| “ | If I win, I get to knock your brains out. With the sledgehammer. First you go down on your knees. Then I hit you a blow with it, so you don't get up again. | ” |
–Czernobog to Shadow, Chapter Four | ||
Czernobog is one of the Old Gods, and comes from Slavic mythology. He claims often that he misses his brother, Bielebog, but at some point he states that he is not sure if both are actually the same person.
Significance in narrative[]
Chapter Four[]
Mr. Wednesday and Shadow arrive at an apartment in Chicago where Czernobog answers the door. Zorya Utrennyaya sends them into the sitting room while she gets them coffee. Czernobog begins relating his past job in the meat business and how he was a "knocker" on the kill floor, taking a sledgehammer to knock the cows dead before slitting their throats and draining their blood. Zorya Utrennyaya returns with their coffee and Shadow excuses himself to the bathroom.
When he returns, Czernobog is angry with Mr. Wednesday for trying to get him to come along with them. Mr. Wednesday says Czernobog should do it for his brother, Bielebog. Czernobog tells Shadow about his brother and how Czernobog was the dark-haired, bad one while Bielebog was the blonde-haired, good one. Czernobog then tells Shadow to play him a game of Checkers.
They start playing checkers and Czernobog wagers Shadow that if he wins, he gets to hit Shadow on the head with a sledgehammer like he used to do to the cows. If Shadow wins, then Czernobog has to come with them on their trip. Czernobog wins the game and Shadow challenges him to a rematch, saying if Czernobog wins again, it gives him a second chance to hit Shadow over the head because he will need it since he is no longer as young and strong as he once was. Shadow wins the second game so Czernobog agrees to go with them and will hit Shadow in the head after everything is over.
Chapter Five[]
Shadow and Wednesday encounter Czernobog at the House on the Rock in The Mikado room where he is seated on a bench. Czernobog proceeds with them down several corridors and through various rooms and attractions before arriving at a pizzaria-cafeteria where Mr. Nancy is seated. Wednesday leaves for the restroom while Shadow is introduced to Mr. Nancy. Once Wednesday returns, they set off again through the House on the Rock, finally reaching the Carousel Room.
The carousel goes round and round without stopping because it is meant to be admired, not ridden. Wednesday then asks Shadow to help them onto the platform where he, Czernobog, and Mr. Nancy jump on board the carousel. Shadow joins them, feeling more uneasy breaking the rules at the carousel than he did robbing the bank that morning.
Once on the carousel, each of the men select a mount with Wednesday picking a golden wolf, Czernobog choosing an armored centaur, and Nancy climbing on a roaring lion. Shadow eventually selects a tiger with an eagle's head to ride. The four men laugh and enjoy their ride on the carousel as the Blue Danube waltz plays and the lights glistened. Then, the lights go out and Shadow sees the gods.
Chapter Six[]
When the lights go out on the carousel at the House on the Rock, the only illumination is from starlight as the eagle-headed tiger beneath Shadow seemed to come to life. He is able to see multiple dimensions with Mr. Nancy appearing to him in all his various forms. The creatures they rode trotted them to a wooden hall on a hill. Czernobog tells Shadow that none of it is really happening and it's all in his head. Shadow also sees Czernobog in his various forms as Wednesday steers his giant wolf over to Shadow's side and tells him his various names, leading Shadow to ask if Wednesday is Odin, which Wednesday confirms.
They enter Valaskjálf, Odin's old hall, as Mr. Nancy explains to Shadow they're in Wednesday's mind. Wednesday is upset that there aren't as many people waiting for them in the hall as he expected. Mr. Nancy steps up as the "warm-up" man and tells the crowd of Old Gods a story about how he stole Tiger's balls and blamed it on Old Monkey, which is why to this day, Tiger chases monkeys. Wednesday next stands before the people gathered. He gives them a speech about how the New Gods are growing in America and it is now time for the Old Gods to act. Mama-ji gets into an argument with Wednesday, saying they only have to wait for the New Gods to die out like the ones of the past. Wednesday tells them all they have already lost everything and he is offering them the chance to take something back. The fire burns out and the meeting ends.
Chapter Thirteen[]
After Shadow is arrested and placed in the Lakeside jail, Chief Mulligan and Officer Bute sign him over for transfer to two deputies from Lafayette County and Shadow is put into the backseat of a black town car. As they drive away, the deputies reveal themselves to be Mr. Nancy and Czernobog.
Chapter Fourteen[]
Czernobog and Mr. Nancy take Shadow to Minneapolis where they meet up with Alviss and change from the black town car to a VW bus. Alviss expresses his sympathy to Shadow and asks if the "vigil" falls on him, which Czernobog says he will not have to do.
Eventually they stop for food and gas. Mr. Nancy receives a phone call from the New Gods telling them to meet in the Center of America, neutral territory for both the Old Gods and New Gods, so they can give them back Mr. Wednesday's body.
They drive toward Lebanon, KS and the Center of America, stopping in Humansville, MO and visit a supermarket where they encounter Gwyndion who promises Mr. Nancy he'll "be there." They continue driving before another brief stop outside Cherryvale, KS. Czernobog exits the vehicle and walks to the center of a meadow where he had once been worshiped and he feasts on its residual power, rejuvenating himself.
They reach the Center of America that evening and park at the one-story motel. There is a chauffeur and a female newscaster standing outside. Media introduces herself and leads them inside where Technical Boy is waiting with Mr. Town. Mr. Town hands room keys to Mr. Nancy who passes them out to Shadow and Czernobog. Later that evening, the chauffeur has brought everyone McDonald's from Nebraska. As they eat dinner, Shadow asks when they can take Mr. Wednesday's body and is told that according to the rules, they have to wait until midnight.
It's soon close to midnight so they head to Room Five, where Wednesday's body is laid out in the middle. Town, Media, Mr. Nancy, Czernobog, and Technical Boy soon join them. Loki calls the gathering to order and asks if anyone would like to say something. Mr. Town passes, Czernobog warns that this is the start of war, and Technical Boy starts to recite a poem buy can't remember the rest of it. Shadow says that the whole situation is "pitiful" because half the people there had a hand in killing him but Shadow is still working for Wednesday. Media makes a few pithy comments about life and death before Mr. Nancy finishes off with another warning that the New Gods would pay for what they had done.
The New Gods leave and they wrap Wednesday up in sheets. Shadow carries him out to their bus, remembering his promise to Wednesday when he started working for him. Mr. Town approaches him and hands him Wednesday's glass eye, telling him that Mr. World wanted Shadow to have it. Mr. Nancy takes the wheel and they leave the Center of America, heading east.
When they reach Princeton, MO, Nancy asks Shadow where they can drop him off. Against their protests, Shadow insists that he is staying with Wednesday's body and will hold the vigil even after Czernobog and Mr. Nancy both warn him it will kill him. Even though Shadow hopes he will survive, he is willing to die because then maybe he'll finally have lived.
They drive Wednesday's body to the ASH farm in Virginia. A perfectly symmetrical silver-gray tree rises up higher than the farmhouse, identical to Wednesday's silver tie pin. There are three women of descending heights by the tree who Shadow mistakes at first for the Zorya Sisters. The tallest sister removes Wednesday's body from the bus and the three sisters place his body underneath the tree before approaching Shadow. They ask if he's the one who will mourn and hold vigil for the all-father and Shadow nods. Nancy tries again to dissuade him but Shadow holds firm. Czernobog says that Shadow needs to survive the vigil for him because he still gets to hit him on the head.
Chapter Eighteen[]
At Rock City, Czernobog, Anansi, Kali, and many others gather for their war.
Chapter Twenty[]
After spending the night in a Motel 6, Shadow arrives in Chicago the next morning and is greeted at the brownstone by Zorya Utrennyaya who promptly tries to get him to leave again, telling him that he doesn't want to see Czernobog. They are in the middle of spring cleaning and Shadow helps Zorya Vechernyaya turn a mattress in Bielebog's room. They keep trying to get Shadow to leave but he sits and waits for Czernobog to come back.
Czernobog returns and also tries to get Shadow to come back tomorrow when Bielebog will return but eventually agrees to swing his hammer at Shadow's head as promised. He lightly taps Shadow's forehead with the hammer, saying there is blood but also gratitude and that it's been a long, long winter.
Physical appearance[]
| “ | Shadow saw a gray-haired old East-European immigrant, with a shabby raincoat and one iron-colored tooth, true. But he also saw a squat black thing, darker than the darkness that surrounded them, its eyes two burning coals; and he also saw a prince with long flowing black hair, and long black moustaches, blood on his hands and his face, riding, naked but for a bear-skin over his shoulder, on a creature half-man, half-beast, his face and torso blue-tattooed with swirls and spirals. | ” |
| — Chapter Seven | ||
Czernobog is described as old with a gray face, narrow smile, and yellow teeth and fingers.
"The man in the dusty bathrobe was short, with iron-gray hair and craggy features. He wore gray pinstripe pants, shiny from age, and slippers. He held an unfiltered cigarette with square tipped fingers, sucking the tip while keeping it cupped in his fist - like a convict, thought Shadow, or a soldier."
Gallery[]
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
Graphic novel
.jpg "AG Comic Chernobog 1 (2).jpg (119 KB)")
.jpg "AG Comic Chernobog 2 (2).jpg (225 KB)")
Cultural background[]
Czernobog (or Chernobog, the “black god”) and Bielobog (or Belebog, the “white god”) were Slavic deities worshipped by the Polabian Slavs, and a representation of the fundamental duality of the Slavic mythologies (some even considered them Western Slavic nicknames for the dualistic gods Perun and Veles). While they are some of the most widespread and well-known Slavic gods in popular culture, their existence is heavily debated. Indeed, there is no absolute mythological proof of their existence, only late records by foreign Christian scholars and suggestions of their existence in Western Slavic language and culture. The most common theories are that they are an invention of Christian monks, a misunderstanding of the worship of Perun and Veles, or minor local deities given much more importance by the Christians writings during the Christianization of the Polabian territories. [1]
According to foreign Christian sources, from the 12th to the 16th centuries, Bielobog was a benevolent god of good luck, light and the day, and Czernobog a negative god of misfortune, night and darkness. While Bielobog was honored so that he would bless humans with good things, Czernobog was honored so that he would not bring harm to humans. It was said that Czernobog was worshipped through human sacrifices, only human death and human blood being able to appease him. Christian priests taught that Bielobog was actually the Christian God, while Czernobog was the devil or Satan – to the point that some consider Bielobog and Czernobog to have originally been naturals gods of light and darkness that the Christianization of the Slavs turned into figures of good and evil (the same way the other dual gods of Slavic mythology, Perun and Veles, were compared to God and Satan by the Christians). [2]
Outside of those written records, other elements possibly attest the existence of the two gods. Two mountains were named after them (Czorneboh and Bieleboh) because they presumably hosted their cults, though it is considered that these names are 18th-century inventions. The Arabian medieval historical account “The Meadows of Gold” mentions an idol at the top of the Black Mountain, depicting an old man surrounded by ants, ravens and black-skinned people: it has been considered to be Czernobog. Several towns and places in Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic might have been named after the two gods. Several expressions and sayings were also linked to the deities: “May the black god smite you!” (Ukrainian), “To not see a white god” (Serbian), “To cry out a white god” (Bulgarian) or “I have no white god from this man” (Bulgarian, means that someone lacks good will). Finally, the folklore of White Russia mentions a supernatural figure named Bieloun, an old man with white clothes and a white beard, appearing only during the day and helping all the unhappy people he meets, be it guiding lost travelers or sharing the peasants’ labor. [3]
Chernobog’s name was heavily popularized thanks to Disney’s adaptation of “Night on Bald Mountain” in the musical movie “Fantasia”. Depicting the witches’ Sabbath according to old Russian legends, the devil leading the infernal reunion was called “Chernabog”, a reference to Chernobog, though Walt Disney and Deems Taylor both explained that Chernabog was the same as Satan.
Notes and trivia[]
- Czernobog's character is based on a 12th century West Slavic deity.
- The site outside Cherryvale, Kansas that Czernobog draws power from in Chapter Fourteen is a reference to the Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers who were active from 1871 to 1873 and killed at least a dozen travelers.
- Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab created a perfume oil based on Czernobog for their line "American Gods I". It was described as: Unfiltered cigarettes, the leather and metal of sledgehammers, aortal blood slowly drying, and black incense. They also created, for their "American Gods III" line, a perfume oil based on the relationship between Czernobog and Bielobog. It is described as: You would not know who was light, who was dark: iron and amber, gold-limned white musk and ink-gloomed dark musk.
References[]
- ↑ https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Myth/SlavicMythology ; https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SlavicMythology
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobog ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belobog
- ↑ "Myths and Mythology, history and dictionnary" by Félix Guirand and Joël Schmidt, Larousse In-Extenso