History VideoGame / GodOfWarSeries

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/394062.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Kratos (left) [[ButForMeItWasTuesday on his way to work.]]]]

->''"The gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope."''
-->-- '''Kratos''', ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''

''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 Ancient Greece, but a version of Ancient Greece where all the omnipresent saviors and detrimental scourges found in countless Myth/ClassicalMythology 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.

It features a simple, intuitive combat interface that made fighting remarkably easy. Kratos's default [[DualWielding weapons]] are the Blades of Chaos, which are swords on the ends of very long chains; they function as both melee weapons and {{Whip Sword}}s, or perhaps [[InstantChucks Sword Chucks]]. Face buttons allow the player to jump, switch between Weak and Strong attacks, and use throws and {{Finishing Move}}s, stringing together combos and special moves in a visceral and satisfying combat engine that combines graceful, almost balletic special attacks with the gruesome satisfaction of [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe literally ripping enemies in half]]. Many enemies and all boss battles have unique finishing moves involving Action Commands; boss battles in particular become highly cinematic {{Puzzle Boss}}es. Finally, besides dodging and rolling, Kratos gets access to magic spells. These typically include: a ranged attack; an area-of-effect attack; a ray that causes enemies to freeze somehow; and a swarm-of-souls attack that damages everything in sight.

It was also something of a "hack-and-slash" game, and that's not just in reference to the bloody combat. Primarily in the action/adventure genre, ''God of War'' included platforming and puzzle aspects as well. These usually involved Kratos swinging over bottomless chasms, pushing blocks into position, and so forth.

There have been eight games in the series:

[[folder:List of Games]]
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[[index]]
* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWar''''' 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 [[BadDreams 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...

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in 2007. Kratos, now [[KlingonPromotion the new]] [[LegacyCharacter god of war]], leads his Spartans in a bloody conquest of Greece, heedless of the mutterings of other gods who think he's out of control. Zeus takes matters into his own hands by stripping Kratos of his godhood and slaying him. Kratos escapes Hades with the help of the titan Gaia, who tells him to travel to the Island of Creation, where TheHecateSisters work the Loom of Fate and can change his destiny. After a game's worth of adventures, Kratos uses the Loom to travel back to the moment of his death and manages to escape with his life... but Athena [[TakingTheBullet gets involved]] in the resulting brawl, leading to her death. She reveals that Zeus will never stop trying to kill him, because of a recurring Greek prophecy that the current king-god will be overthrown by his son. Zeus did it to his father Cronos; [[LukeIAmYourFather Kratos might do it to Zeus]]. Kratos, now royally pissed off, changes his goal from "survive" to "kill my father," and uses the Loom to help the Titans stage a full-on invasion of Olympus. CliffHanger.

* '''''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarBetrayal God of War: Betrayal]]''''' was released for mobile phones in 2007. Taking place during Kratos's crusade as the new god of war, Kratos finds himself in hot water when he's framed for the murder of one of Hera's pet monstrosities. It also details Kratos's blood lust getting the better of him, leading him to ShootTheMessenger--in this case, Hermes' son Ceryx, who had come to warn him that the gods thought Kratos's blood lust was getting the better of him. Whoops. (This the only game besides ''Ascension'' that does not feature a visit to Hades. It is also [[CanonDiscontinuity officially non-canon]].)

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus''''' was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable in 2008. Taking place ten years before the first game, it details the first time Kratos was used as a sort of celestial hit man. Morpheus, the god of sleep, is running rampant, because Helios, god of the sun, has gone missing. Athena has Kratos look into the matter, and he discovers that Persephone has masterminded the situation. Feeling betrayed by her ArrangedMarriage to Hades, she has kidnapped Helios and given his power to the titan Atlas, who plans to destroy Olympus with it. Kratos must abandon his daughter Calliope and bring an end to Persephone's scheming... permanently.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 in 2010. Picking up exactly where ''II'' left off, it details Kratos and the Titans' assault on Olympus. After killing Poseidon, Kratos is betrayed by Gaia and [[RunningGag tossed into the underworld]], but escapes and begins to climb Mount Olympus, killing all who stand in his path--Hades, Perses [sic], Helios, Hercules, Cronos, Hephaestus, Hera--and learning that PandorasBox still exists, now deep in the Labyrinth and guarded by an eternal fire which can only be snuffed out if Pandora herself immolates herself on it. This proves troubling, because as Kratos [[EscortMission escorts Pandora]] through the dungeon, he begins to think of her as a daughter. Kratos wants to kill Zeus, but he also wants his family back. Which one will he choose?... (Who are we kidding, it's a video game. But there's sufficient CharacterDevelopment to make us believe that Kratos actually has qualm about killing Pandora, so, kudos there.) This is officially the end of the trilogy, but not the franchise.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta''''' was released for [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] in 2010. It starts with a flashback to Kratos' childhood, in which he trains with his brother Deimos. Deimos is believed to be TheChosenOne who will topple Olympus, and so he is kidnapped by the gods, particularly Ares. In "the present day" (some time between ''I'' and ''Betrayal'') of gameplay proper, Kratos decides to find out what became of his brother.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 in 2013. A prequel set six months after Kratos murdered his family, it features Kratos' attempts to find a way to deal the Furies, who punish oathbreakers, with the help of a new companion Orkos in order to kill them so that he can break his blood oath from his own dealer Ares.

* '''''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 God of War]]''''': A [[{{Retool}} soft reboot]] of the series released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in 2018. Centuries after the events of ''III'', Kratos now lives in the woods of Midgard. [[OlderAndWiser Having turned over a new leaf and tamed his rage]], Kratos has gained a new family in [[SecondLove Faye]], a mortal huntress, and then [[WellDoneSonGuy Atreus]], his son, from whom he hides his true nature and past. [[PlotTriggeringDeath Faye has just died]], and Kratos and Atreus now leave their home to scatter her ashes at the top of the highest peak among the nine realms. The quest reveals itself to be harder than anticipated as several mysterious Norse Gods pursue them for unknown reasons, and the peak is in Jötunheim, the realm of the Frost Giants whose passages are closed off.
[[/index]]
[[/folder]]

[[StrictlyFormula The games don't change much from the original]]; the combat interface is almost completely unchanged, [[BagOfSpilling and while Kratos loses his magical powers at the beginning of each game]], the new magic granted to him each game closely resembles the powers he earned in the previous.

[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/GodOfWarSeries You can vote for your favorite game here]].
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!!The games provides examples of:

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[[folder:A-D]]
* AbortedArc:
** A secret video of the original game had Kratos revealing that he trapped Ares' soul inside a secret room and he will eventually use it against the gods. It is never mentioned again and by the end of the third game, it is unlikely brought ever after.
** Another video showed Cronos' remains being discovered in modern day, with soldiers entering Pandora's Temple. Any idea they had for this sequel would have been ''radically'' different than [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 what we got.]]
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Sewers of Athens in the first ''God of War''.
* AccuserOfTheBrethren: The Greek Gods are more or less this, given that Athena tells Kratos that while they will forgive him for killing his family, they will never let him forget. However, Athena also notes [[EveryoneHasStandards even the Gods couldn't forget what he did]], so it's less intentional than others.
* ActionCommands: Used by Kratos to kill certain enemies in a different manner, resulting in orbs that increase his [[LifeMeter life]] and [[ManaMeter magic meters]]. Some enemies require action commands to be beaten: while for {{Mooks}} the finishing move is optional, they are ''required'' on bosses, which allows the game to turn each boss's demise into a VideogameSetpiece. ''God of War'' is the father of Quick Time Events. It wasn't the first game series to feature them, but every single action command you see in games these days is because of [[TropeCodifier how popular the series made them]].
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' put a nifty, helpful spin on the standard formula: the on-screen prompt for each button appears relative to its position on the controller. For example, the prompt for the Triangle button is near the top edge of the screen.
* ActionPrologue: The series typically starts out by, as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] put it, "throwing you into the middle of a pitched battle just in case you thought you might be playing something with a modicum of restraint."
* ActorAllusion:
** Carole Ruggier, who plays the character of Athena [[TheOtherDarrin in the first two games]], also plays Athena in the ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' RTS.
** Creator/CoreyBurton voices Zeus in the God of War 2 and 3, a role he also plays in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' animated series.
*** Also speaking of Disney's Disney/{{Hercules}}, Rip Torn also voiced a god in that property (in that case as voiced Zeus in the movie) before playing Hephaestus in God of War III [[HilariousInHindsight in which he is beaten and punished by being exiled to the Underworld by Zeus]].
** 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]].
* AdaptationalBadass: Some of the gods are depicted as being much stronger than the Greek Myths presented them as. Ares, the BigBad of the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar 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 was simply mentioned as being dragged off by Hades in the Greek myths, is presented as being able to fight Kratos in hand-to-hand combat.
* AdaptationalWimp: Typhon is [[DemotedToExtra just another Titan in this series]] and is far less powerful than in the original mythology. Typhon was not a Titan but a monstrous enormous beast and the only being Zeus feared and [[OneManArmy almost singlehandedly overthrew him]] but was defeated.
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: A few times; the first two (one each in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' and ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'') are defeated by killing off the horde of {{Mooks}} that spawns on top of you, while the second is actually a time-based puzzle where you have to open a door.
** A new variation appears in the new 2018 game. Kratos is trapped while water rises around his position, and his son Atreus must solve the puzzle before Kratos drowns. It doesn't help that SpikesOfDoom in the ceiling threaten to skewer them both shortly after.
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Zeus. In the third game, it's revealed that he wasn't actually evil, he was just consumed by the evils of PandorasBox, which came out when Kratos opened it. Though going by Myth/GreekMythology, he was a JerkassGod before that and the box only made him worse.]]
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: An interesting example. On one side, the Gods of Olympus, famous for toying with or outright squashing humanity when they feel like it, but also the sources of wisdom, love, agriculture, and even the Sun itself. On the other, a completely psychotic killer who thinks nothing of slaughtering anybody in his way, but with basically sympathetic motives for bringing war against the gods, and who ultimately [[spoiler: grants his enormous power to humanity after bringing down Olympus]]. In the end, which side is Lighter comes down to the viewer.
* AllForNothing: Four examples:
** The original game and its prequel ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus Chains of Olympus]]'' have Kratos doing various tasks for the gods in exchange for freedom from the nightmares caused by [[spoiler: him murdering his wife and child in blind rage]]. As it turns out, they never explicitly ''said'' they would do that, only that he would be forgiven for his sins, making ten years of servitude completely pointless.
*** Another in the first game; while fighting Ares, the God of War traps Kratos in a separate dimension where his family is attacked by dopplegangers of him. He succeeds in defending his family, [[spoiler: only for Ares to rip his weapons out of his forearms and kill his wife and child again. Although, it is possible that Lysandra and Calliope were just magic duplicates and thus had no chance of living at all, but the effort is still in vain]].
*** In ''Chains of Olympus'', Kratos spends most of it chasing after his daughter in the Underworld, even going so far as to give up his weapons, magic, and appearance. [[spoiler: Then [[BigBad Persephone]] comes along and reveals that the world is about to end, and the only way for Kratos to save it is to sacrifice being with the child he fought so hard to be reunited with]].
** 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".
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: In-game example. It would explain how Kratos can score threesomes so easily.
* AllMythsAreTrue: 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 Celtic deity originally [[spoiler:and according to the relics found in Tyr's Vault, [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian]], [[Myth/JapaneseMythology Japanese]], [[Myth/AztecMythology Aztec]], and possibly other realms exist as well in this universe.]]
* AlreadyUndoneForYou: The series features this in spades. When Kratos traverses the dungeons to get to [[MacGuffin Pandora's Box/The Sisters of Fate]], he finds that hundreds of adventurers have died trying to get the treasure as well. (Their bodies are lying all over the place, and you even fight a few others en route in the second game.) This is all very well and good, except that not only do many of the doors require all manner of oddly shaped keys to open (from a ram's horn to ''specific human skulls'') but also in order to progress it is often necessary for Kratos to smash through walls and on occasion destroy entire buildings. Apparently the temples rebuild themselves every time someone eats it on the way there.
** {{Justified|Trope}} somewhat: the dead bodies of past adventurers are reanimated as Undead Legionnaire and are actually sent back into the temple to reset all the traps.
** Sometimes, the puzzles aren't reset to their ''very'' beginning, leaving Kratos to finish a puzzle that a now dead guy started. For instance, in VideoGame/GodOfWarII, Kratos finds the Hail of Boreas [[spoiler:in the hands of a Spartan who got killed when trying to navigate a spiked floor puzzle. So some Spartan found the Hail of Boreas, possibly killing whatever was likely guarding it, and took it with him all the way down to a lower level of the island.]]
* AlwaysABiggerFish: In ''Chains of Olympus'', one of the first things you do is try to open a door via ButtonMashing tutorial... only for a Cyclops wielding a giant pillar to smash through immediately and teach you about ButtonMashing ''and'' PressXToNotDie. As if that wasn't enough, then a ''Basilisk'' smashes in and devours the Cyclops whole.
* AmazonBrigade: ''God Of War: Acension'' features those as enemies.
* AnachronicOrder: The chronological order of the series is ''Ascension'', ''Chains of Olympus'', ''God of War I'', ''Ghost of Sparta'', ''God of War II'' and ''God of War III''. The ambiguously canonical ''Betrayal'' takes place between ''God Of War I'' and ''II'' either before or after ''Ghost of Sparta''.
* AndIMustScream:
** [[spoiler: Helios]] is implied to be this, [[spoiler: as his head is implied to still be alive]]. At least the screaming part is taken care of...
** Following a secret message in the original ''God of War'', [[spoiler: Ares']] soul was confined to a small chamber in Kratos' throne room, to be tormented by an unknown force. This part may have been retconned out (see AbortedArc).
** Dear God, what Aegaeon the Hecatonchires goes through in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension''. For starters, when he broke his oath to Zeus, the Furies hunted him down and put him through the mother of all [[FateWorseThanDeath Fates Worse than Death]]: [[BodyHorror having his body hollowed out and turned into a giant prison for those who followed his example]]. And then Megaera uses her parasites to infest different parts of his body and turn them into monsters to fight Kratos. Judging by the way his eyes are moving when Megaera infests his head, he's ''still alive and fully conscious'' through it all.
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'': After being defeated by Kratos, Atlas is shackled and forced to stand atop the Pillar of the World, carrying the world itself on his shoulders for all eternity.
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'': After providing the Fires of Olympus to mankind, Prometheus was punished by Zeus by being stripped of his powers, chained to Typhon's fingers, and being disemboweled and EatenAlive by a giant eagle every day, his wounds automatically healing by nightfall. Kratos actually ends up {{Mercy Kill}}ing him at his own request by burning him alive in the Fires of Olympus.
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Kratos becomes [[spoiler:the new God of war.]]
* [[LoveMakesYouDumb Anger Makes You Dumb]]: A possible explanation for Kratos' PlotInducedStupidity throughout the series. Kratos is so intent on avenging his family's death (and later Zeus' betrayal) that he fails to see when Zeus (and [[spoiler: Gaia]], [[spoiler: [[RuleOfThree and Hephaestus]]]], [[spoiler: [[SerialEscalation and Athena]]]]) are playing him like a harp.
** But Olympus help them when [[RoaringRampageofRevenge Kratos finds out about it...]]
* AntagonistTitle: Subverted in the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar first]] game. The TitleDrop at the end makes it clear that Ares was not actually the title character, but [[spoiler:Kratos, who [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt takes his place]]]].
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: When you're killed, you continue from the last checkpoint you passed, with the same amount of health. This can get really annoying if you had low health and there are no orb chests between you and whatever killed you. However, continue from the same checkpoint enough times in a row and your health begins to increase slightly each time. You're also offered a chance to lower the difficulty if you're consistently dying in the same area again and again...which falls apart when the difficulty levels only change ''combat'' difficulty, and you're far more likely to die repeatedly on the ''platforming'' sections.
* AntiGrinding:
** There are a limited number of enemies, preventing you from grinding to get Red Orbs and in addition, after you kill enough number of respawning enemies, they will not spawn anymore Red Orbs. However, you can circumvent this once- the area where you get Medusa's Head has enemies that respawn unless you kill them by petrifying them and you have infinite magic until you accomplish this. While they quickly stop giving you Red Orbs from killing them, you can still get them for getting large combos, which is easily accomplished by endlessly spamming Poseidon's Rage on them.
** There's also another way to get an unlimited amount of Red Orbs later in the game, but this relies more on a GoodBadBug which involves killing a Harpy at a specific location so that it falls on specific piece of level geometry while dying, gets stuck in its dying animation and continues spewing out an endless stream of Red Orbs.
* AntiHero: Kratos, despite being the hero of the story, is a sociopathic warrior who has little to no compunction over the numerous lives that he has taken. His only humanizing trait is his love for his wife and daughter. Later, Pandora's influence does help him to examine his actions. He actually seems genuinely regretful when he observes the damage he caused after his final battle. But the franchise must continue and Kratos must slip back to his basic character. In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', he kills gods and titans [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero that he himself]] is responsible for making evil in the first place.]] Interestingly, Kratos is pretty close to [[ValuesDissonance what antique cultures would've considered "heroic".]] It could even be argued that in the transition from the second and third installments, he went from anti-hero to villain himself, making him no better than the gods he was hunting down and murdering. Hints of this are shown all over the saga, even in the first game, and after he replaced Ares to become the same, or even worse.
* AnyoneCanDie: Kratos' mission in life is to put this trope to the test. He even gets himself killed a half dozen times([[DeathIsCheap not that they stick but...]]) Rule of thumb is that if a character shared a scene with Kratos, they would die horribly. Considering the games are literally about killing the Greek Pantheon, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
* ArchnemesisDad: Kratos gets this problem at the end of the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarII second]] game when he finds out [[spoiler:Zeus]] is his father. It takes him the whole of the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII next game]] to actually kill him.
* ArcVillain:
** Persephone for ''Chains of Olympus''.
** Ares in the first game.
** Thanatos for ''Ghost of Sparta''.
** Alecto for ''Ascension''.
** [[spoiler:Baldur]] for the 2018 game.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: How about all those sheer cliffs Athens seems to be built near?
** Not to mention the ''adjacent desert.''
*** One theory is that [[spoiler: the massive flooding resulting from Poseidon's death is why the desert isn't there anymore]].
** How about how Kratos WALKED from Crete to Sparta in ''Ghost of Sparta''?
* ArtShift: The flashbacks in the third game are done in a heavily stylized and trippy art style.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Athena in ''God of War III''. Thanks to her HeroicSacrifice saving the life of Zeus she has become an Angel creature that lives along the River Styx. She's also fully transparent.]]
* AssholeVictim: Kratos is a sociopathic VillainProtagonist who systematically murders the gods, but the one saving grace is, almost all of them are even worse than he is. [[FinalBoss Zeus most of all]], seeing as [[spoiler:Kratos is his own son, whom he betrayed.]] (In game, all were previously corrupted by Pandora's Box, but even compared to the original mythology, [[JerkassGods this depiction isn't far off.]])
* AsteroidsMonster: The green Cerberus-like creatures in the first game.
* {{Atlantis}}:
** Atlantis was going to appear in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', but was DummiedOut.
** Referenced in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' in the battle with Poseidon, who claims that; "Atlantis will be avenged!" hinting that Kratos had a hand in the city's destruction, which is [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds hardly surprising]].
** Kratos travels to Atlantis in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta Ghost of Sparta]]''. [[spoiler:You guessed it: Kratos sinks it.]]
* TheAtoner: Subverted to a point. Kratos may be on a RedemptionQuest in the first game, but it's only because he wants to be able to sleep at night without being assaulted by memories of the awful deeds he has committed in the past, including [[spoiler:murdering his own wife and child]]. He has no qualms about slaughtering just about everybody he encounters, either. By the start of the second game, he's stopped caring about redemption altogether, and just goes back to trying to help Sparta conquer the world.
** In the third game [[spoiler:he had the power of hope inside of him the whole time after opening Pandora's box to fight Ares. He kills himself with the Blade of Olympus, letting its power seep into the now ruined world and Athena is simply disappointed in Kratos. It is indeterminate if this was to truly atone or to spite Athena. ]]
* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat:
** From Chains of Olympus:
--->'''Soldier:''' (''while trying to fight off a Cyclops with his fellow soldiers'') Flank him! Flank him! (''Cyclops squashes one of the soldiers'') Flee! Flee for your lives!
** From the Novelization:
--->'''Athenian Soldier:''' (''while running from a Minotaur'') Run! You have to run!\\
'''Kratos:''' (''with scalding contempt'') [[BadassBoast Spartans run ''toward'' the enemy.]]
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The series absolutely loves this trope. The first game features, among its bosses, a Hydra so large it more or less takes up the entire level, a gigantic [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot/cyborg/Steampunk minotaur]], and Ares, who could probably wrestle Godzilla. The sequel has Kratos get in on the act briefly, pulling a Godzilla-Of-War on Rhodes, and then fighting the Colossus of Rhodes while normal-sized. While Zeus is ''close'' to Kratos' size the time you fight him, he's still noticably larger than the already-abnormally-large Kratos. Titans, giant monsters, and oversize gods abound in the rest of the series.
** Several enemies throughout the series are often large, especially boss fights such as minotaur in the Challenge of Hades in the first game, the Colossus of Rhodes and Clotho in the second are also really large. But in the 3rd game, the biggest enemy of all is Cronos, who is bigger than the SEARS TOWER! To give perspective, when he tries to squish you, your chain-swords can make a small mess on his fingernails. Not to mention the fact that he carries on his back the entire Temple of Pandora, which was the setting of the first game.
** Actually, Poseidon may be the biggest boss out of everyone. The base of his body was at the base of Mount Olympus where the ocean is. The rest of his body was busy fighting Gaia and Kratos, at least halfway up the mountain.
** ''Ascension'' gives us [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekatonkheires Aegeon the Hekatonkheires]]. [[SerialEscalation And he's the tutorial boss]].
* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: Scylla in ''Ghost of Sparta'' and later Poseidon himself in III. Both are type 2.
* AttackReflector: Kratos could do this once he obtained the golden fleece (or Helios shield in the prequel). It even works on [[TakenForGranite gorgon stares]] and leads to a PlayingTennisWithTheBoss match with Persephone in the prequel.
* 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.
* AwesomenessMeter: Rage of the Gods in ''I'', Rage of the Titans in ''II'', Rage of Sparta in ''III'', and an unnamed rage meter in the 2018 game.
* BackFromTheDead: Kratos has escaped from the Afterlife not once, not twice, not even ''thrice'' times but ''[[SerialEscalation four]]'' times. There's also the Barbarian King, whom Kratos killed before the first game began and who returned as a boss in the second.
** While the first game was because of the Gravekeeper's help, after ''Ghost of Sparta'' it seems this is because [[spoiler:Kratos killed ''the god of Death himself''.]]
** This is probably partly true. In ''God of War II'', Kratos is saved by [[spoiler: Gaia before he actually dies]] but in three, Kratos might have survived his fall from Olympus because of that exact reason. But he escaped Hell because he [[spoiler: killed Hades.]]
* BadassBeard: Kratos is the only man in the UNIVERSE who can pull of a goatee the way he does, and in the 2018 game, he's upgraded to a full-on beard.
* BadassBoast: A lot, but this one takes the cake:
---> '''Hera''': (''[[TheMaze in Hera's Garden]]'') Your brute strength may have bested Hercules, but your simple mind could never find the way out of here. I look forward to watching you die here, ''as an old man''.
* BadassGrandpa: Zeus and Cronos.
* BadassNormal: [[LastOfHisKind The Last]] [[NoNameGiven Spartan]] who [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat somehow survived the wave of energy Zeus unleashed with the Blade of Olympus that practically killed every other Spartan and Rhodes soldier within a thousand meters]], [[{{Determinator}} then somehow manages to get back to Sparta]] [[spoiler: [[{{Determinator}} and survive its destruction at the hands of Zeus]]]], then somehow travels to the Isle of Creation and somehow makes more progress through the island faster than Kratos.
* BadDreams
* BagOfSpilling: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. At the end of the prequel, 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.
** The fourth game again justifies his lack of previous weapons in that he starts off in a completely new realm, having left is old life behind many years ago. Averted slightly, [[spoiler:in that the Blades of Chaos are stored beneath the floor boards of the family home]]. You start the game with just about all your gear you'll use almost immediately, however.
* BaldOfAwesome: Easy to see. However...
* BaldOfEvil: Just as close as a literal example as you can get with this trope, he's just as evil and treacherous as he is bald or [[DoubleEntendre the other way around]].
* [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Bald White Leader Guy]]: Kratos, to the Spartans.
* BashBrothers: [[spoiler:Kratos and Deimos]]. Well, once they stop bashing ''[[CainAndAbel each other]]'', that is.
* BastardBastard: [[spoiler: Kratos is revealed to be one of Zeus' many illegitimate children in a unlockable video in the first game.]]
* BeardOfBarbarism: The Barbarian King is also the KING of this trope.
* BeastMan: Most of the enemies, ranging from satyrs to minotaurs to centaurs and even to ''elephantaurs'' seen in ''Ascension''. The servants of the Fate, while not resembling any major mythological character, otherwise fit this trope.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Oh, Ares. [[spoiler:If you wanted to make Kratos stronger, why didn't you redirect his anger toward someone else rather than you? [[TemptingFate Talk about asking for it]]!]]
* BehemothBattle: ''God of War III'' opens up with battle between the Titan Gaia and Poseidon's One-Winged Angel form.
* BeingEvilSucks: Kratos makes his own life a living hell.
* BerserkButton: In Hera's final scene, Kratos actually tries to go around her, even though she tried to have him killed several times, until she calls Pandora a whore...
** And you have an over-the-shoulder view facing Kratos when she says it. From this vantage point, you just know that she's going to get it. (Talk about your assisted suicides, though she was drunk as a skunk on all her scenes)
** Occasionally when people remind him of his family and what happened to them. In the third game, [[spoiler:Hermes becomes an amputee for his troubles and Kratos actually lets Pandora go into the flames--something he was trying to desperately prevent--and beats Zeus to undeath when he mentions it.]]
** Probably Kratos' angriest moment in the series (which is really saying something), is when [[spoiler: Thanatos kills Deimos.]]
** Never ask Kratos to come rescue you or ask for any kind of "help" from him. That will just make him angrier. In fact, just don't be any kind of burden, and try not to get in his way.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: Oh dear, where to start?
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Athena. She plays the mentor role for most of the first game, [[spoiler:and in the third, though posthumously, only to reveal her true nature after Zeus is killed. When Kratos sacrifices himself to release Hope to all of humanity, Athena wails, "You fool! That was supposed to go to '''me!''' The mortals won't know what to do with it!"]]
** Actually it's implied that this was ''God of War III'' only. The box's evils infected the others so it may have influenced her as well. She also states that becoming a ghost caused her to "see the bigger picture" so it's quite possible that she only fell prey after death and may have genuinely cared about him in games one and two. Hell Zeus himself flat out states she refused to betray him.
*** The above ended up being [[WordOfGod eventually confirmed]] by Cory Barlog [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaEdEwYB9PI&feature=youtu.be&t=255 on an interview]], where he states Athena got corrupted in God of War III by ascending to a higher plane, and began plotting the deaths of those in the lower plane.
* BiTheWay: In ''God of War III'', Kratos walks in on Aphrodite having her way with two slave girls. She then invites him for sex.
* {{BFS}}: The Blade of Olympus.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: It's pretty hard to actually sympathize with [[SociopathicHero Kratos]].
* BlindedByTheLight:
** Perseus in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' uses his reflective shield to blind Kratos several times in his boss battle.
** Aside from using it as a makeshift flashlight, Kratos can put Helios's severed head in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' to great use by blinding enemies with it. In fact, employing this strategy is how you're supposed to defeat [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Kronos the Titan.]]
* BlockingStopsAllDamage: A plot point. Kratos needs the power of the Golden Fleece to continue past some unavoidable obstacles. The armor can deflect anything, even the Blade of Olympus wielded by Zeus himself. This doesn't explain some of his famous ActionCommands where he prevents being crushed by titans the size of skyscrapers because he put his arms up the right way.
** He is [[spoiler: half god]] in addition to being a classic Greek tragic hero, so his strength is far beyond that of ordinary men. According to some, "Kratos" even translates to "strength."
** The Fleece does have limits, however, with there being some attacks it can't block. Occasionally this can be rationalized in that the Golden Fleece doesn't completely cover him, so if an attack has too much surface area that most of it will still him regardless, but sometimes it makes less sense, such as when the third punch in a three hit combo from Zeus in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' hurts him.
* BloodierAndGorier: Ancient Greek mythology was more violent than you'd think, but this series takes it UpToEleven.
** Ramping it up with III, to the point where the studio said some screenshots are so violent, they cannot be released on gaming news websites without being censored. They have an independent engine in place to animate enemies being ripped to pieces and having their organs fall out.
** Some highlights: Kratos disemboweling a centaur, complete with falling organs; a much more graphic animation of Kratos ripping the eye off Cyclopes, with blood flooding out of the socket and sinew hanging from the eye and finally, Kratos ''ripping off Helios' head''. Yes, ''that'' Helios.
*** ...And then ''[[RefugeInAudacity using it as]] [[MundaneUtility a flashlight.]]''
*** Think the gutting of centaurs is bad? Just wait till he guts ''Cronos''.
* BloodKnight:
** Kratos, ''obviously''. He delves into this at varying times in his life. It definitely applies in his backstory in the first game, as well as the interim between the first and second. During the games he seems to have a definite cause he's fighting for, but between them, he's more than happy to just go out and kill whatever the gods point him at.
** Ares, who's the freaking GOD OF WAR himself...[[spoiler:well until Kratos took over]].
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: The series has Zeus doing this to ''you'' in the latter two games during the battle with him.
* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The first begins with Kratos jumping off the highest mountain in Greece saying "the Gods of Olympus have abandoned me." He jumps off a cliff again saying the exact same line near the end of the last game, while in a vision caused by being killed (temporarily) by Zeus. Also, TheStinger at the end of the third game shows a blood trail leading from where [[NeverFoundTheBody Kratos' body used to be]] to the edge of a cliff off Mt. Olympus]].
* BoringButPractical: The series does this, but only in concept. While you can mix your light and heavy attacks to make some really cool looking moves, on higher difficulties, the only reasonable way to make progress is with the grapple moves. It instant deaths minor {{Mooks}}, sometimes killing others in the area, and you're invincible while you do it most of the time. Granted the grapple moves are pretty cool to watch, but mashing Circle seems like a really boring way to fight.
** Not to mention the best attack to use when you're getting swarmed by enemies that you can't grab is to repeatedly spam your Square-Square-Triangle attack. It's short enough that enemies have a hard time hitting you out of it or blocking it mid combo, and it knocks enemies into the air, stunning them. Too bad it's basically the shortest combo.
* BossArenaIdiocy:
** Pandora's Guardian, the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot giant, armored, demonic, fire-breathing zombie minotaur]], fights Kratos in a narrow corridor with some sort of ballista mechanism at one end of it; Kratos can use the ballista bolts to chip away at its armor, and eventually defeats it by impaling it on the door at the other end of the room.
** Clotho fights in an arena filled with deactivated traps that aren't at all suited for hurting someone the size of a normal human. Kratos, of course, uses them to kill her in an elaborate puzzle boss battle.
** Perseus' preferred tactic is to use his helm of invisibility, then either sneak attack Kratos with his sword or take potshots with his sling. Unfortunately for him, he is forced to fight Kratos in a room with a shallow pool of water, meaning you can use the ripples and splashes to help figure out where he is.
** In the third game Heracles is wearing armor made from the pelt of the Nemean Lion, whose golden fur is nearly impregnable. Heracles by extension would also be invincible, were it not for [[TacticalSuicideBoss his tendency to stop]], [[CallingYourAttacks bellow loudly]], and drop his guard with a bum rush long enough for Kratos to counter it and slam him into one of the walls of spikes set up around the arena that keeps him in place long enough for Kratos to remove his armor.
* BossInMookClothing: The Centaurs. They almost never flinch, love interrupting your combos while you fight smaller mooks (because they ''always'' come with smaller mooks), have a crapton of health, and the QTE when they grab you requires super-human reflexes to win. The finishing move on them is one of the squickiest of the game, but you won't mind. Chimeras are a similar case, although they are arguable easier to deal with.
** Since there are only three centaurs in the game, they could be considered EliteMooks or minibosses.
** The Satyrs, too. Monsters that actually pay attention to your attacks and punish you for poor timing. Why else do they appear so late in the game?
* BossRemix: In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third installment]], the final boss battle with Zeus has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzRYCz3CV2o this song]] that contains sections from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRftE8qtVA Zeus' Wrath Divine]] from the first ''God Of War'' and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L09rqYVFxTk The Isle Of Creation]] from ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''. Both remixed themes appeared in final boss battles of their respective games.
* BreakingSpeech: In ''God Of War III'', Hermes deconstructs Kratos in the path of the Caverns and he can only listen. Before his death, Hermes gives another one to Kratos, and later on, it's revealed that it registered on Kratos; something Zeus had use of during his mind attack on the K-man.
* BrotherSisterIncest:
** The sex minigame in ''God of War III'' is with Aphrodite [[MultipleChoicePast depending on who you ask.]] If you're of the "Aphrodite is Zeus' daughter" school of thought then yes. If you're of the "Aphrodite was born from the foam of Ouranos's [[GroinAttack severed testicle]] as it hit the seas" school, then it's a whole lot more complicated...
** Also Zeus and Hera, Aphrodite and Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaestus (both with the same snag as above)...really, divinity just doesn't care. It's Myth/GreekMythology. They ''don't'' care.
* TheBrute: Hades relies more on hitting Kratos with his chain blade things than anything else, and his [[OneWingedAngel second form]] relies on NASTY physical attacks.
* BullyingADragon: [[spoiler: Go ahead, Hermes, [[IShallTauntYou taunt]] Kratos [[BerserkButton about how he killed his family]]. Never mind that he's been known to kill ''out of spite''.]]
* ButtMonkey: The ship captain. Also a borderline YuppieCouple, seeing as Kratos has managed to kill him three times in two games. (Alas, he doesn't appear in the third, but you can read a note from him.)
* ByronicHero: As a guy who wants to ''[[RageAgainstTheHeavens kill all the Gods]]'', this trope suits Kratos nicely.
* CainAndAbel: Kratos and [[spoiler:Ares]]. Though they didn't know they were related at the time. Later, there's [[spoiler:Kratos and Hercules]] in ''III'', and [[spoiler:Kratos and Deimos]] in ''Ghost of Sparta''.
* CaptainErsatz: Sheer murderousness aside, Kratos has a few striking similarities with Hercules of legend, including accidentally killing his own family in a fit of madness, as well as his habit of tearing apart monsters and using their body parts as armor or weapons (see Hercules skinning the nigh-invulnerable Nemean lion after he killed it and wearing the skin, and dipping his arrows in the poisonous blood of the Hydra). It becomes all the more amusing when Hercules finally shows up in ''God of War III'' and claims that Kratos is stealing his thunder. Considering that Kratos has already killed the Hydra, he may well be right.
** The developers actually feared that Midway would view Kratos' design as this to the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' character Quan Chi and file a lawsuit. However, not only did Midway not care, but Boon actually liked the character enough to include him as a GuestFighter in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYvyjMgaBC8 complete with many of his signature moves and original voice actor.]]
* CastingGag: The series did this twice: Perseus is voiced by Harry Hamlin and Hercules is voiced by Kevin Sorbo, roles the actors previously played in the original ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' and ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' respectively.
* CaveBehindTheFalls: Both games make use of this in combination with the games' static cameras, making it so the player will only actually notice the waterfall with treasure behind it if they specifically set out to see if something's behind it.
* ChainLightning: The Nemesis Whip is a visual pun on this; it's yet another chain-weapon for Kratos, and it produces chain lightning.
* ChekhovsGun: The giant sword that Kratos uses as a bridge immediately after saving the Oracle. In the final battle, [[spoiler:he uses it after Ares strips him of all his abilities, and stabs the God of War through the chest.]] In the second game, the Fates use their time-travel powers trying to prevent this gun from being fired.
** In ''[=GoW=] III'', at one point you take a brief trip inside Gaia while trying to save her from one of bigform-Poseidon's crab-horse-claw-things. You pass by her very heart, the passageway to which was opened up by Poseidon's attacks. [[spoiler: Three guesses as to where the final fight of the game takes place, and the first two don't count.]]
* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler:Pandora's Box in the ''[=GoW=]3'']].
* ChewingTheScenery: You have no idea. Just one example: Kratos chatting it up with Atlas in the second game.
* ClothingDamage: Happens to Kratos over the course of the series. His outfit in most of ''God of War II'' is the remains of his God armor from the beginning of the game, and there's even less of it left in ''God of War III''.
* ColossusClimb: Most notably, the minotaur fight in ''God Of War'', as well as a platforming element that was important in the Hydra battle. In the sequel, the player climbs on and inside a literal Colossus: the Colossus of Rhodes and faces Titans so massive their bodies often ''are'' the stage.
** Doing the math on Kronos, his fingernail is right next to six foot Kratos, so it's about 30 foot long. A fingernail on a normal person is more or less half an inch long, so doing the proportions, Kronos would be over 4,000 feet tall if he ever stood up. The stage induces fake difficulty at some points due to the sheer perspective of the wide angle shots.
* CombatCommentator: A drunken Hera provides a commentary to Kratos's fight with Hercules, starting with an almost-motherly "Now you boys play nice!"
* CombatSadomasochist: Some of Hades' taunts imply that he may be one of these.
* CombatTentacles: The Kraken has these, as does Ares. Scylla too.
* ComeBackToBedHoney: "Stay, Kratos. Just a bit longer."
* CompilationRerelease: The ''God of War Collection'' on [=PS3=], which includes the two [=PS2=] games, updated to run in [=720p=] at 60 frames per second and with [=PS3=] trophies.
** It will also include a code for unlocking [[PreviewPiggybacking an exclusive ''God Of War III'' demo]].
*** So will, of all things, the ''Film/{{District 9}}'' Blu-Ray.
** Happening again with ''God of War Origins Collection'', also on [=PS3=]. This has both PSP games, updated to HD with optional stereoscopic 3D. Now the only game not on [=PS3=] is the mobile phone game ''Betrayal''.
** The first two ''God of War'' games have now been made portable with the release of the ''God of War Collection'' on the Vita, with the trophies of the [=PS3=] version included and a control scheme that utilizes the touch screen and rear touch pad.
* 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.
* CrapsackWorld: Even before [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt everything that happens]] in ''God of War III'', life wasn't exactly peaches and cream, thanks in no small part to the JerkassGods running the place. If you're a human, you have two choices; LawfulEvil [[GodIsEvil gods]] who view you as little more than a plaything or possession, and are only good in that they represent stability, or a ChaoticEvil demigod who's a NominalHero at best and might kill you for no other reason than he's having a bad day, which is often. The Norse setting is no picnic either being a GrimUpNorth land filled with monsters, and its 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.
* CrashingThroughTheHarem: In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', your escape from the Colossus of Rhodes's rampage takes you crashing through the ceiling of a bathhouse where two women wait in a state of undress. You can stop and have sex with them by [[QuickTimeEvent hitting the action button!]]
* CreepyMortician: The Gravedigger who turns out to be [[spoiler:Zeus]].
* CrossoverCosmology: ''Chains of Olympus'' had Kratos fighting against creatures from Arabic and Persian mythology, and the 2018 game drops him in a Norse setting. [[spoiler:It's also confirmed that other mythologies do exist such as Egyptian, Chinese and South American, and they are accessible through portals in the Bifrost lake]].
* CrossCounter: Kratos and Hercules have one of these when [[spoiler: Kratos steals the right Nemean Cestus. If Kratos wins the duel, he will steal the left Nemean Cestus.]] Zeus and Kratos has one of these in the end.
* CrusadingWidower: Kratos.
* CurbStompBattle: Pretty much the final moments of any boss fight, but the ones in III are especially painful to watch (for some, at least). Even if you're into watching people getting their heads stomped on, you can't help but flinch a little...
** There's also a Curb Stomp ''[[UpToEleven War]]'' early on in ''God of War III'': the Gods manage to down a half dozen of the Titans climbing Mount Olympus within the first ten minutes of gameplay, and the rest more or less are beaten ''off-screen''. Odds are, without Kratos on the Titans' side, the ''war'' would have been wrapped up in a half hour with the Gods being victorious.
*** This makes one wonder why the gods were so concerned about them in the first place.
*** Kratos even takes [[spoiler: Gaia and Perses]] out whilst working his way up the mountain.
* CurseOfTheAncients: Ancient Grecian SociopathicHero Kratos often uses the term "By the Gods!" as an exclamation. Given that he ''is'' ancient, it's highly appropriate for his setting.
* CutsceneIncompetence:
** In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar first game]], Kratos, despite killing the Hydra and retrieving PandorasBox, is killed by a pillar thrown by Ares (though to be fair, he does escape from the Underworld).
** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', after killing Poseidon with his bare hands, Kratos is sent ''all'' the way back down Mount Olympus and into the Underworld yet again by a ''single lightning bolt attack'' from Zeus.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: If Kratos were allowed in normal gameplay to pull off acrobatics and feats of strength a fraction as impressive as the ones he does in cutscenes, a huge chunk of the games obstacles would suddenly cease to be an issue.
* {{Cyclops}}: The series, being based on Myth/GreekMythology, has these as recurring enemies in a few varieties. 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".
* DarkerAndEdgier: The games claim to be this in regards to their Myth/ClassicalMythology source material. ''God of War I'' and ''II'' are around the same level of darkness, but ''III'' manages to one-up the original stories by a mile. Let's face it, works like ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' were dark, but they didn't involve [[{{Gotterdammerung}} the death of the gods]] and [[ApocalypseHow catastrophes of apocalyptic scale]].
* DarkIsNotEvil: Hades, averting the [[EverybodyHatesHades stupid stereotype]], and who has genuine reasons to hate Kratos, [[spoiler: as well as the implication that all of his less likable traits are the Pandora's Box fault]], except maybe greed, if the manuals are to be considered reliable (and thus adding FridgeLogic to his plans for Kratos). Arguably some of the titans as well, since Zeus was the one with the [[DisproportionateRetribution brilliant idea]] of punishing them forever for "the sins of just one".
* DarkMessiah: Kratos in ''God of War III'', by the time the game ends.
* DealWithTheDevil: Kratos' brilliant military career (as well as his life) was almost cut short when his army faced a numerically superior army of Barbarians, in a battle that only lasted a few hours. Kratos promised his soul to Ares in return for destroying the Barbarians, and Ares gladly obliged. This marked the [[StartOfDarkness beginning]] of Kratos' fall from grace.
--> '''Kratos''': "'''ARES!''' Destroy my enemies...and my life is yours!"
* 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.
** Artemis is also alive as of yet, not having appeared in two or three.
* DeathByIrony: In [[RealLife ancient Greece]], worshipers of Hades would [[spoiler:knock their heads on the ground]] so the god of the underworld would hear them. [[spoiler:What does Kratos do to Hades immediately before stealing his soul?]]
* DeathIsCheap: Well, it is for Kratos [[spoiler:and Athena]] anyway.
** Also note that ultimately, death makes little sense. Kratos can leave the underworld if he's dead, but nobody else can seem to even if Hades wants them to.
* DeathOfTheOldGods: Kratos doing his thing. Especially in III.
* DecapitationPresentation: Kratos to Medusa, her sister and Helios in each respective game.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: The giant lava minotaurs explode when defeated. So do [[spoiler:Ares, Athena, Thanatos, and to a degree the other gods in other ways except Hephaestus. Not all deities, though, like not Helios or other goddesses]].
* DegradedBoss: Gorgons. 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.
* DemBones: The second game has them.
* DepthPerplexion: An ''entire puzzle'' is made out of this in III, in Hera's Garden. Basically, when you activate a switch, a green filter appears on the screen, the camera zooms away and stairways that are only adjacent by perspective become connected for real. You will thus get at the top of the garden through completely disconnected platforms, without having to perform a single jump.
* DescendingCeiling / TheWallsAreClosingIn: Extremely common death traps in every game. In nearly every case, the only way to deactivate them is to endure the MultiMookMelee that accompanies them.
* {{Determinator}}: Kratos. Nothing will ever stand in his way for revenge, whether it's barbarians, other Greek soldiers, nasty monsters, geographic difficulties, the fires of Hades, the gods or Death and Fate itself. All those who are unlucky enough to do it anyway WILL be ''very'' sorry. Also The Barbarian King, who fought Hades just as hard as Kratos, and the Last Spartan soldier, who came just as far as Kratos in the temple of the Sisters of Fate, even though he was just a mere mortal.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Did you just horribly slaughter a Greek god / demigod / minor mythological creature?
* DisappointedInYou: At the end of the third game, [[spoiler:Athena]] says this to Kratos when he [[spoiler:runs himself through with the Blade of Olympus, giving the power to the humans instead of her.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: Icarus in ''II''. Specifically [[spoiler:falling into the pits of Tartarus.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: The reason Gaia chooses to help Kratos in his fight against Zeus in the second game. [[spoiler:Zeus, as per The religion of ancient Greece, chose to punish every member of the Titans when taking his revenge on his father Kronos.]]
** One could argue in Zeus's case it was necessary. Kronos would not tolerate Zeus and his siblings be free due to the threat they posed to his power. The Titans would aid Kronos against them. It was a situation where war was inevitable. Gaia could easily just be playing Kratos.
* 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.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The hilariously suggestive sex QTE in ''III'' certainly counts. Though given where the [[SomethingElseAlsoRises half-circle-up]] is, it does rather suggest Kratos takes an unholy amount of time getting out of the practically nothing he's usually almost wearing.
* DoomedByCanon: The series has two spin offs on UsefulNotes/{{P|laystationPortable}}SP: ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus Chains of Olympus]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta Ghost of Sparta]]''. The former is a prequel to the original game and the latter is set between the first and the second. The plots of both games are predictable due to this trope. [[SarcasmMode I wonder if Kratos will succeed in saving his brother..]]
* DownerBeginning: Most notably, the beginning stage of ''God Of War II'', where Kratos launches a brutal invasion of Rhodes and is subsequently punished and killed by Zeus. He also loses all the extra power he has gained from the previous game. He later manages to climb his way out of Tartarus, though.
* 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 commits suicide as one last insult to Athena releasing Hope into the world which is supposedly a good thing, but there is no one left to use it.
* DraggedOffToHell: Kratos's death at the start of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''. He gets better.
** Expect a temporary visit to Tartarus to be a feature of every installment.
*** It's a well known fact among videogame players that death's revolving door was inaugurated in Tartarus by Hades entirely for Kratos' personal use.
* TheDreaded: Kratos is portrayed as being feared by nearly all of Greece, in part due to the various atrocities he committed while serving Ares. In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar first game]], several people are more scared of him than of the various monsters and beasts, with one person even flat-out telling Kratos to his face that he would rather die than be saved by him. Pandora even says outright in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII III]]'' that ''everyone'' who knows about Kratos is scared of him, to which Kratos simply remarks that "there are reasons for that."
* DrowningPit: The [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third]] game has you [[EscortMission escorting]] [[MacGuffinGirl Pandora]] late in the game. She ends up getting stuck in one of these somewhere down the line, forcing Kratos to come to the rescue before she dies.
* DualBoss: Two against the Furies in ''Ascension'': first against Megaera and Tisiphone (in a flashback, since [[spoiler:you already killed Megaera earlier in the game]]), then against Tisiphone and Alecto.
* DualWielding: Twin blades bound to Kratos' hands with chains. The first weapon to be used and arguably the most useful weapons in the entire game.
** Hades as well.
* DrivenToSuicide: Kratos tries this a few times. [[spoiler:He might have succeeded by the trilogy's end.]]
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Most notably between the first two games. Part of the whole ''reason'' Kratos waged wars alongside the Spartans was because the gods didn't even accept him as the new God of War.
* DyingAlone: [[spoiler:Kratos. Or did he?]]
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: When Helios' plea for his life ends in vain, he out of nowhere [[spoiler:screams "FEEL THE POWER OF THE SUN!!!" and shines so bright that nothing can be seen.]] Doesn't stop him from losing his head.
** [[spoiler:Kratos (apparently) kills himself, ruining Athena's plans and releasing the power of hope to mortals.]]
* DynamicLoading: received a great deal of applause for this, hiding the loading behind long corridors and hiding ''those'' behind SceneryPorn, resulting in a game that is almost seamless. (A cheap and meaningless form of SequenceBreaking is to traverse those long corridors at faster-than-running speed—via {{Unnecessary Combat Roll}}s, for instance—to cause an actual LoadingScreen to pop up.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-L]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game lacks of combos that will appear later. Most of the Gods have been redesigned after (Poseidon was originaly a bald old guy, Hades had a demon face, etc) and the elements in the extra videos would be retconned.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Arguably ''God of War III''.
* EasterEgg: There are two in the first game, one gotten through a secret code, and the other gotten through [[spoiler:destroying the two statues in the throne room at the very end of the game]].
* ElaborateEqualsEffective: Can be applied to the Blades of Chaos, Blades of Athena and the Blade of Artemis. Also seen with enemy mooks.
* ElderAbuse: ''God of War II'' [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential allows the player]] to partake in ElderAbuse via a quick time event in which you have to brutally beat and kill a helpless protesting elderly scholar in order to get him to read a book you can't.
%%* EldritchAbomination:
%%** Clotho from the second game, Poseidon in the third game.
%%** Really, most of the Gods and Titans fit either this or HumanoidAbomination.
* ElementalPowers: While Kratos doesn't have any individual control over the elements, he does gain magic spells that harness the power of the elements.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero What Kratos' actions lead to in III]] (although it is unclear whether it happens to the entire world or just Greece).]]
* EnemyMine: Theseus fighting with Minotaurs in his boss battle.
* EscapedFromHell: Kratos does this ''habitually''. It almost isn't a [=GoW=] game without him getting sent to Hades somehow. He even ''[[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]'' this in III.
* EscortMission: Cleverly, if brutally, twisted in these games. In the original, you need to push a cage containing an Athenian soldier up an enemy-infested ramp. Of course, you're only protecting him in order to burn him alive at the top of the ramp and move on in the temple. He pleads for his life the whole way up. And in the sequel, you have to protect a translator who can read a holy incantation and help you advance. The incantation indicates that a blood sacrifice is called for, so you slam his face repeatedly into the book...
** Kratos does this ''again'' in ''God of War III'', dragging "Poseidon's Princess", along with him in order to use her still living body to jam a gear mechanism so that he can make it through a door. She is very painfully crushed.
** In ''God of War II'', he puts a wounded soldier on a ConveyorBeltOfDoom to jam it.
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' has a more notable escort mission in the form of the second stage of the final boss, where you must protect a stationary target from a horde of enemies.
** Surprisingly averted with [[spoiler: Pandora]] in ''God of War III''. While you help her get to [[spoiler: Pandora's Box]], she only really is in dire need of protection from enemies maybe twice. She is quite competent at avoiding enemy attacks, which is great, due to the major enemy rushes that happen.
* EssenceDrop: Red orbs for experience, blue for magic and green for health. The red ones are heavily implied to be ''blood'', although they're also gotten from the sex minigames.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Kratos just beat down the Hydra singlehandedly, marched into the throat of the great beast, and the ship captain is hanging at the precipice of his stomach. Kratos picks him up, grabs the key to the captain's quarters from him...and chucks the captain down into the belly of the dead hydra for no reason other than to be a dick.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: When Callisto turns into a monster, which Kratos had to kill, he is very sad about it and then takes her into his arms. Also, he does her will and looks for Deimos, his younger brother.
* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: in ''Ascension'', there's a major character, Aegaeon, who is one of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekatonkheires Hekatonkheires]]. When Megaera tries to set him on Kratos, the [=PS3=] has a meltdown.
-->We will see how you fare against the [[http://youtu.be/PMIRLOwOB5I?t=11m43s (no suggestions)]]!
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Due to NoNameGiven (a lot of them at that), this is natural. Even Pathos Verdes III, who's one of the very few [=NPCs=] with an actual name, he's more often called Pandora's Architect. Even with TheReveal of the Barbarian King's name and Kratos' Wife, there still addressed as such. Granted, this is probably because most people aren't even aware that they've been revealed, due to the names being revealed in the ''God of War'' comic miniseries. Also, their names are [[spoiler: Alrik and Lysandra]] [[SpoilerHound in case you're wondering]].
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Considering how ruthless and bloodthirsty Kratos is, and the atrocities he's committed in the backstory, it's actually quite surprising that Kratos is rarely the one who starts the fight (during the games' events, at least). Most fights are against monsters that attack Kratos on first sight, while the dialogue in boss fights usually makes clear it's the boss the one who's starting hostilities against Kratos, for whatever reason, with Kratos sometimes outright declaring he considers his opponent NotWorthKilling and trying to avoid the fight (which seems a bit like MoralMyopia considering those bosses tend to be the same ones that call Kratos a violent murderer -- yeah, just before attacking Kratos without provocation).
* EvilAlbino: Kratos, though technically he isn't an albino, he's permanently "covered in ashes" as a result of his curse. He only became one due to the fact that after killing his wife and daughter in a blood frenzy, their ashes were bound to his skin as a MarkOfShame and thus he became known as the Ghost of Sparta.
* EvilerThanThou: Potentially the main redeeming factor for [[spoiler: Kratos]] is whether you feel [[spoiler: he was a worse person for being the ''almost'' unrepentant blatantly [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal-by-default Maniac]] he is by series' end]] or that [[spoiler: the gods are worse beings than him]].
* EvilGloating: Hercules' undoing. [[spoiler: He actually manages to knock Kratos out, but he stops to boast to Hera. Kratos revives and takes this opportunity to steal the Nemean Cestus from him.]]
* EvilLaugh: Skeletons in the second game do it occasionally.
* EvilVersusEvil: The gods actually [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope by sending Kratos after monsters that more traditional Greek heroes could not even hope to survive against, much less defeat.
** While the first and the third games were of the BlackAndGrayMorality category, it's played straight in the second game. It's Kratos, who's pretty much the main villain then, against Zeus, who's a paranoid dictator.
* ExactWords: Athena promises to Kratos that once he would kill Ares, his sins will be forgiven. At the end, Kratos learns tragically that his sins are indeed forgiven but that doesn't mean his nightmares about the night when he killled jhis family will stop.
* ExplodingBarrels: There are exploding '''oil pots''' in ''God of War III'' that can be ignited by the Bow of Apollo.
* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: In ''Ghost of Sparta'', when in Sparta [[spoiler:or in his flashback sequence]], Kratos is unable to run or use his weapon.
* {{Expy}}: Kratos bears a strong resemblance with Mighty Kongman/Bruiser Khang from VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny, except with the skin color, as both are bald and powerful fighters with arena associations. The fact that both of them are voiced by the same voice actor in the Japanese version doesn't help either, though development and personality-wise, they ''differ'': Kongman ended up becoming a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and his jerk moments in original were relatively harmless, Kratos went full blown VillainProtagonist that destroys everything and only in the end that [[spoiler:he might have done something selfless to make up for all those, whether it's for good or bad.]]
** Kratos also bears a strong resemblance to the classical mythical version of Heracles: Heracles was the founder of the Spartan people, killed his wife in a fit of rage, and became a god as part of the reward for completing a series of tasks given him by the Olympian Gods when he sought their forgiveness for killing his wife, all closely mirrored by Kratos.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: [[spoiler:How everything ''ends''. And the game lets you carry it on for as long as you want. It's ''glorious''.]]
** Arguably done with some Boss Fights too.
* EyeScream: Kratos performs a FinishingMove against Cyclops enemies by ripping their eyes out, and stabs Typhon in one eye in order to gain a new power.
** Also, in the sequence described below in ShakyPOVCam, Kratos gouges out his enemies eyes with his thumbs. No blades this time, just thumbs.
*** He does this one to [[spoiler:POSEIDON.]] [[HolyShitQuotient HOLY SH*T.]]
*** Made funny when you realize the prompt to do so is pushing the thumb sticks.
** At a few points during the battle with Cronos, Kratos is required to blind him by giving him a burst of sunlight from Helios' head.
** This occurs in the battle against the Hydra, and is made more gruesome due to the fact the the beast ends up flossing its eye socket with a ships mast. Yeesh.
** In ''Ascension'' Megaera takes control of Aegaeon, a giant titan-slayer, by borrowing her fly monsters into his ''lower eyelid!'' To get a sense of scale, the flies are about the same comparative size as argentine ants are to your eye, so Aegaeon can definitely feel them.
* FakeDifficulty: Every time you received a new weapon or magic, you will often fight against first level {{mooks}} with and temporarily giving you unlimited in order to demonstrate your newfound powers against them. However, when you receive a new upgrade in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension Ascension]]'', you will receive a new weapon element. While that sounds good enough, the problem is you will only utilize their powers if you either max your rage level which requires you not get hit (Which in this game, is incredibly difficult), or if you waste your red orbs just to level the weapon to its maximum with the sole exception of the fire element where you will receive the magic. Essentially, when you first received it, it's no better than an ordinary weapon and since you couldn't even switch the element, the showcase sections has turned from feeling badass about your new powers into one of the most tedious enemy sections in the game in one of the worst level designs possible.
* FamousLastWords:
** [[VideoGame/GodOfWar The first game]]
*** "Nooooo!!" [[spoiler:The Ship Captain]].
*** "Kratos... returned, but too late... Ares has taken Athens... there is no more hope... no hope..." [[spoiler:Oracle of Athens]].
*** "That night... I was trying to make you a great warrior!" [[spoiler:Ares]]. Kratos' reply? "[[GoneHorriblyRight You succeeded]]."
** ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus Chains of Olympus]]''
*** "Take my kingdom, my women, my gold!" [[spoiler: Persian King]]
*** "The gods have obviously taken pity on their slave." [[spoiler:Charon]]
*** "Your suffering will never end, Ghost of Sparta." [[spoiler:Persephone]]
** ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarII II]]''
*** "It is the only way. Kill me, Kratos. Kill me." [[spoiler:Prometheus]]
*** "Come forward. Let us finally see who is the greatest warrior in all of Greece!" [[spoiler:Theseus]]
*** "No! Not you again!" [[spoiler:The ressurected Ship Captain]].
*** "This time, Ghost of Sparta, I will have ''your'' head." [[spoiler:Alrik, the Barbarian King]]
*** "Kratos... murderer of children. Yes I am aware of the misery you have brought upon my brood! ... Ruthlessly cutting down my line; your hands wear their blood. Praise to the Sisters! For on this day, Kratos... You will meet your end!" [[spoiler:Euryale]]
*** "Wait! Perhaps the Sisters have sent you to help me! I realize now! Ahhhhh! No! Ahhhhhh!" [[spoiler:Icarus]]
*** "Zeus. He came under the cloak of darkness...into Sparta. The people cried out for you. They begged for their god to save them...but you did not come. I was left with no choice. I had to seek out the Sisters, to change the fate of our beloved Sparta. For I am all that is left. Now you are all that is left. I have faith that our brothers of Sparta will live on, through the true [[TitleDrop God of War]]." [[spoiler:The Last Spartan]]
*** "Die, Ghost of Sparta!" [[spoiler:Atropos]]
*** "I am through playing games with you, Kratos. This power was never meant for a mortal like you!" [[spoiler:Lahkesis]]
*** "You will never control your Thread, Kratos." [[spoiler:Clotho]]
*** "Zeus must live so that Olympus will prevail..." [[spoiler:Athena's corporal form.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII III]]''
*** "The death of Olympus means the death of us all!" [[spoiler:Poseidon]]
*** "My death will not lead you to Zeus." [[spoiler:Helios]]
*** "Today you may defeat me. But in the end, Kratos, in the end you will only betray yourself." [[spoiler:Hermes]]
*** "Finally!" [[spoiler:Hercules]]
*** "I should have expected this from a coward such as yourself... [[{{Hypocrite}} a coward who kills his own kin!]]" [[spoiler:Cronos]]
*** "My beautiful Pandora... please, spare her... Pandora... forgive me..." [[spoiler:Hephaestus]]
*** "Good luck with that little whore you call Pandora!" [[spoiler:Hera]]
*** "Spartan, no man was meant to make it this far, though maybe you are not a man? I do not know you, but I suspect whatever bring you here means that are no friend of Zeus. He must pay for breaking his promise and letting my son die. I can only hope that you complete your mission. What a fitting end, to die in my greatest invention. The only thing I loved more was Icarus. Now I can be with him..." [[spoiler:Daedalus]]
*** "This is what I am meant to do, you know that! Please!" [[spoiler:Pandora]]
*** "Enough! Father and son shall die together!" [[spoiler:Gaia]]
*** "I grow weary of you, my son." [[spoiler:Zeus]]
*** "My vengeance... ends now." [[spoiler:Kratos]]
** ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta Ghost of Sparta]]''
*** "Finally, I am free. Find your brother, Kratos. Go to Sparta. Find Deimos. He... needs you." [[spoiler:Callisto]]
*** "Why won't the gods let me die?" [[spoiler:King Midas]]
*** "Glory be to Sparta." [[spoiler:The Dissenter]]
*** "Your fate lies in the hand of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta." [[spoiler:Thanatos]]
** ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension Ascension]]''
*** "They will torture me if I fail." [[spoiler:Castor]]
*** "It was my brother who betrayed me. Betrayed us all!" [[spoiler:Pollux]]
*** "Find the eyes and they will show you the path to freedom." [[spoiler:Alethia]]
*** "You have caused me pain for the last time, Spartan!" [[spoiler:Megaera]]
*** "They were not there by chance, Kratos." [[spoiler:Tisiphone]]
*** "My death will not free you from this madness!" [[spoiler:Alecto]]
*** "I was never the warrior my father wanted me to be. But please, all I ask... Give me an honorable death." [[spoiler:Orkos]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Oh yeah.
** Aphrodite, for starters, plus the gratuitous sex scenes throughout the series. Also, Persephone.
* FanDisservice: Euryale and Clotho in the second. * shudders*
** Ironic, since Clotho was described as the most beautiful of the sisters in the old myths.
** Megaera has a large, mostly exposed chest.... which is also the site of her huge, disgusting rash she uses to spawn her critters.
* FantasticLightSource: Kratos can rip off Helios' head and use it as a lantern.
* FatalFlaw: Kratos' flaws are his [[UnstoppableRage volcanic rage]] and [[NeverMyFault inability to accept the consequences of his actions]]. By the time he's finally gotten his revenge and killed everyone who ever wronged him, he's singlehandedly [[spoiler: caused the apocalypse]].
* FatBastard: Again, Eurayle and Clotho. The latter makes Jabba the Hutt looks like Michael Phelps.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Prometheus, who after giving fire to mortals was punished by being forced to eternally get his gut eaten by a bird, only to revive and suffer the same thing the next day and so on. Probably the only MercyKill Kratos has ever done.
** As of Ghost of Sparta, it now isn't the only one. He also mercy kills [[spoiler: his mother and King Midas]].
* FightingDownMemoryLane: During your final confrontation with Ares, after direct combat has failed, he sucks you into some kind of mental plane, where he forces you to relieve your most defining moment - the day you unwittingly murdered your own family. Or at least, he tries - you have to fight off a horde of 'clone' Kratoses while protecting your family. Fail, and Kratos will simply collapse with a moan of "No... not again..."
** During his final battle, Kratos goes through all of the evil he's committed over the course of the series, showing that Kratos really did feel guilt for what he did deep down.
* {{Fingore}}: In III, Kratos rips one of Kronos's fingernails off during the fight with him. The sheer crudeness of it makes even the toughest gamers cringe and shiver, but compared to what Kratos does to Kronos later on in the fight, ''that is pretty tame''.
* FinishingMove: When the circle symbol appears above an enemy that you've been giving the beatdown, it's time for Kratos to finish that enemy in exceedingly brutal fashion. Kratos's most brutal and badass kills are reserved for the many bosses he faces.
* FissionMailed: After a long quest to retrieve Pandora's box, [[spoiler: Ares impales Kratos with a giant slab of wood, and Kratos gets sent to Hades.]] Of course, this doesn't stop him in the least.
** [[spoiler:Kratos suffers this once again after the Battle in Rhodes, being weakened and stabbed to death by Zeus.]]
%%* FixedCamera
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: "Only death awaits you at the end of your journey."]] Come the end of the third game, and...
%%* FragileSpeedster: Hermes.
* FullFrontalAssault: You don't encounter any nude human enemies to speak of, but there's plenty of topless female monsters (mostly Gorgons and Harpies) who attack you on sight. Kratos is barely more than a loincloth away from this trope himself.
* GaiasVengeance:
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' takes the term a bit more literally, as Gaia herself joins in the revolution against the Olympians (although this has more to do with avenging the Titans' defeat at the hands of the gods than avenging nature).
*** Like most entries, it's worth noting Gaia was pretty much like this in Myth/GreekMythology as well. There wasn't any generation of deities that she didn't take issue with. If she wasn't providing assistance to their enemies, she was spawning monsters to kill them on her behalf.
** In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third game]], Gaia [[spoiler:turns on Kratos partly because his rampage has nearly destroyed the world.]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Icarus' Wings alternate between CutsceneIncompetence and CutscenePowerToTheMax in ''III''. At the beginning of the game, Kratos doesn't think about using them before [[spoiler:falling into the Styx]]. But in several cutscenes afterwards he uses them to actually ''fly'', while you can only glide in gameplay. You do get a couple of actual flying segments though, once by using a powerful updraft, and again by skydiving down the same tunnel.
* GeneralFailure: When he still had an army, Kratos. His primary method of spreading the glory of Sparta is by slaughtering cities, and ended up nearly dying and losing most of that army because he faced off against a numerically superior foe in open terrain, which is especially ironic given the primary source of Spartan combat fame. How does he save the day? [[DealWithTheDevil Selling his soul to Ares]] and letting the actual god of war win the fight for him.
* GeniusBruiser: Kratos. Not just capable of tearing monster orders of magnitutde his size apart, he also unravels difficult puzzles across all of ancient Greece and beyond.
* GetBackHereBoss: The majority of your encounter with Hermes is simply chasing him down; since he's the speedy messenger of the gods, he delights in dashing about making fun of you. Once you manage to knock the wind out of him he barely puts up a fight to speak of--chasing him down was the ''real'' contest.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The Kraken. It just appears with no build up to fight Kratos and no reason as to why it is there is ever given. True, it could have been sent [[spoiler:to stop Kratos from getting to the sisters, but it's never revealed]].
* GodIsDead: [[spoiler:And by the end of ''III'', Kratos sure as hell killed nearly all of them.]]
* GodIsEvil: Zeus. [[spoiler:Turns out that's your fault]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: Kratos, from Ares' perspective.
-->[[spoiler:'''Ares:''' That day... I was trying to make you a great warrior!\\
'''Kratos:''' You succeeded. ''[kills him]'']]
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:After Kratos stabs himself at the end of the third game, he dies content with the fact that he got his revenge against Zeus, gave hope to mankind, and foiled Athena's plan to rule over mankind.]]
** A villainous example is Thanatos's death.
** [[spoiler:Orkos]] is happy to die with honor, [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther thanks to Kratos's mercy.]]
* GorgeousGorgon: Played straight and then averted.
** The first Gorgon you meet in [[VideoGame/GodOfWar the first game]], Medusa herself, is fairly attractive (and ''topless'', to boot), but the other Gorgons you meet are not as much ugly as ''[[TheBlank faceless]]''. And then there's ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarII II]]'''s Euryale...''*shudder*''
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' gorgons even more so. Thanks to stunning graphics and JigglePhysics the many gorgons you fight have a slick scaly body and a pretty gorgeous face to match it.
* {{Gorn}}: It's strongly hinted that the red Experience Orbs that you collect from dead enemies and Experience Chests throughout the three games are in-game representations of blood, for example in the second game the upgrade screen displays a Hoplite helmet that fills with blood as you collect more orbs, and which drains out once you go below 1k. If this is accurate, the Squick factor is upped exponentially, since that would mean you power up your weapons by (at higher levels) ''bathing them in the blood of roughly a thousand enemies.''
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: The developers have said that ''God of War III'' will explain why Greek myths aren't around anymore. Guess Kratos is a one-man apocalypse/the "somebody" from the page quote.
* GrandFinale: ''God Of War III'' concludes the story of the Greek Pantheon. The 2017 game begins its own arc.
* GrappleMove: A core gameplay mechanic. Kratos can grab any small {{Mook}} for an easy kill or a good amount of damage, and be [[InvulnerableAttack invulnerable]] while doing it. EliteMooks, {{Giant Mook}}s, and Bosses require ActionCommands after the grab. All grabs feature gruesome disembowelment and such, and is one of the selling points of the game. On harder modes, this becomes the safest way to attack enemies without getting damaged along with the "Plume of Prometheus" C3[[note]]i.e. The weak, weak, strong combo[[/note]].
* 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.
* GuestFighter: Kratos appears as one in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny'', the [=PS3=] version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', and ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale''.
** Zeus will be joining him as a DLC character for ''[=PlayStation=] All-Stars Battle Royale.''
* HairTriggerTemper: Kratos is almost always furious, angry, pissed off, enraged, or something in between. The only exceptions are rare moments of reflection or moments with his family. In flashbacks before any of the games he would fly into rages that scared his daughter and only his wife was willing to stand up to. Anything that irks him or does not immediately go his way switches him to barely controlled rage at best.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: The Olympus Fiends. Even when bisected, [[NotQuiteDead they will still try to crawl towards you]] [[TakingYouWithMe and try to explode on you]].
* HamToHamCombat: Roughly 95% of the dialogue.
* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Hera spends most of her time drinking herself into a stupor while the rest of the Gods and Titans fight. Dionysus himself would probably tell her to lay off the wine and sleep it off.
** [[spoiler: At the end of the first game, each of the gods were infested with one of the vices from PandorasBox. It's pretty obvious that Hera got drunkenness.]]
* HarderThanHard: God difficulty in the first game, Titan in the second, Chaos in the third.
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: In the first game, the second phase of the final battle [[spoiler:has Kratos protecting his family from clones of him. If he fails, the family dies, Game Over. If he wins... Ares takes his blades and rams them both into his family anyway.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Kratos goes through a gradual one over the course of ''God of War III''. While he's still not a great person, he becomes noticably more concerned for his fellow man by the end. Thanks, Pandora.]]
* [[spoiler: TheHeroDies: Implied at the end of ''God Of War III''. It's happened more than once before, but this time, it might just stick.]]
* HerosEvilPredecessor: Ares is the titular god in the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar first game]] of the series. He's so bad that the other Greek gods recruit Kratos to kill him. When Kratos ultimately succeeds, his reward is to become Ares's replacement, though YMMV on how much of an improvement he is.
* HeroicBSOD: Kratos has a brief one in the second game after he ends up killing the only Spartan warrior that survived Zeus's massacre and was trying to change the past himself under Kratos's orders. This is actually one of the few times Kratos shows regret for killing an enemy, so much so that he nearly gives up the quest altogether.
* HeroicResolve: Kratos gets a ''genuine'' moment of heroism at the end of the first when Ares sends him into a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:At the end of the fight with Zeus when you are about to stab him with his own Blade of Olympus, Athena, the only god who showed any form of compassion to Kratos takes the blow instead and is killed.]] This scene is also abit of a TearJerker since it is One of the few times Kratos shows genuine remorse for killing someone.
** Later, [[spoiler:Pandora.]] Also a TearJerker given how hard Kratos tries to stop it. The fact that [[spoiler:her sacrifice turned out to be [[SenselessSacrifice completely meaningless]]]] only worsens the blow.
** Finally, [[spoiler:Kratos kills himself, which ruins Athena's plans and gives hope to the world.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Kratos may not be the most ideal of heroes, but really, if YOU were forced into battle on a regular basis, particularly by the gods themselves, having to fight entire armies, elephant men, a giant undead minotaur, even the [[TitleDrop god of war himself]] (not even Herc took up that kind of task), chances are, you wouldn't be either.
* HiddenDepths: Say what you will about Kratos, he still cares about the children when he's not murdering [[OmnicidalManiac everyone else]] for looking at him funny.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: "Petard-hoister" is pretty much listed in Kratos's resume given that a ton of his patented O-button finishers involve using an enemy/boss's own weapon (or anatomy) to do him in.
** [[spoiler:Hades has his soul devoured by his own weapons. Hercules' head is caved in with the Nemean Cestus. The giant scorpion is impaled by her own stinger.]]....
** In II, [[spoiler: he impales Theseus with his own spear (must've gotten bored doing it to just satyrs) and plays a a very easy game of whack-a-mole with the undead Barbarian King's own hammer. The mole? The king's head.]]
* {{Homage}}:
** The Labyrinth in the third game reminds one of ''Film/{{Cube}}''.
** David Jaffe (the game's creator) has admitted ''God of War'' was heavily inspired by Harryhausen Movies. Harry Hamlin even has a cameo in ''God of War II'', as his original character, and skeletons clearly inspired by ''Jason And The Argonauts'' show up as well.
* 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.
** The prequel ''Chains of Olympus'' also has a scripted defeat against Charon, who cannot be beaten without Zeus' Gauntlet which you get from a statue of Zeus in the Tartarus (after Charon [[HoistByHisOwnPetard gleefully tosses your defeated ass down there).]]
*** This holds true even in bonus play, where having the gauntlet doesn't matter, because then Charon's pillars aren't actually destructible.
* HotCoffeeMinigame: Described above. Amusingly, ''[[SexGod Kratos]]'' gets paid if you do it successfully. Those minigames included two slave twins, two [[AllThereInTheManual daughters of Aphrodite]], two matrons, [[LoveGoddess Aphrodite]] herself and, in ''Ghost of Sparta'', with ''[[AnatomicallyImpossibleSex eight prostitutes at once]]!!!''.
** Subverted in ''Ascension''. It looks like the game is leading into this, albeit with less optional... [[spoiler:but then Kratos sees that the woman who is leading him past the other prostitutes is wearing his wife's ring, so he attacks her, breaking the illusion. The MasterOfIllusion in question, Tisiphone, is then attacked by Megaera, who claims that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou Kratos is hers]]]].
* HowWeGotHere: The first game begins with Kratos attempting to commit suicide, with the rest of the game leading up to why.
* HumanMomNonhumanDad: The anti-hero protagonist, Kratos, is the demigod son of Zeus, King of Olympus and All the Gods, and a mortal woman. [[spoiler: Zeus overthrew his own father - Kronos, the King of the Titans - and seized control of all Creation. After Kratos slays Ares and is anoited the new God of War, Zeus betrays and murders his son to prevent him from visiting the same fate upon his father. Ironically, Zeus' pre-emptive strike becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; Kratos is reanimated by the vengeful Titans and leads them in a war on the Gods that culminates with Zeus' destruction and the fall of Olympus.]]
* HyperspaceArsenal: Kratos spends most of the games in naught but a kind of battle skirt. It's OK, he's buff, he can pull it off. But it's sort of hard to figure out where Kratos stores his secondary weapons (a massive sword in the first game, a huge hammer and large spear in the second) with such little apparent storage space. There are also a collection of smaller trinkets Kratos carries around (Gorgon eyes, phoenix feathers, etc.) without having to place them anywhere. The first game at least tries to justify the sword - when you switch weapons, Kratos slams his regular blades together to form them into the sword; [[AWizardDidIt after all, it's a god's weapon.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Kratos at the hands of Ares in the first game. He escapes the underworld, though, and gets him back for it in the final battle.
** This actually happens a lot in cutscenes and action commands. Special mention to the Blade of Olympus, as most of the plot-relevant impalments happen on that.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The Blades of Chaos/Athena/Exile. Dual [[FlamingSword swords that catch fire when swung]] and are attached to [[VariableLengthChain chains]] that are seared onto Kratos' arms. Kratos will hurt tear a nice gash into himself if he ever fails to catch his swords on the way back.
* IncomingHam: Hermes in ''God of War III''. That ''[[EvilLaugh laugh]]''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1__Ck3p5Y#t=3m13s Just watch the boss fight in all its glory.]]
** And Poseidon:
--> ''"You challenge ME, mortal? A GOD of OLYMPUS?!"''
** Atlas in ''God of War II'':
--> ''"WHO breaks my CHAINS OF TORMENT?!"''
** Helios sounds like a Sunny Delight commercial:
--> ''FEEL THE POWER OF THE SUN!!!''
* InescapableAmbush: Red barriers with a wolf's head appear to lock Kratos in to a certain area until he kills all the enemies.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: Even [[BonusLevelOfHell Hades]] has chests full of health and magic power ups.
** He ''was'' the god of wealth as well as the dead (all the gold and gems buried in the underworld were his).
* InjuredVulnerability: Many enemies can't be grabbed till you soften them up.
* TheInsomniac: The whole reason Kratos agrees to serve the gods in the first place is because he believes it will rid him of the nightmares that started after he crossed the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler:murdering his wife and child]]. After he kills Ares, he believes the gods will fulfill their end of the bargain. They don't.
-->'''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.
* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: Given Kratos' immense strength and agility it can be quite noticeable when the Kratos is unable to get somewhere a normal human could reach or is blocked by a barrier that seems much more fragile than ones he's smashed though already.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Gaia telling Kratos he was just a means to an end after both get knocked down Olympus and Kratos falls off her. After Kratos makes his way out of Hades and back up the mountain. He meets up with her and throws the words back in her face before personally knocking her down the mountain again.]]
** The ending of ''God of War III'' has a version of this. [[spoiler:During the mind trip caused by Zeus, Kratos repeats his opening line from the first game.]]
*** [[spoiler: Then, after finally killing Zeus, Kratos says a few lines from earlier in the game and in previous games to Athena.]]
*** [[spoiler: (after Athena says she trusts Kratos) "You shouldn't." This was his response to Pandora's trust earlier.]]
*** [[spoiler: "I owe you nothing."]] Said at the start of ''God of War II''.
* ItHasOnlyJustBegun: "The End Begins".
* ItsAllAboutMe: Kratos is selfish beyond belief. The world very nearly collapses as a result of his actions, it's nothing he cares about as long as he gets what he wants.
** [[spoiler:In all fairness, he does seem to realize this seconds before killing himself. Though whether he kills himself as one last spiteful act to Athena or a case of [[RedemptionEqualsDeath true selflessness]] is ambiguous.]]
** At the beginning of the third game, Zeus gives a RousingSpeech to try to get the other gods to cooperate against the titans. It starts out talking about "our mountain" and "our authority" being threatened. As he gets worked up, [[FreudianSlip it transitions to]] "'''my''' mountain", etc.
* JawBreaker: Kratos finishes Cerberus this way, in order to steal the artifact held within its mouth.
* JerkAss: Ostentatiously Kratos. The only thing he ever thinks about is "My vengeance, my vengeance!", he does nothing for no one and usually kills everyone around him, enemy or not. Every one of his actions usually makes things worse and for most the gods he's killed untold many died as a direct consequence. Can be even more jarring if you stop to think about it for a while and notice that, despite his enormous levels of jerkassery, Kratos is still labeled as ideal by some characters! It's true that Greek "heroes" behaved like huge jerkasses more than once, but Kratos takes it further.
* JerkAssGods: Many of the Greek gods, especially Ares and Zeus, are total assholes. To be fair, however, the games are actually pretty accurate as to how they acted in actual Greek myth.
** Exceptions include Athena [[spoiler:at least, until the end of III]], Hephaestus, and Artemis. Hades probably counts as well, seeing as he only attacks you after reminding you that you've killed his niece, his brother and his wife.
** Hades? He's hardly a nice guy. Sure his hatred for Kratos is justified but you forget that he [[spoiler: kidnaps his niece and forces her to become his wife and when her mother demands her return, Hades tricks her into eating fruit from the underworld ensuring that she has to stay in the underworld at least 1/3 of the year.]] Persephone even hated him and the rest of the gods so much, she [[spoiler: tried to destroy the world, herself included, just to be free of her miserable existence.]] Although Hades isn't as much of a JerkAssGod as some of the other gods, he still counts somewhat.
** Kratos himself qualifies when he was the god of war.
* JerkJustifications: "Virtue Is Weakness". Kratos' justification. Not entirely wrong, since many times he must kill innocent bystanders if he wants to survive. The Olympians' justification is more like MoralMyopia.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind : Done in ''God of War III''. [[spoiler: Kratos ''loses'' the final fight against Zeus, and while he's dying he explores his own mind. In there, he learns to have compassion for his fellow man, to never give up hope, and to forgive himself for killing his family, which gives him the strength to come back to life and defeat Zeus]].
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: As shown in the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar first game]] and [[VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension its]] [[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus prequels]], Kratos was always a SociopathicHero at his worst and an AntiHero at his best, but from the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarII second game onwards]], his [[RevengeBeforeReason obsession with revenge]] against the Olympians causes him to devolve into a straight-up VillainProtagonist. In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third game]], he [[spoiler:indiscriminately kills the gods and essentially brings about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt just for his revenge]].
* JustEatHim: This is how Kronos attempted to prevent his own offspring from rising up against him: devouring them as infants! (They survived because they're gods). [[spoiler: He later [[TooDumbToLive tries this on Kratos as well]], chuckling "This will probably hurt me more than you!"]] He doesn't know how right he is.
* KarmaHoudini: Morpheus apparently never gets any proper punishment for trying to cover the world in darkness, retreating back into the shadows
* KarmicDeath: Hermes, who boasts ''constantly'' about being faster than Kratos, gets rewarded by becoming a double-leg amputee.
* KickTheDog:
** VideoGameCrueltyPotential notwithstanding, Kratos does this a ''lot''. There's even an attack in both games that lets you ''literally'' kick Cerberus pups; the third game ''requires'' you to do so in order to solve a puzzle.
** Zeus gets one in the third game, when [[spoiler:Pandora seems to have sacrificed herself in vain and Kratos becomes all sad]]. Zeus then mocks Kratos about how, no matter much he tries, he always fails, and then laughs hard about it. Kratos is [[BerserkButton not amused.]]
* KillEmAll: By the end of the trilogy, the only named characters left alive are [[spoiler: Artemis, Thyphoon, Atlas and Aphrodite. If we count the other games, Eos, Morpheus and Thera can be added to the mix. But Atlas is the only character whose survival can be really confirmed since the world hasn't fallen down from not being sustained by him]] The ending is still surprisingly hopeful. [[spoiler: However, Kratos's survival is confirmed by the 2018 sequel]]
* KillTheGod: [[UpToEleven Of course]]. [[SociopathicHero Kratos]] goes on a killing spree in Olympus as well as many other legends from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. Of course, killing the gods that govern the elements or the guy that guards the souls of the dead may have [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt small inconveniences]], but hey, no plan is perfect!
* LadyDrunk: Hera. It seems she never took Zeus' multiple meddlings of mortal affairs well.
* LargeHam: Kratos. But the gods help you [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge if you call him that to his face]].
** [[RageAgainstTheHeavens ... which they probably can't, so it's better not to do so at all]].
** And everyone else. Is there anyone who isn't hammy?
** One theory is that Kratos is really being punished for stealing the secret of ham from the gods...
** It seems like Kratos's script for ''God of War II'' in particular had the instruction "Yell every single line at the top of your voice" written on it. He frequently bellows his lines at characters even when he's RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and they could probably hear him fine if he talked normally.
* LateArrivalSpoiler:
** In the opening cinematic of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', we learn that Kratos is the God of War, not Ares.
** The trophy names in the [=PlayStation=] 3 re-release make no attempt to hide the plot details of the first two games. The ''God of War Collection'' has helpful trophy descriptions, viewable as soon as you start the game, such as "Daddy Issues: Defeat [[spoiler:Zeus]]."
** Also, [[BilingualBonus if you happen to speak Greek]], the goddamn ''title song'' is a spoiler, as the lyrics, translated, are:
--> The end begins! The end begins! The end begins! The end begins now!
--> Betrayal, rage, rage! The end begins now!
--> I will kill him! I will kill him!
--> Patricide! Genocide!
--> I will kill them all! Olympus shall fall!
** The fact that Kratos himself killed his wife and daughter was a major revelation halfway the first game as we were lead to believe that Ares did (Though [[spoiler: Ares actually planned this murder]]). This is casually mentioned at the beginning of all the next games including prequels.
* LateToTheTragedy: Kratos can find several journal passages from the architect who constructed Pandora's Temple. They don't serve to forward the plot at all, but it's very interesting nonetheless to watch him design the temple, slowly go mad, kill his sons, turn their skulls into keys you use to unlock doors, and eventually pull a murder-suicide on his wife.
* LeadTheTarget: Since Hermes is so fast, this is a good way to hit him.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Very subverted in the second game, where [[spoiler:Kratos does fight Perseus, and kills him in cold blood]]. It should be noted that they only fought because Perseus was trying to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope.
** Played straight late in the game when [[spoiler:he fights and kills the spartan boy who was the only survivor of Zeus' divine mass-murder at Rhodes and subsequent destruction of Sparta.]]
* LighterAndSofter: When you look at it at one way, the series is really a Lighter and Softer take on Greek myth heroes. Their idealized hero is a guy who raids and pillages non-Greek villages, taking slaves and plunder... who kills dozens of men for daring to seek his wife's hand when he's been considered legally dead for years... and who hangs all the servant-girls who have been taken advantage of by said men, just because. Kratos? He kills a few people, but mostly just chops up monsters. Doesn't even have a single known case of rape to his name. it also has the same approach to [[Myth/ClassicalMythology the Greek gods]] as well; while Zeus is still a heinous bastard, he was far, far worse in numerous stories featuring him, and Ares, rather than working towards any specific goal, existed to [[WarGod incite wars]] [[ForTheEvulz for shits and giggles]].
* 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]].
%%* 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.
* LimitBreak: Kratos has a meter which fills each time he deals damage. When it fills, it allows him to unleash the Rage of the Gods (Titans in the second game, Sparta in the third), which lets him attack quicker and stronger and unleash infinite magic attacks for as long as it lasts without draining his magic meter.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Zeus is Kratos' father. Hercules and Ares are Kratos' brothers.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-R]]
* MadeOfIron: Even before he becomes a god, Kratos is able to fall from any height and land on his feet with no ill effects. He can take a Minotaur's axe to the face and still keep fighting. He's able to hold onto the Blades of Chaos even when the chains are on fire and not get burned. All of this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], however, when you learn in the second game (and the bonus features of the first) that [[spoiler:Kratos is Zeus' son, and therefore a demigod]]. This also explains why he possesses the superhuman strength required to perform most of his attacks, especially impaling the Hydra on the mast of a ship.
* TheMagicGoesAway: If there is '''anything''' magical left alive it is because Kratos has not met and murdered it yet. VideoGame/GodOfWarIII explicitly shows why there are no more Greek Myths [[spoiler:(Kratos killed all the Greek Gods)]].
* MagicAIsMagicA: Killing an immortal like a god or a titan is supposed to be a pretty big deal; Kratos spends the entirety of the first two games trying to get his hands on Pandora's Box or the Blade of Olympus just to have a viable way of killing off the god he's currently mad at, and at the end of 2 uses TimeTravel to rescue the Titans to have a divine army of his own to storm Olympus. By 3, though, there's hardly a boss who isn't a god or primordial being of some kind, yet Kratos has no trouble killing most of them with his trademark chained blades or even his bare hands. During the opening portion alone Kratos is the only guy on his side who's effective at all against Poseidon, who one-shots several titans and effortlessly holds Gaia at bay, but is worn down by Kratos's blades and then becomes the first of the bare-handed kills mentioned above. The only god he needs to make any special effort for is Zeus himself. After everything's over something of an explanation is offered, [[spoiler: that Kratos had absorbed the power of hope from Pandora's Box into himself all that time]], but if it were any other character we'd have to ask if he's really so revenge-crazed he never once stops and asks why the gods are suddenly dropping like flies without the use of a supremely-powerful divine weapon.
* MagicSkirt: A rare male example indeed.
* ManipulativeBastard: Ares, Zeus, [[spoiler:Gaia and Athena.]]
* MarathonBoss: {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s are a big part. One such challenge in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' involves using General Kratos on the hardest difficulty with no upgrades to weapons or magic. Almost every boss becomes a Marathon Boss due to the incredibly low damage Kratos deals in this mode, and the absurdly high damage he takes. For bonus points, some veterans complete the game [[{{UpToEleven}} using nothing]] but the starting Blades of Athena at Level 1, and ignoring chests.
* MaskOfPower: Charon's golden mask in ''Chains of Olympus'' allows him and Kratos to use Charon's Wrath, a stunning and damaging green flame.
* MeaningfulName: Kratos roughly translates as 'strength' or 'power'. In the classical Greek mythology, Kratos was the personification of aforementioned tributes as well as a servant of Zeus, sent to kill or otherwise disable anything that displeased the King of the Gods. He was responsible, for example, for Sisyphus and Haephestus' punishments.
** It also roughly translates to "power with an impact"
%%* {{Medusa}}
* MeleeATrois: [[spoiler:The final boss battle in the third game is a three-way showdown between Kratos, Zeus, and Gaia. Gaia doesn't get to do much, though that's because the fight takes place in her body.]]
** More appropriately, fighting the Sisters of Fate in the second game - The last phase of the Lakhesis fight takes place with Atropos trying to snipe you from inside the mirrors.
* MidairMotionShot: Kratos is often seen [[http://images.wikia.com/godofwar/images/1/1f/Kratos_2.jpg about to stab something.]]
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Every time you [[spoiler:kill a god]] in the third game, something terrible happens to Greece. For example, [[spoiler:killing Posideon floods the country.]]
%%* MightyGlacier: Hercules.
* MixAndMatchCritters: The Manticore appearing in ''Ascension'' has an interesting design, having a large lion-like body with chiropteran wings and chitinous plates, a spiked scorpion tail, the upper head and nuzzle of a lion and the maws of a shark.
* {{Mondegreen}}: The series brings us [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3K7RSw_8wU Hold! Devil's! Pot of tea! Hold, devil's, pot of tea! Hold! Devil's! Pot of tea! Hold, devil's, pot of tea Mulan!]]
* MookHorrorShow: You get to witness (and ''control'' via QuickTimeEvent) Kratos brutally killing [[spoiler:Poseidon]] from the ''latter's'' POV. It's every bit as disturbing as it sounds.
* MoralityPet: Calliope, Kratos' daughter in Chains of Olympus. Upon being reunited with her in the Elysium Fields, he soon had to part with her, including a button-mashing game to push her away.
** The Spartans in ''God of War II'' are this to Kratos when [[spoiler: he was the God of War]]. The destruction of Sparta by Zeus's hands is what make Kratos's grudge more [[ItsPersonal personal]].
** [[spoiler:Pandora in ''God of War III'', mainly because she reminds Kratos of Calliope. In fact, she actually succeeds in forcing Kratos to see the consequences of his actions, making him feel genuine guilt.]]
* MoralGuardian: If you have played the Japanese localized version of ''God of War I'', you'll notice the naked breasts of Kratos' prostitutes and the sex moans have been censored.
* MoralMyopia:
** 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.
** Kratos is pissed that his family is dead and blames Ares for tricking him. Yet without a thought he slaughters the entire family of gods and previously spent a decade destroying every family inhabiting the villages and cities he attacked including innocent women and children. He doesn't give much thought to it either after he starts to "reform."
* MotiveRant: Hades gives a pretty impressive one before fighting Kratos. He hates the Spartan for [[spoiler:killing his niece Athena, his wife Persephone and his brother Poseidon over the course of the series]]. After all that, it's perfectly clear that he'll enjoy tormenting Kratos' soul a ''lot'' if he wins.
* MultiStageBattle: The battle with the Colossus of Rhodes in ''God of War II''; the battle against Zeus in ''God of War III''.
* MultipleHeadCase: Some of the monsters.
** Intentionally played straight with the Chimera, which walks on all fours when the goat head is in control, but when the lion head takes on, [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter it becomes bipedal.]]
*** In an interview with the designers, they said that "the lion and the goat actually don't get along."
** Averted with the Hydra, which has one main head and dozens of smaller ones. The lesser heads are actually just appendages of the main head, basically just tentacles with mouths.
** Also the Cerberi, whose heads act as one.
* MundaneUtility: In a hilariously [[RefugeInAudacity audacious]] example, Kratos uses Helios' severed ''and still screaming'' head as a flashlight.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Probably what Kratos was thinking the moment he realized that two of the people he just murdered were [[spoiler:his wife and child]].
** He also does this in the second game, when he realizes that the unknown assailant he just killed was [[spoiler:the Last Spartan]].
** Done with quietly exquisite beauty in [[spoiler:some of Kratos' last words of the entire series. "She died for my revenge." ]]
* AMythologyIsTrue: Guess which one!
** Not only the greek one though. In ''Chain of Olympus'', the Persian King face you with the power of an Efreet, a creature from Arab Floklore... so it's plausible that there are other gods out there..
** By the time of VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4, Kratos has found his way to the lands of Myth/NorseMythology (see AllMythAreTrue).
* NarratorAllAlong: One-and-a-bit games are narrated before the narrator reveals that she's actually Gaia. The line that reveals this is "[Kratos's] death was something I could not allow."
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: TheStinger in ''God Of War III'' shows a blood trail that leads off a cliff.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:When Kratos opened PandorasBox back in the first game, darkness was unleashed that consumed Zeus and turned him evil.]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention all of the calamities that happen when Kratos kills a god in the third game: the seas flood the world, the souls of the dead are released from the underworld, the sun is blotted out, a plague is unleashed, and all plant life dies.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Persephone had just gotten Kratos to cast aside his blades and renounce his powers as the Ghost of Sparta so that he can be with his daughter in the Elysian Fields. All she needs to do in order to win is ''leave him alone'' for a few hours so that her plan can be completed while he's playing with Calliope. Instead she makes a point of telling him that she's the villain of the game (Something he didn't have the slightest inkling of until she explained her plan), and that thanks to his actions the world will soon be destroyed, and that the Elysian Plains and all the spirits living there will be destroyed with it. This motivates Kratos to reclaim his powers and save the world.]]
** [[spoiler:Mere moments later she prevents Kratos from falling to his death, just because she wants to kill him herself in an epic duel. Needless to say, she fails.]]
* NinetiesAntiHero: If Kratos' muscle-bound and grizzled appearance combined with his multitude of oversized weapons and [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark backstory]] don't convince you, then his lethal and very brutal methods and [[NoIndoorVoice HIS MONOLOGUES IN WHICH HE DECLARES THAT]] [[RageAgainstTheHeavens HE WILL ASCEND OLYMPUS TO KILL THE GODS!!!]] may show otherwise.
* NinjaZombiePirateRobot: Pandora's Guardian is a Giant Zombie Robot Demon Minotaur.
** The Chimera is a Demonic Three-Horned Vampire Goat With A Freakin' Snake-Headed Tail.
* NintendoHard: Those damn trap levels! The Labyrinth in the the third game is especially frustrating.
* NobleDemon: Kratos COULD be considered this; even at his worst, he does SOME good.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Hera tried to convince Zeus to kill Kratos when he was a infant, but Zeus took pity on him and didn't kill him, and without Kratos [[spoiler: the evils of Pandora's box would have stayed locked away. Also the Greek Pantheon apart from maybe Ares would be alive.]]
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown : Kratos is more the god of this trope than he is the God of War.
** The [[spoiler: end of the Poseidon fight, from Poseidon's view, where Kratos brutally beats, mutilates, and then finally murders the sea god, with the latter being ''completely helpless'' the ''entire time''.]]
** [[spoiler: The end of the final Zeus fight. Kratos' points of view while you beat Zeus' face in and the screen fills with his blood. And you can go on beating him as long as you want after the screen is completely red. Zeus had done a lot more to earn it, though.]]
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' -- After his battle with the Colossus, [[spoiler:Kratos can barely muster [[YouCanBarelyStand the strength it takes to walk]], and Zeus seizes the opportunity to toss him around before impaling him with his own godhood.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption And there is nothing you can do to stop him.]] [[spoiler:[[ScrewDestiny ...yet.]]]]
* NoIndoorVoice: Kratos is not a quiet person.
* NoKillLikeOverkill: Kratos' favorite method of dispatching his enemies.
* NominalHero: Kratos, to the point that, particularly after the first game, many consider him an outright VillainProtagonist, even worse than the people (or gods) he's trying to kill. In which case the gods themselves become Nominal Hero antagonists. Their motivations for opposing Kratos are purely selfish, and they have little concern or empathy for humanity itself. [[spoiler: This gets ''epically'' flipped on its head in the finale of the third game which reveals that the Gods were actually heroic until Kratos opened PandorasBox in the first game to beat Ares. The evils from inside infested and corrupted the Gods and twisted them from benevolent leaders into despotic bastards. Kratos is so shocked by this reveal, as well as the realization that he's caused and inflicted so much pain and destruction in his quest for revenge, that he kills himself and releases the powers of hope in order to give humanity a chance to survive on their own.]]
* NoNameGiven: With the exception of Kratos, Calliope, and Pathos Verdes III (Pandora's Architect) no character that wasn't originally from Myth/GreekMythology has a name. [[spoiler: Subverted, somewhat, in the ''God of War'' comics where the Barbarian King (Alrik) and Kratos' Wife's (Lysandra) names have been given.]]
** Kratos and Calliope are people from Greek Myth. Kratos was an enforcer for Zeus, and Calliope was said to be Homer's muse.
** The Novel as well, where, for example it is stated that the two girls on Kratos' ship are daughters of Aphrodite.
* NonhumansLackAttributes: Averted for several monsters. The gorgons and harpys have breasts, and in ''God Of War III'' the centaurs have barely noticeable sheaths. Played straight with the Cyclops in the first game, which were planned to have penises, but they were taken out.
* NonMammalMammaries: The Naiads. Poseidon apparently gussied his daughters up, presumably to make Spartans want to make out with them.
* NonstandardGameOver:
** During the final battle in the first game, Kratos is hurled back to the moment he [[spoiler:killed his family,]] only to find them alive... whereupon Ares conjures up an army of Kratos clones. The [[spoiler:family]] has their own health bar in the following battle; should it run out, a cutscene starts, showing Kratos collapsing in abject despair and sorrow, murmuring, "Not again..." The Kratos clones then gang up and chop him apart.
** During one of the last battles in the second game, Kratos is hurled back to the moment that he defeated Ares. The boss, Atropos, was going to destroy the giant sword you originally used in the first game to slay the god of war, which would lead to your retroactive death. If you failed to defeat Atropos before she could destroy the sword, you get a cutscene of past Kratos kneeling in defeat and getting stabbed by Ares, which causes present Kratos to wretch in pain and fall over, dead.
** In ''God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta'', Kratos runs into King Midas, who lunges at him. Fail the QuickTimeEvent, and Midas will grab Kratos, turning him to solid gold.
* NothingIsScarier: In a rare moment of spooky suspense during ''III'', you have to turn a very slow crank while [[FourIsDeath four]] [[DemonicSpiders Stone Talos]] statues surround you, who you've been fighting with quite some difficulty one-on-one until now, and you just ''know'' [[ElevatorActionSequence they're gonna ambush you.]] [[spoiler:They don't attack until you have to backtrack through that same area about an hour later, and even then, only three of them do.]]
* NoticeThis
* OddNameOut: Most characters use Helenic names, except for Hercules.
* OffingTheOffspring: Played straight with Zeus and Kratos, but subverted so very, very hard by the latter and his daughter Calliope.
-->'''Zeus:''' ''Kratos''! I created you..! ''And I shall be'' '''YOUR END!!!'''
* OffWithHisHead: Kratos has a tendency of ripping off certain enemies' heads and making good use of them. In the first two games he rips off the heads of Medusa and Euryale to freeze enemies in place while in the third he uses Helios' head [[MundaneUtility as a lantern]].
* [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Greek Chanting]]
* OmnicidalManiac: Persephone. Oh God, Persephone.
** The game actually portrays her as fairly sympathetic.
* OnceAnEpisode:
** Kratos has been to Hades or some other land of the dead, and killed his way out in each game, except in ''Ascension''.
** An OptionalSexualEncounter at some point in each game [[spoiler:except ''Ascension'', which subverts it]].
** Each game opens with a fight against a massive boss taking place across the entire opening level.
* OneHitKill: Many grab commands on lower-class enemies result in Kratos quickly killing said enemy. Multi-option grabs on many humanoid enemies often have at least one one-hit kill option.
* OneHitPolyKill: In VideoGame/GodOfWarII, Zeus single-handedly ends the Great War by using the Blade of Olympus to [[OneHitPolyKill banish all of the Titans]] to the underworld with one magical attack.
* OneWomanWail: Pandora's song.
* OneWingedAngel:
** Alecto turns into a giant Kraken-like monster during the final boss battle. This form is often confused with Charybdis, but there's nothing in the game to confirm the relation between the two.
** Also Thanatos and Erinys in ''Ghost of Sparta''.
* OptionalSexualEncounter: Each game has one of these. You get a decent amount of red orbs for doing them, although this is useless in ''God of War II'' since you lose all your red orbs shortly after, before you have a chance to use them. However it could be worse - you could get blue orbs.
* OrderVersusChaos: A very prominent theme in the franchise, with the Fates and Olympians representing Order and Kratos representing Chaos. Fitting, as this is also a prominent theme in all of the original Greek mythos. The Greek gods (especially, amusingly enough, Athena) represent order, while the various forces that fight against them (especially the Titans and monsters like Typhon) represent chaos.
* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: The series has the typical "enemies bleed a set amount from weak attacks, and you can often hit them over and over without killing them" variety. This can get a bit absurd when you're making ''rotting zombies'' bleed twice their weight from CherryTapping.
* OverlyLongGag: [[spoiler:At the climax of the final confrontation against Zeus in ''God of War III'', you're required to mash the Circle button while Kratos punches out Zeus' head after pinning it against a rock. Since you're in first-person mode, Zeus' blood slowly obscures your vision while Kratos keeps hammering away at Zeus' skull ''and you have to keep mashing the circle button'', in theory until the whole screen is bloodstained. In practice, this can go on for ''as long as you want'', letting you [[CatharsisFactor unload all of your stress until you decide to stop frenzily hammering the Circle button]]. You can see it in all its glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJgSKoPeXvY#t=2m20s here]].]]
* ParentalFavoritism:
** Hercules accuses [[spoiler:Kratos of being Zeus's favorite son]]. This is debatable.
** The reason why Ares attacked Athens, as Zeus favored Athena more than Ares, in keeping with the original mythology.
* PapaWolf: The closest Kratos ever gets to being heroic is when someone brings up the memory of his family. [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring Zeus on the other hand...]]]]
** Hephaestus, in regard to Pandora. He's the only one of the gods who [[spoiler: attacks Kratos out of selfless reasons, as he think Kratos just would sacrifice her for no reason than for revenge. When he dies, he begs Kratos to spare her]]. Kratos later lampshades it to Pandora when he tells her that Hephaestus did as a loving father would do.
* {{Pegasus}}
* PerpetualFrowner: Almost everyone, '''especially''' Kratos. Eloquently shown [[http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/102/6/5/25_essential_kratos_expressions_challenge_by_baconxbits-d4vzc6n.png here.]]
** 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.]]
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Kratos. UnstoppableRage given form. He gave OneManArmy a new meaning by becoming a one-man ''armageddon''. If anything from Greek myth was left alive by the end of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', it's because ''he hadn't killed it yet''.
* ThePhoenix: One makes an appearance in the second game. Apparently, Kratos slew one of these in the Comic.
* PhysicalGod: Several of them, of course - the Olympic pantheon is one of the best-known examples of such characters.
* PlanetHeck: Appears in all four games. The River Styx in the first, Tartarus in the second, and the Elysian Fields in the prequel. You go to and from it in the third game, and the appearance of Kratos' brother Deimos in ''Ghost of Sparta'' all but guarantees that game will have such a level as well.
** Actually averted, [[spoiler: it's the Domain of Death, aka the palace of Thanatos the God of Death.]]
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: In Chains of Olympus, [[spoiler:Calliope uses this on Kratos, when he's forced to leave her forever in order to become the Ghost of Sparta again so he can defeat Persephone.]] The game even twists the knife by making [[spoiler:his pushing her away]] into a button-mashing minigame!
** In the third game Kratos drags a woman around for a short section before using her body to jam a gear mechanism so that he can make it through a set of doors. She begs for her life, says this, he leaves her there anyway, and judging by the screams you hear she dies very painfully.
* PlotHole: [[spoiler:[=GoW=] I has Kratos retrieving PandorasBox to gain the power to kill a god, with Zeus and the other gods actively helping him. However, [=GoW=] III retcons the box as not only having the power to kill a god inside it, it also contains all the evils born from the war between the titans and the gods. [=GoW=] III makes it clear that Zeus never intended the box to be opened. So why does he help Kratos retrieve the box when he fully knows what will happen if it were to be opened?]]
** It's possible that Zeus never actually expected Kratos to get as far as he did, hoping he would die along the way thus removing himself as a problem, or he thought there was no other choice but to use it and hoped that the evils would just infect Kratos instead of the gods.
** [[spoiler:Another one: It would seem odd for Kratos to buy into Athena's story about needing to regain the power to kill a god when at that point he has already killed Poseidon, Hades and Helios. And in the case of Poseidon and Helios, with his bare hands. Not to mention the fact that he almost killed Zeus at the end of [=GoW=] II already.]]
** [[spoiler: May be so, but don't forget that Zeus was able to blast Kratos and Gaia from Olympus, and this just right after Kratos killed Poseidon...]]
** [[spoiler:Explainable by the fact that both Helios and Poseidon had been injured by a titan prior to Kratos killing them. Gaia punched the Hippocampus holding Poseidon as well as allowing Kratos to grab him from inside the creature. Perses crushed Helios in his hand before throwing him across Olympia, severely injuring him, and allowing Kratos to kill him without much effort. Zeus on the other hand, had no such encounter. Kratos's near victory in II was attributable to being empowered by the Titans, while in III, he was relying on his own power and the weapons and skills taken from his slain enemies.]]
** [[spoiler: Another theory could be that Kratos thought he had lost the power to kill a God after being blasted into Hades by Zeus. Helios can be explained by the fact that he's a Titan, not a God.]]
* PlotInducedStupidity:
** Apprently Kratos has forgotten the fact that he has the ''Icarus Wings'' inside his HyperspaceArsenal when he [[spoiler: falls from the Mount Olympus]].
** There are also a lot of other places where those would have come in handy that Kratos doesn't
* ThePornomancer: It sure would explain why Kratos gains experience orbs after a sex minigame...
* PowerFist: The Gauntlet of Zeus and Nemean Cestus.
* ThePowerOfHate: This is what drives Kratos, [[spoiler:until it's revealed near the end of the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third game]] that ''Hope'' and the desire for forgiveness drive Kratos too -- possibly even more than hate.]]
* PowerupMount: The second game has Kratos riding Pegasus and a Phoenix, and forcing Cerberus, Cyclopse, and harpies to be your "rides" before killing them in third game.
* PressXToNotDie: If you're caught in certain situations, the right prompt will avoid death, or at least save a chunk of health. This includes saving from falling off narrow beams and breaking out of the gorgon's stone gaze.
* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: Yeah, deicide is really not a good thing in hindsight, no matter how much they may have deserved it.
* ProductionThrowback: The stylistic {{precap}} and flashback scenes of ''God of War III'' were designed by Imaginary Forces, whose WordOfGod [[http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00176-God_Of_War_III says]] they are an allusion to [[http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0034-The_Mummy_III_Tomb_of_the_Dragon_Emperor the ending credits]] of ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'', also designed by them.
* ProphecyTwist: [[spoiler: In Ghost of Sparta, it's explained that an oracle prophesied that a "marked warrior" would overthrow the Olympians. Zeus, deciding he'd rather have none of that, sends Ares and Athena to abduct Deimos who apparently fit the description with his birthmark. Only problem is, the prophecy didn't specify exactly what KIND of mark it would be. Three guesses as to who had the true mark.]]
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Hercules does this to Kratos everytime he lands a blow.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
** "'''I CANNOT CHANGE MY FATE!!! I - AM - ''CURSED''!!!'''"
** [[spoiler:"'''ZEUS! YOUR SON HAS RETURNED! I BRING THE DESTRUCTION! OF OLYMPUS!!!'''"]]
* PuzzlePan
* PyrrhicVictory: The series loves this trope.
** In the first game, Kratos succeeds in [[spoiler: killing Ares]], the god who is responsible for most of his suffering, however, Athena refuses to rid Kratos of the memories that have haunted him since [[{{DealWithTheDevil}} he made a deal with Ares]] because she said that [[ExactWords his sins would be forgiven, not forgotten.]] She does make him the new God of War in Ares' place, but Ghost of Sparta reveals that [[spoiler: he never wanted to be the thing that has haunted him the most.]]
** Kratos searches for his long lost brother, Deimos, who was taken from him since they were kids. He does succeed in finding him, however, [[spoiler:Deimos isn't happy to see him, and they fight one another]]. Then, because Kratos [[spoiler: killed Erinys]], [[BigBad Thanatos]] decides to [[spoiler: kill Kratos' brother for [[RelativeButton killing his daughter]]]]. [[spoiler: [[SiblingTeam The brothers team up]] to fight Thanatos, however, Deimos dies. Kratos succeeds in killing Thanatos thanks to his [[ItsPersonal anger over his dead brother]] but it doesn't feel like a victory, especially considering Deimos' death was Kratos' fault.]]
** 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]].]]
** ''God of War III'' has the biggest example of this. After all of his years of suffering because of the Gods of Olympus, [[spoiler: especially Zeus, he succeeds in [[TheresNokillLikeOverkill killing Zeus]] and [[KillEmAll destroying Olympus]]. However, he realizes that because he was so [[RevengeBeforeReason dead set on revenge]] [[NiceJobBreakingIthero he destroyed the world by plunging it into chaos]], also, he then realizes that [[{{ThisMeansWar}} though many have wronged him]] a lot of his suffering [[ItsAllMyFault was his fault]]. In the end, [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty he wasn't satisfied with killing Zeus]], so it [[WasItReallyWorthIt wasn't worth]] all the death and destruction he caused.]] [[{{SociopathicHero}} Kratos]] [[CharacterDevelopment finally gives a damn about others]].
* RageAgainstTheHeavens
* RatedMForManly:
** In just the first 10 minutes of ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', you get to make Kratos literally tear foes in half, rip the wings off of a harpy, gouge a Hydra head's eyeballs out, and impale another head on ''the mast of a ship''. It only gets better from there...
** In [[VideoGame/GodOfWarII number 2]], you start off by fighting the Colossus, a giant animated statue using a man that would bring [[Film/ThreeHundred Leonidas]] to his knees in shame, then just move on from there.
** In [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII three]], you start off by fighting the leviathan, the apocalyptic living embodiment of the sea itself, as it is destroying the Titans who are climbing up Mount Olympus to wage war with the gods. Even more epic than it sounds. And then it's god slaughtering time.
** The handheld version sets you off against a Cyclops as your first big boss. Well, that's understandable, smaller platforms gonna mean WHAT THE FUCK SOMETHING JUST ATE THE DAMN CYCLOPS!
*** (''cough'')[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Threesome mini-game]](''cough'')
* RealityIsUnrealistic:
** While designing the look of Kratos, and various other characters in the game, the art team was frustrated because they kept getting told that it "didn't look Greek enough." They were using actual Greek sources, and doing extensive research into Greek mythology in an effort to get everything correct. But eventually they came to realize that "Greek" should mean "Greek according to the general public," since that was the audience they were targeting.
** This might also explain why so many think the series is DarkerAndEdgier than the myths despite it actually being the other way around: so many people grow up with white-washed versions of the myths, and the games are certainly much darker and more brutal than the Creator/RayHarryhausen movies that inspired them.
** One of the directors of the game justified the changes they made, explaining that the ancient writers were telling the stories in a way most appropriate to ancient Greece, while they're telling the myths in a way most appropriate to the 21st century.
* RealTimeWeaponChange: The weapons and spells are usually this. Every game has at least one alternate melee weapon that you can switch between on the fly.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Every god in the third game has one to some degree, along with some EvilGloating. The kicker? Their accusations of Kratos being a monster who seeks only destruction and vengeance are far from unfounded.
** Special mention to Zeus who mocks Kratos for failing everyone he's ever cared about.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Played with,[[spoiler: Kratos forgives himself for his family's death and commits suicide at the end of GOW III releasing Hope into the world. Its ambiguous as to whether he released Hope to truly benefit humanity or one last "Screw You!" to Athena and whether it truly makes up for all the evil and chaos he cauesd in his life for his own selfish reasons.]]
* RedemptionQuest: Kratos' service to the gods in GOW: Chains of Olympus and GOW I is supposed to be this. He honestly couldn't care much about redemption and is more concerned with getting his nightmares removed and his vengeance on Ares.
* RedOniBlueOni: [[spoiler:Used in a sequence just before the final battle with Zeus in III. Plenty of red blood for the sins Kratos has committed, and blue flames of hope to erase it.]]
* RefugeInAudacity: All games utilize this, but a particular moment in 3 stands out. So, Kratos trapped in the Underworld, with a very pissed off Hades taunting him the whole way. He blocks his path with a statue of himself and tries to guilt trip Kratos into giving up by showing him the casket of his dead wife that Kratos murdered. So, what does he do? [[spoiler: He turns the casket of Hades' dead wife into a fucking battering ram and smashes through the statue, allowing him to proceed to the next area.]]
** Of course he then proceeds to kick several dogs in ''God of War III'', returning to the tried and true tactic of sacrificing innocent bystanders in order to get through doors.
* {{Retcon}}:
** It is mentioned at least twice in the first game that Kronos (who carries the Temple of Pandora) is the only living Titan, but since the plot of the second game revolves around Gaia and Titans in general this minor plot point was quietly ignored.
** Although we don't actually see Gaia in person until the end and the other Titans were inprisoned(Atlas being stuck in the Underworld).
** One could argue that being imprisoned in Tartarus, one of the lands of the dead, the other Titans were essentially dead by the standards of Greek mythology.
** The ending of the first game indicates Kratos remains the new God of War for all time. Come ''God of War II'', and the story takes a completely different route as Kratos loses his godhood in the prologue and spends the next two games wiping Olympus off the map.
** Every storylines in the extra videos had been rewritten.
*** The backstory of Kratos' brother: Originaly Deimos was taken away by the spartan soldiers and left to die in the mountains. In ''Ghost of Sparta'', Deimos had been caught by Ares and Athena and put into Thanatos' dominion.
*** "The fate of the Titant": Chronos is said to die in the desert 100 years after the events of the first game which contradicts ''God of War III''
* RevengeBeforeReason: Kratos entire life. He's willing to wreck the world for revenge on Zeus. Even [[spoiler: his final suicide is an act of revenge against Athena.]]
* RewardingVandalism:
** Kratos receives power ups in the form of red orbs for smashing anything that can be smashed, which is practically everything. And any time you see random human characters running around, they, too, can be murdered for health.
** Subverted/Justified in the prequel where Kratos was given the choice of [[spoiler:either preventing a Persephone-sponsored apocalypse or reuniting with his daughter (for whatever time remained before aforementioned Persephone-sponsored apocalypse occurred). To re-acquire your strength for the final boss, you have to savagely murder bystanders]].
** [[spoiler:These aren't ''regular'' bystanders, mind you. These are souls in ''Elysium''. Yes, to progress in ''Chains Of Olympus'', you have to ''slaughter everyone in Heaven''.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Pretty much every single game. Complete with [[LargeHam literal roaring.]]
* RuleOfCool: Just about every last thing regarding these games. You play as a large Spartan wearing little but a tunic, wielding blades attached to chains that are sheared into his arms, and you kill monsters 10 times bigger than you in brutal over the top ways. Also, you get to kill a god. Several times. Hell, half the stuff Kratos does would seem appalling if they weren't so damn ''awesome''.
* RunningGag:
** In ''God of War II'', Kratos develops quite a habit of yelling up at the gods (mainly Zeus) every time they effectively make his life hell. The result? They're not happy, and have him attacked [[spoiler:by the Colossus of Rhodes or cause The Kraken show up to squeeze him to death]]. He seems to have learned in this department by the third game, though.
** Also the boat captain who constantly has the bad luck of running into Kratos and not surviving. [[DeaderThanDead Even when already dead, he can't escape his wrath.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S-Z]]
* SadisticChoice:
** Towards the end of the third game, Kratos has to decide whether to sacrifice Pandora, who has become [[LikeASonToMe like a daughter to him]], or to save her but let Zeus go free. Avenge his family or save his family: pick one. (Zeus [[NiceJobFixingItVillain goads him into the former]].)
** The ''games themselves'' sometimes do this directly to you. Occasionally, instead of having both health and magic chests at a resting location, you'll be given a single chest that switches between the two. You have to choose between resilience and a surefire way to defeat enemies.
* SadlyMythtaken: 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]].
** Beyond the personalities of the gods, the games are full of things that are nowhere to be found in the original myths. Pandora's Box imbues Kratos with power that allows him to fight Ares on equal footing. The Golden Fleece is... a pauldron... which allows Kratos to throw balls of energy... All right, moving on. Kronos being condemned to wander a desert carrying a mountain likewise is a completely new invention by the developers.
** A special award goes to PandorasBox, which has in common with the original legend: 1. It's a box (Actually Pandora's Box was a ''pithos'', a type of jar, but there was a mistranslation that stuck); 2. They're both from Greece (Although the God of War version of Greece contains a desert); and 3. Something happens if you open it (not the same something, just generally ''something'').
*** The trope is then partially averted in III when it is revealed that [[spoiler:the box indeed contained the evils of the world, and hope, since always. The only thing that truly changes is that the evils in the box were intended for mankind in the original hesiodic myth, not the gods.]]
** Hera is the Goddess of Marriage. [[spoiler:So why does all plant life die when when Hera dies? Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest. She would have a reason to attack Kratos, as well, he did kill her daugther.]]
** The sirens in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' resided on jagged coastlines and tempted sailors to smash their ships on the rocks. So naturally ''God of War'' puts them in the ''desert'' just outside Athens.
** There's also the name "Kratos" itself. He doesn't get mentioned a lot, but there was a Greek god by that name, representing strength and power. He's usually depicted as Zeus's personal guard/enforcer, though, not his archenemy.
* SandalPunk
* SayMyName / SkywardScream: Several.
-->'''''ZEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!!!!!!!!'''''\\
'''''AAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!'''''\\
'''''ATHENAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!'''''\\
'''''GAIAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!'''''
** And the list goes on.
* ScarpiaUltimatum: In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII third]] game, this is ''technically'' what Aphrodite pulls on Kratos, refusing to help him unless he has sex with her. (You can refuse - although let's be frank, it's hard to say "no" to [[HotGod Aphrodite]] here - but it's sort of a ButThouMust situation; Kratos can't progress any further in the game unless you say yes.
* [[ScaryBlackMan Scary White Man]]: (although voiced by a black man.)
** He looked the opposite prior to getting coated in white ash.
** Played straight in [=GoW=] II with his "Dark Odissey" bonus costume.
* SceneryPorn: ''Literally'' brought to life.
* SceneryGorn: "In the end, there will be only chaos" indeed. [[spoiler:The sea floods the land, the souls of the dead are released, the sky is darkened by a violent unending storm, a deadly plague is released and all plant life dies upon the deaths of Poseidon, Hades, Helios, Hermes and Hera respectively.]]
* SeaMonster: The Hydra, The Kraken, Leviathan/Hyppocami.
** Scylla in ''Ghost of Sparta'' takes the cake: It looks like a [[MixAndMatchCritters hybrid]] of different sea creatures, including a shark, a squid, a crab and a narvhal.
** ''Ascension'' has Charybdis as a colossal tentacled fish with a huge mouth who tries to eat Kratos.
* SecondPersonAttack: In the third game, one part of the Poseidon battle has you seeing Kratos' brutality through Poseidon's eyes.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Given the source material, it's no surprise that this one appears, most notably in the second game's plot. Kronos devoured his children to keep them from overthrowing him, thus providing Zeus with the motivation to do just that. Later on, when Zeus murders Kratos ''for the same exact reason'', this gives Kratos an excuse to track down the Three Sisters of Fate and kill them in order to gain their power and reverse the event. Even the Fates ''themselves'' fall victim to this trope, as they were the ones who orchestrated all of these events to begin with. It turns out, even though they can control your circumstances, they can't do the same with your actions.
* SerialEscalation: Pretty much everything Kratos does, starting with killing the ''Hydra'' and working from there. By the end of the series, you can be guaranteed that if there is ''anything'' from Greek myth still alive, it's only because Kratos hasn't met and killed it yet.
** He met Aphrodite, but um...she was conquered in a completely different way.
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Kratos]]
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Pandora died so that Kratos could open an empty box]]
* SequelHook: '''The End Begins'''.
** More or a Prequel Hook, but [[spoiler: Zeus mentions an "other pawn of Gaia."]]
*** During [[spoiler:Kratos's mind trip]], one of the many quotes you hear towards the end of it is [[spoiler:"A Spartan never lets his back hit the ground... right, brother?"]] The very same thing that ''Ghost of Sparta'' reveals is [[spoiler:what Kratos and Deimos always said to each other]].
*** Another Prequel Hook: One of Poseidon's battle quotes is "Atlantis will be avenged!". In ''Ghost Of Sparta'' it is revealed that [[spoiler:Kratos ''sunk Atlantis'']].
* SequenceBreaking: Entire communities on Website/GameFAQs and Website/YouTube are devoted to finding new breaks, primarily for the three console games. For example, it's possible to beat the entire first game without collecting ''any'' magic or the Blade of Artemis. It's also possible, even without [[NewGamePlus Bonus Play]], to use an out-of-bounds swimming glitch to essentially warp from acquiring the Amulet of the Fates straight to Icarus (the downside being that you have to play the rest of the game [[OhCrap without the Barbarian Hammer, Head of Euryale, Golden Fleece or Spear of Destiny.]]
** An easier, more obvious non-glitch sequence break that most everyone will pull off on their NewGamePlus is releasing Prometheus from his chains and dropping him into the fires of Olympus without having to take on Typhon, as you start out with every magic spell, including Typhon's Bane.
* SerratedBladeOfPain: Kratos' swords.
* SexGod: Kratos. In ''God of War III'', his having sex with Aphrodite turns on her servants so much, they start making out with each other. In Ghost of Sparta he starts having a threesome, and by the end of it, at least 10 girls are in his bed.
* SexyDiscretionShot: During a HotCoffeeMinigame Kratos has rough sex with two topless Greek ladies on his boat. As the "action" starts, the camera pulls to the side, and focuses on a large vase on the nightstand. Then the room starts shaking and loud moans fill the air; if the player is successful, and the vase falls and breaks. Surprisingly, no congressional hearings were called on this one. Nor were they called for the second game, where he does it ''again'', and during a battle, no less. This time, the shot cuts to a "peeing" cherub fountain... ''Chains of Olympus'' also features one in the middle of a pitched battle with Persians, no less.
** The third game, however, intentionally subverts this. While Kratos has sex with Aphrodite (technically his great-aunt by strange shenanigans regarding Ouranus's genitals, or his half-sister depending on the version) the camera pans... to two of Aphrodite's slave girls feeling each other up while watching the whole thing. The two handmaidens murmur about how it's for mature audiences and parents shouldn't let their children watch it while fondling each others' naked breasts... And actually, if you succeed there is ''another'' discretion shot, as the two maidens "go to the next step" and the camera pans back to Aphrodite.
* ShaggyDogStory: most of Ascension is this, as everything in the game that comes before the InMediasRes beginning is rendered pointless. The only change brought about is the introduction of the artifacts that you retake from the furies in the chronologically final act.
* ShakyPOVCam: BRUTALLY, and beautifully, subverted to the fullest in [=GoW=] III. When [[spoiler:Poseidon is finished off from his perspective, i.e, You seeing Kratos beating him to death - with his bare hands, for a change - in a QTE, through their perspective. Yes, the game actually has second-person sequeneces.]]
* ShipTease: Quite a bit of it between Kratos and Athena, especially in ''God of War II''. This gets subverted big time at the end of ''God of War III'' though when it turns out that [[spoiler:Athena has just been manipulating Kratos (possibly for as long as he has been serving the gods) and is no better than the rest of the gods and Titans Kratos has killed.]]
* ShooTheDog: actually made into a '''QTE''' in ''Chains of Olympus'', as Kratos [[spoiler:pushes Calliope away from him so he can acually bring himself to leave her side again, in order to regain his powers and defeat Persephone]].
* ShoutOut:
** In ''Chains of Olympus'', during the second phase of Persephone's battle, you are [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda supposed to whack her energy ball thing]] [[TennisBoss right back at her with the shield]].
** In ''Ghost of Sparta'', one of the treasures, Aphrodite's Ambrosia, unlocks a move for Kratos when activated, which the game refers to as a "brutal attack." What is it? [[Film/ThreeHundred That one infamous Spartan kick]]. And indeed, it is one of the strongest attacks in the game, while still being fast.
** The statue of peeing boy in the sex mini-game of the second game is a replica of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis belgian statue.]]
* SillinessSwitch: The games generally have silly costumes as unlockables, such as a fish costume, a cow suit or a business suit. Said costumes not only change your weapons, but also have different gameplay attributes (more magic, more red orbs, etc.).
* SinisterScimitar: Played straight by countless monsters and arguably Kratos himself. Even before getting the Blade of Chaos he used one in the comic book.
* SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness: Level 2.
* SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom: Oddly, they didn't do much damage if they slammed on the player.
* SociopathicHero: Eerily on-point description of Kratos, though it can sometimes be [[HeroicComedicSociopath humorous]].
* SpiderLimbs: Ares grows some when he gets serious enough. In ''Ascension'' Meagaera has them, and uses them to torture Kratos.
* StandardPowerupPose: Kratos adopts this pose when he uses his [[ShockAndAwe Poseidon's Rage]] spell.
* StartOfDarkness: Kratos' DealWithTheDevil, in which he promised his soul to Ares in exchange for the latter agreeing to destroy his enemies. In return, he received the Blades of Chaos and the blessing of the God of War.
-->'''Narrator''': But he would soon learn the true cost of such power. A cost too high even for Kratos to pay.
* StockScream: In [=GoW II=], a Wilhelm scream is heard during the battle at the bridge.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: The Oracle in the first game with her see-through top [[VaporWear (no, they didn't have bras in Ancient Greece)]]. Kratos himself arguably qualifies as well.
** Outdone by Aphrodite in ''III'', whose outfit consists of a strip of cloth across her chest (which is so thin that it doesn't cover her breasts) and another covering her hips. It also seems to be her maiden's standard outfit.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: [=GoW=] 2 provides a villain example [[spoiler: The Blade of Olympus kills Athena in one stab, yet you spend the last twenty minutes before that stabbing Zeus with it in both gameplay and cutscenes, yet he just walks off like it was nothing. It seems to work fine in the third game after a final epic battle, although the finishing blow ends up being more... [[RefugeInAudacity personal]]]]
** The titans also qualify, since in ''God of War II'' they able to give Kratos powers, implying they have powers themselves, yet during ''God of War III'' they don't display any beyond their size.
** At one point in III you lash Poseidon's Princess to a crank to hold a door open. As soon as you're through the door her strength fails and the crank crushes her, but if you don't go through the door and just stand there, she can hold the crank in place indefinitely.
* SubBoss
* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: In 2 and especially 3, Kratos throws his TantrumThrowing at the events of ''Ghost of Sparta'' into overdrive. End result: [[spoiler:much of Greece flooded by Poseidon's death, the dead roaming aimlessly in the Underworld due to Hades', a plague to humanity due to Hermes' inthe form of infected locusts, an inability for people to be judged to be let into Elysium due to the destruction of the three judges, and total chaos and storms due to the death of Zeus. Kratos releases [[HopeSpringsEternal Hope]], the god-killing power, to humanity, but given some interpretations of pandora's Box, [[HopeIsScary that might not be a good thing]]]].
* 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 Zues 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 Zues at the time. But in none of these stories is Typhon a Titan.
* SuperPersistentPredator: Scylla. That beast will chase you from open sea through all Atlantis and right into a ''Flaming Volcano'' in order to stop Kratos. Not that it will work, mind you..
* 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.
* TakenForGranite: Medusa and her sister Eruyale can turn people to stone. You too, once you rip their heads off. King Midas has the "turns to gold" variety, of course.
* TakeYourTime: In the first game, an {{NPC}} is dangling from a rope at one point, and you need to rescue her before she falls. You need to solve a puzzle to be able to climb up to a certain platform, and then a TimedMission starts in which you must navigate an obstacle course to reach her. However, you can TakeYourTime in reaching that platform, despite her cries of agony.
* TemptingFate: Theseus doubts Kratos could even kill ''him'', much less Zeus. Funnily enough, Theseus is literally a servant of the Fates.
* TennisBoss: Persephone.
** Lakhesis also somewhat counts, and you can keep throwing her energy blasts back at her, and she'll often catch them and toss them right back a few times before you hit her with them.
* TheyKilledKenny: The poor Boat Captain gets killed three times by Kratos. In [[VideoGame/GodOfWar the first game]], Kratos deliberately lets him fall into the belly of the Hydra, then when they meet in the Underworld, Kratos kicks him into the Styx and leaves him to drown as he escapes. When the Barbarian King summons the Captain as an undead minion to do battle with Kratos in ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarII II]]'', he screams "No! Not you again!" before Kratos kills him. He seems to have gotten used to it.
-->'''Boat Captain''': [[OhCrap It's you!]] [[OhNoNotAgain Oh no, not again!]]
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Hercules considers defeating Kratos a thirteenth Labour. [[spoiler:It gets him killed.]]
** Something interesting to note here: In some versions of the myths, Hercules was originally supposed to only perform ten Labours, not twelve. He was made to do the other two because he was judged to have cheated in two of the original ten by having help in completing them. One of these two was his defeat of the Hydra, which is killed by Kratos in the first game. One wonders what Hercules was made to do instead, and how he cheated on that one, too...
** [[WildMassGuessing Perhaps killing Poseidon flooded the Augean Stables?]]
** [[AllThereInTheManual In the Novel]] it's revealed that the Hydra fought by Kratos, was the one killed by Hercules in the past and brought back to life [[spoiler: by Athena, who doing so tricked Poseidon into giving Kratos his Powers]].
* ThrowTheMookAtThem: some {{Mook}}s can be thrown to other Mooks when you use your GrappleMove against them, Kratos will automatically aim at the closest other Mook in front of him, with the "targeting reticule" being a PillarOfLight.
* TimeTravel: How the Hecate Sisters mess around with the timeline to control Fate. It's [[MindScrew not clearly explained]] (it's all done with mirrors) but it is all done with the Threads and a bit of {{Troll}}ing around.
* TooDumbToLive: Anyone who knew who Kratos was and still decided they were going to try and kill him, you can hardly feel sympathy for people who go into a fight knowing you killed a god and not just running.
** The gods of Olympus. Even when Kratos has got them bloodied and broken on the ground, ''none'' of them can resist spitting in his face one last time. Even when given a chance to live, they'd rather be running their mouths at the guy who literally has them by the throat. This may show the degree of contempt they have for Kratos, and considering what a monster Kratos is, this attitude may be justified.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: Pandora]].
%%* TraumaCongaLine: Kratos. Very much a Type D.
* TwoPartTrilogy: The first game ends with Kratos sitting on Ares' throne, with flash-forwards suggesting he will preside over human warfare until the modern day. The second game starts him with losinghis throne, and ends him with leading a crusade against all of Olympus that then takes up the third game.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Hades and Persephone. Hephaestus and Aphrodite. Kronos and Rhea. In all cases giant hideous monstrosity matched with attractive human looking women.
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The short RhythmGame section near the middle of ''III''.
* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: In ''II'', there is a segment where the player has to climb up to a ledge to continue. There is a pushable block nearby, but standing on the block still leaves the ledge just out of reach. There is a switch the player can hit that causes a square part of the floor to raise up on a thin, round pillar, but it falls back down too quickly for the player to use it. The solution is to kick the block UNDER the raised floor before the pillar falls. Like many examples here, in real life this solution would be obvious, but most players would expect [[HitboxDissonance the entire floor-pillar object to act as a solid rectangle.]]
* TheUnfettered: Absolutely ''nothing'' will stop Kratos when he's on a warpath (which is to say, all the time).
* UnwinnableByDesign: In-universe, [[spoiler:Hera's Garden]], which could not have been solved if, during it, Kratos hadn't given its owner a NeckSnap for unrelated reasons.
* UnwittingPawn: Kratos tends to be too easily manipulated by both the gods and the Titans. By the end of ''God of War III'', Kratos has finally had enough and sees through [[spoiler:Athena's attempt to regain her power and become Greece's only goddess]].
* VaporWear: The Oracle in the first game, with a translucent top and nothing underneath.
** Also, Hercules in ''God of War III''. A glitch reveals his bare behind [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyeyBhNBZJg&feature=channel here]] starting at about 0:57.
* VariableLengthChain: Kratos' standard weapons are two very large daggers that instantly attach to the chains welded to his wrists, allowing him to swing them about to slash stuff at a distance.
** ''God of War III'' gives us ''dueling'' Variable Length Chains, when Kratos fights Hades, who has some very similar weapons.
* VariableMix
* VictorGainsLosersPowers: Kratos tends to steal weapons and artifacts from his defeated enemies.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: The game is not just full of delightfully malicious attacks, it even ''forces'' players to be {{Jerk Ass}}es.
* VideoGameLongRunners: The series just recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Since the first title on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, Kratos' story has been chronicled in six canonical games, as well as a non-canonical mobile game.
* VillainBall: [[spoiler:Caught by the entire Greek pantheon with the opening of Pandora's Box and dropped post-mortem. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero With apocalyptic results]]]]
* VillainBeatingArtifact: PandorasBox was needed to defeat Ares in the first game. It was also needed to defeat Zeus in the third game [[spoiler:except that it's devoid of its power because it was already used against Ares.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Let's be honest here, Kratos starts off ''God of War II'' doing the ''exact'' same thing Ares did in the first game. He also willingly sacrifices others in order accomplish his goals. He's subsequently killed in the ATasteOfPower segment of the game, and spends the remainder of 2 and almost every second of 3 on a rampage against his killer for... stopping exactly what he was told to stop in the first game.
* VisualPun: [[spoiler:You literally give Gaia a heart attack in the final boss of 3.]]
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Kratos is too badass for his shirt.
* WeaponAcrossTheShoulder: Kratos regularly carries weapons that are bigger than himself in this fashion.
* WeaponizedOffspring: Cerberi in the first game spit out puppylike Cerberus Seeds that, if given enough time, will grow into full grown Cerberi.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gaia
* WellDoneSonGuy: Hercules' motivation to defeat Kratos.
** Ares has shades of this in the first game. His whole motivation for wiping out Athens was jealousy of Athena, Zeus' "favored" child.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Lampshaded in the third game. There's a sex minigame that's played with Aphrodite as your partner. The camera then pans over to her two female concubines who provide reactions and commentary while you put in the action commands. One of the bits of commentary is as follows: [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "Wow, this really is for mature audiences only!" "Parents shouldn't let their kids watch this!"]] [[invoked]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Artemis, who was seen helping Kratos by giving him a weapon in the first game, was never seen again in any of the sequels.
** Maybe she was smart enough not mess with Kratos.
** Or maybe she was killed offscreen by a Titan?
** We never really see what becomes of most of the other Titans assaulting Mount Olympus in ''God of War III'', because Kratos is otherwise occupied for much of the game. We see at least one (Perses) about halfway through the game, but most of the rest apparently failed in their assault on the gods.
*** We see two of them get knocked off the mountain mid-climb, but their survival or demise is left ambiguous.
** Apollo never once shows up. He's the only notable Olympian god never to, though you do get to use his bow in III.
** You can find a mural depicting Apollo in the Temple of the Oracle in ''Ascension'', and a later part of the game involves traversing a statue of him. Apollo himself is still absent though.
** At the end of III, [[spoiler: Aphrodite seems to be the only remaining goddess alive. That might screw with Kratos deciding to let mortals handle their own fate from then on...]]
** The mobile game ''God of War Betrayal'' ends with a mysterious assassin who kills Argos. His identity is never revealed but whether this game is canon or not is arguable.
* WhatHaveIBecome: Kratos says it verbatim in the Temple of Pandora.
** He repeats it at the end of ''Ghost of Sparta'', to which [[spoiler:the Gravedigger replies "Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."]]
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] [[spoiler:Kratos uses the power of Hope to kill Zeus.]]
** HeartIsAnAwesomePower?
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Other than her creator, Hephaestus, the other gods shunned Pandora, as she is really a statue that had been given life. They tend to address her as "It" instead of "She". Ironic, considering [[spoiler: [[HopeBringer she's arguably the most important character in the series next to Kratos, and is certainly one of the most decent people we see]]]].
** Made especially shocking considering that ''[[VillainProtagonist Kratos]]'' treats her with more kindness and common decency than the Gods themselves.
* WhatTheHellHero: Averted. Oh sure, lots of people are disgusted with Kratos' actions, often calling him out (usually as he is butchering them or about to), but it's not like he can be considered [[VillainProtagonist a hero to begin with]].
* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: Kratos is what priceless antiquities have nightmares about when they go to sleep.
* WolverinePublicity: Kratos has become Creator/SonyComputerEntertainment's Wolverine, seeing as how he appeared in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny'' as per fan-request as well as the UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation3}}S3 version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. He's also stated to be the "beginner's character" in ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', similar to Mario in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''
* WombLevel: More like Womb Action Sequence. A few boss battles require you to go inside the boss to mess them up. There's the Hydra, the Colossus of Rhodes, [[spoiler:Kronos, and Gaia.]] There is also Atlas, though not a boss.
* WorldOfHam: Considering that this game can't go five minutes without someone ''ravenously feasting'' on the scenery, it's to be expected. Even the rocks are Large Hams! Kratos spends most of the time killing everything, but when he speaks...
-->'''KRATOS:''' [[IncomingHam ZEUS!! I BRING THE DESTRUCTION OF OLYMPUS!!!]]
** The titans deserve special mention. Near the beginning of the second game:
--> "YOU WILL PAY... FOR THAT... KRAAAAAAAATOOOOOOS"!
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: "I am what the gods have made me" said Kratos in GOW II; now, if you were to study ALL of the games and comics that take place, [[InMediasRes chronologically]] before that game, you would see that he was far from lying.
* YankTheDogsChain: The entirety of Ascension is this. You fight your way through the Temple of Delphi, to have the Oracle [[spoiler:die as soon as you get there]]. The majority of the game is spent on a quest for the Eyes of Truth, and as soon as you get them, [[spoiler:they are taken from you by the Furies]]. Then, after Kratos finally is free and finds a genuine, FireForgedFriend in the form of Orkos, [[spoiler:you are forced to kill him]]. Definitely setting him up as TheWoobie.
* YellowLightningBlueLightning: The series uses both in regards to the gods, with Zeus' usual lightning attacks being yellow/golde, but with Poseidon's, Kronos' and younger Zeus's being blue. Kratos later gains the whips of Nemesis, which generate green lightning.
* YouBastard: Kratos.
** The series he is in is based on Greek Mythology. The player has to do completely heartless things like smash a person's head on an altar, which the player drags him to while he is screaming "No! No! Get away from me!" (this is from [[VideoGame/GodOfWarII the second game]]). There is no way he could have resisted.
** In [[VideoGame/GodOfWar the first game]], Kratos is a champion of the Gods, in the second, he is a champion of the Titans, who eventually [[spoiler:kills the fates, which gives him the ability of time travel]]. This may sound fine, but the level of bloody violence is so much so it was ''mentioned on the back cover''. Then again, at that time morality was different, and they are not afraid to show some of it. Also, Kratos commits an act of treachery at the beginning of the second game. The plot revolves around being evil. Just look at the page mentioned above for more examples.
** However, in [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII the third game]] several characters (most notably Hermes) tell him how much of a bastard he is, as well as him gaining a MoralityPet in Pandora. It actually affects him enough that he makes a slight HeelFaceTurn towards the end.
** In ''God Of War III'', Kratos can find letters in Hades written about him. One is from his mother lamenting how everything around her son dies and that she failed as a mother, and another is from the boat captain damning Kratos to Hades.
* YouCantFightFate: You really can't. [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Except literally.]] Kratos finds you cannot only fight Fate, you can ''kill'' them too.
** Averted in a sense. Kratos was able to fight the Sisters of Fate, but in [[VideoGame/GodOfWarII the game itself]] and the more recent ones it was revealed Kratos was fated to destroy Olympus. The implication being even the Sisters were bound by some higher power they could not control.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness:
** Kratos usually kills those who had helped him once they're no longer useful or if their death becomes useful. Karma kicks him in the ass when [[spoiler:the Titans thought that he had outlived his usefulness too, and attempt to kill him as they try to overthrow the Olympians]]. It fails, of course.
** Subverted in ''God of War III''. [[spoiler:Kratos actually refuses to let Pandora sacrifice herself.]]
* YourSoulIsMine: Hades in III tries this on Kratos, even uttering the TropeName in the pre-battle cutscene. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard Guess what Kratos does to him in the battle's finale]]]].
* YoyoPlotPoint: After being a CosmicPlaything so long, one would think that Kratos would learn to not trust any god who tells him to do something. And yet, he always goes along with the machinations and whims of one of the gods of Olympus or the titans who claim to be on his side, and acts surprised when they inevitably [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness turn on him]]. Kratos then swears vengeance against the gods and that he'll never trust them again, only to completely forget about this come the next game. It's only in the GrandFinale of the series, ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', that Kratos finally seems to wise up.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Kratos gets this, in part due to the various atrocities he committed under Ares; in the first game, one character is actually more terrified of Kratos than of the monsters attacking him and openly states he would rather die than let Kratos save him. After becoming the new God of War, it's stated that all of the other Olympians despised Kratos and refused to accept him.
[[/folder]]

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->If you've got this far without Kratos killing you accidentally or deliberately, congratulations. You'll die in the sequel to this page.
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* AncientGreece

It features a simple, intuitive combat interface that made fighting remarkably easy. Kratos's default [[DualWielding weapons]] are the Blades of Chaos, which are swords on the ends of very long chains; they function as both melee weapons and {{Whip Sword}}s, or perhaps {{Swordchucks}}. Face buttons allow the player to jump, switch between Weak and Strong attacks, and use throws and {{Finishing Move}}s, stringing together combos and special moves in a visceral and satisfying combat engine that combines graceful, almost balletic special attacks with the gruesome satisfaction of [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe literally ripping enemies in half]]. Many enemies and all boss battles have unique finishing moves involving Action Commands; boss battles in particular become highly cinematic {{Puzzle Boss}}es. Finally, besides dodging and rolling, Kratos gets access to magic spells. These typically include: a ranged attack; an area-of-effect attack; a ray that causes enemies to freeze somehow; and a swarm-of-souls attack that damages everything in sight.

* KillEmAll: By the end of the trilogy, the only named characters left alive are [[spoiler: Artemis, Thyphoon, Atlas and Aphrodite. If we count the other games, Eos, Morpheus and Thera can be added to the mix. But Atlas is the only character whose survival can be really confirmed since the world hasn't fallen dawn from not being sustained by him]] The ending is still surprisingly hopeful. [[spoiler: However, Kratos's survival is confirmed by the 2018 sequel]]

* Karma Houdini: Morpheus apparently doesn't get any punishment for trying to cover the world in darkness, retreating back into the shadows

* KillEmAll: By the end of the trilogy, the only named characters left alive are [[spoiler: Artemis, Thyphoon, Atlas and Aphrodite. If we count the other games, Eos, Morpheus, Thera can be added to the mix. But Atlas is the only character whose survival can be really confirmed since the world hasn't fallen dawn from not being sustained by him]] The ending is still surprisingly hopeful.[[spoiler: However, Kratos's survival is confirmed by the 2018 sequel]]

* KillEmAll: By the end of the trilogy, the only named characters left alive are [[spoiler: Artemis, Atlas and Aphrodite. But Atlas is the only character whose survival can be really confirmed since the world hasn't fallen dawn from not being sustained by him]] The ending is still surprisingly hopeful.[[spoiler However, Kratos's survival is confirmed by the 2018 sequel]]