Kratos

Kratos, also known as Ghost of Sparta and by the Gods of Olympus as The Cursed Mortal or The Fallen God, is the titular protagonist of the franchise. His position as the protagonist of his series, however, did not stop some from considering him as a villain due to his unending bloodlust, vengeful, destructive and raging behavior. His actions ultimately cause the downfall of Olympus and the gods and, along with them all, most of all life in Greece; however, his attempted suicide had allowed the power of Hope to spread across the world.
In the Norse era games, Kratos' character gains much more self-control, learning to hold back on his rage and living with the weight of his crimes, and trying to raise his son Atreus to be a better person than he ever was, a determination which is tested when they encounter the Norse Gods. While Kratos does retain his selfishness and shortsightedness, he is willing to help others if it benefits himself or his son's upbringing, but he is haunted by his past and is reluctant to speak of it to Atreus.
He was voiced by in the original games (, , , , , and ), who also voiced Big Tony in Saints Row, by Antony Del Rio (who also voiced Dark Pit in ) in a flashback as a child in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and currently by (who also voiced D-Mob in ) as of . He is also dubbed by (who voiced Bojack in ) in Japanese and also in .
==Relatives==
===Greek Family===
*Gaia (great-grandmother) †
*Cronos (grandfather) †
*Gyges (grand uncle) †
*Aegaeon (grand uncle) †
*Megaera (grandaunt) †
*Alecto (grandaunt) †
*Tisiphone (grandaunt) †
*Zeus (father) †
*Callisto (mother) †
*Hera (step-mother/aunt) †
*Hades (uncle) †
*Poseidon (uncle) †
*Deimos (brother) †
*Ares (half-brother) †
*Hercules (half-brother) †
*Athena (half-sister) †
*Hermes (half-brother) †
*Persephone (half-sister) †
*Perseus (half-brother) †
*Hephaestus (half-brother) †
*Pollux (half-brother) †
*Lysandra (wife) †
*Calliope (daughter) †
===Norse Family===
*Laufey (second wife) †
*Atreus/Loki (son)
*Angrboða (daughter-in-law)
*Hel (granddaughter)
*Jörmungandr (grandson)
*Fenrir (grandson)
*Sköll and Hati (great-grandsons)
==Notable Kills==
Note: Mortal Kombat characters are not to be included.
*Countless amounts of Grunts
*Lysandra
*Calliope
*Minotaurs
*Satyr
*Cyclops
*Gorgons
======
*Pollux & Castor
*Megaera
*Tisiphone
*Alecto
*Orkos (asked Kratos to kill him)
======
*Persian King
*Basilisk
*Charon
*Persephone
======
*Hydra
*The Ship's Captain (killed him three times)
*Medusa
*Pandora's Guardian
*Ares
======
*Scylla
*Callisto (forcefully)
*Erinys
*Piraeus Lion
*The Dissenter
*King Midas
*Lanaeus
*Thanatos
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*Colossus of Rhodes
*Prometheus (asked Kratos to kill him)
*Dark Rider
*Theseus
*Barbarian King (killed him twice)
*Mole Cerberus
*Euryale
*Perseus
*Icarus
*The Last Spartan (by accident)
*Kraken
*Lahkesis
*Atropos
*Clotho
*Athena (by accident)
======
*One of Poseidon's Hippocampi
*Poseidon
*Everyone/Almost everyone in the Greece
*Peirithous
*Hades
*Helios
*Perses
*Hermes
*Hercules
*Poseidon's Princess
*Cronos
*Hephaestus
*Hera
*Skorpius
*Hades Cerberus Breeder
*The Three Judges
*Pandora (indirectly)
*Gaia
*Zeus
======
*Mimir (asked Kratos to kill him)
*Magni
*Baldur
======
Coming Soon
==Other Media==
===Mortal Kombat (2011)===
Kratos made an appearance in the PS3 version of Mortal Kombat (2011). He may have been portrayed as a protagonist hero/villain in the God of War Series, but to both Raiden and Fujin, Kratos was nothing but a hero, due to his actions actually saving Eatherrealm. According to his in-game story, Kratos was summoned to the Mortal Kombat universe by Shao Kahn to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament.
Kratos fights with the Blades of Exile, the Nemean Cesti, the Head of Helios, the Bow of Apollo, the Icarus Wings, the Golden Fleece, the Head of Medusa and the Blade of Olympus.
thumb|298x298px|Kratos' ending in Mortal Kombat (2011).
====Kratos' Ending====
After Kratos killed Shao Kahn, the spell that brought him there began to fade. As he began to return to his own dimension, Raiden and Fujin walked toward him. Kratos was about to attack them, but both Raiden and Fujin bowed before Kratos for slaying Shao Kahn. Even though his intentions were never pure, Kratos saved Earthrealm from the evil Emperor of Outworld and was owed a debt of gratitude. He silently acknowledged Raiden and Fujin's praise as he returned to his home dimension, believing that their debt may be useful to him one day.
===Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny===
Kratos made an appearance as a guest character in the game Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. The character Sophitia Alexandra is given to him as a rival and adversary, due to her servitude to the god Hephaestus.
==== Story====
In a dreary underground library, a man sought to discover forbidden texts which would grant him power. This man was a survivor of Fygul Cestemus, a religious cult which had been recently pushed to the edge of total destruction by the golem known as Astaroth.
Rather than uniting, survivors had turned against each other, each seeking to gain higher authority over the remnants of the cult. This man desired the power to take revenge on the rebelling giant and then rebuild the organization under his own authority, his status of power being above all others. He finally came across an ancient text, which held information to perform a ritual which was said to summon an ancient god known as Kratos. According to legends, in the battle for Greece, Kratos had taken over Ares' position of 'God of War'.
Using a shard of Soul Edge, the man succeeded in performing the ceremony and opened a dimensional portal. Kratos appeared and with his Blades of Chaos, rewarded this man who summoned him with death. From the environment and tools the man had been using, Kratos realized he is no longer in his era. The fragment of Soul Edge stepped in the madness of the now deceased man, whispered to Kratos.
"To grant your wish, offer many souls to me. With your power, it will be easy..."
Kratos easily overcomes the shard's attempt to enslave him and views visions of Soul Edge and the spirit sword Soul Calibur. Kratos realizes the power created by the conflict of these two swords will be able to send him back to his own time. Leaving the library, he viewed what appeared to be shooting stars heading towards the west. Realizing they are Soul Edge shards, he decides to follow them...
====Gauntlet Mode====
Kratos has a small role in chapter 27 of The Gauntlet.
Cassandra, Hilde and Dampierre continue their search for the ingredients that Hilde's father needs to recover, there next one they must find is "Sand from another world", but they are clueless of how to find another world. So Dampierre thinks of someone that can help them, it turns out it's Zasalamel. after the three defeat him, they dragged Zasalamel into 'another world' along with them, as they encounter Kratos.
The player has to defend himself/herself against Kratos' attacks such as a Guard Impact, and attack him when he is open for attack. While that is going on, Dampierre managed to sneak some of the Sand from another world into his shirt sleeve and requests them all to retreat. Just before they get to Ivy, Cassandra breaks the fourth wall complaining about Kratos being a Special Guest.
===Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale===
Kratos made an appearance as one of the playable characters in the crossover game Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. His in-game rival is Sweet Tooth.
===Shovel Knight===
Kratos appears a exclusive boss in the PS3, PS4 & PS Vita versions of Shovel Knight.
===Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds===
Easily one of his most well-known cameos is in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds when he shows up as a golfer, and, while being tamed down, doesn't change much of his hot-blooded personality.
===Modnation Racers===
Kratos also shows up in Modnation Racers as a playable character with his Chaos Kart.
===The Simpsons===
In the The Simpsons episode The Food Wife, Kratos is seen on a billboard that reads Guts of War II: Entrails of Intestinox, which is a direct parody of the game's over-the-top violence.
==Powers and abilities==
As the son of the god of thunder Zeus and the mortal woman Callisto, Kratos is born a demigod and became a god after taking Ares' place as the God of War and thus extremely powerful, befitting his name which means 'strength' in greek, as well as his greek mythology equivalent who was the divine personification of strength.
He has temporarily possessed the power to travel through time, manipulate the weather and the elements, breathe underwater, absorb other energies and steal the life force of others, shapeshift, reveal magical illusions, flight and various others, though after losing much of his power throughout the games and especially in his final battle against Zeus, he currently has very little in comparison to what he had at the peak of his power, though he has retained the Blades of Chaos as well as obtained a new weapon, the Leviathan Axe (originally belong to his late second wife, Laufey).
*Godly Physicality: As both a demigod and god, Kratos has showcased immense superhuman physical abilities. He can shrug off a pummeling from a one-thousand and six-hundred-foot (487.68-meter) tall Titan and best the might of the unparalleled Hercules, overpowering roughly all deities and entities he has come across, and putting up a good fight against those he didn't want to kill, like Atlas, who possessed the strength to hold all of Greece (or the entire world, as vaguely stated) with his four arms. Even in his old age, many years later in the 2018 game, he can still match gods from another land (mainly Thor's brother Baldur who could knock down the World Serpent, a Giant even bigger than the Titans Kratos has faced, for a moment, but also Thor's sons Magni and Modi) and performs incredible feats of strength like pushing Tyr's temple. He is damn near immortal and even his own attempt to kill himself with the most powerful weapon created in Greece, the Blade of Olympus, could not kill him. Such wounds will still leave scars, but most will vanish if he so wills it thanks to his regeneration. Much of this power can be attributed to the power of God and Hope locked away in Pandora's Box which he absorbed upon opening the box and that allowed him to kill other gods.
*Longevity: As a god or demigod, Kratos is naturally able to life for a very long time. Given that Tyr's temple had been asleep for 150 winters and there was a vase depicting Kratos with his blades, that may imply Kratos is at least over 150 years old, though given how the reboot's developers stated the 2018 game happened before the migration period (4th to 6th century AD) while black-figure pottery dates from between the 7th and 5th century BC, some have speculated (assuming the 2018 GoW game takes place about halfway through that period, around 150AD) that Kratos could be as old as 600 years, if not more.
*Warrior Skill and Spirit: Kratos has an indomitable will and excellent fighting experience thanks to his time as a spartan soldier. He has mastered several weapons over his long life as a warrior, obtained a mental power that matches his physical might and become wiser and clever enough to solve puzzle and tricks laid out by others.
==Personality==
===Greece Era===
In the original Greek mythology-based games, Kratos is ruthless, brave, reserved, fearless, explosive, combative, spiteful, reclusive, cold, cruel, selfish, vengeful, murderous and always gravely serious, regardless of the situation. Kratos is not above killing anyone who imposes him for any reason; even if someone is innocent. If Kratos has his mind to set to any goal, he will do absolutely anything to achieve it, no matter how much destruction or bloodshed is needed.
This cold nature extends to sacrificing others for his own selfish ends, or simply not helping others near him. Kratos shows little to no remorse for others he strikes down, and takes no pride in the reputation he's gained as the "Ghost of Sparta". Throughout any endeavor Kratos faces, he never shows any weakness nor fear, no matter how daunting a situation may be.
Despite Kratos' cold nature, there are times where he truly feels remorse or grief. One example of this is the death of Orkos in God of War: Ascension, where Kratos puts Orkos out of his misery by stabbing him and giving him a funeral pyre. There is a piercing insecurity that Kratos has when his monsterous reputation is brought up, causing Kratos to reflect on the person he has become.
Kratos' mind is constantly haunted by the nightmares of his past, namely of the moment where he killed his family, an act indirectly caused by Ares, as Ares - during that time that Kratos swore allegence to Ares - believed that Kratos would be stronger without attachments such as family.
===Norse Era===
During the Norse Era, Kratos' personality is much more mellow and controlled compared to his nature in past games. Kratos is still very capable of violent outbursts, but only when heavily pushed or threatened. Being called the "Ghost of Sparta" still greatly upsets Kratos, as he is still haunted and tormented by his past actions. He is also more considerate of others' welfare and emotions, and tries not to expose his new son Atreus to his past actions, but later does decide to make sure Atreus does not repeat any of Kratos' past mistakes.
Kratos does not want his son to know of his origins, or more specifically, that he is part demi-god. He quickly repreminands his son's angry outbursts (as they are inherited directly from Kratos), as Kratos fears the idea his son's anger will lead him into becoming a monster in the exact same way Kratos was in Greece.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*In every game in the God of War Series, Kratos has killed at least one God (The Furies; Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto in God of War: Ascension, Persephone in Chains of Olympus, Ares in God of War, Ceryx in Betrayal, Thanatos in Ghost of Sparta, The Sisters of Fate, and Athena in God of War II, and Poseidon, Hades, Helios, Hermes, Hera, Hephaestus, and Zeus in God of War III, and Magni and Baldur in God of War.
**He also killed at least one half-brother in God of War: Ascension, God of War, II, and III (Pollux, Ares, Perseus, and Hercules respectively).
*The most interesting thing about Kratos is his tattoo; the tattoo on his chest always changed as the sequels were created.
*It's ironic that in God of War II, Kratos uses the Threads of Time to turn back time, so he could prevent himself from being killed by Zeus and prevent Zeus from destroying Sparta, but in God of War III, after he kills Poseidon, all of Greece gets flooded, killing nearly everyone, if not everyone, in Sparta.
*In Mortal Kombat (2011), whenever Kratos is a victim of a fatality, it's slightly altered.
*In Mortal Kombat (2011), Kratos has one of the few Babalities that does not end up crying. He also retains his beard like Kano.
*Kratos fought Spawn in ScrewAttack's DEATH BATTLE and lost.
*According to creative director Cory Barlog, Kratos has killed 3,432 people.
==External Links==
*Kratos on the Heroes Wiki
*Kratos on the God of War Wiki
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