Kratos: The Cruel Greek God of Strength and Power

As part of the God of War franchise’s tenth anniversary, Kratos appeared as a secret boss battle in the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita versions of Shovel Knight, released April 21, 2015. The costumes‘ release coincided with that of God of War III Remastered on PlayStation 4 in July 2015. A costume of Kratos as well as God of War custom decorations were included in the „Crafted Edition“ of Tearaway Unfolded, which released on PlayStation 4 on September 8, 2015. TC Carson provided Kratos‘ voice in all of these guest appearances, except for LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, LittleBigPlanet 3, and Tearaway Unfolded where the character is only a costume, and in Shovel Knight which only has text dialogue.

KRATOS

Kratos tells him he doesn’t know everything, Atreus is aware of this, but knows the truth. Kratos instead tells him that he’s a god from another land far away, when he came to Norway, he chose to live as a man, but the truth is that he was born a deity, as well as Atreus. Atreus asks his father if he can turn into an animal, but Kratos assures him that he can’t as he does not know of his future god-like powers.

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Unfortunately for Kratos, Atreus despite his compassionate nature appears to have inherited his father’s impulsiveness and tendency towards rage. He is alarmed at Atreus‘ outbursts and is quick to reprimand him for it, fearing that he will become the same monster as Kratos was in Greece. He is shown to love Atreus just as he loved Calliope, Lysandra, and most likely Faye. Kratos’s relationship with Faye is not well-known but it is apparent that they had a very close and loving relationship, as Kratos openly acknowledges that Faye was better than a God and wondered if he could raise his son without her. He also respected Faye’s wishes of not taking Atreus hunting, resulting in Kratos being gone most of the time hunting for the family.

KRATOS

Kratos is able to get over himself and explain his past to his son, bridging the gap and explaining to the boy he needs to be a better god than Kratos was. Freya however never got over her overprotectiveness of her son and the damage that did to him. Now Older and Wiser, Kratos is thrust back into fatherhood and is forced to raise Atreus by his lonesome when his Second Love Faye dies. Despite almost being killed by Hephaestus, he understands why he did it and bears no animosity for it, Hephaestus wanted to save his child by any means necessary. As a father himself, Kratos truly values the importance of family and the duty of fatherhood.

This is due to the developer’s wanting to give Kratos a more realistic appearance. His entire body shape has also remained slightly inconsistent over the Greek saga, as the size of his head physically was different between each title, as every Greek saga game used a different character model for Kratos. His head was cartoonishly small for his III character model, which can be seen when comparing him to his 2018 self. It is unnaturally small in proportion to his shoulders and the rest of his body, while his arms and legs are also too long in comparison to his torso.

Father and son

Mimir tells Kratos to cut off his head, and while Atreus is away, he tells Kratos that he should reveal his godlihood to his son- Kratos doesn’t react well. For some reason, the Witch becomes infuriated when she sees Atreus’s mistletoe arrows, and orders him to discard them and replace them with her own. Upon resurrectioon, Mimir accidentally reveals the witch to be Freya, the previous of Vanir gods and Odin’s former wife.

  • Freya reanimates the dead giant’s corpse in an attempt to stop Kratos, and Atreus summons Jormungandr to fight off the giant.
  • There’s a very direct story to be told here, and while you’re free to explore to your heart’s content, the real meat of the story comes in that narrative.
  • With a few mistakes, Atreus did manage to prove himself, but they were intercepted by an aggressive troll.
  • Freya agreed to marry Odin, and him her, not only because of her fertile beauty, but also her expanded knowledge in Vanir magic, something Odin felt intrigued in learning.
  • The woman, going by the Witch of the Woods, brought them back to her home to heal the boar who is named Hildisvíni.

As he continued his journey, he questioned Gaia over her reason for aiding him. Gaia then tells him the story of the Titanomachy and how the Olympians betrayed her and overthrew the Titans. Armed with this knowledge, What is KRATOS continued his quest and soon encountered Theseus, who guarded the Steeds of Time.

The quest to redeem Kratos

He adopted the guise of a mortal and promised the Aesir that if he can finish building the wall around Asgard within two years and finish it, he would be allowed to meet with Freya, and if not, they will owe him nothing. Using his father’s knowledge of stone masonry, Hrimthur finished the wall, much to Odin’s frustration. The giant realizes he’d been double-crossed, but he did not care, as his plan was complete. Mimir suspects that Hrimthur added a weak spot in Asgard’s walls and passed this knowledge to Freya. In an effort to practice control, Kratos would often „test“ himself by venturing into the woods in search of enemies. While Faye thought Kratos was looking to pick fights, Kratos was actually seeking to control his rage by not fighting and only defending and deflecting attacks until his enemies tire themselves out.

When Atreus questions him on what he found, he breaks the vase and tells his son to focus on their mission. Unknown to him, Atreus had already taken note of https://cryptolisting.org/ image on a piece of the broken vase on the floor. When he did wound the creature, the boy chased after it, where they found the boar heavily injured and under the care of a mysterious woman. The woman, going by the Witch of the Woods, brought them back to her home to heal the boar who is named Hildisvíni.

Kratos set Deimos free, only to be attacked by him, as Deimos blamed Kratos for not helping him when in dire need. Barely able to stand from his fight with Deimos, Kratos followed Thanatos to the Suicide Bluffs and quickly rescued Deimos from falling to his death. In Ascension, it is revealed that because Kratos renounced Ares, it broke his blood oath to the god, and as such, Kratos was imprisoned and tortured by the three Furies. He was helped by the oath keeper Orkos and eventually overcame and killed the Furies. In order to completely be free of Ares‘ oath, Kratos was forced to kill Orkos, who begged Kratos to do so.

Weapons

Overcoming these hurdles with the power Hope, Kratos returned to the physical world and with a stronger resolve, regaining back his god powers and his will, he managed to free himself from Zeus‘ choking grip. He then furiously attacked Zeus‘ spirit, ultimately forcing it back into his own body, temporarily resurrecting a weakened Zeus. Later, he encountered a radiant Aphrodite and her handmaidens in the goddess‘ chamber. Aphrodite did not seem to care about Kratos‘ war on Olympus and asked the Spartan to have sex with her. After some initial hesitation, Kratos indulged Aphrodite before using the nearby Hyperion Gate to visit Hephaestus, who sarcastically asked Kratos if his wife „had conquered another God of War“. Kratos did not answer his question, telling him that it is a matter between Hephaestus and his wife, before questioning the Smith God on the whereabouts of Pandora.

It is unknown why this change was made, but his head was made a much more humanlike size later on with his 2018 self. Kratos carries some sort of severed head in several games, those being the original, II, III, and 2018. From God of War to God of War III, Kratos‘ tattoo gets thinner and thinner and changes slightly in design. In the first game, it stretches on his chest from close to his sternum to past his left nipple. It should also be noted that his tattoo in God of War circled more of his left arm, but in the games afterward, it does not.

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She also wished that Kratos would take her place in raising their son, although he did not believe he could do it without her. Before their journey began, Kratos cut down all of the trees around their home that were marked with Faye’s yellow handprint which had, unbeknownst to Kratos, sheltered them from the wrath of the Norse gods. This was for Atreus to venture into the dangerous land of the Norse gods with his father’s support. Kratos wanted to be sure that his son was ready for the long adventure waiting for them, so he tested him in hunting a deer. With a few mistakes, Atreus did manage to prove himself, but they were intercepted by an aggressive troll.

This is where Kratos promises to make the gods pay for everything they’ve done to him, and sets the stage for God of War II. Ghost of Sparta also reveals that Kratos’s red tattoo was in fact made as a reminder of his failure to protect Deimos when they were children. While the Greek Gods were no saints, Kratos practically brings the world to ruins with each God he slain, as their power would go way out of balance and ravage the world. — by refusing to tell Atreus about their true nature as gods because he’s too ashamed of his past and is more interested in hiding from it than facing it. And by Zeus saying he has become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds, one can theorize that Kratos has inherently became the God of Death himself. The PS4 installment is essentially one long quest to make his son into a better person than he ever was, and though at first he is convinced that he can never become a better person himself, by the end he seems to have realized that he can keep trying. The Protagonist of the God of War series, Kratos is known by many as the Ghost of Sparta, due to his ashen white skin and his Dark and Troubled Past not unlike that of a traditional Greek tragedy.

The Fury Queen coldly tells him that the truth would only bring him pain before he plunges his blades into her chest. With her last breath, Alecto spitefully promises that her death would change nothing. Taking place three years after events of the previous game, Fimbulwinter is drawing to a close, and it is prophesied that Ragnarök will begin once it comes to an end.

He also told Kratos how he used to be the prize craftsman in Olympus, and how he enjoyed his life on Olympus, but when Kratos killed Ares, that was when his life changed. He beat Hephaestus to a bloody pulp and took Pandora, his daughter, away from him so he could suffer for all eternity. Hephaestus tried to recreate Pandora, but no matter how hard he tried, he failed, time and time again.