After years of waiting and a delay or two, God of War: Ragnarok is coming to PS4 and PS5 on November 9th. It is one of the best games of 2022. Ragnarok boasts dazzling realms and exhilarating combat, but its greatest strength may be its story. . The relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus is the foundation of this story, which sees the pair tackle the specter of Ragnarok: The End of Days.
Anyone can enjoy the game’s stunning graphics and thoughtful puzzles, and anyone who can handle violence will enjoy its combat. The story, however, will require some brushing up on ancient history. Players of previous games may need a few reminders about key plot details before diving into the new blockbuster, and those new to the franchise will absolutely need to know the 411 before entering God’s cataclysm of War: Ragnarok.
God of War: Ragnarok is great, but believe me, it’s dense. (Read our God of War: Ragnarok review here.)
Kratos was originally from ancient Greece, right?
I sure was. Although God of War: Ragnarok takes place in the Norse realms, Kratos’ early adventures were rooted in Greek mythology. He started out as an ordinary Greek warrior, but, facing death in the middle of a brutal battle, he called out to Ares, the god of war, with an offer. Give him strength and Kratos will forever be indebted to Ares.
It turns out that selling your soul to the god of war is a short-sighted move. Kratos, with the Blades of Chaos around his wrists, gets to work, and by work I mean “looting towns without mercy.” Ares considered Kratos to be a good, but not great super soldier, so he hatched a plan: if Kratos killed his wife and daughter, he would be free from ties to the mortal world and become the coldest of killers So Ares tricked Kratos into murdering his own family. A horrible head, that Ares; Fortunately, labor laws have come a long way since ancient Greece.
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Ares’ plan works, for a while. Kratos obediently serves the gods for a decade, but is haunted by nightmares of his family’s death. He asks Athena, the goddess of wisdom, to take away his nightmares, and she makes him an offer. If Kratos kills Ares, who has gone rogue in recent years, it will clear Kratos’ brain of his nightmarish past.
Thus begins Kratos’ god-killing ways. Over the course of the original God of War trilogy, Kratos kills Ares and takes his place as god of war, is betrayed by Zeus and sent to the underworld, kills Hades to get out, discovers that Zeus is actually his father (!), demolishes the entire Greek pantheon and finally kills Zeus. God of War 3 ends with a view of a chaotic, godless horizon.
Pretty heavy stuff.
Kratos kills Zeus, his father, in God of War 3.
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How did Kratos get to Midgard?
Short answer: he walked and sailed. About 100 years separate God of War 3 and 2018’s God of War — more than enough time to reach a new land the old-fashioned way.
After causing chaos and killing so many people, Kratos wanted a new life. As revealed in Dark Horse’s God of War comics, Kratos fled Greece after the events of God of War 3 and roamed the Foreign Land of the Pharaohs; after all, Egypt is not that far from Greece. Kratos tried again and again to get rid of his Blades of Chaos, but every time he went to sleep, he would wake up to find them returned.
Kratos wants to leave his old ways behind, but is tormented by the unwavering Blades of Chaos. He meets an old man who tells Kratos that he is the answer to the villagers’ prayers: they have been threatened by two chaos beasts and fate has sent Kratos there to slay the demons. Kratos is still very depressed at this point and says he just wants to be left alone. He confronts the Chaos Beasts, but refuses to use his Blades of Chaos. He manages to kill one, but the other, bigger one, leaves him unconscious.
The old man is revealed to be Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. Between Thoth and Athena, who has a habit of appearing to Kratos in visions, Kratos is convinced not to run away from his destiny. He wakes up, grabs his Blades of Chaos and kills the beast. This allows him to move beyond the Land of the Pharaohs.
After his detour through Egypt, Kratos walks and walks and walks. It is located in the northern Nordic lands. He lives in solitude for 75 years, according to the comics, during which time he works through his anger issues, trying to purge himself of the memories that still haunt him. After this time, he meets a woman named Faye. She teaches him to open his heart, and the two have a child together. Kratos names him Atreus, after a Spartan soldier Kratos fought alongside many years earlier.
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Is this where God of War 2018 begins?
A little further. We never meet Faye as she dies right before God of War 2018 begins. This is what precipitates Kratos’ mission in the game. Faye’s last request was to scatter her ashes from the highest peak in the nine realms. Simple, right?
The search is immediately complicated when a strange man knocks on Kratos’ door. He confronts Kratos and the two fight. But the man is immune to pain, though Kratos is able to temporarily remove it by snapping his neck and rolling him off a cliff. We soon discover that the man is Baldur, the son of Odin. Odin is the father of the Norse gods, the Zeus of these lands, making Baldur a god as well.
Baldur, son of Odin.
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So Kratos and Atreus set off in search of the highest peak on earth, but with Baldur following them for reasons unknown. Kratos worries about his son joining him (Atreus has a strange disease that often weakens him), but allows it anyway. The Blades of Chaos are notably absent, as Kratos instead wields the Leviathan axe, a weapon given to him by Faye.
They soon meet The Witch of the Woods, a kind woman who nurtures the local wildlife. She helps guide them through the black mist that blocks their ascent to the top of Midgard. When they arrive, they find Modi and Magni, sons of Thor and grandsons of Odin, questioning a one-eyed man who is trapped in a tree. After they disappear, Kratos and Atreus chat with the prisoner in the tree. It is Mimir, the so-called wisest man and Odin’s former right-hand man.
Mimir reveals that where they are is not the highest peak in the nine kingdoms. The highest peak is actually in Jotunheim, the Land of the Giants. Those giants, having faced genocide at the hands of Thor and Odin, blocked all travel there. typical
Mimir, Odin’s former advisor.
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Wait, why was Mimir stuck in a tree?
As noted, Mimir used to be an advisor to Odin and an ambassador to other realms. However, Odin proved to be a difficult guy to work with. The Giants prophesied that Ragnarok would see Odin killed, which made him a paranoid father. Odin made Thor go kill giants, that’s why there are no walking giants.
Mimir got on well with the Giants, so much so that they removed one of his eyes and replaced it with a Bifrost that allowed him to travel between realms with ease. Seeing Mimir’s close relations with the Giants, Odin began to suspect treachery. He imprisoned Mimir in the tree at the top of Midgard for all eternity, until Kratos and Atreus arrived on the scene.
The snake of the world.
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How do Kratos and Atreus get into the Land of the Giants?
Mimir says he knows a way in, but his body is trapped. He proposes an obvious solution, causing Kratos to decapitate him. From then on, Mimir’s head hangs from Kratos’ waist as he delivers all sorts of backstory and exposition about the Norse realms.
With Mimir’s help, Kratos and Atreus gather the equipment needed to rebuild the portal to Jotunheim. Unfortunately, just as they set up the portal, Baldur reappears and ruins the party. Another fight breaks out and the portal is destroyed. Great.
Mimir has another solution, but it requires them to recover his other eye, which is actually a Bifrost that allows travel between realms. To achieve this, Kratos and Atreus travel inside the belly of the last giant, the world serpent Jormungandr.
They succeed and manage to reopen the portal to the Land of the Giants. A lot of crazy stuff happens in between all of this and you should know about it all.
Freya after Kratos kills Baldur.
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What crazy things are we talking about?
Mimir reveals that the Forest Witch is actually Freya, a goddess. We find out that Freya is Odin’s ex-wife and Baldur’s mother. Baldur is invincible because Freya, having seen a prophecy that Baldur will one day die an unnecessary death, cast a spell on him that makes him impervious to pain or any other sensation.
Meanwhile, Freya revealed that Atreus is sick because he is a god who thinks he is a mortal. The solution is for Kratos to stop hiding his divinity from Atreus, but Kratos ignores the warning. Kratos and Atreus fight Magni and Modi, a confrontation that leaves Magni dead. In the fight, Atreus faints and becomes lifeless…