AMA 2014:

Q. Something that has always niggled at me but I've never found an answer anywhere. When Logan turns into the Bloodynine is it magical or is it just a state of mind he gets into after taking a beating?

A. I try not to explain things too much outside of what's in the text - I like readers to be able to come up with their own interpretations. Not even Logen can really say what the Bloody-Nine is, after all. But I'm not sure I find a supernatural explanation to be necessary.

​

AMA 2019

Q.Did/does Logen Ninefingers have multiple personality disorder/an alternate personality? A bit specific, but I recently had a disagreement with another redditor about this, and I'm curious besides.

A. I think it's fair to say he's psychologically pretty messed up, anyway...

​

Q. Will we ever get to find out if the bloody nine is just a mental condition or a demon/power of some sort?

A. I doubt you'll get some kind of explicit answer from me cause I don't particularly like to do that outside of the text. I like the reader to be able to make up their own mind. I must say I don't particularly see the need for a supernatural explanation though. That somewhat lets Logen off the hook for his behaviour, right? He's a man always looking for someone else to blame.

Discussion between Redditors below this question:

He has said it isn't supernatural, but I like to believe there is some link between the moon and his ability to speak to the spirits.

Oh, that's disappointing. Where did he say it?

Why is that disappointing? I personally think it makes Logen a far more interesting character because he doesn't have anything influencing him. It means that he (and us as the reader) have to grapple with the morality of his character; whether he subconsciously does have control of the B9, whether or not he actually is remorseful of what he is. If it was just a demon then that takes any discussion away from his character - it just means that he is guilt free from everything he's done.

Joe Abercrombie: I think this is very well put...

​

AMA 2022

Q. Is The Bloody Nine a supernatural occurrence - some sort of external force that possesses Logen? Or is it a split personality or some form of associative disorder - a product of a mental illness and something internal to Logen?

A. I'll leave the text to answer (or fail to answer) that, but I personally find the second a lot more interesting than the first.

​

Joe Abercrombie interview on the Heroes:

Will we ever see Logan again?

...I guess If I need a psycopathic ex warrior trying to escape a bloody past with a split personnality...

​

For the few people who still think that B9 is a demonic possession, it is clear here that it is a split personality, a mental illness.

Some may say that this is inconsistent because B9 has supernatural feats, that Joe Abercrombie may have even retconned the nature of this personality after writing the trilogy, but it's important to note that Joe Abercrombie is not the only one to have created a character with a split personality that gives him superhuman abilities... And I'm talking about Kevin Crumb from Split, who has 24 alters including one called "The Beast", which is Kevin's most violent and strongest alter. He's not a magical character or anything like that, he just has a severe form of DID and one of his alters, The Beast, has superhuman abilities

(The Bloody-Nine also has the particularity of being a sort of incarnation of Death, so maybe that explains its abilities)

My point here is that it's not impossible in fiction for a character to have superhuman abilities with just a split personality, it's fiction.