Baldur

(Art by Pinterest)

> Make no mistake, daughter of Loki. I'm not the ubber-nice god the myths told me to be. I can just be as cruel and vindictive as any other god if I want to. But I don't want that. I want people not to see me as a threat. I want to lead my pantheon through genuine respect, not through schemes and manipulation. I don't want to be like Odin.
>
> Baldur.

**Baldur**, initially known as "**The Stranger**", also known as, **Baldr** is the Norse god of light and the son of Odin, the Allfather of the Aesir and the estranged, Freya the Vanir goddess who is the former queen. He is Odin's best tracker and is a vicious fighter as he is unable to feel pain or be harmed due to his curse his mother placed on him. He is sent with his nephews, Magni and Modi, by his father, Odin, to hunt down and kill Kratos and his son Atreus as Odin believes them to be the bringers of Ragnarök, searching for the cure of his curse that his mother placed on him. He was also Kratos and Atreus' archenemy.

## Characteristics

Baldur is of average height and has an extremely lean, hard physique. His build is unique, as it makes him seem small in comparison to the other male gods in the series, who are generally of towering height and sport broad, heavily muscled builds. His most striking features are his woad-blue tattoos of Norse runes, which coat large portions of his limbs and torso and his eyes, which are distinctly icy blue, particularly noticeable when the camera is close-up.

He has handsome (if haggard) features, with a beaded but unkempt brownish beard and a shaggy, beaded horse-mane hairstyle. He wears a red belt, a hip pouch and a thin string of charms over a torn brown waistcloth sash, which is worn over loose, black cloth pants, bound at the calves with brown leather straps. He wears no top and no shoes.

## Personality

> I'd hoped that you, of everyone I’d faced, would finally make me feel something. But you can't.
>
> Baldur to Kratos.

Unlike his two fellows Aesir nephews, Baldur presents himself with a more restrained, albeit equally ruthless demeanor. Years of invincibility and lack of sensation from his curse of protection have thoroughly worn his personality and mental state away. His primary mode of operation combines the fearlessness of someone spoiled by invulnerability with a lack of human connection lent by being starved of physical sensation to create a toxic mixture of complete, high-functioning derangement. In short, Baldur's personality is a foul and deeply poisonous mixture of arrogance, hatred, self-loathing and psychopathy, a combination that is dangerous at the best of times, and a harbinger of existential doom at the worst.

Underneath this lack of external satisfaction, he is a font of internal dissatisfaction as well, his unresolved issues with his mother and what he views as cowardice for being unwilling to kill her serving as a bell of resentment and self-hatred over his head, which inevitably spills into his interactions with all things.

As a tracker and combatant, Baldur is informed by his invulnerability. Rightfully unafraid of the consequences of any fight, he is often in no explicit hurry to catch those he has been assigned to track by Odin, nor is he concerned with quickly killing those he inevitably catches up to. From the way he treats his first encounters with Kratos, he commonly mocks and toys with his quarry, is generally unconcerned with diplomacy and is accustomed to getting what he wants through sufficient amounts of bullying and force. This spoiled nature is most clear when something doesn't explicitly go his way - anytime Kratos uses his Spartan rage, or when Kratos does not relent in the final fight, any unpleasant surprise always gives way to rage, and instead of growing or improving as a fighter, only fosters a growing resentment towards Kratos as they encounter each other more and more.

Baldur has a deep hatred for his mother Freya for what she did to him, angrily attacking his her illusion self from Helheim and crying by calling himself a coward.

A large part of the blackest parts of his personality can be traced to his curse of protection, given to him by Freya. As a child, Baldur was normal, kind and innocent, giving a beaded necklace and a bracelet, presumably crafted by himself, to his mother as gifts. When the curse was given to him, it took away his ability to feel anything, in addition to granting him near-total invulnerability and regeneration, resulting in his mental decline. His self-hatred also stems from this, as his desire to kill his mother stemmed from his need for vengeance, and his failure to do is why he sees himself as a coward.

Underneath all of these things, Baldur is ultimately suffering. Unable to experience both the pleasures and woes of life due to sensory deprivation, unable to experience a legitimate and fair challenge with an disadvantaged adversary due to invulnerability, unable to exact the revenge he desires due to his mother's absence, and unable to even indulge in his self-loathing nor with serious self-inflicted harm due to his curse, he lives a life of joyless, empty limbo, endlessly sustained by the curse, his status as an Aesir, and his inability to even end his own life. This most clearly manifests when he is finally defeated and at Kratos' mercy - there is no hesitation as he demands Kratos to "do it," and end his life. His resentment at Freya's part in ultimately staying Kratos' hand only reinforces this.

## Powers and Abilities

As a son of two chief gods Odin and Freya, Baldur was one of the most powerful gods, with Odin and Thor as the only known Aesir to surpass him. Baldur's power was great enough to pose a difficult challenge to Kratos.

### Powers

* **Superhuman Strength:** As a son of Odin, Baldur possessed immense superhuman strength, far surpassing that of any mortal or monster. He had enough physical aptitude to knock Jörmungandr unconscious with a mere three blows, easily throw and smash a giant boulder, jump high into the sky, and, despite his skinny and shorter body, proved quite a challenge for Kratos. In their first battle, when Baldur and Kratos have a test of raw strength, the ground begins to collapse, leaving a progressively larger and deeper fissure beneath them.
* **Superhuman Durability:** As he ranked among the strongest of the Norse Gods, Baldur was extremely durable, even without his invulnerability. Hence, after his mother's spell was broken, Baldur was still able to take extreme punishment, even what would be mortal blows, such as being chopped twice in the shoulder by the Leviathan Axe, being stabbed in the stomach by the Blades of Chaos and getting shot multiple times by Atreus's arrows, even so continuing to fight seemingly unhindered. Large falls had seemingly no effect on his body, as he recovered quickly after hitting the ground. It was only upon Kratos breaking his neck that he finally succumbed.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** As a God and his curse, Baldur has near limitless stamina, showing no signs of fatigue during his fight with Kratos or his tracking.
* **Immortality:** As an Aesir god, Baldur was immortal, and could only be killed by other Immortals or special weapons.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Despite losing his invulnerability, Baldur seems still to have a certain degree of regeneration, such as taking an immense amount of punishment from Kratos and Atreus and still be able to fight without much injury. After the death of Thamur when was beaten to a pulp by Kratos, Baldur was recovering enough in a moment and almost choked Freya to death.
* **Light Manipulation:** As the God of Light, Baldur was capable of using light in combat. The runes on his body, as well as his eyes, will light up when he uses his power. He could use light to move at extreme speeds, send a shockwave through the ground, cause an explosion of energy, throw balls of deadly, shining energy; or increase the force of his attacks.
	+ **Superhuman Agility & Speed:** Baldur, perhaps due to his power over light, can move at extremely high speeds much faster than Kratos and Atreus. He uses this to effect in combat, darting around enemies before striking them. His reflexes are similarly fast and is able to block or counter Kratos before he can react.
* **True Invulnerability:** Baldur's greatest and most infamous attribute was his invulnerability to almost anything, even Kratos' Blades of Chaos. While he can be harmed, his injuries are only temporary, as the curse enhanced his existent supernatural regenerative abilities to heal him almost instantaneously. Despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos.
	+ **Immunity to Sensations:** He also cannot physically feel any injuries, nor any amount of physical exhaustion, enabling him to continue to fight without being slowed down. For instance, he was able to easily attack the World Serpent, a creature that gave his brother Thor a challenge and walks out of the cold depths of the lake within which it resided without any noticeable exhaustion or discomfort. He could also survive in Hel unharmed despite the immense coldness of the realm. However, his invulnerability came at the cost of robbing him of most of his senses (touch, smell, taste, and pain), ultimately driving him insane. Also, despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos. His only true weakness was mistletoe, which voids this ambiguous advantage. Upon striking Atreus and stabbing his hand with a mistletoe arrow, the spell was broken, and Baldur was not only vulnerable but able to feel everything, causing a sensory-overload and euphoria, even claiming he hasn't felt "more alive".
		- **Invincibility:** As one of the strongest gods from Nordic mythology, Baldur also own superhuman resistance. When the spell given by his mother broken, Baldur still managed to hold various physical strikes without staggering. Also, he can stay in extreme weather.
		- **Invincibility:** Another superpower that Baldur has is invincibility. Even Kratos’ Blade of Chaos cannot wound him, even though this weapon was used to kill many Greek gods, like Zeus for example. The weapon only scarred his body temporarily. This ability will numb all the pain he takes.
	+ **Self-Resurrection:** Thanks to the curse, even if Baldur was "killed", he would only be temporarily incapacitated. When he faced Kratos for the first time, Kratos snapped Baldur's neck and he had managed to revive himself and fully recover from a broken neck by the time Kratos left the wildwoods with Atreus.
	+ **Superhuman Resistance:** As one of the strongest gods from Nordic mythology, Baldur also own superhuman resistance. When the spell given by his mother broken, Baldur still managed to hold various physical strikes without staggering. Also, he can stay in extreme weather.
* **Teleportation:** Baldur could teleport himself and others anywhere he wished.
* **Additional Elemental Affinities:** In addition to his light-elemental abilities, Baldur could gain the power to control any element he was exposed to by absorbing them, as shown when Kratos had struck him on the shoulder using the Leviathan Axe and Baldur, by grabbing it, was able to gain the power to control ice, allowing him to infuse ice into his fist to increase his strength, send out blasts of ice, and also cause icicles to erupt from the ground. Later, after Atreus had detonated the undead Giant's ring on top of Baldur during the final battle with him, Baldur acquired power over the fire by absorbing the explosion, allowing him to cause eruptions of fire around the ground and perform a fire-enhanced kick as well as summon a wave of flame.
	+ **Absorption:** *To be added.*
		- **Fire Manipulation:** *To be added.*
		- **Ice Manipulation:** *To be added.*
* **Pain Manipulation:** *To be added.*
	+ **Pain Tolerance:** Baldur is unable to feel anything thanks to the spell, including pain and has a sadomasochistic pain tolerance even without the spell.

### Abilities

* **Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant:** Most likely because of his physical abilities and invulnerability, Baldur does not use or need weapons in combat. He favors his own physical fighting capabilities above all else and is extremely skilled, despite having no known formal training in combat. He can quickly strike, utilizing punches and kicks. He also uses his elbows, knees and even some grappling techniques, in fact, he is noted to be especially good at wrestling, even Supplex Kratos in their first and last fight. His skill in pure hand-to-hand combat is almost unmatched, capable of easily fighting against and even at times overwhelming Kratos in melee combat despite the latter's immense training, experience, and prowess, losing only due to Kratos' superior strength and weapons. He can couple his moves with his immense speed, strength, agility, durability, stamina, and control over light to decimate enemies, and is one of the very few individuals capable of equaling Kratos in a straight match-up without help.
* **Expert Tracker:** Mimir stated that Baldur was Odin's best tracker. As such, his ability and persistence in finding a given target exceeded that of the other Aesir. Baldur managed to find Kratos's home and attack him, then again find Kratos when he opened the gate to Jötunheim. Despite being stuck in Helheim, across the bridge, from which there was "no way back", Baldur still found a way out and managed to track down Kratos and his son when they in were in the World Serpent's stomach.

## Facilities

* Nine Realms
	+ Alfheim
	+ Asgard - Home
	+ Helheim
	+ Jötunheim
	+ Midgard - Adopted Home
	+ Muspelheim
	+ Niflheim
	+ Svartalfheim
	+ Vanaheim

## Relationships

### Family

* Ymir † - Great-Great-Grandfather
* Auðumbla - Great-Great-Grandmother
* Búri - Great-Grandfather
* Borr - Paternal-Grandfather
* Njörd - Maternal-Grandfather
* Odin - Father
* Frigg/Freya - Mother
* Fjörgyn - StepMother
* Vé - Paternal-Uncle
* Vili - Paternal-Uncle
* Freyr - Maternal-Uncle
* Thor - Half-Brother
* Týr - Half-Brother
* Hodr - Half-Brother
* Bragi - Half-Brother
* Sif - Sister-In-Law
* Magni - Half-Nephew
* Modi - Half-Nephew

### Allies

* Thor
* Týr
* Hodr
* Bragi
* Sif
* Magni
* Modi

### Enemies

* Greek Gods
	+ Aeëtes
	+ Apollo
	+ Ares
	+ Asclepius
	+ Boreas
	+ Dionysus
	+ Eurus
	+ Hades
	+ Hephaestus
	+ Heracles
	+ Hermes
	+ Kratos
		- Kratos' Family Tree
	+ Notus
	+ Orkos
	+ Ourea
	+ Pelias
	+ Phobos
	+ Poseidon
	+ Triton
	+ Zephyrsus
	+ Zeus
* Gowur the God Butcher
* God
* Angels
* Archangels

## Quotes

> Come on out! It's no use hiding anymore. I know who you are... more importantly, I know what you are!
>
> Baldur searching for Kratos and Atreus.

> Slow and old. You should never have come to Midgard. So... care to try again?
>
> Baldur healing his wounds.

> When Odin sent me here, I just needed answers, but YOU, you had to act all proud. Throw whatever you have at me... I'll keep coming. That old body will give out. But before I end this. I want you to know one thing... I can't feel any of this. You've seen this with your own eyes; you can't hurt me. Nothing can. This fight is pointless. Your struggle is pointless. It didn't have to be this way. Pathetic. You can't win. I feel nothing. but you... you feel everything. Yet you, you keep trying. I'm not my brother. And if you'd given me what I wanted, it wouldn't have ended this way. But no... Let's finish this.
>
> Baldur to Kratos, during their first encounter.

> The tattooed man. Tracks show he now travels with a child. Where would they go next?
>
> Baldur asking Mimir.

> You can't stop me. **NO ONE CAN.** (...) How touching... This will all be over soon.
>
> Baldur before his second fight with Kratos.