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Season One
Low Key Lyesmith
Low Key Lyesmith
Portrayed By: Jonathan Tucker
"Do not. Piss off. Those Bitches. In Airports."
Shadow's prison cellmate.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- While in the airport trying to take his plane ahead of schedule, Shadow sees Low Key walking, though it not clear if it's his imagination, a hallucination, or if, somehow, Low Key appeared to him.
- In the book Low Key is actually a god. Low Key Lyesmith. Loki, Lie Smith. With the show's cancellation, it's never revealed if this is the still the case.
- Comically Missing the Point: Low Key tells Shadow the story about Johnny Larch, who yelled at a airport worker after he was paroled because he refused to be "disrespected", but it ended up barring him from his flight and soon he was back in prison. Shadow responds that the lesson of the story is that sometimes behaviors developed in a specialized environment like prison can be detrimental once removed from that environment. Low Key says the moral of the story is, "Do not piss off those bitches in airports."
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a prominent scars running vertically down his lips and chin.
- True Companions: He's Shadow's closest (seemingly only) friend in prison.
Audrey
Audrey Burton
Portrayed By: Betty Gilpin
"I'm trying to reclaim my dignity here!"
The best friend of Shadow's wife, Laura, and the wife of Shadow's best friend, Robbie.
- Adaptation Personality Change: So far, even though she's understandably furious at the funeral and wants to exact revenge (which Shadow did not go for), she's much nicer, more mature and more understanding than she was in the book.
- Brutal Honesty: When Laura comes back, Audrey refuses to accept any sort of nonsense Laura tries to use to prettify her actions or her relationship with Shadow, clearly lays things out as they really were, and demands that Laura does the same in turn. To her credit, Laura accepts that, and seems to gain some closure and new determination from their meeting.
- Mood-Swinger: During her talks with Shadow, she swings from being distraught to enraged to mocking Shadow and apologizing him, all within the space of a few minutes. Presumably, alcohol (or something stronger) was involved.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Audrey is furious about Robbie and Laura's betrayal, with the wounds being only days-old. She even pisses on Robbie's grave, and it's hard to blame her. She probably would have done something similar to Laura's grave, were Shadow not right there.
- We Used to Be Friends: She's understandably still angry with Laura when she comes to life. Nonetheless, she still helps her sew her arm back on and later gives her a ride in her car.
- Woman Scorned: Though her husband's already dead, she still offers to give Shadow a blowjob in the cemetery "right in front of them" to get back at them both. Upon coming Back from the Dead, Laura admits it was fair after what they had been doing.
Robbie
Robbie Burton
Portrayed By: Dane Cook
Shadow's best friend who's secretly having an affair with Shadow's wife while he's in prison.
- Ass Shove: His vengeful wife Audrey has his severed penis shoved up there before putting him in his grave.
- Groin Attack: During the car accident that killed them both, Laura was giving Robbie a blowjob, resulting in Laura unintentionally biting off his penis.
- Posthumous Character: Robbie starts out as a We Hardly Knew Ye — he died in the same car crash that Laura did, and all we see of him is the picture of him in the newspaper article about the crash. He graduates to this trope when we see scenes of his helping Shadow find legit work, and then of his affair with Laura, in Episode 4, which details Laura's backstory.
Salim
Salim
Portrayed By: Omid Abtahi
An Omani salesman who has a chance encounter with a Jinn.
- Adaptational Curves: In the book, Salim is described as "plump," and it is explained that his diet of American fast-food is making him heavier and rounder by the day. The same couldn't be said for Omid Abtahi.
- Ascended Extra: In the book, Salim was only featured in one chapter, which was about his encounter with the Jinn, and then briefly alluded to in another chapter. In the series, Salim joins Sweeney and Laura on their roadtrip.
- The Dog Bites Back: An understated example. He takes Sweeney's thinly veiled gay jokes and aggressive behavior with mere annoyance during their trip, but as soon as Laura tells him where the Jinn is going to be, he quickly insults Sweeney a few times before driving off.
- Foil: To Laura. Both Salim and Laura are ordinary people who have given up their past lives when they were pulled into the supernatural unexpectedly and motivated by love. Salim, though, is far more idealistic and willing to seem happy than Laura.
- Hidden Depths: He was a successful businessman in Oman, and his talent for negotiation and contract-making comes in very handy when dealing with gods.
- Limited Wardrobe: After his introductory episode, he almost always wears the sweater the Jinn gave him. At one point, he had on a jacket whilst wearing it. In 3x02, he had on a black suit when attending a funeral, but promos show he's back to wearing the sweater in 3x05.
- Odd Friendship: Devout Salim who, presumably, values fidelity forms a genuine connection to atheisic, adultress Laura. Him being infatuated with a jinn probably helps him take the fact she's a zombie in stride, but where Salim is polite and has a genuine inclination towards kindness and optimism, Laura is blunt, cynical, and often self-absorbed. Along with Shadow, he's one of the few people she shows any true softness towards, and along with Sweeney, he's one of the few people who likes the true her rather than condemning her or only liking a façade she's put up.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Late into the book, a throwaway line implies that he was killed as collateral damage in the war between the Old and New Gods. He had switched identities with the Jinn who returned to the Middle East, with Salim mistakenly killed by the New Gods.
- Stepford Smiler: Salim is quite miserable, but he forces himself to put on a cheerful appearance because his profession as a salesman demands it. After his encounter with the Jinn and giving up his old life, he's genuinely smiling and far more positive to the point of idealistic.
- Straight Gay:
Word of God confirms him as a closeted gay man prior to his meeting with the Jinn. Justified in that he needed to be straight-passing, since homosexuality was a criminal offense in his home country. - Token Good Teammate: Perhaps not a straight example as they're not quite evil, but Salim is significantly more pleasant and amiable in his disposition than basically anybody else on Team Old Gods.
- Token Human: In the trio between himself, Laura, and Mad Sweeney, he's the only one without any supernatural bent. Ironically, he's also the Token Religious Teammate as a result of this detachment from the supernatural.
- Token Religious Teammate: Between him, Laura, and Sweeney, Salim is the only one who believes in anything... or anyone. Interestingly, he's also the only member of their group who isn't somehow supernatural.
- Took a Level in Badass: He went from a mild-mannered, awkward man to someone who literally spat at a Norse god. Even before that, he went from lonely, miserable, and closeted to proactive in going after what (or rather, who) he wanted and talking positively, if somewhat vaguely via using poetic language, about his feelings for the Jinn.
Essie
Essie Macgowan
Portrayed By: Emily Browning, Fionnula Flanagan
Essie Macgowan was an Irish woman that lived during the 18th century in Britain and America. She was the one that brought Mad Sweeney to America, along with other Faeries.
- Adaptational Name Change: From Essie Tregowan in the novel, to Essie MacGowan to reflect the shift from Cornwall to Ireland in her origins.
- A Day in the Limelight: Essie's only episode centers on the story of her life and how she brought faeries to America.
- The Exile: She gets that twice in the form of "transportation", once wrongly convicted for thievery, and once rightfully.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After a tumultuous early life, Essie manages to find a wealthy husband who loves her and whom she loves, settles down and starts a family, lives to a fairly content old age, and dies in peace.
- Identical Granddaughter: Essie in her old age is identical to her grandmother, except for her hairdo.
- Indentured Servitude: Essie was sentenced to become one in the Colonies, twice.
- Last of Her Kind: Essie was the last of her family to truly believe in leprechauns and faeries.
- Race Lift: She was Cornish in the book.
- Significant Double Casting: Laura and Essie are both played by Emily Browning. The latter worshipped Mad Sweeney, while the former hates his guts.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Essie turned to theft after she was wrongly convicted and nearly executed for thievery. (Her employer's son gave her an expensive piece of jewelry as a gift after they had sex, and then claimed she stole it when his mother noticed it was missing.)
Season Two
Shadow's Mother
Shadow's Mother
Portrayed By: Olunike Adeliyi
Shadow Moon's mother and only known relative. She had died of cancer during her son's teenhood.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: She was Too Good for This Sinful Earth, so of course cancer got her.
- Ethical Slut: She had 86 sexual partners and she may or may not know who Shadow's father is, but that does not stop her from being very well educated and being a compassionate mother to Shadow.
- Really Gets Around: She had eighty six sexual partners in her life, according to Mr. World.
Sam Black Crow
Sam Black Crow
Portrayed By: Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
Sam Black Crow is a Native American that Shadow befriends.
- Tomboyish Name: She's a very independent, adventurous person who goes by "Sam". Also she's Two Spirit, which at the very least means gender-nonconformity (it can indicate a variety of things).
The CEO
The CEO/The Child
Portrayed By: William Sun (Child 1977), Andre Kim (Child 1987), Andrew Koji (Adult)
The founder of the tech company Xie Com and Technical Boy's first worshipper.
- As the Good Book Says...: He, of all people, quotes The Bible fluently.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His name is never given, the end credits of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" citing him as either "The Child" or "The CEO".
- Friendless Background: Technical Boy hints at this, citing that he was there when the CEO had no one else.
- Muggles: He is a normal human who seems to have a full comprehension of who the New Gods are and possesses a working relationship with them. He is also the only human - only person, really - Technical Boy has any respect for, seeing him as his Only Friend. Or so he thinks...
- Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Very much in the "Enlightenment" camp while his father was the romanticist. While his father taught him Bach, the composer's work giving him faith in humanity, the CEO deconstructed Bach's technique into algorithms and created his own compositions on the computer. It was this faith in technology over human ingenuity that led to Technical Boy's creation.
- What Have You Done for Me Lately?: When Technical Boy goes to the CEO to help create a replacement to Argus, the CEO asks Technical Boy what is in it for him. When New Media provides in his stead, the CEO all but forgets about Technical Boy right on the spot. Mr. World takes this as a sign that Technical Boy is no longer useful and "retires" him.
Ruby Goodchild
Ruby Goodchild
Portrayed By: Mouna Traore
An African American woman Mr. Nancy and Bilquis encounter at Mr. Jacquel and Mr. Ibis's funeral home.
- Widow's Weeds: While at her grandmother's funeral, she is wearing black clothes.
