Kratos (God of War)

• 1. Introduction

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  Kratos, the scarred, ash-white Spartan at the center of Santa Monica Studio's God of War series, began as a set of rough drawings on restaurant napkins. Charlie Wen had forgotten his sketchbook, so he drew on whatever the table offered. Those sketches led to the character who first appeared in the 2005 game and helped make the series a flagship for PlayStation. Why did a team that wanted no traditional Greek hero end up with one named after a figure from Greek drama? How does a man who slaughtered gods learn to raise a son? And why did the voice behind him change after years of fame? The answers run through two entire mythologies.

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• 2. Design and Name

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  David Jaffe, creator and game director of the 2005 God of War, wanted a brutal figure who looked nothing like a classic Greek hero. He also wanted Kratos to stand apart, so the character wears no traditional armor. A fully masked version won early approval, then was dropped because it seemed "soulless" and lacked a "defined personality". Other early models carried an infant on the back. Still others piled on detail, such as long hair and other "flowing things".

  Charlie Wen, director of visual development on the first two games, took responsibility for the final look. He drew on similarly themed films and pop culture. Wen proposed the double-chained blades that became the signature weapon. They underline the character's animalistic nature while keeping combat fluid. In his mind, both blades fired off together as Kratos threw them, with ferocity and accuracy in balance.

  Wen also supplied the most noticeable trait, the ashen complexion, which the story turned into the title Ghost of Sparta. A scar runs across the right eye. A large red tattoo starts at the left eye, circles the left side of the torso and ends at the left shoulder. That tattoo was blue until late in production. God of War II added a temporary divine armor, an abdominal scar and an epaulet called the Golden Fleece. God of War III added the Boots of Hermes.

  An early script gave the character a height of 7 ft 0 in. Santa Monica Studios and Gnomon School later investigated the animation-and-rigging history of the games. Their review put the Greek Kratos at 2.34 m. The Norse Kratos stands 1.94 m and weighs about 250 lbs.

  Jaffe admitted that Kratos "may not totally feel at home in Ancient Greece from a costume standpoint". He argued the design still serves its purpose by letting players cut loose. The designers of 2018's God of War gave Kratos a Nordic look with a full beard. They swapped the blades for a magical battle ax to make combat more grounded. Players can now change and upgrade three armor pieces, one of the game's role-playing elements.

  The Greek games tucked extra wardrobe choices behind difficulty settings. Finishing at certain levels, or in challenge modes, unlocked bonus costumes. Several others came only from pre-orders and PlayStation Store promotions. God of War III includes three costumes based on early sketches. Some are openly silly, such as a female costume called "Athena" and the "Spud of War".

  The name arrived late in the development of the first game, after the character was already fleshed out. The creators took Kratos from the Greek word for strength. They did not know that a mythical god of that name appears in Prometheus Bound, where he personifies strength.

  Stig Asmussen, who worked on the first two games and directed God of War III, called the overlap a "happy mistake". He noted that both the game character and the figure in Prometheus Bound were "pawns". Zoran Iovanovici of California State University, Long Beach, spotted an irony. The mythical Kratos is best known for chaining Prometheus, while in God of War II the video game character sets Prometheus free.

  Classical scholar Sylwia Chmielewski argues that the game's Kratos draws on several Greek heroes, including Perseus, Theseus and Achilles. Her strongest influence is Heracles, known to the Romans as Hercules. He appears in God of War III under the Romanized name and is revealed to be Kratos's half-brother.

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• 3. Blood and Betrayal

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  A birthmark shaped Kratos's childhood in Sparta. An oracle had foretold that Olympus would fall not to the Titans, imprisoned after the Great War, but to a marked mortal warrior. Zeus, Athena and Ares decided the warrior was Deimos, Kratos's younger brother, because of his strange birthmark. Ares and Athena broke up the brothers' training and kidnapped Deimos. When Kratos tried to stop them, Ares swept him aside and left him scarred. The god of death, Thanatos, then imprisoned and tortured Deimos in Death's Domain for many years. Believing his brother dead, Kratos marked himself with a red tattoo identical to the birthmark.

  Flashbacks in the 2010-11 comic series, written by Marv Wolfman, show Kratos meeting his wife Lysandra. They had a daughter named Calliope, who was stricken with plague at birth. To save her, Kratos was granted a quest for the Ambrosia of Asclepius, an elixir with magical healing properties. Five gods placed a wager with Ares, and each chose a champion to hunt the Ambrosia. Ares picked Kratos. He overcame every obstacle, including the champion of Hades, the Barbarian Prince Alrik, who later became the Barbarian King. Calliope was saved.

  The shock broke his bloodlust, and he renounced Ares. As the temple burned, a village oracle cursed him to wear the "mark of his terrible deed". That mark was the ashes of his family, which turned his skin pale white and earned him the title Ghost of Sparta.

  Breaking his blood oath had a price. In Ascension, Kratos is imprisoned and tortured by the three Furies. The oath keeper Orkos helps him destroy them. To be fully free of the oath, Kratos must also kill Orkos, who begs for it so that he too can be free. Even then, memories of his family flood back. He vows to serve the other gods in hope that they will erase those memories, though he stays openly defiant.

  In Chains of Olympus, Kratos is reluctant to help when Helios is kidnapped. He abandons the gods outright when Persephone offers him a reunion with Calliope. Then Persephone uses the Titan Atlas in a bid to destroy the world, and with it Calliope's spirit. Kratos knows that stopping her will separate him from his family forever. A bitter Kratos kills Persephone, imprisons Atlas and frees Helios.

  By the time of the 2005 game, Kratos has served the gods for 10 years and has grown tired of both the service and the nightmares. His patron Athena tells him the gods will forgive his sins if he kills the rampaging Ares. With that selfish motive, he agrees and uses Pandora's Box to succeed. He is forgiven but not relieved of the nightmares. In despair, he tries to take his own life, and Athena saves him and guides him to Olympus. There he receives the Blades of Athena and the throne as the new god of war.

  The comic series also follows his present search for the Ambrosia, which he plans to destroy so that worshipers of Ares cannot resurrect their master. Along the way he defeats the Chaos Giant Gyges. Still haunted, Kratos sets out in Ghost of Sparta to find his mother Callisto in Atlantis, against Athena's advice. Callisto tries to name his father but is transformed into a beast, and Kratos is forced to kill her. Her dying advice is to look for Deimos in Sparta.

  Kratos frees the Titan Thera, which destroys Atlantis and earns him the wrath of Poseidon. In Sparta he learns that Deimos is held in the Domain of Death. He frees his brother, who stays hostile. The two fight until Thanatos attacks Deimos and the brothers join forces. Thanatos realizes that the gods chose the wrong Spartan, since the mark was Kratos's red tattoo and his skin turned white from his family's ashes. Thanatos kills Deimos, and Kratos kills Thanatos. He returns to Olympus enraged.

  In Betrayal, the other gods shun him. Kratos decides to lead his Spartan army to overrun Greece. He is falsely accused of murdering Argos and kills Ceryx, the son of Hermes, for interfering in his search for the true assassin, who escapes. That army next marches on Rhodes.

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• 4. War on Olympus

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  At Rhodes in God of War II, Kratos joins the Spartan army, intent on destruction. Zeus weakens him and tricks him into pouring his godly powers into the Blade of Olympus. Zeus then uses the blade to kill him. Stunned by the betrayal, Kratos swears revenge as he dies. He falls into the Underworld, where Gaia rescues him. She was banished to Tartarus with the surviving Titans after the First Great War, and she wants Zeus dead.

  Fueled by anger, Kratos agrees to help the Titans. He must find the Sisters of Fate, who can return him to the moment of Zeus's treachery. Along the way he becomes utterly ruthless. He wounds a Titan, kills several Greek heroes without hesitation and sacrifices two scholars to restore his god powers. When the three Sisters of Fate oppose him, he kills them all.

  Kratos is ready for a final confrontation with Zeus when Athena intervenes and sacrifices herself to save him. Only then does Kratos show remorse. A dying Athena tells him that Zeus is his father. Zeus kept it secret because he wished to avoid repeating what he had done to his own father, Cronos. Kratos rejects any bond with him and vows to kill Zeus and destroy Olympus. Encouraged by Gaia, he uses the power of the Fates to retrieve the Titans from before their defeat in the Great War. With their help, he storms Mount Olympus.

  God of War III opens with Kratos killing Poseidon. After his first encounter with Zeus goes badly, Gaia abandons him. Stranded in the Underworld and betrayed by both Olympians and Titans, Kratos hears from the spirit of Athena. She gives him the Blades of Exile and tells him to find the Flame of Olympus, the key to defeating Zeus. In that quest he murders Titans and gods, ignoring the warnings of his victims.

  Pandora is the key to pacifying the Flame and reaching Pandora's Box, which is engulfed by it. Kratos comes to care for her, because she reminds him of his lost daughter Calliope. He tries to stop her from sacrificing herself to quench the Flame but reluctantly allows it when she says there is no other option. Zeus provokes the sacrifice by declaring that Kratos will fail her as he failed his own family. Kratos releases her and attacks Zeus in a rage.

  The box turns out to be empty, and Zeus's mockery drives Kratos berserk. When Gaia interrupts and tries to kill both men, Kratos destroys her and apparently defeats Zeus. Zeus returns in spirit form and attacks again. Kratos retreats into his psyche and forgives himself for his past sins, helped by Pandora. She tells him that hope will save him. Revived, he easily destroys Zeus.

  Athena then confronts him and demands the power of hope, the contents of Pandora's Box. In a selfless act, Kratos refuses. He says his need for vengeance is gone and impales himself with the Blade of Olympus, which disperses the power across the world for mankind's use. A disappointed Athena removes the blade and departs as he collapses beside it. A post-credits scene shows a trail of blood leading away from the blade, and his whereabouts are unknown.

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• 5. The Father in the North

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  Cory Barlog, game director of 2018's God of War, argued that Kratos had to break his cycle of violence and learn to control his rage. Kratos had made many poor decisions, and they led to the destruction of Olympus. Barlog wanted to know what would happen if Kratos made a good one. The birth of Barlog's own son shaped that idea, as did a canceled live-action Star Wars television series.

  Barlog put the core of the game this way: "This game is about Kratos teaching his son how to be a god, and his son teaching Kratos how to be human again". He also pointed to the Marvel Comics character Hulk: "We've already told the story of The Hulk. We want to tell the story of Bruce Banner now."

  Decades after the events of God of War III, Kratos arrives in ancient Scandinavia, in the Norse realm of Midgard. He has fathered a boy named Atreus, who is unaware of his true nature. Kratos has given up the double-chained blades as a symbol of leaving his old persona behind. He now carries the Leviathan Axe, which belonged to his second wife and Atreus's mother, Laufey, whom Kratos calls Faye. She has recently died. Her last wish was to have her ashes spread at the highest peak of the nine realms.

  At Midgard's peak, Mímir tells them the highest point is in Jötunheim. On the way, the Aesir god Baldur, brother of Thor, confronts them. Thor's sons Modi and Magni help Baldur but are killed by Kratos and Atreus. Then Atreus falls ill. To cure him, Kratos must recover the Blades of Chaos and fight the beings of Helheim, because the Leviathan Axe inflicts frost damage and is useless there.

  While he retrieves the blades, Athena appears and goads him about his past. Kratos travels to Hel, kills the troll that guards the realm and brings back the cure. Afterward he tells Atreus that he is a god. A witch helps the pair, and she is later revealed to be the Vanir goddess Freya, Baldur's mother. Her immortality spell protects Baldur but leaves him unable to feel anything physically, and he resents her for it.

  When Kratos and Baldur finally fight, the spell breaks. Kratos decides to let Baldur go, but Baldur tries to kill Freya, forcing Kratos to kill him. Freya swears revenge and taunts Kratos for hiding his troubled past from Atreus. Kratos then admits to his son that he killed his fellow Greek gods, including his own father Zeus, whose illusion he saw in Helheim. He adds that they should learn from those mistakes and not repeat them.

  In Jötunheim they learn that Faye was a giant, which makes Atreus part-giant. Faye had wanted to name their son Loki, but Kratos preferred Atreus, the name of an honorable Spartan comrade. The giants also call Kratos Fárbauti. Back in Midgard, Fimbulwinter begins, and Atreus has a vision that Thor will come for them when it ends.

  Three years later in God of War Ragnarök, the All-father Odin and the thunder god Thor confront Kratos, Atreus and Mímir. Kratos duels Thor. The trio then crosses the nine realms hoping to prevent Ragnarök, and a vengeful Freya confronts them before they make amends. Unable to stop Ragnarök, they unite the realms in a war against Asgard. Odin kills Thor for refusing to kill Kratos. Kratos, Atreus, Mímir and Freya then defeat Odin as Asgard is destroyed.

  Back in Midgard, Atreus, now called Loki, decides to find any remaining giants and says farewell. Kratos learns he is destined to become a revered god. With Freya and Mímir, he begins rebuilding the realms and restoring peace.

  The Valhalla downloadable pack for Ragnarök picks up after that. Freya, now Queen of the Realms, invites Kratos to join her council as the new Norse god of war, since Týr abandoned the position. Kratos hesitates, remembering his abuse of power among the Greek gods. He and Mímir receive an anonymous invitation to Valhalla. It turns out to come from Týr, who wants Kratos to confront his past and forgive himself. After several trials, Kratos makes amends with his past self and takes the seat as Norse god of war, championing the ideals of hope.

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• 6. Voices and Verdicts

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  Christopher Judge, best known as Teal'c in Stargate SG-1, replaced Terrence C. Carson as the voice of Kratos in the 2018 game. Carson had voiced the character since the original God of War. His own comment on the change was brief: "Sony went in a new direction".

  Barlog explained that the earlier games let the studio use someone other than the voice actor for motion capture. Carson had performed Kratos's motion capture in Ascension. For 2018, however, the studio wanted a certain kind of camera work. It needed a performer close to Kratos's size to work alongside 10-year-old Sunny Suljic, who played Atreus. Carson is much shorter than Kratos, who is over 6 feet tall. Barlog said that adjusting for a child's size would have made reshooting and redoing the animations "almost impossible". Judge stands 6 feet 3 in tall and had the body of a professional football player.

  Judge saw the role as a chance to add something new. He researched the character and Carson's performance, then chose not to imitate Carson. He started afresh because Santa Monica was heading in a new direction. Before work on Ragnarök began, he briefly quit after learning that Eric Williams would direct the sequel. Barlog, a producer and creative director on Ragnarök, convinced him, and Judge later affirmed that Williams was capable.

  Carson came back in 2026 for God of War Sons of Sparta, his first turn as Kratos since Ascension. Antony Del Rio voiced the young Kratos in Ghost of Sparta in 2010 and returned for Sons of Sparta.

  Awards followed both actors. At the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Carson's work in the original game won Outstanding Character Performance - Male from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. His performance in God of War III later earned a nomination at the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Judge won a BAFTA Award for Performer at the 15th British Academy Games Awards. He was nominated for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2018, and he won it at The Game Awards 2022 for Ragnarök.

  The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences gave Judge and the creative team its Outstanding Achievement in Character award for both 2018's God of War and Ragnarök. At the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, Kratos was nominated for "Character of the Year" and won "Biggest Badass". In GameSpot's "All Time Greatest Video Game Hero" contest, he reached the "Elite Eight" before losing to Mario. In 2024, a poll of around 4,000 respondents by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts named him the ninth-most-iconic video-game character of all time.

  Critics of the Greek era were warm but divided. Alex Navarro of GameSpot called Kratos a "sympathetic antihero" and a "badass", though he found the slow story gave players "no understanding of Kratos" early in the original game. GamesRadar+ ranked him among the 25 best new characters of the decade. Its writers called him an "unstoppable force of nature" and a "broken, tragic man". Magazines including Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition named him one of the most iconic video game characters.

  The 2018 game won warmer words. Dave Thier of Forbes wrote, "Kratos is a character this time". Jonathon Dornbush of IGN said the game turned him from a "flat embodiment of the bloodthirsty warrior cliché" into a protagonist who could stand beside favorites in recent media. Mike Hume of The Washington Post said Kratos "taught him as a father". Nathan Ingraham of Engadget conceded it was an exaggeration, yet wrote that Kratos showed more emotion in the opening hour than in the whole previous trilogy. Polygon's Colin Campbell praised a father whose gruff, tough-love parenting hides a deep grief for his late wife.

  The Greek Kratos drew sharper complaints. Ben Mattes, producer of Prince of Persia, called him "a supercool character, but it's black and white". Jeremy "Norm" Scott, creator of the comic strip Hsu and Chan, said Kratos "did not exist, except as an avatar for the player". Jesse Schedeen of IGN ranked him the sixth-most-overrated video game character. Dante Douglas of Paste cited him as an example of hypermasculine power fantasy. Even Jaffe expressed distaste for the Norse direction, saying experiences reflective of ageing developers were ill-fitting for the character.

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• 7. Beyond the Games

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  Matthew Stover and Robert E. Vardeman together wrote the first God of War novel, published in May 2010. Vardeman alone wrote God of War II, published in February 2013. James M. Barlog wrote God of War - The Official Novelization, published in August 2018. It retells the 2018 game and skips God of War III. Kratos also leads two comic book series, one from 2010 and another running from 2018 to 2021.

  On the 21st of August 2008, the Greek Kratos and his Clubs of Chaos became a downloadable character in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. GameStop pre-orders of LittleBigPlanet came with a Sackboy Kratos costume, alongside costumes for Medusa and a Minotaur. Those went on sale on the 26th of January 2009. Kratos was also a guest character in 2009's Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. On the 2nd of November 2010, ModNation Racers players could buy a Kratos Mod and his Kart of Chaos.

  Kratos reached the PlayStation 3 version of 2011's Mortal Kombat with his own stage and arcade ladder mode, and the PlayStation Vita version followed in 2012. He joined the 2012 crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. The villain Zeus arrived there as a downloadable character on the 19th of March 2013. A line in God of War Ragnarök seems to make that tournament canon, when Mímir asks about it and Kratos says he does not want to talk about it.

  For the franchise's 10th anniversary, Kratos became a secret boss in the PlayStation versions of Shovel Knight, released on the 21st of April 2015. LittleBigPlanet 3 offered a Fear Kratos costume for Sackboy, along with costumes of Zeus, Hercules, Poseidon and Athena. It coincided with God of War III Remastered on PlayStation 4 in July 2015. The Crafted Edition of Tearaway Unfolded, released on the 8th of September 2015, included a Kratos costume. TC Carson voiced the Greek Kratos in these appearances, except where he was only a costume or, in Shovel Knight, text.

  The PlayStation 5 launch game Astro's Playroom, from 2020, shows two robots dressed as the Nordic Kratos and Atreus re-enacting their boat scene from the 2018 game. Astro Bot in 2024 references Kratos too. The Nordic Kratos became a Fortnite Battle Royale outfit on the 3rd of December 2020 in the Zero Point event. He is playable on every platform Fortnite runs on, his only appearance on Xbox, Nintendo, Apple and Android devices. PlayStation players get an exclusive armored version based on the golden Valkyrie armor from the 2018 game.

  The Director's Cut of Ghost of Tsushima, released on the 20th of August 2021, offers an armor inspired by the Nordic Kratos. Sackboy: A Big Adventure received Kratos, Atreus and Freya costumes on the 9th of November 2022, the same day as Ragnarök. On the 23rd of May 2023, Destiny 2 added a Titan armor set inspired by the Nordic Kratos in its Lightfall - Season of the Deep release. It features his red tattoo and breechcloth in light gray, plus a finishing move that mimics the Blades of Chaos.

  Parody has followed him too. The Simpsons Game shows the Greek Kratos as the "God of Wharf" on a billboard for a chowder restaurant. In the Simpsons episode "The Food Wife", a kiosk at E4 advertises Guts of War II: Entrails of Intestinox. Robot Chicken first parodied him in season 5, episode 15, "The Core, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover", with Brian Austin Green voicing Kratos hunting blood orbs. Sony later worked with the show on an advertisement for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. The Nordic Kratos, voiced by Judge, made a cameo in the first-season finale of Amazon Prime Video's anthology series Secret Level, released on the 17th of December 2024.

  Merchandise began early. NECA produced two series of action figures based on God of War II, including Kratos with the Blades of Athena and another version wearing the Golden Fleece and holding a Gorgon's head. In October 2009, United Cutlery made a scaled replica of the Blades of Chaos. DC Unlimited released a line based on God of War III. From the 1st of February to the 31st of March 2010, 7-Eleven sold a limited-edition Slurpee called "Kratos Fury".

  In 2014, a Kratos Pop! Vinyl Figure arrived, and Sony partnered with Gaming Heads on a limited-edition life-size bust of 500 units, standing 28 in tall on a Greek-inspired column. One hundred more busts showed the Fear Kratos costume. In 2015, Gaming Heads made a lunging Kratos statue of 1,250 units, 19 in tall, wielding the Blades of Exile. For the March 2015 anniversary came two "Kratos on the Throne" statues, each 29 in tall, in editions of 1,250 and 500. A November 2015 statue of over 26 in, limited to 500 units, mixed polystone with leather, cloth and metal. By 2023, even a rubber duck of Kratos existed.

  Film plans have been less steady. A live-action film of the original game was announced in 2005 and stayed in development hell. In May 2021, a Sony spokesperson said no God of War film was in development. The following May, a streaming series about the Norse era, starting with the 2018 game's events, was announced for Amazon Prime Video. Ryan Hurst, who played Thor in Ragnarök, will play Kratos.

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