History VideoGame / GodOfWar

** Combo attacks of Blades become this on higher difficulties of the game. As much as they are satisfying and flashy, most of them end up putting Kratos in needless danger, since they prevent blocking and make him move closer to the enemies, while not being allowed to get cancelled. In most cases, you'd rather chip away at enemies with regular swings from a distance. Plume of Prometheus is the only franchise-wide exception, thanks to it lacking above downsides, and the finishing move dealing a massive [=AoE=] blow that's rarely ever ''not'' useful.

** Rage of the Gods in the first game. It grants Kratos invulnerability and increases his damage. However, it takes a ''long'' time to charge. And even when you do fill it up, it's best just to save it for the nearest boss fight, because once it's on, you can't turn it off. The second game onward fixed this problem, with being to turn the Rage off at will, though you still couldn't use it unless the meter was full.

** In the Japanese version, [[Creator/TesshoGenda Kratos]], [[Creator/MamiKoyama Hera]] and [[YurikaHino Aphrodite's]] voice actors already worked together in an anime series who also involves [[Manga/SaintSeiya the Greek Mythology]].

** Combo attacks of Blades become this on higher difficulties of the game. As much as they are satisfying and flashy, most of them end up putting Kratos in needless danger, since they prevent blocking and make him move closer to the enemies, while not being allowed to get cancelled. In most cases, you'd rather chip away at enemies with regular swings from a distance. Plume of Prometheus is the only franchise-wide exception, thanks to it lacking above downsides, and the finishing move dealing a massive [=AoE=] blow.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Rage of the Gods in the first game. It grants Kratos invulnerability and increases his damage. However, it takes a ''long'' time to charge. And even when you do fill it up, it's best just to save it for the nearest boss fight, because once it's on, you can't turn it off. The second game onward fixed this problem, with being to turn the Rage off at will, though you still couldn't use it unless the meter was full.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', when [[spoiler:Baldur is stabbed by the mistletoe arrowhead and feels the pain]], he stops fighting to laugh in glee [[spoiler:at the return of his senses.]] Also overlaps with NotHisBlood, when Kratos sees blood on Atreus after the exchange, who clarifies whose blood it is.
** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'', Heimdall is gifted with CombatClairvoyance and is fast enough to [[NonchalantDodge casually dodge]] most attacks he can see, making him quite [[SmugSuper smug about it]]. At the end of a CurbStompBattle Heimdall serves out to Atreus [[spoiler:the first time he visits Asgard]] (in which Atreus can't hit him once), Atreus decides to fire an arrow at his head from behind. Heimdall manages to [[ArrowCatch catch the arrow]], but he doesn't do it quite right, which means the arrow gives his hand a small nick and sprays a little blood onto his face. Judging by Heimdall's [[BloodUpgrade expression]], he clearly wants to hurt the boy even more, and the only reason he doesn't is because [[GodOfThunder Thor]] shows up and intimidates him into standing down.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', when [[spoiler:Baldur is stabbed by the mistletoe arrowhead and feels the pain]], he stops fighting to laugh in glee [[spoiler:at the return of his senses.]] Also overlaps with NotHisBlood, when Kratos sees blood on Atreus after the exchange, who clarifies whose blood it is]].

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', when [[spoiler:Baldur is stabbed by the mistletoe arrowhead and feels the pain]], he stops fighting to laugh in glee [[spoiler:at the return of his senses.]] Also overlaps with NotHisBlood, when Kratos sees blood on Atreus after the exchange, who clarifies whose blood it is]].

* CrossoverCosmology: While it predominately focuses on Greek mythology, creatures from outside the Greek pantheon have appeared. ''Chains of Olympus'' features the appearance of a Basilisk and an [[OurGeniesAreDifferent Efreet]], both from Arabian mythology. ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'' takes place within Norse Mythology, but Mimir was apparently a [[Myth/CelticMythology Celtic]] deity originally [[spoiler:and according to the relics found in Tyr's Vault, [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian]], [[Myth/JapaneseMythology Japanese]], [[Myth/MayanMythology Mayan]], and possibly other realms exist as well in this universe.]] And if the mural of [[Literature/TheBible the Three Wise Men being guided by the Star of Bethlehem]] in the Temple of the Fates in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' is any indication, the big-G {{God}} and the angels are out there.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kratos_gow2_art.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Kratos (left) [[ButForMeItWasTuesday on his way to work]].]]

-->'''Athena''': Your sins are forgiven. [[JediTruth But we never promised]] [[ExactWords to remove your nightmares]]. No man, no god, could ''ever'' forget the terrible things you have done.

* DeathBySex: Inverted. [[spoiler:Aphrodite, who has sex with Kratos in the third game, is the only Greek God in the games spared of his wrath.]] To be fair, Kratos consistently maintained that if the Gods would stay out of his way on the path to kill Zeus, then he would leave them alone. It's not his fault most of the Gods decided to try to kill/stop/piss him off royally. Aphrodite was very helpful... in her own way. As was Hephestaus... until he wasn't... which you can't really blame him for, considering what Kratos did with Aphrodite and what he was going to do to Pandora. Originally though, if you tried to go for a second round with Aphrodite, she would pull a dagger on you, and Kratos would then have to kick her to Hades, although not actually kill her. This was done away with, possibly because it would have made no sense.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', Athena tells Kratos he must open PandorasBox to destroy Zeus and spends the game trying to get to it and extinguishing the lethal flame guarding it. [[spoiler: He rescues its namesake with the intention of offering her to the flame, but he has a change of heart and cannot go through with it. Then Zeus appears, and after the first of three final boss fights, Pandora runs to the flames. Kratos catches her and tries to prevent her from getting sucked in, but [[WhatAnIdiot Zeus]] pisses him off so much he releases Pandora to tackle Zeus. The flames are gone, Pandora is dust, and Kratos opens the box to reveal... Nothing. It's empty, rendering pretty much the entire game and the Pandora plotline moot]]. The soundtrack for this moment is even called "All for Nothing".

** Chains of Olympus has one where Kratos finds his dead daughter, Calliope, and decides to [[spoiler: [[BroughtDownToNormal strip himself of his power]] so that he can enter the Elysian Fields where Colliope resides]]. [[spoiler: After being reunited with his daughter, Persephone [[EvilGloating tells him about her plan to destroy the entire world using Atlas and the kidnapped Helios]] instead of [[WhatAnIdiot keeping him in the dark about her plan and the fact that Calliope will cease to exist as well]]. Kratos gets the motivation he needs to stop her by [[IDidWhatIHadToDo killing the residents of the Elysian Fields in order to regain his power despite his daughter's pleas for him to stop]], and goes on to fight Persephone. He defeats her and prevents the world's destruction, but he had to resort to [[NecessarilyEvil evil actions]] in order to regain his powers to defeat her. As a result, he can no longer enter the Elysian Fields, so he will never see his daughter again. Although, he feels there's [[NoPlaceForMeThere no place for him there]] because of what he [[OffingTheOffspring did to put his daughter there in the first place]], [[IDidntMeanToKillHim though it was an accident]].]]

** In the Japanese version, (and also overlaps with RelationshipVoiceActor), [[Creator/TesshoGenda Kratos]], [[Creator/MamiKoyama Hera]] and [[YurikaHino Aphrodite's]] voice actors already worked together in an anime series who also involves [[Manga/SaintSeiya the Greek Mythology]].

* SadlyMythCharacterized: Typhon is [[DemotedToExtra just another Titan in this series]], and [[AdaptationalWimp far less powerful]] than in the original mythology. Typhon was not a Titan, He was a monstrous enormous beast and the only being Zeus feared and [[OneManArmy almost singlehandedly overthrew him]] but was defeated. However, his birth varies DependingOnTheWriter. Some stories have him as the son of Gaia with no father, born out of Gaia's rage at The Giants she sired being destroyed by Hercules and the Gods (although not stated to be a Giant himself) while other stories have Typhon as the son of Hera and only Hera. and another story has Typhon born thanks to Kronos semen being smeared across 2 rocks at the request of Hera because she was angry at Zeus at the time. But in none of these stories is Typhon a Titan.

** The Norse Saga has the war between the Aesir and Vanir gods and the conflict between the Aesir and the Jötnar. The former was provoked when some Aesir burned the Vanir Freyr after they mishandled the magic he had taught them and blamed him instead, and only got a truce when Mimir suggested a marriage between Odin and Freya to unite both clans. The later was a result of Odin's desire for the Jötnar's secrets and prophecies and the killing of Ymir, the ancestor of all Jötnar, through his hands.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarI''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in 2005. Kratos [[InMediasRes begins]] by declaring that "The gods of Olympus have abandoned me" and flinging himself over [[DespairEventHorizon the tallest cliff in Greece]]; the rest of the game details HowWeGotHere. In this extended flashback, Kratos is charged by Athena with the task of killing Ares, the God of War, who has declared war on Athens; to do this, he will have to [[DungeonCrawling dungeon-crawl]] through the Temple of Pandora and find PandorasBox, which contains in it the power to kill a god. In return, Athena offers him absolution for his DarkAndTroubledPast, in which he served Ares as a BloodKnight and was [[BatmanGambit manipulated]] into slaying his beloved wife and daughter. After a long, arduous journey, including [[OnceAnEpisode being killed but escaping from Hades]], Kratos succeeds at his labor. [[ExactWords Athena, unfortunately, was only speaking literally]] -- she forgives Kratos' sins, but she cannot take away his [[ILetGwenStacyDie personal guilt]] or end his [[RecurringDreams recurring nightmares]]. Kratos, despairing, [[DrivenToSuicide re-enacts the game's opening scene]]. Athena saves him, however, and says she has a consolation prize for him: with Ares dead, there is an empty throne on Mt. Olympus...

* AdaptationalBadass: Some of the gods are depicted as at least likely being much stronger than the Greek Myths presented them as. Ares, the BigBad of the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI first game]], is presented as a titanic warrior who requires a MacGuffin for Kratos to have a fighting chance against, where in the Greek myths he was a coward that would run away from a fight at the first sign of trouble despite being immortal (though Ares as an AdaptationalBadass is also done in every other adaption of him--including ''Roman'' mythology), and Persephone in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus Chains of Olympus]]'', who has never been dreaded for her close-quarters combat skill,, is presented as being able to fight Kratos in hand-to-hand combat.

* AnachronicOrder: The chronological order of the series is ''Ascension'', ''Chains of Olympus'', ''God of War I'', ''Ghost of Sparta'', ''God of War II'', ''God of War III'' and ''God of War (2018)''. The ambiguously canonical ''Betrayal'' takes place between ''God Of War I'' and ''II'' either before or after ''Ghost of Sparta''.

* BeingEvilSucks: The more murderous Kratos is, the worse his life becomes. In his backstory, his thirst for conquest lead to his slavery to Ares and the death of his family, while his search for vengeance in the series only leads to misery for his home of Sparta and the deaths of those few he still cares about. It's only when he starts to hesitate to kill that he forms lasting bonds and happiness through his relationship with his second wife, son, and friends in the Nine Realms.

** ''Ragnarok'' ups the gore closer to the leve of the Greek games after the 2018 soft reboot toned the violence down. You'll fight dozens of normal humans in the game who you can now decapitate, impale, and immolate to your hearts content, with all the blood you'd expect.

* CombatSadomasochist: Some of Hades' taunts imply that he may be one of these.

* DecapitationPresentation: Each of the first three games has a magic item that's just a severed head from someone he killed. The first two games have Medusa and her sister and the third has Helios, whose magic can be activated just by shoving it in someone's face.

* DegradedBoss: Gorgons in the first game. Medusa serves as the introduction to the enemy type as well as a demonstration of how to perform a special grab kill, but every Gorgon you meet from that point on is not only a standard enemy, but ''stronger than she was''. Even the ones you meet just a few minutes later.

* DivineConflict: Being based on Myth/ClassicalMythology, the game has several conflicts between immortals. There was the war between the Gods and the Titans, the conflict between the primordial beings, and the demigod Kratos' own battles between pretty much any divine being who dares stand in his way. Zeus has expilicitly forbidden these conflicts, which ironically why they recruited the mortal Kratos to fight Ares. Once he gets a taste for divine blood, he can't stop hungering for more.

* DownerEnding: By the end of ''GOW III'', the natural order has completely broken down, monsters roam the Earth, storms wreck the skies, disease is rampant, floods have covered everything except the highest mountains, and pretty much all of humanity is dead. Kratos realizes he has gained nothing, destroyed everything, and impales himself as one last insult to Athena releasing Hope into the world which is supposedly a good thing, but there is likely no one left to use it.

In 2018, the franchise had a SoftReboot with differences in storytelling and gameplay. Centuries after the events of the previous games, Kratos settles down in Scandinavia after meeting his second wife and tries to leave his past of brutality and violence behind to become a better person for his new child, Atreus. After Kratos' wife passes away, Kratos and Atreus go on in journeys of self-discovery and betterment as they make new friends and foes from the beings of Myth/NorseMythology and create a bond between each other. Features such as jumping and magic were removed, at the same time that Kratos gained new playable companion characters assisting him, as well as creating an opportunity for much more DialogDuringGameplay. Another innovation was Kratos' new primary weapon, the Leviathan Axe, which can be used in puzzles and combat alike to freeze enemies and mechanisms, and, much like Thor's hammer, always returns to its wielder's hands. Runic attacks, a light and a heavy one, are used to grant powers to each weapon, and enchantments and Talismans give specific abilities to Kratos in gameplay. Furthermore, armors with different capacities can be crafted and improved in Dwarven shops to give certain powers to Kratos and change his status at the choice of the player, such as vitality, strenght and defense. The narrative is also more character-driven, with a camera over the shoulder and [[TheOner one continuous take without cuts]] accompaning Kratos as he tries to follow a path of redemption.

* HopelessBossFight: Kratos' first encounter with Zeus in the sequel. The game doesn't even ''let'' you attack effectively.
** The battle in question takes place right after your power is drained, and the hand of Colossus smashes Kratos. Thus, you can't roll or jump, your ''fastest'' attack takes about three seconds to perform, and you can only limp to where you want to go. Try to make Kratos jump here - he bends his legs, grunts, then straightens them again as if to say "Yeah, not gonna happen."
** Something similar happens during the first few moments fighting the Kraken. When you press a button, Kratos merely screams out "I cannot change my fate!" or something to that effect until you get to a scripted point that gives him an ability upgrade and, of course, the will to fight on.

** Kratos is selfish beyond belief. The world very nearly collapses as a result of his actions, it's quite close to nothing he cares about as long as he gets what he wants. [[spoiler:In all fairness, he does seem to realize this seconds before impaling himself. Though whether he impales himself as one last spiteful act to Athena or a case of [[RedemptionEqualsDeath true selflessness]] is ambiguous.]]

* LightIsNotGood: Helios, specially considering how fire is equated with light in the third game, and to a lesser extent Zeus, with his lightning bolts, and Hermes, who has his hair made of light in the third game (in the second he appears to have flaming hair; the character design hadn't settled by that time yet). Also [[spoiler:Athena, specially after her "death", in which she became something akin to an angel]].

** Kratos has never once showed any compunctions against killing people brutally if it'll get him closer to his vengeance, or launching full campaigns of war even if they displease the gods. But the source of most of his angst stems from how he was tricked into killing his wife and daughter (while he was out massacring a village in Ares' name), and his personal war against Olympus in the second and third games happened after they tried to kill him for his excessive warmongering.

** An OptionalSexualEncounter at some point in each game, [[spoiler:except for ''Ascension'', which subverts it]], and in the Norse Saga.

* PhotoMode: Included in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII God Of War III Remastered]]'' and ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'' with adjustable filters.

* PuzzlePan

* OmnicidalManiac: Persephone. Oh God, Persephone.
** The game actually portrays her as fairly sympathetic.

** Just about everything. Besides the obvious -- at ''no'' point in the original myths are the gods of Olympus massacred by an angry bald man -- ''God of War'' makes an all-too common mistake modern adaptations of Greek myths often make (mainly due to ValuesDissonance): depicting the Greek pantheon as ruthless tyrants who oppress and abuse humanity. The truth is that Greek myths were lighthearted, reflecting the general disposition of the people who invented them. The DarkerAndEdgier elements were first conceived in the dark ages. It's somewhat justified in the ending of the final game where [[spoiler:it turns out all the gods, including Zeus, were infected by humanity's evils after Kratos opened PandorasBox in the first game]].

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Dear God! In ''Ghost of Sparta'' Kratos walks around into an erupting volcano and has no trouble whatsoever. Also Scylla got a stream of magma poured on her and she barely flinched. Also with King Mydas later.
* CoverDrop: All three games did this. In the first two, the title screens turn out to be the first frame of the opening cutscenes, and in the third one, it shows Kratos silhouetted against the world after it's [[spoiler:been plunged into eternal chaos]], which just so happens to be the last cutscene of the game.

** The Norse setting is no picnic either being a GrimUpNorth land filled with monsters, and it's implied some kind of disaster happened that left several settlements and villages deserted with only undead. Not only are its local gods just as bad (if not worse, since its implied the ruined state of the world is their doing), but Ragnarok - the end of the world - is just around the corner.

* ClassicalCyclops: The series, being based on Myth/GreekMythology, has these as recurring enemies in a few varieties, typically resembling hulking, neckless giants with a bulging white eye; some have horns. A common method of finishing them off is to [[EyeScream rip their eyes out]], which you can [[TwentyBearAsses trade in for goodies]]. ''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension'' has [[Literature/TheOdyssey Polyphemus]] as an especially gigantic cyclops boss on the multiplayer map "Desert Of Lost Souls".

In 2018, the franchise had a SoftReboot with differences in storytelling and gameplay. Centuries after the events of the previous games, Kratos settles down in Scandinavia after meeting his second wife and tries to leave his past of brutality and violence behind to become a better person for his new child, Atreus. After his wife dies, Kratos and Atrues go on journeys of self-discovery and betterment as they make new friends and foes from the beings of Myth/NorseMythology. Features such as jumping and magic were removed, at the same time that Kratos gained new playable companion characters assisting him, as well as creating an opportunity for much more DialogDuringGameplay. Another innovation was Kratos' new primary weapon, the Leviathan Axe, which can be used in puzzles and combat alike to freeze enemies and mechanisms, and, much like Thor's hammer, always returns to its wielder's hands. Runic attacks, a light and a heavy one, are used to grant powers to each weapon, and enchantments and Talismans give specific abilities to Kratos in gameplay. Furthermore, armors with different capacities can be crafted and improved in Dwarven shops to give certain powers to Kratos and change his status at the choice of the player, such as vitality, strenght and defense. The narrative is also more character-driven, with a camera over the shoulder and [[TheOner one continuous take without cuts]] accompaning Kratos as he tries to follow a path of redemption.

* OddNameOut: Most characters use Helenic names, except for Hercules.

** An OptionalSexualEncounter at some point in each game [[spoiler:except ''Ascension'', which subverts it]].

%%* {{Pegasus}}
* PerpetualFrowner: To this day, Kratos has only smiled twice, in ''Chains of Olympus'' and ''Ascension'' [[spoiler: when he gets reunited with his daughter in the first and when he encounters an illusion of his wife and daughter in the second.]] Eloquently shown [[http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/102/6/5/25_essential_kratos_expressions_challenge_by_baconxbits-d4vzc6n.png here.]]

''God of War'' is a HackAndSlash and ActionAdventure video game series for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation line by Creator/SCESantaMonicaStudio. To put the setting in simple terms, imagine the world of antiquity where all the omnipresent saviors and detrimental scourges found in countless mythology textbooks exist. One Spartan soldier, Kratos, has a personal relationship with the gods that can best be described as complicated. A brutal, tormented man, Kratos begins the series as the sword of Olympus, fighting the enemies of the gods while trying to escape the horrors of his past.

The games changed quite a bit after the 2018 soft reboot, with jumping and magic being removed being removed for a companion character assisting Kratos and creating an opportunity for much more DialogDuringGameplay.

%%* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Sewers of Athens in the first ''God of War''.

%%* AwesomenessMeter: Rage of the Gods in ''I'', Rage of the Titans in ''II'', Rage of Sparta in ''III'', and Spartan Rage in the 2018 game.

* BadassBoast: A lot, but this one takes the cake:

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. At the end of the ''Chains of Olympus'', Athena and another god (believed to be Helios) relieve Kratos of his swag; likewise, he starts the second game with (some of) his gear from the first, only to be tricked by Zeus into discarding it.
** Despite occurring minutes after [=GoW2=], you only retain the Golden Fleece, Icarus Wings, and Poseidon's Trident at the beginning of [=GoW3=]. Most of your powers are soon stripped when you fall into the River Styx.
%%** Completely unjustified in ''Ghost of Sparta''.

%% * BaldOfEvil: Just as close as a literal example as you can get with this trope, Kratos at his worst can get just as evil and treacherous as he is bald or [[DoubleEntendre the other way around]].
* BashBrothers: [[spoiler:Kratos and Deimos]]. Well, once they stop bashing ''[[CainAndAbel each other]]'', that is.
%%* BastardBastard: Kratos is revealed to be one of Zeus' many illegitimate children in an unlockable video in the first game.
%%* BeardOfBarbarism: The Barbarian King is also the KING of this trope.

%%* BeingEvilSucks: Kratos makes his own life a living hell.

%%* {{BFS}}: The Blade of Olympus.

%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: Arguably ''God of War III''.

%%* EldritchAbomination:
%%** Clotho from the second game, Poseidon in the third game.
%%** Really, most of the Gods and Titans fit either this or HumanoidAbomination.

%%* EnemyMine: Theseus fighting with Minotaurs in his boss battle.

%%* FragileSpeedster: Hermes.

%%* GroundPound: One of the moves available with the Blades of Chaos comes in ground and air versions of this trick.
%%** Atlas Quake functions like this as well.
%%** As well as the Efreet.
%%** Hercules does this.
* GroundPunch: The Atlas Quake magic attack in ''God of War II'' has Kratos smashing the earth repeatedly to send out waves of rock in a large area around himself (Atlas himself did this in a cutscene). His Nemean Cestus in ''God of War III'' can also be used to smash the ground.

%%* ItHasOnlyJustBegun: "The End Begins".
* ItsAllAboutMe: Kratos is selfish beyond belief. The world very nearly collapses as a result of his actions, it's quite close to nothing he cares about as long as he gets what he wants.
** [[spoiler:In all fairness, he does seem to realize this seconds before impaling himself. Though whether he impales himself as one last spiteful act to Athena or a case of [[RedemptionEqualsDeath true selflessness]] is ambiguous.]]

%%* LeadTheTarget: Since Hermes is so fast, this is a good way to hit him.

%%* LightningBruiser:
%%** Zeus, [[ShockAndAwe no pun intended]], is insanely fast and strong.
%%** [[spoiler: Hercules, when his heavy armor and weapons are removed, changes from a MightyGlacier to this. He even uses the FlashStep.]] [[spoiler: Which is a ShoutOut to how he was portrayed on ''[[Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys The Legendary Journeys]]''.]]
%%** Not to mention Kratos himself.

%%* MagicSkirt: A rare male example indeed.
%%* ManipulativeBastard: Ares, Zeus, [[spoiler:Gaia and Athena.]]

%%* {{Medusa}}

* SwordPlant: Happens a few times in the games, mostly with the [[{{BFS}} Blade of Olympus]]. In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', Zeus stabs the ground with it and single-handedly ends the war by [[OneHitPolyKill banishing all of the Titans]] to the underworld with the ensuing magical attack. ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' has Kratos stabbing the ground with it for a magic attack in a manner reminiscent of the way Zeus used it.

** Just about everything. The series does this with Greek mythology, generally making it DarkerAndEdgier while excising some of the {{squick}}. It generally hits on the established personalities of the deities. ''God of War'' makes an all-too common mistake modern adaptations of Greek myths often make (mainly due to ValuesDissonance): depicting the Greek pantheon as ruthless tyrants who oppress and abuse humanity. The truth is that Greek myths were lighthearted, reflecting the general disposition of the people who invented them. The DarkerAndEdgier elements were first conceived in the dark ages. It's somewhat justified in the ending of the final game where [[spoiler:it turns out all the gods, including Zeus, were infected by humanity's evils after Kratos opened PandorasBox in the first game]].