Manly Guys Doing Manly Things

Protagonists and their hatred of other people's vases, right, G-man?

The sad, REAL American dichotomy

It's why Kratos can't have nice things.

I actually kind of like Kratos. He's a great example of classic Greek tragedy in character form. Kratos plays simultaneous roles as both the protagonist and antagonist of every title he appears in. He's a "hero" in the classic Grecian sense: a paragon of manliness who rips eldritch beasts in half with his bare hands, with all the biggest muscles, the bloodiest kills, and the buxomest women. At the same time, he deconstructs the notion of such by boldly demonstrating what is wrong with this character type; if you can actually finish a God Of War game without ever feeling uncomfortable with a single thing that Kratos did, then you missed the point.

Ultimately, the driving force behind Kratos's misery is Kratos. Kratos is the worst thing that ever happened to Kratos which is also pretty standard for classic Greek mythos; Greek "heroes" don't have happy tales, and their lives nearly always end badly as a direct result of their own failures as human beings. Kratos is no different.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Huuh O_o That's actually a nice plot. Wouldn't expect that from what I heard of those games

Personally I only really think it applies to the first game. Most of the second and all of the third are just entirely violence for violence's sake, with no rhyme or reason. Probably because the... either creative director, or head writer of the first game had nothing to do with the sequels.

For example, In the third game, you kill all the gods. Just... because. There's no explanation.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

>violence for violence's sake, with no rhyme or reason

Yeah, that's the impression I had of them.

*checks wiki*
drat, it wasn't ported to PC =_=

Actually, you kill only the gods that get in your way. Each one you kill actively tried to stop you. Aphrodite didn't try anything, for instance, and she's still alive.*

I'm pretty sure Kratos would've let Hephaestus live, if he didn't try to kill him.

edited 22nd Dec '12 3:47:25 PM by MisterC

Who's an angry moth? You are! Yes you are! You're the fuzziest and angriest moth! Original pic.

He would've, and it also brings his story full circle in the end, wherein Kratos finally accepts the truth of his own self-destructive nature, announces an end to his vengeance, and impales himself upon his sword to restore hope to the world; in the end, Kratos finally strikes down the driving force behind his pain and fury, Kratos himself.

It's actually a really beautiful ending.

Edit: That's actually the entire point of his journey with Pandora; Kratos, through Pandora, being forced to realize exactly how monstrous he's become, until the point that he openly tries to save her from the horrible fate he, himself, had intended for her, only to fall victim to his own failures and, in a moment of rage, lose what had effectively come to be his chance of redemption through this child.

edited 22nd Dec '12 7:12:42 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Eh... I'm not sure if I disagree or not. It's late at night and I'm tired.

So I'll just let Extra Credits explain my stance on this matter better than I can, and you guys figure it out if you want.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

Extra Credits completely ignore Pandora in their analysis.

I would say that ignoring them is appropriate.

Their point is that Kratos has no redeeming values but they completely forget one (very important) plot detail.

This is without mentionning that Kratos killed gods that standed in it's way, not every gods he saw. Or the animosity that Kratos had for the gods to begin with.

No, they didn't say Kratos has no redeeming value, they held him up as an almost perfect example of characterization through design and use. They said his story loses all redeeming value after the end of the first one since it veers utterly away from the very important "learn your lesson" part of Classical Greek storytelling and makes Kratos constantly make the some mistakes without changing meaningfully.

"The marvel is not that the Bear posts well, but that the Bear posts at all."

http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/1335

My money's on the Commander.

edited 26th Dec '12 10:34:18 AM by Eagal

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

I felt the whole Pandora thing was tacked on, and a pretty blatant and unconvincing attempt to give Kratos some humanity. And it's not like Kratos just ignores those who do nothing to him, remember the Poseidon Princess?

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Yeah, I didn't like how they tried to "redeem" Kratos with Pandora, it felt really forced and rushed.

And I kinda agree about Poseidon's princess, that was just a dick move. I mean, he could've used any of the corpse of enemies lying around.

O_o

edited 26th Dec '12 2:09:36 PM by MisterC

Who's an angry moth? You are! Yes you are! You're the fuzziest and angriest moth! Original pic.

Had to look her up to see what you're talking about. When editing wikis goes wrong.

edited 26th Dec '12 2:06:58 PM by wanderlustwarrior

The sad, REAL American dichotomy

I didn't get the feeling that Pandora was supposed to redeem Kratos at all. Quite the opposite, actually, given how her portion of the story ends. There is no redemption for Kratos; that's a key element of his story, that he is beyond salvation.

Rather, I felt that Pandora was meant to contrast Kratos. She is everything he is not. Selfless, kind, compassionate, and ready to sacrifice her life to save the world from a great evil. She's a hero in the modern sense, while Kratos is "hero" in the classical sense; a monstrous force of sex and violence that destroys everything in his path to achieve his own personal goals, without a care for who gets hurt along the way.

Nothing about Pandora's story redeems Kratos. What she does is make him see the truth, however indirectly: that Kratos himself is the villain of the piece, that needs to be slain in order for the horror to end.

At the end, Kratos doesn't try to save her because he's had a change of heart and come to realize his failings; he does so because she's better than him and he can see it. Because she's the child he wishes his child could grow up to be. Because she deserves to live more than he does. That's not redemption; it's simply an acknowledgement of an unpleasant truth, and still, he fails because the monster in him is more powerful. Nothing about that is redemption.

edited 26th Dec '12 5:22:03 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

New comic out: http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/1346

And it is coloured.

Heh "Probably?"

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

Yeh,

More like "Definitely", eh?

I thought Jared would back into Kratos and dented the car.

Guess that's a better joke.

That.
That is an amazingly sane and sorta-zen attitude.
Go Commander!

Commander often has a surprisingly sane and zen attitude. I still have fond memories of his speech to Jared about Poison.

edited 4th Jan '13 4:17:53 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Clearly it's the parking space. It's so feng shui.

That girl is pooooiiiisoooooooooooooooooon!

The sad, REAL American dichotomy

Commander isn't really subject to fit of anger really, I'm not all that surprised by his attitude toward anything.

Yeah, the Commander has always been a nice guy.