This page covers the main antagonists of each respective God of War games. This page will cover both the Greek and Norse Eras.

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Greek Era

Zeus

Voiced by: Paul Eiding (English, God of War, as the Gravedigger in Ghost of Sparta), Corey Burton (English, God of War II, God of War III, Ascension), Fred Tatasciore (English, Ghost of Sparta)^{additional VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2023_08_27_at_105430_am.png

"Such chaos… I will have much to do, after I kill you."

^{Click here to see Zeus as the "Grave Digger"}

"Everything that you have ever known, Kratos, will now suffer because of your sacrilege. You will never be the ruler of Olympus. The cycle ends here."

The King of Olympus and father of many gods and mortals, Zeus is the single most powerful god among his pantheon, and initially acts as a benign ally to Kratos. Though he is singularly the most powerful being in the land, Zeus is beset by a paranoia and fear that constantly plagues him. Just as he usurped his father Cronos, the once-ruler of all mankind, and just as Cronos had usurped his father Ouranos, Zeus is well aware of the fact that his reign can easily be toppled by one of his own children. But his extreme fear is only matched by his unbridled hedonism; Zeus constantly cavorts with multiple women throughout Greece, despite himself being married to Hera, and as such he is the father of many children both mortal and divine.

His fears come to fruition when his son Ares, the God of War, declares war upon the city of Athens and later expresses an intent to ravage Olympus itself. With Zeus at an impasse, as Olympians were forbidden to wage war upon each other, he and the other gods send out the mortal Kratos to do battle with Ares and put a stop to his madness, before all of Greece would fall under the God of War's thumb.

Once Kratos defeats Ares, however, he is granted the throne of the God of War; immediately, a great fear grabs hold of Zeus' heart. Kratos, angered at the gods for their refusal to undo the terrible memories of his dark past, proceeds to unleash a great campaign of war upon all of Greece, forcing Zeus to intervene and start a war that would decide the fate of Olympus itself.

Abusive Parents: Zeus had one as Cronus devoured his siblings and tried to do the same to him to keep his power. Zeus would eventually overthrow Cronus and become an abusive monster to his own divine and moral children. Strong examples would be his treatment of Kratos, his abandonment of Athena, and when he viciously beat and crippled his loyal son Hephaestus just for lying to him to protect his surrogate daughter.
Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Zeus was played by Corey Burton. He also voiced the character in the television show sequel to Hercules.
Adaptational Villainy: While his mythological counterpart was a total asshole, this version of Zeus is considerably more malicious and cruel. But it turns out this is because he was possessed by the evils of Pandora's Box.
The Ageless: Like the rest of the gods, Zeus can live indefinitely and he is immune to aging and natural diseases. That said, he is killable, though that would take a lot of effort to do so.
Alas, Poor Villain: As revealed at the end of III, he was possessed by the evils in Pandora's Box. Though he was a Jerkass God, one may still find a means to pity him.
Angel Unaware: He apparently moonlights as a gravedigger on Earth.
Animal Motifs: Eagles, of which Zeus represents the more vicious, predatory, and fearsome part of. He's a ruler who looks down on nearly everyone else, commands absolute authority from his subjects, is very prideful and powerful, and he has no pretensions about taking advantage of something if it means accomplishing his goals and eliminating his threats quickly. He can also morph into an eagle as one of his ways to travel around Greece freely without having to give out his true identity and whenever he has to discreetly manipulate a situation to his preference.
Animorphism: He can transform into an eagle. It's one of his ways to travel around Greece whilst concealing his true identity as well as manipulating events to his advantage.
Arch-Enemy: To Kratos, from the second game on. Zeus is driven by the fact that because his father tried to kill him out of fear of being usurped, Zeus similarly felt the same way about the idea of Kratos killing him and taking over the throne of Olympus, so he took action in God of War II when Kratos's defiance to the Greek Gods became too much to tolerate. This is because he was corrupted by the fear from Pandora's Box.
Archnemesis Dad: Turns out, he's Kratos' father, which was revealed to him by Athena after she had taken a fatal blow meant to save Zeus. Kratos was already disgruntled by the Gods for their arrogance and their knack for denying him any satisfactory bargain or conclusion, but getting killed by Zeus proved to be the last straw. Although Zeus is motivated by the fear of Kratos repeating a cycle that played out similarly to Zeus's relationship with Cronos, Kratos wants to kill Zeus primarily because he's had enough of his own grievances and the fact that the gods have messed around with his life and fate one too many times.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: He isn't exactly inoffensive to who is alive when he does that.
Asshole Victim: When conversing with Kratos about the Greek Gods in the 2018 soft reboot, Mimir notes that the pantheon "had it coming", implying that he and the Norse Gods didn't feel too bad about Zeus's demise. Considering the abusive authority they enforced on Greece and Zeus's own nature as a terrible leader and individual, he's not wrong.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He can grow in size. In fact, he fights Kratos in a gargantuan form at the end of II.
Awesome Moment of Crowning: After defeating the Titans, Zeus became the ruler of Olympus and reigned supreme over all his godly brethren.
Bad Black Barf: Before being beaten to death, Zeus spews out what appears to be a wisp of black dust from his mouth. It's revealed that this dark cloud was the fear that had corrupted Zeus into becoming the deranged paranoic that he was in the final two Greek entries chronologically. This explains why he doesn't fight back when Kratos beats him bloody senselessly.
Bad Boss: To simply put, Zeus's leadership skills leave a lot to be desired. Sure he's good at making Rousing Speeches and commanding respect every now and then, but his demanding and manipulative nature means that he's very willing to see his followers as disposable pawns and sacrifices for his own ends.
Baritone of Strength: Zeus has a very deep voice, which is appropriate for the king of the gods.
Badass Boast: Delivers a few of these to Kratos.
"I will release you from your life, my son, but your torment is just beginning!"
"Petulant child! I will tolerate your insolence no more!"
"I created you, and I will be your end!"
"I grow tired of this insolence: I am the King of Olympus! And it is my way that is the way of the Gods!
Barrier Maiden: Zeus is one for Olympus as its God of Order and the rest of the Greek World which is why the Gods, despite their distaste of him, protect him with their lives. If Zeus dies, the Greek World collapses into chaos and destruction.
Beard of Evil: Sports the classic godly white beard, and shows himself time and again to be incredibly ruthless and petty.
Big Bad: Of the second and third games, and the Greek Mythology Era as a whole.
Big Bad Ensemble: Killing him is Kratos' main objective in the third game, but he has to share the spotlight with the others in his pantheon, as well as Athena and Gaia.
BFS: The Blade Of Olympus is his signature weapon, and it is what he used to destroy the titans and take the world for his own. Later on, Kratos steals the Blade for himself, and it proves to be one of the few weapons in the series capable of dishing out serious damage to Zeus.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: Gave Kratos this power in the first game, and can use it himself with devastating effectiveness.
Brother–Sister Incest: His wife, Hera, is his older sister. Then again, incest is a recurring thing in Greek Mythology.
Brutal Bird of Prey: He can shapeshift into a glowing eagle if he wishes to. He likes to assume this form whenever he needs to be devious and manipulative about meeting his goals, which is best shown when he delivers the Blade of Olympus to Kratos, only to later swoop down and morph back into true form once Kratos exhausts his powers and divinity.
The Cameo: In God of War (PS4), he appears as an illusion created by Helheim to torment Kratos.
The Chains of Commanding: The most powerful being in all of Greece is also quite terrified of being stripped of his power and his title as King of Olympus.
Crazy-Prepared: Zeus figured one day a god would turn against him and he would have to either violate his decree forbidding the gods from battling one another or have a way for a mortal to kill a god. He left a path to Pandora's Box open when the maze was built a thousand years ago for this day. Unfortunately, he had no preparation for the possibility of the gods being infected by the evils in Pandora's Box.
Create Your Own Villain: After the death of his brother, Kratos' hatred of the gods understandably began to fester, but he never would have jumped off the slippery slope as eagerly as he did had it not been for Zeus stabbing him through the gullet with a giant sword and leaving him for dead.
Creepy Mortician: That gravedigger, who encounters Kratos in the first couple of games chronologically at random intervals, offering him some words of encouragement as well as some snarks. He's actually Zeus in disguise.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He delivers a horrendously brutal one to Kratos in the opening act of God of War II. He does it through devious means by granting Kratos the Blade of Olympus, which ends up sapping his own strength and divinity, so by the time Zeus arrives, Kratos is so horrifically crippled he could barely walk, let alone attack. Zeus wastes no time killing Kratos right then and there.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: This iteration of Zeus takes his character from the original myths (as well as his role as the Top God of his pantheon), cranks up all his negative aspects, and explores his character from there. Though initially presented as a benevolent if benign ally to Kratos, it becomes more apparent as the games progresses that Zeus is trapped by an intense fear of losing his throne, especially to his children—and this fear is completely justified. Given that Zeus himself overthrew his father Cronos, and Cronos overthrew his father Ouranos, it's natural for Zeus to assume that someday one of his children would do the same (which is exactly his reasoning for the death of the Titan Metis in Classical Mythology). His paranoia over losing his throne causes him to act out of fear, leading to Kratos declaring war upon Olympus, eventually leading to the destruction of all of Greece and the end of his reign. Even with the reveal that Zeus was infected by the evils of Pandora's Box, it's likely that the evils had merely exacerbated the fear and paranoia that was already there.
Dirty Coward: Strip away his grandiose boasts and badass credentials and Zeus is this at his core. All of his actions, possibly even before becoming infected with the evil of Fear, are motivated to protect himself and his power. He only attacks Kratos when he's too weak to fight back and he's more than willing to send others to do his dirty work for him, to the point of spending almost all of III hiding from Kratos while he killed the other gods one by one. When Athena died to save Zeus from Kratos, it's notable that Zeus barely reacts to her sacrifice and flees. Although in the climax of III, he finally nuts up and fights Kratos one-on-one without any pretenses of fleeing. It's implied that Zeus was specifically infected by the evil of Fear, which manifested as both cowardice and deranged paranoia.
Disproportionate Retribution: Decided to punish the entire Titan race for Cronos' actions, including Gaia, who cared for him and nurtured his desire for vengeance against Cronos. And he later punishes all of Sparta for Kratos' actions. He's big on this. Becomes a Deconstructed Trope, as BOTH actions directly contribute to the destruction and downfall of everything he's built.
The Dreaded: Zeus is immensely feared by the Titans as well as those who don't pledge their loyalty towards him. He also strikes fear into those who got themselves involved with him, as Callisto could attest to, as she can't even so much as whisper Zeus's name unless she transforms into a monster.
Dying as Yourself: Implied. Just before Kratos kills him, some black smoke left his body indicating that the evil of Fear had abandoned him. Interestingly enough, Zeus doesn't put up any resistance as Kratos pummels him to death, indicating that he may have realized that by causing Kratos so much pain, he was responsible for his own demise. A deleted line in GOW3's files emphasizes this further - originally Zeus' last words were to apologise and ask for a Mercy Kill.
Zeus: Kratos... my son. I'm sorry. Release me.
Embodiment of Vice: In his case, it's Fear, which affected Zeus once Kratos opened Pandora's Box for the first time, turning the king of the gods into an insane paranoiac who took extreme and underhanded measures in trying to kill Kratos as well as staying behind the spotlight in God of War III while the other gods tried to do the heavy lifting for him and died for it. Before dying at Kratos's hand, this vice is seen being exhumed out of Zeus's mouth shortly before Kratos beats Zeus into a bloody mess.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seemingly did love Kratos, originally anyway. According to Hera, the only reason Kratos wasn't killed at birth was that Zeus cared and felt pity for him, and during a brief moment in II when Zeus is preparing to smite Kratos, he turns away with a look of extreme sadness and hesitation, before reluctantly going through with the deed.
Evil Is Hammy: Befitting his character and authority, Zeus loves to be theatrical and makes no pretensions about just how powerful he is as well as revelling his place as Olympus's top ruler.
Evil Is Petty: Before killing Kratos in II, he went out of his way to destroy his entire army except for one man who barely survived. After killing Kratos, he went on to destroy Sparta himself down to the last woman and child except for the same aforementioned man who escaped. He did all this just because he knew it would piss Kratos off.
Evil Laugh: Indulges in these a few times, most notably when he's cruelly mocking Kratos after Pandora's death.
Zeus: "HAHAHAHA! EMPTY? HAHAHAHAHA! After all you have sought, after all you have sacrificed, it ends in ANOTHER STUNNING FAILURE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Evil Sounds Deep: His villainous moments are all accompanied by his deep, booming voice.
Evil Versus Evil: Kratos is a Psychopathic Manchild Villain Protagonist who's willing to destroy all of reality if that means getting his vengeance. Zeus is an extremely powerful Paranoiac whose desire to maintain his rule outweighs any sense of reason or morality when the chips are down.
Fatal Flaw: His extreme paranoia and fear of being overthrown led Zeus to make the worst decision of his life; killing Kratos out of fear that he'd eventually usurp his rule over Olympus only ended up giving Kratos all the reason in the world to want to topple his reign.
Fate Worse than Death: When Kratos feigns surrender during his and Zeus' battle at the end of II, he begs Zeus to "release [him] from the torment of [his] life." And what does Zeus say in response?
Zeus: I will release you from your life, my son. But your torment is just beginning.
Final Boss: Of II and III, so essentially, he's the final enemy Kratos faces off against in the Greek Era. After all, what better god to end the original Greek series on other than the King of Olympus himself?
Fisher King: His existence and presence is tied to the well-being of Greece and its pantheon. This is a major reason why a good number of the gods have sworn loyalty to him; if they die, an environmental cataclysm would occur that would irreversibly damage Greece's ecology. Zeus's death is the logical conclusion to this outcome; Greece would become a barren wasteland with nothing to rule or occupy in, which is what Kratos accomplishes after he kills Zeus.
Flash Step: He makes liberal use of this while fighting Kratos, moving with blinding speed.
Flying Brick: He rarely makes use of it, but Zeus is capable of flight.
Foreshadowing: He refers to Kratos as "my son" on a number of occasions. As it turns out, he's not using the term figuratively.
Freudian Excuse: His siblings were devoured by Cronos and he was forced to live inside of Gaia, leading a sheltered childhood until he was old enough to properly confront and fight his father for what he did. After the events of the first game, he becomes infected by fear, which is the catalyst for Zeus's paranoiac nature in the next two games. This doesn't justify his heinous actions, but they do offer some reasoning for why Zeus became deadset on killing Kratos.
Genius Bruiser: He effortlessly manipulates Kratos into giving up his godly powers, at the very beginning of II. As for the "bruiser" part, he's more than happy to demonstrate his own divine might.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: All the time, to a genuinely unnerving fashion.
God Is Evil: Though he aids Kratos throughout his journey to defeat Ares, as the original series progresses it becomes increasingly clear that Zeus is dangerously paranoid over the notion that one of his children may end up usurping his throne. Especially since the god-killer Kratos is his son, and he has a huge chip on his shoulder against the gods. That being said, it's revealed in III that it was most likely Kratos' fault that he became as paranoid as he did, the evils of Pandora's Box having infected him.
Gold and White Are Divine: As per usual depictions of the character, Zeus in the God of War series'' is normally draped in white clothing and the occasional golden garments like the fleece on his left shoulder, and his lighting bolts emit a bright yellow shade.
Grandpa God: After all, he is Zeus, the god patron of this trope.
Heroic Build: He's not a hero, but Zeus's physique is fit and muscular, which compliments his status as the Top God, having divine lightning powers, and wielding a giant divine sword.
Hidden Depths: Throughout Kratos' journey throughout Greece to slay Ares, Zeus initially appears to be a benevolent if benign deity, willing to aid Kratos directly and even going so far as to provide Kratos an escape from the underworld while moonlighting as a Grave Digger. However, as the series goes on it becomes clear that Zeus has a much darker side to him, one that manifests in his extreme paranoia of the very idea of anybody overthrowing him. Though the events of II and III were kickstarted because Zeus was infected by the evil Fear, from Pandora's Box, it's likely that the Fear of losing his throne has always been present (given certain tales from Greek myth itself) and that being infected by it merely drew all of it out.
History Repeats: After being affected by the Evils of Fear, he comes to believe in this in a very desperate and paranoiac action, namely that because he banished Cronos for trying to kill him, and that Cronos killed his father before, he would share a similar fate. This is why he kills Kratos in a preemptive attempt to prevent this to stop him from usurping Zeus for control over Olympus, despite Kratos having no desire for wanting to be the Top God. Unfortunately for Zeus, this trope ends up happening anyway, except that Kratos's motivation differs vastly, namely that he's just done being disrespected and shat on by the gods.
Hopeless Boss Fight: The first battle with him in God of War II cannot be won as Kratos is so weakened and bruised he can barely walk, let alone swing his blades. As such, the "fight" consists of Kratos weakly swinging his weapons at Zeus while the latter smacks him around like a cat with a ball of yarn.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Zeus' most powerful weapon, the Blade of Olympus, is eventually stolen by Kratos, who uses it against him throughout all of their subsequent battles to great effect. It is implied, at the end of II, when Kratos stabs Zeus in the gut with the Blade, that Kratos would have managed to kill him, had it not been for Athena's timely intervention.
Hypocrite: Zeus seeks to destroy both Ares and Kratos for their excessive violence and interference in the mortal world, but personally destroys the armies of Sparta and Rhodes (note that Rhodes hadn't done anything to offend Zeus, they were just in the way) and then all of Sparta out of revenge against Kratos.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This is how he kills Kratos; he thrusts the Blade of Olympus into his abdomen, with Kratos barely able to hold off the blade for long before he is impaled and left for dead. Later on, Kratos returns the deed by stabbing Zeus with the same blade. This doesn't kill him. Then much later on, Kratos does it again with the Blade of Olympus onto Zeus, pinning him into Gaia's heart. The impalement kills Gaia, but Zeus? He still carries on, trying to kill Zeus in a ghostly state.
Informed Attribute: According to Hercules, Zeus had always considered Kratos his favorite child, which...certainly doesn't come across very well. Although according to Hera he refrained from killing Kratos as a child due to feelings of pity towards him.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: On the subject of Pandora, Zeus never once refers to her individually, not even calling her a "she". Instead, he describes the poor girl as a "thing", which likely stems from his contempt towards Hephaestus, who ended up being one of Zeus's least favored sons. He doesn't even bother to mention Pandora's death, solely mocking Kratos's fruitless attempt on reopening Pandora's Box.
It's All About Me: In his Rousing Speech directed towards the other Olympians, one of Zeus' final remarks is a blatant "I will wipe out this plague!" It's clear from this and his other actions that above all else, what matters most to Zeus is the preservation of his rule over Olympus and Greece, and any opposition must be taken out at all costs.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: At the beginning of II, Kratos has begun abusing his power as the God of War by allowing Sparta to ransack all of Greece, mainly out of spite towards the Olympians. Naturally, Zeus steps in by draining Kratos' godly powers. Though this is an inherently noble act, Zeus' wording when demanding a reason for his betrayal indicates a desire for self-preservation over the protection of Greece. This isn't helped by how Zeus callously destroys both Kratos' and Rhodes' armies after Kratos' defeat, and how Zeus later trashes Sparta out of petty vengeance towards Kratos (despite having already killed the guy a few days ago). When Athena reveals that Kratos is Zeus' son, it's clear then that while Zeus has perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to stop Kratos' wanton rampage, it's largely out of fear of Kratos eventually usurping his position as King of Olympus that drives him to act.
Jerkass Gods: Zeus is not a nice god, to say the least. When a good deal of the other gods think you're a cruel and petty being, you certainly qualify as this. While the evils of Fear did turn him into a malicious being, that doesn't change the fact that he's done a large number of heinous acts even before being infected.
Karmic Death: Zeus rose to power by killing his father, and spent most of his rule abusing, molesting, and manipulating his children and family. Zeus is killed by one of his own children after one betrayal too many.
Kick the Dog: Like Kratos, Zeus tends to lash out for his own petty reasons. Destroying the city of Sparta, after killing Kratos, sends Kratos fuming mad. He also laughs maniacally when Kratos opens Pandora's Box to reveal nothing, lampshading the fact that Pandora died for nothing.
Lack of Empathy: He doesn't emotionally concern himself with the lives and circumstances of others, regardless of whether they're subjects who are loyal to him, mortal, or god, or his own children, who have suffered considerably due to Zeus either not giving a damn about their predicament, or actively furthering it. His reaction to Athena getting fatally stabbed by Kratos (for an attack meant for Zeus) is to quickly bolt out of the scene rather than process the fact that Kratos just killed his daughter and one of his most favored children.
Light Is Not Good: Zeus is a man clad in white who can throw lightning bolts and is generally associated with bright lights. But he's also a genocidal paranoiac whose desire to preserve his rule outweighs his senses and his morals, to the point where he is willing to kill anybody who shows any sign of rebellion against him.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Zeus' self-serving attitude plus his crippling paranoia doesn't do him any favors, but he and the other gods are in an unambiguously heroic position during the events of III, as Kratos' mad dash for vengeance causes so much destruction and mayhem that, if left unchecked, could culminate in the destruction of all Greek civilization. Which happens the moment Zeus finally dies.
Lightning Bruiser: Puns aside, Zeus is incredibly fast and amazingly strong, which makes for a hell of a boss fight.
Like Father, Like Son:
- Zeus has become more like his father Cronos, doing whatever it takes to stay on his throne as king of the gods. He would let his children and his siblings die in order for him to remain in control and is willing to murder one of his offspring out of fear of being killed by said offspring.
- Zeus' children share their father's vindictiveness, arrogance, willpower, and unbelievable reserves of strength. And as much as Kratos would be loathe to admit, most of his personality likely takes after his father's worst traits.
Luke, I Am Your Father: As revealed by Athena at the end of II, Zeus is Kratos' father.
Made of Iron: Befitting of the King of Olympus, Zeus can take some serious damage that would outright kill other gods. In II, Kratos stabs him in the gut with the Blade of Olympus, a weapon which with one swing can take out an entire battlefield of titans and Zeus not only survives, but continues to live until the very end of III.
Manipulative Bastard: In the novelization of the original God of War, Zeus left a path open to Pandora's Box thousands of years ago knowing that one day a god would turn against him and he would need a way to get around the decree forbidding the gods from fighting each other. Athena infers that Zeus manipulated her into manipulating Kratos to kill Ares and for the latter to commit suicide to rid himself of both his problems.
Marathon Boss: Much like a lot of bosses in the series, but his boss fight in God of War III is the ultimate example. First off, he fights Kratos in a gameplay style akin to the Fighting Game genre whilst his temple starts to collapse. Then he's fought in a traditional manner, that is until Gaia joins the fray and they retreat inside her insides, where he and Kratos resume their bout right next to Gaia's heart. After stabbing Zeus with the Blade of Olympus, which also kills Gaia, Zeus ascended into a corporeal form and incapacitates Kratos. Once Kratos returns after a mental reflection on his actions, another stylistic change is made where Kratos fights and finally kills Zeus in a first-person camera perspective. The fight is so long, there's a break between the first and second segment, complete with a save spot.
Mind Rape: Attempts this on Kratos during their final battle. He tried to break him by forcing him to feel the pain and angst of those he killed during his rampage and if it wasn't for Pandora's soul, his mind would've been destroyed by his sheer overwhelming guilt.
Multi-Stage Battle: Zeus's boss battle in God of War III takes place at, by a list of order, near Pandora's Box, at the top lookout of Mount Olympus, next to Gaia's heart and at what remains of Mount Olympus. The boss battle is so long, that it’s gotten to the point where there’s a save point offered between the first two sections of the boss battle.
Mystical White Hair: Flashbacks in God of War II show that he was white-haired from birth.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
- He does this to Hephaestus when he discovers his creation of Pandora following his corruption into a paranoid monster. Notably, Zeus beats his son up so badly it ends up permanently disfiguring his face.
- He himself ends up at the receiving end of this at the fists of Kratos. Once his corporeal form is beaten back into his body, Kratos wastes no time in getting his hands on good old dad and beating him as brutally as possible until the camera is literally covered with blood.
Nominal Hero: In III, he's placed in a position of Hero Antagonist to contrast Kratos' Villain Protagonist status; while Kratos' actions threaten all of Greece itself (as Olympus is sustained by the gods, and would therefore fall if the gods were to die), Zeus' reasons for opposing Kratos have a self-serving edge to them as well. While he's of course terrified of the destruction of his kingdom and with good reason, it's less out of concern for the mortals or even the other gods under his domain, but rather out of a desire to preserve his own rule.
Offing the Offspring: The reason why he antagonized Kratos was because he was paranoid that his son would overthrow him the way he overthrew his own father, Cronos. The opening act of the second game ends with Zeus ruthlessly impaling Kratos, who is too weak to properly fight back. This is also why he aided Kratos in killing Ares.
One-Hit Polykill: How he ended the first Titanomachy. Essentially, he unveils the newly forged Blade of Olympus, and then thrusts it to the ground with great force, unleashing a great wave that spread all across Olympus, killing and incapacitating any Titan it came across, with those in the latter category being banished into the depths of Tartarus.
Orcus on His Throne: He simply disappears between the beginning and the climax of III. Hell, we don't even know if he was on his throne. This is justified due to the specific evil of fear from Pandora's Box infecting him, manifesting as cowardice and paranoia which caused Zeus to avoid Kratos for as long as possible because he didn't think he could beat him, sending out his brethren in the Hope that someone else would manage to kill Kratos for him and only confronting him personally when there were no other gods left.
Order vs. Chaos: III explicitly draws parallels of the conflict between Zeus and Kratos to this, with Zeus representing Order and Kratos representing Chaos. In a strange twist, Kratos is the protagonist in this scenario, and while Zeus' goals are ostensibly heroic, they have a self-serving edge to them as well. So in the end neither side is particularly one to root for.
The Paranoiac: Zeus is constantly attacked by the fear of his rule coming to an end at the hands of someone else, namely one of his own children. This is because once Kratos opened Pandora's Box, Zeus was infected with the evil of fear, though there's no indication he didn't have this fear before (and if Athena's origins are of any indication, it's probable he did).
Parental Favoritism: At the end of the first game, Ares accuses him of favoring Athena over him, as he stands over the burning ruins of Athens. Furthermore, in III, Hercules states his belief that Zeus favored Kratos over him, using the fact that Kratos was chosen to kill Ares and succeed him as the God of War while Hercules was left doing "mundane" tasks like finding the Apple of Hesperides and cleaning the Augean Stables. In truth, Zeus only cares about himself and abandoned his so-called favorite Athena to die after Kratos accidentally stabbed her.
Parental Neglect: This is Zeus's parenting at best. If he's not interfering and ruining their lives, then he's content to just let them do their own thing and not give a damn about it whilst paying attention either to himself or to the few kids that do grab his attention. This is how Hercules apparently rationalizes his thoughts when questioning how Kratos got to accomplish many deeds and feats while he was stuck doing the 12 labors, which he saw as underwhelming in comparison.
Pet the Dog: Zeus repeatedly aided Kratos throughout his journey to defeat Ares, even helping him escape the underworld, while referring to him affectionately as "my son." And in his guise as the gravedigger, he later gave Deimos and Callisto (Kratos' brother and mother, respectively) proper burials. Albeit that could be seen as a twisted form of self-assuring his victory, by burying those who prompted Kratos to rebel against him. And then he says ominously "Now, only one remains," and the camera shows a third, open grave, meant for Kratos.
Posthumous Character: While he's long dead by the events of God of War (2018), a ghostly apparition of Zeus appears in Helheim as a reflection of Kratos's deep-seated guilt. It's here where Mimir figures out Kratos's identity as the Ghost of Sparta and why he's hesitant on telling Atreus about the full context of his own past, something that Mimir doesn't agree with.
Promoted to Playable: While Zeus isn't playable in the story mode in Ghost Of Sparta, you can unlock the Grave Digger costume that allows you to play as him in combat arenas
Properly Paranoid: His paranoia in II isn't entirely unjustified, or his fault, and his rule beats Chaos, marginally. And in III, he's trying to kill Kratos while Kratos is causing untold destruction and death among mortals by killing the gods.
Prophet Eyes: He has glowing white eyes, which were absent when he was an infant but developed some point before adulthood.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: If he wasn't the most powerful being in all of Greece, then he probably wouldn't stay too long on Olympus' throne. Indeed whenever he and Kratos clashed, he always proved an equal to the Spartan in combat and sheer determination.
Raised by Grandparents: Because Cronos was hellbent on killing and eating his children out of fear of being usurped, Gaia took the responsibility of retrieving her grandson safely and allowing him to reside inside of her where he could have a sheltered, but ultimately comfortable upbringing before he became of age.
Rasputinian Death: Killing Zeus is a horrendously difficult task, befitting his status as the King of the Gods. In II, he gets beaten and stabbed repeatedly by the Blade of Olympus, which could One-Hit Kill an army of Titans and drain the life from Kratos in his God form. In III, Zeus survived a direct explosion from the Flames of Olympus, which could kill Gods on contact and survived being repeatedly impaled with the Blade of Olympus to Gaia's own heart to continue a brutal fight with Kratos. He then ascends to a higher existence like Athena, nearly kills Kratos again after disabling his arsenal and is then beaten back to his body by the power of hope, before Kratos has to viciously beat him to death until the player’s screen is red with blood.
Really Gets Around: Downplayed slightly compared to some other depictions of Zeus, but still implicitly the case due to his many, many children conceived with a variety of different mothers. It's only really called attention to when Hera complains about Kratos being "another bastard child of Zeus".
- In the Valhalla DLC, a comment from Mimir reveals that his notoriety as a philanderer is known even outside of Greece.
Mimir: Anything noteworthy about this area, brother?
Kratos: It was the Forum of Hercules. On Mount Olympus. It was here I fought and killed my half-brother.
Mimir: Given Zeus' reputation, I'm sure you had plenty more of them to spare...
Rousing Speech: Delivers one to the other gods before the second Titan War.
Zeus: My brothers, we were forged in victory. A victory that ended the great war and brought forth the reign of Mt. Olympus. Born from the depths of the underworld. Rooted in the river of souls. Our mountain emerged out of the Chaos. As it grew, so to did the might of the Olympians. We created a world of peace, a world of prosperity, a world that lives in the shadow and safety of my mountain. A mountain that has come to be the absolute measure of strength and power. Now, on this day, that power is to be tested. The mortal Kratos, seeks to destroy all that I have wrought. Brothers, put aside the petty grievances that have splintered us for so long. We will unite. We will stand together. And I will wipe out this plague! OLYMPUS... WILL PREVAIL!!!
Screw Destiny: Zeus notices that, just as he had overthrown his father Cronos and the Titans in a bloody revolution, Kratos is making strides towards doing the same to him and the gods. In response, Zeus tries to invoke this trope, to little success.
Self-Duplication: Using Gaia's heart as an source of energy, he can create clones of himself.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: His attempt to off Kratos to prevent the recurring cycle of patricide throughout Olympus' history and save his own hide did little more than give Kratos just the incentive he needed to kill Zeus and continue said cycle.
Shock and Awe: Like in mythology, Zeus can use lightning to his advantage and at one point thrusts an entire lightning storm onto Kratos during their second bout.
Smug Super: Zeus is extremely arrogant and acts high and mighty about his power and authority. Then again, he's the king of the Greek Gods and easily the most powerful of them all, so he does have a reason to be high and mighty about himself.
Teleport Spam: He moves so fast that he's practically teleporting, which he uses to devastating effect.
Took a Level in Jerkass: As the Grave Digger, he was a helpful ally to Kratos as well as giving him some tips and motivation in accomplishing his goals, and it was implied by Hera that Zeus spared Kratos during his infancy because he took pity on the boy. After Pandora's Box was opened for the first time and Zeus was affected by Fear, Zeus, as the Grave Digger, still helped Kratos, but was more condescending and confrontational towards him before the two become mortal enemies by God of War II. That said, this is a downplayed case as Zeus had his fair share of dickish and malevolent acts even before he was affected by Fear; it's just that after the effects of the first game, his negative traits swelled up considerably.
Top God: Well, yeah, this is Zeus we're talking about after all. Most of the other Greek Gods swear utmost loyalty to him and are ready to fight and die in Zeus's name.
Treacherous Advisor: At first, he directly aided Kratos in his quest to defeat Ares, but as Kratos gradually became more belligerent and hateful towards the gods, Zeus took action by tricking Kratos into giving up his godly power and then killing him in his weakened state.
Tyke Bomb: Was raised by Gaia to defeat Cronos. There's even a drawing he made as a child depicting himself facing Cronos.
The Unfettered: Zeus has shown time and again that he will preserve his reign no matter the cost. Like his father, he will kill as many divine or non-divine beings as he has to, all in order to ensure he remains the ruler of Olympus.
Ungrateful Bastard:
- Gaia personally raised him and protected him so he would be able to defeat Cronos and save his siblings. Zeus thanked her by deciding to persecute the entire Titan race for Cronos' crimes, including Gaia herself, and felt no remorse afterwards. Unfortunately for him, this comes back to haunt him severely in God of War II.
- He barely even took notice when Athena sacrificed herself to save him. Arguably even worse than his betrayal of Gaia, as Athena was Zeus' own daughter.
- For that matter, Kratos is the one who stopped Ares from overthrowing Zeus and taking over Greece. Zeus repays him in the sequel by killing him, and allowed Athena to welch on the deal that Kratos originally made with the Olympians in the first place.
Vocal Dissonance: In the games where is the main antagonist, he is always voiced by Corey Burton, but it varies. In 2, Burton uses a deep imposing voice, similar to the one he used for Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City, but in 3, aside from his opening speech, Zeus's voice is considerably softer, until he turns into a spirit. Burton then uses the same voice Zeus had in 2 for his appearances in the PlayStation 4 reboot.
Vicious Cycle: Took part in a cycle of patricide, wherein the deific rulers of a certain realm would be overthrown by their offspring in a violent usurpation of the throne. Though Zeus managed to overthrow his father, Cronos, he's trapped by a constant fear of losing his throne, and when his extremely violent and vengeful son belligerently opposes him and all of Olympus, Zeus immediately takes action against him.
Villain Ball: When Pandora tries to step into the Flame of Olympus Kratos desperately tries to pull her back, and might have succeeded if Zeus hadn't taken a moment to lean on his Berserk Button as hard as possible, even though he wants to stop her too.
Stop her, Kratos! Do not let her into the flame! [...] Don't listen to her, Kratos! For once in your pathetic life, don't fail! Don't fail her like you failed your family!
Villain Has a Point: Despite being a ruthless paranoiac obsessed with preserving his rule over Olympus, Zeus and the others in the Greek pantheon are 100% in the right to oppose Kratos' thoughtlessly destructive, god-killing rampage in III, largely because Greece literally begins falling apart from the deaths of multiple gods at Kratos' hands.
Villainous Breakdown: By the end of the final battle, Zeus is left screaming at Kratos, "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?! DIE!!! TREMBLE IN FEAR!!!" And as Kratos charges at him to repeatedly bash his face in, he shows a look of Fear on his face for the first time, revealing the evil that had infected him.
Villainous Valor:
- Throughout the third game in particular, Zeus is defending the world as it stands from Kratos' thoughtless and destructive actions. He's fighting for family, subjects, and arguably, given the consequences of the game up until that point, life itself; the only reason he's in an antagonistic position, despite the more unhealthy parts of his personality, is because Kratos is the player character.
- Despite his paranoia and his fear causing him to double down on underhanded tactics, Zeus does fight against Kratos head-on in the final battle without any signs of cowardice. If anything, he's put all of his focus on killing Kratos and, in his own words, "put an end to this chaos" and when he's finally killed, he doesn't default on making pleas or bargains as he resigns himself to being pummeled to a bloody pulp by Kratos.
World's Strongest Man: Or Greek God, at any rate. As a young man, Zeus, using his own power, forged the Blade of Olympus and, using it, defeated the entirety of the Titan army in one attack. His time as ruler of Olympus only increased his power, to the point where the novelizations repeatedly imply that he could easily strike down both Poseidon and Hades, his brothers and the two other strongest Olympians, if they anger him. Even the Sisters of Fate, who control the flow of time itself, ultimately swear subservience to him. And in their final battle, in his final moments, harming, let alone killing, Zeus was the most difficult challenge Kratos has ever had to face, requiring the powers or weapons of the other Olympians, Zeus's own power being turned against him through the Blade of Olympus and the eruption from the Flame of Olympus to push him to the wall. Once he became a specter consumed by the evil of Fear, only the power of Hope could stand against him.
Why Won't You Die?: He says this line word for word during the final battle against Kratos.
Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Zeus's default color of his lightning bolts is yellow as a signal of his godly authority. That said, during his youth and the first Titanomachy, his lightning was instead blue.
Your Size May Vary: He can change his size in whatever way he sees fit. He assumes a gigantic form whilst fighting Kratos in their fight in God of War II.

Ares

"You have no idea what a true monster is, Kratos!"

Voiced by: Steve Blum (English, God of War, Ascension), Fred Tatasciore (English, God of War III)^{additional VAs}

"I have taught you many ways to kill a mortal, Kratos. Flesh that burns, bones that break. But to break a man's spirit is to truly destroy him."

The God of War himself. Ares was appealed to by Kratos and gave the young Spartan the power to fell his enemies in exchange for his servitude. However, he pulled a dirty trick on Kratos by making him kill his own family to shape him into the ultimate warrior. Kratos kills him in revenge and succeeds him as the new God of War.

Abusive Parents: As shown in Ascencion, Ares treated his son, Orkos, as a disappointment and not worth looking after when he finds out that Orkos was not fit to be the perfect warrior that Ares envisioned.
Adaptational Badass: The real Ares in the mythology was something of a loser who was humiliated by mortals of all things, most notably in the Illiad where he was forced to flee from the battlefield by the Greek hero Diomedes. Here, he's a flame-wreathed world-conquering badass and Kratos literally needs to become a god himself in order to defeat him.
Adaptational Villainy: While Ares was hardly a nice guy in the original myths, he never tried to take down Olympus and conquer the world. Another factor to consider is that he wasn't under the influence of the evils in Pandora's Box when he did the horrible things he did. Furthermore, the novelization significantly jacks up the number of his crimes.
Antagonistic Offspring: He's a son of Zeus and the only one who is openly against the King of the Olympian Gods. Ares isn't exactly shy about his desire to overthrow his father and take over Olympus for himself and proudly proclaims his intentions just before his fight against Kratos. Of course, the Olympian Gods weren't fond of Ares and entrusted Kratos to kill him, seeing as the Ghost of Sparta already had a major score to settle with the god of war.
Arachnid Appearance and Attire: Ares is depicted with spider-like legs protruding from his back.
Arch-Enemy: Despite the fact that, unlike Zeus, Kratos only contends with Ares for one game, the original god of war has an indelible impact on Kratos, having tricked the Spartan into murdering his own family. Destroying Ares is Kratos' driving force in both Ascension and the original God of War, and Ares' actions left Kratos the rage-filled shell of a man he is throughout the rest of the series. Even in the Norse era, where Kratos' hatred for Zeus has cooled into regret for his act of patricide, his loathing of Ares remains; the one time he speaks of him, Kratos refers to Ares as "a cruel god" and bitterly describes Ares tricking him into killing his wife and daughter.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Can grow to this size, just like his father and uncle Hades.
Ax-Crazy: Ares is a bloodthirsty maniac who revels in destruction and murder, and his status as a War God is just an excuse for him to justify himself being a warmonger who enjoys his actions too much. The novelization ramps this aspect up, with Ares indiscriminately destroying a forest on his way to Athens and killing animals and children with vicious glee.
The Bad Guy Wins: As revealed in Ascension, he wanted to mold Kratos into the perfect warrior to take down Olympus and kill Zeus. It only happened after he himself died and was replaced, but by III, his plan works.
Baritone of Strength: Steve Blum's trademark deep, gruff voice fits this formidable War God like a glove.
Beard of Evil: Ares sports a huge, fiery beard, and is evil enough to trick people into killing their own families.
Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted to make Kratos into a great warrior, the perfect one who would be able to take down Olympus. He succeeded.
Big Bad: Of the first game. Ares is responsible for turning Kratos into the Ghost of Sparta and for tricking him into killing his family as part of his plan to make the Spartan into a great warrior and take over Olympus.
Blood Knight: As the Greek pantheon's God of War, Ares' existence is based on war and conflict, so he unsurprisingly relishes in combat and bloodshed.
Cain and Abel: Ares despises his sister Athena, laying waste to Athens to spite her. He also has such a relationship with Kratos, his half-brother.
Combat Pragmatist: As befitting Olympus' God of War, he knows every possible way to fight and destroy one's opponents.
Ares: I have taught you many ways to kill a mortal, Kratos; flesh that burns, bones that break. But to break a man's spirit... that is to truly destroy him!
The Corrupter: Probably acted as this to the Furies, as a note by a scribe in their citadel notes that they were hard but fair before Ares met with them rather than the evil sadists they became afterwards.
Create Your Own Hero: Ares made Kratos kill his own family, thus making him into an unstoppable, vengeful killing machine. All because he wanted to create a perfect warrior to help him take over Olympus. Both Ares and Kratos lampshaded this in the first game:
Ares: That day... I was trying to make you a great warrior!
Kratos: You succeeded.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Ares delivers Kratos the news that he arranged to have him kill his own family so that Kratos could focus on becoming the perfect warrior, expecting him to accept it and continue his service. What happens instead is Kratos renouncing his oath to Ares and forming a grudge against Olympus that would eventually lead him to destroy the entire pantheon.
Evil Is Burning Hot: He has a notable association with fire, with many of his attacks spewing flames and possessing Flaming Hair. He's also the most unabashedly evil of the Greek gods.
Evil Is Petty: He has Kratos kill his own family, then gives him the illusory chance of saving them, and kills them again when Kratos succeeds purely to screw with the Ghost of Sparta.
Evil Sounds Deep: Comes with the territory of being voiced by Steve Blum, whose signature gravelly baritone makes Ares sound every bit like the formidable War God he is.
Final Boss: Ares serves as Kratos' final opponent in the first game.
Fire Is Masculine: Ares is a War God who possesses the love of violence and bloodshed one would expect such a deity to have. He also has a full head of Flaming Hair.
Flaming Hair: It makes him look even more strange and not-human.
Flaming Sword: At this point, you must ask yourself if he's the god of fire rather than Hephaestus.
God of Evil: He isn't actually this, but he's the closest because he was evil by choice and not because he was possessed by the evils of Pandora's box.
Gone Horribly Right: Much of what he did was an attempt to shape Kratos into a mighty warrior. He succeeded, but he wound up meeting his end at Kratos' hands.
Greater-Scope Villain: In Ascension, where even though he never physically appears besides the flashbacks and mentions, he's the one who orders the Furies to capture Kratos and the plot of Ascension centers around Kratos attempting to break his blood oath to Ares by killing the Furies.
Green-Eyed Monster: We never see anything proving his claim that Zeus favors Athena, but Ares is still plenty envious of her nonetheless.
Hated by All: Ares' own family hates him, helps Kratos to fight him, and, although Athena claims otherwise, none of them seem particularly upset after Kratos kills him. A subtle but very telling example of this is seen when Hades fights Kratos in the third game; Hades invokes Athena, Poseidon, and Persephone, all of whom Kratos has killed by this point, as reasons that he wants him dead, but makes no mention of Ares.
Hate Sink: The most prominent one in the entire series. While the Greek and Norse pantheons Kratos upends are beyond flawed, the individual figures either had external curses thrust upon them, truly believed that what they were doing was for the good of their realm, or were victims of centuries of trauma and abuse. Ares, however, has nothing to fall back on. He was always a bloodthirsty, spiteful deity who poisoned any individuals he became involved with, all so he could eventually claim Olympus for himself, and no evil he enacts comes from anywhere but his selfish desires. To put it simply: Ares seems to be the only god Kratos, reformed and remorseful over his past actions, has no regrets killing.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he finally dies, courtesy of Kratos shoving his blade straight through his chest.
Improbable Aiming Skills: While in Athens, he throws a pillar that impales Kratos, who was in the Temple Of Pandora deep in the Desert Of Lost Souls. Justified because he's a god.
Irony: Ares's beard lacks a mustache, which have a history of being associated with military services^note. Lacking a mustache is seen by other cultures as a symbol of non-violence and pacifism, and anti-war protestors would either grow beards or shave only their mustaches as a rejection of militarism. Ironically, growing out a beard and shaving your mustache would however have been standard practice in the military of ancient Sparta.
It's All About Me: At the end of the day, all Ares cares about is his ambitions to take over Olympus for himself. Everybody is either something to kill or a tool to be used for his own goals. For example, when overseeing Kratos cradling the remains of his wife and daughter, all Ares talks about is how he's becoming the perfect warrior and has impressed him, not even bothering to mention Lysandra and Calliope.
Karmic Death: Ares' desire to mold Kratos into the perfect warrior was ultimately what led to his death. Ares himself seems to realize this in the last seconds of his life.
Lack of Empathy: After Kratos accidentally killed his family, Ares immediately appeared to him and declared that with them gone, nothing was stopping Kratos from becoming an even greater warrior; that Kratos was utterly shattered from losing his wife and daughter didn't matter at all to Ares, who seemed to expect Kratos to be grateful for what happened. Even at the literal point of death, Ares still tries to defend his actions as being for Kratos' betterment, to no avail.
Made of Iron: He isn't the god of war for nothing. His warriors in Ascension are Glass Cannons, but Ares is both strong and resilient; Kratos has access to powerful weapons, magic and was even empowered by Pandora's Box, but despite that Ares still takes a LOT of punishment before finally going down.
Manipulative Bastard: He tricked Kratos into slaughtering his own family and planned to use him as a weapon to overthrow Olympus. Guess what? It works.
Mind Rape: He pulled Kratos in this when he couldn't defeat him physically.
Position of Literal Power: They don't call him the god of war for nothing. He kills Kratos with no effort whatsoever in the first game (for all the good that ever does), and puts up one hell of a fight at the end of the game.
Posthumous Villain Victory: Ares' goal of overthrowing Zeus and bringing down Olympus comes to pass... at Kratos' hands long after the Spartan has killed Ares.
Predecessor Villain: For the series following his death at the end of the first game. His actions, based around the desire to overthrow Olympus, ultimately drive Kratos down the paths he takes; Kratos' own flaws play a role, but Ares leaned on them as hard as he could and set every destructive thing in motion that happens in the series; including (unwittingly) the corruption of his fellow deities by the opening of Pandora's Box, which was done specifically to defeat Ares in the first place. There's a reason the series is called GOD OF WAR instead of being named after Kratos.
The Resenter: He has quite the grudge against Athena, probably because he thinks she's daddy's favourite. Ironically, Zeus abandons her to die in the sequel to save his own skin when Kratos has him dead to rights.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: More orange-ish, but his eyes light up now and again in the artworks depicting him.
Satanic Archetype: Embodies this so much that it hurts. While many people often attribute Hades to this, Ares has shown to bear more parallels to Satan than any one else throughout the story.
- Virtually everyone hates him. In fact, the only people who seem to show any kind of fondness for him are his followers. Even his own family is disapproving of him, despite Athena's claims that they were in mourning after his death.
- He’s referred to as a Fallen God.
- As the god of war, he clearly revels in starting battles and generally leaving chaos in his wake.
- As described above, it would seem his influence caused the Furies to stray from their path of hard but fair judgment into a more sadistic and malevolent one.
- As opposed to the gold and white robes and armor worn by his father, sister and others on Olympus, Ares’s armor is far more sinister in design, befitting his status as the god of war. Complete with hellhound motifs. In addition to this, his weapons are also more sinister than the weapons used by his fellow gods, having the same hellhound design as his armor, and well as having the ability to channel hellfire through them.
- Despite not being the god of it, Ares has a very strong fire motif (his hair for example) and summons hellfire in battle as opposed to lightning, sunlight/light, or other elements like the other Olympians.
  - Some of his weapons are also shown to be made out of hellfire as well.
- He doesn't think to highly of humans, as despite all that Kratos had done up until his battle with the war god, even gaining the power of hope from Pandora's box and growing to the size of a mountain, Ares claims that Kratos is still "just a mortal."
- He’s a manipulator who fooled Kratos into attacking his family. He also considers breaking an opponent's spirit as the true way to defeat them.
- His actions have all contributed to everything bad that happens in the story.
- He also had the desire to rebel against his father and overthrow him. Then he would reign over Olympus and possibly even bring it down eventually.
- He promised victory to Kratos in exchange for his service, but ultimately twisted this around so that Kratos would attack his own family.
- He briefly shouts up to Olympus and brags to his father about his accomplishments and how Zeus was foolish for sending a "broken mortal" to defeat him.
- He's generally not the nicest deity around.
- The fact that he tossed Orkos aside and how he lied to Kratos despite the latters servitude shows that he only cares about his own agenda.
- Knowing all of this, one could see the "perfect warrior" he wanted to create as an Anti Christ-like figure.
- What is also notable is that all of this was done out of his own accord. He wasn't affected by the evils of Pandora's Box like the rest of his family.
Small Role, Big Impact: Ares only appears functionally as a character in one game within the entire series, and even then, he serves little more as a goal for Kratos to eventually claim his vengeance and doesn't present himself as much more than a Generic Doomsday Villain who wants to Take Over the World in the few scenes he does have. However, his machinations set in motion the entire saga by being the architect of Kratos's Tragic Backstory to ensure he becomes his perfect warrior that ultimately led to the destruction of the status quo of two entire mythological pantheons. There's a reason why the whole series is named God of War after all.
Smug Snake: Downplayed compared to his mythological inspiration, who suffered multiple defeats more humiliating than whatever brash battle-hunger he displayed. This depiction of Ares truly is an outstandingly powerful god, a fearsome warrior, and a clever tactician, even stated in supplemental materials to be tied with Athena as the fourth mightiest god of the pantheon. He came up with multiple plots to overthrow his father, and when none panned out, he was quick to improvise their detrimental consequences away, as seen with how quickly he disposed of Kratos when the latter acquired Pandora's Box and thus the means to harm him. But ultimately, he never learned to stop underestimating Kratos's drive, and it was assuming that Kratos cared more about raw power and victory than he did his family, or literally turning his back on the notion that a mortal like Kratos could kill a god like him, that undid him.
Spider Limbs: That protrude from his back, and can be used as weapons or shields.
The Starscream: As seen in the quote below, he did entertain the notion of dethroning Zeus. And, as Ascension revealed, it was his whole plan all along.
The Unfavorite: According to the end of the first game, at least part of the reason for his rampage through Athens is because Zeus favored Athena over him.
Take Over the World: In Ascension, it was revealed that Ares always wanted to take over and possibly destroy Olympus. That's why he wanted Kratos to be the perfect warrior; so he could do it for him, since the gods were forbidden from fighting one another.
Token Evil Teammate: While it's downplayed, as no one in the Greek Pantheon is anywhere close to a saint, Ares is by far the evilest and most malicious out of them all here, to the point where none of the other Olympians raise any objection to Kratos killing him and seem to unanimously think he got his just desserts. Ares is also the only Olympian that wasn't infected by Pandora's box, meaning he's the only one that actively chose to commit his crimes.
Underestimating Badassery: Even after Kratos claimed the power from Pandora's Box, Ares dismissed him as "still just a mortal". It was the last mistake Ares would ever make.
Unexplained Recovery: Sort of. He's still stone dead, but in III, he's shown buried in a glass tomb in the floor during the tutorial, and despite detonating in a huge explosion upon his death in the first one he's perfectly intact for an unexplained reason.
Villain Ball: He proclaims his victory towards Zeus after having destroyed Athena's city, and claims Pandora's Box. Then Kratos comes Back from the Dead, and Kratos throws Zeus' lightning at the chain holding the box. More inexcusable when Kratos slid down a mountain to open the box while Ares just stands there doing nothing.
Villainous Legacy: Everything that happens after his death throughout the whole God of War series, from Kratos's destructive tendencies, the corruption of the gods, and the destruction of the world, is caused by Ares's machinations.
Villains Want Mercy: As befitting his mythological namesake's cowardice in the face of defeat, Ares meekly justifies his actions to Kratos once he's finally defeated, trying to pass off his trickery as an attempt to make Kratos a stronger ally that ought to spare the God that 'uplifted' him. Kratos acknowledges he succeeded, before running him through.
War God: The ultimate and the most known example, and he lives up to the title when he attacks Athens.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: A bizarre combination of this and For the Evulz is also the reason why he attacked not just Athens, but the rest of Greece as well.
Ares: Zeus! Do you see now what your son can do?! You cast your favor on Athena, but her city lies in ruins before me! And now, even Pandora's Box is mine! Would you have me use it against Olympus itself?!

Persephone

Voiced by: Marina Gordon

The Goddess of the Underworld and Hades's wife.

Badass Boast: "Spartan, witness the end!"
Bond Villain Stupidity: Had she not decided to rub in Kratos' face how thoroughly he was duped, Kratos would have been none the wiser, and stayed in the Elysian Fields with his daughter until her plans were completed. But she did, and guess how it ended.
Breast Plate: Averted by her Hoplite-like outfit in her battle form.
The Chessmaster: Persephone freed Atlas and instructed him to kidnap Helios, knowing that Morpheus would exploit the opportunity and create a big enough distraction from her own goals to allow her to proceed uninterrupted. She also uses visions of Calliope to manipulate Kratos into abandoning his mission to rescue Helios.
Dark Is Evil: The black-clad Queen of the Underworld and the Big Bad of Chains of Olympus.
Death Seeker: She intends to destroy the world, and herself with it, out of spite.
Disproportionate Retribution: Her revenge against the gods for sticking her in an unhappy marriage is to destroy all reality and herself with it.
Dying Curse: "Your suffering will never end, Ghost of Sparta."
Even Evil Can Be Loved: Hades, either oblivious or uncaring about Persephone's villainy and hatred of him in particularly, deeply loves her, mourns her death, and cites Kratos killing her as his primary grudge against the Spartan.
Evil Gloating: After tricking Kratos into giving up his powers to enter the Elysian Fields, she takes the time to indulge in this, bragging about how she's behind the plot to kidnap Helios and destroy the Pillar of the World, and since Kratos fell for her tricks, there's nothing he can do to stop her. This, of course, motivates Kratos to regain his powers and thwart her.
Eviler than Thou: Morpheus simply wanted to rule the world, but Persephone wanted to destroy all of existence.
Final Boss: Of Chains of Olympus.
Foil: For Kratos himself. Both of them have legitimate grievances with the gods and both are willing to go to extremes for their revenge. They're both Genius Bruisers, but emphasise opposite qualities of that trait; Kratos is a warrior, first and foremost, while Persephone is a cunning chessmaster who fights when she needs to. They both end up seeking to destroy Olympus, but unlike Persephone, who would have torn all of creation apart, Kratos' grudge is explicitly with the gods, and he doesn't seek to destroy the rest of the world in the process (not that he exactly goes out of his way to prevent collateral damage).
Hypocrite:
- Persephone accuses Kratos, and by extension, all of humanity, of always selfishly putting their own needs before those of others. Persephone, for her own part, is trying to destroy Olympus, and with it, the entire world and Elysium as well, to get revenge on the gods for allowing her unwanted marriage to Hades, dooming not only those responsible for her pain, but countless innocents as well.
- She criticises Kratos for selfishly choosing to abandon his mission to be with his daughter, a choice Kratos would never have made if Persephone herself hadn't offered it to him.
Hypocrite Has a Point: While she's the last person to be lecturing him about it, Persephone is right on the money that Kratos is an intensely selfish man. Not only is his selfishness one of his defining qualities, but he didn't hesitate for a second to accept Persephone's offer to forsake his powers and join Calliope in Elysium, abandoning the gods he'd sworn to serve to the mercies of Morpheus.
It's All About Me: Enraged at her unwanted marriage to Hades and being forsaken by the gods, Persephone is happy to doom all of reality, Earth, Olympus, and the Underworld alike, to make up for her own grievances.
Ms. Fanservice: Her dress is very... flattering.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Her black dress has a plunging v-shaped neckline that reaches her stomach.
Omnicidal Maniac: Her end goal was to destroy the Pillar of the World, which would have destroyed everything — Earth, Olympus, and the Underworld.
One-Winged Angel: An armored form with wings.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to Kratos when he gives up his powers to enter the Elysian Fields and be with Calliope, calling him an idiot for not realizing that without his powers, he can't save the world and everyone will be destroyed.
Sadly Mythtaken: Her hatred of her husband Hades is wildly different than the myth, where he won her over, she married willingly and their marriage was one of the most loving and healthy among the Olympians, with both staying faithful to one another. Interestingly, this trope is only in effect from Persephone's angle as Hades is presented as a loving, grieving husband in God of War III and his hatred for Kratos is fuelled by a desire for vengeance against her killer.
Sexy Backless Outfit: It's not only backless, it exposes the top of her butt.
The Stoic: She's extremely cold and unemotional.
Statuesque Stunner: While not gigantic as other gods can be, she is unnaturally taller than Kratos, though still attractive.
Straw Nihilist: She views existence as pointless, which is why she's willing to wipe out the world.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: She was so sick of her Arranged Marriage to Hades that she decided to destroy the world and herself with it.
Tennis Boss: Her boss fight has her throwing energy blasts at Kratos, who reflects them using a shield.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: She's married to the far less attractive, borderline demonic Hades.
Vapor Wear: Her Sexy Backless Outfit shows that she isn't wearing a bra nor panties.
Villain Ball: She'd 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.
Villain Has a Point: Persephone's main grievance— that she was tricked into marrying a man she didn't love and is forced to stay in that marriage— is legitimate, as is her feeling that she was abandoned by her fellow Olympians, none of whom lifted a finger to do anything to help her. The bit where she destroys the world to get back at them, not so much.
Walking Spoiler: Talking too much about her character gives away the big reveal of Chain of Olympus.
Winged Humanoid: Her One-Winged Angel form.

Thanatos

Voiced by: Arthur Burghardt (English)^{additional VAs}

The God of Death who predates the Olympian Gods.

Arc Villain: Of Ghost of Sparta.
Badass Boast
Thanatos: If you persist, not even the Fates will prevent me from ending your path.
Demonic Possession: He can do this to corpses in order to taunt Kratos.
The Dreaded: Outright stated to be this to both the gods (barring Kratos) and the titans.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Seems to genuinely love his daughter Erinys, judging by his reaction when Kratos kills her.
Everybody Hates Hades: He plays this straight where the God Of War writers tried to avert it with Hades himself. He's a god of death who also happens to be a callous monster who separated Kratos from his brother for years, and finally kills Deimos before Kratos defeats him, purely out of spite.
Evil Laugh: Makes use of it while fighting Kratos.
Eye Scream: Deimos spears his right eye with the Arms of Sparta.
Final Boss: Of Ghost of Sparta.
Lean and Mean: And very tall to boot.
Mistaken Identity: Once Kratos frees Deimos, Thanatos realizes Ares chose the wrong Spartan youth; Kratos is the "marked warrior" the oracle spoke of, the mark being the ashes of his wife and daughter fused to his skin.
One-Winged Angel: A giant black skeletal demon with wings.
Papa Wolf: Swears revenge when Kratos kills his daughter, Erinys.
Sadly Mythtaken: Not a terrible example, but Thanatos was the god of peaceful death (though considering how his being tied up prevented Ares from killing anyone, Thanatos technically embodies all death, including violent death, while the Keres deal in death by blood loss and not other forms of death by violence). Moros, the personification/god of doom, more fits Thanatos' characterization of a being feared by all.
Winged Humanoid: Which causes him to resemble a twisted angel.
You Can't Fight Fate:
Thanatos: Nothing you do is of your own choosing.

The Furies

In General

Blue-and-Orange Morality: One of the notes from the Scribe of Hecatonchires states that the Furies "follow their own view of right and wrong."
Doomed by Canon: Not surprising, given that they're the main antagonists in a prequel.
Face–Heel Turn: While its a stretch to call them "good" due to their Blue-and-Orange Morality, Orkos said they used to be more fair before Ares came along and corrupted them, turning them into the more cruel beings we see in the game.
Foil: To the Sisters of Fate in II. Both are Primordial beings older than both gods and titans and are also subservient to Olympus and they even resemble each other closely: Lachesis and Alecto being the leader and the most humanoid of them all, Atropos and Tisiphone being the most cruel, and Clotho and Megaera being the most inhuman with multiple limbs. The key difference is that the Fates are loyal to Zeus, while the Furies are loyal to Ares and are secretly aiding him to overthrow his father.
Lawful Stupid: All of them are ridiculously obsessed in imposing blood oaths, regardless of the morality of breaking them or their own survival. Subverted, the real reason they are enforcing Kratos' oath to Ares is because they are working with Ares to bring down Olympus, and Kratos is a crucial part of the plan.
Master of Illusion: They all use illusions to try and break Kratos's will.
Time Abyss: They predate even the Titans.
Villain Ball: They have successfully captured Kratos and confiscate all the relics he has obtained through the course of his journey. However, rather than destroying those items or hide them somewhere secure such as the Statue of Apollo, they chose to keep it within their pockets, allowing Kratos to retrieve them back and ultimately lead to their downfall.
Villainous Crush: Implied. Alecto says to Kratos that should he continue to serve Ares, they would grant him the pleasant illusion of being with his wife and daughter again, with them posing as his wife. Naturally, Kratos refuses.

Megaera

Voiced by: Nika Futterman (English)^{additional VAs}

The Fury of Jealousy.

Body Horror: She spawns her Puppeteer Parasites from some nasty-looking rash on her chest.
Climax Boss: Chronologically and gameplay wise, she serves as the penultimate boss of Ascension.
Handicapped Badass: Lost her right arm in a previous fight with Kratos.
It's Personal: Unlike her sisters, who merely see taking on Kratos as a duty, she wants revenge for him taking her arm.
Fan Disservice: Megaera's cleavage is very open and has some disgusting rash where her parasites spawn from.
Lovecraftian Superpower: Her ability to spawn parasites to infect other living beings and turns them into monsters is unlike anything seen in Greek myths and more in line with a H.P. Lovecraft story.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While beating up Kratos, she inadvertently broke some of the chains that were keeping him prisoner and helped him escape.
Spider Limbs: That protrude from her back and she uses them to move quickly across Aegeon and the prison, as well as form a way to attack.
Starter Villain: Chronologically, she is the first being killed of the immortals Kratos fights. Her Boss Battle is in the tutorial, in the earliest game. The majority of the game tells How We Got Here.

Alecto

Voiced by: Jennifer Hale (English)^{additional VAs}

The Fury of Anger.

Abusive Parent: To Orkos when he wasn't born the powerful warrior she and Ares desired.
All for Nothing: Taunts Kratos with the fact that slaying the Furies will do nothing to undo or save him from the sins of his past.
Alecto: My death will not free you from this madness!
Arc Villain: Of Ascension.
Body Horror: Not as bad as Megaera, but when she transforms into her sea monster form, her body begins to secrete black ink-like ooze in messy spurts with disgusting squelching sounds, all while she writhes on the floor and laughs. Her legs fuse together into a long tail and two spiked tentacles emerge from her waist, all while her voice lowers down several octaves. And while all this is going on, Alecto is now giving off so much sludge from her upper body that one can barely even see what she is turning into.
Combat Tentacles: Has six giant ones lined with spikes when in her sea monster form, big enough to grip and toss ships through the air. Kratos blasts one of them off with an explosive stab, leaving her with only five for the final phase.
Dark Is Evil: There's some tar-like dark matter sliding across her skin, and she's the most evil of the Furies.
Defeat Equals Explosion: When she is killed by Kratos, her body turns into a mass of black goo which quickly disintegrate into nothingness.
Evil Laugh: Lets out a distorted one as she twists and melts into her tentacled monster form.
Eye Scream: Monster Alecto has her left eye stabbed by Kratos at the climax of their fight. Oddly enough, the wound doesn't carry over to her normal form one she transforms back, though she is still heavily weakened.
Final Boss: Pairs with Tisiphone as the final boss of Ascension.
Lotus-Eater Machine: She offers Kratos the option to live out his life in one of these, reunited with his family, in exchange for renewing his loyalty to Ares and assisting in the plan to overthrow Zeus. Kratos, much to Alecto's fury, rebuffs her.
Alecto: If this is what keeps you in service to Lord Ares, then this is what you shall have.
Kratos: It is not real!
Alecto: ( taking the form of Kratos' wife) I can be your reality. (returns to her true form) The hard part is over, Spartan. You have committed the ultimate sacrifice. Offer yourself to us completely, and you shall live in blissful illusion.
Kratos: Never!
Alecto: (furious) Then let death be your reality!
One-Winged Angel: Turns into a giant Kraken-like monster during the final boss battle. This form is often confused with Charybdis, which apparently was going to be a separate boss at first, but there's nothing in the game to confirm the relation between the two.
Scary Teeth: Instead of a beak for a mouth like a squid or octopus, Alecto's Kraken-like form has a cluster of curved fangs that jut out of her upper jaw.
Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Briefly takes on the form of Kratos' wife Lysandra when he has the upper hand. Kratos hesitates for a brief moment before brushing it off and continuing his assault.
Tentacled Terror: Her giant sea monster form. It's so large that she was able to drag down the broken Statue of Apollo into the sea to keep Kratos from reaching the Lantern of Delos within.
We Can Rule Together: While all the Furies were in cahoots with Ares's plan to overthrow Zeus and claim Olympus, Alecto was Ares's mistress and thus would've had the most to gain from such a plan.

Tisiphone

Voiced by: Debi Mae West (English)^{additional VAs}

The Fury of Vengeance.

Armed Legs: As seen in the example picture of her, Tisiphone can cover her legs with illusion magic in the form of curved hooks to make her swooping kicks more dangerous.
Defiant to the End: Her last act before being killed is to take the form of the oracle of the temple where Kratos massacred his family and taunt him over the murders one last time.
Dual Boss: Pairs up with both Megaera and Alecto as both the penultimate and Final Boss of Ascension.
Familiar: Daimon, a skeletal bird of fire that helps her fly, acts as her primary combat method, and appears to be made of illusions.
Guardian Entity: Tisiphone fights with a monster-bird called Daimon which can move her around, attack on her behalf or turn into multicolor fire to attack from above. When Kratos dispels Daimon, Tisiphone is seemingly in great pain, becoming vulnerable to Kratos' finishing attack.
Honey Trap: Conjures an entire illusory harem of topless, bisexual beauties to seduce and kill Kratos, but fails when he sees through her ploy.
In the Hood: She wears a black hood with ornamental horns.
Logical Weakness: Not herself particularly, but Daimon. While the Eyes of Truth typically allow Kratos to stun enemies and dispel the illusions cast by the Furies, he ends up using them as a makeshift weapon to beat Daimon into submission when it tries to protect her from being finished off in the climax. Kratos then forces the mask-like trinket onto Daimon's face as it tries to get up, the beast exploding into light as soon as it make contact.
Master of Illusion: She makes illusions so good they're almost indistinguishable from reality, and even her familiar Daimon seems to be a solid illusion.
Ms. Fanservice: Tisiphone assumes the form of a topless concubine to seduce Kratos and presumably lead him to his doom. Otherwise, her default appearance is just as sinister as her sisters.
Neck Snap: Receives one following her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Is on the receiving end of one by Kratos at the end of the game.
Spotting the Thread: Kratos is able to see through her illusion because she is wearing Lysandra's ring. Before that, he needed to find an artifact to see through her mirages.
Technicolor Fire: Through Daimon she can summon rainbow-colored fire to attack.

Norse Era

Odin

See his page here for more info

Thor

Voiced by: Ryan Hurst (English), Takanori Hoshino (Japanese)^{additional VAs}Gabriel Noya (Brazilian Portuguese)

"If this is the end, you’ll die FIRST!"'

^{Click here to see his appearance in God of War (2018)}

"You're not from here. We got a tradition called "blood payments". It means I get a piece of you, for what you took from my family. You'll pick it up."

Thor is the Norse Aesir God of thunder, lightning, storms, wrestling and strength. He is the son of Odin and Fjörgyn, husband of Sif, and half-brother Baldur. The father of Magni, Modi, Thrúd, step-father of Ullr and uncle of Forseti.

He is renowned across the Nine Realms for being the slayer of the Giant race, and the strongest of Odin's children. Thor serves as Odin's right-hand and primary enforcer, typically being sent as his envoy when intimidation is required. Following the onset of Fimbulwinter, Thor is tasked by Odin to negotiate with Kratos with the goal of preventing Ragnarök.

Abusive Parents: He's notable for being on both the giving end and the receiving end of this at the same time.
- On the giving side: When Modi returns to him in failure, Thor blames him for leaving Magni to die and beats him bloody to the point that he cannot stand properly. Downplayed, as when he shows up for his initial boss fight in Ragnarök, he makes it clear he's avenging Modi too. It's also implied that him beating Modi bloody was a moment of weakness, and he's completely fallen into a self-destructive spiral over the deaths of his sons, so he does in fact love both of them. Mimir later clarifies that he and Sif were abusive towards Magni and Modi, but later came to regret it and realized their shortcomings after the deaths of Magni and Modi, pledging themselves to be better for the sake of their only surviving child Thrúd.
- On the receiving side: Odin consistently uses Thor as his Dumb Muscle, even telling him not to think too hard about his orders and to just do them. Odin, also known for being a manipulator and liar, makes Thor subservient by playing on Thor's regrets and his bad habits. And when Thor appeared to be turning it all around, Odin's machinations and manipulations pushed Thor back into the same regrets he'd almost escaped from, causing Thor to fall off the wagon again and decide that he'd just stop trying to be a better person anymore. Just before the Final Boss fight against Odin, Kratos seems to have finally gotten through to Thor that he can choose to be better, especially for the sake of his children. Odin even tries telling Thor to kill Kratos, but Thor answers with a hard "no" to Odin's command. As a result, Thor can't act on this new development when Odin kills Thor.
Acrofatic: His bulky build does little to slow him down in a fight.
Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Thor in mythology was known for a lot of things — an eager and talented warrior, protector of mortals, not very bright, quick to anger and a real party animal — and while these are normally considered positives in Viking culture, here these qualities are the cause and symptoms of a lot of psychological hangups. He's a warrior and is really good at killing, but beneath it all he believes that it's all he's good for, with implications that he and his wife are trying to dissuade their daughter Thrud from becoming another casualty in Odin's machinations. His father Odin sees him as nothing more than a dumb brute and never wastes a second to remind him of this. He's a hard-drinker and can be routinely found in Valhalla stuffing his face with mead, but Thrud's actions imply that his drinking has become a serious problem and he is prone to fits of violence when provoked in this state. While he is more than happy to kill Kratos to avenge his sons Magni and Móði, he decides to spare Kratos when the Ghost of Sparta manages to put of a good fight, implying that he is looking forward to Kratos putting him out of his misery.
Thor: Let it be known the God of Thunder is good for TWO THINGS! Killing Giants... and pissing mead.
Adaptational Curves: Thor was never really given a definitive description in Norse mythology as there are minimal hints to his physical appearance. In The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, he's described as handsome and possessing a red beard, whereas in the Poetic Edda, Thor is described as having long hair, a long beard, and fierce eyes. The idea of Thor being burly comes from his voracious appetite as Thor famously and unknowingly drank a third of the ocean in the Tale of Utgarda-Loki and in the Þrymskviða, Thor ferociously consumed an entire ox, eight salmon, an entire wedding cake, and three casks of mead during the wedding to Thrym.
Adaptational Dumbass: Played With. Thor is more simple and straightforward than Odin or Loki in the myths, but he was still cunning, such as when he outwitted the dwarf Alvíss in the Poetic Edda, while in 2018 several Norse legends are retold by Mimir in a context that emphasizes how much of an oaf Thor can sometimes be — Thrym stealing Mjolnir away from Thor while he slept is treated as being just as much the Thunder God's own fault for his carelessness; similarly, Thor bashing in Hrungir's head left him vulnerable from the shock of stone debris lodging itself in his skull, and his Aesir family only roared with laughter while he was pinned down by the jötunn's falling corpse and gravely injured, not seeking help for some time. His appearance in Ragnarök, however, suggests that these stories may be somewhat overstated or biased, as Thor is certainly blunt and straightforward, but not outright stupid, using much more than brute force in his fight against Kratos and easily foreseeing an attempt of the Ghost of Sparta to knock down a pillar behind him, stating how cleverness isn't enough to beat him. However, he is often derided as such by Odin and has internalized the idea that he is nothing more than a dumb brute.
Adaptational Ugliness: This is actually one of the more unflattering yet realistic physical depictions of the God of Thunder. In the Norse myths, Thor is simply described as handsome by Oddr Snorrason in The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason. In Ragnarök, he appears burly and muscular with a scar across his right eye and discoloring around the right side of his face after the incident with Hrungnir. His hair and facial hair appear unkempt and bushy, but he's not outright ugly and his physique is more that of a Strongman or Powerlifter than anything like that of an obese man's. With what is revealed about him in Ragnarök, it is possible he might have once been handsome, but he has since stopped caring about his appearance due to his alcoholic depression.
Adaptational Villainy: Instead of being the protector of mankind and the force for good that he is in the legends, Thor is presented here as an Abusive Dad, a violent brute, and a boogeyman who killed the poor jötunn Thamur when the latter ran into him by accident with no concern for the collateral damage inflicted on humans. Since most of what we know of him is told from the point of view of Asgard's enemy, the perspective flip is understandable. In Ragnarök, it's ultimately played with and arguably subverted. He still did do a lot of terrible things, but Odin forced him to commit most of the atrocities, and the guilt has clearly eaten away at Thor to the extent that he's now only a shadow of his former self. In general, he's portrayed less as evil and more as a sad, traumatized man who made bad choices in his youth, lived to regret them, and has found himself trapped in a situation he can see no escape from.
Addled Addict: In Ragnarök, Thor's physical appearance appears to have fallen behind after the deaths of Magni and Modi, as well as living with the guilt of having slaughtered so many Jotnar, and has fallen into alcoholism to numb his depression. For context, Viking males were very keen on personal grooming and always tried to look their best by bathing every Saturday and there are various pieces of evidence of them owning several cleaning instruments (Tweezers, ear cleaning implements, and even combs were considered a universal possession by Vikings). With that in mind, it really shows how beaten down and depressed Thor is since his hair is overgrown and uncombed, his beard is unkempt, his obesity was likely caused by drinking too much, and his sunken eyes imply he's been sleeping rough because of his drinking too.
Alas, Poor Villain: Despite his brutality and reputation as the most vicious butcher of the Giant race, his death scene was portrayed as a tragic event, with him trying to reach out to Thrud one last time before dissolving to dust. Not only that, but Thor was killed just as he was starting to better himself on Kratos' advice.
Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: The most common descriptions of Thor in the first game are along the lines of "stupid", usually by Mimir and Brok; Ragnarok adds further context implying the situation is more this trope. Thor isn't outright dumb, but he's much more prone to screwing things up beyond repair and making a fool of himself when boozed out. Considering he was rarely sober in the time Mimir knew him, we can infer a lot of Thor's more embarrassing moments (getting crushed by Hrungnir's body, for one) were the result of this.
The Alcoholic: Ragnarök reveals that Thor has a beer belly from constant drinking in Asgard. This is explored in further depth where Thor's alcoholism are portrayed as deeply self destructive, a result of his self loathing at being Odin's attack dog and more recently his grief at the death of his sons.
Alcoholic Parent: He and Sif were alcoholic Troubled Abusers to Magni and Modi for much of their lives until their deaths at the hands of Atreus and Kratos. Thor and Sif vowed to go sober and do better with Thrud so they can have another chance at being good parents. Thor is shown to be struggling more than Sif but she and Thrud understand that he's genuinely trying to better himself for them.
Always a Bigger Fish: Baldur — the villain of the last game — was a muscular, extremely fast and strong, and highly skilled fistfighter and wrestler. But Thor is about as fast, just as skilled, even stronger, and so much more grotesquely huge and muscled that he makes Baldur look like a kid. Kratos even states that Thor is much unlike Baldur, being fully focused on the fight, and he notably succeeds at fighting Kratos to a stalemate, whereas even his brother with his invulnerability never managed to reach that far.
And This Is for...: During his first boss battle, he invokes the names of Baldur, Magni and Móði, in that order. He's furious when Kratos then calls him out on his favoritism.
Kratos: You put him last, even in death!
Thor: ...The FUCK you say?!
Animal Motif: Goats, as Mjölnir is designed with goat imagery and the hilt is designed with a goat head. In Ragnarök, you briefly see a pair of goats as an insignia on his belt.
Antagonist in Mourning: He's still mourning Baldur, Magni, and Modi. During the talk between Kratos, Odin, and Thor, he gets noticeably upset when Odin treats the deaths of his son and grandsons as lost assets rather than family. Odin treats Magni and Modi as something he could afford to lose and calls them "useless" to Thor's face, while also saying that Baldur "had value" because he was useful despite his mental illness.
Armor-Piercing Question: In his first fight with Kratos, Thor mocks him by asking a rhetorical one:
Thor: This is the god that murdered a pantheon 'cause they hurt his feelings?
Avenging the Villain: He's out for blood after the deaths of Baldur and his sons.
Ax-Crazy: From what stories that have been spoken of him, he's a violent maniac who is always two seconds away from killing someone. Ragnarök shows that he’s significantly more level-headed than described, suggesting he’s either mellowed out or some embellishment was taken.
Badass Fingersnap: He usually calls Mjölnir to him by snapping his fingers, but some moments in the game show the hammer coming to Thor's hand even without the gesture. This implies the finger-snapping isn't mandatory but a personal touch of Thor's.
Barbarian Long Hair: Thor has long dishevelled hair, accentuating his impulsive and unkempt appearance.
Baritone of Strength: He speaks with an impressively deep, rumbling voice befitting of the God of Thunder, one that almost puts Kratos' own deep voice to shame.
Beard of Evil: A very brief glimpse of his face shows that he has a beard, as expected from the Norse God of Thunder. In Ragnarök, his beard is quite unkempt.
Being Evil Sucks: After being hyped up as a warmongering, half raving mad oaf, most of Thor's actual screentime shows him looking, sounding, and acting like he's just tired of living. Being emotionally abused and gaslighted by Odin into being his unthinking soldier would definitely do that.
Beyond Redemption: Subverted. Thor hates himself so much that he believes there's no chance he can redeem himself after causing Modi's death and slaughtering the jötnar. However, Kratos and Atreus never give up in their efforts to have Thor get the message that he can always choose to be better. Towards the end of Ragnarök, Kratos manages to convince Thor that there is a chance to redeem himself through Thrud. However, he gets killed by Odin before he can put this into effect, so it ultimately goes nowhere.
Big Eater: Implied. While taking advantage of his followers' hospitality, it got to a point he had to be begged to leave by the matriarch, who Thor then killed in a drunken rage.
Blind Obedience: Follows Odin's orders without much question. Ragnarök reveals that Thor just craves Odin's approval and does what he tells him to try and gain his love, but it's obvious Thor doesn't agree with Odin's methods and ends up feeling guilty for a lot of what he's been ordered to do, such as his genocide against the Giants.
Blood Knight: Mimir describes him as the "biggest butchering bastard in the Nine Realms" and believes that Thor jumped at the opportunity to kill the Jotnar out of sadism, not because they have role in Ragnarök. And during his first battle with Kratos, he is clearly having the time of his life, laughing and cracking jokes throughout the fight. Ultimately deconstructed, as it gradually becomes clear that while he does enjoy a good scrap, he doesn't like actually hurting and killing people. The wars and genocide that his father forces him to take part in just leave him horrified, disturbed, traumatized, and depressed. He was also purposefully raised by said abusive father as a weapon, and that upbringing has left deep scars on Thor, such as a self-loathing certainty that he's incapable of being anything more than a murderer and a brute. The journal, written from Kratos' point of view, cites this as the greatest difference between him and Baldur. Baldur enjoyed causing pain, but Thor likes to fight for its own sake, making his attacks far more purposeful as he's focused on winning instead of hurting his opponent.
His bloodlust is for the fight itself, not for the suffering it inflicts.
Boomerang Bigot: Despite his hatred of the Jötnar, Thor himself is half-Jötunn on his mother's (Fjörgyun) side and technically an sixteenth-Jötunn on his father's (Ymir, father of Búri and progenitor of all Aesir, being his great-great-grandfather), and sired his sons with two different women both implied to be Jötnar. With Ragnarök's release, Thor's hatred actually seems to be a case of misdirected anger and guilt over his genocide of the Giants, possibly as a coping mechanism.
A Boy and His X: He had pet goats when he was younger, and requested Mjolnir have a goat motif in their honor.
Braids of Barbarism: His beard is braided and the hair on the back of his head is also decorated with braids.
Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Mimir tells Kratos and Atreus that Odin was a very abusive parent to Thor and forced discipline onto his son, where Thor then passed it onto Magni and Modi. After the deaths of his sons, Thor seems to have realized this (though isn't willing to admit it) and is desperately trying to become a better father for the sake of Thrud.
Mimir: Imagine learning discipline by having it thrashed in into you again and again. That was Thor's approach; the same one Odin used on him. A poisonous notion of manhood, passed down through the generations. A grim inheritance, leaving all of them the poorer.
Broken Ace: Thor is Asgard's strongest warrior, feared across all the realms for his strength and brutality. He's also no brute who relies on his strength alone, as his fights with Kratos show he's very adept at tactics and can easily counter whatever tricks his opponents use against him. He's also a man with serious psychological issues like self-loathing and guilt because of all the atrocities he has committed under Odin's name with the All Father piling on emotional abuse on top of this.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: A soft center that Odin has tried his level best to suppress and that Thor has mostly buried under drinking and depression, but despite Odin's abuse it's clear that Thor genuinely loves his family, even the less likeable ones like Baldur.
The Brute: Befitting his role as the Aesir's heavyweight and foremost brawler, Thor is a huge man; when he first strides up to Kratos, it's clear that he stands at least eight feet to the Spartan's 6'4".
The Butcher: He's regarded as the "biggest butchering bastard in all the nine realms" by Mimir. In the epilogue where he shows up in front of Kratos' door, the soundtrack actually refers to him as banamaður Þórr (Murderer Thor).
Character Tics: When Thor is feeling ashamed or guilty, he will avoid eye contact and this is shown twice in the game.
- After Heimdall's death, Thor relapses and starts drinking at a bar, resulting in a mass brawl where Atreus and Thrud have to carry him out. Once outside, Thrud scolds him for his actions but stops herself when she realizes that Thor is already feeling guilty and instead tells her father that she and Sif are there to support him and she's disappointed that he fell back into drinking. During the talk, Thor is so ashamed of himself that he refuses to look at her during the entire verbal lashing.
- During a talk between Kratos, Thor, and Odin, Odin dismisses Magni and Modi's deaths and tells Thor they were "kinda useless" to his face. While anyone other than Odin would be outright killed for showing such disrespect, Thor just turns his head and says something out of earshot. Either cursing himself for outliving his sons or outright cursing Odin for insulting his sons.
Co-Dragons: To Odin with Heimdall. Thor is explicitly mentioned as Odin's right hand, while Heimdall his left.
The Cameo: At the very end of the first game, Atreus has a dream of him showing up at Kratos' door.
Combat Pragmatist: In the boss battle with him, he's not above tossing Mjolnir and calling it back to trip up Kratos. He even commends him for taking a cheap shot when his back is turned.
Thor: If you're not fighting dirty then you're not fighting, am I right?!
Companion Cube: Thor treats Mjolnir as a living creature as shown by how he smears mead on it during the talk with Atreus and Kratos. According to Atreus, he talks to it and Atreus mistook it for an enchantment incantation but Mimir explains that Thor is just weird and there's nothing special about it. During the bar brawl in Asgard, Mjolnir can actually be seen dueling with Ingrid the divine sword seemingly without Thor being in control of it as he was busy brawling on the other side of the tavern. It's also worth noting that compared to Ingrid, Mjolnir does not "speak" or move around independently of Thor, implying he has some form of telepathy or the item has an empathetic link with Thor, where it would replicate his state of mind.
Conditioned to Be Weak: Thor is the strongest of the Aesir and his only known weaknesses are his fear of Odin and his self-hatred. Odin is implied to be aware of Thor's power and has browbeaten him into following every order without question and treats his own son as nothing more than a living tool. In the end, after fighting Kratos, Thor does manage to stand up to Odin for the first time in his life but is quickly killed by Odin, who tries to convince himself that he had to do it despite Atreus telling him otherwise.
Deadpan Snarker:
- When seeing Mimir's decapitated state, he notes Mimir's "lost some weight".
- He also casually calls Kratos a dumbass when Kratos falls for the Summon to Hand trick with Mjolnir.
- He can be pretty snarky during the segments where he accompanies Atreus.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Drunken Master. Thor was always imagined to be fond of drink and he famously (and unknowingly) drank a 3rd of the ocean in a contest against Utgard-Loki in Norse mythology. His drinking habits were written at that point to show that Thor is a man of the people who bonds with them by sharing stories and sharing a drink at the bar. In the game, however, Thor's love of alcohol is actually a sign of a major character flaw and it was just a way for Odin to keep Thor under his thumb as he drunkenly kills people whenever Odin orders him to. By the time of Ragnarok, it is shown that Thor is actually a deeply troubled man who's struggling to better himself for his wife and daughter after realizing how badly alcohol has dominated his life and how horrible a person he was when drunk. Thor now understands that his father sees him as nothing more than a vicious lapdog after enduring Odin's comments while sober, he abused his children, and Thor caused the death of Modi, his own son, by being violently drunk. After Thor slaughtered the giants, he reflected on his actions and realized that he killed them for no reason and chooses to blame himself instead of standing up to Odin. When he's shown drunkenly fighting in a bar brawl, it's all fun and games to him until he realizes how badly he's let down Thrud by relapsing into alcoholism after 3-4 years of sobriety.
Defeat Means Friendship: Kratos convinces Thor to stand down after a beatdown during the Ragnarok invasion when Kratos brings up that Kratos's son and Thor's daughter consider each other friends. He convinces Thor to bury the hatchet because they both owe it to their children to stop fighting. It's sadly short-lived, though: despite Thor's momentarily subsequent defiance towards his father Odin to his face, Odin murders Thor in a fit of pique.
Did Not Think This Through: He killed Hrungnir the Brawler by smashing his head to pieces, but didn't consider that pulverizing something that size made of stone would create shrapnel; a shard of stone went into his skull and briefly paralyzed him, leaving him unable to step out of the way when the corpse fell on top of him.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: In Norse mythology, Thor dies after being poisoned by Jormungandr during Ragnarök. In the game, he survives their fight and is killed by Odin instead.
The Dragon: Is Odin's, serving as his father's muscle and chief enforcer.
The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of Thor. And considering his insane arrival to Kratos's house in Ragnarök and the fact that he's able to fight the Spartan to a standstill (something that even Baldur couldn't do while he was still invulnerable), they have every right to be. Atreus never drops his guard around him, even trying to trick the Thunderer into going away so he can work on the task at hand without worrying about being smashed into paste.
- It's notable that even Heimdall, an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who's perfectly willing to take on Kratos & Freya at the same time, actively backs down from a fight with Thor.
Drowning My Sorrows: An interview with Ryan Hurst implied that Thor's drinking habits have worsened after Magni and Modi were killed. In the game, Thor is suffering from alcoholism and depression due to the abuse from Odin, his massacre of the giants, the deaths of both his sons (one of which he's partially responsible for), and he's forced to work with Atreus at the All-Father's orders.
Drunken Master: He was known to be a heavy drinker with Sif but they both decided to go sober after Thor beat Modi to a pulp in a combination of anger, drunkenness, and grief over Magni's death. Thor did relapse in a moment of weakness and successfully managed to survive a bar brawl.
Dumb Muscle:
- Other characters (Brok and Mimir in particular) seem contemptuous of Thor's intelligence and openly refer to him as "the big idiot".
- Ragnarök shows that Thor isn't dumb per say, but he does perceive himself as dumb - in large part thanks to Odin's emotional abuse and his own self-loathing. He thus makes an effort to not think about it. To the point where "Don't think, it's better that way." is almost a catchphrase of his.
Dying as Yourself: It's subtle, but considering that Thor's final action is to openly defy Odin by dropping Mjolnir on the ground, Calling the Old Man Out, and flat-out telling Odin "No", Thor (who seems to know this will get him killed) finally returns to being an honorable warrior standing up for himself and his family in his last moments.
Establishing Character Moment: When we meet him in Ragnarök, he appears with a bottle of mead so that he and Kratos could parlay. Then after he pours them both drinks, Odin lets himself in afterward. From there, Odin calls his dead sons idiots to his face and drinks their mead. When Kratos and Atreus decline his peace offering, Thor attacks Kratos on Odin's say-so, the fighting ending in a draw. This establishes him as Odin's attack dog, but also as his personal stress toy, Asgard's Champion a troubled individual with a lot of the same toxic personality traits as Kratos.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Loved his son Magni, which is why he beat the crap out of his other son Modi when he died and he assumed Modi either killed him or abandoned him to die. He also at the very least trusts his brother Baldur.
- He loves his daughter Thrúd, enough that she's the impetus for him to desire to change his ways. He also loves his wife Sif.
- Despite his treatment of Modi, he did love Modi just as much as Magni. It's implied that Modi's death is one of the many sources of Thor's drinking, as he's guilt-ridden and hates himself for causing Modi's death.
  Thor: Listen, Modi had some problems, but he was my son. And the only reason you aren't mush right now is because of that broken piece of wood.
- To an extent, he did love his half-brother Baldur, considering his life worth avenging by getting a blood debt from Kratos.
Evil Counterpart: Thor and Kratos are fathers to divine children and are both The Dreaded of their respective pantheons. But Kratos is truly making strides in becoming a more decent person than the Psychopathic Manchild and divine slave he was in the Greek series... while Thor is by all accounts a maniacal Blood Knight willing to brutalize anybody who Odin commands, even if they're his own children.
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: While the other Aesir laughed off Hrungnir's drunken threats and boasts, Thor was not amused in the slightest (either not understanding that the giant was harmless, or took his boasts at face value), and killed Hrungnir on the spot.
Evil Is Bigger: He's the most straightforward Evil Counterpart to Kratos in the Norse era, and conveys an appropriate sense of menace by being one of the few people huge enough to make the hulking Ghost of Sparta look positively weedy.
The Evil Prince: He's the son of Odin and a horrific mass murderer.
Evil Redhead: As a more villainous version of Thor, he sports a mane of red hair and is quite bastardly.
Evil Sounds Deep: Ryan Hurst gives Thor a noticeably low, gruff-sounding voice that adds to his menace.
Extreme Doormat: Ironically. Beneath the "destroyer" act he puts on, Thor can't bring himself to stand up to his abusive, domineering father, and goes along with everything he says despite being constantly horrified and traumatized by Odin's orders. In fact, this is intentionally by Odin's design. It's only in the climax that he gains the will to finally stand up for himself. For all the good it did him.
Fat Bastard: Both Mimir and Brok take note of Thor's weight, with the former referring to Thor as a "fat dobber" who's also a brutal slayer of the Jötnar. Promotional material for Ragnarök shows him to have a pudgy strongman look.
Fat Slob: In one story, a family worshipped Thor and had a statue made in his honor when their patriarch died. Thor came to offer his condolences but quickly outstayed his welcome by gorging himself on their food and drink. The matriarch begged him to leave and Thor killed her in a drunken rage.
Fatal Flaw:
- In the first chapter of the Norse saga, Thor's main flaw is his wrath. A ghost claims that Thor offered his condolences after the death of father but got so drunk that he became murderously angry after the ghost's mother asked him to leave when he outstayed his welcome. After the death of Magni, he beats his surviving son, Modi, to a point where he can't stand or defend himself.
- In Ragnarok, his main flaw is subservience. What Thor wants above all else is to have Odin say that he's proud of him and will do anything his father will tell him to. Unfortunately, after the deaths of Magni and Modi, he's now fully aware of the atrocities he's committed in Odin's name and has accepted that he'll never earn Odin's approval and that he's beyond redemption. Something Atreus, Kratos, Mimir, Sif, and Thrud try to convince isn't true and there's always a chance to do the right thing and he must start by standing up to Odin.
Fiery Redhead: Has red hair as he did in the original Norse Mythology, and considering he's well known to be an incredibly violent blowhard, he's got the personality to match.
Flight: He has this ability, using it to grab and drag Kratos around to different stages in their first battle and allowing him to compete against massive giants like Jormungandr and even Surtr who had turned into Ragnarök.
Foil:
- To Kratos. Much like Kratos, it is revealed Thor does sincerely love his entire family and it affected him enough to have settled down for a time and curb his worst traits as Sif recounts. Unlike Kratos who had difficulty opening his walls to Atreus before eventually accepting him in earnest, Thor was quick to embracing fatherhood and was heavily involved in Magni, Móði, and Thrúd's lives alongside Sif early on... until Odin's machinations and manipulations as an Abusive Parent bore down on him and turned him into much the same as he took his anger and depression out on them and led to him regressing back into the person he used to be to cope, especially upon both of his son's deaths.
- He also serves as this to Heimdall. The two serve as Odin's top and most trusted enforcers, but while Heimdall has a huge ego and is just an insufferable snob who takes joy in antagonizing everyone and being an ass, Thor secretly hates who he is and desperately wants Odin's love and appreciation, regretting all the atrocities he's done in the name of his father.
Freudian Excuse: He was raised by Odin and it's been said and shown multiple times that Odin only sees his children (especially Thor) as mere assets and treats them more like property than actual offspring. According to Mimir, Thor's abuse of his sons was part of a long cycle that was always passed from father to son.
Gentle Giant: He wants to be one towards his family deep down and probably would be one if not for Odin's constant manipulation, abuse, and encouragement of his worst qualities.
The Ghost: During the main story of the first game at least. Even when he's finally shown, he's in a hood, barely visible, for a few seconds with what facial traits being visible in the image above, is only for a split second to capture.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he pays Kratos a visit, a brief glimpse of his face shows that his eyes have an eerie blue glow. And during his final bout with Kratos, his eyes (alongside most of his body) are perpetually crackling with lightning to show how done he is with, at least from how he perceives it, Kratos and Atreus threatening his family.
God Is Flawed: He's the God of thunder and a deeply flawed and troubled man who fell into a spiral of alcoholism and depression after the deaths of his sons, his guilt of failing to support Sif and Thrud, and his horrible relationship with Odin.
God of Thunder: And just like the last God of Thunder Kratos met (Zeus), he's not a friendly individual.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Despite always being armed with Mjolnir, Thor often forgoes striking foes with his hammer in favor of just beating them with his bare hands and as he is strong enough to cause shockwaves just by clapping his hands or pounding the ground this is often all he really needs. He doesn't even bother drawing his hammer against Kratos for half of their first fight.
Guest-Star Party Member: Odin partners Atreus with him for a few levels. Being bored and sullen, he's not a huge help in combat, and even spends the first portion of the Muspelheim mission standing back and watching Atreus do all the fighting. He starts pitching in later, but he doesn't attack very aggressively (though he does do enormous damage to any enemy he hits), and can also smash through obstructions and carry Atreus to higher or lower elevations.
Hanlon's Razor: Up until his death, Modi genuinely believed that Thor hated him and favored Magni but in reality, Thor loved all his children. His favoritism was actually a result of drunkenness because he was rarely sober in Asgard and he was so drunk at the time of Hrungnir's death that he forgot to move out of the way and he only noticed Magni because of his shiny blond hair. One of Thor's biggest regrets is how he treated Modi and for causing his death because he was grief-stricken by Magni's sudden death and was violently drunk.
Happily Married: Even though recents events have weighed heavy on them, it is crystal clear that there's a trust and comfort in Sif that Thor can find nowhere else in his life. Odin has actively tried to sabotage it by implying Thor is weak for "letting his wife think for him" because it's one of the ultimate stopgaps to Thor being the unstoppable, unthinking Destroyer Odin wants him to be.
The Heavy: A backstory-only example — Thor did most of the heavy lifting in the genocide of the Jotnar, cutting down their best and brightest for the better part of fifty seasons.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: After their second battle, Kratos manages to convince Thor to stand down and become a better man for the sake of his wife and daughter. When Thor decides to walk away, Odin protests and tells Thor that "you kill who I tell you to kill". Thor refuses, and Odin immediately kills him, before Thor had any chance to act on his Heel Realization.
Henpecked Husband: Odin implies that Thor is this with Sif. Though when Atreus overhears Thor and Sif talking, it's quite clearly not the case at all. Odin knows Sif loves Thor, and as such tries to beat his son down by making it seem like he's incapable of doing anything logical without his wife's help, which Sif herself sees and despises.
Odin: Stop letting your wife think for you! She's clouding whatever's left of your brain.
Hero Killer: To the Jotnar. Most of their great heroes (Starkadr the Mighty, Hrungnir the Brawler, Thrym, many unnamed Jotnar) died to Thor's hands and hammer prior to the game's events, along with pretty much every giant who didn't retreat back to Jotunheim.
- During his and Kratos' first fight, Thor actually kills Kratos. Though, this doesn't seem to have been intentional on Thor's part as he resurrects Kratos after and it's established that Kratos was holding back and refraining from using his full power, so it's unclear which god is more powerful.
Hidden Depths: Prior to Ragnarök, Thor is consistently portrayed as a bloodthirsty, arrogant, violent, and dangerous god who led a genocide against the Jotunn with no remorse for it, and who's arguably the biggest threat besides Odin himself. However, Ragnarök reveals while the aforementioned traits aren't necessarily wrong, Thor actually harbors a great deal of guilt over his previous actions towards the Giants and starts drinking heavily because of it, and only did so so he could try to appease and gain Odin's approval; the one thing he's desperately craved. Moreover, he's actually a very protective father to his children (though not perfect by any means) and feels guilty for outliving both Magni and Modi, and as such has become a Papa Wolf to Thrúd.
- When Kratos convinces him that even the worst people can change for the better, Thor takes it to heart and resolves to be better for the sake of his beloved Thrúd, though he's unfortunately killed by Odin before he can truly act on it. That said, he does openly defy Odin for the first time by refusing to kill Kratos.
- Despite his initial dislike and animosity towards Atreus, being his bodyguard while the boy finds the mask, he steadily warms up to him, finding him to be a 'good kid', appreciating (though with some confusion) his efforts to empathise with him and even enjoying Atreus finding travel by Mjolnir fun.
Historical Beauty Update: In-universe. While the great statues of him across the Lake of Nine depict a lithe hero with rippling muscles and tight abs, Thor in person has exactly the sort of rough-hewn physique you'd expect from a hard-drinking brawler: big and wide, with a beer gut to match. Either they were constructed to flatter him, or he's let himself go a bit with age and grief. It's implied that he has deteriorated due to his alcoholic depression, so he likely was more conventionally attractive in his youth. When asked about it by Atreus, Mimir explains that an accurate statue of Thor was made by a sculptor, and shown to Thor himself. The next sculptor after him then wisely decided to go with the statues seen around the Lake of Nine.
Hope Is Scary: During Ragnarok, he admits to Kratos that Atreus had given him hope that things could actually be better for him and is so furious now because he thinks it was all just a deception.
Thor: Everything was fine before Loki showed up! He almost convinced me, had me thinking things could change!
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: His wife Sif is a Statuesque Stunner anywhere else in the game, but next to Thor? Her shoulder barely reaches his doughy waist due to him being eight foot something and probably thrice her weight.
Hunter of His Own Kind: He's a half-Giant that kills Giants. It's not really clear whether Thor hates Jotunns or just considers smashing their skulls to be a job to do, but all indications is that he enjoys it.
Hypocrite: Tries to chastise Kratos for saying that he only went against the Greek gods because they "hurt his feelings" but he wants revenge against Kratos and Atreus for killing his sons and brother in self-defense.
I Am a Monster: Thor refers to himself as a "Destroyer", openly admitting to his violent and destructive nature, and taking pride in his status as a feared killer. This is an act, at least partially, while Thor is a Blood Knight who revels in a good fight he derives no joy in being a murderer.
- It's the main reason he forces Kratos to fight him in the beginning—it doesn't make sense to Thor that someone like the infamous Ghost of Sparta can just choose to be a better person, so forcing Kratos to revert back to his old ways validates his own self-loathing and "proves" that destroyers can't change. In their final battle, Kratos has to tell Thor that they must change for the sake of their children before it finally gets through to him.
Iconic Item: Mjolnir is so iconic that when Kratos asks who Thor is, he is able to answer the question for the audience by simply moving his cloak to reveal the hammer on his belt.
Icy Blue Eyes: He possesses blue eyes along with an eerie glow to them.
I Have No Son!: After failing to avenge Magni, Thor disowns Móði and beats him almost to death in a fit of grief and rage. However, the way Thor talks about him in Ragnarök indicates that it was just a moment of a weakness and that he still considers him his son. It's implied that his self-destructive alcoholism is partially caused by his guilt over having contributed to his death.
In the Hood: His sole appearance in the game shows him wearing a hood obscuring his head completely. You'd only know he was Thor because he reveals his magic hammer Mjolnir at the closing moment of the story.
I Meant to Do That: When he killed Thamur, the corpse landed on a village that was famous for worshipping Njörðr, a Vanir sea god. Rather than be horrified by the collateral damage, he laughed it off and proclaimed that he planned that to happen.
Implausible Deniability: On some level, Thor is well aware that Odin is manipulative, abusive, selfish, and only uses his son as a tool as opposed to a living being, but ignores it because he just wants his father's approval. At the end of Ragnarök, after Kratos gets through to him about changing for the better, Thor realizes he's just been too afraid to admit that his father never loved him.
Thor: Sif was right about you. I just didn't want to see it.
Irony: Thor, probably the strongest man in all the realms and the literal god of strength, can never find the strength he needs to stand up to Odin and change his life for the better.
I've Come Too Far: He is aware that his service to Odin has turned him into a monster, and loathes what he has become, but he continues to serve as Odin's butcher despite the misery it causes him because he believes it's too late for him to be anything else. Kratos eventually manages to get through to his better nature by imploring him to become a better person for the sake of his daughter, if not himself, unfortunately Odin kills him immediately after this.
Kevlard: He's beefy and his armour emphasises his large stomach, but he's still Odin's right-hand man in the Jotnar genocide and he'a shown to have taken a lot of damage over the years. Kratos drives the Leviathan Axe into his belly at the beginning of the game, leaving a scar that lasts the rest of it, but Thor basically shrugs it off.
Kick the Dog: Kratos can encounter a restless spirit who swears vengeance on Thor. In life, his family devoted their lives to worshipping the God of Thunder, and when the man's father passed, they built a statue of Thor to watch over his grave. To their surprise, Thor himself came to offer his condolences. At first, they were thrilled, but Thor soon took advantage of their hospitality, and when begged to leave, Thor killed the man's mother in a drunken rage. Upon Ragnarök revealing what he's actually like with his own family, a more tragic interpretation of events is that Thor genuinely liked the loving familial relationship he saw, and sought solace from his own abusive father figure with them for a while, only for his inability to control himself and tendency to drown his pain in alcohol leading to him lashing out in a moment of anger when they tried to get him to leave, and he afterwards regretted his actions, furthering his self-perception of himself as a 'Destroyer'.
Jerkass Has a Point: While the event does have some elements that cut deeper, Thor is not exactly wrong that Kratos killed the Greek gods because they "hurt [his] feelings," given the vast majority of the events of 2 and 3 are spurned by them preventing him from becoming a conquering monster like Ares.
Large and in Charge: He's the God of Thunder, the butcher of Jotnar, and an obese brawler.
Left-Handed Mirror: Thor noticeably holds Mjolnir in his left hand, in contrast to how Kratos wields the Leviathan Axe in his right. Of course, the two are foils in more ways than this.
Lightning Bruiser: Puns aside, he's very fast on his feet and in the air, managing to go toe-to-toe with the leaner Kratos, and occasionally faster.
Magical Defibrillator: In the first fight with him, he actually manages to take down Kratos with a blow to the head with Mjolnir, complete with a loading screen. Thor then yells that it'll be over when he says it's over and uses Mjolnir's electricity to resuscitate Kratos.
Messy Hair: Thor's hair is largely unkempt and shoulder-length, with braids on the back of his head. Lunda commented that he's likely never brushed it in the Cosplay Guide.
Lunda: I don't think those have seen a brush!
Mirror Character: To Kratos. Like Kratos, Thor is haunted by the atrocities he committed. And like Kratos in God of War (PS4) he does not believe he can change or improve and will forever be a monster. He also deeply loves his daughter. Kratos, who thanks to Atreus is moving past his own issues, tries to convince him that they can both change for the sake of their children. Thor takes it to heart, but Odin kills him before he gets a chance to do anything about his own life.
- Thor also, in a sense, represents what Kratos may have become if Kratos had pledged his loyalty to Zeus. A son who became a monster in service to his father, a king of gods. Much of the killing that Thor has done was at Odin's command and has left him feeling broken at the horror has committed for the sake of honoring his father.
Muscles Are Meaningful: Despite his rotund appearance, Thor's build is that of a powerlifter. As shown in Ragnarök, he's incredibly strong to the point of manhandling Kratos of all people and can devastate the landscape with a mighty swing of his hammer.
My God, What Have I Done?: Thor seems to exist in a perpetual state of this. His guilt at killing the giants is the foundation for his depression and self-loathing, and it’s clear his only methods of coping are with booze and being the ferocious butcher everyone else sees him as (which incidentally leaves him with even more guilt).
- Following the Bar Brawl in Ragnarök, Thrud drags him out and chews him out for relapsing back into alcoholism. Thor, clearly thinking this, is so ashamed of himself that he cannot even look at Thrud.
Never My Fault: He blames Kratos and Atreus for the death of his sons and refused to acknowledge his own involvement or the fact that they attacked first. Especially in Modi's case where after he fled, Thor beat him up so bad to the point that he couldn't even try to dodge or block the knife that atreus stabbed him with. In his first battle with Kratos, when the God of War brought this up he shrugs it off before engaging him in a Blade Lock, and later when he pins Atreus during their brief team up he still solely blames him for Modi's death. This is actually downplayed, since Thor does feel immense guilt over what he's done, it's just that his mind was too clouded to make better judgement other than blaming and taking revenge on his sons killers.
Noble Demon: He quite clearly wants Kratos dead and is The Brute, but he respects Sacred Hospitality and his Combat Pragmatist streak does not extend to surprise attacks, giving the man a chance to share a drink with him and prepare and possibly come to a ceasefire with Odin before his first boss fight. Despite self identifying himself as a "Destroyer" who revels in death and destruction it's revealed that Thor actually hates what he has become, and experiences a desperate desire to be a better person that's held back by a belief that it's simply too late for him to change, not too dissimilar from Kratos. He also does genuinely love his family, even Modi.
No Body Left Behind: Shortly after Odin skewers him with Gungnir, Thor's body disintegrates to nothing but sparks and flickers of electricity that fade as quickly as they started while he desperately tries to reach out to Thrúd one last time. Unusually (especially of note as the Norse gods do not behave by the same rules as the Greek ones, who all suffered this save for Helios), Thor is the only one of the Aesir who succumbs to this fate upon death, which makes it a question of whether his half-Giant nature or whatever power Odin conjured through Gungnir to fatally wound him on the spot that caused this.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Thor inflicts this on Modi offscreen. The next time Kratos sees him, a noticeably battered Modi can barely stand.
Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Mimir claims that Thor is part-Aesir, part-Jötunn.
Not Me This Time: He's killed a lot of Giants, but when it's said he was responsible for his mother's death, what's meant is that she suffered Death by Childbirth.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Odin tasked him with slaying every Jotunn he finds in order to prevent Ragnarök, but Mimir states that Thor doesn't care about Ragnarök as he's only interested in violence and killing. Odin's plan merely gave him an excuse for the number of atrocities he commits. It turns out this isn't entirely accurate either. Thor actually just carries out Odin's orders at first because he sought the approval of his abusive father, and later because he doesn't know how to be anything but the monster Odin made him.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When Atreus and Thor visit Muspelheim they stumble upon the site of Surtr's Trials from the previous game, and Atreus convinces Thor to give it a try. We don't get to see it as Atreus sneaks away while Thor is preoccupied, but when he returns in a few minutes Thor is alredy done, seemingly having breezed through Surtr's Trials solo.
Off the Wagon: After Heimdall's death, he falls back into drinking at the Asgardian tavern, despite trying to stay sober for Thrúd. The scene is played very tragically, and is a sign of Odin's abuse, which seems to have been heaped on him for the aforementioned death. When confronted by Thrud, all he can say is that he "fucked up".
One Head Taller: Kratos is already one head taller than regular mortals, but Thor is one head taller than him.
One-Man Army: He's the reason why the Jotnar are so few in number.
Outliving One's Offspring: Both Magni and Modi are killed by Kratos and Atreus, which gets the protagonists on Thor's kill-on-sight list. However, Thor caused Modi's death when he blamed him for Magni's death and left him to die in Midgard after beating him until he couldn't stand. In the ending, Thor comes to Kratos' home for revenge for killing Magni and Modi.
Overlord Jr.: Thor is the son of Odin and is his personal enforcer.
Papa Wolf:
- After learning of Magni's death; he beats the daylights out of Modi under the assumption that Modi was responsible for his death, and he wordlessly arrives at Kratos and Atreus' home to avenge his sons and half-brother.
- He makes it very clear to Atreus that despite everything he did love his son Modi and the only reason he hasn't reduced the boy to a smear on the wall in vengeance for his death is because Odin won't let him.
- He's extremely protective of his Daughter, Thrúd. The mere idea that Kratos and Atreus may be putting her at risk causes him to attack Kratos.
Parents as People: While the 2018 entry implies that he's just a full-blown Abusive Parent, Ragnarök reveals that he's actually closer to this. He does genuinely love his wife and all of his children, even if he shows some favoritism towards Magni. However, he's also been driven into a horrible manic depression by the atrocities Odin has forced him to commit that leads him to lash out against his loved ones.
Parental Favoritism: Favors Magni over Modi and was prepared to pass on his hammer to him. He even beats Modi to an inch of his life after accusing him of abandoning Magni as he fought to the death. That being said, Ragnarök reveals that he considers Modi's life just as worth avenging as Magni's.
Passing the Torch: He wanted to appoint Magni as his successor and was prepared to bequeath Mjölnir to him.
Penultimate Boss: Thor is the last obstacle Kratos must overcome before he and Atreus can fight Odin. When the God of Thunder is defeated and convinced by Kratos to stop fighting, the All-Father himself steps into the fray to fight the Greek God of War and his son.
Person of Mass Destruction: Odin tasked him with slaying every Giant in Midgard, and would have succeeded had not the last survivors escaped to their own realm and sealed themselves in.
Pet the Dog: According to one ghost, Thor did come to his house to offer his condolences after the death of his father. However, he got so drunk during his stay that he killed the ghost's mother after she begged him to leave.
Physical God: Naturally. Thor's strength and power are nothing to sneeze at, as he's very clearly Kratos' equal at the start of the game and a very close second by the end. In the backstory he was Odin's ringer and chief weapon, the sole Aesir that could be counted on to kill Giants left and right.
Psycho Electro: He's the god of thunder and the dreaded giant slayer of Jötunheim.
Psychological Projection: What truly drives his initially confrontation with Kratos. While he is mad that Kratos killed his brother and sons, he's incensed that a monster like the Ghost of Sparta could settle down into the quiet life of being a husband and father because–in Thor's mind–destroyers are all gods like them can ever be. When Thor finally goads Kratos into punching him as hard as he could, he leaves satisfied because it validates his own view that he has no choice in being anything else beyond Odin's attack dog. It takes Kratos spelling it out to him that they can and must be better for their children's sake.
Recovered Addict: According to Mimir, Sif and Thor were both severe alcoholics who abused their sons and were rarely sober around each other. After Thor beat up Modi and caused his death, Sif used his death as an ultimatum so they'd both be better parents for Thrud and spare her from their abuse. In the last 3 years ^note, Thor has managed to stay sober despite Odin insulting Thor's sobriety by saying he is "no fun anymore". However, Heimdall's death causes Thor to fall off the wagon and is so ashamed of himself that he can't look at Thrud, who had to physically carry him out of the bar after a mass brawl.
Redemption Equals Death: As Kratos finally gets through to him on how he can be a better man for the sake of his daughter, Thor is murdered by Odin for turning his back on him.
Relative Button: According to Atreus' dream. Thor will come at a certain time to get revenge on Kratos for he did to his son and brother.
Ride the Lightning: In their second fight Thor uses Mjölnir to evade and attack Kratos, briefly becoming lightning as he does.
Revenge Myopia: During their first fight, Kratos makes it clear that Baldur attacked first, as did Magni and Modi. Thor bluntly tells him he doesn't care.
Sacred Hospitality: Mimir's stories paint Thor as a breaker of hospitality, but when he actually shows up at Kratos's house in Ragnarok (when he's trying to clean up his act), he proves to care about it a lot more than Odin; he asks for permission first, brings mead as a gift, and despite being furious at Kratos for killing his sons and brother, he doesn't attack until Odin tells him to.
Sanity Has Advantages: He's actually more dangerous when he's sober. In the first battle, his attacks appear more disciplined and focused, to the point where he actually beats Kratos in a fight and leaves with satisfaction after Kratos loses his composure and punches him hard enough to knock out one of his teeth. When he fights Kratos during Ragnarok, his attacks are wilder and he relies more on overkill tactics because he's too angry to listen to Kratos. Kratos also notes that he has this in comparison to Baldur; while Baldur's fighting style was focused on inflicting as much pain and suffering as possible because of his insanity and desire for revenge, whereas, Thor is sane and simply enjoys combat, so his fighting style is focused on actually winning the fight.
Saved for the Sequel: He's alluded to many times in the 2018 edition as the most powerful warrior of the Aesir, but doesn't make an appearance until the sequel.
Scars Are Forever: It's said that Thor still has some shards of stone embedded in his skull after he killed Hrungnir the Brawler. The scars appear on the right side of his face, around his right eye. He later recieves a deep wound to the midsection courtesy of Kratos and his axe early in the game, and it never seems to properly heal over the course of Ragnarök.
Semi-Divine: Thor is only half-Aesir, while his mother was a Jötunn. While the Jötnar were of divine stock, their actual godhood is a bit on the murky side.
Shadow Archetype: Like Baldur, Thor is essentially part of the man Kratos used to be. While Baldur represents the side of Kratos that sought retribution against his parents at all costs, Thor is presented in the 2018 game as the side of Kratos that was a bloodthirsty butcher feared by all who know of him. The main difference is that Thor is even nastier (since Kratos at least cared for his family and ultimately saw the error of his ways whereas Thor is a psychopath who is willing to brutalize any who displeases him) and remained loyal to the gods. Ragnarök recontextualizes his character as being what Kratos could have been had he blindly followed the violent destiny put forth by the gods. Namely, he's tired and clearly derives no joy from the bloodshed he commits, but he doesn't believe he can be anything else other than the self-loathing monster he has become.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: While he puts on the façade of a "destroyer" and tells himself he is one out of self-loathing, it quickly becomes apparent that Thor actually hates the violence and war Odin forces him to engage in and suffers deeply from PTSD, depression, and alcoholism as a result of it.
Shock and Awe: He is the God of Thunder, after all. His appearance during the secret ending shows him invoking lightning..
Shockwave Clap: One of his attacks is this, even generating electricity when he does so.
Shockwave Stomp: Can do this with his bare hands, being a powerful unblockable attack that must be dodged.
Sibling Yin-Yang: His brother, Baldur, is lean, short-haired, claims to be more reasonable than Thor, and is regarded as Odin's best tracker. Thor, on the other hand, is long-haired, bulky, quick-tempered, and is universally regarded as Odin's deadliest warrior.
Stealthy Colossus: Despite his large stature and build, he's able to sneak up on Odin himself when he wants to.
Stealth Hi/Bye: After Atreus agrees to work with Odin, Odin calls for Thor to come down and accompany him on a mission to Muspelheim, only to be startled when Thor shows up mere inches behind him almost before he finishes speaking. Thor never does this again.
Stout Strength: He possesses a heavyset built akin to a powerlifter, and is capable of killing mountain-sized Giants.
Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Downplayed; he's been given orders by Odin not to kill Kratos during their first fight, but is irritated that Kratos is similarly holding back, and keeps demanding that he "show" him the man that killed his brother and sons. It's only when he threatens Atreus that Kratos unleashes a punch that knocks a molar loose from Thor's head, and Thor is satisfied enough at that to let the fight end.
"...There he is. There's the god of war."
Strong and Skilled: In stark contrast to Magni and Modi, whose clear lack of skill and preference to rely on their godly power make them mere lackies compared to the higher Aesir, Thor is hailed as Odin's most valued enforcer for being both the physically strongest Aesir and Asgard's deadliest warrior. As displayed by both his fights with Kratos, he is not only strong enough to physically rival a the war god, but also has the combat skills needed to match Kratos's staunch fighting prowess, being the only one thus far who has been able to fight Kratos to a literal stalemate in their first fight and only narrowly losing their second match. It’s even strongly implied that Thor is one of the few people capable of hurting Heimdall, the God of Foresight whose M.O. is anticipating his opponent’s attacks and dodging them.
Strong Family Resemblance: His appearance in Ragnarök shows clearly where Móði got his genes from, while his son Magni took after his giantess mother in more than just height. Like Modi, Thor has long red hair with a forktail beard. His daughter Thrúd also borrows heavily from him, with red hair and a similar heavy set build. In a moment of tragic irony, Thor's death is very similar to Modi's, both involved a father betraying them in a fit of anger and being stabbed in the neck.
Sympathy for the Devil: Although he's rightfully hated for the role he played in slaying the giants, Atreus, Kratos and Mimir can't help but pity him; Atreus understands how Thor feels because he too has a father who's overbearing and overshadowing, Kratos understands Thor's guilt and shared his fear that he's irredeemable, and Mimir understands how Thor feels about wanting to better himself through the love of someone else and realizing that he was a bad person. In the end, Kratos is the one who gets through to Thor by sharing the experience of being a father and tells Thor that what Thor did in the past doesn't matter as long as he redeems himself now through his daughter.
Tattooed Crook: He has faint chest tattoos and is the slayer of the Jotnar.
The Teetotaler: Thor is actually a recovering alcoholic and has been trying to better himself with Sif for Thrud after their shared alcoholism caused them to abuse Magni and Modi, and eventually cause Modi's death after the latter reported Magni's death and was beaten by a violently drunk Thor in a moment of weakness.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During Atreus' stay in Asgard, Odin orders Thor to work with him. He's clearly not happy about having to work with the killer of his sons but isn't about to defy his father. He makes his displeasure known several times when he openly threatens Atreus and eventually decides to make good on the threats at the behest of Sif.
Then Let Me Be Evil: He insists he enjoyed slaughtering the giants (and that he'd thus enjoy killing Atreus due to him being half-giant). It becomes apparent it's part of Thor's unhealthy coping mechanism of adopting the persona of the monster everyone sees him as for Odin's approval. He actually deeply loathes what he's done in Odin's name. Kratos finally manages to get through to Thor during their last fight, but Odin kills Thor before he can act on it.
This Means War!: He wants revenge for what Kratos has done to his son and brother.
Thunder Hammer: While Thor definitely knows how to unleash lightning and throw a punch, his main weapon is Mjölnir, the legendary hammer Brok and Sindri crafted. It's powerful enough to stagger even Kratos, can be hurled great distances only to quickly return to Thor with just a snap of his fingers, and seemingly amplifies his God of Thunder powers. With it, Thor became famous as the greatest (and most feared) Giant-killer in all the Nine Realms.
Tiger Versus Dragon: He's the tiger to Kratos's dragon. Although Thor doesn't solely rely on his strength, his main tactic is to bulldoze his way through his enemies and break through their defenses. Whereas, Kratos focuses on his target and is shown to still be in tune with his military training. This is best shown in how they restrain each other. Kratos stabs Thor through his hand so he can't recall his weapon, forcing him to hear Kratos's words. Thor, on the other hand, uses unrelenting attacks to eventually break through Kratos's defenses by breaking his shield and grabbing him by the neck to restrain him.
Tragic Villain: Far from the dumb sadistic brute he's made out to be in the first game, Ragnarök instead shows Thor to be a very flawed figure, manipulated by a father who cares little for him, who shares many of Kratos' own traits and self-loathing over the destruction he's caused. He did love his children, even if he wasnt great at expressing it, and did want to do better for their sake, but failing to do so due to Odin, who ultimately kills him when Kratos convinces him to be better than he is, and the two stop fighting.
Tranquil Fury: Thor is at his most intimidating when not yelling. When he negotiates with Kratos in the beginning, he's audibly seething with anger and clearly wants to drop all pretenses of rationality so he can kill Kratos for killing his sons and brother. Later on, he's able to intimidate Heimdall simply by telling him to look him in the eyes and see if he really wants to try him.
Trapped in Villainy: He doesn't like doing the evil things Odin makes him do, but years of emotional and physical abuse from his domineering father has left him submissive and weak-willed, unwilling to stand up for himself and the people he cares about as he chases fruitlessly after Odin's approval.
Travel to Projectile: Thor can bring himself to Mjlönir just as easily as he can recall it to him. He demonstrates so in his opening strike against Kratos, when he sends the former god of war flying across Midgard by his chin before catcheing up to him midflight, to growl to Kratos about the blood debt he owes him. Later Thor uses the same ability to traverse tall heights in Muspelheim and Niflheim alongside Atreus. He uses this ability more offensively against Kratos in their second fight, snapping across the arena to Mjlönir in an instant.
Troubled Abuser: Thor is portrayed as an alcoholic father who beats his sons Magni and Modi and favours Magni over his brother — when Kratos kills Magni, Thor blames Modi for not being able to save him and leaves him severely injured. However, it is revealed that Thor himself was verbally and, according to Mimir, physically abused by Odin, who constantly belittles him as a mindless brute whose only purpose in life should be doing his dirty work by killing giants with no questions or objections, which left Thor with an alcohol abuse and a self-loathing belief that he could never change himself to stop being a monster. When Modi gets killed by Atreus as a result of being too weakened to defend himself, Thor and his wife Sif ultimately decide to stop drinking and become better parents for their remaining child, Thrud.
Truer to the Text: Downplayed; this version of Thor is much more violent, bloodthirsty, and overall flawed than the protector of humanity and force of good from Norse myths ever was, but he is also quite closer to how Thor was described than the romanticized later versions seen in works such as Thor's Fight with the Giants and The Mighty Thor, in which Thor is clean-shaved, blonde, and more conventionally noble, handsome and heroic.
- In the games, Thor is large, red-haired, and has long hair, fierce eyes, and a long beard, exactly like how he is described in the Eddas and in The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, as well as problems with alcoholism and a protuberant belly, referencing his large appetite and fondness for drinking seen in several myths, such as the Þrymskviða and in the tale of Utgarda-Loki.
- His short-tempered and violent personality, while very exaggerated, also has plenty of basis in the myths, such as when he threatened to break all of Loki's bones in the Lokasenna if he didn't stop making insults, when he got angry with how the giantess Hyrrokkin shook the ground by shoving Baldr’s enormous funerary ship and would have immediately cracked her skull with Mjolnir if the other gods hadn’t stopped him, and when he kicked a dwarf, called Litr, into Baldur's funeral pyre out of anger and grief over his unexpected death in the Gylfaginning.
Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Mimir's concerns on a clash between Kratos and Thor feels a lot like this; with the power and strength both are feared for, knowing for sure who, or if anyone would walk away from the carnage afterwards is a highly debatable question.
Unstoppable Rage: Emphasis on unstoppable, he's responsible for the deaths of countless giants. The secret ending pretty much spells this out as Thor is more than little upset about the killing of Magni and Baldur.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As a result of Thor's drunkenness and anger, he's often caused mass death and trouble by sheer drunken accidents.
- When he attacked Thamur, the giant was so big at the time of his death that he fell on a village killed a majority of its villagers, and then Thamur's last breath froze the survivors to death as well as caused an eternal winter. While Thor was likely horrified by what he had done and he would come to regret it, he told Odin and the other Asgardians that he did it on purpose.
- When he became trapped under Hrungnir's corpse, he was freed by Magni and Modi but in his drunken state, he only saw Magni because of his blond hair and drunkenly gave Magni sole credit for the deed. This led to Modi developing an inferiority complex and an unnecessary rivalry with Magni that lasted into his adulthood. Thor even admits that Modi had "some problems" and his troubling behavior more than likely stemmed from Thor's drunkenness.
- In Ragnarok, Thor was told by Sif that Odin isn't helping Asgard and he needs to stand up to his father but Thor misdirected his anger and instead attacked Atreus. However, he didn't know how important the mask was to Odin and he forced Atreus to retreat with it, which indirectly leads to Odin revealing himself as Tyr, Brok's death, and eventually the destruction of Asgard.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Downplayed. Thor is decidedly holding himself back during the fight with Kratos and slowly reveals that he's very skilled in hand-to-hand brawling, using Mjolnir as both a close-range and long range weapon and using its electrical abilities to augment his attacks and manoeuvrability despite his rotund figure, and these prove sufficient for him to overwhelm Kratos who can only fight with the Leviathan Axe, Guardian Shield and his fists. However, by the time of their second fight, Kratos has gained several more abilities and weapons to improve his combat strength, and whilst Thor demonstrates greater handling and usage of Mjolnir than before, Kratos' versatility enables him to gradually overcome him using several different fighting styles, with each round of their fight punctuated by Kratos and Thor brawling using a different weapon in Kratos' arsenal to counter Thor using the same fighting form.
Villain Takes an Interest: A majority of their interactions show that although Thor hates Kratos for killing Magni and blames him for Modi's death, Thor does see a lot of himself in Kratos because they are both warriors who committed multiple atrocities. While Kratos is trying to better himself for Atreus, Thor cannot comprehend that a person as evil as he is can simply try to be better and is trying to convince himself that he can't change.
Weapon Twirling: As if throwing it around wasn't enough, Thor has a combat animation where he quickly twirls Mjolnir a couple of times, flipping it between his fingers like it's a tiny dagger.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Thor, at the end of the day, just wishes for his father to love him and gain his approval.
Worthy Opponent: He sees a lot of similarities between him and Kratos and wants Kratos to fight with everything he has so he can see the real Ghost of Sparta.
Wound That Will Not Heal: After Thor takes a heavy shot to the gut from the Leviathan Axe during his first fight with Kratos he walks around for the rest of the game with the wound still in his stomach, still fresh and bleeding. It's very likely that the wound doesn't heal thanks to the eitr, or poison, that was imbued in the Leviathan Axe by Jormungandr.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Thor without mentioning the ending or key events of the game.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Similar to Baldur in the previous game, Thor presents a much tougher challenge to all of the mooks you've been fighting up to this point. He packs way more power and varied attacks than prior enemies, also forcing the use of parries and proper dodging.
The Worf Effect: After the previous game hypes him up as Asgard's greatest warrior and the physically most powerful of the Aesir, his first appearance in Ragnarok has him repeatedly pressure Kratos, outmaneuvering and delivering powerful blows on the Ghost of Sparta numerous times, to where despite the fight ultimately ending in a stalemate, Thor actually seems to be the better one off, able to calmly fly away, while Kratos is visibly reeling from the fight, and while Kratos was not fighting to kill and physically weakened after hours of activity, Thor was also holding himself back as Odin didn't want Kratos dead yet. At the end of the game, Thor takes on both Jormungandr and Surtr as Ragnarok, while also having to contend with Freya and Freyr, and manages to send Freyr down towards Kratos before casually sending Jormugandr back in time with a single blow, and is seen with not even a single injury on him.
You Killed My Father: Inverted, Kratos killed his sons, Magni and Modi, and his brother Baldur.

Baldur

Baldur/The Stranger

"Long way from home, aren't you?"

Voiced by: Jeremy Davies (English), Tooru Sakurai (Japanese)^{additional VAs}

"Throw whatever you have at me, I'll keep coming! That old body will give out. But before I end this, I want you to know one thing: I can't feel any of this!"

A mysterious stranger that knocks on Kratos's door, seeking answers. However, his aggressive attitude quickly turns the encounter into a fight, more difficult than Kratos expects as the man is exceptionally strong, and shrugs off and heals every wound.

It turns out he’s none other than the Norse god Baldur, “blessed” with immortality and a Healing Factor that renders him virtually invulnerable to all threats, physical or magical. Said blessing has also stripped him of all physical sensations from pain to even feeling the ground under his feet. Driven completely mad by a century’s-worth of sensory deprivation and desperate for a cure, Baldur stalks after Kratos and his son for reasons unknown and serves as the most frequent and dangerous obstacle throughout their journey.

Achilles' Heel: Mistletoe is what removes his immortality. Before that, subjecting him to a Neck Snap was the only thing that’ll take him out of commission for a significant amount of time, anything else would be just shrugged off. He can be stunned and pushed back briefly if Kratos smacks him in the head enough times, since, even if he cannot feel the pain, that doesn't completely protect his brain from getting rattled around and disorienting him. Accordingly, Kratos subjects him to several No Holds Barred Beatdowns that would have reduced pretty much anybody else's face into hamburger meat, because that's the only way he has to force him down for a minute before he recovers and resumes fighting.
Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the Eddas, Baldur was greatly sorrowful about the prophetic dreams of his own death, and the fact that his mother made almost every object vow to never harm him wasn't told to bother him, as it seemingly ensured he wouldn't suffer his fated demise, even letting the other gods have fun throwing their weapons at him only for them to bounce off. Here, his invulnerability is reinterpreted as a case of harmful parental overprotectiveness and it causes him to not feel anything anymore, which Baldur didn't have to be concerned about in the myths. Thus, he feels utterly miserable for his condition and greatly resents his mother for it. He was also Loved by All in myth, whereas in the games his nephews comment about how he hadn't been the same for a long time due to his decaying state of mind and were mostly only working with him because their father Thor still trusted him.
Adaptational Badass: In myth, he was essentially a pretty boy who had a prophetic dream of his own death and fell into a depression, so his mom made everything (with one exception) swear not to harm him. When Loki discovered this, he arranged the death of Baldur. He didn't even die in battle, which sent him straight to Hel. Here, he's a rugged man covered in runic tattoos who can match Kratos blow for blow, someone who killed an entire pantheon up to and including the resident Top God. He's blindingly fast, incredibly strong (enough to knock out Jörmungandr, who fought Thor wielding Mjolnir to a stalemate, though due to the circumstances the serpent couldn't defend himself), takes full advantage of his invulnerability, and has Elemental Powers. Even when he gets stabbed with mistletoe, his weakness, it doesn't really hurt him so much as break the spell. Even then, he's insanely durable, dying at last only after a long and exhausting battle.
Adaptational Dye-Job: In the Gesta Danorum, he was was said to have hair so blond it was nearly white. Here, his hair is much darker.
Adaptational Superpower Change: Baldur is the God of Light in Norse myth, but doesn't really display any light abilities throughout any of his battles with Kratos (beyond his Super-Speed to maneuver and dodge him with and manifesting trail of exploding ball of light), instead relying mostly on brute strength. His tattoos do glow when he uses these abilities, however, so the Light aspect of his godhood remains mildly intact.
Adaptational Ugliness: This version of Baldur is a scruffy, emaciated and disheveled guy with an unflattering haircut and tattoos all over his body, while the mythical one was said to be the most beautiful of the gods. Granted, his personal grooming is probably the last thing on his mind considering what he's living through.
Adaptational Villainy: His real identity is that of Baldur, a.k.a. the nicest, wisest, and most merciful of the Aesir in recorded myth. A far cry from the Ax-Crazy guy we see in the game. There are hints that he used to be a lot nicer before he became indestructible, and his subsequent loss of all physical sensations drove him mad.
Alas, Poor Villain: His death by Kratos's own hands is treated as an extremely solemn affair. One that Kratos really wished he could have avoided. Freya cries over her inability to protect him.
All for Nothing: In Ragnarök, the journal entry Kratos writes about him outlines that he feels this way about having to kill him despite Freya's pleas to spare him and willingness to die if that would sate his animosity and antagonism towards Kratos and Atreus. He notes that even if he had allowed Baldur to kill his mother, the crazed god had made it clear he would be coming after them next, which would have resulted in Kratos killing him anyway, so by killing him before he murdered Freya, despite knowing it would turn her vengeful towards him, Kratos did what he could to avoid anymore needless death.
And I Must Scream: Freya’s spell gave him Complete Immortality… and completely robbed him of the ability to feel anything whatsoever; pain, sexual pleasure, the wind on his face, not even something as trivial as room temperature or tasting a meal. By the time Baldur shows up at Kratos’s door, he’s been living like this for over a century, and the effects it’s had on his psyche are VERY evident. Even when this is subverted and the spell is removed by mistletoe, the damage has already been done.
Baldur: "You... you had no right."
Freya: "I had every right, I am your mother."
Baldur: "You had NO RIGHT, witch! I can't taste. I can't smell, I can't even feel the temperature of this... this room. Feasting, drinking, women... it's all gone. Gone."
Freya: "But you will never have to feel pain again. Death has no power over you now! You would rather die?"
Baldur: "Then never feel again? Yes. YES. I would rather die."
And Your Little Dog, Too!: Towards Atreus, though indirectly, as he notes that Kratos's house has two beds and threatens to get whoever he's hiding to talk if Kratos won't. This triggers Kratos's Spartan Rage.
An Ice Person: In his final boss fight, he absorbs the Leviathan Axe's frost powers after Kratos embeds it in him, gaining ice powers, including shooting ice blasts. He even becomes immune to the Leviathan Axe, forcing Kratos to use the Blades of Chaos when he is channelling ice.
Antagonistic Offspring: Toward his mother. It's his main goal to kill her.
Apocalypse Maiden: His death marks the coming of Ragnarök. Kratos killing him ends up kick-starting Ragnarök at least a hundred years ahead of schedule.
Arc Villain: For the first game set in the Norse Mythology; he's the most consistent and dangerous obstacle Kratos and Atreus face on their journey. What keeps him from being a Big Bad is that he's ultimately a Plot-Irrelevant Villain tracking the protagonists for reasons that don't become clear until the end of the game, and he's taking orders from Odin.
Ax-Crazy: Although he’s relatively composed when you meet him, when the punches start flying he turns into a gleeful savage that won’t stop until his opponent is dead. As the game goes on he reveals himself to be an immature Sense Freak with some extreme Mommy Issues. In fairness, you'd probably be unhinged after going through sensory deprivation for a century too.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Uses nothing but kicks and punches and the occasional wrestling hold; they're all he needs.
Barrier Change Boss: In the final fight against him, he'll change between using fire and ice magic, thus requiring Kratos to switch between the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos to counter his current state.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Once his immortality is undone, Baldur is the happiest he's ever been in the last hundred years. But, by this point he's gotten himself in hot water with a God of War and his son, and his sudden mortality means he can actually lose at this point...which he does.
Beard of Evil: He sports a typical Norse beard that's also styled with beads.
Believing Their Own Lies:In the middle of their first duel, Baldur rants about how Kratos’ acting proud started their fight, and how he was “not (his) brother”, completely ignoring that he started the fight provoking Kratos to hit him. Justified; Baldur’s sanity has become so fragile and his mood so mercurial he clearly believes that Kratos started the fight.
Berserk Button: Of all words Freya could have used to convey empathy to him, saying she knows how he 'feels' was the worst one.
Beyond Redemption: After soundly defeating him, Kratos opts to spare his life, warning him to not lay a hand on him, his son, or Freya. Immediately afterwards, Baldur turns on Freya, refusing to forgive her for placing the curse on him and attempting to choke her to death. Realizing he's too far gone to be reasoned with, Kratos steps in and snaps Baldur's neck.
Kratos: The cycle ends here. We must be better than this.
Blessed with Suck: He was blessed by his mother with invulnerability to all threats — physical or magical. In fact, any injury will heal itself near instantaneously too. However, because of this, he cannot feel even the most mundane stimulus, and the loss of his ability to feel anything for a hundred years turned him batshit insane hell bent on killing his own mother. Regaining the ability to feel due to a mistletoe arrowhead turns him into a Sense Freak.
Blood Knight: The guy seems to enjoy battle as much as Kratos used to in his younger days.
Blue Is Heroic: Inverted; he's the main antagonist, but he's got blue eyes and blue colored tattoos.
Braids of Barbarism: Baldur's thick beard is tied into thin braids here and there.
Brought Down to Badass: When he inadvertently stabs himself with the mistletoe arrowhead on Atreus' quiver, he loses his invulnerability and Healing Factor. However, he still retains all of his other powers and is still very hard to injure. In fact, he seems to fight even harder than before now that he can actually feel the pain of his opponent's attacks once more after going without sensation for an entire century.
Bubble Boy: A magical variant and a Deconstruction combined. Baldur was cursed with invulnerability because Freya learned that he was destined to die a needless death and she overcorrected the problem by removing all of his senses. Because of Freya, Baldur can't feel anything (not the taste of alcohol, the pleasure of sex, not even simply walking on the ground) and it drives him into a rage-filled depression and madness. He's been estranged from Freya for over 100 years and was exploited by Odin to serve him in exchange for a flimsy promise of curing his condition.
Bullying a Dragon: Subverted; initially seeming like a scrawny drunken guy with a death wish picking on Kratos, once the fists start flying he gives Kratos the first real fight the Spartan's had in a long, long time.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Baldur is seen this way by his own family; Modi claims that his uncle "hasn't seen straight" in years (which Magni doesn't disagree with), and Odin considers his mind "gone". That said, none of them dismiss or ignore his skills; Magni and Modi follow his instructions without question, Mimir flat-out states that he is the best tracker in the Nine Realms bar-none, and Odin himself remarks that Baldur reliably acted as his "closer".
Character Tics: Has a tendency to lean backward when talking to other people.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Played for Drama and Horror; Balder is barely clinging to sanity, which results in both his behavior and body language appearing very "off". His nervous twitching, his habit of agitated shadow-boxing during moments of downtime, his audibly talking to himself, and his frequent, violent mood swings communicate to the audience that Baldur is both uninterested in observing social norms and dangerously, homicidally unstable.
Combat Sadomasochist: He's obsessed with pain due to being deprived of every sensation, to the point he willingly smacks around Kratos to goad him to hit back even though he (incorrectly) believes Kratos is a Jotunn, one of Asgard's greatest enemies. Later on, when a mistletoe arrow jabbed into his hand removes his invulnerability and returns his ability to feel, the sensory influx drives Baldur into psychotic glee even as Kratos continues to pummel him.
Complete Immortality: As revealed over the course of the game, there's nothing that can kill him. He survives being crushed by a massive stone and Kratos snapping his neck, and any damage inflicted on him rapidly heals. The downside is that it robs him of all his senses. The only thing that can harm him is mistletoe, which breaks the curse and renders him mortal.
Death Seeker: While still under the effect's of Freya's spell, he makes clear more than once that he's willing for Kratos to kill him if he is able. He only fights back when he realizes Kratos can't do anything. Also, his torment in Hel shows in the past, he made it clear to Freya he'd rather die than still be under her spell. In the end, when Kratos' hands are around his neck, Baldur encourages him to finish it and is disappointed when he is released.
Detrimental Determination: He wouldn't have died if he was willing to go back to Odin and say "Look, these clearly aren't the giants you're looking for, maybe send someone else to talk to them if you're that interested." Instead, because he utterly refuses to back down from kidnapping Atreus and Kratos is eventually forced to kill him because there's no other way to make him stand down.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: For as much as this game can be considered an "adaptation" of Norse Mythology, Baldur's death in the source is very different. Depending in the account, he was either stabbed by a mistletoe knife or shot with a mistletoe arrow by Loki, or Loki tricked Hodr into either shooting him with the arrow or hurling a mistletoe-laced spear at him, which caused Baldur to immediately drop dead. In this game while Loki (as Atreus) and a mistletoe arrowhead are involved, Baldur punched the arrowhead and all it resulted in was his immortality getting removed. He then has a knockdown, drag-out brawl with Kratos and Atreus that ends with Kratos trying to show him mercy, Baldur immediately using it to try and kill his mother, and then Kratos snapping his neck in retaliation.
Dirty Coward: He believes himself to be a coward after seeing his past self in Helheim refusing to kill Freya. Subverted as before and after his spell was broken, he wanted to keep fighting Kratos and Atreus even if it cost him his life.
Dragon Rider: Baldur uses his dragon Dagsetr as his mount. According to Heimdall, this is unique to Baldur himself; he was able to tame Dagetsr because he didn't have to worry about the dragon killing him.
Dragon with an Agenda: He's only after Kratos and Atreus because Odin promised to remove the spell if he succeeded. However, Odin may have revoked the promise or lied about it.
Drunken Master: He talks and moves as if he's inebriated at all times. Brok suggests maybe he's just like that because he's "slow," or else his invulnerability has addled his senses (or, on the third hand, maybe he really is drunk all the time; he is a Norse deity, after all).
Establishing Character Moment: Baldur is first introduced talking down to Kratos, goading him into a fight, and predictably getting knocked down with a single punch. He then get's back up, decides to go for another round... and then punches Kratos hard enough to send the former god of war flying over his house, at which point his three phase boss fight begins. This shows that the Stranger tends to think very highly of himself but is fully capable of backing up his boasts in a fight.
Even Evil Can Be Loved:
- Psychopathic and murderous as he may be, he's still unconditionally loved by his mother, even though he'd rather kill her. So much that she is willing to go on a rampage against Kratos in Ragnarök.
- Thor is also shown to be saddened by his death and wants to avenge him alongside his sons. He also bitterly remarks that Odin used to talk about what a good team he and Baldur made, hinting that deep-down he blames him for sending his brother to his death.
Even Evil Has Standards: He takes it in stride, but after seeing Atreus shoot Kratos on purpose with a shock arrow he retorts "and here I thought my family was fucked up" suggesting that not even the Aesir royal family would pettily attack each other. Then again, this is coming from the guy who, when given the chance to kill his own mother after a hundred years, immediately guns for it.
- Even earlier than that he digs at his family when he tells Kratos that he's not his brother and that had he just told him what he wanted at the start of the game there wouldn't have been a fight. Given that his brother is none other than Thor, someone who's portrayed as a ill-tempered, violent, battle-crazed lunatic with a tendency to murder someone for the smallest of sleights for the entire narrative, it's kinda telling that even Baldur backhandedly speaks poorly of his behavior. Though ironically, Thor gets redeemed while Baldur does not.
Evil Counterpart: Resembles a twisted Norse version of Kratos. The similarities become stronger when it's revealed that he seeks revenge against his own mother just like Kratos did in the past against Zeus (the difference is that his mother Freya was trying to protect him). Kratos actually tries to talk sense into him, but Baldur is too blinded by hate to see otherwise.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When he and Kratos come to blows a second time, he cries out "Don't you know when to give up!?" even though he's literally trying to kidnap the guy's son right in front of him. During their final battle, he's utterly confounded that Kratos and Atreus would even care about stopping him from killing Freya. This is to the point where when Kratos has him in a neck lock, by the end of it all, he even screams out "Why do you even care!? You could have just walked away!"
Exposed to the Elements: He's even worse about this than Kratos; at least Kratos has a shoulder guard while Baldur is completely topless in Scandinavian weather. He's even shirtless and completely unbothered in Helheim. Justified by his curse; he's immune to heatstroke and frostbite and being incapable of even feeling temperature means there's no reason for him to wear clothes except for modesty.
Fantastic Racism: When he first encounters Kratos, he mocks him by saying, "And here I thought your kind was supposed to be so enlightened. So much better than us. So much smarter." At first you think he's being insulting towards Greeks/Olympians, but then at the end of the game, you realize he's actually talking about the Giants.
Fatal Flaw: As the Norns say in Ragnarok, what sealed his fate more than anything else was his thirst for revenge. He had broken his curse and could have gone on with his life feeling all the things he'd been deprived of, but he needed to make Freya suffer, so he ignored Kratos' warning and started to strangle her before Kratos was even out of earshot. Kratos kills him before he can finish the job, fulfilling the prophecy of him dying a needless death.
Fate Worse than Death: He considers his invincibility as this since said invincibility makes him unable to feel anything like pain, the taste of food/drink or sexual pleasure. Enduring a century of this is what drove him over the edge.
Feel No Pain: During his first fight against Kratos, he claims to be incapable of feeling anything from Kratos' attacks, coupled with having an exceptional Healing Factor that immediately regenerates his injuries during the battle, including getting hit hard enough to crash through solid rock and keep going. Atreus deduces his identity as the Norse god Baldur, son of Odin and Freya, from this. When Freya heard a prophecy that Baldur would die "a needless death", she reacted by casting a spell that removed his ability to feel anything, however, in addition to pain, it also prevents feeling things like touch, taste, smell, and pleasure. By the time the story begins, Baldur has been living like this for at least 100 years according to himself. Similarly, just like the myth, getting stabbed with mistletoe (in-universe, the broken-off tip of a mistletoe arrow that he accidentally strikes when attacking Atreus) removes his invulnerability and returns his ability to feel. The resulting influx of sensory ability, after having been starved of it for an entire century quickly drives Baldur into fits of psychotic glee as he sustains injury after injury in the ensuing battle with Kratos.
Final Boss: He is the final obstacle standing in the way of Kratos and Atreus scattering Faye’s ashes.
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In his third fight, he shifts between fire and ice, requiring Kratos to shift between the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos, depending on his state.
Foreshadowing: When Kratos/the player sees him for the first time through the doorway of Kratos' house, his profile is briefly outlined by blinding white light, hinting towards his identity as the god of light. More overtly, his intense Healing Factor can clue in those knowledgeable about Norse myth to his identity.
First Injury Reaction: When Baldur is stabbed by the mistletoe arrowhead and feels the pain, he stops fighting to laugh in glee at the return of his senses.
Freeze-Frame Bonus: After getting his neck broken for the first time by Kratos, he's thrown over the side and deep into the crevice. Through mods, you can see Baldur flipping the bird as he falls, affirming that he's not finished yet with Kratos.
Freudian Excuse: Freya "blessing" him with immortality has clearly done more than just made him resent his mother.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Yes, the guy's half a head smaller than Kratos and only uses his fists against him, but that's all he needs to give the Spartan a very hard time. The only other characters who fought Kratos with their fists alone were Zeus, and Hercules (and the latter had no choice as Kratos had just taken his Nemean Cestus).
Handicapped Badass: Baldur's lack of sensations would be treated as a minor setback. However, his condition drove him to madness. In spite of losing his sensations, Baldur is an unparalleled tracker.
Hates Their Parent: During the second visit to Helheim, Kratos and Atreus discover that Freya is Baldur's mother, and that she was responsible for the invincibility spell that cost him the ability to feel any pain or pleasure of any sort. Since he has suffered this Fate Worse than Death for over 100 years, he is completely psychopathic and depressed and wishes nothing more than to have violent revenge on her like Kratos had on Zeus in the Greek Pantheon.
Healing Factor: Boasts this ability during his boss fight. Bruises and even deep cuts from the Leviathan Axe disappear in seconds.
The Heavy: In God of War (PS4), he serves as most direct and recurring antagonist to Kratos and Atreus, while Odin remains in the background. That said, he has nothing to do with Faye's death and serves mostly as an unrelated obstacle to hinder their quest.
Human Notepad: His torso and arms are covered in tattoos and Nordic runes.
Hypocrite:
- During his first fight with Kratos, he chastises Kratos by saying he was "acting all proud" and starting the fight when he wanted answers, but it was really him that started the fight and the whole time he keeps boasting about how he is better than Kratos and how he can't feel anything.
- When Atreus attacks Kratos during their second fight, he states "and here I thought my family was fucked up" stating that they weren't petty enough to fight or attack each other, but he tries to kill his own mother because he wants revenge for putting the invulnerable spell on him.
- Calls Kratos a coward for being in Midgard away from major conflict (and thinking he's a giant) when he then later calls himself a coward for not killing his mother in the past even pulling a Spiteful Spit at his past self when witnessing it in Helheim only stating the word "Coward".
Immunity Disability: He's immortal and invulnerable... and his inability to be harmed extends to being able to feel anything whatsoever. He's not happy about it and tells his mother point-blank that he would rather die than be unable to feel again.
Implacable Man: He's an absolutely relentless foe capable of fighting Kratos (who also qualifies for this trope himself) to a standstill and tanking all of his mightiest strikes. Keep in mind, Kratos was someone who punched Hercules and Zeus (the world's strongest man and the King of Olympus, respectively) to death, and Baldur survived this. As if that wasn't enough, he heals himself during his boss fight and can even survive being crushed when a huge rock is dropped on him. Getting his neck snapped and his temporarily lifeless corpse being tossed into a chasm is the only thing that takes him out of the fight for a significant amount of time and the second time they meet, Kratos and Atreus have to give him the slip. Even after having his invulnerability taken from him, Baldur still puts up one hell of a fight.
Ink-Suit Actor: Because of motion capture technology, Baldur resembles Jeremy Davies quite a bit.
I Shall Taunt You: During their first fight, he constantly rubs in how ineffectual Kratos' attempts at stopping him are, though it's less out of a petty need to insult his opponent and more out of disappointment at how Kratos can't hurt him.
It's All About Me: All Baldur wants is to be rid of his curse, he doesn't care about the deaths of his nephews, Magni and Modi, and is confused/frustrated when Kratos returns to save Freya.
Is That the Best You Can Do?: His reaction to his first fight with Kratos is to grumble irritably about how disappointing he is, though as noted above it's more about how Kratos can't hurt him than anything else.
Jerkass: His first appearance establishes himself as one; though he goes on about how Kratos started the fight through "pride", he very obviously did it himself (Kratos repeatedly told him to walk away) and spends his time taunting, mocking, and making threats to Kratos for the entirety of their first fight. He doesn't improve in later encounters.
Jerkass Has a Point: Regardless of the reasoning behind it, he ultimately does have good reasons for hating his mother. Considering it was his mom making him immortal and taking away even his most basic of senses that had made his existence miserable and ironically enough a Death Seeker.
Kick the Dog: When Mimir tries to beg him to stop hunting down Kratos and Atreus, he responds by viciously kicking the poor, helpless head unconscious.
Kryptonite Factor: Mistletoe takes away his immortality and his inability to physically feel anything and leaves him vulnerable.
Lack of Empathy: Doesn't mourn Magni and Modi when they were killed by Kratos and Atreus and even attacks Atreus who is only a child not caring about what he is as long as his goal is in his reach.
Large Ham: Definitely not as hammy as Kratos used to be, but he's still prone to exaggerated movements, delivers his dialogue in slurred yet bombastic fashion, and really likes to rub in how utterly pointless Kratos's attempts at fighting him are. This only gets worse once his immortality is undone, as he's so happy to have regained his senses at this point that he indulges in Laughing Mad and starts screaming his lungs out endlessly.
Laughing Mad: After having his curse removed, Baldur's sense of reason drowns in an abyss of sensory-induced euphoria and he starts laughing in mixed bliss and joy like a madman as the fight rages on.
Lean and Mean: Downplayed. He's of a reasonably slim stature, but when standing next to the brick wall of muscle that is Kratos, he can appear outright skinny. And just watching him in action, he's very mean.
Leitmotif: "Deliverance" is a melody that plays in all of his boss fights.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Baldur is depicted as a more sympathetic figure than the background villains like the Aesir. Unlike Odin and Thor, Baldur is given a Freudian Excuse and is shown to at least try talking his enemies into giving him what he wants which he directly contrasts to Thor's immediate propensity for violence. Of course, it turns out Thor also has a Freudian Excuse, as Odin has browbeat him into believing that he can do nothing but hurt people, even when he wants to be a loving father, and Thor can be reasoned with while Baldur cannot. Odin is still worse than both, though.
Lightning Bruiser: The Stranger not only can move so fast he appears to teleport, but also can send Kratos flying with just one punch.
Light Is Not Good: Baldur is the God of Light, has glowing tattoos, and is an Ax-Crazy Psychopathic Manchild with major parental issues.
Living Is More than Surviving: Upon his birth, Baldur's mother learned he was destined to die "a needless death" and did everything she could to prevent that prophecy. Her plan to save Baldur was to make him immortal at the cost of his most basic senses (touch, smell, taste, and pain, along with his fertility come adulthood). The loss of Baldur's senses caused him 100 years of misery and depression due to being unable to feel pleasure. He did return to Freya in a failed attempt to remove the spell and the two become estranged when she refused to help.
Logical Weakness: His curse prevents him from being injured, but it does nothing to increase his mass or change how he can move, so he can still be tossed around, disoriented, and restrained, though that's easier said than done given his super strength and skill at unarmed combat. Kratos wins the first two fights against him by grabbing him and tossing him somewhere he can't immediately return from; a ravine in the first fight, and Helheim in the second.
Made of Iron: His invulnerability alone makes it impossible to leave lasting damage in him. And even when it's removed, it takes Kratos and Atreus every trick in their arsenal to even just wear him down, as he quickly regenerates from all the arrows and axe wounds piled onto him.
Marathon Boss: Both his first and last fights have multiple phases.
Matricide: The one thing he wants more than anything else is murdering his mother for making him immortal and leaving him unable to feel anything. He is killed to prevent this trope from passing.
Mercy Kill: Kratos had no earnest desire to kill Baldur in the end, only resorting to fighting him out of self-defense and knowing from personal experience that he won't stop his mad quest for revenge until he's forced to stop. Even after Kratos and Atreus have beaten him within an inch of his life and give him one last chance, he still tries to kill his mother Freya a moment later, forcing Kratos to do the deed.
Mirror Character:
- It's possible that Kratos sees a lot of his younger self in Baldur as a completely psychopathic and unreasonable murder machine that won't be swayed from his path no matter what. Kratos attempts to talk him out of killing his own mother, mentioning that Vengeance Feels Empty since he didn't find peace after killing Zeus — especially since unlike his own father, Freya is a legitimately loving parent that wanted what was best for Baldur. When forced to pull him out of his misery, Kratos repeats the same words Zeus told him in II before killing him — "the cycle ends here" — and says that the gods must become better than this.
- He's not too different from Atreus and is what Atreus would become if Kratos didn't mature or tell him of his godhood. Both Atreus and Baldur have blue eyes and have issues with a parent who did more harm than good in an effort to protect them. With the ending revelation that Atreus is Loki, then both Atreus and Baldur are key figures in Ragnarök.
Mistaken Identity: Baldur had the right man, but the wrong backstory. Baldur's dialogue frames it such that he knows Kratos is the Greek God of War and that he never should've come to Midgard, going out of his way to antagonize him. The truth of the matter as Kratos realizes in the ending is that Baldur thinks Kratos is a Frost Giant (Faye was one, so he assumes another one would be her lover), he thinks Kratos never should've never left Jotunheim (Kratos is from Sparta), and thinks Kratos is going out of his way to hide Faye from him (he was hiding Atreus, and Faye has been dead for a long time). Baldur has no idea who Kratos really is outside of "that guy who loved Faye" and consequently spends the whole story Mugging the Monster.
Moral Myopia: In his first fight with Kratos, he complains that Kratos caused the fight by refusing to answer his questions and give him what he wanted. The fact that he could have just as easily left Kratos alone, like the Spartan wanted, seems to elude him.
Muscles Are Meaningless: While not necessarily a weakling, he's significantly less muscled and shorter than Kratos, yet packs a hell of a Megaton Punch.
Narcissist: Constantly boasts to Kratos during their fights on how he is better than him or how he is unstoppable.
Neck Snap: Kratos seemingly kills him this way before throwing his corpse down a chasm. Kratos later kills him for real with this after he tries to choke his mother to death.
Never My Fault: During their first fight, he gripes about Kratos acting "all proud" and starting the fight when he just wanted answers, when in reality, Kratos repeatedly warned him to walk away while Baldur was actively provoking him, and refused to just ask directly for the information he wanted.
Nigh-Invulnerability: His mother placed a spell on him that renders him pretty much invulnerable as well as giving him a Healing Factor to boot. The nigh part to this comes when it's revealed that mistletoe is the only thing that can still hurt him and being injured by it will break the spell.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Fans have pointed out that Baldur bears a strong resemblance to UFC fighter Conor McGregor.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He's a relatively minor member of the Aesir and still manages to give Kratos a spectacular fight. He also mentions that he's not quite as belligerent and brutal as his brother. And from what we see of his brother in The Stinger, THE heavy hitter of Norse legend...
- Mimir also explicitly mentions that his specialty is tracking, not fighting. Although being immune to everything save mistletoe is something unique to him that gives him an obvious edge compared to the Greek gods.
No-Sell: This is his blessing. Or rather, his curse. The only sign he shows of being hit are simple physical action/reaction; he is completely impervious to the damage it causes him. For instance, he shrugs off Kratos's punches, being rammed through a boulders, and slashes from an axe like they were nothing, and constantly screams his head off about how much his lack of feeling any of this upsets him. Just about the only thing that gives him pause for any length of time is repeated and intense blows to the head which seem to briefly stun him, and getting his neck broken, though in that case it's more a case of taking a little longer to recover from that. This ultimately bites him in the ass once his invulnerability is removed. As he can is now capable of sensing the pain from attacks, Balder delights in it, and keeps fighting recklessly without modifying his fighting style to be more defensive, even though his body now has a limit to how much abuse it can endure. As a result, the damage eventually stacks up on him and results in his loss.
Not Hyperbole: When he says he was Expecting Someone Taller in his first confrontation with Kratos, he wasn't just trying to insult the guy, he was genuinely expecting Kratos (who's about a head taller than Baldur) to be bigger, due to thinking Kratos was a Frost Giant.
Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Baldur chides Kratos for being so old and slow during their first fight.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: His first confrontation with Kratos. Kratos believes he's someone from his past in Greece coming back for revenge; Baldur thinks that Kratos is a Frost Giant who wants revenge against the Aesir and might know the secret of how to break his curse or kill him.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Downplayed in that he's of average size, but noticably smaller than other powerhouses among the Aesir, including his nephews Magni and Modi, and when they appear in the sequel, Thor and Tyr. Even his mother Freya has several inches on him. Despite all that, he's capable of matching Kratos in terms of brute strength.
Playing with Fire: In the final boss fight, after Kratos impales him with the Blades of Chaos and he cops a Shatter Crystal explosion to the face, he gains the power to channel fire and lava. His moveset becomes fire-themed, and he becomes immune to the Blades of Chaos, forcing Kratos to use the Leviathan Axe when he is channeling fire.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: What he ultimately comes down to as the story is about a father and son trying to bond as they embark on a journey together with Baldur popping up on occasionally to cause problems. At the end, their final confrontation has nothing to do with their quest or Baldur's own mission, but over something completely unrelated such as protecting his mother Freya from him.
Plot-Triggering Death: His death by Kratos would be a big mistake as it would trigger Ragnarök, which kickstarts the sequel God of War Ragnarök.
Poor Communication Kills: His idea of getting information from Kratos is to walk up to his house, taunt him a bit, pick a fight, and threaten his son. Then he blames Kratos for the ensuing beatdown. It turns out basically all their encounters were entirely unnecessary; he was looking the last Frost Giant; i.e. Faye, but he was so vague Kratos assumed that he was someone after the Ghost of Sparta.
Psychopathic Manchild: His behavior makes it apparent that beneath his godly exterior is an angry child lashing out at his mother for making him immortal yet unable to physically feel anything. When his immortality is removed, he starts laughing like a psychopath and demands more when he gets hurt. And yet, he still wants to kill his mother. Then he gets angry and starts to become more vicious when Kratos activates the Rage of Sparta, screaming like a madman.
Rasputinian Death: Kratos and Atreus repeatedly beat, stab and slash him to a pulp, pump him full of arrows, and then gets Jörmungandr to ram him, and even after that he still gets up - seemingly more out-of-breath than anything - and tries to kill his mother, only stopping when Kratos intervenes once more and breaks the guy’s neck, and even then he still takes several seconds to finally perish from his injuries. And all this was after his immortality was taken away.
Recurring Boss: He's fought three times- once as the Stranger at Kratos's house, once when they try to use the Jotunheim gateway, and finally at the Lake of Nine.
Redemption Rejection: After his boss fight, Kratos explicitly spares him on the condition that he not harm Kratos, Atreus, or Freya, and it's made clear that he could just walk away and enjoy his returned senses, but instead he immediately tries to strangle Freya, and Kratos kills him to break the cycle.
Related in the Adaptation: Baldur, in the myths, is a son of Frigg, not Freya. However, Mimir informs Atreus later on that Odin used "Frigg" (meaning "beloved") as a pet name for Freya, and later attributed Freya's accomplishments to the fictional Frigg, all because he couldn't allow a Vanir goddess to be renowned among realms dominated by the Aesir.
Revenge Before Reason: Even after he finally has the curse Freya placed on him lifted, and moments after Kratos warned him to not lay a finger on Freya, logic and self-preservation would dictate that he should settle for leaving Freya to suffer her banishment by Odin and the knowledge that he won’t ever forgive her and go and enjoy his newly acquired ability to feel, or at least make a tactical retreat until Kratos and Atreus have left and kill Freya when they are not there to intervene, he instead opts for trying to strangle her right then and there in front of them.
Revenge Is Not Justice: Even though he has a good reason to despise Freya, Kratos tries to tell him that killing her won't achieve anything and he'll find no peace. Baldur doesn't listen and Kratos is eventually forced to kill him against Freya's wishes since Baldur won't stop at his rampage with Freya.
Rewatch Bonus: The context of his first interaction with Kratos becomes very different when you watch it after beating the game and realize he and Kratos have completely different interpretations of what he's saying.
Resurrective Immortality: Despite temporarily dying from a snapped neck in his first confrontation with Kratos, he bounces back from it thanks to his immortality.
Sanity Slippage: A hundred years of being denied any and all sensation, pleasant or otherwise, has driven Baldur utterly mad, making him violent, cruel, and thoroughly unbalanced, as well as crippling his sense of self-preservation. In Helheim, seeing a memory of his last encounter with Freya play out has Baldur break down, screaming at his past self to kill her and calling himself weak and worthless when it doesn't happen. And any sanity he had left is violently obliterated once his invulnerability is done away with, rendering him a screaming madman reveling in every single sensation he receives during his final fight with Kratos and Atreus.
Scarily Competent Tracker: Despite his lack of senses, he's Odin's best tracker. In the sequel, Odin uses this as a pretext to negotiate 'pace talks' with Kratos, noting that of the three gods slain at the duo's hands, he considers Magni and Modi 'kinda useless', but despite his instability, Balder's tracking abilities made him useful to the Top God, and so Kratos owes the pantheon a Blood Debt, something that they're willing to uphold unless Kratos agrees to a truce, since the same losses mean Odin is aware unwisely antagonising him could be more costly than its worth.
Screaming Warrior: In the final fight, he's screaming with pure ecstasy when he's rendered mortal. Frequently yelling his excitement, cursing Kratos and Atreus and reciting how he's going to kill Freya.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Freya cursed Baldur with immortality in order to prevent a prophecy saying he would die a needless death from coming true. This does not stop it from becoming fulfilled as his thirst for revenge ended up causing the needless death anyway.
Sense Freak: Reveals that he's unable to "feel anything", specifically pain from his injuries like how Kratos feels. When he's robbed of his invulnerability, he's actually pretty happy to just feel things, like the cold wind, the pain from Kratos's strikes to the point of being a Combat Sadomasochist and his last thoughts when Kratos performs a Neck Snap on him is to the feeling of cold snow.
Sense Loss Sadness: Essentially why he's so unhinged and pissed off. Baldur constantly gripes that he's unable to feel anything. The reason he sought Kratos out in the first place was hoping that, because Kratos doesn't use Norse magic, it would be different. It isn't. Except, the actual reason is that Odin convinced him a Giant might know of a way to break his enchantment.
Sensory Overload: A lifetime of sensory deprivation leaves his brain incapable of adapting to all the sensory input it receives once the curse is broken, sending him on a euphoric high in his final fight with Kratos without considering the consequences of suffering too much pain upon his body, demanding for more despite the danger of death involved with his desires.
Sibling Team: In Ragnarök, while working together, Thor tells Atreus that he and Baldur used to team up to do Odin's bidding, sadly commenting that the brothers made a good team.
Shadow Archetype:
- He's pretty much what Kratos used to be in the Greek era, seeking retribution against his parents for the misery they inflicted on him, and being unnecessarily cruel to everything and everyone around him. The key difference is that his mother Freya genuinely loved him and was trying to protect him at all costs, even if her methods were completely misguided, unlike Zeus who tried to kill Kratos because he was fueled by paranoia that he would overthrow him just like he did to his father Cronos.
- He's also one to Atreus. While Baldur's psychosis stems from receiving too much love from his mother, Atreus was similarly in danger of becoming emotionally damaged from too little love from his father's extreme discipline.
Shoot the Dog: His final death is treated as this. Kratos doesn't want to kill him, but is forced to do this because he's just too insane to reason with at this point.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Baldur is lean, short-haired, claims to be more reasonable than Thor, and is regarded as Odin's best tracker. Thor, on the other hand, is long-haired, bulky, quick-tempered, and is universally regarded as Odin's deadliest warrior.
Spiteful Spit: He does one at his past self and hisses "Coward!" in Helheim when viewing the moment that he restrained himself from killing his mother in vengeance for her actions.
Story-Breaker Power: He can't feel pain, which already grants him a massive advantage on the battlefield, but it's later on revealed that the spell preventing him from feeling pain also granted him Complete Immortality...at the cost of all his other senses. The only reason Kratos and Atreus defeat him by the very end of the game is because Atreus happened to have a mistletoe arrow keeping his quiver together — mistletoe being Baldur's only weakness.
Strong and Skilled: He is one of the strongest of the Aesir, being one of Odin's sons, and for all his insanity, he is so skilled in combat (unarmed at that) that he gives Kratos one of the hardest fights he's ever had.
Stupid Evil: Justified in that he's really not in a stable state of mind and is utterly confident he can brute force all threats with his invincibility, but his bloodthirst can lead to him making decisions that are really boneheaded in hindsight.
- His mission at the start of the game didn't actually require any violence; had he bothered to talk to Kratos, he would've easily learned that Kratos wasn't a Jotunn, didn't know anything about them, and his target was Faye, who had died. Because he picked a fight, he ended up with nothing that he actually wanted and inadvertently got Magni and Modi killed because they were sent with him to subdue Kratos- albeit that bringing the two probably wasn't Baldur's decision.
- When Kratos let him go on the condition that he not harm Freya, he doesn't even pretend to obey it long enough for Kratos to leave the immediate vicinity, instead opting to immediately try to strangle his mother... while Kratos, who had just told him not to do that if he wanted to live, was right there. This time, he doesn't have his invulnerability as a crutch and he dies for good.
Super-Strength: On par with Kratos. His punches and kicks are powerful enough they can easily send the Spartan flying and would likely splat your average human. He's so strong that he doesn't even need to use weapons; his fists are all he needs.
Suspect Is Hatless: His description of Kratos to Mimir is simply 'tattooed man, traveling with a child'. Thing is, in the Nine Realms, everyone has tattoos (including Baldur himself), and he fails to mention things like what the tattoos looked like, or other distinguishing features like his unnaturally-white skin.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He isn't fond of working with Magni and Modi and is noticeably absent in Thamur's Corpse. The simplest explanation is that he got irritated by their constant bickering and opted to hunt Kratos alone.
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: One of the most notable things about The Stranger is in just how plain he looks, especially in comparison to other bosses throughout the series. Though he's distinguishable thanks to his many glowing tattoos, it's counterbalanced by his rather rugged looks, the lack of any Bling of War on him, and his lean frame. In any other game, he'd look like a regular background NPC and no one would bat an eye, which makes the reveal that he's in truth the God of Light Baldur even more jarring.
Tragic Villain: Yes, he's a vicious madman who Would Hurt a Child. But the curse Freya put him under was essentially a form of torture, and he's been living like that for 100 years at least. It's no wonder he's unstable and hates her with a burning passion. References to him in Ragnarok indicate that he Used to Be a Sweet Kid and had a genuinely loving relationship with his brother Thor, but living with a father who was a complete narcissist who only saw him as an asset (Odin) and a mother who was so overprotective that she outright tortured him while claiming it was for his own good (Freya) sent him right off the deep end.
Trash Talk: He's almost as bad as Hermes in terms of insulting his enemies. But then again, flyting is a Old Norse art-form.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
- Freya's affection for Baldur may be just her overbearing motherly love talking, but evidence suggests he was a more noble guy before Freya cursed him; as his visions in Helheim show, even after the curse he couldn't initially bring himself to hurt her. A hundred years later, we see that Baldur's gone completely mad over the loss of his senses and any kindness he once had is gone, and when given the chance to kill Freya a second time, he guns for it with everything he's got.
- Official cosplay guide reveals that Freya's sword, beaded necklace, and bracelet are in fact gifts from young Baldur, showing how close they were before she cast the curse.
- According to Freya in Ragnarök, as a boy, Baldur was very much like Atreus: friendly, inquisitive, and happy to explore. However, his innocence was ground into dust by years of seeking the approval of, and subsequently doing the dirty work of, his father Odin (and, implicitly, the curse that prevents him from feeling).
Villainous Breakdown: He fully believes he'll kill Kratos and Atreus in their final fight with him, and even thanks them for removing his immortality. When Kratos activates his Spartan Rage and turns the tables on him, it suddenly dawns on Baldur that he could actually lose after having nothing new to throw at them, reducing him to screaming at the two of them.
Baldur: WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE?!
Villainous Legacy: Following his death, "Ragnarök" is set in motion. This prompts Thor, already enraged by his sons' killings, to seek revenge against Kratos by attacking him at his residence. Meanwhile, Freya seeks to kill Kratos as revenge for Baldur's death. This also creates an inescapable confrontation between Odin, the Aesir, and the duo of Atreus and Kratos.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The first fight with him. If you haven't learned the importance of blocking, evading, and fighting in a considerably more methodical manner than in the original trilogy, this guy will mess you up.
Walking Shirtless Scene: He's completely shirtless in the snow, boasting his tattoo markings all over his body. Justified because he's Baldur, whose invincibility means even the cold wind doesn't faze him and thus has no need for a shirt.
Weaksauce Weakness: His immortality and inability to feel pain are completely undone the second his hand is pierced by a mistletoe arrowhead, in line with Baldur's mortal weakness in Norse myth.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Freya mentions to Kratos and Mimir that Baldur desperately wanted Odin's approval and affection, but never received it. Even after Baldur is dead, the only compliment he gets from Odin is of his usefulness as a minion, rather than anything close to a father's love and affection.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Baldur is immortal and immune to any form pain with the exception of mistletoe. While this was done with the best of intentions, Baldur can't feel the most mundane sensations, like the temperature or the weather. Unsurprisingly, this drove him to madness and to develop an unquenchable wrath towards his own mother; he even states outright that he'd much rather die than be unable to feel anything. He gets his wish.
White Sheep: Not anymore, but it’s implied that he used to take after his mother, with an preference towards passivity and negotiation over violence, but this all changed with his years of mind-shattering insensitivity. He still seems to detest his family’s barbarity, especially Thor’s.
Baldur: "I’m not my brother, and if you’d given me what I wanted, it wouldn’t have ended this way. But no!"
Why Won't You Die?: Says this verbatim to Kratos and Atreus during their final battle, as while he still has incredible power, his newfound mortality coupled with Kratos's Spartan Rage means that he might actually lose a fight for once.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Being deprived from feeling anything has driven him mad for centuries, becoming utterly unhinged and destructive as a result.
Worf Had the Flu: When Atreus inadvertently removes Baldur's immortality, Baldur's so overwhelmed by Sensory Overload that he literally doesn't notice Kratos destroying chunks of his life bar. Likewise, his impatience with their tenacity causes him to be wild and reckless by the end of the fight, allowing the more disciplined father and son to beat him down without nearly as much issue as they had mere hours before.
Worthy Opponent: He genuinely thanks Kratos and Atreus for figuring out the way to remove his invulnerability. Doesn't mean he's going to stop fighting them, though.
Would Hurt a Child: If threatening Kratos's son will push Kratos to fight will all his rage, then so be it. During a cutscene, Atreus stabs him with a knife. He just giggles, takes the knife and stabs Atreus back, in the shoulder. Later, he gives Atreus a punch strong enough to send the boy flying backwards gasping for breath.
Wrestler in All of Us: In their first fight, he subjects Kratos to a German Suplex at one point, and even uses a Double Axe Handle to knock Kratos back after the latter pins him to a wall and a Shining Wizard knee strike during the fight on a dragon's back. This isn't surprising given that wrestling and martial arts were not at all foreign to the Nords, but slowly phased out of their culture come the Christianization of Scandinavia. Baldur's brother Thor is even the god of, among other things, wrestling.
You Have Failed Me: His comments before reuniting with Freya, as well as Mimir's comment after the fight, suggest that Odin promised him that he'd remove the spell. After Baldur failed twice at this point and after the sequential deaths of Magni and Modi, Odin revoked his promise or revealed that he couldn't actually remove the spell.
You Talk Too Much!: He likes to run his mouth during battle, much to Kratos's irritation. In their first fight, Kratos's response to his taunts is to grunt "You talk too much" and resume punching him.

Characters / God of War Series – Main Antagonists
aka: God Of War Series Zeus

Greek Era

Zeus

Voiced by: Paul Eiding (English, God of War, as the Gravedigger in Ghost of Sparta), Corey Burton (English, God of War II, God of War III, Ascension), Fred Tatasciore (English, Ghost of Sparta)^{additional VAs}

The Furies

Megaera

Norse Era

Thor

Voiced by: Ryan Hurst (English), Takanori Hoshino (Japanese)^{additional VAs}Gabriel Noya (Brazilian Portuguese)

Baldur/The Stranger

Voiced by: Jeremy Davies (English), Tooru Sakurai (Japanese)^{additional VAs}

Alternative Title(s): God Of War Series The Stranger, God Of War Series Zeus, God Of War Series Thor, God Of War Series Baldur

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Characters / God of War Series – Main Antagonists aka: God Of War Series Zeus

Edit Locked

Greek Era

Zeus

The Furies

Megaera

Norse Era

Thor

Voiced by: Ryan Hurst (English), Takanori Hoshino (Japanese)additional VAsGabriel Noya (Brazilian Portuguese)

Baldur/The Stranger

Voiced by: Jeremy Davies (English), Tooru Sakurai (Japanese)additional VAsSilvio Giraldi (Brazilian Portuguese), Dmitry Krivoshchapov (Russian)

Alternative Title(s): God Of War Series The Stranger, God Of War Series Zeus, God Of War Series Thor, God Of War Series Baldur

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Index

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Characters / God of War Series – Main Antagonists
aka: God Of War Series Zeus

Voiced by: Ryan Hurst (English), Takanori Hoshino (Japanese)^{additional VAs}Gabriel Noya (Brazilian Portuguese)

Voiced by: Jeremy Davies (English), Tooru Sakurai (Japanese)^{additional VAs}