Fridge / God of War Ragnarök

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Fridge Brilliance

• An example of Five-Second Foreshadowing. Freya's name during her Boss Battle, Vanadis, is literally translated as the "Dis of the Vani/from Vanaheim". Disir are enigmatic figures from Norse Mythology who are often compared to Valkyries for being female warriors, but the fact that the name is one of the titles of Freya leaves little room of doubt on the boss' identity nonethless.
• Thor's bulky design does reflect how fat would work scientifically and how his stories in Norse mythology had gone. In real life, fat can protect internal organs from external damage, keep them insulated, and the extra weight adds more force to physical blows and helps build up muscle through training. Thor's diet correlates with powerlifters since they have to eat over 10,000 calories daily to maintain their fat and muscle mass and can weigh up to 448 pounds. In Norse mythology, Thor was, in fact, a Big Eater as evidenced by the fact that he once drank a third of the ocean in a competition against Utgard-Loki. In another example, during the fake wedding to Thrym, Thor ferociously consumed an ox, eight salmon, an entire wedding cake, and three casks of mead.
• To build on top of this Thor being fat, Odin being a bald man with barely any facial hair, and Heimdall being a brat all make more sense when you remember, Ragnarok happened 100 winters too soon so these characters, among other Norse icons, have yet gone through a century of character growth.
  • This also explains why Surtr was very unwilling to go through with Ragnarok. Prophecy said it was meant to take place 100 winters, but because of Baldur's early death, Surtr basically had only 3 winters to come to terms that him and Sinmara will die to become Ragnarok. He simply did not have enough time to come to terms with it.
• Kratos and Atreus find Surtr in a field full of swords and blades, all discarded across the land. When Surtr at first refuses to help them, on the account of it leading to Sinmara's death as well, he notices the Blades of Chaos on Kratos and ask to see them. What does he do? He lights them on fire, yet they don't get destroyed, in fact they absorb some of his flames too, so Surtr then agrees to helping them because those blade withstood his flames. He made all of those blades in an effort to find his way out of sacrificing Sinmara, but none were capable, only when he sees the Blades of Chaos and took the chance to test them does he immediately agree to help. He was working on his own to defy destiny to save his loved ones, much like Kratos and Atreus, and because of them, he was able to do so.
• While Thor was an unannounced guest at the beginning and Kratos had warned about not being good company, that Thor had brought mead to share meant that Kratos was obligated to invite him in, due to Sacred Hospitality being Serious Business in Kratos' homeland of Greece. Thor also had the grace to ask for an invitation first, unlike Odin.
  • Not only that, one of the justifications for Greek Xenia was the ever present threat that the weary traveler asking for shelter could be Zeus, a god famous for tossing around lightning when angered. When another Thunder God shows up on Kratos' doorstep, letting him in is practically reflex.
• In addition, a very simple blink-and-you-miss-it bit of characterization for Odin occurs in this scene, which tells you everything you need to know about him: The cups of mead are sitting on the table in front of Thor and Kratos. Failing to entice Thor, Odin tosses it back himself. Kratos pointedly asks "What do you want?' Before answering, Odin takes Kratos's drink and downs it as well, then claims to want peace. While somewhat humorous on a surface level, this begins the juxtaposition of Odin's words versus his actions. He talks a pretty game, but his actual deeds show that, quite simply, he will take everything and leave you with nothing, if given the chance.
• Odin's presence, while he was disguised as Tyr, in Sindri's house has drastically improved the food standard there, which implies that Odin's endless quest for knowledge may include CULINARY knowledge.
• The way both Kratos and Thor summon their weapons to hand reflect their personalities. Thor is a towering, forceful, belligerent brute, eager to resort to violence to get his way or for fun. He summons Mjölnir with a Badass Fingersnap, explicitly commanding it to return to his hand and obey his will without question. Kratos' Leviathan Axe was a gift from Faye, and he uses it in favor of his Blades of Chaos because of how dear to him the memory of her is. He summons the axe simply by holding out his hand outstretched and waiting for the Axe to fly into his palm, implicitly asking it to come to him, showing both how Kratos has mellowed out as well as how he fights with his love held close to him, even hidden underneath the extreme violence he enacts with it.
  • This is also exemplified in how they handle their weapons at the beginning of the game. Thor forcefully slams Mjölnir onto the table, while Kratos gently places the Leviathan Axe down with both hands.
  • The finger snap could have another meaning if you’re in the camp that believes Mjölnir is sentient. Thor commanding the hammer to return to him, rather than asking like Kratos does, could be a sign that it’s become disobedient and it doesn’t always want to return to him after so many years of genocide and senseless violence.
• When Mimir describes Odin's word, "If he tells you snow is white, he's lying.", it's a good representation of how Odin works in more ways than one; first, that Odin would lie about something so minor and obvious a detail as the color of snow, second, that Odin lies so damn much that it's more likely that the snow is actually not white than that Odin is telling the truth about anything, and third, that even when Odin says something that happens to be factual, like snow being white, he still isn't being honest because he'd only ever say it to support a bigger lie.
• Odin tries to give Atreus an Alternate Character Interpretation of his deeds over the centuries, painting himself as a benevolent dictator who wanted to know the truth behind destiny. There were mystical powers tied to creation that would allow him to know any truth, know any future, and give him the ability to make everyone's lives better. Atreus, over time, comes to see Odin as a somewhat decent man, not without his good qualities, but he pans his benevolent dictator shtick as rubbish and this has always been about himself rather than serving others. The irony, of course, is that even if Odin knew what everyone was going to do before they did it, peace would be impossible between parties that hate each other — and a lot of the main cast are victims of Odin's crimes — and unless you solve the generational rivalries between factions knowing what they're going to do won't create peace. If Odin had tried to be a better person and built meaningful bonds with the different factions, he would have created a lasting peace that could have avoided violence. Odin's quest for ultimate knowledge has led to him sacrificing countless people, many of whom didn't deserve it, creating the very divisions that lead to the violence he claims to hate. He views any sacrifice as worth it if he can be vindicated in the end, even though this makes him diabolical and selfish. Much like Zeus, trying to stop your fate from happening ends up causing it anyway.
• Early on in the story, Atreus nurses his dying wolf Fenrir and makes the painful decision to put him down by extracting his soul with a spell. At the end of the game, he begs a defeated Odin to stop the cycle of violence and dysfunction the gods are known for and asks him to find a better way. Odin refuses, claiming that he’s compelled to know the truth at all costs and that if he had things his way, he could make things better for all the realms. Atreus responds sadly "Why did you have to say that?" and then sucks his soul out with the same spell he used on Fenrir. In essence, Atreus is doing the same thing the second time, but instead of a sick dog dying quietly, this is a rabid mad dog that needs to be put down for his good and the good of others. Either way, you don't want to kill the noble beast, but it's for the best in both cases.
• Atreus faced the same situation as Kratos back in their first adventure. Atreus gave Odin more chances than he deserved to repent and give up his quest before it’s too late, but he just wouldn't, making it clear that he’ll never stop, forcing Atreus' hand and kill the god, exactly like when Kratos kills Baldur. Kratos gave him numerous chances to let go of his vengeance, but he just wouldn't. Kratos made it clear he would have spared the crazed god, but his hand was forced.
• Kratos mentioned in the journal about Atreus that he admires Atreus's compassion in their cruel world. His namesake, "Atreus of Sparta" always wore a smile in the world so grim, something Kratos said has always been comforting in the darkest of times. It seems like Atreus truly earned the name after all.
• How did Kratos avoid his death, aside from the obvious 'became better'? It's because of Sif and Thrud. Had Kratos sacrificed the Midgardians, Atreus and Sif wouldn't have been able to talk Thrud down, resulting in Kratos killing Thrud in Atreus's defense, and most likely Sif also attacking Kratos and dying. The battle with Thor would then result in Kratos dying because he was for once at the wrong end of a fight with a Papa Wolf, possibly injured from a fight with Sif, and Thor would be even more furious and aggressive since he now has loved ones to avenge.
• Why is Heimdall afraid of Thor? (Even if he denies it?) Watching Thor in gameplay, you start to realize that Thor is a Man of Kryptonite for Heimdall:
  • First off, Thor is fast. The major weakness in Heimdall's foresight powers is that he needs to be fast enough to dodge an attack.
  • Much like Kratos, Thor can set traps. In his first boss fight, he gets one over on Kratos by throwing Mjolnir at him, waiting for Kratos to deflect the blow, and calling Mjolnir back to get a free hit on its way back to Thor's hand. Heimdall's lack of critical thinking and his inability to predict the intentions of an inanimate object like Mjolnir would make him putty in Thor's hands.
  • Sensory overload is another weakness of Heimdall's. Brok specifically crafted the Draupnir Spear because it could "overpopulate Heimdall's senses." Thor is the god of thunder and lightning. What could mess with Heimdall's clairvoyance more than point-blank lightning strikes and thunderclaps?
  • One of Thor's special attacks is that he grabs his hammer and slams it into the ground to summon lightning strikes around him. Thor is famous for his wrath and during his fight with Kratos, he can't see or predict where the lightning will strike because he's using a spray and pray tactic; which is when an attack is done in an uncoordinated manner, hoping to reach the desired target through luck. Heimdall can't fight in close range if he's running through a minefield of lightning strikes as Thor is just relying on luck to hit him, not instinct. When Modi ambushes Kratos in the previous game, the latter was able to paralyze him and nearly electrocutes him to death by a continuous lightning strike from his mace. With that in mind, Thor just needs one lucky strike to merely paralyze Heimdall and leave him at his mercy.
  • Thor uses forked lightning bolts that electrocute anything in its vicinity, first striking the ground before creating an explosion of electricity. Heimdall might miss a direct hit from one of these lightning bolts, but it doesn't mean he's immune from an electrical explosion from that lightning bolt. Like how Heimdall might dodge Draupnir but he can't see it exploding once he dodges it or runs past it. Considering the amount of lighting strikes Thor can summon at once through his special attack, Heimdall would be running through a literal minefield to get to Thor.
  • It's implied one reason the Draupnir Spear works so well is because Heimdall can't read instincts. Kratos has been trained to use a spear from childhood and has centuries of experience handling one, so even without Draupnir's explosive powers and self-duplicating ability, he still might have beaten Heimdall by instinctually fighting with the spear. Thor also fights on instinct. To paraphrase Odin, Thor takes the hammer and kills who Odin tells him to kill.
• Brok being able to reason out that there's something off about 'Tyr's' actions and words based on everything he says and does since his release where everybody else couldn't, including the woman who was married to Odin for several years, actually makes sense. Despite how he looks and acts, it's made repeatedly clear throughout his interactions with the duo that, above all else, Brok cares for the craftsmanship of the items and weapons he creates, a focus and commitment to his trade that’s so meticulous, even the unfriendly Kratos was willing to receive his aid in refining his equipment, which included the Leviathan Axe that Faye gifted to him. Brok's crass exterior gives the impression that he's the more careless of the brothers. In actuality, he has a keen eye for details that makes him very perceptive and his more affable and social nature compared to the Neat Freak Sindri makes him wise enough not to broadcast this early when his suspicions are first aroused, allowing Odin to continue underestimating him until Brok chose to confront Odin at the worst possible moment for him, resulting in 'Tyr' being exposed when he had the MacGuffin he sought within his grasp.
  • Furthermore, it also ties into Brok's mastery of Dwarven magic in his blacksmithing — specifically, understanding that the nature of a thing is more important than its form. Though he wasn't exactly certain why, as he spent time around him, it became clear to Brok that 'Tyr's' nature was vastly different than his form, something he alludes to when he says that the 'pieces aren't fitting together right', and given Brok's respect of this concept, it rankled him and stoked his confrontational attitude towards Odin prior to his stabbing, especially as Odin's haste made it harder for him to obscure his real nature.
  • That, and Odin knows that people like Kratos and Freya are a threat, and he's thus a lot more cautious about deceiving them. He barely knows Brok and Sindri at all, and it's very much in character for Odin to dismiss the two as bumbling comic relief- especially the crude Brok. He took his guard down around Brok and paid the price.
  • Another possibility is that Brok's general rudeness worked to his advantage; the others might have been worried about bringing up Tyr acting funny because they were worried that it would upset their obviously-PTSD-stricken guest. Brok, on the other hand, doesn't care at all about sparing people's feelings, so he wasn't afraid to speak up when he thought something was off.
• Odin is so caught off-guard by Brok pulling his ruse apart in front of everyone else that he loses his composure and resorts to killing Brok and taking Atreus hostage. Kratos's first words after this are a hiss for Odin to "Stop. Moving." Odin immediately stops, showing how little power he has in this situation. After he manages to force Freya away from facing him, Odin attempts to force an equivalence by saying to Freyr and Kratos, "Hey! I don't move, you don't move!" It's the most desperate we've seen him all game, which makes his ultimate failure to keep the mask that much sweeter.
• In a heart-to-heart with Mimir, Kratos confirms that he fought in the Trojan War. When Mimir responds to his story about a cunning general and a forbidden romance, he references a horse that wasn't what it seems — an obvious reference to the Trojan War. According to romantic tradition, many people think that the Trojans would go on to become the Romans. In a fantasy setting like God of War, there's no reason for the legendary version of the Troy-Roman connection not to be true. Rome is important to history for a lot of reasons, but its most enduring legacy is that it supplanted the Greeks as an influential power in the West. There was a time before Rome, and the Greeks controlled that era, but in the days of Rome, Greece lived in the shadow of Rome's influence. In other words, not only did Kratos aid in the destruction of the supernatural influence of Greece by killing the gods, but he aided in a war that led to the creation of Rome, which made Greece's society nothing more than a memory. The Roman Empire is undoubtedly still active back home in Western Europe if Kratos ever bothered to go home, and he's completely unaware of this because he's ashamed to go back.
  • Additionally, this also explains why the Romans adopted variations of the Greek gods (i.e., Jupiter is Zeus, or Mars is Ares) because the Greek gods themselves are too dead to correct the record and give a more accurate account of who they were. A distorted cultural retelling of a dead religion is arguably better than completely forgotten, but it's a far cry from being remembered in its original context. In a roundabout way, being remembered as Jupiter adds insult to injury when it comes to Zeus having any lasting legacy.
• Kratos almost exclusively blames Ares for the downfall of Olympus, due to him tricking Kratos into murdering his own family. Kratos had to get pay back and that is what caused the destruction of Olympus. This leaves out a significant amount of detail on Zeus and his obsession with prophecy, and how he wanted to change his fate and save Olympus in the process. However, people noted in the last game that Kratos' vision of his fight with Zeus had Zeus speak in a far softer tone of voice, when in reality Zeus's voice was dripping with venom and he had every intention to kill Kratos. Kratos even looks upon the vision with sadness, as if he regrets killing his father. Kratos speaking very little about Zeus to Freya or Mimir would suggest that he's more or less forgiven Zeus for what he did, and that there was a terrible cycle of hatred that put Kratos and Zeus equally at fault for the destruction their rivalry caused. Ares however gets no such concession, because he will never forgive Ares for taking his wife and daughter away from him — at least with Zeus, Kratos can reason in his head that Zeus kept his punishments exclusive to Kratos himself, whereas Ares crossed a personal line no one should ever cross.
  • That, and Kratos knows that Zeus's most antagonistic actions were after Kratos opened Pandora's Box and unwittingly corrupted the Olympians, so arguably Zeus wasn't entirely at fault. Ares is the reason Kratos opened said box in the first place, so aside from having no excuse for his actions Ares is indirectly to blame for all the misery the evils unleashed.
• Kratos is more fond of Ratatoskr's "perfectionist" spirit because, as Ratatoskr himself explains it, he's "laconic". The word "laconic" itself is derived from one of the administrative regions of Greece, Laconia, the capital of which was Sparta. The word is used to describe simpler, to-the-point descriptions because Spartans, Kratos included, were terse talkers who always got to the point quickly. Kratos likes Ratatosk's perfectionist side because he's actually talking like a Spartan.
• Thor considering himself a destroyer and nothing else, even when Kratos tries to convince him there is another way, would suggest that Thor is a victim of the kind of negative reinforcement Kratos himself received. Whether it was his reputation as the Ghost of Sparta, or it was Zeus's obsession with Kratos being the chosen one destined to destroy Olympus, every Greek hero and god alike disparages him as a monster. Some fans forget that even in the original trilogy, Kratos often warned people to leave him alone or else face his wrath, only for his foes to throw around casual death threats and proceed to attack him. Every conversation Kratos had pertained to how they perceived him as a monster, a brutish oaf who only knows how to destroy, and how he needs to be killed before he can destroy anymore. Zeus even goes so far as to mock Kratos as a creature, and he's disgusted that Athena would have affection for him, knowing what he is. Kratos had absolutely no positive reinforcement, telling him he could be anything better than what he was, which only helped to fuel the fire of his self destruction. Thor has spent countless centuries being told by his father Odin that he's only good at killing people, and by now he's killed so many people in the name of his father that there is generational hatred for Thor. In Thor's mind how could he be anything else, even if he wanted to? Like Kratos who had an abusive father calling him a monster, and a ton of enemies calling him a monster, what positive influence does Thor have telling him that he can be anything else? It's a tragic cycle of violence and hatred, with no spark of hope to break through the darkness.
  • Valhalla deals with this exact same point, with Tyr, Mimir, the Valkyries, Freya and even the Realm of Valhalla itself all working together to force Kratos to face the full weight of his past — and more specifically, to face the fact that for all the evil he did and is keen to remind himself of constantly, there was also good he did as well, good he is still capable of doing and perhaps even greater than before, with the lessons he's learned from his bloody past. It ultimately culminates in Kratos being able to give a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech to the image of his younger self, which has always been the greatest enemy he's struggled against, managing to see past the image of a violent monster that the world recognises him on sight for to see the regretful man underneath, one worthy of being a god who is beloved by others.
    Kratos: You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish. But you are more than that. You have always been more than what others saw.
• During Freya's sidequest, "Freya's Missing Peace," on coming to terms with her marriage to Odin at their old wedding site in Vanaheim, she initially has no trouble with destroying the circlet and chalice. When she tries to use force on removing the sword that had symbolized her union with Odin from the pedestal, as they had driven it in together, she isn't able to as she was thinking herself of being only Vanir. It's only when she realizes to also think of herself as Aesir, Queen of Asgard, and gently pulling - as if requesting - is when the sword truly leaves the stone for her to use. Following the theme of letting go, she was also letting go of her "bond" with Odin, that the sword leaving the stone no longer represented their union. There's also the symbolism of reclaiming herself as the sword is named "Mardöll," one of the many names the real-world Freya was known by.
  Freya: Asgard holds a part of me I can't sever. My bond to my son. To the Valkyries. That damned realm isn't just Odin's. (slow realization) It belongs to me too...
• Sindri's behavior over Brok's death is not only understandable, but completely tragic too. He knows that Brok is well and truly gone because he failed to recover his soul completely. He can be mad at just about everyone, but he knows he’s responsible for Brok's ultimate fate, all because he didn't want to let go of his family. Similar to that of Freya and Baldur.
• In real life, 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 implies he's been sleeping rough because of his drinking too.
  • It's also worth noting that Baldur is also scruffy and ill-kept, showing how badly his curse has affected him, while Heimdall and Odin (who are too self-centered to have similar mental issues) both look very well-groomed, showing that a neat look is the norm in Asgard and Thor's actually an outlier.
• While it’s hilarious that PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale has been canonized into the God of War universe, there could be a reasonable explanation within the game itself in the form of Kvasir, the poet who writes about references with other Playstation games. While it is never stated outright, it could be entirely possible that Kvasir either traveled to or at least peeked into other universes and made them inspirations to his poems. With this in mind, it's possible that Kratos participating in the Battle Royale game is possible as he might've stumbled across it the same Kvasir mysteriously did.
• Atreus being able to decipher Odin's mask so well may seem a little weird and could be written off as a Loki-destiny thing. Sure, he's pretty smart and well-learned thanks to Mimir, but so is Odin who also has thousands of years of knowledge on top of that. But Atreus has one key attribute that Odin doesn't, and it's not necessarily that he's the son of a Giant. He's also the son of a foreign God. There's a good chance that Kratos' non-Nine Realms blood grants Atreus a certain insight. It's already been noted before that he has a gift for languages, and the first thing he reads from the mask is "opsidiani spitha," words that have a decidedly Greek ring to them.
• Why does the mask give a false-positive towards Garm in Helheim? It's because the mask's energy is tied to an inter-dimensional rift in reality, and Garm is a being capable of tearing similar rifts open with its bare paw swipes. When Atreus and Thrud first see the rifts it ripped open, they're coloured the same pale-green as the mask, showing that the energy the mask reacted to wasn't its missing piece, but Garm's. It also underlines the inherent lesson about the mask, that its apparent importance and position in the story as an infallible method of gaining ultimate knowledge might not be what was stated about it, and what is sacrificed or done in the process of using it as such might cost the pursuer everything for a reward that's not worth it. Believing that the mask must obviously point towards it's missing piece alone leads Atreus to foolishly free Garm and endanger everybody, punctuated by him finding nothing on the other side of structure Garm was apparently guarding, showing how blindingly following the mask and not making his own choices about it lead Atreus into making a mistake. Atreus ultimately stops and casts the mask aside at the last moment, but since Odin sacrificed everything to gain it and it's secrets, that same refusal to stop leads him to his doom.
• The Jotnar prophecy from the broken mural was right all along. Kratos did die at the hands of Thor during their first engagement (at the Fission Mailed screen), and then he was resucitated by the Thunder God himself. Atreus/Loki interpreted it like his father dying would lead him to become Odin's student, but Kratos never told his son or Mimir about the temporary death he experienced during that battle.
• All three weapons that Kratos receives throughout the game have different elemental affinities for the classic 4 elements. The Leviathan Axe has frost powers, equivalent to water, and is used a few times in redirecting water puzzles. The Blades of Chaos are clearly associated with fire, and the Draupnir Spear has wind-based abilities. With his noticeable physical might and durability, and ability to chuck large rock formations around during certain combat encounters or with the right skill during Spartan Rage, Kratos himself would count as 'earth'. The three weapons also correlate to different points of Kratos' life. The Spear is noticeably similar to the Arms of Sparta and Kratos alludes to the Spear being the first weapon he learned to wield back during his glory days as an ordinary warrior, representing his past as a human being and the good memories he had before his deal with Ares. Kratos likewise asks for Brok's blessing as a master blacksmith to help console him in his own way after the learns he was brought Back from the Dead as The Soulless, using it an an example that Brok's condition has no influence on the weapons and items he creates, nor should he let it affect him. The Blades are the perpetual reminder of his past as the Ghost of Sparta, and all his bloody history and reputation with them, literally haunting Kratos no matter how far he tries to get away from them, and he displays noticeable disregard for them when taking them off at one point, showing his contempt for them and the man once was. The Axe represents the future/present him, and the man he became with Faye's help, and which he treats with careful reverence, showing his love for her and desire to live up to the man she thought him to be, despite not truly believing he could be redeemed for his past sins. In the future of himself as a Hope Bringer that he finds in the mural at the end of the game, the axe has become his Iconic Item instead of the blades, showing that he can become different to who he once was even if he can never deny that he used to be such a violent person.
  • It's not immediately obvious, but there's another piece of significance to Kratos essentially becoming the new head of the Pantheon with the Leviathan Axe as his Iconic Item he essentially becomes Perun/Perkūnas, which nicely coincides with his newfound bond with Freya, which doubles back on itself when one considers that her other husband Óðr ("ecstasy, madness") which would make her both Luda and Žemyna in those respective mythologies; the latter of which could be considered a corruption of Semele, a name Kratos could have bestowed her.
  • For bonus points, axes (like the Leviathan Axe) are tools that happens to have a secondary function as a weapon. Swords/blades (such as the Blades of Chaos) are weapons and more difficult to use outside of their intended purpose. The Leviathan Axe becoming Kratos' Iconic Item is symbolic of him no longer being just a bloodthirsty berserker whose only lot in life was inflicting bloodshed. Instead, he has now become someone who could do something good to the people around him, a Hope Bringer.
  • Related to the above, this would make Kratos becoming the kind of god of war Tyr’s writing spoke of. The kind that wishes for peace but is prepared for war. His axe will only be a weapon if others force him to use it as a weapon.
• Sindri revealing that he was the only Dwarf to be taking part in the war at his insistence makes a lot of sense. Sindri, Brok and Lunda were the only real known Dwarves who actively participated in resistance against Odin, the rest of the Dwarves in their realm were terrified of retribution, and for good reason. Sindri probably refused to involve them because he did not want them to suffer any further problems on the off-chance if Odin survives. It also helps that Sindri is most likely the only one available that has actually seen action on a regular basis, knows more on how to use his tools effectively under pressure and had the most drive to pull through. Sindri even made it a point to say Odin doesn't get to "use us" anymore. Not to mention, Dwarves aren't really known for their warrior spirit like the Elves, War Maidens or the army of Hel in the Eddas, so they would be the most in danger getting involved.
  • Not only that, but it's possible he feels he no longer has anything left to lose, now that Brok is gone. He wouldn't want anyone to suffer what he suffered ON TOP of the abuse that Odin has subjected them to already, let alone his retribution for rebelling.
• An early conversation about Kratos's physique actually foreshadows the fight with Odin. Kratos and Mimir explain to Atreus that Kratos's muscles actually have nothing to do with his strength, and that even if Atreus never really put in the physical labor, he would still have the strength of a god. Odin is possibly the feeblest looking god Kratos has ever fought, and yet is canonically the most powerful foe he's ever faced.
• Kratos doesn't seem particularly fond of wolves, initially only tolerating Speki and Svanna for their value as work animals, not regarding them as the pets Atreus does. He's also convinced from the start that killing Garm is the only option. It all ties back to something Kratos mention about his childhood in the Agōgē, where Spartan boys like him had to fight wolves for food with their bare hands or go hungry.
• In God of War 2, Zeus tells Kratos as he kills him "You will never be the ruler of Olympus. The cycle ends here." Zeus is correct, but for the wrong reason. And no, it's not simply because Olympus is destroyed, because any of the hundreds of gods that would have survived the apocalypse could hypothetically have rebuilt Olympus or something similar. It's because according to the end game prophecy of Ragnarok, Kratos will one day be a new All-Father to replace Odin. Kratos can't be the ruler of Olympus if he's the ruler of Midgard and its adjacent realms.
• It was prophesied that Tyr was to be the one who leads the army against Odin, with his spear and shield. However, that's not what happened — Kratos takes up the mantle as General to lead everyone willing to join, with his Draupnir Spear and shield. Gróa's prophecy also didn't necessarily meant Tyr had to be the one to lead the army against Asgard, only that the prophecy said the "God of War" would do the honors — Kratos was the Greek God of War.
• It was prophesied that Tyr was to be the one who leads the army against Odin, with his spear and shield. This actually foreshadows that Odin is his own worst enemy and everything that happened was his own fault because he couldn't accept that he can't control everything. Additionally, Odin is one of 3 gods of war in Norse mythology, the other 2 being Freya and Tyr.
  • His abuse and objectification of his sons and grandsons are what started his downfall. He learned there was a potential Joutunn survivor but rather than send Thor or Heimdall, he chooses to send Baldur, who is completely depressed due to his curse, and goads Kratos into a fight in the hope that he would kill him rather than simply ask him if there was a jotunn in the area. When Baldur failed, Odin sends Magni and Modi, who are eventually killed by Kratos and Atreus, and Sif starts to lose faith in Odin because he chooses to sacrifice his nephews in a completely unnecessary fight. Odin abused Thor all of his life and unwittingly gave Atreus the idea to win Thor over through empathy. When Odin kills Thor for refusing to kill Kratos, he loses support from Thrudd and the protagonists decide that Odin is irredeemable and has to be stopped. This also extends to Heimdall, Odin's sycophant, had Odin heeded Heimdall's warnings then Ragnarok wouldn't have happened and Heimdall wouldn't have tried to fight Kratos on his own to curry favor with Odin.
  • Odin's choices are what ultimately causes Ragnarok: manipulating Baldur to kill Freya and the last Jotunn led to Fimbulwinter, his obsession with control only rallied the realms against him, his genocidal campaign against the Jotnar only led to Atreus learning his own fate and becoming his prophecized killer, and his fixation with learning what happens to him after he dies only leads to his soul being bound to a marble that's promptly destroyed by Sindri, thereby condemning him to oblivion and denying him any form of afterlife whatsoever.
  • Odin disguised himself as Tyr to demoralize the enemy by making them lose faith in him. However, Odin's actions as Tyr only incentivize the rebellion as he kills Brok in a fit of anger, which only motivates everyone to follow through with their plans to bring Ragnarok to Asgard.
  • If you use the Draupnir Spear to beat Odin, it's Death by Irony on several levels. It's made by Brok, the guy Odin murdered because he was able to see the flaws in Odin's disguise, despite Odin's great wisdom. The original ring was a gift to Odin that was effectively a source of endless wealth, which became a weapon to be used against him (and Heimdall). It can also be used to physically overwhelm a guy whose combat style is focused on overwhelming magic and spectacle. And it's ironic that Kratos beats Odin and ends his grand plans with Odin's own signature weapon, the spear, which happens to be the first, most basic weapon any Spartan learns.
    • Even if you don't use the spear for the final battle, Kratos still throws the spear^note literally one of the most basic weapon attacks, ever to get the mask from Odin and foil his plans, seconds after Odin murders Brok and tries to manipulate and teleport his way to victory.
  • And finally, Sindri ends Odin for good as revenge for Brok. Because Odin disguised himself as Tyr and he killed Brok because he refused to control his anger. Heck, the whole dang war happened because of Odin's choices.
• As one YouTuber points out, there is a metaphorical accuracy to Thor's death at the hands of Odin:
  In the myth, Thor died from the snake's venom and in this game, he still did but it was a different snake.
  • Keep in mind that the Leviathan Axe causes a wound on Thor that remains with him for the rest of the game and is used to help Kratos defeat Thor in their rematch. The Leviathan Axe was enhanced with Jormungandr's magic so the World Serpent's magic did contribute to Thor's death. If Kratos had not beaten Thor, then Thor would have been strong enough to defend against Odin's attack.
• One boat conversation has Atreus/Freya theorize that because magic is tied to the land, Kratos can no longer summon his various magic powers from the Greek series because Greece itself has been destroyed. Except for the Blades of Chaos, which still retain their magic fire. Why is that? Because the Blades aren't bound to Greece, but to Kratos himself.
  • Maybe it's not so much that the magic itself is dead, but rather the Greek magic has been spread so thin and over so wide an area it's harder to focus. It would be like trying to grip sand, it would slip out of your palm and fingers, whereas if the magic was hardened like a rock you could hold on to it no problem. Assuming Historical Fantasy is applied to God of War's setting, this interpretation would explain why the modern world has no magic, because with no spirits or gods to keep the balance of magic in check no mortal has the knowledge to return that balance. Or as Athena put it "That power was meant for me. They will not know what to do with it!"
  • This might also indicate that Kratos for all of his cunning as a warrior is a little inexperienced when it comes to the finer workings of of magic. The magical powers that Kratos lost control over weren't even his powers to begin with. Take Zeus's lightning bolts for example, that was just a fraction of Zeus's lightning magic, rather than the full force of the magic that was ingrained into his very soul. Zeus perfected those lightning powers over thousands of years of practice, to the point that he became associated with lightning itself as an elemental force. It's fair to say that the lightning power is so ingrained inside Zeus that even if you took him away from the "dead magic" of Greece he would still be able to use lightning. By contrast Kratos was new to the powers the gods gave him, and was using a lower dose of the magical potency the gods themselves could bring out of them. Also notice how Kratos rarely used those magical abilities in story beats anyway, and primarily focused on the Blades of Chaos. Kratos probably could summon those powers with more practice, but he simply gave up on it too easily because it was hard. Zeus makes lightning look easy because he had mastery over that power, showing Kratos that the mastery the king of the gods had over that power was no easy feat, and serves as a sign of how Zeus earned that position.
    • It also puts into perspective as to why the Blades of Chaos would still work for Kratos; It's his equivalent to Zeus' lightning, something that he put in years of blood and sweat into refining his skill with it the same way that Zeus refined his skill with his lightning bolts.
  • Surtr says that the flames within the Blades of Chaos are a primordial kind of flame, meaning it’s possible the very magic that powers the Blades is something that wouldn’t disappear just because Greece fell. It’s a kind of magic that was there before Greece came into existence and will continue to exist after its fall.
    • However, there's another explanation, which is even better: The Blades of Chaos were made by Ares, so it could be argued that Kratos has the flames of war, but there's another primordial fire, in ancient Greece, the first fire, the fire given to humanity, Prometheus' flame, the fire, imbued in GOW2 into the Blades of Chaos.
• A Mimir conversation reveals that PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is canonical to the God of War timeline. Thing is... that's actually entirely plausible beyond the obvious assumption that the conversation is just Rule of Funny. Kratos's Arcade Mode story in that game featured him entering Polygon Man's tournament to prove his worth to the Titan army before they help him invade Olympus, so it's entirely possible for it to have taken place in between GOW II and III.
  • This would also explain why the Titans were so obsessed with explaining to Kratos that they wanted 'freedom' for mankind - they saw prophetic visions of the future that humanity without gods would eventually evolve into an exciting spacefaring empire, one which would produce more tribute in a year than Greece ever could in its lifetime. They just didn't realize that it would be a future without Titans either.
• Odin, disguised as Tyr, tells Atreus in Alfheim there's always a choice not to harm others and to seek peace after the latter says they have no choice but to kill the hostile Elves. At the end of the game, after Odin's defeat, Atreus is angered by how he killed Thor. The Aesir king said he didn't have a choice, with Atreus using his or Tyr's wisdom against him, saying there's always a choice.
• As funny as it is for Mimir of all people to not know what an olive is, it makes perfect sense why he wouldn’t. Olives are native to the Mediterranean Basin, which is far down south from Scandinavia and Scotland. Of course Mimir wouldn’t know what an olive is. He's never seen one and he wouldn’t have heard of about them unless he knew about Mediterranean cuisine.
• Heimdall is taken down thanks in large part thanks to the Draupnir Spear but even before then, it's demonstrated that he's Not So Invincible After All not just through a special weapon but through the skills of other warriors. When intimidated by Thor, he backed down almost immediately in spite of the fact his precognition powers should have enabled him to avoid all of Thor's attacks, indicating, as much as he's in denial about it with his arrogance, he knows a more experienced warrior will be the end for him. And Kratos ultimately proves this as well, his fist-play getting the best of Heimdall once the spear helps close the gap.
  • Atreus is also able to slightly wound him when he shoots at him from behind, which Heimdall recognizes and is about to retaliate for when Thor intervenes.
  • Also, why would a magical spear be any more useful against someone who can read your mind and anticipate your every move? It doesn't really make sense... unless spears are the very first weapons you have trained with, and the technique is so deeply ingrained in your brain that you don't need to think at all to use them to perfection.
    • The actual intent behind the Draupnir Spears creation was to overwhelm Heimdall. While he might be able to read minds, the spear is infinite, giving Heimdall fewer and fewer options to dodge and defend.
• The truth given to Kratos by the Norns about our choices being the only thing that matters, and how destiny only exists because of people refusing to change their behaviors and habits causes them to make decisions that ensures that their destiny is inevitable, puts why he survived the ending of God of War III into perspective. Kratos prior to that point had been going on a selfish rampage, completely denying any responsibility for his actions. But by doing what he did in the end of the game, he chose to take responsibility for what was probably the first time in his life. And that choice was the first step to changing his destiny in the long term. A very small one in the grand scheme of things, given that he still had to atone for his past crimes, but a necessary one nonetheless.
• In the game, the statues and murals of Heimdall, Odin, and Thor are evidence of their vanity as the original sculptor of Thor's statue was killed for being too accurate and unflattering. In Heimdall's case, it could be a case of his ego because he looks nothing like his mural (a muscular, older man with a beard) and it's more believable that Heimdall thought he was so untouchable that he believed could live to reach that age.
• A small detail in how Sindri shows a lot of respect for Freya, such as formally greeting and bowing to her when they meet again after she and Kratos form their truce, and swearing on her name during his first encounter with Kratos in the first game despite him and Brok otherwise acting indifferent or disparaging towards the Aesir gods: Sindri mentions in the first game that he studied magic in Vanaheim, so he probably grew to respect Freya more during his time among her people who knew her as a Vanir goddess rather than for her reputation as Odin's ex-wife among the Aesir.
• Angrboda's Divine Race Lift makes perfect sense. After all, her daughter with Loki in the myths is Hel, who is referred to as being "half black and half [caucasian] flesh-colored". While "black" in this case is usually interpreted as meaning blackened with rot, with a bit of creative interpretation it could also be read as her being mixed-race.
• Thor's appearance in Atreus' vision in God of War (2018) is a bit different from the real Thor, having full body armor and a more organized beard. While the extra-diegetic reason is that the glimpse seen in the epilogue wasn't Thor's final design, these small differences can be explained due to the vision only showing Atreus what he knew, in the same way he saw himself as still a child instead of a teen; the only idea Atreus had of Thor was from his statue at the Lake of Nine, which according to Mimir was built to be more generous to him.
• Killing Zeus and the other Greek gods caused numerous disastrous changes to the land, to the point the lands of Greece became uninhabitable after Zeus’ death. Among the Norse Gods, only Baldur’s death created a similar affect on the weather after his death and that was more a side effect of the beginning of Ragnarok than Baldur’s domain going out of control. This is likely because of the gods who were killed weren’t gods over nature and more gods over abstract concepts, like knowledge or strength.
  • It also puts another point towards the sheer arrogance of the Greek Pantheon, because they viewed themselves as the absolute rulers of not just Olympus and Greece, but also over nature itself. But nature isn't something that anyone can truly control forever, and the Greek Pantheon building their domain over such a fragile control (relative to the world's existence) of the world itself was the ultimate act of hubris. When they're defeated, it's not that the world is torn apart by their destruction, as they egotistically believe; it's the fury of nature, the laws of the very world itself reasserting who's really the boss by unleashing the power that has long been restrained.
  • It could also be that while the Olympians are the living incarnations of their own domains, the Norse gods just wield their domains. For example, Thor creates lightning and uses it in battle, but the sky doesn’t go crazy when he dies because he only uses lightning, he’s not the incarnation of it.
  • It could also tie into the fact that, unlike the Greek Gods, the Norse Gods actually had prophesied deaths which would occur in Ragnarok. Whilst there was the Marked Warrior prophecy of one who would be the one to destroy Olympus, that's a fictional prophecy for the Go W universe. Unlike Ragnarok, which has its roots in real life mythology.
• Kratos says his next fight with Thor will be different because Atreus is with him. But when Kratos does have his rematch against Thor, he does it alone without Atreus. Except Atreus is with him. In spirit that is, thanks to a heart-to-heart conversation the two had in Helheim. Indeed, the similar final fight with Baldur at the end of their first adventure had Kratos on the verge of giving into his anger and strangling him to death, with Baldur even mocking him to do so, only to step back from the edge of that by Atreus' presence, realising his son was watching him on the verge of becoming the old monster he once was as the boy gently tells his father that Baldur has lost, and there's no need to fight any further. Similarly, throughout the entire fight with Thor, both due to his own awareness of his culpability on how his path has been filled with misfortunes and desiring to rise above that, and sympathy towards Thor for their similar situations, Kratos is constantly trying to reason with him throughout their fight into standing down and ending their conflict peacefully, something that Atreus would have done beforehand.
• Kratos's respect towards Freya in the game is usually attributed to their friendship and Kratos's attempts to better himself but there is actually a third reason why Kratos is more respectful to Freya. In real life, Sparta actually treated women as equals and was said to be more progressive than any other place in Greece because women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, have access to an education system (women received it until they reached 18-20 years old whereas men were sent off to fight in wars), and they received the same physical training as men in their adolescence. In fact, if a woman died during childbirth, they would be given a tombstone as the utmost form of respect for providing for the state. This is in stark contrast to Athens, where women were treated like second-class citizens and were not allowed to leave the house, vote, and were treated like property.
• In the previous game, we got hints that Kratos and Odin had more in common than they'd care to admit. They both have short tempers, blame others, and ultimately attempt to defy anything that opposes them. Which means that when Kratos managed to overcome his grim fate in the prophecy of Ragnarok, it led to a niche vacancy that Odin could inadvertently fill.
• The prophecies have a fun tendency to pull off metaphorically true situations or what you could call prophecy twists. Take Tyr leading Kratos' army into war against Asgard. If Brok had not spotted Odin's deception and exposed him for a fake Tyr, then there would have been a Tyr leading the good guys into a war... but would have been leading them into their doom. Then you have what actually happens: a god of war does lead the good guys to beat Asgard, but no one said it had to be the Norse god of war. This even applies to the vision of Kratos lying dead in Atreus's arms. The point of the prophecy is that a bald man who Atreus cared about died in his arms. It may not have been Kratos who died to fulfill that prophecy, but Odin matched the criteria closely enough to fulfill it. These "inaccuracies" would imply that the future vision can really only see a bigger picture, rather than the minute details that allow the bigger picture to make sense as a cohesive whole.
• In the previous entry, it was initially believed that Magni was Thor's favorite because he was stronger than his half-brother, Modi, and was the first to be noticed when they moved Hrungnir's corpse. In Ragnarok, the actual explanation for Magni "being blonder" is both a little heartwarming and a little upsetting at the same time. Magni closely resembles his stepmother through his blond hair and hairstyle and this was likely the reason why Thor played favorites so much. Modi, on the other hand, closely resembles Thor, and this likely affected their relationship because Thor hates himself.
• Heimdall says Atreus is a selfish and entitled backstabber with daddy issues. Except for the daddy issues part, Heimdall described Odin. And except for the backstabbing part, he just described himself.
• It's little wonder why Thor relapsed back into alcoholism after his first fight with Kratos. First, Odin insulted Thor's late sons to his face — their deaths being what shocked Thor into quitting the bottle in the first place — while he was sitting in the same room as the men responsible for their deaths, and then Kratos points out that Modi died because the beating Thor gave him left him too weak to defend himself from a tiny knife. While Thor has the consolation that Magni died in battle and was thus granted access to Valhalla, he has to live with the guilt that his parenting methods condemned Modi to Helheim for eternity.
• Gróa's true prophecy of Ragnarök depicts the destruction of an orb representing Asgard among the circle of the Nine Realms to a sword-wielding figure with a hole in their chest, presumed to represent Surtr/Ragnarök. There is another possible way of interpreting it: The battle of Ragnarök ends with Odin and thus Asgard's defeat at the hands of a sword-wielding man with a hole in his heart - Sindri, whose heart was broken and hollowed out with the loss of Brok, fought with a blade during the war and eventually smashed an orb (the marble holding Odin's soul) at the end of the battle which preceded Asgard's destruction. True, Surtr/Ragnarök did end up literally shattering Asgard with a huge sword, and Sindri used a hammer to break the marble with Odin's soul, but the parallels could nod to the game's message of how fate and the Giants' prophecies are not so much set in stone but rather a series of probable outcomes that fit the general outline events that were foreseen.
• It is still possible that Brok isn't completely gone. Reincarnation was also part of Norse beliefs, so while Brok might not be able to pass on to Valhalla, he could be born again as long as Sindri starts a family.
• Given how quickly he teleported onto the scene, Odin was clearly watching Kratos and Thor's final fight from some hidden location. And as we see in his boss fight, Odin can cast a binding spell strong enough to hold Kratos and Atreus down. This explains how Kratos died in the Giant's prophecy, despite having Thor at his mercy once he stabbed the thunder god's hands to the ground: the Giants only saw the end of the fight, they didn't see Odin interfere at the last second by casting a binding spell from a distance, giving Thor time to recover.
• Heimdall's power of regenerating limbs with Bifrost helps emphasizing his threat that he will not stop until Atreus is dead. Kratos can't simply cripple him.
• During the funeral scene for Brok, when Kratos tried to comfort Sindri, Sindri pushed Kratos' hand away. Initially wanting to be angry at Kratos, he stopped himself and just walked off. Lúnda said to give Sindri the time and space he needs to grieve. This can be interpreted as instead of feeling sorry for Brok, himself and also probably wanted to apologize to Kratos but he did not, he decided to "be better" instead because Kratos' point was clear. Odin fooled everyone but Sindri was blinded by rage to not care about reasons and even personally destroyed Odin's soul, barring him an afterlife. To hammer this point home, Kratos himself experienced the same thing. Ares fooled Kratos into killing his wife and daughter which deception was involved. Out of rage and not caring about others (except for his fellow Spartans and Pandora), Kratos declared war on the gods and who were once his allies (e.g. Gaia) became his enemies (something Sindri showed signs of). Lastly, instead of directing his anger at Athena with the Blade of Olympus, Kratos decided to "be better" and released Hope to mankind to atone for his sins. Additionally, Kratos lost his brother Deimos to Thanatos, the god of death whereas Sindri lost his brother Brok to Odin, the god of wisdom. It was indeed wise of Sindri to let his hatred go as early as possible while he still could unlike Kratos who continued his vengeance until Zeus is dead which would be too late by then. So, yes. Kratos can definitely sympathize with Sindri a lot, just that Sindri refused to listen to Kratos or Artreus for that matter at the moment.
  • Then there is the contrast with Freya. Kratos killed Baldur. It was Freya's own fault. She denied him the feeling of pain and such because she did not want him to die. For Sindri, he unintentionally denied Brok an afterlife because he lacked his soul's "Direction". When Baldur and Broke were killed, Freya and Sindri both were angry at Kratos. However, they decided to hold truces and direct their anger on Odin. As time passed, Freya gradually brought herself to forgive Kratos but she will never forget the fact that Kratos killed Baldur even if it was out of self defense on Freya's behalf. For Sindri, because Brok's death was recent, it will take a while for Sindri to forgive Kratos and Atreus. He did show a sign that he realized he probably went a bit too far with his emotions but decided to keep his apologies to himself and leave quietly to grieve how he wishes to, something Kratos told him back in Tyr's Temple.
• Tyr had been imprisoned by Odin for hundreds of years, and Odin isn't the kind to treat his prisoners nicely (as seen with Mimir). Considering neither Kratos or Atreus have anything to say about Brok's cooking, it can't be that bad either. So of course Tyr disparaging the dwarf's cooking and offering to take over would make Brok suspicious: it should be the first half-decent meal Tyr (whom everyone remembers as a Nice Guy) has had in centuries, and he's complaining about it!
• For those more musically inclined, several YouTubers noticed that the time measures for "Huldra Brothers" was a bit different compared to more traditional composition beats, where the 7/8 time matches the Huldra Brothers' own essences.
  MrThetubaman: Not sure if this is intentional or just my interpretation, but this piece has measures of 7 beats (or a measure of 3 followed by a measure of 4). I think of this pattern as representing the brothers. Just like Brok missing the 4th part of is soul, his measures are "missing" their 4th beat.
  Johannes Askehov: Interesting. Perhaps it could also symbolize the duality of the two brothers. How they frequently clash but ultimately end up cooperating.
  Barry McCochner: There's no way McCreary did that by accident. 7/8 is such a weird time signature[.]
  • Furthermore, composer McCreary goes into a bit of detail on why the Huldra Brothers' theme was so "off kilter," to better emphasize their opposite personalities.
• Sif's hatred for Odin over Magni and Modi's deaths actually makes sense in 2 ways.
  • The first is that from Sif's perspective, Magni and Modi being there was completely unnecessary. Baldur has proven himself Kratos's equal in their first fight, and being a skilled tracker and Perpetual-Motion Monster means that Kratos can't shake his pursuit; as Baldur himself boasts, Kratos will eventually be worn down while he'll just keep coming back. Magni and Modi don't bring anything to the table; they wouldn't help Baldur defeat Kratos since Baldur's combat strategy is to 'be invincible at target until target dies' (and don't fight with him anyway), and they don't have the tracking skill to help Baldur find Kratos (and when they do find him completely by accident, they do not attempt to actually tell Baldur about this). There was no reason for them to come along and nothing they could do save being Baldur's cheerleaders and provoking (and then dying to) Kratos. Odin is not stupid and would know all of the above perfectly well, and Sif knows that Odin would know, so no wonder she's pissed at him for needlessly putting her kids in danger.
  • Secondly, the fact that Odin simply invited Atreus to Asgard makes their deaths far more pointless as Odin could have disguised himself as a mortal to investigate him and Kratos or just ask them outright if they were jotunns. Magni's and Modi's deaths were entirely preventable because Baldur chose to provoke Kratos rather than ask questions and Odin chose to escalate violence by sending his nephews to fight for him, rather than using his usual cloak-and-dagger M.O. or trying things diplomatically. As Thor shows at the beginning of the game, Kratos obliges the rules of hospitality, even if he is wary of his guest so Odin could have sorted the whole thing out without the need for violence.
• Skaði's refusal to marry Odin is given context in the sequel. While being the leader of the tribe of Gods hostile to her own people won't exactly help Odin getting her hand in marriage, the main reason might have been that Skaði is already married in the first place. Freya's family crest mentioned Skaði as member of her family, putting her name along with Njörd's, suggesting that she married into the family.
  • Queen of the hunt being wife of Njörd would also tie in nicely to Njörd's own nature as wanderlust traveller, since both would rarely be at home to care for their children (or rather, his children, assuming Freya and Freyr are her step-children like in the myth).
  • This also might be why is worshipped by stalkers. Despite being born a giant Fjörgyn's is referenced in 2018 game's lore marker as "Goddess of Earth and Trees", probably in honour of her being an Aesir God's consort. Like Fjörgyn, Skaði might have been 'elevated' in status as a goddess among the Vanir despite being a Jotunn.
    • It's worth mentioning that among the named stalkers, the most recurring one is Untamed Fury who lived in Vanaheim.
• Freya opening her fight as "Vanadis" by landing on Kratos and stomping him makes perfect sense regardless from your perspective. From a Doyalist viewpoint, it's That One Attack, doing guaranteed damage with the first three stomps and thus always capable of killing a player if their health is too low. From a Watsonian perspective, the valkyries have probably all told Freya about their battles with Kratos, especially how it always took him a moment to throw them off, so she knows that the neck-breaker stomp attack is the absolute best chance she has of killing him before she loses the element of surprise and he proceeds to tear her apart as he has all of her sisters before her.
• Odin requesting Atreus leave the Mask in Asgard when he returns home after freeing Garm makes sense - he can't show undue interest in it while disguised as Tyr, and it's just better to keep the thing in his study where it's safe from Kratos. But there's also a reason he demands Atreus leave Ingrid behind: he stole the living weapon from Freyr ages ago, and given he knows that Kratos has allied with the Vanaheim reististance, Odin does not want their leader getting his sentient sword back and becoming a dangerous force multiplier that might even pose a risk to Heimdall. Given Freyr and Ingrid together are capable of clashing equally with Surtr post-Ragnarok powerup, one can see why.
• With the reveal of Thor's real personality compared to the infamy he made for himself by serving Odin to slay the Jotnar. Magni and Modi have come to represent Thor's personality.
  • Magni is large, powerful, and eager to fight anyone who accepts the challenge. According to Mimir, Thor didn't really care for Odin's desire for power, he just wanted an enemy to fight and he was regarded as one of Odin's best warriors. Like Thor, Magni didn't really care for what Odin had planned for Atreus and Kratos, he just wanted to fight them.
  • Modi has the strongest physical resemblance to Thor and shares his desire for external validation from his father. Deep down, this is who Thor really is, a pitiful being who fights to compensate for his inadequacies and fight for the attention of his father. Modi is also seen as a coward by Aesir standards (which may have been said in a fit of anger by a grief-stricken and drunken Thor), and although Sif would never say it directly or use the exact words, she does treat Thor like a coward for letting Odin boss him around and treat him so horribly instead of standing up for himself.
• When Kratos ends the fight with Thor by stabbing his hand to the ground with a knife, a commenter on youtube said it could have been for two reasons.
  • The Greek had a great understanding on how electricity worked and Kratos used his knife to conduct the electricity in Thor to the knife holding him down.
  • Kratos noticed that Thor snaps his fingers to call Mjolhnir to his hand. Which hand does he stabs to the ground? His left finger-snapping hand.
• In the 2018 GoW, Kratos tells Atreus to "close his heart" when Atreus experiences his first human kill, and this is Kratos still thinking more like a warrior, even though he was trying to comfort Atreus in his own awkward way. In Ragnarok, Kratos gradually realizes that closing his heart is basically hurting him and Atreus, as well others around them, and thus when he opens his heart to Freya about Calliope, the two parents come to a better understanding. Come the endgame assault on Asgard, he advises Atreus to "open his heart" instead of closing his heart when they see the innocent civilian Midgardians being used as meat shield by Odin, so that Atreus won't follow the same dark foosteps Kratos had walked down, thus both of them "[being] better."
• When Kratos fought Thor he said "How are you ever a god of war", implying he held the position in high regard. The Jotnar mural of Tyr's imprisonment also showed both Odin and Thor on the chained Tyr, implying that both participated in it. Come Valhalla it is gloriously revealed why it takes two top gods of Norse mythology to imprison Tyr, as well as why Thor held the throne in high regards.
• Helios, or at least Kratos acerbic inner critic taking the form of his head, speaks in a far more Sophisticated as Hell manner compared to his real self. Given how Helios is very much keen to remind Kratos of the destructive side-effects of his actions, it's likely that Helios is partly born out of Survivor Guilt by accidentally causing Brok's death, so naturally, Kratos' embittered conscience sounds quite a bit like the crass blacksmith.
• In God of War 2018, the Blades of Chaos retain their iconic monster skull mouths on their hilts throughout every upgrade. In Ragnarok, the Blades’ hilts gradually shift into something more earthly, resembling wolf or boar skulls. This can be seen as a representation of how in 2018, Kratos hasn’t let go of his past and is still working on his redemption arc, while in Ragnarok, he has finally forgiven himself and is well on his way to becoming the god of peace in Midgard.
• Where did the Huldra Brothers get all their metal from? They have been using Draupnir's continuous duplication to get an endless supply!
• Kratos wasn't the only one taking the Valhalla test, Mimir was taking one as well. Whenever Helios took his place, Mimir was transported to his own world to take the test himself, but what was that test? Similar to Kratos, to find the worth in himself that he can't see. He mentions to Kratos that his last talk with Sigrun, he felt unworthy to be with her, which angered her and even Kratos. Both of them see Mimir stuck in self doubt, mainly because of his shoddy past of being some arrogant prick's right hand man and advisor, like Odin for example, which led him to suggest many, upon many of actions he is too ashamed to bring up, like the chained whale incident. After Kratos test was over and he learned to accept his past and truly begin anew, Mimir isn't too far and appears. One can guess he too completed the test and accepted his new role, a role he probably wished he would never do again, but decides to do so for the right reasons. Be Kratos' right hand man, which Kratos physically does.
• In the journal entries, Kratos notes that the difference between Baldur and Thor is that Thor is more focused on winning the fight, while Baldur is more focused on inflicting as much pain as possible on his opponent. This does make sense when you factor in Baldur's curse of immortality, Baldur never needed to beat his opponent to submission, he just needed to outlast them and fight them to the point of exhaustion. If his opponent succeeded in killing Baldur, the latter would just come back to life and either resume the fight or come back for a rematch. Thor, on the other hand, can be killed and fights to win as a result.
• In the "Valhalla" DLC, Týr’s Mesoamerican macuahuitl uses both blood magic and fire magic. This is fitting for this weapon for two reason. First, Maya and Aztec civilizations viewed blood as nourishment for the gods, and they were infamous for their practice of human sacrifice. Second, the club’s teeth are made from obsidian, a glass formed by the cooling of molten rock.
• At first, the confirmation that fate doesn't exist seems contradictory to the Sisters of Fate in Greece. But then you realize, much like how the Norns give the illusion of fate by virtue of Gods being predictable, the Sisters gave the illusion of there being some great predestined plan by being able to literally just Time Travel back and change key events until things went the way they wanted in the present. There was never any fate in Greece either, the Sisters were just much more proactive in shaping events than the Norns are.
• When Brok finds out about him missing a part of his soul because the Lady of the Forge couldn't see him, Kratos kneels down and ask for his blessing for his Draupnir Spear. A heartwarming moment for sure, but it gets better. The Lady is basically only talking to Kratos, since he's technically the only one with a complete soul (since Mimir likely doesn't count either.) and he's acting as Brok's speaker unintentionally on what they actually want. Kratos also shows in listening skills with Brok in all of this, and he knows how important the blessing a weapon really means to a weapons blacksmith like Brok. The Lady wordlessly followed the directions and made the perfect weapon for Kratos, but all she did the end when completed was smile and leave. Why? Because she heard what Kratos wanted in the end, he had always wanted Brok to bless his weapon because in his mind, Brok truly was the greatest blacksmith to him, not only in general, but as a friend.
• Atreus' story in Ragnarök ends with him, under the name Loki, leaving the Nine Realms to travel the world in search of Giants... which brings to mind what Mimir told him in the previous game, and how "there comes a time in every man's life when he changes his name and travels north to make a new start".
• Heimdall's speech pattern, decadence, and haughty behavior make sense when you learn that in the ''Rigsthula" from The Poetic Edda, Heimdall may have been the one to invent social classes under the name of Rígr.
• Magni is rarely mentioned in the game, whereas Modi is mentioned frequently despite Thor and Sif being shown to love all their children equally. In Norse culture, one has to die in battle to access Valhalla and Magni was killed in the battle against Atreus and Kratos, whereas Modi was murdered by Atreus. Sif and Thor likely believe that although Magni's death was still a tragedy, he died in accordance with their culture. Whereas, Modi was just outright murdered for an extremely petty reason.
• Kratos manifesting the Blade of Olympus in Valhalla through his memories makes sense when you consider what happened at the end of III. Since II's prologue, the Blade of Olympus was fueled by Kratos' divine power as the God of War. When Kratos impaled himself on the Blade of Olympus to release Hope, this act also returned that divinity back to Kratos, draining the Blade of its power. This is why he's a god again in the Norse era games. The Blade of Olympus in Valhalla is basically Kratos' own divine power reshaped into a replica of the original.
• Kratos, a god with his first family's ashes bound to his skin, has two foils associated with fire in this game: Freyr and Surtr. Freyr tried to bridge the gap between Aesir and Vanir, and was rewarded with being set on fire. Surtr is an ashen Giant, separate from his wife Sinmara and toiling away at making weapons, unwilling to go through with Ragnarök. Surtr represents a version of Kratos resigned to his fate yet unwilling to go through with it, while Freyr represents a glimpse of what kind of god Kratos could be.
• The reveal that all prophecies were self-fulfilling was actually foreshadowed in the previous game and it's shown that all of the Aesir bosses were killed by their own choices. Baldur died because he couldn't let go or move on from his desire for vengeance, Magni died because he wanted to show off his strength and get into a fight with Kratos, Modi couldn't stop fighting people weaker than himself due to his insecurities and desire for revenge, Heimdall's pride caused his death by forcing Kratos to kill him to protect Atreus, and Odin died because he couldn't just leave well enough alone. All of these fights were instigated by the Aesir, rather than Kratos challenging them or losing his temper. As Kratos said on the World Tree: "Fate is another lie told by the gods. Nothing is written that cannot be unwritten".

Fridge Horror

• The soul magic of the Giants is pretty disturbing if you think about it. Not that you have to try that hard, given the corrupted version of the art displayed by Gryla, who extracts the souls of innocent animals; animals whose thoughts she can hear, mind you; and, essentially EATS them to get high. At least a conventional addict generally only hurts themself with substance abuse. An ability like this is probably the closest this series has come to actual vampirism, and *any* giant is potentially capable of this! Very easily too, if Atreus can whisper Fenris's soul *by accident*. He is very lucky he didn't accidentally erase his beloved companion's existence. Just think, had Atreus not learned from Angrboda when he did, how many more times could this have happened? And to *whom*!?
• So we have Fenrir in the body of Garmr after the latter got stabbed by Atreus with a knife containing one of the pieces of his late pet wolf's soul. And then we learn that a revived living being needs its Direction component to reach the Light of Alfheim, with Brok being the example of a being Barred from the Afterlife forever because of Sindri's meddling (who retrieved only three components: Mind, Form, and Luck). Good thing the big boy survived Ragnarok, or he would have met the same fate.
  • Perhaps not as horrific as that. In the scene of Fenrir's death at the start of the game, three light wisps fly out his body, while the missing fourth was settled in Atreus' dagger. Brok was only Barred from the Afterlife because he was missing his Direction, which presumably is the piece that Atreus put into his dagger and allowed for him to transfer Fenrir's soul into Garm. (There was enough of a gap between Atreus putting the piece into Garm and he and Kratos finding the revived Fenrir for the remainder of his soul to return to him, and it also explains why Garm ran off.) Had Fenrir perished during Ragnarok, it would have returned to the Light of Alfheim (assuming Fenrir hasn't inherited Garm's Complete Immortality.) This of course opens a whole new can of horror, as this means that between Fenrir's death and his resurrection inside Garm, the rest of his soul was trapped in limbo, unable to move on. It was a good thing Atreus found a new body for Fen.
• The rift Odin was obsessed over is given no clear origin. It's easy to dismiss it as a power so ancient that the Norse gods simply forgot it existed, but that seems not only unusual but unlikely. In most instances where something is out of Odin's reach, he still knows it exists he's just upset that it's not available to him. Here he's completely aghast as to where it came from, or even how to decipher it. What if the rift represents a power that far exceeds any known source of magic in the cosmos, and to say it's misunderstood by Norse gods is missing the point — no one would understand it, given how alien it is. And keep in mind Odin tried to decipher it without the mask, and whatever he saw was so horrifying that he ripped out his right eye. So whether you want to believe God or some alien monster from beyond the void created this thing, whatever is behind it is incomprehensible even to gods and is probably not friendly.
• Thrud revealing that Thor is actually a recovering alcoholic who's been trying to stay sober ever since Magni and Modi died entirely recontextualizes his gift of mead when invoking Sacred Hospitality to have a peace talk with Kratos. He only pours two cups instead of three and tries to offer one to Atreus before Kratos stops him and forces him to take said drink instead. Thor begrudgingly states that he wished Kratos had let him know Atreus wouldn't be drinking before taking an appreciating sniff of the mead, dipping his finger into it and running it along Mjölnir when asking Kratos if he's a 'calm and reasonable person' in a challenging tone, but at no point actually bringing the drink to his lips. Odin clearly forced Thor to bring said gift along to parley with Kratos and earn his goodwill, supported by his ravens scoping out the house and the likelihood of violence erupting before Odin enters himself. When Odin sits down at the table, he pushes Thor's mead closer to him whilst disparaging his sons as 'kinda useless', blatantly expecting him to drink it, and petulantly drinks it himself when it becomes clear that Thor won't. In hindsight, it clearly shows Odin's utter lack of care for Thor's well-being or self-worth and underscores how the mighty God of Thunder is nothing but a tool to him, and not even his favorite to use anymore now he has people trying to make him a better person than what the All-Father disparagingly tells him he can only amount to.
  Odin: You're no fun anymore.
• From what is barely mentioned about Greece it is spoken in both the past tense and as a dead homeland. Implying that Kratos releasing the power of Hope to the Greeks did little to heal the damage caused by Kratos' rampage.
  • This is a downplayed example. If there was any overlap between the various pantheons, then the gods of those realms would have entered into Midgard and vice versa. Since Zeus would have considered the entrance of a foreign god into his territory as offensive, it's unlikely that Odin has ever actually visited Greece in person, and is just speculating on what he's heard about Greece through the grape vine. One also needs to keep in mind that Odin could be referring to Greece as a dead land simply to mess with Kratos' head.
  • Additionally, Odin's information could be straight up uninformed, lying tendencies or not. Odin asks Kratos who worshiped him, but after becoming the God of War, Kratos WAS worshiped by his fellow Spartans. To the point where statues of Ares were replaced with equivalent Kratos statues and attempts were made by Ares worshipers to reverse this. Kratos may have only been God of War for a short time but that would only highlight a hole in Odin's knowledge. If Odin knew, then he's only saying it to provoke Kratos.
    • Odin likely didn't know the whole truth, or didn't share it if he did. Thor described Kratos's rampage as 'destroying a pantheon because they hurt his feelings' which is a surface level understanding of what happened in God Of War 2. Freya didn't know about Lysandra, Calliope, and Deimos until Kratos told her himself, and the same can be said of his battle with the Sisters of Fate.
• When Kratos is ruthlessly finishing Heimdall off by strangling him, the former is definitely thinking of all of the past murders of the Greek gods he's done, especially with Mimir telling Kratos that's not who he wants to be. Just before dying, Heimdall looks into Kratos' eyes, meaning he most likely saw all those brutal deaths for himself. Really puts more weight behind him calling Kratos a "monster."
• Branching off from the Gods of Nature versus Gods of Abstract Concepts argument above, while Ragnarok's physical damage to the Norse world is far less than expected (one realm explodes and turns into inter-dimensional meteors, but little else), the metaphysical damage could be even worse for civilization. Odin, for all his sociopathic behaviors, was the god of intelligence and wisdom. Now what happens to mortals in general when the god associated with planning, foresight, and charisma gets permanent brain damage (followed by death)? That kind of explains why they'd worship Kratos of all people...
  • The entire concept of the game and the story is about how people can change, and how anybody can become "Better". Kratos' actions would lead to his death, and Atreus/Loki serving Odin. But he changed. And with that, he changed his fate, setting him in the path of being a benevolent deity.
  • Another possibility is that reality only takes one to the rocks when a deity dies on Earth. Freyr was the god of peace, fertility, rain, and sunshine and yet the post game shows everyone moving on to a bette future and the sun's finally showing back in Midgard.
• Angrboda's paranoia about Ironwood's secrecy was completely justified. Had Atreus confided to Kratos about Ironwood on his initial prompting, it could have potentially averted a lot of the tragedy that resulted from Atreus fleeing to Asgard... but eventually Odin-as-Tyr would have learned about Ironwood. And there is no telling what Odin could have done with that knowledge.