Good Omens in Scholarship
I apologize for my recently deleted post, I was going slightly mad trying to find the one quote I needed to finish my paper.
Anyway. I know that most of the time the writing here is fanfic, but I'm curious to see people's reactions to Good Omens being used in scholarly works. For my "After the Death of God" theology class, we've been given free range to write our final paper on whatever we want. We read Gaiman's 'American Gods' for the course and while discussing it in class, my professor hit upon the concept of the death of ideas being replaced by other ideas. This triggered a connection to 'The Sandman' for me and I spat out a six page paper rather quickly. This left me in a bit of a pickle because the paper length was 8 pages. After having a friend read it, she pointed out that Good Omens also had a similar theme, although it was far less of a major plot point than in the other two texts. I talked to my professor, who has used Good Omens in another course before, and he said to go for it.
So, here it is. Warning: this paper has MAJOR spoilers for Good Omens, American Gods and especially The Sandman. Feel free to leave your thoughts.
The Death of Ideas and Gods in the Works of Neil Gaiman
The works of Neil Gaiman fall into the genre of urban fantasy and feature worlds just slightly beyond reach. His novel American Gods, while not a direct response to death of God theology or even the death of God movement, reflects a middle of the road approach to the theological implications of what the death of God (or in the novel’s case, gods) means. Moreover, the novel asks “What are gods?”[1], forcing the reader to examine modern technology and how it is treated in the world. Underlying the question of what gods are is the question of what makes a god a god. Gaiman implies in his work that an idea is what defines a god, and because a god is an idea, a god can never truly die - only be replaced with another idea or thought, making the ultimate theme of the text ‘Can one kill an idea?’ This question is not unique to Gaiman’s novel and appears in many of his works, including the collaborative novel Good Omens, co-written with fellow modern fantasy giant Terry Prachett and his most well known work, The Sandman comic series. Each text examines the question carefully, trying to define what makes a god before offering any answer.
The story of Good Omens, first published in 1990, also showcases a similar theme in the context of the Christian apocalypse. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Anges Nutter, Witch tells the story of two celestial beings, Aziraphale (an angel) and Crowley (a demon), the Antichrist (Adam) and his three friends, and the near Armageddon that is prevented only by Adam and his defiance of the destiny he inherited by birthright. Also figuring into the story are the four horse people of the apocalypse. Traditionally the four horsemen are War, Death, Famine and Pestilence. However, in Good Omens, the four hose people are War, Death, Famine and Pollution. The explanation for Pestilence’s departure in the text is because he had left in 1936, “muttering about penicillin.” [2] The explanation is entertaining in context, but demonstrates larger forces at work. Changing Pestilence to Pollution demonstrates a modernization of biblical concepts, and how one idea can morph into another and be called by the same or similar name, a major theme in Gaiman’s other works. Good Omens also demonstrates a clear association of ritual items to anthropomorphic beings. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are traditionally given their own sigils - War a sword, Famine a set of scales, Pestilence a Crown and Death has Hell following after him. In Good Omens, these items figure prominently in the end. Prior to the apocalypse, a delivery is made to each one of the four, bearing the item associated with them, save Death, who is simply told “Come and see.”[3] These items do not change the power of the horsemen, but signify a change in their roles and act as a means of instruction to begin the apocalypse. However, in the text, the end of the world is adverted in a final showdown in a military base between the horsepeople and Adam, the ten year old Antichrist. In this scene, Adam tells them “The thing is, I don’t want it done. I never asked for it to be done.” [4] This creates confusion amongst the horsemen, and Death replies that Adam’s mere existence signifies the end of the world. Adam’s refusal to end the world, because it’s “full of all sorts of brilliant stuff”[5] he hasn’t experienced yet causes the four horsemen to make them shake and shatter. Their speech becomes disjointed, full of ellipses in their dialogue, and suddenly, all but Death disappear. As one of Adam’s friends, Brian says, “she sort of god sucked up the sword.”[6] When Adam asks Death where the other three have gone, Death replies that they have gone “WHERE THEY BELONG…WHERE THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. BACK IN THE MINDS OF MAN.” [7] This statement becomes key in Gaiman’s later works. Ideas, anthropomorphic personifications, gods, what have you, are always sitting in the back of the brain of mankind, and they linger there for generation after generation.
American Gods focuses primarily on the fight between old and new gods as they struggle against each other for supremacy in the minds of man. The old gods are the traditional gods of religion, a wide array of pantheons and deities from around the world, who are struggling to stay alive with what little belief remains surrounding them. The new gods are secular gods, gods of television, movies, the media, radio and so forth, intent on wiping out the old gods once and for all so that they can continue to feed off the attention that is lavished upon them from mankind. This fight focuses primarily on the competition for belief and attention from humanity, which is the one thing that sustains the gods. American Gods offers an alternative view of how something becomes a god. The god Wednesday, better know in mythology as Odin, explains the process simply, comparing gods and their believers to bees and honey where
“…each bee only makes a tiny, tiny drop of honey. It takes thousands of them….to make the pot of honey you have on your breakfast table. Now imagine that you could eat nothing but honey. That’s what it’s like for my kind of people…we feed on belief, on prayers, on love.” [8]
Given this concept, the deification of the new gods becomes clear to understand. People sacrifice the same things to the modern day conveniences of television, film, radio and the like, and they become concepts as well as physical items. When the main character, Shadow, asks what the new gods feed off of, he is informed “time mostly…sometimes each other.” [9] The only difference between the two sets of gods is that the older ones have been around far, far longer and are less novel than the secular gods, who have only entered godhood recently. Not only that, but there are many variations of the deity the world over. This is shown in the sections of the text entitled “Coming to America” but as well as in smaller passages, such as at the funeral of Mad Sweeney. His life is recounted, telling the various stories and forms that he took over the years, as well as “the story of the girl from Bantry who came to the New World and who brought her believe in Mad Sweeney the leprechaun with her.”[10] This particular passage demonstrates how ideas are carried from place to place, and allowed to take root in new lands, effectively moving the god, and therefore idea, into new territory. The concept is demonstrated again at the end of the novel, in the post script. Shadow is in Iceland, having no other desire than to explore the world. While there, he encounters another version of Odin, the one tied to Iceland, and they talk about Odin’s people journeying to North America and how America is a bad land for gods. The existence of multiple concepts of the same god is also mentioned.
“‘You are Odin,’ said Shadow…’I saw you die…I stood vigil for your body. You tried to destroy so much for power…You did that.’
‘I did not do that.’
‘Wednesday did. He was you.’
‘He was me, yes. But I am not him.’” [11]
This dialogue exchange is what demonstrates one of Gaiman’s major themes in the text. Gods, in the end, do not die. They’re incapable of it. Rather, different interpretations of them can be born and then be killed off, but there will always be another version of that same god to replace them. The gods of American Gods are anthropomorphic, ideas given flesh and mind by the collective of people that worship them. And because one cannot kill an idea, therefore it is impossible for one to kill a god in the world of American Gods.
This concept is demonstrated clearly in Gaiman’s best known work, The Sandman. In the world of The Sandman, there exist seven anthropomorphic beings - Destiny, Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Destruction and Delirium - who preside over these aspects of existence. The comic series follows Dream in particular, using history, Shakespearian texts, mythology and legend to tell his story and explores deeper themes of free will, predestination, the power of imagination and ultimately, death. Like American Gods, the comic also examines the power and value of ideas. The seven Endless, like the deities of American Gods and the horsepeople of Good Omens, are anthropomorphic incarnations of seven major aspects or ideas related to existence. They have superhuman powers, but unlike the gods in the novel, the Endless have no need to feed off of the belief and faith of humanity. Rather, they are persistent gods-above-gods who exist simply because the idea that they represent exist.
All three texts rely on the concept of fetishes when discussing what makes a god a god. The character of Hinzelmann in American Gods is a kobold, a child raised to godhood through the power of fetish. The text explains that in order to make a kobold, one must rear a child in complete darkness until they reach the age of five and then in the middle of the night, take the child, place it in front of bonfires and
“pierce [the child] with blades of iron and of bronze…smoke the small body over charcoal fires until it is properly dried…wrap it in furs and carry it with you…sacrificing animals and children to it, making it the luck of the tribe.” [12]
In this way, the sacrifices of animals and children to the kobold and the veneration of the charred remains make the kobold into a god, culminating in the character of Hinzelmann. The power of fetish, usually defined as a charm or lucky item used in ritual, imbue him with godlike power and continues with him into the landscape of America where, in the story, he is capable of controlling an entire small town as long as one child is sacrificed to him each winter. This fetish ritual demonstrates just how powerful belief can become and that it is capable of imparting power. Good Omens mentions this concept, but does not go into great detail. A much longer treatment of this concept is found in The Sandman, relating to the character of Dream. To demonstrate the power of his office, he is depicted with three symbols - a bag of sand, his helm and a ruby. In the beginning of the series, he is trapped against his will by several magicians attempting to summon Death, and these three items are taken from him. When he is freed from his prison, one of his first acts is to regain these items, as they are all symbols of his power. In volume four, Seasons of Mist, he visits Hell carrying all three items, demonstrating his office. While these items do not act as a fetish for believers, they are powerful items with untold abilities. The ruby in particular is shown to have great power. In the first volume, the ruby falls into the hands of John Dee, who becomes warped by its powers and harms others around him. He uses its powers to trap people in a diner, and over the course of the day, he manipulates them from being furious with each other, to having sex, to treating him as if he is a god. The ruby itself is what facilitates the elevation of Dee to this status. In the end, though, Dream manages to trick Dee in the Dreaming and destroys the ruby, releasing the stone’s power and restoring Dream to full strength. Dee is summarily returned to the madhouse from which he came, and the series moves forward.
Later on in the comic, the concept of fetish reappears in another stone, this time an emerald. In volume nine, The Kindly Ones, events set in motion very early on in the series are finally put into play, with the three Furies hounding after Dream for the murder of his son. Dream acknowledges that the Furies will not relent “until [he] is destroyed by [his] own hands or another’s.”[13] He moves to the edge of the Dreaming to talk with the Kindly Ones, who leave when his sister, Death appears. They discuss his options and his responsibility to his office. The conversation ends with Death turning to her brother and saying, “Give me your hand.” [14] The next three panels are flashes of light, indicating that Dream has died. When the comic cuts back to the Dreaming, on page (number), Daniel is shown playing with the emerald. As he holds it, it begins to glow, and a transformation takes place. After that transformation, he approaches Dream’s throne in the throne room, prompting the Corinthian to ask, “Daniel?” [15] The response is “No…not any longer,” and shows that the emerald has transformed Daniel into the new Dream. He shares a similar appearance with the old Dream - pale skin, black eyes and wild hair, but his colour scheme is pure white, whereas that of his predecessor had been entirely black. In this instance, the emerald had enough power in it to create a new god above gods, turning a mortal into an anthropomorphic representation of the concept of dream. The power of the fetish here, like in American Gods has the ability to make mortals into something far more. In addition, the transformation of Daniel into Dream demonstrates a clear rejection of the death of ideas. The original Dream does die, and a funeral is held in his honour. In volume ten, it is asked “Who are they mourning?” The response is “A point of view.” [16] This dialogue exchange emphasizes that an idea can never truly die. The only thing that can die is a particular interpretation of that idea. This parallels Odin’s statement of “He was me, yes. But I am not him.” [17]
Gaiman’s conclusion on the death of God is clear. For him, gods are anthropomorphic ideas that have been elevated and given power in the minds of humanity. This power stems from fetish, sacrifice and belief in that god and the ideas that particular god represents. Good Omens sets this idea in motion early on in Gaiman’s works, replacing Pestilence with Pollution and suggesting that the signs of the apocalypse are ever with is, because the four horsemen and the ideas they represent always dwell within the minds of man. The text of American Gods focuses on the ever-transforming idea of what a god is and demonstrates that gods cannot be killed because there will always be belief in them and The Sandman drives the point home by showing that ideas do not die. They only change. In that vein, there is no death of God. There is only a change in what God is and what God means to the individual believer.
[1] Gaiman, American Gods 163
[2] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 249
[3] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 178
[4] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 326
[5] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 326
[6] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 328
[7] Gaiman, Prachett Good Omens 328
[8] Gaiman, American Gods 287
[9] Gaiman, American Gods 175
[10] Gaiman, American Gods 226
[11] Gaiman, American Gods 586-587
[12] Gaiman, American Gods 568
[13] Gaiman, The Sandman Volume 9: The Kindly Ones Chap 10 pg 17
[14] Gaiman, The Sandman Volume 9: The Kindly Ones Chap 13 pg 10
[15] Gaiman, The Sandman Volume 9: The Kindly Ones Chap 13 pg 22
[16] Gaiman, The Sandman Volume 10: The Wake 44
[17] Gaiman, American Gods 587