his
actions all values come into being. (Radin 1988: xxii)
In Trickster Makes this World, a complete and broad survey of tricksters from all around
the world, Lewis Hyde adds to this definition a very clear description, when he writes that
the trickster is neither moral nor immoral, but amoral (Hyde 2010: 10). Or as Byock says
in an introduction to Prose Edda: Often tricksters live at the margins of society and are
neither completely good nor thoroughly bad (Sturluson 2005: 17).
Tricksters are usually the ones who cause a mass or stir up trouble either in the physical or
spiritual world. They are, however, also the ones who then solve the problems that their
misconduct has brought forth. When Loki, the trickster from Scandinavian mythology,
lured Idunn out of Asgard and into the hands of the giant Thazi, he introduced time and
aging into Asgard. But he was also the one who went and brought her back, establishing
the order of things once again, without any irremediable damage.
Hermes, the most prominent trickster figure in the Greek mythology, the emissary and
messenger of the gods, the luck-bringer, the conductor of souls, is the patron of merchants,
but he is at the same time the protector of thieves. He is the god of commerce his only
concern is that money flows from one person to another, and he does not care by what
means it was acquired moral or immoral. Like Eshu from the tale in apendix, he steals
the valuables from the villagers and gives them to the next person that comes by. He does
not keep anything for himself, but rather ensures the circulation of the items.
Whether trickster is an emissary of the gods, a merchant, a thief, a culture hero, the
conductor of souls, or just a coyote looking for food, trickster is always on the move.
Sometimes he is delivering messages, at other times he is searching for food, but he is
always wandering. Trickster does not have a home and does not live in a temple, on a
mountain or on some other axis mundi, but lives on the road, the crossroad, the threshold,
the boundary. He creates boundaries or crosses them, but always disrupts them in one way
or another. Lewis Hyde says: We constantly distinguish right from wrong, sacred and
profane, clean and dirty, male and female, young and old, living and dead and in every
case trickster will cross the line and confuse the distinction (Hyde 2010: 7).

Many of the trickster's traits were perpetuated in the figure of the medieval jester, a clown.
Often he is the protector of the oppressed. Stories about a small and virtually unimportant,
weak and poor lowly figure, playing pranks on the rich and the mighty were always a
delight of the destitute. When African slaves were brought to America, they told each other
the stories of Anansi the spider, playing tricks on creatures who thought they were better
than he was. In European literature, the best known tricksters are Reynard the fox in
France or Reinecke Fuchs in Germany.
Harold Scheub gives a very holistic description of trickster in his book Trickster and Hero:
An agent of chaos, he disrupts harmony; when he establishes harmony, it is
according to his own whim, his own sense of order. Trickster combines horror and
glee: his is the comedy of the grotesque. With his enormous penis, his diminutive
size, his love of dance, his amorality, his clownishness, he is a grotesque, a rootless,
unattached individual who must secure his own survival and psychological wellbeing
in a society that espouses traditional values while actually sanctioning dehumanizing
modes of behavior. Trickster inherits no place he can call home; he is an outsider.
(Scheub 2013: 6)

2.2

Native American Mythology

In the appendix I included a tale about Inktome that is a typical trickster tale, present in all
American indigenous mythologies and has remained - as far as the general plot is
concerned - relatively unchanged. A very similar tale can be found in the collection of
trickster tales by Richard Erdoes and Alfonzo Ortiz, where the trick is played out by
coyote, as well as in Radin's cycle of trickster tales, where the main character is
Wadjunkaga. In the other version, the trickster doesn't get stuck in a tree, but rather goes to
sleep and instructs his anus to guard his feast. When some foxes come to eat the trickster's
food, the anus expels air, but does not succeed in driving them away. After the coyote
wakes up, his ducks have all been eaten and he burns his anus, because it didn't wake him
up, only to realize that he is burning himself.
Before continuing, one must understand what the mythological world of the indigenous
Americans was like. Native Americans are closely related to the natural world. They
believe in the potential forces of nature, respect the spirits of animals and regard their
language as a powerful instrument. One Sioux medicine man said: Our modern Sioux
language has been white-manized. There's no power in it (Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: xiii). Their
stories originate from plants, herbs, animals and are invariably consistent with the flow of
the natural world. For this reason their gods and spirits are very commonly depicted in the
shape of an animal. The indigenous peoples of the Americas believed in a large number of
spirits, who were either clearly or vaguely defined. These spirits could usually take on any
form they desired; sometimes they were animals, sometimes humans; they could turn into
animate or even inanimate objects.
To those used to the patterns of European fairy tales and folktales, Indian legends
often seem chaotic, inconsistent or incomplete. Plots seem to travel at their own
speed, defying convention and at times doing away completely with recognizable
beginnings and endings. Coyote is a powerful creator one moment, a sniveling
coward the next. (Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: xii)
Unlike the trickster from European literature, who was depicted in the form of a fox, the
native American trickster is most commonly a coyote. His escapades are told throughout
America, from Alaska all the way down to the southern deserts. Besides coyote, there are
also other animals that represent a trickster, most common of them being the raven; others
are mink, hare, blue jay and others. Sometimes the trickster is human, like the Wadjunkaga
7

from the Winnebago cycle, or a creature that is either human or an animal, like the Spider
Man Iktome. Coyote is usually present in other trickster stories as well, where he appears
as their friend and fellow prankster. One of the Iktome tales begins like this:
Iktome, the wicked Spider Man, and Shunk-Manitou, Coyote, are two no-good
loafers. They lie, they steal, they are greedy, they are always after women. Maybe
because they are so very much alike, they are friends, except when they try to trick
each other. (Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: 339)
Like the Egyptians who chose the animals that will represent the non-human part of their
gods with fine and deliberate care, Native Americans also chose the animals for their
tricksters with great attention to detail. The animal had to have certain features that would
perfectly represent Coyote; the animal was usually carnivorous, although it did not hunt in
order to eat, but rather ate meals provided by some other creature. It had to be cunning or
fast, and most importantly, a solitary figure. Wolves, crows and rabbits all travel and hunt
in packs or groups, whereas coyote, raven and hare usually travel alone or in pairs. A
spider, with notable exceptions, always weaves his webs alone and only meets other
spiders for mating; otherwise they are seen as lunch.
The coyote as a scavenger animal is best known for its cunning. Lewis Hyde and several
other researchers explain how farmers, in order to protect themselves, used to put out baits
poisoned with strychnine or some other traps for coyotes and wolves. As a result, the gray
wolves became an endangered species, whereas in spite of being hunted and trapped for
more than two centuries, coyotes now make their habitats in all of USA, except in Hawaii,
and there are more of them now than there were before. Coyotes rarely get caught in a trap;
they are rather well known to dig the trap out, eat the good part of the bait, and sometimes
even defecate or urinate on the device.
Despite some differences in the trickster tales, most of them agree that whether the
trickster is human or his features are zoomorphized, he is represented either as the creator
of the world or at least the creatr of culture. At the simplest level these tales are meant to
delight or amuse the listener and help pass the time. But they are also told in order to teach
the people how and how not to behave. In almost all trickster tales, lust is the tricksters
primary characteristic and all his endeavors reek of sex. He is almost always hungry and
endlessly wandering around. If we look at the whole cycles, the trickster figure has to

undergo a series of trials and has to face various troublesome situations that he himself is
usually responsible for.
If we look at the Winnebago cycle of tales, gathered by Paul Radin and first published in
1956, we encounter Wadjunkaga, whose name roughly translates into the-tricky-one. A
cycle of trickster tales is a group of independent narratives, woven together to make a
coherent story. In this cycle, the trickster breaks many of the Winnebago traditions and
taboos, starting from the first story onwards, where the chief of the tribe intends to go on a
warpath. Their chiefs never went on a warpath as a rule. He then cohabits with a woman,
which is an even greater offense, for someone who intends to go to war and to top it all off,
he destroys their most sacred possession, the warbundle. All his followers leave him and he
continues to wander around by himself. His hunger and lust are illustrated in how his body
is arranged in the beginning of the cycle. His intestines are outside of his body and he has
an enormous penis, which he carries around in a box on his back. He can use his penis as a
tool and once even sends it across a lake to copulate with a chiefs daughter, who is taking
a bath with some friends. One time Wadjunkaga sends his penis into a hole after a squirrel
that is making fun of him. The squirrel then chews of his member, piece by piece, until its
reduced to normal human size. It is explained that because of this folly mens penis is the
size it is now. At another occasion, Wadjunkaga eats his own intestines and only then
realizes that he is eating a part of himself. Radin says that by losing his penis and making
his intestines smaller, he finally learns how to control his voracious appetite and lust,
which enables him to become more like the hero that he was intended to be. By the end of
the cycle Wadjunkaga namely realizes that the Earthmaker sent him down to earth in order
to rid the world of monsters that are molesting humans in one way or another. After he
accomplishes his mission, he goes to the underworld and becomes the ruler of it.
The Raven, who is the trickster of the tribes from the southern Vancouver region and
north, is also the culture hero who brings water and the light to the people. In the process
of stealing the water from an old men Petrol, he has to go through a chimney and from that
time on, his feathers are black. Before that he was white, not unlike the raven and the crow
in Ovids Metamorphosis. Not unlike Wadjunkaga the Raven also realizes that he has to go
around the world and ask all things if they intend to hurt human beings. If they say No,
he lets them live, but if they say Yes, he destroys them.

2.3

Greek Mythology

When I talked with a certain acquaintance of mine about the trickster figures in different
mythologies and folklores, he immediately pointed out that Prometheus is the sole trickster
in classical mythology and said that Hermes is not a trickster at all. This is a very common
misconception about the Greek mythology. Besides the obvious inclination of the modern
world towards the more pugnacious deities and the indifference towards the less belligerent
heroes, the problem also lies in the neglected knowledge of the Homeric hymns, where
Hermess role as a trickster is well supported. Homeric hymns are a collection of 33
ancient Greek poems, composed in the Homeric style by an anonymous writer. One of
these poems is dedicated to Hermes and explains how he gained the status of the Olympian
gods. I included a synopsis of this tale in the appendix. Scheub describes Hermes as: He is
the raw human, newly born, filled with the excitement of his own strength and wit. He
moves into the world like a child newly born, trying out his considerable powers on
everyone and everything he meets (Scheub 2013: 13).
It might be true that by becoming a god Hermes loses some of his trickster freedom, since
To be a god means to be the creator of a world, and a world means order. (Radin 1988:
190) But even though he loses some of his chaotic freedom, he gains all the other trickster
traits. Hermes in Greek mythology is the god that occupies that ambiguous position
between the world of gods and the world of men. He is the liminal character that lives
inside and outside, somewhere between here and there, always on the road and between
things. He is the god of thresholds or doorways, the guide of travelers and the god of the
road itself, although he often guides travelers astray in the night. As I already pointed out,
he is also the god of commerce, protector of merchants and the guardian of thieves. He is
the god of an unexpected bonus, some unanticipated prize that one might find on the road.
The Greeks have a special name for this and it is hermaion, which roughly translated into
the lucky find. Of course, he is also responsible for the catastrophic loss. He is presented as
a dark god, when he leads souls to the underworld, but he also leads Persephone out of it,
making him the savior of the world. He puts Argos to sleep and then kills him, but he also
puts the guards around Achilless camp to sleep, so Priam can go in and ask Hector for his
son's body.
Lewis Hyde had this to say about Hermes:

10

The old Greek wisdom says that Hermes leads the way or leads astray. If I suffer
an accidental loss, that is Hermes the thief, and if there is an accidental gain, that is
Hermes the luck-bringer. But, gain or loss, what is constant with Hermes and with
Eshu is the presence of accidents (Hyde 2010: 121).
So Hermes is the one who often endows people or other gods with prosperity, but it is the
presence of accidents that makes him a trickster. His depiction in the Homeric hymn as a
baby is perfectly legitimate, for he is as amoral as a baby and that is what makes him a
trickster. When he helps humans, he does not do it because he is altruistic like Prometheus,
but rather because of some impulse and because he needs things to be on the move he
needs change. Prometheus and Hermes both tried to trick the gods and their tricks were
related to thieving and sacrifice, like tricksters deeds often are. Hermes and Prometheus
both try to change the way the cosmos had been apportioned, but with differing results
(Hyde 2010: 236). Prometheus hoped to change the human portion, but failed; Hermes
hoped to change his own portion and succeeded (Hyde 2010: 256).
When comparing the Winnebago trickster to Hermes, Krenyi writes:
Winnebago stories about the trickster, if one approaches him from the side of Greek
mythology, is almost that one is encountering an easily outwitted and womanchasing, gluttonous Heracles, rather than a double of the divine trickster of Greek
mythology, Hermes! (Radin 1988: 176)
Two different mythologies have a very similar motif about a son of the sun god, visiting
his father. In the Navajo myth, two twins go through and overcome a series of trials and
tribulations before coming to their father, and are later on accepted by the Sun and elevated
together with their mother. The Greek mythology tells a different story about Phaeton, who
goes to his father Apollo and asks him to drive the sun chariot, which gets him killed. The
difference between Prometheus and Hermes is quite similar to the one that divides the
children of the sun. Prometheus, who tries to trick Zeus into apportioning the best part of
the meat for humans and him, and keep the bones for the gods, is severely punished when
discovered. Furthermore, every good deed that Prometheus does for humans backfires, and
humans have to live henceforth in a worse condition than they did before. When he tries to
trick Zeus with the offerings, Zeus takes the fire away and when Prometheus steals the fire,
Zeus sends Pandora to the people. Prometheus gives in to his impulses and does not go

11

through some initiation process like Hermes does. Prometheus, the benefactor of
mankind, lacks self-interest and playfulness. Hermes has both when he discovers fire and
sacrifice before Prometheus did without, however, bothering about mankind (Radin
1988: 181).
What sets Hermes apart from some other tricksters like Prometheus or Coyote and makes
him a trickster par excellence is the fact that he does not give into his craving for meat, but
rather resists the urge to eat. In so doing, he elevates himself to the position of a god. He
changes the factual food for the spiritual offerings that he will receive as a god. Before
him, the Greek pantheon consisted of only eleven gods and the cosmos was complete. Zeus
had no intentions of presenting his offspring to the other gods or making him one of them,
because he wanted his escapade with Maia to remain hidden. But he nonetheless makes his
son his most trusted emissary. Apollo, of whom Eliade says that his main traits are not the
ones that later on became known under the term apollonic, but is rather often blinded by
madness and especially revenge, nevertheless forgives his younger brother and befriends
him. Even Hera likes Hermes, although her usual inclination towards her husbands
illegitimate children is not a very positive one.
Looking at all his characteristics, one cannot blame the Scandinavians for taking Hermes
as the model for their all-father Odin and neither can one be surprised that Hermes was the
only god from the Greek pantheon to survive until the 17th century. In Roman Mythology,
Hermes was known as Mercury, and Carl Gustav Jung said that:
A curious combination of typical trickster motifs can be found in the alchemical
figure of Mercurius; for instance, his fondness for sly jokes and malicious pranks, his
powers as a shape-shifter, his dual nature, half animal, half divine, his exposure to all
kinds of tortures, and last but not least his approximation of the figure of a
saviour. (Radin 1988: 195)

12

2.4

Norse Mythology

This story about Loki and Sifs hair that I included in the appendix is a combination of two
of the more modern interpretations of this old myth. It is a combination of the book Loki:
Nine Naughty Tales of the Trickster by Mike Vasich and a brilliantly entertaining novel by
the incredible Joanne Harris, The Gospel of Loki. In the older versions of the myth, Lokis
cutting of Sifs hair has nothing to do with her infidelity, although Loki does imply their
relationship in Lokasenna, the poem of Lokis flyting.
Most of what we know about the Norse or Scandinavian mythology comes from two Eddas
the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Poetic Edda, also known as the Elder Edda, is a
collection of Old Norse poems composed by various unknown authors and was compiled
in Iceland around the 13th century. Prose Edda was also written at the same time in Iceland,
but was the work of an Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson. The obscurity
and difficulty [of the text] is such that only the devoted labour of many philologists has
made them available (Tolkien 2009: 16) A major part in the myths is played by Loki,
who is introduced in the poem Lokasenna as the stirrer-up of mischief among the gods
(Davidson 1984: 100). Lokasenna is the poem in Poetic Edda where Loki taunts all the
assembled gods, calling them names and talking such filth about them that Thor has to end
it by threatening him: I will thy head from thy neck strike; then will thy life be ended
(Splet 15).
Like all other tricksters, Loki is a liminal being, living between two worlds. Although he
sits among the gods of the Asgard and loves to fight with them against the giants of
Jotunheim, he is bound to other creatures as well. He is the offspring of a giant and often
does everything in his power to hurt the gods. His council to the gods is as often good as it
is bad. Although he is mentioned as one of the sir, the gods of the Norse mythology, we
cannot say for certain whether he was counted as one of the gods or not, since there are no
cults connected with him and no temples were erected in his honor. As a true trickster, his
appetites are prodigious and on one journey, he consumes vast quantities of food in an
eating contest. He is swift of feet like Iktomi and wears shoes that can take him across air
and water, just like Hermes.
Loki always stirs up trouble in Asgard, but is usually the one who repairs the damage that
is done. More than others, he has the kind of wisdom known as cunning, and is
treacherous in all matters. He constantly places the gods in difficulties and often solves
13

their problems with guile (Sturluson 2005: 66). He is the one who lures Thor into the
Giantland without his hammer and kidnaps Idunn, but is also the one who helps Thor
recover his hammer on another occasion and brings Idunn back to Asgard. In most cases he
makes atonement for his wicked deeds, e.g. when he cuts of Sifs hair and in return brings
back gifts not only for Sif, but for some other major gods as well.
In a book about the Norse mythology the author Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson says about
Loki: The main characteristic of Loki in these stories is not only his ability as a thief,
thought by some scholars to be a very early feature of Northern mythology, but also the
strange ambiguity of his attitude towards the gods (Davidson 1984: 101).
His ambiguity is also the heart of the introduction to Prose Edda, where the commentator
Jesse L. Byock states: Lokis position is ambiguous. He is frequently an antagonist of the
gods, but he is also one of the gods main helpers and strangely connected to Odin
(Sturluson 2005: 18).
At first we have to understand that the Scandinavian gods sir were not like the Greek or
Roman gods, in that they rarely quarreled among themselves over control of humans or
heroes. Another distinction is that they are constantly in danger of being thrown back into
the chaos. Unlike the classical mythologies, the Scandinavian mythology is eschatological,
in constant anticipation of the end of the world, called Ragnarok. On the judgment day,
flames of Surt the fire giant will consume all the nine worlds and Loki will play a major
part in this, just like he does in most of the other myths; the Scandinavian myths in fact
mostly know only three major catalysts Odin, the All-father, Thor and Loki.
Loki is the trickster-like figure, who represents chaos and disorder, whereas the other gods
represent the orderly cosmos. In the aforementioned book by Joanne Harris, the Paradise
Lost of Norse mythology, where the trickster is made the hero and all his deeds are shown
through his point of view, the author makes him an offspring and the personification of
chaos. He is of course also the one that will in the end be responsible for the coming of
chaos, but as I already pointed out in the introduction to the trickster myth, Loki does not
really have a choice in the matter. If order wants to exist it has to have some kind of chaos
to balance it and this disorder is the trickster. Loki was always the one who disrupted the
order of the gods in some way or another and crossed the boundaries of propriety, but he
was also always the one who somehow repaired the damage he has done. But when Baldr,
the beautiful son of Odin and Frigg, the god of purity and light, starts having bad dreams,
14

Frigg wants to protect him, by eliciting a promise from every element, animate or
inanimate, not to hurt her son. In other words, she wants to close the boundary between the
gods and death banish all chaos out of order. So Loki disguises himself into an old
woman and gets Frigg to admit to him that she did not make the mistletoe, a plant so young
that it could not harm anybody, swear not to hurt Baldr. Loki collected this plant and made
an arrow out of it. When all the gods were sure that nothing could hurt Baldr they
experimented by throwing different things at him. Hodr, Baldrs blind brother was the only
one who did not participate in this exercise, until Loki came to him, gave him an arrow and
pointed him to where Baldr was standing. What Hodr didnt realize was that Loki had
given him an arrow made of mistletoe and so he shot his brother dead. Later on Loki also
made sure that Baldr stayed dead through another ruse.
Lewis Hyde explains that Baldr is the irremediable mediocrity of the present age, and
must be killed if there is to be any change for the better (Hyde 2010: 107). When
anthropologists and other scientists or historians tell of this tale, they often say that Loki
made Hodr kill Baldr just for fun or because he did not like to hear of someone elses
fortune. But if we look at it from the chaos versus order point of view, Loki had no other
chance but to try to stop Frigg. The gods soon found out that Loki was responsible for what
had occurred and after another incident, described in Lokasenna Loki had to flee Asgard
and tries to escape his pursuers by going through a series of transformations. Before the
gods catch him, Loki lives alone in a hut in the mountains, where he invents a fish trap,
completing his role as a trickster by becoming a culture hero as well. Thor later uses this
fish trap in order to catch Loki. The Aesir and Vanir bind Loki to a rock, using his sons
entrails and put a snake above his head, to drip venom on his face for eternity. When the
Aesir imprison Loki, they completely disrupt the all-important balance between order and
disorder. In fact, tale about gods binding Loki is always followed by the prophecy of
Ragnarok, the doom of the gods. There is no one left to challenge the cosmos of the gods
no one to disrupt the order of the Aesir, and this makes the world a sterile place. The
fruitful world slowly goes into decay and it must wait for Loki to return and bring with him
the end of the universe the Ragnarok. With Ragnarok, however, when all is consumed by
fire, the world gets to be reborn and as Eliade points out, the new world will be better and
devoid of all grief (Eliade 1996b: 105). So it is that Trickster recreates our world, but he
must first destroy it. He is constantly in the process of taking us back to our origins,

15

destroying what we have, than rebuilding it. We are ever involved in the ritualistic process,
the creative moment, because of Trickster (Scheub 2013: 38).

16

2.5

African Mythology
Anansi the spider is the trickster figure of the Ashanti and other tribes of the Akan
cultural group. He has a knack for finding the weaknesses of other creatures and
using them to his own advantage. He generally used this talent to create mischief and
mayhem. But in one story, he uses it to bring a wonderful gift to mankind. (Jacobs
Altman 2011: 79)

The story in question is summarized in the appendix and tells how Anansi the trickster got
the all the stories from the Sky God. African mythology is more like the Native American
tales than the classical or Scandinavian mythologies in that the spirits or gods are often
represented by animals. Fables about the cunning and deceitful feats of hare or spider were
told all across Africa, called by various names according to the language of the people.
These anecdotes were taken by the slaves to the new world and became known as the
stories of the Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus cycle, or the tales about Aunt Nancy. In the
tropical regions of Africa there are no rabbits, so the cunning creature was the hare, which
had to rely on its speed and cleverness in order to survive, whereas in the forest region this
cunning trickster character was attributed to the spider.
In West Africa this spider is called Anansi and is the cleverest of all animals and
sometimes the chief official of the god. A spider is a weak and frail animal, but
nevertheless plays the role of a creature that overcomes the more powerful beasts.
Whenever, on the other hand, he goes beyond his abilities, he gets caught and is severely
punished for his folly. Anansi the spider is one of the more important characters in the
West African folklore. His stories are made up of exclusively oral tradition and probably
originate from the Ashanti region of Ghana. From there the stories traveled to other regions
and even came to the new world in the form of tales about Aunt Nancy. Anansi is mostly
seen in the shape of a spider, but he can also take the form of a man. He is wise and
cunning and often plays tricks on the other gods or humans. Besides Iktome the spider, he
is probably most similar to the hare tales in Native American folklore, since a spider is
very frail, but fast and resourceful. Like Hermes, Coyote and Loki, he acts out the will of
the chief god, who is sometimes also his father. In this role Anansi often helps people by
sending rain and putting out fires. In some myths, he is also the creator of the sun and the
moon, making him even more like other tricksters.

17

But Anansi is not the sole trickster in African mythology. Like most races on our planet,
Africans have numerous religious beliefs. With the philosophical beliefs they try to
understand the perpetual questions of origin, purpose of life etc. These questions are
usually associated with mythology, parables, folklore etc. African mythologies express joy
in life and are affirming in its belief that life on earth can be good, sex is to be enjoyed and
children are the gift of gods.
First there was the creator, whose name differs from region to region, but is in most
resources called Mawu. To each of the other gods Mawu gave a special language and these
languages are used by the priests, oracles and mediums of the gods in their songs and
between rituals. There was only one god who gained the knowledge of all the different
languages that are spoken by other gods, and his name is Eshu. The Fon have a similar
belief for the trickster god named Legba. Eshu or Legba is the most prominent trickster
figure in all African mythology and has due to its language skills become the intermediary
between the gods themselves and also between humans and other divinities. Clyde W. Ford
says that Eshu is a complex figure, whose principal association is as a messenger between
the gods and humanity (Ford 2010: 155).
Eshu is both a messenger and a guardian of human beings. ... But he has an
unpredictable character, and is often violent or crafty, and he may express the anger
of the gods at human wrongdoing. Eshu is very powerful and only the Supreme Deity
can curb his might. (Parrinder 1984: 87)
Like all great tricksters, Eshu is the contradictor and the mediator between the opposing
forces of life. As I shall explain in one of the later chapters, he was responsible for pushing
the gods away from the earth and thus created the boundary between the humans and the
gods. He consequentially became the mediator between them and by negotiating between
these opposing forces he creates the necessary balance between order and chaos. We can
therefore understand the complexity of this character as the deliverer of wisdom from the
great divinities to the people, but also as the humans response with certain offerings. Like
Hermes and Prometheus, Eshu is the inventor of sacrifice, since he was the one who told
humans that they should make offerings to the gods in order to please them. Furthermore,
he is the bringer of luck and commerce; the one who bestows good fortune in trade and
elsewhere. Paying attention to Eshu can significantly affect ones luck. For the wisdom of

18

the gods is an esoteric elixir, and the seeker of such knowledge must have a guide to its
source; Eshu is that guide (Ford 2010: 156).

19

2.6

Tricksters Apetite

As I already mentioned on several occasions, tricksters are mostly driven by their

appetites. The trickster is always hungry and always wants to steal somebodys food. The
most notable examples of the tricksters gluttony are recorded in the tales about Coyote or
in some other folktales of Native American tricksters, like the Raven in the story about
tricksters apetite that I included in the appendix. One time Wadjunkaga told some animal
women that he would take care of their children while they go and pick some fruits. When
the women went out of sight, he killed the children and ate them. In one of the previous
chapters I told the tale of how Iktome caught a bunch of ducks through his cunning and in
one of the following chapters I shall discuss a story about Wadjunkaga, who became a
woman in order to keep himself fed through the winter. Actually most of the Native
American folktales are about how a trickster acquires something or is given something
valuable on a specific condition and how he always loses this asset because he does not
abide to the rules due to his gluttony. The object usually becomes invaluable or dies. The
raven, whom we met in the appendix tale of this chapter, where he acquired his insatiable
hunger, once told the Native American people that they would be able to catch a lot of
game if they promised to leave the guts for him. We have to understand that ravens and
coyotes are both scavengers and therefore eat the guts of the carcasses. By eating the
organs of appetite they become the instruments of it. The coyote however changes his fate.
As mentioned before, by the end of the Winnebago trickster cycle, Wadjunkaga by mistake
ate his own intestines, and according to Paul Radins interpretation of the story, thus
achieved control over his hunger. By eating his own organs of appetite he got to control it.
In almost every mythology that involves a trickster, we have at least one precedent of how
tricksters hunger drives him to cunning and sometimes mischievous acts. When Krishna,
the eight incarnation of Vishnu, was still just a baby, he stole some butter from his
mothers jar, although she told him he is not to touch it. After she chided him, he told her
that there were ants in the butter and he had to get the ants out. In Norse mythology Loki,
Thor and two of their companions came to the court of a giant king, who tricked them into
a competition against forces they have no chance of overcoming. Thor tried to prevail
against his opponents with his brute strength and one of the companions wanted to win in
an athletic endeavor, whereas Loki went up against his foe in an eating contest. The story
tells how Loki ate all the meat that was placed before him and only left the bones, but it
was not enough, for he did not know that his opponent was wildfire. He was very hungry
20

and he ate quickly. But the one called Logi was wildfire itself, and he burned the bone
trough no less quickly than the meat (Sturluson 2005: 89). The Greek titan Prometheus
tries to acquire the best parts of animals for humans and himself by tricking Zeus, only to
realize later on that his plan backfired.
Lewis Hyde says: The stories we've seen have a hierarchy: at the lower levels, trickster is
bound by appetite... at the higher levels, he is either freed from appetite or given an
appetite for more ethereal foods. Moreover, trickster walks the path between high and low
(Hyde 2010: 6).
Tricksters at the lower level are the ones who do not achieve the control over their hunger
and the best examples are Raven or Prometheus, whereas Coyote and Hermes represent the
other side of the coin. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes says that when Hermes made the
lyre, he went to look for Apollos cattle, because he was craving for meat. (Hesiod 2005:
iv) Hermes, however, does not act as the other trickster's might. He does not devour all of
the Apollo's cattle, as coyote probably would, but only slaughters two. Furthermore, he
does not eat these two cows, but makes an offering to the twelve gods of Olympus. The
writer of the Hymn knew how important this moment was for Hermes, for he elaborates on
his hankering for the sacrifice on one more occasion and tells how he wasnt swayed by its
smell.
Hermes does not give in to his hunger, but instead controls his glutinous impulses and by
denying himself the food, he obtains for himself a position among the great gods of
Olympus. This sacrifice is mostly made possible through his ambition. As I said in the
chapter about Greek mythology, his mother chided Hermes for stealing Apollos cattle, but
he responded to her rebuke by telling her that he has no intention of spending the rest of his
life in a cave, far away from his rightful place among the gods. Lewis Hyde proposes that
like Coyote, who discovers a trap and digs it up, Hermes also slips the trap of appetite and
is exalted for it. Hermes is still a trickster and does not give up eating food altogether, but
just postpones it in hope of a much greater food of sacrifices that he will receive as a god.

21

2.7

Sex and Gender

On one of his endless wanderings Wadjunkaga woke up without a blanket and when he
looked up, high above him noticed a flag floating in the air. He thought that the tribe from
a nearby village unfurled their banner and that there is going to be a feast somewhere soon.
A few moments later he realized that it was not a banner, but his blanket that was floating
on his erect penis. During the night his penis had become stiff and his blanket was forced
up. He did not know why this happened, but he told his penis: My younger brother, you
will lose the blanket, so bring it back (Radin 1988: 18). Then Wadjunkaga took care of
the problem, coiled his penis up and put it in a box. After this incident the trickster came to
a lake and noticed the chiefs daughter bathing there with some of her friends. He told his
penis to go across the water and have intercourse with the chiefs daughter, but soon
realized that if it floats on water, the women might notice it, so he called it back. He then
attached some rocks to it and sent it across the water again, only to call it back, because it
was too heavy. After a few more attempts he managed to weight it down with just the right
weight and sent it across the water again. When the other women noticed that something
was happening to their friend, they went to get an old woman, who told them that the
chiefs daughter is having intercourse with the trickster, the First-born. She then took an
awl and while singing a song, hit the penis a number of times with it, until it was jerked
out. The trickster laughed at her from across the lake and accused her of spoiling all the
pleasure.
Tricksters lust or his appetite for sex is sometimes even greater than his yearning for food.
This condition is best shown by his overly emphasized sexual organ. As I already
elaborated on a few occasions, Coyote or Wadjunkaga carried his coiled penis in a box on
his back, because it was too big to have it attached to his body. The sexual exploits of
Iktomi and the Raven are well known in the Native American folklore, as are the cunning
lusty deeds of Eshu and Legba in Africa. Eshu is known as the god of messages, sex and
deceit. Legba is especially known for his iron erection. Another example is Hermes, who
was often depicted as phallus alone, or by an ithyphallic herm, the erect phallus as a pillar
bearing his head. We can also read about the statues of Hermes with an erect phallus in
the Histories of Herodotus (Herodotus 2014: 101). In The Gods of the Greeks, his portrayal
of Greek mythology, Kroly Kernyi has this to say about the herms:

22

The religious images erected to him were either in the Cyllenian style, in which
the image was a phallus of wood or stone, or else in that related sly in which the
image was a rectangular pillar with a head and an erect phallus an image which in
our language is called a herma. (Radin 1989: 51)
In the light of all the tricksters sexual exploits we have to understand that tricksters are
almost always male. This might be due to the fact that these myths belonged
predominantly to patriarchal mythologies; but even in matriarchal settings this character
would be acted out mostly by a male figure. Undoubtedly there are certain female trickster
figures that confirm the rule, but can hardly be called tricksters per se. They are trickster
figures, who have pulled off a gimmick, a fraud or a ruse in order to achieve something,
but most of them have only an episode or two in the tricking business and not an
elaborated career of trickery like the male tricksters do. We have Inana, the ancient
Sumerian goddess, Baubo, the servant who makes Demeter laugh in spite of her grief,
Aunt Nancy of American Folklore, who is a mere female transformation of Anansi, etc.
Many speculations have been made about why the tricksters are mostly male, but the most
probable one revolves around the lustful life of the tricksters. Before the elaborate birth
control, a woman could not live the opportunistic sexual life of a trickster without
conceiving a child sooner or later, so such life had to be ascribed to the male gender.
It is often said that tricksters are not entirely male, but androgynous creatures, or at least
have undetermined sexuality. Lewis Hyde argues that the tricksters themselves are not
androgynous beings, but nevertheless sometimes briefly take on the female form. In either
case, tricksters are undeniably at least in part associated with the opposite sex as well. The
great mythologist Mirce Eliade claims that the very first beings that emerged from chaos
were often androgynous (prim. Eliade 1996). As I argued in the introductory chapter, the
trickster is some kind of residue from the primal chaos and its agent in maintaining the
balance of order and disorder. It is therefore almost inevitable for him not to obtain some
of these androgynous characteristics. With the condition of his inordinate phallicism the
trickster cannot limit himself to one sex alone and must accordingly maintain both gender
tendencies at least to some extent.
The Native American trickster once makes a vulva for himself out of an elks liver, just so
he can marry a chief's son and become a part of a village, where he knows they have food
in abundance. He even bears his new husband three children and lives among the villagers
23

as a woman until his vulva falls off and he has to escape. Coyote only discovers his proper
sexuality when his penis is chewed off by a squirrel and he attaches what is left of it on the
appropriate place.
Loki is also quite renowned for his extramarital exploits, which would not be very
uncommon for a pagan deity, if it werent for the episode where Loki changes himself into
a mare so as to distract a big stallion. The stallion was helping a giant build Valhalla, the
hall of Odin, and since Loki doesnt quite manage to escape the stallion after he diverts his
attention, he comes back to Asgard sometime later with an eight-legged colt named
Sleipnir.
We cannot say the same about Hermes. Acoording to the information I found he never
changed his sex or was confused with his sexuality. He was mostly depicted as a young
man of athletic built or was portrayed as a phallus alone. But the fact that Hermaphrodite,
the offspring of Aphrodite and Hermes is androgynous cannot be a mere coincidence.
Neither is Hermess other son Pan the greatly sexed phallic god, who was the constant
companion of the nymphs. Besides the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Kroly Kernyi in The
Gods of the Greeks presents another myth about the birth of this divine messenger. He
asserts that in one of the myths there existed a certain phallic god, who was both son and
father to Hermes. Kernyi states:
When Hermes was regarded as the father, then this other was the son, and vice
versa. This relation between the two exactly corresponded the relation between the
Great Mother and her male partner, whom she bore, took to husband and bore again.
(Kernyi 1989: 175)
The author proposes this god might as well be Priapos, for whom it was claimed that he
was none other than the Hermaphroditus.
Inanna, the great Sumerian goddess of fertility, love and warfare descended to the
underworld in order to challenge her sister Ereshkigal. She knew that for those who went
to the underworld there was to be no return and so she ordered her loyal servant Ninshubur
to plead with the other gods to help her if anything went amiss. When she came to the
underworld, she was stripped of her clothes and all her powers and seemingly killed.
Ninshubur pleaded with the gods to help her mistress, but none of them dared to go against
the goddess of the underworld. At last Ninshubur went to Enki, the god that helped
24

Utnapishtin survive the flood. Enki was known among the gods for his wisdom and
cunning, and although he was not a trickster per se, since he was too much involved in the
pantheon, he had most of the trickster's characteristics. Enki at once came up with a
cunning plan, made two beings of no gender and gave them the food and water of life.
These two saved Inanna from the underworld and brought her back to life, not unlike
Hermes, who went to Hades in order to rescue Persephone. Male-female gods are not
uncommon in the world of myth. They emerge always with a certain mystery; for they
conduct the mind beyond objective experience into a symbolic realm where duality is left
behind. (Campbell 2008: 176)
So it cannot be a mere byproduct of accidents that tricksters in all mythologies are at least
in one way associated with the underworld. Underworld or the land of the dead was always
closed to everyone even to the gods. In order to access this land or even steal something
from it, the gods needed someone of immense power and great cunning; someone who
lives on the borders and knows how to cross and disrupt the boundaries that no one else
can. They needed a trickster. In a study about the trickster in West Africa, Robert D. Pelton
writes about the importance of the tricksters phallus in these words:
It is Legbas penis which symbolizes, both ordinarily and most ceremoniously, the
bond between the divine and the human worlds. He is a living copula, and his phallus
symbolizes his being, the limen marking the real distinction between outside and
inside, the wild and the ordered, even as it ensures safe passage between them.
(Pelton 1989: 108)
But before we talk about the tricksters role as a boundary crosser, we have to understand
him as the character that lives at the crossroads and is always on the road.

25

2.8

On the Road

People used to have a special place where they could worship the gods and some of these
places still exist, while some have been transformed to offer a home to another god or they
were reconstructed to serve some other purpose. Mirce Eliade calls the holiest of places an
axis mundi a center of any microcosm or even the center of macrocosm. Axis mundi for
Mircea Eliade is the connection point between heaven and earth. It can be a mountain, a
tree, a church, a temple an obelisk or some other sanctuary. Temples all around the world
were usually associated with a special deity and every god had his or her own home to
which they could return to. Unlike the other gods tricksters are usually not identified with
any certain place, except for a road, a crossroad or a threshold. Some tricksters do have a
wife and a home to return to, but most tricksters are endless wanderers or messengers
living perpetually on the road. Nearly every story about Wadjunkaga starts with he
wandered aimlessly about the world (Radin 1988: 13), as he continued his aimless
wandering (Radin 1988: 38) or some similar expression. Trickster is a traveler and in
some cases the protector of other travelers. In West Africa, especially with Yaruba tribes,
all sacrifices that are left outside or at the roadside belong to Eshu, the intermediary
between the high and the low. Similarly, the sacrifices for Hermes, the Greek messenger of
the gods were left at the crossroads. Another way to seek protection of Hermes was to pile
a cairn of stones by the road or erect a herma, a stone pillar with a head on top, at a
crossroad. In The Gift, Lewis Hyde says that Hermes is the God of the Roads, identified
not with any home or hearth or mountain but with the traveler on the highway... [He] wants
everything to be on the road: travelers, money, and merchandise (Hyde 2006: 602). The
way of the road is in his nature. In the Iliad Hermes is often refered to as the guide and
when Zeus needs someone to escort Priamus to Achiless camp, he calls Hermes and tells
him: for it is you who are the most disposed to escort men on their way (Splet 12). The
swiftness of Hermes is acknowledged in numerous other sources as well. In Odyssey
Homer says that Hermes: Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals with which
he could fly like the wind over land and sea (Splet 13). In the Aeneid Vergil writes that
Mercury with golden pinions binds his flying feet, and mounts the western winds (Splet
14).
His alacrity is also one of the reasons why Hermes becomes the messenger of the gods.
Eshu and Hermes are both messengers and live on the road, so their food has to be left for
them on the road. An emissary has to be swift on his feet and what feet are quicker than the
26

ones with wings on their sandals. Loki, the Norse trickster wasnt a messenger per se, but
he did have to go on various errands for Odin and like Hermes, he had special shoes that
helped him on the way. Loki is also known as a lightfooted (Tolkien 2009: 66) or
Lightshod Loki (Tolkien 2009: 68) and is always seen traveling at the left side of Odin
on his endless wanderings. Loki is also the one who accompanies Thor on most of his
journeys and although he lives in Asgard, he is rarely there.
The next extract from Trickster Makes this World by Lewis Hyde is a good representation
of the tricksters road and an appropriate envoi for the following chapter:
The road that trickster travels is a spirit road as well as a road in fact. He is the adept
who can move between heaven and earth, and between the living and dead. As such,
he is sometimes a messenger of the gods and sometimes the guide of souls, carrying
the dead into the underworld or opening the tomb to release them when they must
walk among us. Sometimes it happens that the road between heaven and earth is not
open, whereupon trickster travels not as a messenger but as a thief, the one who
steals from the gods the good things that humans need if they are to survive in this
world. (Hyde 2010: 6)

27

2.9

Making and Crossing the Boundaries

Few if any African peoples have been without belief in the supreme creator (Parrinder
1984: 13). This creator lived on earth with a spirit called Legba, who only acted according
to the orders of the creator. Very often Legba had to do harmful deeds for this god, but
people only blamed Legba for them and very soon they started hating him. He never
received credit for the good things that he had done, because those deeds were attributed to
the creator. Legba grew tired of this encumbering relationship and brought his problem
before the creator, who only replied that it is as it should be, since the ruler should be
complimented for the good deeds and his servants accused of the bad ones.
This creator had a beautiful garden full of very fine yams. One day Legba came up with a
cunning plan and told the god that he has heard rumors of thieves who were planning to
steal these vegetables. God called everyone together and told them that a death penalty
awaits anyone who tries to steal the yams. During that same night Legba took the creators
sandals and went into the gardens with them. He took away all the yams and did his best to
leave as many footprints as possible. The creator was furious. He called another meeting,
intending to find the thief from the footprint. But no shoe matched. Legba finally suggested
that the god should try his sandal against the footprint as well; surprisingly it matched.
Everyone laughed at the god, who stole yams from himself. The god was so embarrassed
that he left the world and went to live in the sky. In those times the sky was very close to
the earth and Legba didnt like the creator living this close to him, because he was
constantly being reprimanded for his mischief. So he persuaded an old woman to throw
dirty water into the sky every time after washing. The creator was so annoyed by this that
he decided to move even further away from the earth; gradually the sky and the god moved
away to his present distance and Legba became the spirit who dwells on the earth and
constantly travels into the sky and back as an emissary.
The cosmogonies, stories about the creation of cosmos, are in various mythologies
understood as the pushing of the sky away from the earth in order to create room enough to
live and breathe. It is mostly the story of how the boundary between the world and the
heavens or the sky was created. In our story Legba does not create this boundary because
he wants to make this world a better place for the gods or the humans, but rather pushes the
creator away for purely self-centered purposes. When Legba or even Eshu in a similar
story separates the world from heaven, he also becomes the messenger of the gods the
28

liminal being that belongs to both worlds and can consequently travel from one world to
the other and has the ability to cross the boundary between them. So trickster is not only a
boundary crosser, as is the usual line, but the one who creates the boundary as well.
In the chapter about Norse mythology, I mentioned that Loki lives among the gods,
although he does not completely belong there. Loki is not one of the Aesir or the Vanir, but
an offspring of a giant. Giants were usually depicted as the nemesis of the gods and the
peoples that Thor always fought against on his travels to Jotunheim. But in Poetic Edda
and in Prose Edda we can read about Lokis several affiliations with giants. Usually we see
him in the form of a man or some animal, but when the gods bind Loki and he is twisting
in pain, he is depicted as the giant that causes earthquakes with his writhing. With the
giantess Angrboda Loki sires three children, who will all play a major part in the
Ragnarok. When Loki steals Idunn and her apples of immortality from Asgard, he erases
the distinction between the gods and the giants, by introducing time and death to the Aesir
and immortality to the giants. But as I have already mentioned, he is also the one who
brings Idunn back and puts the boundary back in place.
In a case like that boundary creation and boundary crossing are related to one another
and the best way to describe trickster is to say simply that the boundary is where he
will be found-sometimes drawing the line, sometimes crossing it, sometimes erasing
or moving it, but always there, the god of the threshold in all its forms. (Hyde 2010:
7)
In the previous chapter I talked about trickster as a traveler, the one who resides at
crossroads and is the messenger of gods, making him also the most appropriate character
for crossing the boundaries. When Hermes wormed himself into the Greek pantheon he
permeated a circle of gods that had already been established and seemed impenetrable. He
was an outsider, who became an insider. Loki always remained an outsider among the
Aesir, but Hermes was accepted and trusted by everyone; even Hera, who utterly despised
most of Zeuss bastard children, loved Hermes. As I already mentioned, Hermes was also
the god who escorted the souls of the dead to the underworld, a psychopomp. In An
Encyclopedia of Gods and Legends from Ancient Greece and Rome, the Celts and the
Norselands, the author Arthur Cotterell says that: Hermes was the god who most easily
crossed the line between the living and the dead, for the Greeks believed that he guided the
dead to the realm of HADES, the underworld (Cotterell 2000: 49).
29

Not only does he guide the souls of the dead to the underworld, but he also rescues
Persephone from Hades. The underworld has always had only one way and that way is in.
Hades has sealed the gates of his realm and no soul may ever escape. But when Hades
kidnaps Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, the mother,
overcome with grief, starts to search for her daughter so endlessly and with such passion,
that the seasons halt entirely. The world starts to wither and the gods need Persephone back
in order to restore balance of nature, so they send Hermes, the prince of thieves, to bring
her back.
A trickster has always had this special connection with the underworld and death. Claude
Levi-Straus, the father of anthropology, implies that the Native American trickster is a
mediator between life and death. In his opinion, the opposition between life and death can
be presented in the opposition between agriculture and war or hunting. Furthermore, the
herbivorous animals are concerned with agriculture, while beasts of pray are concerned
with hunting. But raven and coyote, the two most popular trickster in Native American
literature, are neither herbivorous nor beasts of prey; they are the carrion eaters. Like
beasts of prey they eat meat, but like herbivorous animals they dont catch it (Straus 1974:
224). Trickster Eshu is, like Hermes, a psychopomp and even a personification of death. In
Norse mythology, the underworld is presided over by one of Lokis scions, Hel, who shall
at Ragnarok join him in the battle against the gods with her portion of the dead. There is a
story about Coyote who was bereaved of his wife and decided to go to the land of the
shadow people to retrieve her. Like Orpheus, he was instructed not to touch his wife for
three days, which was indeed too big of a task for someone as lascivious as Coyote. But
Coyote did cross the line between the dead and the living and at the end of the Winnebago
cycle Wadjunkaga becomes the lord of the underworld. When Inana was kept in the
underworld, it was the ruse of Enki, the god that has the most trickster qualities in the
Summerian mythology that rescued her from her sisters grasp.
In addition, in Greek mythology, Hypnos (sleep) and Thantatos (death) are half-brothers.
The distinction between these two has always beleaguered people from around the world,
most notably poets. It is therefore of no great surprise that Hermes is the god of whom
Homer writes: in his hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals men's eyes in
sleep or wakes them just as he pleases (Splet 13). When Zeus had an affair with Io, Hera
was furious; she changed Io into a cow and set the hundred-eyed giant Argos to watch over

30

her. Although Argos never closed all his eyes at once, Hermes succeeded to lull him to
sleep with his stories and caduceus and then kill him.
In spite of all these facts, the boundary that the trickster most often crosses is that of
propriety. Trickster constantly walks on the brink of profanity and is perpetually without
shame. In the collection of stories gathered by Richard Erdoes and Alfonzo Ortiz, they
state that: The trickster is a rebel against authority and the breaker of all taboos (Erdoes,
Ortiz 1984: 335). But it is through this that the trickster fulfills his role of a catalyst and the
role of a culture hero.

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2.10 Culture Hero

Maui was the legendary trickster and the hero in Oceanic mythology, whose stories were
told from New Zealand to Hawaii. The story I included in the appendix is only one of the
many variations of the same tale. But Maui wasnt the only trickster who stole fire from
the heavens or some other abode of the gods. I already mentioned Prometheus, who stole
fire from Zeus, gave it to humans and suffered greatly for his insubordination. I also tried
to elaborate on why Prometheus as a culture hero was so severely punished for his
altruistic deeds. Maui was very similar to Prometheus in this regard. As we can read in the
Sea Songs: Readers Theatre From the South Pacific by James W. Barnes, Maui has done a
number of great deeds that brought some benefit for his people. He is credited with having
pulled up the land from the ocean for men to live on. He was the one who slowed down the
sun and made the day as long as it is now. Before that, the day only lasted for a few
moments, since by the time the sun had risen it was already almost across the sky.
Although Maui is undoubtedly a trickster, since he does all his deeds through cunning and
guile, he makes the mistake of being too altruistic. Unlike other tricksters, he does most of
his deeds because he wants to help humans and not from some selfish impulse. This is
probably what brought him to an early grave, when he decided to gain immortality for
humans and died in the attempt.
According to Campbell a hero whether god or goddess, man or woman, the figure in a
myth or the dreamer of a dream, discovers and assimilates his opposite (Campbell 2008:
89). A trickster as a hero should not only be moral and altruistic, but should also be
immoral and selfish.
When he lies and steals, it isn't so much to get away with something or get rich as to
disturb the established categories of truth and property and, by so doing, open the road to
possible new worlds (Hyde 2010: 13). That is what makes the difference between the
Navajo twins, who went to visit their father the Sun and were made immortal, and Phaeton,
who did not go through the initiation and was in a similar endeavor destroyed. A similar
connection can be seen between Prometheus and Hermes, as I already mentioned in the
chapter about trickster's appetite. Hermes goes through the necessary initiation by giving
up the meat in order to receive greater glory.
The tricksters story rarely ends with him playing a trick or a gimmick on someone, but
rather continues to explain how these feats are beneficial to the world or at least to
32

mankind. The Raven, whom we mentioned in the chapter about the tricksters appetite, is
not merely the chief's son, but also an emissary from heaven a go-between, a mediator,
who becomes a boundary crosser and a culture hero. Not only does he bring food to our
world, but also steals fire from heaven, just like Maui or Prometheus. Raven finds a hole in
the boundary between heaven and earth and flies through it. Then he changes himself into
a leaf and is swallowed by the creators daughter. She gives birth to a baby, who only stops
crying when they give him the sun to play with. He turns himself back into the raven, flies
through a chimney, where the ashes make his feathers black, and returns to earth with the
sun in his claws. Later on the same Raven steals water from an old man Petrol, who is
hoarding all the waters from the earth in his cabin. After a clever ruse, the Raven takes the
water into his beak and flies out. The water that falls out of his beak becomes the rivers
and streams.
After Wadjunkagas penis gets chewed off by the squirrel, the trickster throws the parts of
the penis on the ground and from these pieces people got potatoes, artichokes, turnips,
ground-beans, rice etc. Later on, at the end of the cycle, when Wadjunkaga grows out of
his infantile impulses, he becomes the hero and destroys the monsters that were
endangering humans.
As we can read in the collection of American Indian Myths and Legends, in one tale the old
man Coyote takes on a mysterious role of the creator and completely abandons his buffoon
ways for the moment. Old man Coyote was alone and was surrounded by water and so he
decided to make the earth, animals and finally people. But he made them all male at first
and the world was boring, so he decided to make females as well. He then encountered
another Coyote, called Cirape and the younger Coyote told the old man Coyote that he
doesnt know where he came from, but that he always just existed. Later on the old man
Coyote invented a few new animals ex nihilo, by pronouncing their names. Cirape told his
older brother that he should make living more bearable for humans, by giving them some
tools and tipis and fire, but he also suggested that people should have bows and spears and
should constantly be engaged in war. In another story, Coyote is a very incompetent
animal, but brings moon and sun to the world through his curiosity and mischief, quite by
mistake.
Every trickster fulfills the role of a culture hero in one way or another. In some tales, for
example, trickster is credited with giving humans fire, language, hunting skills,
33

lovemaking, and the creative arts [...] but in others hes the one who brings us hunger,
disease, painful childbirth, and death (Datlow, Windling 2009: 7).
Sometimes he brings culture, sometimes food, sometimes light and sometimes rain; at
other times, he makes sure that people dont live forever and that the world is full of wars.
Sometimes the trickster plays a fool and a culture hero at the same time. A good example is
Loki, who is responsible for creating a fish trap and in the end gets caught in it, making
him the predator and the prey at the same time; a hero and a fool with the same invention.

34

2.11 Prince Of Thieves

There used to live a famous Wasichu trader, who was known for his cunning and trickery.
This man boasted that he could best any living being in trickery. People told him that
Coyote was probably better than him and the man decided to look for this Coyote. He
found him and challenged him to a dual. Coyote informed him that he would love to
participate but has unfortunately left his cheating medicine at home. The trader told him
that he will wait while Coyote procures his medicine and Coyote replied that his home is
far away, but that he could get there and back again faster, if he had the traders horse. The
Wasichu agreed to give Coyote the horse. Coyote went on to argue that he is not a good
rider and that the horse does not know him, but that he could do the feat if the trader lent
him his clothes as well. The Wasichu reluctantly agreed and before he realized that he has
already lost, Coyote was far away with the mans horse and his clothes.
All of the tricksters abilities, his cunning, his amorality, his speed, his ability to cross
boundaries, his sexual endeavors, his duality, his infantile and psychopathic impulses etc.
point to his role as a thief. His thieving is not the tricksters most prominent feature;
neither is it the most important one when it comes to the life as we know it today. But it
does in a way encompass everything we told about him. Besides stealing the fire, Maui is
known for his thieving among his brothers and that is why they dont want to go fishing
with him, since he is not a good fisherman and always secures his brothers catch for
himself. Prometheus is also a thief when he steals fire from Zeus - and so is the Raven
when he steals the light and the water. Loki is undoubtedly a thief, since he kidnaps Idunn
from Asgard and later steals her from the giant. Eshu steals the valuables from people who
ask him to guard them and then gives them away.
When trickster is a thief, he is not some crook who steals and keeps the wealth for himself,
but is rather a generous Robin Hood-like character. As the protector of thieves, Hermes is
probably the most famous thief among all the tricksters. His legends are full of larceny; he
steals his brothers cattle with expert cunning, swipes his bow and arrows, takes
Persephone from Hades etc. As we already mentioned, people used to leave offerings for
Hermes on the crossroads and as Kroly Kernyi said, these offerings became windfalls
for hungry travelers who stole them from the God in his own spirit, just as he would have
done (Kernyi 1996: 59). What other god would let his offerings be stolen by wary

35

travelers? Lewis Hyde says that the Greek version of It fell of a truck is I found it at the
crossroads.
But in order to be a good thief, a trickster has to have a great number of abilities. He has to
be fast and cunning, he has to be able to tell believable lies, cross boundaries and it doesnt
hurt if he is a shape shifter as well. Tricksters are well known for their ability to transform
their bodies into something else. Wadjunkaga became a woman, Loki changed himself into
a raven, a flea, a horse etc., the Raven became a leaf, Hermes constantly disguised himself,
Iktomi and Anansi could be a man or a spider, while Maui is a well-known shape shifter.
Being amoral, a trickster can lie with ease and is sometimes even credited with the
invention of a lie, making it even easier to connect him with Satan. When the world was
created Coyote laughed although he was told not to. He immediately denied laughing and
in this way invented lying. But the deceptive language of a trickster often proves to be the
truth at the end. When Hermes said to Apollo that he didnt steal his cattle, he was lying,
but by the end of the tale, Hermes became the shepherd of the cows and his lie turned into
truth. He spoke in a way that confused the distinction of lying and sincerity.

36

2.12 Trickster in Real Life

With the rise of Christianity, the spirit of trickster as it exists in the pagan mythologies has
to be vanquished for the Christians absolutism theology to properly flourish. The role of
the trickster had to be altered in order for him to become the unconditional evil. Pagan
world had no problem picturing Apollo or Zeus in friendship with Hermes, whereas the
friendship of the Devil and Yahweh is unimaginable. The Yaruba clans of West Africa tell
how the missionaries taught them that Eshu is the devil and similar stories were told about
Legba and Wadjunkaga. Odysseus, who was full of cunning, a master of lying and deceit,
was one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology, but is in the Divine Comedy placed
near the very bottom of hell.
The influence of Christianity on the trickster figure is probably most notable in Loki, who
is always portrayed as one of the most malicious of all the tricksters. This is due to the fact
that Prose Edda, the most reliable source of Norse mythology, was written in Iceland after
most of the country had already been converted to Christianity. Unlike the Norwegians,
who fought for their beliefs against Christianity, the Icelanders peacefully accepted the
new religion and although the old forms of worship faded within a few decades, the
Icelanders still valued the stories of the pagan tradition as cultural heritage. The author
Snorri Sturluson was undoubtedly a Christian, so he portrayed the gods of Asgard as
mostly benevolent and Loki as the the foe of the gods [] the author of woes, the sly god,
the one who slanders and betrays the gods (Sturluson 2005: 140).
Although all the roles of the trickster vanished in the half forgotten lore, the spirit of
trickster still presides all around us and especially in us. Even in the Catholic-dominated
middle ages there were some ecclesiastical customs that were based on the ancient
saturnalias and were in some regions called the Fools holiday. It was full of profanities,
and even the priests and clerics often joined in the madness. These pagan festivals
encompassed many of the trickster traits and it required considerable effort of the church to
free the world of them.
But tricksters spirit still lives in our everyday lives. Carl Gustav Jung says: The so-called
civilized man has forgotten the trickster. He remembers him only figuratively and
metaphorically, when, irritated by his own ineptitude, he speaks of fate playing tricks on
him or of things being bewitched (Jung 2011: 147).

37

Like war is the driving force of progress, sexuality is the great hidden motivator of men
and women, and Eshu is intent on uncovering and exposing our relationship to this
dynamic life force (Ford 2010: 159). Trickster is what the best-behaved and most
circumspect person may secretly wish to be (Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: 38).
He not only represents some primordial creativity from our earlier days, but he
reminds us that such celebration of life goes on today, and he calls us to join him in
the frenzy. In an ordered world of objects and labels, he represents the potency of
nothingness, of chaos, of freedom-a nothingness that makes something of itself.
(Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: 335)
A trickster lives within every one of us. He lives on the border between the sacred and
profane. He lures us into braking taboos. He causes us to forget our laws of propriety and
seeks to plunge into indecency. But by doing this, he keeps us alive. The darkness and the
evil have not gone up in smoke, they have merely withdrawn into the unconscious owing
to loss of energy, where they remain unconscious so long as all is well with the conscious
(Radin 1988: 205). Trickster is a clear manifestation of human consciousness. And if we
try to get rid of him or consciously try to bind him in our subconscious, he will, like Loki,
one day get freed of his chains and wreak havoc in our mind.

38

3. Varljivec in Neil Gaiman

3.1

Med svetovi

Nekega dne me je prijatelj vpraal, zakaj po mojem mnenju ljudje v dananjem asu tako
radi berejo fantazijske romane, in eprav nisem imel vnaprej pripravljenega odgovora, saj
moja strast do fantazije ni bila nikoli pod vpraanjem, sva skupaj kaj hitro prila do
zakljuka, da je odgovor verjetno v pomanjkanju mitologije v vsakdanjem ivljenju
dananjega loveka. Ljudje so e od nekdaj verovali v razline bogove, opravljali raznolike
obiaje in in iveli svoja ivljenja glede na to, kar so jim razodeli njihovi bogovi. Aristotel
pravi, da so ljudje tako sedaj kakor tudi sprva [] zaeli gojiti modrost po zaslugi
udenja. (Aristoteles 1999: 9) Lahko bi rekli, da Armstrongova (2005: 9) Aristotela
dopolnjuje, ko zapie: Domiljija je sposobnost iz katere izvirata religija in mit. Kerenyi
v svojem komentarju h knjigi Paula Radina pravi, da je moral do dvajsetega stoletja vsak
bog do neke mere iztroiti, ne glede na to, kako moni in zvesti so njegovi privrenci, saj je
njihova religija in kultura e toliko asa v arhainem stanju (Radin 1988: 177). V
dananjem asu smo se torej ljudje zaradi napredka znanosti in filozofije nehali uditi
vsakdanjim zadevam, ki jih lahko s pomojo tehnologije brez problemov razloimo. H. P.
Lovecraft, eden zaetnikov fantazijske literature in gotskega ter grozljivega romana, je v
svojem eseju Supernatural Horror in Literature zapisal, da je za lovetvo najstareje in
najmoneje ustvo strah, najstareji in najmoneji strah pa je strah pred neznanim (Splet
6).
Meletinsky v delu Poetika mita govori o tem, da je razvoj mitov potekal proti
demitologizaciji, nato pa smo ljudje po romantiki in e zlasti v dvajsetem stoletju zaeli
z novo remitologizacijo (Meletinskij 2006). Prava remitologizacija se je zaela v drugem
desetletju dvajsetega stoletja in se razvila v buren proces, kljub temu da lahko opazimo
zametke fantazije e v delih, kot so Boanska komedija, The Faerie Queene, in celo v
antiki z Zlatim Oslom in podobnimi. Preko velikih avtorjev, kot so E. A. Poe, H. P.
Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, George McDowel, Andrew Lang in tako naprej, je fantazijska
literatura prila do avtorja svoje velike prelomnice J. R. R. Tolkiena, ki je s svojim delom
poloil glavni temelj za visoko fantazijsko literaturo, kot jo poznamo danes. Tolkienov svet
vilincev, kratov, orkov in ostalih nadnaravnih bitij je navduil bralce po vsem svetu in v
literaturo vpeljal nekakno ponovno oivitev utopinega romana, saj je poleg strahu pred
neznanim bralcem ponudil tudi trenutek sree in resnice, ki jo lahko uzrejo ob zrenju
39

drugega sveta. Njegovemu stilu ustvarjanja novega sveta so sledili veliki pisci, kot so
Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin Hobb, George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist,
Terry Pratchett, in med bolj novejimi Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch in
mnogi drugi. Swinfenova (1984) loi fantazijo predvsem na dve veji skupini, in sicer tiste,
ki ustvarjajo nove svetove, in tiste, kjer drugi svet obstaja skupaj z naim.
Ideja, da obstajajo isto pred naimi omi nam skriti svetovi, je prisotna v literaturi e
stoletja, protagonist zgodbe pa mora za vstop v novi svet prestopiti nekaken prag in tako
kot otroci v Narniji odkorakati onkraj utemeljenih mej realnosti. Takna zvrst fantazijske
literature se je do precej zapletenih razsenosti razvila znotraj anra urbane fantazije, s
pomojo avtorjev, med katerimi izstopajo predvsem Jim Butcher, Charles de Lint, Richard
Kadrey, Rick Riordan in seveda J. K. Rowling. Pogojno bi lahko v to zvrst umestili tudi
edalje bolj popularno vampirsko literaturo, katere predstavniki so predvsem Laurell K.
Hamilton, Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyers in Charlain Harris.
Sndor Klapcsik govori o liminalni fantaziji 1, katere opredelitev je razvil e Farah
Mendlesohn v svoji teoriji o fantaziji. Mendlesohn knjigo razdeli Portal-Quest Fantasy,
The Immersive Fantasy, The Intrusion Fantasy, The Liminal Fantasy in na The
irregulars. Liminalno fantazijo opie kot tisto, ki se v nekaknem uporu proti klasini
fantazijski literaturi posluuje ironije (Mendlesohn 2008: xxiv) in tako za bralca ustvarja
ve nainov branja. V svojem lanku Klapcsik pie o tem, da smo v postmodernistini dobi
ljudje in e zlasti avtorji nagnjeni k branju, analiziranju in predelavi pravljic in fantastinih
zgodb (prim. Klapscik 2008: 317). Mojster takne predelave pa je Neil Gaiman; avtor, ki
ga lahko brez slabe vesti umestimo v sam vrh fantazije, saj je v svojem obsenem opusu
predelal e kar nekaj pravljic, med drugim tudi Sneguljico in Zlatolasko, v njegovih delih
pa se pojavljajo mnoge osebe iz razlinih panteonov. Gaimanovi protagonisti se morajo na
zaetku romana ali zgodbe navaditi na idejo, da obstaja poleg sveta, ki ga poznajo, e
nekaken drugi svet, ki jim je bil do sedaj skrit. Beseda liminalno predstavlja vse, kar ni ne
na eni in ne na drugi strani neke meje oziroma praga, temve ivi na meji ali pa lahko brez
vejih teav potuje ez prag dveh entitet, ki ju ta meja louje. Lahko rekli, da mitoloki
varljivec 2 glede na svoje lastnosti osebe, ki vedno ivi na meji ali ima sposobnost

Ker v slovenini nisem nael primernega izraza za besedo liminal (ang.), sem se odloil za uporabo besede
v izvirniku.
2
Kar se tie slovenskega prevoda besede trickster (slepar,spletkar, vraikasti bog, varljivec), sem bil ob
pisanju diplome v veliki zagati, saj nobena beseda ne opie tega, kar pomeni to ime v originalu. Najblija
1

40

prestopanja praga, pooseblja fantazijski stil pisanja, ki se ga Neil Gaiman tako rad
posluuje, saj v enem izmed intervjujev tudi sam pravi, da so mu bile zgodbe o varljivcih
vedno ve (Splet 3).

razliica samemu pomenu besede je verjetno varljivec, za katerega sem se tudi odloil kljub bolj pogosti
uporabi besede slepar.

41

3.2

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman se je rodil v Hampshiru v Angliji, kjer je preivljal tudi svoje otrotvo.
Njegovi stari stari, ki so bili judje iz vzhodnoevropskih drav, so se v Anglijo preselili v
zaetku 20. stoletja. Stari so bili mono povezani s scientoloko cerkvijo, oe pa je delal
celo kot njihov predstavnik za odnose z javnostjo. Neil pravi, da ne ve, e Bog ostaja ali
ne, oziroma da je monost verjetno 50 odstotna, vendar zanj to ni pomembno. Kot otrok je
veliko asa preivel v knjinicah, kjer je prebiral dela avtorjev, kot so J. R. R. Tolkien, C.
S. Lewis, Edgar Alan Poe, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolf, James Branch Cabell, G. K.
Chesterton, Michael Moorcock in Lewis Carroll. Kasneje je bral tudi ostale klasike
znanstvene fantastike, kot so Alan Moore, Roger Zelazny in H. P. Lovecraft. Sam pravi, da
so ga vzgojile knjinice in da e vedno dolguje svojo ljubezen do knjig prav knjinicam in
njihovemu osebju.
V svojem briljantnem nagovoru diplomantov leta 2012 z naslovom Make Good Art
Gaiman pravi, da ni imel narta za svojo kariero, temve da je imel spisek ciljev, ki si jih je
zadal nekje pri 15. letih. Rekel si je, da eli napisati roman za odrasle, otroko knjigo, strip,
scenarij za film in posneti avdio knjigo. Ti njegovi cilji so bili nekakna gora, proti kateri
je moral iti in e se je kdaj oddaljil od te gore, je moral poravnati svojo smer in nadaljevati
pot. Za dosego teh ciljev se je bil vekrat pripravljen odpovedati tudi dobro plaanim
slubam, kar pa se mu je na dolgi rok obrestovalo.
Gaiman je svojo pisateljsko kariero zael kot novinar v zaetku osemdesetih, kjer je pisal
intervjuje, lanke in literarne kritike. Njegova prva kratka zgodba je bila Featherquest,
fantazijska zgodba, objavljena leta 1984 v Imagination Magazine. Istega leta je objavil tudi
biografijo skupine Duran Duran, ki je bila zelo hitro razprodana, kljub njegovemu
preprianju, da ni dovolj dobro napisana. Nato je napisal biografijo Douglasa Adamsa z
naslovom Don't Panic: The Official Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion, ki jo je
zainil s klasinim anglekim humorjem.
Njegov pravi uspeh, se je zgodil v svetu stripov, ko je po nekaj zaetnih stripih DC leta
1989 zael izdajati zgodbo o Sandmanu, antropomorfizirani personifikaciji sanj. Serija
Sandman je bila na sporedu do leta 1996 in postala osnova modernih stripov. V 75. izdajah
je strip prejel veliko razlinih nagrad, med drugim tudi Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
in tri Harvey Awards. Leta 1991 je Sandman postal prvi strip, ki je prejel literarno nagrado
World Fantasy Award za najboljo kratko zgodbo.
42

Leta 1991 je Gaiman v sodelovanju s Terryjem Patchettom izdal prvi roman z naslovom
Good Omens, ki ga je v slovenino prevedel Botjan Gorenc in katerega prevod nosi
naslov Dobra znamenja: Verne in natanne prerokbe Agnes Nutter, coprnice. Terry
Prathett, ki je eden najbolj branih in najbolj prevajanih avtorjev v svetu fantazije, je leta
2009 prejel angleki viteki naziv, obenem pa je tudi prejemnik mnogih nagrad, med njimi
World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
Leta 1996 je za BBC napisal scenarij za televizijsko serijo, vendar ni bil zadovoljen z
nastankom preslikave njegovih idej na filmsko platno in je zato napisal svoj prvi
samostojni roman z naslovom Neverwhere. Roman, ki na izjemen nain prikazuje, kako
neverjetno znamo ljudje prezreti potrebe soloveka, je leta 2010 prevedel Marjan Ogrinc in
nosi naslov Nikolikje. Leta 2013 je BBC Radio 4 priredil roman v radijsko dramo, vloge pa
je odigrala vrhunska zasedba zelo znanih igralcev, med katerimi so bili James McAvoy,
Natalie Dormer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee in drugi.
Leta 1999 je izla prva izdaja romana Stardust, ki je bila leta 2007 predelana v istoimenski
film z odlino igralsko zasedbo in splonim odobravanjem javnosti ter kritikov. Avtor je za
roman istega leta prejel Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, ki jo podeljuje Mythopoeic Society,
nominiran pa je bil tudi za nagrado Locus.
American Gods, Gaimanovo najbolj obetavno in najdalje delo, je izlo leta 2001, avtor pa
je zanj prejel tevilne prestine nagrade za najbolji roman, med katerimi so tudi Hugo,
Nebula, Locus, SFX Magazine in Bram Stoker. Roman je obenem tudi nosilec BSFA
Award kot tudi World Fantasy, International Horror Guild, Mythopoeic in British
Fantasy nagrade. Leta 2010 je bil roman v spletni anketi izbran kot elja bralcev za online
knjini klub One Book One Twitter, kljub temu da so mu na lestvici delali drubo romani,
kot so 1984, Krasni novi svet, 100 let samote, Kavelj 22 in drugi. Leta 2013 je pri zalobi
Sanje v prevodu Botjana Gorenca izla Ameriki bogovi.
Anansi Boys, roman, ki je izel leta 2005, e ni bil preveden v slovenino, je prejel
nagrado Locus in British Fantasy Society Award. Kljub temu da roman govori zgodbo o
sinovih enega glavnih likov iz romana Ameriki bogovi, ga avtor ne teje kot nadaljevanje,
saj pravi, da pravo nadaljevanje e aka na svoj as.
Gaiman je izdal tudi dve zbirki kratke proze, Smoke and Mirrors leta 1998 in Fragile
Things leta 2006. Kot avtor za mlaje bralce je napisal e vrsto zbirk in slikanic, kot so M
43

is for Magic (2007), Interworld (2007), The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
(1997), The Wolves in the Walls (2003), Crazy Hair (2009), The Dangerous Alphabet
(2008), Blueberry Girl (2009), Instructions (2010) in Odd and the Frost Giants (2009).
Dale najveji uspeh med njegovimi deli za mlaje bralce pa sta poela romana Coraline
(2002) in The Graveyard Book (2008). Oba romana so na zaetku kritizirali, saj naj bi bila
preve grozljiva in temana za otroke, vendar pa sta presegla vsa priakovanja kritikov.
Roman Coraline je prejel nagrade British Scienece Fiction Award, Hugo, Nebula, Bram
Stoker in American Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla. The Graveyard Book, ki jo je leta 2010 v
slovenino prevedla Maja Novak (Pokopalika knjiga), je prejela nagrade, kot so UKs
Booktrust Prize for Teenage Fiction, Newbery Medal, ki je najvije ameriko odlikovanje
za otroko literaturo, Locus Young Adult Award in nagrado Hugo za najbolji roman.
Leta 2013 je izel njegov zadnji roman The Ocean at the End of the Lane, ki je bil v British
National Book Awards izvoljen za najboljo knjigo leta.
Gaiman je sodeloval tudi pri izdelavi nekaterih scenarijev za filme, kot je Beowulf, napisal
je scenarij za epizodo popularne serije Dr. Who in Babylon 5, sodeloval je pri izdelavi
scenarija za film Stardust in animirani film Coraline itd. Trenutno naj bi bili v izdelavi
filmi oziroma serije, narejene na podlagi ve njegovih del, med njimi tudi Ameriki bogovi,
Anansi Boys, Pokopalika knjige in The Sandman.

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3.3

Ameriki bogovi

Lukcs zapie, da je roman epopeja sveta, ki ga je bog zapustil (Lukcs 2000: 66). V
obravnavani knjigi bogovi sveta niso zapustili, vendar pa izginjajo. ivijo v moderni
Ameriki, ki bogovom nikakor ni naklonjena. Dandananji je civilizacija izgubila vez z
nadnaravnim in duhovnim svetom oziroma je bila ta vez pretrgana, religiozni sistemi in
verovanja pa so izgubila svojo veljavo. Fantazijski anr, ki ga avtor uporablja za to
upodobitev, je udovita meanica fantazijskega pripovednitva, mitologije in potopisnega
pisanja. Gaiman v sredie zgodbe postavi bivega kaznjenca po imenu Shadow, ki se po
udnem spletu okoliin zaplete v vojno med starimi in novejimi bogovi. Bizarni dogodki,
ki ga akajo na poti, vse temane nadnaravnosti, ki se mu dogajajo, in mitoloka bitja, s
katerimi pride v kontakt, postavijo pod vpraaj njegovo dosedanje preprianje o svetu.
Njegov delodajalec Wednesday je amerika razliica nordijskega boga Odina, bivi
sokaznjenec je Loki, pridruijo pa se jim e ostala mitoloka bitja, kot je slovanski
Czernobog, afriki Anansi, kulturni heroj staroselskih Amerianov Wisakedjak, egipanski
bogovi Anubis, Toth, Horus in podobni. 3
V priujoi zgodbi je s priseljevanjem raznih ljudstev v Ameriko ta deela postala
nekakno odlagalie ali odpad razlinih verstev, obiajev, ritualov in posledino tudi
bogov. Vendar pa se je Amerika kmalu zatem podala na pot industrijske revolucije in tako
onemogoila popoln razcvet vseh razlinih verstev. Postala je deela tehnologije, takna
deela pa je v svoji nravi oropana moralnih vrednot. Bogastvo, ki ga je proizvedla
industrija, in spoznanja, ki jih je prinesla moderna znanost, so se v sklopu amerike
paradigme zdeli opraviljiv razlog za mnoino zavraanje arobnosti in arobnih bitij, kot
so vile, krati, kulturni heroji, in seveda bogovi. V takni bogati in polni civilizaciji, ki je v
svojem bistvu prazna, je v kulturnem smislu vsa magija potisnjena v kot in mitoloko
dojemanje sveta pozabljeno.
Gaiman Ameriko popelje v mitoloki as, bralca pa spodbuja k ponovnemu zaaranju
sveta. Z izjemo nekaterih krajih fragmentov knjige se verjetno zavestno izogiba najbolj
znanim mitologijam, kot so grka, latinska in hebrejsko-kranska, saj se je dananja doba
zahodnega sveta razvija iz njih. Raje se vraa k naravi in k danosti deele. Wisakedjak,
eden izmed spletkarjev v mitologiji amerikih staroselcev, pove glavnemu junaku:

Podrobna obnova romana je vkljuena v prilogo.

45

Ta deela ni dobra za bogove. Moje ljudstvo je to doumelo e zgodaj. Ima duhove

stvarnike, ki so nali zemljo ali jo naredili ali posrali, ampak pomisli malo: kdo bo
astil Kojota? Ljubil se je z Jeevko, pa mu je kurac prebodlo ve igel kot blazinico
za bucike. Prepiral se je s skalami in skale so ga premagale. (Gaiman 2013: 489)
Ameriki bogovi s pomojo modernizacije mitolokega asa in mitologizacije dananjega
zdruuje arobnost z znanostjo, boanske ideje z imanentnostjo loveka in makrokozmos z
mikrokozmosom. Bralcu na postmodernistien nain predstavi sintezo modernega in
antinega sveta, v katerem je mitologija podlaga kreativnega in poetinega literarnega
ustvarjanja. Bogovi so predstavljeni kot ideje, ki pa so, eprav jih je teje uniiti kot ljudi,
vseeno umrljive.

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3.3.1 Shadow
Shadow je glavni protagonist romana Ameriki bogovi in eprav nima vloge varljivca, je
obravnava tega lika pomembna za nadaljnjo razpravo. Na raznih forumih in ostalih
klepetalnicah, kjer razpravljajo o tem delu, je bilo o Shadowu reenega e veliko, veina
teorij pa se giblje okoli njegovega boanstva oziroma mesta v nordijskem panteonu in tako
tudi Gaimanovem pan-panteonu. Shadow ima v romanu liminalno vlogo osebe, ki ne spada
med bogove, vendar lahko obuje z njimi; zapolnjuje praznino med starodavnim
mitolokim in modernim svetom.
Njegovo ime v slovenskem prevodu pomeni senca. Tako kot pri Odinu, o katerem bom
govoril v enem od naslednjih poglavij in ga avtor prikae kot arhetipskega dobrega starca,
lahko tudi Shadow na zaetku bralca zavede v nekaken nezaupljiv odnos. Kot sem e
omenil, Shadow ni varljivec, vendar njegovo ime pomeni enega od najosnovnejih in
najbolj ivalskih delov loveke psihe, ki ga Jung povezuje z varljivcem. Jung (prim.
Radin 1988) namre razlaga o kolektivni senci kot o temanem delu psihe, ki ga eli
veina odraslih posameznikov zatreti, saj ga sestavljata sram in strah. Skupaj z okoliino,
da je Shadow v zaetku romana kaznjenec, ki ga ravno izpustijo z zapora, dobi od zaetka
bralec napano predstavo o njem in lahko bi celo rekli, da avtor bralca nala zavede.
Bralec sasoma ugotovi, da je Shadow verjetno najbolj dobroduen karakter v knjigi in
obenem tako patoloko iskren ter poten, da se na koncu romana vrne k Czernobogu,
eprav misli, da ga tam aka bolea smrt.
S svojo velikostjo, mojo, zaupljivostjo in eljo po ugajanju drugim je Shadow precej
natanna moderna interpretacija nordijskega boga Baldra. V romanu Ameriki bogovi Neil
Gaiman nikoli ne naredi tone povezave med tema dvema likoma, dopua pa kar nekaj
namigov v to smer, obenem pa v eni od svojih zgodbic v zbirki kratke proze Fragile
Things nadaljujejo fabulo amerikih bogov in kot pravo ime tega lika omeni Balder Moon
(Gaiman 2006b: 317). Frazer o Baldru zapie naslednje: Boanstvo, za katero bi lahko
rekli, da ni ivelo ne na nebu ne na zemlji, ampak nekje vmes, je bil norveki Balder, lepi
in dobi bog, sin velikega boga Odina in najmodreji, najblaji in najbolj ljubljen izmed
vseh nesmrtnikov (Frazer 2001: 802).
Kot sem e omenil, je tudi Shadow lik, ki ivi nekje med ljudmi in bogovi, torej nekje na
meji med nebesi in zemljo, obenem pa je tudi lik, za katerega se zavzemajo vsi bogovi in
ga v veini tudi odobravajo. O Baldru najve izvemo iz islandske Edde, omenjeno e v
47

prvem delu diplome, kjer ga opie kot najboljega, najlepega, najmodrejega in

najmilejega med vsemi bogovi, obenem pa tudi pove, da njegove odloitve pogosto niso
uinkovite (prim. Sturluson 2005).
Kar se tie same zunanjosti, Shadow ne ustreza ravno temu opisu Baldra, saj njegova koa
ni nikoli opisana kot svetla; nasprotno, vekrat ga vpraajo, e ima morda v sebi kaj
romske, rnske ali amerike staroselske krvi. Obenem pa tudi njegova lepota ni nikoli
opevana tako kot Baldrova, eprav ga nekajkrat oznaijo za ednega. Vendar zunanjost v
tem primeru ne igra posebno velike vloge, saj Shadow ni dobesedno Baldr, temve njegova
moderna razliica ali reinkarnacija. V sklopu romana ima Shadow vekrat udne sanje, v
katerih se sreuje z raznimi duhovi, bogovi in ptico gromovnico, ki je njegov magini pti.
V enih od teh sanj pleza po kupu lobanj in glas v glavi mu pove, da so vse te lobanje
njegove (Gaiman 2013: 302). Gaiman sicer teorije o lobanjah ne razvija naprej, bi pa znale
te sanje nakazati na Baldra kot umirajoega boga, vse lobanje, po katerih pleza Shadow, pa
njegova prejnja ivljenja.
Proti koncu romana naredi avtor e eno zanimivo povezavo med Shadowom in Baldrom,
ko se med Lauro in Lokijem odvije naslednji pogovor:
'Dobro srce ima, ve to?'
'Da,' je rekel gospod World. 'Vem.'
[...]
'Ko bo vse to za nami, bom najbr oilil palico bele omele in se odpravil k jesenu ter
mu jo zaril skozi oko.' (Gaiman 2013: 501)
Tako kot e reeno, je Shadow, podobno kot tudi Baldr, najbolj zaupljiv in naiven lik v
romanu. Vekrat ga poimenujejo kot poasnega, eprav sasoma vedno pride do pravih
zakljukov. Podobno se zgodi tudi v konnem razpletu okoliin, ko se izkae, da je
Shadow e vse ivljenje lutka v rokah Odina in Lokija. Odin mu v nekem trenutku celo
ree:
Potreboval sem tebe, fant moj. Da. Moj lastni fant. Vedel sem, da si bil spoet, toda
tvoja mati je odla iz drave. Dolgo smo potrebovali, da smo te nali. In ko smo te
nali, si bil v zaporu. Morali smo ugotoviti, kaj te ene. Katere gumbe moramo
pritisniti, da se zgane. Kdo sploh si. (Gaiman 2013: 508)

48

Odin je bil torej za svoj namen pripravljen rtvovati svojega sina, saj je vedel, kakna mo
se skriva v rtvovanju kraljevega oziroma bojega sina. Odin Shadowu ree: v rtvovanju
sina je posebna mo dovolj moi in ve kot dovolj, da poene stvari v tek. Po pravici
povedano, sem ponosen nate (Gaiman 2013: 506). O rtvovanju kraljevega sina na dolgo
razlaga tudi Frazer (2001), o rtvovanju bojega sina in moi te rtve pa pria samo
kranstvo. Glede na to, da Shadow odigra nekakno vlogo odreenika, ki je visel na lesu,
bil preboden s sulico, el v podzemlje in bil obujen od mrtvih,bi lahko potegnili
vzporednico celo med njim in Jezusom Kristusom, vendar vendar to presega okvirje
priujoe naloge.
Kozmino drevo, na kakrnem se rtvuje Shadow, je moderna manifestacija drevesa,
prisotna po celem svetu, od Skandinavije do Egipta, Arkadije, Sumerije in celo do
Kitajske, in igra pomembno vlogo e v enem drugem izroilu v mitologiji amana.
aman je prastar religijski pojav, ki je razirjen po vsem svetu in govori o loveku ali
kakni drugi entiteti, ki ima mnogovrstne moi in duhovna spoznanja. aman lahko navee
stik z raznimi duhovi, bogovi, demoni, duami umrlih in ostalimi bitji, ki ivijo na vseh
treh kozminih ravneh. Eliade zapie: aman je dejansko teolog in demonolog hkrati,
izvedenec za ekstazo in vra, pomonik pri lovu, varuh skupnosti in red, psihopomp
[vodnik, spremljevalec due] in v nekaterih drubah tudi uenjak in pesnik (Eliade 1996c:
17). Navadno ivi ivljenje v osami in se pridrui svojemu ljudstvu predvsem takrat, ko ga
potrebujejo. Njegova mo zaobjema magijo, zdravljenje in udee, ki se hranijo na
domiljiji in ruijo meje med sanjami in realnostjo ter odpirajo okna v svet nadnaravnega.
aman je na kratko torej edini v nekem ljudstvu ali kulturi, ki se sooa oziroma obuje z
nadnaravnim. Armstrongova (Armstrong 2005: 30) pie, da se mora aman sreati s smrtjo
in vstajenjem.
Eliade zapie, da lahko nekdo postane aman zaradi: 1) spontane poklicanosti ... 2)
dednosti amanskega poklica ali 3) osebne odloitve (Eliade 1996c: 15) V nordijski
mitologiji je prvi aman Odin (prim. Meletinskij 2006: 158), vendar nameravam o tej
njegovi vlogi bolj podobno spregovoriti v enem od naslednjih poglavji. Za sedaj naj bo
dovolj to, da vemo, da verjetno Shadow kot Wednesedyev sin podeduje to sposobnost od
svojega oeta, obenem pa se tudi sam odloi, da bo opravil svojo iniciacijo. Moi, ki jih
ima aman, so navadno plod njegovih iniciacijskih izkustev aman se mora namre
rtvovati, torej prestati obredno smrt, se spustiti v podzemlje ali dvigniti v nebesa in se
nato vrniti v ivljenje. Navadno aman med takno iniciacijo razume vse jezike in prejme
49

razne odgovore, prav tako kot tudi Shadow med visenjem na drevesu in sestopom v svojo
smrt dojame smisel bogov v Ameriki in njegovo lastno vlogo v bitki med starimi in novimi
bogovi.
Louwna Van Heerden, ki v lanku Sustaining the Imaginative Life govori o povezavi med
Baldrom in Shadowom, poudari tudi, da so za amana pogosto znailne lucidne sanje
(Slabbert, Viljoen 2006: 142), ki so v veliki meri prisotne tudi pri Shadowu. Kasneje
opozori e, da so za amana imanentne celo mitine ptice, ki pa jih Shadow srea vsaj
dvakrat (Slabbert, Viljoen 2006: 149).
Shadow torej s svojimi lucidnimi sanjami, iniciacijskim izkustvom, ivljenjem v osami,
interakciji z bogovi in duhovi, ter vlogi odreenika in mediatorja, pooseblja nekaknega
prvega amana v tej metamitologiji amerikih bogov. Njegovo liminalno mesto v bitki, je
torej mesto nekoga, ki ivi ivljenje na meji med dvema entitetama.
V tej liminalnosti bi se lahko Shadow priblial liku varljivca, vendar se uveljavi na ravno
nasprotnem polu, in sicer v obliki heroja. Joseph Campbell, avtor mnogih teorij o
monomitu in uenec Jungove zapuine, v knjigi Junak tisoerih obrazov govori o
potovanju heroja in njegovih vmesnih stopnjah, ki se v veliki meri kaejo tudi v
dogodivini glavnega lika Amerikih bogov. Vendar o neposrednem vplivu ne moremo
govoriti, saj je Gaiman za razliko od nekaterih znanih avtorjev, ki so vpliv Campbellove
knjige priznali, v intervjuju za Wild River Rivew dejal:
Mislim, da sem knjigo Junak tisoerih obrazov prebral priblino do polovice, ko sem
spoznal, da e je vse to res, potem tega noem vedeti. Teh stvari mi res ni treba
vedeti. Raje bi po nakljuju ustvaril nekaj, kar se s tem vzorcom sklada, kot pa da mi
nekdo pove, kaken ta vzorec je. (Splet 9)

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3.3.2 Loki
Loki je verjetno eden najbolj znanih varljivcev, e zlasti v dananjem asu, ko se njegovo
ime v takni ali drugani vlogi edalje ve pojavlja v popularnih medijih, kot na primer v
filmu Dogma, v nekaterih knjigah Joanne Harris, stripih Thor in seveda v delih Neila
Gaimana. O izvirnem Lokiju in njegovih lastnostih mitinega varljivca sem razpravljal e
v prvem delu diplome, zato bom tu zgolj povzel nekaj glavnih tok. Loki je znan kot glavni
pobudnik zlih dejanj, mojster vseh ukan, znan je tudi po svoji porenosti, spolnih
dogodivinah, popotovanjih ter spreminjanju svoje oblike in spola. Odigra kljuno vlogo
v nordijski eshatologiji, saj kot tudi e omenjeno njegovo posredovanje v umoru Baldra
posledino pripelje do Ragnaroka. Obenem pa je tudi veni sopotnik Odina in z njim v
precej zanimivi navezi, o katerim bom govoril v enem od naslednjih poglavij.
Loki v Ameriki bogovi se skoraj ne razlikuje od Lokija v nordijski mitologiji. Najprej se
pojavi kot sojetnik glavnega protagonista v zaporu in se izdaja pod imenom Low-Key
Liesmith. Ta igra besed, s katero se je poigral avtor pri poimenovanju tega karakterja,
nakazuje na neko skrivnostno naravo, saj bi v prevodu low-key pomenilo nekaj
nevpadljivega ali zadranega. V angleko anglekem slovarju se v definiciji low-key pojavi
tudi beseda restrained (Splet 16), kar lahko sicer v slovenini pomeni zadrano, mestoma
pa se uporablja tudi v povezavi z Lokijevo kaznijo. Njegov priimek e bolj nakazuje na
njegovo naravo, saj bi Liesmith oziroma a smith of lies lahko prevedli v kova lai.
Lokija Neil Gaiman torej omeni e na zaetku knjige in eprav lahko bralec e po imenu
sklepa kdo bi Low-Key Liesmith, prevarant iz Minesote, lahko v resnici bil, Shadow
njegovo identiteto ugotovi ele v drugi polovici romana: 'Low Key Lyesmith,' je rekel
Shadow, in ko je zaslial kaj govori, je razumel. 'Loki,' je rekel. 'Loki Lie-Smith, Kova
Lai' (Gaiman 2013: 424). Varljivec mu odgovoru: 'Poasen si [...] ampak sasoma
pogrunta' (Gaiman 2013: 424). O brazgotini na ustnicah, o kateri govori ena od legend o
tem varljivcu te brazgotine, nekoliko kasneje povpraa tudi eden od drugih likov: 'Gospod
World? Kaj se je zgodilo z vaimi ustnicami?' World je zavzdihnil. 'Po resnici povedano,'
je rekel, 'jih je nekdo zail skupaj. e davno tega' (Gaiman 2013: 482).
Gospod World je drugo ime Lokija v romanu in vsaj na prvi pogled igra vlogo kljunega
antagonista. V bitki med starimi in novimi bogovi si nasproti stojita dve navidezno
nepovezani osebi, in sicer Wednesday in gospod Svet. Wednesday je poosebljenje
nordijskega boga Odina, medtem ko naj bi gospod Svet predstavljal hitrorastoo
51

globalizacijo, ki je posledica najnovejih tehnolokih odkritij. Ni presenetljivo, da avtor za

poosebljenje te spreminjajoe se drube v globalizaciji sveta, ki seveda pripelje do spopada
raznih kultur ter splone neubranosti, izbere ravno najbolj znanega varljivca. Loki je torej
navidezni nasprotnik Odina, ki do konca romana ne razkrije svoje prave identitete.
Ko Shadow vpraa Wednesdaya o njegovih preteklih prevarah, mu le-ta odgovori, da je
imel neko partnerja, vendar pa so ti dnevi e mimo (Gaiman 2013: 238). e pred tem mu
opie svojo najljubo prevaro, ki jo poimenuje kofova igra in pravi, da je imela ta igra
prav vse: vzburljivost, ukano, prenosnost, preseneenje (Gaiman 2013: 234). To je igra,
ki naj bi v dananjih asih ne bila ve izvedljiva, v zaetkih dvajsetega stoletja pa je bila
pravi uspeh.
Bralec zgodbi v danem trenutku ne posvea prevelike pozornosti, saj je navidezno
nepomembna in neumestna, vendar pa se proti koncu romana izkae, da zelo podobno igro
igrata Odin in Loki z novimi bogovi. Dve stranki vodita nasprotujoi si entiteti, ki se po
konani igri izkaeta za sodelujoi. Pravzaprav Loki celo poudari, da v tej bitki ni
pomembno, kdo je na kateri strani in kaken je izid bitke, temve sam pokol in kaos
(Gaiman 2013: 483). Bitka je torej za Lokija in Odina zgolj hrana in pot do moi, saj se
Odin hrani s smrtjo. Ko Shadow sprevidi ukano teh dveh bogov, ugotovi tudi, s im se
hrani Loki: 'Se tudi ti hrani s smrtjo?' je vpraal Shadow in pogledal Lokija. Loki je
slabotno odkimal. 'Ne, seveda ne,' je rekel Shadow. 'Ti se hrani s kaosom' (Gaiman 2013:
508).
Scheub (2013) zapie, da varljivec kot agent oziroma predstavnik kaosa nenehno kali red.
To je v knjigi Ameriki bogovi verjetno ena najbolj oitnih lastnosti varljivca, ki jih
predstavlja Loki, saj bi teko nali nekoga, ki bi bolj poosebljal nered, kot bog, ki se s
kaosom hrani. Ravno to hranjenje predstavlja tudi varljivevo nenehno lakoto, saj bi imel
verjetno Loki za preivetje dovolj e kaos, ki ga povzroamo ljudje sami, vendar on seveda
hrepeni e po neem ve eli kaos med bogovi, saj bi mu le-ta prinesel neizmerno mo.
Spola Low-Key v romanu oitno ne spreminja, spreminja pa svojo podobo, saj se veji del
romana izdaja za popolnoma drugo osebo, kot je v resnici. Sode po nordijskem panteonu
in kronolokosti mitologije bi moral Loki sodelovati s starimi bogovi, medtem kot se on
veino romana izdaja ne le za pripadnika novih bogov, temve za njihovega pobudnika. S
pomojo svojega druabnika Odina ustvarja mejo med starimi in novimi bogovi torej
mejo, ki pred tem sploh ni obstajala. Seveda sta onadva tudi edina med bogovi, ki lahko
52

ivita izven te meje, saj se edina zavedata, da je zgolj navidezna. O Lokiju kot kulturnem
junaku tukaj ne moremo govoriti, vsekakor pa je oitna njegova vloga tatu. V romanu ga
vekrat poimenujejo goljuf ali spletkar in tudi vsi zapleteni ropi, o katerih je govoril Odin,
so plod njegovega sodelovanja z Lokijem. Kot e reeno v prvem delu diplome, pa mora
biti dober tat tudi spreten lanivec in tkalec skrivnosti, kar Loki zagotovo je, saj tudi sam o
skrivnostih pove, da zainijo svet. Kakor sol v golau (Gaiman 2013: 426).

53

3.3.3 Gospod Nancy

Tudi o Anansiju je bilo precej govora e v prvem delu diplome, vendar je za bolje
razumevanje Gaimanovega lika potrebno poudariti, da se je ta lik s prihodom na ameriki
kontinent in e zlasti na Jamajko precej spremenil. V delu Liminal Anansi Zobel
Marshallova zapie: Anansi se iz pajka edalje bolj spreminja v loveka, saj postane
simbol sunjev, ki so jih pripeljali iz Afrike (Marshall 2007: 14). Avtorica nato nadaljuje:
Anansi je bil prisiljen v metamorfozo iz mitinega pajka ljudstva Asante v
manifestacijo rnega sunja, ki je ujet v socialno ureditev v kateri je kakrnokoli
pogajanje nemogoe. V svoji jamajki vlogi je Anansi postal prej lomilec kot
preizkuevalce meja. Postal je simbol kreativnega kaosa, ki v prisiljenem redu
hrepeni po svobodi. (Marshall 2007: 14)
Afriki bog v obliki pajka se je torej moral po spletu okoliin spremeniti v loveka, ki je
za jamajke sunje postal ljudski heroj, na mesto boga Nyamija, ki sem ga omenjal v
prvem delu in ki je bil e pred Anansijem, pa stopi Tiger. O Anansiju in njegovem boju s
tigrom govori predvsem knjiga Anansi Boys.
V delu Ameriki bogovi avtor opie gospoda Nancya kot: Bil je majhen mo, tiste vrste
stari moicelj, ki je bil videti, kot bi se z leti skril (Gaiman 2013: 129) Kasneje, ko
glavni protagonist romana opazuje bogove v njihovi pravi podobi, za Anansija pove
naslednje:
Gledal je Gospoda Nancya, temnopoltega starca s tankimi bricami, v karirastem
portnem jopiu in limonovo rumenih rokavicah [...] istoasno pa je na istem mestu
videl draguljastega pajka, visokega kot konj, z omi kot smaragdne nebule, ki se je
opiril in zvika strmel nanj; hkrati je gledal v nenavadno visokega mokega s koo
barve tikovine in tremi pari rok, s plapolajoo perjanico iz nojevih peres, z obrazom,
poslikanim z rdeimi progami, ki je jezdil razdraenega leva in se z dvema od estih
rok dral njegove grive; prav tako je videl temnopoltega deka, obleenega v cape, z
oteklim levim stopalom, po katerem so gomazele rne muhe; nazadnje pa je za vsemi
temi podobami Shadow zrl v rjavega pajkca, ki se je skrival pod ovelim okrastim
listom. (Gaiman 2013: 135)

54

Proti koncu romana, ko Shadow preprei bitko med starimi in novimi bogovi, se Nancy
zopet pojavi v obliki pajka: Pajek, velik kot rotvajler, je po sedmih nogah silovito
pridrobencljal k njemu; grozd oi mu je ibko arel (Gaiman 2013: 514).
Anansi je verjetno najbolj znan po tem, da je varuh vseh zgodb in da zgodbe na splono v
njegovi mitologiji igrajo zelo veliko vlogo. Zato tudi ni udno, da sestanek bogov zane
ravno gospod Nancy z eno od svojih zgodbic(Gaiman 2013: 137). Na nekem drugem
mestu se Czernobog in Anansi pogovarjata o daritvah, ki jih prejmetain Anansi pove, da
njemu najve pomeni, e si ljudje pripovedujejo zgodbe o njegovi bistroumnosti. Na istem
mestu Czernobog pove, da bogovi s takno vnemo kadijo cigarete po vsej verjetnosti zato,
ker jih spominjajo na galne daritve. Anansi mu odgovori: 'Meni niso nikoli dali esa
takega,' je rekel Nancy. 'Najve, kar sem si lahko obetal je bil kup sadja, mogoe kari s
kozlovino, kaj poasnega in mrzlega in visokega za pijao, in velika stara jokata babnica
za drubo' (Gaiman 2013: 130).
Tu e lahko opazimo eno glavnih lastnosti varljivca, ki jih gospod Nancy v romanu e kako
lepo pooseblja. Njegova spolna vnema in nepoteljivost sta ve kot oitna, saj gospod
Nancy vekrat poudarja njegovo veliko navduenje nad enskami in njihovim oprsjem, ko
nadaljuje prejnji citat:
'No, jaz ne dobim niti priblino toliko sadja kot neko,' je s sijoimi omi rekel
gospod Nancy. 'Ampak v mojem svetu ni niesar, kar bi lahko prekosilo veliko staro
jokato babnico. Nekateri ti bodo rekli, da mora najprej preveriti ritko, jaz pa ti
povem, da na mrzlo jutro ni ne zakurbla moje maine tako kot joki.' (Gaiman 2013
130)
Gaiman, ki zna biti mestoma tudi vulgaren, to lastnost kaj s pridom uporablja, ko govori v
osebi gospoda Nancya: V enem popoldnevu lahko dobim ve pik kot ti v vsem letu'
(Gaiman 2013: 407). Dodatni primeri njegove prostakosti bi bili na tem mestu odve, saj
bom o tem liku govoril e kasneje.
Vendar naj poudarim, da je kljub vulgarnosti Anansi eden od najbolj venih likov v
romanu in da je svoji bahavosti ter hudomunosti navkljub tudi eden bolj altruistinih.
Glavni lik namre v nekem trenutku zapre erif mesteca Laketown in ez as ga pridejo
iskati policisti iz vejega zapora. Ko se odpeljejo s postaje, se izkae, da se je v policista
preoblekel ravno gospod Nancy. Glede na to, da govorim o varljivcu, pa je preoblekel
55

verjetno nekoliko preblag izraz, saj sem e vekrat omenil, da lahko varljivec svojo
podobo spreminja. Shadow namre svojega reitelja ne prepozna takoj, temve ele med
vonjo, ko se zane Nancy spreminjati nazaj v majhnega starega moica in avtor zapie:
V lueh nasproti vozeega avtomobila se je njegov obraz e zdel stareji. Bil je tudi
manji. Ko ga je Shadow nazadnje videl, je nosil limonasto rumene rokavice in karirast
suknji [...] Gospod Nancy si je bil vsak trenutek bolj podoben (Gaiman 2013: 394).
Vloga varljivca kot popotnika v osebi gospoda Nancya ni poudarjena ni bolj kot pri
ostalih bogovih, prav tako kot ni oitno nekakno veliko prestopanje ali ustvarjanje mej.
Ima pa gospod Nancy izrazito e eno lastnost, ki pria o njegovi vlogi tega mitinega lika,
in sicer porenost. Tono ta beseda sicer ni nikoli omenjena, je pa njegov apetit poudarjen
na ve mestih, med katerimi bom izpostavil dve. Ko Shadow prvi srea gospoda Nancya,
mu Wednesday ponudi hrano, vendar jo Shadow zavrne. Gospod Nancy ga nemudoma
opomni, da hrane ne sme nikoli zavrniti: 'Naj ti nekaj povem [...] Med obedi zna miniti
precej asa. e ti kdo ponudi hrano, sprejmi. Nisem ve tako mlad, kot sem bil, ampak
nikoli ne odkloni prilonosti, da se spoije, naje ali zalee za pol ure' (Gaiman 2013:
130).
To trditev podpre nekoliko kasneje, ko njegovo druino nekdo vpraa, e bi kaj prigriznili
in gospod Nancy odgovori: Nikoli se ne branim esa za pod zob (Gaiman 2013: 413).
Karakteristike gospoda Nancya se torej skoraj ne razhajajo z mitolokim likompo katerem
je bil osnovan in zajemajo veino lastnosti varljivca. Gaiman njegovo vlogo izvrevalca
trikov e zlasti poudari, ko ga ena izmed novejih boginj ogovori z: In ti si Anansi, ki ima
vedno kaj za bregom, a? Ti pasni starek (Gaiman 2013: 413). Nekaknih dovrenih
trikov v samem romanu gospod Nancysicer ne izvaja, ima pa dobre namene v tej smeri, in
to celo posthumno: Ko bom umrl jaz, hoem samo, da me zagrebejo nekam na toplo. In
ko bi po mojem grobu hodila edna dekleta, bi jih grabil za glenje kot v tistem filmu
(Gaiman 2013: 432). Ve o njegovi izpeljavi te ukane in e nekaterih drugih pa bom
spregovoril v analizi dela Anansi Boys.

56

3.3.4 Whiskey Jack

eprav ga vsi naslavljajo z Whiskey Jack, se Shadow sprauje, e res prav slii njegovo
ime: Toda tudi on ni rekel Whiskey Jack. Shadowovim uesom je zvenelo skorajda
enako, vendar ne docela; Visakedak, je pomislil. To pravijo. Sploh ne Whiskey Jack
(Gaiman 2013: 343). Whiskey Jack je torej angleka razliica imena Wisakedjak, le-ta pa
je eden od varljivcev iz mitologije amerikih staroselcev. Wisakedjak ali Wisakketchak,
kot je znan v nekaterih plemenih, je zgolj drugo ime za bolj znanega kulturnega junaka in
varljivca, ki se imenuje Nanibozho (tudi Nanabozhu) (Chamberlain 1891). V mitologiji je
odgovoren predvsem za veliko poplavo, ki naj bi uniila svet, kot ga je ustvaril stvarnik.
Odgovoren pa je tudi za ponovno vzpostavitev tega sveta s pomojo magije in moi, ki jih
je prejel od stvarnika. Wisakedjak je prisoten v kulturah plemen Cree, Otchipwe, Mississa,
Anishinaabe itd. Prigode in pustolovine, njegove ukane in prevare, ter tudi njegovi
polomi so v osnovi precej podobni ostalim zgodbam o varljivcih, ki sem jih obravnaval e
v prvem delu diplome in se zatorej na tem mestu ni smiselno spuati v dodatne razlage.
Na to skupno naravo varljivcev se sklicuje tudi Gaiman, ko ko neka stranska oseba v
romanu izree: Tu mu pravimo Inktomi. Vsaj mislim, da je isti tip. Dedek mi je povedal
nekaj dobrih zgodbic o njem. Najbolje so bile seveda malce nespodobne (Gaiman 2013:
341).
V romanu Ameriki bogovi je Whiskey Jack ameriki staroselec, ki ga Shadow in
Wednesday sreata po svoji dogodivini v zakulisju, kjer morata pustiti svoj avtodom.
Njegovo domovanje je torej na nekaknem obrobju oziroma na meji med realnim svetom
in zakulisjem. Shadow ga opie z naslednjimi besedami: moki srednjih let s temno koo,
predirnimi omi in z usi kot zareza noa (Gaiman 2013: 335), medtem ko ga Wednesday
poklie Ti klavrni pezde (Gaiman 2013: 335).
Njegova vloga je v tem delu zgodbe precej stranska in neupadljiva, vendar bralca e takoj
na zaetku pritegne pogovor, ki ga ima Shadow s tem starodavnim duhom amerike celine.
Ustnice Whiskey Jacka se niso zganile: 'Kaj ti je povedal bizon?'
'Naj verjamem.'
'Dober nasvet. Ga bo upoteval?'
'Nekako. Recimo.' Pogovarjala sta se brez besed, brez ust, brez zvoka. Shadowa je
zanimalo, ali je za druga dva v sobi, ki sta negibno stala, minil en sam srni utrip ali
zgolj delek utripa.
57

'Ko najde svoje pleme, me obii,' je rekel Whiskey Jack. 'Lahko ti pomaga.'
'Bom.' (Gaiman 2013: 339)
Pogovor, ki na prvi pogled deluje povsem trivialno, zaradi te zasebne narave in interakcije
med dvema likoma dobi nekakno za ta trenutek e nerazumljivo globino. Bralec zgolj po
tem pogovoru ve, da bo ta lik zagotovo ponovno pojavil v nekem kljunem trenutku, kar se
tudi zgodi. Ko Shadow proti koncu romana umre med bdenjem nad Odinovim telesom, se
odloi, da eli v posmrtnem ivljenju popolno praznino in poitek. Nekateri bogovi
ugotovijo, da ga bodo e potrebovali v kljunih trenutki in se zato odloijo, da ga bodo
obudili od mrtvih, kar se seveda na koncu izkae za precej pomenljivo odloitev. V tisti
praznini pa ga ne dosee nihe drug kot ravno Whiskey Jack lik, ki ni ne lovek ne bog,
temve kot se sam opie:
'Jaz sem kulturni junak [...] Ponemo isto sranje kot bogovi, samo da mi vekrat
zajebemo in nas nihe ne asti. O nas pripovedujejo zgodbe, vendar skupaj s tistimi,
v katerih se izkaemo dokaj dobri, pripovedujejo tudi tiste, ki nas postavljajo v slabo
lu'. (Gaiman 2013: 489)
Pogovor med Whiskey Jackom in Shadowom je verjetno eden od najpomembnejih
pogovorov v romanu, saj razkrije, zakaj Amerika ni dobra deela za bogove:
Moje ljudstvo je pogruntalo, da je mogoe nekaj za vsem skupaj, stvarnik, veliki duh,
in tako se mu zahvaljujemo, ker se je vedno dobro zahvaliti. Ampak nikoli nismo
gradili cerkva. Ni nam bilo treba. Cerkev je bila kar zemlja. Zemlja je bila religija.
Zemlja je bila stareja in modreja kot ljudje, ki so hodili po njej. (Gaiman 2013:
489)
Ravno v sklopu tega pogovora pa Shadow konno pride do najpomembneje ugotovitve, in
sicer v em je smisel oziroma nesmisel bitke med starimi in novimi bogovi. To podrobneje
obravnavam v naslednjih poglavjih.
Whiskey Jack v kratkem asu, ki mu ga namerni avtor romana, odigra precej pomembno
vlogo, obenem pa izpolni tudi kar nekaj pogojev, ki jih mora imeti lik varljivca: ivi na
obrobju; Wednesday ga poimenuje goljuf in na koncu prve interakcije z Wednesdayom
ustvari kupijo, za katero bi lahko skoraj rekli, da je z njo okradel najvejega goljufa v
knjigi; v obeh njegovih poglavjih pijejo in jejo; e njegovo ime nakazuje na naravo
58

nekoga, ki mu alkoholna pijaa ni tuja; ni psihopomp, ima pa to mo, da potuje v

onstranstvo in tam vzpostavi stik s Shadowom ter ga pripelje nazaj; in ne nazadnje, sam
zase pravi, da je kulturni heroj.

59

3.3.5 Odin
Odin se v Amerikih bogovih imenuje Wednesday, kar v prevodu pomeni sreda. Samo ime
je avtor izbral, ker so ta dan germanska in nordijska plemena posvetila svojemu
vrhovnemu bogu, ki pa je bil v nordijski mitologiji prav Odin, v germanski pa se je
imenoval Wodan ali Wotan. Ko je Cezar pisal o keltskih plemenih, je napisal, da Od vseh
bogov astijo najbolj Merkurja. Ta ima najve kipov in imajo ga za izumitelja vseh
spretnosti. Vodi jih na potovanjih, jim kae pota, jim naklanja sreo pri pridobivanju
denarja in v trgovini (Cezar 1999: 131).
Mircea Eliade v drugem delu svoje tudije religioznih verovanj in idej govori o tem, da je
arheologija potrdila ugotovitve Julija Cezarja, saj so izkopali veliko kipcev in reliefov, ki
priajo o popularnosti Merkurja na tem obmoju (Eliade 1996b: 90). Identiteta tega
vrhovnega galskega boga sicer ni popolnoma jasna oziroma ne poznamo njegovega imena,
je pa verjetno ta panteon podoben panteonu otokih Keltov, kjer najpomembnejo vlogo
igra bog Lugo. Irska besedila Luga prikazujejo kot poveljnika vojske, ki redno uporablja
magijo, kar pa pomeni, da ga lahko brez teav primerjamo z Odinom oziroma Wodanom.
Zanimivo je tudi dejstvo, da so Rimljani sredo posvetili Merkurju in jo poimenovali dies
Mercuri, kar v prevodu pomeni dan Merkurja, medtem ko je bila sreda pri starih Grkih
hmra Hermo, torej dan Hermesa. e danes se rimsko poimenovanje pozna v
nemalokaterem jeziku, kot so italijanski mercoled, panski mircoles in francoski
mercredi. Celo v hindujskih in vedskih deelah ter njihovi astrologiji sredi vlada planet
Merkur, v obliki boga Budhe, o tem bogu pa nameravam nekoliko ve spregovoriti
naslednjem poglavju.
Priblino v etrtem stoletju so Germani prevzeli sedemdnevni teden od rimljanom, le da so
imena rimskih boanstev zamenjali z imeni lastnih bogov, kar pomeni, da je sreda postala
dan Odina. Eliade zapie:
Tako na primer 'mercredi', dies Mercuri, zamenja 'dan Odina-Wodana':
staroviskonomeki Woutanestac, angleki Wednesday, nizozemski woensdag,
staroskandinavski Odihinsdagr. To dokazuje, da so v Merkurju povsod po
germanskem svetu prepoznali boga, ki so ga sami imenovali z enim in povsod istim
imenom: Odin-Wodan. (Eliade 1996b: 97)

60

Sreda pa ni edina povezovalna toka med Hermesom oziroma Merkurjem in Odinom. Odin
je kot bog mrtvih tudi psihopomp, torej spremljevalec du v posmrtno ivljenje, prav tako
kot Hermes in Merkur.
Hermes je bil bog, ki je najlaje prekal mejo med svetom ivih in mrtvih, saj so
Grki verjeli, da je on tisti, ki due umrlih popelje v Hadovo kraljestvo. Ta njegova
dolnost lahko pomaga razumeti njegovo kasnejo identifikacijo germanskega boga
Odina z rimsko razliico Hermesa, Merkurjem. (Cotterell 2000: 49)
Tako kot Hermes, ki je iznael liro in po nekaterih teorijah ogenj, je tudi Odin postal bog
poetinega navdihnjenja in kulturni junak, ki je ljudem prinesel medico poezije. e ena
njuna povezovalna lastnost je ta, da sta tako Odin kot Hermes varljivcca par excelence, kar
nameravam pokazati v naslednjih vrsticah, pred tem pa naj opiem e nekaj lastnosti tega
boga in njegovega panteona.
V eshatoloki mitologiji severnih ljudstev je Odin oe bogov in glavni bog med Azi, torej
nebekimi bogovi, vlada pa tudi Vanom, ki predstavljajo zemeljske bogove. Predno je
priel do te vloge, je Odin razkosal prvobitnega velikana Ymirja in iz njega ustvaril zemljo.
Med Odinove sinove se navadno pritevajo Thor, Baldr in Vali, v drugih primerih pa e kar
nekaj ostalih bogov, bolj opazni med njimi pa so Heimdall, Bragi in Hoder.
Odin se v mitologiji pojavlja z preko 200 imeni, glede njegovih poimenovanj pa je verjetno
najpomembneja pesem Grimnismal v Poetini Eddi, kjer Odin sam nateva imena, pod
katerimi je znan. Nekaj teh imen je Grim, Popotnik, Bojevnik, Visoki, Sprememba, VeselBitke, Eno-Oki, Gospodar-Znanja, Goljufiv, Vse-Oe, Pobudnik-Sporov, Modrec, Ygg in
Obeeni (Sturluson 2005: 47-48). Kar nekaj od teh imen se navezuje na njegovo najbolj
znano lastnost, in sicer modrost oziroma celo vsevednost. V redkokaterem panteonu lahko
najdemo vrhovnega boga, ki je za modrost in znanje pripravljen rtvovati toliko kot Odin,
saj o njegovi poti do znanja obstaja kar nekaj mitov. V eni izmed teh epizod je pil iz
Mimirjevega vodnjaka modrosti, ki se naj bi nahajal nekje ob jesenu Yggdrasil, vendar je
moral za to darovati eno oko. Zato je Odin vedno prikazan kot bog brez enega oesa, na
kar seveda nakazuje tudi ime Eno-Oki. Ko je pil, je videl vse tegobe in boleine lovetva
in bogov, njegovo oko pa naj bi e vedno lealo na dnu tega vodnjaka. Drugi vir njegove
modrosti naj bi bila glava Mimirja, s katero se je Odin posvetoval, kadar je elel videti
prihodnost.

61

V raznih panteonih in mitologijah so bogovi, ki pogosto obiskujejo bojia, uprizorjeni s

krokarji in Odin v tem ni izjema, saj je obiajno prikazan s kar dvema taknima pticama.
Njegovo najpomembneje dejanje v pridobivanju modrosti in znanja pa je darovanje
samemu sebi, saj je preboden s sulico visel na drevesu Yggdrasil devet dni in devet noi
brez hrane in pijae ter tako spoznal modrost run. Yggdrasil za nordijska ljudstva
predstavlja kozmino drevo, ki je poimenovano po vrhovnem bogu. V prevodu namre
Yggdrasil pomeni Yggov konj in kot taken prikazuje neskonna potovanja Odina po vseh
ravneh tega drevesa. Za Ygg smo e povedali, da je eno od imen, ki ga Odin nateje za
samega sebe, prevod tega imena pa naj bi pomenil Grozni. To dejanje je vodilo do
rtvovanja Odinu vsakih devet let v Uppsali, kjer se je nahajal glavni poganski tempelj na
vedskem. Tam so zbrali samce mnogih vrst, med njimi tudi devet mokih in jih obesili.
Ravno zato je Odin znan kot bog obeencev.
V Zlati veji George Frazerja lahko beremo o tem, kako je neki finski kralj vsakih devet let
rtvoval enega izmed svojih sinov, dokler ga niso podaniki ustavili, ko je hotel rtvovati
svojega devetega in zadnjega sina. Kmalu zatem je kralj umrl.
Vse te prigode, e zlasti pa zadnja, kaejo na njegovo vlogo amana. O amanizmu sem
govoril v enem od prejnjih poglavij, o Odinovem amanizmu pa Eliade navaja:
amanistini aspekt Odina potrjujejo njegov konj z osmimi nogami, Sleipnir, ter krokarja,
ki ga obveata o vsem, kar se dogaja po svetu. Tako kot amani lahko Odin spremeni
svojo obliko in utelesi svojega duha v ivalski podobi (Eliade 1996b: 100).
Ko je Odin ukradel medico poezije, je to naredil z ukano, in sicer tako, da se je v deelo
velikanov priplazil kot kaa, prevaral velikane, ukradel medico in nazaj v svoje domovanje
odletel v obliki orla. Kaa in orel sta dve ivali, ki ju pogosto videvamo skupaj in v tem
primeru oznaujeta spodnjo in zgornjo raven kozminega drevesa oziroma nebesno
bivalie bogov in htonino sfero. Kot zanimivost naj omenim, da sta kaa in orel tudi
ivali Nietzschejevega Zaratustre, kjer predstavljata modrost in ponos (prim. Nietzsche
1974: 10), ki pa sta dve zelo pomembni lastnosti Odina. Bil je lanivec in prevarant,
popotnik v preobleki, ki je svoje vekrat dosegel s prevaro kot s silo, kar se dobro vidi v
prigodi, ko je ukradel 'medico poezije' (Littman 2012: 42). V lanku Sustaining the
imaginative life kjer avtorici kar veliko prostora namenita amanski vlogi Odina pie, da
ima aman veliko moi, ta mo pa lahko nositelja amanske moi pokvari (Slabbert,
Viljoen 2006: 23).
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Odinova modrost namre ni bila vedno pozitivna, saj je bil znan tudi pod imenom Goljufiv.
V uvodu v Prozno Eddo Jesse L. Byock zapie, da je Odin nevaren in muhast bog, ki
vekrat svojo pomo odkloni tistemu, ki si jo zaslui (Sturluson 2005: 15). Odin je bil
namre bog bitke in bog umrlih na bojiu. Je torej tisti bog, ki doloa, kdo bo zmagal in
kdo bo umrl. Loki Odina v Lokasenni, pesmi o aljenju bogov, obtoi, da je zmago
pogosto naklonil tistim, ki si je niso zasluili (Koak et al. 2004: 158), ali kot zapie
Eliade: Z maginimi sredstvi iti velike junake, vendar svoje varovance na koncu pusti
na cedilu in jih ubije (Eliade 1996b: 101). Na drugem mestu pa avtor prozne Edde zapie,
da je Odin pretkan in domiseln (Sturluson 2005: 16). Kot psihopomp Odin z bojia
pospremi najbolj pogumne vojake v svojo dvorano Valhalo, ali pa to naredijo njegove
pomonice Valkire. Ti vojaki naj bi se v Valhali urili do poslednjega dne, kjer se bodo v
Ragnaroku borili na strani bogov. Mnogi poskuajo na ta nain utemeljiti Odinovo izbiro
zmagovalcev kot razumljivo in pravino, vendar pa ta argument le e bolj potrjuje Odinovo
pretkanost.
Poleg obeencev so bile torej Odinu posveene tudi vse smrti na bojiu. Odin je velik
navduenec nad bitkami in pokolom (Littman 2012: 42), zgodovina pa pria celo o tem,
kako je vedski kralj Erik pred zaetkom neke bitke nad bojie vrgel svojo sulico in rekel,
da vse smrti tega dne posvea Odinu.
Jan de Vries je ugotovil, da ima Odin nekatere poteze kulturnega junaka in da sta si Odin
in Loki kot par v eshatologiji diametralno nasprotna, kot pozitivna in negativna razliica
kulturnega junaka. Teorija binarnih opozicij je nastopila s strukturalistinim gibanjem, ki
je poskualo svet razumeti kot sistem znakov. Znak naj bi sestavljala oznaevalec, ki je
materialna plat, in oznaenec, ki predstavlja idejno plat znaka. Razumevanje znaka pa ne
pride iz neke lastnosti oznaevalca ali oznaenca, temve iz njune razlinosti; prvi drugega
definira ravno s svojim umanjkanjem. Kot primer tega v eshatologiji sta kozmos in kaos, ki
si stojita v binarni opoziciji, vendar drug drugega oznaujeta tako, da isti kaos obstaja
zgolj v popolnem umanjkanju reda in obratno.
Eshatoloka mitologija je vedno zgrajena na binarni opoziciji kozmosa in kaosa in tej
opoziciji je vse podrejeno. Tako naj bi Odin predstavljal isto poosebljenje reda, kar se vidi
v tem, da je pri stvarjenju sveta razkosal velika Ymmirja, medtem ko je Loki agent kaosa,
ki z umorom Baldra omogoi ponovni vstop nereda v urejeni kozmos. Na nekakno
skrivno navezo med Lokijem in Odinom kae veliko odlomkov iz islandskih besedil. Loki
63

je sin velikana, medtem ko o Odinovi povezanosti z velikani govori e omenjeni avtor

uvoda v Prozno Eddo, kjer pove, da je bila Odinova mati hi velikana (Sturluson 2005:
18). V Lokasenni Loki omeni, da je Odin njegov krvni brat in da pred asi Odin ne bi
nikoli pil piva, e ga ne bi prinesli tudi Lokiju (Koak et al. 2004: 154). Odin je bil velik
poponik, kar mu je tudi prisluilo tak naziv in kot Christopher Tolkien zapie v uvodu h
knjigi The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrn, je Odina na njegovih potovanjih pogosto
spremljal ravno Loki, ki je navadno hodil na njegovi levi strani (Tolkien 2009, 54). Avtor
knjige Scandinavian Mythology povzema: e Lokija dojamemo kot nekakno nasprotno
stran Odina, ki je bolj povezan s smrtjo in podzemljem, lahko to pojasni, zakaj tako
pogosto spremlja Odina na njegovih potovanjih in zakaj je v Lokasenni reeno, da sta
izrekla prisege bratstva (Davidson 1984: 105).
Jesse Byock zapie: Loki se pojavi skoraj kot temna stran Vse-Oeta, saj sta tako Odin
kot Loki oba zelo zapletena in nevarna karakterja. Oba se namre vekrat posluujeta
ukan, spreminjanja podobe in izdaje, obenem pa oba pogosto videvamo v drubi ensk
(Sturluson 2005: 18). Ta dva citata pa odlino povzema Meleinskij: Odinov um, ki
sinkretino zdruuje tako visoko modrost kakor nizko spletkarstvo, tako preroki dar kakor
zvijanost in arodejno mo, je neprimerno veji od zvitosti in spletkarjenja Lokija
(Meletnskij: 2001).
V diplomskem delu sem e vekrat omenil prigodo o tem, kako je Loki poskrbel za umor
Odinovega najlepega sina, Baldra. Po legendi je ta smrt mono prizadela prav vse bogove
in seveda tudi Odina. Vendar je potrebno za popolno razumevanje tega dejanja pogledati e
dve zelo pomembni pesnitvi Poetine Edde, in sicer Voluspa in Baldrove sanje. Baldr je
imel pred svojo smrtjo sanje, ki naj bi ga opozorile na preteo nevarnost, kar lahko
poveem s tem, da se je Odin zato odpravil do dveh vidcev in od njiju zahteval informacije
o nevarnosti, ki preti njegovemu sinu. Oba sta mu povedala, da ga bo ubil slepi Hoder, da
bo morilsko oroje omelo, in eden od njiju celo nakae na Lokijevo vlogo v zadevi.
Baldurja sem videla,
rtev vso v krvi,
Odinu dragega sina,
Z doreeno usodo.
Zrasla je in visela
Visoko nad poljem,
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Vitka in lepa
Veja omele.
Iz te na videz
Nene rastline,
Je nastala pogubna puica:
Hod jo je sproil.
[...]
Videla sem postavo
Pod vroim tolmunom,
Zvezano in grozljivo postavo,
Podobno Lokiju. (Koak et al. 2004: 20-22)
e je imel torej Odin na razpolago vse te informacije, obenem pa bil skoraj vseveden, bi
lahko zagotovo ustavil Baldrovo smrt, vendar ni v tej smeri naredil ni. Zakaj je torej Odin
dovolil smrt svojega sina oziroma zakaj ni ustavil Lokija? V Eddah je vekrat omenjeno,
kako so ostali bogovi eleli Lokija izgnati ali celo ubiti, vendar jih je vedno ustavil Odin.
Pomembno je torej, da vzamemo v obzir monost, da bi lahko bil Loki izvrevalec njunih
skupnih zamisli ali celo zgolj Odinovih spletkarskih idej. Po Platonovi teoriji mora biti
Bog v resnici dober in zato ga je treba tako predstavljati (Platon 1995: 63).
Morda je potreboval Odin nekoga, ki bi ga lahko krivil za svoja dejanja, ali kot zapie
Meletinsky, je Loki 'dvojnik' Odina, njegov komini posnemovalec v kozmogoninih
mitih in demonski antipod v eshatolokih, kajti Odin je oe bogov, Loki pa oe htoninih
poasti in pogubljevalec [...] Vendar pa nas popolno pomanjkanje sledov Lokijevega kulta
e dolgo navaja na misel, da je tudi svojevrsten mitoloki 'greni kozel' za krvave rituale,
posveene Odinu Meletinskij 2001: 198).
Ellen Datlow in Terri Windling zapieta, da pri varljivcu nikakor ne smemo pozabiti
dvojnega vidika njegove narave (Datlow, Windling 2009: 7); torej, da je tako dober, kot
slab. Varljivec se v Odinu torej manifestira skoraj z vsemi lastnostmi, saj velja za najbolj
pretkanega boga v njegovem panteonu; veliko je na poti; njegova porenost se kae v elji
po znanju; nastopa kot kulturni junak; je psihopomp oziroma tesno povezan z mrtvimi;
znan je po prekanju mej; spola sicer ne spreminja, lahko pa spremeni svojo podobo;
obenem pa so znane tudi njegove avanture z mladenkami, saj tudi sam Odin v natevanju

65

svojih urokov ree: Sedemnajstega poznam, / ki vsako punco prepria, / da mi nikoli ne

ree ne (Koak et al. 2004: 89).
Zato ni nikakrno preseneenje, da se je Neil Gaiman v romanu Ameriki bogovi za vlogo
glavnega varljivca odloil ravno za Odina. Kot e reeno, se v romanu pojavi ve klasinih
varljivcev, kot so Loki, Anansi, Wisakedjak in nekatere osebe, ki so nosilci posameznih
lastnosti tega mitolokega varljivca. Vendar pa za boga, ki vodi glavno ukano v romanu,
izbere Odina, igar varljiva vloga navadno v mitologiji ni na prvem mestu.
Joseph Campbell govori o potovanju junaka, ki sprejme klic na dogodivino, najprej srea
staro enico ali mokega, ki ga oskrbi s potrebnimi amuleti za pot ali mu da kaken nasvet
(prim. Campbell 2007). e torej vzamemo v obzir to Campbellovo trditev, ki jo je osnoval
po Jungovem arhetipu stare enice, dobimo obutek, da je elel Gaiman bralca na zaetku
zavesti. Tudi v zaetku Amerikih bogov se namre pojavi Wednesday in zdi se, kot da je
Odin ta stari moic, na katerega lahko Shadow rauna. Wednesday je torej predstavljen
bralcu kot pozitiven lik in zato mu veina bralcev na zaetku romana zaupa in ele proti
koncu izve njegov pravi nart.
Gaiman je potreboval boga, ki ga lahko skozi mitologijo razumemo kot modrega starca, ki
se bori za red in je na strani dobrih ter lahko vodi glavnega karakterja na njegovem
mitinem potovanju. Verjetno mu pri tem ni kodilo dejstvo, da je Tolkienov Gandalf, ki
velja v svetu fantazije za nekaken arhetip tega starega moica, osnovan ravno na Odinu
oziroma na eni izmed podob, v katerih se pojavlja. Obenem pa je potreboval pretkanega
boga, ki lahko nastopa na obeh straneh spopada oziroma je dovolj pretkan, da lahko spelje
obe strani v epsko bitko. Navezava, ki jo Odin e v mitologiji izraa z Lokijem, kajpada
zgolj pripomore k cilju, h kateremu je stremel pisatelj, in zato je bil Odin za Gaimana
verjetno lahka izbira.
Tako kot vsi ostali bogovi, je tudi Wednesday v romanu noveja manifestacija oziroma
reinkarnacija svojega mitolokega dvojnika, ki navzven kae obraz uglajenega starca, vso
svojo modrost in zvitost pa v vlogi prevaranta prilagodi ivljenju v dananjem svetu.
Wednesday je opisan kot starec v poslovni obleki z rdeesivimi lasmi in brado. Na kravati
ima sponko, na kateri je upodobljeno srebrno drevo, kot nekakna slika nordijskega
kozminega Yggdrasila. V njegovih oeh je nekaj nenavadnega, saj je eno bolj temno sivo
kot drugo. Kasneje se izkae, da je eno oko stekleno, kar se seveda sklada z Odinovim
mitom o rtvovanju enega oesa Mimirjevemu vodnjaku. In ko Shadow, ki se sicer ne
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more odloiti, katero oko je stekleno, svojega mentorja vpraa, kje je izgubil oko, mu ta
odgovori: Nisem ga izgubil. Tono vem kje je (Gaiman 2013: 84).
Wednesday skozi roman kae vse karakteristike svojega mitinega dvojnika, obenem pa
tudi karakteristike varljivca. Ena glavnih lastnosti, ki pritie varljivcu, je seveda njegovo
spolna sla, kar Odin v Amerikih bogovih vekrat dokae. Eno izmed Odinovih eskapad
Shadow opie takole:
Strmel je vanjo jo skorajda poiral z omi , kot da ne bi bilo ni, kar mu lahko
ponudi, tako slasten griljaj kot ona sama. Shadow je obutil silno nelagodje: bilo je,
kot da bi opazoval starega volka, ki prei na srnico, premlado, da bi vedela, da mora
zbeati, in to ta trenutek, sicer bo konala na oddaljeni jasi, kjer ji bodo kosti obirali
krokarji. (Gaiman 2013: 234)
Ko jo Wednesday povpraa po najboljem hotelu naokoli, mu ona pove, da tudi najbolji
motel v okolici ni ni posebnega, ji Wednesday odgovori, da bo zanju to palaa uitkov.
Gaiman zgodbo zakljui z naslednjimi besedami:
Natakarica ga je pogledala. Ugriznila se je v tanke ustnice, oklevala, nato pa
prikimala in odhitela v kuhinjo.
'Daj no,' je rekel Shadow. 'Je sploh e polnoletna?'
'Pravni okviri me niso nikdaj kaj preve skrbeli,' mu je dejal Wednesday. 'Ne, dokler
dobim, kar hoem.' (Gaiman 2013: 237)
V nekem delu romana celo omeni, da je imel e ogromno ensk (Gaiman 2013: 507).
Nekoliko kasneje, ko Wednesday nateva svoje lastnosti povzete po poetini Eddi, med
drugim pove tudi: estnajsti urok poznam: e potrebujem ljubezen, lahko zmeam glavo
in srce vsake enske. Sedemnajsti, da nobena enska, ki si jo elim, ne bo nikdar elela
drugega (Gaiman 2013: 280).
Shadow poasi odkriva pravo naravo svojega sopotnika, vendar ga to ne moti preve, saj
tudi sam ni bil ravno zgleden dravljan. Ko Wednesdaya vpraa, e je slepar, mu ta
odgovori: 'Da [...] najbr res. Med drugim' (Gaiman 2013: 58). Drugi ga obtoi, da lae
in Wednesday brez kakrnihkoli zadrkov ali obalovanja odgovori: 'Seveda. In to dobro.
Boljega lanivca od mene ne bo spoznal' (Gaiman 2013: 44) in ko ga Shadow vpraa,
e se ne navelia vsega tega laganja, mu starec odgovori, da niti priblino.
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Wednesday s svojimi besedami pria tudi o svoji amanski sposobnosti, ko trdi, da pozna
urok, ki zdravi z dotikom (Gaiman 2013: 278), obenem pa omeni tudi svoje rtvovanje:
Devet noi sem visel na golem drevesu, stran sem imel prebodeno z ostjo sulice. Gugal in
zibal sem se v mrzlih vetrovih in vroih vetrovih, brez jedae, brez pijae, rtev samega
sebe samemu sebi, in odprli so se mi svetovi (Gaiman 2013: 279-280).
Najpomembneji opis samega sebe da Odin, ko svojemu sinu in popotniku pove svoja
imena in lastnosti, ki jih je prejel od prvotnega Odina:
'Pravijo mi Vojnoljub, Mrki, Plenilec in Tretji. Sem Enooki. Pravijo mi Najviji in
Resnicogovorec. Jaz sem Grimnir in jaz sem Zakriti. Jaz sem Oe vsega in jaz sem
Gondlir Nosilec palice. Imam toliko imen, kolikor je vetrov, in toliko nazivov,
kolikor je nainov smrti. Moja krokarja sta Huginn in Muninn; Misel in Spomin;
moja volkova sta Freki in Geri; moj konj so veala.' (Gaiman 2013: 136)
Njegov apetit se kae v sli po moi, njegova seksualnost v eskapadah z mladenkami,
neprestano gibanje v potovanjih po Ameriki, tatvine v vseh prevarah, ki jih nateje
Shadowu, ter seveda rop banke na ulici. Wednesday ima tudi mo prehajanja med mejami,
saj v nekem trenutku na armaturno ploo avta narie nekakne znake in s Shadowom se
znajdeta v zakulisju. Vsem tem lastnostim varljivca navkljub pa se njegova prava dvojna
narava, ki je e kako znailna za ta mitoloki lik, razkrije proti koncu romana.
e v zaetku se Shadow kljub vsem nepredvidljivim okoliinam znajde na istem letalu kot
Wednesday in e takrat dobimo obutek, da je starec vse te okoliine prilagodil sebi v
prid. V SSKJ je nakljuje definirano kot: kar povezuje, povzroa sovpad nepriakovanih,
med seboj vzrono nepovezanih dejanj, dejstev (Splet 15). Vendar tukaj ne moremo
govoriti o nakljujih, temve o kavzalnosti. Za kavzalnost oziroma vzronost se mora
nekaj zgoditi pred nekim drugim dogodkom in e v osnovi nastati kot posledica
nekaknega razloga (prim. Platon 2009). Pri nakljujih gre torej za pomanjkanje vzroka,
tukaj pa je oitno, da gre za nekaj ve kot le nakljuje; gre za nekakno nastavljanje pasti
oziroma prirejanje okoliin. V romanu je vekrat poudarjeno, da je pri dobri iluziji
kljunega pomena odvraanje pozornosti, Odin in Loki, ki navidezno delujeta na razlinih
straneh spopada, naredita ravno to. Glavna iluzija, ki odvrne pozornost, pa je smrt Odina.
Agenti novejih bogov Odina usmrtijo in to dejanje pripelje vse stare bogove skupaj.
Najprej deluje, kot da se je Odin rtvoval za dobro starih bogov, ko je dovolil, da ga
gospod World umori. V to verjame tudi Shadow, ki e ni sprevidel narta svojega oeta, in
68

kot sem e omenil v poglavju o Shadowu, se odloi, da bo bdel nad njegovim truplom. To
bdenje se izkae za rtvovanje bojega sina, ki da Odinu mo, da se zane poasi vraati
med ive in tako prestopi prag smrti eno glavnih del tako varljivca kot tudi amana. Ko
Shadow konno ugotovi, kaj je bil smisel celotne pustolovine, mu Odin pove: Hranim
se s smrtjo, posveeno meni (Gaiman 2013: 508). Prav tako kot Odin v starem veku, se
tudi novi Odin hrani z rtvami ljudi in prav tako kot je vedski kralj Erik vrgel sulico nad
bitko in posvetil vse smrti tistega dne Odinu, naj bi tudi Loki z metom sulice Odinu
posvetil smrti vseh bogov na bojiu (Gaiman 2013: 483). Vse te smrti bi Odina naredile
veliko monejega kot je bil pred umorom in tako se izkae, da se je Odin e enkrat
daroval samemu sebi. Vendar pa sta bila Odin in Loki morda celo preve premetena za
svoje sposobnosti, saj nista mogla predvideti vseh okoliin in kot e reeno, sta prav tako
kot mnogi varljivci pred njima postala rtvi svojih ukan.
Oitno je torej, da je Odin v Amerikih bogovih uporabil obilo sposobnosti in pokazal kar
nekaj lastnosti, ki mu jih pripisujejo nordijski miti, nekatere sposobnosti pa je moral
prilagoditi prevarantskemu in nepotenemu ivljenju dananje kapitalistine kulture. Ne
glede na to, ali je Odin igral vlogo varljivca e v starodobnih mitih ali ne, mora v
dananjem asu vrhovni bog to vlogo zagotovo sprejeti.

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3.3.6 Neimenovani bog

Poleg Odina, ki ima pri Gaimanu zelo zanimivo in dodelano vlogo, je za ljubitelje
mitologije eden najbolj zanimivih bogov v njegovem pan-panteonu zagotovo neimenovani
bog, ki se na ve mestih pojavi v romanu Ameriki bogovi. Avtor je z informacijami o
dotinem bogu precej skop in tudi na svoji internetni strani pod rubriko najpogosteje
zastavljenih vpraanj je zapisal, da na eljo nekaterih bralcev ne namerava povedati, kdo ta
bog je (Splet 8). V roman je vkljuil kar nekaj podatkov, ki lahko pomagajo pri
razvozlanju te skrivnosti in kljub temu, da informacij ni dovolj za popolno definicijo
oziroma stoodstotno preprianost v pravo identiteto boga, menim, da ga lahko vsaj
poskusim opredeliti. Na raznih forumih in e zlasti na uradnem forumu Gaimanovih del
(Splet 2) v zvezi z identiteto lika neimenovanega boga obstaja e vrsta nasprotujoih se
ugibanj.
Ena najpogostejih domnev je, da bi bil ta pozabljivi bog lahko Had iz grke mitologije,
argument za to domevo pa je uporaba hadove elade, ki lahko loveka spremeni v
nevidnega, ter lastnost Hada kot tistega, ki lahko loveku da bogastvo. Vendar pa Had ni
ravno dobra izbira, saj se Neil Gaiman v delu Ameriki bogovi nala izmika grki in
rimski mitologiji, verjetno na podlagi dejstva, da ljudje v starem veku e niso prekali
atlantskega oceana in tako tudi astilci starih bogov niso prili v Ameriko. Seveda pa je
mono, da nekateri ljudje e danes astijo grko-rimske mitoloke bogove in bi zato lahko
avtor vseeno uporabil kaknega izmed njih. Lahko pa hipotezo nedvomno ovremo na
dejstvu, da Had elade, ki nosi njegovo ime, ni nikoli uporabljal oziroma ni nobenega
dokaza o tem, da bi jo. Uporabljal jo je nekdo drug.
Druga zanimiva in zelo verjetna predpostavka je bila, da je neimenovani bog Sandman ali
Morpheus. Zagotovo je prav mono, da bi elel avtor v svoj roman vkljuiti tudi lik, ki ga
je ustvaril nekaj ve kot desetletje pred nastankom romana, in tako e bolj utrditi svojo
zapuino. Morpheus je namre lik, ki bi po definiciji tega boga zagotovo ustrezal po
zunanjem videzu, saj je neimenovani bog obleen v temno obleko, ima obraz obrit in rne
lase. Obenem bi lahko njegovo zmonost, da postane neviden, interpretirali kot pozabo
sanj, saj se ljudje zelo pogosto zjutraj zbudimo in se svojih sanj ne moremo spomniti. Prav
tako pa je s sanjami povezano e glavno poglavje o tem liku, saj je v celoti napisano leee
(leee pisave se avtor v romanu posluuje vsaki, ko opisuje sanje glavnega protagonista).
Vendar sem ob branju Sandmana zavrgel tudi to tezo, saj je v tem poglavju kot domovanje
70

tega loveka navedeno Las Vegas, medtem ko Morpheus le redko zapusti svoje kraljestvo
sanj. Temna obleka, o kateri lahko beremo v slovenskem prevodu dela, je v originalu
opisana kot ogelna obleka oziroma obleka barve oglja, Morpheus pa je navadno obleen v
popolnoma rno barvo. Kot tretje pa se tudi prijateljstvo z Odinom v stripu Sandman skrha
in glede na njun razhod v stripu si teko predstavljam tako civilizirano sreanje teh dveh
karakterjev v romanu Ameriki bogovi.
S sanjami, ki sem jih pravkar omenil, pa je v mitologiji povezanih e nekaj bogov in enega
od njih sem e omenjal v prvem delu diplome. Bog, o katerem Otto zapie, da ima
arobno palico, s katero lahko loveka uspava in zbudi (Otto 1998: 137). Ovid v
Metamorfozah pripoveduje zgodbo o tem, kako je Hermes ubil Argosa z mnogimi oesi
tako, da ga je najprej potopil v spanec in mu s palico poboal oesa (Ovid 2013: 81). O
njegovi zlati palici ali ibi, ki jo imenujemo kaducej, je pisal tudi Anton Sovr v Starih
Grkih in zapisal, da z njo loveku zapira oi in ga drami iz spanja (Sovr 2006: 56). To
je lahko eden izmed razlogov za to, da je poglavje o neimenovanem bogu napisano na
podoben nain kot poglavja, povezana s sanjami.
Eliade pie, da ima Hermes 'arovno palico', oziroma kaducej, in kapo, ki ga naredi
nevidnega (Eliade 1996a: 178). O Hermesovi nevidnosti bi lahko govorili na mnogih
podrojih in prva je zagotovo ta, da je poleg Perzeja edini, za katerega je bilo kdajkoli
izpriano, da je uporabljal Hadovo elado. Kot sem e omenil, je Had ni sam nikoli nosil,
Hermes pa lahko postane s pomojo Hadove elade neviden, kadar to eli (Otto 1998:
137). V Gigantomahiji oziroma vojni, ki je nastopila med giganti in bogovi po zruenju
titanov, je Hermes s pomojo te elade ubil giganta Hipolita. Poleg elade nevidnosti lahko
neimenovanost Hermesa v romanu Ameriki bogovi poveemo e z nekaterimi drugimi
lastnostmi tega velikega varljivca. Ena od njih je tudi nekakna prikazenskost v njegovi
navzonosti (prim. Otto 1998: 149) Grki so v primerih, ko je v trenutku nastala tiina,
imeli navado rei, da je v sobo vstopil Hermes.
Hermesov dvojnik v rimskem panteonu je bil Merkur, ki pa je v marsiem povezan z ivim
srebrom. V nekaterih jezikih, med njimi tudi angleina, v kateri je napisan roman
Ameriki bogovi, nosita ivo srebro in rimski bog celo isto ime. ivo srebro so z
Merkurjem povezovali zaradi njegove hitrosti in neulovljive narave, ki je enaka tej tekoi
kovini, ki so jo vasih imenovali tudi beei suenj (Kavi 2003: 80). O Hermesu in
njegovi neulovljivi hitri naravi pie Otto: Njegova mo je okretnost. Njegova dela ne
71

govorijo toliko o njegovi sili ali modrosti, temve o urnosti in vseh umetnostih
prekrivanja (Otto 1998: 134).
Vsakemu planetu je v okviru Ptolemajske kozmologije ustrezala doloena kovina:
Saturnu svinec, Jupitru cink, bron ali kositer, Marsu elezo, Veneri baker, Soncu zlato,
Luni srebro, Merkurju pa ivo srebro (kamperle 2003: 149). Tudi planet Merkur je
prejel to ime po rimskem bogu zaradi tega, ker se je premikal ez nebo hitreje kot
katerikoli drugi planet in je torej Grkom in Rimljanom predstavljal neulovljivo naravo tega
hitrega boga. Zanimivo je, da so Babilonci, eni izmed prvih preuevalcev neba, dali
Merkurju ime Nabu po svojem selu bogov, v moderni grini pa planetu Merkur e vedno
pravijo Hermes. Razen Merkurja so Hermesa povezovali tudi z Luno (Sovr 2006: 56), kar
je precej zanimivo, glede na to, da sta si ta dva planeta po zunanjosti zelo podobna. V
Illingworth (1986) pie o vulkanski strukturi terena na Merkurju, ki pa je po kemini in
geoloki naravi zelo podobna luni. Ta vulkanska zgradba povrja, ki je posuta s kraterji, je
posledica raznih trkov, geoloke neaktivnosti in pomanjkanja vode, kar pa se vidi v
nekakni temno sivi barvi planeta, ki lahko loveka spominja na oglje. Za to je seveda
odgovorna tudi bliina sonca, saj mu je Merkur med vsemi planeti v naem osonju
najbliji.
V knjigi je neimenovani bog prvi predstavljen v avtu, kjer poleg njega sedi e Shadow,
boginja Kali in Allvis, kralj kratov.
Moki v temni obleki, ki se ga Shadow ni spominjal. Ko je moki stopal v avto, je
stal ob njem, mu odprl in zaprl vrata, vendar se ni mogel o njem spomniti niesar.
Zasukal se je na voznikovem sedeu in ga pogledal, pozorno motril njegov obraz,
njegove lase, njegova oblaila, da bi ga zagotovo spoznal, e bi ga e kdaj sreal, se
obrnil nazaj, vgal avto in ugotovil, da mu je moki zdrknil iz spomina. Za njim je
ostal zgolj vtis bogastva, drugega pa ni. (Gaiman 2013: 144)
V tem kratkem odlomku ga omeni samo e enkrat, ko glavnemu liku nekaj omeni, vendar
slednji takoj za tem pozabi, kaj mu je bog dejal. ez nekaj asa nastopi poglavje, kjer se
Odin s tem bogom pogovarja in razen podobnosti s sanjami ima to poglavje e eno izrazito
lastnost Las Vegas. Vtis bogastva, ki ga dobi Shadow ob opazovanju tega boga, je lahko
zagotovo posledica Hermesove povezanost s trgovanjem: Kot pravi bog trgovanja je [...]
na likovnih umetninah upodobljen s polnim monjikom v roki (Otto 1998: 139). Vendar
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pa Hermes ni zgolj bog trgovanja, temve tudi duh noi, kar skupaj z njegovo
izmuzljivostjo in hitrostjo zagotovo pripomore k njegovemu statusu boga tatov. Kot sem e
omenil v prvem poglavju o Hermesu, njemu ni pomembno, kdo prejme denar ali na kaken
nain ta denar menja roke pomembno mu je zgolj to, da denar tee. V romanu Ameriki
bogovi je za neimenovanega boga reeno: V tem puavskem mestu [Las Vegas] ga oara
urnost premikanja, gibanje denarja iz enega kraja v drugega iz rok v roke (Gaiman 2013:
267-277). e bi si moral predstavljati boga trgovanja in tatov ter duha noi na kaknem
kraju v dananjem svetu, bi bil Las Vegas zagotovo eden izmed teh krajev, e ne celo
edini.
Na koncu tega poglavja Odin odide, ne da bi natakarici plaal svojo pijao, in neimenovani
bog vidi razoaranje v njenih oeh ter se je usmili. Ne da ji denarja, pove pa ji, da bo tisti
veer nekdo zadel veliko koliino denarja, ki ga bo elel porabiti, nato pa ji razkrije, kje
lahko tega loveka srea. Natakarica se sicer ne spominja, kdo ji je to povedal ali da bi ji
sploh kdo kaj rekel, vseeno pa se po konani slubi odpravi na omenjeno mesto. Hermesov
dar je vse tisto, kar loveku pripade po srenem nakljuju in ne da bi bil za to sam
zasluen. Je bog vesele in nenadejane pridobitve (Otto 1998: 141). Eliade pravi, da je
vsaka srea Hermesov dar (Eliade 1996a: 178), medtem ko Aristofan v svoji komediji Mir
pravi, da je Hermes najvelikoduneji od boanstev (Aristofan 2011: 127). Grki so se za
vse, kar so nali na poti ali e je komu nenadoma pripadla nekakna nepriakovana srea,
zahvalili ravno Hermesu, kar je bilo najdeno, so poimenovali pa hrmaion, kar bi v
slovenskem prevodu pomenilo Hermesov dar.
Hermesova povezava z bogastvom in zlatom pa ne izvira zgolj iz njegove funkcije boga
trgovanja in dajalca vseh darov, temve se kae tudi v njegovi povezanosti z alkimijo.
Hermes je eden redkih olimpskih bogov, ki po krizi 'klasine' religije niso izgubili svoje
religiozne vrednosti in niso izginili ob zmagoslavju kranstva (Eliade 1996a: 179).
Hermes je bil tudi bog hermetike in hermenevtike, torej zaitnik skrivnosti in umetnosti
deifriranja skrivnosti (prim. kamperle 1996: 9). V helenistinem obdobju sta se Hermes
in Thot spojila v lik Hermesa Trismegista. 'Hermesa trikrat najvejega', ki je veljal za
zaitnika in uitelja vseh umetnosti, zlasti e alkimije (Campbell 2007: 92).
S Hermesom obstaja e ena povezava. Pojavi se v zvezi z avtorstvom Corpus Hermeticum,
ki ga sestavlja 42 spisov, napisanih nekje med prvim in tretjim stoletjem naega tetja in
katerih avtor e danes ni znan. lo naj bi za izredno stara, e ne celo prva besedila, ki naj bi
73

vsebovala najisteje, magino razodete modrosti. Ustno izroilo je te spise vse tja do
renesanse pripisovalo egipanskemu magu in preroku Hermesu Trismegistu, za katerega so
menili, da naj bi bil resnina oseba, enaili pa so ga tudi z bogom Thotom. Grki so po
svojem nainu razmiljanja, po katerem so dajali egipanskim bogovom svoja imena (Saisi
Atena, Ptahu Hefaist, Ozirisu Dioniz, Horusu Apolon itd.) dali tudi Thotu ime Hermes,
mesto njegovega kulta pa poimenovali Hermopolis. Ko se vsem njegovim lastnostim
pripie e lastnosti pisca skrivnostnih besedil, postane torej Hermes trikrat najveji:
zakonodajalec, filozof in sveenik; tudi Eliade pie o Hermesu kot imetniku vsega vedenja,
predvsem skrivne gnoze, kar ga postavi za poglavarja vseh arovnikov (Eliade 1996a:
179).
Hermes kot avtor dela Corpus Hermeticum je torej vzpostavil alkimijo kot najvejo
znanost oziroma ars magno. Alkimija se je mono ukoreninila v arabskih deelah in se
nato selila do panije, Francije, Anglije in kasneje celo do Amerike. Alkimija naj bi bila v
modernem poimenovanju predznanstvena stopnja kemije (Sitar 2003: 41), le da je imela ob
sami znanosti tudi duhovno disciplino, in sicer naj bi bila pomembna za razvoj osebnosti in
sveta do popolnosti. Prvotni namen je bil sprememba manj vrednih kovin v zlato, kar pa je
seveda pritegnilo plemstvo in tudi mnoge raziskovalce. Med alkimiste tejejo imena, kot so
Pape Janez XXII., Roger Bacon, John Dee, grof st. Germain, Isaac Newton in mnogi
drugi, domnevni alkimisti pa naj bi bili celo Mojzes, kralj Salomon in Janeza Evangelist.
Poslednji veliki alkimist naj bi bil celo Johann Wolfgang Goethe (prim. Sitar 2003: 56).
Za pridobivanje zlata je bilo alkimistom najpomembneje ivo srebro, torej element, ki mu
po imenu ustreza ravno Merkur. Ta element je bil za alkimiste poseben e zaradi njegovih
lastnosti, saj ga niso mogli uvrstiti ne med tekoine ne med kovine. Trdili so, da ivo
srebro isti in utrjuje zlato (Kavi 2003: 11) ter so ga zato omenjali prav v vsakem
alkimistinem opravilu, ker naj bi bilo sposobno izpeljati vsak alkimistini postopek. V
alkimiji se je zelo dolgo vsega drala velika skrivnost in ko umetnega zlata kar niso mogli
narediti, se je razirila teorija, da za pretvorbo drugih kovin v zlato potrebujejo neki
element, ki jim manjka. Ta element je nosil kar nekaj imen, med katerimi so najbolj znani
kamen modrih ali kamen filozofov, veliki eliksir, magisterij in voda ivljenja. Kdor bi
poznal takno snov, bi bil bogat, sreen in zdrav.
Mo v temni obleki v knjigi pije Laphroaig viski in zanimivo je dejstvo, da ravno beseda
whiskey prihaja iz stare kotske in irske geline, kjer uisge beatha pomeni vodo ivljenja.
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e bi eleli Hermesu kot bogu ivljenja in alkimije ponuditi kakno pijao, bi to skoraj
zagotovo bil viski ali tekoe zlato, kot ga zaradi barve, strukture in prefinjenega okusa
pogosto imenujejo njegovi navduenci.
Kamen modrih naj bi bil sestavljen iz tirih elementov, tako kot vesolje, postopek
pridobivanja pa naj bi bil podoben lovekemu plojenju. Alkimisti so za ta postopek in na
splono za koncept zdruitve pogosto uporabljali variacijo mistine poroke ali hieros
gamos, ki so jo imenovali preprosto alkimistina poroka (Thorndike 1996: 76). Hieros
gamos je sicer del starodavnega izroila, kjer se naj bi enin in nevesta oziroma majska
kralj in kraljica zdruila v spolnem aktu ter tako predstavljala poroko gozdnih boanstev,
posledino pa naj bi to pospeevalo rast dreves in rastlinja (prim. Frazer 2001: 115). Pri
alkimiji gre za zdruitev nasprotij ali sonca in lune, v jeziku moderne psihologije pa naj bi
pomenilo zavest in nezavedno. To zdruitev svete poroke so navadno prikazali s parom
Hermesa in Afrodite (prim. Jereb 2003: 39 in Yates 1996: 116). Hermes sicer ni bil nikoli
Afroditin stalni partner, vekrat pa je izpriano njegovo hrepenenje po tej boginji (Cotterell
2000: 49). Ko v Odiseji bogovi vidijo usodo Aresa, ki ga je Hefajst za eno no z Afrodito
ujel v okove, je Apolon vpraal Hermesa, e bi bil pripravljen on prestajati isto kazen, mu
je le-ta odgovoril: Ej, da me to doleti, gospod in strelec Apolon! Moglo drati bi trikrat
me toliko spon nerazveznih, vi pa me gleati vsi, bogovi tako ko boginje, jaz kljub temu bi
spal kraj zlate gospe Afrodite! (Homer 1982: 116). Kerenyi pa govori celo o enosti
Afrodite in Hermesa kot o dveh vidikih enega primarnega bitja (Jung in Kernyi 1993:
65). Kljub temu da Hermes v grkem panteonu nima doloene ene ali prilenice, e ne
pomeni, da ni po nobeni enski hrepenel. Zato ni ni udnega, da v pogovoru med Odinom
in neimenovanim bogom, slednji prvega nekaj vpraa in mu le-ta odgovori: 'Nihe je ni
videl e dvesto let. e ni mrtva, se je sama umaknila' (Gaiman 2013: 277)
Deloma mojo hiptezo, da nevidni bog v Amerikih bogovih predstavlja boga Hermesa,
potrjuje tudi dejstvo, da mu na koncu pogovora za sodelovanje Odin ponudi steklenico
some. lanu grkega panteona bi lahko ponudil ambrozijo in tako morda bolj natanno
pokazal, kdo ta bog je. Soma, ki je pijaa bogov v vedski in hindujski mitologiji, sicer v
romanu ni nujno povezana samo s tema religijama, saj jo Odin opie kot: : Pijaa je.
Koncentrirana molitev in vera, destilirana v moan liker (Gaiman 2013: 279) Opie jo
torej kot pijao, ki bi jo lahko pili vsi bogovi in ne samo bogovi hindujskega panteona.
Soma v mitologiji naj bi rasla v srediu oziroma popku zemlje, kjer je mogoe prestopati
z neba na zemljo in narobe (Eliade 1996a: 140) ter je pijaa ne-smrti. Soma je torej
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hindujska ambrozija, ki jo pijejo ljudje in heroji, saj spodbuja misli, krepi pogum in spolno
mo, zdravi bolezni, podaljuje ivljenje itd (prim. Lionel in Barnett 2007: 15). Vendar v
vedski in hindujski mitologiji soma ni zgolj napoj, temve je Soma tudi ime duha tega
napoja oziroma njihovo lunarno boanstvo. V hindujski mitologiji se Soma imenuje tudi
Chandra. Bog Soma se je zaljubil v eno glavnega boga, jo ugrabil in imel z njo otroka. Ta
otrok se je najprej imenoval Praharshana, Rodhana, Tunga, in Symnga oziroma rno-telo
(Dowson 2011: 65). Zaradi njega, njegove lepote in njegove modrosti se je med bogovi
vnela velika bitka, saj sta glavni bog in Soma elela oba postati njegova oeta. Soma mu je
dal nato ime Budha, kar pomeni modri in ga ne smemo zameati s Siddharto oziroma
Guatama Buddho.
Budha je v hindujski religiji ime za planet Merkur in obenem tudi ime za sredo (Splet 11),
in kot sem e poudaril v poglavju o Odinu, sta Merkur in Hermes oba predstavnika srede v
svojih mitologijah. Budha je torej hindujska verzija Merkurja oziroma Hermesa, saj je
obenem tudi bog trgovanja in poti, povezuje pa jih seveda tudi modrost, ki je izpriana v
Hermesu kot stvaritelju prvih besedil in bogu vseh umetnosti ter Budhinem imenu. Proti
koncu romana Ameriki bogovi so stari bogovi med sabo v sporu in nihe se ne more z
nikomer strinjati, dokler: Moki v elegantni obleki, ki je doslej molal, je sklenil dlani,
stopil v soj ognja, ter jedrnato in jasno predstavil svoje stalie. Sledilo je odobravajoe
prikimavanje in mrmranje (Gaiman 2013: 486). To je e en znak, da nosi nevidni bog vse
lastnosti boga, ki vlada planetu Merkurju in sredi. Poleg pijae Some in njegove potrebe po
njej, Budha dopolni tudi vse, kar se tie zunanjosti tega lika, ki ima rne lase in oi in je
lepega in urejenega videza. To, da Odin naredi kar veliko za to, da bi pridobil njegovo
naklonjenost oziroma bi ga pritegnil na svojo stran, ni presenetljivo, saj je to bog, zaradi
katerega je neko e nastala vojna med bogovi, obenem pa ima toliko razlinih moi in
lastnosti.
Veino lastnosti boga Hermesa ima tudi nevidni bog v Amerikih bogovih:
Njegova prekanjenost in praktina umnost, njegova domiselnost (prav on je odkril
ogenj), sposobnost, da se naredi nevidnega in se, kot bi trenil, znajde kjer koli,
namre e napovedujejo ugled modrosti, predvsem pa obvladovanja okultnih ved, ki
so pozneje, v helenistini dobi, postale Hermesove specifine lastnosti. Tisti, ki najde
pot v temi, vodi due mrtvih in se giblje s hitrostjo bliska, zdaj viden zdaj neviden

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v zadnji instanci odraa neko doloeno naravnanost duha: ne le razumnost in

prevejanost, temve tudi gnozo in magijo. (Eliade 1996a: 179)
Hermes, Merkur in Budha so torej tri inkarnacije istega boga, ki bi v romanu, kot je
Ameriki bogovi, lahko delovali kot ena oseba, saj e v samih mitologijah predstavljajo eno
idejo. Ob pozornem branju poglavja lahko opazimo tudi, da sta si Wednesday in nevidni
bog zelo podobna saj oba pijeta viski, obenem pa sta oba obleena v sivo obleko, le da je
ena temna in druga svetla. Prav tako sta si do neke mere podobna Odin in Hermes, saj je
Odin le eden izmed bogov, ki predstavljajo dan sredo. Domnevamo lahko torej, da je elel
avtor v nevidnega boga vkljuiti pomembneje predstavnike tega dneva, ki pa se po neem
razlikujejo od Odina. e vzamemo torej v obzir Odina, Hermesa, Merkurja in Budho, so
vsi nekakna inkarnacija istega boga, le da Odin ni bog trgovanja. To bi lahko bil razlog,
da se obravnavano poglavje odvija ravno v Las Vegasu, saj s tem avtor nakazuje na toko
njihovega razlikovanja. Nevidni bog lahko za razliko od Odina e vedno ivi dobro, saj
ljudje v Las Vegasu e vedno astijo pretok denarja in s tem priskrbijo bogu trgovanja in
tatov obilo duhovne hrane. e si na tem mestu privoim nekaj svobode, bi lahko celo
trdil, da Odin obaluje, da ni tudi on bog trgovanja, na kar nakazuje tudi pesem, ki se vrti v
ozadju njunega pogovora in nosi naslov Why Can't He Be You? (Zakaj on ne more biti ti?)
(Gaiman 2013: 276). Hermes, ki je varljivec par excellence, tako ostaja neimenovan, saj v
romanu e nastopa eden od predstavnikov srede, obenem pa je po tem dnevu tudi
poimenovan.

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3.4

Anansi Boys

Tako kot v veini ostalih del, tudi v Anansi Boys Gaiman z zanimivimi preobrati ustvarja
zgodbo, ki je meanica mitologije in dananjega sveta. Ta zmes druinskih problemov,
mistine dimenzije, temanih potovanj, ljubezenskih kandalov in ubijalskih ptiev je
avtorju prinesla tevilne nagrade, med katerimi sta najbolj odmevni Locus Award in British
Fantasy Society Award, med drugim pa je knjiga pristala tudi na prvem mestu na New York
Times Best Seller lestvici.
Zgodba se dogaja v isti dimenziji kot zgodba knjige Ameriki bogovi, vendar ne moremo
rei, da je njeno nadaljevanje, saj je iz nje vzet samo en lik. Gospoda Nancya, ki je
inkarnacija starega afrikega varljivca Anansija, si je avtor pravzaprav zamislil e pred
nastankom Amerikih bogov. Gaiman sam pravi, da je imel idejo o Anansi Boys e pred
idejo o Amerikih bogovih in da si je za slednjo sposodil karakter iz knjige, ki je e ni
napisal.
Lahko bi rekli, da je roman arhetipsko potovanje glavnega heroja, ki pa v naem primeru ni
ravno junak, temve prej nekaken antiheroj tepec, ki ga skoraj vsi lahko potegnejo za
nos. Tako kot v Amerikih bogovih in v Gaimanovem prvem romanu Neverwhere, je v
zaetku romana popolnoma lik popolnoma vsakdanjega loveka vpeljan v svet magije in
mitologije, v katerem se mora nato znajti in v tem novem svetu poiskati svoje mesto. Na
zaetku romana Charles Nancy izve, da je umrl njegov oe in da se bo moral vrniti v
Ameriko, kjer mu stara prijateljica pove, da je bil njegov oe pravzaprav afriki bog
Anansi. Fat Charley nima nobenih boanskih moi zato, ker naj bi vse te moi prejel
njegov brat Spider, Pajek, za katerega do tega trenutka Charley sploh ni vedel, da obstaja.
Po razlinih zapletih in preizkunjah junak pride do zakljuka, da je tudi on pravi potomec
Anansija in da ima tudi on boanske lastnosti svojega oeta, ter da lahko s pesmijo in
zgodbo spremeni realnost. 4
Anansi Boys je zabaven roman s precej hitrim odvijanjem dogodkov in meanjem zapletov,
ter humorjem, ki ga lahko prepoznajo bralci del Douglas Adamsa in Terry Pratchetta. Kar
se tie same zgodbe, lahko zaradi predvidljivosti glavnega protagonista bralec brez velikih
problemov zauti, kako se bo konala, vendar se Gaiman verjetno tega zaveda, saj kot
pisatelj napol potopisnega romana, kot je Ameriki bogovi, deluje pod naelom, da je bolj

Podrobna obnova romana je vkljuena v prilogo

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pomembno potovanje kot sam cilj. V dodatku h knjigi je avtor zapisal, da je zgodba
pravzaprav odraz odnosov znotraj druine, e zlasti zadrege, ki jo otroci obutijo ob svojih
starih.

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3.4.1 Gospod Nancy

Verjetno poznate kar nekaj zgodb o Aansiju. Verjetno ni na svetu niti ene osebe, ki
ne bi e nikoli sliala nobene zgodbe o Anansiju. Anansi je bil pajek, ko je bil svet e
mlad in ko so bile vse zgodbe prvi izreene. Pogosto se je spravil v teave, vendar
se je pogosto sam tudi reil. (Gaiman 2006a: 50)
O tem afrikem varljivcu, ki je bil po nekaterih legendah tudi uradni poslanec glavnega
boga, sem v diplomski nalogi e veliko pisal (Parrinder 1984: 134). Anansi se je s
prihodom v kulturo jamajkih ljudstev in amerikih sunjev prelevil e bolj v smeri
kulturnega junaka.
V delu Anansi Boys avtor Anansija opie z naslednjimi besedami: V starih zgodbah ivi
Anansi v hii, tako kot ti ali jaz. Seveda je pohlepen, pohoten, prevarantski in poln lai. Je
pa tudi dobrosren in sreen ter mestoma celo iskren. Vasih je dober, vasih pa je slab
(Gaiman 2006a: 213). S tem avtor e opie glavne lastnosti, ki jih mora imeti varljivev kot
lik v kateremkoli delu, saj kot sem e poudaril, je ena glavnih znailnosti varljivca ravno
to, da ni po predispoziciji ne zloben in ne dober, temve popolnoma amoralno bitje. Vsa
njegova dejanja so vedno zgolj plod momentalnih nagnjenj, posledice pa so lahko
popolnoma uniujoe ali povsem altruistine.
e s samim zaetkom romana nas avtor vpelje v svet spolnosti in ukan v dve od
osrednjih vlog tega arhetipa. Gospod Nancy kot inkarnacija Anansija je namre v zaetku
romana s pomojo karaok ravno v procesu dvorjenja mladim turistkam v preozkih
oblailih, ki bi po svoji starosti lahko bile tudi njegove here. Glede na njegove boanske
lastnosti bi mu podvig brez dvoma tudi uspel, ko se ne bi v nekem trenutku prijel za srce,
stegnil drugo roko in se elegantno zruil naravnost na najlepo izmed turistk. Kasneje
gospa Higgler Anansijevemu sinu objasni, da je v tem procesu uspel dekle e zadnji
prijeti za prsi in tako potrdil svojo navduenje nad tem delom enskega telesa, ki ga je
vekrat izpostavil e v delu Ameriki bogovi. Gospa Higgler doda: Nedvomno je odel
tako, kot bi si to sam elel (Gaiman 2006a: 24).
V romanu je vekrat oitno izpostavljeno, da gospod Nancy nikoli ni imel problemov z
uspehi pri nenejem spolu, saj ga gospa Higgler opie: Bil je eden moki [] Vse do
konca. Njegov nasmeek je zmedel marsikatero gospodino. Obenem pa se je znal oblei.
Vsa dekleta so ga oboevala (Gaiman 2006a: 44).
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Tudi sam Gospod Nancy zane eno od svojih zgodb z naslednjimi besedami: No, e bi
vam zael razlagati, kako pameten in kako lep in kako armanten in kako pretkan je bil
Anansi, ne bi konal do naslednjega etrtka (Gaiman 2006a: 340). Tudi Maeve
Livingstone, ki Anansija srea posthumno, pripomni, da e vedno izgleda kot zvezdnik.
Celo Charleyeva in Spiderjeva mati, ki se ji je gospod Nancy najbolj posvetil med vsemi
svojimi izbrankami, njegove pozornosti ni mogla preusmeriti za dolgo nase, saj je bil
preve zaposlen. Verjetno tudi tukaj avtor namiguje na liminalnost tega karakterja oziroma
na njegovo dvojno naravo, saj v nekem trenutku gospa Higgler pravi, da je bil zelo
zaposlen, v drugem pa pravi, da ni nikoli ni delal in da je s svojimi boanskimi lastnostmi
lahko na razline naine priel do denarja (Gaiman 2006a: 46).
O njegovi boanskosti v zaetku romana dvomi samo njegov sin Charley, vsem ostalim pa
je samoumevna. Ko Charley pravi, da je bil slab oe in slab mo, mu gospa Higgler pove,
da kljub resninosti njegovih besed gospoda Nancya ne moremo obravnavati kot loveka,
temve kot boga (Gaiman 2006a: 45). Kot pravi varljivec ivi Anansi v tem romanu nekje
na meji med ivljenjem in smrtjo, saj se kljub temu, da e na zaetku zgodbe umre, nato
pojavlja skozi celoten roman v mnogih kljunih trenutkih, o njegovi smrti pa dvomita tudi
njegova sinova.
In res njegova smrt v celoti deluje kot nekakna zadnja pustolovina afrikega varljivca,
saj tudi z njegovim dotikom prsi tistega dekleta zadnja ukana e ni konana. Ko njegov sin
Charles Nancy pride na pogreb in ima tam ganljiv govor, v katerem izrazi svojo
razoaranje in ljubezen do oeta, se na koncu izkae, da se je udeleil napanega pogreba.
Za bralca romana je skoraj nemogoe, da bi lahko ta del prebral brez obudovanja tega,
kako avtor na svojevrsten nain vplete komine lastnosti varljivca v zgodbo tudi takrat, ko
le-ta ni v srediu dogajanja.
Kot pravi varljivec in kulturni heroj je Anansi s svojo ukano v romanu opisan kot tisti, ki je
ljudi osvobodil nekaknega ivotarjenja in strahu pred ostalimi bitji ter jih nauil
razmiljati s svojo glavo in delati v skladu s tem. Preden je namre Anansi ukradel zgodbe,
so le-te pripadale Tigru in zato so bile prav vse zgodbe polne teme, groze in strahu. Nato
pa je Anansi prelisiil vse ivali in e zlasti Tigra, si prisluil zgodbe ter jih napolnil z
milino in mirom ter obenem z ukanami in spretnostjo. Pred tem so ljudje zaradi Tigrovih
zgodb znali samo ubijati. Postali so lovci in postali so plen. Nato pa je v zgodbe vstopil
Anansi in zaradi njega so ljudje zaeli razmiljati o reitvah problemov; e vedno so morali
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jesti, vendar so sedaj razmiljali, kako bi lahkov laje prili do hrane. Pravzaprav je
Anansi, kot je opisan v tem romanu, s svojimi zgodbami kot kulturni junak naredil ve za
dobrobit lovetva kot skoraj katerikoli drugi kulturni junak v raznih mitologijah (Gaiman
2006a: 340). Sedaj namre ljudje govorijo zgodbe o Anansiju, kar pomeni, da zaenjajo
razmiljati o tem, kako bi prili do poljuba, kako bi z umom in humorjem zastonj prili do
neesa. Tako zanejo graditi svet (Gaiman 2006a: 341).

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3.4.2 Mitoloka dvojka

Mitoloka dvojka sta lika, ki se pojavljata v mnogih mitologijah in kulturah po vsem
svetu. Nakazujeta lahko na drugi del loveke psihe in se pogosto pojavljata v psihologiji
kot senca. Dvojka sta lahko oba boanskega izvora, kot na primer Apollo in Artemis, v
drugih primerih pa nima nobeden od njiju nobenih boanskih lastnosti. Zanimiv primer
mitolokih dvojkov sta Herkules in njegov loveki brat Ifikles. Med druge bolj znane
dvojke tejemo e Heleno in Klitajmestro, Romula in Rema, Freyra in Freyo, Nakula in
Sahadeva, dvojka iz Navajo mitov ipd. Dvojka sta si lahko podobna, lahko pa sta si tudi
popolnoma nasprotna; lahko sta zaveznika, pogosto pa sta tudi sovranika. Sta dve razlini
strani kovanca, ki skupaj tvorita celoto.
Dvojniki poplavljajo literaturo. V gotski literaturi straijo kot doppelgngerji, kjer
premiki v ogledalih in manifestacije izprijenega nezavednega predstavljajo hrano za
psihoanalizo. Kot konceptualna osnova za titanske spopade med diametralno
nasprotujoimi entitetami dajejo svojo obliko in strukturo na posodo herojski in
fantazijski fikciji. (Brooker 2013: 173)
Neil Gaiman se v svojem opusu vekrat vraa k upodobitvi oseb, ki skupaj tvorijo celoto.
V stripu Sandman sta zanimiv par diametralnih nasprotij Despair (obup) in Desire
(poelenje). V istem stripu je avtor vekrat uporabil tudi trojno boginjo, ki v obliki
mladenke, matere in starke nosi veliko vlogo tudi v zadnjem njegovem romanu Ocean at
the End of the Lane. V romanu Anansi Boys se avtor osredotoi na dva lika, ki sta potomca
afrikega varljivca Anansija. Charles Nancy oz. Fat Charley je v zaetku romana
popolnoma navaden lovek, saj je vse boanske lastnosti podedoval njegov brat Spider
(Pajek). Fat Charley in Spider sta diametralno nasprotni entiteti in bralec kaj hitro opazi, da
sta kot dve strani kovanca, saj skupaj tvorita nekakno celoto mitolokega varljivca. V
prvem delu diplomske naloge sem vekrat poudaril, da je varljivec lahko zelo premeten lik,
ki pa je lahko zaradi impulzivnosti rtev svojih dejanj. Najlepi primer taknega varljivca
je seveda Kojot, ki v nekem trenutku prelisii svoje rtve, v drugem pa rtev postane sam.
V dotinem primeru, e zlasti v prvi polovici romana, Spider predstavlja vso boanskost
tega mitinega lika, medtem ko je Fat Charley rtev vsake situacije, v kateri se znajde. Da
ta dva lika predstavljata eno osebo, je razvidno e iz romana Ameriki bogovi, saj tam
Anansi o svojem sinu govori v ednini (Gaiman 2013: 523). Podobno tudi Charley v Anansi

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Boys sliko njega in njegovega brata iz otrotva vidi kot sliko sebe in odsev v ogledalu
(Gaiman 2006a: 47).
Anansi je imel najprej samo enega otroka, ki po besedah gospe Dunwiddy ni ubogal,
uganjal je vragolije in jezikal (Gaiman 2006a: 318). Zato se je ta stara enica, ki se je v
prostem asu nekoliko ukvarjala z magijo, odloila, da bo iz Charleya iztrgala zlobo,
pokvarjenost in njegovo boanskost. Ni pa se zavedala, da se lahko tudi isto preprosta
magija okoli boanstva, kot je Anansi, povea do nedojemljivih razsenosti, in tako sta
nastali dve osebi. Kot e reeno, je bil Spider tisti, ki je od svojega boanskega oeta
podedoval vso premetenost in vse ostale lastnosti pravega varljivca, kot je pretirana
spolnost, zmonost hitrega potovanja in neustaljenost, povean apetit, liminalnost in
podobno. V opisu njegovega razmerja s Charleyevo zaroenko je poudarjeno, da so bile do
sedaj enske za Spiderja zabavni okraski in da bo po vsaki lahko nastopila nova (Gaiman
2006a: 220), kar pa je zgolj eden od odlomkov, ki prikazujejo njegovo odprtost do
spolnosti in ensk na splono. Varljivsko obarvan je tudi odlomek, kjer avtor pie o tem,
kako je bil Spider vajen malenkostnega spreminjanja realnosti (Gaiman 2006a: 220), kot
na primer takrat, ko ljudi in celo raunalnik z nekaj besedami prepria, da je Charles
Nancy. Obenem pa je od oeta prejel tudi boansko zunanjost in arm, saj ga Charley opie
z naslednjimi besedami: Bil je spreten, bil je uglajen, bil je pameten, razen osebja je bil
edini na zabavi, ki ni potreboval vabila (Gaiman 2006a: 71). In nekoliko kasneje:
Njegov brat je bil po zunanjem videzu tak, kot si bi elel biti Fat Charley [...] Spider je bil
viji, vitkeji in kul (Gaiman 2006a: 77). Spider je torej afriki varljivi Pajek v pravem
pomenu besede, saj se ne ozira na nikogar drugega kot nase in ob njem si ni teko
predstavljati boga, ki je impulziven, sebien in mestoma grotesken lik, ki krade hrano,
enske zvabi v posteljo z ukano in ravnoduno oneaa svete rituale (Garry in El-Shamy
2005: 560). Marshall (2007: 4) prav za Anansija pravi, da lahko brez zadrkov spi z
enami drugih mokih, kar se v romanu pokae v trenutku, ko Spider spi z zaroenko
svojega brata.
O diametralnih nasprotjih in binarnih opozicijah sem e govoril v poglavju o Odinu,
vendar pa sem nartno prihranil citat iz knjige Cambridge companion to Levi-Straus za ta
dva lika:
Mono podobna ali identina dvojka sta ustrezen produkt spolnega dejanja nekega
lika, ki se pretvarja, da je 'mono podoben ali identien' nekemu drugemu liku; in
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zajec (lik varljivca) se mora razdruiti kot nadomestitev za dvojno spolnost varljivca.
(Wiseman 2009: 202)
Ob zaetku romana dobi bralec obutek, da Fat Charley predstavlja mitolokega zajca in
tudi pripovedovalec temu predvidevanju bralca ne oporeka. Fat Charley je torej lovek, ki
ivi zelo povpreno ivljenje loveka, ki nima nobenega nadzora nad svojim ivljenjem.
Avtor omeni, da ni Charley e nikoli v ivljenju niesar zadel na igrah za sreo (Gaiman
2006a: 46), ni podedoval nobenih boanskih lastnosti svojega oeta, opravlja delo, ki ga
niti priblino ne veseli, obenem pa je znan pod imenom, ki ga sovrai. Ko ga spodbujajo,
naj zapoje na karaokah, pravi, da bo bruhal, e bo moral odpreti svoja usta in peti pred
obinstvom, kljub temu da ima zelo lep glas (Gaiman 2006a: 98). Edino svetlo toko
njegovega ivljenja mu predstavlja zaroenka Rosie in ko Spider ogrozi tudi njuno vezo,
Charley izjavi: Saj se zaveda, da to pomeni vojno, kajne? (Gaiman 2006a: 167)
Pripovedovalec nato nadaljuje: To je bil bojni krik zajca brez izhoda. Obstajajo kraji kjer
ljudje verjamejo, da je bil Anansi varljivi zajec. Seveda se motijo; bil je pajek (Gaiman
2006a: 167). Po tem dogodku, se zane v Charleyu nekaj spreminjati in ta zajec se poasi
spremeni v pajka. Ko je stari gospod Nancy videl, kaj je soseda Dunwiddy naredila z
njegovim sinom, se ni razjezil, temve je rekel, da e Charles ne bo znal situacije popraviti,
potem ni njegov sin (Gaiman 2006a: 318). Prvi znak te transformacije je precej oiten e
takrat, ko s pomojo tirih enic zapusti ta svet in se preseli na drugi svet, ki predstavlja
zaetek sveta. V tem trenutku Charley prvi prestopi mejo med dvema svetovoma in
pokae svojo liminalno sposobnost. e primerjamo pajka z ostalimi ivalmi v tistem
zaetku sveta, lahko kaj hitro opazimo, da je pajek edini, ki se v romanu pojavlja na obeh
svetovih. Tiger, ki se proti koncu romana pojavi tudi na naem svetu, se pojavi zgolj kot
duh, ki se naseli v telo nekoga drugega, medtem ko se ptija enska na naem svetu pojavi
zgolj v obliki ptic. Varljivec je torej edino bitje v romanu, ki lahko brez vejih teav
prehaja mejo med obema svetovoma. Drugi del tega procesa morda ni tako oiten, e ne
vzamemo v obzir lastnosti varljivca, in sicer njegovo porenost. Fat Charley, ki ni ni bolj
obilen kot povpreen moki, v nekem trenutku poje druinsko porcijo pianca iz
doloenega obrata s hitro hrano (Gaiman 2006a: 158). Kmalu zatem zane Charley
potovati in je skoraj do konca romana nenehno na poti, isto na koncu romana pa opravi e
svojo zadnjo razsenost varljivca, in sicer vlogo kulturnega junaka. Ko se zadnji vrne v
tisti drugi svet, tam zapoje pesem in preko te pesmi zane spreminjati svet in realnost
svojega ivljenja.
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Meletinskij zapie: Kot vemo, ima kulturni junak v mitih pogosto brate, s katerimi je v
sovranih odnosih. Vasih ima enega samega; ta ga neuspeno posnema, se vojskuje z
njim, tu in tam celo poskua prevarati pametnejega brata. (Meletinskij 2001: 26).
Tudi v Anansi Boys glavna junaka zaneta na podoben nain, kot ga v tem delu opie
Meletinsky, vendar pa skozi roman oba odkrijeta svojo vlogo in osebnost. Namesto, da bi
ostala e naprej vsak ena stran kovanca, postaneta bolj podobna morski zvezdi. e namre
prereemo morsko zvezdo na pol, bosta iz tega nastali dve morski zvezdi. Tako tudi
Charles Nancy na koncu romana obrazloi svojemu bratu, sta se oba razvila v celostni
osebnosti (Gaiman 2006a: 419).

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3.5

Sandman

Sandman je strip, ki se ga v originalnem amerikem jeziku veliko bolj dri in natanneje

opisuje ime grafini roman. Razlike med grafini romani in stripi na tem mestu ne
utemeljujem podrobneje naj zadostuje to, da so grafini romani od stripov nekoliko bolj
obseni in neprimerno kompleksneji. Sandman je torej grafini roman, ki ga je Neil
Gaiman za zalobo Vertigo ustvarjal pod okriljem DC Comics v sodelovanju z raznimi
ilustratorji, kot so Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc
Hempel, Michael Zulli, Todd Klein in Dave McKean. Prvotna ideja te zbirke je bila
oivitev lika iz serije dveh drugih avtorjev, ki je izhajala od leta 1974 do leta 1976.
Gaimanov Sandman je izhajal od januarja 1989 do marca 1996 in je do danes prejel e
tevilne nagrade, med drugim tudi 26 nagrad Eisner, bil je eden izmed redkih stripov, ki so
se uvrstili na lestvico New York Times Best Seller, Norman Mailer pa je zbirko poimenoval
strip za intelektualce (Splet 7). Leta 1991 je Sandman postal prvi grafini roman, ki je
prejel literarno nagrado, in sicer World Fantasy Award za najboljo kratko zgodbo. V
skladu z njegovo pogodbo ni smel nihe drug pisati stripov o tem liku oziroma se je
zgodba zakljuila z njegovim prenehanjem pisanja. Kljub temu je leta 1999 zbirki 75-ih
originalnih delov Gaiman dodal e delo The Sandman: The Dream Hunters in nato leta
2003 kratko zgodbo v obliki stripa z naslovom Endless Nights. Leta 2013 je Neil Gaiman
svoje oboevalce in vse bralce Sandmana presenetil z novico, da bo izlo e nekaj delov, ki
naj bi sluili kot predzgodba originalnemu opusu. Do sedaj so izle tri izdaje, vsega skupaj
pa jih namerava napisati est.
Zgodbe o Sandmanu bi lahko primerjali z zbirkami kratke proze, le da imajo vse zgodbe
nekakno skupno rdeo nit. Skupen imenovalec vseh zgodb je Dream lik, ki predstavlja
Sanje in je eden izmed sedmih prvotnih idej, ki so nastale pred vsem drugim; imenujejo se
The Endless (Brezkonni). Poleg kralja Sanj, ki se imenuje tudi Morpheus ali Oneiros,
spada med sedem antropomorfiziranih idej e Smrt, Usoda, Unienje, Poelenje, Obup in
Delirij, ki je bila neko Srea (Dream, Death, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair in
Delirium oziroma Delight). Njihova imena ponazarjajo tako njihovo funkcijo, ki jo
opravljajo e od zaetka asov, kot tudi kraljestvo, kateremu vladajo.
Obnovo vseh zgodb, ki se pojavljajo in se povezujejo skozi celotno serijo, bi bilo na tem
mestu nesmiselno in potratno predstavljati, v prilogi pa je v skrajani obliki predstavljena
zgodba samega Morpheusa. Zgodbe se zanejo z novodobnim zdruenjem arovnikov, ki
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elijo ugrabiti smrt in si tako zagotoviti nesmrtnost, vendar namesto Smrti ugrabijo
njenega mlajega brata Oneirosa ali kralja Sanj. Ko mu po ve kot sedemdesetih letih uspe
pobegniti, najde svoje izgubljene predmete in zane obnavljati kraljestvo, ki je v njegovi
odsotnosti zaelo razpadati. Bralec skozi stripe ugotavlja, da se je Morpheus med
ujetnitvom spremenil, zgodbe celotnega grafinega romana pa se povezujejo rdeo nit, ki
govori o tem, kako eli popraviti oziroma odpraviti napake, ki jih je storil pred to
spremembo. V predgovoru k stripu Endless Nights je Neil Gaiman zapisal, da gospodar
Sanj neprimerno pride do spoznanja, da se mora spremeniti ali umreti in da je odloitev
njegova (Gaiman 2003: 8). Vendar pa se izkae, da je spreminjanje starih navad in
odpravljanje napak iz preteklosti za osebnost, ki v ustaljenem ritmu deluje e ve tisoletij,
precej zahtevna.
Grafini roman, ki se zane kot strip temane fantazije, se sasoma razvije v zapleteno
fantazijsko serijo zgodb, ki v sebi zdruujejo prvine klasine in moderne mitologije. Tudi
ostale zgodbe, ki obsegajo razline like iz mnogih mitologij in panteonov, so mojstrska
meanica lepote in groze, glavni protagonist pa skozi svojo zgodbo postane klasini lik
traginega heroja.
V slubi kralja Sanj sta Kajn in Abel, obenem pa v njegovem kraljestvu prebiva tudi njuna
mati Eva. V seriji se vekrat pojavi tudi motiv Lilith, Adamove prve ene, eden izmed
pomembnejih likov pa je tudi Lucifer. Lucifer je v Sandmanu e posebej zanimiv lik, saj
se v nekem trenutku odloi, da ne bo ve vladal Peklu in da eli v ivljenju izkusiti e
nekoliko bolj vsakdanje ivljenje: Morda bi lahko nekje leal na plai? Poslual glasbo ali
zgradil hio? Se nauil plesati ali igrati klavir (Gaiman 1992 #2: 20). S tem Gaiman
popolnoma obrne na glavo lik Luciferja, kakrnega je uveljavil Milton s citatom, da je
bolje vladati v peklu, kot hlapevati v raju (Milton 2003:17) Ko Lucifer zapusti svoje
domovanje in da kljue Pekla Morpheusu, se pred kraljestvom sanj zanejo pojavljati razne
osebnosti raznih mitologij, kot so nordijski Odin, Thor in Loki, egipanska Anubis in Bast,
Azazel kot predstavnik demonov, Susano-o-no-Mikoto iz japonske mitologije in mnogi
drugi. Odin in e zlasti Loki se skozi celo zbirko grafinih romanov zelo pogosto pojavljata
in bralec lahko opazi, da se Gaiman pri njiju e posebej potrudi, da ostane zvest znani
nordijski mitologiji. Morpheus se odloi, da bo kljue pekla prepustil dvema angeloma in

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nebesom, s imer povzroi spremembo v nainu ravnanja z rtvami pekla. 5 V zgodbi se

pojavi tudi kar nekaj likov iz Shakespearjeve drame Sen kresne noi, med katerimi precej
pomembno vlogo igrajo kraljica Titania, kralj Oberon in e zlasti varljivec Puck (v prevodu
krat). Eden pomembnejih karakterjev je tudi Orfej, ki je v seriji Sandman predstavljen
kot sin Morpheusa in starogrke muze poezije, Kaliope. V posebni izdaji Sandmana, kjer
avtor pove zgodbo o Orfejevi poroki, o izgubi njegove ljubljene Evridike in o Orfejevem
potovanju v podzemlje, sreamo tudi grke osebnosti, kot so Haron, Had in Perzefona.

Na tem mestu al ni prostora za podrobnejo analizo spretnosti, s katero avtor v popolnoma fiktivno zgodbo
vplete razline teorije glede kaznovanja in elje po kaznovanju, ki jih razvija Michael Faucault in ostali. Te
in podobne analize so zelo dobro predstavljene v knjigah Burdge, A.S. Burke, J. J., Larsen, Kristine (ur) The
Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman. USA: CreateSpace 2013. in Bealer, Tracy L., Luria, Rachel, Yuen,
Wayne (ur.). Neil Gaiman and Philosophy: Gods Gone Wild! Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co. 2012.

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3.5.1 Sreanje varljivcev

Kar se tie varljivcev v Sandmanu, izstopata samo Loki in Puck ter do neke mere Kitsume
v dodatnem delu Dream Hunters (prim. Gaiman 1999 #4). Odin v celotnem sklopu del o
Sandmanu odigra popolnoma resno vlogo boga, ki eli ohraniti mir in se eli izogniti
Ragnaroku. Morpheus nosi nekaj malenkostnih lastnosti varljivca, saj nadzoruje sanje,
lahko potuje med svetovi in podobno. Vendar pa ima v stripu preve resno vlogo, da bi
lahko kakorkoli ponazarjal lik varljivca, obenem pa lahko tukaj vsi lani njegove druine
potujejo med svetovi. Poleg teh karakterjev bi se lahko potegoval za to vlogo e Lucifer,
saj jo do neke mere igra e v sami hebrejski mitologiji, vendar kot sem e omenil,
pooseblja Lucifer v mitolokem smislu isto zlo, medtem ko naj bi bil varljivec amoralen.
Vendar tudi e bi gledali na njegove lastnosti v samem stripu, bi ga teko povezali z
mitolokim likom varljivca.
Na drugi strani pa, e pogledamo Lokija v Sandmanu, lahko opazimo, da je celo veliko
bolj nemoralen lik kot Lucifer, vendar pa ima kar nekaj drugih lastnosti varljivca, obenem
pa ga s tem nazivom poklie tudi kar nekaj karakterjev v originalni zbirki Sandmana. e ko
se prvi pojavi, ga Odin imenuje kot tistega, ki hodi po nebu (Gaiman 1992 #3: 4), kar
nakazuje na njegovo hitrost oziroma evlje s krili, o katerih sem govoril v prvem delu
diplome. Kmalu zatem Loki Odina opomni, da sta krvna brata in da ga Odin vseeno
kaznuje na tako okruten nain, na kar mu Odin odgovori, da je Loki preve pameten,
nepredvidljiv in zlonameren, da bi lahko ostal na svobodi (Gaiman 1992 #3: 4). Ko
poskuata od kralja Sanj pridobiti klju pekla, eli vrhovni bog svojega varljivca prepriati,
da jima pridobi klju s prevaro, in Lokija poimenuje mojstra prevar (Gaiman 1992 #5: 13).
V nekem trenutku Loki Pucku pove zgodbo, kako je preprial Thora, da je nose, in ga
pustil, da je zelo dolgo ivel v tem preprianju. Nezaupljiva narava varljivca pa se najbolj
izkae v njegovem glavnem dejanju, ko mu Morpheus pomaga pri pobegu pred kaznijo in
mu je zato Loki dolan uslugo, vendar Loki kljub temu svojega dobrotnika prevara in nanj
nakoplje maevanje Erinij, ter tako povzroi njegov propad. Odin ga o tem posvari in
pravi: On je kaa, ki mora piiti roko tudi v trenutku, ko ga le-ta rei pred lovcem. V
Lokijevi naravi je, da z zlobo in poasnim strupom pii roko, ki mu je pomagala (Gaiman
1996 #7: 7).
V zbirki Seasons of Mist je lepo poudarjena tudi njegova sla, ko eli zapeljati eno izmed
vilink, ki je prila na zborovanje (Gaiman 1992 #5: 3). Kasneje se ta motiv pojavi e vsaj
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enkrat, ko eli poljubiti ensko, ki jo nekaj trenutkov kasneje zage v avtu (Gaiman 1996
#5: 25). Ko Lokija konno ujame ena od mor iz deele sanj in ga zgrabi za vrat, se ji hoe
Loki izmakniti z vrsto spremenjenih podob, ki mono spominjajo na Odisejevo
dogodivino s Proteusom (Gaiman 1996 #9: 12). Njegov zadnji poskus prevare je, ko ga
pohabljenega in brez oi Thor odnese nazaj na mesto, kjer bo do Ragnaroka preivljal
muke tokrat ga Loki poskua prepriati, da ni sam pobegnil, temve da ga je v to prisilil
sam Morpheus (Gaiman 1996 #10: 4).
Tako kot se Thor povee s Sosano-o-no-Mikoto, ker oba vsak v svojem panteonu
predstavljata boga groma, se tudi Loki povee s Puckom, ker imata oba lastnosti varljivca.
Puck in Loki skupaj ugrabita Daniela Halla, kar jima uspe tako, da najprej uspavata
njegovo varuko, saj lahko vsaj eden od njiju nadzoruje spanec smrtnikov. Poleg uboja
nato oba spremenita svoji podobi in se izdajata za detektiva Lukea Pinkertona in Gordyja
Fellowsa ter napeljeta Lyto Hall, da se mauje nad kraljem Sanj.
Lik Puck izhaja iz stare germanske, angleke in keltske mitologije. V slovarju Oxford
(Splet 16) v zvezi z imenom Puck ali staroangleko Pca ni znano, ali je keltskega ali
germanskega izvora. V Enciklopediji Britannici lahko zasledimo, da so ljudje v
elizabetinskih asih kljub temu da niso ve verjeli v bitja kot so vilinci, kratje in vile
e vedno poznali Puckovo porogljivo naravo in monost spreminjanja podobe. V
valianski mitologiji je Puck tisti, ki zna spremeniti svojo podobo in lahko v trenutku
postane konj, orel, osel ali kaj drugega, znan pa je tudi po tem, da lahko ljudi spelje s poti.
Njegovo drugo je ime je Robin Goodfellow in je mestoma naredil tudi kakno dobro delo,
eprav je za to skoraj vedno prejel plailo v obliki kozarca mleka ali kaj podobnega (prim.
Splet 4).
Shakespeare v svoji drami Pucka upodobi v precej bolj dobrotljivi lui, kot naj bi bil ta lik
po starih legendah. Na to podrobnost se kar precej osredotoi tudi Gaiman, ko se eden od
lanov spremstva vilincev pritouje, da Puck ni zgolj burkasto ponoevalo, kot ga opie
Shakespeare (Shakespeare 1998: 31), temve prej nevarno-hihitajoa-se-isto-psihotinagronja-ivljenju-in-udom (Gaiman 1995 #3: 10). Ko vsi ostali vilinci zapustijo na svet,
Oberon pozove tudi svojega zvestega sluabnika, naj se jim pridrui, in le-ta mu odgovori:
Kaj? Da bi odel? Ko je na svetu toliko smrtnikov, ki jih moram zbegati in vznejevoljiti?
(Gaiman 1995 #3: 22). Zato Puck ostane na tem svetu in skupaj z Lokijem ustvari najveji
zaplet v celotnem opusu del o Sandmanu. Ko se proti koncu svojega obiska poslavlja, se
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predstavi z naslednjimi besedami: Jaz sem Puck, po imenu Robin Goodfellow. Jaz sem
varljivec, antini aljivec (Gaiman 1996 #4: 1). Nekoliko pozneje pove tudi, da je pri
rojstvu zamenjal e kar nekaj otrok, nato pa se pohvali, da bi bilo njega teje premagati kot
kaknega malega gospodarja zlobe iz deele ledu in snega. Mi Pucki smo stari, trdoivi in
divji (Gaiman 1996 #4: 2).
Oba varljivca torej izpolnjujeta kar nekaj lastnosti, ki jih mora imeti ta mitoloki lik,
obenem pa sta povzroitelja najveje spremembe v celotni zgodbi o Morpheusu. Sta
povzroitelja motnje v realnosti, ki bo e dolgo odmevala v svetu Sanj, kot tudi v realnosti
budnih ljudi.

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4. Ostalo
Med ostalimi deli Neila Gaimana, e zlasti v ostalih romanih, kot so Pokopalika knjiga,
Koraline, Nikolikje, Stardust in Ocean at the End of the Lane, se pravi lik mitolokega
varljivca skorajda ne pojavlja ve. V delu Odd and the Frost Giants je eden glavnih likov
Loki, neke vrste varljivca pa najdemo e v eni od zgodbic v zbirki knjig Fragile Things,
posebna verzija japonske varljive figure Kitsume pa se pojavi e v kratki pesmi znotraj
zbirke Smoke and Mirrors.
Mladinski roman Odd and The Frost Giants je postavljen v svet nordijske mitologije in
govori o dvanajstletnem deku po imenu Odd. Odd nikoli v ivljenju ni imel sree, dokler
svojemu strahu navkljub ni pomagal medvedu, lisici in orlu. Izkae se namre, da so to
trije bogovi, in sicer Thor, Loki in Odin. Menim, da podrobneja obnova dela na tem mestu
za razumevanje ni potrebna. Odin se v tem delu ne izkae za varljivca, saj vsa njegova
dejanja kaejo zgolj na osebo glavnega boga nekega panteona. Na drugi strani pa je Loki,
ki v tej kratki knjigi pooseblja kar nekaj lastnosti tega mitinega varljivca. Loki je v delu
opisan z zelo podobnimi lastnostmi, kot jih ima ta oseba v izvirni mitologiji, saj ima v lasti
evlje, s katerimi lahko hodi po zraku, rad nagaja ostalim bogovom, jih spravi teave in jim
nato pomaga teavo reiti, obenem pa je vekrat omenjena tudi njegova e omenjena
avantura, ko se spremeni v kobilo in zapelje velikanovega rebca. Edina razlika je v tem,
da je njegov lik in predvsem njegova kodoeljnost prikazana v nekoliko blaji obliki kot v
legendah, kar pa je za mladinsko literaturo primerno.
Prvi pokazatelj Lokijeve vloge varljivca je e ival, v katero je preobraen, saj je lisica
znana kot zvita ival, obenem pa je, kot sem e omenil v prvem delu diplome, na evropskih
tleh lisica ena glavnih personalizacij varljivca v liku lisjaka Reynarda. Ko se lisica
predstavi, pravi da je Loki krvni brat bogov. Najpametneji, najbistroumneji in
najgenialneji med vsemi prebivalci Asgarda (Gaiman 2009: 193194). Ko ga obtoijo,
da je zopet on tisti, ki je spravil bogove v godljo, jim odgovori, da je obenem tudi tisti, ki
je nael fanta, ki jih je reil (Gaiman 2009: 639641).
Njegova lakota je nakazana na dveh mestih, saj se najprej sam pohvali, da je na neki zabavi
med vsemi bogovi najve pojedel in popil, a je kljub temu ostal buden, ko so ostali e
zaspali (Gaiman 2009: 206207), na koncu knjige pa se zopet napije. Kmalu zatem je
nakazana tudi njegova spolna sla, saj sam Loki govori o tem, kako je videl najlepo
ensko, ki ga prosi za Thorovo kladivo. Ker si jo Loki eli, to kladivo tudi ukrade. Kraja,
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za katero je potrebna lastnost dobrega tatu, ki je za varljivca vekrat izpriana, kot sem
pokazal v prvem delu diplomske naloge, je opisana z naslednjimi besedami: Le hitroprsti
Loki je dovolj pretkan in bister, da bi lahko ukradel kladivo s Thorovega pasu, ne da bi ga
zbudil (Gaiman 2009: 223224). V delu lahko opazimo tudi to, da je Loki skupaj z
Odinom in Thorom precej asa na poti in da ima monost spreminjanja svoje podobe. Tako
je tudi v dotini knjigi Loki predstavljen kot varljivec, skupaj z veino lastnosti te mitine
osebe.
Zbirka Fragile Things je izla pri zalobi Harper Collins leta 2006, veina zgodb pa je bilo
e prej objavljenih v nekaterih revijah in antologijah. V veini je sestavljena iz proznih
pripovedi, vmes so vpletene tudi pesmi, sama tematika pa zdruuje ve vrst literature, saj
bralca popelje od realistinih do fantazijskih zgodb, od ljubezenskih do temanih, od novih
likov do na novo opisanih likov iz tradicionalnih zgodb. Ena bolj zanimivih zgodb v tej
zbirki je zagotovo A Study in Emerald, za katero je avtor leta 2004 prejel nagrado Hugo za
najboljo kratko zgodbo. To je pripoved, kjer se sreata stila dveh vejih umov z angleke
literature z zaetka 20. stoletja, saj avtor v njej fantazijskost Ctulhu mita mojstrsko prepleta
z racionalnostjo in forenzino znanostjo Sherlock Holmesa. Med bolj zanimive zgodbe in
pesmi spadajo e The Problem of Lucy, kjer se avtor ukvarja s likom iz Zgodb iz Narnije C.
S. Lewisa; pripovedna pesem Locks, kjer avtor motiv Zlatolaske prenese v dananji as;
Golliath kot meanica biblijskega velikana v svetu Matrice; How Do You Think It Feels? in
ostale.
Za priujoo obravnavo je zagotovo najbolj zanimiva zgodba Harlequin Valentine, saj je
glavni junak pripovedi ravno lik kominega sluabnika iz Commedie Dell'Arte, naina
odrske predstave, ki se je iz Italije razirila po vsej Evropi. V 18. stoletju je v Angliji ta lik
stopil celo v sredie dogajanja in tako prejel svoj anr, ki se je imenoval Harlequinada. V
commediji dell'arte lahko Harlekina prepoznamo po njegovem kostumu, ki zaradi trikotnih
ali karinih likov spominja na klovna, njegova vloga okretnega in pretkanega sluabnika pa
je pogosto podrejena njegovim ljubezenskim interesom do Kolumbine, ki jih na trenutke
postavlja pred potrebe svojega gospodarja. V boju proti melanholinemu in strogemu
Pierotu se navadno bojuje s pretkanostjo, iznajdljivostjo in bistroumnostjo. Navadno ga
vidimo, kako v roki dri palico, ki jo je prejel od hudia iz srednjevekih pasijonskih iger.
Opis Harlekina v Enciklopediji Britannici zelo dobro nakazuje na njegovo naravo
mitinega varljivca: Bil je amoralen lik brez zlobnih naklepov, ki se od ostalih

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sluabnikov commedie razlikuje po tem, da ni dral zamere oziroma se ni maeval nad

tistimi, ki so ga prevarali ali ukanili (Splet 5).
Harlekin v Gaimanovi zgodbi je moderna manifestacija tega lika, vendar se od svoje bolj
mitoloke razliice ne razlikuje. Obleen je v svoj kostum iz kar, v roki nosi palico in skozi
celotno pripoved sledi svoji ljubljeni Kolumbini, ki se v tej modernizaciji commedie
imenuje Missy. Zgodbo gledamo skozi prvoosebnega pripovedovalca in e v prvih vrsticah
dobi bralec obutek okretnosti in gibnosti tega lika, kar ob pustem in precej depresivnem
ambientu zgradi zelo zanimivo karakterizacijo in sam nain pripovedi. Zgodba se odvija na
valentinovo, ko Harlekin neki mladi enski podari svoje srce tako, da ga pribije na njena
vrata. Nato tiho kot mika (Gaiman 2006b: 167) sledi svoji Kolumbini v njenem iskanju
osebe, ki ji je podarila srce. Skozi razne prigode sta omenjena e Pierrot in Pantaloon kot
e dva izmed likov commedie dell'arte, Harlekin pa nenehno ostaja zvest svoji naravi:
Teave bom povzroal tam, kjer se mi zljubi [...] to je moja dolnost (Gaiman 2006b:
171). Med akanjem v restavraciji se zabava tako, da ljudem zamenja kronike, ko niso
pozorni, obenem pa e spotakne enega od natakarjev (Gaiman 2006b: 174). Kot pravi
varljivec govori tudi o ostalih prigodah z enskami, ki jih je imel skozi stoletja, in se
pritouje nad dejstvom, da je zopet zaljubljen, med drugim pa nekajkrat tudi spremeni
svojo podobo ali se zlije z ozadjem. Njegovo varljivo naravo opiejo tudi naslednje besede:
Odloen sem v svet prinaati veseli nered in pred polnojo nameravam bujno gospo
Missy spraviti v posteljo (Gaiman 2006b: 174). V nekem trenutku se celo pritouje nad
svojim varljivim jezikom, ki ga je izdal (Gaiman 2006b: 172), kasneje pa si z naslednjo
izpovedjo dviga samozavest: Jaz sem Harlekin ... obleen v s karo pokrita oblaila, svet
pa je moja harlekinada. Jaz sem Harlekin, ki je vstal od mrtvih zgolj zato, da lahko iveim
kakno upii. Jaz sem Harlekin v svoji maski s svojo palico (Gaiman 2006b: 174).

95

5. Zakljuek
Skozi pripravo priujoega dela sem ugotovil, da se ljudje e od nekdaj udimo naravi in
da se z remi, ki nam niso poznane spopada naa domiljija, ki jih razlaga na isto posebne
naine. Ko zane nekakna takna predstava zaradi prevelike urejenosti stagnirati, se mora
pojaviti lik, ki s svojo posebno vlogo vanjo vnese kaos, kar pa se lahko kona destruktivno
ali poivljajoe. Ta lik je varljivec, ki se vekrat pojavlja kot prinaalec ognja, psihopomp,
vodnik ali celo stvarnik. Ugotovil sem, da ima varljivec ne glede na svojo eshatoloko
vlogo, navadno v vseh mitologijah precej podobne lastnosti, in sicer:
a) njegova dejanja so amoralna in so posledica lakote ali spolnih vzgibov;
b) vekrat spreminja spol ali vsaj svojo podobo;
c) nima doloenega domovanja, temve je vedno na poti;
d) ivi na pragu in je sposoben prestopati mejo ali pa mejnike celo postavlja;
e) je dober lanjivec in tat;
f) deluje kot kulturni junak.
Ena glavnih lastnosti mitinega varljivca pa je njegova liminalnost in dvojna narava, ta dva
pojma pa sta mono znailna tudi za fantazijsko literaturo in v fantazijski literaturi
predvsem za Neil Gaimana. Zato ni bilo teko povezati tega lika s tem anrom in s tem
pisateljem, saj poleg liminalnosti sam motiv varljivca Gaiman v svojih delih kar s pridom
uporablja.
Ko sem te lastnosti primerjal z raznimi liki iz raznih del Neil Gaimana, sem ugotovil, da se
varljivec v njegovih romanih, kratkih zgodbah in stripih zelo pogosto pojavlja. Najvekrat
sem zasledil med varljivci lik Lokija, ki je ena vodilnih oseb v romanu Amerik bogovi in v
kratkem mladinskem romanu Odd and the Frost Giants, pojavlja pa se tudi v kar nekaj
Sandman stripih. Pokazal sem, da so v vseh teh delih lastnosti varljivca v tem liku precej
oitne, saj v Amerikih bogovih preslepi skoraj vse ostale bogove in v Sandmanu sproi
plaz najpomembnejih dogodkov v celotnem stripu, medtem ko se v Odd and the Frost
Giants pojavlja v obliki zvite lisice. V vseh delih je torej tipien varljivec, razlikuje pa se iz
dela v delo po stopnji svoje zlovenosti.
Drugi najpogosteji lik varljivca je Anansi iz afrike mitologije, ki se pojavlja v delu
Ameriki bogovi kot stari moic gospod Nancy in v romanu Anansi Boys, kjer predstavlja
isti lik kot v prvem romanu, le da njegove lastnosti nosita tudi njegova potomca Fat
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Charley in Spider. Fat Charley in Spider sta na zaetku dve popolnoma nasprotujoi si
entiteti oziroma kot dve strani enega kovanca, ki pa se skozi roman razvijeta vsak v svojo
osebnost. Fat Charley konno podeduje nekatere mitine lastnosti svojega oeta in ele
skozi roman postane varljivec, medtem ko Spider nekaj boanskih lastnosti izgubi in
prejme nekaj bolj lovekih.
Whiskey Jack v romanu Ameriki bogovi ima sicer tudi lastnosti varljivca, eprav je v
ospredje postavljena njegova vloga kulturnega junaka. V Sandmanu se poleg Lokija
pojavlja tudi Puck iz Shakespearjeve drame Sen kresne noi, ki je v primerjavi z likom iz
te drame, precej bolj zlove.
V svojem diplomskem delu sem kar kar dobren kos posvetil Odinu, ki odigra
presenetljivo veliko vlogo varljivca v Amerikih bogovih. Skozi razne teorije velikih
mitologov prejnjega stoletja sem poskual prikazati, da Odin tudi v stari nordijski
mitologiji ni ravno obiajen vrhovni bog, tevme je e tam njegova vloga varljivca precej
dokazljiva. Zato ni bilo teko pokazati, da je Odin prava izbira za glavnega varljivca, ki v
romanu Ameriki bogovi vodi zapleteno spletko v katero so nevede vpleteni tako stari kot
novi bogovi. Obenem pa ima v romanu tudi veliko ostalih lastnosti mitinega varljivca, kot
so pohota, sla po moi, liminalnost in spletkarstvo.
Poskusil sem dokazati tudi, da bi nevidni bog v romanu Ameriki bogovi lahko bil Hermes,
eprav stoodstotna preprianost v to domnevo zaradi pomanjkljivih informacij ni mogoa.
Nevidni bog sicer v samem romanu ne izraa ravno veliko lastnosti varljivca, ima pa
lastnosti enega najbolj tipinih varljivcev, ki e v svoji osebi pooseblja vse zgoraj
omenjene lastnosti.

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Zitkala-Sa (2004). Iktomi and the ducks and other Sioux stories. Lincoln : Bison Books.
Internetni viri
Splet 1: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/
Splet 2: http://neilgaimanboard.com/eve/forums
Splet 3: http://rusiriusradio.com/shows/rusirius-068.mp3
Splet 4: http://www.boldoutlaw.com/puckrobin/puckages.html
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eing_famous'_by_Porter_Anderson,_CNN_(July,_2001)
Splet 8: http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/FAQs/Books,_Short_Stories,_and_Films
Splet 9: http://www.wildriverreview.com/interview/myth-magic-and-the-mind-of-neilgaimon/ogline-tim
Splet 10: http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east1.amazonaws.com/docs/2814/447679/acceptancespeechgaiman.pdf
Splet 11: http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/uploads/ArticlePDFs/16.pdf
Splet 12: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Iliad_(Butler)/Book_XXIV
Splet 13: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Odyssey_(Butler)/Book_V
Splet 14: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aeneid_(Dryden)/Book_IV
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Spler 16: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/

Obravnavana dela Neil Gaiman
Gaiman, N. (2006a). Anansi Boys. London: Headline Review.
Gaiman, N. (2006b). Fragile things: short fictions & wonders. London: Headline
Review.
Gaiman, N. (2005). Smoke and Mirrors. Smoke and mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions.
London: Headline Review.
Gaiman, N. (2013). Ameriki bogovi: dopolnjena izdaja ob deseti obletnici. Ljubljana:
Sanje.
Gaiman, N. (2013). Ocean at the End of the Lane. London: Headline
Gaiman, N. (2009). Odd and the Frost Giants (Kindle Edition). HarperCollins.
Gaiman, N. (2010). The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes. London: Titan Books
Gaiman, N. (1990). The Sandman: Doll's house. London : Titan Books
Gaiman, N. (1995). The Sandman: Dream Country. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1992). The Sandman: Season of Mists. London: Titan Books
Gaiman, N. (2011). The Sandman: A Game of You. New York : DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1993). The Sandman: Fables and Reflections. New York : DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1994). The Sandman: Brief Lives. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1994). The Sandman: Worlds' End. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1996). The Sandman: The Kindly Ones. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1997). The Sandman: The wake. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (2003). The Sandman: Endless Nights. New York: DC Comics
Gaiman, N. (1999). The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. New York: DC Comics

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7. Priloga
Trickster
One day the African trickster Eshu, who enjoyed his role as a trickster-god, playing with
the elements of chance and serendipity (Ford 200: 148), decided to end a beautiful and
long-lasting friendship between two farmers. First he conceived a mischievous plan of how
it is to be done. These two farmers were such good friends that they even dressed alike and
had adjoining farms that were only separated by a path. Eshu walked down this path every
day, wearing a black hat on his head. One day he made himself a hat of four colors, black,
white, red and green and when he donned that hat, he passed the farmers, making sure that
each only saw one side of his hat. One farmer asked the other if he saw the man with the
red hat and the other farmer agreed he saw someone, but that his hat was yellow. They
started arguing, calling each other names and accusing each other of drinking too much
wine. Soon the discord became so intense that the problem had to be brought before the
chief of the village. The judge didn't know what to make of this story and asked the people,
if anyone knows this old man. Eshu chose that moment to step forward and confess to his
crime: It was I. He told them what he did and added: I made them quarrel. Sowing
discord is my greatest delight.
When the chief ordered him arrested, Eshu ran away, burning several houses in the
process. When the villagers saw their burning houses, they quickly started bringing their
valuables out into the streets. Eshu was already waiting there and he told them that he
would look after their possessions, while they tend to the fire. He immediately took the
opportunity to steal the items that the people entrusted to his safekeeping and gave them to
some passers-by.
Native American Mythology 1
Iktomi, the wicked spider from the tales of the Crow tribe is a wicked fellow and his hands
are always kept in mischief. He would rather eat someone else's dinner than to earn the
smallest thing by honest hunting. As tricksters often do, Iktomi lives alone and is always
hungry. One day, as he was seating hungry in his tepee, he suddenly came up with a
brilliant idea. He filled up his blanket with some grass, tied it into a bundle and ran out
over the uneven ground. Light-footed as he was, he soon came to a place where he spied a
group of wild ducks feasting and dancing in a circle. Iktomi went to the ducks with his

bundle and all the ducks immediately wanted to know what he was carrying in it. At first
he acted as if he didnt want to tell them, but after some persuasion he conceded and told
them that what he carries is just a pack of songs. Iktomi knew that the ducks loved to dance
to new songs and soon all the ducks wanted to hear the songs that he was carrying. He
carefully set down his bundle and started building a straw house, for he told the ducks that
he could not let the songs out in the open air. The new house only had one small opening
and he urged all the ducks to go inside. As his songs burst into voice, he told the ducks:
With eyes closed you must dance. He who dares to open his eyes, forever red eyes shall
have (Zitkala-Sa 2004: 9). The ducks all started dancing to the rhythm of Iktomis' drum
with their eyes closed and Iktomi played faster and faster. After a while one of the ducks
could not dance with its eyes closed anymore and opened them. It quickly urged all the
ducks to open their eyes and run away, for beside Iktomi, he saw half of their flock lying
on the floor with twisted necks. While they were dancing, Iktomi killed them one by one.
The Spider Man Iktomi went home to roast his hard earned food and buried some under the
ashes to bake. By some coincidence, Iktomi got caught in a tree while the food was still
roasting, and in the meanwhile, some wolves came by. Iktomi pleaded with them not to eat
his meat and in the process told them where they could find it. And this is how it came to
be that Iktomi didn't get to eat his duck feast.
Native American Mythology 2
One of the Native American tales tells us how coyote got its cunning. When Kareya the
creator first made the animals and humans, he told the first man to make as many bows and
arrows of various sizes as there are animals. At that time the animals all had the same rank
and the same amount of power. He told the man to give the longest bow to the animal that
should have the most power and the shortest one to the animal that should have the least.
Of course Coyote wanted the longest bow and schemed to outwit the others by staying
awake through the whole night and be the first one at the gathering the next day. Soon he
became drowsy and tried every trick in his arsenal to stay awake. But the power of sleep
was too much and so Coyote took two small sticks, sharpened them at the ends, and used
them to prop his eyelids open. He then felt safe enough to sleep, for he thought that the
rising sun will wake him first. The sticks, however, pierced his eyelids and pinned his eyes
shut. The next morning, when the human distributed all the bows and arrows, the shortest
bow stayed in his hands. He realized that one animal was missing and soon they found
Coyote, fast asleep. The man woke him, helped him free his eyes and then gave him the

shortest bow. All the animals laughed so hard at the Coyote that the man pitied him and
prayed to Karenya about the poor animal. The creator responded to this prayer by giving
coyote his cunning.
Greek Mythology
The modest nymph Maia lived in a cave, far away from other immortals, and never tried to
be a part of the great pantheon. Zeus liked the fact that she lived in a shadowy cave, for in
that way, he was able to keep his love affair hidden from the prying eyes of his ever
jealous wife Hera. He was also sure that if Maia would bring a son into this world that son
would stay in the cave with his mother. What he didnt know was that the son that Maia
bore to Zeus would be devious, wily, a robber, a rustler of cattle, a dream guide Yes,
the conductor of dreamsand a spy in the night, and a lookout skulking at other men's
doors, who was presently going to show of glorious deeds and notorious doings among
the immortals. (Hesiod 2005: 135)
After his birth, Hermes didnt stay in the cradle for very long, but the next day rose up and
slipped through the threshold, intending to go out and see what the world has to offer.
Right outside the cave he found a tortoise. He told the tortoise to come into the cave with
him, for the world is a dangerous place and that it will be safer inside. He then cut the
tortoise up, made the first lyre from it and sang a beautiful song of Zeus and Maia and
through the song lauded his own birth.
Hermes yearned for meat and decided to steal some cattle from his half-brother Apollo. He
went to the meadows where the cattle was grazing in the hot sun. To confuse whoever is
going to pursue him, he made himself some sandals out of branches, such as no one else
could devise, and drove the cattle backwards. When Apollo later found these marks, he did
not know what to think of them, because the sandals of the thief looked like they were
going in all directions and the footprints of the cattle looked as if they were returning to the
meadow.
After a few more cunning deeds Hermes drove the cattle to a place where he killed two
cows and divided the meat into twelve equal parts. He burned the meat as a sacrifice for
the twelve gods of Olympus and although he strongly desired the meat, he did not eat
anything. When he came home, his mother chastised him for what he has done and he

replied that he has no intention of staying in this cave, but would rather become prince of
thieves and earn them a place on Olympus.
When Apollo finally discovered who stole his cows, he went to Maias cave and accused
the one day old baby of this great theft and threatened to throw him into Tartarus. Hermes
feigned ignorance and acted flabbergasted at the accusation, saying that he could not be
able to perform such a feat, for he is just a baby. Apollo took Hermes to their father Zeus
and presented the trickster to the gods with these fitting words: A mocker whose like
among gods I have never encountered, certainly not among men who mislead other men
upon earth. (Hesiod 2005: iv) Hermes showed no regret, but rather insisted on his
innocence, even after telling his father how to him he will tell the whole truth. Almighty
Zeus laughed aloud when he saw how his mischievous infant well and expertly denied that
he knew anything about cattle. Zeus bade the brothers to be reconciled and told Hermes to
lead Apollo to his cattle. Hermes agreed and took his brother to the cattle, where he
admitted that he had already sacrificed two of them to the twelve Olympian gods. Apollo
corrected him, saying that there are only eleven gods and Hermes replied that there are
twelve, suggesting to his own divinity. Then Hermes sang a song to the twelve gods, using
his lyre and Apollo was so impressed by the instrument that he desired it greatly. His
yearning for the lyre was in fact so unquenchable that in exchange for it, he promised to
make Hermes the guardian of the cattle, gave him a golden staff that bestowed wealth and
conceded to him the dominion over beasts, together with the office of Psychopompos, the
escort of souls. From this moment forth Apollo was always depicted with this lyre and the
two brothers became very good friends.
Norse Mythology
Loki woke up next to his lover Sif and somehow knew that their relationship was coming
to an end. He wanted something to remember her by, a prized possession that she values
more than anything else; and so he decided to cut off a lock of her hair. When Thor found
out what Loki had done to his wife, he was furious and Sif was not very fond of her new
haircut either. They both went to Odin for justice and Thor vowed that he will kill Loki for
what he has done. Odin forbade him, but urged Loki to repair the damage he created, as
Loki had already done on several occasions. When thinking about how to go about this
task, Loki remembered the dwarves, who lived bellow the earth. Loki knew these dwarves
quite well and knew that they were the most capable craftsmen that ever existed. So Loki

went to visit them and told them to manufacture a lock of hair made from gold; the lock
must not be like ordinary hair, but it has to be as fine as Sifs hair. Loki also procured two
other items for Odin and Freyr. Loki was so charmed by these items that he wagered his
head that no other dwarf ca produce better gifts for the gods. Brock and his brother started
making three new items and while they were working, Loki took on the shape of a flea and
bit the brother that was working on the anvil, but the dwarf didnt falter. While making the
third gift for the gods, Miolnir, the hammer of Thor, the flea bit him so much that the
dwarf stopped working on the bellows for a while. That is why Miolnir has a small handle.
When all the six gifts were brought to the gods for judgment, the gods said that although
the gifts that Loki brought were wonderful, Brocks gifts are even better. Brock
immediately went to work and wanted to chop off Lokis head, since it now belonged to
him, but Loki said that he cannot, since he does not owe Lokis neck, but only his head.
The dwarf decided to sew Lokis lips together in order to stop him from doing mischief
with his talk. Loki had to agree, but did not keep the new stitches for long. This is a story
of how Loki almost lost his head because of his boasting and how he got to keep it through
his cunning.
African Mythology
The Ashanti people told stories about Anansi the spider for centuries and all the stories
were his. But it was not always so. At the beginning the stories belong to Nyami the sky
god and were kept in a box right next to his royal chair. Nyami was a very powerful god
and all things feared him. He did not want to share the stories with the people of the earth
and the people became unhappy. Anansi the spider one day announced that he is going to
the Sky God to get the stories. Everyone looked at him and said: How will you do such a
feat? You are so frail, small and old. Anansi went to the sky god nonetheless and asked
him for the stories. Nyami told him that he will give him what he seeks, if Anansi brings
him Onin the crushing python, Osebo the terrifying leopard, Mboro the fierce hornets and
Moatia the invisible fairy. He told him this, because he was sure that there was no one who
could acquire all these things, especially not someone as frail as Anansi. Anansi went back
home to his wife and together they made a plan how to catch all these beings. The villagers
tried to spy on him to see what was going on, but couldnt hear what the couple was
talking about. The next morning Anansi went out to find the python. On the way he cut a
very long branch and cleaned it of all the leaves. When he knew he was close to the
python, he started arguing with himself, whether the python is longer than his branch or

not. Onin heard him and asked Anansi what the problem is. Anansi replied that his wife
told him that the python is undoubtedly longer than the branch, but that he does not believe
her. Onin felt insulted and said that he will stretch by the branch and show Anansi how
long he really is. Anansi said that he will help him, by tying him to the branch so that
Onini will be able to stretch out better. Soon the python was tied completely to the branch
and Anansi could take him home. Anansi used similar guile to get the other three creatures
that Nyami asked for and took them to the sky god. When Anansi reached the sky god he
presented him with Onin, Osebo, Mboro and Moatia. Everyone was amazed and asked
Anansi how he managed to catch them and he replied: With a machete, some stringcreeper, a gourd and a doll [] and with some words and a little silence. (Stott 2011:
160)
Tricksters Apetite
There was a time when the animal people in the Pacific Northwest lived on an island and
the world was covered in darkness. The beloved son of the village chief and his wife grew
ill and died. The whole village and the parents of the deceased all wailed and prayed for
days to the heavens to give them back the young man. One day, the chiefs wife went to
the loft where the body was supposed to be and discovered someone on the bed, lying there
instead of her son. The young man shone with the brightness of fire and explained to the
mother that the heavens have had enough of their moaning and sent him down to calm the
villagers. Both parents were overjoyed in thinking that their son was returned to them. But
soon they discovered that the youth was not a normal human being, since he did not want
to eat anything. The mother began to worry, for she did not think that her new son could
survive without any food and tried to offer him every proper meal she could lay her hands
on. But the young man was still reluctant to eat.
One day he discovered two slaves, a man and a woman, who ate great quantities of whale
fat and asked them how come they are so ravenous all the time. They told him that it is
because they ate their own scabs. The man slave took some of his scab and gave it to the
young man. After that the young man started eating everything and although at first his
mother was delighted to see him eat, she soon changed her mind. The young men did
nothing, but eat. Soon he became bigger and bigger and needed more food every day.
When the entire stores of the village were depleted, the chief became ashamed and sent his
son away from the tribe. He gave him the cloak of a raven and called him Giant. The chief

also gave Giant some seeds and told him to fly to the mainland and plant all these seeds so
that he will have enough to eat forever. He flew to the mainland, planted the seeds,
scattered some fish eggs, and where he dropped a rock - a mountain grew.
Culture Hero
Maui and his people lived on one of the islands that Maui fished up from the ocean. But
they always had to eat raw food and they were often cold, because there was no fire on the
island. Maui knew that fire used to exist in the world, because the older people told him so,
but he did not know where to find it. He went to his mother, who told him that his
grandmother is the wildfire and that she keeps all the fire in her cave. She also told him
that no man who enters that cave returns alive. Maui decided that fire is worth the risk and
went into the cave, wearing nothing but his loincloth, for he knew that all his clothes would
be burned to crisp in the presence of wildfire. He soon met his grandmother and asked her
for some fire. She refused him and told him that people used to have fire, but they did not
know how to handle it, so she took it away. She told Maui that she will let him return to the
surface, but that she will not give him what he desires. He asked her for at least a finger of
fire so he will be able to find his way back home. After much pleading she gave him her
fingernail. Maui took it and then hid himself close to her, so she did not see him and waited
for her to fall asleep. Then he decided to take all of her fingernails, but while he was
stealing the last one, the goddess awoke. Maui changed himself into a bird and flew out of
the cavern, with his grandmother in pursuit. The goddess of fire was so angry at Maui that
she decided to put the whole earth on fire unless he showed himself. She even thrust her
hands inside the trunks of some trees, searching for him. After her anger was spent, she
returned to her cavern. Maui asked another god to send great torrents of rain to put out the
fire that has consumed the world and the god heard his plea. Later Maui found the tree that
his grandmother thrust her hands inside and brought the fire out of its branch by rubbing
two stick together. That is how Maui brought the fire to his people.
Ameriki bogovi
Glavni lik romana Ameriki bogovi v zaetku knjige prestaja zadnje dni svoje triletne
zaporne kazni. Njegova ena Laura, ki je turistina agentka, mu je poslala elektronsko
karto za letalo, s katero bo lahko e v ponedeljek priel k njej in ji povedal, da jo ljubi.
Zadnje dni preivlja ob prebiranju Herodotovih Zgodb, ki mu jih je zapustil bivi
kaznjenec Low-Key Liesmith, s katerim si je delil sobo, in ob uenju trikov s kovanci.

Nekaj dni pred konanjem prestajanja zaporne kazni od nadzornika izve, da je njegova
ena umrla v prometni nesrei in ga bodo zato predasno odpustili, da bo lahko el na njen
pogreb. Shadow vse te informacije sprejme brez velikega zaudenja, kljub temu da je eno
neizmerno ljubil.
Na poti domov Shadow izve, da je njegov let zaradi nevihte odpovedan in da bo moral na
drugo letalo, nato prestopati ipd. Po seriji nepriakovanih dogodkov Shadow pride na
letalo, kjer je njegov sede zaseden in ga morajo zato premestiti v prvi razred. Ko se
Shadow konno namesti v svoj sede, ga ogovori stareji moki s sosednjega sedea. Pove
mu, da je pozen in da ga je priakoval. Ta moki, ki pravi, da ga lahko Shadow klie kar
Wednesday, ker je pa ta dan sreda, mu ponudi slubo osebnega straarja in Shadow ga
zavrne, e da ga doma aka sluba pri njegovem najboljem prijatelju. Wednesday pa mu
pove, da je ena umrla v prometni nesrei skupaj z njegovim najboljim prijateljem
Robbijem. Shadowu se zdi sumljivo, da ta lovek, ki ga je priakal na letalu kljub
nepredvidenemu spletu okoliin, ve toliko o njem in njegovi situaciji in zato takoj ob
pristanku zapusti letalo ter najame avto, s katerim namerava dokonati vonjo domov.
Ko se Shadow ustavi v obcestni restavraciji za veerjo, ga tam e aka Wednesday, ki mu
ponovno ponudi slubo. Pridrui se jima irski krat po imenu Mad Sweeney, ki izroi
Shadowu kovanec, ki se pojavi v njegovi roki, kot da bi ga potegnil z zraka. Shadow
privoli v to, da bo delal za Wednesdaya, in v to znamenje izpije tri medice, kar po starem
obiaju potrjuje zvezo med njima dvema.
Wednesday, ki je amerika razliica starega Nordijskega boga Odina, eli nabrati im
vejo vojsko starih bogov, saj se eli postaviti po robu novejim bogovom. Ko so se
ljudstva namre preseljevala v Ameriko, so vsi s seboj prinesli svoja verovanja, svoje
obiaje in svoje bogove. Amerika pa ni dobra deela za bogove in so zato ljudje sasoma
pozabili nanje. Zato sedaj tisti bogovi, ki so preiveli, e vedno ivijo, vendar nimajo ve
moi, saj so mo pridobivali preko aenja in darovanj. Ljudje sedaj astimo nove
bogove, kot so televizija, kreditne kartice, tehnika, mediji ipd. Nove bogove vodi Mr.
World, gospod Svet, zanj pa delajo e Town, Wood in Stone.
Skupaj se odpravita na Laurin pogreb, kjer Shadow izve, da je imela razmerje z njegovim
najboljim prijateljem Robbijem. Shadow kljub temu vre kovanec, ki ga je prejel od Mad
Sweeneya, v njen grob. Po pogrebu Shadowa ugrabi skupina mokih, ki jih vodi precej
obilen mladeni v limuzini, ki eli izvedeti kakne narte ima Wednesday, vendar mu

Shadow ne more ni povedati, saj dela zanj ele en dan. Ko ga izpustijo, gre Wednesday
spat v hotel, kjer se mu pridrui njegova pokojna ena. Na tej toki Shadowa ni ve ne
preseneti in dovoli eni, da mu pove o njenem razmerju z Robbijem in se mu zahvali za
kovanec. Pove mu tudi, da se je zapletel v slabe stvari in da bo ona pazila nanj.
Drugo jutro se skupaj z Wednesdayem odpravita na pot k prvemu bogu, ki ga je elel
Wednesday pridobiti za svoj namen. Prispeta sta v staro hio, kjer ju sprejme Zorya
Vechernyaya. Kmalu spoznata e starca Czernoboga in Zoryo Utrennyayo, ter izvesta, da
Zorya Polunochnaya e spi. Czernobog se noe udeleiti bitke med starimi in novimi
bogovi, vendar pa je pripravljen s Shadowom odigrati partijo dame. e zmaga Shadow, se
Czernobog pridrui Wednesdayu, e pa zmaga Czernobog, lahko Shadowu po koncu s
kladivom razbije glavo. Prvo igro zmaga Czernobog, drugo pa Shadow in zato se jim
Czernobog pridrui, vendar sta e vedno dogovorjena, da po koncu bitke Shadow umre.
Ker Shadow ne more spati, gre ponoi k oknu, kjer srea e tretjo sestro, ki je ez dan
spala. Zorya Polunochnyaya je za razliko od svojih sester mlada in postavna. Shadowu
pove, da ne bi smel kar tako dati kovanca, ki ga je prejel od Mad Sweeneya, saj je bil tisto
kovanec sonca. Ona pravi, da mu ne more dati e enega, lahko pa mu da kovanec lune, ki
ga prav tako kot Mad Sweeney vzame kar iz zraka.
Shadow in Wednesday nato na zelo preprost, vendar izjemno premeten nain oropata
banko, saj Wednesday za svoje poslanstvo potrebuje precej denarja. Pove mu e za nekaj
trikov, kako lahko hitro oropa nekoga, vendar sta za to potrebna dva, in da je imel neko
pomonika. Ena izmed iger se je imenovala Bishop game: kof naj bi vkorakal v
draguljarno in si izbral eno najdrajih ogrlic ter zanjo plaal z bankovci. Ker je vsota velika
in ker so bankovci svee natisnjeni, polje lastnik trgovine nekoga v banko, da potrdi
njihovo pristnost. Ko se sluga vrne s potrdilom, lahko kof odkoraka iz trgovine, vendar ga
na vratih ustavi policaj, ki ga prepozna kot starega prevaranta, ki dela najbolje ponarejene
bankovce naokoli. Lastniku trgovine pove, da bo moral goljufa aretirati in vzeti tako
ogrlico kot tudi denar kot dokaz in da bo lastnik oboje dobil nazaj, ko bo preiskava
konana.
Wednesday in Shadow gresta na nek sveti kraj, ki se imenuje Hia na skali. Tam sreata
Czernoboga in gospoda Nancya, temnopoltega starka s karibskim naglasom. Pridruijo se
jim e nekateri drugi bogovi in skupaj gredo na vrtiljak, ki jih popelje v drugo realnost. Na
tem vrtiljaku Shadow vidi bogove, kakrni so v resnici. Sreanje seveda otvori Nancy z

eno od svojih zgodbic, nato pa Wednesday nagovori bogove in jih pozove k oroju. eprav
se vsi bogovi ne strinjajo z njim, dovolijo, da jih po konanem sestanku Wednesday pelje
na veerjo. Shadow v svojem avtu pelje e Mama-ji oziroma boginjo Kali, gospodarja
kratov Alvisa in nekega mladenia, ki mu ni ostal v spominu, kljub temu da si ga je
pozorno ogledal. Svoje potnike odloi pred restavracijo in odpelje avto na parkirie, kjer
ga zopet ugrabijo.
Shadow se zbudi v zaprtem prostoru, kjer ga zasliujeta Wood in Stone, nato pa ga zopet
pustijo samega. Kmalu zatem slii nekaken tru in vrata mu odpre njegova pokojna ena.
Ko Shadow opazi, da so vsi straarji mrtvi, mu ona obrazloi, da ji seda, ko je mrtva, ni
teko ubiti loveka in da mu je tako ali tako obljubila, da ga bo varovala. Shadow se
odpravi na pot, saj se zaveda, da ga bodo obdolili umora. Na poti srea enega od
Odinovih krokarjev, ki ga napoti v Kej-ro, Egipt, kjer mu bo pomagal akal. Shadow dobi
prevoz in ugotovi, da se Kejro nahaja nekje v Illinoisu, in zato se odpravi tja.
V Kejru preivi nekaj dni v drubi dveh grobarjev, eden od njiju je akal oziroma Jackuel,
egipanski bog Anubis, drugi pa je gospod Ibis, egipanski bog Toth. Z njima ivi e
maka, za katero se izkae, da je boginja Bast. Medtem ko ivi z njimi, srea Mad
Sweeneya, ki ga ves zaprepaden roti, naj mu vrne tisti kovanec, saj mu je dal napanega.
Shadow mu pove, da ga je podaril eni in Sweeney ga prosi, e mu lahko da vsaj nekaj
denarja, da pobegne. Naslednje jutro se izkae, da se je Mad Sweeney zapil in ez no
zmrznil.
Naslednji dan pride Wednesday in odpelje Shadowa v majhne mestece Lakeside, kjer naj
bi Shadow ivel pod imenom Mike Ainsel. Za razliko od ostalih mest v okroju, ki so
izgubila ves svoj bli, je Lakeside mestece, ki kljub oddaljenosti in mrazu e vedno
uspeva. Edino kar ga bega, so smrti otrok v tem mestu vsako leto pozimi namre izgine z
mesta en otrok. Shadow se kaj hitro navadi na ivljenje v tem mestecu in tudi oseba, ki jo
predstavlja njegov nov like Mike, mu je ve. Vsake toliko ga pride iskat Wednesday, ki se
izdaja za njegovega strica, in zopet gresta na pot novait e ostale bogove.
Med drugim gresta skupaj tudi v Las Vegas, kjer se Wednesday srea s tistim
neimenovanim bogom, ki ga je Shadow peljal v avtu in si ga ni mogel zapomniti. Celotno
poglavje je napisano poevno, kot so napisana poglavja, povezana s sanjami. Ta bog je
opisan kot moki, ki je obleen v antracitno obleko. Skozi ves pogovor avtor zapie samo

besede Wednesdeya, besede nevidnega boga pa ostanejo neomenjene. Wednesday ga k

temu, da se jim pridrui, prepria tako, da mu ponudi steklenico Some.
Naslednja boginja, ki jo obieta, je Easter Velika no. Kljub temu da ona pravi, da ji gre
dobro in da za veliko no ljudje e vedno praznujejo njen obiaj, jo on zavrne in ji pove, da
so ljudje pozabili, kaj se je v zaetku na ta dan praznovalo. Nekega dne Wednesday med
vonjo z avtodomom opazi, da so jima nasprotniki postavili zasedo le nekaj kilometrov
pred njima. Shadowu naroi, naj zavije s ceste, in s pomojo run, ki jih napie na
armaturno ploo, se zapeljeta v zakulisje, ki ga Wednesday razloi s primerjavo z
gledaliem, kot da je Shadowa povlekel iz obinstva in se sedaj sprehajata v zaodrju. Po
dolgi poti prispeta v rezervat, kjer ju priaka ameriki staroselec po imenu Whiskey Jack,
za katerega se izkae, da je v resnici Wisakedjack, ameriki varljivec in kulturni heroj.
eprav se jima Whiskey Jack noe pridruiti v boju proti novim bogovom, jima da na
uporabo vsaj avto svojega neaka Harry Bluejaya, da lahko nadaljujeta pot. V naslednjih
dneh obieta e Japonce, Albance itd, Shadowa pa na njegovem novem domu obie
pokojna ena, ki ga vpraa, e sploh zares ivi.
Nekega dne to mestece obie ena njegovega prijatelja Robbieja in pove policiji, kdo
Shadow v resnici je in da je umoril nekaj agentov (misli namre na agenta Wooda in
Stonea, ki ju je umorila Laura). Policist odpelje Shadowa v celico, kjer naj bi poakal na
prevoz do bolj varovanega zapora. Medtem ko je v celici in gleda televizijo, se program
spremeni in pokae, kako med pogajanji novi bogovi ubijejo Wednesdaya. Shadow je
okiran, vendar se zaveda, da je bilo to, kar je videl, resnino.
Kmalu ga policisti naloijo v avto in odpeljejo naprej, vendar se kaj hitro izkae, da sta
policista, ki sta prila ponj, v resnici Czernobog in gospod Nancy, ki spremeni svojo
zunanjost, da lahko preslepi policijo v Laketownu. Omenjeni trije se dogovorijo z novimi
bogovi, da se dobijo na nevtralnem obmoju, kjer jim bodo novi bogovi izroili
Wednesdaya. Shadow izve tudi, da bo moral nekdo ob truplu opraviti bdenje in sam se
javi, da bo on opravil to nalogo. Na nevtralnem ozemlju se res srea z novimi bogovi in
opazi, da je njihov voznik njegov bivi sokaznjenec Low-Key Liesmith. ele sedaj mu
postane jasno, da je to v resnici bog Loki in da njegov priimek pomeni kova lai.
Ko imajo gospod Nancy, Czernobog in Shadow truplo Wednesdaya, se odpravijo k
velikemu Jesenu, ki je amerika verzija Ygdrassila, kozminega drevesa v nordijski
mitologiji. Shadowa priveejo na drevo, kjer mora devet dni alovati za Odinom brez

pijae in hrane. Shadow se zaveda, da lahko v tem asu umre. Devet dni alovanja je
miljeno kot darovanje, ki ga je Odin opravil sam sebi, ko je devet dni preboden s sulico
visel obeen na Ygdrassilu, da bi prejel znanje run. Shadow v tem asu konno zaivi. Ob
njemu je ves as sokol, za katerega se izkae, da je Horus, obie ga ena, za njo pa pride
do drevesa tudi agent Town, eden od agentov gospoda Worlda. Town Shadowa sovrai, saj
je preprian, da je Shadow umoril njegova kolega agenta Wooda in Stonea. World mu je
naroil, naj gre do tega drevesa in naj odree eno vejo ter mu jo prinese. Ko vidi, da na
drevesu visi Shadow, ki je ta trenutek e mrtev, prime to vejo in naredi z njo gesto, kot da
ga je zabodel, iz mesta kamor je nakazal, pa res pritee tekoina.
Town se odpravi nazaj in na poti pobere avtotoparko, za katero ne ve, da je Laura.
Shadow je v tem asu na drevesu e umrl in preel v posmrtno ivljenje, kjer ga priakata
gospod Ibis in Jackuel, v svojih pravih podobah Totha in Anubisa. Toth je psihopomp in
zato pospremi Shadowa iz sveta ivih v svet mrtvih, Anubis pa opravi poslednjo sodbo.
Shadow mora na poti pustiti svoje ime in svoje srce ter si na koncu izbere posmrtno
ivljenje v obliki niesar popoln poitek brez vsega.
Medtem ko se novi in stari bogovi e pripravljajo na poslednjo bitko, pride bog tehnike do
svojega voditelja Worlda in ta mu pove, da akajo, da se Town vrne z vejo z jesena. Pove
mu namre, da bo to vejo vrgel ez prizorie bitke in vse smrti posvetil Odinu, nato tega
boga tehnike ubije in tudi to smrt posveti Odinu. Horus odleti na prizorie bitke in pove
boginji Easter, da mora z njim. Skupaj se odpravita do jesena, kjer Easter obudi Shadowa
od mrtvih. V deelo mrtvih ga pride iskati Wiskey Jack, ki ga odpelje nazaj v svet ivih in
mu pove, da njegova naloga e ni konana. Town in Laura se prav tako pripeljeta na
prizorie bitke, kjer mu Laura vzame vejo in ga ubije. Nato ona odide do Worlda in on se
ji zahvali, da mu je prinesla vejo, vendar ko se ji priblia, ona to vejo zarine skozi sebe v
telo Worlda, za katerega se sedaj e ve, da je v resnici Loki.
Ko pride Shadow do Lokija, je ta e v svojih zadnjih izdihljajih, ob njem pa je e Odin, saj
ga je smrt boga tehnike oivela, kljub temu pa je e vedno ibak. Shadow pove, da konno
razume njun nart. Loki naj bi vrgel puico nad prizoriem bitke in tako vse smrti podaril
Odinu, tako kot je pred tolikimi leti storil e vedski kralj Erik. Shadow sprva ne ve, zakaj
naj bi bitka koristila tudi Lokiju, vendar potem dojame, da bi Loki dobil mo iz kaosa.
Potrebovala sta samo e piko na i, ki naj bi bila rtvovanje Odinovega sina in ta sin je

Shadow. Vendar pa jima Shadow prekria narte, saj gre na prizorie bitke in pove vsem
bogovom, da sta jih Odin in Loki naplahtala in da se bojujejo za prazen ni.
Bogovi se razidejo in Shadow odide skupaj z gospodom Nancyem, ki ga zvlee v bar, kjer
Nancy poje karaoke. Shadow nato odide do Czernoboga, kjer naj bi doakal svoj konec z
udarcem kladiva v glavo, vendar pa ga Czernobog ne ubije, saj je e v procesu
spreminjanja v Bieloboga, ki bo od sedaj naprej nadomestil svojega bolj mranega
dvojnika. Na koncu Shadow razrei e uganko smrti otrok v Laketownu in nato odide na
potovanje po svetu. V zakljunem poglavju romana pride Shadow v Skandinavijo, kjer
srea pravega Odina in mu podari stekleno oko, ki ga je vzel z Wednesdayevega trupla.
Anansi boys
Zgodba tega romana se vrti v Londonu okoli lika z imenom Charles Nancy in nadimkom
Fat Charley, ki ga je prejel od svojega oeta, gospoda Nancya. V slovenskem prevodu bi
Fat Charley pomenilo Debeli Charley in eprav Charles ni bil nikoli debel v pravem
pomenu besede, se je nadimek obdral. e njegov oe nekaj poimenuje, se to ime vedno
obdri.
Roman se zane tako, kot se zane veina stvari, s pesmijo (Gaiman 2006a: 3). Na no
karaok se natakar sprauje, e ne bo celoten veer polomija, saj nihe noe peti, ko pride v
bar gospod Nancy. Kljub svoji starosti se spogleduje s skupino turistk in na odru zane peti
pesem What's new pussycat. Ko je elel zapeti drugo pesem, je padel z odra, zgrabil eno od
turistk za obleko, ji razgalil prsi in mrtev obleal na tleh.
Zgodba se nato iz Amerike preseli v Anglijo, kjer sedaj ivi Fat Charley. Svoji zaroenki
ravno razlaga, kako ga je oe vekrat osmeil pred prijatelji in kako mu je bilo zaradi
vpadljivega vedenja njegovega oeta v njegovi drubi vedno nerodno. Boji se, da bo oe
pokvaril poroko in zato Rosie pove, da oeta ne namerava povabiti. Rosie ga prepriuje,
naj si premisli, ko Charley prejme novico o smrti svojega oeta.
Charlie si mora vzeti dopust in odleteti na Florido, kjer naj bi po pogrebu poskrbel za
oetovo zapuino. Fat Charley zaradi nepredvidenih okoliin zamuja na pogreb in pride
ravno v trenutku, ko se pogreb konuje, zato se prerine v prvo vrsto in hitro pove, da bi
elel spregovoriti nekaj besed. Po ganljivem govoru ugotovi, da je na napanem pogrebu.
Gospa Higler, soseda iz otrotva in prijateljica gospoda Nancya ga odpelje domov, kjer
srea e tri stare enice, med katerimi je najstareja gospa Dunwiddy. Gospa Higler

Charles pove, da je bil njegov oe v resnici afriki bog Anansi in ko jo skeptini Charles
vpraa, zakaj ni podedoval nobenih maginih moi, mu odgovori, da je vse dobre stvari
podedoval njegov brat Spider, pajek. enica mu pove e, da e eli kdaj govoriti s svojim
bratom, mora to le sporoiti kateremukoli pajku.
Charles se vrne v Anglijo in se ne ozira na besede gospe Higler, saj jim seveda ne more
verjeti. Vendar neki veer pod blagim vplivom alkohola zaepeta pajku, ki ga najde v sobi,
da bi elel govori s svojim bratom. Naslednji dan ga obie uglajen in vpadljiv moki lepe
zunanjosti, ki se predstavi kot Spider. Fat Charley mu pove za smrt njunega oeta, kar
Spiderja mono prizadene, saj je bi preprian, da bi moral to sam zautiti. Spider se odloi,
da morata za oeta opraviti bdenje in v njegov spomin spiti najbolje vino. Kmalu se jima
pridrui kar veliko ljudi in vodja druine brez vsakega dvoma nemudoma postane Spider,
medtem ko se Charlie dri bolj ob strani dogajanja. Konajo v baru s karaokami in Spider
je zopet zvezda veera, nakar se Fat Charlie po prigovarjanju nekega dekleta odloi, da bo
tudi on odpel kakno pesem. Ko pride do mikrofona, se onesvesti.
Zbudi se precej pozno v svoji postelji z dekletom po imenu Daisy Day, ki ga je spoznal
prejnji veer. Ko ga dekle pomiri, da se ni med njima ni zgodilo in da je prespala pri
njemu samo zato, da ga je pomagala spraviti v posteljo, se Charley zave, da je zamudil v
slubo, ona pa mu zagotovi, da je za vse poskrbel Spider. Kmalu pride na obisk mama
Charliyeve zaroenke, saj naj bi skupaj nartovala poroko. Charley se je pred svojo bodoo
tao e vekrat osmeil in zato ga skrbi, da tudi tokrat ne bo drugae. Seveda ravno v
pravem trenutku iz sosednje sobe pride Daisy v spodnjem perilu in Charley mora svoji
tai zagotoviti, da je to le njegova sestrina, ki je prila na obisk.
V tem asu gre Spider v pisarno svojega brata, kjer vsem pove, da je on Charles Nancy in
brez oklevanja mu vsi, vkljuno s efom Grahamom Coatsom, verjamejo. Ko Spider sedi
za raunalnikom, opazi doloene nepravilnosti v transakcijah svojega nadrejenega in zato
raunalniku pove, da je on Grahame Coats. Raunalnik mu odobri dostop do vseh
podatkov. Ravno v tem trenutku pride Grahame do njegove mize z namenom, da ga bo
odpustil, saj se zaveda, da Charles e predolgo dela na istem mestu in da bi lahko opazil
kakne nepravilnosti. Spider mu pove, da jih je e opazil in Grahame mu v zameno za
molenost ponudi plaan dopust in kar precejnjo vsoto denarja. Spider ponudbo sprejme
in se odpravi na kosilo s Charleyevo zaroenko.

Tudi Rosie ne opazi, da Spider ni Charley, eprav si v resnici nista podobna, in kmalu
zane razmiljati o tem, kakno sreo ima, da se bo lahko poroila s tako ednim,
armantnim in vpadljivim lovekom. Ne more razumeti, kako je lahko sploh kdaj mislila,
da Charles ni ni posebnega. Spider se nekako rei Charleya, saj eli no preiveti z
njegovo zaroenko in eprav je Rosie e devica, saj sta nameravala s Charleyem poakati
do poroke, se ne more upreti Spiderjevemu armu. Naslednji dan Spider ugotovi, da se je
zaljubil v Rosie in ji eli nekako povedati, da on ni Charley, temve njegov brat Spider. Ko
Charley izve, da je njegov brat spal z njegovo zaroenko, eli Spiderja spraviti iz svojega
ivljenja in ko vse skupaj povesta Rosie, ona razdre zaroko. Obupani Charley se odpravi
nazaj na Florido, saj eli od gospe Higler izvedeti, e obstaja kakna monost, da se rei
Spiderja.
Gospa Higler ga odpelje do gospe Dunwidy, za katero Charley izve, da je neko e izgnala
Spiderja in da zato ni ivel z njimi. Tudi bralcu sasoma postane jasno, da sta bila Charley
in Spider neko ena in ista oseba. Po besedah gospe Dunwiddy je Charley vedno zganjal
norije in zato je opravila nekaken obred, s katerim je iz Charleya potegnila ven vse
zvijane in boanske lastnosti. Tako sta nastali dve osebi. Gospa Dunwiddy prizna, da ne
ve, kako bi lahko tokrat izgnala Spiderja, vendar se stare enice odloijo, da lahko
poskusijo nek obred, vendar rabijo Charleyevo pomo. Med obredom se Charley preseli na
drug svet, kjer se sprehodi med votlinami, v katerih prebivajo ljudje. Sasoma opazi, da
sploh niso ljudje, temve da ima vsako bitje lastnosti neke ivali. Charley stopi do
marsikoga in jih prosi, e bi mu znal kdo pomagati, vendar ne najde nobenega kandidata.
Med njimi srea tudi Tigra, ki mu pove, da mu ne bo nikoli pomagal, saj mu je njegov oe
prizadejal veliko hudega. Pomagati mu je pripravljeno le bitje v podobi ptice, vendar eli v
zameno Anansijevo potomstvo, kot potrdilo pogodbe pa izroi Charleyu eno od svojih
peres.
Grahame Coats izkoristi Charlyevo odsotnost in spremeni podatke transakcij tako, da
deluje, kot da je zloine zagreil sam Fat Charley, in ga prijavi policiji. Primer prevzame
policistka, za katero se izkae, da je Daisy Day. Ko se Charley vrne, ga presenetijo
policisti, ki ga obtoijo zloinov Grahama Coatsa in zaprejo v zapor. Preden ga Spider
spravi ven iz zapora, ga tam aka e nenavadno snidenje s ptii, ki ga elijo napasti na
dvoriu. Spider je imel pred tem podobno izkunjo s ptii plamenci v svoji sobi in zato
mu Charley pove za njegov dogovor s ptijo ensko. Spider mu pojasni, da Anansijevo
potomstvo pomeni oba. Nekaj asa se skrivata pred ptii, ki ju napadajo na vsakem koraku,

nato pa se Spider rtvuje za svojega brata, ko dovoli, da se zgrne nadenj cela vojska ptiev.
e prej pove Charleyu, naj poskua zadeve urediti.
Med tem asom se je v pisarni Grahama Coatsa dogajalo naslednje: Maeve Livington, ena
zelo uspenega pokojnega komika, ki ga je zastopalo podjetje Grahama Coatsa, je
neprestano klicala in se poskuala dogovoriti z odgovornim za sestanek, saj je bila
prepriana, da nekaj z rauni ni v redu. Nekega dne je ugotovila, da ji je Grahame Coats
dolan e kar nekaj denarja in je zato la v njegovo pisarno ter ga sooila z dejstvi.
Grahame jo je pokonal s kladivom, jo skril v skrivno omaro in sam pobegnil na fiktivni
otok v Karibih, kjer si je e leta in leta pripravljal rezidenco za podoben primer. Kmalu tam
srea Rosie in njeno mamo, ki sta si zato, da ne bi lo porono potovanje v ni, privoili
oddih na istem otoku. Grahamu ju povabi svojo rezidenco in ker dami e nista ni sliali o
dogodkih v Londonu, zakorakata naravnost v njegovo past, kjer ju Grahame zapre v svojo
klet.
Maeve Livingston se zbudi in ugotovi, da je nihe ne opazi, nakar jo poklie na telefon
njen pokojni mo, ki jo povabi, naj se mu pridrui v posmrtnem ivljenju. Ona ga zavrne,
saj eli prej opraviti s svojim morilcem, in se zato poda na pot. Blizu nekega pokopalia
srea gospoda Nancya, ki ji pove zgodbo o tem, kako so bile vse zgodbe vasih last Tigra
ter kako je Pajek Tigra osmeil, ko mu je vzel zgodbe. Nato jo odpelje na plesie.
Charley Nancy policiji pove za skrito omaro v Grahamovi pisarni, kjer seveda najdejo
truplo Maeve Livingston, nato pa odleti v Florido, saj eli gospo Higler vpraati, kako se
lahko rei ptiev in dobi nazaj svojega brata. Ostale enice mu povedo, da je la gospa
Higler nazaj v svojo rojstno vas nekje na karibskih otokih. Charley se odloi, da ji bo
sledil, in ko pride v hotel, ugotovi, da je to na tem otoku zelo pogost priimek, zato se zane
s kolesom voziti naokoli, saj upa, da jo bo nael. Vmes ga zadane avto, ki ga vozi sam
Grahame Coats, ki je preprian, da sta Charley in Rosie prila skupaj na Karibe, da bi ga
ulovila. Charley na sreo ne utrpi nobenih hujih pokodb in se vrne v svoj hotel.
Tam srea Daisy Day, ki se je zaradi razoaranja nad sistemom, znotraj katerega ne more
uloviti Grahama na Karibih, odloila, da bo vzela dopust in ulovila zloinca na svojo pest.
Med veerjo se jima pridrui Grahame in pod mizo v Daisy nameri pitolo. V tem trenutku
pride mimo pevka, ki v hotelu zabava goste med veerjo, in se zane pogovarjati s
Charleyem. Na veliko preseneenje vseh prisotnih in zagotovo tudi na preseneenje bralca,
Charley vstane in zapoje pesem. Izkae se, da ima zelo lep glas. Charley eli pritegniti e

ve pozornosti, saj se zaveda, da bo le tako odvrnil Grahama od kaknega nelegalnega

poetja, in zato celemu hotelu na oeh, Daisy zaprosi za roko. Ko se prah polee, Grahama
ni ve.
Medtem je Spider ujet pri ptiji enski, ki mu iztrga jezik, saj ve, da so lahko besede boga
vir njegove magije. Nato ga podari najvejemu sovraniku njegovega oeta, Tigru. Spider
se zaveda, da je ujet in nemoen, vendar mu z raznimi zvijaami in pretkanimi udarci kljub
temu uspe drati Tigra stran od sebe. Nekako se zaveda, da se bori tudi za ensko, ki jo
ljubi. Ko ga Tiger za nekaj asa pusti samega, Spider iz gline naredi pajka in ga polje po
pomo. ez as se zgrne nad Tigra na stotine pajkov in le-ta mora zbeati. Tiger se hoe
maevati nad Anansijem in njegovim potomstvom, e zlasti pa nad Spiderjem in ugotovi,
da lahko to stori z umorom Rosie in njene mame. Polasti se telesa Grahama Coatsa, ki se
ravno v tem trenutku ves razjarjen vrne z neuspelega poskusa umora Fat Charleya. Rosie in
njena mati nekako pobegneta iz kleti, vendar jo pred izhodom aka velika maka. enski
se z zverjo spopadeta, pridrui pa se jima e Maeve Livingston, ki je s pomojo
Anansijevega duha nala otok na Karibih. Maever je sicer duh in zato ne more obevati z
navadnimi ljudmi in pod normalnimi okoliinami ne bi mogla koditi Grahamu, vendar pa
je s prihodom duha tigra Graham postal dosegljiv tudi duhovom. Ko ga premagajo, se
Maeve odloi, da lahko sedaj zapusti ta svet in se pridrui svojemu pokojnemu mou v
posmrtnem ivljenju.
Charlie Nancy najde gospo Higler in s pomojo Daisy ponovno opravijo obred, ki
Charleya zopet polje na zaetek sveta. Tam najprej srea svojega oeta, ki mu pove, da
ima tudi on v sebi boanskost, ter mu da svoj klobuk. Charley zadovoljen odkoraka naprej
in ko pride do dela, kjer so votline z vsemi ivalmi, zane peti pesem, v katero vplete vse o
zaetku, svojem oetu, ponianju tigra in podobno. Tiger zaradi sramote pobegne v svojo
votlino skupaj z Grahamom Coatsom, ki se spremeni v podlasico, Spider pa vhod v votlino
zasuje s kamenjem. Charley vrne ptiji enski njeno pero in ji pove, da Anansijevo
potomstvo ni ve v njeni lasti.
Charley in Spider se vrneta nazaj v realnost, kjer se Spider poroi z Rosie in postane
lastnik restavracije, Charley pa se poroi z Daisey in postane uspeen pevec. Anansi uiva
v svojem grobu in na pogrebu gospe Dunwitty celo pomisli, da bi zgrabil gospo Higler za
gleenj, vendar se nekako upre skunjavi.
Sandman

V prvih zgodbah tega stripa kralja Sanj ujame zdruenje nekaknih novodobnih
arovnikov, ki elijo ujeti Smrt in tako ljudem omogoiti nesmrtnost, vendar namesto
Smrti ujamejo njenega mlajega brata Morpheusa. Zbirka prvih osmih stripov opisuje
pobeg kralja Sanj po sedmih desetletjih ujetnitva in njegovo maevanje, glavna nit
zgodbe pa govori o njegovem iskanju predmetov, ki jih je izgubil in brez katerih ne more
opravljati svoje funkcije. Ko Morpheus dobi nazaj monjiek s peskom, se odpravi v Pekel
po svojo elado. Tam najprej srea svojo bivo ljubezen, ki ga vpraa, e ji je e odpustil,
na kar ji Morpheus odgovori, da e ne. Svojo elado prejme nazaj po zmagi nad enim od
demonov, kar Luciferja razjezi, zato prisee maevanje nad Sanjami. Zadnji predmet je
rubin, ki ga Morpheus pridobi nazaj brez posebnosti. Pred koncem te zbirke kralja Sanj
obie njegova stareja sestra Smrt, ki jo avtor prikae v podobi lepega mladega dekleta, in
uspe svojega brata spraviti v boljo voljo ter ga pozove, naj nekoliko razie svet, ki ga je
zamudil, ko je bil v ujetnitvu.
V drugi zbirki, ki nosi naslov The Doll's House, se Morpheus osredotoi na iskanje vseh
svojih izgubljenih kreacij oziroma nonih mor, ki so pobegnile iz njegovega kraljestva v
njegovi odsotnosti. Dve izmed teh sanj ugrabita bivega superjunaka in njegovo noseo
eno, ki se imenuje Lyta Hall, in ga prepriata, da je on gospodar Sanj. Morpheus brez
problema opravi z njim in kaznuje noni mori, ki sta pobegnili. Obenem The Doll's House
vsebuje tudi zgodbo o neki afriki kraljici po imenu Nada, ki je ivela pred davnimi asi in
se je zaljubila v gospodarja Sanj, vendar ko ji je on ponudil svojo ljubezen, ga je odklonila
in zato jo je Morpheus kaznoval na venost v peklu. Druga zgodba govori o Unity Kinkaid,
ki se je po ve kot sedemdesetih letih prebudila iz spanja in ugotovila, da je v tem asu
rodila herko. Njeno speo bolezen je seveda povzroila odsotnost gospodarja Sanj. V tem
asu je tudi njena hi e imela her po imenu Rose. Rose v svoji zgodbi srea dve izmed
stvaritev, ki so pobegnile iz kraljestva Sanj, kar jo pripelje do Morpheusa. Slednji odkrije,
da je Rose vorteks sanj, ki ga je potrebno uniiti, saj bi v nasprotnem primeru propadel ves
svet, vendar se na njeno sreo med njunim pogovorom pojavi njena babica Unity, ki
prevzame odgovornost in rtev nase. Zaveda se namre, da je ona tista, ki bi morala biti
vorteks, vendar zaradi spanja svoje usode ni mogla izpolniti, zato je njena vloga pripadla
vnukinji. Morpheus se zave, da je njegov androgeni sorojenec Poelenje v spanju posilil
Unity in posledino postal dedek punce, ki bi jo bil Morpheus prisiljen umoriti, kar bi
pomenilo tudi njegov konec, saj bi prelil kri svoje druine in tako prekril eno izmed

starodavnih pravil. The Doll's House se kona s tem, da se Sanje sooi s Poelenjem in ga
opozori, naj ne prestopi ve svojih meja.
Dream Country je naslednja zbirka, ki govori o ujetnitvu grke muze pesnitva in o tem,
kako jo rei njen bivi mo oziroma ljubimec Morpheus. Naslednja zgodba govori o tem,
kako eli neka maka spremeniti svet skozi sanje. Tretji del se imenuje A Midsummer
Night's Dream in govori o premieri te igre, ki jo je Morpheus zahteval od Shakespeara ob
njuni pogodbi in je odigrana na griu pred zelo raznoliko druino iz sveta vilincev, med
katerimi so tudi sami liki iz igre, Titania, Oberon in Puck. Puck v predstavi zelo uiva,
vendar se strinja s svojimi kolegi, ki pravijo, da je v resnici veliko bolj zlove, v igri pa je
opisan zgolj kot psihotini morilec. Ravno za ta del je Neil Gaiman leta 1991 prejel
nagrado za najboljo fantazijsko kratko zgodbo.
V Season of Mists Morpheus spozna, da ne bi smel pustiti svoje bive ljubimke Nade v
peklu in se kljub nevarnosti, ki mu preti s strani Luciferja, odloi, da jo bo poskual
osvoboditi. Ko pride v pekel, mu Lucifer pove, da namerava zapustiti svoje kraljestvo in
kljue le-tega predati ravno njemu. Lucifer se namre zaveda, da bo s tem svojemu
sovraniku nakopal kar precejnje teave. Ko se med raznimi panteoni razve, da je
kraljestvo pekla izpraznjeno in da se ie nov upravitelj tega kraljestva, se vsi zanejo
zgrinjati k vratom gospodarja Sanj in vsi ga elijo prepriati, da so ravno oni najbolj
primerni za to vlogo. Odin, ki pride v spremstvu Thora in samo za to prilonost
osvobojenega Lokija, si eli na vsak nain pridobiti oblast nad peklom, saj je mnenja, da bi
se tako lahko izognil ragnaroku, vojni bogov. Med vidnejimi predstavniki sta e Bast in
Anubis, Sosano-o-no-Mikoto, Azazel, Kaos in red, ter dva predstavnika nebeke vojske,
angela Duma in Remiel. Sosano-o-no-Mikoto, Duma in Remiel skupaj z Luciferjem
kasneje postanejo zelo pomembne osebe v stripu Lucifer, katerega avtor je Mike Carey.
Skoraj vsi kralju Sanj nekaj ponujajo v zameno za oblast nad peklom ali pa mu grozijo in
pred Morpheusom je teka odloitev, katere se na koncu izogne tako, da preda oblast
Nebesom, saj je Pekel nekaken antipod nebes in ga mora zato njegov stvarnik
nadzorovati. Ta del zgodbe je zelo zanimiv e zlasti zato, ker na koncu peklu zavladata dva
angela, ki elita rtvam pekla pomagati, eprav jima te rtve zatrjujejo, da s tem razmere le
e poslabata.
Zbirka z naslovom The Game of You govori o loenki iz New Yorka, ki se po dolgem asu
vrne v svet svojih sanj in ugotovi, da je zanjo e kako resnien ter da temu svetu preti

nevarnost. Sama po sebi zgodba ni pomembna za kasneji razvoj dogodkov, je pa vir

skoraj najbolj dodelanih likov, s katerimi se lahko bralec kaj hitro poistoveti. Thessaly, ki
je ena izmed oseb v tej zgodbi, igra kasneje zelo pomembno vlogo.
Fables and Reflections je zbirka zgodb, ki med seboj niso povezane, vendar z njimi bralec
potuje skozi zgodovino ljudi, ki so v preteklosti imeli opraviti z gospodarjem Sanj. Kot
posebna izdaja se teje v to zbirko tudi zgodba o Orfeju. V tej zgodbi avtor pojasni, da
Orfej zaradi svojega obiska Hada ne more umreti, kljub temu da so njegovo telo raztrgale
Bakhantke. Ob koncu zgodbe njegov oe poskrbi, da bo za njegovo glavo vedno skrbel red
menihov. V ostalih zgodbah nastopajo lovek, ki je postal kralj Amerike, Marco Polo,
Cesar Avgust in e mnogi.
V zbirki Brief Lives najmlaja sestra Delirium prepria Morpheusa, da gre z njo poiskati
njunega brata Unienje, ki je e pred nekaj stoletji zapustil svoje kraljestvo. Morpheus se
strinja, saj je preprian, da bi lahko s pomojo taknega potovanja pozabil na svojo zadnjo
neuspelo ljubezensko afero, zaradi katere je e nekaj asa depresiven. Kasneje se izkae,
da je bila njegova tokratna ljubezen Thessaly iz zbirke The Game of You. Med iskanjem se
povsod okoli njiju dogajajo katastrofe in nesree. Med drugim sreata tudi boginjo Ishtar,
ki naj bi bila biva ljubimka njunega brata in sedaj dela kot striptizeta v nonem klubu.
Konno se Morpheus odloi, da bo obiskal glavo svojega sina Orfeja, ki jima pove lokacijo
svojega strica. Tako konno najdeta Unienje, ki ju e priakuje, vendar jima zagotovi, da
se ne namerava vrniti v svoje kraljestvo. Na koncu se Morpheus vrne k svojemu sinu ter
mu v zameno za informacijo o lokaciji svojega brata izpolni edino eljo, tako da ga ubije.
Zbirka Worlds' End govori o nevihti resninosti, ki je nastopila ob velikih spremembah,
ki odmevajo skozi resninost. Grua ljudi se zato znajde v neki krmi, v kateri poskrbijo za
ljudi in ostala bitja, ki vanjo zatavajo ob taknih nevihtah. Zbirka je skupek zgodbic, ki si
jih te osebe govorijo med akanjem, da gre nevihta mimo njih. eprav Morpheus ni v
srediu teh zgodb, imajo vse takno ali drugano povezavo s sanjami.
Najdalja zbirka The Kindly Ones povee kar nekaj zgodb iz prejnjih delov in se zakljui s
smrtjo glavnega protagonista. Eno glavnih vlog nosi ideja trojne boginje, ki sem jo v tem
diplomskem delu e omenil in je prisotna v kar nekaj delih Neila Gaimana. Ta trojna
boginja je tukaj nekakna zdruena inaica vejih podobnih idej, med drugim so to Mojre,
ki pletejo nit lovekega ivljenja, in Erinije, maevalke krvnih zloinov. Lyta Hall, ki je
bila v The Doll's House nekaj let v ujetnitvu, se vrne nazaj na svet brez svojega moa in

po nekaj letih nosenosti rodi sina Daniela. Sina ji ugrabita in ubijeta dva varljivca, Loki in
Spak, saj elita v svet vnesti nekaj zmede. Ona je prepriana, da je za smrt njenega otroka
kriv gospodar Sanj in zato si eli njegovo smrt. Pomo ji ponudijo Erinije. Kljub temu da
Morpheusu ne more koditi skoraj nobena mitoloka entiteta, se ne more ubraniti pred
Erinijami, ki maujejo njegov umor Orfeja. Erinije skupaj z Lyto Hall napadajo kraljestvo
sanj in pobijejo kar nekaj pomembnih likov iz prejnjih zgodb, medtem ko se Morpheus
odloi, da jih bo poskual ustaviti tako, da odstrani Lyto kot njihovo vez z realnostjo. Ko
pride v ujeni svet, ga ob spei Lyti priaka njegova biva ljubezen Thesally, ki je okoli
nje napravila nevidni it, podoben tistemu, v katerem je bil Morpheus v zaetku ujet.
eprav mu eli pomagati, mu ne more, saj je z Erinijami sklenila pogodbo. Kralj sanj se
vrne v svoje kraljestvo, od koder ga na koncu zbirke odpelje sestra Smrt. Nov kralj sanj
postane Daniel Hall, sin Lyte Hall, ki je v kraljestvu sanj lahko ponovno oivel. Thesally
opozori Lyto, naj pobegne, saj je med vsemi temi, ki bodo po tem razpletu okoliin eleli
njeno smrt, tudi sama.
Zadnja zbirka originalne izdaje se imenuje Bdenje in v glavnem govori o dogodkih, ki so
sledili smrti Morpheusa. Kar nekaj mesta zavzame slovesni sprevod in sam pogreb, kjer se
pojavi veliko likov iz prejnjih delov, zadnji govor pa ima seveda Smrt. Po pogrebu sledijo
e tri poglavja, ki zakljuijo zgodbo e o nekaterih likih, med drugim pa govorijo tudi o
vlogi, v katero se poasi privaja nov kralj Sanj, bivi Daniel Hall.