| “ | Once upon a time there was a fucking queen. She had it all: the glory, the power. Worshipers eager to give and grateful to receive. Why? Because she had the gift of the gift. The blessing of blessings, hers to bestow. And her place of worship? Oh, that was the place to be. That was the goddamn shit. It was good fucking times. Kings didn’t like that. Kings came one after the other to knock her off her throne. They didn’t last long. When the queen was done with you, you were gone. Worse ways to go. But the kings, they kept coming after her. Our queen’s power which is the power of all women, the power of rebirth and creation, it makes some men kneel in awe and give gifts. But it makes other men angry. And you know it: Anger gets shit done. | ” |
–Mr. Nancy about Bilquis, Come to Jesus | ||
Bilquis is one of the Old Gods. As an ancient goddess of love who craves the worship she inspired in eras long gone, she is eager to find that same relevance in today's world.
Background[]
Bilquis is the legendary Queen of Sheba who ruled the city of Ma’rib in Yemen thousands of years ago where she was worshiped by her people in nocturnal rituals of orgiastic nature.
Significance in series[]
"The Bone Orchard"[]
Somewhere in America
Bilquis is in a bar for a date with a man she met online. She takes him back to her place and into her bedroom. They undress and he tells her she's perfect. She asks if he doesn't think she looks "spent" and he replies that she is sexy. They begin to have sex with Bilquis guiding him. She asks him to worship her with his words and body and to pray to her. He worships her with his words as she starts to ride him. He prays to her and exalts her as she keeps riding him, swallowing him from the waist down, telling him not to stop and to give her his body and his life. She finishes consuming him with her vagina and relaxes, rejuvenated from his willing sacrifice.
"The Secret of Spoons"[]
Bilquis goes out on numerous dates, consuming men and women with her vagina as she rejuvenates and refreshes herself with their willing self-sacrifices. In spite of the worship she receives, she is unhappy. She visits an exhibit of antiquities, passing by a statue of herself as the Queen of Sheba. She sees her body jewelry laid out in a glass case and an image forms under the red velvet as if someone were wearing it.
"Come to Jesus"[]
864 b.c., Temple of Bar'an
Bilquis is in her temple, bedecked in body jewelry and diaphanous robes. Her worshipers dance and writhe naked as Bilquis anoints them with a black substance on their foreheads. A king approaches to knock her off her throne. She welcomes him and they have sex with him transforming into a black liquid when she finishes with him. The orgy of worshipers also transform into black liquid for Bilquis to absorb.
1979, Tehran
Bilquis makes her way through a disco club where she encounters a young woman and asks her to dance. Men with guns storm the club and destroy it as people flee in terror. Bilquis is saved by the young woman.
Bilquis is on a flight to America seated several rows behind the woman who helped her escape the disco. She asks the man seated next to her where the bathroom is at and takes him into the bathroom with her. She returns to her row alone. The flight attendant gives her a "Hollywood, California" postcard.
1988
Bilquis visits the woman she followed to America as she lies dying in the hospital of AIDS.
2013
Bilquis has been reduced to homelessness and is pushing a cart along the street when she stops in front of an Ethiopian restaurant named Marib. The menus have drawings of Bilquis on the front, reminding her she was once a queen. The TV in the restaurant shows live footage of her ancient temple in Yemen being destroyed by ISIS. Later, as she is sleeping on the street, Technical Boy pulls up to offer her a new altar, giving her a cell phone. She scrolls through an online dating app, and sees a picture of herself at her most beautiful.
Present Day
Bilquis once again visits the museum housing a collection of her artifacts. She ignores a phone call from "The Man" (Technical Boy). He appears behind her and scolds her for avoiding him. He is calling in the favor she owes him.
Bilquis is on a bus trip to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin and invites the man seated next to her to the bathroom.
"House on the Rock"[]
Bilquis enters the House on the Rock as it is closing and feeds on one of the employees. She wanders through the deserted building and encounters the Jinn. They greet each other and Bilquis reveals she was not invited. Salim arrives, surprising the Jinn.
Inside the House on the Rock, the Jinn asks why Salim followed him when he could have gone anywhere else and done anything he wanted. He tells Salim to leave but Salim replies back, "I do not grant wishes." They are interrupted by Wednesday's entrance. Wednesday asks the Jinn how many have arrived. The Jinn replies there are about a dozen plus Bilquis, who was not invited. Wednesday and Nancy take tokens from the Jinn and the Jinn offers Shadow a token as well but he does not let Laura and Mad Sweeney through.
Bilquis greets Nancy before confronting Wednesday for not inviting her when she is an Old God. Wednesday acquiesces and invites her to "consult the Norns." She inserts a token into a machine where Selina, a fortune telling mannequin, moves around to music before a card is dropped into a slot below for her to retrieve. Wednesday inserts his token next and chortles when he receives his card, causing Shadow to ask what it is. He won't reveal what it says because, "a man's fortune is his own." Shadow inserts his token and receives his card, reading it out loud:
| “ | Every ending is a new beginning. Your lucky number is none. Your lucky color is dead. Motto: Like father, like son. | ” |
They continue deeper into the House on the Rock before Wednesday splits off on his own. In a room housing the Chalet of the Raven, Shadow plays with the silver coin Zorya Polunochnaya gave him while Bilquis inspects him. Nancy reveals that when he made Shadow his suit, he also got a measurement of Shadow's life and how he was bullied for being little until he was fifteen and bulked up and grew a few inches. He mentions that Shadow reminds him of his stupid son. Shadow thanks him for the compliment of comparing him to a member of his family.
Wednesday leads the group through a hall full of beer steins as he explains the immense power contained within roadside attractions in America. They arrive at the Carousel Room and Wednesday asks Shadow to feel the power. As the carousel spins round and round, the Old Gods reappear on the carousel. Nancy sits on a roaring lion while Wednesday invites Shadow to join them and Bilquis offers to keep him safe. Shadow climbs uneasily aboard and chooses a tiger with an Eagle's head to ride. The carousel continues to spin faster and faster and Shadow begins to enjoy himself. Wednesday's wolf mount opens up and a bright light shines forth as the carousel figurines detach and fly away into space.
Shadow awakens on a beach next to human skulls and where a Norse ship has dropped anchor. Bilquis tells him he is "Backstage" in Wednesday's memories. As Bilquis leads him up to Odin's Hall, she explains how if the meeting had been held in Bilquis' mind, it would be a warmer experience with hanging gardens and ziggurats. Once within the hall, Shadow is able to see the gods in their various non-human forms: from Odin, Bilquis, Czernobog, the Zorya sisters, and Anansi to Ame-No Uzeme, Ahura Mazda, the Lion-god, and Frau Holle. Anansi calls everyone around for a story about being at constant war with the New Gods. Odin speaks, reminding them how people brought the gods, including everyone present, with them to America. The Old Gods have been abandoned as the "true believers" either died or stopped believing. They are only getting by as they are replaced by the New Gods, who now want to destroy them.
Mama-ji interrupts, saying that she has seen New Gods rise and fall and they should wait them out. She does not see any of the battles that Odin claims are happening. Bilquis defends Odin, explaining how the New Gods have more followers, more attention, and more power, however, it is not a bad thing. She has been given the tools of the New Gods and warns them they need to evolve or die. Shadow speaks out that he believes Odin. He has lost everyone and everything but he is regaining his belief and faith because of Odin. If they help Odin, they can be worthy of their believers.
In the Black briar bunker, Technical Boy complains that Mr. World sent Bilquis when he could have tracked them himself. Mr. World explains that he sent her because he needs Bilquis to be complicit with the New Gods. Mr. World picks up a red telephone and says, "recover the package."
At a Motel America diner, Wednesday pours mead as the Old Gods feast and socialize. Bilquis approaches Laura, calling her beautiful and asking what she is. Laura warns Bilquis that Laura will kill her if she hurts her husband. Bilquis leans forward and gives her a lingering kiss before leaving the restaurant.
"The Beguiling Man"[]
In the Black Briar bunker, Mr. World pours liquor from a decanter and brings it over to Bilquis while the Caretaker continues monitoring the "eyes of Argus". Mr. World commiserates with Bilquis that none of the Old Gods joined her. She blames his attack on the diner for pushing the Old Gods into joining Wednesday's side. Bilquis refuses to join his war as she is a love goddess and "love and war may sit on opposite sides of the coin but only so they may never meet." Mr. World warns her that she must choose a side or be trampled by both.
"Ashes and Demons"[]
Bilquis contacts a repairman named Bill Sanders to help her out, but Bill demands her to have sex with him. She obliges and devours him with her vagina. Bilquis begins to vomit as her body appears to reject absorbing Bill, and Bill's granddaughter Madeline sends text messages worrying over him becoming missing.
Personality[]
For Season One, Yetide Badaki describes Bilquis as an ancient goddess of love trying to find her relevance in the present day with online dating, an "extraordinary character in an ordinary situation" and trying to go through life day by day. In a time where millennials have less and less sex, and less and less intimacy, she is starving and basically feeding off "empty calories", since most of what is sold as "love" today is actually "empty containers", leaving you feeling empty no matter how much you buy. [1]
Appearance[]
Bilquis carries a regal essence everywhere she goes and possesses divine beauty. She has dark brown skin, full lips, with round dark colored eyes. Bilquis's beauty enchants all. Men, women, and kings - it made no difference. They all fall under the thrall of the legendary queen. In her prime Bilquis styled her hair into what resembled a chalice or even a crown, with finery expected of a goddess and queen. In modern times Bilquis remains as beautiful as ever. She styles her hair in loose curls, and when she's not seducing mortals in loose shawls or robes Bilquis is seen wearing elegant dresses with heels. When deprived of worship Bilquis is physically malnourished with her skin distinctively looking dry; hence, when given a sufficient amount of sacrifices she becomes radiant.
Quotes[]
| “ | Do something for me. Worship me. Stay here with your words, with your body. Worship me. Pray to me like I'm your god. Your goddess. | ” |
–Bilquis, "The Bone Orchard" | ||
Powers and abilities[]
As a goddess of love and sexuality, she feeds off of those. Her worships consists of a ritualistic sex encounter (in ancient times, ritualistic orgies) that ends with her "consuming" her worshiper(s) through her sexual organ. While in the past she turned humans into a body of black liquid before absorbing them, in modern times (or with a singular worshiper) she rather turns into a giantess while shrinking the worshiper. Absorbing the love, sexual feelings and utterly devotion of her worshipers allow her to keep her youth, banishing all signs of aging.
When a worshiper is absorbed, he or she receives the "blessing of bliss": they are sent to a nebula-like dimension where they will stay in a perpetual state of pleasure and orgasm.
As with all gods, without a regular worship Bilquis declines physically and mentally. It is shown that she uses her worship in order to rejuvenate and fight off the effects of aging, and in Come to Jesus, it is revealed that when Bilquis was deprived of her worship for too long she became a homeless woman with no memories of the goddess she once was and plagued by sexually-transmitted diseases.
Goddess of love and beauty, she can influence the feelings of attraction of humans beings, able to seduce both men and women until they become entirely enthralled by her.
Season Three shows Bilquis using a wider array of powers: she is able to awake the emotional part of the New God Technical Boy by forcing him into the memory of a war. With the help of the Orisha, she developed her powers enough to manipulate large bodies of water and perform several magic rituals (including divination rituals and astral projection).
Gallery[]
| To edit the Gallery page, go to Bilquis/Gallery. |
Note: The pictures are shown in episodic order. To see the order of the episodes, please visit the Episode guide.
 American Gods - Season 1, Episode 2 Clip- Queen of Sheba - STARZ |
 American Gods Bilquis STARZ |
Notes and trivia[]
- Bilquis is the Queen of Sheba who was suspected of being half-human, half-demon (a jinn).
- Her ancient place of worship was the Temple of Bar'an in Yemen, locally known as the "Throne of Bilqis" in folklore.
- She was brought to America by one of her worshipers during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
- In some traditions of Jewish mysticism and folk-tales the Queen of Sheba is at times equated with Lilith or Frau Venus. The identification with Frau Venus may be one of the reasons why Bilquis refers to Bast as her "sister", as Bast too was sometimes equated with the Greco-roman goddess Aphrodite/Venus.
- Yetide Badaki was a fan of Neil Gaiman long before being cast as Bilquis.
- Yetide is also an immigrant. She was born in Nigeria and lived in England before coming to America. She became a US citizen in 2014.[2][3]
- Bryan Fuller mentionned on Twitter that the outfit for "Disco Bilquis" was inspired by an outfit worn by Grace Jones. [4]
- Bryan Fuller and Michael Green explained in an interview with Vulture that the idea of exploring Bilquis' past as an "ancient Babylonian sex goddess" was one of the first they had for season one. [5]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z74gj5d895g
- ↑ https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/weekend-mag/yetide-badaki-nigeria-s-hollywood-sweetheart/160392.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/08/american-gods-yetide-badaki-why-cant-a-black-woman-be-a-love-goddess
- ↑ https://twitter.com/bryanfuller/status/876618958178209793
- ↑ https://www.vulture.com/2017/06/american-gods-showrunners-season-two.html