56
votes
Did Gaiman and Pratchett troll an interviewer who thought they were religious fanatics?
I asked Mr Gaiman on Twitter to respond, and he did, as well as another person:
Aliza "I think and I vote." (@alizatw):
To summarize: it's reported but not authoritatively confirmed that
@...
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51
votes
Accepted
Did Gaiman and Pratchett troll an interviewer who thought they were religious fanatics?
I haven't found a transcript or recording of the interview itself, but I did find a transcript of a different interview where the two spoke about this interview:
Neil Gaiman: "The first radio ...
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40
votes
What does Wednesday mean by "the flowers in your hair are optional"?
It is a reference to the song ‘San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear [Some] Flowers in Your Hair)’. Written by John Phillips and performed by Scott Mackenzie, it was one of the best-selling singles of the ...
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31
votes
Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?
It’s not an allusion to any particular person, but to a trope that is common in the supernatural horror genre, namely that some texts are so disturbing that people can go insane just by reading them. ...
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26
votes
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Who "dribbled a lot and wasn’t allowed anything sharp" in "Good Omens"?
While I think Gareth's answer is what was intended, it's also possible that they were referring to an Idiot Savant situation, which is the idea that someone with mental problems is sometimes brilliant ...
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22
votes
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In 'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman, why is one 'Jack' named for a historical person
"Jack Ketch" became a nickname for executioners in general. The hangman, any hangman, was called Jack Ketch centuries after the death of the original.
See for example A Classical Dictionary ...
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20
votes
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What's the joke with "Best of Queen" in Good Omens?
The theory proposed by Terry Pratchett is that "Best of Queen" is the only decent music that can be found on the road in gas station markets, so those CDs tend to accumulate in the car, without the ...
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16
votes
What is so satanic about Manchester?
Often with a Pratchett joke, if I don't 'get it', it is worth asking myself what Pratchett knew that I didn't, and the text often gives me a clue where to start looking. And the same applies here, ...
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14
votes
Why does Morpheus look like Neil Gaiman?
Because he doesn't.
Or maybe he does, just a little bit, because Gaiman sort of looks like a whole bunch of other dudes (and dudettes) who influenced Morpheus' looks.
Well, at least his face hasn't ...
- 8,365
14
votes
Accepted
What are the different names of Fenrir / Fenris Wolf?
In Norse mythology, he is called both Fenrir and Fenrisúlfr. Fenrisúlfr means Fenrir's Wolf, but it seems to be common to translate it as Fenris Wolf.
For example, here's a poem (from Vafþrúðnismál, ...
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13
votes
Accepted
Why is Sergeant Shadwell obsessed with nipples?
Sergeant Shadwell is looking for one of the traditional signs of witchcraft.
That is, the answer to the question, “Is there actually a traditional connection between witchcraft and nipples” is yes.
...
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12
votes
Accepted
Is the name Crowley in Good Omens a reference to the famous occultist?
I have not been able to source a quote from the author, but there is an interview which offers some circumstantial evidence that Crowley is indeed named after the famous occultist.
Actor Mark Sheppard ...
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12
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What's the joke with "Best of Queen" in Good Omens?
Pratchett also has a running joke throughout his books about items of entertainment morphing into more stereotypical/low brow forms when the owners aren't looking. Compare this quote from The Last ...
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11
votes
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Was Neil Gaiman's Stardust influenced by C.S. Lewis?
While we can't rule out an influence from Lewis, he was not Gaiman's primary motivation. Gaiman has named different influences for Stardust.
Stardust has a much closer parallel to the 1926 book Lud-In-...
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11
votes
What's the joke with "Best of Queen" in Good Omens?
The first "Greatest Hits of Queen" album that is featured in the book is the most sold album in british pop history. Everyone in UK has the cd lying around somewhere, so chances are high that when you ...
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11
votes
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Why is there so little character to the character of Shadow in American Gods?
The author describes the novel as having a sort of external third-person viewpoint ...
I found an interview with Neil Gaiman in which he says that Shadow isn't like most point-of-view characters: we ...
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10
votes
Accepted
What's up with the colors of Delirium's speech bubbles?
It was a decision by the letterer, Todd Klein. As he explains in The Sandman Companion, it was supposed to reflect her fluent, shifting nature:
Delirium was a different challenge. "Her lettering ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Is the story of "Tales in the Sand" (or its form) faithful to traditional African stories?
Quite conveniently, Neil Gaiman answered this in his interview with Hy Bender for The Sandman Companion. In chapter 4, which is devoted to Doll's House, Hy asks Neil whether he was inspired by ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Who are the main characters of "A Study in Emerald"?
Holmes and Watson are the criminals being chased by James Moriarty and Sebastian Moran.
Some of the clues about the main characters:
It mentions 'The Dynamics of an Asteroid' as the paper written by ...
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9
votes
Was Neil Gaiman's Stardust influenced by C.S. Lewis?
It looks like he was influenced by traditional English fairy stories and in particular a writer by the name of Lucy Clifford
A star still falls, a boy still promises to bring it to his true love, ...
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9
votes
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Was Neil Gaiman influenced by Heinrich Heine?
There is no indication in various sources found online that Gaiman was influenced by Heinrich Heine.
In short, these are the authors Gaiman said he was influenced by:
Michail Bulgakov, Master and ...
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8
votes
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What does Dream's ruby represent?
You have seen that the viewers' perception of Endless is based on individual expectations.
For instance, Dream appears as a black short-haired man to Nada, while he usually looks like a pale white ...
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7
votes
Why does Morpheus look like Neil Gaiman?
It seems it is because many people believe that Dream is Neil's alter ego, probably because at least in some panels Morpheus DOES look like Gaiman: Empire's "50 greatest comic characters" states that
...
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7
votes
Accepted
Were there any clues given about Shadow's father?
Warning: answer contains MASSIVE unmarked spoilers!
Lack of surprise fits with the process he's going through.
After Shadow dies on the tree, his entire experience in the succeeding chapters is a ...
- 71.1k
7
votes
Why does Morpheus look like Neil Gaiman?
Take my word for it or not, but I'm the writer of the article "Mytho-Auto-Bio: Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the Romantics, and Shakespeare's The Tempest." The study focuses the reasons why Gaiman ...
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7
votes
Are man and woman like ash and elm? How?
I will start with question 3, as it is the most straightforward. Gaiman has done a whole lot of elaboration on a passage that is in fact rather short. I will quote the relevant passages from the ...
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7
votes
Did young Dream and Death really look like this?
Cain is most probably right in blaming Abel for "sanitising".
When was "that time"?
When The Dreaming was first established, Dream was its only inhabitant for millions of years - ...
- 8,365
7
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Why are the magicians who captured Morpheus "rubbish"?
As already linked, Neil Gaiman—the guy who created the series and created its backstory—is of the opinion that these guys are complete rubbish. Your rebuttal, as far as I can make out, is ...
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