James Delaney’s Mother Is Salish

Published January 31, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello, just wanted to say I love the podcast. I had never heard you guys before and I found you when I went looking for a supplement for Taboo with all its intricacies. Very much enjoying the podcast.

I wanted to touch on your discussion of James’ mother this episode. I remember in the first episode when Brace and James first speak about his mother, Brace tells him she’s from Sicily (explaining away her dark skin tone) and that her name was Anna. James corrects him and says her name was Salish and that she was a Nootka Indian. I believed this to mean that Anna was simply the guise by which Horace brought his new (bought) wife to London. The lie they told James his entire life. I simply assumed that Anna/Salish was interned in Bedlam when James was a young child and he was shielded from her from that moment forward.

I don’t know how that fits into your timeline, numbers and I are not really on speaking terms so I haven’t even attempted to fit that into your timeline.

Also, and I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, but it is my belief that Zilpha is the older of the two siblings. She’s born, the mother dies and Horace goes away to the new world and buys Salish, James is born later. I don’t know why I think this and again I have no evidence for it. I also believe that Zilpha was probably the initiator of their relationship in the beginning. A man like James Delaney (not all men) doesn’t become that obsessed with a woman, especially in those times, unless the woman was initially the aggressor. Now this could just be a skewed female perspective on my part and I could be totally wrong. That’s just my take on it so far without further information.

One other thing I caught when James decided to give Lorna a room. She mentions that she has some of Horace’s papers and things. Immediately James yells for Brace to get her a room. So rather than seeing something nefarious in Brace’s actions I assumed James was trying to get on her good side to get his hands on any of his father’s belongings that Lorna still possessed. I don’t know why but I’m just not feeling the whole Brace is evil or the killer here. I could be completely wrong, but for some reason it seemed much more mundane than your reactions suggest.

Anyway, just a few thoughts that could be completely off track. This is the first time I’ve ever written in to any podcast ever, so hopefully I’m not making a complete fool of myself. Looking forward to future episodes and I will definitely be tuning in to you guys for American Gods.

Many thanks.

“Farewell, may the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.” — George Carlin

I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest are just details. – Albert Einstein

Kildare

Subscribe Now