Foreshadowing / God of War Ragnarök

• If you look closely at the Valkyrie Vanadis when she ambushes Kratos and Atreus, you might notice she has the exact same tattoos on her hands that Freya does. Which, as Kratos realizes at the end of the fight, is because she is Freya in her Valkyrie armor.
• There are tons of hints leading up to The Reveal that 'Tyr' is actually Odin-in-disguise:
  • Right from the start there are raven feathers scattered about Tyr's cell, a sign of Odin's teleportation. Given that Tyr was supposedly being visited regularly by Odin for daily tortures akin to Mimir, this doesn't stand out as too noticeable on a first viewing, but when Kratos cut him free of the noose binding him to the wall, the panelling frames it as akin to Tyr being hanged, like Odin himself famously did to get his epithet.
  • When 'Tyr' is first rescued, Atreus offers him a spear to defend himself with on their way back to the realm travel door, only for Tyr to bemusedly decline his need for a 'walking stick'. At first it seems to be a side-effect of Tyr's frazzled mind from his long imprisonment and abstinence from all violence, even in self-defence, such that he cannot imagine himself using a weapon as a weapon, but Odin actually does use Gungnir as a walking stick whilst showing Atreus around Asgard later on, helping to sell his image as an frail elder, underselling how capable he actually is in a fight.
  • Tyr is also surprisingly harsh towards Freyr throughout the travels through Alfheim. While in the moment it seems as if he's criticizing Freyr's lack of follow-through in assisting Alfheim, in retrospect it comes off as Odin angry at the man who opposed his marriage to Freya.
  • If Kratos goes off and investigates side-areas to find resources and supplies, 'Tyr' will eventually comment on this and show appreciation for his 'curious mind'. Upon hearing that Kratos went inside the Light of Alfheim and survived "of sound mind and decidedly not incinerated" on their last visit, 'Tyr' becomes uncharacteristically insistent on being told what happened to Kratos on the other side of it. One of the things that drives Odin the most is discovering what would happen to him after death, and fear of potential oblivion awaiting him.
  • On their way to reach Groa's shrine, Atreus quizzes Tyr on whether he'd met the seeress before, to which he answers that he had, many times, but that conversation with her was difficult due to her constant visions. As they all shortly discover, conversation with Groa was difficult for Odin because Groa was aware of his role in her husband's death and her impending demise, and thus used his desire for knowledge of the future and Ragnarok to mislead him on what steps to take to avoid his doom, instead sealing it. Furthermore, there is a slight ominous note in the soundtrack afterwards when Atreus leads Kratos away from the light of Alfhiem and Tyr comes into view once more, with a few strings of Odin's theme playing.
  • The reactions of Team Kratos when they see the full Ragnarök Prophecy — and realize that Groa lied to Odin. They're all left stunned, but 'Tyr' in particular keeps staring at the prophecy's image of Groa as if in shellshock. Odin's reeling from the realization that he's been working off a false prophecy this entire time and that all of his intricate, carefully-laid plans just got blown up.
  • On seeing the true prophecy, the stunned 'Tyr' rudely walks past/bumps into Atreus on his right side when walking closer to stare at the floating images. As demonstrated by Heimdall later on to Troll Odin, despite his godly nature, he still cannot see out of his missing eye on his right side, meaning that in his shocked state, Odin lost track of Atreus' position and literally couldn't see him, or remember that he needed to act like he could.
  • Despite being horrified at his own apparent prophesied fate to lead a destructive war, protesting against it all the way back to the realm travel door and refusing to let prophecy guide his actions, 'Tyr' seems strangely welcoming of the idea that Atreus is the depicted champion of the prophecy in the same vision, warmly referring to him as such whilst cooking him a meal later on, which sparks another argument between Kratos and Atreus over his apparent 'destiny' that drives a wedge between them. Whilst Odin refuses to allow Ragnarok to occur whilst under the disguise of the would-be leader 'Tyr', he's welcoming of the chance to manipulate others depicted in events to serve his needs, including subtly sowing discord between the heroes that will lead Atreus to turn away from them and aid him.
  • Shortly after discovering the true prophecy of Ragnarök, a distraught Tyr, horrified that he's destined to lead a bloody and violent war that will irrevocably destroy an entire realm despite his renouncement of all violence, snaps when attacked by a light elf, forgoing pacifically dodging its attacks like he did before during combat and beating it unconscious, though he expresses regret for his actions when regaining control of himself. This is actually a flaw of Odin's character, that when truly upset, usually by losing control over a situation, he immediately reacts with lethal violence to enforce his will, no matter how short-sighted the action proves to be. Learning that he was deceived about Ragnarök from the start and all his plans to avert his fated end during it have been undermined all along understandably leaves him angered, leading to a slip in his act as 'Tyr'. When Brok confronts him over all the suspicious inconsistencies in Tyr's behaviour he's noticed, and knocks the mask he's been seeking out of his hand, he lethally stabs him and takes Atreus hostage in an impulsive attempt to regain his prize. When Thor finally stands up to him and refuses to follow his orders to kill anymore, he likewise stabs him, leading to him having to smack Thrúd away as well when she attempts to avenge her father.
  • The nature of the game and shifting viewpoints between the characters help disguise it, but 'Tyr' and Odin are never seen together in the same scene. This gets especially pronounced during several segments that switch viewpoints from Atreus in Asgard to Kratos in their Home Base in Brok and Sindri's house, as Tyr is always shown to be emerging from offscreen or noted to be absent by the others when Atreus was meeting with Odin. When Atreus returns to the house after freeing Garm, Tyr emerges after the fighting has ceased, apparently because of his pacifistic desire to avoid violence, but in actuality because it took Odin (who saw Atreus off) a few moments to reassume his disguise and teleport to the house.
  • When 'Tyr' reunites with Freya, he refers to her as 'Frigg', Odin’s pet name for her when they were still married.
  • Odin often seems to know things he really shouldn't, and while knowing things is kinda his MO, some of these are things that, given his stated capabilities, he couldn't find out, or at least not in the time periods given.
    • Odin is immediately aware that Tyr was broken out (excusable because he had set up an alarm) and that he was a disappointment and shadow of his former self. Tyr has spent most of his time in the Realm Between Realms, where Odin's ravens can't reach. So how does he know enough about Tyr's relationships to understand what Kratos and company think of him?
    • When Atreus decides to accept Odin's offer (something that Tyr notably doesn't discourage him from, despite everyone else who knew Odin realizing it was a bad idea) and runs away, Huginn is able to find him remarkably quickly. Almost like he knew exactly when to send the raven...
    • Odin makes certain hints about the Draupnir Spear that indicate that a) he knows it exists (all planning was done in the Realm Between Realms), b) he knows it's made of the ring Draupnir (he shouldn't know the Huldra Brothers stole it back), c) and Brok specifically helped make it (done underwater with the help of the Lady of the Forge, so no Odin ravens present- and notice that he does not mention the Lady's involvement, as nobody told Tyr who she was). Notably, Tyr is the only one to express surprise when it's revealed that the Huldra Brothers have Draupnir.
    • When Kratos receives the prophecy that he will kill Heimdall, he's in the Norns' realm, and he only tells the others in the Realm Between Realms. No Odin ravens in either place... and yet, Odin (sending Heimdall and Atreus on a mission together to Hel) and Heimdall (being pissed at Kratos trying to spare him to avert the prophecy) both drop hints that they know about it.
  • Speaking of I Never Said It Was Poison, Tyr also knows something he shouldn't; after Kratos kills Heimdall, he gets angry because Kratos had broken the deal Odin proposed for Kratos to not kill any more Asgardians in exchange for Odin leaving him alone. Kratos never talked about his meeting with Odin to anyone and Tyr was still imprisoned by that point, so when did he learn that Odin proposed a deal to Kratos?
  • When Atreus tells the assembled heroes about the mask that Odin seeks to assemble, 'Tyr' is the only one who doesn't scoff at the idea that the mask is more than a simple trinket, and even proves to be surprisingly knowledgeable about its purpose and relationship with past giants, whereas Freya herself (Odin's wife and The Archmage in her own right) admits ignorance about it, claiming that it's because Odin extensively tortured him to find out more about it.
  • Brok is the first member of Team Kratos to realize (and too late) that 'Tyr' keeps addressing Atreus as Loki — something Odin was also previously doing.
  • "Tyr" is remarkably unperturbed about Odin. You'd think the man who basically left him in solitary confinement for centuries would elicit some reaction or at least strong opinions, even if Tyr abandoned war and violence, but Tyr seems to rarely ever mention the man, and when he does tends to do it in very loose, generic sense, with not even a drop of the bile Mimir, Freya or Freyr have.
  • When Brok and Sindri propose using Draupnir to forge a weapon capable of killing Heimdall, "Tyr" sounds surprisingly outraged to learn that they were the ones who originally stole the ring from Asgard - in the moment, players probably assume he still cares about his homeland and its relics regardless of what Odin did to him, but it's actually Odin angered by the theft of his property.
  • A small one but Tyr is rather rude and critical of Brok's cooking, suggesting that he take over making meals for the group from now on, and later on admitting to Atreus after his emotional outburst in Alfheim that 'nothing seems to settle his mind' quite like cooking. In hindsight, it seems odd that Tyr, whom everyone remembers as a Nice Guy would complain about the food given by his rescuers (especially since Odin doesn't seem the type to feed his prisoners particularly well). A small moment of humor turns a bit sinister when you realize that Odin's Control Freak tendencies were basically rearing their ugly head over something as basic and trivial as dinner. In fact, it even seems to be In-Universe foreshadowing, as Brok is implied to become more observant of Tyr's small slips of odd behaviour afterwards, as if sensing something off with him that he can't quite place yet
  • A minor example: when Kratos and "Tyr" first meet, Tyr refers to him as "God-killer". During their showdown at Ragnarok, Odin calls Kratos this same name again.
  • A small but obvious one in hindsight: the subtitles refer to Odin-as-Týr as "Tyr" when he speaks, missing the accent above the "y". Sure enough, when others say his name and when you meet the real Týr in Niflheim, his name is spelt correctly.
• After the Leviathan Axe and Mjolnir clash and create a lighting bolt, Thor remarks that something about the situation is familiar. Kratos asks what he means but the thunder god brushes him off and goes right back to trying to kill him. Later, we learn the same thing happened when Faye fought Thor in Vanaheim, but with a much larger shockwave crater.
• When Kratos and Atreus view the true telling of Skol and Hati's tale, they see a depiction of a Ragnarok battle. Attentive viewers will notice that the battle is split between two sides, one with shields bearing the X symbol of Asgard, and the other side with the symbols of all the other realms. This foreshadows the later reveal that Groa lied about her prophecy of Ragnarok: the war is between Asgard and the other realms specifically, with Odin and Asgard the only confirmed casualties.
• Whilst in Asgard, Atreus is gifted a magical flying sword named Ingrid by Odin, as a gesture of trust and support in their search for the mask. Ingrid was successfully stolen from Freyr by Odin when he disguised himself as a beautiful woman and seduced him into willingly surrendering the sword to Odin of his own free will. Whilst Atreus is too young for such tactics, he is likewise being mislead by Odin in the disguise of somebody he trusts into helping the All-father's goals.
• During Atreus' time in Asgard, he meets Huginn but not Muninn. Muninn was hiding in Brok and Sindri's house as Odin's backdoor whenever he needed to make an appearance as Tyr.
• Unrelated to all the above, during Atreus' time in Asgard, he's given a walking tour of not only the realm by Odin, but Svartalfheim as well, during which he checks up with Durlin on the progress of some dwarven-built contraptions, implying that their completion as soon as possible is of the utmost importance. They turn out to be dwarven war machines capable of unleashing immense destructive beams that can destroy entire structures, used to destroy the realm towers into Asgard when Ragnarök starts to cut out the invading armies and even hold back Surtr in his Ragnarök form.
• During a boat conversation, Atreus asks Mimir about Odin's Teleportation abilities. If Odin has the freedom to go anywhere he wants, couldn't he kidnap anybody he pleases? Mimir says it's only possible to use Odin's raven teleportation if one consents to it, assuaging Atreus' concerns. This informs Odin's actions after being unmasked as 'Tyr', as despite taking Atreus hostage to avoid immediate retaliation, and needing him to use the Mask of Creation with the rift, he can't actually teleport Atreus out of the heroes' Home Base, and instead has to try and force them to exchange Atreus for the mask, as a non-sentient object like that he can take with him.
• During Kratos and Odin's second face-to-face meeting, Odin asks Kratos what he knows about being a god; has he ever been loved? Ever been prayed to? In the ending, Kratos finds a new "prophecy" showing a statue of him surrounded by people worshipping it, implying that Kratos will rebuild the realms and become beloved for it.
• When Thor first meets Kratos, he notes with immense sarcasm that he 'seems like a calm and reasonable person', before challengingly asking him if that's what he really is. As it turns out, actually becoming a better person in defiance of your past mistakes is the key to defying prophecy and one's fate, as everybody has free will, but many gods are so stubborn and resistant to changing themselves that they inevitably fall back into their old ways, which means they wind up fulfilling their predicted actions even when they're warned in advance of them. Kratos taking this lesson to heart is what ultimately allows him and Atreus to avert their own prophesied destiny and make their own path, whereas Odin's inability to change himself leads to his doom.
• Magni and Modi's deaths, and Kratos starting Fimbulwinter early in defiance of the Ragnarök prophecy, seemed to be because he was an outside-context element to events as a foreign god, but is revealed in this game to hint at two things. Firstly, that Groa actually gave Odin an incorrect prophecy about Ragnarök, which is revealed to merely be the destruction of Asgard alone, and the remaining 8 realms will survive afterwards. This means many of the events that were taken for granted by the gods were not actually set in stone, shown by Atreus' mural in Jotunheim prophesying his and Kratos' confrontations with the 3 gods and the outcomes as they actually would happen. Secondly, The Reveal that fate is not immutable, and it's possible for any being to avert their fated path through free will. However, since gods are highly stubborn and resistant to Character Development, they rarely do so.
• Brok makes his appearance in Sindri's house by bursting through the front door, knocking down a picture showing a boat drifting over water, which Sindri has to put back up while Brok is completely unconcerned. This foreshadows Brok's viking funeral at the end of the game, Sindri's worry over his brother dying, Brok's calm demeanor as he dies, and Sindri's grief when it happens despite Brok's reassurance.
• When Atreus first goes to Asgard, the supposedly-untouchable Heimdall seems intimidated by Thor when the latter tells him to leave Atreus alone. This foreshadows that while Heimdall is incredibly difficult to hurt, let alone kill, someone with the right combination of strength and skill, like Thor or Kratos, can pull it off.
• It's mentioned early on in Valhalla that the place pulls from memories. Of course, that doesn't just mean Norse memories...

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