Blades Of Chaos

The **Blades of Chaos** are a pair of chained blades that were fashioned by the God Of War, Ares. Ares had the blades made for a servant who would prove worthy of being in his service. The blades were the first pair of chained blades that Kratos used

The Blades of Chaos were forged at the darkest depths of the Underworld by Ares himself. They were imbued with fire, which allowed them to ignite with every attack that the user performed. The Blades' chains would stretch out for a set distance with each attack, allowing for fluid movement no matter who wielded them. The chains of the blades were permanently seared onto the forearms of the wielder, which served as a reminder of their oath to the God of War, and could only be removed either by the God of War himself or when the wielder's time of servitude ended. However, when their creator is dead with the servant still owning them, they can be removed or equipped, whenever needed.

After Kratos pledged his life to the God of War, Ares had his Harpies fetch the Blades of Chaos and bestowed them on the Spartan, claiming they were weapons truly worthy of a God's Champion. After Ares decimated the Barbarian forces, Kratos used his new weapons to slay the Barbarian King, Alrik, in single combat. Kratos continued to utilize the Blades during his time of servitude to Ares and the Gods - even against his own wife, Lysandra, and daughter Calliope, whom he unknowingly killed while he was in a god-driven rage that was set by Ares.

Kratos, at the peak of his task to kill the God of War, had the Blades of Chaos stripped away from him after he defended his family in one of Ares's Illusions. With the Blades taken away from him, Ares manipulated the Blades to once more kill Kratos' family, while a helpless Kratos watched in horror. After the fall of Ares, the Blades were believed lost, but Kratos was soon granted the similar Blades of Athena.

After killing Ares and taking his place as the God of War, Kratos gained all of Ares' weapons, including the Blades of Chaos, though he vowed never to use them again.

Several years later, Kratos had found the Blades of Chaos and brought them with him to the Norse realm, where he hid them, wrapped together in a thick red cloth with a simple Grecian pattern on it, under the floorboards of his cabin, hoping never to use them again.

The novel explains why Kratos kept the Blades of Chaos despite their painful history. He could not be rid of them at all; the blades always found their way back to him under the most contrived circumstances. For example, he tried to dump them in the ocean but the ocean itself rejected them and destroyed his boat. He washed up ashore with the blades next to him. After this incident, he gave up and hid them beneath the floorboards as a forced reminder of his tragic history and explosive rage.

Eventually, however, Kratos's son Atreus falls ill due to the conflicting natures within him. Learning that the main ingredient needed to treat Atreus was in Helheim—where the ice magic of the Leviathan Axe was useless due to the unyielding cold of the realm as no enemy can be killed with such a weapon—Kratos retrieved the Blades from their hiding place and grimly rebound their chains to his forearms in order to use them once more.

As opposed to the ice-aspected Leviathan Axe, the blades give off the element of fire. Once upgraded progressively, the Blades change gradually in appearance, restoring the cracked Greek blades into a more Nordic style, adding Nordic glyphs similar to the Leviathan Axe. These glyphs glow fiery orange when ignited, and small runes written in Old Nordic decorate the edges of each Blade. The hilts become gold in color and gain two slots on the skulls' eyes for Runic Attacks; one for light and one for heavy, while also allowing Kratos to change the pommels for different attributes. Kratos can also infuse the fire of his left Blade to his shield, before slamming it to his foes, dealing massive damage. The Blades, via a Runic Attack called Meteoric Slam, can summon a meteor shower of fire that deals Burn damage to enemies. After meeting Brok in Helheim, the blades are also upgraded to temporarily channel the Winds of Hel.

Additionally, each upgrade was accompanied by an increasingly more intricate motif of a serpent or dragon just beneath the blade.

Atreus asked his father, Kratos if he hates his Blades, he should throw them. Kratos revealed he tried but the Blades came back to him. This is proven to be true, as during Kratos departure from Greece and his journey to the Land of the Pharohs, he tried numerus times to rid the Blades only to have them magically reappear before him