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This Old God, played by Orange is the New Black's Pablo Schreiber in the Amazon series, can pull gold coins out of thin air. He loves to provoke, he loves to drink, and he loves a fight.
- Eleanor Bley Griffiths
- Overview
- Significance in series
- Physical appearance
- Powers and abilities
- Notes and trivia
- References
Mad Sweeney is a down on his luck leprechaun who has a hard time understanding how he lost his charm and way. Always up for a good fight, Sweeney is never deprived while in the employment of Mr. Wednesday.
"The Bone Orchard"
At Jack's Crocodile Bar, when Wednesday goes to the bar for drinks, Mad Sweeney approaches Shadow to warn him about Wednesday. Wednesday returns with three shots of mead for Shadow to drink. Shadow takes the first shot and Wednesday tells him the mead seals their bargain. Shadow will be his driver and bodyguard and will hold his vigil upon Wednesday's death. Shadow agrees to $2000 a week on the condition that he won't hurt anyone for fun or profit and that he will quit if Wednesday pisses him off. Shadow drinks the second shot to seal the deal and the third shot as the "charm." Wednesday spits on his hand and they shake. Sweeney starts pulling real gold coins out from everywhere and Shadow asks how he does the trick. Sweeney tells him it's the easiest trick in the world to just pluck them out of the air. Shadow asks again and Sweeney challenges him to a fight for the answer. Shadow declines, yet Sweeney keeps egging him on. He starts to insult Laura and Shadow punches him in the face. They begin brawling, tearing up Jack's bar and fighting until Shadow blacks out.
"Head Full of Snow"
At Jack's Crocodile Bar, Jack enters the bathroom with a shotgun to evict Mad Sweeney. Sweeney tells her to not push her luck by trying to shoot at him because it won't work but she does anyway. The beer bottle in Sweeney's hand explodes and it surprises Sweeney. He leaves and is walking along a highway when a friendly man pulls over and offers him a ride. Sweeney gets in and they begin driving. The truck in front of them has a blowout and a load of pipes in the back come loose. A pipe flies through the air, stabbing into their car's windshield and impaling the friendly driver's head. The police come and one of the officers mentions to Sweeney that it is "some crazy bad luck." Sweeney begins looking frantically through his pockets, tossing gold coins everywhere as he discovers one is missing. Sweeney tracks down Shadow and Wednesday eating lunch in Chicago. He demands his gold coin back from Shadow because he gave him the wrong coin. Shadow asks him how he did the coin trick before he'll tell him what he did with the coin. Sweeney once again claims that he plucked the coin out of thin air. Shadow says Sweeney can find the coin on Laura's grave back in Eagle Point. Sweeney leaves, telling Wednesday he'll see him in Wisconsin. Mad Sweeney arrives at Laura's grave and begins digging, looking for his gold coin. He gets all the way to the casket and finds a hole burned through the lid. He opens the lid and discovers the coffin is empty.
"Lemon Scented You"
Mad Sweeney barges into Shadow's hotel room where Laura is getting dressed and demands his coin back. He grabs her by the throat and the coin glows out from her throat. She flicks him in the throat and he flies across the room, momentarily stunned. She tells him her husband gave her the coin and it is hers. Sweeney explains he gave Shadow a coin meant for royalty on accident. He demands it back and Laura refuses, breaking his finger when he points it at her. She grills him, asking him how he knows Shadow. He reveals he was hired by Wednesday to pick a fight with Shadow at Jack's Crocodile Bar to see what Shadow was made of. Sweeney offers Laura as many gold coins as she wants if she will give back the one she has. Laura realizes that Sweeney can't just take the coin from her; she has to give it to him. He tells her all he has to do is wait for her to decompose enough for the coin to just fall right out of her. He attacks her and shoves her into the bathtub, holding her head underwater. Cops burst in and take down Mad Sweeney as Laura plays dead in the bathtub. The police car with Mad Sweeney in the backseat arrives at the station forcing Wednesday and Shadow to head out the back. A tree is growing up from within the station, consuming the precinct. The two remaining police officers who arrested Sweeney run into the building, their guns firing as they're also consumed by the tree. Mad Sweeney uses it as his opportunity to escape out the back of the cop car.
Mad Sweeney has a short, red beard, ginger hair cut in a mohawk and hazel eyes. He has an athletic build and stands at 6 foot 5 inches.
Mad Sweeney's primary power is his ability to summon an endless amount of golden coins. He can also make them disappear, or make other coins disappear. It is revealed in the second season of the series that all the coins he summons and makes disappear are from or end up in the "Hoard of the Sun", a pocket dimension described by Sweeney as similar to the Backstage but smaller and only accessible to him. It is also revealed that he can send other objects he touches into the Hoard, such as weapons, and that he can use the Hoard as a way of teleportation by sending people through it for a faster travel (he does so with Laura in order to go in a few seconds from one location to another).
Mad Sweeney owned a specific gold coin, described as "the sun itself", a "lucky coin" that imbued him with a supernatural strength and an unnatural luck. When he loses his coin to Shadow Moon, he also loses his luck and starts facing numerous bad fortunes and accidents.
•Sean Harris had to exit the series for personal reasons, causing Mad Sweeney to be recast with Pablo Schreiber in the role.
•Mr. Ibis reveals in "A Prayer for Mad Sweeney" that Mad Sweeney is the American version of Buile Shuibhne, a Medieval Irish ruler
•Mad Sweeney started out as the guardian of a sacred rock in a small Irish glade over three thousand years ago. His madness gave him power.
•He was cursed by St. Ronan to madness and wandering. On the eve of a battle, he is transformed into a bird and flees in derangement.
•Mr. Ibis reveals in "Treasure of the Sun" that prior to becoming Buile Shuibhne, Sweeney was Lugh, a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann
•He was a warrior, a king, and a master craftsman and was a sun god
Jun 11, 2017 · During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Pablo Schreiber (who plays Mad Sweeney, a down-on-his-luck leprechaun who’s always up for a good fight) talked about why he was initially...
- Senior Author
Nov 7, 2023 · Mad Sweeney ’s identity is ultimately revealed by Mr Ibis, an Old Egyptian god of death: ‘You were a God-King. You were the god of the sun, of luck, of craft, of art, of everything valuable to civilisation. The Shining One, they called you’. Mad Sweeney (Sourced: American Gods, Lionsgate Television) Irish Folkore: Buile Shuibhne and King Lugh.
Apr 30, 2017 · The first, and so far most important, god to make an appearance on the show is Ian McShane’s Mr. Wednesday, who is based on Odin (aka Woden), the All-Father of Norse mythology.
May 30, 2017 · Who does he play? Mad Sweeney is a leprechaun. Shadow may not believe him at first, but it's true. This Old God can make gold appear from thin air, and he really likes both drinking and...
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Jun 11, 2017 · One quick note: Fionnula Flanagan, who plays Essie’s grandmother and elderly Essie, is the only person in the cast of this episode who’s actually Irish.
