54 pages • 1 hour read
John GwynneThe Shadow of the Gods
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Costs of Vengeance and Glory
Vengeance and glory are the two elements that drive the trio of characters at the novel’s heart. While Gwynne acknowledges the primal allure of these pursuits, he does not shy away from showing their devastating consequences.
Orka and Varg are both driven by personal loss, which compels them to seek retribution at any cost. However, Gwynne does not romanticize vengeance as a noble pursuit; instead, he illustrates how it traps those who pursue it in a cycle of isolating violence. For Orka, vengeance is both a survival mechanism and an emotional burden. When Breca is kidnapped and Thorkel is murdered, Orka’s transformation is immediate and terrifying. Her maternal love becomes inseparable from her thirst for vengeance, propelling her on a relentless and bloody quest to recover her son and punish those responsible. As she states in the blood oath she swears at her husband’s grave: “I am blood. I am death, I am vengeance” (174). She sacrifices the peaceful life she built with her family, returning to the violent path she had hoped to leave behind.
As Orka cuts a bloody swath across Vigrið, it becomes clear that vengeance exacts a heavy toll on her humanity. Her cold yet unyielding rage leads her to push away those who want to help, including Vesli and the brothers Mord and Lif. Similarly, Varg’s journey is also marked by grief and guilt, as his failure to protect Frøya haunts him. His quest for vengeance for her death becomes a means of coping with the pain, but it also prevents him from moving forward. As with Orka, his need for vengeance isolates him, but his path is complicated by the Bloodsworn and his desire for belonging and identity.
Glory, not vengeance, is the driving force in Elvar’s story. Unlike Orka and Varg, her motivations are not rooted in personal loss but in a desire to forge her own legacy, free from the constraints of her noble heritage. Gwynne portrays this desire for glory as another double-edged sword, as it offers Elvar the allure of greatness while exposing her to danger and moral compromises. To achieve her ambitions, she mindlessly follows Agnar to Oskutreð. As a result, she loses comrades, faces betrayal, and witnesses the cataclysmic release of Lik-Rifa from her prison.
On a broader level, Gwynne uses vengeance and glory to comment on the cyclical nature of violence in Vigrið. The land’s history is defined by the fall of the gods and the subsequent conflicts over power and survival. The current culture of Vigrið also places immense value on strength, honor, and battle-fame, creating an environment where individuals are pressured to prove themselves. The glorification of violence and revenge establishes a feedback loop, where individuals are incentivized to seek vengeance not only for personal justice but also for the renown it brings. Such expectations trap people in a system that rewards brutality and punishes vulnerability, making it difficult for them to break free from the destructive cycle.
Familial Bonds and Sacrifice
At the center of the characters’ arcs in The Shadow of the Gods are the familial bonds between parents and children, siblings, and comrades, as well as the sacrifices people will make to avenge or protect those they are linked to. Thus, throughout the novel, the links between familial bonds and sacrifice are of central importance.
Gwynne outright states these bonds’ importance through Uspa’s argument with Elvar in Chapter 44. When questioned about her actions, the Seiðr-witch says: “I am prepared to give up all I hold dear and important, all my fine principles, every great thing I have ever believed in, for my son […] I would let the world drown in blood if it would mean my Bjarn was safe” (392). Uspa echoes Orka’s storyline as she, too, is a mother whose life is upended because of her son’s abduction. For both women, the blood connection between them and their boys defines their every action and decision; they are willing to endure unimaginable hardships and make impossible decisions to get them back.
While Orka’s story explores the sacrifices made for a child, Varg’s narrative examines the bonds between siblings and his quest to avenge his sister’s death. Although his sister is no longer alive, her memory haunts him, pushing him to seek justice and closure. She was more than a sister, as she was his only companion and source of solace in a life marked by dehumanization and brutality. Her death left Varg with a void that can only be filled by vengeance, showing that familial bonds are not just a source of strength but also a burden. His commitment to avenging her often places him in physical danger, as he willingly subjects himself to brutal training and the dangerous lifestyle of the Bloodsworn. Nevertheless, through these sacrifices, Varg finds a new sense of purpose and belonging, forming bonds with the Bloodsworn that begin to fill the void left by his sister’s death.
The camaraderie in the mercenary groups, the Bloodsworn and the Battle-Grim, blur the lines between familial and chosen bonds. The former, in particular, are willing to bleed and fight for one another in a surrogate family dynamic. Glornir says they swore “To stand together. To fight together. To live or die together” (123), which summarizes the relationship. They are bound together, and their survival depends on the individual sacrifices needed to preserve the collective whole.
Throughout the book, Gwynne portrays sacrifice not as a singular heroic act but as a continuous process that defines relationships and shapes identities. For Orka, sacrifice is a fierce and immediate act—risking her life and committing violence to rescue Breca. For Varg, it is the emotional and physical toll of honoring his sister’s memory, even at the expense of his own well-being.
The Impacts of Cultural Memory
The backdrop of The Shadow of the Gods is steeped in myth and divine intervention. The world of Vigrið is haunted by the remnants of the dead gods, whose bloodlines have left an indelible mark on humanity through the Tainted. Through the gods’ enduring influence, the novel examines the impacts of cultural memory.
The memory of the gods’ destructive power directly impacts the treatment their living descendants receive. The Tainted are feared and ostracized, often reduced to commodities to be hunted, enslaved, or exploited for their inherited abilities. Agnar explains the reason why he, the Battle-Grim, and others like him hunt down the Tainted: “We must hate the gods […] Their greed, their jealousy, their blood feud near destroyed the world, and that is why they can never be allowed to hold power in this world again, even in the form of their Tainted children” (130). The persecution the Tainted face emphasizes how they are defined by their distant ancestry, hindering their attempts to define themselves by their own deeds.
The gods’ legacy also manifests in the cultural memory of their fall. Their downfall is both a cautionary tale and a source of ambition for mortals. While the gods were destroyed by their own hubris and internecine conflicts, and their worship is now wholly forbidden, their power remains a tempting lure for those who want power. The gods’ death also created a power vacuum, and much of the novel revolves around the mortals who seek to claim that divine legacy for themselves. The fractured state of Vigrið—characterized by rival clans, power struggles, and constant warfare—mirrors the chaos of the gods’ final days.
The cyclical violence suggests that humanity has inherited not only the gods’ physical ruins, but also their propensity for ambition and destruction. Some make relics of the bones. For example, Queen Helka’s recent rise to power stems from finding Orna’s skeleton, the eagle, which she displays over her fortress. While some of the Tainted, like Orka and Thorkel, or the Bloodsworn, seek peace or community, Ilska and the dragon-born show the darker side of divine legacy and cultural memory. They kill their own and kidnap children to amass enough power to free Lik-Rifa from her prison beneath the Oskutreð, still entranced by the memories of past divine glories.
The release of Lik-Rifa, the last of the dragon-gods, epitomizes the catastrophic potential of divine power and cultural memory. Her emergence is not just a physical threat for the characters, but a symbolic reminder of the gods’ enduring influence. Through the physical remnants of divine battles, the struggles of the Tainted, and the ambitions of power-hungry mortals, the gods still can reshape the world, even centuries after their fall.
