The Tragedy of God of War

This will contain spoilers for the God of War series of games, including God of War (2018). This will also contain spoilers for some classic Greek stories, but if you haven’t gotten around to those by now, you have no excuse.

I have just spent the last few days getting the platinum trophy in the new God of War, which I found to be a truly fantastic game. I plan to conquer the hardest mode known as “Give Me God of War” in the coming weeks. With as much as the game had to offer me and as much as I enjoyed it, there was one simple yet important aspect that I wish had been different.

There are a few things that I could mention at this point, and some that you might be expecting me to mention. I could complain about the myriad collectibles that I hunted for — a slight source of annoyance at times — but that’s par for the course in open world games. I could complain about that shift to an open world game itself, as many believed it might be a negative change for the series going forward, but it never really bothered me. I could complain about it going the way of the “dadventure” style game that is popular of late, but in all honesty I found Kratos’ son Atreus to be a useful addition to the combat and narrative, so in this case I think it was done fairly well.

This is about one of the most prominent though uncontested changes to the series: the loss of tone. Specifically, the loss of the Greek Tragedy that I personally loved so much. For those of you with limited exposure to Greek tales, let me clear up some common misconceptions. The following are the events of 3 Greek stories of which you might have a passing familiarity.

Firstly, and likely the most famous hero of all (due in part to his likeness being recirculated through our pop culture in movies and TV shows) we have Hercules. Hercules happens to be his Roman name, while in Greek stories he’s known as Heracles. His namesake is meant to appease Hera, wife of Zeus, since Heracles was the result of one of Zeus’ many affairs. Heracles is not always the great hero as often portrayed, and he and Megara certainly do not live happily ever after. In a fit of rage (in some tellings of the story, this fit is induced by Hera) he slays his children born to him by Megara, and in some tellings slays Megara herself as well. Heracles’ need to atone for this crime is what eventually drives him to take on the famous 12 Labors: seemingly impossible feats tasked to him by Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns.

Another popular tale is that of Theseus, slayer of the Minotaur and savior of Ariadne. Theseus is often ascribed the same heroism in the eyes of the Athenians as Hercules is to the Dorians, and took on similar tasks of slaying monstrous creatures, known as the 6 Labors. Less often is it told that after saving Ariadne, Theseus abandons her the very next morning at the behest of Athena. Ariadne then goes on to marry the god Dionysus, so it’s not all tragedy for her.

The final story has no common misconceptions surrounding its nature as a tragedy, but it highlights an important point: that prophecies must always come to pass. Even dating back to the era of the Titans, this was always so. Kronos, leader of the Titans and father to Zeus, tries to eat his children who were prophesied to overthrow him one day. Rhea saves Zeus from this fate, and Zeus slays Kronos and saves his siblings.

This lesson is retold in the tale of Oedipus. Oedipus was born to a king who heard a prophecy that his son would kill him and marry his queen. When his wife gave birth, he left the baby out to die of exposure. This baby, Oedipus, is found, rescued, and eventually finds himself the adopted son of another king. When he becomes a man, he visits an Oracle only to be told the prophecy that he is meant to kill his father and marry his mother. Not knowing that he was adopted, he leaves his kingdom vowing never to return so that he might avoid his fate. Setting out on his journey he arrives at another kingdom, that of his birth parents, and the prophecy comes to pass exactly as foretold. In the classic Greek narrative of Gods and deific powers, you cannot escape your fate.

God of War’s conception was no exception to the tides of destiny ever-present in Greek mythology. In the original God of War series, Zeus hears a prophecy that a marked warrior will eventually overthrow Olympus. He sends his children Ares and Athena to Sparta to find Kratos’ brother, Deimos, who was born with strange birthmarks all over his body. The two gods abduct Deimos and Ares strikes Kratos down, giving him his eye scar and causing a rage to begin building in him that will drive him for the rest of his life. In honour of his brother, he gets red tattoos in the exact pattern of his brother’s birthmarks. As a result of his actions, Zeus creates the very warrior he feared in the prophecy.

These are the aspects of the original God of War I enjoyed as I played through them over the years. Kratos is a classic tragic warrior, and the prophecies come to pass as they are written. God of War (2018) seems to be setting up a different story.

Kratos spends much of the game chastising Atreus and lying to him about the truth of his illness and abilities. Yet there are absolutely zero consequences for this: the pair quickly reconciles and continues on their journey. They manage to incur the wrath of the goddess Freya, which sets up a conflict for the future of the new series, but I don’t have faith that this will lead to any lasting consequence. From how the game treats consequence and finality of action, it appears unlikely that Freya will slay either Kratos or Atreus, and will instead just result in the death of another goddess as is tradition.

The most worrying detail happens at the end of the game: as you travel to the realm of Jotunheim and learn the truth about Atreus’ mother, Faye, you also arrive at a depiction on a wall that shows all the major events of your journey so far. Hidden behind a tapestry, Kratos sees one last depiction that Atreus does not. It shows Kratos lying down with Atreus behind him, Kratos seemingly dying, with something snake-like pouring out of Atreus’ mouth. It seems likely this is Kratos dying, and it’s possible that Atreus is the one killing him, continuing another Greek trend of sons killing fathers. I have no reason to believe this will come to pass, as the narrative has tonally shifted away from the underlying concept of inevitable fate. I think what we will see is a prophecy being “beaten” and in my eyes that’s the true loss for God of War: a shirking of lessons learned for a happy ending.

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