History Characters / GodOfWarSeriesFreya

It is later revealed that she is a Vanir goddess Freya (and Baldur's mother) who was cursed to stay in Midgard by Odin, and she cannot harm a single thing, not even to defend herself.

** She expresses pure disgust at [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI Ares' role in tricking Kratos to kill his wife and daughter]] when Kratos tells her about his past. At the point Kratos tells her this, she is still furious with him and using him as her personal killing machine until Kratos repays his "debt" to her.

* FallenAngel: In a sense, as she used to be [[spoiler:Queen of the Valkyries before her exile. When Sigrun describes her fall]], she says Odin took her "wings", adding more to the angel imagery.

* NiceGirl: Freya is remarkably friendly towards Kratos and Atreus despite they having harmed her friend, she doesn't hold much ill will against them and provides help for them to proceed in their quest. She also warns Kratos about the risks of being a foreigner god in the Aesir' territory since they don't like outsiders. Atreus takes an instant liking to her, though Kratos is wary as always. [[spoiler:Her kindness evaporates when Kratos kills Baldur, as she vows to make him pay for her son's death]]. [[spoiler:It comes back after admitting her guilt, and forgives Kratos in full and decides to help the realms ravaged due to Ragnarok.]]

* NiceGirl: Freya is remarkably friendly towards Kratos and Atreus despite they having harmed her friend, she doesn't hold much ill will against them and provides help for them to proceed in their quest. She also warns Kratos about the risks of being a foreigner god in the Aesir' territory since they don't like outsiders. Atreus takes an instant liking to her, though Kratos is wary as always. [[spoiler:Her kindness evaporates when Kratos kills Baldur, as she vows to make him pay for her son's death]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: She blessed [[spoiler:Baldur with CompleteImmortality that drove him to the point of insanity.]] Turns out, it was more than just a means of preventing his death. It was also to prevent the coming of Ragnarök

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Her curse keeps her trapped in Midgard and is unable to return home to Vanaheim and be among the rest of her people, The Vanir Gods, who all resent her for supposedly betraying them. She can't even set the record straight if a Vanir ever arrives in Midgard, since Odin prevents all gateway access to Vanaheim from being opened at all. All she has left is an enchanted window portal built into her new home in Midgard that allows her to see one square area of Vanaheim, but unable to interact with it at all.

* NeverMyFault: Downplayed but present; [[spoiler: after Kratos kills Baldur to defend her, Freya swears vengeance upon him. While it's clear to her that she played a large hand in making Baldur as insane as he became, she refused his pleas to free him from his immortality and constantly ignored the pain he suffered through thanks to her selfishness. Instead of accepting responsibility for her hand in her own son's death, she pins all the blame on Kratos, much like how Kratos would blame everyone else for his problems in his younger years. Freya's CharacterDevelopment in ''Ragnarök'' revolves around overcoming this quality; her encounter with the Norns, who show Freya in no uncertain terms that ''she'' holds the most accountability for Baldur's death allows her to fully accept responsibility for her son's fate and try to be a better person going forward.]]

*** Ultimately Freya seems to embody the [[MamaBear motherly]] and [[AllLovingHero protective]] aspects of being a LoveGoddess, whereas Aphrodite exclusively represented the carnal and sensual side.[[note]]Though Aphrodite was implied to be infected by the evil of Lust]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: She mostly goes barefoot and later wears spats that sill shows her toes.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"I know you're a god. Not of this realm, but there's no mistaking it."'']]

* AffectionateNickname: As Odin's wife, she had received the "pet name" of Frigg, as Mimir tells it. However, as things turned sour, Odin began to use it as a way to twist the truth. He didn't want a Vanir goddess getting credit for all the good deeds she'd done, so anything worthy she accomplished was attributed to "Frigg" while Freya became a separate character. As shown in ''Ragnarök'', Freya ''really'' [[AbhorrentNickname hates]] the nickname she got from Odin, as he used it to separate her Vanir lineage in the eyes of the Aesir.

-->'''Freya:''' [[spoiler:''''''KRATOS!'''''']]

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:She is for the most part a very kind woman, always treating Atreus with kindness and Kratos with more patience than he probably deserves whenever they meet her. She also deeply loves her son. However, she has an deeply selfish blindspot in regards to her son, as she cast a spell of invulnerability upon him that has the side effect that he can't feel ''anything'', and this side effect has slowly driven him mad over the years. And no matter how much he begs her to undo the spell or tell him how to do so himself, she refuses out of a selfish fear of losing him. But despite this, she would let him kill her if he felt it would make him happy after what she did to him, and she swears vengeance on Kratos for killing her son to save her, a threat she attempts to make good on in ''Ragnarök''.]]

* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: She is willing to let her son kill her in revenge for what she did to him, but Kratos saves her at the end. [[UnwantedRescue She doesn't appreciate it though]], given it meant the death of her son.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Danielle Bisutti (English), Creator/KikukoInoue (Japanese)[[labelnote:additional [=VAs=]]]Beatriz Villa (Beatriz Villa), Julia Churakova (Russian)[[/labelnote]]

->'''Voiced by (English):''' Danielle Bisutti\\
'''Voiced by (Brazilian Portuguese):''' Beatriz Villa\\
'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/KikukoInoue\\
'''Voiced by (Russian):''' Julia Churakova

''Norse Era:'' [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseGods Gods]] ([[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOdin Odin]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesThor Thor]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesBaldur Baldur]] | '''Freya''') | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesJotnar Jotnar]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOtherCharacters Other Characters]] ([[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesSindriAndBrok Sindri and Brok]]) | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseMonsters Monsters]]-]]]]]

* MamaBear: Towards her son, even if he is trying to kill her, she still loves him and will do anything to protect him -- even taking control of a giant's corpse to fight against Kratos or willingly surrendering her own life to Baldur in order to make him feel better. She vows revenge against Kratos when he kills [[spoiler:Baldur.]]

* YourMakeupIsRunning: She has noticeable tearlines below her eyes [[spoiler: after Kratos kills Baldur, which she keeps in ''Ragnarök'' to show her continuing despair over his death]].

-->'''The Witch's Son:''' [[spoiler: You just can't help yourself, can you, mother? No matter what I do or say, you won't STOP INTERFERING IN MY LIFE!]]

-->'''The Witch''': [[spoiler: I've made mistakes, I know, but you're free now. You have what you want. Try to find forgiveness, and we can build something new--]]
-->'''The Witch's Son:''' [[spoiler: [[LittleNo No]]. No, we can't. Because I will ''[[ThisIsUnforgivable never]]'' forgive you. You still need to pay for the lifetime that you stole from me!]]

* {{Unperson}}: The Witch was hit by this from Odin's part. [[spoiler:As Freya, Odin gave her the nickname Frigg]] but Odin ended up turning "[[spoiler:Frigg]]" into a brand new fictitious character who would be attributed the Witch's every accomplishments for Asgard. Mimir explains that Odin didn't want a [[spoiler:Vanir god]] to be presented as this useful for Asgard.

'''The Witch:''' ''[as Kratos and Atreus leave]'' You're welcome!

* TheExile: The Witch has been confined to Midgard because of the gods and when she momentarily entering Alfheim, she's forcefully brought back via a spell. The reveal of her deific nature means that she's been exiled from Asgard.

* FireForgedFriends: Kratos and the Witch start off on the wrong foot, although they do become friendlier with each other [[spoiler:after she heals Atreus. Despite the violent turn their relationship takes at the end of the game and into the start of ''Ragnarök'', Freya and Kratos, over the course of an alliance of first convenience, then against their mutual enemy Odin, find common ground and both grow as people to the point that, by the game's end, they're firm friends and even partners on the road to rebuilding the Nine Realms.]]

** To Kratos. The Witch is everything Kratos is not. She's a loving and warm woman, a powerful magician to Kratos's dour and somber male, as well as a pure warrior. Unlike Kratos who kills anyone willing to disrupt his and Atreus' path, the Witch is also an ActualPacifist who wouldn't harm anything as she is [[spoiler:Freya, the Vanir goddess of love]]. But the real disparities become apparent at the end. While both are loving parents to their respective children, her protectiveness toward [[spoiler:Baldur]] compelled her to [[spoiler:"bless" him with invulnerability, turning him mad and extremely resentful toward her]] while Kratos decides to give his son credit and entrusts him with the truth, leading Atreus to stop resenting Kratos. And finally, at the very end of the game, Kratos has tamed his former blinding rage while [[spoiler:Freya]] succumbs to her wrath after [[spoiler:her son is killed by Kratos]].

-->'''The Witch:''' I will rain down every agony, every violation imaginable, upon you. I will parade your cold body from every corner of every realm, and feed your soul to the vilest filth in Hel! That is my promise!

* NiceGirl: The Witch is remarkably friendly towards Kratos and Atreus despite they having harmed her friend, she doesn't hold much ill will against them and provides help for them to proceed in their quest. She also warns Kratos about the risks of being a foreigner god in the Aesir' territory since they don't like outsiders. Atreus takes an instant liking to her, though Kratos is wary as always. [[spoiler:Her kindness evaporates when Kratos kills Baldur, as she vows to make him pay for her son's death]].

-->'''The Witch:''' [[spoiler: If that alone will make you whole, if seeing me dead will make this right... I won't stop you]].

* AdaptationalBadass: She's said to be the [[spoiler:leader of the Vanir, when in the mythology the most significant of their number was Njordr. She was also Queen of the Valkyries before Sigrun took over]].

* AdaptationalModesty: [[spoiler:While Freya was a goddess of war and death, she was also associated with [[LoveGoddess love, beauty and sexuality]] the same way Aphrodite was and had a reputation for being [[ReallyGetsAround promiscuous]]. While being attractive herself, this aspect is completely absent, focusing more on her magical abilities which were also under her domain]].
* AffectionateNickname: As [[spoiler:Odin's wife]], she had received the "pet name" of [[spoiler:Frigg]], as Mimir tells it. [[spoiler:However, as things turned sour, Odin began to use it as a way to twist the truth. He didn't want a Vanir goddess getting credit for all the good deeds she'd done, so anything worthy she accomplished was attributed to "Frigg" while Freya became a separate character. As shown in ''Ragnarök'', Freya ''really'' [[AbhorrentNickname hates]] the nickname she got from Odin, as he used it to separate her Vanir lineage in the eyes of the Aesir.]]

* AnimalMotifs: She's associated with hawks. Her sword is called "Sparrow's Bite" (in reference to the sparrowhawk) and has a hawk head decoration on the handle. Her hair is decorated with hawk feathers and in the final encounter, she transforms into a hawk. [[spoiler: Sigrún reveals that Freya was the previous queen of the Valkyries, so her hawk motif coordinates with the Valyries own bird motif.]]

* LackOfEmpathy: [[spoiler:She "blessed" Baldur with invulnerability to any threat, rendering him effectively immortal, but in doing so prevented him from feeling literally anything else; like heat, cold, taste, pleasure, and pain. When he begged her to undo the spell, she outright lied to his face and told him "It doesn't work like that, Son." This lasted for over a hundred years.]]

* AdaptationalBadass: [[spoiler: Said to be the leader of the Vanir, when in the mythology the most significant of their number was Njordr. She was also Queen of the Valkyries before Sigrun took over.]]

* AllLovingHeroine: She doesn't hold a grudge against Kratos and Atreus for harming a magic boar that happened to be her friend, nor [[spoiler:her own son Baldur, who hates her for giving him invulnerability to protect him, with the unexpected side effect of taking his sense. In fact, she is okay with him killing her if that makes him feel better, even after the spell had been lifted. The death of her son, however, proves to be her breaking point whereupon she swears vengeance against Kratos for killing her son. Mimir does mention shortly after that he believes she's kind-hearted enough to come around to accepting them again after she’s given time to cool off, though actually coming near Freya’s old cottage will have both he and Atreus get nervous and worry that she’s likely inside plotting their death for the time being. ''Ragnarök'' proves Mimir right, as while she does try to kill Kratos at the beginning of the game, she eventually forgives him, admitting that he is not completely responsible for Baldur's death.]]

''Norse Era:'' [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseGods Gods]] ([[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOdin Odin]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesThor Thor]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesBaldur Baldur]] | '''Freya''') | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesJotnar Jotnar]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseMonsters Monsters]]-]]]]]

''Norse Era:'' [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseGods Gods]] ([[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOdin Odin]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesThor Thor]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesTheStranger Baldur]] | '''Freya''') | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesJotnar Jotnar]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/GodOfWarSeriesNorseMonsters Monsters]]-]]]]]

** [[spoiler:In ''Ragnarök'' she's shocked a few times out of her desire for revenge. First the fact that Kratos refuses to fight her puzzles her. Later when he explains that fighting her leads to two outcomes he does not desires - either his death, or him having to live with the guilt of killing her, shakes her. Earlier seeing Atreus turn into a bear to save Kratos only for Kratos to jump and stop Atreus from harming her shocks her enough to knock the fight out of her.]]

* FatalFlaw: '''[[ItsAllAboutMe Selfishness]].''' She appears to be an AllLovingHero at first, given how she has a lot of animal friends and helps Kratos and Atreus in return for nothing at all. However, learning about her backstory and the reasons she has for doing what she does shows that her real motives are anything but selfless. [[spoiler:She made it so her son Baldur could FeelNoPain, but this caused some SanitySlippage in him when [[SenseLossSadness he grew desperate to feel something again]]. And even though he literally begged her to remove the curse, Freya refused, lying to him that there was no way to remove it when there really was a way -- getting stabbed with something made of mistletoe. Freya did all of this claiming that she knew what was best for her boy. This comes back to bite her when Kratos intervenes to save Freya from Baldur's wrath, which gets him killed despite Freya's efforts.]]