History Fridge / GodOfWarRagnarok

** Odin's choices ultimately Ragnarok: manipulating Baldur to kill Freya and the last Jotunn led to Fimbulwinter, his obsession with control only rallied the realms against him, his genocidal campaign against the Jotnar only led to Atreus learning his own fate and becoming his prophecized killer, and his fixation with learning what happens to him after he dies only leads to his soul being bound to a marble that's promptly destroyed by Sindri, thereby condemning him to oblivion and denying him any form of afterlife whatsoever.

** His obsession with fate led to Ragnarok: manipulating Baldur to kill Freya and the last Jotunn led to Fimbulwinter, his obsession with control only rallied the realms against him, his genocidal campaign against the Jotnar only led to Atreus learning his own fate and becoming his prophecized killer, and his fixation with learning what happens to him after he dies only leads to his soul being bound to a marble that's promptly destroyed by Sindri, thereby condemning him to oblivion and denying him any form of afterlife whatsoever.

* Angrboda's paranoia about Ironwood's secrecy was completely justified. Had Atreus confided to Kratos about Ironwood on his initial prompting, it could have potentially averted a lot of the tragedy that resulted from Atreus fleeing to Asgard... but eventually Odin-as-Tyr would have learned about Ironwood. And there is no telling what Odin could have done with that knowledge.
* Kratos manifesting the Blade of Olympus in ''Valhalla'' through his memories makes sense when you consider what happened at the end of III. Since II's prologue, the Blade of Olympus was fueled by Kratos' divine power as the God of War. When Kratos impaled himself on the Blade of Olympus to release Hope, this act also returned that divinity back to Kratos, draining the Blade of its power. This is why he's a god again in the Norse era games. The Blade of Olympus in ''Valhalla'' is basically Kratos' own divine power reshaped into a replica of the original.

* Angrboda's paranoia about Ironwood's secrecy was completely justified. Had Atreus confided to Kratos about Ironwood on his initial prompting, it could have potentially averted a lot of the tragedy that resulted from Atreus fleeing to Asgard... but eventually Odin-as-Tyr would have learned about Ironwood. And there is no telling what Odin could have done with that knowledge.

* During the funeral scene for Brok, when Kratos tried to comfort Sindri, Sindri pushed Kratos' hand away. Initially wanting to be angry at Kratos, he stopped himself and just walked off. Lúnda said to give Sindri the time and space he needs to grieve. This can be interpreted as instead of feeling sorry for Brok, himself and also probably wanted to apologize to Kratos but he did not, he decided to "be better" instead because Kratos' point was clear. Odin fooled everyone but Sindri was blinded by rage to not care about reasons and even personally destroyed Odin's soul, barring him an afterlife. To [[IncrediblyLamePun hammer this point home]], Kratos himself experienced the same thing. Ares fooled Kratos into killing his wife and daughter which deception was involved. Out of rage and not caring about others (except for his fellow Spartans and Pandora), Kratos declared war on the gods and who were once his allies (e.g. Gaia) became his enemies (something Sindri showed signs of). Lastly, instead of directing his anger at Athena with the Blade of Olympus, Kratos decided to "be better" and released Hope to mankind to atone for his sins. Additionally, Kratos lost his brother Deimos to Thanatos, the god of death whereas Sindri lost his brother Brok to Odin, the god of wisdom. It was indeed wise of Sindri to let his hatred go as early as possible while he still could unlike Kratos who continued his vengeance until Zeus is dead which would be too late by then. So, yes. Kratos can definitely sympathize with Sindri a lot, just that Sindri refused to listen to Kratos or Artreus for that matter at the moment.

* Kratos doesn't seem particularly fond of wolves, initially only tolerating Sköll and Hati for their value as work animals, not regarding them as the pets Atreus does. He's also convinced from the start that killing Garm is the only option. It all ties back to something Kratos mention about his childhood in the Agōgē, where Spartan boys like him had to fight wolves for food with their bare hands or go hungry.

* Sif's hatred for Odin over Magni and Modi's deaths actually makes sense in 2 ways; the first is that from Sif's perspective, Magni and Modi being there was ''completely unnecessary''. Baldur has proven himself Kratos's equal in their first fight, and being a skilled tracker and PerpetualMotionMonster means that Kratos can't shake his pursuit; as Baldur himself boasts, Kratos will eventually be worn down while he'll just keep coming back. Magni and Modi don't bring anything to the table; they wouldn't help Baldur defeat Kratos since Baldur's combat strategy is to 'be invincible at target until target dies' (and don't fight with him anyway), and they don't have the tracking skill to help Baldur find Kratos (and when they do find him completely by accident, they do not attempt to actually ''tell'' Baldur about this). There was no reason for them to come along and nothing they could do save being Baldur's cheerleaders and provoking (and then dying to) Kratos. Odin is not stupid and would know all of the above perfectly well, and Sif knows that Odin would know, so no wonder she's pissed at him for needlessly putting her kids in danger. Secondly, the fact that Odin simply ''invited'' Atreus to Asgard makes their deaths far more pointless as Odin could have disguised himself as a mortal to investigate him and Kratos or just ask them outright if they were jotunns.

* Sif's hatred for Odin over Magni and Modi's deaths actually makes sense in 2 ways; the first is that Sif is obviously going to hate the man who caused the deaths of her stepsons, it stems from her own grief and guilt. Secondly, from Sif's perspective, Magni and Modi being there was ''completely unnecessary''. Baldur has proven himself Kratos's equal in their first fight, and being a skilled tracker and PerpetualMotionMonster means that Kratos can't shake his pursuit; as Baldur himself boasts, Kratos will eventually be worn down while he'll just keep coming back. Magni and Modi don't bring anything to the table; they wouldn't help Baldur defeat Kratos since Baldur's combat strategy is 'be invincible at target until target dies' (and don't fight with him anyway), and they don't have the tracking skill to help Baldur find Kratos (and when they do find him completely by accident, they make no attempt to actually ''tell'' Baldur about this). There was no reason for them to come along and nothing they could really do save being Baldur's cheerleaders and provoking (and then dying to) Kratos. Odin is not stupid and would know all of the above perfectly well, and Sif knows that Odin would know, so no wonder she's pissed at him for needlessly putting her kids in danger.
* Skaði's refusal to marry Odin is given context in the sequel. While being the leader of the tribe of Gods hostile to her own people won't exactly help Odin getting her hand in marriage, the main reason might have been that Skaði is already married in the first place. Freya's family crest mentioned Skaði as member of her family, putting her name along with Njörd's, suggesting that she married into the famiy.

* The soul magic of the Giants is pretty disturbing if you think about it. Not that you have to try that hard, given the corrupted version of the art displayed by Gryla. She extracts the souls of innocent animals; animals whose thoughts she can hear, mind you; and, essentially EATS them to get high. At least a conventional addict only directly hurts themself with their substance abuse. An ability like this is probably closest this series has come to vampirism, and *any* giant is potentially capable of this! And very easily too. Atreus whispered Fenris's soul *by accident*. He is very lucky he didn't accidentally erase his beloved companion's existence. Just think, had Atreus learned from Angrboda, how many more times could this have happened? And to *whom*?

* In addition, a very simple blink-and-you-miss-it bit of characterization for Odin occurs in this scene, which tells you everything you need to know about him: The cups of mead are sitting on the table in front of Thor and Kratos. Failing to entice Thor, Odin tosses it back himself. Kratos pointedly asks "What do you want?'
Before answering, Odin takes Kratos's drink and downs it as well, then claims to want peace. While somewhat humorous on a surface level, this begins the juxtaposition of Odin's words versus his actions. He talks a pretty game, but his actual deeds show that, quite simply, he will take everything and leave you with nothing, if given the chance.

* Kratos's respect towards Freyja in the game is usually attributed to their friendship and Kratos's attempts to better himself but there is actually a third reason why Kratos is more respectful to Freyja. In real life, Sparta actually treated women as equals and was said to be more progressive than any other place in Greece because women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, have access to an education system (women received it until they reached 18-20 years old whereas men were sent off to fight in wars), and they received the same physical training as men in their adolescence. In fact, if a woman died during childbirth, they would be given a tombstone as the utmost form of respect for providing for the state. This is in stark contrast to Athens, where women were treated like second-class citizens and were not allowed to leave the house, vote, and were treated like property.

** One of Thor's special attacks is that he grabs his hammer and slams it into the ground to summon lightning strikes around him. Thor is famous for his wrath and during his fight with Kratos, he can't see or predict where the lightning will strike because he's using a spray and pray tactic; which is when an attack is done in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck. Heimdall can't fight in close range if he's running through a minefield of lightning strikes as Thor is just relying on luck to hit him, not instinct. Plus, Thor uses forked lightning bolts that electrocute anything in its vicinity. Heimdall might miss a direct hit from one of these lightning bolts, but it doesn't mean he's immune from an electrical explosion from that lightning bolt. Like how Heimdall might dodge Draupnir but he can't see it exploding once he dodges it or runs past it.

** One of Thor's special attacks is that he grabs his hammer and slams it into the ground to summon lightning strikes around him. Thor is famous for his wrath and during his fight with Kratos, he can't see or predict where the lightning will strike because he's using a spray and pray tactic; which is when an attack is done in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck. Heimdall can't fight in close range if he's running through a minefield of lightning strikes as Thor is just relying on luck to hit him, not instinct. Plus, Thor uses forked lightning bolts that electrocute anything in its vicinity. Heimdall might miss a direct hit from one of these lightning bolts, but it doesn't mean he's immune from an electrical explosion from that bolt of lightning bolt. Like how Heimdall might dodge Draupnir but he can't see it exploding once he dodges it or runs past it.

*** However, there's another explanation, which is even better: The blades of chaos were made by Ares, so it could be argued that Kratos has the flames of war, but there's another primordial fire, in ancient Greece, the first fire, the fire given to humanity, Prometheus' flame, THE fire, imbued in Gow 2 into the blades of chaos.

** Keep in mind that the Leviathan Axe causes a wound on Thor that remains with him for the rest of the game, and is used to help Kratos defeat Thor in their rematch. The Leviathan Axe was enhanced with Jormungandr's magic so [[FromACertainPointOfView the World Serpent's magic did contribute to Thor's death.]] If Kratos had not beaten Thor, then Thor would have been strong enough to defend against Odin's attack.

*** However, there's another explanation, which is even better: The blades of chaos were made by Ares, so it could be argued that Kratos has the flames of war, but there's another primordial fire, in ancient Greece, the first fire, the fire given to humanity,Prometheus' flame, THE fire, imbued in Gow 2 into the blades of chaos.

* Kratos says his next fight with Thor will be different because Atreus is with him. But when Kratos does have his rematch against Thor, he does it alone without Atreus. Except Atreus is with him. In spirit that is, thanks to a heart to heart conversation the two had in Helheim. Indeed, the similar final fight with Baldur at the end of their first adventure had Kratos on the verge of giving into his anger and strangling him to death, with Baldur even [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred mocking him to do so]], only to step back from the edge of that by Atreus' presence, realising his son was watching him on the verge of becoming the old monster he once was as the boy gently tells his father that Baldur has lost, and there's no need to fight any further. Similarly, throughout the entire fight with Thor, both due to his own awareness of his culpability on how his path has been filled with misfortunes and [[CharacterDevelopment desiring to rise above that]], and sympathy towards Thor for their [[NotSoDifferentRemark similar situations]], Kratos is constantly trying to reason with him throughout their fight into standing down and ending their conflict peacefully, something that Atreus would have done beforehand.