Kratos

* 234.355 cm (7'8")

**In Norse Era**

* 193.603 cm (6'4")

* Chaos (Ancestor)
* Ouranos (Great-Grandfather) †
* Gaia (Great-Grandmother) †
* Erebus (Great-Granduncle)
* Nyx (Great-Grandaunt)
* Tartarus (Great-Granduncle)
* Eros (Great-Granduncle)
* The Furies (Great-Grandaunts) †
* Cronos (Grandfather) †
* Rhea (Grandmother)
* Oceanus (Granduncle) †
* Tethys (Grandaunt)
* Hyperion (Granduncle) †
* Theia (Grandaunt)
* Coeus (Granduncle)
* Phoebe (Grandaunt)
* Crius (Granduncle)
* Themis (Grandaunt)
* Iapetus (Granduncle)
* Mnemosyne (Grandaunt)
* Typhon (Granduncle)
* Thera (Grandaunt)
* Gyges (Granduncle) †
* Aegaeon (Granduncle) †
* Cottus (Granduncle) †
* Zeus (Father) †
* Callisto (Mother) †
* Hera (Step-Mother/Aunt) †
* Hestia (Aunt)
* Demeter (Aunt)
* Hades (Uncle) †
* Poseidon (Uncle) †
* Athena (Half-Sister) †
* Ares (Half-Brother) †
* Hephaestus (Half-Brother/Brother-in-Law) †
* Aphrodite (Half-Sister/Sister-in-Law/Lover)
* Artemis (Half-Sister)
* Apollo (Half-Brother)
* Hermes (Half-Brother) †
* Persephone (Half-Sister/Aunt) †
* Muses (Half-Sisters)
* Dionysus (Half-Brother)
* Aecus (Half-Brother) †
* Minos (Half-Brother) †
* Rhadamanthus (Half-Brother) †
* Pollux (Half-Brother) †
* Peirithous (Half-Brother) †
* Perseus (Half-Brother) †
* Hercules (Half-Brother) †
* Deimos (Brother) †
* Lysandra (First Wife) †
* Calliope (Daughter) †
* Phobos (Nephew)
* Orkos (Nephew/First Cousin Twice Removed) †
* Pandora (Adoptive Niece) †
* Zora and Lora (Nieces/Lovers)
* Asclepius (Nephew)
* Ceryx (Nephew) †
* Ariadne (Niece/Sister-in-Law)
* Andromeda (Sister-in-Law) †
* Triton (Cousin)
* Polyphemus (Cousin) †
* Pegasus (Cousin)†
* Theseus (Cousin) †
* Pelias (Cousin)
* Nyads (Cousins)
* Amphitrite (First Cousin Once Removed/Aunt)
* Helios (First Cousin Once Removed) †
* Selene (First Cousin Once Removed)
* Eos (First Cousin Once Removed) †
* Perses (First Cousin Once Removed) †
* Atlas (First Cousin Once Removed)
* Prometheus (First Cousin Once Removed) †
* Epimetheus (First Cousin Once Removed) †
* Aeëtes (Second Cousin)
* Circe (Second Cousin)
* Boreas (Second Cousin) †
* Nike (Second Cousin)
* Medea (Second Cousin Once Removed)
* Thanatos (First Cousin Twice Removed) †
* Morpheus (First Cousin Twice Removed)
* Charon (First Cousin Twice Removed) †
* Nemesis (First Cousin Twice Removed)
* Sisters of Fate (First Cousins Twice Removed)
* Erinys (Second Cousin Once Removed) †
**Norse Family**

* Laufey (Second Wife) †
* Atreus (Son)
* Angrboda (Daughter-in-law)
* Hel (Future Granddaughter)

* Himself
* Sparta (formerly)
* Ares (formerly)
* Athena (formerly)
* Zeus (formerly)
* Olympians (formerly)
* Titans (formerly)

**Norse Era**

* The Nine Realms
* Atreus
* Brok (deceased)
* Sindri (formerly)
* Freya
* Mimir

* Zeus (Archenemy)
* Ares (Former master and Archenemy)
* Greek Pantheon
* Titans
* Sisters of Fate
* Furies
* Alrik

**Norse Period**

* Baldur
* Magni
* Modi
* Thor
* Heimdall
* Odin

* Alrik
* Lysandra
* Calliope
* Furies
* Persephone
* Callisto
* Hydra King
* Pandora's Guardian
* Ares
* Thanatos
* Theseus
* Icarus
* Sisters of Fate
* Athena
* Poseidon
* Hades
* Helios
* Cronos
* Hephaestus
* Hercules
* Hera
* Hermes
* Perses
* Gaia
* Zeus

**Norse Timeline**

* Magni
* Hræzlyr
* Máttugr Helson
* Baldur
* Heimdall

* Blades of Chaos
* Blades of Athena
* Blades of Exile
* Blade of Artemis
* Blade of Olympus
* Barbarian Hammer
* Claws of Hades
* Nemean Cestus
* Nemesis Whip
* Spear of Destiny

**Norse Era**

* Leviathan Axe
* Guardian Shield
* Blades of Chaos
* Kratos' Knife
* Draupnir Spear
* Gram
* Ridill
* Hrotti
* Tyrfing
* Skofnung

* Magic Pouch
* Poseidon's Trident
* Amulet of the Fates
* Golden Fleece
* Icarus' Wings
* Sun Shield
* Triton's Lance
* Bow of Apollo
* Head of Helios
* Boots of Hermes

**Norse Period**

* Bifröst Lamp
* Stone Masons Chisel Tip
* The Witch's Compass
* Unity Stone
* Head of Mimir
* Yggdrasil Realm Seeds
* Spiritual Stones
* Draupnir
* Gjallarhorn
* Skíðblaðnir

* *God of War: Ascension*
* *God of War: Chains of Olympus*
* *God of War*
* *God of War: Ghost of Sparta*
* *God of War II*
* *God of War III*
* *God of War (2018)*
* *God of War: Ragnarök*
**Tie-In Media** (canon order)

* *God of War (DC Comics)*
* *God of War: Betrayal*
* *God of War: Fallen God*
* *Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny*
* *Mortal Kombat (2011)*
* *PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale*
* *Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove*
* *The Lost Pages of Norse Myth*
* *God of War (Dark Horse Comics)*
* *God of War: A Call from the Wilds*
* *God of War: Mimir’s Vision*
* *God of War: Lore and Legends*
* *Lúnda's Workshop Notes*
* *God of War: The Official Cookbook of the Nine Realms*

**Kratos** (Greek: **Κράτος**) is the protagonist of the *God of War* series. Born in Sparta, Kratos is a demigod son of Zeus, and is later a full God himself by becoming the titular **God of War**, with incredible superhuman god-like power and combat skills. Kratos was once a respected soldier and Spartan General, until he lost his wife and daughter when he killed them, albeit by accident, under Ares' command, earning him the nickname of the **"Ghost of Sparta"**, after which he renounced his service to the War God, eventually killing him and ascending to Godhood by becoming the new and full "**God of War"**. Kratos, as the God of War, began to exact revenge against his father, the Olympians and the Titans who betrayed him, remaining forever a full god in the process before departing to another realm.

After successfully exacting his vengeance, Kratos escaped into the world of Norse Gods by settling down in Midgard in Ancient Norway where he married another woman named Faye and bore a son named Atreus who together, after the boy's mother’s death, would embark on a journey to spread her ashes at the highest peak of all the nine realms.

## Contents

* Greek Mythology
* Norse Mythology
* Biography
* Early life
* Quest for the Ambrosia and Rising through the Ranks of The Spartan Army
* Birth of the Ghost
* Redemption and Vengeance
* Service to the Gods
* The Final Task
* As the God of War
* Changing His Fate
* The Second Great War
* A Ghost in Exile
* A New Beginning
* The Journey
* The Marked Trees
* Path to the Mountain
* The Light of Alfheim
* Inside the Mountain
* The Sickness
* The Truth
* Back in Helheim
* Tyr's Secret and The Truth Revealed
* Jotunheim at last
* Appearance
* Kratos' Affixed Ashes
* Personality
* In God of War (2018)
* Powers and Abilities
* Abilities
* 7Weapons
* Relationships
* Ares
* Athena
* Poseidon
* Theseus
* Hades
* Zeus
* Hermes
* Aphrodite
* Hephaestus
* Hera
* Helios
* Persephone
* Thanatos
* Erinys
* Gaia
* Atlas
* Cronos
* Callisto
* Deimos
* Hercules
* Lysandra
* Calliope
* Pandora
* Laufey
* Atreus
* Freya
* Baldur
* Trivia
* In Greek Mythology
* In General
* In Greek Era
* In Nordic Era
* Guest Appearances
* Other Media
* Gallery
* External links

## Greek Mythology

Though Kratos is not a character in actual Greek mythology, there is a being in myth named "Cratos". The creators of the original 2005 God of War coincidentally chose the name Kratos (given the fact that the character Kratos was given his name at a late stage in the development of the original 2005 game, after the character had already been fleshed out. Unaware of the actual mythological god named Kratos appearing in Prometheus Bound), the same Greek word meaning "Strength", of which the mythological figure Kratos is the personification. Stig Asmussen, the director of 2010's God of War III, called the naming coincidence a "happy mistake".

Kratos (or Cratos) is the son of Pallas and Styx. Kratos and his siblings Nike ('Victory'), Bia ('Force'), and Zelus ('Glory') are all essentially personifications of a trait. Kratos is characterized as brutal and merciless, repeatedly mocking both Hephaestus and Prometheus and advocating for the use of unnecessary violence. He defends Zeus' oppressive rule and predicts that Prometheus will never escape his bonds. Kratos and his sister Bia are best known for their appearance in the opening scene of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Acting as agents of Zeus. Kratos compels the mild-mannered blacksmith god Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to a rock as punishment for his theft of fire.

## Norse Mythology

In God of War (2018), Kratos is known by the Jötnar as **Fárbauti** (ᚠᚨᚱᛒᚨᚢᛏᛁ), literally meaning "cruel striker" and sometimes interpreted as "lightning".

Fárbaut is the jötunn husband of Laufey or Nál and the father of Loki, and possibly also of Helblindi and Byleistr. He is attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of Viking Age skalds. Fárbauti's name and character are thought to have been inspired by the observation of the natural phenomena surrounding the appearance of wildfire.

## Biography

### Early life

Born in the Greek city-state of Sparta, Kratos is the demigod son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Callisto, with unique superhuman godly powers and abilities, although he would remain unaware of who his father was for most of his life. Outraged at Zeus for fathering yet another bastard child, Hera ordered Kratos' execution on the day he was born, but the King of the Gods took pity on the child and refused, leaving him in Sparta to be raised by Callisto.

Like all Spartan youth, Kratos, with an incredible set of superhuman godly powers, (unknown that he is Zeus' son and the one whom he inherited the abilities), was monitored and trained for combat by the Spartan authorities; those who were deemed fit were to stay and be trained as Spartan warriors, while those who were deemed unfit would be sent to the mountains (probably Mount Taygetos) to fend for themselves. Already feisty and aggressive at a young age, Kratos trained together with his younger brother, Deimos, who's also a demigod, as they dreamed of joining the Spartan army when they grew up. Around this time, Zeus began to hear prophecies foretelling his demise at the hands of one of his sons, a "marked warrior". Hoping to circumvent the cycle of patricide before it was too late, Zeus sent Ares and Athena to hunt down and dispose of the boy who would one day rise up against him. Ares, noticing Deimos' strange birthmarks, decided to invade Sparta with an army of centaurs and take him to Thanatos, the God of Death. Kratos tried to save his brother, but Ares punched him into a pile of wood, leaving him with a permanent scar over his right eye.

Insulted by the mortal's defiance, Ares prepared to kill the young Spartan but was stopped by Athena. The Goddess reminded Ares that they had what they were looking for, and apologized to Kratos before disappearing into the flames. The loss of his brother left an indelible mark on Kratos, as he vowed to never falter again. In honor of his brother, Kratos had himself tattooed in the exact image of Deimos' birthmark. Kratos would later forget that it was Ares and Athena who took his brother from him and wouldn't realize it until after Ares' death.

As Kratos came of age, he became a respected member of the Spartan army, eventually marrying Lysandra and siring a daughter, Calliope.

### Quest for the Ambrosia and Rising through the Ranks of The Spartan Army

Shortly after her birth, Calliope contracted a plague, causing the Spartan authorities to deem her weak. Spartan law required that she be thrown into a chasm and left to die. Determined to save his daughter, Kratos set out on a journey for the Ambrosia after hearing from an elder of its exceptional healing capabilities. But unbeknownst to Kratos, Ares had chosen him to be his champion in the wager of the Gods, a contest with the ultimate goal being the capture of the Ambrosia; the victor would have statues erected in their honor all throughout Greece. A battalion of Spartans accompanied Kratos on his quest, including Captain Nikos. Along the way, he encountered a healer who gave him the Flames of Apollo.

Kratos eventually encountered Poseidon's champion, Herodius, and killed him as the Spartans conquered his army and stole their ship. Enraged at Kratos for costing him the wager, Poseidon unleashed a handful of hazards at sea in the hopes of killing him but failed. Later on, Kratos encountered Artemis' champion, Pothia, and killed her as well, with her army also falling victim to the Spartans, although Artemis did not retaliate. In fear that Kratos would defeat his champion, Alrik, the Barbarian King, Hades sent a torrent of fire through the sky. Although he failed to kill Kratos, he succeeded in killing many of Kratos' men, including Captain Nikos. As he found the Ambrosia, Kratos encountered Cereyon, the Helios' champion, and killed him as well.

Alrik and his Barbarian army battled the Spartans for the Ambrosia, as Alrik's Father was very ill and in need of the elixir. After a grueling battle between the two leaders, Kratos successfully captured the Ambrosia at the cost of his own men and summoned an army of Rocs to continuously torture Alrik. Kratos then returned to Sparta and healed Calliope, obtaining the rank of 'Captain' from the King of Sparta.

At some point after becoming captain, Kratos would command a young soldier named Atreus who remained hopeful even in the darkest times. When the day came for Atreus to lay down his life in battle, he did it without hesitation and saved many others, earning Kratos's respect. The captain carried Atreus home on the soldier's shield and personally buried him will full honors of Spartan custom, acknowledging him as the only Spartan who ever had a smile on his face even in battle.

### Birth of the Ghost

As a general, Kratos won battles through brutal, but effective tactics. However, his pride and hunger for power grew greater with every victory. Despite Lysandra's pleas, Kratos vowed to continue his bloody conquests "until the glory of Sparta is known throughout the world", spending time with his family only when he was able to return to Sparta.

Kratos and his army finally met their match when they encountered the merciless Barbarian tribes from the East, led by Kratos's old enemy, Alrik. Outnumbered and overpowered, the Spartans quickly found themselves on the losing end of the battle, with Kratos himself left at the mercy of Alrik the Barbarian King, who sought revenge against Kratos for inadvertently causing the death of his father. In desperation, Kratos called out to Ares, the God of War, pledging his allegiance in exchange for victory. Ares accepted the offer, proceeding to kill all of the Barbarians, giving Kratos the Blades of Chaos as a sign of his servitude and immediately, Kratos used the Blades of Chaos against Alrik and decapitated him, regaining his victory once again.

For a time, Kratos served Ares loyally, raiding villages, slaughtering innocents, and spreading chaos in his name. Under the God of War's influence, Kratos became utterly ruthless and gradually lost any semblance of the humanity he once had. One day, during a raid on a village of Athena's followers, Ares secretly transported Lysandra and Calliope to a nearby temple. Ignoring the village oracle's warnings, Kratos entered the temple and slaughtered everybody inside in a fit of blind rage, including his wife and child (whom he believed were still in Sparta). Ares justified this as a means of severing Kratos' remaining attachments to the world of mortals, thereby molding him into the perfect warrior. Stricken with horror and grief at what he had done, Kratos left the bodies of his family to be burned within the temple, ultimately renouncing his allegiance to the God of War. The oracle cursed Kratos, forcing him to forever wear the ashes of his dead family on his skin.

From that day forward, Kratos became known as the *Ghost of Sparta*; his skin now 'pale as the moon' from the ashes that coated him. To other mortals, he was now marked by his ghostly white skin - the knowledge of his past actions often repulsed them to the point where they would rather die than allow him to save their lives. He became known as the personification of cruelty and selfishness. Word of this metamorphosis would spread even outside of Greece as Norse god and advisor to Odin, Mimir who would become a future ally to Kratos himself would later on instantly recognize who Kratos was.

### Redemption and Vengeance

For breaking his oath, Ares ordered The Furies to hunt down the Ghost of Sparta and force him to once again serve the God of War. Meanwhile, Kratos finds himself in the abandoned village of Kirra, where he is trapped in an illusion of his home in Sparta, with his blood oath inhibiting memories of him killing his wife and daughter. The Furies' oath-keeper, Orkos, appeared before him and encouraged him to see past the illusion, using Lysandra's necklace and ring to break it. Although Kratos distrusted him, he followed Orkos's instruction to seek out Aletheia, the Oracle at Delphi. She had earlier been captured by Pollux and Castor, but Kratos killed them both and took the Amulet of Uroborus. He spoke with the dying oracle, who revealed Ares' plan to mold Kratos into a warrior capable of overthrowing Zeus, thereby allowing Ares to become the new King of Olympus. Kratos then traveled back to Kirra, where he encountered Orkos once again. The oath keeper revealed that he is the son of Ares and Alecto, one of the three Furies.

Orkos explained Ares' intentions to Kratos. As Zeus had forbidden the Gods from waging war on one another, Ares sought to breed a warrior capable of destroying Zeus in his stead, so that Ares may usurp him and rule Olympus for himself. Disappointed in Orkos' complete lack of fighting skills, Ares disowned his son. Instead, Orkos became oath keeper of the Furies in an attempt to please his mother, Alecto. Ares saw in Kratos the makings of the warrior he needed to overthrow Zeus, and for that reason, he helped him against the Barbarians that day. The murder of his family was meant to be one of three "tests" that would bind Kratos to Ares' will: the slaughter of one's enemies, the slaughter of innocents, and the slaughter of one's own family. Orkos did his mother's bidding as oath keeper and did not question her until Ares tricked Kratos into killing his family. Armed with this knowledge, Kratos took a ship to Delos.

Once there, Kratos traversed a giant, ruined statue of Apollo, where he was attacked by all three Furies. In the ensuing confrontation, Kratos managed to cut off Megaera's arm, but Alecto used her power to capture him. Orkos appeared and freed Kratos, escorting him to another location, with Alecto vowing that he would never succeed. After a perilous journey, Kratos used the Amulet of Uroborus to fully restore the statue and retrieve the Eyes from the Lantern. But after completing the Trials of Archimedes, he was once again ambushed by the Furies, who take him prisoner and steal both the Eyes and the Amulet.

For two weeks, the Furies tortured Kratos in the Prison of the Damned. The Spartan eventually managed to free himself and pursued Megaera through the prison. She and Tisiphone attempted to misdirect him with an illusion of a brothel. When he went to sleep with a woman inside, he spotted a ring on her finger and realized that it was a trick. He responded by tackling Tisiphone, but Megaera intervened and insisted that Kratos belongs to her. Megaera released insects into Aegaeon's hands and mouth, mutating them into insect-titan hybrids. Kratos retrieved the Amulet of Uroboros by killing Megaera and the Hecatonchires, only for Tisiphone to create an illusion of him being honored by the King of Sparta. Kratos saw through it and, progressing further into the prison, found the Scribe of Hecatonchires, the first mortal to ever be imprisoned by the Furies. The Scribe revealed that the Furies were originally fair in their punishment, and became ruthless only under Ares' influence.

Making his way to Alecto's chamber, Kratos retrieved the Oath Stone from Tisiphone's pet bird, Daimon. Upon entering the chamber, the Furies project another illusion, this time of Kratos' home in Sparta. He is nearly taken in by this, for he saw his wife and daughter again. He came close to sleeping with the image of Lysandra, but soon notices the ring on her finger, revealing her to be Alecto. She then tries to convince Kratos that he could live in this illusion forever if he rejoined Ares; however, noticing the Eyes of Truth hanging on her hip, he refused, preferring the truth to living a lie. Enraged, Alecto drops the illusion and threatens to execute him if he would not serve Ares. Kratos breaks free of her sludge trap and snatches the Eyes from Alecto, who retreated back into her sanctum before she realized they were gone. Tisiphone joined Alecto as Kratos advanced on the remaining Furies. They created an illusion of a massive whirlpool, with Alecto transforming into a horrific sea monster.

Using the Eyes, Kratos broke through the Furies' illusions and forced Alecto back into her human form. As he advanced on the Fury Queen, Tisiphone dispatched Daimon once more, but Kratos simply used the Eyes to destroy the bird. He proceeded to strike Tisiphone, shapeshifting between the forms of the King and Kratos himself, as she belittled him. As he wrapped his hands around her throat, Tisiphone transformed into the form of Lysandra, causing Kratos to briefly hesitate. Tisiphone then changed into the Village Oracle, telling Kratos that his family was not there by mere chance the night he killed them before Kratos snaps her neck. With only Alecto left, Kratos drew his blades. 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.

With all three of the Furies dead, Kratos returned to his home in Sparta, where Orkos congratulated him on his victory. At the same time, he also revealed that he was made the new oath keeper, thereby maintaining Kratos' bond with Ares. He begged Kratos to give him an honorable death, as it would free them both from the God, to which Kratos initially refused, proclaiming that no more innocent blood should be spilled. Orkos'a continuing pleas ultimately forced Kratos's hand. With this act, Kratos experienced the first of many nightmares, previously masked by his bond to Ares: this was the price he had to pay for breaking his oath. He also discovered his path to redemption through continual service to Olympus. Kratos proceeded to burn down his house, with the corpse of Orkos inside it.

### Service to the Gods

For the next decade, Kratos faithfully served the Gods of Olympus in whatever tasks they required of him. During the fifth year of his atonement, he joined the army of Attica in their struggle against the invading Persian Army and the great beast they brought forth. After a lengthy battle, Kratos killed both the Persian King and the Basilisk, before asking the gods if they wished him to do more in his servitude. At that moment, the Ghost of Sparta saw the Sun fall from the sky and vanish, leaving the world in darkness.

Sensing a plot at work, Kratos followed the last remnants of light on the horizon, eventually reaching the Temple of Helios and the city of Marathon. Upon consulting with Athena, Kratos realized that Helios, the God of the Sun, had been kidnapped by an unknown force, allowing Morpheus, the God of Dreams, to put the other Olympians in a deep slumber. With the Gods of Olympus incapacitated, Kratos was tasked with finding and rescuing Helios before Morpheus could seize control of the land by covering Greece under his Black Fog. Fighting through Morpheus' minions, Kratos entered the temple of the Sun God and, after learning of the events that transpired, was tasked by Eos, the sister of Helios, to awaken her brother's Fire Steeds, which would take Kratos to where Helios was being held prisoner.

Having awakened Helios' Steeds, Kratos was taken to the Underworld where he saw Helios' glowing light in the distance, right before the Pillar of the World. Kratos fought his way through Hades' domain, acquired the mighty Gauntlet of Zeus, entered Tartarus and killed Charon, the ferryman of the dead. Kratos then discovered that the Titan Atlas had somehow escaped Tartarus and captured Helios.

Throughout his journey, Kratos was plagued by illusions of his daughter, Calliope, and the song she played on the flute that he once gave to her. When Kratos reached the Pillar of the World and the Temple of Persephone that lay nearby, he had already forgotten his task, thinking only of reuniting with his daughter. He encountered Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld who had been kidnapped by Hades and forced to wed him. She revealed that Kratos could be with his daughter again if he relinquished all of his powers to the Forsaken Tree. Desperate to see his daughter again, Kratos did as she asked, and she allowed him to enter the Elysium fields where he met with his daughter and was seen happy for the first time since he became the Ghost of Sparta.

Persephone appeared before him, revealing that it was she who freed Atlas and asked him to capture Helios. With his help, she devised a scheme to destroy the Pillar of the World, thus killing the Gods of Olympus and all of mankind as well. She taunted Kratos with the knowledge that he may live with his daughter for a short period, but would ultimately see her die again upon the completion of her plan. Kratos then forced himself to become the *Ghost of Sparta* again by killing the innocent souls of Elysium and regaining his powers. Whilst giving pursuit to Persephone, he realized that he would never have the chance to be with his daughter again. As he heard her crying behind him, his hatred for the Gods of Olympus deepened.

An enraged Kratos succeeded in killing Persephone and chaining Atlas to the ground above the Pillar of the World, thus completing his task. Before he left the Underworld, Atlas asked Kratos if he truly believed that the Gods would keep their promise. Kratos replied that it was the only thing he could hope for now since he could not go back to Elysium. With the use of the Fire Steeds, Kratos then escaped the Underworld, but found himself too exhausted from the journey and fell from the Chariot to the ground below. He was saved by Athena and Helios, who stripped him of his powers and equipment, leaving him unconscious upon the cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea.

### The Final Task

Ten years after beginning his service to the Olympian gods, Kratos was commissioned with killing the Hydra and bringing peace to the Aegean Sea. Along the way, Poseidon granted him the power of lightning and implored him to use it against the Hydra. After a long and vicious battle, Kratos emerged victorious by impaling the Hydra's front head on the ship's mast. Entering the decaying Hydra's throat, Kratos retrieved a boat key from the ship's Captain. For unexplained reasons, he refused to save his life and instead allowed him to plummet to his death. The Ghost of Sparta celebrated his victory that night with wine and women but continued to suffer from nightmares of his past deeds. Distraught, he approached one of Athena's statues and asked her when he would be free from his past. She told Kratos that his final task would be to find Pandora's Box and use the power inside it to destroy Ares. Kratos, having finally been granted an opportunity for revenge against the God of War, asked Athena if the gods would take his nightmares away upon completing this task. The goddess, however, refused to provide a clear answer, and instead offered him an intentionally vague promise of forgiving his past sins. Nonetheless, Kratos interpreted this answer as a 'yes' and set sail for Athens anyway.

Arriving at the docks of Athens, Kratos made his way through the besieged city, killing countless minions of Ares in the process. Encountering Aphrodite in a nearby temple, Kratos decapitated the infamous Medusa, Queen of the Gorgons, at her behest. In return, Kratos was granted the power to freeze his enemies where they stand. He later acquired lightning bolts from Zeus as well, using them to strike down a terrified Athenian guard after he refused to lower the bridge, thereby allowing Kratos to cross. Progressing further into the city, he briefly encountered the Athenian Oracle, who was then kidnapped by a pair of Harpies before she could speak to him. Giving chase, he soon found himself outside the Oracle's temple, where he observed a gravedigger (later revealed to be Zeus) digging a grave. Kratos inquired as to who would occupy it, to which the gravedigger answered that Kratos will. The Ghost of Sparta is alarmed by this answer, but the gravedigger reassures him that "all will be revealed in good time, and when all appears to be lost, I will be there to help".

Progressing further into the temple, Kratos finds the Oracle dangling from a nearby cliff and rescues her. She immediately suspects that Kratos is motivated by something other than a desire to do good, and looks through his memories. The Oracle is horrified by Kratos' past deeds and asks why Athena would ever call on someone like him. Kratos angrily grabs the Oracle by the throat and throws her aside, telling her to stay out of his head.

The Oracle informed Kratos that Pandora's box could be found in Pandora's Temple, located just beyond the Desert of Lost Souls on the back of the Titan Cronos. She warned the Ghost of Sparta that none have ever survived Pandora's temple, but Kratos is unfazed. A statue of Athena appeared before Kratos at the desert entrance, telling him that he must follow the song of the sirens and destroy all three before he can progress further. After doing so, he finds the Titan Horn and uses it to summon Cronos. Kratos begins to climb the Titan, arriving at Pandora's temple three days later. Just outside the temple's entrance, he notices a gatekeeper (who is revealed to be the undead spirit of the first mortal to ever attempt Pandora's temple) tending to a pyre of dead bodies. As punishment for his failure, the gods forced him to watch over the entrance for all eternity, and burn the bodies of any soul foolish enough to try and conquer Pandora's temple. Believing Kratos would fail just like all the others, he disinterestedly wishes the Ghost of Sparta good luck before opening the gates. As the Spartan made his way through the temple, he encountered both Artemis and Hades, from whom he gained the Blade of Artemis and Souls of Hades, respectively. Along the way, he defeats countless monsters (including a giant armored Minotaur), survives impossible traps, and sacrifices a caged Athenian soldier before finally reaching Pandora's box, being the first human ever to do so. However, this did not escape the notice of Ares, who responded by hurling a large broken pillar towards Pandora's Temple, impaling Kratos. The Harpies collected Pandora's Box and took it back to Ares, while Kratos died and fell into the Underworld. As he plummeted to the River Styx, Kratos grabbed hold of the Captain's leg and used it to climb to safety before kicking him down below into the River Styx.

Reaching the top again, Kratos managed to escape the clutches of Hades via the same hole that the Gravedigger had been digging earlier. He tells Kratos that Athena is not the only god watching over him and that he still has one final task to complete before his sins are forgiven. Journeying through the now destroyed city of Athens, he reacquires Pandora's Box from Ares and uses it to grow tremendously in size and gain a substantial amount of power in order to battle Ares on more even footing. After a vicious fight, Ares traps Kratos in a psychological void where demonic incarnations of himself attempt to kill phantom versions of his family. Kratos successfully fights them off but watches helplessly as Ares strips him of his Blades of Chaos and used them to kill his family again. Kratos, now distraught and vulnerable, nearly met his end at the hands of Ares, but soon took notice of the Blade of the Gods and finally kills Ares with it.

Though his past had been forgiven, the Gods refused to relieve him of his nightmares. His last bit of hope taken from him, Kratos attempted to commit suicide by jumping from a cliff. However, Athena had a different plan for the Spartan; she saved his life and offered him the now empty throne of the God of War on Olympus. Kratos accepted the offer, sat upon the fallen god's throne, and became the new God of War (which Kratos had once been a demigod but his species changed into a full god for the first time when he became the God of War when he has proven worthy to become).

### As the God of War

Kratos entered Tartarus once again in search of the Ambrosia in order to destroy it, for the Disciples of Ares desired to use it to resurrect their now dead God. Throughout his journey, Kratos received flashbacks of his first quest for the Ambrosia. Making his way through Tartarus, Kratos encountered and defeated a giant arachnid monster. After pulling his blades out from the beast, Athena spoke to him in an attempt to warn him about new dangers on the path he took once before. Kratos shrugged off her warnings, confident that nothing would stop him.

Later, he encountered Athena again and was told by the goddess that it is now the dead he must fear. Again, Kratos ignored her warnings, proceeding to find the dead bodies of Spartan soldiers who had accompanied him on his earlier quest for the Ambrosia. Rising from the dead, they attempted to kill Kratos in retaliation for abandoning them, although he defeated them all. The island then revealed itself to be a monstrous beast named Gyges, who sought revenge against Kratos after one hundred of his arms were burned off in his battle with Helios' Champion. Kratos, however, incinerated Gyges with the Flames of Apollo, destroying the Tree of Life and all of its Ambrosia. He then left the island, knowing that the disciples of Ares would hunt him down for destroying the last hope they had at reviving their fallen God.

Sometime later, Kratos experienced visions of his mother being held at the Temple of Poseidon in Atlantis. En route to Poseidon's city, Athena attempted to dissuade Kratos from his mission, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. His ship was then attacked by the Scylla. Chasing the monster off, he received another vision, this time of his childhood training with his brother Deimos. He entered the temple and encountered his long presumed dead mother Callisto, who assured Kratos that it is really her, to his shock. She then tells him that his father had taken her there and that Deimos is still alive; trapped and tortured in the Domain of Death. Both shocked and angered, Kratos asked who his father was and why she lied to him all those years ago. Before Callisto could tell him, she is transformed into a hideous beast, forcing Kratos to fight and critically wound her. Callisto used her dying moments to thank Kratos for setting her free and encouraged him to pursue Deimos in Sparta.

Enraged over the gods having taken yet another member of his family, Kratos embarked on a journey to save his brother, defiantly ignoring Athena's orders that he turn back. At one point, Kratos encountered the Titan Thera, imprisoned inside a volcano, who told him he would be incapable of leaving if he did not free her. After forcefully imbuing the Blades of Athena in the Titan's chest, Kratos obtained Thera's Bane and left the volcano. In releasing Thera, Atlantis' fate was sealed.

Upon his descent, he impaled the Scylla, who had been pursuing him relentlessly ever since his arrival, finally defeating the monster. Before returning home, Kratos found himself under attack by Erinys, Thanatos' daughter. Following Erinys' defeat, Kratos returned to Sparta, killing the Piraeus Lion and a Dissenter before entering the Temple of Ares (then in the process of being converted into the Temple of Kratos), where he would find the key to saving his brother. The Spartan then made his way back to the sinking city of Atlantis, although his route was fraught with danger as Poseidon had unleashed an enormous whirlpool at sea and attempted to blast Kratos from the sky in retaliation for the destruction of his city. Kratos survived Poseidon's assault, only to be contacted telepathically by the Sea God via one of his broken statues, warning him that he would pay for what he had done to Atlantis. Sometime later, Athena inadvertently revealed to the Spartan that it was she, along with Ares, who had taken Deimos from him that day, justifying their actions on the grounds that he was a threat to Olympus. This revelation deepened Kratos' hatred for the Gods even further. Proceeding onward, Kratos entered the Domain of Death and the Temple of Thanatos where he finally found his brother Deimos. Kratos set Deimos free, only to be attacked by him, as Deimos blamed Kratos for not helping him when in dire need. Witnessing the battle from close by, Thanatos intervened and snatched Deimos. 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.

After being reunited and reconciling their differences, the Spartan brothers took arms and joined forces against Thanatos. The God of Death taunted the brothers, recalling the oracle's prophecy that a "marked warrior" was destined to destroy Olympus. He comments that Zeus, Ares, and Athena chose the wrong "marked warrior" that day: it was Kratos who should have been taken away, not Deimos. Thanatos then said that it didn't matter anymore and that nothing Kratos does is of his own choosing. Kratos shouted that no one, not even the gods decide his fate, to which Thanatos laughed and said the gods decide, and the Sisters of Fate make it so, further commenting that Kratos was nothing but a pawn in a game that he didn't know was being played. In a climactic battle, Thanatos took Deimos' life, only to have an enraged Kratos take his in return. Kratos then took the lifeless body of his brother to his grave.

After putting Deimos in a grave dug by the enigmatic Grave Digger, Kratos stated that his brother was now free. He once again attempted to kill himself at the bluffs, but ultimately relented, asking himself what he had become. The Grave Digger, who had been close by, prophetically answered *"Death, the Destroyer of Worlds"* before vanishing. Athena then pleaded with Kratos to forgive her, and offered to empower him to full Godhood, but saw her pleas ignored, as Kratos promised her that the Gods would pay for their actions.

Kratos began to isolate himself from the other Gods and spent most of his time assisting Sparta in its conquest of Greece. During a siege on an unknown city, he was attacked by Argos, Hera's pet. Before he could defeat the beast, however, an unknown Assassin killed it in his stead, apparently trying to destroy his reputation on Olympus. Kratos pursued the Assassin but saw his progress halted by the minions of Hades, causing him to believe that the Assassin was Hades in disguise (this notion is further supported by the fact that Hades already resented Kratos for the death of his wife Persephone). The God of War continued his pursuit, only to be stopped by Ceryx, a messenger of the Gods, who allowed the Assassin to escape. On Zeus' orders, Ceryx told Kratos to cease his pursuit. Providing no valid reason, Ceryx only managed to infuriate the God of War. Kratos killed the messenger on the spot, instantly realizing that Zeus would not stand for this action.

When Kratos sent his Spartan soldiers to conquer Rhodes, Athena implored him to stop, as the other Gods grew weary of his destructive behavior. Kratos, as usual, ignored her warning and instead plunged down to the Earth, aiding his army in further destroying the city. An eagle soon appeared and robbed Kratos of his immense size and a significant chunk of his godhood powers, reducing him to the size of an ordinary human. Despite this, he retained some of his god powers, enabling him to easily defeat the warriors of Rhodes. The eagle imbued Kratos' god powers into the Colossus of Rhodes, which was then brought to life.

Kratos fought a long and arduous battle with the giant until Zeus offered help in the form of the Blade of Olympus, which he himself used to end the Titan War. Infusing the remainder of his god powers and immortality into the blade, Kratos defeated the Colossus. As he shouted to the heavens, the statue's falling hand crushed him, knocking the Blade of Olympus out of his grasp. Severely wounded, and stripped of all of his powers, Kratos knew his only hope of survival lay with the Blade. Limping towards it, the eagle soon reappeared and revealed itself to be Zeus in disguise (Kratos originally believed Athena was responsible). Zeus informed Kratos that he didn't want to suffer the same fate as Ares, and demanded that Kratos surrender and serve him forever. However, when Kratos refused, Zeus attacked and killed him by driving the Blade into his abdomen. Zeus would then proceed to use the Blade's power to kill everyone else present during the battle of Rhodes, most notably most of the Spartan warriors, much to Kratos' horror. In his dying breath, Kratos swore that Zeus would pay for his treachery.

### Changing His Fate

Kratos was dragged down by the arms of the Underworld. The Titan Gaia, who had been watching him his entire life, saved Kratos, sealed his wound, and gave him the strength to escape death once again. Kratos, who still has some god powers, manage to fight his way out from the Underworld, resurrecting back to life, he instructed the last surviving soldier to return to Sparta and prepare for battle.

Kratos then took Pegasus, a gift from Gaia, and attempted to fly back to Olympus so he could exact his revenge, but discovered that he could no longer enter Olympus, as he was no longer a God. Instead, Gaia instructed Pegasus and Kratos to seek out the Sisters of Fate. She informed him that the Sisters had the power to travel back in time, which he could use to reclaim back his god powers, his status as god, the Blade of Olympus and take his revenge on Zeus. Kratos first traveled to Typhon's lair, where he met with Prometheus, who begged him to release him from his torment in the Fires of Olympus. Kratos, after stealing Typhon's Bane from the Titan, used it to break Prometheus' last chain, sending him down into the flames, burning him alive and finally releasing him. His ashes granted him the power of the Titans.

Kratos then made his way to the Island of Creation, where the Pegasus was attacked by a pack of Griffins. After defeating the undead soldier who led the pack of griffins, Kratos made a death defying leap off of Pegasus and onto the Island. 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, Kratos continued his quest and soon encountered Theseus, who guarded the Steeds of Time. Theseus laughed and mocked Kratos' quest to destroy Zeus and challenged him to a fight, wanting to see who was the greatest warrior in all of Greece. Theseus was defeated after Kratos skewered him with his own spear and repeatedly slammed the door shut on his head. Kratos then used the Horse Keeper's Key to gain control of the steeds, moving the temple of the Sisters of fate closer and connecting the two together.

Kratos made his way through the Bog of the Forgotten where he encountered an undead foe from his past, Alrik the Barbarian King. Having escaped Hades' torment, he traveled to the Island of Creation for two reasons: to change his fate and exact revenge on Kratos. They engaged in a fierce duel, with Alrik summoning the souls of the dead (including the Captain) with his mighty hammer. Eventually, these souls were either destroyed (again, including the Captain) or absorbed by Alrik, using them to increase his size. Ultimately, Kratos shrunk the king back down, seized Alrik's hammer and used it to crush his skull, killing him once more. Looking upon Alrik's corpse, memories of Kratos' past came back to haunt him, but he pressed on anyway.

Entering Euryale's temple, he obtained the Golden Fleece from a wounded soldier (whom he then sacrificed by throwing his body under a cog, jamming it), which could deflect enemy attacks. Kratos used this weapon to defeat a nearby Cerberus and, eventually, Euryale herself. Enraged at Kratos for decapitating her sister Medusa, Euryale fought with great ferocity but was defeated when Kratos pulled her own head off as well. With the Gorgon sister's death, Kratos used Head of Euryale to turn his enemies into stone. Progressing further, he soon came across another statue of Athena, who implored him not to trust Gaia and to cease his quest for vengeance. As usual, Kratos ignored her warnings and pressed on.

Soon afterward, Kratos encountered his half-brother Perseus, who was on a quest to save his beloved Andromeda from Hades. Perseus challenged the Ghost of Sparta to a fight, believing it would prove his worth to the Sisters of Fate and allow him to rescue Andromeda; or, if not that, would at least allow him to "bathe in the glory of being the one to bring down the mighty Kratos". However, Perseus was no match for Kratos, who made short work of the legendary Greek hero by breaking all of his equipment and impaling him on a large hook. Kratos then took his shield and used it to enter the Courtyard of Atropos. Reaching the Great Chasm, he was confronted by an elderly Icarus, who had by this point lost his sanity.

Icarus tries to get Kratos to stop his quest, rambling on about how it is "MY TEST!!!" while telling him that he would never make it across the chasm. Annoyed, Kratos tries to push him aside, but this does not deter Icarus. He continues to get in Kratos' way and yell about the futility of his quest, telling the Ghost of Sparta that "THIS IS MY TEST" and that only he can fly across the chasm and receive an audience with the Sisters of Fate. Kratos takes hold of his throat and declares "I will make it to the Sisters of Fate and I will use your wings to do so." Icarus tackles Kratos, causing them both to fall off the ledge and plummet to Underworld. Their fight continued as they fell, but ended when Kratos ripped off Icarus' Wings and drop-kicked him down in the Underworld, sealing his fate. However, Kratos managed to fly to safety by landing on Atlas.

Gaia then told him that he needed to return to the surface, prompting Kratos to travel across Atlas' body and destroy part of his chains. This relieved some of the Titan's burden but called attention to Kratos' presence. He scolded Kratos for having the nerve to show his face to him again, after what he had done. Intent on crushing the former God for his imprisonment, Atlas ultimately ceased his attempt to kill Kratos when he revealed that he was now an enemy of Zeus, and sought to change his fate in order to destroy the King of the Gods. Atlas told Kratos more about the Great War and how it ended when Zeus created the Blade of Olympus. Atlas gave Kratos some of his power and lifted him back to the surface, where he continued his journey into the Palace of Fates.

There, he took two scholars hostage and forced them to read an incantation that Kratos himself could not read before ultimately sacrificing them both. Soon afterwards, he encountered the last remaining Spartan warrior, only this time shrouded in darkness. With neither of them aware of who they were facing, both warriors engaged in battle, intending to reaching the Sisters themselves.

Eventually, the Last Spartan fell prey to Kratos' Blades as they tumbled out of the stained glass window into the light, revealing their identities to each other. The Spartan warrior informed Kratos of the fact that Zeus had destroyed Sparta before succumbing to his wounds, causing Kratos to be overtaken with anger and shout to the Heavens. Blinded by rage, he was then attacked by the Kraken, providing little resistance as it proceeded to strangle him. Held firm in its grasp, Kratos then saw an astral projection of his wife, which was actually Gaia in disguise, encouraging him to go on and tell him that Hades will torment him for all eternity if he dies. She told Kratos that the Titans wanted him to lead them into battle before empowering him with the Rage of the Titans. Kratos, ultimately regaining his will to live, engaged the Kraken in battle and killed it. Then, using the Phoenix, he made his way to the Sister's main stronghold.

Kratos entered the Sister's throne room and met with Lahkesis, who told him that the Fates decided upon the destinies of all, and how it was she who allowed him to come as far as he did. She then proclaimed that it was not his destiny to kill Zeus. By this point, Kratos had no interest in negotiation, telling her that they no longer had any control over his destiny, ultimately threatening to kill her if she did not let him pass. This enraged Lakhesis, who then engaged the Ghost of Sparta in battle. Kratos almost immediately gained the upper hand and inflicted heavy damage on Lakhesis, infuriating her even further. She summoned her sister Atropos, who took Kratos back in time to his battle with Ares, attempting to destroy the Blade of the Gods so that his past and present self would cease to exist. Kratos subdued her before teleporting himself back to the present. Lakhesis grew ever more frustrated and engaged once more, only now with Atropos in tow. After a long and hard battle, he trapped them both in a time mirror and shattered it, imprisoning them for good. Kratos then proceeded on to Clotho, who implored him not to go forward with his manipulation of fate. Kratos, having pinned all of Clotho's lower body parts to the ground, ascended to the top platform and impaled her with one of her own instruments, instantly killing her. Kratos then took control of his own life thread in the Loom Chamber, proceeding back in time to the point where Zeus betrayed him.

Once there, Kratos, now having claimed his full godly powers and abilities back, becoming a full god once again, immediately charged at Zeus and tackled him. Shocked by Kratos' sudden reappearance, Zeus assumed that the Sisters of Fate had helped him somehow But as Kratos pulled the Blade of Olympus out of his past self, he claimed that all three Sisters are dead. Zeus then commented that he had underestimated Kratos, but that he would not do so again. Both men charged at each other, engaging in a vicious battle through the skies before landing on the Summit of Sacrifice, where Zeus soon reappeared in his full God form. Zeus summoned an army of sirens to aid him while hurling lightning bolts at Kratos, only for the Ghost of Sparta to use the sirens to paralyze Zeus and plunge the Blade of Olympus into his oversized hand. Infuriated, Zeus elected to shrink back down to mortal size and engage Kratos directly. The God eventually manages to take the Blade away from Kratos, only to lose it once more as Kratos drives the blade into Zeus' abdomen and throws him against a nearby set of standing rocks. Zeus soon manages to swipe the Blade of Olympus out of Kratos' hands a second time but loses it again when Kratos impales Zeus with the blade and throws him against another set of standing rocks. The Ghost of Sparta then ascends the structure and drops the top slab onto Zeus, greatly infuriating the God. Zeus, having had enough, reverts to his full Olympian size and unleashes a powerful lightning storm on Kratos. Yielding defeat, Kratos put down the Blade of Olympus and asked the King of Gods to release him from his torment, to which Zeus responded: "I will release you from your life, my son, but your torment is just beginning" before moving in to kill the Spartan.

However, this is revealed to have been a trick by Kratos, who then deflected the blow, slammed Zeus' head against a nearby rock before pinning Zeus down with his Blades. Taking the Blade of Olympus back, Kratos furiously drove it into Zeus' abdomen, intending to kill Zeus in the same way he had killed Kratos in Rhodes. Athena appeared moments later and charged at Kratos, begging him to stop. Zeus then took advantage of the situation and tried to flee, but this did not escape Kratos' notice. The enraged Spartan made one final attempt on his life, only for Athena to jump in the way and take the blow herself. A distraught Kratos asked Athena why she sacrificed herself, to which she replied: "to save Olympus". She further revealed to Kratos that Zeus is his father and that his actions were driven by fear. Zeus' intention was to finally break the cycle of patricide by killing Kratos, whom he now recognized as the "Marked Warrior" destined to bring about the final destruction of Olympus.

Athena begged Kratos to forfeit his quest for revenge, warning him that all of Olympus would unite against him and that should he succeed in killing Zeus, the world would be destroyed. By this point, Kratos' sanity and compassion for others had been completely drained, and he vowed to destroy all of the Gods along with anyone else who stood in his way. Traveling back in time to the Titanomachy, he brought the Titans with him to the present and led them forth to Mount Olympus to confront the Gods one last time. Meanwhile, a badly weakened Zeus calls forth a meeting of the Gods (although only Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, and Helios are present), urging them to put aside their differences and unite against their common enemy, Kratos. Moments later, Mount Olympus begins to tremble as the Gods look down in horror at the ascending Titans, who are now accompanied by Kratos. The Ghost of Sparta yells out to his father, declaring that the reign of the Olympians is now over.

### The Second Great War

Zeus immediately ordered his fellow Olympians, along with his demigod son Hercules, to attack Kratos and his Titan allies, although Zeus himself opted to stay out of the fray for the time being as he was still recovering from his last battle with Kratos. The Olympians initially had the upper hand, however, as Hades successfully dislodged several Titans with his claws, while Poseidon shot down from Olympus like a torpedo and struck a death blow through Epimetheus' chest, sending the Titan to his grave. Moments later, Poseidon resurfaced within a colossal watery construct in his image, spawning several Hippocampi to aid him in battle. With Poseidon as their greatest threat, having already decimated numerous Titans and now going after Gaia herself, Kratos engaged the God of the Sea in a vicious battle. Kratos freed Gaia from Poseidon's Hippocampi, allowing her to grab the Sea God and slam him into the mountain. With Poseidon pinned down, Kratos moved in to attack. The enraged Spartan pounded Poseidon with his blades, while the God tried to defend himself with his trident. Eventually, Kratos shattered the massive rock formation on Poseidon's chest, exposing his weak spot.

Poseidon broke free of Gaia's grasp by attacking her with more Hippocampi. However, the Spartan quickly broke Poseidon's hold over Gaia, allowing her to throw a devastating punch which sent Kratos on a collision course with the god of the sea, knocking him out of his watery construct and onto a nearby cliff. Kratos grabbed Poseidon and threw him against the rocks, watching as his water construct disintegrated and collapsed into the sea. As the Ghost of Sparta moved in to finish him off, Poseidon told Kratos that no matter how many gods fall, there would always be another to stand against him. Unfazed, Kratos retorted that any god who gets in his way will meet the same fate. Poseidon, realizing just how insane and vengeful Kratos has become, warned him to relent, stating that the death of Olympus would mean the end of the (Greek) world. Kratos, again, is unfazed, and coldly responds: "Then prepare for YOUR death, Poseidon". Kratos then grabbed Poseidon by his neck and battered him uncontrollably, slamming his uncle's head against the rocks before throwing him against a large boulder. In desperation, a visibly terrified Poseidon attempted to crawl away and escape back into the sea, but Kratos easily caught up with him, gouged his eyes out, and snapped his neck before tossing his corpse off the mountain. With Poseidon's death, the seas unleashed a cataclysmic flood that engulfed all of Greece, drowning almost all of the Greeks, save for those on Olympia and other mountaintop locations.

The Spartan climbed back onto Gaia's hand and they both continued onward to Zeus' pavilion, where the King of the Gods angrily anticipated Kratos' arrival. Gaia wrapped her palm around Zeus' platform, trapping him there as an eager Kratos jumped down from Gaia's hand to confront Zeus. The enraged Spartan taunted the King of the Gods, reminding him that with Athena's death, there was no one left to protect him. In response, Zeus told Kratos that Athena died because of his blind rage, asking him how far he was willing to go to sate his need for vengeance. Kratos then boasted that neither the Sisters of Fate nor the gates of Hades could stop him, ultimately declaring that Zeus would not live to see the next sunrise. As Kratos and Gaia prepared to attack, Zeus summoned a massive bolt of lightning which he used to knock both Kratos and Gaia off of the mountain, in the hopes they would fall into the River Styx below. The resulting blast tore off a portion of Gaia's arm, causing her to struggle to maintain her grip. Kratos urged Gaia to help him as he too was losing his grip, but the Titan refused, claiming that doing so would cause both of them to fall off the mountain. Kratos reminded her of why she saved him from death, to which Gaia replied that he was nothing more than a pawn whom they no longer needed, as the Titans had finally reached Zeus.

Betrayed yet again, Kratos plummeted from the mountain and found himself stranded in the Underworld once more. Contemplating his life as he lurched through the River Styx and its caverns, he resolved to escape Hades and destroy Zeus once and for all. After being drained of nearly all of his power by the dead souls of the River Styx, he met the ghost of Athena, who claimed to have reached a "higher existence" and offered to help Kratos exact his revenge on Zeus. Suspicious of this turn of events, Kratos demanded to know why she had such a sudden change of heart as she died protecting Zeus. Athena then explained to Kratos how she saw truths where she did not before, and to regain his trust, she transformed Kratos' ruined blades into the Blades of Exile, which would help him survive the Underworld and the foes that awaited him. She then instructs him to find and extinguish the Flame of Olympus, claiming that it is the source of Zeus' power.

Kratos made his way through the Underworld, meeting lost souls, stealing Apollo's bow from Peirithous by burning him alive, and encountering The Judges, who decided that Kratos was not yet ready for the afterlife before urging him to proceed forward. Along the way, he would encounter a statue of Pandora, which called out to Kratos. Initially mistaking its voice for Calliope's, he soon realized that it was someone else and tried to walk away. Before he could, the voice claimed to know all about Kratos, telling him that everybody on Olympus was terrified of him, to which Kratos replied: "there are reasons for that". Pandora tried to tell him more, but she was interrupted by the voice of Hades, who mocked Kratos. The Spartan ordered Hades to reveal himself, only for the God of the Underworld to reply that Kratos was too impatient and that soon enough, they would have their time to play. Descending deeper into the depths of the Underworld, he encountered a despairing Hephaestus, the Craftsman of Olympus as well as the God of Volcanoes and Fire, who blamed Kratos for his exile to the Underworld as well as the disappearance of his daughter Pandora. Despite his grievances, however, Hephaestus was passive and did not attack Kratos, even offering him helpful information about the secrets of Olympus, his adopted daughter Pandora, and Zeus.

Progressing further into Hades' kingdom, Kratos occasionally found mysterious notes that he silently acknowledged as being from various people in his past. He eventually found and entered Hades' Palace, using the coffin-wed body of Persephone that Hades had restored to open a pathway into a dark room where he would encounter the Lord of the Underworld himself. Once there, Hades recounted his grievances against the Ghost of Sparta, blaming him for the deaths of Athena, Poseidon, and especially his beloved queen Persephone (seemingly unaware of or indifferent to her hatred for him, and her plot to destroy the world) before telling the Spartan that he would make him suffer for all of the pain he has caused him. Emerging from the darkness, Hades tried to rip Kratos' soul out of his body and absorb it, but was unsuccessful. As the room lit up, Kratos immediately engaged the God of the Underworld, viciously tearing off and destroying chunks of his flesh before he could reacquire them and heal himself. As the battle wore on, Kratos used his blades to carve up Hades' neck in an attempt to remove his helmet, which only enraged the Underworld God further. Hades responded by tearing open a crevice in the ground, hoping to pull Kratos into the River Styx. However, Kratos intercepted Hades' claw with one of his blades, ensnaring the two weapons together and initiating a tug of war. With his other blade still free, Kratos continued to fend off Hades' attacks and damage him even more as the enraged god promised Kratos that his death would only be the beginning of his suffering. The Ghost of Sparta continued to have the upper hand, damaging Hades to the point where he could easily fire his other blade and use it to form a noose around Hades' neck. Kratos proceeded to slam his uncle's head into the roof until his helmet was finally dislodged, robbing him of his Claws and causing him to plummet into the River Styx in the process.

The Underworld God was not finished, however, drastically increasing his size and emerging from the River Styx in a last ditch effort to destroy his enemy once and for all. Using Hades' own claws against him, Kratos further weakened the God of the Underworld and attached the claws to his now exposed, damaged skull, ripping the soul right out of his body, killing him. Hades' death caused all of the souls in the Underworld to run rampant, tearing a giant hole in his abdomen which Kratos used to escape the area. Now in possession of Hades' soul, Kratos gained the ability to swim through the River Styx unharmed and use the Hyperion Gate at will.

Kratos once again emerged in Hephaestus' lair. The Smith God then asked Kratos if Hades was truly dead, to which Kratos responded in the affirmative. Hephaestus laughed in approval, claiming that Hades deserved to suffer but thought his death was impossible. Imparting more information to the Ghost of Sparta, Kratos bade farewell to Hephaestus and used a Hyperion Gate to escape from the Underworld.

Back on Mount Olympus, on the outskirts of the city of Olympia, Helios rode by on his chariot and threw some fireballs at Kratos, prompting him to give chase. In the process, he encountered a struggling Gaia, who was amazed by his survival and asked Kratos to help her. Remembering Gaia's earlier betrayal, he adamantly refused to help her, instead severing her arm as she desperately asked Kratos if she meant nothing to him. The Ghost of Sparta retorted in a show of cruel irony it was, in fact, Gaia who was the pawn, *his* pawn while telling a pleading Gaia that the war against Zeus was "his war" and not hers. Kratos then destroyed the root of Gaia's hand with the Blade of Olympus, sending a screaming Gaia plummeting to her presumed death. Later, he finds Helios engaged in a battle with the Titan Perses. Using a nearby catapult, he knocked the Sun God into Perses' grasp. The Titan then crushed him in his hand and threw him across the city. The Spartan proceeded to hunt Helios down and finish him off.

He eventually found Helios, but the badly injured Sun God summoned a phalanx of shield-carrying soldiers to shelter him from Kratos' onslaught. The Spartan took control of a nearby Cyclops and used it to eliminate the phalanx completely. With no other options left, Helios tried to trick Kratos into sparing his life with a promise that he would repay him in full. Although suspicious, Kratos considered the offer and asked Helios where he could find the Flame of Olympus. Helios refused to provide a straight answer, instead warning him of the futility of his quest, to which Kratos responds "of all the lives you should worry about Helios, mine is not one of them". With his guard lowered, Helios attempted to blind Kratos with a beam of sunlight. Although this momentarily stunned him, Kratos blocked out the sunlight long enough to make his way back to Helios and begin stomping his head. The Sun God soon relented and told Kratos that in order to receive the Flame's power, he must step into the Flame itself. However, Kratos immediately knew that this was a lie, as Hephaestus had already told him that the Flame is lethal to both mortals and Gods alike. Helios tries in vain to dissuade Kratos from believing the Smith God, calling him a "freak that has fallen from the graces of Olympus", but Kratos responds that this is exactly why he believed the Smith God in the first place. Having run out of options, Helios resigned himself to his fate, although he remained defiant to the end, telling the Spartan that his death would not lead him to Zeus, to which Kratos disagrees.

The Spartan then grabbed the Sun God and pulled his head off with his bare hands, causing the sun to be permanently veiled by dark clouds and rain storms. Although Helios was now dead, his head could still emit intense sunlight, and Kratos used it as a lantern to light his way through the dark caverns of Mount Olympus. Perses attacked the Spartan on his way up the mountain (presumably to avenge Gaia), forcing Kratos to kill him.

As Kratos reached the Labyrinth, he was confronted by Hermes, who joyously teased and mocked the Spartan warrior both for his past failures and the foolishness of his current vendetta against Zeus. Kratos attempted to ignore Hermes at first, believing him to be nothing more than a "fly from the ass of Zeus", but Hermes continued to provoke him, stating that the only reason he doesn't provide chase is because he knows he will never catch him, before speeding his way up the Chain of Balance away from Kratos. The Ghost of Sparta slowly ascended the Chain of Balance until he reached a chamber containing Pandora's Box. Surprised to see the box, Athena soon appeared and told him that there is a dormant, unused power inside that he will need to defeat Zeus, although the box was inaccessible due to it being sealed off and engulfed by the Flame of Olympus. Athena further explained that in order to quell the Flame, he would need the box's namesake, Pandora herself.

Hermes reappeared the moment Athena departed and provoked Kratos into chasing him. Along the way, Hermes childishly mocked and belittled Kratos for his lack of speed and his perceived stupidity. Although he was reasonably successful in providing chase, Hermes soon found a narrow chain leading to the head of a large statue which Kratos could reach. Hermes sped across the large chasm and made his way to the top of the statue, telling Kratos to "keep up". Greatly underestimating the mortal, Hermes was soon knocked from his perch and severely weakened after Kratos used a nearby catapult to destroy the statue. He also used his blades to attach himself to the catapult fodder, using it to close in on Hermes.

Eventually arriving in an empty forum, Kratos encountered a drunken Hera, who ordered his half-brother Hercules to destroy him as she watched from above. Hercules expressed resentment towards Kratos, claiming that Zeus had always favored him before stating his desire to kill Kratos (calling it his 13th and final labor) and claim the God of War throne for himself. Kratos told Hercules that his aspirations are a waste of time since the reign of Olympus is coming to an end. Hercules replied "we will see about that" before ordering his legions to attack Kratos. Easily besting his undead warriors, Hercules himself joined the fray, using the Cestus he acquired from his conquest of the Nemean Lion to fight Kratos while ordering his legions to swarm him, allowing Hercules a clean hit. After a long and brutal fight, Kratos grabbed Hercules and carried him to the beds of spikes lining the forum walls, throwing him into them and tearing off all of his armor. This only served to provoke Hercules, who then killed all of his legions with an earthquake punch and engaged Kratos one on one. As the fight went on, Hercules grew increasingly impatient and clanged both of his Cestus together, temporarily stunning Kratos. Hercules took this opportunity to brag to Hera about his impending victory, only for Kratos to attack him from behind and take Cestus away from him. Now with no weapons, Hercules tried to best his half-brother using his bare hands and legendary strength, hurling portions of the forum wall at Kratos and eventually lifting the floor out from underneath him in the hopes of causing the Ghost of Sparta to fall to his death. Kratos used the Cestus to climb back up onto the platform before punching it back down on top of Hercules, trapping him underneath. Kratos proceeded to beat his half-brother to death with the Cestus, mutilating and completely destroying his face until the floor beneath them broke, causing them both to plummet to the sewers underground.

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. Hephaestus, knowing full well what Kratos intends to do with Pandora, demanded that he stay away from her, telling him that it's his fault that she is imprisoned in the Labyrinth and the reason that Hephaestus was exiled to Hades. Kratos insists that he has never wronged Hephaestus, but the Smith God tells him that by opening Pandora's box in his quest to destroy Ares, Zeus became infected with Fear and surmised that Hephaestus was hiding something from him. Zeus tortured the Smith God until he confessed to the creation of Pandora, a key to the box which had taken on a life of its own, with Hephaestus loving her as if she was his own daughter. Zeus took Pandora away from him and banished Hephaestus to Hades. Seemingly unmoved, Kratos insisted that he will stop at nothing to obtain his revenge. Hephaestus then decided that the only way to stop Kratos would be to send him on a suicide mission. To this end, he asked Kratos to retrieve the Omphalos stone (unbeknownst to Kratos, it was contained in the belly of the Titan Cronos), promising to make him a special weapon with it.

Having journeyed through Tartarus, he found the severed hand of Gaia resting in the palm of Cronos, who immediately accused Kratos of murdering Gaia. Blaming him for the torment he now suffers in Tartarus (Zeus banished Cronos thereafter Kratos conquered the Temple of Pandora), Cronos attempted to kill the Ghost of Sparta. Initially attempting to crush Kratos between his fingers, the Spartan used Helios' head to temporarily blind Cronos and escape death. Landing on Cronos' arm, he went unnoticed by the Titan until he scaled his arm and destroys a massive pimple. Cronos made several more attempts to flatten Kratos with his hand, only to have one of his fingernails dislodged, causing great pain to the Titan. After scaling Cronos' hand, Kratos once again blinded the Titan before making his way to the belt that kept Pandora's Temple chained to his back. Kratos opened the belt and attempted to remove the crystal nail holding Pandora's Temple in place before Cronos grabbed him and attempted to smash Kratos between his palms. Kratos survived, however, by plunging the Blade of Olympus into one of his palms, eventually making his way to Cronos' shoulder joint. After using a skinless Cyclops to damage Cronos further, the Titan decided to eat Kratos, who then took the Omphalos stone from his stomach and used the Blade of Olympus to escape, spilling the Titan's entrails in the process. Cronos begged the Spartan to leave, as he now had what he came for.

However, Kratos ignored his pleas and once again made his way to Cronos' belt, dislodging the nail and driving it into Cronos' chin. Now in tremendous pain, Cronos called Kratos a "coward" who "murders his own kin". Kratos then stabbed his grandfather in the forehead with a completely charged Blade of Olympus, killing him.

The corpse of Cronos collapsed just above Hephaestus' lair, and Kratos angrily accused the Smith God of sending him on a suicide mission. Hephaestus pleaded innocence, claiming that he knew Kratos could handle himself, before taking the Omphalos stone and forging the Nemesis Whip. Hephaestus then tried to electrocute Kratos with his Ring in a final attempt to kill him, shouting "Here is your retribution!". Kratos managed to shake off the effect and kill Hephaestus by impaling him on his own anvil. In his dying words, the Smith God begged Kratos to spare his daughter, as well as begging for Pandora's forgiveness, after which he passed away. However, Kratos appeared to bear no ill will towards Hephaestus as he knew the sentiment behind his betrayal, as he later told Pandora that Hephaestus had done what any father should: protecting the life of his child.

Using the Nemesis Whip to make his way through the Gardens of Olympus, he encountered a depressed and drunken Hera once more. Blaming Kratos for the deterioration of her garden along with all other forms of life on Earth, she ineffectually struck him but was easily pushed aside. She then taunted Kratos by telling him that his simple mind would never find a way out of the garden, although he eventually did. Deeper into the garden, Kratos encountered Hera one more time, and she continued to express her hatred for him because of what he was doing to the planet. Kratos tried to ignore her and continue on until she called Pandora a "little whore", causing him to choke her and brutally snap Hera's neck. Her death caused all plant life to wither and die.

Kratos returned to the Labyrinth and met an imprisoned Daedalus, who was the Labyrinth's main architect. Zeus promised him that he would have his son Icarus back once he completed the Labyrinth, but instead imprisoned him in one of the Labyrinth's traps. Nevertheless, Daedalus continued to delude himself into believing that Icarus was still alive and that Zeus would come through. His hopes were ultimately crushed when Kratos revealed that Icarus was dead (although the Spartan neglected to mention that he was the one who killed him by ripping off his wings and allowing him to fall into Hades), causing Daedalus to sob uncontrollably. Soon afterward, and despite Daedalus' pleas, Kratos pulled a lever in order to progress, ultimately setting off a trap that killed the poor inventor. Moments later, he rescued Pandora from the Labyrinth and took her with him. Initially believing her to be nothing more than an object, she reminded Kratos so much of his daughter that he grew to care for her as his own child. With Pandora in his possession, he had one final task ahead of him: neutralize the Three Judges. To this end, he travels back to the (now completely abandoned) Underworld and severed the Chain of Balance, destroying the Three Judges in the process. Making his way back up to the Flame's chamber, he raised the Labyrinth so that Pandora's box could be accessed. At this point, Kratos began to have second thoughts and refused to let Pandora sacrifice her life. Pandora resisted, telling Kratos that she did not want to be treated as a child and that she needed to embrace her destiny, only to be interrupted and apprehended by Zeus himself.

Kratos ordered Zeus to let go of Pandora, only for the King of the Gods to refuse and berate him over his apparent obsession with Pandora, referring to her as an "object". Zeus told Kratos that he should not confuse Pandora with his own flesh and blood, but mused that he already had. He cited the destruction of Olympus and the world as proof of Kratos' need for atonement before expressing absolute horror at his son's actions, telling him to look around at what he has done. Kratos, in turn, snarled that he only saw what he had come to destroy. Zeus then expressed regret over taking pity on Kratos, calling it the "greatest mistake" he had ever made, before telling Kratos that taking pity on Pandora would be *his* greatest mistake. Kratos angrily insisted that it had nothing to do with her, with Zeus replying that it had *everything* to do with her. The increasingly agitated Spartan once again ordered Zeus to put her down, to which he responds by callously tossing her aside. Father and son engaged in battle once more as Olympus continued to crumble around them. Meanwhile, Pandora tried to run into the Flame, intent on pacifying it, although Kratos attempted to stop her. However, Zeus inadvertently provoked Kratos into letting her go by stating that he should not fail her like he failed his family, causing Kratos to attack Zeus in a fit of extreme rage.

Kratos then opened the Box once again, only to discover that it was empty. Zeus then mocked him for "another stunning failure" and went outside to recover, while Kratos' fury boiled even further. Outside, father and son met again on the pavilion. Zeus, overlooking the destruction his son caused, mused that he would have a lot of work to do after defeating Kratos, who urged his father to face him in combat, stating "it is time to end this", to which Zeus agrees. But before either could claim victory, the platform suddenly began to tremble as a reawakened Gaia grabbed hold of the pavilion. Kratos expressed shock at her survival, only for Gaia to blame the Ghost of Sparta for the destruction of her planet (not realizing that Kratos and Gaia shared the same goal of destroying the gods, and that the destruction he caused would have happened anyway). She attempted to crush the pavilion between her hands, declaring that father and son would die together. Seeing no other exit, Zeus and Kratos were forced to enter the wound on Gaia's chest (still present from her battle with Poseidon) and dueled near Gaia's heart, sucking the life out of it. Kratos managed to kill both Zeus and Gaia by simultaneously impaling both with the Blade of Olympus.

Awakening amidst the cracked earth, Kratos tried to leave, but Zeus' still active spirit, consumed by some lasting hatred for his infidel son and empowered by Fear, attacked Kratos, draining him of his willpower and anger, and instead of filling him with fear and loss, bringing him to the verge of death. Trapped inside his own mind and tortured by his memories, Kratos was aided by the spirit of Pandora, who helped him abolish the various torments of his soul. With her help, Kratos finally forgave himself for killing his family and Athena before he dove into The Pool of Blood and confronted his inner demons in the form of his slain victims. 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.

Kratos then realized that Zeus was now so weak that he no longer needed the Blades to kill him. The Spartan cast his weapons aside and charged at Zeus, who attempted to hold Kratos back. However, he easily broke through Zeus' defenses and slammed him against a rock, causing black smoke (presumably Fear) to escape from Zeus' mouth. Kratos then furiously beat Zeus to death with his bare hands, thus finally fulfilling his goals of revenge and signifying the end of the Olympians' reign once and for all (Ironically, in doing this final act, Kratos has inadvertently fuffiled Ares' wishes of defeating Zeus and ending the Olympian rule). The chains around Kratos' arms loosened as Zeus' body exploded, plunging the world into complete chaos. With the reign of Olympus now over, Kratos looked out over the horizon and finally came to realize just what he had done.

Arriving to congratulate Kratos, Athena asked him to turn over the power he claimed from Pandora's Box, stating that mankind was now ready to hear her message. Kratos responded that the world now stands in ruin, and therefore whatever message she has is now useless. Athena once again told him to give her what he found in Pandora's box, only for Kratos to tell her that the box was empty. However, Athena saw the power in his eyes and told him that she was the one who put the powers of Hope inside the box. Kratos reflected that Pandora had died in vain, only to serve his need for vengeance. He was consumed with grief over her death, as well as the death of the world around him.

Athena ordered Kratos to return the power he had obtained, as she believed it rightfully belonged to her. For now that the world was cleansed by chaos, she would rebuild it under her rule, using the power of hope. She then quickly came to realize, however, that when Kratos first opened the box to kill Ares, the evils were released and infected the gods of Olympus, whereas she initially believed that all of the evils went into Kratos. As the evils took hold of the gods, the power of hope instead infused itself into Kratos. Buried underneath all of the years of guilt, anger, and need for revenge, Hope was finally released when Kratos learned to forgive his past deeds, thus releasing its power. Kratos, wracked with guilt over the world's destruction and realizing that he had nowhere else to go and nothing left to live for, committed suicide by impaling himself with the Blade of Olympus. As a result, the power of Hope was inadvertently released into the mortal world, angering Athena. The Goddess told him how disappointed she is, to which he merely responded with a tiny smirk and a faint laugh. She then pulled the Blade out of Kratos' body and disappeared, leaving a heavily breathing Kratos to die. The wounded Spartan then laid himself down, laughing softly as he lowered his head down the ground, and slept in a pool of his own blood, his breathing echoing throughout the end, seemingly ready in letting death grab his soul.

### A Ghost in Exile

However, Kratos, having somehow survived, discovered that he is cursed to walk the Earth forever as punishment for his terrible deeds, and the only greek God of War who survived and goes to the another realm. Upon seeing the Blades of Chaos (which haven't been seen since the fight with Ares), he attempted to get rid of them by tossing them into the sea. As he wandered into a nearby cave to sleep the Blades reappeared impaled in the rock when he awoke. Determined to have solitude and be rid of his curse, he sets sail, tossing the blades away yet again. As he reaches the shore he wanders for days on end without sleep until he succumbs. Once again the blades return to him and again he disposes of them. Soon he wanders into a village, who is aware of his legend, there he meets an old man that tells him that everyone is afraid of him because he is the Ghost of Sparta and he is in the Land of the Pharaohs but his destiny is not staying there, Kratos tells to the old man to leave him alone and pushes him away, but the old man tells him about destiny then Kratos continues in his long journey without sleeping but he was attacked by two jackals, then he stops at an oasis to rest were he meets a Baboon that tells Kratos about destiny but Kratos can't believe he thinks that he is losing his mind, then Kratos continues his odyssey and he is trying to eat but he ends up sleeping then the Blades of Chaos reappeared again then Kratos discovers that Persephone's words had an effect on him and discovers that he is immortal, then Kratos continues his journey without sleeping and torturing himself then at a river he meets an Ibis, the Ibis tells Kratos about destiny again, Kratos says that he will not surrender and begs the Ibis to leave him alone to end his suffering then Kratos faints and the Ibis tell him that he will use all his strength for his long journey.

Shortly after fainting, Kratos started having a dream where he was in an unknown place. There, he encounters a statue of Athena who tells him they’re not through yet and that he must return home and embrace his destiny and fulfill his purpose. However, Kratos refuses, figuring she was the one responsible for returning the Blades of Chaos by his side and demanding her to leave him alone. Upon awakening, the blades returned to his side once more. The same old man he had encountered before asks Kratos if he found the answers he sought only for the Spartan to answer that he is damned in his own personal hell. The old man tells Kratos that the hour he’ll be needed in is fast approaching and to prepare himself for the battle to come. However, Kratos refuses to listen and hurls his blades into a lake before venturing on his own again. Eventually, Kratos would return to the same village he entered months before with the same fearful expressions. As it turned out, the villagers had prayed for salvation as a large crocodilian-like Chaos Beast was attacking them. However, Kratos questioned why the villagers prayed to gods to save them from monsters, stating that the gods are monsters and monsters don’t answer prayers. The old man returns and says that perhaps Kratos was the answer to their prayers and states that it’s written he would return. Having had enough of the villagers begging him, Kratos punches some away, threatening to kill them if they don’t to leave him alone. The old man tells Kratos to stop and asks if he could show mercy upon them just as he would have wished mercy upon his lost loved ones. The man tells Kratos once again that he cannot outrun destiny and that the past will always be with him. Having had enough talk about his destiny, Kratos lashes out, saying he’s had enough of others telling him what to do and that only he can decide his own destiny with no god or man to compel him. As the Chaos Beast drew closer, the old man questions if Kratos is willing to let the villagers die just to delay the inevitable for a short while longer. Kratos simply answers that he wants to be left alone. Before he could continue, however, the old man disappeared upon turning his head. At this point, Kratos starts to question if he’s finally driven to madness and what is even real anymore. Finally, the Chaos Beast confronts Kratos which the weary Spartan responds by demanding it to leave him alone in his misery. The beast only growled at Kratos which ultimately provokes him into fighting at the creature, as he lunges right at it.

Kratos fought with the Chaos Beast, destroying several of village’s houses in the process, before getting pinned on the ground. The Chaos Beast then tries to devour Kratos in its jaws, but the Spartan kills it by tearing its upper jaw off and shouted in rage. The villagers then re-emerge out of hiding to look at the damage done by Kratos’ battle before fleeing in terror once again. A frustrated Kratos questions if the villagers are never satisfied and stated the monster they fear is already dead. The mysterious old man appeared to Kratos again, stating that his purpose has not yet been fulfilled. Noticing that he appears and disappears rather quickly, Kratos questioned if he’s even here at all. The old man responded that it only matters that Kratos hears him and sees the threat looming over. Suddenly, a much larger Chaos Beast resembling a hippopotamus emerged from the river and began attacking. The old man then states that the hour of Kratos’ need has finally come. Growing weary of the situation, Kratos shouts that he doesn’t care about the villagers or his time of need and questions if the beast came up to avenge its kin or simply eat the villagers. The Chaos Beast simply roars at Kratos and prepares to fight him. Desperately wanting to be left alone and for his torment to end, Kratos decides to turn back and lunge at the beast. Kratos tries punching it in the nose, only for it to prove ineffective before being sent flying into a mountain by a powerful kick, knocking the Spartan unconscious.

Once again, Kratos woke up in a dream realm where he was confronted by Athena and the Egyptian God of Wisdom, Thoth. They tell him that he’s outran his destiny for far too long and that he must embrace it. Kratos becomes furious over the fact that he’s cursed to forever use the Blades of Chaos and that is his purpose in life. Upon grabbing the Blades, Kratos reawakens and slashes at the Chaos Beast. It actually managed to cut through its thick hide before it kicked the Spartan away. However, Kratos uses the Blades to ground himself before cutting off the charging Chaos Beast’s leg. He then uses the Blades to slice the beast some more before finally killing it by slicing its head off. Afterwards, Kratos collapsed where the old man, revealed to be Thoth, tells him that he’s fulfilled his purpose. The Spartan then laments on how rage and blood are his curse and how he’s trapped in a cage of his darkest emotions and constantly reliving his worst nightmares before moving onward.

### A New Beginning

See: ***God of War***
Over a century after the destruction of Olympus, Kratos lives a secluded life in the Northlands, the realm of the Norse gods. It is revealed that the chaos caused by Kratos only destroyed the Greek World instead of the entire planet, and different mythologies are separated by location (but within each location contains a differing cosmology). After 75 years of solitude he met Faye, a fierce warrior from a sundered realm, and engaged each other in battle. The fight was brief as they shared world weariness and soon after got to know one another and eventually fall in love. Ten years later they build a house in the Wildwoods and Kratos divulges his past to his wife and hides the blades in the basement, still being unable to be rid of them. Kratos forbade Atreus from ever going down into the basement because he wanted to keep the blades (and his past) hidden from Atreus. Twenty-two years pass as Faye gives birth to a son named Atreus, although she initially wanted to name him Loki. The boy was raised mainly by Faye, who taught him how to hunt and how to read the Nordic language, among other things. Per Faye's request, Kratos never took Atreus hunting since the boy was constantly sick. When Faye spoke about the Aesir Gods, Kratos decided to listen to her stories.

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. It is implied he failed repeatedly until, in one instance, he encountered wolves and succeeded in fending them off. However, trolls appeared and were able to push Kratos to the point he lost control and he slaughtered the trolls with ease, causing Kratos great anger with himself. Kratos would continue to "test" himself, resulting in him not being home very often. This led Atreus to believe Kratos does not care about him or Faye.

Kratos rarely instructed Atreus to perform any chores since he was always away and did not know how healthy Atreus was. Instead, he reinforced Faye's instructions such as when Faye told Atreus to cut some firewood, Kratos (after forcing it out of Atreus) enforced the decision and told Atreus to pull his weight.

### The Journey

#### The Marked Trees

A couple of years later, Faye died due to unexplained reasons and requested that her family take her cremated ashes to the highest peak in the Nine Realms. 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. While the two survived the attack, Atreus would show his aggressive tendencies by continuing to stab the already dead troll, with Kratos determining him not to be ready.

As they went back to their house, a stranger suddenly knocked on their door, demanding that Kratos show himself. The strange man would then demand him for answers while taunting him of his past, something he did not anticipate. The argument would then spawn an aggressive fight, with the stranger showing unexpected great power. But Kratos would be the supposed victor when he snapped the man's neck after an exhausting battle.

Knowing that the dangers of the outside world will inevitably come, Kratos changed his mind and he and Atreus began their journey.

#### Path to the Mountain

During their trip to the highest mountain, they met a dwarf named Brok, who mentions that he and his brother are the forgers of the axe that Kratos possesses. The dwarf offers improvements to the axe as well as other weapons, armor, and equipment the two carry.

Atreus found tracks of a boar, deciding to hunt again. 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. While she sent Atreus to gather some supplies, she told Kratos in secret about his godly heritage, knowing that his son is unaware of his father's and his own true nature. She warns the former god of the danger he has put the two in, as the Norse gods will be very hostile towards them as a result. The Witch proceeded to open a portal leading them to their destination, wishing them luck on the way out.

As they made their way to the Lake of Nine, they found a rune saying, "Sacrifice your arms to the center of the water, awaken again the cradle of the world". Kratos decided to the throw his Leviathan Axe to the lake, in compliance. Though a moment passed as if nothing had changed, marked by a delay in the axe's return, the lake erupted into heavy drifts and waves. From the epicenter of the waves emerged Jörmungandr, the World Serpent. As the serpent began to slumber again, Kratos and Atreus realize that its awakening had dropped the lake's water, bringing them closer towards more concise destinations.

They find a large mechanism with a bridge attached to it named Temple of Týr and decided to look around, also finding Brok again, who happens to set up shop in the massive area.

Exploring once more, they meet Sindri, Brok's brother and owner of the other half of the two's brand, who was curious as to why Kratos is in possession of the Leviathan Axe as it was created specifically for Faye. Atreus explains how the mother had already passed away and decides to help the two in creating improvements to their armor and weaponry, like Brok.

They travel closer to the peak of the mountain afterward, albeit while intercepting some enemies like an Ogre. Kratos and Atreus find themselves halted when there appears to be Black Breath blocking their way up the mountain. The Witch unexpectedly shows up in front of the two again, explaining how the only way to cast it away is by using the Light of Alfheim. She then takes them back to Tyr's Temple, commanding Kratos to have the contraption functioning again. There she takes them to the Realm Travel Room, the only place in all the nine realms one can use to travel between said realms. Using a Bifröst, they move the temple's bridge platform to the Alfheim gate, transporting them to Alfheim.

#### The Light of Alfheim

As they arrive, the Witch for reasons unknown is magically and violently pulled out of Alfheim, but not before telling Kratos to use the Bifrost to obtain the Light. Continuing on, Atreus notices how the realm is in constant warfare between the Dark Elves and the Light Elves. As the duo make their way across Alfheim, the Dark Elves and their leader Svartáljǫfurr try to kill Kratos and Atreus. After fighting their way through countless members of Dark Elves, they make it to the central chamber of the Light of Alfeim. After they arrive there, Kratos gives the axe to Atreus, and then steps into the Light to absorb the Light of Alfheim into the Bifrost, which clearly causes him pain. While he's inside the light, Kratos follows Faye's ashes and he has auditory visions of how Atreus resents him for not being a loving father. In the vision, he arrives on the bridge of Jötunheim and he sees Faye in the distance. Before he is able to reach her, Kratos is then pulled out of the light by Atreus. Kratos then angrily scolds Atreus, and he then he realises how long he's been in the light. Atreus is clearly angry and scared, and lashes out at Kratos, who numbly takes the intense response. Kratos then infuses the Talon Bow with Light of Alfheim, and with the newfound power the duo kills the Dark Elf King and the light is won back over to the Light Elves. While heading back to Tyr's Temple, Atreus angrily accuses Kratos of not loving Faye- Kratos argues that they simply have different ways of grieving, and they reconcile.

#### Inside the Mountain

After returning to Midgard the duo make their back to the Mountrain and dispel the Black Breath. They enter the Mountain and they defeat more creatures, bonding more as father and son while doing so. Soon after the duo make their way to the top of the Mountain, they fare interrupted by Sindri being attacked by Hræzlyr, a dragon living in the mountain. Kratos manages to kills the dragon with the help of Atreus, and the grateful Sindri gives Atreus branded mistletoe arrows, and also infuses lightning into the Talon Bow. The pair use the new arrows to get to the top of the mountain. Before they reach the very summit, Kratos and Atreus encounter the mysterious man who attacked their house earlier, along with two other men, talking to a man in a tree. By eavesdropping on them, they find out that the man is the god Baldur, and that they are looking for Kratos and Atreus. The men leave, and the duo learn that the man in the tree is Mimir. Mimir informs them that Faye's ashes were meant to be scattered in Jötunheim, as the highest peak in all the realms was actually there, not in Midgard. 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. With Mimir's head, the duo then return to the Witches' Woods. 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. Afterwards, they both help her revive Mimir's head. Upon resurrectioon, Mimir accidentally reveals the witch to be Freya, the previous of Vanir gods and Odin's former wife. Kratos gets angry with her for not telling him about her godly identity and he leaves quickly without thanking her.

Kratos and Atreus make their way back to the Lake of Nine. After Mimir tells them to go to the horn Kratos and Atreus encountered earlier, Kratos holds Mimir's head to the horn, who blows into it. This summons the World Serpent, who immediately devours the statue of Thor next to the Muspelheim gate. Mimiir explains this is because the serpent hates Thor. Mimir then speaks in Jormungandur's dead language to see if he recognizes him. He figures out that the serpent mistook Kratos and Atreus of being friends of Thor, until Mimir assures him that they are no friends of Thor. Mimir confides that he has never spoken the giants tongue sober. Jormungandur tells Mimir how to get to Jotunheim- first, they must retrieve Thamur's Chisel, then learn the Black Rune with which they can enter the gateway on the Summit. After the conversation, the serpent realigns the bridge to help them reach Thamur's chisel. While on their way to Thamur's corpse, Mimir tells the story of Odin and Freya's marriage, which was concocted by himself in order to bring peace between the Aesir and Vanir gods. After the death of Odin's first love, the giantess Fjörgyn and mother to Thor, Odin felt heartbroken and Mimir noticed this. He created a treaty which would give Odin a wife- the goddess Freya. 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. Freya regretted the marriage when Odin's obsession with Jotunheim got in the way again, and Odin betrayed her and stole her magic knowledge.

Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir make it to the dead Stone Mason's body. But Mimir tells them that they will have to climb up to his hammer and smash the ice, as their weapons nor Thor's hammer can demolish it. Kratos and Atreus climb up to the hammer and detach the chains allowing the hammer to fall and smash the almost impenetrable ice. After defeating more enemies, the trio overhears voices of the demigods Modi and Magni. They're just about to retrieve part of his chisel when Magni appears who was battling an ogre, snapping his neck, until he notices the duo. Magni tells them to surrender, but Kratos refuses, to which Magni draws his weapon and prepare himself for battle. Kratos tells Atreus to flee as he will most likely get killed. But Modi appears and a fight ensues. The gods use the snow-blind to gain the advantage, during which Kratos asks of why do they hunt them and what does Odin want. Magni replies he doesn't know and he doesn't care, Modi decides to taunt Atreus mostly referring to his deceased mother in order for him to lose control of his actions. Despite the taunts, Atreus manages to stay calm with his father's words. While Magni distracts Kratos, Modi taunts the boy again this time causing the boy to lose control and charge wildly against the god. Kratos breaks his defense and kills Magni causing Modi to back away from Kratos in fear and cowardice. Atreus, still angered over the insults recklessly shoots arrows at him before showing early signs of sickness again.

#### The Sickness

Kratos and Atreus journey back over to Tyr's Temple to retrieve the Black Rune and they're about to activate the sandbowl when Modi ambushes the duo pinning Kratos down under lightning. He says that he'll only earn his father's hammer cause Magni's dead and he said that he'll be a joke as he lived under his brother's shadow for most of his life. Atreus tells him to stop, only for Modi to spur another insult about Faye, causing the boy to charge at him, only for Modi to knock him aside and continue electrocuting his father. Atreus shrugs off the attack and says he doesn't know anything about his mother, Modi says that he'll be his new brother and will get to know him real soon, right after he finishes killing Kratos. This causes Atreus to activate his Spartan Rage for the first time, before collapsing. Upon seeing his son, Kratos struggles to get up and activate his Spartan Rage with a frightened Modi to walk back in terror. Kratos disarms Modi before knocking him into a wall with Modi running away in terror crying. Mimir suggests that Kratos takes Atreus back to Freya for help. As they enter the Witch's cave, an unknown person blows into the horn to call the World Serpent. At first, Freya refuses to help Kratos due to his resentment towards deities, but when Kratos tells her the situation, Freya changes her mind and lets them in. Freya tells Kratos that this is no ordinary illness because of his son's true nature lying within him. To cure the illness, Freya instructs Kratos to retrieve the Bridgekeeper's Heart in Helheim, but not after telling him that his Leviathan Axe will be useless as the enemies there will be immune to frost as well as warning him that to never travel on the Bridge of the Dead as it is a one-way ticket into Helheim. Freya ensures Kratos that the boy is not his past, but his son and that he needs his father and she gives him the travel rune to Helheim. Kratos rushes home via boat to retrieve his Blades of Chaos (which have been there for 50 years) while being goaded and taunted by Athena about his past that he'll always and forever, will be, a monster. While Kratos is aware of this, he tells Athena that he is no longer *her* monster. Kratos journeys over to Tyr's temple to activate the travel room to Helheim where Mimir tells him that no one, not even the gods can survive the cold in Helheim, and notices that Helheim is too overpopulated as the worthy are supposed to go into Valhalla. Kratos eventually reaches the bridge where Mimir suggest he cause trouble as he is very good at it, he steps into the light where the troll notices him and the two have an intense fight with the troll gaining an upper hand when Kratos manages to kill the beast and retrieve his heart. Just as Kratos was about to leave, he encounters an illusion of Zeus. Mimir is surprised that Zeus was his father. Confused, Kratos asks Mimir on how he is here. Mimir reminds to never go beyond the bridge.

As Kratos journeys back to Midgard, Mimir pieces the relationship Kratos had with Athena, his fire blades, Zeus being his father, and the ash-white skin, he realizes he is hanging on the hip by none other than the Ghost of Sparta himself. Kratos coldly tells him to not call him that, with Mimir saying that the Greek pantheon had it coming to them. Mimir also tells Kratos to tell Atreus of his godly heritage, but Kratos refuses to do so, with Mimir stating that Atreus will eventually have to be told his true nature soon, but Kratos drops the subject.

#### The Truth

Back in Midgard, Kratos returns to Freya's stronghold where Freya too had a son, and that he disappeared many years ago and vows herself to learn from her past mistakes with Kratos concluding that he must know the truth. Atreus recovers successfully and continues on the journey. As they are about to leave the grotto, Kratos notices Atreus acting quiet, and knows that he overheard his talk with Freya, he tells his father that he said he was cursed, he thought that he was weak because he wasn't like his father, and along the journey, everything was different for him. 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. Atreus is excited that he is a god and asks his father if Faye was a god as well. Kratos tells his son, that she was mortal, but was aware of his true nature. When the boy asks of why his father waited so long to tell him, Kratos comforts Atreus saying that he hoped to spare him, that being a god can be a lifetime of anguish and tragedy, which is the curse. Atreus, however, doesn't feel like a god, but in time, both father and son will learn. Atreus is still unsure if he could turn into a wolf, but Kratos is welcome to be surprised, Mimir adds that every god is unique such as a faculty for languages especially for one so young.

They return to Tyr's Temple and activate the sandbowl which lowers then down to Tyr's Vault. After getting past the first trap, Kratos and Atreus discover a room where they encounter many traps and relics Tyr has collected from many different lands, including Greece.

Kratos notices a vase with leftover Lemnian wine from the Greek island of Lemnos and takes a sniff of it, which seems to give him some level of calmness and nostalgia. But as he puts it back, he then notices a terracotta vase with an image of him covered in blood and with the Blades of Chaos on his hands. Kratos, seeing as he is not being watched, takes the vase and observes his image with visible regret and sorrow on his face. 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 Kratos image on a piece of the broken vase on the floor.

Upon lowering the Black Rune, Kratos gets caught in a trap in which he tells Atreus to match the puzzles on the wall to match them, but this didn't stop at all as the floor started lifting them up to a ceiling of spikes, to which Atreus sacrifices his mother's knife to break the chain. As they are about to retrieve the Black Rune, Kratos gives Atreus a second knife, from which he told him that he crafted it with a mix of metals from his homeland and the metals from the norse world, he also shares to his son that the power of a warrior comes from within, but only when tempered by emotions, as being a god has a greater responsibility. As they are leaving, Kratos gives Atreus a drink of the wine from the vase he took earlier before drinking some himself explaining the origins of the wine.

Over time, Atreus starts to become arrogant and cocky after learning of his godhood which deeply concerns Kratos. Mimir asks Atreus if he's ready to see Jötunheim, Atreus adds that while he's excited, he's sad that the journey is almost over. Sindri quickly catches their attention. Kratos coldly tells Atreus not to tell him about their quest and that he's a god and that it's a personal quest, to which the dwarf adds that he knows a thing or two about family matters. Atreus, whines about the fact that Sindri talks about Brok all the time and how Brok is better than he is. So he tells Sindri to stop talking about it out of spite, leaving the dwarf hurt. When Kratos asks his son of the way he spoke to the dwarf, Atreus explains that he's fed up of all the talk about him and his brother. Kratos agrees, that while they are annoying, there was no need to make him an enemy and that it was unnecessary and unkind, to which Atreus scoffs at when he said that his mother wasn't a god when Kratos said that Faye would disagree, to which later, Atreus asks if he could carry his mothers ashes, to which Kratos refuses due to speaking ill of her, and reminding him that he will not dishonor her.

After entering the mountain, they once again encounter Modi, who's been beaten mercilessly into a bloody pulp by his father, saying that his father blamed him for leaving Magni to die. Atreus, threatens him to back off, or he'll pick up where his father left off. Modi tries to attack, but is too injured to do so, Atreus looks back at his father, in which he answers that Modi isn't worth killing due to his battered state. Atreus said that he should take back for all the insults Modi said about his mother. Kratos refuses to let him kill the god, but Atreus reminds him that they're gods and they can do whatever they want, in which Modi spurs one last insult about Faye, before being stabbed in the neck. Kratos tries to restrain him, but it falls on deaf ears, Atreus says that his knife is much better than his mother's, before kicking Modi down a ravine. Kratos reprimands him that his recklessness and arrogant nature will make him a target, reminding him that he taught him to kill, but only in defense of himself, never as an indulgence. When Atreus asks what's the difference, Kratos tells him that there are consequences in killing gods. Atreus yells of how he knows such a thing, and Kratos warns him to watch his attitude.

#### Back in Helheim

After reaching the summit, Kratos activates the portal to Jötunheim with the newly acquired chisel and are about to enter when Baldur ambushes the duo with him gaining the upper hand. Kratos tells his son to cross the bridge, but Atreus ignores his father's orders and shoots Baldur several times before being knocked aside. Baldur explains that the boy has the brains now with Kratos being a nuisance. Kratos manages to block Baldur's attack and knock him into the portal, causing it to collapse. Kratos tells his son to leave, with Baldur agreeing he'd do the same. Atreus charges at the god, but Kratos restrains him saying he's not ready, in which Atreus responds by shoving his father away and shooting him with one of his arrows. He charges at Baldur again and stabs him in the shoulder, but Baldur, being invincible, shrugs off the attack and drives the knife into Atreus before taking him with him. Kratos follows behind and lands on Baldur's dragon. After a brief scuffle, Baldur manages to knock Kratos off, with Kratos landing safely onto the temple bridge. Kratos runs towards the temple with Brok asking of who activated the bridge. Kratos catches up to Baldur, saying that the portal is locked into Asgard, and it'll be over for him when the entire weight of as Asgard will descend upon him. Kratos knocks Baldur aside and instead locks in Helheim. Kratos, Atreus, and Baldur fall into Helheim getting sucked in far that they fly over the Bridge of the Damned. Kratos angrily scolds his son and manages him to keep him in line again. They start their journey back to Midgard with Mimir saying that the boat is the only way back and will take them halfway back to the Temple bridge. As they journey back, they encounter Baldur once again, but this time, he encounters a flashback to when he first got his power of invulnerability. It's also revealed that his mother is none other than Freya herself. Freya cast a spell on him to prevent him from dying, however, this also made Baldur not feel anything, from food, temperature, women, etc. Baldur tearfully regrets not killing Freya and is left to mourn. Kratos and Atreus eventually make it to the boat where they set sail back to the temple bridge. But the boat gets stuck halfway across so Kratos finally lets Atreus help him get it unstuck. Mimir says that even though they will make it back to Midgard in one piece, he tells them that there's no other way to Jötunheim.

As they get near the bridge, both father and son notice Zeus before they encounter a younger version of Kratos killing Zeus. Atreus tells him to focus as the boat is near the bridge and about to collapse because of the fires surrounding it had caused the boat to burn. After crash landing in the Realm Travel Room, they find the missing panel about Tyr traveling, to other lands including Greece. Mimir then realizes that there's another way to Jötunheim by making a key and the secret to unveiling the missing Jötunheim gate as Odin never gave up hope. On their way back to Midgard, Kratos asks Mimir of Baldur's vulnerability, Mimir says that there's none at all, as he's invulnerable to threats: physical or magical. All three realize that Mimir was bewitched, during the reanimating process, Freya bewitched Mimir so that he wouldn't tell the duo that mistletoe is the key to Baldur's invulnerability, forcing to him to mechnically repeat the phrase "invulernable to all threats, physical or magical" whenever he tries to speak of Baldur's weakness. After showing Brok the picture of making the key, he refuses to do so, as he tends to make weapons of war, not tools. Sindri shows up and the brothers reconcile and together, they make a key for them. When Atreus asks why the rune looks different, Sindri explains that it had to be reforged.

#### Tyr's Secret and The Truth Revealed

Going down to the lower part of the temple, Kratos activates the door beneath the travel room where they find that the travel stone to Jötunheim is on the floor, but realize the room is upside down and could be flipped. After avoiding many traps and fighting enemies, they manage to break the chains holding the temple in place and Kratos was able to flip the temple and manages to recover the travel stone. Mimir explains that Tyr used the travel rune to follow his own path, hence why he was able to travel to other lands, in the realm between realms. After making it into the void, the travel stone embeds the duo with protection as Kratos leaps into the void. After landing without any side effects, Atreus notices the missing Jötunheim tower was in the realm between realms all long. They enter the tower and insert the stone into a pedestal where it absorbs all the stone's energy. After fighting countless waves of enemies, Kratos opens the door and find themselves back in Midgard. With the tower restored, the duo plus Mimir lock Jötunheim in, but Mimir realizes that the travel crystal is missing. Mimir explains that they need his other eye to get to the realm.

Without hesitation, they ask Brok and Sindri about it, but Sindri was unable to finish his part because of his germophobia, so Brok says that they stored Mimir's other eye in a vault in a statue of Thor; that which the World Serpent had eaten. Kratos suggests the only way to retrieve it is by going inside the Serpent's belly. They make haste towards the horn where Mimir calls the serpent once again and asks if they could travel inside his stomach to retrieve his missing eye. The serpent agrees and Kratos and Atreus row into the belly of the beast and manage to retrieve Mimir's other eye. As they leave, however, a rumbling sound could be heard from the outside. Kratos and Atreus are thrown out of the serpent's mouth as it falls back unconscious.

While Atreus wonders who hurt the serpent, Freya appears and says that she is looking for her son, saying that the woods and fields call his name. Kratos and Atreus keep their distance, as she is Baldur's mother after all. When Freya asks of why Atreus is standing so far from her, Baldur appears from the icy river and says that hurting the World Serpent would bring them out in the open. Baldur quickly notices his mother and Freya knows he's still angry and that how he feels hasn't changed. Baldur cuts her off mid-sentence saying that he doesn't need her to understand anything at all. Before Baldur could inflict damage on her, Kratos understands that even if he kills her, he will never find peace. Baldur says that he'll deal with him once he's done killing Freya, but Kratos pushes him back, which escalates into a fight with Freya trying to stop it by restraining both Kratos and Baldur. A few seconds into the fight, Freya restrains Kratos with Atreus attempting to free him. Baldur advises Atreus to step aside, but Atreus instead stands in front to protect his father, to which Baldur punches Atreus, only for the mistletoe arrow strapped to his quiver piercing his hand. Kratos, free from his bonds, tends to Atreus, to his surprise, is alright and not suffering any wounds. Baldur is astonished by the arrow and starts to feel excitement upon the broken spell, before being restrained by Freya again, this time, in control of the reanimated corpse of Thamur. The corpse moves them to a new location. Atreus asks of how the mistletoe arrow broke the spell, Kratos adds that he can be killed.

Freya assures them that she can reason with him, but Kratos says that he means to kill her, to which Freya adds that she doesn't care and will protect him. A second fight ensures with the now vulnerable Baldur gleaming out to feel pain again. Midway through the fight, Kratos stuns Baldur, but Freya blocks their path to him, but Kratos lifts the hand with ease and notices the crystal, and orders his son to shoot it at the exact timing, in which he does. As round three progresses, Freya summons cursed brood made from Vanir magic called legion to attack. As Kratos stuns Baldur, the reanimated giant, under the control of Freya, uses his chisel to separate the two, in which Baldur yells out he will kill her as he proceeds to climb the chisel with Kratos and Atreus hot on their trail. A short scuffle breaks out on top of the chisel before Thamur tumbles them off onto his hand. In a stranglehold, Baldur tells them he wants to thank them for breaking the curse that has inflicted upon him and will rejoice soon. Kratos activates his Spartan Rage once again and breaks free with Atreus close behind. Another fight endures with Kratos and Atreus gaining the upper hand. Near the end of the fight, Kratos uses his Blades of Chaos to stun him before stunning him more with a series of close-by frontal attacks. Kratos beats Baldur relentlessly before Thamur uses his freeze breath in an attempt to freeze Kratos and Atreus. Atreus then calls the now conscious World Serpent, to separate Freya and Thamur, an act that astonished and impressed even Kratos. Kratos attempts to kill Baldur, but Atreus reminds him he is beaten. Kratos reminds Baldur in return to not come near them nor touch Freya again, in Freya says that she doesn't need protection and the two leave for mother and son to settle things out. Baldur explains that no matter where he goes or what he says, she will never stop interfering with his life. Freya explains that she was only trying to protect him. But Baldur says that she still needs to pay for the lifetime she stole from him. Freya explains that she has paid many times and if seeing herself dead will make things better, she lets Baldur strangle her. But Kratos interferes with Baldur saying that he could have walked away, in which Kratos quotes Zeus and explains that they must be better, before snapping his neck killing him at last. Freya is devastated upon seeing her son's lifeless body and threatens Kratos to use all of her power to curse him. Atreus explains that he saved her life. But Freya is unfazed and calls Kratos an animal by passing his cruelty and rage, that he will never change. Kratos says that she does not know him well enough. Does Freya add that she does, but does Atreus?

Kratos tells Atreus to listen close and informs him that he is from Sparta and how he made an oath to a god that cost him his soul. He killed many who were deserving and many who were not, and adds that he killed his father. Atreus is shocked upon learning that was his father killing his grandfather and asks of how this always ends, with children killing their parents since their gods. But Kratos assures him that they "will be the gods [they] choose to be, not those who have been". Freya leaves in silence afterward, with Baldur in her arms. Mimir asks if they're the bad guys now, Kratos says that might be true, but she could never make that choice. Atreus asks why Freya threatened his father even though she loathed the Aesir, Mimir states that they killed her son and that the death of a child is something that a parent cannot get over. But he assures him that Freya will get over her son's death over time and that Kratos did the right thing.

They start the journey back to Tyr's Temple where Mimir explains Hrimthur's story. 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. Odin was suspicious of the stranger but agreed to do as he asked. Using his father's knowledge of stone masonry, Hrimthur finished the wall, much to Odin's frustration. He met with Freya and whispered something in her ear. As he was about to leave Asgard, Thor was waiting for him. 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.

#### Jotunheim at last

After arriving at the Realm Travel Room, Kratos locks in Jötunheim and orders Atreus by giving him Mimir's head and positioning it into the beam and straight onto the door finally unlocking Jötunheim. Before Kratos and Atreus can finish their journey, Mimir says that they should leave him here, as he doesn't want a decomposing head ruining the father-son moment. Before Kratos could say anything, Brok and Sindri show up impressed and how they wanted to see this, Mimir at first refused, but knowing there would be no other way, he allowed the dwarfs to watch him. Kratos passes the head to Sindri, who passed to his brother and father and son make their way into the realm, with Mimir telling them to hurry back. Kratos and Atreus finally reach the giant's fingers, with Kratos unraveling his bandages saying that he has no more to hide. Kratos finally gives Atreus the bag of his mothers ashes.

They make their way into a vast room where they encounter statues of giants, possibly the few remaining giants escaping Midgard. As they are leaving the room, Atreus touches the wall which crumbles around them and seeing a mural depiction of his mother with a bunch of giants, their meeting with the World Serpent for the first time, as well as the dragon in the mountain, the stonemason, and their fight with Baldur. Atreus realizes that the giants prophesied their journey. Kratos tells him that their journey is his story and that he's not the only parent with secrets making Atreus realize that she was a giant too. When Atreus asks why she didn't tell them, Kratos explains that she sent them here knowing she would find this and that she would've had good reasons. Kratos deduces that Baldur was never sent to find him, and he was tracking Faye all along, not knowing she was only ashes. Atreus, with a full set of confidence, says she hasn't been wrong yet and so close to the end, with Kratos looking at a plaque of Atreus holding a dead body screaming in agony. (most likely depicting his death, though this is yet to be true as there are inconsistencies with this body and Kratos.) Kratos and Atreus reach the top, noticing all the dead giants. Atreus hands over the bag full of ashes to his father, but Kratos says that they will do it together and calls him a son. After spreading her ashes, Atreus voices his confusion over his name on the wall, saying the Giants called him 'Loki'. Kratos explained that was the name Faye wanted to call him when he was born and was probably the one she used when speaking of him with her people. When Atreus asks why Kratos says they will find out some other day.

As the two leave, Atreus asks of why he wanted to be called that name. Kratos tells him he was named after a compassionate spartan soldier who filled the lives of everyone with joy and happiness. Atreus is impressed and tells him he actually told a good story and that Mimir missed it. As they near the travel room, Atreus understand that they should go home, but they could prove themselves useful by exploring some more and defeating corrupted Valkyries. As they enter the room, Mimir is glad to see them and adds that he reached his limit for dwarven charm. As they are heading back to Midgard, Mimir warns them that Fimbulwinter-the great winter that precedes Ragnarok is upon them as it was not supposed to happen for a couple of hundred years and that Kratos may have accelerated the events.

As they arrive home, Atreus says that he will sleep through winter. Kratos tells him to get some rest, with Atreus adding that he is way ahead of them, in which Atreus has a vision of Thor showing up at their house when Fimbulwinter ends. When they wake up, Atreus felt like this was real, at first Kratos isn't disturbed by this, but when Atreus reminds him again, he assures his son that they will worry about it tomorrow.

## Appearance

Kratos is the epitome of what a Spartan soldier is in that he is essentially made for battle. He is exceptionally tall, being 6 feet 4 inches (1.94 meters). Due to his long lifetime as a warrior, Kratos is in peak physical condition of slender, athletic frame with a well-defined, largely muscular build.

Since adulthood, he had red tattoo going down the majority of his upper body and up to his face. On his face, besides the aforementioned tattoo, he has a scar on his right eye and a black goatee and hazel brown eyes. The scar was caused by Ares when Kratos was a child and tried to save his brother from the raid of Gods on Sparta. While originally having tanned skin, after killing his beloved wife and child, two of the few people he truly cared for, the village oracle bound their ashes to his skin to be forever a reminder of the horrible deed he committed on that day.

As a Spartan General prior to his service to Ares, Kratos wore Spartan hoplite armor and after becoming the new God of War he wore a very elaborately decorated piece of armor. By the end of *God of War III*, Kratos only wears a leather loincloth and armlets without the chains of the Blades of Exile.

As of *God of War* (2018), Kratos' appearance changes slightly. He appears older, middle-aged, he has some wrinkles on his face looking to be in his mid to late-50s. His goatee has grown into a bushy, full beard which covers half his face and has several gray hairs. His skin is still pale and covered with the ashes of his Spartan family, and his tattoos have faded slightly. He retains the scar on his abdomen, however, it is larger and less jagged than before due to him stabbing himself at the end of *God of War III*. Also from the same wound, he now has a long scar covering almost all of his lower back. He wears black leather pants and shoes, also present are faded scars from where the chains from the blades were attached to his forearms, which he prefers to keep covered beneath with what appears to be fur-lined leather, secured with thongs of leather. However, the tattered remains of the Spartan skirt he wore in the original games remains under his new, default clothing in God of War 2018. The length and condition of his Spartan leather skirt varies from game to game, looking nearly brand new and at it's cleanest (and longest length) in Ascension, while as the games progressed, the skirt grew dirtier and shorter in length, possibly from it being torn and dirtied in battle. It remains at it's shortest length in all games past God of War II.

### Kratos' Affixed Ashes

As Kratos attacked a village which worshiped the goddess Athena at the behest of his lord at the time, Ares, the Oracle who resided in the village warned the Spartan to not enter the Temple of Athena. Kratos, however, disregarded her warnings and slaughtered the people in the temple. After the massacre, Kratos had realized that he had not only murdered all in the temple, but he had unintentionally murdered his wife and child. As Kratos mournfully cradled the unmoving body of his dead wife, he discovered that Ares had orchestrated his family's death. After leaving the burning temple, the Oracle placed a spell on Kratos, a spell which caused the ashes of his wife and child to be forever affixed to his skin.

As in God of War (2018), He keeps this appearance to his later life in Midgard, although for some reason, some parts of his skin have pinked in color or faded for some reason. This might be due to a difference in the in-game engine.

Only in *God of War: Chains of Olympus* Kratos is seen without the ashes, not including flashbacks and bonus costumes.

## Personality

Throughout most of the series (particularly after his betrayal by Zeus), Kratos is incredibly cruel, reckless, and destructive, willing to kill anyone who gets in his way, even innocent people. He is also shown to be incapable of accepting full responsibility for his actions, usually blaming the gods (especially Zeus, Ares, and Athena) for his suffering while ignoring or denying his own part in it. The memory of his misdeeds has driven Kratos to attempt suicide on at least two separate occasions. He also is greatly stoic and silent, speaks only when necessary and often only what absolutely needs to be said. However, Kratos talked a lot more in God of War III and God of War 2018, whereas in all the other games, Kratos only has a few dozen lines of dialogue, if even. In God of War (2005), for example, he speaks the least out of any game in the series, only having a few lines of speech for the entire game, most of them coming from his various comments to Ares at the final battle. However, Kratos is very vocal in battle and will frequently shout and scream as he fights. He is a very brave and utterly fearless warrior who is not afraid of any enemy regardless of strength, numbers and even species, which makes him able to stand up to people, monster and even immortals alike.

Earlier on in the series canon, he is less callous towards the lives of others, albeit perfectly willing to sacrifice an innocent bystander when it is required of him. He also exhibits a deep sense of shame and horror at his reputation as the Ghost of Sparta. One example is when Kratos tries to convince a woman in Athens to give him a key, only for her to run away in terror and call him a monster; Kratos is visibly aghast by the fear and hatred others have for him. This shame was further demonstrated when he observed the massacres committed by Ares' minions, causing him to question what he had done and become. In *God of War: Ascension*, his earliest canonical appearance, he genuinely mourns the death of Orkos and the Delphic Oracle, even giving Orkos a decent funeral pyre. In Delphi, when Castor orders the guards to remove Kratos from the Oracle's temple, Kratos spares them when they have the good sense and flee. On the island of Delos, he is merciful enough to push an innocent man out of the way of an incoming spear, whereas he would have most likely just let him die in later games. However, as the series progressed, Kratos became more and more disillusioned and enraged with the treatment he was receiving from the Olympian Gods, most notable when he was in service to them. This lead him to becoming filled with hatred and less caring about the lives of others. Perhaps what Kratos' breaking point that truly made any happiness or positive feelings he possibly could have had vanish is when his brother, Deimos, was killed. This was the moment that sent Kratos down his spiral of utter hatred and madness, with the last person he ever cared about being stolen from him by the gods. However, being forced to abandon his daughter deeply affected Kratos. The endless nightmares he was also tormented with further caused him to fall into a state of total mental anguish and anger, as he felt haunted by every waking moment. Even in his futile attempts to rest himself and his mind, visions of his horrible, bloody past refused to leave him, which became so bad that he attempted suicide at the end of the first God of War after being denied release from the nightmares that made him feel so miserable and upset. Kratos never seemed remotely happy at all throughout the entire series, endlessly tormented and left feeling nothing but suffering among every single step of the way. Even over 200 years later in the Norse Realm, memories of his past continue to taunt Kratos, most notably Athena insulting Kratos for his past. While it is not directly stated that his nightmares have gone, it can be safely assumed that Kratos still has visions and nightmares of when he killed his wife and child, seeing as how Athena refused to remove his visions at the end of the first God of War. Even in death, and when attempting suicide, the visions still haunt Kratos. He is forever cursed to be reminded of his terrible deeds and crimes, along with all the suffering he went through. No matter what he does, nothing has ever relieved Kratos of his suffering. This has driven him to become cold towards almost everyone he's ever met, and unable to let go of the past, as he is filled with deep shame and regret for his actions during the Greek saga. While it is unknown if he actually regrets killing his entire family, he probably wishes he could have lived a better life instead of the torture that he calls reality.

He is also very libidinous and sexually passionate with many women, although as stated by Gaia, he never found true happiness or comfort in these acts, with Lysandra being the only woman he actually ever loved.

Before and during the original *God of War*, Kratos was also respectful towards gods and divine entities (with the exception of Ares, whom he also called "Lord" up until his betrayal and Persephone), to the point of calling them "Lords", although he did not fully trust them. As time went on, he became disillusioned with the gods and began to respect them less and less. At the end of his service to the gods of Olympus, when it became clear that they would never relieve him of his nightmares, he became openly defiant and hostile towards them, even after being made a god himself, his hatred, however, reached its peak after learning of their role in his mother’s and brother's suffering after which he swore vengeance upon them. He was also respectful towards Gaia due to her helping him in his quest, although he was skeptical as to why she was doing so. He also put the titan Prometheus out of his misery after the latter begged for his death. Kratos even made amends with Atlas, despite being the cause of his new imprisonment. Following Gaia's betrayal, Kratos lost all respect for divine beings and began ruthlessly murdering god and titan alike. However, he was tolerant of Aphrodite (not even he could withstand the charm and beauty of the goddess of love & sex and eventually falls prey to her appeal by having sex with her if player chooses) and Hephaestus since they are both indifferent (and in the latter's case, even somewhat supportive) to his war on Olympus. By the time of *God of War III*, Kratos is so blinded by rage and obsessed with killing Zeus that he does not notice, or care, that he is destroying entire Greece in his quest for revenge, coldly ignoring the warnings of Athena, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus himself that his murdering of the gods would bring about the end of life on the Grecian world. He does, however, express extreme guilt for what he has done to Greece after killing Zeus, ultimately attempting suicide over it. However, this final suicide attempt was possibly not due to guilt, but because he wanted to again rid himself of the nightmares that haunt him, just as he did in the first game. Despite this, all attempts he has ever made to rid himself of these visions have been failures, and he is still haunted by them to this day.

In spite of his cruel acts, Kratos is shown to care deeply for his wife and daughter, with the memories of their deaths driving him to the point of madness. In fact, the one and only time Kratos is shown to be happy is when he briefly reunites with his daughter, Calliope, in *Chains of Olympus*. He also cared for his younger brother Deimos and his mother Callisto, with their deaths further contributing to his growing hatred for the Gods of Olympus. In addition, Kratos respected his fellow Spartans, including the Last Spartan who he encountered several times during *God of War: Ghost of Sparta* and *God of War II*. He even named his son Atreus in honor of a Spartan that he held in high regard. When he learned of Sparta's destruction at Zeus' hand, Kratos was devastated and angrily demanded that Zeus come down and face him. During his battle with Zeus at the end of *God of War II*, he declared that he would not let him destroy Sparta, demonstrating that he cared for Sparta and its people. In *God of War III*, Kratos grows attached to Pandora as she reminds him of his own daughter, even mistaking her for Calliope upon their first encounter, despite the fact that she's only an "object". He became filled with rage after Hera insulted Pandora, and responded by killing her. Kratos ultimately tried to stop Pandora from sacrificing herself, although he was unsuccessful.

As a side note, Kratos is only ever seen with a happy, or smiling facial expression three times in the entire franchise (not counting the fact that in God of War 2018, players can use photo mode to make Kratos have a big, happy smile, but this is not canon and simply just a novelty). The first time he is seen smiling is in the first God of War for the PAL release of the first game, when he gives a menacing smirk upon encountering a trap in Pandora's Temple where he needs to sacrifice an undead soldier to continue. However, in the original release of the game, where he needs to sacrifice a soldier who begs for mercy Kratos does not smirk at all, retaining his default facial expression. The second time he smiles is in Chains of Olympus, when he reunites with his daughter. He knees down to hug her, and he can be seen briefly smiling as he finally thinks he had found peace to be with a member of his family that he cared about. The third and final time he has been seen happy or smiling so far, is during a cutscene in Ascension, when he is under the illusion of The Furies, where they place him in an illusion where he is back inside his home in Sparta before he killed his wife and child. He goes into his daughter's bedroom and sits down on the edge of her bed, and gives a warm smile and kisses her on the forehead as she is sleeping, thinking the illusion is reality.

When Kratos encountered his half-siblings or cousins, he merely ignored them or told them to step aside, indicating that he does not harbor any particular hatred for them, but will fight them and kill them if the need comes to it. This was shown in his confrontations with Theseus, Perseus, and Hermes where he only fought them after they initiated the battle or in the last case´s provoking him. Despite that, he will attempt to dissuade them, as seen when he attempted to reason with Hercules but killed him in a brawl. He will also kill them if necessary, as he had no qualms in killing Peirithous to get the Bow of Apollo. He can show care for them, as he displayed care for Athena to some degree (and vice versa), with Kratos being more affected by her death than even Zeus, who seemed to care very little (if at all) about her death. It is likely that he felt a certain level of kinship with Hephaestus, as they share a mutual hatred of Zeus as well as intense pain over their lost daughters, although he is eventually forced to kill the Smith God when he tries to prevent him from reaching his daughter, Pandora. However, in spite of this, Kratos respected Hephaestus' desire to protect Pandora as he told her that her father died doing what any father should do: protecting the life of his child and even tried to stop Pandora from killing herself even requiring her convincing to allow her to sacrifice herself.

Despite his war on Olympus, Kratos (at least initially) only truly desired the death of Zeus. For example, Kratos was legitimately interested, though understandably suspicious, when Helios offered to help Kratos as a way of repaying his debt, implying that Kratos would have spared him if not for his treachery. He also tries to ignore Hermes at first, viewing him as more of a pest than a serious threat, and only attacks him after incessant provocation. Kratos even attempted to ignore Hera, even tossing her aside to press on but later decided to kill her after she angered him by insulting Pandora who he came to see as a daughter-figure. For all the other gods that Kratos killed in God of War 3, he only attacked them out of either self-defense (in the case of Hephaestus and Cronos, as they attacked him without warning, despite the fact he was not seeking to kill them at all), constant provocation (Hera and Hermes taunting Kratos so much that he snapped from anger), or after being forced to fight, such as by Hades ambushing him, and Poseidon also hunting down Kratos. If it weren't for them getting in his way, Kratos would have probably ignored them all completely to carry on his quest to kill Zeus. Many of the creatures, gods and other people Kratos has killed across his lifetime after killing his family were not deliberately acts of Kratos looking for a fight. Most of the time, Kratos would attempt to simply ignore people, or try and warn them into letting him go past. Many people were killed by Kratos because they were arrogant and refused to let him go forward (such as Theseus, who had several verbal warnings from Kratos to just walk away and he would be spared death), or attacked Kratos out of their own desire to get revenge on him for wrongdoings he committed against them, such as Hades ambushing Kratos, or Cronos trying to kill Kratos, even though Kratos did not lift a finger or show any desire to battle Cronos. Across the entire Greek saga, Kratos' only major goals were to kill Ares, discover the source of his visions that eventually lead him to finding Deimos, and killing Zeus. Had these people left Kratos alone, they wouldn't have died, including many of the gods, who died because of their arrogance or thirst to get revenge on Kratos.

There are nonetheless certain exceptions in terms of who is deserving of his wrath. Kratos generally despises cowardice, and is unforgiving towards anybody who demonstrates selfish self-preservation, more so if their fear gets in his way in some fashion. During the siege of Athens, Kratos electrified an Athenian Soldier with Zeus' Fury who held the lever to the bridge that allowed him passage, due to the soldier being terrified of potentially allowing Ares' minions from in his words "tear him apart", looking out for himself while the entire city was under attack. Although Kratos tried to reason with the soldier, he only resorted to violence when his words fell on panicked ears. While trying to reach the Sisters of Fate, Kratos encountered some scholars who held the knowledge to allow him further passage into the island. These scholars were visibly terrified at the sight of Kratos, who all did their utmost to prevent falling into his hands. When Kratos secured them, he slammed their heads into their respective altars as a means of coercing them into doing as they were meant to, despite the fact they were painfully aware that human sacrifices were needed and more than likely, *they* would become said sacrifice, begging Kratos to stop pressuring them as they saw their deadly outcome a reality. On one such scholar, Kratos beat him while ordering him to "die with honor". When facing the Persian King, the latter begged for mercy when bested by the spartan, which only ended with Kratos angrily slamming his head with a large treasure box to his death. On his encounter with Icarus, Kratos had a brief fist fight with the madman, which caused Icarus to beg for his life and tried to pitifully convince Kratos that he was meant to fly him to the Palace of the Fates. At this point, Kratos was sufficiently irritated that he ripped his wings off his back and let the mad creator plummet to his demise as he fell to the Underworld. It can be argued that his contempt towards the weak of heart is why he let the Boat Captain sink to his death while inside the Hydra King, as Kratos witnessed the terrified captain trying to flee for his life, arguably deserting his men. However, not everyone who feels from their duties becomes a target of his scorn. When Castor tried to had slaves physically remove Kratos, he let these men live when they fled in fear, likely because they were neither in his way in any fashion and also because as slaves, they were being coerced against their wills and thus justified in saving their own skin.

As a side note, during the entirety of God of War III, in quiet areas or when the background music is quiet enough, Kratos can be constantly heard breathing heavily, which is the same breathing sound he makes at the main menu. He is so enraged and filled with pure hatred for Zeus to the point that he is physically unable to feel calm during his quest for revenge. He makes a similar angry breathing noise at the main menu of God of War: Ghost of Sparta. He also carries a furious grimace for the entire game, whereas in God of War (2005), he had a more neutral facial expression in most areas, while in Ascension, he looked sad most of the time, or empty inside.

### In God of War (2018)

After destroying Olympus, remarrying another woman, and siring Atreus, in Norway, Kratos begins to disown his past and becomes a more stoic character, only bursting out in anger when antagonized or threatened. Although he is sometimes prone to outbursts when disciplining his son, he almost always manages to regain control of himself before doing any damage. He also accepts full responsibility for his actions in Greece, often exhibiting extreme sadness and regret, and at times even falling into a state of depression, when confronted about his past behavior, he now also dreads being called the "Ghost of Sparta", angrily telling Mimir not to call him that. He is also more considerate of others' feelings as well, as he sternly reproaches Atreus when the latter asking Sindri the reason for Brok's blue skin while he himself doesn't. As a result of his drastic maturity, Kratos is shameful of his past and prefers to keep it a secret from his son. However, he eventually realizes being open to Atreus with his mistakes would allow Atreus to learn from Kratos' mistakes and not go down the dark path he himself once trodden.

Following his union with Faye, Kratos went to great lengths to cover up his past as a God, especially from Atreus. Believing that his son’s godhood was a curse, Kratos kept the truth hidden with hopes that Atreus would live a normal life, though his secrecy became the source of his son’s recurring illness.

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. Telling his son that they would complete the journey together. 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.

In quests of Spirits, Kratos got annoyed by them and viewed almost all of them as "fools" due to his half-sister, Athena and pests who only want something. Despite their annoyance, Kratos has shown his respect to pirate captain spirit reminding Kratos of his leadership to his fellow Spartans.

However, his distrust for divine beings remains intact, opting to avoid interaction with the Norse Gods whenever possible, even when they (like Freya) try to befriend and help him. He is also shown to still harbor resentment towards the gods of Olympus, promptly telling the spirit of Athena to leave his head the moment she appears. He likewise reassures her that, while he is still a monster, he is no longer *her* monster. Despite this, Kratos is shown to have become more reasonable in dealing with the Norse Gods, as he was able to come to trust and care for Freya after she saved his son despite all of his previous distrust. Even after learning Freya had bewitched Mimir to prevent them from learning Baldur's weakness, Kratos cared enough to fight Baldur for her and later saved her life by killing Baldur when he attempted to choke her to death. He did not harm her when she swore vengeance on him, likely as he understands the pain she feels, having felt the same after killing his family, and believes that time will eventually cause her to forgive him. He also came to develop a strong friendship with Mimir, eventually taking his advice more and even comforting him at times.

Kratos now only kills out of self-defense and does not see the point in killing a weakened enemy and he is shown to be much more polite towards those who ally with him and displays enough increased sensitivity to know how not to make an enemy out of others. He even tries to be the voice of reason when Atreus finds out he is a god and lets it go to his head. Though he finds Brok and Sindri annoying, Kratos is never rude or ill-natured around them and even trusts them to work on his gear. In addition, while he admitted that he doesn't like it when Sindri talks about his brother, he was nevertheless absolutely disapproving and reprimanding of Atreus when he coldly told Sindri to shut up about it, even going as far as to look almost apologetic to the Dwarf. He was also clearly not amused when Atreus asked Sindri on why Brok is blue-colored while he isn't, viewing the question as rude despite the fact that Atreus did not know the question shocked Kratos and just viewed it as a simple question in his eyes. He was even more merciful enough to be willing to spare a weakened Modi and was greatly shocked and angered when Atreus killed him in retribution for the latter's insults towards Faye. Likewise, for Baldur, Kratos offered him multiple chances to step aside and only fought him when threatened. He ultimately offered Baldur a chance to leave when he was defeated and even tried reasoning with him, saying that vengeance is not a path to be walked by as people would not find peace, recounting his own experience with it.

Due to his slaying of the Gods of Olympus, Kratos now understands that vengeance will not bring him or others peace, even trying to talk Baldur out of killing Freya and then killing him when he attempts to do so to try and end the cycle of children killing their parents. When Freya threatens Kratos and swears vengeance against him, he does not retaliate in anger and simply replies that she does not know him, showing maturity and self-control. When Atreus accused Kratos of not caring for Faye, he was simply annoyed and told Atreus to stop talking.

Although Kratos does not seem to enjoy troubling himself by helping dead spirits, mainly because they no longer have any "needs, only wants", he does help people when need be. When prompted by Mimir to rescue the Valkyries, Kratos complained, but was willing to submit when Atreus reminded him of Midgard's fate being dependent on them doing the job, showing that even though he preferred to stay out of others affairs, he still cared for his new home, likely due to how he had once destroyed the lands of Greece and therefore seemingly finding the idea of saving the Norse lands as being a chance to start saving a world instead of destroying one. He also noted that as the Valkyries are so strong, they are useful for his and Atreus's growth in skill. When they reached Jötunheim, Mimir wanted to stay behind because their business was between Atreus and Kratos, but Kratos objected at first because he didn't want any affiliates of Odin finding Mimir.

At the beginning of his journey with Atreus, Kratos kept his forearms wrapped in bandages to hide the scars from his chained blades, symbolizing his desire to hide his past from his son. At the end of their journey, after coming clean to his son about his past, Kratos threw away his bandages, deciding he has nothing left to hide neither be ashamed for his son.

Kratos has also developed a dry sense of humor such as when Mimir asked Atreus to carry him since Kratos was tackling deadly traps, Kratos replied he would not want Mimir to miss "this" (the excitement of dodging the traps) and smirked slightly when Mimir claimed Kratos was enjoying himself. At one point, when Mimir asks Atreus to take a knife originating from his homeland, Kratos responded by saying "yes, boy.... take it. We may need to butter bread somewhere in our travels.", which caused Mimir to berate Kratos and say that his sarcastic humor makes no one like him. While Kratos has always been cold and quiet, God of War 2018 has revealed a very fatherly and caring side of him that is seen when he is trying to be a good father to Atreus. He also is shown to have a sense of Laconism, the ancient Spartan term for being quick and witty with insults, comebacks, and general humor. Kratos' responses to nearly everyone across the entire franchise are usually kept short, to the point and (oftentimes) threatening in tone. He seldom has any tone aside from angry or demanding, but he has been shown to chuckle very silently to himself at jokes made by several people across the 2018 release, notably a joke told by Atreus. However, when Atreus notices Kratos very silently laughed under his breath, Kratos vehemently denied this and acted serious, showing that Kratos has indeed mellowed out over the years, and possibly tries to put himself in a good mood sometimes. He also seems to be very self-aware of his stoic and serious nature, as he comments to Atreus at one point how he is always serious, showing that Kratos knows people think he is grumpy and not friendly to be around, even when he has calmed down and become much more understanding.

Kratos is very reasonable with some people over the series, offering many people ample chances to walk away from combat that is not needed, such as his verbal warnings asking Theseus to step aside, and to Baldur. Kratos was even so patient and tempered with his anger that even after Baldur punched Kratos in the face, Kratos was (although now furious, but kept his voice tone quiet) so patient and restrained that he gave Baldur another chance to walk away, telling him that "you do not want this fight.". A younger Kratos would have simply attempted to kill Baldur on sight upon trespassing on his home, yet older Kratos is extremely restrained and actively avoids combat whenever possible. This shows that Kratos possibly wants to just live a simple life with his son and seeks to give up his life of violence, yet he is unable to do so, as even when he himself has calmed down and tried to live a happy life, other people will not let him, as seen from Baldur seeking out Kratos to fight him.

After defeating the Sigrun thus freeing all the Valkyries, Kratos was put in a good mood, possibly because he had done something good but gleefully (although with a sarcastic tone) states that the Valkyrie Queen's helm would fetch a great price at Brok and Sindri's shops.

Kratos rarely personalizes people. He refers to Sindri and Brok as “the dwarves” and “the blue one“ respectively, Mimir as “head”, Freya as “woman” and his own son as “boy”. He does, however, do it in times when he is stressed or sympathetic to whom he is speaking toward.

## Powers and Abilities

As a demigod son of Zeus, and later the God of War, Kratos possesses incredible superhuman physical prowess. His strength and godly powers are currently beyond that of any mortal, beast, and demi-gods. Also, via intensive military training since his childhood by a Spartan school, his might later surpassed all the Olympian Gods and Titans alike. The exact limits of his power are yet to be determined Despite losing most of the abilities he took from the Olympian Gods after leaving Greece, his godlike prowess and strength, and combat skills didn't hamper at all, as he has displayed the ability to outmatch the most physically powerful of the Norse Gods, such as Baldur and Magni. With the knowledge of Kratos being involved in Ragnarok being enough to make Odin fear him, it seems that Kratos' might rival, if not, surpasses that of Thor and Odin, two of the most powerful Norse Gods.

* **Immeasurable Strength:** Over the course of his life, Kratos gradually gained immense levels of superhuman strength, which seems to grow even greater during situations of great rage and anger. Although he was originally defeated by Alrik at the beginning, Kratos manages to overpower Alrik later, killing him in the process. Later, Kratos can easily subdue and rip apart many large and powerful beasts and creatures such as Undead Legionnaires, infected humans, monsters, and magical beings using only his bare hands and could easily rip off Helios' head. He was capable of overpowering the Hydra, and preventing both Cronos and Atlas, the two strongest Titans, from crushing him with their fingers and even overpowered Cronos when he tried to crush him with two hands. In his battle against Hercules, who is considered to be unrivaled in terms of sheer strength, Kratos proved himself stronger, capable of stopping his charges and even forcing him backward and also able to break free from his bear hugs, throwing Hercules with great ease over a great distance, overpowering and pummeling him to death despite his brother's invulnerability. He has always physically overpowered all other Greek Gods he fought in raw strength. His strength is unaffected by his age, as despite being now older in the Nordic Realm, Kratos' physical strength seemingly only increases over time, though the exact limit of his strength is unknown. He was able to easily snap the neck of a troll with his bare hands, lift, throw and even smash massive boulders with his fists, and overpower even the strongest Norse Gods such as Baldur, one of the sons of Odin, and Magni, the strongest of the children of Thor which Kratos killed with ease. During his first encounter with Baldur, Kratos (along with Baldur) was generating enough force to cause the ground beneath them to collapse like an earthquake, creating huge cracks in the ground. One of the greatest testaments of his strength in the Nordic Realm was when he pushed the World Bridge, a feat that Jörmungandr was able to accomplish and later lifts and flips Tyr's Temple only with little effort. Another very impressive feat of strength is when Kratos was able to raise the Labyrinth from the bottom of Mount Olympus up to the top, which was all done by him cranking a handle along a track in the floor.
* **Superhuman Durability/Nigh-Invulnerability:** Kratos is extremely durable, capable of withstanding falls from great heights and walking away unharmed, getting crushed, stabbed, beaten, blasted, and burned by various enemies and traps without any lasting damage as well as survive extreme environments such as Hel, the Norse Realm of the Dead, which according to Mimir was said to be so cold that not even Odin himself can survive there for long, as well as Muspelheim. In addition, Kratos has a strong resistance to blunt trauma as blows from most other physically powerful opponents have a little-to-no effect against him. In the Norse Realm, he can also use his shield to better protect himself when it is needed. This does not prevent his body from being physically wounded, although most wounds that would kill a mortal man are not fatal to him. However, some weapons, notably the Blade of Olympus, were able to easily harm Kratos, suggesting that godly weapons or artifacts can harm him, including Zeus' lighting storm attack that was used against him during his first battle with Zeus, that forced him to feign defeat in order to survive the powerful electrical attack. His face was also pounded in by Deimos with his huge metal gauntlets, which also nearly defeated Kratos (as shown by Kratos coughing up a lot of blood and barely being able to get up to the point where he nearly collapsed from pain). However, Kratos is not invincible to pain or harm, as he was bested by Charon once, though Kratos was still a weaker than he was later at the time, still amortal. The only other person to best Kratos in direct combat was Zeus, though this was because Kratos lost almost all of his godly powers and was nearly crushed flat by the hand of the Colossus of Rhodes, so Zeus got an easy strike against him.
	+ **Supernatural Resistance:** Kratos is immensely resilient to many forms of powerful magic, including divine and other mystical phenomena and several variations of supernatural powers and elemental manipulations, allowing him to easily take deadly mystical attacks capable of killing or otherwise effecting humans or even other demigods with ease from the gods, other immortal beings and different supernatural species. Despite this, he is not truly immune to the powers of other gods or other high-level beings, such as Zeus being able to remove his status as the God of War, as well as the Furies trapping him in illusions of his past violence, or when Zeus caused Kratos to break down and retreat into his mind at the end of III. Despite this, he can resist the allure or powers of most beings.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Despite not as significant like his strength and resistance, Kratos is incredibly fast, capable to keep up with the likes of Zeus who has the speed of lightning, Charon, Hermes, and Pollux and Castor who possessed Chronokinesis. He could also overpower Hermes, speed after injuring him. This is further enhanced when he gained Boots of Hermes. His speed can at times prove to be a major factor in his victories, as shown by how he used his superior speed to kill Magni before he could react. He also could fight on equal terms with the corrupted Valkyries, who reach immeasurable level of speed while travelling across the Nine Realms. Despite him being physically slower than Baldur (partly as result of his age), his reflexes are enough to react or block his attacks.
* **Superhuman Agility:** Kratos has extraordinary agility, capable of easily jumping great heights and distance and landing without any problems, and swinging on ropes to cross long gaps. Kratos is also a very experienced climber, able to get quickly and safely over the mountains, buildings and etc.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** Kratos possesses an almost unlimited amount of stamina compared to a mortal man, due to his heritage and harsh spartan training since his childhood which he constantly maintains. This allows him to remain constantly active for days without tiring or slowing down. Thanks to this he is able to accomplish such feats as spending days scaling the temple of Pandora to reach Pandora's Box or taking down enormous monsters that require him to stay on the move constantly. If Kratos should expend all his stamina, he only momentarily requires rest or food to restore it. In spite of this, Kratos proved somewhat perceptible to aging as fighting Baldur and the whole journey physically tired him much faster than his Olympic vengeance crusade, showing that he grows weaker with his stamina. However, he gave out at the end of Chains of Olympus, as he became so fatigued from difficult battle with Atlas and Persephone and mental anguish that he passed out. This is to date, the only time Kratos has ever been seen passing out or falling asleep from extreme exhaustion.
* **Superhuman Senses/Precognition:** Kratos has extremely sharp senses and is very aware of his surroundings, making him greatly capable of sensing danger, although sometimes even he can oversee something. His reflexes in battle seem to be incredible compared to most people, as he could easily grapple with famously quick enemies such as Satyrs.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Kratos is able to heal from injuries, even some mortal ones, at an abnormally fast pace. This does not guarantee protection from scarring, as evidenced by his facial scar received as a child and abdomen scar as a result of being stabbed by the Blade of Olympus. In the Norse Realm, Kratos has also demonstrated the ability to near-instantaneously will his body to heal from wounds, although this takes quite an amount of effort and concentration on his part. Kratos can also constantly regenerate with the help of Ivaldi's armor and can use charms and talismans to regenerate.
* **Immortality:** Kratos, born a demi-god, was cursed to live. While not unkillable, he cannot taking his own life, having survived suicidely stabbing himself with the Blade of Olympus. Likewise, his aging process is heavily deluted. While in his late-30's to early-40's following the destruction of Mount Olympus, by the death of his second wife in Midgard, over a millennium passed while he has barely changed, appearing no more than in his early-50's. In addition, his physical performance is virtually unchanged, remaining as strong as ever, if not stronger. The same goes for his resilience, stamina, health, and general efficiency. Kratos is not susceptible to any diseases, this was evident after the murder of Hermes.
* **Rage Ability:** Kratos has the powerful ability to enter a rage mode, which powers up his greater superhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability in his battles. In *God of War*, Kratos gains his rage ability using his Blades of Chaos which allows him to be empowered. With it, Kratos' attacks deal greater damage and more immense power. In *God of War II*, Kratos once again gets empowered of his rage ability, and can attack several enemies with more damage. In *God of War III*, Kratos gains his rage ability when he retrieves the Blade of Olympus in the underworld. In *God of War: Ghost of Sparta*, during the final fight against Thanatos, Deimos is killed, enraging Kratos who unleashed his unrivaled rage ability level, thus the ability is automatically activated and becoming more infinite until Thanatos is defeated. In *God of War (2018)*, Kratos is able to possess his new rage ability; **Spartan Rage**, which he unleashed his powerful bare-hands to attack in combat, which led him to deliver devastating attacks with his fists. It powers him up with the boost of damage, slight speed boosts and shifting the damage he takes. When Kratos uses the Spartan Rage, his fists appear to be on fire, his muscles and veins are much more prominent, and his eyes emit a yellowish glow. While enraged, Kratos can deliver rapid flurries of blows and powerful haymaker punches that send enemies flying through the air. He can also deliver earth-shaking stomps and hammer punches that generate damaging shockwaves, and throw huge boulders that explode on impact.
* **Shapeshifting:** During his time as the God of War, Kratos could grow 500 or more feet tall, as well as become a fiery comet which would lay waste to all below him.
* **Power Absorption:** Throughout his life, Kratos has been shown to absorb power from various sources, be it gods or titan. Among the greatest power, he has absorbed the power of Hope, locked Pandora's Box, inside the Flame of Olympus, allowing him to kill the immortal Olympians and despite releasing it in his suicide attempt, it seems that the part of Hope is still inside him. Kratos also seems to absorb the greatest feature from gods or out of powerful creatures he kills. It is possible that Kratos's immense strength, durability, and resistance to magical and divine power are partly due to his constant exposure to and absorption of various different powers during his life. He absorbed Hades' soul in III, which was incredibly important to Kratos' power level, since Hades' was the third strongest god in the entire Greek saga. Kratos also became the God of Death in some ways, as he killed Thanatos, which most likely added to his already immense powers.
	+ **Atmokinesis:** With the Blade of Olympus, Kratos can summon a massive tornado by slamming the blade to the ground.
	+ **Aerokinesis:** With Typhon's Bane, Kratos can fire gusts of wind and homing wind blasts and generate whirlwinds and tempests.
	+ **Electrokinesis:** Kratos had gained the power to manipulate electricity from various sources throughout his life. First, he gained Lightning of Zeus from Python's Belly, allowing him to empower his blade with lightning to shock enemies and create electrical fields and mines as well as his chain and also create a large vortex of electric energy. He then acquired the Gauntlet of Zeus, which allowed him to use electricity to greatly increase his speed and enhance his blows with electricity as well as unleash lethal jolts. He was also given two versions of lightning magic: **Zeus's Fury**, which allowed him to generate powerful thunderbolts, and **Poseidon's Rage**, which allowed him to generate a circle of electricity around himself and summon lightning bolts from the sky. **The Eye of Atlantis** granted Kratos the power to unleash furious strikes of lightning from the orb and generate arcs of lightning. Although he lost that power after Zeus stripped him of his godly powers, he was given back the power to manipulate lightning by **Chronos's Rage**, allowing him to create blue orbs of electricity and after sufficiently leveling it up, he can also cause the orb to explode at will. Hephaestus also granted Nemesis Whip, one of Kratos's weapons, the power to emit electricity to shock others and also unleash blasts of thunder energy.
	+ **Pyrokinesis:** Throughout his journey, Kratos has been gifted with several powers to manipulate fire. First was the Fire of Ares, which allowed him to empower his weapons to create fiery explosions with combos and overall enchant attacks with fire as well as create searing cores of fire. The second was the Thera's Bane, which temporarily allowed him to greatly increase the power of the Blades of Athena and also create exploding searing cores. Rage of the Titans was acquired when he freed Prometheus from his torment, allowing him to clad himself of fire and generate fiery bursts and torrents. Upon arriving in the Nordic Realm, Kratos somehow acquired the power of Spartan Rage, which allowed him to empower his fists with what appeared to be fire and empower thrown stones to explode upon impact. He can also use the Blades of Chaos to channel their fire energy, albeit only after he stabs his enemies.
	+ **Cryokinesis:** With the Ice of Poseidon, Kratos was granted the power to create tempests and waves of ice, empower his weapons with ice, fire ice shards and manifest spikes of ice. The Horn of Boreas allowed him to summon icy tempests. After arriving in the Nordic Realm, Kratos's power to manipulate ice lies with the Leviathan Axe, which while wielded by Kratos can fire waves of ice energy and freeze enemies.
	+ **Geokinesis:** With Atlas Quake, Kratos was capable of creating strong earthquakes and throwing large boulders. In the Nordic Realm with the help of Spartan rage, Kratos could also shake the ground and throw large boulders.
	+ **Chronokinesis:** With the Amulet of Uroborus, Kratos could manipulate time in a variety of ways, such as casting blasts able to decay enemies, healing himself, restoring massive broken structures, and slowing down enemies. He was also able to use the Loom Chamber's threads to go back in time before he was killed by Zeus. Also, with the help of the Amulet of the Fates, Kratos could slow down time. In the Nordic Realm Kratos could use the Talisman of the Worlds and other talismans, as well as enchantments to slow down time and enemies.
	+ **Photokinesis:** With the Primordial Fire, Kratos could summon orbs of light and hurl them towards his enemies.
	+ **Soul Manipulation:** With the Soul of Hades, Kratos was granted the power to summon blasts of soul energy and unleash the deceased souls that inhabit the Underworld upon enemies. The God of Death later granted Kratos the power to summon the souls of the Underworld in the form of the magic of the Army of Hades. Although he lost the power to do this after losing his godhood, Kratos received the Blades of Exile from Athena which grants him the power to resurrect and control the souls of his deceased Spartan brethren. He later obtains a stronger version of the power after obtaining the Claws of Hades, allowing him to rip out other's souls and control it to attack enemies as well as summon souls of the enemies he had defeated.
	+ **Divine Energy Manipulation:** With the Blade of Olympus, Kratos was able to fire powerful blasts of divine energy.
	+ **Void Creation:** With the Scourge of Erinys, Kratos was granted the power to create voids of darkness capable of sucking in enemies, stealing their life force and yielding it to Kratos.
	+ **Magical Revelation:** With the Eyes of Truth, Kratos was able to dispel all sorts of illusions, magic barriers and dark magic spells used by The Furies.
	+ **Underwater Breathing:** With either Poseidon's Trident or Triton's Lance, Kratos could breathe underwater indefinitely and swim with incredible speed.
	+ **Clone Creation:** With the Oath Stone of Orkos, Kratos can create copies of himself to aid him against his enemies.
	+ **Petrification:** With either Medusa or Eulale's heads, Kratos can turn enemies into stone.
	+ **Flight:** Kratos, using Icarus's wings, could hover above the ground and fly through the air.

### Abilities

* **Master Combatant:** Kratos is an extremely accomplished combatant with tremendous mastery over both armed and hand-to-hand combat. His skills were already great enough to allow him to be one of the best warriors in Sparta, considering he was one of the most respected Spartan generals. After discovering his powers and being trained by the Gods themselves during his service to them, Kratos becomes far more formidable than ever, allowing him to easily massacre many opponents and also outfight the Gods. His age did not hamper his skill at all, allowing him to effectively hunt monsters and proved capable of overpowering the likes of Magni, Baldur, and even the Nine Valkyries in battle.
	+ **Weapon Mastery:** From his training in Sparta since his childhood and experience from countless battles, Kratos is incredibly skilled in using all weapons used in war including swords, spears, maces, and axes. After becoming Ares' champion and gaining the Blades Of Chaos, his combat prowess improved drastically.
	+ **Chain Manipulation:** Kratos could manipulate the Blades of Chaos and Blades of Athena with great precision and proficiency to devastatingly assault his foes over any distance and at high speed, use them as a means to swing over chasms and also use them as a restraint on his foes. With the Blades of Chaos, he killed Lysandra, Calliope, Alecto, and Máttugr Helson. With the Blades of Athena, he killed the Giant Arachnid, Erinys, Dissenter, Thanatos. With the Claws of Hades, he killed Hades. With the Blades of Exile, he killed Hermes.
		- **Sword Mastery:** Before becoming Ares' chosen warrior, Kratos's main weapon was a normal sword which he demonstrated masterful usage, killing numerous opponents during many wars in his time in Sparta. With the Sword of Valor, he killed Herodius and Pothia. With the Blade of the Gods, he killed Ares. With the Blade of Olympus, he killed the Colossus of Rhodes, Athena, Perses, Cronos, and Gaia.
		- **Spear Mastery:** During Kratos' time as a general of Sparta, Kratos starts using a spear and large round shield called the Arms of Sparta. His experience with those weapons was such that he could use them for both long-range and close-range combatl and even a shield in both defensive and offensive matters. With the Spear of Destiny, he killed the Dark Rider.
		- **Axe Mastery:** Kratos is extremely skilled in wielding an axe in combat. He has used the Leviathan Axe with devastating proficiency against numerous foes, slain countless monsters with it, and even managed to kill the Demi-god Magni using the axe.
	+ **Hand-To-Hand Combat Mastery:** Kratos is an expert fighter using his bare hands. He is able to unleash powerful punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes, spinning backfists, headbutts, slams, and many more to win a fight, coupled with his immense physical prowess makes him extremely formidable. This is shown during his fight with Baldur multiple times in *God of War (2018)*.
* **Master Marksmanship:** Kratos has shown to be very skilled with ranged weapons, using bows, thrown weapons like spears, and later his axe, and other things with immense accuracy, almost never missing his target regardless of distance.
* **Wisdom:** Although often defined by his brute strength, Kratos has demonstrated multiple times that he had the wisdom to solve problems he encountered throughout his journey, many of them created by famous architects like Archimedes, Daedalus or Pathos Verdes III, and even some Nordic puzzles. As such he not only survived all the traps and creatures within but he also becomes the only one to break those challenges. He also managed to solve the Olympus' Garden puzzle, a feat which even Hera believed he could not. Kratos is also clever enough to use the environment against his enemies, like using the bridge mechanic to kill a Kraken or using Gaia's heart to restore his health. The most notable event that proves his wisdom is when he manages to break out of Aegaeon the Hekantonkheires prison by using Megaera's anger toward him. He even got the upper hand on Zeus during their second encounter by feigning defeat and causing Zeus to lower his guard enough for Kratos to effectively and immediately strike him and nearly kill him.
* **Indomitable Will:** Kratos´ mental power matches his physical capabilities. He has incredible willpower and determination which cannot be broken, once he sets his mind on a goal, he will not stop until is complete, no matter what obstacles get in his way. Over years, Kratos makes many seemingly impossible acts like retrieving to Pandora Box, killing a god, getting into the Domain of Death to save his brother, escaping the underworld several times, and in conclusion, taking his revenge on the gods and killing his father for his betrayal. His tremendous willpower also helps him to break from illusions and fight against magic, and coupled with his resistance to divine power, allowed him to free himself when Hades attempted to rip his soul from his body. Kratos also has great mental strength, able to not fall for the charms and seduction of even the most tempting women and was able to resist even Aphrodite herself. He displays a similar determination when he and his son journey to the realm of the giants, initially reluctant, but nevertheless willing to complete any favors given to him. During the Greek saga, Kratos' willpower was mostly fueled by his lust for vengeance, and his hatred for the gods. He hated them (but mostly Zeus) so much that his desire to kill them and get his revenge on Zeus for all he did to Kratos (similar to his extreme desire to kill Ares after he got Kratos' family killed) made him refuse to stop trying, even when he was killed twice and fell into the underworld after plummeting from Mount Olympus in III. However, in God of War 2018, Kratos' rage has calmed and now, his famously unstoppable-willpower is fueled not by hatred or rage, but his desire to make up for his failures and be a good father to his child, Atreus, and to teach Atreus to go down a better path than Kratos did. His fear of Atreus ending up like himself also pushes Kratos to try his absolute best in being a wise and caring parent to his son, no matter how hard it may be along the way.

## Weapons

Before serving Ares, Kratos' main weapon was his sword. Under Ares' rule, Kratos' main weapons became the Blades of Chaos, a gift from Ares as a sign of his servitude. They are essentially two Falchion-like blades on long chains, permanently fused and seared to the wielder's forearms. Once Kratos killed Ares, Athena replaced them with a nearly identical pair of blades called the Blades of Athena, and then replaces them again in *God of War III* with the very similar Blades of Exile. Kratos displays proficiency with all of his weapons. It is implied that he learned many of his fighting skills from Ares and other gods, the former God of War himself. Initially, Kratos also had a massive Spartan army under his command, used both before and during his servitude under Ares.

When he finds himself in the Nordic Realm, Kratos seems to have lost all the weapons he obtained from his quest of vengeance, having been destroyed by Zeus back when he was fighting him. But the Blades of Chaos are shown to still be in his possession, but decides to hide them under his cabin. This probably acts as a way for him to move on while still reminding himself of the atrocities he committed.

He initially wields the Leviathan Axe, a magic axe which was originally owned by Faye, the mother of his future son, Atreus. The axe has the properties of ice magic as swinging its blade creates light blue energy waves, which can be charged up, and hitting the ground freezes enemies close to impact. Kratos also throws the axe directly towards opponents in battle and it seems that it can return to his hand by raising it but only for a limited range. While the Blades of Chaos, whom he unearthed to fight the forces in Helheim, possessed the properties of fire, which can also burn enemies in a certain heavy combo attack, the Leviathan Axe's ice magic is very effective against enemies with the attribute of Burn, while the fiery swing of the Blades damage effectively those of Frost. After meeting with Brok and Sindri, gem slots called Runic Attacks are given on each weapon's head that modifies the axe's and the blades' abilities.

Kratos also wields the Guardian Shield, a golden circular shield attached to a golden gauntlet in his arm that he uses both offensively and defensively. He wears it like a brace for his left forearm but it instantly retracts to its full form at will. He is shown to pair this with his axe or his left Blade of Chaos in battle. He can infuse the magical abilities of his axe and the fire of his left Blade of Chaos into the shield, allowing for more explosive and devastating combos. And he is able to parry with the shield, managing to deflect enemy projectiles back at them.

Another signature item for Kratos is a magic pouch which he carries since his times as Sparta general. He can carry numerous equipment or weapons and take them out just by reach into it while thinking about the chosen item. This pouch is able to carry things much as big as Kratos himself and wear her under his loincloth.

Kratos also carried many other powerful weapons or relics throughout the series, some of which include the Barbarian Hammer, the Nemean Cestus, and the Blade of Artemis. All of the weapons and equipment Kratos has been seen using can be found in Kratos' Equipment. Most notably, he once was in possession of the Blade of Olympus for a short while (mostly from the end of II and the end of III), but like most of the things carried by Kratos, they were either destroyed by Zeus, or Kratos discared them himself. While the Blade of Olympus presumably is still physically existing, all the godly power it once had is gone, and is now just a really big and fancy looking sword. However, some of Kratos' weapons and equipment seemed to be missing from game to game with zero explanation, such as all the magical attacks and weapons Kratos had at the end of II, like the Spear of Destiny and Atlas Quake being missing from III, when he should have still had those, or when he suddenly lost the Blade of Artemis at the end of the first game. However, this can be attributed to gameplay restrictions to prevent Kratos from carring nearly 15-20 weapons and having over a dozen different magical attacks and items to choose from in God of War III, as he would have had almost all of the weapons, magical attacks and relics he gathered over the games up until that point if it weren't for developer or gameplay reasons. However, Kratos did lose a few weapons that were not destroyed by Zeus' Astral Form, notably the Sun Shield of Helios, and the Gauntlet of Zeus, which were physically removed off his body at the end of Chains of Olympus.

## Relationships

### Ares

Kratos first met Ares indirectly after the latter and Athena arrived in Sparta to take his brother Deimos and get rid of him due to the Marked Warrior prophecy, with Ares giving Kratos the scar over his left eye after punching him to prevent the latter from saving Deimos. Kratos would eventually forget this and later served Ares after he saved Kratos from the barbarians during his conquest of Greece. Ares saw Kratos as the perfect warrior and could use him to take down Zeus and become the new ruler of Olympus. After Kratos killed his enemies to insure that Kratos would do his bidding, and to make him the ultimate warrior, he forced Kratos to kill innocent people in the name of Ares. This proved to be easy since Kratos already had a rising bloodlust. His last test was for Kratos to kill his own family, as Ares believed they were holding him back. With them gone, Ares believed Kratos would become stronger- that he would become death itself.

Kratos, however, was enraged and disgusted by what Ares made him do and decided to no longer serve him. Ares refused to let go of Kratos and sent the Furies after him to force him to return. Once Kratos killed the Furies and broke his bond with Ares, his plans were ruined and both had nothing but contempt for each other. Kratos longed for revenge against Ares and finally got his chance when the gods commanded him to use Pandora's Box to kill him. When Kratos was on the verge of killing Ares, he begged for mercy and justified the murder of his family as trying to make him into a great warrior. Kratos refused to spare Ares and killed him, finally avenging the deaths of his family. Kratos admitted that Ares succeeded in turning Kratos into a great warrior.

### Athena

Kratos served Athena just like he served all the other gods of Olympus, although his relationship with her was perhaps the strongest among the Pantheon. It was Athena who would deliver Kratos his next assignment during his service with the gods, and it was she who convinced them to turn him into the new god of war after he killed Ares as reward for his services. She even saved Kratos when he was a child from Ares when they took Deimos, and asked Kratos for forgiveness afterwards, showing that while she thought she was protecting Olympus from the marked warrior prophecy, she had some regrets in doing so, even calling him "brother", showing that she was aware of his relationship to Zeus. Kratos himself respected Athena to a degree and was one of the few people he cared about outside his family. However, once Kratos began a conquest of Greece, he refused to listen to Athena’s pleas to stop, and she had no other choice but to help Olympus rid themselves of him.

Athena discovered that Kratos was alive after Zeus betrayed him, showing that she was still keeping an eye on him. She tries to convince Kratos to abandon his revenge against Zeus, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. When Kratos was on the verge of killing Zeus, Athena intervened and Kratos accidentally killed her, an act he was more strongly affected by than even Zeus. As she lays dying, Athena tells Kratos the truth- that Zeus was his father and tried to kill him. She told him this to end the cycle of patricide, to make Kratos abandon his revenge on Zeus. Kratos refused, stating he has no father. Realizing that Kratos would never stop trying to kill Zeus, she warned him that the gods would not stop pursuing Kratos, as Zeus was needed for Olympus would prevail. This did not deter Kratos, who stated that if all of Olympus denied him his vengeance, then all of Olympus would die.

After turning into a spirit and realizing the truth of Pandora's Box, Athena began aiding Kratos in his revenge against Zeus. While Kratos was initially suspicious of her, he agreed to her plans of using the flame of Olympus to destroy Zeus. Once Zeus was killed and the Greek Pantheon was no more, Athena decided that mankind was ready to hear her message, but Kratos stated that the world was in ruins and her message was useless. She wanted to use the power of hope, which Kratos used to kill Zeus, to rebuild the world in her image, but Kratos refused after realizing she was just using him like before. Rather than entrust the future to Athena, Kratos impales himself with the Blade of Olympus, releasing hope to the mortals so they could live without the gods of Olympus. Enraged, Athena declares mortals would not know what to do with such power, and told Kratos that he had disappointed her. Removing the blade from his body, Athena leaves Kratos to die.

However, Kratos survived his suicide, and migrated to Midgard. During his time there, Kratos would experience hallucinations of Athena's spirit during his quest to find a cure for his son's illness. These hallucinations taunted Kratos, saying that he was pretending to be something he is not, and that he would always be a monster. Kratos agreed, saying he while he was still a monster, he is no longer *her* monster.

### Poseidon

Kratos served Poseidon just like he served all the other gods of Olympus at first. Poseidon aided Kratos against the hydra by giving him the magic 'Poseidon's Rage'. However, Kratos' destructive conquest of Greece along with Kratos destroying Atlantis, and with the evil of Pandora's Box infecting him, made Poseidon despise Kratos. When Kratos attacked Olympus with the titans Poseidon battled Kratos with all his might to make him pay for the crimes he committed against him, only to be eventually killed by Kratos.

### Theseus

Kratos was aware of Theseus as Theseus was aware of Kratos losing his divine status as the god of war and mocked him for it as well as his journey to reach the Sisters of fate. Kratos had some respect for Theseus as he was the last person that Kratos believed would serve the Sisters of fate and would have let Theseus lived had he not decided to fight and kill Kratos.

### Hades

Kratos served Hades just like he served all the other gods of Olympus. Hades aided Kratos when he was attempting to acquire Pandora's Box by giving him the magic army of Hades. After being infected by the evils of Pandora's Box this made him hate Kratos for killing his wife and queen Persephone. He would also despise Kratos for killing Poseidon and his niece Athena. When Hades fought Kratos, he tried to kill him and vowed to make him suffer for all the pain he caused him but the tables were turned when Kratos stole his weapons, the claws of Hades, and stole his soul instead, and killed Hades.

### Zeus

Zeus was Kratos' father but Kratos would not know this until after he waged war against the gods of Olympus. Zeus aided Kratos when he was tasked to kill Ares by giving him the magic 'Zeus' Fury' and helping Kratos escape the underworld, though Kratos would never know about the latter. After being infected with the evil fear from Pandora's box Zeus became paranoid and fearful of Kratos, believing he would kill him. This was because the gods wouldn't remove the nightmares from his past, his destructive conquest of Greece, and also cause Kratos would make the Gods pay for the suffering of his mother Callisto and his brother Deimos.

As a result, Zeus killed Kratos and also, to make him suffer, he destroyed Sparta. However, these actions would come back to haunt Zeus as Kratos was able to return to life with the aid of Gaia, and after defeating the Sisters of Fate, he went back in time to have his revenge on Zeus. During their final battle, a black smoke (possibly fear) came out of Zeus‘ body and he seemingly allowed himself to get beaten up by Kratos. It is possible that he realized that by causing so much suffering to Greece, he no longer deserved to be king of Olympus and all of the destruction that was caused was because of his own actions was due to himself, not to Kratos. Years later, Kratos regretted killing Zeus, for despite the pain Zeus caused him, vengeance from his death only felt empty. This is shown during his travels in Helheim as the realm would torture him by making him relieve the moment he killed Zeus.

### Hermes

Kratos served Hermes along with the other gods of Olympus. However, it seems that Hermes didn't contribute to Kratos' service as much as the other gods did, as he is not shown giving Kratos any assignments to do. Kratos encounters him during his war against Olympus but Kratos didn't see him as a threat and only attacked Hermes when he insulted and provoked him. Hermes, instead of fighting Kratos, tried to avoid him by running at fast speeds. Once cornered, he tried to defeat Kratos, but because of his weakened state he easily fell to the Spartan. In his final moments he insulted Kratos one last time before being killed by him.

### Aphrodite

Aphrodite aided Kratos during his quest to kill Ares by giving him Medusa's head. This allowed Kratos to turn his enemies into stone. During Kratos' war against the gods of Olympus, Aphrodite didn't participate in defending Olympus, not caring that the other gods were getting killed or that the world was ending and only cared about having sex. When Kratos first met her she was being pleased by her handmaidens, but as soon as she saw Kratos she wanted him to have sex with her. Kratos was unable to harm Aphrodite because of her powers but he could resist her attempts to seduce him thanks to his willpower and as his revenge against Zeus was more important to him.

An enraged Aphrodite told Kratos that it had been long since a real man came to see her- the bridges leading to her chambers have been nearly destroyed and Zeus refused to allow Daedalus to repair so he could continue working on the labyrinth to imprison Pandora. Eventually, Aphrodite discovered that Kratos needed help with the bridges and that only Hephaestus could help him. She agreed to show him the way but only if she had sex with him. Kratos agreed, and after finishing she was angry that Kratos wanted to have his revenge over having sex with her but kept her end of the deal and showed Kratos a portal that lead straight to Hephaestus. When Kratos returned Aphrodite was ready for another round with him he can chose to have sex with her or be on his way to continue his revenge.

### Hephaestus

Kratos and Hephaestus seem to know each other before his exile. While Hephaestus blamed Kratos for his suffering, he was never hostile to Kratos and was friendly towards him. Hephaestus told Kratos what he knew about the secrets of Olympus- particularly the flame of Olympus. 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. It was at that point that Zeus became the monster he was now. 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.

Knowing of Kratos' skill he hoped that he could recover her for him, but Kratos refused. He tried to persuade Kratos by reminding him that he, too, used to be a father. While Kratos was moved by this, he still chose not to help Hephaestus. Later, Kratos encountered Hephaestus again. At first, he mistook him for Aphrodite but then realized his error. Kratos told him he was seeking the labyrinth. Hephaestus, confused, thought he sought the flame of Olympus, but realized what Kratos was planning. He told him to stay away from Pandora. Hephaestus explained that Kratos was the reason she was in there in the first place, and why he was also banished to the underworld.

Kratos denied doing anything wrong to Hephaestus, but by opening Pandora's box he had. He told Kratos that to contain the evils born from the great war, he had to use a power greater than the gods- the flame of Olympus, which, when he finished it he knew putting it in the flame would be the safest place. To get the box, he created Pandora who was needed to pacify the flame, but in time he saw Pandora as his daughter and couldn't bear the thought of losing her. Hephaestus lied to Zeus, telling him putting it on the back of Cronos was the safest place as he thought no one could best the titan. It was after Kratos succeeded in getting the box that Zeus knew Hephaestus lied to him. Zeus tortured him until eventually he told the truth about where to put Pandora's box, and how Pandora was needed to get the box. When trying to convince Kratos to not sacrifice Pandora failed, he instead sent him on a suicide mission and hoped that Cronos would kill him. Instead, Kratos killed Cronos. Hephaestus forged the Nemesis Whip and tried to kill Kratos himself to protect Pandora but Kratos managed to kill him instead. His last wish was that Pandora forgive him for failing to protect her and begged Kratos to spare her. Kratos wasn't angry at Hephaestus for trying to kill him, as he was just trying to protect his child, something Kratos himself understood. Kratos knew that if he had been in the Hephaestus' situation, he would have done the same thing.

### Hera

Hera was Zeus' wife, but Zeus would constantly have affairs behind her back and would have children from this affairs. This is why she hated Kratos- because he was a living reminder that Zeus cheated on her. She told her husband to kill Kratos when he was a child, but Zeus instead took pity on him and refused, enraging Hera even more. Every time she met Kratos, she was insulting and hostile towards him while Kratos himself was surprisingly calm. It is possible that since Hera was so weak, Kratos didn't see her as a threat. He would have let her live had she not insulted Pandora, who Kratos was close to- due to this, he killed her without a second thought afterwards.

### Helios

Kratos served Helios just like he served the other gods of Olympus. When Helios was captured by Atlas, It was Kratos' mission to save him. When he succeeded and returned Helios to his rightful place in the sky, Helios was grateful and even wanted to help Kratos when he was found weak after the journey but was denied by Athena who knew he would live. They would see each other again when Kratos waged war against the gods of Olympus, with Helios fighting for Olympus. Kratos aided Perses in his fight. With Helios weakened and at Kratos' mercy, he remembered the debt he still owed Kratos and begged Kratos to save him again, promising to repay him.

Kratos was intrigued by the offer, but was still suspicious. He demanded Helios to tell him where the flame of Olympus was. Helios refused to tell him and tried to use the power of the sun to kill Kratos, but Kratos was able to withstand his attack and stepped on Helios. Helios tried to trick Kratos by making him touch the flame of Olympus, but this didn't work, as Kratos already knew that doing so would end in his death. Realizing that his end was near, Helios told Kratos killing him would not lead him to Zeus. Kratos disagreed, and ripped Helios' head off and began using it as a lantern.

### Persephone

Kratos encountered Persephone while in the Underworld. At that point, he wanted to be with his daughter, Calliope, even willing to abandon the gods to the power of Morpheus. He was insulting and hostile to Persephone, but she helped nevertheless helped Kratos reunite with his daughter. She warned him that the world would suffer for his choice, which Kratos ignored. Persephone revealed that Kratos being reunited with his daughter was part of her plan to destroy the world and free herself from her miserable existence. Realizing that the destruction of the world would mean the end of Calliope, as well, Kratos' rage at Persephone increased. He was forced to abandon his daughter and Kratos killed Persephone for both threatening to put his daughter in harm's way and for making him give up the only chance he had to be with her.

### Thanatos

When Kratos discovered that his brother Deimos was alive and being tortured by Thanatos, Kratos was enraged and vowed to rescue his brother. He hated Thanatos for all the pain he caused to Deimos and worked with his brother to make Thanatos pay. When Thanatos ended up killing Deimos, Kratos was grew apoplectic and killed Thanatos without mercy.

### Erinys

Erinys was sent by Thanatos to stop Kratos from saving his brother. Kratos was determined to save him and would not allow anything to stop him, including Erinys. Kratos likely was neutral and annoyed towards Erinys, as she was simply an obstacle for him to overcome in saving Deimos not only for trying to stop him, but likely became more wrathful towards her killing of several Spartan soldiers.

### Gaia

Kratos was Zeus' son, which made Gaia his great-grandmother. Ever since Gaia and the other Titans were banished to Tartarus by Zeus, she wanted revenge on her grandson. She saw Kratos as the warrior she needed to enact her revenge and kept a close eye on him. When Zeus betrayed Kratos, Gaia saved him and told him to go to the Sisters of Fate; that way, he could go back in time to the point where Zeus betrayed him so he could have a better chance at defeating Zeus.

She explained to Kratos that the reason she helped Kratos was to get revenge on Zeus for his betrayal against all the Titans. When Zeus was supposed to be eaten by his father, Cronos, Rhea (Zeus' mother) instead gave her child to Gaia to protect him and to raise him to free his brothers from Cronos. However, her act of compassion for Zeus would come back to haunt her, as Zeus not only wanted to free his brothers from his father, but also to take his place as the new ruler of the mortal world. By throwing his aunts and uncles into Tartarus, he betrayed all Titans just because of the sins of one.

When Kratos was about to give up and be killed by the Kraken, Gaia appeared before him and told him he must press on, for a great war was coming and they needed him to lead them into battle. She warned him that if Zeus were to discover that Kratos was alive, he would hunt him down and kill him, and then Hades would collect his soul and make sure that Kratos was forever tortured. Gaia encouraged Kratos to keep going by giving him the ashes of his beloved Sparta so that it could fuel his rage, giving Kratos back his will to live.

Kratos went back in time to the first Great War and saved Gaia along with the rest of the Titans, and together they climbed Mount Olympus ready to have their revenge on Zeus. While climbing the mountain, Poseidon joined the fight and tried to pull the Titans off the mountain. Together, Kratos and Gaia defeated Poseidon. They eventually reached Zeus and, in an attempt to kill them, Zeus fired a lightning bolt at them. Gaia tried to stop her grandson but was too slow. Kratos begged Gaia for aid but Gaia refused to help Kratos, for if she did, they would both fall. Kratos reminded her that the promised death of Zeus was why she saved Kratos. To this, she stated she had saved him only to serve the Titans. It was at this point that Gaia revealed her true colors- that she saw Kratos as nothing more than a pawn who had lost its usefulness and told Kratos that Zeus was no longer his concern, that was their war, not his, after which she purposely let him fall off the mountain into the underworld.

Kratos later encounters Gaia again in the City of Olympia, where she appears to have been further pushed back from Olympus by her injury and is now hanging onto a cliff edge. Seeing Kratos again, Gaia expresses surprise and then requests his assistance in getting back to the battle. Kratos, still enraged by her betrayal, sarcastically repeats her request for help and then points out she betrayed him. Gaia attempts to justify herself, but Kratos simply ignores her and begins cutting through what's left of her arm. When the titan asks if she means nothing to him, Kratos coldly echoes her previous words to him before he fell off the mountain by telling her that she was simply a means to an end, nothing more and that this was his war, not the Titans. He then stabbed the last remaining bone that connected her arm to her nearly severed hand with the Blade of Olympus, causing it to explode and the Titan to fall beyond the cliff edge, leading Kratos to believe she died.

However, during Kratos' final showdown with Zeus, Gaia was shown to be in fact still alive, and had managed to grow a new hand which she then used to climb all the way up to the top of Olympus. Kratos expressed surprise at seeing her alive, to which she responded that the world bleeds because of all of the destruction he caused by killing the Gods. Gaia then attempted to crush both father and son with her hands, but Kratos and Zeus jumped into the hole in Gaia's shoulder to quickly escape. Kratos killed her shortly thereafter by purposely destroying her heart during his fight with Zeus, which caused her body to fall Olympus.

### Atlas

Atlas despised Kratos for saving the gods of Olympus and warned him that he would regret what he did. They met again when Kratos was searching for the Sisters of Fate. At first Atlas tried to kill him but Kratos managed to convince him otherwise. Realizing he was an enemy of Zeus, Atlas tested him and when Kratos passed, he realized that Kratos was a worthy ally of the titans. He helped Kratos across the Great Chasm and wished him luck in his quest. It is unknown if Atlas knows that Kratos became an enemy of the Titans when Gaia betrayed him. But, if he did, then he would surely kill Kratos if he ever saw him again.

### Cronos

As Kratos was Zeus' son, Cronos was Kratos' grandfather. They first met when Kratos tried to retrieve Pandora's box. Cronos didn't seem to care, and allowed Kratos to climb to Pandora's temple to claim Pandora's box. When Kratos succeeded, Zeus, who was consumed by fear, believed that Kratos would seek Cronos's aid. Zeus also blamed Cronos for Kratos managing to retrieve the box as he was supposed to kill anyone trying to reach Pandora's Temple. He promptly banished Cronos to the pits of Tartarus. Cronos despised Kratos, blaming him for his torment.

They met again when Kratos went to Tartarus. He tried to kill Kratos as punishment for his suffering, and also to avenge Gaia who was supposedly dead. Unable to defeat Cronos head-on, Kratos used his wits and skills and managed to avoid Cronos but instead damage parts of his body. Eventually, Cronos captured Kratos and ate him. This would later be an error as Kratos managed to cut Cronos open from the inside, releasing his intestines. Realizing he had been bested, he pleaded Kratos to leave him be, but Kratos ignored his pleas and killed Cronos. Realizing that his death was nigh, he insulted Kratos one last time by calling him a coward who kills his own kin. While it was true that Kratos wanted to kill his father Zeus, Cronos himself was no better as he tried to kill his own children as they were prophesied to kill him, showing that his last words were ironic.

### Callisto

Callisto was Kratos' mother. When Kratos became the new god of war, Callisto contacted Kratos through his dreams, begging for aid. Kratos decided to investigate and found her in the temple of Poseidon. At first he believed her to be a trick of the gods, but after closely examining her, he realized that it was in fact Callisto. Callisto explains to Kratos that his brother, Deimos, was alive. Kratos is angry that his mother kept this from him, having convinced Kratos in childhood that he had been lost. She explains that she was forbidden from revealing this information to him by Kratos' father. Having never known his father, Kratos expresses confusion. Callisto then reveals to Kratos that Zeus is his father. Callisto then turned into a monster and attacked Kratos, and he was forced to kill her in self-defense. He showed regret and remorse in her death, showing that he still loved her. Callisto was not angry at her son for killing her, and instead thanked him for releasing her from her torment. Even in death, she still loved him and begged the gods to allow him mercy, and to punish her for his crimes as she blamed herself for all the things he had done. Her death would affect Kratos immensely, as he blamed the gods for what happened to her and he would make them pay for what they did, something he achieved when he waged war on them.

### Deimos

Deimos was Kratos' younger brother. When they were children and training to become warriors of Sparta, Kratos was harsh and strict on Deimos, but cared for him deeply, on the inside. When Ares captured Deimos, Kratos tried to save him, only to be swatted away like a fly by Ares. Callisto lied to Kratos, saying that Deimos was dead and it heavily affected him. He vowed never to falter again and, to honor his brother, he gave himself a tattoo in the exact image of his brother's birthmarks. When he learned the truth from his mother, that Deimos was alive, he vowed to save him no matter what. When Deimos was killed by Thanatos, Kratos was so enraged that he killed Thanatos without mercy, avenging Deimos' death. He vowed to bring about the gods' downfall for what they did.

### Hercules

Hercules was Kratos' half-brother. They seemed to know each other before Kratos waged war on the gods and addressed each other as brothers.

However, Hercules was jealous of Kratos because he had gained more fame and glory than him by allowing him to kill Ares, and by becoming the new God of War while he himself was sent on his labors, which he considered pitiful by comparison. Because of this, Hercules believed Kratos was Zeus' favourite and wanted to kill him to prove to their father that he deserved the title of the god of war. Kratos, however, had no intention of fighting Hercules and instead tried to reason with him, saying that his war with the gods had nothing to do with Hercules and that he was misguided in thinking Zeus had favourites. But Hercules refused to listen and attacked Kratos, who was then forced to kill his brother.

Hercules remains the only God Kratos actually tried to dissuade from fighting against him and the only divine sibling Kratos openly acknowledged, besides Deimos.

### Lysandra

Lysandra was Kratos' first wife. He loved her dearly, and whenever Kratos had enough free time from his conquest of Greece, he would go to see her and his daughter Calliope. She loved Kratos in return and was also worried about him, as she believed that his conquest of Greece was going too far and that he was doing it for personal glory rather than for the glory of Sparta. When Kratos accidentally killed her, her death, along with his daughter's, would haunt him for the rest of his life. If one looks at Kratos journal in his ship, he states that no matter how which woman he sleeps with, they all remind him of Lysandra.

### Calliope

Calliope was Kratos' daughter and, just like his wife, he loved her dearly. He gave her a flute, which Calliope kept and treasured, as it was a memento from him. She kept it even in death. When Kratos was in the underworld to save Helios, he saw Calliope and wished to be with her, even planning to leave the world at the mercy of Morpheus. Kratos got his chance when Persephone allowed him to enter the Elysium fields, but only after he sacrificed all of his power first.

Calliope was thrilled to see her father again and Kratos, for the first time since being the Ghost of Sparta, was happy, and he was seen smiling. However, once Kratos realized the truth- that Persephone was going to destroy the Greece world to have her revenge against the gods of Olympus, he had no choice but to abandon her as it was the only way to save her. Although he succeeded, he was never allowed to see his daughter again. Calliope was so depressed after her father for abandoned her, that she lost the will to play her flute. After killing Hades, Kratos considered looking for Calliope's soul before Athena reminded him of his mission to kill Zeus.

### Pandora

At first Kratos wasn't interested in Pandora as he only cared about getting his revenge on Zeus. However, once he figured out that Pandora was needed to gain Pandora's Box, the very thing that Kratos needed to kill Zeus, he went to rescue her. When the time came to sacrifice Pandora, Kratos relented as he had bonded with Pandora and wanted to find another way to kill Zeus. When Pandora sacrificed herself to unlock the box, it was shown to be empty, leading Kratos to believe that she was sacrificed in vain. This turned to be false as Pandora's spirit communicated with Kratos inside his mind, allowing him to forgive himself for his sins and use the power of hope that was buried deep within him to kill Zeus. Inspired by Pandora's words, he released the power of hope in a way that allowed the mortals of the Greek world to live without the gods of Olympus.

### Laufey

Laufey the Just, or Faye as she is affectionately called, became Kratos' second wife after he left Greece for Midgard. The two met when Faye was looking for her Leviathan Axe before falling in love and settling down. Together, they bore another child who was named Atreus. Faye, like Lysandra before her, loved Kratos dearly and she shared his animosity towards the gods. She was aware of the role he and their son would play regarding Ragnarok. To that end, she instructed her husband to, after her death, cremate her and spread her ashes upon the highest peak in the realms. Kratos up to that point was unaware of Faye's status as a Giant but it seemed he had found love again with her, having cared deeply for her just as he had for Lysandra. He was enraged when Atreus believed that he lacked grief for her, and despised how her son spoke ill of her. His love for Faye was so great that he knew she had good reasons to hide the fact she was a Giant from her family.

### Atreus

Atreus is the son of Kratos and Laufey the Just. He was Kratos' second child after Calliope. At Faye's request, Kratos did not raise Atreus and instead hunted for the family and trained to control his rage. Once Faye died, he decided to raise Atreus himself and scolded Atreus every time he made a mistake, but always managed to control himself. Deep down Kratos loved and cared for Atreus, as seen when Atreus was sick. Kratos took him to Freya so she could save him, and traveled to Helheim to find the ingredient needed to revive him. This was also one of the rare occasions in a long time that Kratos has ever been terrified and desperate enough to ask another god he still did not fully trust for help, even going as far as apologizing to Freya for his initial rudeness over learning about her identity and godhood. At first, he kept his past a secret from his son out of shame, but eventually told him more about it so Atreus didn't make the same mistakes he did and so that he could be better than he was. They bonded during their journey and now both were willing to protect each other from any threat.

### Freya

At first Kratos was wary of Freya as he didn't like strangers, but did help her as it was his fault that her friend was hurt. Even though Freya wanted to help Kratos and Atreus, he was still suspicious of her and only allowed it because Faye's quest was more important. Once he realized the truth, that she was a Goddess, he instantly no longer trusted her due to his own experience with the gods of Olympus. Once Atreus was sick though, he instantly went to Freya and begged her to save his son. Freya agreed and told Kratos of the ingredient she needed to create a cure that would bring Atreus back from the brink of death; the heart of the Bridgekeeper in Helheim, the realm of the dead. Before he left, Kratos attempted to apologize for his earlier behavior towards her, only to be stopped by Freya, who reassured him that he was right to distrust the word of a God. Freya then promised she would keep his son safe until he returned, noting that she was a parent as well.

After retrieving the heart and returning to Freya's home, the two briefly discussed how the cure would only be temporary and that in order to heal properly, Kratos would need to tell Atreus the truth about his nature as a God. Freya then revealed she also had a son, whom she had not seen in a very long time and that she too had let her own fear take precedence over what her son needed, but she never realized his growing resentment until it was too late. Freya advised Kratos to not make the same mistake and reassured him that while the truth is never simple, nothing ever is when it comes to being a parent. Atreus then awoke, the cure having broken the fever. After this interaction, Kratos gained a newfound respect for Freya and vowed to never forget how she helped his family.

He was quick to figure out upon learning that Baldur was Freya's son that Freya was the one who cursed Mimir so that he couldn't say anything about it. Still, despite this, Kratos still cared for and respected her: He did not attack her and told Atreus to remain calm and actively defended Freya from Baldur. Alas, this would cause Freya to turn against Kratos, though neither of them were eager to engage one another, Freya pleading with Kratos and Atreus to stop attacking Baldur and let her reason with him and Kratos in return not attacking her for her attempts and continuing to fight Baldur to protect her. In a cruel twist of fate, Kratos managed to repay this debt by killing Baldur, Freya's son, who was about to strangle his mother to death due to the resentment and hatred he had carried for her for cursing him with sensory deprivation as a side effect of her invulnerability spell for over a hundred years. Freya was enraged by the death of her son and vowed revenge. Kratos wasn't angry because what she said as he understood the pain of losing a child, and hoped that in time Freya would forgive him for what he did.

### Baldur

Kratos met Baldur when he attacked Kratos' home. At first Kratos didn't want to fight Baldur, but Baldur's attacks as well as his provocation forced Kratos to defend himself. Once Kratos discovered the truth, that Freya was Baldur's mother and he was going to kill her to punish her for all the pain she caused, Kratos tried to stop him. He understood why Baldur was going to kill Freya but warned him that vengeance would not bring him peace and was forced to fight and kill Baldur to protect Freya. He regretted killing Baldur as he knew Freya would be angry at him but defended his actions, by stating that Baldur had chosen this path.

## Trivia

### In Greek Mythology

* "Kratos" means "Power" or "Strength" in Greek, likely a reference to Kratos' god-like physical strength or overall power in general.
* Though Kratos is not a character in actual Greek mythology, there is a being in myth named "Cratos". He is the son of Pallas and Styx and he is the personification of strength and power. The mythical Cratos and the Kratos in-game, however, have vastly different loyalties, whereas Kratos is concerned only for himself and openly despises the gods, while Cratos is utterly loyal to Zeus.
* In Greek mythology, Cratos and Bia were commanded by Hephaestus to imprison Prometheus. Ironically, it was Kratos who released Prometheus from his imprisonment in *God of War II*.

### In General

* Kratos is voiced by Terrence C. Carson from *God of War* to *God of War: Ascension*, and by Antony Del Rio as a child in *God of War: Ghost of Sparta*. Christopher Judge took over the role for the first PS4 *God of War*. He will be taking over the role again for the next game in the series, *God of War: Ragnarök*.
* According to a *God of War III* special feature, Kratos stands 8 feet tall.
	+ This was later changed to him being 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 meters) tall in the Greek games, and having his height reduced to 6ft 4 inches (1.94 meters) in the Norse games to ease up the motion capture devices and being considered to be a more realistic end, as per Christopher Judge's proportions and as per an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment's Lead Technical Artist Axel Grossman.
* 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. In the second, it is closer to his nipple. In the final game, it does not cover his nipple at all. 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. In the *God of War* (2018), his right arm's hooked tattoo changed differently to its appearance in *God of War III*, becoming closer to what it looked like in the original *God of War*.
* Kratos' family is shown to be the only people he has ever truly loved. The only time he has ever been seen smiling was when he found Calliope in the Underworld. Kratos was very distraught when he had to leave her once again. Later, when he encounters an illusion of his late wife, he begs her for forgiveness, something he has never been seen doing before. When he is forced to kill his mother, he is distraught by her passing. When his younger brother Deimos is killed, Kratos is devastated before he unleashes his rage on Thanatos for his actions. He also cares a lot about his second child, Atreus, protecting him on the way during some situations, he is also more concerned about his well-being and temperament, frantically seeking Freya's help because he fell ill from his induced rage, he also disciplines his son like any typical father could. While his relationship with Faye, his second late wife, was not known well, he was visibly angered when Atreus accuses him of not mourning for her.
* Kratos' standard outfit appearance had little changes throughout the games. In *God of War* and *God of War: Ascension*, his hands were without any gloves, and he had nothing but white cloth between the chains and the skin of his arms. His belt changes between *God of War* and *God of War II*, in the former, he wears a red leather belt, in the latter, he was wearing a gold one, this was kept to *God of War III*. His skirt is the same as in later games in *God of War: Ascension*, but seems like it is new and undamaged. In *Chains of Olympus*, his skirt seems to be torn apart in some places, as in *God of War*, and you can clearly see his red gloves. As a God in *God of War II*, while wearing his god armor, the skirt is intact just to be torn apart again after the Colossus of Rhodes smashed him and broke the armor, and the gloves are kept. The final outfit from *God of War II* is pretty much the same as the one in the sequel. Also, in *God of War II* and *III*, Kratos wears a red leather armlet beneath the chains in his arms. The only difference between the two games is that his skirt seems to be shorter in the HD scenes of *God of War II* and *God of War III* than that in the gameplay of *God of War II*. This could be because of his years of trial and error, fighting creatures and gods, that caused his skirt damage. In the new *God of War*, if inspected closely, one can see of what remains of his old skirt in his waist. Also, in God of War 3, when Kratos kills Zeus, the chains off his wrists fall off, revealing strange golden metal gauntlets over top of his red gloves, showing clearly defined metal grooves where his chains would be laid into place. It seems Kratos had these made for him during his time as the God of War, possibly for comfort during combat as the chains of his blades might have gotten annoying on his skin after a long time.
* Despite the fact that Kratos' chains from when he very first became a slave to Ares all those years ago were branded onto his bare flesh, they seemingly were able to be removed, as mentioned above, he wears various things under his chains to keep them off his bare skin. While it is revealed in the Fallen God comic that the Blades of Chaos have been following Kratos his entire life after he received them from Ares, it was only the Blades that follow him. The chains themselves that he has used on his various chained weapons seem to either all be the same original chains, or various sets of chains he would swap out for each weapon. Also, the chains themselves would not follow Kratos with the Blades of Chaos, as he did not have them on at all during most of God of War 2018.
* Developer Stig Asmussen has revealed that David Jaffe intended for Kratos to take on the Norse and Egyptian gods after having defeated Zeus and the Greek pantheon. His intention for the former was confirmed with the release of *God of War*. A spin off (and not canon by any means) game called Bit of War was released years ago that follows Jaffe's original vision for God of War 3.
* Kratos' 2018 appearance as a tall, muscular, pale man with a thick dark beard, a bald head, tattoos across his head and body and an axe, bears a great resemblance to Grog StrongJaw from Critical role. Grog is a goliath barbarian often wielding a greataxe, and as a barbarian, he utilizes rage in combat to deal more damage and become more durable. While it's likely just a coincidence, many fans of Critical Role and God of War have noticed the resemblance.
* Kratos carries some sort of severed head in several games, those being the original, II, III, and 2018. However, he does not carry one in any of the side games.
* Comparing Kratos' character model from God of War III to his character model from God of War 2018, he became noticeably shorter in height in the 2018 release. While his height has remained inconsistently reported throughout the series, he was roughly a whopping 8 feet-ish tall during the entire Greek saga, though he is roughly 6 foot 6 inches tall in the 2018 release. 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. His facial expression and minor details on his body also changed with all of the low-res (PS2 and PSP era-games) character models, such as his red tattoo growing and shrinking in size (and even the position and the actual tattoo shape itself) across all of the character models. His skirt length also changed across the games too, and the chains (and in some games, red gloves worn under the chains) on his forearms changed too. These drastic changes for his character model across the series can be attributed to better hardware and graphics developments being made as the games were being worked on. Kratos' face looks quite different in complexion and expression to how he looks in II, and so forth. However, the character model used for his appearance in III and Ascension are the same, with the only major changes to the Ascension model being his tattoo being a very deep (but also much more vibrant, similar to the tattoos vibrant appearance in the first game) red color compared to the somewhat washed-out and faded color of his III model, along with his ashes being whiter, his expression looking somewhat sad or depressed at times, and there being scratches, dirt and cuts all over his chest. The red gloves Kratos wears under his chains are only seen in II and III, whereas in all the other games in the Greek Saga, they are either on his bare skin, or under some leather wrappings. His shin guards also gain a small piece of additional metal on his left leg in II and III. A comparison between his Greek and Norse sizes can be seen here.[1] [2]Note his character model is taken from God of War III, showing his freakishly small head. For the second link, both of his character models are scaled to be the same size, although this still shows how small his head was for the III character model.
* According to Cory Barlog, in a fight between old Kratos from the Norse era and his younger self from the Greek era, old Kratos would win without question.
* In God of War III and Ascension, Kratos' head was slightly shrunk, and it made his head look disproportionately small in comparison to the rest of his body. This is easily noticable if one directly compares Kratos' model between II and III. It is unknown why this change was made, but his head was made a much more humanlike size later on with his 2018 self.

#### In Greek Era

* Kratos kills about one god in every game (a total of 14 gods), with the most notable exception being *God of War III*, where he kills a total of 7 gods.
* It is unknown why many characters, even if they are fully aware of Kratos' demigod status, still call him a mortal. It could be that they did not feel like calling him a demigod, or that they used it to make him appear weak.
* In early screenshots of *God of War*, Kratos' tattoo was in the shape of the omega symbol when it was seen on his head.
* Prior to being revealed to be the Marked Warrior, who the prophecy foretold the end of Olympus would be at his hand, Kratos was said to be marked by many individuals. The village oracle who cursed him when she bonded the ashes of his family to his skin stated that the mark of his deeds would be visible to everyone, and a spider he encountered during his quest to destroy the Ambrosia to stop the followers of Ares from reviving him stated he is just a mortal marked with destruction. Kratos also took a tattoo identical to his brother's birthmark.
* During flashbacks in *God of War III* to the events of *God of War*, the character model for Kratos in *God of War III* is used instead.
* In *God of War II*, when Kratos is taken back in time by Atropos to his battle with Ares, his past self's tattoos are very faded in color, almost invisible, until the ending scene where he grabs the Blade of the Gods. Curiously, the tattoos are colored orange instead of red.
	+ Oddly, he also has the scar from where Zeus stabbed him, despite his battle with Ares occurring long before his fight with Zeus.
* By technicality, Kratos managed to free himself from his past in *Chains of Olympus*. When he gave up his weapons, powers, and abilities, Kratos' tattoo and pale skin were also removed, thus granting him amnesty. Unfortunately, he was forced to regain everything at the cost of his daughter, Calliope.
* In all of the main installments of the series, Kratos is killed at some point by impalement through his abdomen. The first time was from a stone pillar being hurled at him by Ares, the second time was from Zeus driving the Blade of Olympus into his chest, and the final time was him committing suicide by using the Blade of Olympus once again.
	+ Also, in each of the main games, he burned a man alive: the first being the Sacrificed Soldier, followed by Prometheus in *God of War II*, and finally Peiritheus in *God of War III*.
* Kratos has killed both of his parents in his quests. He is forced to reluctantly kill his mother Callisto in *Ghost of Sparta*, and brutally killed his father Zeus in *God of War III*.
* Most of Kratos' actions during the series were driven by rage and vengeance. Some exceptions are when he was searching for the Ambrosia to save his daughter, when saving his brother Deimos while ignoring any and all godly warnings, and when trying to prevent Pandora from sacrificing herself in the Flame of Olympus, and later to spread his second wife's ashes on the highest peak in the Nine Realms (which turned out to be in Jötunheim), accompanied by his son Atreus.
* Kratos has killed three different people directly from bashing their faces in with something (or his bare hands). Those being, slamming a huge metal door into Theseus' head over and over, punching Hercules in the face with the Nemean Cestus (his face becomes deformed and a bloody pulp to the point where his eyes fall out, his teeth are broken and his skull is literally caved into the shape of a bowl, which is possibly the most gory scene in the entire series, aside from various organs being spilled out of several enemies Kratos kills), and finally, Kratos punching Zeus in the face with his bare fists until it kills him from blunt trauma to the head.
* In the series, when Kratos encounters any of his half-siblings or cousins, he initially does not intend to battle them but is ultimately forced to when they either provoke him or challenge him. Prime examples include both Perseus, Theseus and Hercules.
* Throughout the *God of War* series, Kratos casts himself off a ledge in the trilogy. Firstly, in *God of War*, when Kratos attempts to commit suicide at the end of the game. Secondly, in *God of War II*, when he plummets down to Rhodes in the beginning. Lastly, in *God of War III,* when Kratos drops to the Underworld from the Labyrinth. Also in *God of War III* during his psyche journey, he drops the hope lantern and casts himself into the Pool of Blood. In God of War IV, Kratos, along with his son and Mimir cast themselves off the edge off the path in the Realm between Realms to find the Jötunheim tower.
* It is never clearly mentioned how long Kratos reigned as a god, but judging from the 4603 days of working on the Labyrinth, Daedalus has spent a total of 12.6 years working on it. This implies that 12.6 years have passed between *God of War* and *God of War III*.
	+ With this information, one can assume that Kratos was born between 510 BC ~ 500 BC and that *God of War III* finished around 470 BC ~ 460 BC, as he spent about 12 years as a god, 10 as a slave to Olympus, and even before, he fought at Eurybiades' side against the Persians and their King (probably Xerxes I), event that took place in 480 BC (approximately). Judging by his voice pattern and physical appearance, his age in *God of War III* is estimated around 40 ~ almost 50 years.
	+ However, these years are contradictory with the appearance of Archimedes' corpse and his inventions in *Ascension* and *Ghost of Sparta*, respectively, given that Archimedes died c.212 BC. The Colossus of Rhodes' appearance also supports a more recent setting, as the construction of the statue began in 292 BC, and ended around 280 BC. It was then destroyed in an earthquake in 226 BC. With this information, one can assume that in the *God of War* universe the statue was then nearly reconstructed around 36 years later (as it is shown unfinished in the events of *God of War II*). All this suggests that Kratos was actually born between 230 BC ~ 220 BC and that *God of War III* finishes between 190 BC ~ 180 BC.
	+ To explain Eurybiades' appearance in *Chains of Olympus*, one should assume that the conflict did not take place in the Greco-Persian Wars, and that the fallen commander was actually named after Eurybiades. This is supported by the fact that he is listed as "Leader of the Athenian Army", when historically, Eurybiades was a Spartan Commander. Another reason that supports this notion is that the original Eurybiades historically survived the Greco-Persian Wars, while the character from *Chains of Olympus* is shown unconscious and severely injured.
* Kratos is rarely seen feeling any emotion but anger during the events of the game. In *God of War: Ascension*, Kratos is seen desolated as he's trapped in the Furies' illusions. Later, he's seen genuinely sad by the fact he has to kill Orkos to free himself from Ares. The only time he's seen happy is when he reunites with his daughter in *Chains of Olympus.* In *God of War* (2018), he appears to be wiser and more reserved, being able to control his anger most of the time.
* Kratos' fighting style changes throughout the game as he becomes more and more experienced. In *God of War: Ascension* he uses the Blades of Chaos to perform grabs while in all other games he prefers to overpower his enemies by grabbing them with his hands. In *God of War III*, many of his moves are slightly faster than the older games.
* Kratos has a cut [3]character model that was originally going to be used in Ascension, but it was scrapped. It shows him missing his goatee, his flesh torn, his arms nearly detached from his body, and him very skinny, withered away and sad.
* There is a theory that says that Kratos never stopped being God of War despite having lost his divine power, and that he only became a renegade from Olympus "A Fallen God".
	+ This is reinforced because some keep calling him "God", but one fallen.
	+ Aphrodite's statement that Kratos is no longer the God of War could be used as confirmation that Kratos is a god without position on Olympus.
	+ You could also use Hercules' words to Kratos, telling him that when he kills him he will be the new God of War, much like what Kratos did when he killed Ares.
	+ When Gaia tells Kratos that he is no longer a God, it is most likely that he was lying to him, this is confirmed by the words of Lachesis telling Kratos that Gaia filled him with her lies and also by the betrayal of the primordial in God of War 3.
* It is likely that after running through the Blade of Olympus in God of War 3, Kratos reabsorbed his divine power (and probably the full power of the sword as well), this is thought to be because the glow of the Blade of Olympus disappears while it is stuck. in Kratos.
* There is a theory that the reason why Kratos managed to kill the Greek Gods is because he was helped directly and indirectly by the Blade of Olympus and that being wielded by Kratos, he can use his full abilities as God of War.
	+ This is reinforced because when Kratos kills one of the Gods in God Of War 3, he has the Blade of Olympus in his possession.

#### In Nordic Era

* Because of Faye, Kratos is knowledgeable of some of the Norse Gods, such as Thor and Odin. However, he is far less knowledgeable than either Atreus or Mimir, and will occasionally ask them for information: this serves as a means for the game to share the world's lore with the player.
* After leaving the Grecian world following all the chaos he has caused there, Kratos begins to develop some sort of loathing towards his *Ghost of Sparta* moniker and even warns Mimir when the fae addresses him as such.
* While on the Boat with Atreus, if Mimir is not present by this time, Kratos will count famous stories such as *The Hare and Tortoise* and *Frog and Scorpion*. However, he will also tell the tale of a horse who wanted revenge. The horse allowed someone to ride him to meet his desire for revenge, but ended up losing his freedom. The horse symbolizes Kratos, and Ares the rider.
	+ It is highly implied that the old man who told Kratos the stories was Aesop, a famous Greek storyteller.
	+ In hindsight, The story of The Hare and Tortoise was very similar to the fight between Kratos and Hermes. Hermes, the Hare, is too confident of his speed and Kratos's inability to catch him while Kratos, the Tortoise, remains steady and determined and becomes the winner between the two. It also can be applied to Kratos' situation with other gods and titans, as he was often being underestimated, only to came out on top in the end.
	+ *The Young Crab and his Mother* story mirror the relationship between Kratos and his son. Kratos often verbally reminding Atreus to be a better person, especially to the former and his past self. However, as in the story where the mother crab cannot teach her son how to walk forwards, Kratos struggles to teach his son compassion and discipline when Kratos' own life has been marked by so much rage and death.
	+ *The Thief and His Mother* foreshadows the relationship between Freya and Baldur. A thief is arrested and sentenced to death and as a last request, he wanted to see his mother before his execution. Suddenly, he bit off his mother's ear and proclaimed that it was her fault for never disciplining him when he first started stealing. Likewise, Baldur planned to murder Freya for ruining his life with her overprotectiveness.
	+ *The Frog and Scorpion* is a more overt example as both Kratos and Faye compared the gods to the titular scorpion. As both believe the only nature of a god is to be praised for dooming others. The final battle with Baldur reflects the story as well. As Freya (the frog) is an altruistic mother who willingly tried to let Baldur kill her, only for Kratos (the scorpion) to kill him to save her. Despite everything she's done for Kratos and Atreus, she lost her son in the process and cursed Kratos by saying he's just an animal who will never change.
	+ *The Woodcutter and the Trees* can be compared to Kratos' relationship with the Greek Pantheon. Zeus was afraid of Kratos fulfilling the cycle of patricide, but his own actions are what lead to Kratos' assault on Olympus. The young sapling in the story can be compared to Ares, as his actions led to Kratos becoming his successor and to the eventual war between Kratos and the other gods. Likewise, this story can be compared to Odin. As Odin's extremities are a result of trying to save himself during Ragnarok while using Thor to fulfil his plans, which gave a reason to the jötnar to participate in Ragnarok.
	+ Atreus stated that Kratos is not a good story-teller and while he does have some negative complaints towards the stories he tells, he repeatedly states Kratos's skill outright is bad. It's only when telling about why he named him Atreus that his son is impressed.
* When speaking with Freya about Helheim, he implies to her that he is familiar with another afterlife, a reference to him travelling through the Underworld several times during his quests.
* While in Hel, Kratos witness a reenactment of his final battle with Zeus at the end of *God of War III.* However, Kratos' voice of him screaming at Zeus are redone with Judge's voice instead of Carson, possibly because Sony lost the rights to use Carson's voice. However, the voice for Zeus throughout most of the Greek saga, Corey Burton, came back to re-do a few lines (though the reenactment of the battle is not perfectly accurate, as Zeus says nothing at all when Kratos charges at him). It briefly puts the player in a first person perspective of Kratos watching the ghostly battle, before the camera's view shifting to Kratos, letting the player view Kratos killing Zeus in the exact same first person view as they did in God of War III.
* While in Tyr's chambers he finds a vase containing Lemnian wine, from Lemnos, a Greek island near his birthplace in Sparta. He and Atreus drink the centuries-old wine and Atreus is disgusted by it, while Kratos enjoys it.
* Also in Tyr's chambers, he destroys a vase. This vase is painted with Kratos standing over a pile of bodies, holding the Blades of Exile and screaming into the air as blood drips from the blades. He smashes it before Atreus can see it, so his past is not revealed to him.
* Kratos tells Atreus that he has met many annoying spirits before. He could be talking about Athena, or the many times he has faced undead foes like Alrik.
* When asked by Atreus if he can transform into an animal, Kratos stops to think, as the only god he has ever seen shapeshift was Zeus, and does not know how.
* He is known by the Jötnar as **Fárbauti** (ᚠᚨᚱᛒᚨᚢᛏᛁ), literally meaning "cruel striker" and sometimes interpreted as "lightning", a fitting name for Kratos' former demeanor as well as being a son of Zeus. Fárbauti is also the father of **Loki** and husband of **Laufey** in Norse mythology.
	+ The Jötunheim mural also refers him as Einherjar, warriors chosen by the Valkyries to fight for Odin during Ragnarök, despite he is not yet being slain in a battle and being brought to Valhalla by any of the Valkyries. Furthermore, Odin views him as a threat given that he will take part in Ragnarok.
* As part of his Greek Culture and of his past, he treats Atreus in a different way than he did with his daughter Calliope, as Spartans at a young age were taught how to fight and survive at young ages.
* When he reveals his past to Atreus, he mentions that he has killed those who were deserving, such as Ares, Persephone, and Thanatos, while he has slaughtered those who were not, such as the countless innocents he killed while serving Ares, including his daughter and wife.
* During some side missions, Kratos and Atreus learn of people killing their fathers, which Atreus finds surprising. Ironically, this was the case with Kratos and Zeus.
	+ In that side mission, Kratos didn't face the ghost of the father as he told his tale, possibly still ashamed of what he did.
* Kratos needed to recover an item from the inside of beasts five times. Daimon, for the Oath Stone of Orkos, the Hydra, for the boat captain's key, the Cerberus Mole for the Golden Fleece, Cronos, for the Omphalos Stone, and The World Serpent, for Mimir's second eye.
* Kratos mocks and teases Mimir many times through the game (as seen in Tyr's Vault about Atreus finds a Celtic knife), which he does not find amusing, exclaiming "this is why no one likes you".
	+ The insult Kratos makes regarding the knife is actually the purpose of the Celtic knife in question: when Atreus finds the knife, Kratos suggests bringing it along as they "may need to butter bread along [their] travels".
* Many times through his adventure with Atreus, he reminds his son of the danger of the gods, that there are no good gods, or that gods do not simply care for mortals. This is because he faced the Greek Gods who, just as himself, showed such qualities.
* Like in *God of War (2005)*, Kratos can wear the armor of the fallen God of War in *God of War (2018)*, but in this case it is Tyr's. If players complete the "Give me God of War" difficulty mode, they will also gain his shield: Radiant Shield of Unity.
	+ You also gain The Aspis of Spartan Fury Shield, for completing "Give Me God of War" mode, a Golden shield with a Bloody makeshift "V", a reminder of his past.
	+ In new game+ Kratos gained Zeus and Ares' armors, which look strikingly similar, especially in the back area, to Kratos' own god armor in God of War II.
* In God of War (2018), Kratos sometimes says "Indeed". This a reference to his voice actor, Christopher Judge's role as Teal'c in Stargate SG-1 as one of Teal'c most famous catchphrases is "Indeed".
* Interestingly, Kratos is only tortured by his vision of killing Zeus in Helheim, despite the countless crimes and atrocities he committed including the killing of his own wife and daughter. It might be because Kratos had already forgiven himself for those sins while he was tormented by fear, leaving the murder of Zeus as the only sin Helheim can punish him with, since Kratos himself is now a father.
* After seeing Zeus for the first time in Helheim, Kratos seemingly reacts with fear upon seeing his father after decades had passed since the former's death. This could hint that despite Zeus being dead for a very long time, he continues to haunt Kratos subconsciously, being a continual reminder of his greatest failure and his lust for revenge leaving him with nothing, thus giving the former king of the Greek gods some form of a "last laugh" over Kratos.
* Interestingly, when Mimir tells the story of Jormungandr being sent back in time Kratos reacts with disbelief, claiming it as madness, despite the fact that he he himself has travelled through time in the past and has seen multiple instances of time manipulation in his life, including the Norse era with Vanir Temporal Magic and the fact that time flows differently in each realm.
* Kratos believes that fate is a lie, however he is unaware of the Marked Warrior prophecy, which predicted his destruction of Olympus and the Gods exactly. His actions within the Norse realm were also predicted by the Jotnar race long before he ever arrived, showing that pre-determined destinies are actually true and Kratos has been unwittingly fulfilling prophecies all of his life.
* Although many did not take it into account, when Kratos confessed to Atreus that he is a God, many took it to mean that he only has divine blood, but due to his ability to kill the Nordic Gods without the blade of Olympus, he is Kratos is likely referring to his being a full God.

### Guest Appearances

* Kratos makes a guest appearance in *Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny*. He fights with the Blades of Chaos, Blade of Olympus, Icarus Wings, and Poseidon's Rage. Kratos does not appear in the sequel, Soul Calibur V but much of his moveset, including Icarus Wing maneuvers, is re-used for the humanoid lizard warrior, Aeon Calcos who was also a Spartan before being transformed.
* The God of War Armor makes an appearance in Heavenly Sword. On a mission with the character Kai, the player enters an armory with a display of her mother's skeleton. One of the other displays is the God of War Armour with the Blades of Chaos underneath. The inscription reads to the effect of "Armour of the Prince who stood alone against the Persian Army." This was confirmed by Ninja Theory (the developer of *Heavenly Sword*) as accreditation to the God of War series for being such a heavy influence to their own production.
* In the 2008 The Simpsons Game, a parody of Kratos can be seen in the background of a level on a billboard. The words "God of Wharf" are written next to a picture of a Simpsons-esque Kratos eating a bowl of chowder.
* Kratos makes a guest appearance in the PS3 golf game, *Everybody's Golf: World Tour*. Playing with the 'Clubs of Olympus', a set of clubs with the club heads attached to chains, Kratos is portrayed being quite rude to his caddy, blaming all his bogies and missed shots on The Sisters of Fate.
* The PS3 exclusive kart racing game *ModNation* offers Kratos, and his *Kart of Chaos*, as a playable character when pre-ordering. Kratos, along with other pre-order incentives, were made available worldwide.
* In 2009's Game of the Year *LitteBigPlanet*, there is a rare character costume of Kratos, as well as Medusa and Pandora's Guardian.
* Kratos appears in the PS3 version of the 2011 game *Mortal Kombat,* with his own set of moves, and a personal God of War battle arena. He is not, however, a part of the storyline.
* In the game *Age of Mythology* and its expansion, *The Titans*, there is a character named Kastor. Interestingly, his name can be arranged into Kratos. His background shares slight similarities to Kratos', as he too distrusted the gods and sided with the Titans while, unbeknownst to him, being used as a pawn. Kastor, like Kratos, is a figure in Greek myth, invaded Mount Olympus, released the Titans, and fought them after being betrayed. It's worth noticing that *AoM* and its expansion was released 2 years before the first *God of War*.
	+ However, there are some rather odd similarities between *AoM* and *GoW*. *AoM* main character, Arkantos is aided by Athena just like Kratos, Carole Ruggier also voiced Athena in *AoM*, both of them are general of their army and Arkantos is devoted to Poseidon as Kratos to Ares. Arkantos, not unlike Kratos, also escaped the Underworld and soon betrayed by the god they are devoted to and *AoM* Poseidon, just like *GoW* Ares, betrays his fellow gods because of envy and Arkantos fights and defeats the god that betrayed him and his people after being empowered by Zeus. (In this instance, Arkantos fights the statue of Poseidon is similar to Kratos fights Colossus of Rhodes, and he is given powers by Zeus to defeat it, just like Kratos is given the Blade of Olympus.) Athena then makes Arkantos a god as Kratos is made one by the same goddess at the ending.
* Kratos is one of the playable characters in the multi-franchise fighter *PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale*, similar to the Super Smash Bros. series. Along with him, God of War-franchise member Hades also makes an appearance, albeit as a background character. Zeus also appears as a playable DLC Character in the game. Kratos' rival is Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal.
* In *God of War: Ghost of Sparta* there was a piece of artwork for a female version of Kratos. This was possibly cut due to its nudity and voice acting.
* *A God of War* themed event was added in *Destiny of Spirits*, alongside advanced summons which had Kratos in it.
* Kratos appears in the PlayStation 3/4/Vita versions of *Shovel Knight*.
	+ The developers of Shovel Knight and God of War director, Cory Barlog, have both confirmed that both universes are in fact one in the same.
* Kratos appears as a skin exclusively for The PlayStation Version of Fornite.

### Other Media

* Kratos was voted as the "Manliest Man in Video Games" by ScrewAttack.com. The website also pitted him against Spawn from the *Spawn* series in the popular series Death Battle, where he ended up losing.
	+ A revised list by ScrewAttack made several years later, had him placed at number 9.
* 7-Eleven featured a Slurpee drink called "Kratos Fury" in a promotion for *God of War III*.
* David Jaffe showed interest in having Djimon Hounsou portray Kratos in the upcoming *God of War* film. With the film currently in development hell, there are no updates on Hounsou's possible involvement, nor on the film itself.

## Gallery

Kratos' original render

Kratos, as the new God of War.

Kratos utilizing Spartan Rage.

Kratos on Greek Vase

The giants know him as Farbauti

Official Kratos artwork from Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny

## External links

* Kratos at the **Soulcalibur** Wiki
* Kratos at the **Mortal Kombat** Wiki
* God of War dedication blog at **Tumblr.com**
* Kratos at MUGEN Wiki
* Kratos at P.A.S.B.R. Wiki and Kratos' gameplay
* Kratos profile (old) version 1
* Kratos profile (old) version 2

1. ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 Character Rigging & Cinematic Animation in God of War with Erica Pinto & Axel Grossman

1. ↑ Kratos GoW3 In-Game 3D model
2. ↑ Kratos GoWR In-Game 3D model